To the Marin School Community,

There are so many reasons why I find myself optimistic about 2014! As we begin the second half of the school year, I wanted to start by welcoming our families and school community back with a few important updates.

Attendance: Overall attendance is up at Marin this year and it is very important for our community and students to sustain this growth. Students thrive with positive attendance practices and parents/caregivers play such an important role in getting students ready to meet the day on time and prepared to learn. Consistent routines at bed time and when getting ready for school contribute to a child's sense of belonging, allows them to feel organized and ready for the challenges of a full day. Increased attendance is also directly tied to school funding which relies on daily attendance averages for the greatest source of school revenue. A 1% increase district wide can translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars that directly supports all students in Albany! Please consider taking family vacations during school breaks and scheduling appointments for your student later in the day to help us maintain our positive attendance this year. Thank you Marin!

Common Core State Standards: Our teachers have been working hard to align the new CCSS with the District Benchmark Assessments that grades Tk-5 use during the year to assess academic achievement. One addition has been Mathematics Assessment Resource Service (MARS). Within the member school districts, the Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative sponsors the annual administration of the MARS exam, a summative math performance assessment to measure students’ ability to solve non-routine problems, explain and justify their solutions and promote high level thinking skills. Student work is analyzed so the thinking and misconceptions can be reported to the schools to inform teachers and support improved instruction. Parents/Caregivers will have an opportunity to review Benchmark Assessment results for their student with teachers during spring conferences. For more information on MARS and the Silicon Valley Mathematics Initiative please visit http://www.svmimac.org/mars/mars.html

Classroom aides: Marin continues to support our School Site Plan for Student Achievement by targeting students who need math intervention during the school day with qualified teacher aides. All grades 1-5 are receiving limited support based on student needs and personnel available. Albany USD has also started placing aides in the classrooms to help with class sizes in grades TK-3. Marin is fortunate to welcome Ashley Williams, Laurel Lachesnez-Heude and Michela Azzariti to our staff who will be working with our first, second and third grade teams. As more qualified personnel becomes available, they will be placed with teachers in grades K-3 at Marin based on student/teacher needs.

Finally, I'd like to share some helpful reminders with our parents/caregivers as our community continues to enjoy a rich commitment to doing what is right for the students of Marin.

If Principals Could Tell Parents Just One Thing To Help Them to Help Their Children!

--From a study by Dr. John H. Wherry, President, The Parent Institute, Publisher of the newsletters Parents make the difference!, Parents STILL make the difference! and Educators' Notebook on Family Involvement, P.O. Box 7474, Fairfax Station, Virginia 22039-7474 Phone: (800) 756-5525.

Have a very safe and peaceful holiday season Marin.

Best regards,
Alexia Ritchie, Principal