Communicating Bad News

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USD 470 Arkansas City
Dr. Jan Voss Assistant Superintendent
Rhonda Heim Title 1 Coordinator
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Leadership team

• Principal
• Members
• NCA Steering Committee
• Family Support Team
• Student Improvement Team
• Met Regularly

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Charge of the Team

• Monitor student progress
• frequency chart each test
• frequency chart computer curriculum
• compared classroom performance to  computer
  curriculum performance
• Research
• best practices
• strategies that work
• examples from testing

4
Charge of the Team, continued

• Parent Component
• Home visits with teachers for parents who didnt
  show up for conferences
• Progress notes
• also phone calls, letters, conferences
• Mandatory homework with a parent involvement
  component
• Curriculum parent night
• Invitation to attend class

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Charge of the Team, continued

• Classrooms
• Re-visiting schedules
• identification/removal of time wasters
• Alignment of State Standards and District
  Outcomes with curriculum
• Pacing Calendars
• Lesson Plans

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Charge of the Team, continued

• Testing
• Studied guidelines early
• Identification and correct placement of IEP/ELL
  students early
• Documented instructional strategies all year
• Plan for optimum testing environments all year
• All material kept in principals office

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Schoolwide

• Standard of Excellence
• 25 Exemplary
• 35 Advanced
• 20 Proficient
• 15 Basic
• 5 Unsatisfactory
• Each grade accountable to ensure
• there will be no more deficits!

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Strategies That Worked

• Cooperative Learning Groups
• Expected skills and standards
• Practice Active Listening
• Help and Encourage Others
• Everyone Participates
• Explain Your Ideas and Tell Why
• Complete Tasks
• Continuous teacher training
• Two weeks student training

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Strategies That Worked

• Explicit instruction
• Direct instruction in smaller group sizes
• Leveled grouping
• Informing parents of progress and behavior
• Intermediate levels earn recess
• Graphic Organizer

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Strategies That Worked

• Published Thinking
• Daily Oral Language
• Daily Math Problem
• Read Math
• Problem Solved Reading
• Think a-louds
• Teamed for discussions

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Celebrate every achievement along the way!