MAPPING THE FUTURE
MAPPING THE FUTURE
Muncie Community Schools partnership with Ball State University continues to promote change in Muncie classrooms.
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VOL. 104 ISSUE: 30
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In the April 10 issue of the Ball State Daily News, weather was misprinted on page 02 and incorrectly attributes Noah Gordon as the forecaster.
To submit a correction, email editor@bsudailynews.com.
Elizabeth Myers, Weather forecaster, Benny Weather Group 4-DAY WEATHER
Dallas shooting injures four students, suspect in custody
April 16: A suspect was taken into custody April 15 after a shooting at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas, Texas, left four male students injured, according to the Associated Press (AP). Dallas Fire-Rescue said all were hospitalized with serious to non-life-threatening injuries after three were shot and one sustained a musculoskeletal injury. Police responded to the scene shortly after 1 p.m. to evacuate students. According to AP, the school will be closed for the rest of the week and the investigation is ongoing; the motive remains unknown. School officials said the weapon did not enter the school during regular intake.
Judge finds probable cause against Trump administration
April 16: According to the Associated Press (AP), U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg said April 16 he found probable cause to hold President Donald Trump’s administration in criminal contempt for violating court orders to turn around deportation flights to El Salvador. Boasberg warned the administration to “purge” itself of contempt or face hearings and possible prosecution, criticizing officials for failing to provide satisfactory explanations. According to AP, the Justice Department accuses Boasberg of “overstepping his authority,” while President Donald Trump has called for the judge’s impeachment.
10 gymnasts named to Academic All-MAC Team
April 15: Ball State University gymnastics had 10 athletes make the Academic All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) Team. Graduate student Hannah Ruthberg made the team for the fourth time in her career, while senior Grace Sumner made it for the third time. To make the list, athletes must maintain a 3.2 GPA or above and compete in at least half of the team’s competitions. Senior Cai Afalla, junior Mary Rose Bellan, sophomore Lindsay Fuller, senior Carissa Martinez, sophomore Delaney McMahon, sophomore Ava Molina, junior Alauna Simms and sophomore Ashley Szymanski also made the team for the first time in their careers.
ELÍAS VALVERDE II/THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS/ TNS
YURI GRIPAS/ABACA PRESS/TNS
ANDREW BERGER, DN
DNPartnershipProject
Key’ is ‘Repetition ‘Repetition
Muncie Community Schools sees improvements in standardized test scores following the implementation of the “Science of Reading” curriculum. 06
Commencement, one of the largest events on campus each year, will take place May 3. According to an April 16 statement from Ball State’s Communications Center, “To ensure that we provide a memorable experience for them, we are in need of many campus ambassadors to assist with the ceremonies.” Interested applicants can complete an online form by April 23.
Second Harvest distributing food April 21 through 27
Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana will host a Tailgate Food Distribution for Delaware County April 24 at Muncie Mall, according to an April 15 press release. All are welcome. No ID or proof of income required, and distributions are while supplies last. Volunteers can sign up at CureHunger.org.
State Spring Commencement ambassadors needed
Teachers, parents and students rally at statehouse
Hundreds from across the state rallied at the Indiana Statehouse April 14 to demand increased funding for public schools and to protest pending policy proposals shifting millions of local dollars to charters, according to Indiana Capital Chronicle. The rally came just hours ahead of a possible final vote on a massive property tax plan.
A student raises their hand during a lesson about beetles in second-grade teacher Savannah Oliphant’s classroom April 8 at East Washington Academy in Muncie, Ind. Muncie Community Schools was one of the first school districts in Indiana to adopt the “Science of Reading” curriculum. ANDREW BERGER, DN
Setting them up for
‘greatersuccess’
Meghan Braddy Co-News Editor
Incoming freshmen at Muncie Central High School (MCHS) will begin high school on a new diploma track, aligning with Indiana’s upcoming statewide graduation changes. The Indiana Graduate Prepared to Succeed (Indiana GPS) diploma, developed by the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE), is set to go into effect for the Class of 2029 — but MCHS is opting in early. Rather than waiting for the new requirements to take effect statewide in the 2028-29 school year, MCHS has chosen to implement them now for current ninth through 11th graders. These changes include the introduction of three “readiness seals” for students pursuing enrollment in college, employment or military enlistment after graduation.
MCHS Principal Christopher Walker said via email the process started with families in February, when the administration met with the Class of 2029.
“We outlined the new diploma requirements, how each student will be asked to declare a seal at the end of their ninth-grade year and how their middle school experience is preparing them for high school,” he said.
