Summit News

June 8, 2000

Volume 9, No. 10

Summit Calendar

• June 9: Last day of school. Graduation ceremony, Fairview High School auditorium, 12:30 PM
• June 9: Graduation party, South Boulder Recreation Center, 7-10 PM
• June 12: 9:00 - 3:00, Packing Day
• June 13: 10:30 - 3:00, Packing Day
• June 14: 9:00 - 3:00, Packing Day
• June 15: 9:00 - 3:00, Packing Day
• June 16: 9:00 - 3:00, Packing Day
• July 28: 1:30 - 2:30, Labeling Day
• July 29: 8:30 - 3:30, Moving Day
• July 30: 11:00 - 3:00, Moving Day
• July 31: 8:30 - 3:30, Moving Day
• Aug 1: 8:30 - 3:30, Moving Day
• Aug 23: First day of school for new students
• Aug 24: First day of school for all other students

Openings for Office Staff

Summit is still looking for a full time para-professional to work in the office and to do some supervision of students. This person needs to be efficient and have excellent people skills, data entry experience, and an affection for middle school age students. We are also looking for a part time para-pro to assist with similar duties. The full time job requires that the person work one day before school begins for students, and one or two days after school lets out. Please contact Ms. Grove at the Summit office as soon as possible.

Summit Board Update

Summit board officers were selected at the June 5 Summit board meeting. For the 2000-01 school year they are: Jim Cederberg (chair), Chris Howard (vice-chair), Barbry Hogue (secretary), and Hunter McDaniel (treasurer).

New board member Betsy Phelan was officially installed at the meeting as Eric Lindemann retired, and Martha Gorman and Scott Smith continue with their two-year terms. Thanks to all of our board members for their dedicated volunteer service to Summit.

Summit Move Update

Volunteers are still desperately needed for Summit's move. Our move will take place in two primary stages.

First stage:

• June 12, Monday, 9:00 - 3:00 (priority day)
• June 13, Tuesday, 10:30 - 3:00 (priority day)
• June 14, Wednesday, 9:00 - 3:00 (priority day)
• June 15, Thursday, 9:00 - 3:00
• June 16, Friday, 9:00 - 3:00

On these days we will box up books, files, etc., and move them into a Summit/Southern Hills space. Many hands will make the work lighter. Every hour does count, and of course the students are welcome to join their parents. Signs will be posted with details.

Second stage:

• July 28, Friday, 1:30 - 2:30, 10 responsible people needed to label the furnishings in the classrooms with their destination room numbers
• July 29, Saturday, 8:30 - 3:30
• July 30, Sunday, 11:00 - 3:00
• July 31, Monday, 8:30 - 3:30
• August 1, Tuesday, 8:30 - 3:30

On these days we will move Summit's desks, furnishings, and boxed items to the Majestic Heights campus and place them in their permanent classrooms. We have arranged for a private moving truck on the weekend and a district supplied truck on Monday and Tuesday. Parents with trucks would be particularly useful in carefully moving our computer equipment.

We need lots of able-bodied people who can lift and carry heavy objects during the second stage of the move. We plan to have volunteers at both school locations so that the loading and unloading of items will go as quickly as possible. Volunteering for a four hour time slot on any of these days would be greatly appreciated. If we do not have enough volunteers for July 29 through August 1, it could cause the move to be extended into August 2 and 3.

Thanks to all those parents who have already called and graciously volunteered to help. You will be called with specific times as we finalize scheduling.

To sign up for stage one, please call Debra Feyh at 303-543-8646. To sign up for stage two, please call Tom Jarmon at 303-442-5458 (work) or 303-444-2262 (home). Please leave your name and number so we can let you know if times change.

Tools for Learning 1999-2000

by Janet Christensen

We are nearing the end of Summit's annual Tools for Learning fundraising campaign. I would like to thank the 138 generous Summit families, organizations, and corporations that have contributed a total of $50,000, making 1999-2000 a very successful year. However, the school year is not quite over yet and you can still make your donation. If you have lost your pledge package and would still like to contribute, please call Janet Christensen at 303-499-5786.

