tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14813466984205172672024-03-13T15:28:35.338-07:00Assistant Superintendent's BlogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-23985106509145319282024-03-05T05:33:00.000-08:002024-03-05T05:51:31.301-08:00District Literacy Leadership Team (DLLT) March 2024<div class="separator"></div><div class="separator"></div><div class="separator"><div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img height="278" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Oyu_2LM3p3QMN_GX-bwpaeQfKwU-PrQORBLuRfTkdhvLC3q3q1MXuY650cDeQDj5vd_UPwDbjLQIRfHygfqEAbwzuFkbK7m93-6erWddRSbVfqsr-y0qf9Tkwm3oLqKzFbvWGMmFad3lNpBriWrAHTY=w257-h278" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left; white-space-collapse: preserve;" width="257" /></div></div><div class="separator"><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The District Literacy Leadership Team (DLLT) has met twice during the past three weeks, once on January 25th and again on February 15th. </span></div></div><span id="docs-internal-guid-1fcc4f3b-7fff-ad5e-8915-ee43dd178af7"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">January 25th DLLT Meeting</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">During the meeting on January 25th</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">the DLLT started off our meeting with team introductions (approximately 30 members), and establishing meeting norms. We also discussed the BPS District Literacy Plan, and developed our own ideas around a shared vision for the work of the DLLT. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Most importantly, at this initial meeting, we established why were were looking at implementing a new K-5 literacy program in Bedford, which included discussing our focus on </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Goal 4: Core Curriculum and Instruction</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> from our BPS District Literacy Plan, which outlines consistency in Tier I, and differentiated literacy instruction, and a clear scope and sequence for literacy too.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The Hill for Literacy</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, which is the group that we have consulted with and are orking with during all of our DLLT meetings, outlined information regarding the Science of Reading, and High-Quality Instructional Materials. We also discussed the programs that we would review during the next few meetings, and the criteria we would use to narrow down our review to potentially three literacy programs to review extensively.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At this point in our meeting we broke into six smaller groups, and we spent the remainder of our meeting reviewing the following programs (each group was assigned one of the following programs to review), and noting various elements of each of the following programs: </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; clear: right; display: inline-block; float: right; height: 240px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; overflow: hidden; width: 324px;"><img height="237" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/EMWzWWJtTfjfvYiRu6kCHG31V0-3mStUc0_IeCRU8ul-3-YRRGsOaHVvvv0ZuH0bnd6ikqOmjDVxwT1Hke07XFiE8OqA_eVQ2R0QTPj47b9BoHIBlINivphTQanTjVQQs_WQH0Qa78zK6HZDAtDzSvA=w320-h237" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="320" /></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">-Core Knowledge Language Arts</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-EL Education</span></p></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Into Reading</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-My View</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Wit and Wisdom</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">-Wonders</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">February 25th DLLT Meeting</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">At the February 15th DLLT meeting, we continued our initial review of the six programs, by working in our small groups, reviewing the materials, and discussing information and populating our shared document. We also discussed the process related to narrowing down our choices from six programs to three, which we will do soon, and then conduct a more in depth investigation of each of the three programs, with every member of the DLLT reviewing each of the remaining three programs. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">As our progress continues, there will be more updates provided. At this point both teachers and administrators are completing Science of Reading modules, and the DLLT continues to meet and will meet several times throughout the next three months, culminating with a recommendation to the school committee for the purchase of a K-5 Literacy program on May 28th.</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-2b264830-7fff-1ef2-6631-3d3441f9d475"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-a999dfef-7fff-5b54-6c55-f4ce04a2c6d0"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span></p></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-e3cd10ef-7fff-b9dc-bc5a-b2f09294094f"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"></span></span></span></p><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-b9cbde38-7fff-ea07-8db9-84f147c4759a"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img height="204" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/Nsxe_qKNMnZuvRhTdZ3EFXDJewcE8pIJvEV1IFPCLhLSqqJU6Jt-pDEcnSuKCAXOgCTZL2ynBz8nRinswPaPFBCooyYgoiw_EuAO-yQBKhy7HRYYPG2KEAZisZtiLMcT_N2iSig2uASJGJCam9NZ6zI" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; white-space-collapse: preserve;" width="272" /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div><i>Photos from our DLLT work at the Lane School, where DLLT members reviewed program materials, and discussed the core program review process.</i> </div></span></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-14946065495503267312024-01-26T10:41:00.000-08:002024-01-26T10:41:08.792-08:00District Literacy Leadership Team (DLLT) January 2024<p> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">During the fall and early winter </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">a lot </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">has happened in the world of literacy for Bedford Public Schools. This past November, we were able to present an update to the school committee circling back to the update provided on literacy in June 2023. </span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-de51a21b-7fff-56c1-003b-ffbe46580e83"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In particular, the school committee was updated on how </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Goal 4: Core Curriculum and Instruction</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> (Action Step 1: Consistency in core, Tier I literacy instruction will be created at all grade levels. Action Step 2: Core, Tier I literacy instruction will be differentiated at all grade levels. Action Step 5: A clear scope and sequence for reading and writing in the content areas will be created, using a common template for curriculum mapping.) would be addressed this year in our district. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">We were able to outline a very specific plan, to address Goal 4. This includes:</span></p><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Forming a District Administrative Team (DAT)</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> to work with </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Hill for Literacy</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;"> which is a group that is consulting with us to address this goal. The DAT is composed of a small group of district leaders.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Forming the District Literacy Leadership Team (DLLT)</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">. This is a group of 30 parents, administrators and teachers who are meeting several times over the next few months to do a core program review, with the consultation of </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Hill for Literac</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">y. This group will look at several High Quality Instructional Material (HQMI) based programs, and select one to recommend for purchase this spring, to utilize fully in all classrooms K-5 starting in September 2024. </span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Both teachers and administrators (primarily K-5) will all participate in a 10-Module course in the Science of Reading provided by </span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">Hill for Literacy</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; text-wrap: wrap; vertical-align: baseline;">, to be completed by August 31, 2024. </span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The District Literacy Leadership TEam (DLLT) met for the first time, last night, January 25th, at the Lane School. Even though the meeting began at 3:45 p.m. and went until 5:45 p.m., after a very busy day for all of the participants-the energy in the room was positive, and energetic. The members of the DLLT were very engaged in learning about the process that they would undertake to make the core program selection. As we worked through the process timeline, and activities as a preview-we also participated in capturing what our vision collectively is for excellent literacy teaching. We also engaged in group work in reviewing programs, and evaluating systematically, as led by </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Hill for Literacy</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> on our impressions of various programs based on important criteria for HQIM program. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The hard work and total engagement was clearly observable while the groups were working yesterday afternoon. They dug in immediately, were earnest, and diligent in their work-with the students at the very core of everything they were thinking about and discussing. As the spring progresses updates will be posted here on the Assistant Superintendent’s blog, and also updates will be provided at school committee meetings.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Oftentimes, big undertakings like selecting a curriculum program can seem daunting, overwhelming, and difficult-this was not the case yesterday, the feeling was of excitement, optimism, and collaboration.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Sincerely,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Tricia Clifford, Ed.D</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Assistant Superintendent of Schools</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-63890225120316279042023-06-15T08:55:00.003-07:002023-09-11T05:25:10.710-07:00<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; white-space-collapse: preserve;">BPS Literacy Plan Update-June 2023</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">In the spring of 2020 a K-12 district-wide committee was formed to create a Bedford Public Schools Literacy Plan. The plan consisted of five goals that spoke to the needs in the district regarding literacy. The goals had several action steps that outlined over the span of several years, the actions that needed to be completed to further the plan and complete it. After three years of implementation the plan is basically completed, with only a few items within goal 4 to be completed during the 2023-2024 school year. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;">The BPS Literacy Plan Progress, was shared at the School Committee, on June 13, 2023. Below is a link to the information that was shared at the School Committee, which consists of the completed items within the plan, and next steps, along with literacy data from grades K-10 for this current school year, 2022-2023. Many thanks to all of the educators in Bedford who have been instrumental in addressing the Literacy Plan goals, and action steps.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://www.bedfordps.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif2786/f/uploads/literacy_plan_progress_june_2023.pdf" target="_blank">Bedford Public Schools - Literacy Plan Update, June 2013</a></span></p><div style="text-align: left;">Tricia Clifford, Ed. D.<br />Assistant Superintendent</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-79112946609289248112022-10-11T05:41:00.004-07:002023-09-15T07:59:01.494-07:00<h3 style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">Superintendent's Blog<br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bedford Public Schools<br /></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Curriculum Review Cycle</span></span></h3><span id="docs-internal-guid-26152ca9-7fff-6e48-bfe8-935076d4677a"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Generally speaking, one constant in any school district is the ongoing review of curriculum. This is an important process, and one that we’ve spent a great deal of time examining during the past year. Last fall, the curriculum leaders within the Bedford Public Schools, collaborated on </span><a href="https://www.bedfordps.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif2786/f/uploads/_bps_curriculum_review_guidelines_6_2_1.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Bedford Public Schools Curriculum Review Cycle</span></a><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. This was an important endeavor, to discuss what the purpose of curriculum review would be, which areas of curriculum would be reviewed, when this process would occur, and who would be involved. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We created a thoughtful guide on exactly </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">how</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> the curriculum review process will occur in Bedford. This review cycle process is part of the system’s commitment to thoughtful, continual improvement in the schools. The review cycle is aligned with the system’s District Improvement Plan and the School Improvement Plans created by each school. All curriculum development must align with, and be informed by the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks as well as College Board, ACT, and Advanced Placement course content expectations.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Most importantly the review cycle is designed to meet the following needs:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A process to support both curriculum changes and instructional improvement.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A process which is manageable for elementary teachers who are impacted by changes in many instructional areas.</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A method for equitable distribution of funding for materials, staff, curriculum work, and professional development.</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The need for a curriculum review cycle is clear, as outlined above. Exactly which areas of the curriculum are examined during a review are listed below:</span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mathematics</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Science, Technology and Engineering</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Visual and Performing Arts</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Social Studies</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">English, Language Arts, English Language Learning, and Reading</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Physical Education, Health, and Family and Consumer Sciences</span></p></li><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">World Language</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The actual implementation of the curriculum review process is overseen by a Program Administrator, a Program Director, or at the K-5 level a Curriculum Coordinator, who is responsible for managing the review cycle within their content area. Each curriculum content area has a Curriculum Steering Committee whose membership includes representatives of each school building. Membership includes both teachers and administrators. The Program Administrator, Program Director, and/or Curriculum Coordinators (or teacher), serve as co-chairs of each steering committee.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The curriculum review cycle generally encompasses a four year span of time. Within the four year span specific steps are taken by the steering committee, in reviewing curriculum, instruction and assessment. This process involves four phases, Introduction, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation. During each phase there are several steps that the committee must undertake to complete the review cycle.</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Here in Bedford, we’ve outlined which department will enter the curriculum review process by participating in Phase I. This year, as we begin this cycle, we will begin with mathematics. The mathematics steering committee will be co-chaired by our two math leaders in the district, Anne Pumphrey, K-5 mathematics curriculum coordinator, and Patrick Morrisey, 6-12 mathematics program administrator. </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It's very <b>exciting</b> to begin this important process in Bedford. Learning about best practices and innovative curriculum, assessment, and instructional practices as educators, is vital to creating the best learning environment for all our students.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tricia Clifford, Ed. D.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Assistant Superintendent</span></p></span></span><p style="text-align: left;"><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-12368046652795800342022-01-06T05:35:00.001-08:002023-09-15T07:59:06.490-07:00<p> <span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">Monday, January 3, 2022</span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-679a778c-7fff-6b2e-96ae-5fe0c908bd2a"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Superintendent’s Blog</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bedford Public Schools</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Acceleration Road Map at Mid Year</span></p><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s that time of year, when we can take stock not only of the past calendar year, but also where we are at the mid-year point of the school year. While we are still trying to navigate the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, we continue our efforts to focus on student learning. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Last May, almost at the close of the 2020-21 school year, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education published Acceleration Roadmaps for Teachers and Administrators. These “Roadmaps” were intended to help educators prepare and to address the varied needs of students as we began to bring all students back into the classroom, after different models of teaching and learning, i.e. hybrid, all remote, all in-person, etc., were implemented during the 2020-21 school year. The following provides a broad outline as to where we are in Bedford in relation to the three priorities included in both the Teacher and Administrator Acceleration Roadmaps:</span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Priority 1: Foster a sense of belonging and partnership among students and families</span></p><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Focusing on student attendance, and ensuring that we are watching carefully to see that students are attending school regularly, and that if students or families need assistance with attendance we provide outreach and support. </span></p></li></ul><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In December we sent out a survey to families to gauge student engagement at JGMS and BHS in regards to school based activities. We will be analyzing the data to understand how students experience inclusion within our activities both academic and athletic. This will help us understand how we can be more inclusive and more effective in including opportunities for </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">students to participate.</span></p></li></ul><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our Bedford District Improvement Plan, for 2021-2024, outlines specifically, three areas that pertain to fostering a sense of belonging and partnership among students and families, they include a focus on equity, diversity and inclusion, a strong focus on student-centered curriculum instruction and assessment, and continuing to implement programs and a focus on social-emotional learning. This plan with strategic details embedded, will continue to provide a clear focus and steps for us as a district not only for this year, but for the next few years.</span></p></li></ul><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We continue to implement many different forms of communication with families, from weekly updates from the superintendent's office, to individual school updates. The utilization of webinars and virtual platforms like zoom continue to help us communicate with families. We also continue to focus on making sure that all families can access information vital to understanding what is happening at our schools, this includes providing information in many different languages, and also meeting with families in a variety of formats.