July 12, 2002
Volume 13, No. 11
At Summit's beautiful graduation ceremony, one of our student exemplars, Colin Peterson, ended his speech by saying: "Let us remember this past year and what we accomplished together."
It has indeed been a year in which we accomplished a great deal together. Our accomplishments were experienced on many levels and not the least among them was growing stronger through the challenges we faced as a school community and as a nation. Watching our students graduate filled me with an enormous sense of pride. Yes, I was proud of what we had taught them during their time at Summit, of their academic achievements. But even more I was proud of the kind of people they had become during their time at Summit -- generous of spirit, filled with integrity and idealism, individualistic, possessing grace, humor and courage.
Our other student exemplar, Eve Aguilar, said: "We must impart the same patience, enthusiasm, and inspiration that was given to us during these three amazing years at Summit. Get involved. Help others, change the world, one person at a time." Powerful words from the heart.
I think, ultimately, what we all learned this year is the importance of each other. We learned to rely on each other. We learned that we can accomplish great things when we work together, that we can triumph over adversity if we face it together. There is a beauty and a truth to these lessons that we have all learned during this amazing year. If we can take this understanding and apply it in our lives then I believe Eve is correct. We will "change the world, one person at a time."
In case you have tried to contact Summit in the past couple of weeks, you know that the principal and office staff are enjoying summer break as are the rest of us! The Summit office will be open again as of Monday, August 5. Our very capable office staff for 2002-2003 includes:
They will be back to work well before school starts, so save your questions and requests for them and call or stop by on or after August 5. The office will be staffed from 9 am to 3 pm, Monday through Friday, before the start of the school year on August 21.
Attached to the end of the newsletter is a comprehensive summary report that you will want to take some time to read. It includes the results from the 2001-2002 Summit parent survey, a summary of this year's CTBS test results, and a summary of CSAP performance from last year's (2001) testing. The 2001 CSAP information was not printed previously in the newsletter so it seemed appropriate to include it here. Results from the 2002 CSAP testing are released by the State at the end of July so those results will be published in a fall issue of the newsletter. Many thanks to Ron Goldfarb, John Jacus, Barbry Hogue, Paul Atcheson, and other members of the AAA Committee for their hard work in compiling these results. As you will see, this is a big job and we are grateful for their efforts.
One boy and one girl are chosen from the 8th grade class who embody what Summit strives to be. These students contribute positively to the school through academics and extracurricular activities, whether music, sports, academic or non-academic clubs: Genevieve Aguilar and Geoffrey Colin Peterson
A citizen contributes positively to the welfare of the school community, enhances the learning environment, is a behavior role model for others, and has a love of learning. These are some of our hardest workers: Lindsay Bailey, Zakeih Chaker, Laura D'Ippolito, Joy Fest, Matanya Horowitz, Cassandra Houtz, Andrew Jarmon, Joshua Karpel, Dana Oppenheimer, Paul Reynolds, Lauren Von Roenn, Michael Beggs, Thomas Davids, Samuel Galler, Sarah Goldstein, Julia Hansford, Anna Hermann, Morgan Horton, Steffani Kitayama, Annie Lewis, Sandra MacDonnell, Gwen McGillivray, Caroline Melhado, Sam Nagel, Alexa Phillips-Crone, Chalie Simon, Devon Thrumston, Jesse Thurston, Daniel Weidlein, Nadalie Williams, Emily Woods.
All English awards are being given to those students who combine outstanding achievement in all areas-writing, speaking, grammar, and literary analysis-with dedication to and enthusiasm for the subject.
French
German
Spanish
All students awarded a science award demonstrated a love of learning, excellence in critical thinking, hard work, and have made numerous positive contributions to class.
All students awarded a social studies award have demonstrated a love of learning, excellence in critical thinking, hard work, and made numerous positive contributions to class.
In addition to honoring the wonderful graduating 8th graders at graduation, each year a handful of adults are selected for special recognition.
Our thanks go to Dr. Sharon Sikora, formerly of Summit's science faculty and the parent of graduating student James Franz, for her engaging graduation speech and presentation (with a bit of help from Spider Men!). Her heartfelt comments surely provided inspiration for these soon-to-be high school freshmen.