One of the reasons Summit is so special as a school is the volunteer help. I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who have helped me create this year's Tools for Learning campaign. Bonnie Mettler, Anne Horlbeck, Anita Gonzales, and Ashley O'Connor have done a wonderful job formatting the pledge package, preparing mailings, preparing receipts, and making phone calls.

I owe the greatest debt of gratitude to Jeff Bradley, Summit's original fundraiser and Dean of Fun. Jeff has been there every step of the way when I have needed help, advice, and inspiration. One of my goals is to see that the program for which Jeff worked so hard will always be a part of Summit.

Hiring Committee News

by Barbry Hogue and Cinda Graubard

We are pleased to report that Summit has hired three new teachers for next year, and we warmly welcome them to our staff. Mr. Tony Alcantara will teach math, Ms. Carola Gorschboth will teach German, and Ms. Alexandra Londos will teach Social Studies. Mr. Sam Havens, who has been an interim replacement teacher this quarter, will return to teach a section of Social Studies as well as some PE and other elective classes. Dr. Steve Goldhaber will be returning next year to teach Computer Programming and Applied Technology.

We are continuing with interviews for an English teacher and a Physical Science teacher. We appreciate your recommendations of qualified potential applicants.

We sincerely thank the students who have participated in teacher interviews so far this spring. We could not do Summit's type of hiring without you. To date, more than 40 Summit students, from all three grades, have volunteered as student participants. We hope that more of you will be able to help us with teacher interviews now that summer is here.

Please give one of us a call if you have questions about Summit's hiring process: Barbry Hogue (303-665-3798), Cinda Graubard (303-444-4851), Hiring Committee Co-Chairs.

Math Olympiads

Congratulations to the 6th and 7th grade Summit students who participated in Math Olympiads this year. This was a joint Summit and Southern Hills team effort coached by Betty Tuchman and Ellen Rodgers. For a period of five months, these mathaletes met once a week to work on fun and challenging math problems. They competed once each month in the international Math Olympiad test.

The 6th grade participants were Daniel Beylkin, Dillon Miner, Andrew Jarmon, Michael McAuliffe, Barrett Scott, and Cassie Houtz. Of 81,255 participants on 3,286 teams in this division, Dillon Miner earned a silver pin for finishing in the top 10%. Daniel Beylkin earned a gold pin for finishing in the top 2%. Kent Gonzales was one of 6,532 participants on 299 teams in the 7th grade Middle School Division, and he earned a silver pin for finishing in the top 10%. Congratulations to all participants.

Cadette Girl Scout Troop 1462

Three cheers for the girls in Cadette Girl Scout Troop 1462. This semester they have camped in teepees, performed the flag ceremony for the Veterans Memorial Day services, run the program for Brownies to earn their first Junior Girl Scout badge, sold hundreds of boxes of cookies, participated in a personal safety class, prepared a wonderful Valentines Day tea party for their moms, volunteered in the March of Dimes Walk America, and earned the Camping, American Buffalo, and Games for Life badges. Many of the girls will be program aides this summer at the various Girl Scout camps assisting the camp counselors in running the activities for the younger Scouts. The Summit girls in the Troop are Genevieve Aguilar, Jessica Boulet, Lara Brown, Melissa Crocker, Erika Daley, Elise Hogue, Jennifer Kaniecki, and Sarah Mallory.

For those girls interested in joining Cadette Girl Scout Troop 1462, please contact Ramona Corvin-Brown at 303-442-0382 or Leslie Kaniecki at 303-665-9518.

Exceptional Student Has Ties to Summit

Matanya Horowitz, who takes two classes at Summit, received a special commendation from the City of Boulder for his volunteer work in Scouting and helping his mother, Gloria August, with her foreign language program for the City of Boulder. Matanya is conducting a Hebrew course at the Boulder Public Library this summer for his Eagle Scout project. He will be taking a Java programming class at Front Range Community College this summer.

Home-schooled Matanya (age 12) and his brother, Benyakir (age 10), were accepted for the Physics Institute at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. It is a two-day course intended for high school honors students who have a high degree of mathematical development.