</span></p></li></ul><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Social emotional learning is pivotal as we continue to address the needs of our students. This year in particular, we are focusing on professional development in March for teachers at the elementary level on the </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Responsive Classroom</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> program, which will help us to broaden and reinforce our understanding of creating classrooms where students are engaged and feel supported. At the middle level, we continue in year two of our implementation of the </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">RULER </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">program to help students understand how they are feeling, and how to help facilitate those emotions with strategies on regulation and agency. At the high school, with the implementation of the </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Advisory</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> program, we aim to connect with students in small groups, where conversations can happen organically and in a supportive environment.</span></p></li></ul><br /><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Priority 2: Continuously monitor students’ understanding</span></p><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A major focus within our district during the past three years has been the implementation of the </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Data Wise</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> process. By developing and carefully implementing a data system within the district, during the 2019-2020 school year, we were poised to really be able to capture where students were when they entered our schools in September 2020, and again in September of 2021. With the use of assessment calendars in all four buildings, we were able to assess students’ understanding mainly in reading, writing, and mathematics. We utilized screening tools, to understand the skills of students, and attained concepts. By analyzing the data as grade level teams, departments and schools, we’ve implemented tiered interventions (RtI) at all levels. We continue to assess student progress, and will shortly be involved in the second round of “data sweeps” this month, and again at the end of the year, as we did in September. </span></p></li></ul><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This year at the elementary level in particular, we developed a “Data Dashboard”. Which was a quick snapshot of a student's skills at the beginning of the year in literacy. We were able to share this with families at parent/teacher conferences. The objective was to share important information with families, to assess where students are with their learning, and to discuss strategies to help students grow in the coming months.</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Priority 3: Ensure strong grade-appropriate instruction with just-in-time scaffolds when they are needed</span></p><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While last year was challenging, it provided us with a deeper understanding of the importance of implementing standards comprehensively throughout the year-especially in the area of mathematics, where the scope and sequence of concepts and skills is crucial to the building blocks of mathematical understanding. Much focus is happening throughout the district on providing formative assessments, especially in mathematics, to make sure that students have the understanding they need, before moving on to the next standard.</span></p></li></ul><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In November our K-5 teachers were able to participate in Reading professional Development with trainers from Columbia Teachers College. This professional development provided the teachers with the time, and expert knowledge to reinforce all that they’ve been doing while implementing the Units of Study for Reading, at the K-5 level.</span></p></li></ul><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The department work within the 6-12 continues, and has been refined by the MCAS analysis we were able to do in September. This work yielded important data for us, and provided us with a roadmap of our own in Bedford in relation to how our students are doing on the state standards in ELA, Math, and Science. </span></p></li></ul><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our instructional practices have also been altered and have strongly been focused on student centered teaching and learning. Instead of the more traditional teacher-directed approach to instruction, we’ve been working on creating more small group instruction, more time for teachers to engage with students in small groups or individually to check for understanding. This happens within the reading, writing and math workshop approaches. This also enables teachers to differentiate their instruction, and for students to display to their teacher their level of understanding in “real-time”.</span></p></li></ul><br /><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-inline-start: 48px;"><li aria-level="1" dir="ltr" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; list-style-type: disc; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Our focus within our observational work as administrators within the district, has been on understanding and working with teachers on objectives. Clear objectives, guide both the teacher and students, in </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">what students should know and be able to do</span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">as the result of a well crafted lesson. This has always been important work, and through professional development as a an administrative team, we’re working with a consultant from Research for Better Teacher (RBT), which is also the group that we consult with for our Studying Skillful Teacher course, along with a Differentiation class we offer to all of our faculty members during the summer.</span></p></li></ul><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">While the Acceleration Roadmaps for Teachers and Administrators, published by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in spring 2021, provided important suggestions and guidance for schools in Massachusetts, we were fortunate in many ways in Bedford to already have many processes in place. </span></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.3800000000000001; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The ongoing focus in Bedford on student learning during the pandemic, as outlined above, is to continue to make sure that students are receiving what they need in terms of their ability to attend school regularly, understand the curriculum, and also gauge their level of learning through formative assessments and when needed, provide scaffolds. This is all possible, because of the support that the Bedford community has provided during the past few years. The families, the school committee, faculty/staff, and administrators, along with the resilient students, have positioned us to continue to hold teaching and learning at the very forefront of the work that we do in the Bedford Public Schools.</span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tricia Clifford, Ed. D.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Assistant Superintendent</span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-91286666968825927172021-06-16T11:22:00.005-07:002023-09-15T07:59:13.637-07:00<p><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Superintendent's Blog</span></span></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-3a73bdd3-7fff-9f72-2761-a77553f19753"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">June 16, 2021</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">BPS Literacy Plan Update</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Tricia Clifford, Ed.D., Assistant Superintendent of Schools</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">What a year! So much has happened in each of our four schools in Bedford, and with each new change, or transition, staff/faculty, parents and students have all been flexible and have done their best to focus on teaching and learning. I’ve written about the Bedford Public Schools Literacy Plan in the past on this blog, and it’s been discussed at school committee meetings, and within each of the faculty meetings at the schools. The BPS Literacy Plan was a joint effort among educators throughout the district in the spring of 2020. It was implemented in the fall of 2020, and now at the end of the 2020-2021 school year, I can provide an update on where we are with the five goals, and the action steps outlined under each of the goals.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Just to review, there are five goals within the Literacy Plan. Also, there is a Literacy Committee, with membership from each of the schools that meets with me every six weeks. The purpose of this committee and the bi-monthly meetings, is to check in on where we are with the progress of the action steps, and to also listen, support and problem solve as a committee, all things literacy related. The five goals that make up the Literacy Plan are as follows:</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Goal 1: Vision/Leadership/Communication</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Goal 2: Assessment</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Goal 3: Intervention Process</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Goal 4: Core curriculum and Instruction</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Goal 5: Professional Development/Coaching</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">As I stated, each of the goals has a number of action steps outlined that address the goal. Each of the action steps is generally labeled with being addressed/completed during year 1, 2, or 3 of the plan’s lifespan. Some of the goals are to be implemented during all three years, while many of them are outlined specifically to be completed in year 1 or 2, etc. As I reviewed my notes before beginning to write this update, I was impressed with how many of the action steps that were outlined for year 1 of the plan were completed, and how many action steps outlined for year 2 were also completed-during a pandemic, during hybrid learning...kudos to the faculty/staff, students, and families!</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goal 1: Vision/Leadership/Communication.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> An important action step under this goal was to make sure that the Literacy Plan was embedded in School Improvement Plans throughout the district. This yielded action steps being embedded in what each school did this year, which added consistency and importance to the plan. We also were able to make sure that funding for programs, including Units of Study for Reading and Writing were supported. That Fundations (phonics instruction) training will take place, and be implemented with fidelity at the elementary level. Also that, Orton Gillingham, which is a specialized way to teach reading was provided and that special needs teachers were trained in this approach. We also have leveraged the expertise of our Literacy Specialists by creating schedules at the elementary level that allow them to work as interventionists at all grade levels, focusing on tiered intervention for students in relation to reading and writing needs. We are also participating in a specially designed workshop for teachers on “Differentiation” at the end of June from Research for Better Teaching. This training will help teachers plan and implement lessons and classroom structures that address the different learning needs, and instructional practices that students will need returning from a year of learning during the pandemic. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goal 2: Assessment</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, We’ve implemented the Data Wise process for the second year. During the first year of implementing the Data Wise process (as I’ve outlined in this blog previously) the curriculum and administrative leadership group learned about how to use data to inform instruction. This past year, the actual work of implementing assessments in reading, writing, math, and science was utilized in what we call “assessment sweeps”, where students take assessments, and then we have data meetings where we discuss and analyze the data-and then implement interventions to address student needs. This process happens regularly at least twice a year, and in some cases three times a year. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goal 3: Intervention Processes.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Within this goal we’ve really been able to examine the RtI (Response to Intervention) structure, looking closely at how we use our faculty/staff to meet student needs, whether in small groups, or one on one, or “push in” to classrooms. We also made changes to our middle school ELA program, specifically in sixth grade, going from one ELA class for students, to a reading class and a writing class, doubling instructional time at that level on reading and writing. We also were able to begin to take assessment data and work on ways we can help teachers understand where their students are based on assessment reports. Also, we are examining ways to share this information with families at parent/teacher conferences during the 2021-2022 school year.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goal 4: Core Curriculum and Instruction.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Within this goal we were able to implement at the elementary level strong fidelity to our reading and writing curriculum. To also potentially implement more training on our phonics program, “Fundations”. We also have worked on common assessments for writing at the 6-12 level, and at BHS we started the process for school-wide curriculum development and revision of the curriculum, which will be a three year process. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Goal 5: Professional Development/Coaching.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> This year while so much was new, we were able to implement a lot of newly acquired instructional strategies, which was amazing. We were able to continue to provide professional development based on individual teacher needs. A great deal of time was invested in professional development related to “Data Literacy”, learning how to use data to inform instruction, which will continue. We also, as I stated previously, will be participating in a workshop for teachers spanning three days in June on “Differentiation” which will help teachers address the various needs of their students, and help to reinforce the workshop model for reading and writing that we are utilizing in several of the grades throughout the district.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is just a quick update and review of the impact that the BPS Literacy Plan has had within the district during the past year. As I stated, we were, surprisingly, able to implement many of the year 1 action steps, and year 2 action steps this past year. We will continue to meet as a Literacy Committee every other month during the 2021-2022 school year, keeping our eyes on the action steps we’ve implemented, and those that we need to implement in the next few years. As always, thank you to the Bedford families, students and faculty/staff for their continued support and work.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Sincerely</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Tricia Clifford, Ed. D.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Assistant Superintendent</span></span></p><div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-91508615030291924182021-04-07T06:04:00.001-07:002021-04-07T06:04:22.662-07:00<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Wednesday, April 7, 2021</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Superintendent’s Blog</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Bedford Public Schools</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap; white-space: pre;">Data Wise</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">As we all know, teachers have always used data. Whether it’s a test, quiz, writing assessment, project or asking students questions to check for understanding, using data has always been an important part of teaching and learning. By using various forms of data, teachers can get a better understanding if they need to re-teach a concept, present it in a different way, or if our students can move on to a more complex concept, or new material. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Within the realm of data and its use in informing instruction, a lot has been researched, and learned over the past few years. The work by Boudette, City and Murnane in their book, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning (2013), </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is in many ways a very clear outline as to how and why schools should use data to inform our instruction. In September of 2019 here in Bedford, as a K-12 curriculum leadership team (program administrators, program directors, principals, central office administrators, and curriculum coordinators) we began the work of diving into the “Data Wise” process. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">The first part of our process was to look closely at our District-Wide Strategic Objects, which outline several objectives all of which connect closely to the Data Wise work, but the one we focused on most in relation to this work was :</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-weight: 700; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Collaborative Professional Culture: Nurture a professional culture that maximizes administrator and teaching learning, innovative and creativity by creating authentic opportunities for collaborative work that is informed by shared goal-setting, and analysis of student work and achievement data.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Data Wise process itself presents a clear and carefully tested blueprint for school leaders. It shows how examining text scores and other classroom data (</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">other classroom data</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is equally as important as standardized tests, if not more important) can become a catalyst for important schoolwide conversations that will enhance schools’ abilities to capture teachers’ knowledge, foster collaboration, identify obstacles to change, and enhance school culture and climate.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As a K-12 curriculum leadership team, we focused on improving teaching and learning by using data structures to discuss, and create meaningful assessments, to form teams to gather the data, analyze the data and inform our teaching, and continue to do this as an ongoing process. During our work as a K-12 curriculum leadership team we focused on preparing for this work in September 2019, which included reading the first chapters of Data Wise, and continued in November with learning about how to look at data and inquiring within our schools. In February we began to dig into ways we could act and create data structures to help inform instruction, and in April we began to set up the structure that we would implement during the 2020-21 school year. Finishing up the year, having read, discussed and implemented, </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Data Wise: A Step-by-Step Guide to Using Assessment Results to Improve Teaching and Learning (2013).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We were fortunate in many ways in regard to timing. As we began this process of learning about systemic ways to use data within the K-12 landscape in Bedford to inform our instruction, we had no idea how important it would be to have these structures in place. When the pandemic occurred in March of 2020, we pivoted to remote learning, and then in the fall of 2020 began our hybrid and all remote models. I can’t say how appreciative and impressed I have been with the implementation of the data work during the school year. It was</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: italic; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: 700; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">vital</span><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> that we have a data system in place during the past year. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">In September and October we were able to take baseline data in literacy and math, to find out where students were within their learning and understanding of grade level standards, K-12. In the fall after those assessments were completed we met at grade levels throughout the district to analyze the student data and create plans to adjust our curriculum and instruction, and to provide Rti (Response to Intervention) support to students. During January and February, we as a system, again utilized student assessments to capture students’ understanding and learning during the several months they were in school. We continued the process of analysis and intervention. This spring we will do this again, and I believe, will be able to see that with the use of the Data Wise system, we have been able to adjust our teaching to help students make progress that is meaningful and will help them bridge what has been a difficult year, to September 2021. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Without the ability to utilize a K-12 data system to capture what students know and are able to do, in relation to their learning, it would have been difficult this school year to understand how much learning might have been lost during the pandemic, how we could adjust our teaching to address learning gaps, or loss during the 2020-21 school year, and where we need to focus coming into the fall of 2021. Again, I want to thank the faculty and staff in Bedford, for their dedication to making this system be meaningful for our students, and also I want to thank the students for persevering and doing their best. We will continue to utilize the Data Wise system as we move forward in the coming years. The goal over time is to learn from students how our teaching can be improved to meet their needs, and help them reach their fullest potential. </span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tricia Clifford, Ed. D.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;">Assistant Superintendent</span></div><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-57937593639880276672020-12-22T11:05:00.001-08:002023-09-15T07:59:23.155-07:00<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Superintendent's Blog </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">December 2020</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bedford Public Schools </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Literacy Plan</span></span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">In January 2020, the Bedford Public Schools began the process of assembling a team of faculty to create a Literacy Plan for the district. One of the main forces behind creating a plan, was to address the concerns highlighted by our standardized test scores, specifically MCAS results for the past few years. When we called for faculty members to join a committee to create a plan, we were excited to have over thirty members of our faculty step forward and embark on addressing the issues and concerns related to literacy in our district. This effort was led by Andrea Salipante, K-5 Literacy Specialist, Jennifer Rabold,6-12 Reading Program Administrator, and me. We were fortunate to have members from each school. Through the late winter and early spring, the committee formed sub committees to investigate specific issues and to gather information from faculty and staff throughout the district. </span></span></p><p><span style="text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Based on information gathered by each of the subcommittees, we were able to focus our plan on five specific goals, with action steps to be addressed over the span of the next three years. Each of the schools has embedded the BPS Literacy Plan into their School Improvement Plans.</span></span></p><p><span style="text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The BPS Literacy Plan has been presented to all of the faculty and staff this past fall, at building based meetings, and has been presented to the school committee. We look to presenting it at various parent groups this spring, and next year, either in person or via zoom. The following information highlights the vision of the plan, the purpose, the belief and assumptions behind the plan and the five specific goals:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">BPS Literacy Plan Vision Statement</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Bedford Public Schools is committed to making literacy a priority. We believe that through quality tiered literacy instruction, our students will be prepared for college and career and life beyond Bedford Public Schools. We want all of our students to have the skills to become literate citizens and pursue their dreams when they graduate from high school.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Purpose of the BPS Literacy Plan</span></span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0;"><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To inform instructional leaders and teachers about current, researched best practices for reading assessment, instruction, and intervention.</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To develop a comprehensive, system-wide plan for literacy assessment, instruction, curriculum, and intervention, including a literacy scope and sequence that builds on students’ skills as they develop K-12.</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To address the unique considerations necessary to bridge the gap between students’ current literacy abilities and grade-level expectations by accelerating learning.</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To inform the professional development goals and needs of the district in the area of literacy.</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To inform the development and implementation of curriculum for specific courses, programs, and differentiated plans of instruction and intervention.</span></span></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Beliefs and Assumptions that Underlie the Development of the BPS Literacy Plan</span></span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: left;"><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Students that are significantly behind their peers in grade-level reading achievement need:</span></span></p></li><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0;"><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An intervention plan that will accelerate their literacy growth.</span></span></p></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Additional support above and beyond reading in language arts and other content areas.</span></span></p></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Instruction from a licensed reading professional during time specified for reading instruction. </span></span></p></li><li style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: circle; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Intervention in addition to other services such as special education or ESL.</span></span></p></li></ul><li><span style="text-align: justify; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Students reading at or above grade level will also benefit from explicit reading instruction to encourage ongoing growth and development of critical thinking skills.</span></span></li></ul><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0;"><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">An instruction and intervention plan should be data driven and based on students’ needs to assure growth in reading development and to support the independent application of strategic reading throughout the school day.</span></span></p></li></ul><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0;"><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Triangulation of multiple data measures which includes norm-referenced, criterion-based, and informal assessments should be used to create or redesign reading intervention plans and for moving students into, between, and out of appropriate interventions.</span></span></p></li></ul><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">BPS Literacy Plan Goals</span></span></p><ul style="margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0;"><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Goal 1: Vision/Leadership/Communication</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">District and school-based initiatives and goals will be aligned to the Literacy Plan, including the alignment of K-12 literacy curricula.</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Goal 2: Assessment</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Consistent administration of literacy assessments will be conducted at every grade level throughout the year; data will be shared across schools, grade levels, and district; and data will be used to inform instruction and intervention.</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Goal 3: Intervention Processes</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Consistency and alignment of literacy interventions K-12, including processes for identifying students, informing stakeholders, and delivering interventions, will be strengthened.</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Goal 4: Core Curriculum and Instruction</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Core, Tier I literacy instruction will be strengthened and differentiated so as to reduce the need for literacy interventions.</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Goal 5: Professional Development/Coaching</span></span></p></li><li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: white; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre;"><p dir="ltr" role="presentation" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Appropriate and sufficient professional development and coaching will be provided for all staff who are providing and evaluating literacy instruction.</span></span></p></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-62789aad-7fff-1987-eec9-a84262693e8a"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">As you can see from the information presented here, a great deal of time, thought, collaboration and effort went into creating this plan-which will be a road map for the district for the next three years. The global pandemic has impacted education everywhere-we are fortunate in Bedford to have educators who have continued to implement the BPS Literacy Plan, even in the face of altered educational models. The Literacy Plan Committee (a small group of approximately 2 representatives from each school) meet monthly to discuss the implementation of the plan-to check in on the progress of the goals and the action steps aligned with those goals. We are making progress, and we will continue to address the action steps in the next few years, and support Literacy throughout the district. Periodically, I, along with the Literacy Plan Committee, will be updating the faculty at each school and the school committee as the action steps are addressed. If you would like to read the BPS Literacy Plan in its entirety please click on this link: </span><a href="https://www.bedfordps.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif2786/f/uploads/bedford_literacy_plan_-_final.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: #1155cc; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Bedford Literacy Plan</span></a></p><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me-best wishes for 20201!</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sincerely,</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tricia Clifford, Ed. D.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Assistant Superintendent</span></p></span></span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-52374930061695210362020-02-07T12:50:00.001-08:002023-09-15T07:59:33.849-07:00BPS Literacy Planning Committee 2020<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt;">BPS Literacy
Planning Committee 2020<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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The Bedford
Public Schools is committed to making literacy a priority. With that as our
shared commitment, we have created a Literacy Planning Committee that has
representation from K-12 faculty from all content areas. The committee will
work on creating a literacy plan that represents a continuum of instruction,
curriculum, assessment, and intervention services for our students K-12.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Our MCAS scores
have demonstrated that we have made some progress, yet we still have room for
improvement. Several different cohorts have made gains; however, our students
are not performing at the levels we would like them too. At no grade, and in no
subject tested, did we have greater than 81% of our students Meeting or
Exceeding Expectations in 2019. Some grade levels and subjects, such as Grade 7
ELA (YOG 2024), where only 60% of students are Meeting or Exceeding
Expectations, are even more concerning. Furthermore, there are significant gaps
in the achievement and growth percentiles between students in several subgroups
and all students.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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In addition to
addressing our assessment data, as the literacy demands of learners continue to
increase, it is imperative that we develop assessment and intervention plans
(including a scope and sequence of developmental outcomes) that lead all
students to acquire the literacy skills necessary for the 21st century. With
this in mind, we will develop a literacy plan that will serve a variety of
purposes:</div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 116%;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 116%;">To inform
instructional leaders and teachers about current, researched best practices for
literacy assessment, instruction, and intervention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 116%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 41.0pt; margin-right: 8.65pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 41.0pt; text-align: justify;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 116%;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 116%;">To develop
a comprehensive, system-wide plan for literacy assessment, instruction,
curriculum, and intervention, including a literacy scope and sequence that
builds on students’ skills as they develop K-12.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 116%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 41.0pt; margin-right: 5.3pt; margin-top: 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 40.95pt 41.0pt;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 116%;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 116%;">To address the unique considerations necessary to
bridge the gap between students’ current literacy abilities and grade-level
expectations by accelerating learning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 116%;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 116%;">To inform the professional development goals and needs
of the district in the area of literacy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; line-height: 116%;">●<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="line-height: 116%;">To inform
the development and implementation of curriculum for specific courses,
programs, and differentiated plans of instruction and intervention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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We have 29
Bedford educators that have joined our Literacy Planning Committee. This
skilled group in collaboration with many stakeholders will create a district
plan that ensures that ALL students in the Bedford Public receive appropriate
literacy instruction to prepare them for college and career and life beyond
Bedford Public Schools. The committee will work with subgroups throughout the district on the following
categories:<o:p></o:p></div>
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● K-5 Core Literacy Instruction<br />
● 6-12 Core Literacy Instruction<br />
● Literacy Intervention Program<br />
● Literacy Assessments and Use of Data<br />
● Literacy Professional Development<br />
● Resources, Funding, and Staffing<br />
● Literacy Leadership and District Structures Supporting Literacy<br />
● Scheduling and Grouping <br />
<br /></div>
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The committee
will be meeting several times throughout the spring. The goal will be to share
the Literacy Plan at the end of August, and have this plan become an integral
part of the overall district plan and each individual school-based School
Improvement Plan. The committee will meet for their first meeting, on Friday,
January 31st. This is a very exciting time for teaching and learning in
Bedford. The response to creating a Literacy Plan, and implementing it
collaboratively as K-12 system, has been enthusiastic and well supported. Look
for updates as we begin to finalize a comprehensive plan.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Tricia Clifford, Ed.D<o:p></o:p></div>
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Assistant Superintendent of
Schools<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-2446090145784940362019-04-23T13:44:00.001-07:002019-04-23T13:44:55.992-07:00<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">PORTRAIT OF THE BEDFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLS GRADUATE:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">PHASE ONE OF OUR 2020-2025 STRATEGIC PLAN<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN">AN INVITATION<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN">What do we as a
school community want all of our students to know, understand and be able to do
by the time they graduate from high school?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>What should inform this vision of our graduates, and how should teaching
and learning be designed to make this happen?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN">These are important
questions that educators ask on a continuing basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The answers guide decisions regarding school
organization, pedagogy, curricular and extracurricular opportunities, and the
allocation of resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They go to the
heart of what all Bedford Public School children experience on a daily basis in
their classrooms and extra-curricular activities in all four schools.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN">But periodically,
we need to ask these questions in a more formal and inclusive manner.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to reflect on whether we are acting
on the most informed answers to these questions for today’s graduates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And, we need to consider the needs of
children who, having entered kindergarten this year, will graduate in the year
2031. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN">Since our last
strategic planning process concluded in 2012, these decisions have been guided
by the following Vision Statement: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Bedford Public Schools develops skillful, reflective, lifelong learners who
think critically and creatively and who are informed, responsible, and
productive global citizens. The school community provides a safe, respectful,
and inclusive environment in which the unique intellectual, social, ethical,
and emotional growth of each learner is realized.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>Accordingly, we have annually developed a
set of strategic initiatives aimed at achieving this vision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN">This vision derives
from the belief that many of today’s societal challenges exist because
schooling for too long was not only inequitable, but was also predominantly a
passive process of absorbing information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Accordingly, and because tomorrow is, in large measure, already here
today, the Bedford Public Schools has focused for years on changing teaching
and learning into a student-active process of developing complex thinking
capabilities, and on closing achievement gaps. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For these reasons, certain student outcomes,
for example, the ability to view problems analytically and to solve problems
creatively, to comprehend complex texts independently, to communicate
effectively, to learn with and from others, to be adept with technology, to be
reflective and open minded… presently guide our work and will continue to
moving forward. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN">Yet it is time once
again to take a more comprehensive look at what our students will need as they
come of age in a world of wondrous opportunities and daunting challenges: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 7.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span lang="EN">a technological universe
that is expanding exponentially, that holds the promise to solve so many
social, economic and environmental problems, of creating new forms of art and
music, while also threatening to replace interpersonal communication with
digital depersonalization, manual and mental labor with robots and AI, and
privacy with an ever growing sharing of our personal information; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">the pressing demands of democratic
citizenship enriched by diversity in a demographically changing nation, yet
still riven by racial, economic and other disparities;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">a shrinking and increasingly
