Summary of October 22, 2009 Curriculum Committee Meeting

Student Illness During Final Exams

 It is the Board of Education that sets district policies.  There are several policies that discuss final exams and absences.  Basically they say that final exams should be given at the end of a school year.  Students should attend school regularly and be absent only for excused reasons such as illness, death in the family, religious holidays, etc.  There is a BOE policy that says that students who are legally absent should be given reasonable time to make up work that was missed.  This is why we have makeup days for final exams.  Regents exam dates and tests are determined by the state and are given only one day per regular school year (can be made up in August or January if missed in June) so they are deemed as most important.  Other exams are given at the discretion of the school district.  No students missed Regents exams due to illness.  Approximately 30 (out of 1100) students missed regular final exams at the middle school.  The decision as to exempt a student from finals is done on a case by case basis and is made by the principal.  At the middle school the final exam is worth 2 test grades or approximately 10% of a student’s grade.  Students who did not take the final exam simply got their 4^th quarter average.  Dr. Prendergast said that some students did take final exams on the makeup days.  The school does follow up with the parents of students who are ill during finals.

Research Papers

There is a district-wide initiative to improve research and writing skills across the curriculum.  The process is more important than the product. The goal is for the research process to be consistent and progressive throughout the grades with steps and deadlines imposed to aid the students in the process and with time management.   Every child in each of these grades will do a research paper. 

6^th grade – Science

7^th grade - English and Social Studies joint project

8^th grade – English and Social Studies joint project

 9^th grade - Poetry and Living Environment (if accelerated in Science in MS)

10^th grade – Living Environment (if not accelerated in MS) and/or benchmarks through literature

11^th grade – literary criticisms (English)

12^th grade – post AP exam research paper

Other curriculum areas are looking into the possibility of implementing research papers as well including foreign language, art, electives.    The 6^th grade Study Skills curriculum was rewritten for this year.  They added many research based skills.  The elementary principals support research projects at the elementary level and will work with librarians/media specialists in collaboration with elementary teachers on this project.  At this point every 5^th grader does a research paper.  It is very important that there be consistency between Stewart and Stratford and so the principals will work together with librarians on this.  We will also begin looking into technology as a tool for research.

FLES Program

The purpose of the FLES program is for students to have a positive, fun experience with foreign language.  The program is based on oral communication.  After a four year FLES experience in the elementary school, the numbers of students at the middle school in foreign language changed only slightly with a slight increase in German and French and a slight decrease in Spanish and Italian.  The middle school language teachers, FLES teachers and Mr. Giacalone (world language curriculum coordinator) met and revised the middle school Spanish curriculum.  They looked at language proficiency and Regents exams and brought all of the main topics (listening, speaking, reading and writing) into the sixth grade Spanish program which used to be primarily a spoken program.  They also revamped the program to include topics covered on Regents and proficiency exams.  They added written assignments.  The program is based on a spiraling model where previously taught topics are reviewed and built upon.  The midterm and final exams were also changed to reflect these curriculum changes. 

ERB WrAP Test

The purpose of the ERB WrAP test is to inform writing instruction district-wide and not to evaluate the individual student.  It is not a “perfect” test, but none are.  We have no other standardized test to accurately assess writing and that with our new district-wide writing initiative we need to assess our strengths and weaknesses and then change instruction accordingly.  The ERB WrAP test mirrors our Write Traits writing program in method of assessment.  3^rd grade was selected as the first testing grade because the district wanted to get an assessment at the lowest possible grade so we have time to improve things and because 4^th grade is overloaded with state tests.  7^th grade was selected so that the middle school has another year to work on writing based on results, 8^th grade is too full of standardized tests and now Regents exams for many students.  9^th grade is an appropriate grade level at the high school before kids are overwhelmed with AP exams and provides the best opportunity for HS teachers to support curriculum and instruction expectations.  Our results were average to slightly above average.  We are testing students at the bottom of the grade eligibility (for example, 3^rd grade on a 4^th grade rubric).  The district will try to do a better job educating parents about the purpose of the test and how it is scored.  Longitudinal data means the most to us and our scores did improve from the first to the second year.  One result of the test is that grammar textbooks and workbooks have been added to the middle school.