So check out a few items on the BSD website:
- District Brochure on “Measure Up” -- in the yellow box on the left. This was handed out at the Breakfast last week as well.
- Site Shortcuts – top 2 items – 2012 Referendum and the Year 1 RttT Progress Report
The “Measure Up” Brochure – A great marketing piece out to the community leaders to reminder everyone of the many programs within BSD. As a parent, some of the programs I knew, others I need to educate myself a bit. I also want to see what’s available to the average student – if my kid is not at the top and not at the bottom, do they potentially “fall through the cracks” and just coast. What BSD offers that student will demonstrate the overall strength of the district. (And don’t get me wrong, my kids are taking advantage of some of these programs and opportunities, but as a member of the community, I want to know our district is turning out the best “citizens” that fill our employee ranks and customer service jobs throughout the area as well.)
2012 Referendum – Once on this link, check out the Nav bar on the left. These listings represent the 5 working groups that are digging into the details of what’s happening in the district and what impacts the referendum will make on overall operations. These groups are just kicking off, but you can see the representation. And yes, I am on 2 of the working groups and see a few other parent names as well.
Year 1 RttT Progress Report – Lot of information in this report, not all of it will parents “get” at first glance and not without a lot of discussion. Sometimes there is too much educational jargon and the “big picture” planning efforts are difficult at this stage to measure back down to a classroom. And as a project manager by experience, one key item that is missing from this report for me is the BUDGET/MONEY. (As you’ll learn, I want to see the financial tracking of RttT. I think it is part of our responsibilities as parents to make our leaders accountable to the fiscal picture as well. This money was a “once in a lifetime” outlay – Where is it all going?? Is it being used the way it was intended – to change the landscape of education in DE? Are we getting the results promised?)
DCAS Note: The DCAS test only has 50 questions per topic; thus the idea is for a child taking the test to take approximately 60-90 minutes, give or take depending upon the child’s comfort level with computers. 40 questions are “on-grade level” and the other 10 are “off-grade level”.
However, at this point, I’m not sure where the questions originate. Do the teachers have input to the questions? Do the districts? Or the DDOE ONLY? Or is it the company administering the test, AIR? I’m still investigating this aspect of DCAS, so more to come on this topic.
Hey Ashley - In reference to your note on DCAS, "However, at this point, I’m not sure where the questions originate. Do the teachers have input to the questions? Do the districts? Or the DDOE ONLY? Or is it the company administering the test, AIR? I’m still investigating this aspect of DCAS, so more to come on this topic"
ReplyDeleteThe questions did originate from all the sources you've listed. Teachers did have influence and collaborative work on the questions, and continue to do so as the test evolves. One of the biggest concerns teachers have had is the lack of student accountability - there are minimal incentives and/or encouragements for our kids to do well. We need to think this through if we are serious about using the test as a means of evaluating the growth of our students.