Superintendent s Weekly Updates (17) January 9, 2017 January 13, 2017

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1 Superintendent s Weekly Updates (17) SEPTEMBER 2016 OCTOBER 2016 NOVEMBER 2016 DECEMBER 2016 JANUARY 2017 FEBRUARY MARCH 2017 APRIL 2017 MAY 2017 JUNE 2017 JULY 2017 AUGUST IMPORTANT KEY DATES: PARCC TESTING - ALL WEEK 1/9-1/13 TEACHER ROUNDTABLE TCHS-WEST CAMPUS (3:30 4:30 PM) 1/11/2017 PRINCIPALS /VICE PRINCIPALS MEETING Ellis Auditorium 1/12/2017 REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BIRTHDAY SCHOOL CLOSED 1/16/2017 HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS SCHOOL ESSAY CONTEST DEADLINE 1/20/2017 BOARD MEETING ELLIS AUDITORIUM (5:30 PM) 1/23/2017 NOMINATIONS FOR RISING SENIORS - STUDENT REPRESENTATION ON BOARD DUE IN OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT Greetings, OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT As I officially begin my time working with you, I thank you for the warm welcome I have received thus far. I have met many of you and look forward to speaking with those I have not yet had the pleasure to meet. As I join this journey with you, although there is much work to be done, I encourage you find time to reflect on your practices and accomplishments thus far. Be proud of your successes, no matter how small they may appear to be, then let s build on them. I am very excited to be a part of your support system and work collaboratively to continue making a positive impact on children as a unified group of leaders. As for me, I have set the following objectives to accomplish during the coming weeks in January: 1) Identify and assess systems in place; revise as needed 2) Prioritize areas of concern, discuss action steps, assess progress, communicate 3) Clearly identify and share timelines, assess progress, communicate results In closing, I share with you some goals below that I would like our efforts to revolve around as we move 1./31/2017

2 this district forward. These will also drive the conversations we have with each other as part of our planning process for the remainder of this school year and ) Strengthen the core of our organization 2) Have our decisions and actions be driven by what is in the best interest of children 3) Assess systems in place within our respective area(s) of responsibilities; design and execute action steps to become more efficient and effective. 4) Communicate/ celebrate the high quality accomplishments happening in our departments, schools and district daily by our students and staff. 5) Do not work in isolation: collaborate, communicate, support. It is also critical that we respect each other's work and time. Enjoy your well-deserved time with your loved ones and friends this weekend. See you soon. Nelson Princeton University Public Health High School Essay Contest deadline is fast approaching. Please see attached flyer. Nominations and recommendations for student representation on the Board of Education will be accepted on or before January 31, Please see attached flyer. Dr. Josue B. Falaise Interim Chief Academic Officer CAO UPDATES Tuesday - Literacy Leader Meeting 1/10/17 9:00-3:00 Contact: Leslie Septor Happy New Year Middle and High School Principals! In support of The John F. Kennedy Any Given Child district wide initiative, there will be an Arts Integration Professional Development session for all district wide grades 6 12 teachers on Friday, February 3, 2017 from 1:00pm - 3:00pm in the Ellis Auditorium. This professional development session will include presenters from the John F. Kennedy Arts Integration initiative. Please identify five teachers to participate and have them register in My Learning Plan starting January 5, We are requesting principals to select one teacher from each of the content areas; Languages Arts Visual Arts

3 Mathematics Science Social Studies This is a very important professional development opportunity that will begin the integration of the arts into all other content areas. So please help with quickly identifying the five teachers from your respective schools. Thank you so much in advance! Dr. Josue Falaise, Interim Chief Academic Officer DEPARTMENT UPDATES: Office of Language Arts - Contact: Leslie Septor, Supervisor Updates from Literacy Leader Meetings The second testing window for Winter DRA Grades 1-5 begins January 3, 2017 and ends on February 15, Kindergarten will start their first session at that time. Kindergarten and Grade 1 will continue to follow the assessment calendar for the Word Analysis Tasks. Benchmarks for unit 2, Grades 2-8 will begin the week of January 30- Feb 3, Word analysis tasks are being added to edconnect and will be available to teachers for reporting at the close of the second marking period assessment window. Curriculum Updates - Unpacking and mapping of Elementary Unit 3 Curriculum will begin the second week of January, Literacy Leaders will report to central services on January from 8:45-3:15 to prepare unit 3. Literacy Expo The 3 rd Annual Literacy Expo is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, May 10, 2017 for grades 2-8. Grade 2 will present a culminating activity from Magic Tree House Series (more details to follow). Office STEM - Contact: Michael Tofte, Supervisor The District STEM Fair for grades 3-8 will be held on February 7, 2017 from 5-8 P.M. in the King Elementary School Cafeteria. Each school should enter a maximum of one project per grade. Projects will be judged according to Mercer County rules and the District winners will move on to the Mercer County Science and Engineering Fair in March. Office of Instructional Technology, Assessment & Research - Contact: John Dunston, Supervisor The first iready diagnostic testing window has been extended until Friday, January 13, The iready post-testing window will open in May, as per the instructional calendar. Once again, the following grade levels and subjects will be assessed in iready: 1-9 Mathematics 6-9 ELA (no K-5 testing for ELA)

