Holly Ridge Middle School | Early Release Information

Teachers continued their discussion of how you define mastery and what you do when students do or do not master essential skills. Now two weeks into the school year, teachers are beginning to collect grades and get to know their new students. If you have any questions as to whether your student is mastering the essential skills listed on the curriculum map for their grade level, please contact teachers.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (1 hour release)

On this week, teachers met by departments and discussed the following questions: What resources are available to support intervention? What data are we planning to collect to determine who is meeting mastery, who is not, etc.?

Wednesday, September 16, 2009 (1 hour release)

At the beginning of last week, students participated in a project called "Universal Screening." This is a quick (only a few minutes) screening of reading skill taken during their Health class. During our Wake Wednesday time last week, core teams worked together to score the assessment and begin discussing where students may need additional support. Because we are careful not to draw conclusions from one, quick assessment, we are not reporting these results to parents. However, if you have any question about how your student is progressing with reading skills in these first 18 days, please feel free to contact their language arts teacher. They will be more than happy to talk with you.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009 (2.5 hour early release)

CLICK HERE to view agenda for Early Release.

Wednesday, September 29, 2009 (1 hour release )

6th Grade:Meet on team looking at Blue Diamond data and other common assessment data to determine who should be receiving intervention support. Desired outcome is a list of students who should begin receiving intervention / guided study service as of October 1. Minutes should discuss specific data used to arrive at list.

7th & 8th Grade: Meet on team looking at Blue Diamond data and other common assessment data to determine who should be receiving intervention support. Begin matching student progress to intervention class lists. Begin a draft list of who will/may be likely to join the intervention class, leave the intervention class, whose work is indeterminate, etc?

Essential Questions: (ongoing)
What positives can you celebrate? How are we teaching students the skill of knowing how to assess their own mastery? How are we communicating learning struggles/needs to parents (other than interims)? What new data points / assessments do you want to have by the end of the quarter to make an informed decision about students needing the intervention class for 2nd qtr?

Wednesday, October 7, 2009 & Wednesday, October 14, 2009 (1 hour early release)

Essential Questions: (ongoing)
How do you assess academic growth (as opposed to mastery)?
Based on your discussions, how will you structure your time on team for 10/21?

Desired Outcome:
Refine your lists of students who will exit or enter the intervention class.

6th Grade: Teachers meet in core teams to continue discuss and follow up on identified action steps from previous meeting on 9/30 for the first 20 minutes of the time. For the remainder of the time, intervention teachers meet collaboratively to discuss specific plans for intervention/remediation based on needs identified by teams in 9/30 and 10/7 meetings. Teachers who are not involved in the intervention class will meet to plan enrichment for students who are progressing at grade level or beyond.

7th Grade:Meet in core teams continue discuss and follow up on identified action steps from previous meeting on 9/30. Add discussion related to the essential questions below.

8th Grade:Intervention teachers meet collaboratively to discuss specific plans for intervention/remediation based on needs identified by teams in 9/30 meeting. Teachers who are not involved in the intervention class will meet to plan enrichment for students who are progressing at grade level or beyond

Wednesday, October 23, 2009 (2.5 Hour Early Release #2)

CLICK HERE to view the agenda for this early release day.

Wednesday, October 30, 2009 (1 Hour Early Release)

All grade levels meet to complete curriculum maps for 2nd quarter.