New Way to Access Fliers of Community Events/Activities

Looking for the latest events and activities from our community organizations?  We’ve gone paperless!  Click above link to see details!

High Ability Identification

In accordance with the Indiana high ability law, we are required to have an identification process in place to identify students of high ability in the general intellectual and specific academic domains. We identify students who have high ability in language arts and/or math.

Every kindergartener, second and fifth grader who has not been previously identified in a subject area is considered for high ability identification.

Testing for the high ability identification process will begin in December.

Learn more about our identification procedures by visiting our high ability website at www.phmschools.org/highability.

Would you like to learn more about School Messenger and how to control the delivery of messages?  

School Messenger InfoCenter

Engaging, enriching—words that describe the 2016 Visual Arts Academy. 

Excited, enthralled—the reaction of so many of the children experiencing this unique summer program.

Now in its fourth year, over 800 children in grades K-5 are taking part in the 2016 Visual Arts Academy.  

The Visual Arts Academy has been nominated to receive the designation of “Promising Practice.” That distinction is granted by the Indiana Department of Education to programs that use innovative approaches to deliver educational benefits. Once “Promising Practices” are identified, other Indiana districts may choose to initiate similar programs for the families they serve.

The Visual Arts Academy represents an innovative partnership developed by Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation and the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame. The Academy features art making and writing through the examination of original works of art from both the Snite Museum and museums around the world.

It is comprised of six one-week programs, running from June 6 through July 15, 2016. Each week students from a different grade level experience a diversely rich curriculum that focuses upon the creation of an identity as an artist with words as well as images.

Each day students work with the visiting artists and art teachers in art making, elementary writing teachers for writing workshop and visual thinking strategies, multi-media experience to learn about art mediums such as glass blowing or architecture. Students also spend one day at the Snite Museum.

Since its inception, the vision and mission of the Visual Arts Academy has been shared by a core group of teachers and administrators at P-H-M and Notre Dame. Under the leadership of Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kay Antonelli, the group created the curricula “from the ground up” and provided the professional development for all teachers who participate during the Academy. Over 25 elementary writing and secondary art teachers are serving the Academy this summer.

Thanks to the financial support of these contributors, the Visual Arts Academy is provided for all children free of charge.

• 

  The Community Foundation of St. Joseph County ($50,000 grant)

• The P-H-M Education Foundation

• Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation

• The Snite Museum of Art

• The Law Offices of May, Oberfell, Lorber

• And various other contributors

CANVAS is an online communication platform that connects students, parents and teachers. CANVAS has boosted the success of P-H-M’s Chromebook program in middle and high school, and most of our users have given it a “thumbs up” this year.

Starting June 6, 2016, P-H-M’s CANVAS users will see a new and improved “dashboard” when they log on. In addition to the new look, the user will have new options for organizing and viewing CANVAS content. We think the changes being made to the user interface will merit two thumbs up!  

Parents and students, watch the video below for an overview of the changes. 

The URL (web address ) to CANVAS is not changing. You will find it at the same location, or by using the same link or shortcut, as you have used in the past. 

• Click here to go to the CANVAS login page now, or copy/paste this address into your browser bar: https://phm.instructure.com/ to go there. 

Your login information will not change. Your CANVAS login is the same as your HAC (Home Access Center) login.

• Contact the school office or email the HAC helpdesk HAC@phm.k12.in.us if you need help setting up your account. 

Visit the Canvas Help Page for additional resources and information.

The Indiana Department of Education released 2015 school accountability grades today and all 15 of Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation’s schools earned an “A”! The final grades were approved unanimously by the State Board of Education during the January 26 Board meeting.

“This straight ‘A’ report card is a result of the hard work and dedication from principals and teachers to the staff, students and families at all of our schools,” said P-H-M School Superintendent Dr. Jerry Thacker. “This latest achievement is a result of our District’s commitment to excellence.”

Last year, 13 P-H-M schools earned an “A.” With Madison Elementary and Elsie Rogers Elementary each moving up from a “B” to an “A,” all 15 P-H-M schools (11 elementary, three middle and one high school) have now earned this top recognition from the IDOE. Out of 2,095 schools across the state that got a letter grade, only 123 schools saw their letter grades go up in this latest ranking.

A spreadsheet reflecting the final school grades as approved by the State Board of Education is available through this link, http://www.doe.in.gov/news/indiana-department-education-releases-2015-accountability-grades.

