Price Elementary school welcomes the 2016-2017 school year with 352 students and 44 staff members eager to continue in their learning.  We are continuing on our mission to have students make at least one year’s growth in their academic subjects, and work towards preparing them for Middle School and beyond.

This year, we have welcomed a few new staff to our Price Family; Mrs. Hummel one of our 3rd grade teachers, Mrs. Misenko one of our Title I Tutors, Mrs. Primm one of our ISGI’s, Mrs. Renner our Art teacher and Mrs. Steinwedel one of our cafeteria staff.

We have expanded on our writing focus for this year, and students have been working on their opinion/argumentative writing processes.  This type of writing is heavily dispersed amongst the Ohio Learning Standards, and our students have been making great progress becoming proficient with it.  We continue our push for early literacy and numeracy, as they are the backbones of everything that students will do throughout their educational career, and beyond.  We have also expanded our understanding and exposure to Authentic Learning opportunities for both our students and staff.  Through the use of Design Challenges, our students are able to use the 4 C’s of 21st Century Learning; Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Thinking.

As one of two international elementary schools, we began the year with 19 English Language Learners, and have since raised that number to 32 students.  We have 10 countries and 7 different languages spread across all 6 grade levels.

We have 3 goal areas for this year, and we are happy to share that we are on our way to great growth in each area.  Our first goal is to make a year’s growth in Math and Reading, and mid-year reports show that according to our i-Ready assessments, 33% of our students have already made a year’s growth in Reading, and 20% in Math.  Our second goal is to increase the number of students proficient with their opinion/argumentative writing by 30%, and mid-year reports show that we have moved 10% of our students up.  Our final goal is to decrease the number of students who are chronically absent with 15 or more days of missed school, and mid-year reports show that we have decreased the number of students who would normally hit 15 absences or more, by 19%.

We are fortunate to have a daily rotation of volunteers coming into the building.  We have volunteers coming in to help in the library, help our Reading by 9 program, or just help in the classrooms in general.  From parents and grandparents, to board members and the Mayor, we are fortunate to have a community who cares, and wants to provide what they can.  These volunteers are in addition to our hard working PTA, which has helped sponsor many events this year, such as our Fall Fest, Santa Shop and ice skating event for our families.

We are working hard to support our vision statement that was revised last year; To support our community so everyone experiences success.  We appreciate the opportunity to strive towards this, as well as towards making a difference for Every Student, Every Day, with Every Opportunity.

Price Elementary school welcomed the 2015-2016 school year with 352 students and 44 staff members eager to continue in their learning.  We are continuing on our mission to have students make at least one year’s growth in their academic subjects, and work towards preparing them for Middle School and beyond.

This year, we have welcomed a few new staff to our Price Family; Mrs. Hummel one of our 3rd grade teachers, Mrs. Misenko one of our Title I Tutors, Mrs. Primm one of our ISGI’s, Mrs. Renner our Art teacher and Mrs. Steinwedel one of our cafeteria staff.

We have expanded on our writing focus for this year, and students have been working on their opinion/argumentative writing processes.  This type of writing is heavily dispersed amongst the Ohio Learning Standards, and our students have been making great progress becoming proficient with it.  We continue our push for early literacy and numeracy, as they are the backbones of everything that students will do throughout their educational career, and beyond.  We have also expanded our understanding and exposure to Authentic Learning opportunities for both our students and staff.  Through the use of Design Challenges, our students are able to use the 4 C’s of 21st Century Learning; Communication, Collaboration, Creativity and Critical Thinking.

As one of two international elementary schools, we began the year with 19 English Language Learners, and have since raised that number to 32 students.  We have 10 countries and 7 different languages spread across all 6 grade levels.

We have 3 goal areas for this year, and we are happy to share that we are on our way to great growth in each area.  Our first goal is to make a year’s growth in Math and Reading, and mid-year reports show that according to our i-Ready assessments, 33% of our students have already made a year’s growth in Reading, and 20% in Math.  Our second goal is to increase the number of students proficient with their opinion/argumentative writing by 30%, and mid-year reports show that we have moved 10% of our students up.  Our final goal is to decrease the number of students who are chronically absent with 15 or more days of missed school, and mid-year reports show that we have decreased the number of students who would normally hit 15 absences or more, by 19%.

