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The Board of Education and the administration of Oakwood City Schools are pleased to announce that Oakwood High School has been designated a 2007 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School by the United States Department of Education. The school was officially notified of this award on October 1.
Oakwood High School was invited to apply for this award by the Ohio Department of Education in November 2006. Oakwood High School was required to provide its state assessment results (the Ohio Ninth Grade Proficiency Test and the Ohio Graduation Test) for the last five years with subset data for special education students. In addition, the percentage of students scoring above the state’s “pass” rate (e.g., accelerated and advanced) had to be provided. The application also required attendance, graduation, and dropout data, plus statistics on the post-graduation plans of the Oakwood High School Class of 2006. All of this information was presented in addition to such mandatory “Indicators of Academic Success” as SAT, ACT, and OGT subset results. Specific statements regarding how Oakwood High School uses data to drive instructional decisions and how Oakwood High School shares its success through professional development presentations at the local, regional, and national level were also required. Lastly, Oakwood High School was mandated to present its core curriculum and to highlight various accomplishments.
Oakwood High School principal Joe Boyle and science department chair Heidi Steinbrink, will represent the school at the 2007 Blue Ribbon Schools Awards Ceremony during the No Child Left Behind program in Washington, D.C., on November 12 and 13. The entire Oakwood High School faculty and staff deserves recognition for their unselfish dedication to making sure that the motto, “What’s Best for Kids”, drives their every professional action. In addition, special recognition goes to Oakwood Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Mrs. Kimberly Kappler, who provided so much of the data and textual information for the NCLB Blue Ribbon School application.
Of course, the students of Oakwood High School and their families deserve special recognition. OHS students consistently take on the challenge of OHS’s rigorous program of studies. They put out the effort necessary to be successful. Their parents value education, as does the entire Oakwood community. Oakwood residents are willing to provide Oakwood City Schools with the assets necessary to provide a Blue Ribbon School education to their children. Thus the entire Oakwood community is truly responsible for Oakwood High School being selected as a U.S. Department of Education No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School.
Joe Boyle
Principal, Oakwood High School
The OHS Class of 1997 will be having their 10-Year Reunion on Friday, Nov. 23, 2007. Call Rande Chapman at 299-3925 for more information or to register.
The Oakwood Rotary Club is now accepting applications from Oakwood area high school students who are interested in the Rotary International Youth Exchange. There are two for which students can apply. The first program is the Long Term or Outbound Exchange and the second is the Family Summer Exchange program. For the Long Term Program the student can apply for the opportunity to visit and attend school in a selected foreign country for 11 months. The Family Exchange involves an eight-week “visit and exchange” program by a student and his family. The U.S. student visits a family in a foreign country for 4 weeks and a student from that family returns with the U.S. student to visit the family in the United States for 4 weeks.
The Long Term Exchange is for students who will be 15-19 years of age in 2008. (Usually grades 9-12). Applications for the program must be completed and submitted by approximately Nov. 15, 2007. Interviews will be conducted Dec. 5 by Rotary District 6670 for students living in the Dayton Metropolitan area. Selections are to be completed by Dec. 31, 2007. Selected students are then assigned to a country of choice and will begin their exchange in August-September, 2007. For a few countries involved in the program the exchange can begin a few months earlier to comply with the commencement of the school year.
The Family Summer Exchange program matches selected local high school students who will be at least 15 by the Summer of 2008 (and their families) with a youth and family in selected countries. United States students start the exchange process by visiting their “host” family in mid June until approximately mid-July. U.S. Students return with the youth from their host family and they and their family host that student until approximately mid-August. Applications for this program can be submitted up until March 1, 2008.
The Rotary International Youth Exchange program sponsors more than 10,000 students worldwide under this exchange program. Oakwood Rotary has sponsored nine students in these two programs over the past several years. The student has the benefit of experiencing the customs and culture of a country through formal education and by staying with Rotary member host families. Oakwood Rotary’s District 6670 covering clubs in the Greater Miami Valley area sponsors as many as 18 students for the Longer Term Program.
Additional details such as costs, actual departure and arrival dates for particular countries, choice of host country and the application forms can be obtained from the Oakwood Rotary Youth coordinators Debbie Hershey and Chuck Roedersheimer or from the Oakwood High School Guidance Counselor Office. Also specific and detailed information on both of these youth exchange programs can be obtained from the Rotary International website, www.rotary.org. District 6670 has information on the larger program for the Rotary District which can be viewed at the Rotary Ohio-Lake Erie District website, www.ohioerie.org. The web sites also have fill-in forms for the Long Term and Family Exchange applications.
It is important to submit applications early for the Long Term program. The students are interviewed and applications are evaluated by a panel of District 6670 Rotarians for both programs. Selected students are then matched with sponsoring Rotary clubs in other countries and receive orientation sessions in preparation for the exchange. Note that early applicants also have a better opportunity to choose their country of choice for the exchange. Interested students or parents should contact Mrs. Hershey 937-294-5854, Hershey@acm.org or Mr. Roedersheimer at 937-293-8105 or acroeders@riva.net or croedy@sbcglobal.net.
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