School Board Quarterly Work Session
Minutes
May 29, 2009
The May 29, 2009, Quarterly Work
Session of the Chesterfield County School Board was held at The School
Administration Building at
Present:
Marshall W. Trammell, Jr., Bermuda; Dianne E. Pettitt, Clover Hill;
David S. Wyman, Dale; Patricia M. Carpenter, Midlothian; U. Omarh Rajah,
Matoaca; Dr. Marcus J. Newsome, Superintendent; Michael R. Packer, School Board
Attorney; Kathryn Kitchen, Assistant Superintendent for Business and Finance;
Dr. Dale Kalkofen, Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Support; Dr. Ed
Pruden, Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Administration; Dr. Lyle
Evans, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources/Administrative Services; Tim
Bullis, Director of Community Relations; Shawn Smith, Assistant Director of
Community Relations; Carol Timpano, School Board Clerk; and Carolyn Wright,
School Board Deputy Clerk.
Demonstration of School and Central
Data "Dashboards"
Dr.
Gillespie, Director of Technology
Gabriele
Beyer, School Web and Database Services Manager
Mark
Driscoll, Application Support Analyst
Dr. Kalkofen explained the IDS Dashboard
had been built by a CCPS technology team, saving the school system in
fees. A purchased dashboard would
require annual fees for the license and maintenance of the product.
Dr. Kalkofen called on Dr.
Gillespie, Ms. Beyer, and Mr. Driscoll to share a brief history of the CCPS
Information Delivery System (IDS) Dashboard, demonstrate the features, and
provide detail on future plans.
Dr. Gillespie explained the IDS Dashboard
was a top layer over much work that had been done underneath. The work began in 2006, was rolled out in
stages with constituents (CCPS teachers and administrators) having used pieces
of the data as it became available. She
noted the Dashboard allowed access to the data "underneath".
Dr. Gillespie pointed out because
the IDS Dashboard was built by CCPS technology, it could be easily changed;
that it was dynamic—changing everyday.
She stated Dr. Newsome was the first person trained on the Dashboard, though
there had been changes since he trained.
As people were trained, suggestions for improvement or additions were
built into the system. Dr. Gillespie explained how the Dashboard would gather
data, organize it, and deliver a snapshot view to the various
constituencies.
Dr. Gillespie observed the IDS Dashboard
matched the Design for Excellence academic
excellence for all students enabling CCPS to evaluate individual students and
teachers; allowing comparisons of student groups; and providing anything needed
to be sure every child excelled and no child was left behind. The IDS Dashboard also ensures a knowledgeable
and competent workforce due to the teacher component. She stated teachers can observe data comparisons
on student performance, comparing the current year with previous years. She noted IDS reached down to the teacher
level, where teachers can find personal data for self-evaluation of their own skills
and weaknesses.
Dr. Gillespie called on Mr. Driscoll
to share the trainer view of IDS. Mr.
Driscoll stated the IDS was first built at the school level with six different
reports and training began in the fall of 2007; teachers were then trained. Twenty-two reports with additional tabs and
filers were available. He explained the IDS
Dashboard had the capability to compare schools by level, exposing which
instructional programs, etc., were working.
For example, data from a comparison of Algebra I for all in the middle
schools showed the program was a success.
He added trends as well as student test results by teachers could be
tracked. Also IDS can become a means for
teachers of grades three through twelve to learn (and observe) from each other
through data comparison, showing that something great was going on in
classrooms that could be shared or replicated.
With the filters available, comparisons can be made by specific year, school,
course, teacher, student by grade, ethnicity, and/or course levels, SOL scores,
as well as by NCLB categories. Also
available are attendance and discipline data.
Dr. Kalkofen stated that IDS was
good for teachers because it provided them with important data (student
profiles) on the first day of school allowing for immediate identification of
those students who may need extra help based on the previous year's
performance. She noted that CCPS highly
successful schools that had defied statistical odds had used this available
data to provide enrichment/remediation to those needing it and to track a
student's growth as they received help.
In response to questions and
comments by Board members, Dr. Gillespie acknowledged the data gained from IDS
was protected data, therefore, the public would not be given access to this
system. However, a principal could give
printed out data about a child to his/her parent(s)/guardians, etc.
Board members acknowledged the IDS
system was very necessary and impressive, but would not show everything about a
student. They pointed out two missing
items: student initiative and family
impact. All educators in attendance agreed.