We are fortunate to have a daily rotation of volunteers coming into the building.  We have volunteers coming in to help in the library, help our Reading by 9 program, or just help in the classrooms in general.  From parents and grandparents, to board members and the Mayor, we are fortunate to have a community who cares, and wants to provide what they can.  These volunteers are in addition to our hard working PTA, which has helped sponsor many events this year, such as our Fall Fest, Santa Shop and ice skating event for our families.

We are working hard to support our vision statement that was revised last year; To support our community so everyone experiences success.  We appreciate the opportunity to strive towards this, as well as towards making a difference for Every Student, Every Day, with Every Opportunity.

Thank you for your support of Price Elementary School this year.  We had a phenomenal year, and we would like to share some of the good things that went on this year.  First off, our Reading by 9 program helped to increase the literacy of our primary students.  We believe that this is one of the reasons Price received an A on the K-3 Literacy component of the local report card.  We helped contribute to the district’s A, which was one of 27 in the state, and the only one in Summit County.

We had some tremendous growth with our student writing, thanks to the writing focus we had this year.  We ended the year with 46% of our students’ proficient, and 45% of our students’ advanced, as judged by our writing rubric.  We will continue writing into next year, as it is an important part of the students’ future.

We welcomed many of the districts English Language Learners to Price, and have revised our programming for these students.  We will continue to work to make this a model program for other districts to replicate.

We closed the year out recognizing numerous students for their accomplishments.  We had 90 students honored for 98% attendance (less than 4 days absent).  We had 20 students honored for perfect attendance.  That is 31.7% of our student population that missed less than 4 days of school for the entire school year.  We also recognized our 3rd through 5th grade students for their academic accomplishments: 38 students for GPA’s of 3.0-3.49 (Bronze award), 41 students for GPA’s of 3.5 to 3.849 (Silver award), and 21 students for GPA’s of 3.85-4.0 (Gold award).  That is 59.2% of our intermediate students who had at least a B average and above.  20 fifth grade students were also honored with the Presidential Education Awards: 13 received the Gold-Excellence award, and 7 received the Silver-Achievement award.  These students must have maintained a 3.5 GPA or above for their 4th grade year, as well as the first semester of their 5th grade year.  In addition, they must have scored advanced or accelerated on their 4th grade OAA results in all areas.

Lastly, we redesigned our vision statement to encompass where we hope to be in the future.  Our new statement reads, “To support our community so everyone experiences success.”  We want to be a resource not only for our students, but our parents and community as well.  Please check the website this coming year, to see opportunities for our families and community members here at Price.

Welcome to Elizabeth Price Elementary,

As we are midst of the 4th quarter of school, we would like to share some of what is going on with Price.

We have a great staff, and a great student body that make it enjoyable to work with them every day.  One of our main focuses with our students this year is on writing.  We have embarked upon a focus for this as a way to get students to process the information that has been presented to them.  Part of the new Ohio Learning Standards is the anchor standard that we are working on this first semester of school: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.  To date, we are making progress with our students.  Our Teacher Based Team (TBT) data shows that we have moved from 63% not proficient and 37% proficient (October results) to 51% proficient and 32% advanced (March results).  Our goal, by the end of the year, is 63% proficient and 37% advanced, and we are on our way to meeting it.

Throughout the year, our staff has taken on an active role in the TBT process.  Each team has met at least twice monthly to look at student writing, and how it is progressing.  They have collaborated on the best ways to improve the student writing, and it appears to be paying off.  We will continue this process, and use these strategies for more focused direction in the future.

As we wind down the year, our students have made growth in other areas as well.  Looking at i-Ready data, we have 69% of our students who have made a year’s growth in Reading, and 47% who are on or above grade level.  In Math, we have 70% of our students who have made a year’s growth, and 63% of our students are on or above level.  Compared to last year, by the end of the year, 66% of the students were on or above grade level in Reading, and 30% in Math.

