Plan Assessment for Sophomores

The sophomores did an excellent job taking the Plan Assessment (pre-ACT test) in the AA Gym together as a group!  They all worked very hard and should be very proud of their individual and group achievements!  The results of the Plan will be given back to the students when we receive them in approximately 3-5 weeks.

Next year, all juniors will be taking the ACT + Writing, along with ACT Work Keys on March 3&4, 2015.

Great End of the Week!

We had a great week at SHS as it was nice that the weather held off for us to get all the scheduled days in the is week; there were moments where it might have been in question, but our students did an excellent job staying focused.

Our sophomores are ready to take the Plan Assessment on Monday; all sophomores should report to the AA gym with pencils and a calculator to take this important college and career ready assessment.

If the weather cooperates, we should be in a longer stretch here with five day school weeks until our shorted break near Easter.  Our seniors will find that this time will go very quickly, while our underclassman will be anxiously awaiting their time to start their class's countdown to graduation.

Have a great long weekend!!

Early Release, Feb. 19

On Wednesday, February 19, the Sparta Area School District will have a two hour early release for  professional development.  All District transportation will run two hours earlier than originally scheduled, and SHS will end the school day with an abbreviated  eight period day at 1:01.

During this professional development time, Sparta High School faculty will discuss a plan of action to increase academic progress communication to parents, along with our content teams continuing to development and refine our course unit plans with the goal of making these available to parents and students by the start of next school year.

Also, there will be no school on Friday, February 21 as this is a non-school day for both students and staff. Even though we do not have school, many staff members will be attending the Western Wisconsin Education Conference in La Crosse to learn about technology resources to enhance student learning.

If you have any questions in regard to this day or anything else to SHS, please feel free to contact me at sruss@spartan.org or 608-366-3504. Thank you for your support of these valuable professional development opportunities.

Thanks and Go Spartans!

Sophomore Plan Assessment

On February 24, all sophomore students will be taking part in a standardized test called the Plan. This assessment is part of the “ACT Suite” and give students and parents a measuring tool for college and career readiness.  Students last year took the “Explore” assessment, and the Plan will build upon last year’s assessment.  The exam takes approximately  three hours to complete and students will miss their morning classes. 

We are having our students take this exam for several reasons:

1)      To give our students the best possible chance to perform on the ACT, Compass, and other college entrance exams. Also, information will be given to the students and parents about how to increase their ACT scores.

2)      Beginning in the year 2014-2015, the state of WI is requiring all students take the ACT + Writing test as the state exam.

3)      Our faculty will be taking the data from these exams and making the proper adjustments to better prepare our students for the ACT.

If you have any questions in regard to either Explore or Plan, please visit http://www.act.org/products/k-12-act-plan/  ,  or contact Sparta High’s School Counseling Office at 366-3425.

Thanks and Go Spartans!!!!

State ACT Conference Notes

Good Evening!

Yesterday, I went to WI's annual state ACT conference for educators.  The conference was extremely well attended due to Wisconsin moving to the ACT, ACT Aspire, and ACT Work Keys for the high school state assessments.  More information will follow in regard to each of these, but I was more taken interested to learn what types of talents our future workforce (our students) will need to be successful in their career. This career might be right out of high school, or after a certification program, technical college, or traditional college, but regardless what our students do after graduation, they must be college and career ready.  The skills below are listed from most important to least important:

• Locating Information
• Reading for Information
• Advanced Mathematics
• Workplace Observation (learning by observation)
• Teamwork
• Writing
• Applied Technology
• Listening

The skills listed above, are the same skills that post-secondary institutions also look for in applicants.  Our future economy will need smart, young talented people to help us continue our economic growth; this is what we are trying to have all of our graduates become as we work with them for four years.

Enjoy the night!!

Go Spartans!!!!!

Ms. Sackmann's Chemistry Class

Good Evening!

Thank you to Ms. Sackmann for having me in her Chemistry class today!  They were doing excellent work on determining the limiting reagent in a reaction as they were just starting to learn about this important concept. Talking this topic with the kids brought me back to my Chemistry teaching days!!

Have a great night and we are all set for another great day tomorrow at SHS!!

Go Spartans!

Sam Russ

Great Week!!

Good Morning!

SHS had a great week throughout the classrooms!!!  Our students and staff are working very hard to ensure a great start to the semester.  We are expecting another good week coming up as we will be running our normal schedules.  For the week of February 17-21, we will not be having any Gold/Red days as we have an early release on Wednesday, February 19, and no school on the 21st.  So February 17, 18, and 20 will be the traditional 8 period day and the 19th we will have shorted classes due to the early release (students will be released at 1:00).

Have a great weekend and Go Spartans!!!

Sam Russ

First Full Week of 2nd Semester??

Good Afternoon!!

The weather forecast for this week looks promising to put in a full week of good academics at SHS (finally!!).  We had a good start to the second semester and looking forward to our students being challenged and increasing their knowledge in and out of the classroom.

Our winter sports and activities are wrapping up this month and March, so if you have time to see a game or event, that would be very appreciated by all of our students!  A complete schedule of events can be found on our homepage.

Thanks and Go Spartans!!!

Sam Russ