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"The
Milton Board of Education approved curriculum changes, focusing largely
on math and science programming and sequencing, during a regular
meeting held on Nov. 13." inform Kim McDarison, Correspondent, Milton Courier.
The
changes, as presented to the board by curriculum committee and school
board member Shelly Crull-Hanke, had been previously outlined for
committee members by the district’s Director of Curriculum and
Instruction Heather Slosarek on Nov. 8.
During the committee meeting, Crull-Hanke said, an extensive PowerPoint presentation had been shared by Slosarek, including a summary of programming designed to bring district curriculum into better alignment with Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) as initially adopted by the Milton School Board during the 2015-2016 school year, and changes made to better align science curriculum with new state requirements as well as Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), also adopted by the district during the 2015-2016 school year
During the committee meeting, Crull-Hanke said, an extensive PowerPoint presentation had been shared by Slosarek, including a summary of programming designed to bring district curriculum into better alignment with Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and College and Career Readiness Standards (CCRS) as initially adopted by the Milton School Board during the 2015-2016 school year, and changes made to better align science curriculum with new state requirements as well as Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), also adopted by the district during the 2015-2016 school year
During a follow-up
interview, Slosarek said: "We are working on alignment to improve growth
scores." During a state report card presentation given to the board on
Nov. 27, Slosarek noted that curriculum changes would also help with the
district’s ongoing initiative to "close gaps," a report card category
designed to measure the district’s ability to bring certain
state-identified demographically similar groups’ performance scores more
in line with those earned by the overall population.
From the report
Slosarek’s PowerPoint
focused upon three topics, including a 2017-2018 curriculum
implementation update, a "science scope and sequence overview," and new
course proposals for the high school.
Curriculum update
Under 2017-2018 Curriculum
Update, the report discussed the "implementation of past and new
curriculum," with implementation defined as teacher support provided by
prepackaged course materials publishers and company trained district
staff members working to further support district staff, and was broken
into three categories: Literacy, Math and Science.
Literacy
Defining literacy as
English language arts (ELA), reading and writing, current implementation
(teacher support) practices and pilot program initiatives across the
K-12 continuum, were outlined.
In elementary and
intermediate grades K-6, teachers were being supported through a
three-year implementation process while using the Jan Richardson’s
Guided Reading Framework designed to help teachers "provide powerful
small-group literacy instruction," the program’s website states.
A one-year implementation
process was also underway to support teachers using the Lucy Calkins’
Unit of Study in Writing, designed to develop skills within the
narrative, information and persuasive writing domains...
Math
Math
Implementation strategies
used for math were outlined within three grade level categories,
beginning with elementary and intermediate grades K-5. Teachers using
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Math Expressions Curriculum within grades K-5
would be supported for three years, the report stated.
Teachers using the 2018
edition of Math Expressions, focusing on "further differentiation and
tech" within the grade category would receive one year’s worth of
implementation support.
In the middle and
intermediate grades 6-8, teachers using the Big Ideas math curriculum
would receive four years of support. The program will include two
strands (or curriculum pathways): math, grades 6-8, and enriched math in
grades 6-7, followed by eighth-grade algebra.
Science
Schigur defined NGSS as
national standards that are supported by the Department of Public
Instruction (DPI) and embraced by most area school districts. The
district is working to adopt prepackaged materials that are aligned with
NGSS, he said.
Within the science
curriculum presentation, grades K-3 and 4-5, were broken out into
separate blocks. Teachers of K-3 students were experiencing their second
of a two-year implementation process using NGSS-aligned quarterly
science units, which further aligned with literacy programming.
No new curriculum would be
implemented within grades 4 and 5 as teachers worked to determine an
appropriate transition, the report stated.
Source: hngnews.com