Since opting into the requirements early means applying them to current students rather than waiting to implement them for the Class of 2029, Walker said the administration will “analyze how the new diploma requirements can be applied to current ninth through 11th graders.” He added that the primary motivation
is to set students up for “greater success” in deciding what to do after graduation.
Muncie Community Schools (MCS) Director of Secondary Education Karianne Polk-Meek said,
some form of postsecondary skills training — but not necessarily a four-year degree — and military enlistments in the state dropped by 41 percent between 2018 and 2022.
Ultimately, the role of any school, any public school institution, is to make sure that they are preparing kids for their future, right?”
- KARIANNE POLK-MEEK, Director of secondary education at Muncie Community Schools
“Ultimately, the role of any school, any public school institution, is to make sure that they are preparing kids for their future, right?”
The IDEO’s December 2024 “The Future of the Indiana Diploma: Final Diploma Rule” report cites why the new changes are needed.
Though 76 percent of Indiana high school graduates say they intend to pursue higher education, only 53 percent actually enroll. Meanwhile, 58 percent of Indiana jobs require
The readiness seals aim to close this gap by allowing students to focus on a pathway tailored to their goals. For instance, according to the “Current & Future Indiana Diploma: Comparison” from the IDOE, the enrollment seal includes options, such as earning six college credits, achieving a score of 1250 on the SAT or 26 on the ACT, or passing Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams to earn college credit. Similarly, the employment seal will allow
students to focus on work-based learning with a minimum of 150 hours, career credentials, and a demonstration of workplace skills like collaboration and communication. For enlistment, students looking to enter the military must complete Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery benchmarks, have public service experience or participate in Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps.
Assistant MCHS Superintendent Eric Grim said early implementation provides more flexibility. Depending on their goals, students have three very different options, and they can change their minds at any point if they feel uncertain about the path chosen.
“I think, ultimately, the goal is to make sure that Indiana continues to have a robust and thoughtful workforce, and adults who are both ready to take on the workforce but then are able to have productive, thoughtful, happy lives as a result of the educational experiences they have,” Meek said.
Meek also emphasized how the district is working ahead of schedule to prepare students and teachers for the transition.
To help students adjust, MCS will launch a Freshman Academy, grouping them with English, math, science and social studies teachers.
“These four teachers will have a common planning period where they will meet weekly to talk through strategies and initiatives to best support our students to reach their goals,” Walker said.
The curriculum helps prepare third graders for the statemandated iReady test.
Katherine Hill Co-News Editor
The door of Savannah Oliphant’s East Washington Academy classroom is outlined with colorful sticky notes, each with a different sight word or phonetic sound.
Upon coming in each morning, Oliphant’s second graders are prompted to recite a word or phrase from a sticky note, a routine she said “is building confidence, stamina and the ability to read” the more students are exposed to real-life words and their sounds.
Once inside the classroom, students are met with curricula that satisfy the standards of the “Science of Reading.”
An August 2019 report from American Public Media Organization (APM) examined how reading instruction methods have changed over time.
According to the report, in the 1800s, children were taught a phonetic method of reading by sounding out words with the aid of McGuffey readers, some of the earliest books for gradelevel children.
By the 1930s, reading was thought to be a visual memory process, largely popularized by the “Dick and Jane” picture books of the decade.
The conclusion of whether reading was a skill more dependent on auditory or visual cues was a standard debate until education professor Ken Goodman proposed a “three-cueing system” comprised of graphics, semantics and syntax in his 1967 research paper.
The three-cueing system became “the theoretical
basis for a new approach to teaching reading that would soon take hold in American schools,” according to APM.
However, Goodman’s theory — a rejection of the idea that reading is a precise process that involves exact or detailed perception of letters or words — has since been debunked by cognitive scientists.
Now, picking up the pieces of Goodman’s foundational work, teachers and parents have begun to see reading as a science, not a “psycholinguistic guessing game,” as Goodman famously coined.
“[The Science of Reading] tells us that there are two parts of the brain we need to put together: reading comprehension and oral comprehension, and one isn’t going to succeed without the other,” Oliphant said.
She said the “Science of Reading” was first brought to her attention in December 2022, when Muncie Community Schools (MCS) tested different reading-based curricula that adhered to its structure in its schools.
A semester later, the district moved forward with Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA), a program that “puts research into action with explicit, systematic foundational skills instruction and a proven knowledge-building sequence,” by working closely with education “experts” and practitioners, according to CKLA’s website.
At the time, Oliphant was teaching first grade and piloting the CKLA program at East Washington Academy. She said the decision to teach second grade was partially strategic, as she wanted to keep up with her former students.
Reshaping Reading Instruction
Learning to read through phonics became popular in the late 20th century. Before that, students learned to read via a “lookand-say” or “whole word” method in the 1930s
Look-and-Say Method
• Argued that reading is a visual memory process.
