Sunday, March 14, 2010

Entering the last 3rd of the Year

Curriculum

There is much to be done over the next 3+ months. Year 1 teachers will continue their review of Curriculum - Standards and Benchmarks. As we review these items we are trying to make sure that we are teaching all identified items within the Iowa Core Curriculum. The reality is that we probably aren't but, we can't make any improvements until we have an assessment of our current reality. Year 2 folks are now ready to begin evaluating curriculum supports. What are curriculum supports, you ask? Well, they are anything that will help teachers as they prepare lessons. Things like textbooks, primary source documents, software programs, or other items for instruction. You may hear many "old school" teachers stating it's time to purchase some new curriculum. However, we need to develop/review our standards and benchmarks and make sure we all agree on them, before we decide on a text, or other supports.

Assessment

ITBS and ITED testing finished up in nice timing, and all results have been send back for scoring, and I hope to have results back very soon. The Iowa Testing Systems is charged with getting the results back in a timely manner, so I anticipate our results will be back any time now. Once they return I will do much of the data work myself, sharing information with teachers and principals alike. I'll also share information with the school board about our results in early April. The ITBS/ITED information along with our second MAP administration in April will help us as we plan district, building, classroom, and student goals for the 10-11 school year.