Growing our High Ability Learner (HAL) plan is one of our goals in our next evaluation cycle. We are happy to report that our HAL numbers are growing at Deshler Public Schools, and that is thanks to the strong academic support these students are receiving from our staff at DPS and because of their own hard work! We are thankful for the support we have received from Dr. Sadie Coffey of ESU #5 in helping to build our HAL and WIN implementation programs from K-8, as well as Kaitlyn Buss taking on the HAL coordinator position for DPS.
High School HAL Students (pictured above):
Back Row: Michela Miller, Payton Bauer, Teagan Webber, Tanner Bauer, Kaden Kleen, Braxton Peterson, Hutch Vacek, Peighton Henry, Dean Baden, and Johnathan Zucker.
Middle Row: Danessa Buckles, Makenna Freitag, Danica O'Neal, Logan Schmidt, Brooklyn Wit, Molley Drohman, Lainey Vieselmeyer, Brendan Lemke, Holden McDonald, Landyn Tuma, Kayson Biltoft, and Conner Johnson.
Front Row: Sophia Fritz, Lillee Poisel, Jocelyn Berggren, and Logan Lowery.
NOT PICTURED: Tasia Schardt, Addyson Hintz, and Jordan LeFave.
We are proud to announce this group of high school students who entered our existing HAL program and encourage you to follow along as we share what we are doing to build this program in the future, including the use of our Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) model and the NDE career pathways. We have featured some of our Health Sciences pathway HAL learners' plans and our STS pathway opportunities within HAL in past posts, and are excited to be sharing more in the future. Within our NDE career pathways is where we applied for the ReVision Grant, where we gained $100,000 worth of equipment for our Digital Media class, Ag classes, and Skilled & Technical Science (STS) classes as well.
The HAL program is for students in grades 3-12. Wondering what we do at the elementary and middle school level with our HAL learners? We featured our elementary students in an earlier post, but we also want to highlight these students AND our middle school HAL students again, pictured below.
Our middle school students participated in manufacturing month and visits to Reinke Manufacturing and MetalQuest. They are also on a rotating cycle of visiting community colleges, private 4-year colleges, and public 4-year colleges, taking career exploratory classes within the NDE career readiness model AND have started to implement the What I Need (WIN) model in middle school with Mrs. Kalee Schardt, who is part of the MTSS team.
Elementary students have been participating in WIN for a number of years, under the original plan of Mikayla Meyer and Susan Miller, with continuation of the program with our MTSS team members, Michelle Dubbert and Jami O'Neal. These students have also met with the local extension office and ESU #5 staff to build capacity in the classroom to meet their individual needs.
Middle School HAL Students (pictured above):
Back Row: Bronsyn Henry, Jackson Beam, Heston Vacek, and Jaden Beam.
Middle Row: Blake Befort, Gage Tuma, and Traigan McDonald.
Front Row: Zoey Fangmeyer, Tinley Sieber, Brooke Freitag, and Boone Wit.
Elementary HAL Students (pictured above):
Back Row: Cohen Biltoft, Lyrikk Siebold, Guinevere Moeller, Hannah Hickey.
Front Row: Eva Schardt, Teddy Miller, Averi Alpaugh.
DPS students in our HAL program will be recognized on December 12th at halftime of the boys' varsity game. Congratulations, Dragons...WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!