• The approach was perhaps best embodied in the “Dick and Jane” books that first appeared in the 1930s. The books rely on word repetition, and pictures to support the meaning of the text.
• The idea is that if you see words enough, you eventually store them in your memory as visual images.
“I wanted to follow them not only to see their growth continue but to [also] see how much they retained, and how much they remember[ed], and to see if [CKLA] was really helping them and how it affected their iRead scores,” Oliphant said.
At MCS, CKLA is divided into two portions: a skills portion, which teaches younger grade-level students how to read, and a knowledge portion, which nurtures students’ comprehension skills at the higher elementary grade levels.
Oliphant said the program is structured this way because “the thing we’ve learned [through] the ‘Science of Reading’ is these kids have a higher grade listening comprehension and oral comprehension than they do a reading comprehension.”
The program’s reading comprehension books are often fiction. As students get older, nonfiction is slowly integrated into their reading material as is the case with Oliphant’s current class of secondsemester second graders.
Phonics Method
• Teaches children to read by sounding words.
• Helps students develop decoding skills that make them less reliant on images.
• Highlights relationships between sounds and letters.
Source: American Media Reports, Aug. 2019
Although she was “skeptical at first” of the new curriculum, Oliphant was pleasantly surprised by the impact CKLA had on her students — especially with the integration of nonfiction early in the spring semester to align with Black History Month, when students were exposed to stories of Harriet Tubman, Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.
“Having them interested really helps them grow in other aspects,” she said, underscoring that exposure to real-life scenarios has enabled her students to become knowledgeable and well-versed in many topics within the mechanics of reading.
“My kids are very much science and social studies kids. They will nerd out,” Oliphant said. “I take them to the library on Friday, and because we read about stuff in [the classroom], it engages their reading and what they want to read in the library.”
My kids are very much science and social studies kids. They will nerd out. I take them to the library on Friday, and because we read about stuff in [the classroom], it engages their reading and what they want to read in the library.”
- SAVANNAH OLIPHANT, Second-grade teacher at East Washington Academy in Muncie Community Schools
During the COVID-19 pandemic, MCS, like many school systems nationwide, struggled to navigate uncertainty. At the time, the district was implementing the Fountas and Pinnell (F&P) Literary Method.
“It was good for what it was … But we actually did give up Fountas and Pinnell for Amplify CKLA, because we saw the potential [CKLA] had,” Ophilant said, adding that F&P was very much rooted in the “figure out what the word is based on the picture and sentence” approach that preached literary memorization rather than retention.
Second-grade teacher Savannah Oliphant teaches her students about beetles and other bugs April 8 at East Washington Academy in Muncie, Ind. Once inside the classroom, students are met with curricula that satisfy the standards of the “Science of Reading.” ANDREW BERGER, DN
DNPartnershipProject
‘Nothing BUT Respect’
Men’s Volleyball
Three Cardinals chosen for All-MIVA
Three Ball State men’s volleyball players were selected for the AllMidwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) Teams. Junior Patrick Rogers and senior Tinaishe Ndavazocheva made the first team, while Rajé Alleyne was selected for the second team. This is the third time Ndavazocheva has made the MIVA All-First Team in his career.
Women’s Basketball
Caballero joins Cardinals
Sports Editor Zach Carter recounts his time covering Muncie Central sports.
Ball State women’s basketball earned another commit April 16. Alba Caballero hails from Spain, where she found success in her prep career. She also earned a Gold National Championship Medal of Communities and a Silver Medal with Spain in the European Young Olympics. Right now, she is playing for the La Cora De Paterna Valencia Basketball Team.
Baseball
Ball State tops Butler in in-state matchup
Ball State baseball traveled to Butler April 15. After nine innings, the visiting Cardinals defeated the Bulldogs 3-2. Ball State used seven different pitchers in the win, and three different Cardinals produced a hit. The Cardinals will return to Mid-American Conference play as they face Bowling Green on the road April 17-19. First pitch for game one is set for April 17 at 3 p.m.
Daily News Sports Editor Zach Carter is photographed April 16 at Muncie Central Fieldhouse. When Carter first began at the Ball State Daily News, his first assignment was high school football. ANDREW BERGER, DN
Sports Editor
Zach Carter looks back on his time covering Bearcat sports.
Zach Carter Sports Editor
Zach Carter is a third-year journalism major and writes “Carter’s Comments” for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper.
With 1.2 seconds left on the clock, Muncie Central boys’ basketball was tied with Yorktown 38-38 Feb. 14, 2023. Former Bearcats’ head coach Justin Ullom took a timeout and gave the purple and white the game plan.
