Academic Excellence

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OrchestratingAcademic Excellence

• Center Grove Community School Corporation

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Shared Academic Vision

• To develop the best academic programs for all
  Center Grove Community School students. We want
  all students to achieve to their highest
  potential.

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Curriculum Mapping

• Purpose To share and develop a challenging K-12,
  teacher-designed curriculum which avoids gaps and
  overlaps in instruction and which documents K-12
  learning experiences.

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Curriculum Mapping Status

• Teachers are working to document what is taught
  and assessed in each classroom and at each grade
  level to avoid gaps or overlaps in instruction.
• Teachers have selected the most important Indiana
  math standards to teach and assess in each
  grading period.
• Teachers will repeat the process with
  reading/language arts, science and social
  studies.

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Curriculum Mapping Status

• Grades 6-12 teachers in each school have selected
  the most important Indiana standards to emphasize
  in each subject.

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Curriculum Mapping Status

• K-12 teachers are in various stages of developing
  tests or other assessments given at the same time
  to all students in the same course to check
  learning

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Curriculum Mapping Vision

• K-12 teachers will develop a district plan for
  reading/language arts (June 2008)
• Eventually all K-12 teachers will have for their
  grade level/course
• District level plans of the most important
  standards
• Grade or subject plans for instruction
• Tests or assessments that measure the standards
• Shared Assessments that frequently measure
  student learning
• Additional data from each assessment will be used
  to guide instruction.

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Curriculum Mapping Vision

• Teachers will have an updated individual plan
  each year.
• Students, parents and teachers will be able to
  view the district and grade or subject area plans
  for the school corporation.
• Teacher-led curriculum reviews will occur
  frequently to reflect changes in student needs.

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New Reading Adoption(Scott Foresman Reading
Street)

• We believe this series offers the most
  comprehensive approach to
• increase rigor
• foster independent reading
• provide strategic intervention for struggling
  students

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New Reading Adoption(Scott Foresman Reading
Street)

• My Sidewalks is the companion, supporting
  intensive intervention program for students with
  the greatest needs.

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New Reading Adoption(Scott Foresman Reading
Street)

• The program is based on current reading research
  and focuses on the use of
• whole-group instruction
• flexible, small group instruction matched to
  student needs
• independent reading

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New Reading Adoption(Scott Foresman Reading
Street)

• Over 540-960 leveled readers (books written for a
  variety of reading levels) are available for each
  teacher.

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New Reading Adoption(Scott Foresman Reading
Street)

• Allows for differentiation for high-ability,
  at-level, below-level and ENL students using
  leveled readers and focused vocabulary
  instruction.

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New Reading Adoption(Scott Foresman Reading
Street)

• K-5 textbook adoption was selected by a group of
  CG teachers.
• They received additional professional development
  in reading prior to last years materials
  selection.

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Waterford Early-Reading Software

• This software is currently being installed in all
  6 elementary buildings.
• Financed with a state grant.

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Waterford Early-Reading Software

• Individualized and leveled reading instruction
  occurs daily (15-20 minutes)
• Supporting materials available for school and/or
  home use
• Provides remediation, at-level, and accelerated
  literacy work from K-1

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Classroom Novels

• Issue To address teacher and parent concerns
  about students reading the same book more than
  once in different grades.
• Results
• Grades 3-6 common novel list created last year
• Two to four common novels were selected and
  purchased for each grade

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NCA/PL221 Goals

• This is the year that each school will select new
  academic target goals for both NCA accreditation
  and for PL221 state evaluation.
• Literacy has been a common theme among district
  leaders.
• Stay tuned as building steering committees select
  goals.

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Literacy Audit

• Purpose
• Examine current resources and practices
• Gather information to guide future decisions for
  professional development and literacy practices
• Recommend a literacy framework

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Literacy Audit

• Consultants have
• observed instruction in each building
• surveyed and/or interviewed parents, students,
  teachers and administrators
• examined resources and data

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Literacy Audit

• Results of the audit should be available to
  administrators in December.
• We plan to share this information with the Board
  and staff in the second semester.

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Instructional Coaches

• 2.5 literacy coach positions and .5 instructional
  coach position have been added at the elementary
  level
• A special programs coordinator oversees
• Literacy coaches
• Title I program
• High Ability services
• These positions are paid for through grant money.

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English as New Language Learners

• Created 2 full-time teaching positions for ENL
  instruction this year
• Increased learning materials for ENL students and
  teachers
• Provided professional development to West Grove
  teachers on working with ENL students in the
  general classroom.

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High Ability Task Force

• Our goal is to increase services to our K-12 high
  ability students.
• The state has a new law requiring schools to
  identify and provide services to high ability
  students in K-12.
• Task force groups are developing recommendations
  to better serve our students.

