Mr. Beckeman's Blog

May 6, 2011

R-P Senior Earns Scholarship To Attend Citizen’s Academy

Filed under: Archive,Community News,Parents,School Board,Staff,Students,Teaching & Learning,Uncategorized,Vision & Purpose — Mr. Beckeman @ 2:27 pm

R-PHS senior and Incentive To Learn Intern, Kailey Burnam, has been accepted as a participant in the Citizen’s Academy sponsored and directed by the City of Muskegon Police Department.  The Academy is a five-week course designed to teach high school students more about the career of law enforcement.  Kailey was one of only eight students who were accepted to the new session of the academy following the application process, which included a group interview.

For more information on the academy, check out the following link:

Citizen’s Academy

Here’s what Kailey had to say about her internship:

“The officers were more than helpful!  They answered all my questions and have taught me so much about the system.  I’ve witnessed a felony traffic stop, arrests involving drugs, domestic violence calls, searching an empty warehouse, larceny calls and bringing a lost child home.

The officers that I’ve been working with went above and beyond showing me all aspects of the job as a patrol officer from traffic stops to bringing someone to jail.  The officers also helped prepare me for my cadet interview.  I’m very grateful and appreciative to the Muskegon Police Department for taking me as their intern.”

Muskegon Police Department Captain, Mr. Mark Lewis shared his thoughts in a short video.  Click the link to view his comments.

Captain Mark Lewis

We’re very proud of Kailey and look forward to future success stories about her!

January 12, 2011

Positive Behavior Support Video

Filed under: Archive,Community News,Continuous Improvement,Parents,School Board,School Improvement,Staff,Stakeholder Communications,Students,Vision & Purpose — Mr. Beckeman @ 1:13 pm

As we continue to explore avenues of communicating positive behavior among our student body, Mr. Schlaff, guidance counselor at R-PHS, has crafted a video on sportsmanship.  Please take a moment to view the contents of this message. 

Sportsmanship

Accreditation Standard I: Vision & Purpose

Filed under: Archive,Community News,Parents,School Board,School Improvement,Staff,Students,Uncategorized,Vision & Purpose — Mr. Beckeman @ 8:57 am

An update on the Accreditation Standard I:  Vision & Purpose

The NCA Internal Peer Review (IPR) team noted how R-PHS met the intent of the standard based on the preponderance of evidence:

During our visit the team noted that the mission statement of “Igniting minds, Fueling futures” was alive and well.  The mission statement was artfully displayed throughout the school as well as understood by stakeholders.  R-PHS stakeholders spoke of the mission in their own respective ways.  Parents confidently spoke of their children being ready for college or “over prepared” for college when exiting R-PHS.  Students testified of many co-curricular and extra curricular opportunities that they believe will help them in the future.  The staff is mindfully aware of the mission statement with teachers teaching essential content and focusing on using the reciprocal teaching strategy to increase reading comprehension.  All staff members are also giving students more practice with the writing process with more written responses in all classes.  Students attested to writing in all subject areas including math and P.E.  The mission statement at R-PHS is well understood and applied to making R-PHS a place to maximize the potential of all students and prepare them to compete and contribute as caring, knowledgeable citizens in our rapidly-changing world.

The team noted several successful practices deserving of recognition:

  • Mission statement artfully displayed in nearly all classrooms and throughout the school
  • Winning grant that supports after school activities for students in need
  • Opening the “Apollo Program” for students who for various reasons need another format of learning that is more flexible
  • Reading and Writing Goals that align to the mission
  • Students’ acknowledgement of writing strategies being done in all subject areas (ex. Art, PE, etc)
  • Continuous spectrum of classes offered
  • Extra curricular and co-curricular activities are numerous
  • Career Pathways used to help guide/educate students to possible careers
  • Embracing student Lexile score data and exploring different uses of this data
  • Reading Lexile data and adding a section of READ 180 2nd  Semester
  • Increased blog use and the # of teachers that have a blog set up
  • Mr. Beckeman’s blog that has many posts about school improvement that all stakeholders have access to
  • Annual report on the districts website with a profile of R-PHS that is current, comprehensive, and available to all stake holders on RPHS’s website
  • Commitment to the reciprocal teaching strategy and printing poster for classroom use
  • Content posted on walls / much of it dealing with vocabulary and peppered with icons

The IPR team suggested the following recommendations for action planning:

  • Utilize communication devices (such as staff blogs) to develop understanding and support of the mission of R-PHS
  • Consider ways in which the R-PHS annual report can present information on how data sets drive instructional decisions

The action plans that staff have initiated are:

  • Increasing the use of staff and administrative blogs to inform all stakeholders of school improvement initiatives as well as instructional support
  • Expand the informational services on the high school website

Please take the time to “surf” the high school website.  I believe you will be impressed with the information and support provided by our students.

