Curriculum and Instruction Final Report

As of April 14, 2008

Chapter IV: Self-Study

Category B: Curriculum and Instruction

B1: What Students Learn

To what extent does the school provide a challenging, coherent, and relevant curriculum for each student that fulfills the schools purpose and results in student achievement of the expected school wide learning results through successful completion of any courses of study offered?

AIJMS continues to implement the middle school concept as instituted in Board Policy 338, which has served as the basis for the teaching practices, and development of the curriculum. Teachers have developed interdisciplinary units and maintained student portfolios. These have been used as evidence of student work as well as assessment.

AIJMS provides the following required subjects as specified by Board Policy 338 that include two semesters per year of the following courses.

* It should be noted, the implementation of Direct Instruction (DI was mandated by the school’s DAP, not by Board Policy 338. The program was implemented back in SY 04 without teacher input. For more information on the DI program, see Appendices E and F.

In addition to the core courses listed above, as well as the required DI classes, Board Policy 338 also specifies the following course requirements: three semesters of PE; one semester of health; two consecutive semesters of Chamorro language; one semester of career educational; and one semester of computers.

In addition, AIJMS provides exploratory courses, which include art, band, cultural dance, computer technology, drama, modern dance, student government, and journalism. A Pass/No Pass course is offered where students participate in the daily operations of the main office, nurse’s office, student support office, library, and counseling office as office aides.

The faculty developed curriculum guides for all subjects in each grade level. Staff development time was given to create a standardized, fully aligned, curriculum and standardized assessment.

The curriculum guides align the school’s ESLRs, the GPSS content and performance standards, and the annual island-wide Stanford Achievement Test objectives. AIJMS continues to align the School-wide Action Plan (SAP) with the DAP that includes a standardized, aligned curriculum for all schools. Additional programs are provided to augment the ongoing work to maximize student achievement:

1. A Character Education Program was introduced in SY 06-07, which will provide students the opportunity to learn what is appropriate behavior.
2. A School Climate Cadre was created to take on the task of analyzing information of discipline referrals in order to provide positive incentives for students to focus on appropriate.

Students in the eighth grade are provided an orientation detailing school programs, requirements, and activities the later part of the year as a transition to high school. An annual parent-student orientation is held at the beginning of the school year to reiterate the curriculum and policies of the school. Incoming sixth graders are given an orientation with the guidance counselors.

Teachers’ syllabi are important tools in outlining what students should know and be able to do by the end of the school year. Teachers are required to submit copies of their course syllabi to the administration at the beginning of each school year. This information is published on the school’s website. The syllabi include course descriptions, learning objectives, course outlines, course requirements, grading policies, ESLRs, and other pertinent information relevant to the course.

Included in the student population are groups with identified special needs. Teachers are given a compact disk with a copy of their students’ IEP. Teachers make accommodations or modifications to address the learning styles of their students. Our school has child study team to help identify students in need of Special Education Services.

To provide a challenging, coherent, and relevant curriculum, the formal listing of the courses including those of the DI program is as follows:

Reading

Students demonstrate comprehension of various reading materials, write reports in essay formats, do oral presentations, demonstrate expansion of vocabulary usage and comprehension, respond to written, oral questions and support with logic and reason.

Language Arts

Students learn grammar, usage and mechanics, writing, listening, speaking, and viewing written information in order to express themselves.

Math

Students learn fractions, decimal operations, data and statistics, number patterns and integers, equations, inequalities and functions, ratios and proportions, percents, geometric figures, measurement, surface area and volume, polygons and transformations, real numbers and right triangles, measurement, area and volume, linear equations and graphs, data analysis and probability, polynomials and functions.

GATE/High Math: Pre-Algebra

Students learn algebra skills such as linear functions, real numbers and right triangles, data analysis, polynomials and nonlinear functions.

GATE/High Math: Algebra

Students learn quadratic equations and functions, polynomials and factoring, rational equations and functions, and radicals and connections to geometry.

Science

Students learn general, life, earth, physical science, and how everything in our world works together. They learn what affects the environment and the importance of being responsible citizens. Students learn how to use the scientific method to develop a science fair project for the school and island-wide science fair.

Social Studies

Students learn about the historic, physical, cultural, economic, and political aspects of the world. They study how the past has influenced the world today and how countries are joined together globally because of resources and geographic locations. Students learn how people, through the world’s environment and resources, interact in many different ways. As a consequence, students also learn how to be responsible contributors.

Fine Arts

The fine arts department consists of art, band, and cultural dance. Each class requires performances and assessments. Students learn to appreciate various art forms, different genres of music, and different dance forms.

