Soup/Sloppy Joes Supper

Thursday, February 11th, 2010

The Scotus Post Prom Committee will hold a Soup Supper on Thursday, February 11th from 5pm to 8pm in the Scotus cafeteria in conjunction with the basketball games. The supper will include chicken noodle soup, sloppy joes, and desserts. Suggested donation is $4 for adults and $3 for kids and free will offerings are accepted. Brownie sundaes will also be available.

12th Annual Lenten Shrimp Peel

Friday February 19th, 2010

All the SHRIMP you can peel and eat! Homemade Salads, Bread, Coffee and Tea. Will be at located at the New World Inn Courtyard. Gather @ 6:00 PM and Meal @ 7:00 PM. $12 per person - Advanced Tickets ONLY! Available after Masses or CALL Joan (402) 563-4520, Patty (402) 562-6128, and Karen (402) 246-4550 through February 15th. Proceeds to St. Isidore History Day/NEED Students.

2009-2010 ACTIVITY CALENDARS

"ON SALE" for only "$5.00"

Activity Calendars are now 1/2 Price and are for sale in the Main Office. If you have not gotten your calendar for the year or have "misplaced" it, pick one up today. Limited number of calendars available.

2009-2010 Annual Appeal!

The response to our Annual Appeal to fund the replacement of classroom windows in the Science Wing for Mr. Younger and Mr. Salyard has been outstanding! As of January 15, 2010 we had 659 donors to the appeal who contributed $44,871. Additional donations to the appeal are welcome so that more important improvements can be made to our facilities—all for the benefit of our Scotus Central Catholic students!

Wayne's Word

Messages from Wayne Morfeld

Effort School! College Prep School! Which one is Scotus Central Catholic? To answer this question it is essential to remember that first and foremost Scotus Central Catholic is a Catholic, faith based school. As to whether Scotus is an effort school, a place were students develop the necessary qualities to become the best they can be, or college prep school, a place where students come to be well prepared for advanced education; I believe Scotus is and should be both. The concepts should be compatible.

Scotus recently received the results of the fall Iowa Test of Basic Skills testing (ITBS) and as has become the norm the results were outstanding. I will present the information in a couple different formats and share some valuable insight into the efforts of the students.

One way student performance on the ITBS is monitored is by quartile performance with the 4th quartile representing the nations top 25% of performing students. The graph below shows the percent of Scotus students scoring among the nations top 25%.

Two things stand out as I view this graph. First the incoming 7th grade did an outstanding job with 57% of the students scoring in the top quartile. The second is the strong performance of the junior class with 70% of the students scoring in the top quartile. Refer back to the 2005 column when as 7th graders this same class had 54% scoring in the top quartile. 16% of growth. Keep in mind the general expectation on standardized testing is to maintain a consistent score from year to year. Improving your scores is outstanding and I consider it evidence of a great effort by both the student and their teachers. The ITBS and similar tests are not curriculum friendly tests, teachers do not know the content. All that can be done is instruct with a great deal of rigor, develop great study habits and when test day comes give it your best effort.

I am very proud of the students who performed in the 4th quartile but I am equally proud of another group of students who do not get enough recognition. Four years ago this junior class had 2 students who tested in the 1st quartile and 6 who tested in the second quartile. Scores this year show no students in the 1st quartile and 3 students in the 2nd quartile. Average growth for the students testing in these quartiles their 7th grade years is 19 percentage points, from the 33rd to the 52nd percentile (avg. score is now in the 3rd quartile). This is absolutely outstanding growth and a tribute to their hard work and perseverance. I congratulate the students, their parents and their teachers; job well done!

Composite scores for each class this year are also very encouraging. The average score for the average 7th grader placed them in the 81st percentile nationally, the average freshmen score placed them in the 78th percentile nationally and the average score for the juniors placed them in the 84th percentile nationally. Very high numbers; in the top quartile for average student performance.

Addressed from the school perspective (school norms) the performance of the 7th graders as a class ranked the 7th grade class of Scotus Central Catholic in the 96th percentile for the composite/total score when compared to other schools across the nation taking fall testing. The school norm for the 9th grade on the composite was the 95th percentile and the juniors the 97th percentile. Even higher was the 9th grade school norm in math, the 99th percentile and for the juniors a 99th percentile ranking in math and science. Wow!

As you review the text of this article I believe you will see why I believe Scotus is and should be both an effort and college prep school. The two ideas are immeasurably entangled. I also believe that as students become more successful academically (when they have to earn it), their self-esteem grows and their goals for their future grow. As I see it the eight students who started out being challenged with the curriculum at Scotus have persevered and risen to the challenge. They have grown and if it fits their life goals will be prepared for higher learning when they graduate in another year. I cannot emphasize strongly enough how proud I am of these students. The human spirit is capable of great things! They have shown that.

Wayne Morfeld

Scotus Sports

Comments, results and highlights from coaches and players

Boy's Basketball 6 - 9

The Boy's will be hosting Lincoln Lutheran on Thursday.

Girl's Basketball 5 - 10

The Girl's will be hosting Wahoo Neumann on Monday and Lincoln Lutheran on Thursday.

Scotus Notes

Scotus Staff - If you would like to post something on the Scotus Web Site please email Aaron Sasges with your request. Thank you.