Annual Education Report

January 7, 2021

Dear Parents and Community Members:

We are pleased to present you with the Annual Education Report (AER, which provides key information on the 2019-2020 educational progress for Zeeland Quest. The AER addresses the complex reporting information required by federal and state laws. The school’s report contains information about student assessment, accountability, and teacher quality. If you have any questions about the AER, please contact Leslie Rindfliesch for assistance.

The AER is available for you to review electronically by visiting the following web site https://bit.ly/2LrBERa, or you may review a copy in the main office at your child’s school.

As a building we continue to work on making sure that all of our students are challenged in their learning and that they all are making academic gains throughout the year. During the past year we have continued sustainability of several programs. These include a comprehensive phonics program, Phonics First, in grades K-2, a phonics program called Structures for our 5th graders, a rigorous reading program, Ready Gen, in grades K-6, writing curriculum, Write Well, in our K-5 grade levels, as well as a continued Science pilot in K-5, implementation of Mi Star Science in grades 6-8 and Big Ideas Geometry implementation in 8th grade. Our professional development continues to be focused around these programs as well as seeking new innovative opportunities to improve Project Based Learning at Zeeland Quest. We have addressed the needs of our struggling students through a response to intervention program called WIN (What I Need), where students are provided an intervention period of reading and/or math that will help them to be successful on Common Core State Standards. In addition, we have put Individual Reading Intervention Plans (IRIP) in place with parents of students who are not showing proficiency in reading at grades Kindergarten through 3rd grade, per the State of Michigan’s 3rd Grade Reading Law. We continue to support the updated attendance expectation that was set by the OAISD. We look to support families who are struggling to get their kids to school or to school on time. Through the support of administration and the implementation of a School Success Coordinator (SSC), we are able to monitor attendance and draw attention to the importance of being in school and not at home.

PROCESS FOR ASSIGNING PUPILS TO THE SCHOOL – Students in Zeeland are assigned based upon their geographical home location. After all students are placed based upon this “neighborhood school” concept, school of choice students are placed based upon available spots. Zeeland Quest enrolls students on a “first come, first serve” basis following current school siblings, in-district and then out of district residents.

THE STATUS OF THE 3-5 YEAR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN – Zeeland Quest’s School Improvement Team is continually revising the school improvement plan to help our students achieve the necessary skills for success in reading, writing, math, science and social studies through the use of Project Based Learning and cross-curricular integration. This plan is available for review on our building web sites.

SPECIALTY SCHOOLS – Students in the elementary program at Zeeland Public Schools are given the opportunity to participate in a variety of opportunities besides the traditional program including special education programs meeting various needs, Gifted and Talented for 4th/5th grade students, Spanish Immersion, and Zeeland Quest (a year round balanced calendar, project based learning school).

THE CORE CURRICULUM for our school is based upon the State of Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations and National Common Core Standards. This information is available at our school office or on our building web site. Zeeland Public Schools makes sure our students are provided challenging lessons that are consistent across grade levels. A team of Zeeland educators regularly evaluates and revises our curriculum to ensure that classroom lessons meet state requirements for kindergarten through twelfth grade. Our district has made the transition to the National Common Core Standards in math and English Language Arts.

2018-2019

2019-2020

On District Fountas & Pinnell Running Record Assessments:

70% of all Kindergarten Students are at or above grade level benchmark 4

81% of 1st graders are at or above grade level benchmark 18

89% of 2nd graders are at or above grade level benchmark 22

96% of 3rd graders are at or above grade level benchmark 26

100% of 4th graders are at or above grade level benchmark 29

81% of 5th graders are at or above grade level benchmark 30

On District Fountas & Pinnell Running Record Assessments:

*Note: these scores are reflective of progress at mid-year due to COVID shut down

96% of all Kindergarten Students are at or above grade level benchmark 4

60% of 1st graders are at or above grade level benchmark 18

86% of 2nd graders are at or above grade level benchmark 22

89% of 3rd graders are at or above grade level benchmark 26

91% of 4th graders are at or above grade level benchmark 29

96% of 5th graders are at or above grade level benchmark 30

2018-2019 STAR 360-End of

Year Scores

(Percent Level 3 or 4 at End of Year)

2019-2020 STAR 360-End of

Year Scores

(Percent Level 3 or 4 at End of Year) *Note scores from mid-year due to COVID shut down

Grade

Math

Reading

Grade

Math

Reading

Kinder

86%

Kinder

NA due to COVID

87%

1st

90%

86%

1st

95%

90%

2nd

96%

89%

2nd

86%

91%

3rd

96%

3rd

89%

93%

4th

100%

4th

91%

86%

5th

82%

77%

5th

96%

6th

83%

6th

95%

91%

7th

90%

95%

7th

88%

94%

8th

100%

8th

95%

Zeeland Quest held Student-Led Conferences at the 5th-8th grade levels, in which 100% of our students and at least one parent attended. Conferences were held for parents with children in grades K-4th in a more traditional style due to IRIP implementation, in which 97% of parents attended. In addition, our volunteers logged approximately 1100 hours of volunteer time for the year, down due to the executive order that shut us down from March-June due to COVID-19, causing us to be out of school and learning remotely.

Zeeland Quest is proud of our students’ achievement and the quality instruction each student receives in and out of their classroom environment, including the instruction that was given during a mandated executive order shutting our schools down nation-wide due to COVID-19. Our team committed to compassion over compliance and helped students (and families) to process the events happening in our country. We worked hard to make sure that students had a sense of closure on the 2019-2020 school year and that families were supported in all needed ways. As our mission states, “Learning Without Limits,” ZQuest staff, along with the parents of our students, will continue this mission during the 2021-2022 school year!

Sincerely,

Leslie Rindfliesch
Zeeland Quest Director