Hello Vinton-Shellsburg Families,

I hope you are enjoying all of the fall activities our communities have to offer. Fall brings an abundance of fall colors and textures. The reds, oranges, yellows, golds and rust tones of fall delight the senses in landscapes and rich sunsets. Trees willingly and naturally shed their leaves after putting on a radiant fall show of colors. Is there anything in your life that’s ready to be released? Even as birds and woodland creatures are enjoying the abundance of fall, they are also storing away portions of their fall harvest and preparing for leaner times. Enjoy the blessings of the season, but remember to plan for the future.

For school districts, fall is a time to finalize and certify our student enrollment for the school year and look forward to financial planning. There are two important variables for determining school funding for the upcoming year; our certified enrollment and the state supplemental assistance (SSA) amount afforded by the legislature. Our certified enrollment is up again this school year for the second consecutive year. Our served enrollment this year is 1,509, compared to last year’s number of 1,455. That is 54 more students than we had a year ago!

The school also prepares for the future by continuing to work on our curriculum and instruction through professional development. The teachers have continued to work on priority standards and learning targets to help identify success criteria. Priority standards are carefully selected grade-specific standards that students must know and be able to do by the end of each course or school year in order to be prepared for standards at the next grade level or course. Teachers have worked very hard and have established priority standards for nearly every grade in nearly every subject area. The next step has been the establishment of learning intentions or learning targets. Learning targets are sometimes written as “I Can” statements that are developed by teachers, for teachers and students. “I Can” statements are written in student-friendly language and identify what students need to know and be able to do in order to be successful and achieve grade level or course standards. Some of our departments have these established already. They are reviewing for any necessary changes and then looking at their assessments to make sure they match their learning intentions or targets.

If you have any questions, concerns or suggestions, please feel free to reach out to me by phone: (319) 436-5685 or email: kyle.koeppen@vscsd.org

Take care,

KYLE KOEPPEN

Superintendent
#GoVikes   |   #VSProud