Curriculum Connection

I transitioned to the role of Assistant Superintendent over the summer. I oversee our curriculum, instruction, assessments, and career readiness in this role. I work closely with our administrative team and our teachers throughout the year. On any given day you can likely find me in a classroom learning from our teachers, completing reports and required paperwork, meeting with community members or other colleagues, or attending a meeting.

My family and I are grateful to be Vikings. My husband, Mike, works full-time with the Indiana National Guard and has an electrical business on the side. He also is the varsity boys' golf coach, leads the Jr. Vikings basketball program, and volunteers with the high school boys' basketball team. Our children, Jaylee and Mitchell, are fourth graders. We are usually busy with our kids' events, camping in our fifth wheel, or supporting Viking events!

Our goal is to prepare students for life after graduation. In the summer of 2022, BRV was awarded a 3E: Explore, Engage, and Experience grant. We were awarded a competitive grant of over $120,000 for career development for two years. Our leadership team meets frequently to develop career readiness plans for each grade level. Our leadership team is made up of Trent McCormick, Lori Dickerson, Beth King, Emily Whaley, Tracy Wordinger, Lori Clone, James Bales, Missy Burns, Melissa Hook, Robin Gregory, Hannah Burks, Jennifer McDonald, Andrew Jaggers, Brennen Bales, Zoeann Chernowsky, Carl Siders, and Beth Goff.

All K-12 students will work throughout this year to determine personal values, create a dream board, and make an educational plan. We will also be exploring careers at various levels with students.

• K-3 students read books and complete activities about Bentley.
• 4-12 students use a program called Major Clarity to explore careers, create resumes, and participate in career interest surveys.

We hope that you will support our career exploration efforts at home as well and engage in conversations with your child about their career dreams.

BRV Jr./Sr. High School will be hosting a Career Fair for students on December 7th.

BRV Elementary School will be hosting a Career Fair for students on March 19th.

If you are interested in being a guest speaker, please contact Mrs. Dickerson (lori.dickerson@brv.k12.in.us).

This fall we began using Canvas in all grades K-12. Our teachers have spent many hours over the past six months learning ways to utilize Canvas in their classrooms. Canvas replaced Google Classroom and Schoology and allowed our entire school district to use only one platform. All classrooms are different and utilize Canvas in various ways and we will continue to evolve in our digital instruction.

Thank you to our Digital Learning Cadre members for helping us with a seamless transition this year! Digital Learning Cadre members include Trent McCormick, Lori Dickerson, Beth King, Emily Whaley, Tracy Wordinger, Emily Jenkins, Cathy Walradth, Courtney Stultz, Jessica Vannatta, Lacy Ison, Mary Parrett, Kristin Tran, and Sherilyn Claugh.

Mrs. Dickerson began introducing the Science of Reading to staff members in the spring of 2021. We were selected as a part of the IDOE Literacy Cadre for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years. As a part of the cadre, our BRV K-2 are provided with access to professional development in literacy instruction and support through our Reading Coach, Robin Gregory.

Legislators are requiring all Indiana schools to use approved Science of Reading curriculums beginning with the 2024-2025 school year. We are fortunate that our teachers have been using Science of Reading strategies and curriculums beginning with the 2022-2023 school year. When we have attended other professional development sessions on Science of Reading, we were told that our BRV staff is ahead of most schools in regards to their implementation of Science of Reading.

If you have questions about the Science of Reading at BRV, please contact Mrs. Dickerson (lori.dickerson@brv.k12.in.us).

We received ILEARN results over the summers some highlights include:

• 3rd grade ELA and Math have a higher passing percentage than last year's 3rd graders.
• 4th grade students went up about 6% from last year when they were 3rd graders in Math.
• 6th grade students went up about 6% from last year when they were 5th graders in Math.
• 4th grade students went up about 10% from when they were 3rd graders in ELA.
• 5th graders went up about 7% from when they were 4th graders in ELA.
• 8th graders went up about 4% from when they were 7th graders.
• 4th graders have a higher Science passing percentage than last year's 4th graders.
• 6th graders went up about 9% in Science than when they were 4th graders.

Comparing Henry County Total Corporation to Corporation Results (BRV, Tri, New Castle, Shenandoah, and Knightstown only)

• BRV 3rd grade scored the highest on ELA with 44.4% of students passing. This is also higher than the state average of 39.7%.
• BRV 6th grade scored the second highest on ELA with 34.2% of students passing.
• BRV 6th grade scored the second highest on Math with 36.8% of students passing.
• BRV 4th grade scored the highest on Science with 51.7% of students passing.
• BRV overall scored the 2nd highest on Science when combining 4th and 6th grade with 43.3% passing. BRV 4th grade and our overall 4th and 6th grade scored above the state average in Science.