interconnected world capable of creating solutions to environmental crises and
world health issues, and able to share advances in biotech, nanotech, DNA
editing; yet torn by tribal, religious, development and economic resource
divisions, and lacking clear and shared ethical guidelines for scientific
advances that will challenge what it means to be human; and<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span lang="EN"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">●<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span lang="EN">new ideas as well as continuing
debates about teaching and learning and how to best prepare all students for
citizenship, college and/or career, and a life of continual learning, meaning
and fulfillment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN">To develop the
Bedford Public Schools’ next five-year strategic plan, we are inviting the
community to participate in a comprehensive, deliberative process that will
begin by creating a Portrait of the Graduate that will emerge from a
collaborative process of research and reflection.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Portrait will describe the core
competencies and literacies that all students should have (knowledge,
understandings, skills and dispositions) upon graduation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once completed,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Portrait of the Graduate will guide a
backwards planning process to identify the key features of school organization,
curriculum, instruction and assessment that will be needed to ensure that all
students graduate with these skills, understandings and dispositions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN">The Portrait of the
Bedford Public Schools Graduate committee will be composed of parents,
teachers, administrators, students and community members, and will meet once
monthly (full day meetings) between May and November (excluding the summer
months as well as October). <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A draft of
the Portrait competencies will be shared with the broader community for
feedback and will then be finalized at the November meeting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Strategic Planning committee will then
meet between December and April to complete the second phase. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN">If you are
interested in participating on the Portrait of the Bedford Public Schools
Graduate committee, please click on the following link and, by May 1, let us
know.<a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeONXq9NyWmotX3ScBeg8ETQSaRb63-dhKA7NARcR7zacO5sg/viewform?usp=sf_link"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"> </span></a><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeONXq9NyWmotX3ScBeg8ETQSaRb63-dhKA7NARcR7zacO5sg/viewform?usp=sf_link"><span style="color: #1155cc;">https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeONXq9NyWmotX3ScBeg8ETQSaRb63-dhKA7NARcR7zacO5sg/viewform?usp=sf_link</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><a href="https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeONXq9NyWmotX3ScBeg8ETQSaRb63-dhKA7NARcR7zacO5sg/viewform?usp=sf_link"><span style="color: #1155cc;"><o:p></o:p></span></a></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN">Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN">Jon<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">Jon Sills, Superintendent<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN">Bedford Public Schools<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-28196531084284527912019-01-28T10:25:00.000-08:002019-01-28T10:25:38.235-08:00January Professional Development in Bedford<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">This
year, January's full-day professional development was a
building-based combination of theory and practice, with a variety of
opportunities all connected to equity and teaching all students. Educators
in all four buildings were energized and engaged, and came away with
perspectives, skills and knowledge that will benefit all students. Here
are a few highlights from each building:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">BHS</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">: High School educators focused on equity using an EdCamp format in
which teachers, and in this case students as well, run workshop sessions for
other teachers. There was a variety of offerings, including "Restorative Justice
Circles"; "Unpacking the Themes of <i>Fiddler on the Roof</i> and
the Importance of Having Courageous Conversations," co- facilitated by
teacher and student; "The Trauma Sensitive Classroom";
"Navigating Bedford Public Schools as a Student in the METCO
Program," co-facilitated by Superintendent Sills and two students;
"Exploring High School Life through the Lens of Student from a Military
family," which included a panel discussion by students.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">24 students participated, and the sessions
were all very well received by faculty, with many wishing the sessions were
longer or there were more of them. It is clearly a model that works well and
will be developed further.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">JGMS</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">: In the morning Middle School educators participated in Keys to
Literacy training focused on comprehension and note-taking using work educators
have been doing since the fall. Faculty members broke into departments in
the afternoon to coordinate their implementation in greater detail across grade
levels and subject areas. The afternoon sessions were led by teacher-coaches
who have participated in additional training in the Keys approach to
literacy. Plans are underway to assess the effectiveness of the Keys
implementation and refine it moving forward.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Lane School</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">: Lane School faculty began the day with a keynote
presentation from Superintendent Jon Sills focused on equity and how it
integrates into all our work with students, their families, and the larger
Bedford community. Jon talked personally about how he became involved in and
committed to this work and integrated questions from the faculty. Faculty moved
from that address to discuss what they value as educators, and connected those
values as they met in smaller groups to collaborate on addressing difficult
conversations with students through various school scenarios faculty had
negotiated this year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Faculty moved from those scenarios to
school-wide behavior expectations supported by their work in Responsive
Classroom. After lunch they heard from METCO assistant director Kristen Johnson
about her experiences as a METCO student, along with reflections on what she
has observed in her early months in Bedford. Teachers went on to complete an
exercise helping them to identify which students are connected, both to other
students and to faculty, and which are not, because we know students must
be connected to the community in order to learn and thrive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />
Davis School</span></b><span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">: Davis School classroom
teachers worked in vertical teams (teams with representatives from each of the
three grade levels, K-2) to analyze and reflect upon reading data over time for
current fourth grade students. Taking this longer view enabled them to move
beyond individual students to the reading instructional practices that have
been in place now for four years. These practices are connected to the Fountas
and Pinnell reading benchmark assessment system now in place through
grade 5. Because the data was disaggregated by sub group (such as special
education, or traditionally underserved groups), it allowed educators to have
deeper conversations about student growth and achievement in reading and how
that is connected to instructional practice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Team leaders will return to the leadership
group with their observations and findings, which will help to inform the
school improvement plan and professional development for the 2019-2020 school
year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 13.5pt;">MLS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-42712082938282382372019-01-11T12:43:00.000-08:002019-01-11T12:43:01.067-08:00<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">CONFRONTING RACISM: WHAT
BEDFORD’S SCHOOLS DO WELL AND WHERE WE NEED TO GROW<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">PART I<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Being an excellent school district means far more than MCAS scores,
caring teachers,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a deep and rich
curriculum, extensive extra-curricular opportunities, or competitive college
acceptances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It means as well that we
successfully support our students’ socially and emotionally, and that we teach
all students to think deeply, analytically and creatively, and that we prepare
them to live in a highly diverse society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It also means that we ensure that all students matter,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>feel safe to take intellectual risks and
realize their full potentials.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a
society still riven by racism, this means removing the obstacles to achievement
and belonging that unexamined practices and unintentional biases impose.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
When the Bedford Public Schools volunteered in 1974 to become a METCO
district, the community clearly expressed its sense of responsibility to <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">provide equal opportunity</b> to Boston
students of color and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">exposure to
diversity</b> for resident white students. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, it is only in the past seven or eight
years that we have made <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">educational
equity</b> and <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">closing achievement gaps</b>
key systemic priorities within the district.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>At the same time, our <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">resident
population has grown considerably more diverse so that our student population
is over 33% students of color.</b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
The work that we have been doing to close achievement gaps and to diminish
the racial divide have made a real difference in many students’
experiences.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The number of METCO alumni
who have worked, or have shown an interest in working, in the schools is just
one indicator of this impact. But unfortunately, many of our students still
feel that they are viewed as “other” by both peers and adults.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This reality challenges us to dig deeper to
change mindsets and develop the skills required to bring about this deeper
cultural change.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This two-part message describes the steps
we’ve been taking, and where we need to go from here.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Contractually Required Anti-racism
Teacher Course</u> <o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Beginning about 20 years ago</b>,
the district began to contractually require <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">all newly hired teachers to take an anti-racism course, </b>and about
10 years ago, the district also conducted an <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">analysis of data that revealed</b> equity gaps in MCAS results,
representation in high honors and AP classes and participation in
extra-curricular activities other than athletics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>Prioritizing, Embedding and
Taking Action</u></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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The high school took steps about 15 years ago to organizationally
imbed this work, for example, by:<o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Creating a faculty and student </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Educational Equity Committee</b><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Holding annual </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">student run assemblies</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> celebrating Black History month, </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">multi-cultural talent shows</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">, and </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">overnight retreats</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> bringing Boston,
Base and Bedford students together</span></li>
<li>Holding an all school assembly featuring <b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">a local police office and a METCO student</b><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
following an incident where the officer had physically subdued the student</span></li>
<li>Showing a <b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">videotaped
METCO alumni panel</b><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> discussion to faculty</span></li>
<li><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">Instituting our</span><b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> EXCEL program</b><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> to academically support students moving into higher
level academic classes for the first time, and</span></li>
<li><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">Creating the </span><b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">inter-district Tenacity Challenge</b><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> to give African American and
Latino/a students an annual opportunity to compete in four areas: historical research,
literary analysis, artistic expression and math and science learning. (6 minute
video at </span><span class="MsoHyperlink" style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"><a href="http://www.tenacitychallenge.com/">www.tenacitychallenge.com</a></span><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">
)</span></li>
</ul>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><u>District Prioritizes and
Institutionalizes the Work Across All Four Schools</u></b></div>
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During the past seven years, the whole district has focused on closing
the equity gaps that result from structural inequalities and that are
perpetuated both by stereotypical thinking and implicit bias.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Achieving equity has been one of our three or
four <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">annual strategic district goals</b>,
and a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">district-wide Equity and Diversity
Committee </b>comprised of teachers, counselors and administrators has
generated: <o:p></o:p></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li>·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Full-day professional
development workshops in cultural proficiency and difficult conversations about
race </b></li>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">K-12
literature audits</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> and lesson planning around new titles by authors who are
racially diverse</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">the establishment of our </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Interracial Parent Advisory Council</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">, and</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">an outreach campaign to teacher training
graduate programs to </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">recruit more
educators of color</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">.</span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> </span></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; text-align: justify;">
<o:p> </o:p><u>This work has been accompanied by:</u></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">a host of
teacher generated initiatives</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> inside and outside the classroom, for
example:</span></li>
</ul>
<br />
<!--[if !supportLists]--><br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">an
overnight hiking trip for a group of METCO and resident student 5<sup>th</sup>
graders, and an interracial lunch group at JGMS<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">support
for student initiatives like the Chain Reaction committee at JGMS, </b>and<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: 1.0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l2 level2 lfo3; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">teacher-led
anti-racism workshops during our annual professional development EdCamps<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">the addition of a </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">middle school Tenacity Challenge</b></li>
</ul>
<!--[if !supportLists]--><o:p></o:p><br />
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<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Courier New"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Courier New";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">o<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">over 120 faculty,
staff, alumni and community members volunteer </b>to support the high school
and the middle school Challenges that impact about 250 African-American and
Latino/a students annually,<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-align: justify; text-indent: -.25in;">
</div>
<ul>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">our </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Calculus
Projects</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> to prepare African-American and Latino/a students to take calculus,</span></li>
<li><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">major changes to the </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">middle school social studies curriculum (civics and Facing History and
Ourselves Civil Rights)</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> and beginning changes to the high school curriculum,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;">including the </span><b style="text-indent: -0.25in;">Teaching Tolerance curriculum</b><span style="text-indent: -0.25in;"> for morning circle at Davis with
accompanying assemblies, and</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;">transparent
communication</b><span style="text-align: justify; text-indent: -0.25in;"> around racist and anti-Semitic incidents.</span></li>
</ul>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></b><b><u>Yet So Much Still To Do</u></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Despite this work, equity gaps persist, and many of our students of
color still feel that they are the “other” in our schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some of our white students express confusion
over hearing some of their African-American students using the “N” word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hurtful comments, sometimes offered in jest,
tap into a history of such hurts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Well-intended “colorblind” perspectives held by some teachers prevent
them from developing genuine cultural proficiency, or from truly getting to
know their individual students of color.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Examples of disproportionate responses persist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: justify;">
In the next installment of this series on racism and the public
schools, I will share the important understandings and action steps that this
latest round of reflection and analysis, precipitated by recent incidents, have
yielded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The next installment: <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Way Forward.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
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<o:p> JS</o:p></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-87550226332896592922018-11-07T10:21:00.000-08:002018-11-07T10:21:17.326-08:00Bedford Educators: Professional Development on Election Day<br />
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As adults were heading to the polls, educators in Bedford
engaged in a wide variety of professional development across the district on
November 6<sup>th</sup>. The work was building-based, all connected in various
ways to building and district priorities.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Educators at <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bedford
High School</b> began orientation to the 3-year Challenge Success project.