The Summit Board is also pleased to present two coveted awards at graduation. We honor Dr. Ingrid Fotino, math teacher, with the 2001-2002 Outstanding Teacher Award. This award carries with it a stipend of $750, and Dr. Fotino's name will be engraved on the permanent award plaque kept at Summit.
We also honor the extraordinary efforts and achievements of Joan Jacus, presenting her with the 2001-2002 Outstanding Volunteer Award. Her volunteer contributions to our Summit community are endless and are appreciated beyond measure.
Congratulations, graduates! And a huge thanks to all those who helped to make it a special day, from those on staff to the parent volunteers. Special thanks go to Kirk Adams and Kendra Bartley for their great help and to Student Council for providing lunch. Graduation was made possible with the help of Risa Heywood, Laurel Hickman, Karima Thobani, Roxy Walker, Irene Reese, Regula Steffen, Lynne Jacobs, Linda Stancliffe, Margaret Sparks, Annie Davids, Debby Hanssen, Susan
Karpatkin, Barb Silk, Cindy Halpern, Cathy Reisfield, Carol Hermann, and others who stepped up to help out. These are the people who guided the students through the ceremony, served lunch to all those practicing, decorated the cafeteria, and prepared and served cake, cookies, and drinks for the reception. Thanks for all your organizing, caring, and hard work to make the graduation run so smoothly. We hope a great time was had by all!
Many thanks to Patrick Hyde, a new Summit parent, for offering to be the Summit News editor next year! He passed all the tests required of candidates for this job. OK, so maybe he just volunteered, but the good news is, he is a writer! He actually has his own business in communications and public relations and has edited newsletters in the past. What more could we ask for? This is just another example of how you can share your talents with our wonderful school. Thanks, Patrick, and welcome to Summit! If you have an article to submit to the newsletter, please e-mail it to him at pat.hyde[at]attbi.com.
We also want to thank the great team of volunteers who helped to produce Summit News this year. It is truly a team effort: Teri Eastburn and Viki Psihoyos provide expert assistance with editing; Linda Parkhill (former editor) gets the hardcopy of the newsletter out in the mail (and looks forward to the day when some other fine volunteer steps up to put her out of a job, hint, hint ;-) ); Tom Mahowald, e-mail distribution specialist; and Barbry Hogue, final reviewer of the newsletter ensures that everything we have said is indeed true. I have enjoyed my stint as editor and will miss being in the loop for all the news that's fit to print. Thanks for all your contributions. -- Tom White-O'Connor
At the June 10 meeting, new Summit Board members Paul Atcheson, Barb Kostanick, and Betsy Phelan were officially installed for two-year terms that run through May 2003. Also, officers for the coming year were elected and officially installed. The Board officers for 2002-2003 are:
Other board members are Paul Atcheson, Barbry Hogue, John Jacus, and David Finell (ex officio). Paul will serve as AAA Committee chair, Barbry will serve as Board liaison to the new Grant Writing Committee and to the Hiring Committee, and John will serve as chair of the Fundraising Committee (Tools for Learning and other fundraising efforts).
CONGRATULATIONS to new members and the newly elected officers! Our thanks to all the Board members for dedicated service to our Summit community.
Members of the Hiring Committee have been hard at work recruiting and interviewing for four new teachers to begin at Summit in the fall --- for English, French, music, and programming & technology. This year's committee members have been exceptionally dedicated to this task, and all deserve our appreciation and thanks.
Our hiring would not be successful without the very important participation and input of our student volunteers. To date over 60 Summit students, some of whom will be new to Summit in 2002-2003, have helped with demonstration classes and providing feedback to the Hiring Committee. We will include a complete list of these students in the next newsletter issue, so you can be sure to thank them for their assistance.
We have now filled the English, French, and programming & technology positions and, by the time this newsletter reaches you, we hope to have filled the music position as well. Watch Summit News issues early in the school year for details and short bio-blurbs about our new teachers, and please extend your own warm welcome to them as the school year begins.
