South Kingstown Public Schools
District Newsletter January 2004
Kindergarten entry age changes next year! In September 2004, students must be five years of age by December
1 in order to enroll in kindergarten.
It used to be December 31. This
is year one of a four-year process that will, eventually; require all children
to be five by September 1 to begin school.
The
state legislature changed the age requirement two years ago, and, rather than
make the change all at once, South Kingstown decided to phase it in a month at
a time. The reason for phasing in the
requirement was to avoid having a very small cohort of students moving through
the system causing disruption in school grade organizations. If the change had been made at one time, the
group of students enrolling would have included only eight months of birthdays
(January through August), so would have been only two-thirds the size of other
cohorts. By phasing it in, there will
be four cohorts that have eleven months each, a much smaller change.
September 2004 5 by December 1, 2004
September 2005 5 by November 1, 2005
September 2006 5 by October 1, 2006
September 2007 5 by September 1, 2007
If you would like to save for college a 529 plan may
be the answer. It’s worth considering.
·
First, you get unsurpassed income tax breaks.
Your investment grows tax-deferred, and distributions to pay for the
beneficiary's college costs come out federally tax-free.
In
September’s newsletter the Principles of Learning (POL) were introduced. The POL consist of a clear, consistent
framework for examining, talking about, and improving our instructional
strategies throughout the district. The
POL go hand in hand with our curriculum development process as it is
insufficient to only focus on what we teach (curriculum), we must also
coordinate how we teach. In this
article Clear Expectations, one of the principles, is introduced. The district chose Clear Expectations early
in its adoption of the Principles of Learning.
The description of Clear Expectation that follows is adapted from the
Institute for Learning:
Teaching and learning
environments must communicate clear expectations about what students will
learn, how they will learn it, and what qualifies as good work. This means
setting explicit standards that all students will work to achieve, and making
those standards clear to everyone--students, teachers, principals, parents, and
the community. Only when students know what is expected and are able to assess
their progress toward a set goal can they take responsibility for their own
learning. It also enables frequent recognition and celebration of students'
accomplishments.
Educators can help students
internalize the expectations by having them develop rubrics and criteria charts
that express the standards for quality work in the students' own words. By
reflecting on exemplars and models, students can learn to judge the quality of
their own and others' work.
The social setting of the
classroom can provide occasions for modeling effective thinking strategies that
include not only the final product as well as the process itself. In other
words, not only is the final product of the learning pictured for learners, but
so is the learner's thinking aloud to get to the final product.
Students
spend the majority of their time--and experience most of their
socialization--outside the classroom. Therefore it behooves us as educators to
extend our efforts at creating intelligence by moving the audience for the
student's work beyond the classroom into the community and family.
While
enrollment in the South Kingstown Schools declined slightly in recent years,
with the largest cohort of students now in seventh grade, a surge in first
grade and kindergarten enrollments occurred this past summer. It required the district to add one and a
half teachers and may mark the beginning of a growth spurt.
The changing enrollments
will force the district to examine some of its current organizational patterns. For example, we currently have 380 seventh
graders organized into four teams of four teachers each (averaging 95
students). There are currently 251 second graders in the district, so when that
group of students reaches the middle school, it will be necessary to plan an
alternate configuration. Currently in
sixth grade each middle school has one four-member and one three-member team to
accommodate the 338 students.
The enrollment decline also
indicates that we will likely not need to use Hazard School as an overflow site
for the High School. While 2005 remains
the projected peak year for High School enrollment; the size of the peak has
reduced from a 2001 projection of 1431 to a 2003 projection of 1320. That is welcome news as the current enrollment
stretches the High school as is.
The early grade surge of this past summer was a
surprise. Last year (2002-2003) 207
kindergarten students attended South Kingstown. That was many fewer than expected (250 were projected) based on
births five years earlier. Normally,
207 kindergarten students would become 250 to 260 first graders the next year
since many parents of kindergarten age children opt for full day
solutions. However, 287 first graders
enrolled, causing some students to be moved from their neighborhood school and
a classroom added at Matunuck. There
were also 232 kindergarteners enrolled, 22 more than projected.
