Lead Learners Update 4.8.13

Professional Capital - Students do very well because they have a series of very good teachers - not by chance, but by design. In other words, you have to transform the entire profession - not just the bottom 20% or the top 20%, but the whole 100%.

Fullan and Hargreaves

Calendar of Events

4.8 Snow Make up and PL Day

Board Meeting

4.10 IOWA ASCD Academy (A K-12 Prairie team will present at the conference)

4.15 Oversight Meeting 12:00 - 3:30 @ Board Room (Read Chapter 6 and 7)

3:30 - 4:00 Ying answer questions about i3 Grant (See more info below)

4.16 Reserved for Interview

4.18 Cadre

Other Interview Days:

4.22, 4.23, 4.24

Also, please reserve 4/29 from 12:00 - 3:30 for an Administrative Learning Meeting.  John will lead a discussion about administrative team purpose, goals and priorities for the 2013-14 school year.

Curriculum Data (Ying Ying Chen)

After working with all curriculum teams prioritized by you, here is the first set of data from Rubicon.  Before you analyze, please read the following bullet points first.

• Common Core Literacy in grades 9 and 10 share the same set of standards. Therefore, 9th and 10th grade individually will not target all standards.  Between both grades, all standards will be included.
• Common Core Math in 9-12 is not grade level based, but domain based.  For example Algebra and Advanced Algebra share a same set of standards.  
  

  
  

  	Standard Alignment - Literacy	Assessment Alignment - Literacy	Standard Alignment - Math	Assessment Alignment - Math
  1st	100 %	56 %	86 %	4 %
  2nd	100 %	91 %	100 %	3 %
  3rd	100 %	100 %	90 %	56 %
  4th	100 %	94 %	100 %	28 %
  5th	99 %	45 %	97 %	96 %
  6th	99 %	45 %	92 %	77 %
  7th	68 %	58 %	100 %	0 %
  8th	100 %	99 %	100 %	69 %
  9th	84/125=67%	0 %	47 %	43 %
  10th	54/125=43 %	81 %	81 %	59 %

  
  Analysis of the above data
  1. First, let’s celebrate the work we have done!  Curriculum alignment work we have done in the past 3 months made a huge difference.  Prior to the work, the standard alignment rate was between 20 - 60 %. Now, it is almost 100% in all grades/courses. Most importantly, teachers fully grasp the concept of guaranteed and viable curriculum and they are confident about how to carry out these units from now on.
  2. Assessment alignment is definitely an area for continuous improvement.  I believe there are a lot of quality assessments being used, but teachers may not check the standards or are lack the confidence to put the current standards on the tool.  Please reinforce that assessments should be entered on the unit even when teachers do not think the assessments are perfect.  Assessment is the base for RtI, analysis of student work and CIC.  Teachers will learn a lot from reflecting upon their current assessments and student results.   We will continue to work on the quality of assessment as we further discuss standards and proficiency.  
  
  
  Changing Landscape of Instructional Coaching (Ying Ying Chen)
  I am wondering if you are aware of the changing landscape of “coaching” and the interconnectedness among the three following resources:
  
  
  1. i3 Grant (Full Release Model New Teacher Mentor/Induction) - We just received notification from GWAEA that CCSD, along with 17 other AEA 10 school districts, will be part of the Full Release New Teacher Mentor program called i3 Grant.  This will change significantly how we mentor new teachers.  The mentor job has been posted by GWAEA, and one of our district teachers could be potentially hired on loan to carry out the responsibility.  This means, our current new teacher coaches will be phased out in the next year or two. If interested, I will be happy to answer questions in person on 4/15, after the Oversight meeting (3:30)
  2. District instructional coaches and facilitators (no further explanation needed)
  3. State proposal for the four tier career plan (If this is passed at the legislative level, then more teachers from the district will be released to coach.)
  We are keeping you posted so that you can begin to think about how to coordinate various coaching services, build coherence and distribute resources.
   
  Digital Literacy Update (Craig Barnum)
  Over the past few weeks, I’ve been trickling out  on my blog a number of digital literacy professional development opportunities this summer.  I thought it might be convenient to see all of these (to date) in one place:
  
  
  ITEC Summer Workshop Tour
  July 27th
  Grant Wood AEA
  Fee: $99
  Registration Information
  
  
  Google Apps Iowa Mini Summit
  July 25th
  Van Meter CSD
  Fee: $40
  Registration Information
  
  
  iPad U
  July 11th - 12th
  Grant Wood AEA
  Fee: $100 non-credit
  Registration Information
  
  
  iLife and Mac OS X Basics
  June 6th and 7th
  ESC Boardroom and PHS Study Hall
  Fee: none
  Registration Information
  
  
  On a somewhat related note, I will be judging the Eastern Iowa ITEC Tech Fair on Wednesday, April 10th.  The Tech Fair is a great place for students to showcase their work and staff to make connections with other like minded teachers.  Think of it as a something similar to our Celebration of Learning we had last January.  Kids present project work that is reviewed.  There are grade spans, so it’s open to all kids, K-12.  While it’s too late to send any students this year, I will send out word when applications are available for next year.  I would encourage each of you to encourage your staff to send some students.  Events like this are not only a great place for students to find authentic audiences for their work, but it’s also a powerful networking tool for staff.  They can see what other teachers and kids are doing as well as to make connections to grow their PLN.  
  

  
  

  
  

  Student Sevices  (Cheryl Kiburz)

  
  

  4.16 Building Bridges-Eastern Iowa Technology Conference 8:00-4:30

  Iowa Memorial Union, Iowa City, IA

  
  

  Extended School Year Services-The target date for all Extended School Year Services (ESYS) meetings was April 1.  I believe most teachers have conducted the additional meetings, or determined if ESYS services were necessary at the most recent annual IEP review meeting.  There will be 4 programs on campus this summer with 2 being located at Ridge, 1 at Prairie Creek and 1 at Prairie Point.  The dates for ESYS (M-TH, 8:30-11:30,student contact time) is listed below:

  
  

  June 10-13

  June 17-20

  June 24-27

  July 22-25

  July 29-August 1

  
  

  In addition, due to this being an individualized service,  there are also some individualized plans.

  
  

  TEACCH-Structured Teaching Training-A TEACCH training is being held May 14,15 and 16 at GWAEA.  If you have certified or classifed staff that must have this training due to their assignment, please contact me no later than April 15.

  
  
  
  
  Curriculum Matters  (Bill Poock)
  We are in the process of negotiating for a new math curriculum.  The Math Task Force K-6 Textbook Adoption Team narrowed down to two sets of curriculum to include:
  
  
  • enVisions Mathematics (by Pearson)
  • Go Math! (HMH)
  Each curriculum offers its own unique spin on how mathematics is taught, what intervention materials are included, and how the teacher is supported to teach mathematics most effectively.  Basically, though, the two textbook companies offer similar components and both are a vast improvement from our current math curriculum in Everyday Mathematics.  I will present an update to the Board of Education at the April 8th Board Meeting in which I update them on the following:
  
  
  • process we’ve used to build capacity for maximum learning about CCSS and alignment to new textbooks
  • report that we are close to making a decision