USD 232 School Improvement News
April 2019
News with Purpose
- KESA OVT Results
- ELA Adoption
- Summer Flex PD
- Energy Conservation- Part 2
- Parent Perception Survey
Accreditation Visit Results
The Kansas Education Systems Accreditation (KESA) Outside Visiting Team (OVT) held their annual onsite district visit on March 28th. The full-day event included focus group interviews with the District Improvement Team, Teaching & Learning Directors, and the District Student Advisory Committee.
A breadth of topics were covered, including: restructuring of the district Multi-Tier System of Supports (MTSS), FastBridge, technology updates and advancements, implementation of initiatives, professional development, and achievement of goals and strategies.
Plans for Year Three in the 2019-2020 school year are underway. Leadership Summit will be attended by all building and department Building Leadership Teams, as identified by building principals, on May 30th. Mr. Harwood will present district improvement goals, and buildings will use those as a road map to create Goals and Strategic Plans for the next school year. This systems process toward continuous improvement for students, staff, and other stakeholders creates connectedness and engagement in Relationships and Relevance through a systemic approach.
We extend gratitude to all staff who participated in the OVT visit, as well as those who give time and talents to serve on teams and in schools throughout the year.
Commendations noted by the KESA team, regarding goal accomplishments in Year Two were cited as:
- MTSS Restructuring
- Improved Communication
- More Community Engagement for Buildings, Families, and Businesses
- Staff and Stakeholder Enthusiasm and Commitment to District and Building Plans
- Focus on Data in Year Three
- Technology Updates and Restructuring
The OVT must provide three Recommendations for Improvement in the formal report provided to the Kansas State Department of Education. They are:
- Determine and prioritize professional development initiatives for the 2019-2020 year.
- Goals and Action Plans extended through the 5-year cycle.
- Continue IPS coursework identification and alignment.
The OVT annual visit date for Year Three is established for March 26, 2020. We are extremely proud of the hard work accomplished this year by staff and students, and look forward to the great things sure to happen in the next year.
Secondary ELA Adoption
Resources to support Secondary English Language Arts curriculum were adopted this winter to utilize in the 2019-2020 school year. In March of 2018, a curriculum adoption team met to begin the adoption process. It consisted of representatives from each secondary grade level and school, as well as teacher representatives from the Special Education and English Language Learners departments.
On the October 15th district professional development day, the adoption committee reviewed the information on the reflection form and discussed the two resources as a large group, first, and then as separate middle-school and high-school groups. Then, they individually completed a rubric that was created by the committee based on the educational expectations they had for an ELA resource. The scores were tabulated and shared with the group.
The middle school (6-8) ELA teachers selected McGraw-Hill’s Study Sync as their resource. Study Sync is a complete source for ELA and literature instruction for grades 6–8, offering powerful digital instruction with full print support. This resource engages students while advancing reading, writing, critical thinking, speaking and listening skills. It is well-known for its extensive digital library, weekly writing practice, online writing and peer review, standards-based assignments and assessments, and award-winning multimedia lessons. In collecting data from the committee, the overall request for resources was to have teacher print materials and online digital access, as well as student digital access and the quarterly consumables. The quarterly consumables have all of the literature that is available in a typical textbook, includes instructional review sheets, and provides the opportunity for students to make annotations and do close-reading activities.
The high school ELA teachers have selected Pearson’s My Perspectives. My Perspectives is a brand new English Language Arts curriculum for Grades 9–12 that values the perspective of the learner, collectively and individually, and provides next-generation learning experiences that promote higher achievement and develop the competencies needed for college and career readiness. Interactive learning blends print and technology in a student-centered, teacher-inspired classroom. This program creates an interactive, engaging, and relevant learning environment through readings, meaningful activities, and purposeful performance tasks. My Perspectives encourages social collaboration, as well as student ownership of learning through goal setting, choice, and reflection. In collecting data from the committee, the overall request for resources was to have teacher written materials and online digital access, as well as student digital access and the quarterly consumables. The quarterly consumables have all of the literature that is available in a typical textbook, includes instructional review sheets and provides the opportunity for students to make annotations and do close-reading activities.
Summer Flex PD
This summer, the district will be offering “Flex” professional development for the first time. We are excited that these three days will afford more flexibility in scheduling. Staff can choose to attend on June 5th, July 25th or June 30th. All sessions are from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., with an hour scheduled for lunch. If staff attend one of these sessions, they will not be required to attend the August 6th professional development day.
