ThisWeek CW 10/23/2014
http://www.thisweeknews.com/content/stories/canalwinchester/news/2014/10/20/improving-report-card-scores-course-changes-staff-training-part-of-5-year-plan.html
Groveport Madison school officials are in the process of implementing a five-year plan that focuses on ways to improve on the district’s poor showing on the 2013-14 state report card.
Director of School Improvement Monique Hamilton told the school board at its Oct. 8 meeting administrators plan to work with teachers, students and parents to improve future report card grades.
She noted that Superintendent Bruce Hoover prepared a list of curriculum goals that includes:
* Aligning district courses to the state’s new learning standards and improvement plans.
* Measuring progress via shorter assessment cycles and using the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) and Accelerated Reader testing programs.
* Adopting new curriculum resources.
* Continuing to move to a blended-learning environment with the addition of more Chromebooks.
“We are working in tandem with the state achievement standards to reach these goals,” Hamilton said. “We will check our progress three times a year, first at the beginning of the year to set a baseline for each student, then in December-January to check in on progress and finally, at the end of the year to measure growth.”
One part of reaching these goals, according to Hamilton, will be professional development. To that end, the district plans to offer courses for the staff in areas such as differentiated instruction, formative assessments, general assessment literacy, new curriculum and blended-learning adoption, response to intervention (RTI) strategies and training on Ohio’s new standards.
“We will be implementing teacher-designed assessments of their students,” Hamilton said. “It would be unfair to discount a teacher for their assessments if they haven’t been taught how to create assessments, so from a professional development standpoint, we’ll be working diligently to keep up with expectations coming down from the state.”
She said teachers would work together to help create a continuum of assessments, making it easier to focus on specific areas where individual students may need additional help.
“Currently, we’re working on our response to interventions for students in dire need, and putting a plan and system in place for those students,” Hamilton said.
“We have to make sure we truly have a laser focus on where the kid is in his or her learning, and how we’re going to build a structure to help them move from A to Z.”
The five-year plan, as presented, includes increasing communication with parents and students as part of the RTI, along with a specific goal of reducing failure rates in reading, math and science by 10 percent to meet state achievement benchmarks in those areas.
Mary Guiher, the district’s public relations officer, said the overall five-year plan does not require board approval.
“Each department develops a plan in conjunction with the five-year plan so that we are working as a cohesive unit,” Guiher said. “Any new programs the district develops outside of current curriculum, such as the Pathways project, will need board approval and to be certified by the treasurer.”
Other goals and program changes over the five years include:
* Gradually increasing blended learning instruction to 50 percent of all classrooms by 2017-18.
* Developing Pathway programs at the high school, with the goal of adding nine such programs by 2017-18.
* Establishing an early-learning preschool option to address kindergarten readiness and develop community literacy skills.
* Adopting new curricula in social studies and math.
* Reorganizing gifted instruction in grades 3-9.
* Implementing college- and career-readiness programs for grades 5-8.
* Reorganizing the district’s special education department and services.
* Reorganizing RTI districtwide.
* Opening a new high school facility in 2018-19.