The Seven Standards of School Accreditation

Filed under: Community News,Continuous Improvement,Documenting Results,Governance & Leadership,Parents,Resource & Support Systems,School Board,School Improvement,Staff,Stakeholder Communications,Students,Teaching & Learning,Vision & Purpose — Mr. Beckeman @ 7:10 am

Reeths-Puffer High School has been accredited through North Central Accreditation since 1972.  Over the course of 37 years of quality school accreditation, the North Central Association has evolved to assist schools in identifying quality target area goals, research-based strategies to achieve these goals and measures to monitor the progress of the intended goals.

Reeths-Puffer Schools are one of several public schools in the state of Michigan to engage in district accreditation.  This process involves all buildings and their adherence to seven specified standards that assure a quality education for all students.

The Seven Standards of NCA District Accreditation are:

Vision & Purpose

Governance & Leadership

Teaching & Learning

Documenting & Using Results

Resource & Support Systems

Stakeholder Communication & Relationships

Commitment to Continuous Improvement

I will provide to you what the high school has done, is doing and what plans we have for future work in each of the seven standards through posts to this blog. 

You will read the commendations that were presented from our visit last spring, the recommendations for consideration and our action plans on improving our services to our students specific to each standard in future posts by standard.

As an instructional staff,  are always looking to improve on our programming for our kids.  The District Accreditation model allows us to organize our focus our improvmement plans to augment student achievement across all disciplines.

May 26, 2010

Internal Peer Review Report

Filed under: Community News,Continuous Improvement,Documenting Results,Governance & Leadership,Parents,Resource & Support Systems,School Board,School Improvement,Staff,Stakeholder Communications,Students,Teaching & Learning,Uncategorized,Vision & Purpose — Mr. Beckeman @ 7:42 am

On May 13th, the district’s Internal Peer Review Team paid a visit to the high school focusing their attention on the high school’s improvement efforts in the seven standards of school improvement as identified by North Central Accreditation (NCA).  The seven standards are:

  • Vision and Purpose
  • Governance and Leadership
  • Teaching and Learning
  • Documenting and Using Results
  • Resource and Support Systems
  • Stakeholder Communications and Relationships
  • Commitment to Continuous Improvement

Our strategic improvement efforts to improve our goals in reading and writing over the course of the 2009-10 school are directly linked to the seven standards.  Our two target area goals are:

  • All students will show improvement in reading comprehension across the curriculum.
  • All students will support ideas by providing details and examples when writing across the curriculum.

The NCA leadership team responsible for organizing and assisting the improvements efforts at the high school are:

  • Linda Hanson
  • Nancy Burton
  • Diana Hynde
  • Julie Kotecki
  • Liz Pratt
  • Curt Crouch
  • Tim McDougle
  • Craig Olson

The Internal Peer Review Report was just released to the high school this morning and we want to share the good news with all stakeholders associated with R-PHS.  You can click on the link below to review the report.

High School IPR Report

May 6, 2010

World Language Across The Curriculum

Filed under: Archive,Community News,Parents,School Board,Staff,Students,Vision & Purpose — Mr. Beckeman @ 11:34 am

Starting in the fall of the 2010-11 school year, Spanish will be delivered across elementary, intermediate and middle school grades so students will enter the high school with credits earned in Spanish I and potentially Spanish II.  This curricular change will result in an expanded opportunity for elective choices for students over the course of their four years in the high school. 

I have linked three documents that will assist you in understanding why the district has moved to deliver Spanish at lower levels.  Please review the links provided below for detailed information on the upcoming changes.

