the RAH
March 28 - April 1, 2016
from the Mayor-
The Delta team meets on Thursday, March 31st so please provide your representative input. Tentative agenda items include curriculum and instruction updates and assistant to the principal rubric.
Janine, Nicole, and I will meet on Friday, April 1st with the representatives from the YMCA, Boys and Girls Club, and SPARC concerning wrap around services. Should you have celebrations or opportunities for improvement around these services, please get those to me, Janine, or Nicole ASAP.
Will Richardson spoke at the MAESP conference and again pushed everyone’s thinking about the way school should look in 2016 and beyond. Here is another great read he posted this week about schools, which would be a great, short read for leadership teams.
Final reminders about the upcoming Cardinals field trips:
Transportation – Transportation to the events is free. The deadline to reserve buses is 3 weeks previous to each trip. For the April 19th field trip, the deadline is March 29th. For the April 27th field trip, the deadline is April 6th. For the May 2nd field trip, the deadline is April 11th. Elementary secretaries will reserve buses through Trip tracker. Click here to view the spreadsheet each school filled out to indicate the numbers of students attending.
Lunches – Lunches will be provided by the ball park or students may bring sack lunches from home. The provided ball park meal is a hot dog, apple and juice box. For students who eat at the park, nutrition services will charge student accounts based on whether they are full or reduced priced. If students have an allergy, they may pack a sack lunch from home. The ball park will not be able to provide special meals. Students will eat lunches inside the ballpark.
Tickets and Seating – Tickets to the event are free. The Springfield Cardinals will deliver tickets to your school prior to the events. The Cardinals ask for teachers to NOT distribute tickets to students until they are in the game as this allows for faster admittance with scanners. Tickets are general admission seats in the grassy area at Hammons Field so teachers might want to bring blankets for seating.
Permission Slips – You may use the Travel Permission and Medical Consent Form found on the SPS Risk Management webpage to secure parent/guardian permission prior to the events.
from J-
Over the next couple of weeks (by April 15), please initiate the process of closing out your growth plans, which is a precursor to your summative. The process is identical to what we are asking teachers to do:
· *Self-assess a follow-up score on your indicators
· * Complete the reflection: please share specifics around how your leadership capacity has grown in relation to your focus areas.
· * Enter your PIN
At that point I will review what you have entered and sign off with my PIN, allowing that data to flow into the summative, which will by my focus mid April through mid May. Thanks in advance for your thoughtful reflections and I look forward to talking with you!
ConnectELE
Wednesday, Mar 30, 2016, 02:30 PM
Mudhouse, South Avenue, Springfield, MO, United States
from Assessment -
MAP Grade-Level News
Students are now loaded and available in the eDIRECT testing portal. STCs should begin entering accommodations and editing testing sessions/rosters as needed, as we prepare for April MAP test.
Teachers should also be working with students on practicing the Online Tools Training for MAP. All information has been communicated to MAP STCs on the importance of this practice for students. This way, students gain the experience needed to take the test, so it doesn’t become a test of computer skills and knowledge, only knowledge. The more students can practice the Online Tools Training, the better!
In addition, the EOY i-Ready window opened on March 21st. Please remember, all K-8 students need to complete the i-Ready EOY assessment.
If you have any questions, please let me know.
Thank you! - Dave Whitham
Intervention/Assessment Wall - from Jennifer Richardson
As someone who uses and values technology every single day, I can see why many people ask why literacy coaches don’t make intervention/assessment walls digital. Here are some important reasons why the wall should be physical and an explanation for why the wall is just not about data:
- It is a visual display.
- It is a tool for assessing impact.
- It is a focal point for problem-solving discussions.
- It is a tool for collaborative team meetings.
The intervention/assessment wall is part of a comprehensive assessment system that monitors progress for individual students and at the system level. The wall reflects multiple perspectives and sources of data, and not just one test at one point in time. While Excel or Google spreadsheets are a great place to store data and run statistics, the wall is the hub of the model; a place for deeper analysis that leads to problem-solving and decision-making. For more information about how an intervention/assessment wall functions in a seamless, comprehensive intervention model, see Interventions That Work:A Comprehensive Intervention Model for Preventing Reading Failure in Grades K-3, by Dorn and Soffos, and Changing Minds, Changing Schools, Changing Systems: A Comprehensive Literacy Design for School Improvement, Editors Dorn, Forbes, Poparad, & Schubert. Also, feel free to contact me (jrichardson@spsmail.org) if you would like to observe intervention/assessment wall team meetings or see video clips.
Strength in Numbers - from Julia Veatch
The phrase “strength in numbers” typically means the more on board supporting something, the better, yes? Let’s spin that a little and consider the learning opportunities available in a classroom when students are working in collaborative teams with numbers. It’s strength two-fold!
The clip below offers a view into a classroom working on the introduction of multiplication of fractions where the teacher is facilitating the learning while students collaboratively explore and support each other’s learning. With conceptual understanding as a primary focus, the peer support is vast. Take a peek!
https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/fraction-multiplication-intro-sbac
An opportunity to add to research...
Teachers and principals of K-5 buildings (not K-4) will receive an email from the Analytics, Accountability, and Assessment department with a survey link regarding the implementation of personalized learning practices. This survey is also being used to collect data for Allison Pilley’s dissertation. We encourage you and your classroom teachers to take this survey as it will provide district-wide data regarding the implementation of personalized learning practices. All building level data will be kept confidential and will not be published.