Think abouts….
This is a good reminder that doing PLC work well is anything but simple and that looking at student data minus the supports to adjust instruction equals no difference in student learning:
This short ASCD piece is a few months old, but if you haven’t read it yet it is a great and elegant synthesis of many important ideas:
To Do:
Be sure to register your school team for the BRYT work session and lunch: June 23, 9-2 in-person @Pacific Crest MS. Participants include: building admin team, Student Success Clinician, Student Success Instructor, and Grad Coach. We will timesheet cert staff.
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If you haven’t yet, don’t forget to get your Equity Stance in before you take off for the summer. These will be used/referenced at the August 12 Leadership Retreat.
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Please share this with your teachers today:
Bend-La Pine Schools will continue its implementation of a “no zeros” policy as a grading practice at the middle and high school levels through the end of the 2021-22 school year. A 50% represents an F, or half the points possible on a traditional 100-point scale and will be the lowest possible grade reflected on any assignment or assessment. Therefore, students will earn an F (50%) for not completing the work or completing it at a less than a passing mark yet are not severely penalized below a failing mark (50% rather than 0%). Note, the “no zeros” policy does not apply to 1-4 or 1-6 point grading scales or the MYP / IB grading scale. This is reflected in the BLPS Grades and Credit administrative regulation IKA-AR.
This article: The Case Against the Zero published by Doug Reeves provides the rationale for this practice.
HS Building Leaders:
The members of our Equitable Grading Think Tank are reading Grading for Equity, by Joe Feldman this summer. If you would like a copy, let Marta Broberg know by June 22, and she will order it for you. Here is a list of the Equitable Grading Think Tank members and an overview of the goals and scope of the work for the team.
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From Amy Tarnow: We are excited to bring the Canvas Leadership Virtual Workshop to our administrative team on August 19th, 2021. This virtual workshop will take place from 8:00-3:00, with a break from 11:00-12:00.
The purpose of the Virtual Canvas Leadership Workshop is to provide 6-12 leaders with the best practices and strategies needed to support a meaningful Canvas implementation at their site. The single most important element of a quality implementation is the engagement and support of the leaders who will be side by side with teachers, students, and families throughout the school year. Upon completion of this Institute, you and your leadership team will have the knowledge and skills required to lead forward in Canvas with confidence and competence through the development of a plan for Canvas that will be actionable and specific to your school & its culture.
Space is limited to 30 participants. To register, please complete the one-question form linked here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfeZfMLa-QfXWIA–0r_PX8qeNUnXPSiDi_-suI2bxjIZnGVw/viewform
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Information:
From Dave Van Loo: Below is a link to a Google Drive folder containing resources from this year’s six high school meetings on achieving excellence and equity through effective teaching. Right now the folder contains “final” versions of six slide decks we used in our meetings. Also included is a summary document highlighting many of the big ideas from these slide decks organized by meeting, and a document containing talking points about why focus on these teaching strategies. My hope is that the summary documents might be a useful quick tool or ‘CliffsNotes’ type of resource when you want to refer back to anything we hit on in our meetings.
Feel free to let me know if you find any of this helpful (or not), if any of it is confusing or unclear, or if there are other types of related resources you would like to see added.
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1LYWwPj1dALhk3c308B8kCqmfCwpUQpCV?usp=sharing
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Summer School Programs Schools that are hosting summer school programs from August 2 – August 19 may need some support from staff members whose normal work calendar has them in the building during those dates. Please let your custodians, office managers and/or other front office staff know about this so that they aren’t surprised when they return to your building in August and may be needed to support Summer School.
If you anticipate needing more support, you can ask other secretarial staff if they are interested in time sheeting additional hours before the start of their normal work calendar. They should code it as “Summer Program rate of pay” and will receive $36.45/hour (which is the classified summer school stipend amount of $3500 divided by 96 hours).
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Calendar:
All Admin meeting June 21@4:00 – in person at the Ed Center; McNenamins after
BRYT work session and lunch: June 23, 9-2 in-person @Pacific Crest MS. Participants include: building admin team, Student Success Clinician, Student Success Instructor, and Grad Coach. We will timesheet cert staff.
Mark these items on your calendar for August:
August 12- Leadership Retreat @Riverhouse Convention Center (will NOT include ICCL this year)
August 16@ Ed Center Board Room 9-11am – Equitable Grading Think Tank Meeting
August 17- District Safety Day
August 18-19 – Taking it Up
August 19, 8-3– Canvas Leadership Virtual Workshop
January 3rd-28th are the dates for the YouthTruth survey next year. Our HS participation rate needs improvement, so we will be asking you to think about how to get better results next year!