This Message Center is organized and operated by David Vitale Instructional Updates: 

The committee reviewed the purchase of benchmark assessment kits in elementary reading and the deployment plan and training schedule for those kits.  These purchases are supported by American Recovery and Reinvestment Funds as well as other grant dollars.  The overall goal is to monitor the progress of every student’s development in reading.  This will also partially fulfill the district’s responsibility to comply with Response to Intervention, which was described as a federal plan from special education law to reduce the number of students who are placed in special programming without appropriate interventions in place to meet instructional needs within the regular education program of studies.   

The committee also reviewed the implementation of Everyday Math.  Nearly 50 teachers completed a 4 day workshop in 2007 that focused on math strategies  The workshop generated a lot of discussion in each of the  elementary schools about current and future mathematics instruction in the district.  Part of this discussion is centered on Everyday Mathematics as a curriculum that promotes problem-solving, critical thinking, and communication skills in students while developing important foundational skills. 

New National Standards:

New content area standards are being developed at the national level to be used with state and local curricula within the next few years.  The Common Core Standards Initiative is research and evidence-based and will be aligned with college and work expectations, include rigorous content and skills, and be internationally benchmarked. States will adopt the Common Core State Standards Initiative through a process that respects state and local control. The first standards being addressed are English-language arts and mathematics in grades K-12.

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posted September 15, 2009 « back to Message Center home

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