Creative Opportunity

Summit News is in need of a new editor. If you have an interest in fostering communication within the Summit community, this job is for you. There is an army of willing volunteers to help with writing, copying, and mailing the newsletter. An editor is needed to manage this creative energy and relay information to parents and students. If you would like more information about this opportunity, please call Linda Parkhill at 303-665-9355.

New IQ Test Needs Participants

Riverside Publishing has asked the Gifted Development Center to take part in the first norming sequence of the new Stanford Binet V. They are looking for 200 volunteers from the ages of five through adult who are available for approximately three hours during a day in June or July to take this new IQ test. Riverside Publishing is offering a small monetary incentive to all who take part. No results of assessment will be given to participants because the test is not yet standardized. Many of the items will be eliminated before the test is released.

Those interested in scheduling an appointment or who would like more information, please contact Lee Ann at the Gifted Development Center. Phone 303-837-8378 or e-mail gifted@gifteddevelopment.com and write "SB-V" on the subject line.

Learning to Learn Class

Weekly classes for 6th through 12th graders will be given in the fall to provide help with learning styles, time management, and organizational skills, note taking, test taking, and memory skills. Parents attend free with students. Cost is $125 for five classes. For more information, call Gloria Frender, 303-530-3195.

Safe to Draw

In response to recent news stories, Binney and Smith has forwarded a report from an independent laboratory which concludes that Crayola crayons are asbestos-free and do not pose any known health risk to consumers. If you would like more information, call 1-800-272-9652, or visit their website at www.crayola.com.

Science Fun for Fathers Day

Area students and their families are invited to join staff and their families at the National Center for Atmospheric Research for some unusual science fun and exploration on Fathers Day, June 18. The Bubble & Balloon Festival will take place from 10 AM to 4 PM on the plazas and grounds of the NCAR Mesa Laboratory, 1850 Table Mesa Drive in Boulder.

NCAR's Bubble & Balloon Festival is all about the physics of bubbles and balloons. It is part of NCAR's 40th anniversary celebration and includes the opening of a special exhibit highlighting NCAR's 40 years of research. The event features bubbologist, Casey Carle, movement artist, Peter Davison, and balloon sculptor, Bongo, as well as weather balloon launches, tethered hot air balloons, and giant cold air inflatables. A bubble gum blowing contest, science demonstrations, and dozens of hands-on bubble and balloon activities round out the event.

SchoolCash.com

Although Summit had not been formally enrolled in the program, several members of the Summit community have begun to shop at <SchoolCash.com>. This month, Summit received money as a designated beneficiary. Since this service seems to be useful and accessible, Summit will enroll in the program. Any shopping you do online at <SchoolCash.com> can be designated to benefit Summit. Thanks, from the Summit staff.

Library/Resource Center Volunteers and Donations

If you would like to join the effort to create an innovative Summit Library and Resource Center at our new site, or if you have high quality materials that you feel would be of use to our students and faculty, please call Marti Gorman at 303-494-4488.

Summit News

Articles for the next issue of Summit News may be sent to LDParkhill@aol.com. Summit News is on the Web at http://bcn.boulder.co.us/univ_school/summit/

Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (TerraNova)

The CTBS (TerraNova) was given to all Summit students in April 2000. No student was excluded because of special education status. Science and Social Studies CTBS subtests were not given by Summit in 2000 in recognition of the time devoted to the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) tests. The district administered the CTBS only to 6th graders in 2000.

The CTBS provides important information to complement the CSAP: (1) CTBS gives a student's and a class's standing with respect to national norms. (2) Whereas the CSAP tests students in only one subject, different for each grade level, Summit gives the CTBS to all students in reading, language, and mathematics every year. Thus, the CTBS allows Summit to measure student progress from year to year.

Need for Above-Grade-Level Testing

Many Summit students top-out on the regular grade-level TerraNova. To assess the relative strengths and weaknesses of these students, and to measure their growth while at Summit, the Summit Board decided to administer one-grade-level higher tests to students beginning in 1999. The TerraNova tests are normed for a range of grades. For example, the 8th-grade-level test is normed for students from the sixth month of grade 7 through the second month of grade 9. Our 7th graders, taking the 8th-grade test in April (the eighth month of grade 7), fall within the norming range. Thus, the score reports for our students remain valid and comparable to previous years; the students are not penalized for taking the more advanced tests.

