“We have 32 new teachers and our staff is excited for the new school year,” exclaimed Big Lake School Supt. Steve Westerberg. “Our teachers are coming in next week to learn about our new curriculum and assessment tools.
“Because of additional state Alternative Delivery of Specialized Instructional Services (ADSIS) funding,” continued Westerberg, “we’ve been able to add three literacy specialists and one behavior interventionist.”
“One of the literacy specialists and the behavior interventionist will be at Liberty Elementary School,” noted Executive Director Dr. David Bernard of the school’s Teaching & Learning. “The other two specialists will be at Independence Elementary STEM School and Big Lake Middle School (BLMS). These specialists will provide targeted assistance for students to read at grade level.
“We are also adding several targeted reading intervention supports for students in grades K-5,” continued Bernard. “These include Words Their Way, Class DIBELS, System 44, PRESS, and Sonday System .”
Transitional Kindergarten: Liberty Elementary has added a section of transitional kindergarten designed to provide students with targeted academic, social, emotional and behavioral supports to ensure their success.
Project Lead the Way (PLTW): Liberty and Independence have expanded their PLTW launch course to support Science Technology Math Engineering & Match (STEM) programming. Middle School will expand their STEM program.
Big Lake High School (BLHS) is now a national PLTW high school. This partnership will expand BLHS’s regionally recognized apprenticeship program. BLHS has also added an additional PLTW course.
1:1 Chromebook Pilot Program: BLMS will be piloting an in-school 1:1 Chromebook program. Each student will be assigned a Chromebook at the start of the school year to support personalized learning and increase student engagement.
Writing Courses: BLMS has added two writing courses to increase its literacy programming and develop stronger writing and reading skills to help students become more fluent and confident writers.
Advanced Placement (AP) English Course: BLHS has added an AP English course. The rigorous course design will prepare students to potentially earn college credit at the end of the school year.
Financial Literacy: As part of the recently approved graduation requirements, a new financial literacy course is being offered for all sophomore students at BLHS. The requirement aligns with feedback from BLHS graduates and best practices to support career and college readiness.
STAR 360 Math and Reading Assessments: Students in grades 1-10 will be assessed on grade level performances expectations for math and reading. The fall assessment period will be used to identify targeted instructional needs in math and reading for students. It will monitor student progress and identify instructional interventions that will support student learning and instructional planning.
STAR360 assessments align with MN Academic Standards and can serve as an indicator of students’ performance on MN Comprehensive Assessments (MCAs).