MOT Charter Parents are Highly Satisfied

Thank you to every parent who took the time to provide feedback concerning our program here at MOT Charter School. To view a summary of the results, click here. The great news is that an overwhelming number of parents are highly satisfied with the school. However, there is always room to improve. Some areas of improvement highlighted in the family satisfaction survey include timely communication from school, improved curriculum in wellness, the fair administration of discipline policy, and student-to-student respect issues. Work is being done to develop a more comprehensive Health, Wellness and Physical Education program that is meaningful to the students all the way through the 8th grade. We will also continue our focus on character education to work on student-to-student respect issues.

MOT Charter School Makes Good Academic Progress in 2006-2007

MOT Charter School’s Strategic Plan sets forth 9 indicators of performance that the board and administration monitor to assess the school’s overall performance. The first three indicators are:

1. Strong evidence of students' engagement in meaningful learning, students developing critical thinking skills and students being able to relate and apply knowledge.
2. NWEA MAP test Fall-to-Spring growth;
3. Student performance on the DSTP.

In 2006-2007, MOT Charter School performed very well overall in these three areas.

Strong evidence of student’s engagement in meaningful learning was present in student work throughout the school: science fairs, literature celebrations, story writing, project presentations, purposeful letter writing, writing competitions, the initiation of the pond project, show choir / musical theater productions, art portraits and other student masterpieces, campaign research and “lobbying”. In addition, our students’ success in extracurricular competitions demonstrates that our students are able to relate and apply the knowledge that they are acquiring in the classroom:

1. MOT Charter School had 2 of 18 films selected from hundreds submitted for display in the “Speak Your Mind” youth film contest;
2. the 7th Grade Math League team finished 1st place in its division and the 8th Grade team finished 2nd;
3. we had a middle school team place 1st at the state Odyssey of the Mind Competition, and go on to place 16th at the World Odyssey of the Mind competition;
4. the BPA website design team took 1st place in Delaware and placed 2nd nationally;
5. in Meaningful Economics we had a 3rd grade, 4th grade, and TWO 5th grade teams take 1st place in Problem Solving. The 6th grade team placed 2nd in problem solving;
6. at the St. Mark’s Science Olympiad competition our 4th graders earned 1st place in 8 events, earned 2nd place in another 4 events, and 3rd place in 5 events;
7. once again, the 4th grade students earned honors for their Delaware Day posters, which were among just 6 school’s posters selected for presentation at the State house;
8. several students earned distinguished recognition in writing and art competitions.

Student performance on the NWEA MAP test demonstrates good academic progress. On average, every grade made good academic progress. In most grades, student growth met our average growth targets. The average student growth in math met the average growth target in all grades with the exception of 2nd grade and 8th grade. Similarly the after student growth in reading met or exceeded the average target growth in all grades with the exception of 2nd, 3rd, and 6th grades. It is important to remember that while these grades did not meet the growth target, there was still good academic progress. We will continue to use the results of the MAP test to identify learning gaps so maximize the fall-to-spring academic progress of each student. We will focus our efforts this year on improving the number of students who achieve their fall-to-spring growth targets.

Student performance on the DSTP also shows good progress. MOT Charter School has once again been named a Superior School by the Delaware Department of Education. MOT Charter’s 8th graders continue to make significant gains, placing MOT Charter School among the top middle schools in the state in DSTP achievement in both language arts and math. MOT exceeded state averages in every subject at every grade level on the DSTP, in some cases, substantially so. In every grade 4-8, we have maintained or increased the number of students meeting expectations across all spring-tested subjects!