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Show 4 The Magna Times, Thursday, April 23, 1992 ScA&olb Grand for Grads ensures a sweet and safe graduation night For the second year in a row, Dreyers Grand Ice Cream is exten- ding a sweet offer to high school grads that will hopefully ensure a grand evening for everyone. Any high school planning a chaperoned Grad Night party for the entire class is invited to contact the company for a free donation of up to 12 gallons of ice cream for the event. Responses from last years Grad Night giveaway were overwhelming, said W.F. Cronk, president of Dreyers Grand Ice Cream. As a parent, I am delighted to have the opportunity to encourage supervised graduation parties and am pleased that so many schools are providing safe graduation nights. Dreyers Grand Ice Cream will donate ice cream to 300 high schools across the country; each high school will receive enough ice cream for their graduating class up to a maximum of 12 gallons (enough for 200 students). This offer is good in every city where Dreyers Grand Ice Cream is available. PTAs and high schools interested in the offer should contact Dreyers Grand Ice Cream prior to May 22, 1992, by writing to: Grand for Grads Dreyers Grand Ice Cream school-sponsore- Thats Entertainment - us Magna Music Makers give spring concert by Necia These students are joined by Chad Gates, Jana Ahlstrom, Candace Beagley, Julie Bryant, Trisha Cook, Angi Fuchs, Ruthann Hennefer, Mary Hunter, Lindsey Martin, Daniel Nye, Bryan Raisor, Jessica Bateman, Susanne Bryant, Melanie Dilley, Levi Furrow, Nichole Holsten, Ashley Johnson, Michelle Morley, Ben Russell, Greg Turner, Heather Bauman, Laura Ellsworth, Jamie Hancock, James Hunter, Brittney Palmer Magna Times Editor Fifty-fiv- e Magna Elementary students put on a spring concert for their parents and peers on April 16. They are the Magna Music Makers, a student choir that not only sings but dances for its audiences. They have been directed by Robyn Bennett for the last nine years and sang to the accompaniment of Suzanne Kirk for the last five years. Thursday they sang a selection of traditional and recent favorites, from from The Sound of Music to Kiss the Girl, from The Little Mermaid. Three dances, One, Singin in the Rain, and Under the Sea, were performed by Jenny Needles, Tara Staker, Valerie Hunt, Ashley Kap-- . teyn, Amanda Cook,.Atn&oda?sttJ,. L Amanda Smith. Erin Reinkoester and Christy Broadhead, Maghan Taggart, Jessica Smith, Cindy Gage, Allyson Steele, Kimberly Broadhead, Chelsea Sadler, Jana Burt, Candace Beagley, Tiffany Ritter, Jennifer Taggart, Laura Raisor, Alison Hunt, Kim Hunt, Julie Bryant, Christine Yee, Jessica Bateman, Nyla Tanner, Joanna Bowden, Larissa Phillips, and Jamie Hancock. d, Riley, Melanie Sowby, Jennifer Talbot and alternates Blake and Steven Harwood. The Magna Music Makers will perform at Howard R. Driggs Elementary today and at the Magna Senior Citizens Center on May 1. They have performed in area malls, Hercules, other schools, the fair, the senior citizens center, and at the state capitol. 5929 College Avenue Oakland, CA 94618 The date, location, and number of graduates attending the party should be included in the request. Schools will be selected by way of a weekly drawing starting Friday, April 17. For six weeks (April 17 through May 22), 50 Grad Night requests will be randomly picked each Friday and only those requests drawn will be honored. Selected schools will be notified and the appropriate arrangements made as soon as the name is drawn. School L unch Menu April 27 : Cheeseburger, oven fries, pears, breakfast cake, choice of whole or 2 milk. April 28: Salad tray with ham or turkey gravy over potatoes ; buttered roll; peaches; peanut butter cookie; chocolate, whole, or 2 milk. April 29: Chicken nuggets, buttered roll, carrots, applesauce, choice of whole or 2 milk. April 30: Hot ham in pita or corn-docelery sticks; pineapple tidbits; chocolate cake; choice of chocolate, whole, or 2 milk. May 1: Hardshell taco with cheese and lettuce, combread, seasoned peas, apple, choice of whole or 2 milk. . g; Do-Re-- Home and School: Vital Links by avenues, southeast, northwest, southwest and central city. The average of the total battery test scores of the schools in each of these areas was compared to percent of children on the free lunch program. The free lunch program is a federal program that subsidizes school lunch based on a students family income. The areas that had the highest total battery test scores (avenues and southeast) also had the lowest percent of students on the free lunch program. Conversely, the areas with lower test scores (northwest, southwest, and central city) consistently had high percentages of students participating in the free lunch program. Average test scores were also compared to an expected range developed by the State Office of Education. An expected range is projected based on the percentage of students in each school obtaining free lunch or qualifying for the federal welfare program Aid to ESKELSEN President, Utat Education Association h I was recently a judge fo? Utahs same lodF confusion. Yes,-the-ir Sterling Scholars. It is impossible to parents were encouraging, suppor-com-e ; Correlation is seen between test scores, family income Results from the statewide testing program show a strong correlation with measurements associated with income. So close is