These days will also allow for small-group professional learning. One of the challenges associated with our professional development days is making sure session sizes are kept relatively small. These small groups allow for more interaction between the presenter and audience. However, when we have presenters from organizations like Canvas, Apple, and KSDE, it is difficult to ensure everyone has an opportunity to attend their sessions and simultaneously keep the group sizes small. In response to this, the Flex days spread the trainings over the course of three separate days.
We seek a minimum of 20 elementary and 20 secondary teachers to sign up for each day, while a maximum of 70 elementary and 80 secondary staff will be able to register. Locations will depend on the number of registrants for each session (i.e. larger groups of attendees will be hosted in larger venues than smaller groups). After staff have had an opportunity register for a specific date, the C&I Department will email their specific schedules for the day.
Elementary staff will have an opportunity learn about Dyslexia and Structured Literacy from Jeri Powers, Reading Specialist at Prairie Ridge Elementary, and Allison Nelson, Reading Specialist at Clear Creek Elementary. We are very fortunate to have these two staff members present, as they have a wealth of knowledge in the area of Early Literacy. Also, staff will learn more about how to use the Canvas Learning Management system in their classrooms from Mr. Woody Roper, a trainer from Canvas.
Secondary staff will receive training related to the effective implementation of MacBook Airs in the classroom from Apple trainers. Also, professional development related to our new Learning Management System will be provided by Mr. Roper.
We hope that this format is beneficial for staff and, as always, we will be seeking input to determine how we can improve in the future.
Energy Savings Part 2
Please see the following information from Mr. Stoppel:
ENERGY PROGRAM DATA
We are at the end of March and have collected about seven years of data since the energy conservation program started. Our goal, set by Cenergistic Energy Conservation, was to maintain 20% usage avoidance. Currently our district usage avoidance percentage is 24%. This percentage includes this year’s spring break shutdown which was our best ever.
AWESOME SHUTDOWNS
Every multi-day break means we can eliminate as much usage as possible. The awareness of conservation efforts is demonstrated by each building’s shutdown percentage. This spring break’s shutdown average was 98%!
ENERGY CONSERVATION AUDITS
Several types of energy audits take place during the school year. Each audit reviews the following expectations:
MORNING TRANSITION AUDIT – The time between totally unoccupied and totally occupied. Usually when first custodian arrives.
- Lighting – in areas of the building must remain off until staff or students occupy those areas or to complete morning cleaning that takes place each morning. Custodians are encouraged to allow first staff to turn on their classroom and hallways outside their classroom.
- Doors – need to be closed to separate early morning occupied areas from unoccupied areas if possible.
- Vestibule and Exterior Doors – need to remain closed at all times to minimize intrusion of unconditioned outside air into any inside space.
- Designated Room Equipment – must remain off until that room’s staff member arrives and prepares their room for the day.
OCCUPIED AUDIT - The time between the start of the duty day and the end of the duty day.
- Lighting – in the building that is in an unoccupied area should be turned off. Lights should be turned off or minimized when natural lighting is present.
- Interior Doors – that separate one thermostat from another must remain closed while HVAC is on.
- Windows and Exterior Doors – must remain closed at all times to minimize intrusion of unconditioned outside air into any inside space.
EVENING TRANSITION AUDIT – The time between end of duty day to totally unoccupied. Usually when the last custodian leaves the building.
- Lighting – should be used as needed to manage any approved activities or to complete evening cleaning. Lights are to be turned off when activity or cleaning has been completed and remain off during the unoccupied hours.
- Exterior Doors, Vestibule Doors and Windows – must remain closed to minimize outside air intrusion.
- Designated Room Equipment – must remain off after the teacher or staff member has properly shutdown their area for the day. Equipment in all rooms must remain off when the room is unoccupied for the evening. This does not include safety lighting that is required by code to remain on at all times.
UNOCCUPIED AUDIT - The time between the last custodian leaving the building for the night and the first custodian arriving the next morning.
- Lighting – inside the building must be off with the exception of inside safety/security lighting and outside building and parking lot lights.
- Exterior Doors, Vestibule Doors and Room Doors – must remain closed.
- Designated Room Equipment – must remain off until the next day when the room’s staff member arrives for the day.
Parent Perception Survey
The 2018-2019 USD 232 District Parent Perception Survey will be open for participation May 6-10, 2019. The survey can be taken as many times as needed to complete one specific to each child a family has enrolled in the school district. However, Survey Monkey only allows one survey per device, so parents need to use multiple devices to complete more than one student survey.
We strive for high participation rates, as results will be used to guide school improvement in the new school year. More information will come out from building principals with information for parents closer to the date.
Up Next in the May Edition
- Transitions K, 5-6, 8-9
- KESA Year 3
- Student Nutrition
- Postsecondary Tracking
- Graduation! Oh! The Places You'll Go!
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