To: Michael GreenRe: May Monthly Special Services ReportFrom: Deb KernenDate: May 2, 2014
Special Services Summer School Summary
WPS Math & Reading Summer School
Summer School at Woodland Primary School will be offered again this year. This year we will include reading as well as math. The success rate of this program on student growth has been astounding. Students benefit by intense, focused instruction that will help them gain some basic skills they are lacking. All skills and concepts are directly related to the Common Core Math and Reading Standards. The teachers keep the day quite varied with an assortment of activities; seat work, whole group lessons, small group work, math games, reading games physical movement, songs/cheers, recess, snack, literature, academic vocabulary, computer skill practice, drills and more. After every session the team meets and evaluates each student’s progress. Progress monitoring data will be collected and reviewed in planning the next steps for the students. Teaching and activities for the following day are adjusted based on daily response to the intervention provided. We want it to be somewhat different than the typical school day. As a result of the school-wide grade level math assessment given 3 times a year, students are identified who would benefit from additional support and practice with fundamental math skills, particularly Number Sense. Students selected are also in need of continued reading instruction at their level. This year we will service 40 students with 8 staff members. Michelle Lewellen, Stacia Aschoff, and Mary Gronseth will be working with Marilyn Paul and Mary Chick to provide instruction to 20 incoming 2nd grade students. Louise Chambers, Cyndie Long, Sandy Austin and Kyle Jolley will work with Keri Strickland to provide instruction to 20 incoming 3rd graders. They will all work to provide an effective intervention with deliberate, purposeful instruction and practice critical concepts and skills that students have not gained and internalized during the school year. Students are pre, mid and post assessed during Summer School. Since this program will be held at the beginning of summer, we will assess the students in September to see if they retained the skills taught. We would like to intervene earlier with younger students to help them gain vital skills and understanding so they may experience success with reading and mathematics sooner. Summer School will run from June 23-July 3 from 9AM-12PM.
Social Skills Summer Camp
Social Skills Camp will be held at WPS and focus on social and life skills. Our 3 school psychologists-Jenn Barry, Monica Siegrist and Joe Crawford will be teaching the camp. Activities will emphasize friendship-building, positive interaction, emotional management, organization, following directions, and study habits. The program will include a variety of interactive tasks, such as cooking, games, art, focused instruction and group relations. It will run from June 17-27 from 9- 12.
WIS Summer School Math Camp
WIS Summer Math Camp will be taught by Heather Cage, Jessica Wanke, and Jacelyn Sparks. It will run from June 23-July 3 from 9-11.
Targeted population: Soon to be fifth graders who are identified as 1’s based on common math assessments and teacher input. These are students who need re-teaching with skills that were taught in fourth grade. We will be asking all the fourth grade teachers to identify their top three candidates for the math camp program. We will analyze the students’ common math assessments and ask for teacher input.
Activities planned: We agreed that our summer camp program will be fun and engaging. Therefore, we will want to keep the students on the move! We will organize math centers, and create mini lessons to go along with math games. We will also be doing project based learning and letting students guide their own understanding of math concepts and real world applications.
Projected outcomes:
1. Students will have a deeper understanding of fourth grade math standards.
2. Students will have a preview of what to expect in fifth grade.
3. Students will have a positive attitude towards math, and gain more confidence with what they know.
Summer Math Credit Recovery Program
Target Audience: High school students who have failed at least 1 semester of math.
Course Offered: Algebra 1, Geometry, and Advanced Algebra (the 3 classes required for graduation)
Program Goal: Students will pass the summer course and recover 0.5 math credits, returning to their planned math track in the fall.
Instructional Hours: 90 hours with digital curriculum and highly-qualified teacher in learning lab. Less hours if students test out of specific content.
Course Length: 3 weeks at 30 hours per week
Assumptions: Students have mastered at least 1/3 of the standards from their previous attempt at the course. Regular courses are 90 hours long. Students should test out of 1/3 of the course objectives, making it a 60 hour class. (This assumption was incorrect last summer as students did not test out of units.)
How does it work?
Math Credit Recovery uses the Flipped Classroom model. Students receive their initial direct instruction from the digital curriculum. The blended learning program (online and in-person) continues in the Open Learning Lab daily, where students receive one-on-one tutoring from a highly-qualified teacher.
Students use Apex Learning digital curriculum to retake previously failed courses to master academic content and recover course credit. Because students work at their own pace and teachers provide individualized instruction, the amount of time spent retaking a course is reduced and students can return to a four year graduation track more quickly.
In this model, students begin each unit with a prescriptive pretest to assess what has been learned, and identify areas of deficiency. Completed unit pretests interact with the course outline and the teacher Grade Book to direct students to instruction and activities aligned with the un-mastered objectives. By allowing students to focus their study, prescriptive pretests help students efficiently recover credits toward graduation.
Extended School Year (ESY) for 2 special ed students:
According to this student’s IEP we will be providing services the 1st 2 weeks we are out of school and 2 weeks prior to school starting to avoid the serious regression this student experiences over the summer break. We will run the program 3 days a week for 3 hours. Bussing will be provided. Felicity Ottis and Lisa Gonzalez will be teaching during that time.
We will be providing services for a medically fragile home bound special education student with severe/profound disabilities that we’ve done in years past. The major focus of the instruction focuses on using his communication device. Kim Dyson who does his current home visits during the school year, will provide services 5 times a week for 1 hour sessions for the 2 weeks prior to school starting.