Instruction, Curriculum, and Assessment
Asha Riley, Director of Learning
February Update
March 9, 2011
TO: Michael Green, Superintendent
FROM: Asha Riley
RE: Instruction, Curriculum, Assessment, and Professional Development Monthly Update
How will we teach them?
Answer: Students will be exposed to the kinds of instruction that will promote academic excellence
Action Steps:
· National Board Certification Support We are grateful to Shari Conditt who offered support to our NBCT candidates by spending a day meeting with them individually to review their written and taped submissions and offer feedback that will increase their likelihood of achieving certification.
· Teacher Peer Observations Recently we have hosted several peer observations among our staff. We go in and cover their class while they take the opportunity to go into one anothers rooms and watch each other deliver instruction. Then the team of teachers meets briefly to reflect on what they saw and what worked well for student learning. Peer observations reinforce team collaboration and serve to develop a common understanding of good instructional practices. It is one way we are seeking to ensure that what we learn about in professional development translates into our classroom instruction successfully.
How will we know they learned?
Answer: Implementation of assessments that both inform instruction and indicate student achievement in a timely fashion.
Action Step:
· Second Round of Math Assessments At the end of February we finished the second round of math assessments in grades K-6. It has been exciting to see the growth in our student performance. I will be sharing with you at the next board meeting the growth we see and how our teachers are responding to the data.
How will respond if they did or didnt learn it?
Answer: Students will be provided timely and effective interventions and support to learn and succeed in areas where they struggle and excel.
· Rick Wormelis Differentiated Instruction Conference This training was a powerful and thought provoking training about how we provide standards based education to students who are by design nonstandard. He offered practical instructional approaches that not only provide access to learning but also clear ways of communicating success of students to parents with standards based grading practices. Our team of teachers that attended have participated in two follow up meetings and are planning together how theyd like to implement some of his recommendations.
Asha Riley