News from our Secondary Principal, Kathrine Banner
Dear Parents,
Our Student Support Team (SST) is composed of our two secondary counselors, three learning support specialists, and three English Language Learning Specialists. At GAA, we strive to offer many layers of support to our students, and this team is specifically designed for that purpose.
Additionally, your student(s) will receive another layer of support through their advisory class, which is scheduled for all students twice a week for 30 minutes. The advisory time period is a fantastic time period dedicated to facilitating close connections at GAA. Not only do students get opportunities to connect with other students that may not be in their other classes, but their advisor serves as their “point person”. Their advisor will check on them periodically by having one to one meetings with each student.
Advisors will check on their advisee’s grades, communicate with teachers, and handle small issues or conflicts that may surface. Your student’s advisor is a fantastic first form of contact when minor issues arise as the advisors will establish a very supportive relationship with each student in their advisory class. Please make sure you are aware of your child’s advisor, and we encourage you to make sure you meet them on Back to School Night!
Sincerely,
Katherine Banner
Our Student Support Team (SST) is composed of our two secondary counselors, three learning support specialists, and three English Language Learning Specialists. At GAA, we strive to offer many layers of support to our students, and this team is specifically designed for that purpose.
Additionally, your student(s) will receive another layer of support through their advisory class, which is scheduled for all students twice a week for 30 minutes. The advisory time period is a fantastic time period dedicated to facilitating close connections at GAA. Not only do students get opportunities to connect with other students that may not be in their other classes, but their advisor serves as their “point person”. Their advisor will check on them periodically by having one to one meetings with each student.
Advisors will check on their advisee’s grades, communicate with teachers, and handle small issues or conflicts that may surface. Your student’s advisor is a fantastic first form of contact when minor issues arise as the advisors will establish a very supportive relationship with each student in their advisory class. Please make sure you are aware of your child’s advisor, and we encourage you to make sure you meet them on Back to School Night!
Sincerely,
Katherine Banner
Dear GAA grade 6 to 10 Parent(s),
During Sep.18 to Sep.29, your child will complete web-based tests called Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) developed by the organization NWEA™. NWEA™ is a global not-for-profit educational services organization with over 30 years experience developing adaptive assessments, professional development, and educational research. MAP tests are unique in that they adapt to be appropriate for your child’s level of learning. As a result, each student has the same opportunity to answer questions successfully.
Here at GAA, we give students MAP tests twice a year to determine your child’s instructional level and to measure academic growth over time in the areas of Mathematics, Language Usage, Reading, and General Science. Following each testing period, you will receive a report showing your child’s results and growth.
These MAP® results are a useful additional piece of information for teachers to get to know their students better. MAP® assessments are used to measure your student’s progress or growth in school. You may have a chart in your home on which you mark your child’s height at certain times, such as on his or her birthday. This growth chart shows how much he or she has grown from one year to the next. MAP® assessments do the same sort of thing, except they measure your child’s growth in mathematics, reading, language usage, and science skills. The scale used to measure your child’s progress is called the RIT scale (Rasch unIT). The RIT scale is an equal-interval scale much like feet and inches on a yardstick, or meters and cm on a meter stick.
As such, these results are not included in our official report cards and transcripts. Instead of being a “grade”, MAP results are used as a tool to:
For more information on MAP® resources for parents, download the Parent Toolkit at https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2014/07/ParentToolkit_0.pdf.
Please feel free to direct enquiries to the Secondary School Curriculum & Data Coordinator, Jen Parker at [email protected].
During Sep.18 to Sep.29, your child will complete web-based tests called Measures of Academic Progress® (MAP®) developed by the organization NWEA™. NWEA™ is a global not-for-profit educational services organization with over 30 years experience developing adaptive assessments, professional development, and educational research. MAP tests are unique in that they adapt to be appropriate for your child’s level of learning. As a result, each student has the same opportunity to answer questions successfully.
Here at GAA, we give students MAP tests twice a year to determine your child’s instructional level and to measure academic growth over time in the areas of Mathematics, Language Usage, Reading, and General Science. Following each testing period, you will receive a report showing your child’s results and growth.
These MAP® results are a useful additional piece of information for teachers to get to know their students better. MAP® assessments are used to measure your student’s progress or growth in school. You may have a chart in your home on which you mark your child’s height at certain times, such as on his or her birthday. This growth chart shows how much he or she has grown from one year to the next. MAP® assessments do the same sort of thing, except they measure your child’s growth in mathematics, reading, language usage, and science skills. The scale used to measure your child’s progress is called the RIT scale (Rasch unIT). The RIT scale is an equal-interval scale much like feet and inches on a yardstick, or meters and cm on a meter stick.
As such, these results are not included in our official report cards and transcripts. Instead of being a “grade”, MAP results are used as a tool to:
- help inform instruction & support instructional practices
- measure the growth of each student over time regardless of on, above, or below grade level performance
- compare and predict student achievement and growth over time using well-researched normative information
- engage students and families in goal setting
- provide further information to schools about curriculum strengths and areas for improvement
For more information on MAP® resources for parents, download the Parent Toolkit at https://www.nwea.org/content/uploads/2014/07/ParentToolkit_0.pdf.
Please feel free to direct enquiries to the Secondary School Curriculum & Data Coordinator, Jen Parker at [email protected].
News from our IB Diploma coordinator, Patrick Lyons
This week GAA saw another first as the IB Diplomas for our Class of 2016 were delivered to the school. All week we have been seeing familiar faces of alumni and parents coming to pick up that hard-won piece of paper. In our IB Diploma class of 27 students, 21 earned the full diploma with scores ranging from 24 to 36. The other 6 students received certificates noting their success in individual subjects.
There was of course a special pride at GAA in our first cohort but worldwide, hundreds of thousands of IB students were collecting certificates from thousands of IB World Schools too.
Worldwide, the pass rate was almost identical to our 78% and the GAA average score of 28.5 was just under the world average of 30. Our students excelled in many subjects and notably our language scores were well above the Europe Africa Middle East region and the rest of the world. As we start a new year, our Diploma Programme team have cause for celebration and food for thought. We are focused on improvement but also extremely proud of the global citizens in our class of 2016, heading off to Universities around the world.
Regards,
Paddy Lyons
There was of course a special pride at GAA in our first cohort but worldwide, hundreds of thousands of IB students were collecting certificates from thousands of IB World Schools too.
Worldwide, the pass rate was almost identical to our 78% and the GAA average score of 28.5 was just under the world average of 30. Our students excelled in many subjects and notably our language scores were well above the Europe Africa Middle East region and the rest of the world. As we start a new year, our Diploma Programme team have cause for celebration and food for thought. We are focused on improvement but also extremely proud of the global citizens in our class of 2016, heading off to Universities around the world.
Regards,
Paddy Lyons
Do you love TRIVIA?
Do you enjoy COMPETING on a TEAM against other schools?
If so, come join GAA’s Academic Games team!
What:
Please see Mr. Van Pelt ([email protected]) or Ms. Newman ([email protected]) for more details.
Do you enjoy COMPETING on a TEAM against other schools?
If so, come join GAA’s Academic Games team!
What:
- a team competition covering Math, English, Social Studies, and Critical Thinking
- the “season” will culminate in a competition in Dubai, November 18 -19
- students in grades 8 - 12
- Room 226
- Sundays and Tuesdays, from 3 – 4 pm.
Please see Mr. Van Pelt ([email protected]) or Ms. Newman ([email protected]) for more details.
Here is our Community and Secondary School Calendar - Scroll through the months to see what's planned for this year at GAA
Please make sure you check this calendar regularly for updates and new events.