March 29, 2019

Dear Parents,

If you have not done so, please review your child's quarter three report card. In addition, please take the time to sign up for parent-teacher conferences which will occur on April 4 & 5, 2019. (Power School link )

Please note, that on Thursday and Friday the secondary students will have an altered schedule. On Thursday, April 4, 2019 students will be released from classes at 11:30 AM. On Friday students will not have school as there will be a full day of conferences  Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on Thursday from 11:30 AM to 6:00 PM and Friday from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM.

If you have difficulty accessing your child’s conferences sign up, please know that you can contact the Secondary School office by email (secondaryoffice@isyedu.org) for assistance. Parents who prefer to visit the office for assistance are welcome to come between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM.


Winter MAP Data for students in Grades 6-9:

These assessments provide data that helps determine your child’s instructional level and also helps measure her/his academic growth throughout the school year and from year to year.

MAP Growth assessments from NWEA® are unique in that they are adaptive assessments taken on a computer. This means the assessment became more difficult when your child answered a question correctly. And when your child answered a question incorrectly, the assessment became easier. Ultimately, your child took an assessment that was intended to specifically target his/her learning level.

Your child’s MAP Growth results are represented as RIT scores. Like inches on a ruler, the RIT scale measures in equal intervals, regardless of a student’s grade—and it remains stable over time. As a result, we can accurately measure students’ growth in MAP Growth assessments in between assessments. RIT scores enable teachers to recognize where to focus attention to optimize your child’s learning and to monitor her/his progress.

Please keep in mind that the MAP Growth is one of the many tools used to help teachers monitor student progress, and that ISY considers several data points that, together, provide an accurate profile of a student’s skills, abilities, and knowledge.

If you would like more information about the MAP Growth assessment, please visit the ISY web site: www.isyedu.org/learning/assessment or visit NWEA.org/Parent-Toolkit. For more details about interpreting the report or to discuss your child’s results, please contact your child’s teacher or email Mike Simpson at msimpson@isyedu.org.

This Week In Secondary School

Thursday, April 4

• Secondary School Students Early release at 11:30AM
• Parent-Teacher conferences from 11:30-6:00PM
• High School Art Show

Friday, April 5

• No School for Secondary Students
• Parent-Teacher Conferences from 8:00-4:00PM
• High School Art Show

March 22, 2019

Dear Parents,

We hope will join us at ISY's 3rd Annual Gala event at the Sule Shangri-La Hotel on Friday, March 29, 2019, at 6:00PM. Tickets are available in Building B.

If you have a bit of spare time this weekend, come and cheer on the Girls softball team as they compete in the SEASAC tournament at the American Club.

Game times on Saturday:

• 7:30 - ISY - Bangkok Patana School
• 11:15 - ISY - Ruamrudee Intl School
• 3:00 - ISY - NIST

Softball information and results can be found on the following website

Quarter 3 reports cards will be available by Friday, March 29, 2019, and will be followed by Parent-Teacher conferences on April 4th and 5th.

Parent-Teacher Conferences: Sign-up are now available on Power School. Please take a few moments to sign up for conferences.

Please note, students in secondary will be released from classes at 11:30 AM on Thursday, April 4, 2019. As Friday will be a full day of conferences there will be no school for students on Friday. Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on Thursday from 11:30 AM to 6:00 PM and Friday from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM.

If you have difficulty accessing your child’s conferences sign up, please know that you can contact the Secondary School office by email (secondaryoffice@isyedu.org) for assistance. Parents who prefer to visit the office for assistance are welcome to come between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM.

*Accessing PowerSchool*

• Click the following link to access PowerSchool
• Enter your username
• Enter your password – If you have forgotten your username and password contact secondaryoffice@isyedu.org for assistance.
• Click on the log in button

*Signing up for Parent/Teacher Conferences*

• Click on student name
• Click on Parent/Teacher Conferences icon on the left side of the screen
• And conferences sign up will appear on the screen

This Week In Secondary School

Thursday

• AMIS Boys and Girls Choir
• IB Art Show

Friday 

• YMUN

Saturday

• YMUN

March 15, 2019

Dear Parents,

We hope to see you all on campus tonight, March 15, 2019 from 5:00-8:00 for our Family Fun Night. The event will be a fund raiser for the United World Schools Project where we still need to raise $13,000 to fund the building of the school. The evening will be filled with lots of fun and entertaining activities for all ages. Please join us, and help us reach our goal.

Entry fees are as follows: Students - 5,000 MMK and Adults - 10,000 MMK - (Some activities require an additional fee)

Family Fun Night Activities Include the following

• Sports games for all levels
• Board Games room
• Movies for all age ranges
• Family Swim from 5:00PM -7:00PM
• KARAOKE rooms (25,000 MMK per room)
• 3 Escape Room Challenges (10,000 MMK per person)
• Sumo Challenge (2,000 for three rounds)
• Ping Pong (2,000)
• Yangon Ninja Warrior Course (3,000)

Food and drink will be available for purchase throughout the night.

***************************************************************************

Quarter three will be ending on Friday, March 22, 2019. Quarter 3 reports cards will be available by Friday, March 29, 2019 and will be followed by Parent-Teacher conferences on April 4th and 5th.

Parent-Teacher Conferences: Sign-up are now available on Power School. Please take a few moments to sign up for conferences.