After the huddle broke, the ball was inbounded on the left wing to Muncie Central senior Daniel Harris. He caught the ball and went for the 3-point shot. Swish. Nothing but net.
The fans went crazy, the Bearcats mobbed Harris and the Tigers were in shock. As an avid basketball fan, and the one who had to write about the fantastic finish, I was smiling ear to ear.
But, hey, it’s just one of many notable games that the Muncie Central Fieldhouse has hosted in its 97year history.
Growing up in Delaware County, I always heard stories about the Bearcats’ athletic program. Whether it was about the famous basketball arena or the long-standing football stadium that sat on the White River since 1950, stories of success and history engulfed the area.
Famous alumni, like Ball State basketball and NBA player Bonzi Wells and former Muncie Central and NFL star Ryan Kerrigan, stood out as friends and family recounted memories and tales of the purple and white.
When I started at the Ball State Daily News, high school football was my first beat. It didn’t take long for me to become familiar with the Bearcats, as they were one of the four Delaware County schools to have a football team. Before the 2022 season, the program was not in the best spot. From 2018 to 2021, they were 6-31.
But the 2023 Bearcat team was different. As I began covering them, you could tell the team was not a roster to mess with. Former Muncie Central head coach Kyle Padgett was one of the main reasons behind the new attitude by holding players accountable and requiring their best effort. That season, the program finished 4-6 after losing their first five games of the season. It was one of my favorite storylines to cover as the team attempted to turn things around.
Add the fact the school built a brand new stadium with a turf field and redone bleachers one year later, it was something the community and the students who attended the school had pride in. The players felt like they were loved and knew they
has always stood out to me about the Bearcat football program has nothing to do with the success or the new stadium — it was how I was treated.
Following that year, Padgett was the first Delaware County head coach to invite me to a summer practice. He let me watch the entire session, take
after games and I just needed some information for a feature piece, Ullom always took a phone call and was honest.
That kind of treatment helps us sportswriters in ways that some may not imagine. Simple texts about stats or a certain highlight help high school
That respect is still something I haven’t forgotten, and it proved to me that my work — though I’m very hard on it — was indeed something to be proud of.”
- ZACH CARTER, Sports editor
photos and talk to any player that I desired.
That respect is still something I haven’t forgotten, and it proved to me that my work — though I’m very hard on it — was indeed something to be proud of.
The same can be said for Ullom and the Muncie Central basketball team. Whether it was a big win
beat reporters stay on top of things and keep us in the right.
This is what I’ve experienced covering Muncie Central sports: nothing but respect.
But with the recent news of Ullom and Padgett leaving their respective teams, changes are coming to the school. In my opinion, they need to find
Muncie Central basketball used to be the program in the area with captivating seasons that saw eight state titles in its history.
With athletic director Jeff Holloway leading the search, I think that’s just the case.
Though both Ullom and Padgett are no longer with the Muncie Central athletic program, I must thank them for allowing me open access to their teams and treating me like a professional sports reporter.
Though I still have one year left at Ball State, I hope my work covering the Bearcats has been appreciated by the community and Muncie Central fans and athletes. I wish the players and coaches throughout the Muncie School Corporation that I’ve covered, chatted with and written about nothing but the best, and I’ve tried my best to be the fairest and most decent reporter I could be.
For this 21-year-old Delaware County kid, it’s been a privilege and honor to help continue telling the stories that have surrounded this historic program, and I can’t wait to see what the future of the Bearcats has in store.
Contact Zach Carter via email at zachary. carter@bsu.edu or via X @ZachCarter85.
A sign outside Muncie Central Highschool is photographed April 16. Sports Editor Zach Carter said he’s experienced nothing but respect covering Muncie Central sports. ANDREW BERGER, DN
A sign commemorating Muncie Central High School Fieldhouse is photographed April 16. Carter said he will always hold respect and fond memories of covering Bearcat sports.
ANDREW BERGER, DN
‘We’re moving in the right direction’
Dr. Chuck Reynolds talks about his first year with Muncie Community Schools and the school’s next five-year strategic plan.
Dr. Chuck Reynolds is the Director of Public Education and the CEO of Muncie Community Schools. He is writing as a guest for the Daily News. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the paper.
