[0:01] Hello, my name is Lauren Thomas. I'm the Director of Curriculum Instruction and Assessment. This is our video for our curriculum and student services forum. I will be joined shortly by Danika Daviman, who is our supervisor of student services. And we are just here to provide you with an update as far as curriculum and student services initiatives throughout the district that we have completed since the start of this school year.

[0:29] So, first we will head into curriculum.

[0:33] So, a couple of things and most of this will be directly related to the K-5 curriculum

[0:40] because there were a great many changes as far as the K-5 state-wide standards and as

[0:48] far as resources that we've adopted in our district.

[0:51] So, this will highlight mainly K-5, although in the next couple slides as well as the Student

[0:57] services section, we will highlight some new programs and implementations we have made

[1:02] at the middle school and the high school. So overall, basically what's new in curriculum.

[1:07] The New Jersey State Learning Standards, which I have linked on this slide for you,

[1:12] that will take you to the Department of Ed website where you can view all of the standards

[1:18] K through 12 at any content area. So typically, standards are updated every five years. So in

[1:26] In 2020, we saw updates in social studies, science, comprehensive health and PE, visual

[1:33] and performing arts, and the world's languages.

[1:36] Most recently, in 2023, we saw updates in the areas of ELA and math.

[1:42] And again, mainly geared towards primary levels, elementary levels, as it needed to enhance

[1:50] the foundational skills in both of those areas.

[1:52] but I'm going to highlight just some major changes in both of those content areas for you.

[1:57] So let's start with ELA. In ELA, the standards enhance the foundational skills,

[2:04] and that included reading and writing. So they prioritize foundational reading and writing skills,

[2:10] which focus on decoding and encoding words, analyzing word parts, recognizing words,

[2:17] awareness of segments and sounds, and how they link to letters. So this will help students develop

[2:22] of reading accuracy and fluency and comprehension.

[2:26] They also ensured that the developmental complexity was found

[2:31] in repeated standards.

[2:33] So it's modifying redundant standards and just making sure

[2:36] that with each grade level, they build upon one another

[2:40] and they do get more rigorous and complex over time.

[2:44] They also delineated between literature and informational

[2:47] to ensure students acquire the knowledge and skills

[2:51] related to each text type and their own text features and structures.

[2:56] So for example, in literature, we want students to be able to identify story elements within

[3:02] text.

[3:02] So it's identifying characters, the character development, the plot, the setting, the theme,

[3:08] and how all of those elements work together to enhance the story.

[3:13] Versus in informational text, we want to structure it so students can acquire specific information

[3:19] and about something and learn to use the illustrations,

[3:24] to use the graphs, to use the tables found within the text

[3:29] so that they can interpret the data.

[3:33] In the math standards, the major changes that were made

[3:39] were they did separate out measurement and data literacy

[3:43] before it was combined into one standard.

[3:47] So why did they do that?

[3:48] And it's basically so that teachers can now

[3:51] to vote specific tasks to the measurement process and the units, and they can devote

[3:56] other tasks to analyzing statistical data and begin to understand the implications at

[4:02] an early age. And this helps so that if they learn these foundational skills at an early

[4:08] age, then this will make it a little more seamless and easier for students when they get some

[4:13] middle school and high school for the statistics and probability standards that they will be

[4:19] exposed to in those courses. It also introduces monetary concepts earlier so

[4:25] mainly you will see the new standards addressing money are found in kindergarten

[4:30] and at the first grade level so the standards place an emphasis on gaining a

[4:36] thorough understanding of the comparative values of coins and bills so it's also

[4:41] teaching them basic economics and again as we can build those foundational skills

[4:47] earlier, the greater that they will be able to acquire those skills later on down the road.

[4:55] Lastly, it also includes foundational work with radicals in middle school. So for example,

[5:01] square roots, if you remember that from taking math classes when you were younger. So that's now

[5:07] found in middle school. And again, it's just exposing students at an earlier age so that they can

[5:13] understand and develop a deeper understanding of it as they go on to complex algebraic problems

[5:19] when they hit high school.

[5:22] So what does that mean for Kenalan? So within Kenalan we have some new

[5:27] resources and we are creating assessments and utilizing data in a way that is a little different

[5:34] from before. So with the updated standards we found that we've really needed some new resources

[5:41] is to fall in line with the new standards.

[5:44] So the new standards, as I mentioned, have a strong emphasis on the foundational skills

[5:49] and a strong emphasis on the phonics, phonological awareness, and we needed to acquire some resources

[5:57] to support that. So HMH into reading is what we purchased for our K5 ELA resources,

[6:05] and I'm sure you've heard of that by now, and maybe you've seen some work samples come home already,

[6:10] and you've got to meet with your teachers

[6:12] at back to school night, hopefully.