Challenge Success, an independent non-profit organization affiliated with
Stanford Graduate School of Education, partners with schools and families to
identify and implement strategies that “decrease student stress, improve social
and emotional health, and promote academic engagement.” The program began with
training over the summer of a core group of educators, students and parent
representatives led by Principal Galante. The faculty learned about the program
this week from Challenge Success representative Jon Kleinman, who also
presented “The Well-Balanced Student” to parents on Tuesday evening. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The goal of the program is to broaden the definition of
success beyond a narrow one that overemphasizes grades, test scores, and
performance, allowing little time and energy for young people to develop
essential skills to become independent, ethical, and critical thinkers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As Principal Galante stated, it will allow
students to “live their best lives.” Following the presentation, educators
completed collaborative and reflective exercises connected to the program.
Students will take a comprehensive survey in the coming weeks which will lay
the foundation for deeper study and development of recommendations for
improvement.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Faculty at <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">John Glenn
Middle School</b> spent the morning in team-based parent conferences designed
to give families a more comprehensive view of their students’ academic and
social growth during these middle years.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In the afternoon, faculty engaged in several design challenges,
including one in which they needed to guide a sphero remotely. The purpose of
the work—even though it was set up more like a game or contest—was to give
faculty members some ideas about how they might integrate design challenges
into their curriculum. Such challenges engage participants in team work and
creative problem solving skills.</div>
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Elementary educators at the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Lane School</b> continued to hone their experience and skills in the
Lucy Calkins Readers Workshop, the core of their literacy program now in its first year of full implementation across all three grades. During the intensive small group sessions,
teachers collaborated using their students’ pre-assessment data for the current
non-fiction unit to develop strategy groups and individual learning goals. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The work continued into the afternoon as they
developed lesson structures, readings and other options for their student
groups.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Davis School</b>
faculty members spent the morning, first with a community building exercise,
followed by related workshops in social-emotional learning facilitated by
counselors or behaviorists paired with classroom teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Teachers chose two of the five workshops to
attend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Following lunch, teachers met in
their grade level teams to discuss the science work they have thus far been
able to integrate into their curriculum. This discussion was the culmination of
three professional development sessions connected to the science standards, the
goal this year being to unpack and prioritize the science standards, and to
deepen the science aspects of the integrated curriculum. The work is grounded
in the faculty’s shared study throughout this year of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Developing Natural Curiosity through Project-Based Learning</i> by Dana
Laur and Jill Ackers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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It was an exciting and inspiring day for educators across the district. We appreciate the community's support of this in-service professional learning. MLS</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-36709177059293183322018-10-24T07:10:00.000-07:002018-10-24T08:16:02.307-07:00 Laying the Foundation for K-12 Guidance and Counseling<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "" "arial" "" , serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">In recent years we have all come to
understand the significance of social-emotional learning to a student’s overall
development and progress. We have a better understanding of the emotional
conditions that best support academic learning, among these being a sense of
belonging, of mattering, of being known and understood by their teachers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We also know that without self-regulation and
resilience, a student is much less likely to learn and thrive in school or at
home. Helping students feel safe AND helping them develop the dispositions, independence and
sense of self that are needed to strengthen learning has become an important focus
of our work across all of our grades.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At
the same time, the social-emotional complexity of children has also increased,
with greater numbers and percentages of students coming to school with anxiety
or a history of trauma that can potentially interfere with learning and
developing strong relationships necessary to it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "" "arial" "" , serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">We see this rise in acuity among all demographics,
among majority and minority members of racial and income-differing subgroups.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "" "arial" "" , serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">In responding to that need, the
district leadership team has become increasingly aware of the importance of a
coherent, coordinated K-12 guidance and counseling program. We have effective
counseling programs, interventions, services, and supports in place within each
of our schools, but we recognize the need to coordinate and facilitate those
programs more closely K-12 in order to develop the coherent program that will
be most effective for students and their families. Last spring, we created a
K-12 Program Director position for Guidance and Counseling and hired Alicia
Linsey to fulfill that role.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Alicia
comes to us from Lexington High School, where, as a guidance counselor, she has
played an important leadership role in national guidance counselor
organizations. She brings to Bedford a deep understanding of social-emotional learning, a strong commitment to equity, and a powerful set of skills and relationships derived from her years of experience running a college counseling business.</span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "" "arial" "" , serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">Knowing that the 6-12 Guidance and
Counseling role has traditionally been a full-time position in itself, we are
working to develop the necessary infrastructure to make the position and
program development manageable and successful. Early this fall, then, we also
created a K-5 Guidance and Counseling Coordinator position. Paula
Francis-Springer, an exceptional counselor at the Davis school, has been appointed to this
position. Highly respected both for her direct service to students and
families and for teaming with Principal Benoit as a school leader, she will
continue her counseling work at Davis, but in addition will receive a stipend
to help coordinate the K-5 aspects of this larger program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These two positions will help us to become
more effective in helping students navigate the transitions from 2<sup>nd</sup>
to 3<sup>rd</sup> grade, from 5<sup>th</sup> to 6<sup>th</sup> grade, and from
8<sup>th</sup> to 9<sup>th</sup> grade.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "" "arial" "" , serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">The 18-19 school year will serve to
lay the groundwork for this program. To that end, Alicia has arranged for
quarterly K-12 Guidance and Counseling meetings. During these sessions,
counselors are reviewing data, such as the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)
and presenting grade level programs and curriculum to the K-12 team with the
purpose of collectively identifying common threads. Simultaneously, counselors
will observe one another across the district to determine similar services and
programs and identify areas of need. The K-12 meetings will also act as a
conversational platform to begin to align department goals and objectives.