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Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment (CIA Cadre)

• This dynamic group of teachers is focused on
  professional development that will impact student
  learning.
• Completed action-research projects
• Attended differentiation conferences and
  implemented classroom strategies
• Investigating assessment practices
• Developing their leadership skills so they can
  positively influence their colleagues

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Technology

• High tech multimedia classrooms to enhance
  instruction being piloted by 119 corporation
  teachers
• Year 1 of a 3-year rollout
• Middle school technology standards
• Epsilen Project online courses and portfolios
• Grade 3 technology education

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Targeted Instructional Support

• OASIS
• Increased number of tutors from 5 in 2005 to 38
  in 2007.
• Tutors volunteer with K-3 students in 5 of our
  elementary schools
• Tutors work on literacy skills 30 minutes each
  week

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Targeted Instructional Support

• RTI
• Response To Intervention (RTI) is a program to
  identify students who struggle with specific
  skills and/or behavior.
• Provides a daily targeted intervention for 30
  minutes.
• Purpose is to reduce the number of special
  education referrals.
• Current interventions target reading.
• Math and behavior interventions will be the next
  phase.

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Kindergarten

• Kindergarten Camp
• Funded through the Johnson County CAPE Grant for
  early literacy
• Students (120) with the greatest academic need
  are identified through screening
• Students attend K-Camp to learn pre-literacy
  skills, phonemic awareness, classroom procedures,
  and enjoy reading and writing.

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Kindergarten

• Full Day Kindergarten (FDK) expanded
• 11 sections of FDK are offered. About ½ of all
  kindergarten students attend full-day.
• Program provides expanded curricular opportunities

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Creating Positive Relationships (CPR)

• We have replaced the Always Changing 5th grade
  adolescent education program with the CPR program
  to provide more consistency.
• CPR has provided a 6th grade program.
• This year the 7th grade program was added in
  response to parent requests.

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Summer Remediation Programs

• Funded through state remediation funds last
  summer.
• A two-week academic jumpstart program provided
  additional instruction to students in elementary,
  middle and high school.
• Instruction focused on math and reading/language
  arts.

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Middle School Courses for H.S. Credit

• First year world language courses were offered at
  both middle schools for high school credit.
• This year Honors Algebra I is now being offered
  for high school credit.

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Middle School Programming

• The Middle School Task Force is examining the
  best practices of Middle Schools.
• Our goal is to develop and implement the BEST
  middle school programs for our district.

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High School Redesign

• Has expanded teacher participation in the process
  of developing the best high school programs
• Is focused on exploring programming options to
  maximize student potential
• Has representatives visiting Denver, New York,
  Houston, and Portland, OR to view sample programs

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High School Redesign

• Parents from the Coalition of Visioneers have
  joined high school staff in developing program
  direction
• Paul Buck has provided leadership and
  cohesiveness for the High School Redesign Team.

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CARE

• The CARE alternative high school program offers
  all core courses needed for graduation.
• Two teachers work full-time with students.
• On-line components provide individualized
  instruction to meet student needs.
• 30 students participate in this program.
• According to state funding regulations, the
  student-teacher ratio can be no greater than
  151.

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SATs

• A higher percentage of Center Grove High School
  students are taking the SAT than at any other
  high school in the county.

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Advanced Placement

• CG successfully completed the national AP audit
  last year.
• With the addition of AP Spanish, we now have 20
  AP courses offered at the high school.
• In the past five years, six AP courses have been
  added to the high school offerings.

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Advanced Placement

• Brad Timmons, the AP coordinator, actively
  recruits students to enroll and complete the
  exams.
• Mr. Shockley speaks to parent groups at the
  middle schools each spring to encourage
  enrollment in Honors and AP courses.
• Goal To increase the number of CG students
  taking AP courses and taking the AP exams.

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National Merit

• Goal To have 20 National Merit finalists within
  5 years.
• Last year, 1 CG student was named a National
  Merit finalist
• This year, 5 CG students were named National
  Merit finalists
• High school administrators are developing a
  long-term plan to achieve this goal.

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High School Dual Credit Options

• CGHS offers 11 dual credit courses through area
  colleges and universities and is working to
  expand offerings
• High school administrators have met with 5
  post-secondary institutions to explore additional
  opportunities.

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Higher Expectations

• Higher expectations (from good to great) have
  been set for everyone
• A New Teacher Induction program emphasizes high
  expectations
• Early Release Wednesday provide ongoing
  opportunity for staff professional development

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Higher Expectations

• Administrative professional development has
  expanded
• CG is growing our own administrators through
  teacher-leaders
• New administrator professional development
  supports transition to Center Grove
• Administrators are planning their own
  Professional Development based on district needs
• Several PD opportunities including Cognitive
  Coaching, Curriculum Mapping Institute, National
  Staff Development Conferences and NCA are
  planned.

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Higher Expectations

• Professional development for administrators has
  emphasized
• Increased rigor of teacher evaluations
• Closer monitoring of new hires
• Classroom walkthrough expectations
• Knowledge of best practices in literacy
• Collegiality and common purpose have accelerated
  the growth of the team

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Higher Expectations

• The addition of two elementary assistant
  principals has added teacher support and allowed
  the principals to monitor instruction more
  closely.
• We have a focused effort to target recruitment
  for ALL POSITIONS to the best and brightest, and
  have increased expectations for evaluation and
  retention of employees.

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