This is the fourth report in the CVPost’s series of interviews with school superintendents in six Chippewa Valley public school districts. These reports are intended to provide overviews of the six districts to help community members understand and compare their values, strengths and achievements as well as the challenges that each one faces.
We hope this series will help make our readers more aware of school district goals and operations, and will increase their understanding of how these six districts contribute to the quality of life in their communities and in the Chippewa Valley as a whole. You can find the first three reports in this series, on the Altoona, Menomonie and Elk Mound school districts, by clicking on the names of the three districts. For the Introduction to the series as a whole, see http://cvpost.org/13165-2/.
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BASIC INFORMATION: Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District
Enrollment: Total, 5,139: 1,487 in the high school, 1,070 in the middle school, and 2,182 in six elementary schools.
District Mission: The Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District, in partnership with the community, is committed to excellence, empowering and challenging all students to learn while preparing them for an ever-changing global society.
Core Values:
- Students come first in the Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District
- Our schools provide a positive environment where mutual respect and individual responsibility are learned and practiced.
- Our schools provide a safe and secure environment.
- Every member of our community has value in the education of our students.
- All students, regardless of their diverse learning abilities, can learn and achieve to their maximum potential.
- Our schools provide a high-quality and comprehensive education for all students.
District phone number: 715-726-2417
District website: http://cfsd.chipfalls.k12.wi.us/
Superintendent: Dr. Heidi Eliopoulos served as principal of the Chippewa Falls Middle School before she became Superintendent of the Chippewa Falls Area Unified School District in 2015.
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By Michael Hilger, for the Chippewa Valley Post
The Chippewa Falls schools provide “large district opportunities in a small town setting,” in part because of co-curricular activities in which “there is something for everyone,” according to the district’s superintendent.
In an interview with the Chippewa Valley Post, Dr. Heidi Eliopoulos specifically mentioned the district’s show choir and its music and athletic programs as serving large numbers of students. Clubs such as world language groups, dance, forensics and a prize-winning equestrian team offer other opportunities, she said.
“Education is experiencing changes greater than we have seen in decades,” she said. “On top of that, we are preparing our students to use technology and work in jobs that might not even exist yet.”
She added that the district needs “to navigate these changes and challenges so that our students leave school with the knowledge and skills they need to follow their dreams, whatever those dreams might be.”
“The reality is, though, that the education we provide today is going to look different than the education we received. That might make us uncomfortable at times, but we need to serve the needs of our students and their futures,” she said.
Adult Education
This attention to the future and life-long learning manifests itself in the district’s Voyagers adult education program, the largest basically self-supported learning opportunity for adults in the area. Two colorful catalogues listing the many choices are sent out twice a school year to all community members, and approximately 575 enroll during a typical year.
Eliopoulos said she believes that these popular offerings, which do not take funds from the programs for traditional students, help to engage the support of the community.
She noted that the district designed its mission and goals in 2014 with input from both district residents and staff. Led by a professional facilitator, a 100-person team representing both groups listed what they wanted the students to learn.
A smaller team and the school board then created the district’s mission statement, its list of core values, a statement of desired “mega results” and its measurable goals.
Eliopoulos said that the administration worked on “cascading down” these goals so they would be developed within individual schools and by departments and teachers for each of their classes. The goals are measured and re-evaluated each year in order to foster continuous improvement.
Eliopoulos said this process should – in the words of the district’s “mega results” statement – prepare high school graduates to succeed in both post-secondary education and careers. It should provide them with the knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors necessary to achieve their personal goals and contribute to the common good, she said.
The district’s financial condition is good because it has a large tax base and its residents enthusiastically support the schools and the concept of continuous improvement with special help from businesses, local organizations, and volunteers, Eliopoulos said. She added that this strong partnership with the community is a major reason why the district is unique.
Closing the Gap
Eliopoulos noted that all school districts work hard on the challenge of closing the gap between high achieving and low achieving students, and her district focuses on closing that gap in elementary and middle school. Though the district has an alternative high school for struggling students, she said “recent brain research” suggests that earlier attempts to close the gap are more successful and less expensive than waiting until high school to tackle the problem.
To make this early intervention work, the pace of covering subject matter is somewhat slowed down in the early years and considerable attention is given to individual students, she said. The goal is to close the gap as much as possible by the end of 8th grade.
However, Eliopoulos pointed out that students who remain at risk in high school may still receive individual assistance in the alternative Chippewa Valley High School.
She said high achieving students have the opportunity to choose from about 40 AP (Advanced Placement) courses in subjects such as world languages, history and English. The high school offers approximately 14 of these classes each semester. Students may also enroll in a large variety of advanced on-line courses.
She noted that about 75% of Chippewa Falls High School graduates go on to higher education.
Eliopoulos said the district “communicates a lot with publications” and in various other ways “to show our community the wonderful things we do for children.”
- A twice a school year newsletter, on glossy paper and set up by the district human relations director and a hired graphic artist, is sent to all addresses in the district.
- The district also uses daily texts and videos on social media to let the community know what is happening at the schools. Administrators track that data and sometimes see about 15,00 hits a day.
- The superintendent and school board also have monthly coffee meetings with the community.
The district cooperates with surrounding districts through CESA 10 (an organization that provides services to school districts) on opportunities for professional development for teachers. It also keeps in contact with UW-Eau Claire and Chippewa Valley Technical College to make additional upper level classes available to students headed for college. Grades in those courses count for both high school requirements and at UW-EC or CVTC if the students choose to enroll at either school.
Eliopoulos also explained that the district schools, like most in the Chippewa Valley, have a policeman on-site to keep the buildings safe and deal directly with families on problems like truancy. However, the district also uses a skilled person from the circuit court to help at-risk students, she said.
Evaluations
In addition to evaluating student work with tests, the district also encourages student improvement by offering a series of steps leading to a final written assignment grade, in the middle and high schools. Eliopoulos said these steps include defining a clear set of standards, a preliminary ungraded paper or assignment, teacher comments on possible revisions, and finally a graded evaluation of the revised material.
Teachers in the elementary schools also discuss the evaluation of individual students’ work before final grades are submitted.
In evaluating teacher effectiveness, the district follows the state guidelines. These involve a series of formal and informal class visitations by the principals, who then have several meetings with individual teachers to discuss ways they can improve student learning.
Michael Hilger is an English professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and a member of the Altoona school board.