While there is current parent outreach, the department aims to expand resources
for parents/guardians. This concerted work will inform next steps for the
2019-2020 school year.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "" "arial" "" , serif; font-size: 11.0pt;">As a district, Bedford is deeply committed to the important work of social-emotional learning and pleased to announce this plan for strengthening our program. MLS</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-53656417482760524602018-09-27T17:20:00.005-07:002018-09-27T17:20:37.753-07:00<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>LEGACY MCAS AND MCAS 2.0 RESULTS AND SCHOOL SAFETY UPDATE</b></div>
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<b>MCAS RESULTS</b></div>
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<u>Introduction.</u> The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released the MCAS and accountability results at noon today, September 27th. Student results will be delivered to the schools over the next several days and will be sent out to families as soon as possible. This memo is a preliminary sharing, but district leaders will be doing a deeper dive in each area to analyze our results and determine adjustments to instruction, curriculum, or supports.</div>
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We are in a testing transition that has extended over the past several years. Students in grades 3-8 took the MCAS 2.0 in ELA and math for the second year in 2018. The first year of the test, 2017, served as the baseline for the new test. Improvement targets were set for all students and for each subgroup based on those 2017 results.</div>
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MCAS 2.0 is the new state assessment, which tests students’ knowledge and understanding of the Massachusetts Frameworks in ELA and Math, both of which strongly reflect of the Common Core Standards. These Common Core standards focus on higher order thinking skills in relation to text, and therefore align closely with the Bedford Public Schools’ core focus on strengthening students’ analytical thinking skills. However, where for quite some time we have taught students how to use textual evidence to support claims about the fictional literature that they read, having them do this with nonfiction is a relatively new focus. Developing these skills K-12 is presently our central strategic priority.</div>
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Meanwhile, the Science assessments and the 10th grade ELA and Math assessments, referred to as Legacy MCAS, reflect the old standards, with a small degree of the new standards layered in.</div>
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<u>Results Overview.</u> Overall, the following information shows excellent achievement and growth at the 3rd – 5th grade levels, with 4th and 5th grade showing the strongest results. In the 6th – 8th grade category, 7th and 8th grade reflect moderate overall achievement, with poorer showings in our subgroup categories like special education and low income students. The 6th grade’s scores are disappointing and require a much more detailed causal analysis. The exiting news is that the Lane School integrated the Common Core well before either the middle or the high school, and its strong scores reflect this. With our new, “all hands on deck focus on literacy”, particularly the development of students’ abilities to independently comprehend complex non-fiction, or paired fiction and non-fiction texts, we are confident that the middle school’s results will become much stronger.</div>
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The high school continues to score in the high range for math and ELA, (90% Advanced and Proficient in math, and 96% in ELA), but we have dipped in the past few years. This decline, while small, particularly given the strength of the programs that support our most struggling students, is something that we are anxious to better understand and address. While Bedford’s high needs population is larger than most of the districts that are scoring higher, our mission is to bring all of our students to Advanced or Proficient levels.</div>
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<u>Preliminary Details.</u></div>
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The Lane School (grades 3-5) met or exceeded their improvement targets for all students and in every subgroup in both English and math. The performance of 5th grade students in ELA was exceptionally strong, in the 98th percentile for achievement of all students across the state. 90% of fifth grade students met or exceeded expectations in this very challenging ELA test. The math performance dropped a bit in grades 3-4-5, though that was the case in the state overall. There are</div>
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some areas of concern in the grade 3 ELA performance. Overall, the Lane earned 92% in improvement targets, and is thus identified as “Meeting Targets.” They are in the 94th percentile when measured against other similar schools in the state.</div>
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At JGMS, the “all student” group met improvement targets, and the lowest performing students (identified the previous year) improved but fell short of their target. Several of the subgroups in math and ELA did not meet their targets. In grade 7 ELA, 64% of students met or exceeded expectations, in the 84th percentile statewide. In grade 8 ELA, 68% of students met or exceeded expectations, also in the 84th percentile statewide. 68% of grade 7 math students met or exceeded expectations, in the 93rd percentile; 66% of grade 8 math students met or exceeded expectations, in the 83rd percentile statewide.</div>
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Overall, JGMS earned 64% in progress toward improvement targets, and is thus identified as “partially meeting targets.” They are in the 71st percentile when measured against other similar schools in the state.</div>
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The 2018 tenth grade MCAS tests in ELA and math, like the science tests, were MCAS legacy for the last year. The 2019 tests will all be MCAS 2.0. In the 2018 ELA test, while “all students” exceeded their target, students with disabilities declined. MCAS math performance held steady for “all students” but declined for students with disabilities and the lowest performing students (identified the previous year). Building leaders and program administrators are working with the results to identify additional supports and instructional adjustments. With the high school, as with middle school, strengthening literacy instruction across all subject areas, which began as a priority in 2017-2018 will take time to have full effect on such measures as MCAS. 10th grade Math scores were 90% Proficient and Advanced, with 71% or our students scoring Advanced. In ELA, we were 96% Advanced and Proficient, with 71% scoring Advanced. In Science, we were 92% Advanced or Proficient, reflecting a strong upward trend. Overall the high school earned 56% in improvement targets, and is thus identified as “partially meeting targets.” It ranks in the 76th accountability percentile.</div>
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The science MCAS test, administered in grades 5, 8, and 10 is not yet a “new generation” (2.0) test, but is rather an “MCAS legacy” test. Improvement targets were set for this test, as with the MCAS 2.0. While science performance fell across the state, especially at grade 8, our science results improved. At grade 5, students in every group exceeded their targets with the exception of English learners (formerly called ELL students), who met their target. Students in grade 8 groups also met or exceeded their improvement targets. In 10th grade science, all students in measured groups exceeded their targets with the exception of students with disabilities, who met their targets.</div>
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<u>The New Accountability System</u>. Part of the transition in 2018 is to a new accountability system, which we will be explaining and writing about in more detail in the coming weeks. There are several additional factors now considered in the accountability rating: progress toward attaining proficiency for English learners; chronic absenteeism (more than 10% of enrolled days) measured in grades 1-12; advanced coursework completion at the high school (11th and 12th grades enrolled in at least one advanced course); assessment participation (95% requirement as measured over two years).</div>
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Overall the Bedford School District earned 72% and is thus designated as “partially meeting targets” (districts from 75-100 are designated as “meeting target” so this percentage should not be interpreted as a “C-.”) Statewide, 17% of districts are designated as “meeting targets”; 75% of districts are designated as “partially meeting” targets.</div>
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As Commissioner Jeffrey Riley indicated in his briefing to districts earlier this week, this is a new accountability system and is thus a year of learning and taking a breath, and a year to celebrate positive improvements. We have a number of things to celebrate with MCAS 2.0, especially at the elementary level, and have sure steps in place to strengthen student learning as measured by these more complex tests.</div>
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<b>PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL SAFETY IN THE BEDFORD PUBLIC SCHOOLS</b></div>
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<u>Overview. </u>Schools have always attended to the safety of their students, whether through thoughtful dismissal processes, teaching students to respect each other’s personal spaces, or promulgating rules regarding and consequences for dangerous behaviors. But of course, during the past two decades, we have been forced to add to those practices a set of protocols and capital investments aimed to prevent and respond to catastrophic emergencies that put students’ and staff’s lives at risk. At the same time, with more and more students experiencing trauma in their lives, we have needed to evolve clear and effective responses to prevent self-harm or the harming of others. And, we have become acutely aware that effective learning does not take place when students do not feel emotionally safe, whether from bullying or malicious teasing, sexual harassment, racism, or social isolation.</div>
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<u>How We Prepare for Crises</u>. Several years ago, in the wake of Sandy Hook, we convened a task force to review our safety plans and procedures, many of which had been in place ever since Columbine. These included a district-wide Crisis Committee and regular “lock down” drills at all four schools. The task force, comprised of school personnel, school resource officers, parents and security professionals, recommended, and the school committee approved, that we:</div>
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move to the more flexible A.L.I.C.E. protocol in lieu of the more rigid lock-down response,</div>
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lock all doors and create lines of sight (either by space modifications or the installation of front door cameras) to all front doors, so that visual confirmation may proceed admission of visitors to all of our schools,</div>
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add a special film to large plate glass doors and windows to prevent a shooter from being able to shatter glass to gain entry, and</div>
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continue the critical work of educating our students to be upstanders to stop bullying and to provide critical information should they hear about potential dangers.</div>
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<u>Improvements Planned for This Year.</u> Presently, we are exploring a few technical improvements to our safety systems. We plan to implement a communication capability that would enable every staff member to immediately alert all police vehicles of an intruder, which will save minutes in response time, and key in the exact, and ever changing location of said intruder. Also, thanks to the suggestions made by several parents and staff, we intend to implement an identification process for visitors that will add a layer of safety to the existing visual recognition process, because not all visitors are known to the school receptionists. As part of this plan, we are looking to add a vestibule to the front entrance at Lane, since it is the only school that presently does not have one.</div>
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<u>Balancing Safety with Privacy- Cameras and the Challenge of Dangerous Bus Behavior.</u> We have long sought to balance safety concerns with privacy needs, and have resisted calls to install cameras in our schools. However, over the past few years we have experienced a range of dangerous behaviors on a number of buses- the nearly full buses on several Davis and Lane Bedford routes, and the elementary bus that takes over an hour and a half to bring students home to Boston. The behaviors have included students getting out of their seats, student to student conflict, throwing objects, etc. For the first time, we are considering adding cameras to these specific buses, keeping in mind that buses are the one place that groups of students are unsupervised during the school day, and we cannot afford to have monitors on each bus. While we have monitors on the METCO bus and have taken other creative measures, the length of the ride presents a tremendous behavioral challenge. Stay tuned for notice of an opportunity for family input on this issue.</div>
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Next week: Emotional Safety JS</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-74532717772853591502018-09-13T13:18:00.001-07:002018-09-13T13:18:23.482-07:00What's Love Got To Do With It?- Opening Day Reflections<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">WHAT’S LOVE GOT
TO DO WITH IT? <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">After a long hiatus, Assistant Superintendent, Mary Lou Sallee,
and I are back in the blogosphere, and are aiming for bi-weekly posts to start
the year off right!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The school year is off to a great start, despite last week’s
grueling heat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we toured the
buildings, we could feel the positive energy, the excitement, and the
commitment to learning that our exceptional staff expresses on a daily basis.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And seeing the smiling, laughing, and
sometimes nervous faces of all of our students certainly eased our summer
adieus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">New Faculty and Staff</span></u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you may be aware, teachers return for two
days of meetings, professional development, and mobilization around the
district’s key, pre-K through 12 priorities, just prior to the long Labor Day
weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And prior to that we welcome
and orient our new faculty and staff- over forty this year- an exciting
addition of new talent, energy and ideas for our four schools.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Among these are three new assistant
principals, and two seasoned educators filling new positions- K-12 English
Language Learner Program Director, and K-12 Guidance Director, about whom I
will share more information in a subsequent blog post.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Heartfelt</span></u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the most moving sessions that I sat in
on, as I navigated my way past the carefully fenced off construction staging
area at Davis School, included all of the guidance and special education staff,
as well as the teachers of our “specials” like library and music.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a ritual that is repeated annually, the
group reviewed a long list of students identified as needing some special,
“from the start” attention to ensure a successful school year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whether academically challenged, emotionally
struggling, socially disconnected or physically impaired, each student was
reviewed in a two way sharing- one to inform the teachers about the students
who will be in their classes, and two, to invite the teachers, who see all of
the students over the course of the year, to brainstorm with the support staff
about how to best meet the students’ needs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I have rarely felt so much love expressed in one room!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The depth of knowledge about each child that
these educators possessed, and the thoughtful, deeply caring way that they
discussed how to help him or her move forward in the new year, were nothing
short of awe inspiring.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">The following example, names changed, captures the spirit of the
conversation, which lasted for several hours, as the team worked through an
extensive list of students both in regular education and with special education
IEPs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Let’s talk next about
Felix.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has shown some patterns of
dysregulation throughout the year, and he tends to self-isolate,” began the
special education program administrator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>“Yes, Felix,” chimed in the music teacher, “the Felix with the green
eyes, he’s such a love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He could
definitely use a male buddy to help him feel like he belongs.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I know just the student,” responded the
librarian- Damion-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“he would definitely
take him under his wing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plus, they both
really like legos.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Educating children, of all ages, is an act of love.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our faculty and staff pour their hearts into
their work and into their students.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A
wonderful colleague of mine from another district wrote a poem that I think
expresses this beautifully-<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the deeply
felt hope and expectations that our families feel, the awesome responsibility
entrusted to our educators… one that Bedford’s educators take ever so deeply to
heart. JS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Parents’
Night<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">One by one the tidy classrooms across the courtyard <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">are going black.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Parents filter out toward their cars<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and headlights flicker across the windows.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">But there she is at my desk, smiling out of a