All regular Summit Board meetings are public meetings and we welcome guests from our community at any time. Our next meeting will be held Thursday, August 8. Meetings are held in Summit's library and begin at 6:30 pm unless otherwise noted.
A Summit 2002-03 supply list has been mailed, and it includes a note for history students to purchase a particular notebook atlas. I have since discovered that it may be out of print. If so, no worries. Don't try to buy something else. We'll figure it out in the fall.
Our library collection continues to grow! A number of wonderful books have been donated to the library. A list of the honorees, books, and donors appears below.
The Reisfield Family
Diana Stough
The Marlino/Schwartz Family
The Jim Adams Family
Summit Principal's Fund
The Woods Family
The Beylkin Family
The Ferris Family
Cynthia and George Scott
Fourteen dedicated volunteers worked hard to help provide library service this year. Their efforts made it possible to keep the library open during most of the hours that school was in session. Please thank the following people for their assistance in providing library service to all our students: Vera Balaeva, Mary Ann Dangelo, Laurie Eason, Heidi Gerstle, Ann Leggett, Angela Marlino, Ann McCormick, Carol Pahlke, Sasha Sergeeva, Jaime Simpson, Leslie Swirhun, Roxy Walker, Beth White-O'Connor, and Beth Wilcox.
Volunteers will be needed in the library again next year. If you like to work with students and enjoy working with books and computers, this might be the volunteer job for you! This year's volunteers worked anywhere from an hour every other week to more than four hours a week. Training is provided! If you are interested, please e-mail Cathy Woods at cathy.woods[at]attbi.com.
BVSD Food Service is looking for a new head cook for 2002-03 at Summit They are also looking for cafeteria staff to help with lunch time preparation and serving. If you are interested in a food service position, please stop by the BVSD Education Center on Arapahoe to pick up an application. If you have further questions, call Vicky Huff at 303-447-5042.
Here is a summary of the results from the Middle School Challenge at this years Bolder Boulder. Summit won the participation award for it's Division! Thanks to Ms. Blakemore for doing such a fine job promoting the event.
Division I Results: #1: Horizon 11:08:56; #2: Lyons 15:50:46; #3: N/A Not Enough Runners. School Participation Award: Boulder Country Day 108.62%
Division II Results: #1: Burbank 11:10:11; #2: Platt 11:38:23; #3: Southern Hills 12:12:09. School Participation Award: Summit 49.00%
Division III Results: #1: Centennial 11:22:36; #2: Westview 12:41:32; #3: N/A Not Enough Runners. School Participation Award: Centennial 28.74%
Sam Robinson, the eldest son of the Robinson family at Summit, is available for Spanish and French tutoring this summer. He can work with any middle or high school level students. Contact Jeffrey Robinson for more information at 303-440-6923.
This is an exciting and practical class designed for students to support success in school by learning life-long study skills. Materials provide immediate help with learning styles, time management and organizational skills, note taking, test taking, and memory skills. Make a real difference in your learning! Parents are highly encouraged to attend (free) with students. Dates: September through November. Time: 7:00 to 8:30 pm, one night per week for 5 weeks. Location: Fairview High School. Cost: $130 per student. To register, call Gloria Frender at 303-530-3195.
The next newsletter will be published in August prior to the opening of the school year. If you have an article to be included, please e-mail it to our new newsletter editor Patrick Hyde at pat.hyde[at]attbi.com.
To save on both paper and the cost of postage, we e-mail as many copies of the Summit News as possible. If you prefer to receive future issues of Summit News by e-mail, please send a message to Tom Mahowald at t.mahowald[at]summitmiddleschool.org.
To see back issues of Summit News, information about Summit, links to other charter schools, and related education information, refer to Summit's web site via the handy, easy website address: http://www.summitmiddleschool.org
Here is the Summit school year calendar for 2002-2003, as approved by the Summit Board:
Hope you are all having a Great Summer!