South
Kingstown Enrollments, 1999-2003
|
|||||
|
|
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
|
K-5 |
1988 |
1931 |
1856 |
1742 |
1713 |
|
6-8 |
1017 |
1039 |
1094 |
1125 |
1067 |
|
9-12 |
1325 |
1333 |
1337 |
1311 |
1305 |
|
Total |
4330 |
4303 |
4287 |
4178 |
4085 |
|
|
|||||
South
Kingstown Projections, 2004-2008
|
|||||
|
|
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
|
K-5 |
1662 |
1591 |
1549 |
1552 |
1524 |
|
6-8 |
1053 |
1010 |
976 |
908 |
864 |
|
9-12 |
1303 |
1320 |
1315 |
1283 |
1274 |
|
Total |
4018 |
3921 |
3840 |
3743 |
3662 |
It’s budget time again and
the School District is developing one that will be presented to the Town and
later to the voters at the Financial Town Meeting. The School Committee holds a
series of public workshops in each of which it reviews a section of the
budget. All budget workshops (except
the joint session with the Town Council) are held in the High School Library
and are scheduled from 7 to 9 in the evening.
|
1/06/04 |
Budget Workshop: Capital
Budget |
|
1/07/04 |
Budget Workshop: Special
Education |
|
1/14/04 |
Budget Workshop:
Enrollment/Staffing |
|
1/20/04 |
Budget Workshop: Materials/Supplies |
|
1/22/04 |
Town Council/School
Committee Work Session: Capital (Town Hall) |
|
1/28/04 |
Budget Workshop:
Technology/Athletics |
|
2/03/04 |
Budget Workshop:
Curriculum |
|
2/04/04 |
Budget Workshop:
Review/Wrap-up |
Visit the district’s new
website at www.skschools.net. Until recently the district housed its web
pages at RINET, which made updates, additions and improvements cumbersome. With the addition of our own web server
improvements are underway. There is
still much to be done as the school committee has prioritized the web site as an
important tool to communicate with the public.
Below are some examples of what you can see and do at the web site now –
and there will be more to follow soon.
Bringing South Kingstown
closer together educationally is a priority.
Teachers, parents, administrators, and the School Committee are all
interested in doing this. It is part of
the strategic plan for the district.
Creating a consistent curriculum, developing a common picture of
teaching and learning, and consistently assessing individual and group
achievement are examples of what it means to come together educationally.
I’d like to share with you
what has happened and what will be happening regarding each of these goals.
·
A
K-12 Language Arts curriculum was developed last year and is being implemented
this year. Teachers are meeting in grade
level teams to review the new curriculum, discuss implementation strategies,
and create a common understanding of what it requires of students. This is hard work our teachers have embraced
and undertaken.
·
Later
this year we will complete a “parent friendly” version of the curriculum that
summarizes what we expect of students in each grade.
·
This
year we’ll implement the assessment and tracking component. Using assessment tools from the Language
Arts series, we’ll collect data at each school on the progress of every
classroom and student.
·
Later
this year we will develop “benchmark papers,” examples of student work expected
at each grade level so that teachers, students, and parents can compare work to
grade level expectations.
·
Common
assessments were purchased so that the progress of students in all elementary
schools will be measured the same way.
·
The
Harcourt Brace series is the tool for implementing the curriculum in every
grade in every elementary school and Cast-A-Spell will be used in every
classroom to support phonetically based spelling instruction.
·
Similar
work is underway this year on the mathematics curriculum and a similar
implementation plan will be used next year, when it is complete.
South Kingstown is using the Principles of Learning
as a guide to its expectations for teaching and learning. The Principles of
Learning (POL) emphasize how we can expand the ability of each student,
organize our curriculum, and provide quality teaching and learning to all
students. It begins with the training
of building principals. Our principals are in that training now and are
expected to lead the implementation of the POL in their respective schools.
(See related article in this newsletter.)
The School Committee, in an
effort to improve community communication, set up a subcommittee to explore
ways of doing so. The subcommittee held
an open meeting on November 19, 2003 at the Guild and approximately 20
community members participated.
