Jasper High School and Ireland Elementary are named 2010-2011 Indiana Four Star Schools!

GJCS Kindergarten Round-Up Dates Set
Enrollment for all students who will enter kindergarten during the 2012-2013 school year will be conducted on Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at each respective school - Fifth Street Elementary or Ireland Elementary.  Registration times are 8:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.  Parents must bring an original birth certificate, social security card, and immunization records.  Students will be assessment on basic skills at this time.  Additional information may be obtained by contacting Fifth Street Elementary (482-1406) or Ireland Elementary (482-7751).

Gymnasium  Approved by Board
The GJCS Board of Trustees approved the schematic design of the new Jasper High School gymnasium at the September 19, 2011 Board meeting.  VPS Architectural Firm will now begin development of construction specifications of the facility.  This should be completed within two months so that bids can be let.  A rendering of the design can be accessed from the link below.

 Rendering of JHS Gymnasium.pdf

GJCS Schools Receive 'A' Grades
Four GJCS schools have received 'A' ratings and Exemplary Progress category placements by the Indiana Department of Education.  Placements are determined by student performance on both the English/Language Arts and Mathematics portions of ISTEP+, improvement in the percentage of students passing both portions of ISTEP+, and achieving Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) status under the Federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB).  GJCS rankings are:

Fifth Street Elementary	A   (Exemplary Progress)
Tenth Street Elementary	A   (Exemplary Progress)
Ireland Elementary	A   (Exemplary Progress)
Jasper Middle School	C   (Academic Progress)
Jasper High School	A   (Exemplary Progress)
Greater Jasper Consolidated Schools	B   (Commendable Progress)

GJCS Students Improve ISTEP+ Performance
Spring 2011 ISTEP+ results indicate improvement for all GJCS students in grades 3-8 in both Mathematics and English/Language Arts.  Overall, 86.9% of students passed the Mathematics portion of the test and 85% of students passed the English/Language Arts portion of the test.  Ireland Elementary earned the distinction of 90% passing rates for both portions of the exam, as well as on the Mathematics and English/Language Arts respectively.

End-of-Course Assessment Results Above State Average
Spring 2011 ECA exam results indicate 91% of first time Algebra I testers are rated proficient.  Student performance is 20 percentage points above the state average of 71% passing.  Respectively, 85% of Jasper High School students and 100% of Jasper Middle School Algebra I students passed the test.

English 10 first time testers rated 82% proficient on the ECA and scored 12% above the State average proficiency rate of 70%. 

GJCS has earned the distinction of District-Wide accreditation through AdvancED, a global leader in advancing excellence in education through continuous improvement, organizational effectiveness, and accreditation.  District accreditation is a systemic approach to sustainable improvement that:

• Builds capacity of the school to increase and sustain student learning
• Stimulates and supports improvement and effectiveness throughout the school district
• Ensures all people, processes, departments in the district work in concert
• Strengthens efforts to meet accountability requirements
• Encourages growth beyond compliance to achieve excellence
• Promotes continuous improvement