Next Generation Testing Forums

On Wednesday, January 21st at 6:30pm at the Batchelder School cafeteria and on Thursday, January 22nd, at 6:30pm in the Distance Learning Lab at the North Reading High School we will present an informational forum for parents about next generation testing.   In 2015-16 Massachusetts districts had the choice to preview the PARCC assessment or to remain with MCAS for one more year.  In 2016 and beyond the state will either adopt PARCC or create a next-generation MCAS to replace the current system.

As you are aware, North Reading is among the more than 50% of districts who are test-driving the PARCC assessment in the Spring of 2015.  This test will be computer-based at the Batchelder School for grades 3, 4, and 5 and paper-based at those grades at the Little and Hood schools for both English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics.  The Middle School will utilize the PARCC assessment in grades 6-8 for ELA and Mathematics.

At the high school, the 9th grade students taking Algebra I will be taking the PARCC assessment this spring as well.

During this “test drive” year 10th grade students will continue to take MCAS, as will students taking the 5th and 8th grade Science assessment.  Biology students will also take the MCAS exam for that subject area as well.  Students who traditionally take the alternative MCAS test will continue to take that exam in the spring of 2015.

North Reading has aligned it’s curriculum and courses with the 2011 Massachusetts frameworks and we are looking forward to this “test drive” of PARCC as we look to see if this new assessment truly measures the standards in a way that provides meaningful feedback to our students and educators. 

We look forward to answering questions and exploring the next generation assessments together!

Digital Learning Update

If you’ve been in or around the schools in North Reading lately you’ve likely seen many new and emerging technologies in the classrooms.  Through investments from the school department,large capital requests, the new building project, and the generous contributions from parent organizations we have increased the opportunities for digital learning in all of our buildings for the 2014-15 school year.

At our elementary schools students continue to receive a technology-infused instructional
approach from our educators who strive to engage students at the highest level.  Our Digital
Learning Specialists collaborate with all educators on using iPads, Chromebooks,
SMARTboards, and many other digital tools to enhance instruction.  One area of focus this year has been in developing a research project that utilizes age-appropriate databases for students in Kindergarten, first, and second grade to allow the students to explore topics in greater depth.

The outcome of this project is often also a digital publication, allowing students to demonstrate
mastery of the skills that they will need to succeed in college and careers. Although North Reading Middle School will not see a new facility until next year, staff and students in the building have had the opportunity to explore new devices this year with students.

Throughout the summer and early fall the facility was updated with interactive whiteboards and
wireless solutions that have allowed teachers to begin using iPads and Chromebooks with
students in classroom spaces as well as the library and cafeteria.  Middle school teachers
continue to use apps with students in many curriculum areas, from Mathematics to Social
Studies to Physical Education.  Science and English Language Arts educators have utilized
Chromebooks with students for research and collaborative projects.  Our Arts programs are
exploring ways of using software to help students increase their understanding and improve
their performance.  Students in the video production club are already accessing equipment at
the new building and in the fall all of the students will be able to experience the resources
available at the new middle/high school.

North Reading High School students entered the year with many new digital learning tools to
enhance instruction.  Throughout the building there are kiosks with the ability to project
messages for students and provide important information throughout the day.  Wireless access
is available to all students and teachers throughout the building, with plans to allow students to
learn more about acceptable use and digital citizenship in order to begin using  their own
devices on the network in the near future.

The performing arts center and distance learning lab contain technology that will provide
students with many opportunities to enhance their learning.  Each classroom includes an
interactive whiteboard, speaker system, and software that allows students to share screens
from individual devices with the entire classroom.  The MediaCAST system will allow students
and teachers to access thousands of digital videos as well as locally produced content to view
on demand.  This could include morning announcements, sporting events, theater performances, and lectures in the distance learning lab.  These tools, functioning together, will greatly enhance concepts like the “flipped” model of education, where students will be able toaccess videos and information on personal devices and watch and rewatch them as much as the individual student needs.  And with many carts of mobile devices, including iPads and Chromebooks, students are able to work throughout the building on projects, internet research, or accessing the MediaCAST library to view the latest uploads.

The Digital Learning Team in the North Reading Public Schools has worked tremendously hard
through a period of great change and have enthusiastically learned new technologies in order to
share these tools with educators and students.  As we look to next year, many of the updated
and reimaged devices from the middle school will be repurposed to the elementary schools and
additional devices will be supported throughout the district.  This is truly an exciting time to be a

student in North Reading!