shapeless coat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">It isn’t just the heavy Russian accent that makes it
hard.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I lean my head toward what she has to say<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">about her daughter Katya with, I see now, the same shy
smile--<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">her daughter Katya who, too, lingers at my desk after
class. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">She burns a trail of smoky words:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Katya
loves reading very much,<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">she
has problem with hearing -- she wants to write like Tolstoi --<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">she
liked so much last year’s English teacher--</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I
thank him thank him for the rest of my life</span></i><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">When she breaks off, eyes eager at my face,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I pull my head back, clearing for a smooth landing,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">but the sentences I pave out about the course, about
Katya’s progress,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">somehow crumble and fall away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Her forehead wrinkles; she veers sideways and lifts
off again,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">circling back over the territory, words thick and
halting.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">I watch but cannot follow<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">though I try until the halls are dark.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">On the drive home the mother’s words are large-winged
moths<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">that brush soft bodies against my hair<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">and flutter thinly at the windshield.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Suddenly I see the nonsense of my replies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Please,” she’d been saying, racing against the
custodian,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">rattling his keys as he came, snapping off lights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Please,” she had said, those keys jangling toward my
door --<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">“Can you love my child?”<span style="mso-tab-count: 4;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 6;"> </span>--Mary
Burchenal<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-49911102894121849342018-03-22T11:39:00.001-07:002018-03-22T11:39:52.287-07:00March 9th Professional Development: Pre-K-12 Ed Camp Day<span style="font-family: inherit;">Educators across the district participated in our first pre-K-12 Ed Camp Day on Friday, March 9th. The event was a great success, so we look to use this district-wide model in the future. The basic premise of Ed Camp is that teachers teach each other in a wide variety of educational topics organized around a broad educational principle. Educators are free to sign up for the workshops that interest them so long as space permits. The program is launched in the late fall with a survey of faculty interests so that the offerings meet educator needs and priorities.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This year's program was entitled "A Learner's Odyssey" and featured 111 speaker-presenters, including 5 student presentations, over 80 different sessions. Each educator could participate in four 50-minute workshops ranging from teaching and learning strategies; meeting students' social and emotional needs; understanding diverse students, including the Hanscom experience, which featured a field trip to the base; educating boys; strategies for assessing writing; oral storytelling; and engaging in difficult conversation with adults. The final session of the day offered wellness options, including yoga, print-making, and trivia.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The day began with a keynote speech by Audrey Jackson, a fifth<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> grade teacher at the Joseph P. Manning Elementary School in Jamaica Plain, and 2016 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. </span> Ms. Jackson inspired faculty and staff with her experience and wisdom, including video clips from her fifth grade class. She integrates social-emotional with academic learning to foster an environment that works for all her students. She described the process as differentiating for accessibility and engagement. All her students are working toward the same standards but from different starting places as she helps them to develop both self-awareness and social awareness. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here are a few follow-up survey comments from educators:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">The day was a confirmation of the high level of professionalism, dedication and enthusiasm for teaching and providing a great education for all Bedford students.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">Guest speaker was super motivating. Differentiating session provided great resources such as the pyramid model for "all students will be able to; most students will be able to; and some students" for easy use. The day had good energy.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">I have two concrete ideas that I want to implement in my classroom. There is a new app I want to try for some lessons, and I am thinking hard about how I want to change how I lecture and give notes.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-line;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;">I have new tools and ideas to add to my classroom. And the guest speaker helped me feel good about the way my classroom is currently operating.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-42128552900565039842018-02-07T12:39:00.000-08:002018-02-07T12:39:00.468-08:00January Professional Development across the District<div style="text-align: left;">
Bedford Public Schools values collaborative learning among its faculty as key to our model of continuous improvement. The most important of these opportunities are our full professional development days, one each in November, January, and March. What follows is a brief description of our work in each building on <b>January 12th</b>. </div>
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<b>Davis: </b>Teachers
at Davis spent most of their day working on various aspects of reading
instruction facilitated by ELA Curriculum Director Andrea Salipante, centered
on their shared reading of Katie Cunningham’s <i>Story: Still the Heart of Literacy Learning</i>. They began with
completing their own reading interest inventory, the principle being that one
needs to understand herself as a reader in order to support students in their
reading journey. They moved from there through different methods for
identifying the reading interests of their students as well as student
attitudes toward reading, all with the aim of meeting students where they are in
order to help them grow and develop as readers. Students need to see themselves
as well as learn about others in the stories they read. The day culminated with
teachers examining their own classroom libraries in light of the essentials of
a high-quality classroom library. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Lane</b>: Lane
teachers also focused on literacy instruction in a workshop launched by Andrea
Salipante, then facilitated by reading specialist Kate Berrien and teachers
Megan Farrell, Peter Ferguson, and Amy Campbell. The goal of the day was to
help teachers understand more deeply how the Readers Workshop plays out within
the classroom day-to-day. The teacher
leaders shared videos of their own work with students and answered questions
about how to help students set goals and develop effective reading habits by
reading “just right” books for their level. In this way, as Kate pointed out
“weaker readers can be stronger thinkers” because they have some choice over
what they read, and they are reading at their level. Teachers also worked on
conferring with students, one of the most powerful tools in helping readers to
develop. The day culminated with time for teachers to work in consultation with
facilitators on their own current classroom situations and practices.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>JGMS</b> professional development included an engaging speaker/expert on Mindfulness during the morning
session, and then, in the afternoon, the teachers were highly energized by the
“treasure hunt” activity focused on literacy and different learning styles. This activity is similar to one high school teachers engaged in last fall, so all 6-12 teachers now share the experience of highly engaging yet challenging problem solving in cooperative groups.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>BHS</b> faculty focused on student
behaviors impacted by emotional challenges. As Heather Gallante observed in her Friday memo to faculty, <span style="text-align: justify;">“While we have committed to focusing on literacy as a district
this year, it must be noted that literacy can cover a number of areas. As
part of an end of year survey, many faculty members expressed an interest in
learning more about managing challenging students in an effort to help those
students find academic and personal success. We have looked at literacy
through our academic lens. Now we are going to shift and cover
social/emotional literacy as it pertains to our 'hard to reach' students."</span><span style="text-align: justify;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Their guest speaker, Catherine Conway, presented the Concept of the Crucial Cs, through which "</span><span style="text-align: justify;">educators can develop short-term intervention strategies and long-term prevention strategies that focus on helping students meet their needs in positive ways and...build mutually respectful relationships between teachers and students." Students need to <u><b>C</b></u>onnect, feel <u><b>C</b></u>apable, <u><b>C</b></u>ount, and feel <u><b>C</b></u>ourageous. Often misbehavior is an attempt by a student trying to meet one of these needs. Teachers who can recognize what need a student is trying to meet can help that student meet the need in a more positive way.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: justify;"><b>Ed Camp Coming in March</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: justify;">Our instructional and technology coaches have been working for weeks under the leadership of Donna Clements with input from the district leadership team to design our first-ever K-12 EdCamp experience in March. The idea of an EdCamp is that teachers offer workshops to other teachers. This approach to professional development began at the high school several years ago, moved into the middle school, and began last year at Davis and Lane. The experience has been so successful for participants and presenters alike, and this year teachers have suggested we try a K-12 experience. We are all excited about this day, and we'll be sure to share the details with you.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="text-align: justify;">MLS</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-32194206160994816502018-01-02T11:58:00.002-08:002018-01-02T11:58:51.779-08:00MCAS 2.0 and AccountabilityGreetings, and Happy New Year!<br />
<br />
At the school committee meeting on December 12th, I presented our MCAS 2.0 results, along with our Accountability ratings for the Legacy MCAS test still being administered at the high school level and in science grades 5 and 8. Here are a few highlights from that presentation as well as the full presentation for your review.<br />
<br />
We are in a testing transition in grades 3-8 Math and English Language Arts (ELA) that has extended over the past several years. For two years (14-15 and 15-16) we participated in the PARCC test along with many other districts in Massachusetts. While we received very little item analysis from these tests, we were able to glean several areas in which we needed to make progress: in math around applying concepts to new situations, choosing multiple correct responses, and showing-explaining work; and in ELA around analysis of multiple complex texts, especially in written or essay responses. These skills are part of the Common Core standards in ELA and math, released in 2010 and revised in 2017. We have been working as a district on aligning our instruction to these standards.<br />
<br />
The MCAS 2.0 test, which students in grades 3-8 took for the first time in spring 2017, sets a <b>baseline for the new test</b> and as such gives us a solid starting point in a more coherent testing system. While it will take several years to adjust to the new test, Bedford has taken necessary steps to strengthen our instruction and student performance. Lane School's classroom teachers are involved in deep professional development around the teaching of reading so as to meet the learning needs of each student. JGMS teachers are collaborating more closely around the teaching of non-fiction reading and writing to further strengthen students' abilities to analyze and draw conclusions from multiple complex texts. In math, we are working closely to pace the curriculum and build in the more complex math practices required by the standards, and by these tests.<br />
<br />
When you review the attached presentation, you will see in more detail how students performed and the steps we have taken. Families received detailed individual reports on their students' performance in the fall.<br />
<br />
In terms of accountability, there are no accountability ratings for these new MCAS 2.0 tests, so the Lane School and John Glenn Middle School have no ratings. (That is true of all schools grades 3-8 across Massachusetts.) At the high school, we slipped to Level 2 for the first time because several subgroups (such as High Needs students) did not make the required proficiency gains in math and science, although we did make necessary gains in English. As is our practice each year, we analyze the learning needs of any student who scored below proficient and adjust instruction, student schedule, and course material to meet those individual needs.<br />
<br />
Later this month the district will be sending its annual "report card" to all families in the district. This report card, issued by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), will give even greater detail on the district performance as well as other factors, including information about student demographics and teacher licensure. You will receive this report via email, and it will also be posted on the district website.<br />
<br />
Here is the link to the presentation given to school committee in December.<br />
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<a href="https://www.bedfordps.org/sites/bedfordps/files/uploads/2017mcas_2.0_and_mcas_accountability.pdf" target="_blank">MCAS 2.0 and MCAS Accountability</a><br />
<br />
If you have any questions, please feel free to write or call.<br />
<br />
MLSUnknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-30176302217849435522017-10-23T06:23:00.001-07:002018-01-02T11:39:43.493-08:00Teachers take a Deep Dive into Curriculum during Summer MonthsWhile the summer months provide a welcome change of pace for students and teachers, many Bedford educators renew themselves over the summer by engaging in collaborative reflection on their practice with an eye toward improving some area of their curriculum or instruction. In our experience, collaborative work on curriculum over the summer is one of the most effective ways to advance our work as professionals. For that reason, Bedford now commits about half of its professional development budget to these efforts.<br />
<br />
The summer of 2017 saw extensive training and curriculum development for our <b>co-teaching teams</b> in all four buildings. This year the training was led by our own experienced teachers, rather than by consultants, with very good results. While we needed consultants to help us get the training underway, we have now developed enough capacity to deepen the work using teacher leaders and coaches. Co-teaching teams will also have release and common planning time during the school year to continue developing and refining their work with students. Co-teaching will be presented to school committee by participating trainers and teachers in early December.<br />
<br />
Several projects were devoted to integration of higher order thinking skills as part of out literacy implementation in 17-18: Second grade teachers continued to deepen their work on integrated learning that encourages critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity; elementary math and science coordinators and teachers developed more authentic and integrated performance tasks; JGMS social studies teachers strengthened the literacy skills sequence and training within their curricula; grade 8 ELA teachers strengthened the thematic unity of their course, incorporating a culminating project that knits their course together.<br />
<br />
Equity and diversity continue as priorities, with work being done on the Teaching Tolerance curriculum at Davis, as well as extensive work increasing access to and student engagement in advanced courses at the secondary level. Educators continued development of the un-levelled courses in senior English, African-American Studies and Asian-American Studies. Both courses have nearly doubled their enrollment for the 17-18 school year.<br />
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The summer curriculum work was presented to school committee earlier this month and is linked below.<br />
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<a href="https://www.bedfordps.org/sites/bedfordps/files/uploads/2017_summer_curriculum_development.pdf" target="_blank">2017 Summer Curriculum Development</a><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-30975399782091019742017-09-27T11:19:00.000-07:002017-09-27T11:19:10.568-07:00<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>HATE SPEECH, CITIZENSHIP AND LITERACY/ THE LANE AND DAVIS BUILDING PROJECTS: A BUSY NEW SCHOOL YEAR BEGINS</b></div>
<br />
As August turned to September, an energized faculty entered buildings thoroughly prepared by our custodial, maintenance, computer technical and clerical staff, and anticipated the advent of over 2600 students by readying their rooms, reviewing their curricula, and finalizing their lesson plans. The work of the year ahead, complex, varied, and tailored to the multiplicity of needs of the many children before us, was nevertheless framed during the opening days around key instructional priorities for the next several years.<br />
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<b>KEY K-12 FOCUS</b><br />
Recognizing the rise of hate speech and intolerance that this summer we saw splashed across our news media, the importance of making sure that all of our students feel safe formed an important starting point for the District's back to school message. Embracing the democratic mission of public schools, particularly the promotion of equity and the development of independently thinking, thoughtful and socially aware future citizens, our schools take seriously the challenge of strengthening our students' literacy skills- their ability to independently distinguish between fake and real news, discern credible sources, and derive meaning from complex texts.<br />
