Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.

~John Cotton Dana

Instructional Insight
All learners will be exposed to the Common Core State Standards this year. For a Common Core resource that provides teacher videos, strategies, and lesson plans, see http:// www.teachingchannel.org English Language Arts This fall, all students in our district (K-12) were given a baseline writing prompt. Teachers will give the prompt again to measure growth throughout the year. Next year, the focus of the prompt K-12 will be on argumentative writing. Mathematics Delta Math Readiness screeners were given to all students in grades 1-8 this fall. Results help find gaps in learning as we transition to Common Core and recover from the summer slide. In addition, the results help students prepare for the MEAP while also boosting students prior knowledge. Hats off to our District Math Team leaders for helping to bring the plan to all teachers. We also thank all of the teachers for administering the screeners, looking at the data, and organizing interventions to meet each student at their current level. Social Studies The draft framework for the new standards called College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) will be released at the National Council for Social Studies (NCSS) conference on November 17, 2012. Stay tuned for more information.

Important Dates:

Early Release Dates for Secondary: September 19 October 17 December 5 January 23 April 24

Thanks to our District Writing Team leaders for helping to bring this idea to staff members across the district and also thanks to those of you who were involved in administering/scoring the prompt with fidelity! There has been an increased focus on writing throughout the district as we venture into the rigor of Common Core.
Science On the horizon for Science are the Next Generation Science Standards. The final review will be this December with a possible adoption by Michigan early in the spring of 2013.

Next PLC Date for Elementary Staff: November 26

Next District Writing/Math Team Meeting: Writing Nov 12 Math Nov 14 8:15-11:15 in the Board Room

Smarter Balanced Assessment In pr epar ation for the Spr ing of 2015, you can view sample assessment items at http://www.smarterbalanced.org/sample-items-and-performance-tasks (head to the middle of the page and select ELA or Math) OPS Professional Learning Communities With two early release dates under our belt, we are very pleased with the work being done district-wide as we all dive into the process a little further; teachers continue to examine data, create curriculum maps and develop more common assessments. A report by Doug Reeves (2005) showed the main components for successful schools: 1. A focus on academic achievement 2. Clear, common curriculum 3. Frequent assessment of student progress and multiple opportunities for improvement 4. Emphasis on nonfiction writing 5. Collaborative scoring of student work Based on research, the concentrated work that our staff is doing in PLCs will yield positive results. Thanks for all you do! Go Dawgs!

OSIC Dates for 2012-2013: September 26 November 28 February 13 April 17 May 15