Welcome Back from the Assistant Superintendent

Welcome Back from the Assistant Superintendent

After having served the students and educators for these past five years I am honored to have been named the Assistant Superintendent of the North Reading Public Schools.   Although there are several aspects of my position that will remain the same there are also new areas of responsibility that I will be supporting for the 2014-15 school year.  

Curriculum

As a district we will continue to implement the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks, including the new Common Core aligned frameworks for Mathematics and English Language Arts.  This year we will continue to explore the Next Generation Science Standards as well as review our standards in all content areas.

Assessment

All educators in North Reading are implementing common formative and summative assessments to facilitate conversations about student growth and to improve opportunities for student learning throughout the district.

As North Reading prepares for next generation state assessments we will administer the PARCC assessment in 2014-15.  This assessment will be paper-based at the Little and Hood schools and on computers for students at the Batchelder school.  Our Middle School students will also take the PARCC assessment on paper.  At the high school level, students will continue to take MCAS for the 10^th grade state assessment, however our 9^th grade Algebra I students will take the PARCC assessment on paper for the first time this year. 

Students who traditionally take the MCAS-Alt and Science MCAS (5^th grade, 8^th grade, and Biology students) will continue to take these MCAS tests in 2014-15.

There will be several opportunities to learn more about these next generation assessments this year, including continued updates to the district website.

Title 1

Title I, Part A (Title I) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, as amended (ESEA) provides financial assistance to districts and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards.

In North Reading we provide targeted assistance to eligible students at the Little, Hood, and Middle schools.  As a district we have focused our efforts on mathematical support and professional development for educators across the district who are working to support our most challenging learning needs.

Professional Development and Educator Evaluation

In 2014-15 we will continue to offer high quality professional development for North Reading educators.  Offerings will include: literacy, close reading, writing in the content areas, mathematics, and other content area focused professional development.  Educators will also continue to receive support in the implementation of the new model educator evaluation system.

English Language Learners

A new area of responsibility for 2014-15 for the Assistant Superintendent will be English Language Learners (ELL) and the Sheltered English Immersion (SEI) program in North Reading.   The RETELL initiative (Rethinking Equity and Teaching for English Language Learners) as well as the SEI endorsement for educators will be the primary focus during the 2014-15 school year in this area.

Technology and Digital Learning

North Reading has made many strides in improving the digital learning throughout the district.  In 2014-15 we have added a new Digital Learning Coordinator to make an impact on our students and staff.   It is essential that technology and digital learning remain interwoven with curriculum and instruction and we will continue to work closely to improve the digital learning experience for all of our students. 

As always I invite anyone in the school community to contact me at any time with questions or information at pdaly@north-reading.k12.ma.us or 978-664-9557.  I look forward to this great opportunity to continue to serve the students and staff of North Reading.

Data, Big Data Everywhere

I recently read a fascinating article that explored the data driven changes to the game of baseball. The convergence of the available cameras and technology and an increase in the amount of data that is collected on every play, every pitch, will forever change the sport.  This upcoming season, in some ballparks, 7 Terabytes of data will be collected every game that will allow both sabermetricians and fans at home to experience the game in a whole new way.  The data we’ve seen from the mound (speed, curve, and location of the pitch) on our television screens will now be extended to all areas of the field, leading to a very different experience for viewers of our national pastime.

In the world of education there is also a focus on the collection and analysis of data in order to improve student achievement.  We are not at a loss to find places for data for student learning: MCAS and other standardized tests, common assessments (think mid-terms and finals), authentic assessments, and teacher observation of abilities. Even writing assignments or projects scored with a rubric can be translated into measurements of student growth over time.

According to Victoria L. Bernhardt, there are Multiple Measures of Data that we look to in a school to begin our analysis.  This includes not only student learning but also school processes (processes and programs), demographics (attendance, enrollment, ethnicity, gender, grade level), and perceptions (values and beliefs, attitudes, observations). 

Every textbook and test publisher now includes not only built in assessments but also data collection tools and reporting functions.  The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has a new tool called EDWIN Analytics, available to all schools, that allows us to create reports and cull a vast database to gather data for analysis.  There are videos and tutorials available to help parents and educators better understand the student growth percentile on the state assessments.  Courses are being offered for educators in how to use excel to robustly collect and “go visual” with the data.  There is no shortage of available resources.

