To: Michael Green
From: Asha Riley
Date: October 20, 2021
Re: Teaching and Learning
10 Minute Talks (new hire check ins):
Each year, I have the pleasure of meeting with each certificated new hire in the district to check in and discuss how their first few weeks of school have been.
These conversations help give me a sense of how well we induct and support our new staff. Feedback this year has been both positive and constructive. We learned our induction process made them feel welcome, prepared and supported. The time invested before the start of school with district staff and in the buildings was productive and largely helpful to them.
During these conversations, I also hear success stories, as well as challenges they are facing. With this information, we get a sense of how we need to provide continued support. This year, in particular, we learned our staff in specialized programs (like dual language and special education) could use more support around curriculum. Because their programs are unique, they need additional time and support to consider the specific and individual learning needs of their students. With this helpful information, we have now organized some time for these teachers (as subs are available) to meet with teachers in the same program to plan their curriculum lessons together.
We also learned we can do a much better job preparing classrooms for our new teachers. Most years we organize welcome baskets that include supplies, goodies, and professional literature and do room checks to ensure that the spaces are welcoming and ready for the new teacher to move in and set up. We learned that some classrooms were not in the condition we would have expected them to be for our new teachers. I will be working with our administrators to ensure we complete exit walks with each teacher before they leave a classroom to ensure it is empty and ready for the new teacher. It is an expectation that classrooms be completely empty and ready for new occupants to make their own.
During my meeting with each person, I use a Google Form to gather their degree of confidence in five categories. This helps our committee evaluate how well we prepared and supported our new staff at induction.
As you can see, most felt they clearly understood and were confident in how to access intervention and support services for students. They also largely felt confident and supported with logistical things like ordering supplies, using the phone system, being prepared for fire drills, etc. On the topic of assessment, you can see they felt somewhat prepared, largely because we had not given any at the time of the survey. They have since had training and support. Finally, you can see we had mixed levels of confidence with the curriculum. Again, those who indicated the most need for support were primarily from staff in special programs. We are currently responding with support and future plans to better prepare for those programs.
Assessment Update:
Students in grades 4-8, 9, 11, and 12 are participating in state assessments this month. Last spring, OSPI made the decision to shift testing from spring 2021 to fall 2021. This shift means students will take two state tests this year.
At this time, our current students are taking the test they would have completed last spring, so for instance, our 4th grade students are taking the 3rd grade test. The same 4th grade students will test again in the spring, but will take the 4th grade version.
The fall assessments have been abbreviated and extended/constructed response items were reduced or removed. Therefore, the data will not be comparable to data from years past. The data will likely reflect what we expected to see and often refer to as the Covid gap. While the results will give us a general idea of how Woodland compares to other districts, it will not tell us much about individual student learning needs. We are using our local assessment tools like Acadience to get a clearer picture of student achievement and are using data from these assessments to inform intervention plans.
As one might expect with a fall implementation of a state assessment, there are a few bumps in the road, mostly related to technical systems not communicating fully with each other yet (CEDARS and the state assessment system). However, for the most part, students are participating in the assessment with no major issue.
Usually, we receive test score reports for each student after testing. We were informed by the state they will not be providing score reports for individual students. The results will be accessible and can be provided at parent's request in February 2022.