WVUSD: 2019/2020 Year-End Results
During March, Elementary Curriculum Council members began discussions regarding
homework and related best practices. The groups discussed 2 nd through 5 th grades.
Kindergarten and 1 st grade, however, were not included due to the school closures in March.
K-12 moderate/severe SAI teachers convened for the first time as a Curriculum Council to
collaborate and articulate on best practices. They are often singletons at their school sites. The
Curriculum Council format provided the teachers a much-needed time to share strategies and
articulation for continuation of skill building in order to support student progress from one grade
level to the next.
Secondary Curriculum Councils convened by content areas (English/Language Arts (ELA),
math, and social science). Science Curriculum Council did not convene as it was involved with
the science pilot process this year. The ELA Curriculum Council focused on writing rubrics while
the Math Curriculum Council focused on common assessments. The Social Science Curriculum
Council focused on best practices using the newly adopted curriculum, as well as integrating
ELA standards with social science standards.
“Data Talks” were implemented with each teacher (led by elementary site intervention teams),
which focused on reading common assessment data to guide instruction for each individual
child. At the elementary level, new reading assessments from Benchmark Advance were used
to conduct formative assessments at each student’s reading level. The data provided the school
teams with trends in the student's reading pattern and strategies for targeted reading lessons
at the student’s instructional level. At the secondary level, the use of Professional Learning
Community (PLC) time focused on data informed instructional practices.
Elementary teachers collaborated to plan, develop, and implement designated and integrated
English Language Development (ELD) with support from the elementary learning specialists.
Our District Project GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design) trainers continued to provide
support and collaborative partnership with elementary teachers implementing Project GLAD
strategies for designated and integrated ELD lessons for English Learners. Elementary teachers
also participated in a one day Thinking Map professional development presented by our own
Thinking Map trainers. Thinking Maps are another instructional strategy to scaffold access to
core curriculum content for English Learners.
At both of the high schools, the ELD coordinator took the lead in providing Sheltered Instruction
Observation Protocol (SIOP) training to content area teachers. SIOP equips teachers to provide
integrated ELD instruction for English Learners taking mainstream core content subjects. The
SIOP training at Walnut High also provided instructional walks for teachers to observe students
interacting with the SIOP strategies in colleague’s classrooms.
Parent Literacy Nights continued at the elementary level to assist them in supporting their
children in reading and writing. Many of the schools provided a parent night dedicated to Social
and Emotional Learning (SEL) and strategies for home-school connection with SEL. Several
schools continued to use meetings of their English Learner Advisory Committee (ELAC) to
provide opportunities for parent education on literacy, language acquisition, and home/school
connections. Secondary schools provided parent nights to highlight career pathways,
academies, and college and career readiness planning.
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