This past week was College Application Week at the high school. All week long senior students had the opportunity to attend presentations that helped theM look into their future and what they might do after high school. There were sessions on college, trades and the work force and the military. Students signed up for what they wanted to attend. Whitney Scott, our new counselor organized the event. It was very well received and students and parents voiced their appreciation for having it. Congratulations to the volleyball team. They won the state 4A volleyball title on Saturday night. They defeated Sisters in three close games. This is their first state title. The football team defeated Baker on Saturday. They will now play Mazama next Saturday. Time and location have not been set yet.

Parent conferences will be November 4th and 5th from 4:30-8 PM. Parents are encouraged to come to the high school to meet with teachers and discuss their students progress in courses. Teachers will be available during this time to meet. The front office will have copies of transcripts, current grades and a map for parents who need them. Hope to see you this week. There is no school on Friday November 6th. We also have College Application Week November 2nd-5th. This is the week when our seniors can attend sessions on applying to college, applying to trade schools, military options, being informed about sports in college etc. We will have sessions throughout the four days that seniors can attend if interested. The focus is on getting students started on their next step after graduation from high school. It's our first time doing this and Whitney Scott, our new counselor, has brought this program to the high school. It is a great opportunity for our students!

At the high school, we are moving towards a standards based education approach to instruction. In a standards based system teachers identify course standards from either the common core or from the Oregon Department of Education content standards and teach to those standards in each course. They identify the "priority standards", those that are most critical to know and develop lessons around those standards. Students will be expected to demonstrate that they know and understand identified standards, usually by some form of a classroom assessment. In this system, students are typically allowed multiple opportunities to demonstrate their understanding and so re-testing is allowed. The key piece before their is a re-test is that the student will need to increase their understanding of the content. Additional time spent on learning content will be necessary for students wanting to take a re-take. Tests will typically represent 60-70% of the course grade, with homework representing a much smaller portion of the grade. Extra credit is no longer an option in SBE classrooms. In addition, students may receive two grades in each course, an academic grade (tests, quizzes, homework) and a behavior grade (attendance, behavior in class, tardiness with submitting work etc.). We are working, as a staff on implementing this system, a common one in many high schools across the state and nation. In short, we move from a system of accumulating points in a course for extra-credit, tests taken once, homework etc to one where tests become the primary indicator of learning.

The weather has turned and it feels more like fall now. In some ways the rain and clouds bring familiarity to the time of year. The upcoming week at the high school will be busy with classes and sporting events. There are a few issues looming on the horizon for schools in Oregon. One is the new ruling on instructional hours. The state passed some legislation that will require schools to offer a minimum number of instructional hours at different grade levels. For the high school the number of hours is 990. We must look at this closely for next year, which is when it begins to impact us. The other issue is the mascot issue. We are working with ODE and local tribal councils to see if it might be possible to keep our mascot. We need to know definitively very soon as changing the mascot is a process and it brings with it financial costs in making the change. I have been very impressed with our students through the fall. We have a wonderful group of young people in the school now and they all seem to be working towards meeting graduation requirements, which have increased in difficulty in the last few years. Our sports teams are doing very well, as they have in each of the past three years that I have been serving as the principal. We are closing in on the time of year where playoffs and state competitions begin. I believe that there may be a number of our teams moving on to post season play, a great accomplishment! Please do not hesitate to contact me either by email or phone should you have any questions about anything here or outside of this post. Have a great week!

These are the last few days of high school for our senior students who are graduating. It's a busy time spent with friends and family as they prepare for graduation on Friday. The weather for Friday looks good so we are planning an outside graduation on the football field. It will begin at 7 PM that evening. Students will need to be present at 6:00 PM that night. Baccalaureate will be on Wednesday night at 7 PM at the Dayspring church in Banks. Family, friends and staff are welcome at this event. And then of course seniors last school day is Wednesday. What a fun and exciting week ahead!

For seniors, we are in the last few days of the school year. Although that is true it's important to remind your senior student that they need to finish all aspects of their senior years. This includes attending classes, completing final exams and projects and attending to other things like making sure fees are paid prior to graduation. A reminder that Diplomas will be held for any student who still owes fees at graduation time. Diplomas will be released once all fees are paid. Seniors will be given their check out sheets for teachers and office staff to sign later this week. Any junior who has not completed the Smarter Balanced State Math test will need to do so before the end of the school year, June 10th. We will be contacting them to complete it during a period of their school day. The year is winding down now, and it will go quickly.

There is quite a bit going on this week at the high school. It is We Care Week. That means a week of doing nice things for each other during the school day. Some examples are; students opening doors and greeting other students and staff as they enter the school, providing water and a snack bar to students on one day, raising student awareness to safety issues like not texting while driving etc. There will be events each day of the week. We also have Prom on Saturday night at the Hillsboro Cultural Center from 8-11 PM. This is the week that we begin AP testing as well. It's a busy week ahead, but a fun one!