2014-2015 Proposed Areas of Focus &District Priority

Board MeetingApril 22, 2014Kevin. L. O’Gorman, Chief Academic OfficerRodney Thompson, Superintendent

2013-2014A Year in Review

June 2013: Summer SAIL Focused on School Leadership Teams, Common Curriculum, and Mobile Device Training

August 2013: Implementation of Common Curriculum in grades K-12, ELA and math

August-Present: Constant Review of Curriculum through:

Leadership agendas

Instructional unit feedback forms

Classroom observations

Pending Legislation Bill S.300 (and amendments)

Common Core Hybrid

SmarterBalanced vs ACT

Cyclical Review (2016 or 2018)

*Common Core will be in place through at least 2016

Read to Succeed Bill (and provisos) Kindergarten Readiness (Assessment)

Literacy Plans

Literacy Coaches

Progress Monitoring

Summer Reading Camps

3rd Grade Retentions

Education Oversight Committeeand State Department of Education

August 2013: Formative Assessment funds stopped

December 2013: Summer Reading Camp Memo (update April 11)

April 3: Smarter Balanced Pilot tests stopped

November 1, 2014: State Accountability Tests for 2014-2015 will be chosen

High Student Performance Goal: 2011-2016

We will realize high levels of academic growth

and achievement for all students through an

emphasis on literacy and STEMs (science,

technology, engineering, and mathematics)

based instruction.

Area of Focus #1: 2014-2015 Support teachers as they transition to adopted

standards by providing an easily accessible research-

based curriculum, as well as evaluating and aligning

professional development services

Area of Focus #2: 2014-2015

Infuse technology into the

curriculum to encourage

collaboration, communication, and

effective use of software and

hardware to enhance student

learning

Portable Advanced Science Exploration

PASE promotes advanced science exploration through the use of

technology. PASE puts advanced scientific equipment in the hands of

dedicated teachers and provides training that enables them to

comfortably incorporate this equipment into classroom instruction.Professional Development for Teachers

8th Grade Science Teachers Summer 2013

7th Grade Science Teachers Summer 2014

6th Grade Science Teachers Summer 2015

Area of Focus #3: 2014-2015 Establish a system (at the

school and district level) for

analyzing accountability data

for the purposes of evaluating

and streamlining the

instructional delivery model in

order to meet the varying

needs of all stakeholders

Area of Focus #4: 2014-2015 Collaborate with regional

partners through an

academy model

2014-2015 District Priority

Professional Learning Communities

(PLCs):

What’s the big idea?

What Is a “Professional Learning Community” ? Richard DuFour

Three “Big Ideas”

Schools must stop pretending that merely presenting teachers with

state standards or district curriculum guides will guarantee that all

students have access to a common curriculum.

Even school districts that devote tremendous time and energy to

designing the intended curriculum often pay little attention to the

implemented curriculum (what teachers actually teach) and even less

to the attained curriculum (what students learn) (Marzano, 2003).

Schools must also give teachers time to analyze and discuss state

and district curriculum documents. More important, teacher

conversations must quickly move beyond “What are we expected to

teach?” to “How will we know when each student has learned?”

Big Idea #1

The professional learning community model flows

from the assumption that the core mission of formal

education is not simply to ensure that students are

taught but to ensure that they learn.

This simple shift—from a focus on teaching to a focus

on learning—has profound implications for schools.

Big Idea #2

Educators who are building a professional

learning community recognize that they must

work together to achieve their collective

purpose of learning for all. Therefore, they

create structures to promote a collaborative

culture.

Big Idea #3

Professional learning communities judge their

effectiveness on the basis of results. Working together

to improve student achievement becomes the routine

work of everyone in the school.

Every teacher team participates in an ongoing

process of identifying the current level of student

achievement, establishing a goal to improve the

current level, working together to achieve that goal,

and providing periodic evidence of progress.

PLC Timeline

April 2, 2014: 24 school-based and district-based team members were trained to observe PLCs (simple random sample)

July, Summer Leadership: Principals, APIs, and Instructional Coaches will be trained in PLC foundational practices

2014-2015: Targeted Professional Development based on observational data AAIS working with targeted schools

Instructional Coaches working with targeted teams

QUESTIONS ?