In fact, there is so much data out there that part of the process, for educators, is not only to learn how to collect and analyze data but also to learn how to navigate through this “superabundance” of digital information.

What does this mean for North Reading?  First, there is sustained professional development for all educators.  This includes the work that has been done in the past few years with our administrators and curriculum leaders about the importance of data for improving student learning.  Further professional development opportunities will include the technical and technological aspects of understanding how to work with data.  There is also a need for training in specific apps, programs, and software, including Edwin Analytics, to ensure that we are able to make the use of the tools that are available.

Our objective as a district is to continue to use data to help us make predictions, to intervene as early as possible and be proactive, and to enhance our processes for allocating resources in order to improve the overall quality of the education in North Reading for all students.  By using and sharing data appropriately with all members of the school community we have the opportunity to truly transform the educational experience.

Shifting to the Common Core State Standards and Assessments

Shifting to the Common Core State Standards and Assessments

Many of us have heard about the Common Core State Standards and are curious about the changes that this will bring to our curriculum and assessments.  There are several key shifts in the new Massachusetts 2011 standards for both English Language Arts and Literacy and also Mathematics, and so the assessments used to measure these standards will also be evolving.

In Mathematics, there are four key shifts: Focus, Coherence, Clarity, and Rigor.

·         Key Shift #1:  Focus.  Students will focus on the most essential skills at each grade level.  Instead of covering topics in a mile-wide, inch-deep curriculum, our students will focus deeply on the key understandings at each grade level to build a strong conceptual foundation.

·         Key Shift #2: Coherence.  The standards are built with progression in mind.  Principals and teachers will carefully connect the learning across grades to build the foundational knowledge necessary for new understandings.  Teachers can begin to expect that students will enter the classroom with a deep conceptual understanding of core content in order to build on it.

·         Key Shift #3:  Clarity.  The new standards are more clear and organized for all stakeholders.

·         Key Shift #4:  Rigor.  The new standards include a deeper conceptual understanding of key concepts, increased expectations for procedural skill and fluency, and an increase in the opportunities to apply math in context.

In English Language Arts and Literacy, there are also many shifts.

·         Key Shift #1:  Balance of Literary and Informational Text.  Students will now see not only classic literature and narrative texts but also, in equal amounts, informational texts.  This includes more than just non-fiction and also incorporates deciphering graphs, charts, and diagrams and using technology to communicate.

·         Key Shift #2:  Complexity of Texts.  The level of difficulty of the texts that students are required to “grapple with” at each grade level has increased.  Students will be challenged to read and comprehend challenging texts at all levels.

·         Key Shift #3:  Text-Based Answers/Writing to Text.  The new standards require students to return to the texts to formulate answers to questions and to prepare written responses.  Student writing will need to always be supported by textual evidence.

·         Key Shift #4:  Academic Vocabulary.  The new standards extend to “literacy” in all subject areas, with specific guidance for domain specific vocabulary, reading, and writing in the Science and Social Studies areas.

How will the assessments, like MCAS, be affected by the changes to the standards?

The MCAS assessments in 2013-14 will be 100% aligned to the Common Core standards in grades 3-10 for ELA and 3-8 for Mathematics.  Grade 10 Mathematics will test on standards common to both the Common Core standards and previous MA standards.

The MCAS assessment will be changing in the coming years to better assess the Common Core State Standards. In addition, Massachusetts is also a part of a consortium of states developing the PARCC assessment, which could replace MCAS.  The PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) assessment is “innovative and engaging” and will provide timely data for student success.  More information for parents can be found here: http://www.parcconline.org/sites/parcc/files/PARCC1-pager-parents9-18-13.pdf

How has North Reading been preparing?

Since the Common Core State Standards and the corresponding 2011 Massachusetts Frameworks were introduced our educators have been unpacking the documents to understand what is most essential at each grade level for our students to know and be able to do.  The state has provided guiding documents to assist us in aligning our curriculum with the new documents and in being proactive in preparing our students for the future changes to assessments.  Our educators have also engaged in professional development and collaboration with educators from surrounding districts as we are all facing these changes and challenges together.

North Reading Wellness Committee

We are all aware of the growing concerns around our children’s health and wellness.

This year a dedicated team of educators and community members came together as a part of the Wellness committee.  Included in the group were Lois Bisson, Anna McGovern, Claudia Brown, Lorraine McGee, Laurie Witts, Lynne Clemens, Amy Luckiewicz,  Patricia Bullard, and Patrick Daly.

