February Supervisor's Corner
Kingsway Regional School District ~ 2016
Celebrating Success
- Congratulations to Debbie Wesolek, Colleen Fitzpatrick, and Heather Connor who were named the February 2016 Spotlight Teachers!
- Congratulations to Colleen Malane at the middle school who has been invited to be "Educator of the Month" for ReThink. She will be featured in a webinar presentation in March. Colleen has collected over 300 data points on her students' progress!
- Congratulations to Donna Carpenter who has been asked to take part in the 2016 AP Reading for English Literature and Composition in Louisville, Kentucky.
- The Third Annual Curriculum & Program Night was, once again, a success! Thank you to all those who participated!
- College awareness can put students on a successful path to college attainment. A big thank you to Rose Pagliarini and all of the teachers for exposing students to the diversity of colleges and degrees. The placards and classroom discussions had a positive impact on the students!
- Congratulations to students of S.T.E.M. Cohort 1 who have officially committed to their colleges: Devon Grippe- Drexel- Nursing, Full Scholarship; Matt Pollock - The College of New Jersey- Honors Program; Simran Shinh- Cornell University. We will continue to highlight Cohort 1's successes as the year continues!
Important Notes
- Strategic Planning: Vision 2019: Promising Excellence-The next meeting is on Wednesday, February 3rd at 7pm in the west cafeteria. The focus for this meeting is the following: Expectations for the Future. Come be a part of the plan!
- Come support our very own Kingsway Education Foundation at the Toast of the Town event on Friday, February 5th at 7pm. Tickets are available on the website.
- February 12th is our next in-service. The C&I team and Department Chairs will present information related to Assessment Literacy in the morning.
Professional Development in Semester Two: Assessment Literacy
- MS departments will meet every 3rd Monday to work on PD connected to Assessment Literacy. The first meeting for the MS is on February 16th.
- HS departments will meet every 4th Monday to work on PD connected to Assessment Literacy. The first meeting for the HS is on February 22nd.
- More information will be communicated soon about the Assessment Literacy PD Mondays after we gather feedback from teachers at the February 12th in-service.
PLT Focus for February
- SGOs: Continue to use a variety of formative & summative assessments to track how students are progressing on grade-level standards. Reflect on your individual SGOs throughout this process, make instructional adjustments, and evaluate student performance to determine your students' growth.
- Preparing for the next CSA: Continue to examine your CSAs in relation to where your students are currently performing and where you expect them to perform at the next CSA. (see Item Analysis section from the December Supervisor's Corner).
- Curricular revisions: As you progress through the year and find units of instruction in need of improvement, please continue to make any needed revisions (in red) to curriculum documents that are located in Callisto.
- Special Education (only): Continue to research ways to track accommodations and modifications. Begin to shift the conversation to modifications: What are appropriate/fitting curricular modifications? How do we know when they are necessary, and what do those modifications looks like?
Reminder: Each PLT will record minutes for the meeting (set up in Google). You may record and organize the minutes however your PLT would like. The following key information should be evident in the meeting minutes: date, attendance, goal(s) for the PLT meetings, progress toward the goal, and the direction for the next meeting.
Supporting G.R.E.A.T. Instruction - What exactly IS monitoring?
In our continued effort to support G.R.E.A.T. Instruction, monitoring student learning continues to be a discussion point in walkthroughs, observations, and instructional conversations. So what is monitoring?
Monitoring is activities pursued by teachers to keep track of student learning for purposes of making instructional decisions and providing feedback to students on their progress.
In reflecting on your teaching practice, ask yourself: When monitoring, do I watch or do I track? Watching entails keeping students on task and behaviors under control. Tracking, however, refers to being intentional about how you scan your classroom. Decide specifically what you are looking for and remain disciplined about it in the face of distractions.
Keep the Idea of Tracking Simple and Effective
Here is the formula to implement in your classroom:
Track for Specific Errors
- What aren't the students getting?
- Who is not getting it?
- What will I do to address this? Plan for and rectify those mistakes (whole group/small group/one-on-one conferencing).
Track for Success Points
- Decide on what determines excellence from completion (write them down).
- Observe/track whether students are doing those things that measure excellence.
Below is an Awesome Article that clarifies monitoring and discusses how to monitor or track student learning in your classroom. Click on the link below to read the article.
http://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/monitoring-student-learning.pdf
The SAT Gets a Facelift!
The SATs have been redesigned and starting in March 2016, a “new” revised SAT will replace the current SAT. The revised SAT includes a Reading Test, Writing and Language Test, and a Mathematics Test. The SAT has an optional essay component, which some colleges might require. SAT questions focus on skills that matter most for college readiness and success.
The SAT is a standardized test that assesses the critical reading, mathematics, and writing skills that students need to be successful in college. Each of the two sections that comprise the SAT has a possible score of 800 points. The SAT test results represent one factor considered by many colleges and universities in making admissions decisions.
