Howells-Dodge Consolidated Schools is one of the newest districts in Nebraska. The communities and former districts of Howells and Dodge joined in consolidation in 2011. Presently the district serves 282 PK-12 students, with attendance centers in both communities. The Howells Attendance Center consists of the PK-1st and 7th-12th grade students and the Dodge Attendance Center hosts the 2nd-6th grade students. The communities of Howells and Dodge also support Catholic Parochial Elementary Schools with a total of approximately 65 students.
The Howells-Dodge Board of Education is very supportive in the continuation of providing a quality education for the children of the district while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Howells-Dodge Consolidated Schools is truly a very good school, committed to the quest of becoming a better school for the future of the children served in the district.
Demographic Highlights:
- District Enrollment up from 251 to 282
- Consistently score above state average in assessments in most grade levels
- Free & Reduce below state average overall (increase in Dodge Elementary)
- The special education rate is below state average
- Attendance rate is above state average
- High Mobility Rate has increased in the last couple of years and it has affected some of our test results
- Average teacher experience is 20 years
- 10:1 Student to Teacher Ratio
2014-2015 Improvement Recommendations:
- Establish, Implement, and systematically monitor the curriculum, instruction, and assessment practices K-12 in all assessment areas.
- Provide training for professional and support staff in the evaluation interpretation, and use of data.
- Formalize, implement, document, and review a systematic continuous improvement process.
School Improvement Goals:
- All students will improve their reading across content areas.
- All students will improve their writing across content areas. (Implementation starting in 2019-20)
Steps to Achieve Recommendations and Goals:
- Implement an instructional framework - Marzano Framework of Instruction
- Instructional training in Kagan strategies in PK-6, which do mesh well with the Marzano Framework.
- Dedicate professional development to helping staff interpret data to determine school instructional needs and school improvement goals .
- Implement a formalized plan to review and work toward a continuous improvement process.
- Formalized process for curriculum writing and alignment of standards.
- Review our goal in reading specifically and the reason why our data is difficult to determine any major trends.