Table 1 is a summary of the "Snapshot" survey of Summit parents and staff conducted by the district in February 2001 and 2002, during Summit's fifth and sixth years of operation. Beginning in 2001, the district used a different set of survey questions than in prior years. The district added two additional questions in 2002.
The responses are consolidated using the following scale: Strongly Agree = 4, Agree = 3, Disagree = 2, Strongly Disagree = 1, Don't Know/No Opinion = 0. Unlike some district compilations, which aggregate "Strongly Agree" and "Agree" as both indicating satisfaction, this scale differentiates the two.
The district sent surveys to only a sample of the parent population. Of these, 51 returned forms in 2001. A larger sample was used in 2002, and 152 returned forms. The confidence intervals, functions of the sample size, are about ±0.1 for 2001 and ±0.05 for 2002. In 2002, charter school parents were advised that they could omit responses to "District Questions," numbers 30 through 32. Because few Summit parents responded to these, the confidence interval for these average responses is about ±0.3.
| Maximize Learning and Achievement | ||
| 1. The school sets high and realistic expectations for my student. |
3.8/3.7
|
3.8/3.8
|
| 2. The classes provide a solid foundation for my student’s future. |
3.8/3.9
|
3.8/3.8
|
| 3. The school has clear rules for student behavior. |
3.8/3.6
|
3.7/3.5
|
| 4. My student feels safe at school. |
3.8/3.5
|
3.8/3.7
|
| 5. My student has a positive attitude about his/her school. |
3.8/3.4
|
3.8/3.8
|
| 6. My student is learning at or above the level I expect. |
3.6/3.7
|
3.7/3.7
|
| Category Average |
3.8/3.6
|
3.8/3.7
|
| Hire a High Quality, Committed Staff | ||
| 7. Teachers at this school encourage my student to do his/her best. |
3.9/4.0
|
3.8/4.0
|
| 8. The school principal/administrator demonstrates personal and professional commitment to school improvement. |
3.8/3.9
|
3.6/4.0
|
| 9. Teachers at this school are committed to maximize student achievement. |
3.7/4.0
|
3.7/4.0
|
| 10. The school principal/administrator provides effective leadership. |
3.8/3.6
|
3.7/4.0
|
| Category Average |
3.8/3.9
|
3.7/4.0
|
| Manage Assets Responsibly | ||
| 11. The school provides my student with the materials and resources necessary to learn. |
3.6/3.2
|
3.5/3.4
|
| 12. Resources at the school are used effectively. |
3.8/3.5
|
3.7/3.6
|
| Category Average |
3.7/3.4
|
3.6/3.5
|
| Plan and Assess for Continuous Improvement | ||
| 13. I know how budget decisions are made at our school. |
3.4/3.0
|
3.3/2.6
|
| 14. I know how to become involved
in school decision-making, if I choose (parents). I am appropriately involved in school decision-making (staff). |
3.7/3.2
|
3.6/2.8
|
| 15. I have been informed about the school’s improvement goals. |
3.5/3.6
|
3.5/3.3
|
| 16. The quality of the program at my school has improved since last year. |
3.5/3.5
|
|
| Category Average |
3.5/3.3
|
3.5/3.1
|
| Foster Collaboration and Partnerships | ||
| 17. I receive regular reports about my student’s academic progress. |
3.5/3.7
|
3.6/3.6
|
| 18. Teachers are available to discuss my student’s work and behavior. |
3.7/3.9
|
3.6/3.8
|
| 19. If needed, school administrators are accessible to me. |
3.8/3.7
|
3.6/3.8
|
| 20. I have been encouraged to participate in school activities. |
3.8/3.6
|
3.7/3.7
|
| 21. Conferences with teachers have involved me in my student’s education. |
3.6/3.8
|
3.7/3.8
|
| 22. I receive timely responses to questions and requests for information from my student’s school. |
3.6/3.5
|
3.6/3.8
|
| 23. I feel welcome at the school. |
3.9/3.9
|
3.7/3.9
|
| Category Average |
3.7/3.7
|
3.6/3.8
|
| Value Diversity and Promote Understanding | ||
| 24. Teachers treat my student with respect. |
3.8/3.9
|
3.7/4.0
|
| 25. This school teaches my student about the cultural heritage of many groups. |
3.6/3.1
|
3.7/3.2
|
| 26. Students of different cultural, racial and ethnic backgrounds get along at this school. |
3.8/3.7
|
3.7/3.6
|