4 Please thank our District Math Leaders and our Middle School Literacy Leaders for completing the initial training for iready s Standards Mastery common core assessment program. As a result, our entire district is allowed to access Standards Mastery at no additional cost to the district. iready trainers would like to directly acquaint our building administrators with Standards Mastery in a future meeting. Please be advised that Standards Mastery differs from the iready Instructional upgrade, which only some schools were board approved to purchase on October 24 th, Each school which was board-approved to purchase iready s instructional upgrade has received communications from iready to schedule training. Office of Grants and Funded Programs - Contact: Everene Downing, Director Make Evaluation Count-Excerpt from Guskey s Critical Levels of Evaluation As schools work with tools to measure impact of teaching and learning, critical and constructive feedback is needed to refine our work. When evaluating the efficacy of our SIP and SWP strategies addressing academic and behavior intervention, professional learning, and parent involvement, it is helpful to refer to Guskey s work. Level 1: Participants reactions Level 2: Participants learning Level 3: Organization support and change Level 4: Student learning outcomes When our work is focused, constant, and intentional, we measure the gap between our intentions in designing and delivering and the impact on student learning and teacher or parent practice. These measures provide challenges for our consideration to make adjustments to our approach. Understanding can be deepened through discussions, academic readings, prototyping and testing new approaches to delivering and testing fidelity and impact. TALENT ACQUISITION & DEVELOPMENT Interviews and Job Offers Please be reminded that if you are participating in an interview process for any position in the district, the information shared during those interviews is confidential and is not to be shared. No contact should be made between an interviewer and a candidate following the conclusion of the interview. In addition, all job offers are presented by the staff in Talent Acquisition and Development and at no time should any interviewer inform or notify a potential candidate about the results of the interview or a potential job offer. Substitute Services Please be reminded that when substitute teachers are assigned to your school (for daily or long-term coverage), they are assigned to a specific position. Although a position may be called Floater Teacher, this position is assigned for a specific coverage. If you click on the confirmation code, under the

5 administrator notes, there will be information concerning the assignment (i.e. Bilingual Grade 2 Vacancy, LOA, etc.). Please be advised that these subs must be assigned to the classroom for which they were assigned. If you have a request to make a change, please contact us and we will work with S4T to complete the reassignment, if the certifications permit us to do so. Please do not make any reassignments prior to discussing the issues with TAD. Please be reminded that all issues concerning substitute services for teachers, secretaries and PreK and K paraprofessionals are to be addressed through the Talent Acquisition and Development department. All issues concerning Special Education paraprofessionals and 1:1s are to be addressed through Special Services. School staff should not be contacting Source4Teachers directly. Professional Development for Secretaries Please be reminded that during the professional development series for secretaries in June, every secretary was provided with a binder that was identified as the Secretary s Desk Reference. Secretaries were told to keep it on their desks as an easy reference resource. In the binder are directions concerning student registration and PowerSchool, staff absences, Source 4 Teachers, Edumet reports, purchasing, accounting, student activities, payroll, transportation, food service and board policies and regulations. Please encourage your secretaries to use this reference binder as they become familiar with new tasks and responsibilities. In Service Days (I days) Please be reminded that all requests for I days must be submitted two weeks in advance of the requested date. The form must be sent to Lissa Johnson (ljohnson) and the absence must be entered into SAMS by the building administrator. Please be advised that late requests may not be approved. Please send only one copy of the form. Board Business Days Please be reminded that requests for Board Business Days are to be submitted to Lissa Johnson (ljohnson) by the principal. Source4Teachers is not permitted to enter these days for schools. It is requested that principals forward a monthly calendar of activities so substitutes may be requested in advance. In October, 2016: SPECIAL SERVICES 4402 students were working in below grade level material, 870 were working on grade level material, 24 students were working above grade level material. As of December 8, 2016: 4042 students were working in below grade level material, 1318 were working on grade level material, 67 students were working above grade level material. This progress was made with Teacher Convention, Thanksgiving and Benchmark Testing. Imagine the growth we could make with 100% participation and uninterrupted instruction.

6 **Please monitor usage of Intervention resources to ensure implementation with fidelity. The Special Services Department previously requested that all principals conduct training on the IR&S process. Please forward evidence of the training such as, staff sign in sheets, agendas, handouts, etc.) to Andrea D. Harris, Instructional Intervention Teacher at Principals, please be reminded that PLAAFPs (Present Level of Academic Achievement and Functional Performance) are to be completed by the Special Education Teacher. Learning Ally- Learning Ally is an audiobook reader designed for our students receiving special education services and struggling regular education students. All schools in the district have access to this intervention tool. Schools must add their eligible students to the account if they are not already in the system. Principals, please select a teacher to serve a certifier. This individual will be able to certify any student added to the account in the school he or she is assigned. When paraprofessionals and one-to-one paraprofessionals are assigned to your schools, please do not move them to other assignments. Your support in this matter is greatly appreciated. BUSINESS OFFICE Accounts Payable- It is extremely important that all items received be checked in immediately. Please check all orders carefully. After completion, send all signed packing slips to the Accounts Payable Department for processing. Budgets Your Budget Guidance for FY was delivered to you on or about December 16 th. Please take time to review all information included in the guidance. Your excel spreadsheet was ed to you also. Please see attached memorandum regarding the purchasing freeze. Buildings & Grounds Please ensure that work orders are being completed for all maintenance repairs. Payroll Please ensure that all timesheets are submitted to the Payroll Department in accordance with the payroll timesheet schedule. See the attachments: Nominations Student Representation on Board Princeton Public Health Review High School Essay Contest Purchasing Freeze memorandum RESOURCES