USD 232 School Improvement News
Third Quarter 2019-2020
News with Purpose
- Student Data Warehouse
- What is Structured Literacy?
- USD 232 Education Foundation
- Meet Your USD 232 Board of Education Members
- It's Assessment Season
- Bond Update
Student Data Warehouse
What do you think of when you hear the word data? Do you envision numbers rapidly scrolling on a computer screen like in The Matrix? Or of spreadsheets with endless rows and columns filled with figures and formulas? Even worse, maybe the word is anxiety-inducing because you’ve heard the phrases data-driven instruction and data-driven decision-making a few too many times.
What do you think of when you hear the word warehouse? Do you imagine forklifts carrying pallets of cardboard boxes across dusty concrete floors? Or a place where things go to be stored, perhaps indefinitely?
Despite some of these connotations, a data warehouse designed for educators is a platform for exploring questions tied to improving teaching and learning. A data warehouse should bring together multiple sources of student information so that strengths and areas for improvement become clear. Any single source of information is likely insufficient to draw conclusions. But by storing, sorting, and synthesizing summative, diagnostic, and formative assessment results, a data warehouse can help educators identify problems and solutions more effectively and efficiently. So why set up a data warehouse?
1. View assessment results in one place.
Imagine all of your school's most important student data in one place. From state assessments to classroom-level formative assessments, a data warehouse stores and displays information within one platform. Rather than spending hours downloading documents from assessment vendors, you can focus on analysis and action planning.
2. Find trends fast.
A well-designed data warehouse guides your eyes to the most important information. Through color coding, summary tables, and detailed subscore reports, you can identify trends quickly, leaving more time for planning differentiated interventions and enrichment.
3. Identify students with risk factors.
Research has identified three critical indicators for determining whether students are likely to graduate on time. A student's attendance, behavior, and course grades serve as signals regarding a student's likelihood to leave high school with a diploma. By establishing research-based thresholds tied to each indicator, educators can find potential dropouts before it's too late. A data warehouse that flags students who have crossed thresholds can help school counselors, principals, and other educators know who is at risk and why. This makes intervention programming (e.g., family conferences, attendance tracking, tutoring, counseling) easier, especially when services can be offered to groups with common concerns.
4. Eliminate spreadsheets.
The need for creating spreadsheets and entering formulas is reduced by storing information in a data warehouse. How much time is spent by school personnel compiling spreadsheets, conditionally formatting columns, and sharing these documents with colleagues? A data warehouse can help you reclaim most of this time, allowing you to focus on leading, teaching, and learning.
5. Access the right information at the right time.
Privacy regulations rightfully protect student data. A data warehouse can display data aligned to a staff member's permissions. For example, a teacher should have access to data for students on his/her roster while a principal should see information for all students in a building. District personnel see information for all students. Rather than manually adjusting permissions to a shared spreadsheet or tailoring attachments sent to different groups through email, a data warehouse has built-in logic for ensuring that educators have access to the right information at the right time.
USD 232 is the the process of researching student data ware systems, with a target of identifying one for use in the 2020-2021 school year. Stay tuned for more information on the progress of this goal.
What is Structured Literacy?
It is often difficult for students to learn to read. Unfortunately, popularly employed reading approaches, such as Guided Reading or Balanced Literacy, are not universally effective for all developing readers. These approaches are sometimes ineffective because they do not focus on the decoding skills students need to succeed in reading.
Structured Literacy prepares students to decode words in an explicit and systematic manner. This approach has substantial evidence and research indicating it is more effective for all readers.
The Elements of Structured Literacy Instruction
Phonology. Phonology is the study of sound structure of spoken words and is a critical element of Structured Language instruction. Phonological awareness includes rhyming, counting words in spoken sentence, and clapping syllables in spoken words. An important aspect of phonological awareness is phonemic awareness or the ability to segment words into their component sounds, which are called phonemes. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a given language that can be recognized as being distinct from other sounds in the language. For example, the word cap has three phonemes (/k/, /ă/, /p/), and the word clasp has five phonemes (/k/, /l/, /ă/, /s/, /p/).
Sound-Symbol Association. Once students have developed the awareness of phonemes of spoken language, they must learn how to map the phonemes to symbols or printed letters. Sound-symbol association must be taught and mastered in two directions: visual to auditory (reading) and auditory to visual (spelling). Additionally, students must master the blending of sounds and letters into words as well as the segmenting of whole words into the individual sounds. The instruction of sound-symbol associations is often referred to as phonics. Although phonics is a component of Structured Literacy, it is embedded within a rich and deep language context.
Syllable Instruction. A syllable is a unit of oral or written language with one vowel sound. Instruction includes teaching of the six basic syllable types in the English language: closed, vowel-consonant-e, open, consonant-le, r-controlled, and vowel pair. Knowledge of syllable types is an important organizing idea. By knowing the syllable type, the reader can better determine the sound of the vowel in the syllable. Syllable division rules heighten the reader’s awareness of where a long, unfamiliar word may be divided for great accuracy in reading the word.
Morphology. A morpheme is the smallest unit of meaning in the language. The Structured Literacy curriculum includes the study of base words, roots, prefixes, and suffixes. The word instructor, for example, contains the root struct, which means to build, the prefix in, which means in or into, and the suffix or, which means one who. An instructor is one who builds knowledge in his or her students.
Syntax. Syntax is the set of principles that dictate the sequence and function of words in a sentence in order to convey meaning. This includes grammar, sentence variation, and the mechanics of language.
Semantics. Semantics is that aspect of language concerned with meaning. The curriculum (from the beginning) must include instruction in the comprehension of written language.
