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1 H A R T L A N D C O N S O L I D A T E D S C H O O L S July/August 2014 Chuck Hughes Assistant Superintendent Dotty Selix Assistant Director Renee Braden Administrative Assistant AUGUST 28, 2014 DISTRICT PD SCHEDULE Setting Up The Classroom For Student Success (Bottom 30% PDCT) 8:00 to 9:45 AM K-6 in HS Auditorium, Dotty Selix 10:15 to 12:00 PM 7-12 in HS Auditorium, Dotty Selix I M P O R T A N T D A T E S August 26: New teachers report August 27: Staff HS 8:00 am Staff meetings in buildings 1:00-3:00 pm August 28: Professional development 8:00-12:00pm Teacher option 1:00-3:00pm Common Core: What does it have to do with what I teach? (Common Core PDCT) Michigan Arts Education and Instruction Project (Differentiated PD PDCT) 8:00 to 9:45 AM 7-12 in MS Auditorium, Chuck Hughes 10:15 to 12:00 PM K-6 in MS Auditorium, Chuck Hughes 8:00 to 12:00 PM in MS Media Center, Cecilia Gollan MAEIA PE, Art, Media, Music, and Technology Teachers PDCT = Pilot District Curriculum Team Recommendation Congratulations New Teacher Hires! The Curriculum Department would like to welcome our five new teachers. Each one of these dynamic individuals has worked with us for the past year and have been recognized as shining stars. Thank you for choosing to work with us as we educate our wonderful students. Mrs. Rachel Bulszewicz will be teaching Spanish at Hartland High School. Mr. Paul Butzier will be teaching math at Hartland High School. Mrs. Lori Clay will be teaching 1st grade at Creekside Elementary. Mrs. Kara Gutteridge will be teaching 6th grade at Farms Intermediate School. Mrs. Beth Maurin will be teaching kindergarten at Lakes Elementary.

2 Page 2 There were a number of core area curriculum adjustments made throughout the school year based on staff input and the need to ensure that our current curriculum documents and assessments are well aligned. Staff should take note of these changes and ensure that instruction is delivered accordingly. Adjustments for the school year are as follows: ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS Updated rubrics for on-demand assessments and the creation of new units for grades Dotty Selix will be sharing a one-page (grade level specific) document with all staff prior to returning in the fall. In the meantime, all changes are on the Shared Drive. SCIENCE Middle School Science assessments in grades 7 and 8 were adjusted to better reflect the standards being covered. High School Chemistry assessments went online in and are to be given to all students enrolled in a chemistry course other than AP Chemistry. SOCIAL STUDIES High School Government, Economics and 1 st Semester American History assessments have been modified to address deeper learning. MATH Many of our Kindergarten through Algebra II assessments have been adjusted over the past year and will be piloted with the Common Core Math Project teachers, and some teaching partners, at each building. This is a pilot year, meaning that the assessments and Common Core Math Curriculum have not yet been adopted by the Board of Education; however, the Board of Education is aware that we are doing this work to be prepared for full implementation in the fall of 2015.

3 Page 3 The State Score Cards show growth in all buildings, either in the percentage of points earned toward meeting benchmark targets, or in the actual color score. Congratulations teachers, support staff, and administrators. Your hard work to address individual student needs shines through. School Creekside Elementary 81.25% Yellow 75% Lime Green Lakes Elementary 68.75% Yellow 76.32% Yellow Round Elementary 87.50% Yellow 87.50% Lime Green Village Elementary 62.50% Yellow 75% Lime Green Farms Intermediate 69.57% Yellow 76.09% Yellow Middle School 78.26% Yellow 79.55% Yellow High School 72.41% Yellow 80% Yellow LEGACY Alt. Ed % Red 72.22% Red Virtual Academy NA 100% Green Color Key: Green = Earned at least 85% of possible points Lime Green = Earned between 70%but less than 85% of possible points Yellow = Earned between 60% and less than 70% of possible points Orange = Earned at least 50% but less than 60% of possible points Red = Earned less than 50% of possible points Note: If a school has red cells for any subpopulation except the bottom 30%, the color score is adjusted downward from what it should be. In contrast to land, which is typically improved through the act of possession, knowledge is improved through the act of sharing. William Ury, Getting To Peace: Transforming Conflict At Home, At Work, And In The World. Scott VanEpps models confidence! This is an important character trait shared with Reaching Higher students.

4 Page 4 In an effort to better understand the needs of our fourth graders as they prepare to move forward, we have developed a system for assessment that may provide clearer data on student comprehension. Our current data analysis suggests that student comprehension skills are a better predictor of success on standardized assessments than reading level scores. To help with our work in preparing all students to be successful readers, we have created the following DRA/SRI process for September 2-30, 2014: October 6th, 2014: January 5-16, 2015: February 16, 2015: May 1-15, 2015: All 4th Graders will be given the SRI. The Curriculum Department will host a 1/2 day (PM) 4th grade meeting to review June DRA and fall SRI scores for our students. Teachers are expected to bring their students June 2014 DRA and September 2014 SRI data with them to the meeting. All 4th graders will be given the SRI again. By February 16, 2015, any student scoring less than a 785 SRI score is to be given the DRA. The Curriculum Department will host a 1/2 Day (AM) 4th grade meeting to review winter DRA and SRI data and to discuss additional assessments that can be used to help teachers match tasks and instruction for students. This falls in line with the work of our Instructional Consultation Teams. All 4th graders will be given the SRI. Prior to the last day of school, all students scoring below an 830 SRI score will be given the DRA SRI WINDOW FALL: 9/2/14 11/14/14 4 th grade (must be done by Sept. 30 th ), FIS & MS required WINTER: 12/1/14 2/6/15 Elementary (4 th grade must be done Jan. 6 th -16 th ), FIS & MS required SPRING: 3/2/15 5/15/15 4 th grade (must be done May 1 st -15 th ) and HS required