[6:15] And the new resources do fall in line

[6:18] with the whole notion of the science of reading,

[6:21] which, again, is teaching those foundational skills

[6:24] so that students can comprehend what they're reading.

[6:27] In previous notions and techniques of teaching the L.A.,

[6:31] many times students would read,

[6:34] and while they were reading a story,

[6:36] if they came across a word that they were unsure of,

[6:39] they were, which are great skills to use, they should use context clues and sometimes pictures to try to figure out the meaning of the word, which is a great skill.

[6:48] However, in some previous resources and teachings, that was the focus and it didn't stop the student and actually have them apply the skills to decode words.

[7:00] Now we're really diving into the decoding of words.

[7:03] and, again, understanding those segments, the syllables, how blends come together to create

[7:09] a word, and then through that understand them, the meaning of the word, and understand

[7:13] the vocabulary.

[7:14] So, this link on this slide, what is the science of reading is just an article just for

[7:19] you to read on your own if you're interested in learning more about the science of reading.

[7:24] But into reading are the resources that we have purchased for the K-5.

[7:28] teachers have been given training on the new resources and all of its

[7:33] capabilities and we continue to do so. So this is something that all throughout

[7:37] the school year we will continue to meet with the teachers and provide all the

[7:42] necessary training so that we're using the resources to the best of their

[7:46] capabilities. In math we moved recently to the IXL takeoff curriculum. So I'm sure

[7:54] For many of you are already familiar with IXL as we purchased that the previous school

[8:00] year, so we do utilize IXL now for diagnostic assessments throughout the district.

[8:06] And it does place students on an individualized personal learning plan.

[8:11] So it basically assesses what skills they're really good at and successful with and they can

[8:16] be challenged in.

[8:17] And it also tells us what skills students need more help with.

[8:21] And it can put them on a plan so that they can continue to work on those skills that

[8:26] they need to progress in.

[8:27] So I Excel also offers resources in order to teach our curriculum that matches very well

[8:34] with our standards.

[8:36] So we have implemented that new resource as well this year.

[8:39] In the past, if you remember, if you had students at the elementary level, they were using

[8:45] every day math which was more of a spiral-based resource. In IXL we are focusing, it does

[8:53] tend to focus, although it does spiral, it does tend to focus on specific skills and objectives

[8:58] within each lesson. So that way there's more practice and there's more standards-based progression

[9:05] and that students are more successful at achieving those standards prior to moving on to more challenging

[9:12] one. So within I Excel, what I would like to show you really quick is a quiz

[9:19] analysis for teachers. So I'm just going to go out of this screen and over here

[9:24] for a second. So this is obviously it's blank, but what I want to point out is I

[9:31] didn't want to have, I didn't want to show you an analysis of something that has

[9:34] already been completed because that would have been providing student information.

[9:38] However, this is a sample of the information that teachers are going to receive after

[9:44] they give their students an end-of-unit test or any of the quizzes.

[9:49] So this itemizes the assessment for the teachers.

[9:53] So these are the questions, numbers 1 through 14.

[9:56] This is an example of a grade 5 unit 1 assessment.

[10:00] So question 1, it shows us the question if we hover over it.

[10:04] So the teacher can go back and see what question 1 was.

[10:07] And then on the right side, they can scroll over the objective and it tells them exactly

[10:12] what standard that question is assessing.

[10:15] So this is a little different in terms of our assessment because in the past or when

[10:20] you remember when you were taking assessments in school, you would get, you know, a grade

[10:25] at the top of your assessment, you would get a 90%, you get a 75% whatever it was.

[10:31] And that's your overall score, but really what does that mean?

[10:34] So we are more interested in not the overall score, so please if you hear a student saying

[10:42] because through I Excel it does, it does note it to an overall score, please don't pay attention to that.

[10:49] We're not interested in the overall percentage because that's not how we're grading students at the K5 level,

[10:55] which I'll explain in a minute when I get to the report card analysis.

[10:59] So what I mean by this is is that we are more interested in if students are meeting the

[11:06] grade level expectations or if they require more assistance with those grade level standards.

[11:12] So we can easily see in this quiz, we can go down and we can look at all of the standards

[11:19] that are being assessed in this assessment.