For 2012-13 this group had many goals including re-writing the goals from the committee’s 2006 document and aligning with the 2010 Health and Hunger Free Kids Act of 2010.  The committee worked to organize the goals into four categories: Nutrition Promotion, Nutrition Education, Health Education, and Physical Education.  The recommendations of this group will be passed along to the Superintendent for consideration.

Nutrition promotion goals are about positioning healthy choices for students to consider.  This is about more than choosing fruits and vegetables over sugary snacks.  It’s about understanding how many different types of fruits exist and the many ways to prepare them.  For example, our cafeteria may provide several varieties of apples so that students can develop a taste for which apple they prefer.  

Nutrition Education goals concern students learning the knowledge and skills related to nutritional wellness.  This would include learning about healthy choices, the dangers of obesity, and the benefits of proper nutrition.  Goals focused on both the curriculum that the students would experience in school as well as the extra-curricular education that they would receive through local community partnerships.  

Expanding and improving health education, offering healthier food choice options at local events, and creating guidelines for fundraisers are among the goals for this topic.

The final two topics focus on Health and Physical education goals and are connected to the Massachusetts curriculum frameworks as well as national standards.  The goals in these areas relate to the curriculum students will be taught as well as the continued vision for the importance of health and physical education for all students in North Reading.

As we look to 2013-14 the Wellness committee hopes to have many new initiatives that will involve the entire community.  Our goal is to create a community-wide effort to promote healthy choices, physical activity, and nutrition promotion.  The committee already involves members of the North Reading Public Schools, Parks and Recreation, Youth Services, parents, local health care providers, and more.  We hope to include other partners in the future.  If you’d like to be involved in the Wellness committee next year please contact Patrick Daly at pdaly@north-reading.k12.ma.us.

Dear North Reading Educators

We are excited to announce Google Drive, a new way to access and share all your files and folders, at any time and on any device. Google Drive replaces and enhances what you know today as your Google Documents List.
For the most part you will not have to do anything but you will notice a few changes if you are using Google Apps for education.

What is Google Drive?
Think of Google Drive as your personal stash of files and folders that follows you wherever you go - it lets you keep everything and share anything. With Google Drive, you can access files, folders, and Google Docs from a web browser or any device where you've installed your Google Drive.
Your Google Drive is in the cloud, but you can also install the desktop and mobile application to access your files from your computer, smartphone, tablet, or other Android or iOS mobile device, in addition to the online interface at drive.google.com. Google Drive's built-in sync capability ensures that your files, folders, and Google Docs are the same on all your devices.  If you've used Dropbox this is a very similar interface.
How do I try out Google Drive?

1. We will download and install Google Drive for everyone in North Reading for your work computers.
   
2. At home: Download and install the Google Drive for your Mac/PC application. This lets you sync files from your hard drive to Google Drive on the web, giving you access to your files on any device, at any time.
   
3. At home: If you'd like to access your Google Drive contents on your Android or Apple iOS device, see Google Drive on a mobile device.
   

How is the Google Drive online interface different from my current Google Documents List?

The Google Drive online interface looks similar to the Google Documents List you're used to, with a few key differences:

• Collections are now called Folders.
  
• When you first switch to Google Drive, a new folder called My Drive contains:
  
  • Documents that you own or have previously uploaded
  • Folders you own and the items contained within (regardless of ownership)
  Note that only items contained in My Drive are synced to your computer and other devices. If you want to sync items from Google Drive on the web that aren't contained in My Drive by default, just drag them to My Drive.
  
• Other items that would have previously appeared in the Home view can easily be found elsewhere. You can choose different views and filters to see recently opened documents, starred items, documents that have been shared with you, items owned by a particular person, files of a particular type, and more.
  
• You'll have powerful new options to search, sort, or preview your files before opening them.
  

See the Google Drive user help to learn more about Google Drive versus your Documents List, and how to navigate your Google Drive online interface.
How much storage do I have for my Google Drive files?

When reading the Google Drive Help Center, you may see that the default amount of storage is 5 GB, and that you can purchase your own.  If you need more storage, you can purchase additional storage on your own.

Where can I get more information?
To get started with Google Drive, visit the Google Apps Learning Center.
Enjoy!
Patrick
--These videos may help to explain what's new with google drive!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SjRH3SImlM&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tthVEzX-UI