March District Newsletter
This month's article is submitted by Tim Rybak, Director of Operations and Colleen Cardenuto, Director of Teaching, Learning and Assessment.

OPERATIONS
Tim Rybak, Director

Planning, a road map for the future!
You may be aware that New Prague Area Schools has recently completed a long range facility strategic plan. The purpose of the plan is to serve as a guide for decisions that may need to be made in the future with regards to facilities.

First and foremost, I would like to thank the over 40 community members and the members serving as resources who have logged more than 1000 work hours for this plan. They have done an exceptional job!

New Prague Area Schools facility planning committee studied our current facilities both indoor and outdoor, future demands on these facilities and possible configurations of our students within these facilities.

A strategy that was used during our planning process was to bring forth student enrollment projections. With these projections we were able to predict numbers of students at each grade level and apply these students to our current facilities. Once these students are placed we are able to determine our areas of need for the next ten years.

It is worth noting that these projections are just that, projections. In regards to projections one thing is for certain we will either grow at a slower rate or we will grow at a faster rate, seldom will we grow exactly as predicted.

Our plan indicates a capacity issue in the year 214; again this capacity issue is based on projections. A key point built in to our plan is that no action will be taken to remedy a pending capacity issue until the affected building has reached a capacity of 95%. 95% is used as a safeguard to protect against overbuilding.

With any growth comes the need to continue to create opportunities for students. This committee also analyzed our outdoor facilities. Part of this analysis was checking the existing shape, conditions and capacity needs for today's programming and future programming.

Our future holds many changes and New Prague Area Schools is very fortunate to have a strategic facility plan to guide us.

For more information feel free to check out our website at www.np.k12.mn.us.


TEACHING, LEARNING AND ASSESSMENT
Colleen Cardenuto, Director

The world of education offers many ways to measure student progress. One of the ways the state of Minnesota does so is through the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) in the areas of reading, mathematics, writing, and science. These tests help schools and districts measure student progress toward the state's academic standards and evaluate the performance of individual schools and districts. The MCAs reflect Minnesota's set of academic standards indicating what a child should know and learn at each grade level. For high school level students, successful completion of these tests is necessary before they can graduate.

The testing schedule for this year will be:

New Prague Area Elementary Schools: Eagle View, Falcon Ridge and Raven Stream
Grades	Assessment	Dates
3, 4 and 5	MCA II Reading	April 21st and April 22nd
3, 4 and 5	MCA II Mathematics	April 28th and April 29th
5	MCA II Science	April 30th and May 1st
New Prague Area Middle School
Grades	Assessment	Dates
6, 7 and 8	MCA II Mathematics	April 21st and April 22nd
6, 7 and 8	MCA II Reading	April 28th and April 29th
8	MCA II Science	May 19th and May 20th
New Prague Area High School
Grades	Assessment	Dates
9*	MCA II Writing GRAD	April 22nd
10*	MCA II Reading GRAD	April 22nd and 23rd
10	MCAII Science	May 13th and May 14th
11*	MCA II Mathematics GRAD	April 22nd and 23rd

*= Necessary for graduation from a Minnesota high school.

Attendance is vital for a number of reasons. First, if a student does not participate in the assessments, we as a district lack all of the available information about that student's progress and we are less able to evaluate that student's future educational needs. In addition, any student who does not take the tests is considered by the state not to have passed, as the state assesses individual schools and districts. (The district risks potential sanctions regardless of what students have actually learned if students have not participated sufficiently in these tests.) In the interests of your student's ongoing educational interests, please reschedule any appointments that you may have on these days. Due to test security, no one will be permitted to enter the testing sites after testing begins, therefore no students can be called from classrooms. We want the best information we can get on all of our students and ask your assistance in making that happen!

There are also other ways to help your student prepare for this day:

• Make sure your student has enough rest in the few days before testing, and especially the night before.
• Make sure your student has a good breakfast to fuel him or her through the day.
• Check out the on-line test preparation materials made available by the Minnesota Department of Education in conjunction with the testing company. You can access this information by going to the district's website at www.np.k12.mn.us and clicking on Curriculum. Alternately, you can type in http://PerspectiveForFamilies.com/MN into your address bar.
• Help your student approach the assessments calmly. Although they are important, there is little to be gained if students are too nervous as they approach the test.

Our best community results are possible when we, as a community, work together to ensure our students' success. Therefore, even if there are no students to be tested in your own household, you can still play a part.

• Talk with the young people you know about their preparations for their assessments.
• Encourage them in their studies and show an interest in their success.
• Empathize with them. These assessments loom large in the minds of our students.
• Engage their parents in similar conversations. Their children's future is the future for all of us!
• Investigate the test preparation information for yourself. It will help you gain insight into the standards our students will be tested on. You may find that things have changed since you were in school!

The New Prague Area School District thanks you in advance for your support and we wish our students well on these assessments.