Mr. Beckeman's Blog

“Igniting Minds, Fueling Futures” (R-PHS Mission Statement)

An update on the Accreditation Standard III:  Teaching & Learning

As reported in the spring 2009 report, the commendations noted by the Quality Assurance Review Team (QART) for Teaching & Learning were:

• Parents appreciate the extra time staff afford students before and after school for re-teaching
• Staff work diligently in identifying essential content for instruction
• Team-taught classrooms provide additional support for special needs students
• Students appreciated the passion and knowledge staff bring to their subject areas
• Diversity of course offerings, such as AP courses, honors courses and the fine arts.
• Students leave R-P well prepared for their next level of education

The QART suggested the following recommendations for action planning during the 2009-10 school year:

• Increase use of instructional walls in room to include items such as student exemplars, knowledge walls and solution stations
• Use common assessment data to drive improvement goals to close the gap in student achievement
• Visually state daily learning goals on board or overhead to provide a valued purpose for learning

The action plans that staff have initiated in this standard are:

• Common assessment data is in place and used to inform teachers on content mastered as well as content needing additional repetition for mastery
• Teachers are using instructional walls in varied ways to augment student success in course content
• Staff are engaging students in reciprocal teaching strategies as well as other research-based instructional strategies to improve student achievement

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