On January 6, 2016 the IDOE publicly released the 2015 ISTEP+ results. With an 81.4% pass rate for ELA (English/Language Arts) and a 78.0% pass rate for Math, P-H-M ranked 10th in the state among 293 public school districts. The District’s 2015 overall combined pass rate for both subject areas is 72.1%

Click here for more information on P-H-M’s 2015 ISTEP+ results.

With the Wednesday, January 6, 2016 public release of the 2015 ISTEP+ results, Penn-Harris-Madison School Corporation saw a jump in its ranking among Indiana’s 293 public school districts. With a 81.4% pass rate for ELA (English/Language Arts) and a 78.0% pass rate for Math, P-H-M ranks 10th in the state! The District’s 2015 overall combined pass rate for both subject areas is 72.1%.  

Another highlight from the 2015 ISTEP+ results for P-H-M … the School Corporation saw an increase in score variance. In grade 3, the variance between P-H-M’s scores and the state’s increased to 19.6 points; in grade 8, it goes up to 25.1 points. This shows that the younger a student enters the P-H-M education family, and the longer they are taught by P-H-M teachers, the better the students do!

Superintendent Jerry Thacker keeps the district’s focus on excellence in education, and acknowledges the partnership that makes it possible. “We commend our students and teachers, along with our parents for their concentrated hard work and dedication; that is the ‘Triangle of Success’ we tout at P-H-M.”

This link takes you to the full story of how P-H-M students fared on the 2015 assessment, including access to data charts that display individual school results.

Parents of 3rd through 8th graders and Penn sophomores, the Indiana Department of Education has released the testing windows for ISTEP+ and IREAD for the 2015-2016 school year. ISTEP will begin in late February and IREAD in mid-March. Part 1 of ISTEP will be done with paper/pencil and Part 2 will be done online. 

New this year:  In preparation for 2016 ISTEP+, the IDOE has now made ISTEP+ “Experience” available through Pearson, allowing students and parents to experience various technology-enhanced item types that will appear on the ISTEP+ Part 2 assessment as often as they like from home, at school, or on mobile devices. “Experience” is presented via the Pearson online platform (TestNav 8) that will be used for ISTEP+ online testing, as well as IREAD-3 online testing. P-H-M families can access ISTEP+ “Experience” through the P-H-M District website, as well as through the link provided on the RESOURCES menu of every school website.

Indiana Statewide Testing of Educational Progress Plus (ISTEP+ ) Grades 3-8, and 10*

                                                                           Window Begins                                              Window Ends

ISTEP+ Part 1 – paper/pencil                        February 29, 2016                                          March 11, 2016
(Applied Skills)

ISTEP+ Part 2 – online                                    April 18, 2016                                                  May 6, 2016
(Multiple-choice & Technology-Enhanced Items)

*New this year, high school sophomores will be required to take ISTEP

Indiana Reading And Evaluation Determination-3 (IREAD-3) Grade 3

IREAD-3                                                           March 14, 2016                                               March 18, 2016

For more information on the state assessment testing windows, please visit the Indiana Department of Education website, www.doe.in.gov/assessment.

Speak Up is a national research initiative that seeks to gather widespread input on the topic of educational technology.  

Each fall the Speak Up survey is posted online so students, parents, teachers, school staff, and the general public can share their views on technology in schools. 

The Speak Up survey has three primary objectives:

• To provide a means for local schools and districts to easily and effectively listen to and act upon the ideas of their stakeholders
• To provide a conduit for the voices of education stakeholders, most notably students, to inform national and state policies and programs
• To stimulate new local discussions around the use of technology within education.

Survey results are typically released in February, and are important to those who shape educational policy, direct school finance, create curriculum, and implement technology in our schools.

Penn-Harris-Madison participates in the survey in part because we are recipients of a Digital Learning Grant that helps to fund our technology.  

Another reason we support Speak Up is because the results can be helpful in the development of our formal technology plans. Each P-H-M school develops and follows a 3-year technology plan that outlines its goals for educational technology and directs how resources may be spent to achieve those goals.

Here’s a link to learn more about the SPEAK UP survey and the agency that conducts the research, Project Tomorrow.  Get answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Speak Up here.

Or, you may want to just jump right in and take the survey!

Parents and community members CLICK HERE to TAKE THE SPEAK UP SURVEY NOW

The survey takes 15-20 minutes to complete and you will not need to create an account. The survey will be open until December 18 and the link on this webpage will remain active until then. 

P-H-M staff and students will have opportunities to take their version of the Speak Up survey at school / at work through arrangements made in the coming weeks.