Dear Muncie,
As my first year of leading Muncie Community Schools (MCS) nears completion, it’s rewarding to say that we continue to make great strides as a school district. This short list of recent accomplishments helps illustrate that:
• Enrollment remains stable
• Our preschool program continues to grow
• The graduation rate at Muncie Central continues to rise
• Five of our six elementary schools show improvement in iREAD3 scores, most of them by a significant amount
• We enjoy higher-than-average teacher retention rates
• Our balance sheet looks good, even after millions of dollars in facility improvements and staff raises
All these achievements are the result of many people’s efforts over the last several years. I can’t say enough about our board of trustees, Ball State President Geoffrey Mearns, BSU faculty and staff, the city of Muncie, and many community groups and organizations that continue to support what we’re doing at MCS.
already beginning to see the benefits. Across the district, our iREAD3 passing rates have increased by an average of 14 percent! While the new reading curriculum may be the biggest contributor to that improvement, it’s not the only factor. More and more of our highly skilled and dedicated teachers are staying in our district year after year. That continuity helps staff remain cohesive and collaborative. In addition, we are now in our fourth year of implementing the City Connects program that uses master’s-trained social workers, school counselors, and mental health professionals to identify the strengths and needs of each individual student.
Those staff members, called family navigators, then work with school staff and outside agencies to support those students and their families. We have worked hard to improve our family engagement across the district, providing more events, gatherings and messaging for everything going on in our schools.
By sharing their time, resources and expertise, all these stakeholders help us provide students with a high-quality educational experience. My deepest thanks to everyone involved! Of all the recent accomplishments, the growth of our preschool program may be the most exciting. We are now approaching 300 preschool students at our six locations around town, which is a huge increase from the 50 students enrolled just six years ago.
That means hundreds of young children are now better prepared for kindergarten, which sets the tone for their entire K-12 education. Once those preschoolers reach kindergarten, they are now taught to read with a curriculum based on the Science of Reading, the teaching method that combines five different literary elements to produce better readers and writers.
We know that when families are more involved with student activities, the students are more motivated to do their best work. Participation in our athletics, clubs and performing arts programs is increasing, which is another huge indicator of student success. Recent additions of e-Sports teams and Robotics clubs have not only made students more excited about school, but they have become very competitive on a statewide level very quickly, which has drawn more students to them.
As we look forward, we are preparing to initiate our new five-year strategic plan that will guide us through the challenges that lie ahead. We are by no means satisfied with where we are, but we are definitely confident that we’re moving in the right direction, and we’re hopeful the Muncie community will continue to stay involved.
For anyone interested in playing a more active role in our schools, we invite you to volunteer or apply for one of our part-time or full-time openings. You can do that on our website. Again, it’s been a wonderful first year for me as CEO after many years in other roles. I’m excited about what lies ahead and look forward to helping more students succeed.
MCS was one of the first districts in Indiana to move to this now-mandated concept, and we are
Sincerely,
Dr. Chuck Reynolds, Director of Public Education and CEO of Muncie Community Schools
Director of Public Education and the CEO of Muncie Community Schools Dr. Chuck Reynolds poses for a headshot. MUNCIE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS, PHOTO PROVIDED
Director of Public Education and the CEO of Muncie Community Schools Dr. Chuck Reynolds poses for a photo with Ball State University President Geoffrey Mearns. MUNCIE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS, PHOTO PROVIDED
PARTNERSHIP NOW’ ‘THIS IS TRULY A
Brooke Himes is photographed during her time as an editor and editor-in-chief (EIC) at the Ball State Daily News. The Partnership Paper with Muncie Community Schools started while she was EIC in 2020. LISA RENZE-RHODES, PHOTOS PROVIDED
Q: When the Partnership Paper was introduced, what was your initial reaction to this collaboration with Muncie Community Schools?
A: The conversations for this type of paper started as soon as House Bill 1315 was introduced. So, this was years in the making, but what I think happened was, in 2017, toward the end of that year, when Casey Smith, who’s an adjunct professor here, was the editor-in-chief (EIC). All of the editors worked together, but it was really spearheaded by Casey, then Allie [Kirkman] and then me. I’m not sure how you guys approach it, but what we would do is have editorial board meetings so, we were all very involved. I think it would be fair to say, as soon as those conversations about the bill started happening, we started talking about what our role as a local newspaper in all of this and we could tell really early that it was something that a lot of people had a lot of opinions about. You have the general public really nervous because Muncie Community Schools is their school. That’s their home school, and you know, whether they believed that it was being mismanaged, they were anxious about that and they were all very excitable at the same time. Nervous, anxious, wanting to know more. We knew that there was a treasure trove of stories there, too, because nothing is black and white. This was a situation that we knew we couldn’t leave to be black and white. We wanted to get into the schools and take advantage of this partnership in a good way. Local journalism is so important. So, we knew that that was going to be a big undertaking, but it was a responsibility, and we knew that we had a chance to really do some good. Essentially, that was an incredibly historic move that we were excited to cover. We wanted to make sure it was as transparent as possible.