The purpose of the meeting
was to review the communication mechanisms currently used by the SK School
Committee, identify gaps, and suggest improvements. Comments are excerpted below:
·
Help
parents understand appropriate communication forums, and how best to communicate
with the SC and district.
·
Improve
communication regarding what our policies are and which are under review.
·
Link
policies to student achievement and benchmarks from other districts. Only see budget and administrative
issues.
·
Meetings
need to be shorter and more disciplined.
·
Use the
website to more effectively communicate info to the community; encourage
linking between the SC and Town website
·
Open Forum:
Consider regularly scheduled open forum(s), where community members have an
opportunity to express concerns, comments, and questions.
·
Don’t hear
enough good things. Need to better
balance good and bad.
·
District-wide
sessions on topics such as testing results, curriculum, suspension rate.
·
The time
discussing Special Education issues is disproportionate to our student
population. Need to better balance
discussions.
The No Child Left Behind Act
(NCLB) has changed how the federal government regulates and controls education.
Earlier this year we saw the new school ranking and accountability system that
holds schools accountable not only for overall student performance, but for
student subgroup performance as well.
NCLB also requires that all content area teachers be Highly Qualified by
the end of the 2005-2006 school year.
The Highly Qualified
requirement applies to all teachers who teach core subject content. This includes all elementary classroom
teachers and middle and high school teachers of English (including reading and
language arts), Mathematics, Social Studies (including civics, government,
history, and geography), Languages, Science, and Arts.
Elementary teachers can
become Highly Qualified by passing an examination that became available last
August or to have a combination of 12 credits each in English and math, and six
credits each in science and social studies.
Middle and High School teachers of a single subject must have the
equivalent of an academic major in their subject area. Current teachers can also become Highly
Qualified through the HOUSSE Plan (Highly Objective Uniform State Standard).
The HOUSSE Plan provides an
opportunity for experienced teachers to demonstrate that they are Highly
Qualified. This is documented through a
combination of teaching experience, college coursework, professional
development, service in the content area, and awards in the content area. The HOUSSE Plan is administered in schools
through the building principals.
The Highly Qualified
requirements apply to teachers funded through Title I now and will apply to all
core content teachers at the end of the 2005-2006 school year. At this time, it is not certain what the
possible consequences of not being Highly Qualified are for both teachers and
school districts.
A
component of NCLB, the Rhode Island Department of Education’s (RIDE)
Progressive Support and Intervention System (PSI), addressing school districts
in need of improvement, will be the topic of the next article in this
series. RIDE is sharing the PSI system
throughout the state now.
A SALT Team composed of
teachers and administrators from throughout Rhode Island visited Wakefield
School this fall. A SALT visit report
is designed to provide a school with a picture of how well students are
learning along with recommendations for improvement. Below are excerpts from the Wakefield report.
·
Students
learn well and are eager to meet teacher expectations.
·
Students
do not push themselves to high levels.
·
Learning
takes place during direct instruction.
·
Students’
social skills and attitudes enhance learning.
·
There
is an extraordinary level of teacher commitment and effort.
·
Students,
teachers, and parents have calm, accepting, and nurturing interactions
·
Consistency
is needed in the instructional program.
·
Expand
the use of rubrics to evaluate and improve work.
·
The
music and arts program is commended.
·
There
is strong business and parent support.
·
The
special education should be restructured and more inclusive.
·
Financial
and contractual support for professional development and program implementation
is needed.
The
report also provides Final Advice to Wakefield: Celebrate all your
accomplishments. Your students are high performing and yet you continue to be
eager to improve your teaching and their learning. Your work as a team has
given you unusual strength to move forward.
Your persistent dedication to chip away at the school and district
obstacles has created an exemplary environment for student learning.
Continue
to share your individual talents and expertise as you learn from and with each
other. Your devotion to your students, your day-to-day enthusiasm for your
work, and your desire for continued growth are your strengths. You have laid a
firm foundation for your learners. Your students are ready to take more risks
and to challenge themselves as they build on their present knowledge to
construct their future.