School Highlights

• English as a Second Language – Our ESL population had grown to 57%. The majority of our staff was in their second ESL course through Kansas State University. They were working toward their ESL endorsement. The course was being instructed by our principal who had over 20 years of experience in ESL. We had a full time ESL teacher who spent the majority of her time collaborating with our teachers and coteaching in the classroom.
• School Improvement Team – The SIT team met regularly to discuss the academic and behavior needs of our students. The team looked at classroom interventions to help the students who were recommended to make more progress in the classroom.
• RIF – The Reading is Fundamental Program gave students the opportunity to receive books. Books were also made available in Spanish for our ELL students.
• Mark Twain's PTA was up and running. Many projects were being planned to encourage community involvement and to help raise money for our school.
• Mark Twain was working with the Urban Scholastic Center under the direction of Chuck Allen. Mr. Allen was working on a weekly basis with our older students in the areas of character building and making wise choices. The Urban Scholastic Center held after school tutoring for our 4th and 5th grade students on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
• Mark Twain did not have the minimum percent of students scoring at the proficient level to meet the state's criterion for "adequate yearly progress." Mark Twain offered a school tutoring program to increase student achievement. Tutoring was provided in math and reading.
• PBS – Mark Twain became a PBS school last year and we continued to implement the Positive Behavior Support program as a school-wide program.
• Mark Twain piloted a uniform program. We had a large percentage of students who were participating on a volunteer basis.

Mission Statement

To have every child reading at or above grade level by third grade with no regressions thereafter and to provide the educational foundation for students to become self-reliant, life-long learners.

This building report card is a brief summary of how your school and students are performing and the impact of your local school improvement plan. However, it should not be used as a single source to judge students or school accomplishments. No single report can tell the whole story of a district's or school's education program. This report card does not provide information about curriculum, teaching methods, special programs, the "climate" of your school or the performance of individual teachers or administrators.

In addition, this report card is not a way of "rating" or "ranking" schools. Because of the distinct community and student characteristics, direct comparison between schools or districts are invalid. Rank-ordering school districts or schools is a clear misuse of the information. Rather, the information should be used to access local strengths and weaknesses based on past performance and to plan program improvements.

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