Union County Schools

1. Union County Schools Working Together for a Winning Season- an Instructional Recap

2. UCSD Vision Statement Union County Schools and its stakeholders commit to students first in building community, excellence, and life-long learning.

3. Union County Educational Philosophy Our educational philosophy centers around five major areas: assessment (both diagnostic for the child and self-reflective for the educator), curriculum, instructional, professional learning communities, and a district and school culture that fosters a safe, healthy, and positive learning environment. We also extend our educational responsibilities to include post-secondary students, students from birth to age four with at-risk factors, and adults of any age needing academic assistance. We are a community of life-long learners.

4. District Motto Building a Tradition of Excellence…… One Student at a Time

5. District Goals for 2009-10 • Narrow the achievement gap through best instructional strategies and quality data analysis • Address youth interventions through Comprehensive Health, drug/alcohol awareness, teen pregnancy issues, and truancy/attendance • Improve assessment and grading practices with consideration to: • Level of rigor • Variety of assessments to include formative and summative • Assessments developed BEFORE instruction (UBD) • New district grading guidelines w teacher reflection

6. District Goals for 2010-11 • Narrow the achievement gap through best instructional strategies and quality data analysis • Align the curriculum to state standards integrating s3curriculum and implementing support documents • Use MAP and other formative assessments to drive instruction Continue implementation of established youth interventions • Address youth interventions through Comprehensive Health, drug/alcohol awareness, teen pregnancy issues, and truancy/attendance • Improve teacher and administrative quality through enhanced professional development (NetSCOPE, Net LEAD)

7. Dick Allington’s Five Key Points • Reduce student assessments to the essentials, then expect teachers to use the data to differentiate instruction. • Dramatically increase actual reading and writing opportunities for students • Increase the urgency for learning and decrease teacher-directed activities • Students should be collaborating and talking about their learning. • Draw students to books through displays and book talks in classrooms and media; support learning in the room with visuals.

8. Data drives our instructional decisions: • Transparent Data through INET.UNION • State tests- teacher absolute ratings per class • AYP subgroups and narrowing the gap • MAP - % target growth and % overall growth Include ELA, Math, Language Usage, Science if App • Dominie/ Fountas and Pinnell text levels/ Lexiles • Writing prompts and Timed tests • RTI for struggling students • Discipline Data (PBIS) • Assessment Walls and notebooks- gr. 5K-5th

9. Are teachers collaborating to develop quality assessments? Teachers must know what they want to assess in order to deliver quality, relevant instruction. Data drives our instructional decisions. Create a common quality assessment as a team before you teach the content. Intermittently evaluating teacher- made assessments is as important as evaluating lesson plans!

10. The Power is in the Planning

11. Understanding by Design • Teacher-Created Pacing Guides and s3 curriculum available on district web-site • State support documents are essential in long and short range planning • Enduring Student Understandings (EU’s) • Essential Questions Address EU’s • Units of study integrate concepts into relevant curriculum • Assessments created first, then instructional strategies (Common assessments created as a team are ideal.) • Student activities planned last

12. Assessments and Grading • Include a variety of formative(on-going to guide instruction, such as MAP or common assessments) and summative (cumulative, such as PASS, HSAP, EOC) evaluates the learner and the teacher) assessments • Assessments should be planned before instructional strategies and student activities • Grades should reflect what the students know and are able to do; see testing guidelines and retesting philosophy. • New district grading guidelines provide uniformity in reporting student results to students and parents • Grading distributions give a teacher a snapshot of student AND teacher success!

13. Lesson-Planning • District lesson-plan template includes PET language • On Course serves as collaborative resource for teachers; district lesson-planning template provides uniformity • Typical Lesson format guides daily plan • Informal Observation form provides snapshot of a daily lesson • Formal Observation form depicts model lesson. • District observation requirements provide accountability for schools and district

14. District Curriculum • Teacher-created pacing guides integrated with s3 curriculum, teacher-created units of study • State support documents • Continuum of Literacy Learning • Sadlier-Oxford vocabulary program • Junior Great Books and Shared Inquiry • Leveled Texts to supplement state-adopted textbooks • Foreign Language/Orchestra- middle grades

15. District Literacy Initiatives • Reading and Writing Workshop • Use of district pacing guides with s3 curriculum and state support documents • Continuum of Learning by grade level to support pacing guide • Increased focus on grammar, spelling, writing and handwriting through K-8 pacing guides • Vocabulary Development (Sadlier-Oxford) • Phonemic Awareness at primary grades • RR and Literacy Lessons for struggling readers • RTI addresses three tiers of student interventions