Update on World Languages
Linda
Szwabowski, Instructional Specialist for World Languages
Ms. Szwabowski reported that CCPS
offers six languages to middle and high school students: Chinese, French, German, Japanese, Latin, and
Spanish. In addition, more than 9,000
students in 14 Chesterfield elementary schools (Alberta Smith, Bellwood,
Evergreen, Gates, Grange Hall, Harrowgate, Marguerite Christian, Robious, Salem
Church, Elizabeth Scott, Watkins, Weaver, Wells, and Winterpock) receive world
language instruction each week in Chinese, French, or Spanish—45 minutes of
content-integrated instruction per week, or about 3 hours of instruction per
month. The elementary world languages
inclusionary model requires that all students participate in the resource
class. The framework was adapted from
Fairfax County Public Schools, modeling current research on language acquisition,
best practices, and research on learning and the brain. She added that due to budget constraints,
there are no plans to move forward with implementing the program at the next
schools in line to begin the program—Enon,
Ms. Szwabowski added that CCPS has
offered world languages to middle school students since 1970, but enrollment is
projected to drop significantly next year probably due to the reduction in
full-time teaching positions and the necessity to double-block certain courses
in order to make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).
By contrast, Ms. Szwabowski
explained that high school enrollment in world languages would be up
approximately 5% next year with Clover Hill High being the only high school to
offer six languages.
Ms. Szwabowski explained the role of
standards and research in curriculum revision, noting that to ensure CCPS
students had more accessibility to world languages and to be successful, study
skills and more practice opportunities were embedded in the curriculum
revisions of the programs. She stated
the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) research for world languages were
being used as a basis for K-12 curriculum development and revision. For professional development, teachers were
offered 57 workshops specific to world languages since September 2006, in
addition to in-services and professional learning communities for department
chairs.
Ms. Szwabowski acknowledged the
world language program in CCPS is an integral part of the Superintendent's Design for Excellence six-year plan goal
'academic excellence for all students', and 21st century skills. In conclusion, she confirmed that CCPS is
committed to increasing enrollment at all levels, and to provide opportunities
for all students to learn a second language in an articulated K-12
program.
Briefing on Curriculum
Changes/Curriculum Academy
Dr.
Aaron Spence, Director of Curriculum and Instruction
Dr. Spence stated the current
curriculum revision was undertaken to expand on the important work of the
previous curriculum revision which accomplished specific goals, including:
1. A written curriculum for core courses K-12 supported
by music, art, and PE;
2. Alignment of curriculum with state standards and the
Virginia Department of Education framework for essential knowledge, skills, and
understandings in the core areas;
3. The development of pacing guides; and
4. The first iteration of benchmark testing and SOL based
assessments.
The current revision, building on
the previous revision, embeds rigor, relevance, and relationships as well as 21st
Century skills into the written, taught, and tested curriculum. As a result of the Phi Delta Kappa (PDK) Curriculum
Management Audit completed in 2007-08, the curriculum revision also addresses
audit findings, including:
1. Consistency—quality and depth of written curriculum
across all grade levels/content areas;
2. Quality—consistent expectations from school to school;
3. Precision and Specificity—alignment between
objectives, assessments, resources, and teaching strategies needed to enhance
teacher preparation and curriculum delivery;
4. Scope of Assessment—assessments aligned with state
objectives and 21st Century skills; and
5. Integration of Technology—inclusion of
technology-based lessons designed to support 21st Century skills.
Dr. Spence emphasized the suggested
five standards from the PDK audit that guided the development of the revised
CCPS curriculum.
1. Control—curriculum centrally defined and adopted;
2. Direction—curriculum responsive to national and state
expectations;
3. Equality and Equity—curriculum consistent across the
district;
4. Feedback and Assessment—curriculum inclusive of both
formative and summative assessments, and any associated programs; and
5. Productivity—curriculum designed to attain better
results in CCPS over a period of time.
Dr. Spence reviewed the timeline for
the process of the curriculum revision, beginning in 2003 with the development
of the School Board's Vision; the examination of the implications of the Vision
for classrooms in 2003-04; work with teachers/staff focused on the implications
and the 21st Century Knowledge and Skills Model for Self-Directed
Learners was developed in 2004-05; during the 2006-07 school year, PDK was
engaged to conduct a Curriculum Management Audit which provided further
direction for a curriculum revision; the Design
for Excellence 6-Year Plan was being developed while the PDK audit findings were addressed and
long-range plans for curriculum revision were expanded to prepare students to
be successful in the 21st Century.
These plans include a multi-phase revision; the first year of the
revision to focus on embedding 21st Century technology into the
written curriculum.
Dr. Spence stated in preparation for
the curriculum revision, a team of curriculum experts from the Instruction
Division was trained in the International Center for Leadership in Education
(ICLE) framework for rigor and relevance, the model CCPS staff chose to make
the connection between getting students to think at higher levels and centering
instruction around the application of learning (learning by doing)—two key
instructional practices for making learning dynamic and inspiring.
During the 2008-09 school year,
phase one of the curriculum revision began.
The revised curriculum is scheduled to be shared with all CCPS staff at
the
Adjournment
There being no further business, Mrs. Pettitt moved the May 29, 2009, School Board
Quarterly Work Session be adjourned at 12:15PM; Mr. Wyman seconded, and the
motion was unanimously approved.
__________________________
Chairman
__________________________
Clerk