March 6, 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, February 24, 2009. Topics covered were:

It was decided that each building will receive a presentation from members of the committee using Keynote, to be developed by Kristin Shell, as the common information. Kristin has prepared a Keynote presentation with members input. The committee presentation will use this as the common information and insert specific grade level activities for use within the building.

It was decided to obtain Courtney Gordon as the speaker for the Institute on August 27th as a writing kick-off. Meredith contacted Brady Smekens to confirm the date and get the process of securing Courtney for the Institute.

It was decided that individuals should take advantage of the Scholastic Warehouse sale to purchase books from the lists generated for use with 6+1 writing. Each building shared what process they were using to gather information and organizing within their building. This is a continuing process.

It was decided to see how the presentations go on the 6th of March and to consider using the same type of information with the presentation to the Board of Education. More will be finalized at a future meeting.

Kim McShea and Meredith Holdman shared feedback on the recent writing workshop they attended. Future meeting dates were set for: March 24, 2009 and April 21, 2009 at 3:30 PM.

Mathematics
The Math Committee meeting was held on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. The following topics were discussed:

Teachers Rhonda Esposito and Amy Steffgen shared information on how they are using the MAP results within their classroom this year. The committee was able to see results, RIT scores, and skill sets. Overall the MAP sharing was well received by the committee and appears to be the way to go with future assessment options for Math. It was thought that the results would be useful.

The Mastery Skills document, which can also be edited on Google Docs, was discussed. The goal is to be sure we have identified skills and have a progression of skills as a child moves through the grades within our district. Once we have identified the skills we can move toward identifying overlap and skill gaps. Committee members will be reviewing the document and make the necessary adjustments.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 24, 2009.

Reading
The Reading Committee met on Tuesday, February 17, 2009. Topics covered were:

Committee members from each building shared their DIBELS Benchmark triangles and discussed the comparison between the fall and winter scores. The committee then discussed how the data is being used to direct reading instruction.

Committee members discussed the status of phonics instruction in the District. Mark DeLay teachers gave an update on their Leading to Reading program and Lace members shared information about the Words Their Way program taught in third grade. The Committee recommended the purchase of the Jolly Phonics program to be used in Kindergarten for the 2009-2010 school year.

Dr. Carlo asked the Reading Committee to recommend if District 61 schools will use Accelerated Reader next year. The District currently uses a desktop version of Accelerated Reader which is no longer supported by the company. The newer version is web-based and offers many advanced features. The cost to implement the new version will be approximately $3000.00 per building per year.

The Committee reviewed and updated the District’s Literacy Assessment Overview.

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

Mark Delay School
Grade level data meetings produced interesting discussions about curriculum, programming, and individual student progress. Kindergarten has decided to fully implement Jolly Phonics to strengthen the phonemic awareness after studying the ISEL and DIBELS results, which indicated strong growth in letter naming and letter sounds but less growth in this area of early literacy.
Students involved in the Poetry Academy Program (2nd grade) showed strong growth in fluency, indicating that this intervention is having the desired effect.

The first grade team will be analyzing the results of the Winter Map Testing, completed February 20th. The March SIP meetings will be devoted to discussions and demonstrations on Writer’s Workshop and 6 Traits.

Lace School
Betty Faron and Kim Schultz (Reading Specialists) met with every classroom teacher to determine how they can help them with reading instruction. In the past, the reading specialists have covered general topics to improve reading instruction. This year they organized a survey to determine how they could customize a program to meet the needs of individual teachers. For example, if a teacher needs assistance with guided reading, one of the reading specialists will go into the classroom and model a lesson. In addition, they will discuss the available resources (i.e.: leveled library, reading A-Z website) which are available to specific teachers.

The reading specialists and other classroom teachers also presented an inservice on three different reading strategies earlier during the 2008/2009 school year.

Eisenhower Junior High School
The RtI team is scheduled to meet on Wednesday, March 11, 2009. One of the topics they will be discussing is content area vocabulary and its role in student learning.

Assessment
February was busy for assessment as the second round of MAP testing was conducted in in grades one, three, and six. In addition, 2nd and 5th grade students completed the CogAT test. Second graders also were administered the Iowa Test of Basic Skills. The results have been/will be used within the buildings, shared with the parents, and one element toward gifted qualification.

Students taking ISAT have completed the first week of testing this past week.