Verona Public Schools Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment Progress Summary Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Verona Public Schools Verona Public Schools Mission Statement “The mission of the Verona Public Schools, the center of an engaged and supportive community, is to empower students to achieve their potential as active learners and productive citizens through rigorous curricula and meaningful, enriching experiences.”

Verona Public Schools Verona Student Growth Objectives (Year #3) Road Map of Success Steps #1-5 are complete!

Verona Public Schools Teacher Evaluation Update Round #1 Formal Observations are complete for tenure and non- tenured teachers … Round #2 is underway... AchieveNJ Scale: Beginning Developing Applying Innovative Administrative Team continues to perform co- observations and share observations throughout the school year

Verona Public Schools Teacher Evaluation Update Monthly Walk-Throughs Our Administrative Team have visited each teacher’s classroom on a regular basis to provide instant feedback in between formal observations. –September = 209 walk-throughs –October = 157 walk-throughs –November = 138 walk-throughs –December = 78 walk-throughs Total: 582 walk-throughs Additionally, we review six questions each walk-through ….

Verona Public Schools VHS Advanced Placement Participation since 2009 New for : AP World History AP Human Geography 38.4% of VHS Students 14.5% of VHS Students

Verona Public Schools 7 VHS Dual Enrollment since students63 total seats students122 total seats students101 total seats

Verona Public Schools Google Teacher Academy ○ Our Google Academy teachers are pioneers who are accomplishing the following: ○PLC collaboration on a monthly basis during academic year ○Integrating curriculum, instruction, assessment, and technology in their classrooms. ○Leading differentiated professional development to other staff members who are curious and would like to learn more about Google and its educational applications ○Communicating with their students on a daily basis! 8

Verona Public Schools New Teacher Forums Professional development and support for our new staff members: ○The dates of the meetings for the school year: ○Thursday, September 17 - Student Growth Objectives (VHS Learning Commons) ○Thursday, October 15 - I&RS/504/IEP (Brookdale) ○Thursday, November 19 - UbD Continued (FNB) ○Wednesday, December 16 - Revisiting Classroom Procedures (Forest) ○Thursday, January 14 - Instructional Strategies (Laning) ○Thursday, February 11 - Motivating Students (BOE Conference Room) ○Thursday, March 3 - Formative & Summative Evaluations (HBW) ○ New Teacher Forum Classroom 9

Verona Public Schools Orton Gillingham Training Update Partnering with Fairleigh Dickinson University (FDU) to provide training and certification to eight (8) staff members in our first cohort. ○ Orton-Gillingham is a direct, multisensory structured, phonetic approach to teaching reading. ○ Our teachers completed their first course during the fall and are now beginning their second course at FDU’s nationally accredited Orton-Gillingham Teacher Certificate Program. ○ The classes meet once each week beginning at 3:45 pm in the HBW Media Center. ○ Orton Gillingham tutoring will continue with sixteen (16) of our 1 st, 2 nd, & 3rd grade students this spring! 10

Verona Public Schools PARCC Update What are the primary objectives of the PARCC Assessment System? Assess the full range of the Common Core Standards, including standards that are difficult to measure Compare performance across states and internationally 11

Verona Public Schools PARCC Update Who took the spring 2015 PARCC Assessments? 12

Verona Public Schools PARCC Update The assessments were scored, grades 3-11, and released in late November/early December Five Performance Levels (650 to 850) 13

Verona Public Schools PARCC Update The Individual Student Report (ISR): ELA ISR’s were mailed home in mid-December 14

Verona Public Schools PARCC Update The Individual Student Report (ISR): Mathematics 15

Verona Public Schools PARCC Update School Reports: 16

Verona Public Schools PARCC Update District Reports: Elementary Schools The first year’s scores are a new baseline from which to progress from and measure against moving forward. 17

Verona Public Schools PARCC Update District Reports: HBW The first year’s scores are a new baseline from which to progress from and measure against moving forward. 18

Verona Public Schools PARCC Update District Reports: VHS The first year’s scores are a new baseline from which to progress from and measure against moving forward. 19

Verona Public Schools Elementary Academic Coach Two full time elementary positions – Laning/ Brookdale – Forest/FN Brown What is the goal of the Academic Coach? – Reinforce & support reading instruction for struggling students. What type of support will the Academic Coach provide? – Push-in and/or pull-out support. Who will the Academic Coach work with? – Initially grades 1 through 4. – Kindergarten will be added later in the school year. 20

Verona Public Schools Reading Workshop Continued expansion of the Reading Workshop model: – school year: Grade 3 & 4 – school year: K-2 – : Grade 5 Reading Workshop follows the gradual release of responsibility framework. –I do = mini lesson –We do = carpet work –You do = independent reading time (IRT) District Focus: Small Group Instruction during IRT –Guided Reading: Help students process a variety of increasingly challenging texts (at their instructional reading level) with both fluency AND comprehension. 21

Verona Public Schools Research across the disciplines Research is a critical part of the Common Core Standards for both Language Arts and Social Studies. English and Social Studies teachers at HBW and VHS are collaborating with the Media Specialists to ensure research skills are being scaffold between departments and grade levels to ensure students growth. –Skills articulation chart –Shared interdepartmental language –Departmental grade specific research projects Research for Change Project (Grade 10) 22

Verona Public Schools New VHS Courses Rigor: Expansion of Advanced Placement courses – AP World History First time an AP offered to freshman – AP Human Geography Offered to all grade levels. Student choice: Provide options to fulfill graduation requirements that are not necessarily AP related. – Humanities/Speech Arts Senior english option 23

Verona Public Schools Technology, Engineering, & Design (TE&D)

Verona Public Schools HBW TE&D

Verona Public Schools HBW TE&D

Verona Public Schools HBW TE&D

Verona Public Schools HBW CompSci

Verona Public Schools HBW CompSci

Verona Public Schools HBW CompSci

Verona Public Schools HBW CompSci

Verona Public Schools HBW CompSci

Verona Public Schools VHS CompSci New Course for – AP Computer Science Principles

Verona Public Schools

NJ NGSS Implementation Timeline Adopted by NJDOE July 2014 Full Implementation: – Grades 6-12 September 2016 – Grades K-5 September 2017

Verona Public Schools NGSS STC Pilot Grades 1-8

Verona Public Schools STC Program

STC Pilot Grades 1-8 Grade STC Kit Solids and Liquids Changes Motion and Design MicroWorlds Exploring the Properties of Matter Experimenting with Forces and Motion Understanding Weather and Climate Electricity, Waves, and Information Transfer

Verona Public Schools STC Pilot Grades 1-8

Verona Public Schools STC Pilot Grades 1-8 Just wanted to let you know that my students are LOVING SCIENCE!!! All day they ask me, " Are we doing science today?" If I dare say no I get complete disappointment. I am so happy to see them so excited about science again!

Verona Public Schools STC Pilot Grades 1-8

Verona Public Schools STC Pilot Grades 1-8

Verona Public Schools NGSS at VHS Revising content coverage and merging ideas in new ways Open inquiries and problems solving Researching best practices to integrate engineering (especially in Biology and Environmental Science)

Verona Public Schools

Verona Math Continuing to align/realign course to the Common Core State Standards Continuing to boost the rigor in assessments At VHS several teachers are exploring Khan Academy as an outlet for mastery practice and providing specific targeted feedback for students

Verona Public Schools Questions… 46