We are all proud of the work not only our staff does, but our students and community do as well.  We would not be able to do what we do without the support of our students, parents and community.  We are proud to call ourselves Tigers!

As we are into the second 9 weeks of school, we would like to share some of what is going on with Price.

We have a great staff, and a great student body that make it enjoyable to work with them every day.  One of our main focuses with our students this year is on writing.  We have embarked upon a focus for this as a way to get students to process the information that has been presented to them.  Part of the new Ohio Learning Standards is the anchor standard that we are working on this first semester of school: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.  To date, we are making progress with our students.  We have made some minor adjustments to how we are assessing their writing, but as we continue on, we will share some data on the student progress.

As we head into December, our students will be taking the mid-year i-Ready assessment in Reading and Math.  We use the data gathered from these assessments to help guide the direction we go with our students.  We also use it as a measure to see how much growth our students are making throughout the year.  Once we have the assessment done, we will share the student growth with you.

Recent survey results from our parents indicate that overall they are pleased with the operations at Price.  Some quotes from parents are:

“My son loves coming to school everyday and the education he is receiving so far has been great! Thanks!”

“Kindergarten appears to be a loving and nurturing environment where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”

“I am very impressed with everything. I’m very glad he started his educated here.”

We are all proud of the work not only our staff does, but our students do as well.  They are an incredible group of students, and we are all proud to call them our own.

Price Mission Statement:

Educating students to become productive, compassionate citizens.
 
2014-2015 Building Goals:
 
1. By the end of the 2014-2015 school year, 85% of students will make a year’s growth in all subjects as evidenced by i-Ready growth data, SLO data and/or common assessments.
2. During the 2014-2015 school year, all teachers will be active members in teacher-based teams that will meet twice monthly and be assessing student content writing, as measured by data reviewed by the BLT and DLT.
3. By the end of the 2014-2015 school year, each student will take part in an authentic learning experience to increase their cultural awareness as evidenced by student work and student surveys.

Welcome to Elizabeth Price Elementary,

As I am embarking on my new chapter here, I am amazed at the wonderful work that has gone on, and is going on here at Price.  The custodial and maintenance staff has worked hard getting both the inside and the outside of the building ready for this up and coming school year.  As I sit here and write this, the Cuyahoga Falls Marching Band is outside working through this years music and movements, and they are sounding amazing.  Final adjustments are being made all over, to prepare for this year's experiences.

I have transitioned from Bolich Middle School, where I was the Principal for 4 years, and the Assistant Principal for 5 years.  Prior to that, I was a Unit Principal at Cuyahoga Falls High School for 1 year, and prior to that I taught Biology at CFHS for 6 years.

All in all, I am proud to be a part of the history here at Price, and look forward to working with the students, parents and staff of this fine establishment.  I can't wait to meet all of you, and work with you closely throughout the year.  Please make sure to stop in the office to say "Hello" when you visit us.  I am looking forward to an excellent year.

Sincerely,

John Musat

Hello Visitors to the Price Principal Page of Pondering,

Today is my last "official"  day in the Cuyahoga Falls City Schools. I am now cleaning out my office to get it ready for the next Principal, John Musat.  Many of you will know him as he was the Principal at Bolich Middle School for many years as well as the Assistant Principal there.

I hope you will mark your calendars for Thursday, August 21, 2014 to participate in the Annual Price Open House which will be held from 4:00 until 5:30 PM.  You will be able to meet your child's teacher/s for the coming school year and introduce yourself to Mr. Musat.  While many of you may remember, it seems like only yesterday when I arrived at Price and participated in the Open House!

So as always, a BIG "thank you" for sending us your very best kids"!!!

Please remember, it is our job is to keep your children safe and therefore able to learn.  If you have questions, comments, complaints, or compliments, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Musat.   Come back soon and read what we are doing and thinking. Until next time, you can always reach mPrincipal Musat at: [email protected].  The Price Staff has always been committed to a 24 hour turn around of your messages to us!