Every school in the State of Nebraska must be accredited through the Nebraska Department of Education. The accreditation process is outlined in Rule 10. One of the major components of Rule 10 for school accreditation is an external visitation at least once every five years. The external visitation team reviews data put together by the school including student performance, attendance, graduation rates, school improvement implementation, and school finances. They also meet with students, faculty, community members, board members and administration. Chambers’ five-year external visitation was conducted on April 30 and May 1. Chambers is a member of the Norther Tier School Improvement group. Schools that participate in the Northern Tier include Boyd County, Ewing, Clearwater, Orchard, Verdigre, Stuart and Wheeler Central. The team that visited Chambers included Deb Wragge, retired educator, Jeff Hoesing, Superintendent at Randolph Public Schools and Mike Brown, Superintendent at Boyd County Schools.
At the conclusion of their visit on April 30 the team met with administration and faculty to give a brief exit report. The final report was filed with the Nebraska Department of Education in late May. Each school was given the full report in June. The report was reviewed by the administration team and then presented to the Board of Education during the regular July meeting.
The full report is now available on the school website in the documents section in the folder titled School Improvement. You can also click on the following link to access the full document, https://5il.co/8rul .
Some of the highlights from the visitation included:
- Parents freely discussed both strong and weak points of the district that reflected optimism for the district.
- High percentage of students involved in extracurricular activities.
- Each stakeholder group is vested in Chambers Public School and declared ownership and responsibility for the successes and challenges of the district.
Some recommendations included:
- Continued professional development
- Collaboration among teachers of similar subjects or grade levels
- Continued membership in the Northern Tier
The success of the district and the external visitation could not have happened without the support and hard work of the faculty with a special recognition to the School Improvement committee members: Mrs. Tina Butterfield, Dr. Jennifer Burtwistle, Mrs. JoLynn Cameron, Mrs. Laurel O’Malley, Mrs. Gina Pospichal, Mrs. Deb Stevens, Mr. Trevor Anderson, and Mrs. Lenone Koenig. The success of the district is due to the strong leadership of the School Board and with the commitment of parents.
Through extensive discussion within the School Improvement committee it was decided to move in a new direction for our school improvement process. The Chambers School District will be working with AdvancED to help guide us through our next school improvement cycle. The condensed version for this transition includes a more focused approach for school improvement for the Chambers School District along with a more rigorous process to foster growth for continued improvement for students, faculty, administration and the district overall. Chambers will still participate in the Norther Tier collaboration days for student enrichment opportunities and staff development. Chambers will also continue to work with the Educational Service Unit #8 out of Neligh to provide specific professional development training for faculty. In essence, the Chambers School District will be getting the best of both worlds. Another advantage in utilizing AdvancEd for our school improvement process is that it provides several opportunities for parents and community members to be more directly involved.
If you have any questions about the external visitation report or the transition of using AdvancEd please contract Superintendent Frank Jesse either by phone, 402.482.5233 or by email, frankjesse@esu8.org.