Crawford AuSable School District Barbara Mick, Principal

AuSable Primary School is committed to providing the foundation for learning for each of our students. We know that children have the best chance for success when parents and teachers work together to support one another. When we also have the support of the entire community, we know our children will succeed!

Everything we do at AuSable Primary is based on a set of agreed-upon beliefs:
* All children can learn.
* All children have a right to learn in a safe, comfortable, and pleasant environment with fairness and consistency.
* Students are individuals who learn in different ways and at different rates.
* All aspects of a child are equally valued: social, emotional, intellectual and physical.
* We believe in fostering citizenship:
- belonging
- participating in a group
- having a voice
- possessing social skills
- respecting ourselves and others
* As a staff, we will model citizenship and lifelong learning through cooperation, teamwork, and continued education.

Educational Opportunity for All
The core curriculum at AuSable Primary School provides learning experiences in language arts (reading, writing, speaking, listening), mathematics, social studies, science, technology, health, physical education, and music. Each of these areas has a written curriculum which teachers follow, based on the Michigan Curriculum Framework and on Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations. We continue to work as a district to fine-tune each curriculum area, and work to provide consistency among and between all schools.

In addition to the core curriculum, educational alternatives are available for students who may require special support services. These include Title I reading and math services, at-risk support, and special education services. All services are provided under the inclusion model.

Michigan School Report Card
Every Michigan school is now graded on two areas: student achievement on the MEAP (we use Grayling Elementary’s scores since we are a "feeder" school for them) and indicators of school performance. For the 2005-06 school year, AuSable Primary received a grade of B. We also met the criteria for Adequate Yearly Progress, or AYP, meaning that we made progress in student achievement in both language arts and math as measured by the MEAP.

School Improvement
AuSable Primary’s school improvement team works to improve the quality of student life and achievement throughout the school year. During the 2005-06 school year, we used student achievement data to look at the effectiveness of our programming and to determine our building goals for the following year. Throughout the year, we worked on two academic goals:
1. All students will read at grade level with good comprehension.
2. All students will improve their writing skills.
In addition:
3. Parent Involvement will be improved.
4. Transition and communication between AuSable Primary and
Grayling Elementary will be improved.

Points of Pride
All Day-Every Day Kindergarten Individual Learning Plans for at-risk readers
Acting Up Theater Co. experience Summer School Program
Lower 1st & 2nd grade class sizes Chess Club
Title I/At-Risk Programming Wonderful and numerous volunteers
Breakfast/Lunch Programs 5 student computers per classroom
Comprehensive Reading Program MSRP Preschool on site
Monthly Family Involvement Nights Research-based, ongoing Professional
Supportive PTO Development for all staff
Student Assistance Team Library circulation
Schoolwide Fluency strategies (10,334 materials checked out!)
Great website! (www.casdk12.net) Monday Assembly and Schoolwide Theme

Student Achievement
All students at AuSable Primary are continually assessed throughout the year using common assessments and the Michigan Literacy Progress Profile (MLPP). The MLPP consists of eleven assessments which can be used to determine where a child needs help, and then inform the instruction. Information was gathered for each child’s reading level at the end of the year. Also, writing samples were scored using a rubric (this year we used a six-point scale, with 6 being the best score; kindergarten is scored on a 12 point scale). These scores were compared to the goal set for each grade, as well as to last year’s scores. For 1st and 2nd grade, the writing scores are difficult to compare since we changed from a 4 point rubric to a 6 point rubric. However, we report both year’s scores since we will be using the 6 point rubric from now on. In addition, you will notice a slight drop in average reading score for 2nd graders*. That is because we targeted comprehension this year and decided to keep students at a lower level with deeper comprehension. We insisted that they be able to answer more complex comprehension questions before being moved up a level, whereas in the past, we moved them when they could answer more basic comprehension questions. We are proud to report our gains:

	READING	READING	READING	WRITING	WRITING
	2005 (June)	2006 (June)	2006 (June)	2005 (June)	2006 (June)
K	98% reading by June	98% reading by June 2	26% reading at Level 6 or above!	10.2 (out of 12 pts)	11.0 (out of 12 pts)
1st	Level 16 average	Level 18.6 average	65% reading at goal of Level 16 or higher	2.8 (out of 4 pts)	3.6 (out of 6 pts)
2nd	Level 32 average	Level 30.1 average	71% reading at goal of Level 24 or higher	2.9 (out of 4 pts)	3.6 (out of 6 pts)

PARENT INVOLVEMENT
We know that the more parents are involved in their child’s education, the greater the success. We are lucky to have very involved parents!

	2005	2006
OPEN HOUSE	60%	69%
FALL PARENT/TEACHER CONF	90%	90%
SPRING P/T CONFERENCE	36%	28%
PORTFOLIO VIEWING	78%	76%

Our AP/GE PTO raised nearly $20,000 again this year, funding playground equipment, field trips, classroom supplies and equipment, and co-sponsored numerous special events as well as the much-loved Pumpkin Night. They also planned and put on the third annual Mother & Son Fun Night as well as the fourth annual Daddy/Daughter Dance, and provided refreshments for Open House and New Kindergartner Night.

We were lucky enough to have 89 regular volunteers (up from 75 in 04!) helping with everything from head lice checks to computer lab to collecting Box Tops to reading with our students. Our End of the Year Picnic served over 1212 people this year(a new record!), and we also sent over 306 newsletters home, down from last year’s 354. Teachers made nearly 8000 personal contacts with parents this year! We value our partnership with our parents and recognize that we can’t do this job alone!

	2004-05	2005-06
Kindergarten	126	136
1st grade	116	129
2nd grade	136	113
Total	378	378

Crawford AuSable Schools:
Growing ... to Greatness!