RMS Weekly Review Volume 1 Issue 14 February 24, 2012

RMS Weekly Review

Volume 1 Issue 14
February 24, 2012


So much for the “starting to look like Spring” comment I made last week.  I am still blaming this all on the groundhog.

Except for the preemptive “death storm” we were supposed to get today, it was another uneventful three days here at RMS.

Wednesday was another great day of data crunching.  Dennis and I have been doing a MEAP comparison between our scores and the surrounding schools in Wayne County.  I will be releasing our findings on Monday at our staff meeting.

Thursday was a great day of collaboration amongst the district principals.  We all met here at RMS in the morning and started to develop an outline for our new teacher evaluation tool. While looking at Charlotte Danielson’s “Framework” and other State approved tools from other districts, we are confident that we will have a quality evaluation tool that not only looks at professionalism and teaching strategies, but also incorporates student growth and a high level of proficiency.  

The afternoon’s discussion was focused around our District School Improvement Plan (DIP).  While looking at our 6 key areas...

Healthy Habits

Reading, writing, communication

Soft Skills - Independent, responsible, group work

Fundamental math

Critical thinking

Literacy in Talent

...the area that we feel will make the biggest impact on all of our students is the READING component.  At our next meeting, we will be looking at different models on how to “teach our students to read” vs “just teaching reading strategies”.  We feel, once we can get all of our students at their reading level, their performance on the MEAP in the areas of Science and Social Studies will greatly improve.

 Next week at RMS:

• Tuesday : Band Concert
• Thursday: Breakfast with the Principal - Special invitations sent out to our ELL student’s parents.

We are looking at our calendars and getting ready for our 7th and 8th graders to take the Explore.

The week of March 12th, RMS students will have their end of the trimester exams.

March 7th through the 9th, I will be joining out technology committee in Grand Rapids for MACUL.


Have a great weekend.


Respectfully submitted on this 24th day of February, 2012.


Jason C. Gribble
Educational Leader
Riverside Middle School


“Teachers will Teach
Students will Learn
The Data will prove that what we are doing is Right.”