Mercy Peek & Ponder
Faculty/Staff Edition Sunday, February 9, 2020
Our Lady of Mercy
Email: jmcgrath@olmcatholicschool.com
Website: www.olmcatholicschool.com
Location: 29 Conwell Drive, Maple Glen, PA, United States
Phone: 215-646-0150
Please enjoy your days off on Friday, 02/14 and Monday, 02/17!
February is the month dedicated to the Holy Family
Though the start of the Lenten season changes within the calendar year, a fair-sized portion of February gives us a space of time between the Christmas celebrations and the increased focus on Jesus’s public life and ministry, which occurs in Lent. It is a transition from the feast of Christmas to the fasting of Lent. Therefore traditionally February has become a time to recall the Holy Family; within the Holy Family is where Jesus spent the time between his birth and embarking on his public journey.
INSTALLATION OF NEW ARCHBISHOP!
ACADEMIC STANDARDS & BENCHMARKS IN CATHOLIC EDUCATION
1. Using Data: use standardize tests to analyze strengths and weaknesses.
2. Using Formative Assessment & Feedback: clear student expectations and provide specific feedback to students - beyond "good job" - that focuses on learning and not merely the grade.
3. Using Standards-Based Instruction and Assessment: identifying what MASTERY looks like and ensuring assessment detect whether MASTERY has been achieved.
4. Differentiating Instruction: using multiple strategies to ensure student success.
5. Developing Teacher Leaders and Collaboration: Using collaboration within the building, getting involved in networks on social media, and develop leadership in your individual disciplines.
6. Integration of Catholic Teaching into the Curriculum: Primarily, know what the faith teaches in order to form meaningful connections with students.
Take a few moments this week to assess your own implementation at Our Lady of Mercy.
Terra Nova 2020 - March 20th to March 27th:
The following procedures will be in place on these 6 days:
- No morning assembly. No morning faculty meeting/prayers. Please say prayers as a classroom.
- Two-hour delay schedule. If testing runs over the allotted two hour time - first period will be delayed (as needed) to accommodate.
- Accommodations will be tested in resource room. "Specials" will assist with the accommodations. Lists and specific schedules for this will be forthcoming.
- Post "testing" signs on doors. Silence is mandatory.
Terra Nova Testing (grades 3-7) Schedule 2020:
Monday-Thursday, March 16-19: In-View Practice Tests given
Friday, March 20: In-View Testing
Monday, March 23: Reading
Tuesday, March 24: Language
Wednesday, March 25: Math
Thursday, March 26: Science
Friday, March 27: Social Studies
Some talking points for parents:
The academic program at OLM is one that is research-based and in keeping with the most up-to-date information available to educators across the country and the world. We don’t aim low, but instead, extremely high! According to research conducted at the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, Boston College’s Center for the Study of Testing, and the Georgian Court University’s School of Education, standardized testing for children in grades K-2 is not advisable or reliable.
Standardized tests are scary for primary school children, bad for their morale and confidence. Overwhelmed by the test situation, they often don t show what they do know and can do. Instances of children breaking down, crying, unable to face school, becoming literally sick with anxiety in the face of standardized tests, are common. Most teachers in the early grades understand the importance of maintaining their students’ level of interest and high morale, both of which tend to be undone by tests.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children has, for a number of years, come out against standardized testing of young children for some of these same reasons. Most seven-year-olds are still in the process of acquiring the complex skills involved in learning to read and write. They need a chance to consolidate these skills which, at first, are fragile and inconsistent. Premature testing, no matter how well intentioned, is discouraging to the learner like having a work-in-progress exposed to summary judgment. And no matter how well intentioned the tests, no matter what the disclaimers or reassurances, the results will be understood by the children as judgment.
Differences in background show up vividly in the early years of schooling: some children arrive in school never having actually handled a book or in some cases seen one close up; others have had books read to them since infancy. These differences tend to diminish in the face of their common school experience. Premature testing, however, by highlighting differences, will reinforce them in the minds of children. Young children are not likely to have the kind of perspective that allows them to see the possibility of catching up. Since they always know who did well and who did badly children will sort themselves out accordingly. They will be likely to characterize themselves relative to their classmates as good readers (like fast runners) or bad readers (like slow runners). The early identification some poor testers will make of themselves as academic losers will be difficult at the very least to undo later.
Teachers of kindergarten, first, and second grades know very well, from their ordinary classroom activities, which children are learning to read and write with relatively little difficulty and which need extra help. Evaluation is part and parcel of daily instruction, a built-in function. When an outside agency takes over the responsibility for evaluation, however, the teacher loses both autonomy and confidence in his or her own expertise and trustworthiness. We convey to the teacher the disrespectful message that we do not trust her/him to evaluate student progress. The hazard, then, is that teachers abdicate responsibility for assessing learning and rely for instructional guidance on the relatively thin, out-of-context and delayed information contained in the test results. In sum, K - 2 testing is the result of a pervasive and mistaken belief that the solutions to school achievement are more testing, longer hours and more homework, all of which are likely to be felt by children as burdens. These presumed solutions are not only inappropriate for young children but will prove counter-productive for both teaching and learning.
Standardized testing is not a state or federal requirement for children in grades K-2.
The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 provides for testing students beginning in grade 3. There is currently a bill in legislation that would prohibit the testing of students in kindergarten Through second grade.
The Association for Childhood Education has called on a moratorium on standardized testing for children in grades K-2 since 1991, saying standardized testing affects children’s learning and motivation to learn.
Tips:
Make sure your child gets a good night's sleep and eats a healthy breakfast
Many teachers report that students who don't do well on tests haven't gotten enough sleep, and haven't eaten breakfast on the morning of the test. Doing both of these things will ensure that your child is working at full capacity (Narang, 2008).
Make sure your child is prepared
Some schools may supply the tools your child needs for the test, such as pencils, an eraser, paper, and a calculator. Others may require the students to bring those materials themselves. Check with your child's teacher to see if you need to provide your child with any of these materials. Also, check to see whether you child will be able to make up the test if she is sick on test day (Narang, 2008).
Remain positive
Staying calm will help your child stay calm. If she gets nervous about the test or is likely to experience anxiety during the test, help her practice some relaxation techniques that she can try once she's taking the test (Narang, 2008).