How Critical Elements are Taught in Structured Literacy
Systematic and Cumulative. Structured Literacy instruction is systematic and cumulative. Systematic means that the organization of material follows the logical order of the language. The sequence must begin with the easiest and most basic concepts and elements and progress methodically to more difficult concepts and elements. Cumulative means each step must be based on concepts previously learned.
Explicit Instruction. Structured Literacy instruction requires the deliberate teaching of all concepts with continuous student-teacher interaction. It is not assumed that students will naturally deduce these concepts on their own.
Diagnostic Teaching. The teacher must be adept at individualized instruction. That is instruction that meets a student’s needs. The instruction is based on careful and continuous assessment, both informally (for example, observation) and formally (for example, with standardized measures). The content presented must be mastered to the degree of automaticity. Automaticity is critical to freeing all the student’s attention and cognitive resources for comprehension and expression.
USD 232 Education Foundation
The school district is proud to partner with the USD 232 Education Foundation, a newly formed organization with the vision of seeking out community resources and creating strategic alliances to spark innovation and support educational excellence for students in the school district.
The USD 232 Education Foundation has recently completed its first six-months as a new non-profit organization to support educational excellence for our students. The dedicated board members have taken great care to establish the necessary elements for this foundation to become strong partner for our district and community.
The foundation’s mission and vision statements are as follows:
Mission
To enhance educational excellence and inspire students and teachers by connecting community resources through collaboration, recognition, and innovative partnerships.
Vision
To cultivate student success by fostering strategic alliances, engaging business and community leaders, and empowering students to realize their individual potential.
The foundation in June established a nine-member board, including its three initial founding
members. The board members are:
· Jamie Weese, President
· Tina Dinkel, Vice-President (founding member)
· Roxanne Wise, Treasurer
· Susan Mohn, Community Member
· Norm Messner, Community Member
· Kevin Makalous, USD 232 Board Member (founding member)
· Alvie Cater, USD 232 District Member (founding member)
Each board member is assigned a few schools to serve as a representative. Currently, board members and school administration are meeting to see how the USD232EF can support their schools. This feedback will help guide the foundation board in determining future programs and activities.
The Foundation’s 12 Days of Giving online fundraising event, named partially to commemorate the district’s 12 schools, occurred in December. Every dollar raised will stay in our district to support innovative learning to prepare our students for their future.
To learn more about the USD 232 Education Foundation, please visit www.usd232.org/educationfoundation. Donations to USD232EF can be made on the webpage or using these links >> https://gkccf.kimbia.com/usdt00 or thru PayPal http://bitly.com/2sDVrTZ
Meet Your USD 232 Board of Education Members
Legal control of Unified School District 232 is vested in the seven member Board of Education, elected to staggered four-year terms. Any registered voter who resides within the boundary lines of the school district may run for election to the board. Six board members are elected to represent one of three geographic areas within USD 232. Each member must reside within those districts. The seventh position is designated at-large. School board elections are held every two years in November.
Board Duties & Responsibilities
Board members are responsible for developing and adopting policies that will guide the superintendent and staff as they provide for the education needs of the students, parents, and patrons of the district. Other duties include the following:
- Setting goals for the district
- Establishing operating policies for schools
- Hiring and evaluating the superintendent
- Authorizing the appointment of district staff
- Authorizing curriculum development & revision
- Establishing the operating budget for the district
- All policies established by the board must be consistent with the laws covering public education in the state of Kansas and must follow the guidelines of the Kansas State Board of Education.
Board of Education Members, January 2020
Position 1- William (Bill) Fletcher
Position 2- Ashley Spaulding
Position 3- Stephanie A. Makalous
Position 4- Rachele Zade, Vice President
Position 5- John Gaignat
Position 6- Danielle Heikes, President
At-Large- Rick Amos
It's Assessment Season
The Kansas Assessment Program (KAP) includes a variety of instructional tools and tests that measure the Kansas College and Career Ready Standards (KCCRS) in English Language Arts and Mathematics, the Kansas Science Education Standards, and the Kansas Standards for History, Government, and Social Studies. These tests are designed to support educators and policy makers in evaluating student learning, as well as to meet the requirements for federal and state accountability.
Broadly speaking, content standards define the depth and breadth of the body of knowledge, conceptual understanding, and skills that students are expected to master during the course of their K–12 education. Content standards are often broken out by subject area, such as mathematics or social studies. Subject areas are further broken down into grade-level expectations. Content standards are different from a curriculum.
Typically, a curriculum describes the program and instructional decisions made by local school districts and school administrators to prepare students to demonstrate mastery of the content standards. Ways in which students demonstrate mastery of the content can include teacher observation; classroom activities and projects; informal assessments such as homework assignments, quizzes, and tests; and state tests, which are standardized assessments that students generally take at the end of the year.
Grade Levels Assessed
English Language Arts- Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10
Mathematics- Grades 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10
Science- Grades 5, 8, 11
History / Government- New format pending, in state pilot, starting with 2020-2021 school year for grades 3-12
The Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE) sets assessment windows each year. For the '19-'20 school year, the dates allowed are March 9-April 24. Each school in the district sets a testing schedule and sends those dates to the Department of School Improvement.
Bond Update
Bringing Awareness to Our Communities and Stakeholders
- District Programs- Early Childhood-to-Postsecondary
- Student and Staff Highlights
- Academic and Extracurricular Events of Interest
- Updates in Standards, Curriculum, Technology, and Assessments
- Relationships with Internal and External Stakeholders
- Relevance in Innovative Learning and Leadership
USD 232 School Improvement News
Email: mhite@usd232.org
Website: http://www.usd232.org/
Location: 35200 West 91st Street, De Soto, KS, USA
Phone: 913-667-6200