| 27. Boys and girls have equal opportunities at this school. |
3.8/3.7
|
3.7/3.8
|
| 28. Students with disabilities are treated fairly at this school. |
3.6/3.8
|
3.7/3.9
|
| 29. My student feels welcome at school. |
3.9/3.7
|
3.8/3.9
|
| Category Average |
3.8/3.7
|
3.7/3.7
|
| Grand Average |
3.7/3.6
|
3.7/3.7
|
| District Questions | ||
| 30. The district provides a well-developed curriculum. |
3.5/2.0
|
2.2/2.5
|
| 31. The district administration supports school improvement. |
2.0/1.5
|
1.4/2.6
|
| 32. The maintenance of the school building and grounds is at the level I expect. |
1.9/2.6
|
|
| 33. The district provides a well-developed staff development program (asked only of staff). |
2.0
|
3.2
|
| Category Average |
2.8/1.8
|
1.8/2.7
|
The weighted averages are shown for parents/staff. Questions for staff paralleled those shown for parents. Over the past six years, Summit has achieved a very high level of parent and staff satisfaction. Since its establishment, Summit has had the highest ratings of parent satisfaction among middle schools in the district.
Discrepancies between staff and parent perceptions are always worthy of note. For 2001 and 2002, staff quality is rated somewhat higher by staff members (perhaps reflecting their regard for their colleagues) than parents. Staff members regard themselves as less informed and involved than parents in budgets and decision-making.
In Spring 2001, Summit 6th, 7th, and 8th graders took the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) tests. The percentages of students scoring "proficient" or "advanced" were 95 in 6th grade reading (eighth highest in the state), 100 in 7th grade reading (tied for first in the state), 91 in 7th grade writing (third in the state), 97 in 8th grade reading (fifth in the state), 74 in 8th grade math (tied for sixth), and 93 in 8th grade science (fifth in the state). Schools in the state that score higher than Summit are either gifted-and-talented magnet schools or K-8 charter schools that retain the same students through all nine grades. Because Summit's curriculum is tied to Summit, district, and state standards, and since the CSAP is keyed to state standards, Summit makes no special effort to "prepare" students for the CSAP tests.
Tables 2, 3 and 4 compare Summit's scores with Boulder Valley's scores for these tests. All percentages are based on the total number of students enrolled, not the number taking the test. Therefore, the percentages, including the percentage of "Scores Not Reported," sum to 100%. The rankings shown are based on the percentages of "Proficient or Above," as commonly computed by the Colorado Department of Education. The district has 15 middle schools; the state has 413.
| Total Students |
82
|
2222
|
| Unsatisfactory |
1%
|
6%
|
| Partially Proficient |
4%
|
13%
|
| Proficient |
61%
|
63%
|
| Advanced |
34%
|
16%
|
| Proficient or Above |
95%
|
79%
|
| Scores Not Reported |
0%
|
3%
|
| Rank in District |
1st (tie)
|
|
| Rank in State |
8th (tie)
|
|
| Total Students |
89
|
2248
|
89
|
2247
|
| Unsatisfactory |
0%
|
5%
|
0%
|
1%
|
| Partially Proficient |
0%
|
16%
|
8%
|
56%
|
| Proficient |
61%
|
61%
|
90%
|
57%
|
| Advanced |
39%
|
15%
|
1%
|
0%
|
| Proficient or Above |
100%
|
75%
|
91%
|
56%
|
| Scores Not Reported |
0%
|
3%
|
1%
|
4%
|
| Rank in District |
1st
|
1st
|
||
| Rank in State |
1st (tie)
|
3rd
|
||
| Total Students |
87
|
2169
|
87
|
2180
|
87
|
2182
|
| Unsatisfactory |
0%
|
7%
|
3%
|
15%
|
1%
|
10%
|
| Partially Proficient |
3%
|
14%
|
23%
|
27%
|
5%
|
21%
|
| Proficient |
59%
|
60%
|
37%
|
33%
|
54%
|
54%
|
| Advanced |
38%
|
16%
|
37%
|
22%
|
39%
|
11%
|
| Proficient or Above |
97%
|
76%
|
74%
|
55%
|
93%
|
65%
|
| Scores Not Reported |
0%
|
3%
|
0%
|
3%
|
1%
|
4%
|
| Rank in District |
1st
|
2nd
|
2nd
|
|||
| Rank in State |
5th
|
6th (tie)
|
5th
|
|||
Because the CSAP, in its current stage of development, is not referenced to norms and does not test the same subjects every year, it is not possible to do a longitudinal comparison of students' progress from year to year.