[11:22] So for this particular one, there's about three different standards that are being assessed

[11:28] within Unit 1. So now a teacher, this is great information for a teacher, because a teacher can easily see which students

[11:37] answered these certain questions correctly and have a good mastery of those standards already and they can see who requires

[11:44] more assistance. So in the middle here you see the student results I said was blank. This would be filled in, the bar would be colored in, so it would be green,

[11:54] to show how many students got that question correct, and then it would be read on one portion to show which students got that question incorrectly.

[12:04] So obviously more great data for teachers to show if the majority of their students or all of their students got question 14 and correct.

[12:12] Now that gives the teacher information to know that's something that they have to go back and review with their students before moving forward to anything more challenging.

[12:20] So

[12:26] I just wanted to highlight that the data that the teachers are now receiving and what

[12:31] does that mean for you as the parent?

[12:33] So I've also linked here some examples of what you're going to start to see coming home.

[12:40] So for math, this is an example of a parent report.

[12:45] So you want to know how is your child doing?

[12:47] Again, that 80% at the top of the page doesn't really tell us much, but this will.

[12:52] This is going to tell you what skills and standards your student is already

[12:56] meeting and what standards they need to work on. So this is an example of a

[13:01] grade two end-of-unit math test. So you can see at the top here we've listed

[13:08] these were the major unit objectives that were found in that assessment. They

[13:13] have to add within 20, they have to subtract within 20, and then they're going to

[13:17] solve one and two step addition and subtraction word problems within 20. Now

[13:22] Now there are some minor unit objectives too, which you can see over here on the right side.

[13:27] After they take the assessment, the teacher, again, you could see it's itemized.

[13:33] So all of the questions are here, question number one, wanted the students to represent

[13:39] addition and subtraction within 20 on a number line, and there's the standard number right

[13:43] there.

[13:44] And the teacher will check off whether your child met that in the assessment, or if they

[13:49] didn't then they'll leave it blank because that's something that they're going to continue working on.

[13:54] So you should expect to see this cover sheet after every major unit assessment in math as well as

[14:01] an ELA which I will show you an example of next. So you will go down and you will see all of the

[14:08] objectives that are being assessed in each question checking off whether your child has met that

[14:14] and then at the bottom we correlate it to a rubric and these numbers 1, 2, and 3 are similar

[14:22] to what you're going to see on the report card. Report cards students will be assessed

[14:28] as a 1, 2, or 3. So here we just give you a breakdown of the overall assessment. So you

[14:34] can see 2 MB6, the first standard here, the teacher would go back and look to see 2 MB6

[14:43] what was assessed in the assessment they took, and then they would rate that student as

[14:48] a 1, a 2, or a 3. A 3 would be that they're meeting standards, a 2, they're approaching

[14:54] standards, they're getting there, and sometimes they need the help of the teacher, and a 1 is

[15:00] They really need some port and they need some review and reiteration of that. So after getting

[15:05] miscover sheet after every unit assessment, you really should have a good idea of the

[15:11] grade level standards that your student is progressing towards or that they're already

[15:16] meeting. So by the time report card time comes along, you should really have a good understanding

[15:22] of where your student is falling. So I'll just go back and I'll show you the ELA example.

[15:28] So,

[15:32] again, very similar. It's just a standard cover sheet. This would be after their first

[15:37] module assessment. This is a grade 4 example. And in the unit, we've placed the standards

[15:45] up at the top. So, there's always reading standards, foundational skills. This is mixed

[15:52] with writing too. These are all the things that we cover in ELA. So, it explains here each

[15:58] question, the standard, and what the student was expected to do, and again, a simple check-off

[16:05] whether they have met that or not, and then followed by the rubric at the end for each standard.

[16:13] So we do try to give the parents as much information as possible, and it gives you, and it gives us

[16:20] a little more insight as to which direction we need to go with our whole class. It shows us which

[16:26] direction we need to go for students who need to be challenged and who need to be enriched.

[16:31] And it shows us a direction, it gives us a direction of students who need that targeted instruction

[16:37] for support. So for students who are progressing or who are not there yet, we know that we need to

[16:43] provide some extra support for those students so that they can meet those expectations and work

[16:48] independently on those standards. So hopefully you appreciate all this information that will be

[16:54] coming home, we will certainly not bombard you as we will not bombard the

[16:59] students with testing either in school. We don't feel that that's beneficial.

[17:03] But when a summative test is taken in school, then we will absolutely share

[17:11] that information with you. And also, too, it'll help you know what to work on with

[17:16] your child at home. If you know that maybe they're struggling with a certain

[17:20] mathematical skill or basic computation or just basic number sense, then you know those

[17:26] are things you can reiterate at home.

[17:29] And again, I wanted to just mention, I mentioned earlier the K5 report card and you see the

[17:35] numbers here.