16. Narrowing the Gap for All Learners Data directs use of Research-based Best Instructional Strategies

17. Marcia Tate- Brain-based Learning Strategies

18. PET Techniques- Every lesson should have a beginning, middle, and end • HOOK/SET- teacher “hooks” the student with an attention grabber to begin lesson • Direct instruction- actual teaching is crucial; gradual release of responsibility from teacher to student • Active participation- students actively engaged throughout the lesson • High-level questioning throughout the lesson • Closure- involving students to summarize the lesson’s objective

19. Classrooms of the 21st Century must include: • Collaboration- Students work as a team and toward a task and feel a responsibility to help each other. • Competition- healthy competition among groups can motivate learning • Cooperation- discussion groups, project-based group work with student-assigned roles, rubrics, and accountability

20. Print-Rich Materials to Support All Learners • Interactive anchor charts- provide visuals and written support for key terms, vocabulary, and processes • Manipulatives- support concrete learning • Models -(include models for overhead) • Smart boards- student response systems • Transparencies for visual • Limited use of commercial posters • Science kits and district-created math kits

21. Professional Learning Communities • Teachers analyze data together and select a challenge area for students • Teachers collaboratively develop a common assessment, a standards-based unit of study, and an instructional plan to deliver the unit. • Teachers assess student results and evaluate instructional strategies that work or need to be revised for future use • Teachers select another challenge area based on data and begin the PLC process.

22. Differentiated Instruction by: • Product • Process • Content • Great Resource: foridahoteachers.org Inclusion/co-teaching allows greater opportunities to differentiate learning

23. Enrichment/Remediation/Interventions • Use of Junior Great Books and Shared Inquiry model • Small group literacy lessons • Brain Boosters • Math remediation kits • Creative Writing/ Academic Challenge teams • Reader’s Theater/ Drama/ Literacy through Music • Character Education- Life Skills, agenda-based, Ron Miles materials • Drug/Alcohol Awareness- Keep a Clear Mind (grade 4), Project Alert (7-8) • Teen Pregnancy- Choosing the Best (gr. 6-9); additional components available gr. 10-12

24. Teacher and Student Resources: • INET.UNION-, field trip information by grade, AYP results by schools, prior benchmark results by teachers, teacher recognition of exemplary performance on state assessments • union.k12.sc.us – pacing guides, link to s3 curriculum and state support documents, resources • Test View- historical student and class data • Teacher Toolbox- sample test questions, approved web-sites by standards and grades, Smart Board applications • nwea.org- MAP assistance • ODYSSEY- www.compasslearningodyssey.com

25. Shared Inquiry and JGB Monday: First Reading Teacher reads as students follow along. Teacher should model “thinking aloud” during the reading, stopping to ask students to make predictions. After the reading, children pose questions that arose during the reading. Tuesday: Second Reading with Directed Notes Students find evidence in the text to support question provided by teacher. Wednesday: Word Interpretation Students use sentence structure (syntax) and context to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and multiple-meaning words. Thursday: Discussion Students participate in a discussion-based on the week’s reading. Students should examine the text on a deeper level through teacher facilitation. Friday: Writing Students show their comprehension of the story through a journal-write from a thought-provoking prompt related to the week’s story.

26. A positive environment and student learning are directly related! Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Motivation to Learn Positive Self-Esteem Sense of Belonging and Importance Sense of Being Loved/Appreciated Free of Fear and A Sense of Safe Place Physical Health Needs are Met

27. District Youth Interventions: • Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) • Truancy Interventions • Literacy lessons • Overage program • Revamped Achievement Academy- SOAR, EXCEL, Bridge programs • Academy Time/extended school day

28. Pat Cooper’s Nine Components of Coordinated Health

29. Youth Risk Behaviors Address key areas of drug/alcohol awareness: • Gr. K-5 Life Skills • Gr. 4 Keep a Clear Mind • Gr. 7-10 Project Alert Address key area of teen pregnancy: • Gr. K-5 Life Skills • Gr. 6-9 Choosing the Best • Gr. 10-12 Choosing the Best- additional modules

30. How we connect is key… • Parents/families – newsletters, web-site, Red Carpet environment, phone calls, PTA/ SIC conferences, progress and reports, Alert Now, volunteers, family nights, Parent Portal • Community- articles in UDT, Open House, business partners, student work displayed, outreach to housing authorities, Carnegie partnership • Faith-based- outreach to churches in your area • Mentors- liaison to adult mentors

31. Our Stakeholders….. must feel involved, empowered, and appreciated before any real positive change can take place.