The Hornets' Weekly Buzzzzz!
Important information for the week of April 4th
Together EARHART Achieves More
Brag Award winners!
CORE BELIEFS
· Our main purpose is to improve student academic achievement.
· Effective Instruction makes the most difference in student academic performance.
· There is no excuse for poor quality instruction.
· With our help, at risk students will achieve at the same rate as non-at risk students.
· Staff members must have a commitment to children and a commitment to the pursuit of excellence.
OUR BELIEFS...The Earhart Way
#2. Increase the Quality of Instruction
#3. Increase the Culture and Climate
What's Buzzing this Week...
PreK Registration Week!
- Faculty Meeting
Tuesday: (4-5):
- Fire Drill (Be Ready @8:30)
Wednesday (4-6):
- Art ACP
Thursday (4-7):
- Testing Mtg. (Gr. K-2)
- Brighter Bites
- PLC - Data (Grades 3-5)
Friday (4-8)
- Spirit Day (Earhart shirt w/ jeans)
Saturday (4-9)
- No Saturday School
UPCOMING:
- Inclement Weather Day - April 11, 2016: NO SCHOOL
- Transform/ HPPC/ AELC Community Service Day (9-2)
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Congrats to 4B (Ms. Fuentes) for winning the Read to Succeed contest sponsored by the Achieve 3000 program.
Achieve 3000
Classroom Environment
Ensure that your classroom is conducive to a positive learning environment. It is the expectation that LOs and DOLs are posted, daily. If your classroom was used during testing, it is time to remove the butcher paper used to cover content:)
We must set the example that instruction will continue until the last day of school.
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK...
ARTICLE OF THE WEEK- TEACHER TEAMS AS POWERFUL ENGINES OF CHANGE
In this article from Usable Knowledge, Leah Shafer reports on a study by Susan Moore Johnson, Stefanie Reinhorn, and Nicole Simon (Harvard Graduate School of Education) on what makes effective teacher teams. The research took place in six Massachusetts schools and involved content teams – focused on curriculum, lessons, and pedagogy – and cohort teams – focused on behavior, individual student needs, and school culture. The researchers found that five factors consistently contributed to a team’s success:
There was a clear, worthwhile purpose to meetings.
Teams met on a regular schedule, there was enough time for the business at hand, and the time was considered sacred.
Trained teacher leaders facilitated team meetings.
Administrators offered ongoing, engaged support and attention to the meetings and held teachers responsible for what they were supposed to accomplish.
Administrators looked for collaboration skills when hiring and gave teachers continual feedback that augmented the substance of team meetings.
Effective teacher teamwork had a positive impact in each of the schools, including:
Greater curriculum consistency across classes and grades;
Sharing the work of lesson planning;
Increased rigor and expectations for students – getting them to think “bigger and deeper about tough concepts”;
A support network for new teachers;
Opportunities for skill-sharing between veteran and novice teachers;
Frequent feedback from peers on lesson plans, behavior management, and pedagogy.
“Many factors contributed to these schools’ success,” says Johnson, “– careful hiring, frequent feedback on instruction, strong norms for both students and faculty, student supports, and skilled management – but it was teams that knit these components together for the good of students.”
“Teaching Together for Change: Five Factors That Make Teacher Teams Successful – and Make Schools Stronger” by Leah Shafer in Usable Knowledge, February 29, 2016,
DISTRICT GOALS
- Goal 1: All students will exhibit Satisfactory or above performance on State assessments. Students below Satisfactory performance will demonstrate more than one year of academic growth;
- Goal 2: Dallas ISD schools will be the primary choice for families in the district;
- Goal 3: The achievement gap by race, ethnicity and social economic status will be no greater than 10 percentage points on all academic measures;
- Goal 4: 95% of students will graduate. Of the graduates, 90% have qualifying scores for community college, college, military, or industry certification;
- Goal 5: 95% of entering kindergarten students are school-ready on a multidimensional assessment;
- Goal 6: All students will participate in at least one extracurricular or co-curricular activity each year.
RESOURCES...
STAAR Resources:
- https://olc.region10.org/pd/mod/folder/view.php?id=11332
- Inside Secrets to STAAR Powerpoint - In Google Folder
Math Resource