We are in the midst of state testing right now. Testing will continue, really, through May. Students are just finishing reading testing. Next Monday they will begin testing in writing and then we will test in math. Our current 10th graders will test in both reading and math this year. If they pass either or both of these tests they will have met graduation requirements in these areas. If not they will test again in both junior and senior years. The writing test can only be taken once a year in both junior and senior years. Again, students must pass state tests in reading, writing and math OR pass local assessments (2 in each area) to meet state graduation requirements. Also just a reminder that we will be including an unofficial copy of your students transcript with each progress report/report card we send home. The transcript has good information about where students are in meeting graduation requirements. It will show how many credits they have and how many they need as well as whether they have passed reading, writing and math requirements. Our goal is,that every student meets graduation requirements and graduates from high school.

The weather has been something! I can still see at least a foot of snow out the window of my house here in Forest Grove. I can only imagine that those living outside of Banks and especially in the hills have much more snow. I expect this week coming up to be a week where attendance may be impacted due to the weather. While we always want students to be present and in classes, it is understandable if they are not given these conditions outside of town and in the hills locally. Buses may be on very limited bus runs and that information should be posted early each morning. Just a reminder that if school is closed then there will be no after school activities.

The district technology committee has been meeting since the fall. The committee meets every two weeks. Members on the committee include teachers, parents, district technology staff and an administrator. The goal of the committee is to make recommendations to the board about technology improvements for the district. By the end of this school year the committee will need to recommend the type of device for the purchase of 120 computers. These 120 computers will need to be able to be used for next years Smarter Balanced Assessments, the new state test in reading, writing and math. They must have "touch screen" capabilities in order to be used for state testing beginning next year. The committee is looking at mobile devices that include lap tops and tablets. This is a big decision and an important one because we expect that these new devices will be used not only for testing but also in the classroom during instructional time. We want our students to move forward in the use of technology both for testing and for learning in the classroom.