This week marks the mid point for the 1st quarter and we look forward to seeing our students' growth status. More importantly, every teacher should be continuing to reflect on determining interventions ensuring that students are proficient to targeted standards. Remember that we are focused on CLOSING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP! We will be scheduling to meet with each department/HUI. Support members will include Title I, SPED DH, Counselors, SSC, Curriculum & SLC coordinators, & ELL. Review will be based in looking for evidence on:
- Student work (scored samples of writings, etc.)
- Formative assessments (results achieved)
- Grade books (evidence of standards taught)
- Curriculum maps , learning logs, etc. ( brief descriptions of lessons, units, and assessments)
A reminder that the "My Courses and Anchor Standards for Writing" template are due to Beth Pemberton the week of Sept 12th or sooner. You may submit as a department, HUI and/or individually. At the opening day meeting, teachers were provided a jump drive that included samples of the new state level test items closely linked with the "Anchor Standards -Reading, Writing, Critical Thinking and Speaking." Shortly, I will be sharing additional samples where the consortium of over 30 states (SMARTER BALANCE group) have created assessments using samples from science and social studies where students must provide their answers using the four anchor standards.
Kapaa High School teachers have two solid assessment tools to monitor student growth - Achieve 3000 TeenBiz and Data School Improvement Item Bank .
Achieve 3000 TeenBiz: Web-based differentiated literacy solutions that reach every student at his/her lexile. Assignments given to the class are also tailored according to each student's reading level and enables teachers to move students up surely and steadily level by level. This research based solution extends teachers' reach without increasing workloads or time demands and are proven to accelerate reading comprehension, fluency, writing proficiency, vocabulary and has a good correlation with high-stakes test scores. Reason for mentioning this is that the State Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Student Support provided TeenBiz to all secondary schools through a 3 - year state wide contract that expires after this school year. Kapaa High's usage data is low and I'm not sure if another contract will be continued. For more information on the potential, please ask your peers such as David Mireles who did a terrific presentation to a statewide audience about a year ago.
Data for School Improvement (DSI): Provides our 10th grade students and their teachers with a comprehensive picture about students' progress to the HCPS and predicts how they will do on the state assessment. Formative assessment items are aligned with the state standards and there's no limit as to how many times a student can take the DSI assessment. The premise in creating the DSI was to serve as a statewide support tool for students and teachers.
Finally I want to speak to our "true north" as an organization:
Our sole existence and purpose is the education of our students. If data shows that students are struggling, then we must adjust/change to strengthen our daily practices. The inevitable truth is that everything changes as we are not meant to look the same or act the same year in and year out. Growth brings new potential and I know for sure that when we work cohesively and open to receiving them, the possibilities keep on coming. In walking through the classrooms, very pleased to share that there's sound instruction and learning taking place...in fact in a good number of classes, students are challenged with higher level critical thinking types of work and not just recalling information. Yet in a few classes, I do question if there's a bell-to-bell focus and the rigor of the work. This same accountability applies to our support staff and administration in how we are supporting our students. I speak to this so to remind everyone, and especially myself, that we must be life-long learners, open to change/growth and modeling support for each other.
Weekly Calendar:
Monday, Aug. 29th: Department or Cross Curriculum PLC meeting
Tuesday, Aug. 30th : Principal @Complex Leadership meeting 7 - 9:30 a.m.
Thursday, Sept. 2nd: SLC leadership meeting 1:30 p.m.
HUI meeting 2:30 p.m.
Have a great week and keep up the good work!
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