the association that Utah Foundation, the private research group, writes, Test scores could arguably be said to be as much a measure of a students home support system as it is a measure of the quality of the faculty and administration of the school. The testing program is in its second year and is conducted each fall by the State Office of Education as a result of a law passed by the Utah legislature in 1990. The relationship between test scores and income measurements is illustrated by grouping the 28 elementary schools in the Salt Lake City School District taking the test in 1991 into five geographical areas: LILY Families with Dependent Children (AFDC). In this comparison, the avenues and southeast schools tested well above the national average and above the midpoint of their expected range. Some schools in these areas actually tested above the top of their expected range. The other three areas (northwest, southwest, and central city) had test scores not only below the national average but below the midpoint of their range. Looking only at test scores and concluding that some schools are better than others is too simplistic. Socioeconomic factors cannot be ignored when evaluating the states public school system, state Foundation analysts. One of the greatest challenges for educators is finding a way to overcome the obstacles to learning associated with low income. Student turnover, for example, is a serious problem. In 1991, two southwest schools, Franklin and Edison, experienced 61 percent and 50 percent student turnover respectively. By comparison, in two southeast schools, Indian Hills and Uintah, student turnover was nine percent and 10 percent respectively. It is very difficult to blame a teacher for poor student scores when half of the students tested in the fall of 1991 were not in the school the year before, concludes Utah Foundation analysts. Other problems present in the schools with low test scores were high teacher turnover, language barriers, and hunger. It is not realistic to expect the schools in these areas to test as well as the avenues and southeast areas given the differences in school populations. However, a worthy goal could be to improve their scores to or near the top of their expected range, stated the Foundation report. This is not to say that the testing program mandated by the legislature in 1990 is not important. On the coun-trarUtah Foundation believes the statewide testing program has proy, vided valuable performance measurements for parents and educators. However, when making comparisons between schools and districts, care must be taken. Socioeconomic factors have such a strong bearing on test scores, that valid comparisons between schools or districts cannot be made without accounting for the many differences between student populations. The best comparisons of student performance, for a school or district, are those with itself over time and in relation to the expected range. In 1991, the states public schools showed improvement over 1990 test scores. In the fifth grade statewide scores improved in mathematics from 60 to 62, in reading from 53 to 55, and in science from 52 to 56. In languageEnglish and social science, and total battery there was no change from 1990. In the 11th grade, two test areas showed improvement; mathematics scores improved from 54 to 59 and languageEnglish increased from 45 to 51. Eleventh grade total battery improved from 53 to 55. Support your local schools! away not examining your own life and the lives of your children. Our team interviewed fifteen finalists who had 4.0 grade point averages, were class officers, state science and math competition winners, star athletes, poets, musicians, volunteers for the homeless, and tutors of disabled children. By any definition, these students were successful. These were the children most parents and teachers dream of. And this was my chance to discover their secret. Besides being a teacher, Im a struggling parent, and Ive tried every trick in the book to motivate my children. During our interviews, I asked each student the $64,000 question. I was going to get it straight from the experts this time. I sat, with pencil poised, ready for the answer: What role did your parents play in your success? Each brilliant scholar gave me the tive, and proud. But no, there was no special parental master plan. Their parents, in fact, did not take a particularly active part in the students decisions. None could remember being asked if homework was done. None could remember parents dictating what clubs, classes, or activities to join. Each and every student seemed to be saying, I succeeded because I chose excellence for myself. What does this have to do with my father or mother? If so, I had no magic answer. Or did I? These children succeeded, not because of parental prodding, but because they chose. These happened to choose an academic door. For other children, there are other doors to choose. Maybe the answer is that although we can encourage, support, and show pride, we cannot choose excellence for our children. When it comes, it will be something that comes from within THEM. j,jQP)oiiiiiii3i,iuliiiiiiniiiririnygj Telling the principal a story LaNae Sadler, 7, reads Henny Penny to her principal, Sherm Johansen, at Magna Elementary. Teachers periodically send some of their students to read to the principal as part of the schools Eager Reader program. |