Q: Tell me about your experience with the Ball State Daily News overall? What was your time like as the editor-in-chief?
A: So, in 2016, I started my undergrad, and I joined the Daily News right away. I joined the features section, and then in my sophomore year, I became the features editor. My junior year, I became the managing editor But at the time, our EIC was going to graduate in December, so I became the interim editor-in-chief that first spring when the Partnership Project was published. Then, that next year, I was EIC for both semesters and before I became interim EIC, Allie Kirkman was the EIC, so we had a lot of stuff to balance and transition with just having her as EIC for a semester.
Q: Do you believe that this paper achieved what this collaboration had hoped for?
A: I would say that when I was EIC, I felt like when we put that paper out, that was the most we had covered MCS in a single paper in my time as editor-in-chief. So, it felt like a really meaty paper with a lot of really good and impactful stuff in it. For me, at that time, it achieved what we set out to do but like I said, our work really was not done. I was very proud to have it out and to have moved the needle on getting into the community more.
Q: Did you have any experiences with this fi rst paper that meant a lot to you at the time?
A: Well, I kind of just remember all of the little things that we found. Like someone did a story on a history class that was learning history through podcasts, and it was amazing. Also the fact that they have access to this equipment is huge. Not only did they have access to this equipment, you also have Ball State as a resource, so imagine what you could create. There were so many hidden gems in that school, and being able to bring them forward and kind of show people what we’re talking about, it was really an honor. It was really special and I think that it also was a really big moment for us, just kind of as a paper in general, to better consider what our role in Muncie really was. We play an important role in this community, and I knew that local journalism was really important. But I think that was definitely a time when everybody who was working on it felt like that, and they could identify the people who they were impacting by it.
This is truly a partnership now, and I think that we played a part in that by helping pull all of those stories into the light.”
Q: Obviously, there are all the good parts about the partnership, but were there any challenges when putting this edition together?
Q: After the first edition was officially published, what was the feedback like?
A: We could definitely tell that people were receptive to it. We could definitely feel the impact that we were making and I remember feeling like there were some more lively discussions going on in the comment sections when we would post about what was going on. So, I definitely think it was a win. I think people started coming out of the woodwork to bring stories forward after the first few stories were published. I also feel like, after the paper was published, we were starting to get to a place that was a bit more relaxed. I’m not crediting that to the paper, but I credit it a lot to time. After the paper was published, their time had passed, and the Muncie community had had time to see what this partnership was going to look like. This is truly a partnership now, and I think that we played a part in that by helping pull all of those stories into the light.
A: I think something that is challenging is just the volume of it. There are so many stories that we wanted to cover, and beyond the editorial board, at least at the time, there weren’t any paid positions. It was the editorial board, and then it was volunteers and we also had more of the paper to put out and more breaking news that was going on at the time. I don’t think you can ever have enough staff, but just getting those stories off the ground and moving was difficult, especially because a lot of people were concerned because they had to go off campus and didn’t have cars. So yeah, just kind of getting those stories picked up and overcoming those little obstacles. I don’t think it’s fair to say that we received pushback in wanting to do this partnership, but I do think that, at least to a degree, we were perceived as another Ball State entity wanting to get into the schools, and everyone’s guard was already up and in general, when it comes to journalists, people are either very welcoming or very not. With student journalism, it’s even more polarizing. So we kind of had to prove ourselves and show that we were genuinely there to help, and that the work we were doing was because we cared about the community and wanted to make an impact.
Tickets for ‘Stages’ now available
An April 9 press release from Ball State Communications Center confirmed “Stages,” an inclusive and collaborative production that welcomes artists of all forms, will be held in Ball State’s Fine Arts Building Recital Hall April 17-26. Tickets are available in Sursa Hall or online, according to the press release.
The Building Blocks
The Muncie Area Career Center offers classes for adults and high schoolers to be certified to teach pre-K.
Geode Slicing Saturday
Kat’s Crystals and Curiosities is hosting a live geode slicing event April 19 from noon to 5 p.m. The shop said attendees will have the opportunity to witness the transformation of raw geodes into sparkling crystals. Cost of attendance starts at $5, and each participant will be able to pick out their own stone to be opened.
Divine Visions comes to DOMA
Ball State University’s David Owsley Museum of Art (DOMA) will be open to the public April 19 for “Divine Visions: Exploring the Art and Mythology of Religion,” according to an April 9 press release from Ball State’s Communications Center. The tour will examine religious iconography in selected works. No registration is required.
Pre-K teacher Brylie Foster teaches her class at Southview Elementary. BRAM WAHL, PHOTO PROVIDED
Hannah Amos Reporter
Brylie Foster felt more at home at school than at her house.