World Language Curriculum

Spanish Research

Spanish Scope and Sequence

March 2, 2010

Rocket Scholars Foundation Scholarships

Filed under: Archive,Community News,Parents,School Board,School Improvement,Staff,Stakeholder Communications,Students,Uncategorized,Vision & Purpose — Mr. Beckeman @ 3:39 pm

The Rocket Scholars Foundation Board of Trustees is pleased to announce two scholarship opportunities for Reeths-Puffer seniors:  The Rocket Scholars Foundation Scholarship and the April Anne Boss Scholarship. 

 The April Anne Boss Scholarship was created by her parents in honor of April who graduated from Reeths-Puffer High School in 1997.  During her years at RPHS she was active in the choir and in many church related activities.  This scholarship criterion has an emphasis in choir or band.

 The Rocket Scholars Foundation was created by parents and alumni with two purposes in mind:  1) to continue to foster within the school system a culture of rigorous academic achievement for all students and 2) to offer those students who have demonstrated high achievement, scholarships to help defray the increasingly expensive tuition costs at colleges, universities and accredited post-secondary vocational and technical schools. 

 Three students will be awarded a Rocket Scholars Foundation Scholarship and one student will be awarded the April Anne Boss Scholarship.  Both scholarships are for one year in the amount of $500 each.  Scholarships may be applied to tuition, instructional fees, books and supplies.  Students must attend on a full-time basis to be eligible.  

To access the applications, click on the links below:

Rocket Scholars Application

April Bosse Sholarship Application

 Applications are due on Friday, April 30, 2010 at 4:00 p.m.  They should be sent to:          

Reeths-Puffer Schools

c/o Margie Bates

991 W. Giles Road

Muskegon, MI 49445

January 28, 2010

R-P Receives District Accreditation

Filed under: Archive,Community News,Continuous Improvement,Documenting Results,Governance & Leadership,Parents,Resource & Support Systems,School Board,School Improvement,Staff,Stakeholder Communications,Students,Teaching & Learning,Vision & Purpose — Mr. Beckeman @ 8:10 am

Reeths-Puffer District Schools hosted a national NCA visitation team this week with hopes that their review of our work in school improvement initiatives across the district met or exceeded their rigorous standards to receive District Accreditation Status.

The visiting team met with school board members, central office administration, building principals, NCA leadership teams from each of our schools, parents and finally students at all levels.

At the January school board meeting held last night, the visiting team presented their exit report to the board and audience highlighting commendations, challenges and recommendations.  The oral report can be accessed by clicking on the link provided below:

District Exit Report

The high school’s NCA leadership team enjoyed their time spent with the visiting team members.  Some comments from the members are bulleted below:

  • Students who were randomly picked from the visitation team mentioned that the high school was their favorite building.
  • Teachers are the best part of this school.  The students feel cared for.
  • The interview process proved to be very meaningful for our improvement initiatives.
  • It has improved our communications!
  • The change in focus from single buildings to a district focus will improve our vertical alignment.
  • It’s a reflection process which will make us better, which is what we desire.

The three day visit helped us recognize our strengths, highlight our challenges and sharpen our focus on raising student achievement across the district.

Team Photo: Distrcit Visitation Team Photo 002

December 28, 2009

Accreditation Standard I: Vision & Purpose

Filed under: Archive,Community News,Parents,School Board,School Improvement,Uncategorized,Vision & Purpose — Mr. Beckeman @ 10:04 am

“Igniting Minds, Fueling Futures”  (R-PHS Mission Statement)

An update on the Accreditation Standard I:  Vision & Purpose

As reported in the spring 2009 report, the commendations noted by the Quality Assurance Review Team (QART)  for Vision & Purpose were:

  • Mission statement proudly displayed throughout the high school
  • Parents believe in administration and teachers
  • Goals that align to the mission
  • Wide spectrum of classes offered
  • Extra curricular and co-curricular activities are numerous
  • Career Pathways used to guide students to possible careers

The team suggested the following recommendations for action planning for the 2009-10 school year:

  • Utilize communication devices (such as this blog) to develop stakeholder understanding and support of the mission of the high school.
  • Have a plan in place to continuously maintain and share the profile of the school, its students and the community.

The action plans that staff have initiated are:

  • Increasing the use of staff and administrative blogs to inform all stakeholders of school improvement initiatives as well as instructional support.
  • Expand the informational services on the high school website.

Please take the time to “surf” the high school website.  I believe you will be impressed with the information and support provided to our students!

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