Friday, June 6, 2014

Projecting Forward to 2014-15...

I can't believe its been February since my last post!  Time sure does fly when one is building and working to pass a district budget. . . all of a sudden, we look up and its June already!  I think one thing that has thrown off timing this year has most certainly been the weather. .. seems like spring is just now springing, but with any luck we'll have an awesome summer to make up for all this cold and rain! We can all hope anyway!

I wanted to take a minute to reach out to parents and others in RSU 3 to talk a little bit about what everyone should be expecting for next year's work in our continued efforts to make our Proficiency Based Mission/Vision a reality for the children of RSU 3!  Its certainly been a busy year this year and there's more work to be done for sure!  The purpose of this blog post is to just try to keep everyone informed so that discussions and feedback can continue to inform our work moving forward!

Elementary Level (K-5) Expected Work for 2014-15:

*  Teachers will continue to grade and report student learning on a 1-4 point scale with a 4 indicating that student learning is going "above and beyond" what was taught in class to apply the knowledge to new learning experiences, a 3 indicates a student meeting proficiency, a 2 indicates a student meeting foundational knowledge, and a 1 indicating that with help, the student knows some foundational knowledge.  Based on student/parent feedback we will also be reporting out in .5 increments so instead of just 1,2,3,4, we will report out on 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4.

*  EDUCATE will continue to be our tracking software for student learning.

*  All parents will be given login information to be able to access reports of their children's learning via EDUCATE at any time.

*  EDUCATE reporting will change to include reports that indicate where students are in their progressions of learning in order to help parents better determine whether students are on pace with learning by end of benchmarking periods.  (Benchmarking will occur at the end of grade 5, grade 8, and grade 12 and is intended to insure students meet learning targets and measurement topics at a rate that will enable them to graduate within a reasonable time frame).

*  Early release workshop days will be spent providing individual training to teachers focused on creating student-centered classrooms, using a balanced instructional model, and maintaining rigor in the learning environment.

Middle Level (6-8) Expected Work for 2014-15:

*  Teachers will be grading and reporting student learning on a 1-4 point scale with a 4 indicating that student learning is going "above and beyond" what was taught in class to apply the knowledge to new learning experiences, a 3 indicates a student meeting proficiency, a 2 indicates a student meeting foundational knowledge, and a 1 indicating that with help, the student knows some foundational knowledge.  Based on student/parent feedback we will be reporting in .5 increments so instead of just 1,2,3,4, we will be reporting out with 1,1.5,2,2.5,3,3.5, 4.

*  Instead of Infinite Campus, teachers, parents and students will use EDUCATE software to track and manage student learning.  All parents will be provided login information (and opportunities for training) to be able to access reports of their children's learning via EDUCATE at any time.

*  EDUCATE reporting will include reports that indicate where students are in their progressions of learning in order to help parents better determine whether students are on pace with learning by end of benchmarking periods (grade 5, 8, and 12 as outlined above under Elementary).

*  The Middle School will be reporting out in trimesters next year instead of quarters, with progress reports in approximate 6 week intervals.

*  Early release workshop days will be spent providing individual training to teachers focused on creating student-centered classrooms, using a balanced instructional model, and maintaining rigor in the learning environment.

*  Schedules have been created at the Middle School to allow for more frequent grouping and regrouping of students across grade levels and content areas with teachers according to where they are in their learning so that teachers can maximize student instructional time.

*  Over the summer, work will be completed to revise Athletic Eligibility requirements for students at the middle school level.  This information will be shared with parent/guardians and students when school opens in the fall.

High School Level (9-12) Expected Work for 2014-15:

*  Teachers will be grading students on a 1-4 scale and translating those scores to a 100 point scale for parents during a 1 year transition year.  The translation scale will look like this:

1 - 50
1.5 - 60
2 - 65
2.5 - 70
3 - 90
3.5 - 95
4 - 100

*  New Graduation requirements will be as follows:  The classes of 2015, 2016 and 2017 will graduate according to the "old" credits based system.  Currently, each course in our program of studies has identified the Measurement Topics that are met by taking the course.  Similar to our old system, students simply need to pass the classes associated with the required credit requirements and a diploma will be awarded.  Students will be graded on a 1-4 scale, that will then be translated to a 100 point scale for the purposes of transcripts (as outlined above).

According to the new graduation policy, the class of 2018 will be held to the PBE diploma, HOWEVER RSU 3 will be seeking an "extension" from the Maine Department of Education for one year.  Once this is granted, the class of 2018 will be treated similarly to the classes listed above for the purposes of meeting graduation requirements (details will be listed in handbooks given to students/families in the fall) - it would then be the class of 2019 or the class of 2020 (depending upon which extension the Board wishes to request) that will need to meet new requirements associated with a PBE diploma.  These new requirements state that students must demonstrate proficiency at the Measurement Topic Level for each of the 8 core content areas (Math, ELA, Science & Technology, Social Studies, Health/PE, World Languages, and Visual and Performing Arts) and for each of the 5 guiding principles (Clear and effective communicator, self-directed and lifelong learner, creative and analytical problem solver, responsible and involved citizen, and integrative and informed thinker).

The specifics on how this will take place will be the content for another blog post coming later this summer, but for now, please know that it looks like we will be given a 1 or 2 year "extension" by the MDOE so that we can work to ensure student success in the transition!

*  Over the course of the summer two important committees will be meeting to help define the specifics of what we will require for graduation.  The first is our vertical team meetings.  These are content area teams representing grades K-12 will work to define specifically to what level we will be expecting ALL STUDENTS to demonstrate proficiency at which Measurement Topics.  The second is our High School Grading Committee.  This team will be comprised of a high school staff whose job it will be to create recommendations about how to deal with "traditions" such as honor roll, class rank, co and extra-curricular eligibility (within MPA guidelines), weighting of grades, etc - all things that will be very important to keep moving forward, but things that we will need to re-think in a PBE system.  The recommendations made by both of these working groups will be brought to the high school staff in the fall and then to the School Board for final decision making.  Again, I plan a separate blog post on just this information for later on this summer - so please stay tuned!

*  Student Achievement/grades will be reported out using EDUCATE software starting in the fall of 2014.  Student work will be graded on a 1-4 scale, then grades will be reported out in a 100 point scale to parents.  Parents will have login information in order to access their child's learning at anytime just like Infinite Campus currently allows.

*  Early release workshop days will be spent providing individual training to teachers focused on creating student-centered classrooms, using a balanced instructional model, and maintaining rigor in the learning environment.

At the District Level:

*  Continue to work on finalizing Strategic Plan - should be completed by fall 2014.

*  Continue to provide training to teachers across RSU 3 on Complex Reasoning Skills, Educate, Utilizing Balanced Instructional Approaches, and creating student centered classrooms and schools.

*  Finalize revisions to Graduation Policies and athletic eligibility policies.

*  Board will decide whether or not to complete work required for a 1 year extension from MDOE to meet PBE diploma requirements or a 2 year extension.

*  Decide how to move forward with "traditions" such as honor roll, class rank, etc.

*  Decide what transcripts/profiles will look like.

*  Continue to provide multiple opportunities for parent/student/community feedback and building understanding.

Well that's about it for this blog post - long enough already!  I hope this has helped to outline for all of you some of what you can expect for changes next year understanding that we're still working on many of the details.  Future blog posts will focus on laying out recent policy changes, more specific changes to high school grading and reporting practices, and ways in which we are encouraging students to think differently about navigating their own learning using pathways.  I hope you stay tuned!