[17:36] It's a one, two, or three, which I went over in the rubric.

[17:39] If you see a three, that means they're on grade level, they're meeting grade level expectations

[17:44] to their approaching it and one, they do require some more support and some more assistance.

[17:50] We will not have a four on the report cards any longer.

[17:54] We will have an ES. So an ES is exceeding standards.

[17:59] So for those students who are consistently scoring pretty high on their assessments

[18:06] and all of the data that we're collecting in class, students who are able to go above and beyond.

[18:11] So, with a certain standard, if they are not only able to do what is asked or recall

[18:18] specific information, but they are able to use some critical thinking now to either

[18:25] explain what they're doing, they're able to make connections, they are able to solve

[18:31] puzzles, and they're able to apply that skill or standard in various settings above and

[18:37] beyond, then that would be an ES, meaning exceeding standards. And those are the students

[18:43] that obviously we will be providing enrichment opportunities for and challenging opportunities

[18:49] within the classroom so that they can continue to expand upon those skills.

[18:58] Now as far as middle school and high school, so what is new in middle school and high school at PRM,

[19:04] we are developing transition opportunities for eighth graders. We feel this is a very important

[19:10] piece to our eighth grade group going up to the high school. And it started this week

[19:15] with Spirit Week actually and allowing eighth graders to visit the high school and include

[19:21] them in on different opportunities so that they could see what it's like in the high school

[19:25] spirit week is a fabulous week in the high school. Everybody loves it. Kids love it. That's

[19:32] what they say. They look forward to the most every year in high school. So it's great that

[19:36] we were able to expose our eighth graders for portions of spirit week. We also implemented

[19:41] this year. If you have a PRM student, they are involved in a cult period every day.

[19:47] And a cult period was designed to back up against lunch. And it's basically a period where students

[19:54] can do something that's interesting to them or they can get what they need.

[19:59] So for some students, like I mentioned before, as we're tracking this data,

[20:03] that we're collecting all throughout every great level.

[20:07] We're finding if students require additional support

[20:09] in a certain academic area,

[20:11] then they may be placed in a guided study class.

[20:14] So that does take place during the cold period.

[20:17] There are enrichment opportunities as well.

[20:20] For those of you in world languages,

[20:23] and for students who would like to progress on

[20:26] to the second level of that world language,

[20:29] when they go into high school,

[20:31] They're able to take that enrichment class now during a cult period so that they can go to level two of that world language in high school.

[20:39] The cult period we are looking into and in fact today

[20:44] I believe the students at PRM participated in a short survey for us because

[20:49] We created this period. We created some of the classes that go along with this cult period

[20:55] but now we want to know what's the student's perspective on it.

[21:00] So we would like to know do the students like it?

[21:03] Are they enjoying doing what they're doing?

[21:05] Would they like to see a change?

[21:07] Some students have mentioned that they would like to see

[21:10] if possible a study hall.

[21:12] So we are looking into that.

[21:14] So again, as I mentioned today,

[21:16] was the day they did participate in the survey.

[21:19] So we are looking forward to seeing those results

[21:21] and seeing if any adjustments need to be made

[21:24] to the Colt period because, again, we want it to be most beneficial for all students,

[21:29] but we also want to make sure we include those courses that they enjoy taking

[21:34] and make sure we continue on with those as well.

[21:37] At KHS, the new things that we've implemented this year are a CPA level class,

[21:43] so that is a college prep advanced level, so many content areas have a CPA level now.

[21:49] And I've mentioned this before in other forums and at meetings that edition was made because prior to this there was a college prep class and then there were higher accelerated class honors and AP.

[22:03] And we felt that we still required another level to have some kids who just want to meet in the middle, you know, maybe they weren't ready for the honors or AP level.

[22:14] and this advanced class gives them that acceleration that they require and it's

[22:21] a great still awaited class and we're finding success and a lot of those classes

[22:25] already. We also have some new elective offerings. Writing 105 is a dual

[22:31] enrollment class. We have partnered up with Syracuse University. So that's a great

[22:35] writing class for seniors. We've had a great turnout so far and it did exist here

[22:41] a couple years ago, we were very happy to bring it back.

[22:44] We also have some other elective offerings,

[22:46] such as Hollywood Science, film as literature,

[22:49] and mind and body.

[22:51] Some of those elective courses are available

[22:54] for our students in special education,

[22:56] as we really wanted to give them

[22:59] a wider range of opportunities in the high school,

[23:02] because some of our electives do require

[23:05] some higher order skills,

[23:08] so we felt that we really needed

[23:10] to offer more for more students so that they can enjoy electives as well and be successful

[23:16] in a lot of these areas as well that maybe they have felt that they weren't as successful

[23:22] in some of the others. So it's just it's just broadening what we already have which is great.

