Last week the Communique reported on how the first week of school turned out for schools and departments. Here is a summary of the happenings from two more district leaders:
Silver Strand Elementary
New Family Orientation meetings, tours, and related PTO activities have helped welcome the largest number of families and students brand new to the site in the past eight years. Included therein was a PTO coffee and photograph session for parents after entry on the first day of school. Teachers shared important information re: CCSS, new assessment systems, classroom expectations and the like at Back to School Night this past Thursday, with a PTO Spaghetti Dinner and Book Fair following classroom presentations, and recess games for students supervised throughout the evening by staff member, Tammie Warlick, and a large group of CHS JROTC volunteers. Weekly Specials/PLC's have begun for all grades, as have small group instruction in many academic areas. The school celebrated its first Friday Flagpole assembly this past week with new spirit wear worn by many students, staff, and parents. New staff members include Amy Hurley (Speech/Language Pathologist) and John Cox (English Language Teacher).
Learning & Instruction Department
In the absence of most state achievement data during this era of transition, local achievement data, such as Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), Developmental Reading Assessment 2, high school writing assessments, and elementary engineering performance tasks were scrutinized to determine student's strengths and needs, and set next steps for instruction for the 2014-15 school year. Performance of English Learners, military-connected students, and all below proficient students were specific populations that were examined closely. A team of teachers and administrator representing the entire district attended the MAP Fusion Conference in June funded by Project STEPS, a Department of Defense grant which also provides funding for CUSD's MAP assessment, an essential component of personalized education plans. Attendees included Sean Castillo (CHS Math), Melissa Miller (CHS Math), Rise' Cooley (Village grade 3), Karin Mellina (CMS Assistant Principal), and Claudia Gallant, Sr. Director of Learning & Instruction. A summary of the MAP conference along with student progress will be reported to in October.
Updates were accomplished to the District Strategic Plan as well the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP). The LCAP revisions were based on feedback from the San Diego County Office of Education, which approved of CUSD's LCAP. Various instructional materials for all schools were ordered, including a new AP World History text and new Common Core math materials for all elementary grades. A team of CUSD elementary teachers were brought together early in the summer to approve of them which ensured that these materials were in students' hands on the first day of school. Voluntary professional development opportunities were offered for teachers at all levels mostly in science and mathematics, including attendance for middle school mathematics teachers at a national mathematics conference held in San Diego, and two 3-day math workshops for elementary teachers.
Feedback from teachers who chose to attend these professional development opportunities was overwhelmingly positive. CMS math teachers Bonnie Carpenter and Melissa Miller were provided specific support to design CCSS units of instruction for the new CCSS courses of Math 6 and 6A, a process which will occur all year. In addition, drafts of new report cards for all elementary grades were created, along with academic and assessment calendars, a new elementary CCSS English Language Arts Handbook, information about "Late Start Thursdays", and plans for the Back-to-School Kick Off/Professional Development Day on August 18. The Principals' Professional Learning Community met several times during the summer to establish specific instructional focus areas for the 2014-15 school year for all grades, levels, and content areas, which include:
- A shift for teachers and administrators to examine evidence of student learning in classrooms activities and in written work
- Writing across the curriculum and use of performance tasks for assessment
- Making sense of problem solving and perseverance in solving them
- Reasoning abstractly and quantitatively
- Constructing viable arguments and critiquing the reasoning of others
- Modeling with mathematics
It was indeed a very busy summer preparing for the best educational program for CUSD students!