Putting Students First

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Putting Students First

• Personalizing the Instructional Experience
• January 2003

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at the National level

• Federal budget policies and priorities
• need to be driven by the call to
• Put Students First

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at the State level

• The Governor and Legislature
• need to thoughtfully reexamine their budget
  proposals and reprioritize to
• Put Students First

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at the Local level

• We need to continue to reexamine our
• priorities and policies and initiatives
• to stay focused on the goal of
• Putting Students First

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The need for change.

• We have made significant strides in improving
  elementary student achievement.
• Secondary advances have not kept pace.
• We must act decisively to close the Achievement
  Gap.
• We have a sense of urgency about making
  improvements to secondary education NOW.

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Our approach.
Three components to improving secondary
instruction
Smaller Learning Communities
Periodic Assessments
180-Day Calendar
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Our approach.

• Smaller learning environments will be created
  using a variety of approaches.
• Teaming
• Coring
• Houses and Academies
• One-size does not fit all. We must develop this
  program from the school up, site by site.

Smaller Learning Communities
Creating smaller learning communities within
schools so that students have a better chance to
know and be known by their teachers
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Our approach.
Periodic Assessments

• Builds on successful use of six week period
  assessments at elementary
• Already underway in mathematics
• Need to expand in all core content areas

Periodic assessments will identify a students
progress enabling immediate intervention to
prevent them from falling behind
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Our approach.

• We have a clear mandate from the Board to move to
  a 180-day calendar instead of the shortened
  calendar used by our most overcrowded schools
• In Measure K, we committed to building enough
  schools to return all students to a 180 day
  calendar.
• While the new school construction program will
  take years to complete, we have developed a
  proposal to implement the 180-day calendar NOW
  where possible.

180-Day Calendar
Optimize the instructional calendar by
implementing a 180 day calendar wherever possible
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Three ways to provide 180 days of instruction

• Single Track calendar with one 90-day summer
  break and a 2-week winter recess
• 90/30 Calendar with two 6-week breaks per track
  at different intervals
• Quarter calendar with one 90-day break per track
  at different intervals

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What are some of the advantages of a 180-day
calendar?

• It gives us a longer period of continuous
  instruction, adding 17 full days of instruction.
• We can use programs and practices more
  effectively to aid in closing the Achievement Gap.

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What are some of the advantages of the 180-day
calendar?

• Additional advantages of the Quarter calendar
• Since all the blocks begin and end contiguously,
  it provides the opportunity to treat all students
  in session as a single student body for purposes
  of the master program expanding educational
  access and equity.
• Provides better opportunities for redesign of
  curriculum into cohesive units and assessments to
  enhance educational achievement.

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Calendar Implementation Recommendations
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How will we determine which schools move to the
180-day calendar?

• Schools will move from a163-day calendar to
  a180-day calendar if they meet the following
  conditions.
• The switch does not create additional
  transportation requirements for students.
• The switch does not place additional students on
  a shortened Concept 6 calendar.
• No school is forced to become year-round as a
  result of this switch.

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Recommended Calendar Implementation by July 1,
2003

• Elementary Schools
• An estimated 38 elementary schools will move from
  Concept 6 to a 180-day 90/30 calendar with
  expanded learning opportunities in the two breaks
  
• An estimated 39 elementary schools currently on
  90/30 calendars will remain there
• All other elementary will remain on single track
  schedules
• A few (less than 20) elementary schools will now
  extend to sixth grade to free up space in middle
  schools. This will be determined on a
  school-by-school basis.

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Recommended Calendar Implementation by July 1,
2003

• Middle Schools
• Wherever possible, move Concept 6 middle schools
  to 180-day Quarter calendar with extended
  learning opportunities during breaks
• One existing 90/30 school will move to the
  Quarter calendar
• One traditional calendar school will move to a
  multi-track Quarter calendar in accordance with
  existing Board policies governing the move to
  multi-track.
• The remaining middle schools will remain on a
  single-track calendar school.

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Recommended Implementation by July 1, 2003

• High Schools
• All year-round Concept 6 schools will remain on
  Concept 6 for the 2003-04 school year.
• Single-track schools will follow the new
  single-track calendar.
• Options for moving multi-track high schools to a
  180-day calendar will be studied during 2003-04.

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Expanded Learning Opportunities

• Students on ALL calendars will be provided with
  expanded learning opportunities during their
  breaks.
• We will work creatively at the local level to
  develop implementation plans to maximize extended
  learning opportunities in all communities.

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Summary

• Builds on lessons learned from the gains we have
  seen at the elementary level.
• Accelerates promises recently made to the
  community that we intend to provide every child a
  full 180 days of instruction.
• Helps realize the goal of smaller learning
  communities, personalizing the educational
  environment, increasing academic performance, and
  narrowing the Achievement Gap.
• Continues focus on standards-based instruction
  with regular periodic assessments.

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