Board Report 05-20-09

Curriculum

Year 1 folks have completed the activities and requirements for the year and I am now working on plans to move the group to the Year 2 phase. We have accellerated the K - 2 group and will be looking to purchase materials to augment literacy for the fall, rather than waiting until the 10-11 school year. This will get some much needed supports in the hands of our teachers sooner, as well as take a little strain off the budget as we look at text/material adoptions for 10-11. The focus of the Iowa Core has allowed for powerful discussions.

Year 2 folks are selecting materials for adoption at this point, with the orders needing to be submitted before they leave on Friday. FCS/Health, Industrial Tech, Business Ed, Spanish, and Information Tech are due on our schedule and have worked with me setting up their selections.

Assessment

The standardized testing season is now officially complete. We learn a little more each time we administer MAP and I think the things we learn are showing in performance at the different grade levels, as is evidenced in Jason's report. What great gains many of our students have made throughout the year! What is nice about this is as one of our measures of success it reflects the teachers impressions of their classrooms and what they have observed throughout the year as students have worked on different skill areas. As we experience this success with increasing numbers it will be the charge of the different leadership teams in the buildings to readjust goals and targets to continue to challenge our students.

Due to user error (mine:)) we have not been able to take a look at the ITBS/ITED data this spring, but will do so this fall as part of our back to school professional development. I have sent the data to Marian Godwin to do her yearly work and update of our progress, and hope to have information to share with the board by the June meeting.