January 22, 2008 Update

Curriculum and Instruction

Writing

The Writing Committee members, working with staff members in each building, have complied the information to fill in the document provided to the Board of Education in the December 11th Board packet.

The committee of teachers meet on January 22nd to:

1.  Review the updated curriculum document, bringing any additions,
corrections, changes, in content, to the meeting.  
2.  Identify any overlaps, repeats, and/or concerns when looking at
the curriculum across the years.
3.  Bring any needs related to writing that will require that funding
be secured.
4.  Identify what else is done for writing that is not represented on
the attachment.

I will be able to provide additional information on the outcome of this meeting at the Board meeting or in February.

Gifted Education

Based on the new testing Mrs. Kinder and Ms. Brundage are updating the information sheet provided to parents about the Discovery Program. They are also working to update the reporting instrument.

At Eisenhower Junior High Mr. Fitzgerald has been talking with his staff to identify teachers interested and willing to be trained in teaching gifted students. These individuals would be able to teach these classes in the future and provide consistency for the program. This has been done in the past, but with the changes at EJH it needs to be readdressed.


Assessment

DIBELS

Reading Staff have administered the second round of progress monitoring and are working to record the data on the local assessment data base. They are providing feedback on the program and revisions are being made to the program based on use and what is needed for reports to staff. The program is set up so that once data is entered a staff member can see multiple years of information on children in their classroom for DIBELS, ISEL, and CBA's. Entering the data has been slow, but it is expected to be quicker once the bandwidth adjustments are addressed. In addition, Mr. Hotton is looking into FileMaker user issues which might have an impact on the speed of the program.

ITBS/COGAT

As stated in September:

Second grader will be given the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in the areas of math, reading, and language and the Cognitive Abilities Test.

Fifth graders will take the Cognitive Abilities Test.

These tests have been reinstated as the results will be useful, along with ISAT data and teacher recommendation, to identify students for the Discovery program in third grade and sixth.

This test will be administered the week of February 25th at DeLay and Lace.