Highland High School
Professional Development Agenda:
The “Plan, Do. Check, Act” Cycle of Learning Improvement
Remainder of First Semester 2012-2013
Weeks #1 - 18: Second Semester 2012-2013
Wednesdays, 2:40 – 3:40 pm
This document details the professional development agenda for the remainder of the current school year.
I remind you that your task for the remainder of the first semester is to revise your final exams to include pilot questions that assess each of your second quarter quarterly instructional objectives. At least one of these items should be an extended written response. I strongly recommend that you score the writing using the 6+1 rubric.
For subjects other than English, score the writing for content (ideas) and organization. I encourage you to use the 3 point (1-3-5) scoring guide that will focus your scoring and save you time. Print the rubric, share it with your students in advance and for scoring use, circle the appropriate criteria (rather than marking the student’s written product and share those results with your students post-test).
The Big Picture (Revisited)
We have been working at revising curriculum and writing assessments for a year and a half. Regardless of whatever political decisions are made in Indianapolis or Washington, D.C. our responsibility as professional educators is to provide the students of Highland High School with the best possible education we can give them, given our resources of time, talent, and energy. In order to illustrate for you the direction we are headed, please read (or re-read) the article entitled Time to FOCUS, written by Mike Schmoker. I think this article best summarizes how I believe we can continue to move from being a good school to becoming a great school. Please take the time to re-read the article in your groups periodically. It will keep you focused on what good schools do to become great schools.
Indiana is a governing state for the design of next generation of assessments, currently functioning under the moniker called PARCC. In 2014, these assessments are slated to replace the Algebra I, English 10 and Biology I End-of-Course assessments. They will also expand into the subjects of Geometry, Algebra II, English 9, English 11 and Social Studies. The proposed annual assessment cycle for PARCC is a quarterly pattern which I strongly recommend that we mirror (see the attachment).
Whether or not PARCC becomes a reality, we serve our students and by extension, our school and teachers well, by adopting this philosophy and pattern of assessment. I believe we will be well-positioned to meet the challenges of the “new accountability” standards created for public education.
The second semester calendar is detailed below. Please contact me immediately if you have any questions or concerns.
Calendar for January-May, 2013
· January 9: Department meeting time. Agendas and minutes submitted to Dr. Weil by Monday, January 14, 2013.
· January-May, 2013: Continue the Plan, Do. Check, Act cycle of learning improvement.
· January 16-February 20: Development of 3rd quarter common assessments with your content-level team. As a friendly reminder, these assessments must be based upon your course Quarterly Instructional Objectives, which are derived from your power standards.
· February 27: Faculty or department meeting (as needed)
· March 1, 2013: 3rd quarter common assessments submitted to Dr. Weil, via email, by 4:00 pm.
· March 4-14: Administer (according to schedule) and score 3rd quarter assessments.
· March 4-14: Scoring, analysis, and feedback given for 3rd quarter common assessments.
· March 20-May 8: Teams develop 4th quarter common assessments based upon 4th quarter Quarterly Instructional Objectives.
· March 27: Spring break. No professional development.
· May 10, 2013: 4th quarter common assessments submitted to Dr. Weil, via email, by 4:00 pm.
· May 13-17: Administer (according to schedule) and score 4th quarter common assessments.
· May 15-20: Scoring, analysis, and feedback given for 4th quarter common assessments.
· August 2013-May 2014: Continue the Plan, Do. Check, Act cycle of learning improvement with focuses on developing rigorous instructional materials, implementing lesson frameworks and documenting the whole enchilada.
As always, make sure that you sign in with your department chair so we have a record to award your PGP points.
Thank you.