Annual ISN Fall Meeting
The Annual ISN Fall Meeting was held on November 29-30. Continuing from last week, the ISN newsletter will be reviewing the main points of breakout sessions.
How Secondary Structure and Strategy Impacts Student Learning
Drakes Creek Middle School, located in the Warren County school district, shared the strategies in scheduling that help students improve in reading and mathematics during a breakout session at the Annual Fall ISN Meeting.
Drakes Creek Middle has 838 students. Twenty percent of those students are on free/reduced lunch, seven percent have disabilities, and fifteen percent are minorities. The school’s student population has grown in excess of 20 percent over the past six years (2001-2007).
The school uses exploratory classes to intervene with students who struggle. During this time, students are placed in groups that address a particular need. Some students might receive more help in mathematics, while others receive help in reading. The GRADE assessment is administered to all 7th graders, using Corrective Reading as an intervention. In mathematics, the school uses the mathematics exploratory class to address interventions for students. Enrichment also is provided for those students who have already mastered the standards.
To support the intensive work being done with students, teachers at Drakes Creek Middle have been trained in The Thoughtful Classroom, a professional development program from Harvey Silver, Richard Strong and Associates. The staff has developed a common language and system of accountability focused around teaching and learning. Through the work with Thoughtful Classroom, the teachers developed a repertoire of effective strategies and assessment techniques.
Ensuring High-Quality Instruction in Every Classroom, Every Day for Every Student
How do we as instructional leaders work in new ways to improve student learning and lead the efforts to ensure high quality instruction in every classroom, every day for every student? This is a key question that four school districts -- Boone, Daviess, Jefferson and Kenton counties -- and the Department of Education are studying together in a multi-year professional learning community. Although these districts recognized that there are pockets of excellence within their boundaries, as in other districts across Kentucky, they were not seeing high-quality instruction in every classroom, every day for every student in spite of extensive professional development and other supports for schools, principals and teachers.
In a collaborative professional learning community, a leadership team from each of the districts began an extensive study of how to focus leadership on high-quality teaching and learning. Studying key research and case studies from education, business and government and engaging in professional conversations within their districts and across districts, these districts are beginning to form a theory of action and targeted strategies to improve instructional practices around the instructional core – teacher, student and content.
Common across the districts is the need to have a shared vision, vocabulary and understanding of what high-quality instruction and student learning looks like. Although each district may have a different approach to how they will come to a common understanding, all districts are beginning to develop this common vocabulary and consistency of understanding. Each district is engaging many stakeholders in their discussions about high-quality instruction and is beginning to develop the key descriptions or indicators that communicate their vision based on this input and the research.
For more information, contact Boone, Daviess, Jefferson and Kenton Counties.
Last Newsletter for 2007
This is the last ISN newsletter for 2007. The next ISN newsletter will be January 9, 2008. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Quotable Quotes
“Nobody can be taught faster than he can learn.”
Samuel Johnson, British writer