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Essential Practice #1

Guaranteeing an Essential Curriculum

Receiving instruction that enables all students to meet or exceed state-adopted standards is a basic civil right. The process includes assurances that

• Existing curriculum properly supports the standards and accords with effectiveness research.
• District is providing support to teachers and administrators to present the curriculum at appropriate level of rigor as defined by the state assessment.
• Essential curriculum and supporting materials are the focus of daily instruction.
• Lesson plans, classroom activities, and frequent assessments are effectively aligned with the Essential Curriculum.
• Daily lesson plans are consistently comprehensive and available for review.
• Guaranteed Essential Curriculum documents drive daily instructional planning, classroom activities, and assessments.
• Assessment emphasis of daily lessons is be known
• Planning, instruction, and assessment of the lesson reflects rigor of the state assessment.
• For special education students, IEPs consistently serve as a source of planning, instruction, and assessment for all teachers.

SetPoint specialists work with school and district leadership and teaching staff to implement research-based practices, to ensure that all students benefit from the curriculum, and reach proficiency on state and national standards.

The transformation team will usually institute adjustments in time allocations and scheduling to give heightened emphasis on the three core subjects of reading, mathematics, and writing – not because they are where education ends, but because they are where it begins. In all subjects, SetPoint emphasizes explicit instruction combined with deliberate practice.

Reading

Determining up to 75% of academic achievement, reading must make up a large portion of the school day, especially in elementary years but even through grade 12.

Obviously the type of reading changes through the grades but the principle remains the same: creating a culture of reading produces a culture of learning. The goal is for all students to read at or above grade level , which then serves as the foundation for acquiring knowledge in all curricular areas: social sciences, humanities, physical sciences, and the arts. The reading goals are outlined in the 35Z90 plan, which includes:

• K-2: Explicit instruction, frequent assessment of early literacy skills, and time for read-to and read-with activities, to get each student to independent reader status as early as possible.
• 1-12: Appropriate instruction and substantial independent reading practice time (at least 35 minutes/day) to ensure that each student maintains or exceeds grade-level reading comprehension.

Math

The Z4 math plan follows the three elements defined by the National Math Panel as the basis for higher mathematical literacy that supports achievement in the physical and social sciences, as well as preparation for college and career.

The foundation for all mathematics is computational fluency. That starts with developing automaticity in math facts at appropriate levels for the student’s grade, and remediating students who have not achieved those levels. The other two elements are conceptual understanding – achieved through good instruction using a sound district curriculum – and procedural and problem-solving fluency, which is achieved through practice working problems linked to objectives and standards. The goals of the Z4 plan are:

• K-1: Explicit instruction in early numeracy skills.
• 2-5: Grade-appropriate concepts and problem-solving linked to standards, mastering on average 4 objectives per week, with focus in first part of each year on achieving automaticity in math facts:
• 2nd: Addition
• 3rd: Subtraction
• 4th: Multiplication
• 5th: Division
• 5-12: Grade-appropriate concepts and problem-solving linked to standards, mastering on average 4 objectives per week, with remediation if necessary.

Writing

Closely connected to reading, writing competence contributes to academic success across the content areas.

It can also be highly motivational, as students share their thoughts and their growing abilities at self-expression. Activities are selected from the strategies identified by the Carnegie Corporation’s Writing Next study as having a significant effect on improving writing ability, from development ofkeyboarding skills to frequent goal-oriented writing with regular feedback from teachers and peers. The goals of the NEO plan for writing include:

• Using portable wireless laptops, begin keyboarding instruction by 3rd grade and continue to improve skills, speed, and accuracy through grade 12.
• Commence and continue word-processing instruction and practice in parallel with keyboarding practice, throughout the grades.
• Devote sufficient time throughout the grades to writing to prompts, writing with peer and teacher feedback, sharing writing, and writing through the content areas.