For more information on the SAT, please visit: https://collegereadiness.collegeboard.org/sat
Who will take the “new” SAT?
Seniors in the 2015-2016 school year will most probably take the test before March 2016, which means they will take the current SAT. Current Juniors and Sophomores (in school year 2015-2016) will probably take the test in March 2016 or later, which means they will take the “new” SAT.
Please visit our website for more information about the new SAT: go to Academics, Assessments, and SAT.
Professional Development: February PLWs
The PLW workbook is updated with all of the February workshops!
February Workshops
- February 4, 2016: Google Classroom Museum
- February 10, 2016: Dyslexia Training
- February 11, 2016: Intermediate Excel
- February 16, 2016: Revitalizing Research II: Getting from Web Search to Research
- February 17, 2016: Monitoring Techniques: Champion Moves to Track Student Learning
- February 24, 2016: Tips and Strategies for Working with ELL Students
- February 25, 2016: Demystifying PARCC Score Reports
- February 29, 2016: Flexible Grouping for the Differentiated Classroom
Content-Specific Presenters Needed! If you have an idea for a PLW, please contact Stefanie Fox-Manno. She would love to learn more about your ideas for a workshop. As a presenter, you receive 3 professional development hours and get paid for the hour that you present.
Dragon Hours
Please remember to submit reflection forms for Dragon Hours within five days of a workshop. All information related to Dragon Hours, can be found on our webpage by going to For Staff - Professional Development - and Dragon Hours.
SGOs 2.1: On the Road to Ownership
Continuously revisit your SGO goals, as your instruction and students' progress through the school year should involve using data gained from your formative and summative assessments. Please remember to save sample student evidences for discussion in the spring. Information and support on Student Growth Objectives (SGOs) can be found on our website under For Staff - Evaluations - and SGO Information
Kingsway SGO Timeline
- February 15, 2015: SGO Revision Deadline
- March 25, 2015: SGO Process Complete (begin preparation for summative meetings)
Semester Recommendations for Teachers
We recognize that many teachers already implement some of the practices below and encourage you to continue to maintain a consistent open-line of communication with students, parents/guardians, guidance counselors, case managers, administrators, etc. in an effort to fully support student progress throughout the school year.
- Revisit Routines: Establishing routines, procedures, and expectations at the very start of the school year for things such as homework, missing work, absences, retakes, corrections, etc. are critical. For example, when a student is absent from class, place missed notes and assignments and or assessment notifications in a folder secured to a bulletin board. When students return to class, have him or her access the folder. If the student missed an assessment, leave a note for the student to come see you; follow up with that student. Revisit these throughout the year, especially as we enter a new semester. Post these procedures on your website for both students and parents to access and review at back to school night.
- Grade Book & Communication. Every two weeks, ensure your grade book is updated with all current assignments. If you notice any concern that a student may be at risk for receiving a failing grade, inform both the student and parent (email or phone). Provide specific information as to why the grade may be low (i.e. missing work, attendance, low assessment grades, etc.) as well as what options there are for the student to get themselves back on track (i.e. SMART assistance, after school help, retest, AAP, etc.). Use multiple means for communicating with parents. For example, if you are emailing a parent and not receiving a response, contact that parent via phone. It is beneficial to also to keep the student’s guidance counselor in the loop along the way.
- Monthly Grade Book Printouts. Implement a procedure in which monthly grade book printouts through Power Teacher are provided to students. A suggestion may be to ask those students who are in danger of failing to get the printouts signed by a parent/guardian. If it is not returned the next day, contact the parent/guardian via email/phone.
- Early, frequent, and decisive intervention. Rather than waiting for a student’s failure in a course to precipitate a parent meeting, contact the student’s guidance counselor to set up a meeting to discuss what issues are persisting, what interventions are available, and how to best support the student for a successful school year.
- Plan for Assessment. Map out your grading for the semester to ensure you will have the proper amount of assignments/assessments in each of the categories by mid-semester and end of the semester. Do not administer large assessments toward the end of the semester that may catch the student/parent off guard. If there is a concern that a student may fail at the semester, the expectation is that consistent communication has occurred between and among teacher/student/parent.
2016 PARCC Testing Schedule (regular administration)
Kingsway Regional Middle School
- Testing will last between 80 and 110 minutes each day. The ELA portion is comprised of 3 units and the mathematics portion is comprised of 3 units.
- ELA (7, 8) and Mathematics (7, 8, Algebra I): April 19th – May 10th
Kingsway Regional High School
- Testing will last between 90 and 110 minutes each day. The ELA portion is comprised of 3 units and the mathematics portion is comprised of 3 units.
- ELA (9, 10, 11) and Mathematics (Algebra I, Geometry, Algebra II): April 12th – April 22nd
*PLEASE NOTE: All make-up testing will occur after the regular administration has concluded.