Collingswood Public Schools Board and Superintendent Goals June 2018
Curriculum Committee Throughout the 2017-2018 school year, elementary classroom teachers will participate in the CAR (Connected Action Roadmap) process to unpack the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Science, design units, and develop hands-on activities aligned with the Next Generation Science Standards for each unit. The curriculum development process will culminate in the summer of 2018 with the formal development and approval of science curriculum aligned with the NJSLS and NGSS.
Personnel Committee By the close of the 2017-2018 school year, all Collingswood 2-12 math and English language arts teachers will learn and use the Illuminate DnA/FASTBridge student assessment and data management system to design standards-based assessments that will help to determine standards-mastery against the New Jersey Student Learning Standards.
Finance, Buildings and Grounds Committee 1. Expand Closed Circuit Television (CCTV - security camera) upgrades to each of the elementary schools to include exteriors and all sensitive areas of buildings. 2. Continue the conversion to LED lighting throughout the district (multi-year plan)
Superintendent Goal: Qualitative The ad-hoc committee has charged the Superintendent with designing and developing a new district web site that provides community members with important district information in a streamlined and easy-to-navigate format, with both desktop and mobile versions. A customized Collingswood app will also be available to the community.
Superintendent Goal: Qualitative Based on the most recent available data, the Superintendent will develop and present to the Collingswood and Oaklyn Boards of Education a comprehensive plan outlining all known costs for expanding the existing send-receive relationship to include grades six through nine. The presentation and plan will include enrollment counts, proposed tuition rates, any necessary building/capital needs, and benefits and potential drawbacks for both districts.
Superintendent Goal: Quantitative By the end of the 2017-2018 school year, ninth and tenth grade students enrolled in Resource Room, Leveled Literacy, Academic, and Honors English classes will score an average of 3 or above on a 4-point rubric (attached) when asked to complete two tasks where they consider one or more sources (texts, videos, etc.), develop a thesis statement based on their reading/sources, and support that thesis statement with evidence from the text(s)/sources.
Collingswood High School Thesis Statement Goal June 2018
● The Goal ● The Need Outline ● The Process ● The Results ● The Future
THE GOAL: By the end of the 2017-2018 school year, eighty-five percent of ninth and tenth grade students enrolled in Resource Room, Leveled Literacy, Academic, and Honors English classes will score an average of 3 or above on a 4-point rubric when asked to complete two tasks where they consider one or more sources (texts, videos, etc.), develop a thesis statement based on their reading/sources, and support that thesis statement with evidence from the text(s)/sources.
THE NEED: One of the multi-year goals at CHS has been the development and improvement of Senior Capstone Projects. The Capstone Project provides seniors the opportunity to synthesize the literacy skills that form the foundation of the CHS academic experience: ● Identify a topic with personal meaning ● Research that topic using multiple sources ● Identify a thesis statement and support with evidence ● Complete a research paper ● Present their paper to a panel (classmates, teachers, admins)
THE NEED: ● One of the goals of the high school Achievement Gap / Equity PLC is to "stretch the skills" required for the Capstone Project across multiple grades so students are well prepared to tackle and present their topics at the conclusion of the senior year. These strategies, over time, will better help students develop and master the skills necessary to successfully complete the senior year Capstone Project. Effective thesis-statement writing, which is targeted in this goal, is an example of a skill crucial to success with the Capstone. ● 2016-17 PARCC results for Collingswood High School indicate that 45.2% of 9th graders and 41.5% of 10th graders met or exceeded expectations. These results demonstrate that more work is needed on skills prevalent in the NJSLS and on the PARCC assessments. One of those skills is developing a clear thesis statement and supporting that statement with evidence from the text(s).
THE PROCESS: Summer Literacy Team work on R.A.C.E. strategy and development of accessible web site with teacher resources (also presented at BOE meeting) https://sites.google.com/collsk12.org/collstalk/home
THE PROCESS: ● Identification of Goal based on reasons stated ● Discussion of goal and need at Department Meetings during opening of school ● Establishment of 9th and 10th grade teacher SGOs based on goal (rowing in same direction) ● Examples, support developed and discussed ● Best practices shared at faculty meetings ● Identification of root cause issues ○ Baby steps with progression ● Reflection and follow up at several Department Meetings (sharing) ● Interim assessment (January) ● Share results, reflect, adjust ● Final assessment (1 English, 1 History) ● Results
THE PROCESS: To make this more of a cross-curricular goal, both our 9th and 10th grade English and History teachers collaborated on the goal, since they share the same students and we promote literacy across the curriculum. English and History teachers instructed students throughout the year on evidenced-based thesis-statement writing strategies, and assessed them in a variety of ways through different writing activities and essays. To facilitate the collection of data for the goal, we asked these English and History teachers to make thesis-statement writing one of their Student Growth Objectives (SGOs). We then used a scored thesis statement task from the history teachers’ SGOs as one of our tasks for this goal, and a scored thesis statement task from the English teachers’ SGOs as our other task for the goal. These scores were averaged for each student to tabulate the final results for the goal.
THE RESULTS: Two scores were collected for 320 ninth and tenth grade students for a total of 640 scores. For each student their two scores were averaged. Out of the 320 students, 277 students met the goal of averaging at least a score of 3 on the 4 point thesis statement rubric. 43 students did not meet the goal. Therefore, 86.6% of students met the goal.
THE FUTURE: Over the course of this school year, we are pleased with the progress that our 9th and 10th grade students made with their evidenced-based thesis statement writing skills. Early in the year we were able to identify some common mistakes being made by students, and through instruction, practice, assessment, and feedback, we were able to help our students improve. We are confident they will carry their newly sharpened skills forward on future essays and assessments, and their Capstone projects senior year. Becoming stronger writers will also help our students be more college and career ready.
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