The message below was emailed to P-H-M Families on the afternoon of July 15, 2022.
Dear P-H-M Families,
I hope you are enjoying your summer. I have some great news! I am extremely proud to share that the Indiana Department of Education released the Spring ILEARN 2022 scores this week and P-H-M is once again one of Indiana's top performing public school corporations--going from the Top 6% in 2021 to the Top 3.67% in 2022. That means that Penn-Harris-Madison ranks #11 out of Indiana's 299 public school districts!
Congratulations to you and your children! I never cease to be amazed by our students' continued resiliency, hard work, and dedication. I applaud our P-H-M families and the commitment of our teachers, administrators,
and staff.
Additionally, Northpoint again is the #1 public elementary school in the state, for passing both ELA and Math ILEARN. Prairie Vista moved up to the #2 spot. Discovery is among Indiana's top performing middle schools coming in at #2, for passing both ELA and math. To see your school’s scores, please click here to visit the IDOE website.
These results are even more pleasing knowing that our students and educators have been working diligently to close the learning gaps caused by the pandemic. We have been extremely focused on providing excellence in education to help all of our students learn and achieve academic success. P-H-M’s post-pandemic learning recovery plan has included hiring additional staff, specifically adding instructional interventionists at all of our schools to assist teachers in providing more attention directly with the students who need it most. We have also added before and after school student tutoring sessions, increased targeted summer learning opportunities to help students catch up, and we continue to provide professional development for our teachers, this past year with specific and intentional focus on accelerating student learning.
We know that the pandemic created a lot of issues in a number of educational areas, and it will take the ongoing intense focus of school leadership and district administration to help our cohort of students most impacted by the pandemic regain what was lost. Our educators are committed to providing exceptional academic support to all students in all 15 of our schools and are working tirelessly to do so. The ongoing efforts by our teachers in this endeavor is greatly appreciated. The Board of School Trustees and I continue to be confident that the P-H-M “Triangle of Success”–connecting students, teachers, and parents–creates a learning environment in which our students thrive.
As the parents and families of students, your active participation in your children’s education is invaluable to student success. Educational success starts at home and that is why the “Triangle” is so important. We congratulate all our families and students on this success, and we look forward to making even more progress this coming school year.
Enjoy the rest of your summer. We look forward to welcoming your children back on Wednesday, August 17.
Dr. Jerry Thacker
Superintendent of Schools