[23:27] Another addition for our high school is if you have students at that level and you've heard of

[23:34] NJGPA. This is an assessment that right now all 11th graders have to take for

[23:40] graduation and they do need to pass in ELA and math in order to be designated as

[23:48] graduation ready. If they do not make the cut score in math or ELA on the NJGPA,

[23:56] then there are retake opportunities, there's portfolio opportunities, but we've

[24:02] also included an additional pathway option just as another support for students so we have added

[24:08] the acuplacer this school year we purchased that test so we have that on hand just in case the

[24:15] student is not successful on the NGGPA we are able to deliver the acuplacer placement for them with

[24:21] is just another pathway option that assesses them in math and ELA but maybe not as challenging as the

[24:28] and JGPA was, and that is still an acceptable use for the graduation pathway for students.

[24:35] So those are some of the things that we have recently added within all of the schools.

[24:40] I will let the video go now to Mrs. David Men, who is going to pick up on the Student Services

[24:48] Initiatives, but as far as the curriculum office or anything that was mentioned in my portion

[24:55] of the video. If there are any questions, please feel free to email me at ThomasL at kennelon.org.

[25:02] You can reach out to me at the board office. I'm always happy to chat, but feel free to reach out

[25:08] with any questions that you may have.

[25:12] Hello, everyone. My name is Danika Davidman,

[25:15] supervisor of student services, and I'd like to thank you for taking the time to watch this video.

[25:20] As the crisp fall weather sets in, it's the perfect time to reflect on all the exciting developments

[25:26] that have been happening in the Special Services Department and in Kinellon so far this September

[25:32] and October. This fall, KHS is hosting an eighth grade shadow day during Spirit Week. Our eighth

[25:39] graders will get a taste of high school life, which is part of a broader effort to enhance the PRM

[25:45] to high school connection. Looking ahead, we're planning to launch a freshman academy in the 2526

[25:51] school year to ease the transition to high school. Plus, we're developing an eighth grade week

[25:56] to showcase the high school's offerings from courses to extracurriculars. Looking at our programs

[26:03] that we've continued to design for growth and sustainability at Keele School, we've introduced

[26:10] our four new programs, including a co-taught class for kindergarten, first and second grade, and a

[26:17] a multi-sensory teacher who uses

[26:18] Orton Gillingham based methods for early interventions.

[26:22] Meanwhile, at Cisco, we are closely assessing

[26:25] preschool students to address

[26:26] their developmental needs early.

[26:28] Our preschoolers have also been busy

[26:30] with the creative curriculum,

[26:32] balancing indoor and outdoor learning with activities

[26:34] like collecting acorns and leaves for classroom projects.

[26:39] Our student services across the schools deserve a closer look.

[26:43] Some highlights include at Stony Brook,

[26:45] Our, we've expanded access to our Wilson Certified Teacher and have continued to infuse our

[26:53] special education instruction into our general education classes. Our special education teachers

[26:59] have been trained in our new curriculum including interreading and IXL, which ensures that

[27:06] modifications for students with IEPs will occur. At the middle and high school levels, students

[27:12] showing progress now benefit from the consult model, allowing for more

[27:16] independence from our in-class support. And in the area of supporting student

[27:23] achievement through professional development, we've offered some

[27:27] comprehensive professional development across the district. Our child study team

[27:32] members received training on topics like supporting teacher aids in IEPs and

[27:36] maximizing student independence. Our counselors were trained on addressing

[27:41] anxiety, school avoidance, and using tools like the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating

[27:48] Scale. Teachers were provided the opportunity to learn strategies for differentiated instruction

[27:54] and working with paraprofessionals. All of these efforts continue to support our shared goal

[28:00] of improving student achievement. Towards that end, we continue to make efforts in the area of

[28:07] database decision making. Our power professionals have been trained to collect data on important

[28:12] learner behaviors, like task completion and following directions. This data informs

[28:18] IEP goals and guides our program planning. Additionally, our real-time platform is helping

[28:23] us analyze student performance data more efficiently, leading to informed decisions about program supports

[28:28] and referrals. In closing, I just want to say that we are proud of all the work happening

[28:34] across the district this fall and optimistic about the positive impacts the

[28:39] initiatives will have on our students. Together we're continuing to evolve and

[28:43] strengthen a supportive environment for all learners.

Kinnelon Borough School District, NJ meeting

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