Ms. Tracy Janes
Sunrise R-IX School District
Director of MSIP, Curriculum, & Instruction
2007-2008
The State Board of Education has established standards for the classification and accreditation of Missouri’s school districts. The standards have been reviewed several times and revised periodically to reflect changing conditions in our schools, as well as the changing demands and expectations of citizens and school patrons.
While the State Board and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education have a legal mandate to evaluate and classify public schools, the goal of the MSIP (Missouri School Improvement Program) process is to promote school improvement within each district and on a statewide basis. Our school district will be evaluated and classified early in 2008, and much preparation is needed in order to ensure our school is headed in the right direction – student and staff success.
The best way to improve student achievement is to have a solid connection between what is being taught and what is being tested. Focus needs to be set on the knowledge and process skills our children need to be successful at optimum levels on the MAP test and in real life applications. Sunrise School has narrowed the focus of curriculum and identified the most important things children need to know and be able to do. The staff has been trained to use the instructional practices known to improve student performance. Various actions have been planned, monitored, and assessed regularly throughout each school year. In coming years, plans will be modified to reflect new data, additional teacher needs, and continued focus on the improvement of student achievement, including MAP scores.
What are we doing?
We have taken great strides to improve professional development opportunities for the teaching staff. To name a few of the continuing professional development activities we have begun over the past few years…
1) Math PD Series – Four classroom teachers and I attended several group meetings hosted by RPDC through UMSL. During these meetings, mathematics lessons were presented and tested by all teachers to promote hands-on, cooperative learning for students. This group was also given the opportunity to attend the Missouri Math Academy for two weeks during the summer – this grant-funded program was a prestigious, yet vigorous training that proved overwhelmingly beneficial. This opportunity is a three-year commitment.
2) Communication Arts PD Series – Four classroom teachers and I will attended several group meetings hosted by RPDC through UMSL in September. We were guided to improve student achievement in reading, writing, and language through state-mandated grade level expectations. In addition, two teachers were given the opportunity to attend the Missouri Gateway Writing Project summer session through this series.
3) Technology – Several staff members have participated in the CSD Boeing Grant opportunity that provides professional development to enhance student use of technology. Also, several staff members have participated in writing grants to purchase up-to-date technology for the school building.
4) EATOnline Curriculum – Last year, all members of our teaching staff attended three days of training guiding them for revising our curriculum. All grade levels are re-writing communication arts, mathematics, social studies, and science curriculum on an internet-based program. This is a lengthy process that will continue throughout 2009. All curriculum is tied directly to the state-mandated grade level expectations and our local objectives. Soon we will begin to re-write curriculum for art, music, and P.E. During the writing stages, teachers will be teaching a combination of our current curriculum and state-mandated grade level expectations.
5) Balanced Literacy – Our district has had great success with the K-3rd balanced literacy program. Luckily, programs have recently surfaced for 4-8th, so we decided to take advantage of the consistent reading and writing strategies for K-8th. Balanced Literacy includes the integration of reading, writing, spelling, phonics, language/grammar, and word studies. Our students will be on a more smooth path to improve reading and writing skills through this program.
6) 6th-8th Middle School – In order to provide a more diverse curriculum to our students, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students participate in a modified-block schedule. This allows for six teachers to focus more clearly on their individual core subjects and exploratory classes. Students will attend Creative Writing, Literature/Reading, Math, Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Science, Social Studies, Spanish, Geography, Science Extreme, Careers, Character Education, and Speech/Debate.
7) Professional Learning Communities – In deciding to implement the exciting changes listed above, our staff needs to opportunity to come together and focus on common goals to assist our students in achieving the most success. Therefore, we delay the start of each Wednesday school day by an hour. During this time, teachers are focusing on rotating topics each Wednesday such as, balanced literacy strategies, curriculum writing, assessment, and book studies to improve our school focus.
Generous amounts of researching and planning have gone into the implementation of each of the above programs. Please take the time to thank each person at Sunrise. Everyone has welcomed change and put in many extra hours and effort – everyone from the office to the classroom.
With the support and participation of every member of the Sunrise School District, our students will be successful. I am looking forward to a productive year at Sunrise and if you have any questions regarding curriculum or assessment, please feel free to call me at (636) 586-6660.
Sincerely,
Ms. Tracy Janes
Director of MSIP, Curriculum, & Instruction