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While Bedford is pleased with our high rankings in Boston Magazine and Niche.com, we recognize that too many of our struggling readers find it difficult to read complex non-fiction, and that even many of our stronger middle and high school achievers are not adept at doing so independently. This is one of the ubiquitous realities that the Common Core seeks to address, and for us it represents a conscious honing of the Bedford Public Schools' longstanding focus on developing our students' complex thinking skills. To make significant progress, we have come to recognize that responsibility for strengthening students' literacy cannot be relegated to the elementary grades alone, but must be integrated into the thinking skills and content learning that take place in the upper grades. There it must develop in conjunction with our students' learning how to think like historians, like scientists, like mathematicians or literary critics. While our work will come to focus on strengthening writing, listening and speaking as well, our starting point is reading comprehension. <br />
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As we key in on literacy, we are simultaneously working to help all students take responsibility for their learning by engaging them in regular goal setting, curation of their own work, and active reflection on their progress. While this metacognitive learning is valuable in itself, it is also a critical motivator for students who may find the perseverance needed to make significant progress in reading comprehension difficult to sustain. <br />
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Finally, we are integrating technology to support these two objectives in a number of ways, but two that will be particularly apparent in all four schools include: 1) using a variety of devices and the internet to support research projects and what we call "just in time" research, which includes both planned and spontaneous classroom inquiries where students search out answers to questions that come up in class or pursue individual interests to enhance a lesson; and 2) students developing digital portfolios of their work and their learning reflections. For this latter endeavor, we hope to leverage adolescent, and even younger, students' out-of-school digital literacy both to deepen their engagement in their portfolio work and to nurture an awareness of their learning processes just as they have a heightened awareness of their social identities.<br />
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Helping all of our students learn to make sense of complex text, particularly non-fiction, is central to our mission of preparing students for college and career. But also, I believe that literacy in its fullest sense is critical for a healthy democracy, and it is, at its heart, an issue of equity. Without the ability to be critical and independent consumers of complex information, to be able to draw inferences, to evaluate sources and to support arguments with evidence, our future citizens will have to depend upon others to make sense of the world. Without sufficient background knowledge and the analytical know-how to distinguish fact from fiction, platitudes from policies, or data-derived positions from dogma and demagoguery from anywhere on the political spectrum, each generation's creative potential to solve society's problems will be severely curtailed.<br />
<br />
<b>BUILDING PROJECTS</b><br />
<br />
Happily, we opened the Lane School this September having completed the building portion of the addition/renovation both on time and on budget. New England Builders, our general contractor, offered to pay for a party for all Lane families, replete with bouncy house and ice cream, to commemorate the opening of the new wing. Hats off to our entire team, our facilities department, TBA architects, the town boards for their support, and of course the Lane School Building Committee, the Lane School principal, and the school committee for all of their input, expertise, confidence and recognition of need. The parking lot reconfiguration and expansion will be completed next summer, and fortunately the over $300,000 in unspent contingency funds will pay for the majority of that project.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, after months of diligent examination of 15 different options, the Davis School Building Committee recommended to the school committee that we move the four integrated pre-school classrooms presently housed at BHS to an expanded new wing at Davis (which should obviate the need for adding square footage at the high school), and add another seven rooms there to accommodate Davis School enrollment and program driven needs. Please visit our website at <b>www.bedfordps.org</b> to view the <i>Davis School Building Committee Report</i> and the <i>Davis School Building Addition Powerpoint Presentation</i>.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-11761861936386395592017-05-26T10:34:00.000-07:002017-05-26T10:34:05.808-07:00HATE SYMBOLS ONCE AGAIN APPEAR IN BEDFORD<br />
<br />
Since the start of this school year, swastikas have been found in middle and high schools in Reading, Lexington, Newton, Brookline, Billerica, Cambridge, Harvard, Stoughton, Canton, and Marblehead, and on the garage of an African-American family in Arlington. The Anti-Defamation League reports that in 2016 Massachusetts ranked fifth in the nation for the number of anti-Semitic incidents, with reported offenses jumping from 50 in 2015 to 125 in 2016. During this school year, as well, racist graffiti has been reported to have been found in Attleboro, Concord, Newton, Harvard, Cambridge, Brockton and Natick public schools.<br />
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Sadly, Bedford has not been immune to this intolerable trend, as indicated by the high school's discovery of two swastikas on Friday and the middle school's discovery of a swastika on Monday. Both school principals sent messages to their parent communities and they are addressing the issue with their students in a variety of ways. Despite these and potentially other unreported incidents, perpetrated by what I believe to be a tiny minority, all of the work that the schools and our community partners have been doing since the spate of anti-Semitic incidents four years ago has not been for naught. Our JGMS students' welcome poster/letters below that, to our knowledge, appeared spontaneously three days ago and have expanded ever since are a wonderful testament to the power of this ongoing work. They are a much more accurate reflection of the values that our school community holds dear.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-84267562616379941922017-04-28T12:18:00.002-07:002017-05-01T08:17:35.607-07:00Dear Readers,<br />
<br />
We apologize for the long delay in updating our blog.<br />
<br />
On Tuesday evening, April 25, I presented the findings of the Religious and Cultural Holidays Task Force, the product of nearly a year of deliberations involving an interfaith committee of students, teachers, parents, community members and clergy. On May 7, the school committee will hold a second meeting to consider and vote upon the policy and procedural recommendations of the task force. <br />
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As you will see from the school committee presentation linked below, our challenge was to address the following concerns related to how to the Bedford schools presently address religious holidays. With no formal policy regarding, or consistent practice for dealing with, religious observance-related absences, homework and tests, and no clear standard for determining on which days there should be no school, these concerns have included:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Too much interrupted learning</li>
<li>Lack of clarity for students and families and inconsistent practice regarding homework and tests on high holidays,</li>
<li>Inequitable treatment of different faith and cultural practices, and</li>
<li>Insufficient student awareness of diverse beliefs and traditions</li>
</ul>
<div>
Presently, the schools have no school on Christmas Eve day and a half-day for students on Good Friday. There has been an unwritten practice of having no homework or tests on the Jewish high holidays. There has typically been little to no acknowledgement of the other faiths' observances, and little education other than a history of world religions social studies unit in middle school.</div>
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<a href="http://www.bedford.k12.ma.us/sites/bedfordps/files/uploads/religious_and_cultural_holidays_task_force_presentation.pdf">http://www.bedford.k12.ma.us/sites/bedfordps/files/uploads/religious_and_cultural_holidays_task_force_presentation.pdf</a><br />
<br /></div>
<div>
In the context of the increasing diversity of our student body, the task force was charge with recommending a set of clear policy guidelines that promote:</div>
<div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>Respectful acknowledgment of different faiths/beliefs </li>
<li>Opportunities for students to learn about and respect each other’s different beliefs and traditions</li>
<li>Equitable treatment of students whose families hold different beliefs</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
While <u>minimizing interruption to learning</u></div>
</div>
<div>
<u><br /></u></div>
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To those ends, the recommendations include:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><u>Minimize disruption of learning by:</u></li>
<ul>
<li>having no school only on Christmas Eve day when the high rate of student and teacher absence would preclude academic progress</li>
<li>Allowing for normal teaching and learning on all religious and cultural* holidays, including new material, tests, quizzes and homework</li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><u>Have a policy that:</u></li>
<ul>
<li>Excuses all absences due to observance of religious or cultural* holidays upon parent request</li>
<li>Provides for extra time for observant students to make up missed work or tests and the expectation that teachers will work with students to do so in a manner that minimizes the burden</li>
<li>Includes major religious holidays and cultural* holidays as designated by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on the school calendar</li>
</ul>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><u>Provide professional development that:</u></li>
<ul>
<li>Orients teachers’ awareness of the new policy and school calendar so they can anticipate student absences and plan, whenever feasible, not to give tests or major projects.</li>
<li>facilitates increased faculty awareness, sensitivity and readiness to support students who miss work due to these observances.</li>
<li>Ensure the promotion of awareness of diversity of beliefs through morning announcements of impending holidays (whether week day or week end) </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul></ul>
<ul>
<li><u>Pilot for two years and review</u></li>
</ul>
</div>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
Please see presentation for specific policy recommendations and survey results.</div>
<div>
<b> </b> JS</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-58353257416696781262017-02-27T18:40:00.002-08:002017-02-27T18:40:23.594-08:00<div class="m_4721609068592920828gmailmsg1" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in;">
<span class="m_4721609068592920828gmailmsg"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Dear Students, Families, Faculty and Staff,</span></span><u></u><u></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">During February break, President Trump reversed President Obama's guidance to schools to allow transgender students to use the bathrooms that they feel are appropriate to their gender, and instead argued that the question of which bathrooms transgender students may use should be left to the states.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span class="m_4721609068592920828m-3310614617200098064m-5850245940993798400gmail-leadsnippet"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Massachusetts passed its own law in 2016 giving "transgender people the right to use r</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">estrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identities."* Unless the Supreme Court were to rule otherwise, the Massachusetts law will remain in effect whether or not the federal government supports this position. The Bedford School Department's actions are governed by the Massachusetts statute, which closely aligns with our District's values.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Those values clearly uphold the right of all of our students to be themselves, to be free from discrimination and disparate treatment, and to feel safe to embrace their identities. We also safeguard the right of all of our students to voice their opinions, respectfully, even if those opinions are not embraced by a majority of their peers. Ensuring the intellectual and emotional safety of all of our students is a personal priority, and I pledge to work closely with all members of our school community to protect, particularly, the most vulnerable among us. In the context of national news regarding the travel ban and deportations, this may mean our Muslim students or immigrant families' children. In the context of a particular class discussion, it may mean a student with conservative political views.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">At the end of the day, learning is undermined when students feel unsupported or under attack, or when they are afraid to voice their beliefs. As educators, we cannot sit idly by and allow that to happen.<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Sincerely,<u></u><u></u></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 9.5pt;">Jon Sills</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1481346698420517267.post-42351111875589235762017-01-30T08:40:00.002-08:002017-01-30T08:40:23.013-08:00<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">A Message to Faculty, Staff,
Students and Families<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">While I am certain
that we have faculty, students and families who are opposed to President
Trump's recent executive order and faculty, students and families who support
it, I am equally certain that we have students and faculty who are personally
impacted by it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Please be alert to the
very real possibility that we will have students in our classes or fellow
faculty members who will be anxious, afraid and/or feeling personally attacked
by the travel ban. At the very minimum, anxiety, fear and a feeling of
being targeted or diminished impede learning, and we all must do our utmost to
take care of our students' and our fellow faculty members' feelings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I would add for
families that if you have a concern about your child's well-being relative to
this evolving situation, please contact the classroom teacher, school
guidance counselor or administration to let them know.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">School Committee Approves FY18
Budget <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Last Tuesday, the School Committee voted to approve
a $39,061,561 FY18 budget, which is a $1,320,858 or 3.5% increase over the FY17
budget. Following a multi-month process
that included a line item review of the present budget and a reduction of
$209,080 from the Superintendent’s initial increase request of 4.05%, the final
vote aligned the FY18 budget with the Finance Committee’s 3.5% guideline. Confident that this budget will support the
District’s 2017-2018 educational objectives, we will present the FY budget to
the Finance Committee on February 2. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">The principal drivers for the FY18 budget include
our growing student population, expansion of our in-house special education
programs, additional personnel needs to support academic success for all
students, and instructional technology integration. Key among the enrollment-driven needs are additional teachers at Lane and JGMS and added
custodial support for increased space at Lane and Davis; and included among our
special education additions are special educators and teaching assistants for
our SAIL, STEP and Integrated Pre-school programs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Were it not for the success of these special
education programs and the corresponding savings derived from educating
increasing numbers of students in-house (several million dollars per year), it
is fair to say that we would have found it much more difficult to meet this
year’s guideline. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Please
go to </span><span lang="EN" style="color: #444444; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN;"><a href="http://www.bedford.k12.ma.us/district/school-committee-budget/files/superintendents-fy18-budget-request">Superintendent's
FY18 Budget Request Final</a> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">to view the Final FY18 Budget
Presentation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Governor’s FY18 Budget<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Good
news for Bedford out of the Governor’s office.
While there is some controversy
over whether the Governor’s FY18 includes the funding that the Commonwealth’s
schools need to address their many challenges, Bedford is unquestionably the
beneficiary of two of the Governor’s decisions: the increase of Bedford’s
Chapter 70 (Education Foundation Budget) funding by $242,761 and the inclusion
of $513,000 Military Mitigation Aid for the first time in a governor’s budget
request!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Bedford
has had to fight each of the past ten years that the Massachusetts State
Legislature has agreed to channel funding to Bedford to mitigate the fiscal
impact of our Hanscom students, given that the federal government has failed to
adequately meet its obligation. Fully
committed to continuing the relationship with Hanscom AFB that contributes so
much to the unique character of our students’ education, we have fought with
some success to convince Massachusetts lawmakers of the fairness of our
position- that Hanscom contributes $8 billion annually to the region’s economy,
but Bedford alone shoulders the cost of educating its high school age
children. Thanks to a collective effort,
including the relentless advocacy of Representative Ken Gordon and Senator Mike
Barrett, the legislature passed a bill two years ago that made this commitment
permanent, but unfortunately it has nevertheless been subject to the
unpredictability of the annual appropriation. While successful at the end of
the day for each of the past several years, it has taken a lot of time and
energy to see the process through. So Governor Baker’s decision to include it for
the first time in the governor’s budget thankfully makes it all the more
certain that the bill will be funded in FY18. JS<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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