721M

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Teacher development focuses on supporting all students to meet the Common Core Standards:

 

• School strengthens the common language and understanding of what quality teaching looks like by deepening the school community’s comprehension of Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching.

 

• The school selects competencies (components) relevant to teachers’ developmental needs, and that most support the most effective implementation of the Common Core Standards.

 

• Our school-wide focus is on competency (component) 1e: Designing Coherent Instruction with an additional emphasis on competency (component) 3b: Questioning and Discussion Techniques.

 

• Individual goals and competencies (components) of focus are determined via administrator/teacher conferences as well as through partial and whole period walkthroughs as part of the observation cycle (consisting of 4 partial and two (if tenured) or three (if not yet tenured) full period observations.

 

• School administration conducts frequent formative classroom observations consisting of partial and well as whole period observations. 

 

• Teachers are provided with formative feedback and professional development to support improved practice in identified competencies (components) and across a common framework (Danielson)

 

• Students experience Common Core Standards aligned with instruction across subjects.

 

• Teachers engage in job-embedded professional learning as they explore ways to implement pedagogical practices that focus on the following instructional shifts:

 

- In Math –fluency, application, and conceptual understanding

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- English Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science –students grounded in reading, writing, and discussion in evidence supported by the text (almost anything can constitute text).

 

Points to remember about our school’s vision for instruction:

 

• Maximize student strengths while developing their areas of weakness/deficiency

• Foster student independence

• Prepare our students to be college and career ready

 

Remember: The most direct and influential factor in increasing positive student outcomes is having a highly effective teacher in every classroom.

 

We look forward to being your learning partners, growing with, and supporting each of you throughout this school year and beyond.

 

       Ms. Maldonado                                                      Ms. Hessler
        I.A. Principal                                                   Assistant Principal