5 Page 5 by Chuck Hughes Last year, Ben Mainka gave me a book written by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey entitled The Purposeful Classroom (ASCD, 2011). I understand that the high school staff used this book as a resource for discussing effective lesson design as they were learning how to better utilize the Instructional Rounds (IR) process. The IR process has manifested itself into one of Hartland Consolidated Schools School Improvement Strategies. Our elementary schools call this process lab classroom. Dotty Selix, Assistant Director of Curriculum and Instruction, and I will continue to work with our administrators and staff to customize the process for our district. An emphasis on the pre and post observation activities, and how they address effective practice, will be essential. The authors do a wonderful job explaining that when students and teachers clearly understand the why behind learning or purpose, they are motivated to learn. This equates to learning more! This process directly correlates to the work we will be doing around formative assessment throughout the year with another district improvement strategy called Classroom Assessment for Student Learning or CASL. Fisher and Frey go on to explain the instructional framework model that helps teachers ensure they design focus lessons that incorporate guided instruction, collaborative learning, and independent learning, which are all influenced by the ability to clearly establish and articulate the why behind learning. This book is filled with many examples of effective teaching strategies and ties formative assessment practices into the art of unpacking standards (CASL work). Prior knowledge and robust vocabulary development are emphasized and support much of the work our teachers have been engaged in around choice books and informational text research. The Purposeful Classroom provides a clear tie to the work we are doing around the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and deeper learning. The funny thing is, problem-based learning; sophisticated problem solving, and student led learning, are not new to public education. You may recall that for years schools had to have an affective goal in their school improvement plans. This goal invariably centered on critical thinking and problem solving. Ultimately, this is what the CCSS are asking us to incorporate across the curriculum.

6 Page 6 New 2014 Visual Arts Standards for Schools Released The newest standards for Visual Arts Education have been released. The key components in the standards are: 1. Knowledge and Skills 2. Philosophical Foundations 3. Lifelong Goals 4. Glossary 5. National and Voluntary The new standards recognize the technological/virtual world as another format for the visual arts curriculum. These standards contain new performance standards, which are clustered grade by grade compared to the old standards that were clustered by grade bands pre-k through high school. The new standards address four key performance indicators: 1. Creating 2. Presenting and Producing 3. Responding 4. Connecting There is an expectation that these performance indicators are integrated together and not stand alone expectations. Another difference between the 1994 and 2014 standards is that the new standards are based on anchor standards that spiral back from grade to grade. The intent is that the standards build on prior learning, helping to guide students as they move from grade to grade. This is also referred to as "enduring standards" necessary for life experiences. Along with essential questions, the standards attempt to answer the question of "why" art education. Grades 2, 5, 8, and high school cornerstone assessments are provided to help establish benchmarks to illustrate the importance of the arts. These can be modified based on situational needs. Please visit the following link to learn more about these new standards.

7 Page 7 Denise Terry and Margaret Bandkau work with students to help maintain their math skills during the summer months. by Dotty Selix As you know, reading is a central focus for our district. We are committed to increasing the number of students who become lifelong readers while improving proficiency. In order to ensure that our students enjoy reading and find valuable information in books, we must guarantee that all students have access to high interest, self-selected books that will support their growth as a reader. The research indicates that student choice and high volume reading lead to the development of readers who continue to read long after they leave school. In a recent Education Leadership article, Richard Allington states, The research base on student-selected reading is robust and conclusive: Students read more, understand more, and are more likely to continue reading when they have the opportunity to choose what they read. In a 2004 meta-analysis, Guthrie and Humenick found that the two most powerful instructional design factors for improving reading motivation and comprehension were (1) student access to many books and (2) personal choice of what to read. We have been developing classroom libraries, in addition to school libraries, so that students have easy and continuous access to books. We have worked hard to keep libraries current with titles that are intriguing and challenging for many different interests and levels of learners. District leaders, building principals (K-12), PTOs, teachers, and students have worked hard to increase the number of quality books in every classroom. Last year, the Farms Intermediate community made reading 20 minutes a day (in and out of school) a School Improvement Strategy. Teachers provided daily instruction and a minimum of 20 minutes for students to read independently in self-selected books. During silent reading, teachers coached individual students or small groups to ensure all students were making progress, enjoying their books, and understanding their reading. Teachers worked hard to support each student reading books in one year. When the year ended, the fifth and sixth graders at Farms Intermediate read 20,217 books. More than 20 books per student! I hope this story inspires a commitment to daily, self-selected, high interest reading for all students. According to Allington, "Reading volume predicts reading growth in struggling and proficient readers. It sounds simple, but it isn't. Daily activities, assessments, and worksheets often crowd out independent reading time. Please join together to ensure time for students to read every day. It will require long-term unwavering time, effort and commitment to make it happen. May the force be with you!