Goals and Strategies

Goal: Align curriculum and instruction with the rigor of the Curriculum Framework. Strategy 1: Have math team conduct SOL data analysis to identify specific alignment issues and revise curriculum guides to address those issues. Strategy 2: Use backward design and mapping to plan for alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessments. Strategy 3: Adjust schedule to build in collaborative planning time for math team to plan aligned instruction and analyze student assessment data.

Rational: When developing or revising currciulum guides and assessments, it is important to make certain that all elements are alignes to state standards and to each other ( based on Total Instructional Alignment by Lisa Carter)

Goal: Provide professional development for teachers on teaching students of poverty. Strategy 1: Develop professional learning community for faculty book study of Eric Jensen’s Teaching With Poverty in Mind. Develop faculty Blog for the book study and Wiki for developing thoughts concerning teaching students of poverty. Strategy 2: Contract Eric Jensen to conduct professional development for the division and school level on this topic. Strategy 3: have teachers work in collaborative planning to plan for implementation of strategies. learned in professional development.

Rational: With the growing economically disadvantaged subgroup and the data revealing deficiencies in that area, teachers must have the knowledge and skills to address the specific needs of children in poverty. Eric Jensen’s work takes a neurological look at the effects of chronic poverty on brain development and strategies educators can use to address the effects.

Goal: Develop mathematical communication skills of students through content vocabulary development. Strategy 1: Provide job-embedded professional development through professional learning communities on the research concerning the affect of vocabulary development on closing the achievement gap for disadvantaged students (Robert Marzano, Eric Jensen, Ruby Payne). Strategy 2: Implement the Marzano method of vocabulary instruction. Strategy 3: Develop formative assessments for vocabulary development and intervention.

Rational: The main body of research on poverty and education find language/ vocabulary deficiencies of children in poverty to be a major hinderance to academic success. Marzano identifies direct vocabulary instruction as one of the most effective ways of closing the achievement gap.

Goal: Develop problem-solving skills of students through inquiry learning. Strategy 1: Identify appropriate math SOL related to real-world applications for problem-solving integrating technology. Strategy 2: Use the Hilda Taba method of curriculum development to have teachers design inquiry learning units for the identified SOL. Strategy 3: Develop aligned assessments of problem- solving skills for data-driven instruction.

Rational: The development of problem solving skills develops higher level thinking in students. This will help develop 21st Century Learning skills and STEM skills for the students.