Based on its CSAP scores, Summit was designated as one of the "John J. Irwin Colorado Schools of Excellence" by the Colorado Department of Education in 2000 and 2001. The 2001 award carried with it a $10,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Education. The grant funds were used to support the math and literacy pull-out tutoring labs and professional development. CSAP scores for 2002 will be released later this year.
Selected components of the CTBS (TerraNova) were given to all Summit students in April 2002. Unlike the Colorado Student Assessment Program (CSAP) tests, CTBS gives a student's and a class's standing with respect to national norms, allows Summit to measure student progress from year to year, and identifies specific curricular areas of weakness. As CSAP develops to cover more subjects and measure student progress, Summit will reduce its reliance on CTBS.
Students were tested in vocabulary, language mechanics, mathematics, math computation, and spelling. No student was excluded because of special education status. The district no longer administers the norm-referenced CTBS, relying instead solely on the criterion-referenced CSAP tests.
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 academic growth, Summit administers one-grade-level higher tests. 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.
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 5 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 vocabulary, language mechanics, and spelling for 6th and 7th graders, the same as last year.
| Act. | Dif. | Act. | Dif. | Act. | Dif. | |
| Vocabulary |
84.8
|
8.8
|
86.6
|
7.0
|
89.5
|
9.1
|
| Language Mechanics |
82.8
|
2.4
|
83.8
|
1.0
|
85.3
|
2.8
|
| Mathematics |
90.6
|
8.1
|
91.5
|
7.2
|
89.4
|
3.6
|
| Math Computation |
92.0
|
21.2
|
89.7
|
10.6
|
89.2
|
7.0
|
| Math Composite |
91.9
|
12.7
|
92.6
|
9.9
|
92.0
|
6.0
|
| Spelling |
79.3
|
2.9
|
73.3
|
-5.8
|
87.3
|
11.7
|
| Number Tested |
125*
|
83
|
81*
|
|||
| *Five 6th grade students and three 8th grade students did not complete the Test of Cognitive Skills. Because anticipated differences cannot be calculated for these students, they are not included in these averages. | ||||||
Table 6 gives the median TerraNova national percentile scores for 2002's 7th and 8th grade classes during their years at Summit. Except in mathematics, where students at the median were unusually strong to begin with, scores generally increased from year to year.
| Vocabulary |
86.4
|
86.6
|
87.6
|
85.6
|
89.5
|
| Language Mechanics |
78.3
|
83.8
|
80.9
|
83.4
|
85.3
|
| Mathematics |
91.7
|
91.5
|
89.0
|
89.2
|
89.4
|
| Math Computation |
91.0
|
89.7
|
91.1
|
87.9
|
89.2
|
| Math Composite |
91.6
|
92.6
|
92.7
|
90.3
|
92.0
|
| Spelling |
73.3
|
73.3
|
77.9
|
64.0
|
87.3
|
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. Thus, we want each student to increase in national percentile score from year to year, especially in areas of deficiency. Beginning in 2001-2002, the reduced number of CTBS subtests administered by Summit as CSAP testing increases means that total composite CTBS scores can no longer be computed. That fact, and a generally high level of performance at the median when some classes of students begin as 6th graders, suggest that Summit should track the lowest quartile, instead of the median, in the specific areas tested.
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.