Summit requests pattern or "item response theory" (IRT) scoring rather than traditional (number correct) scoring. IRT scoring adjusts for guessing and also gives individual students a much better idea of their strengths and weaknesses. Class averages, however, are almost identical for IRT and traditional scoring. The district uses traditional scoring; as part of the district-wide 6th-grade testing, our 6th graders were scored using traditional scoring.

Summit's Median 2000 Scores

One indicator of a school's effectiveness is its "anticipated 50th percentile difference score," the difference between the actual and anticipated performance of an average student at the school. A positive difference indicates value added. Summit intends for most of its students to have actual scores higher than anticipated.

Table 1 gives the actual ("Act.") national percentile score for a median ("average") Summit student in all areas for all three grades, along with differences ("Dif.") from the anticipated score that is based on the Test of Cognitive Skills. Summit students performed very well, as they have every year since the school opened. Areas of relative deficiency are spelling and language mechanics for 6th and 7th graders.

Longitudinal Comparison

Table 2 gives the median TerraNova national percentile scores for 2000's 7th and 8th grade classes during their years at Summit. There was significant improvement in Math for 2000's 7th graders and in Language for 2000's 8th graders. Total scores increased from year to year for our current 7th and 8th graders, which satisfies one of Summit's accountability goals.

It is our goal that each student achieve at least one year of academic growth in every subject every year he or she is at Summit. We want each student to increase in national percentile score from year to year, especially in areas of deficiency. Summit staff analyzes the data and teachers modify parts of the curriculum as needed to address the deficiencies.

Table 3 gives the national percentile and grade equivalent "Total" scores for Summit's own 10th, 25th, 50th (median), 75th, and 90th percentile students. (See Table 4 for 6th grade.) Summit students are narrowly clustered about the median, well above the national average. Even Summit's 10th percentile is above the national average. We note that the national average is generally regarded by testing professionals to be below proficient.

In terms of grade equivalent, a national percentile score of 99.0 in 7th grade, for example, extrapolates to a median score for students in the ninth month of 12th grade. The grade equivalent scale is much coarser than the national percentile scale.

Nationally normed tests, such as the CTBS, are but one measure of student performance and school effectiveness. Results can help in student placement and serve as an early warning of deficiencies.

Comparison with Other Middle Schools

Table 4 shows the 2000 6th-grade TerraNova CTBS scores for all Boulder Valley middle schools. "Total" scores - which are a composite of reading, language, and mathematics - are shown for each school's own 25th, 50th, and 75th percentile students, along with the number of students tested. Actual ("Act."), anticipated ("Ant."), and difference ("Dif.") scores are given for each school's 50th percentile (median).

In comparing anticipated differences, one should note that they are based on national percentile scores. The "Teacher's Guide to TerraNova" observes, "[National] percentile ranks are not equal-interval data. Differences between percentile ranks are larger near the ends of the range than they are in the middle. For example, the difference between percentile ranks of 5 and 10 or between 90 and 95 is much greater than the difference between percentile ranks of 50 and 55. Because the intervals between percentiles are unequal, percentiles are not suitable for statistical work such as computing averages."

To compare the value added by different schools, reference must be made to scores reported on an equal-interval scale. Normal Curve Equivalent (NCE) scores are often used for this purpose. NCE score reports are available from the publishers of TerraNova but are not requested by the school district. However, formulas or tables may be used to convert national percentiles to normal curve equivalents.

Table 5 gives actual and anticipated NCE scores for the middle schools. Note that NCE scores are not percentile scores and are not very useful for gauging the achievement of individual students. Their utility, for present purposes, is in the difference computation, the last column in the table.

Compared with Table 4, the difference scores in Table 5 become smaller for schools near the 50th percentile and larger for schools well above the 50th percentile. For example, Monarch's difference score converts downward from 10.9 to 6.2, whereas Summit's difference score converts upward from 7.1 to 7.4. Similar relationships would be obtained using any equal-interval scale such as "z-scores" or "T-scores." Unlike the national percentile scale differences reported by the district, a difference of 7.4 NCEs represents the same amount of value added at all levels of achievement.