January 27, 2009 Update

The following provides an update on curriculum issues and assessment/screening issues in the district.

Curriculum and Instruction
Writing

The Writing Committee met on Tuesday, January 20, 2009. Topics covered were:

Committee members provided an update on the progress with developing of lessons related to the writing traits. This will be a continuing task as we gather information and develop lessons and gather resources to address the different
traits.

Plans are being developed to share with the entire staff information on writing workshop and 6+1 trait writing. Topics to be shared include a general introduction, definition of traits, and how the traits look in the classroom. Resources are listed on the Curriculum Blog website.

Two writing DVDs have been created and are being shared at Lace and DeLay school as a way to let teachers see others teaching writing. EJH is working on making their DVD to share. Jen Reyes and Kristen Shell have put together the two currently being shared in their buildings.

The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 24, 2009.

Mathematics

The Math Committee meeting was held on Tuesday, January 13, 2009. The following topics were discussed:

Individuals began to share feedback on the curriculum maps in relation to skills, mastery, overlap, and assessment. Further discussion will continue on this topic.

The committee discussed the current Criteria Based Assessment being used in math this year. They will be looking at the use of MAP testing as a universal screener for future use.

An idea of creating weekly review questions in math was shared and received positively by the committee. Committee members will bring samples of how this concept can be used in their individual buildings.

The committee is working under the Curriculum Cycle timeline of a recommendation in January/February of 2010 for math instruction.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, February 17, 2009.

Response to Intervention (RtI)
This month I am again including a short update from the Principals on RtI.

Mark Delay School

Data meetings to review the results of winter benchmarking have been scheduled for the weeks of January 26th and February 2nd. Grade level teachers are being divided in half for the upcoming data meetings to keep the scope narrower and allow more time for discussion. Members of the RtI building team are currently converting recent data into triangular graphs so that teachers can easily identify the percentage of students from their class in each tier.
The recent SIP day was devoted to continued training of guided reading and a review of accessing student data. The RtI component to the CRT Program, in place at EJH and Lace, has been added for Mark DeLay students and appropriate staff will be trained on how to enter information on interventions being used.

Lace School

A self-contained fifth grade class was instituted to address the academic needs of specific regular education students and increase the academic time that targeted students receive ELL instruction. In the past, fifth grade students who needed a large amount of individual instruction were heterogeneously grouped with other students who were at a higher academic level. This grouping system made it more difficult for the teacher to meet the needs of both sets of students. In addition, the instructional delivery system for ELL students was revamped during the 2008/2009 school year. In the past, all ELL students were pulled from regular education classes for the same number of minutes of instruction without examining the specific needs of individual students. The new delivery system allows the ELL teachers to spend more time with students who required additional attention.

Eisenhower Junior High School

The RTI Committee came up with a unified EJH definition of RTI which it plans on sharing with the school at the next staff meeting. The staff was surveyed using Survey Anywhere to get their positive reactions and challenges to RTI this year.
At the last SIP day the staff was divided into two groups and were led by RTI Committee people to brainstorm on the topics of Differentiation and Student Motivation. Halfway through they flipped groups. All information from those sessions is in the process of being typed and sent to the staff as a whole to use as a resource. The administration will use the information to make positive change for the upcoming year when possible.
The next step is to work on a resource that can be used by current teachers for RTI information, strategies, and ideas, but can also be used as a training guide to the many new teachers entering our district year after year.

Assessment

The second round of MAP testing will be conducted in February in grades one, three, and six. In addition, 2nd and 5th grade students will be taking the CogAT test in February. Second grades will also be administered the Iowa Test of Basic Skills in February.