A TOPA end of the year practice is to reflect on the triumphs of the school and discuss our short comings as well. At TOPA,the philosophy is to “only bring the past if we intend to build with it.”Yesterday is gone,today is here. It is always our goal to take what we do well within our Core Values and make it better,and take our weaknesses and turn them into strengths. We appreciate all the feedback and suggestions we get from parents throughout the year. So many of our policies and procedures within our cornerstone principals,come from appropriate parent feedback. Modeling problem solving strategies and advocacy is such an important thing to teach your children,thank you.
500 filter straws delivered to Kapachi Yili,Ghana
Just under 10,000 dollars raised to help the Smith family battle cancer (he received an excellent prognosis this week,cancer free!)
Thousands of dollars raised through various activities and events for technology,outdoor classrooms,and field trips.
98.9% re-enrollment percentage
87% re-enrollment of 8th graders matriculating to OIAIS
Internal AIMS web testing shows all k-3 scholars progressing at rates well above the national average
Scholars representing TOPA in District and State Spelling Bees,Geography Bees,and Grammar Bowl
This year our 8th graders took the PSSAT to begin preparing for the PSAT and the SAT. Their scores were compared against college bound sophomores around the nation,we could not be more excited about the results:
In the Critical Reading Category
40% of our 8th grade scholars scored higher than 50% of all college bound sophomores nationwide
In the Math Category
45% of our 8th grade scholars scored higher than 50% of all college bound sophomores nationwide
In the Writing Category
40% of our 8th grade scholars scored higher than 50% of all college bound sophomores nationwide
We also have had the privilege of hosting both Core Knowledge and IB visits. Both visits could not have gone any better. One great comment was “it is so nice to see the school philosophy and vision being carried out in every classroom.”
Our boys baseball team and girls softball team finished second in our conference,not bad for 6-8th graders playing against all 8th graders!
Areas we at TOPA are focusing on or topics of discussions for the summer:
Philosophy permeating throughout the entire school,in every aspect. For example,a sixth grader was bothered this year by some of the unhealthy snacks being sold out of our cafeteria. We love when our scholars question what we do and bring solutions. This will become part of our summer discussions.
Along with the snacks,the philosophy of fundraising rewards. We strive for intrinsic rewards at TOPA,doing something because it is the right thing to do,not for the reward at the end. Our fundraisers come with tangible rewards to entice scholars to sell,and man,do they sell. Technically,the reward for the scholar is the field trip or technology,but if we take away the prizes,sales statistically drop by two-thirds. When parents donate tax credit,they receive all the money back,so it is separated out from the fundraising. We continually go back and forth between the need for extrinsic rewards to fund extra programs and simply saying,the extra programs are the reward. So far,it just continues to be a discussion.
More “Love”in our Love and Logic policies. We always re-evaluate our policies. This year it became clear that we need to model the Love and Logic program throughout the school. Our teachers,staff,and parents need more education and more practice in this program. How much grace do we extend kids because we do love them and want them to see victories,but we do not want to enable and coddle. It is a fine line,and there are over 1400 scholars with all different circumstances and personalities that we have to account for.
Follow Us