Please note, students in secondary will be released from classes at 11:30 AM on Thursday, April 4, 2019. As Friday will be a full day of conferences there will be no school for students on Friday. Parent Teacher Conferences will be held on Thursday from 11:30 AM to 6:00 PM and Friday from 8:00 AM to 3:30 PM.

If you have difficulty accessing your child’s conferences sign up, please know that you can contact the Secondary School office by email (secondaryoffice@isyedu.org) for assistance. Parents who prefer to visit the office for assistance are welcome to come between 8:00 AM and 4:00 PM.

*Accessing PowerSchool*

• Click the following link to access PowerSchool
• Enter your username
• Enter your password – If you have forgotten your username and password contact secondaryoffice@isyedu.org for assistance.
• Click on the log in button

*Signing up for Parent/Teacher Conferences*

• Click on student name
• Click on Parent/Teacher Conferences icon on left side of the screen
• And conferences sign up will appear on the screen

This Week In Secondary School 

Tuesday

• PSAT Exam for all grade 10 students from 8:00-12:00 

Thursday

• Yangon Choir Festival
• SEASAC Badminton
• SEASAC Softball

Friday

• Yangon Choir Festival
• SEASAC Badminton
• SEASAC Softball

March 8, 2019

Dear Parents,

I hope to see you all on Campus on Friday, March 15, 2019 from 5:00-8:00 for our Family Fun Night. The event will be a fund raiser for the United World Schools Project where we still need to raise $13,000 to fund the building of the school. The evening will be filled with lots of fun and entertaining activities for all ages.  Please join us, and help us reach our goal.

Family Fun Night Activities Include the following

• 3 Escape Room Challenges for Elementary, Middle and High School
• Sports games for all levels including some student versus teacher and parents 
• Board Games room
• Movies for all age ranges
• Family Swim
• Ping Pong
• KARAOKE rooms!!

Please note some of the activities will require an extra fee. The list of additional fees will be announced next week. Food and drink will be available for purchase throughout the night.

Entry fees are as follows:

• Students - 5,000 MMK
• Adults - 10,000 MMK

This Week in Secondary School 

• Grade 12 Mock Exams will continue until March 14, 2019. Mock Exam Schedule
• April Exam Schedule for High School Students 
• ASA Session 3 will begin on Monday
• AAPPL Testing (Grades 6-10) continues 

Thursday 

• University Information Night from 5:30-6:30 in the ISY Cafeteria. University Information Night on Thursday, March 14th at 5:30 in the cafeteria.  The information provided will be focused on university admissions in the United States and Canada.  We will do a deep-dive into what universities want and how students can navigate the university search process.  Parents of current juniors are highly encouraged to attend, but anyone in the ISY community are welcome.

Friday

• Family Fun Night: 5:00-8:00 PM 

March 1, 2019

Dear Parents,

In an effort to keep up with research and best practice ISY is investigating the feasibility of moving the start of school to a later time. Recently the secondary parents, students, and teachers completed a survey gauging the support for this initiative. The results of the survey are outlined at the end of this message. Many parents, students, and staff are in support of an 8:30 AM start time. However, before taking on this initiative, there are a variety of factors that will need to be considered such as the impact on traffic, ASA’s, SEASAC activities and busing to name a few.

A shift in start time will not add more hours to the day, or be a magical solution to the lack of sleep many of our secondary students are experiencing.  However, it could potentially allow adolescence a little more time when it matters most. Over the next few weeks, ISY will be investigating the impacts of moving the start time of the school day. If the start of the school day is changed to 8:30 AM, this will be articulated to the community the first week of April.

Update from the Counselor: This week Mr. AG took time out of his busy schedule to visit eight universities in Hong Kong. As students explore their many university options, Hong Kong is an area to take into consideration. We look forward to Mr. AG sharing his experience and knowledge gained through these visits. 

Lisa Isom : ISY's New Director of Athletics and Extra-Curricular Programs will be on campus this week. 

Spring Exams for high school students: High School exams (Grades 9-11) will take place the week of April 24th. The spring exams  are summative assessments where students have an opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned throughout the school year. The exams are at the end of April to allow teachers the opportunity to assess students’ long-term learning and provide feedback to the students. The timing of the exam allows teachers time to introduce a final unit before the end of the year which will be assessed and included in the quarter four report card. This allows for teaching and learning to occur until the final day of school. As high school students progress through the years, learning how to study for cumulative exams is important as, at the end of grade 12, all students take exams which assess two years of academic content.

April Exam Schedule

This Week in Secondary School  

• Grade 12 Mock Exams will begin on March 7, 2019 to March 14, 2019. Mock Exam Schedule
• AAPPL Testing (Grades 6-10): Students in their language classes will be taking a language proficiency test to help us better understand their growth. This information along with other data points will be used to help determine their language class for next school year. The Exams will take place over the next three weeks. 

Start Time Survey 2019 Summary

1.       I support having grades 6-12 school start at 8:30 am. This would likely mean that the school day would be from 8:30-3:15 PM. 

	Parent	Students	Staff
Agree	53%	58%	45%

2.       I support having grades 6-12 school start at 9:00 am. This would likely mean that the school day would be from 9:00-3:45 PM. 

	Parent	Students	Staff
Agree	33%	36%	28%

3.       If the school day started later, I would support the creation of an optional class period for electives that run before the start of the school day.

	Parent	Students	Staff
Agree	42%	49%	45%

4.       If the school day started earlier, I would support an increase in morning scheduled practices and meetings for clubs and sports.

	Parent	Students	Staff
Agree	49%	49%	68%