She described growing up as not the worst but also not the best.
“Home wasn’t really the place where I felt I belonged, so I excelled in school, and that became like my new home,” she said.
Teachers became like second parents to her, always loving and caring, Foster said.
Wanting to give this feeling to others and continue the cycle started in her education, Foster decided to work in the education system, leading her to the Muncie Area Career Center (MACC).
Now a lead preschool teacher at Southview Elementary School, she began her early education journey in the MACC’s Early Childhood Education program in her third year of high school.
While working in Selma Elementary’s latchkey program as a high school sophomore, she heard multiple times the importance of early education and how those teachers set the foundation for children.
“I thought that if I was someone [who] wanted to pour into the children at a younger age, then they would have less to process later on or know how to process more,” she said.
MACC offers two Early Childhood Education programs, with one for high school students as a part of the Career and Technical Education (CTE) program, where they learn at the MACC for half a school day while also having an internship, MACC Director Caleb Beasley said.
The second program is an adult education program where early childhood educators pursue their Child Development Associate (CDA) credential.
Through MACC’s CTE program, Foster had internships, or work-based learning, for the two years she attended, providing her with handson learning.
A part of her work-based learning involved having children come into the MACC classroom four out of the five half-days.
“The experience of having [the children] there was tremendous because our teacher was right there, so she was able to correct us in anything that we needed to do, and we were all getting handson experience and dealing with the behaviors that we’re going to deal with by ourselves,” Foster said. “It was a great insight of what you’re actually going to be exposed to, rather than just sitting at a desk learning about a classroom.”
“What they’re doing is a gift to themselves,” Young said. “When they’re extending their education, this is something that belongs to them, and it’s kind of an expression of doing something that’s incredibly important and valuable for them individually.”
She also makes sure to state the expectations of the class clearly. The expectations of the adult
We want to make sure we have a really strong pipeline of young people who are prepared to serve in this field and to be effective educators working with young children so that their impact can be positive and help set up our kiddos across Muncie and Delaware County for success.”
- CALEB BEASLEY, Muncie Area Career Center Director
learners are that they’re working in an early childhood education facility, they’ll attend the weekly two-hour night class, spend an average of 10 hours on the online modules and the rest of the time is spent on their portfolios.
To make the CDA program more accessible, the MACC pays for student materials needed to take the course, along with paying for students to take the exam, which ends up being around $500, Young said
In the classroom, Young also helps with financial aid by guiding students through the nine-page-long Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children scholarship to help pay for the exam.
Young said the program is designed for success.
A part of that success comes from the support, financial or otherwise, but it also comes from the focus on feedback and growth.
“It’s not like I take a class and I take a test and I can
pass the test or fail the test,” she said. “This is more along the lines of, ‘What did you learn from here? What is the next step in your learning from here?’”
The sentiment is a shared one in the high school program.
“Seeing students go from coming in and not really knowing much about this, not being sure about their capacity or their abilities, then watching them develop their skills, develop their confidence, and then go out into the world and really do some fantastic things, that is really what it is all about,” Beasley said.
Foster has contributed to this growth mindset by being a role model to not just her preschoolers but to her MACC interns, showing them you can love your job while giving them the space to grow like she did when she was in their position.
Contact Hannah Amos via email at hannah. amos@bsu.edu or on X @Hannah_Amos_394.
Pre-K teacher Brylie Foster walks with her students through the school at Southview Elementary Jan.30. BRAM WAHL, PHOTO PROVIDED
DIPLOMA
Continued from Page 04
According to information given from MCS Chief Communications Officer Andy Klotz, Freshman Academy is a “school-within-aschool” model that also includes a new Freshman Seminar course, designed by MCHS teachers to help students develop skills needed for success in high school and beyond. Lessons cover topics such as note taking, college and job applications and relationship-building. Each student will also complete a digital portfolio and a final service project by the end of the course.
MCHS has many long-standing partnerships to help increase dual credit and work-based learning opportunities to help students complete the requirements as well.
“Muncie Central is a fully endorsed Early College program through the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning from the University of Indianapolis, and we offer numerous dual credit options that lead to degree and certification
READING
Continued from Page 06
The intention behind CKLA, meanwhile, is to “not stop hitting on phonics,” Olphant said, which allows students to read by blending the sounds of letters together to create words. “By the end of kindergarten, they’re actually reading little stories, so it’s pretty cool,” she said.
Though the program is meant to be implemented starting in kindergarten to best prepare students for the Indiana state-mandated iRead test in the third grade, Oliphant said, because of COVID-19, only this year’s current class of kindergarteners will have all three years of exposure to CKLA at its fullest value.
