Dear Staff,

Clarity is essential to effective classroom instruction. As we constructed our district's instructional framework, central to the Core Ten Practices is the concept of Explicit Instruction. Explicit instruction is vital to effective teaching because it provides students with clear, structured, and direct guidance on what they need to learn. This approach ensures that learning objectives are well-defined and broken down into manageable steps, reducing confusion and cognitive overload. By modeling concepts, offering guided practice, and gradually releasing responsibility to students, explicit instruction helps learners build a solid foundation before moving on to more complex tasks. This method is particularly beneficial for struggling learners, as it minimizes ambiguity and provides multiple opportunities for reinforcement.

Additionally, explicit instruction enhances student engagement and achievement by making learning goals transparent and attainable. When teachers provide clear explanations, demonstrate problem-solving processes, and check for understanding, students are more likely to stay focused and retain information. This instructional approach also allows educators to identify misconceptions early and provide immediate corrective feedback, ensuring that students progress with confidence. Overall, explicit instruction fosters a structured learning environment that maximizes student success across diverse subjects and skill levels.

Based on this, you can likely see how effective use of Explicit Instruction leads to a natural extension to the other Core Ten Practices. Again, these practices were never meant to function in isolation, but rather in concert with one another. I hope this month's focus gives you a chance to reflect upon and refine your approach to Explicit Instruction. It involves much more than lecturing to students, but is instead a fast-paced, engaging, interactive way to communicate new content and concepts.

With gratitude,

Dr. John Nguyen

Assistant Superintendent

In this video from literacy expert Anita Archer, you'll see an overview of what constitutes explicit instruction and how it applies to all grade levels and contents.

This article from Reading Rockets provides a breakdown of 16 elements of explicit instruction that apply to every classroom.

We have been excited to work with the instructional coaches at each building and are pleased to share that we will be launching Elementary Curriculum Vision Committees for Math and English Language Arts this Spring. This committee will review common beliefs around best practices within the content areas, they will review state standards and determine alignment of Piper resources, suggest common scopes and sequences and determine common measureable, observable assessments for standards. These members will serve as an important feedback loop between building leadership teams and the district committee.

The selected committee members will meet twice during the 24-25 academic year with additional summer work (TBD) and members will be compensated at the pre-negotiated committee work rate equal to extra duty pay. One person per grade level will be selected for each content area. Selected individuals will be notified by March 25th.

Interested elementary teachers can complete the interest form linked below.

As you may be aware we are also excited to be relaunching the GVC work at the elementary level with instructional coaches to complete the critical work that has already begun. We are also leaning deeply into the MTSS process and examining the alignment of Tier 1- 3 protocols for K-5 students.

Are you a teacher who administers the KAP interims? Would you like to learn more about how the tests are developed as well as how to access your data? We are pleased to share this video (linked below) that walks you through some of the processes (Note: this video was tailored for a secondary audience; however, the information is applicable for elementary).

When requesting to attend a professional development activity, workshop, conference, etc., please complete the updated Professional Development Request Form (linked below). The form can also be found on the district website under Staff Documents. Please read through all of the information on the form, complete the required information, and provide an estimated cost for attendance. All requests need to be approved by your building principal first before receiving final approval from Dr. Nguyen. If you have any questions, please reach out to your building principal.