“We’re expecting next year for there to be a lot of those foundational gaps closed, because we finally have a groove down, we know what we’re doing [and] we know what is needed. As we continue to build, those foundational ‘gaps’ are slowly closing, which is very good for us,” she said, referencing the more than tripled rate at which her students are
You’re
always
going to want to put your students in the best positions to graduate. So if you feel that staying on the old Core 40 diploma is what is best for them to graduate, then that’s what you do.”
- ERIC GRIM, Assistant superintendent at Muncie Central High School
completions through Ivy Tech Community College,” Walker said. “After six semesters, completion of 11th grade, any MCHS student with a cumulative weighted GPA of 3.00 or above will be directly admitted to Ball State University.”
Along with these partnerships, Grim also emphasized the role of career coaches from Project Leadership and the Muncie Area Chamber of Commerce in placing students in internships and job shadows.
“MCS has worked with Project Leadership for a number of years, so we have had embedded career counselors in our high school that meet very
hitting the “border” and are expected to pass the iRead test by the time they reach third grade.
Even without all three years of curriculum exposure, early results of CKLA in Oliphant’s classroom indicate positive, lasting impressions, largely due to the repetition of phonics.
“I have always said from the get-go, repetition is key. Repetition leads to structure, and a lot of these kids need just that, repetition and structure to build their confidence and stamina [in reading],” Oliphant said.
MCS was one of the first school districts in Indiana to adopt the “Science of Reading.” Oliphant, a 2022 Ball State alumna, said that speaks to the dedication MCS has for its students.
“I don’t even live anywhere near Muncie, and I will drive up here 45 minutes every day because this district is so dedicated to the students, and the future of the students and what is needed of the students. Every teacher is a successful teacher when we can meet the students where they are and help them grow — and that’s all I see here,” she said.
Contact Katherine Hill via email at katherine.
deliberately with our kiddos,” Meek said.
She also said that the Muncie Area Chamber of Commerce created an education liaison position to work with employers to help students find those learning experiences.
To assess the impact of the early adoption, MCHS will track graduation rates and the percentage of students earning seals.
“The goal for Muncie Central will be for 100 percent of our students to obtain one of the three seals,” Grim said.
Walker also explained how the staff will focus on three measurements of success: character,
knowledge and relationships.
“We will make adjustments where necessary in how we deliver instruction and support to ensure students graduate with high character, a deep knowledge in their chosen career field, and the disposition and value of building positive relationships,” he said.
Grim advises other schools considering opting in early to assess their resources and community partnerships beforehand.
“You’re always going to want to put your students in the best positions to graduate. So if you feel that staying on the old Core 40 diploma is what is best for them to graduate, then that’s what you do,” he said. “But if you also think that getting a seal is what’s best for them at this point, that’s what you’re going to do.”
The district aims for all graduates to earn at least one diploma seal, ensuring each student leaves high school feeling prepared for their next step, whether in employment, enrollment or enlistment.
Contact Meghan Braddy via email at meghan. braddy@bsu.edu or on X @meghan_braddy.
(Left) Second-grade teacher Savannah Oliphant reads to her classroom about beetles April 8 at East Washington Academy. Oliphant said the decision to teach second grade was partially strategic, as she wanted to keep up with her former students. ANDREW BERGER, DN; (Right bottom) Second-grade teacher Savannah Oliphant teaches her students about beetles and other bugs April 8 at East Washington Academy. Once inside the classroom, students are met with curricula that satisfy the standards of the “Science of Reading.” ANDREW BERGER, DN
A close-up of second-grade teacher Savannah Oliphants laptop used to teach vocabulary is photographed April 8 at East Washington Academy in Muncie, Ind. ANDREW BERGER, DN
Crossword & Sudoku
miso-glazed black cod dish
19 Applies lightly
24 “Moving right along ... “
25 Pasta shape made with a pinch
27 Art of growing miniature trees
28 Free throw target
29 Novels read on screens
30 Lunar festival in Da Nang
31 Battery size for some mice
32 *Slow cookers
35 *Suffer forever
36 Aduba of “Mrs. America”
37 Casual shirt
42 Taxes on imports
43 Procedure that can determine ancestry
46 “Chopped” host Allen
48 Be in debt
49 Sacred hymn
50 Belly button that protrudes
Hosp. triage spots
8 Arroz __ cubana: rice dish with a fried egg
9 Extended time period
Turkeys, e.g.
Workers’ group 12 Prefix meaning “tiny” 13 Vanish into the __ 18 Fusion chain with a signature
52 Financial review
53 Basil-based sauce
56 Seasoning in shrimp paste
57 Earnest request
58 Software customer
61 “I’ve seen better”
63 Drama prof’s degree
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