Physical Education and Health

Physical Education is designed to provide young adults with the knowledge and skills to enjoy a physically, healthy, lifestyle throughout life. Moreover, physical education includes the development of sports skills, the understanding of various sports, and an appreciation of sportsmanship. The essential aim of physical education is to maximize the opportunity for all students to participate in sports and physical activity in a manner that is enjoyable to all.

Practical Arts

The practical arts courses offer semester classes for students to help them transition from childhood to adolescence. Career education, computer applications, journalism, and life skills teach the importance of planning, exploring, and preparing for the work force as they face the challenges that lie ahead.

Chamorro

This mandatory course is offered for one and a half years. It teaches the language and culture of the Chamorro people. Its goal is to keep the Chamorro language alive and to pass down a desire and appreciation of the Chamorro people’s heritage to each generation.

English as a Second Language

The ESL classes are modified and paced so that students can better understand the subjects being taught in an environment that is non- threatening. They are taught in small groups and are provided tutoring support.

Special Education

Students who are identified receive instruction in a range of placements based on their individual needs and their individual education plans. IEP meetings are held on a timely basis as stated in P.L. 94-142 with mid quarterly and quarterly progress reports sent to the parents. Programs consist of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing program, Emotional Disabilities program, Resource Room.

Corrective Reading

The Direct Instruction model (see Appendix E) is a structured program focusing on decoding skills and increasing vocabulary to improve reading comprehension. This program consists of scripted daily lesson plans introducing small amounts of new material and reaffirming previously taught skills to achieve mastery. Students are placed in homogeneous groups and taught at their ability level.

In April SY 06-07 a survey was given to the entire faculty asking their opinions about the effectiveness of the DI program. The same survey was given to the faculty in the beginning of SY 07-08 to see if there was a change in their overall opinions. In April SY 06-07, 14 teachers were teaching sixth grade, 13 taught seventh grade and 11 taught the eighth grade. Of all the teachers, eight were elementary certified, 37 were certified in the current content area and seven weren’t certified in the content area. During SY 07-08 there were 19 who taught sixth grade, 21 taught seventh grade, and 23 taught eighth grade. Twenty-five were secondary certified, ten were elementary certified and ten were duel certified and five were not. In the SY 06-07 survey, 33 teachers had taught DI for one to four years. One teacher had taught for five years and five teachers said not applicable. In SY 07-08, 37 had completed the training needed to teach DI and five had not completed the training. The results are integrated in the graphs below.

Has the Corrective Reading Program positively affected your classroom instruction?

What is your overall impression of the effectiveness of the Corrective Reading Program?

Connecting Math Concepts

CMC (see Appendix F) is a complete basal mathematics program designed so that all students will learn to compute, solve problems, and think mathematically. CMC is organized into components that focus on teaching prerequisite skills to mastery before more complex skills are taught. CMC involves teacher directed modeling, guided practice opportunities with feedback, and independent practice. This independent practice is provided at each lesson.

In April SY 06-07 a survey was given to the entire faculty to ask their opinions about the effectiveness of the CMC program. The same survey was given to the faculty in the beginning of SY 07-08 to see if there was a change in their overall opinions.

Has the Connecting Math Program positively affected your classroom instruction?

What is your overall impression of the effectiveness of the Corrective Math Program?

The various comments that were attributed to the Corrective Reading program and the Connecting Math Concepts program by the teachers in our survey were as follows:

• It is a remedial program that is not at grade level.
• Students find it boring and not challenging
• The program is not aligned with the Standard Achievement Test standards.

In SY 06-07 a survey was given to the entire faculty to ask their opinions about the effect of the DI program on the middle school concept. The same survey was given to the faculty in the beginning of SY 07-08 to see if there was a change in their overall opinions.

Does your team have adequate time to schedule meetings with parents?

Is your team able to carry out interdisciplinary lessons?

Do you have adequate time for IEP meetings?

Evidence

• Surveys from SY 06-07
• Surveys from SY 07-08
• Faculty staffing pattern provided by administration
• Course descriptions from curriculum guides created by faculty
• Lesson plans integrated with ESLRs

Areas for Growth

• Provide every new teacher with a copy of the curriculum guides, SIP, and content standards in order to create standardized lesson plans
• Provide teachers a copy of the list of teachers in their respective teams and when their team preps are held in order to create interdisciplinary lesson plans.
• Ensure that IEP meetings are held during a time when the teachers are on prep or provide a substitute teacher if meetings are not during teachers’ prep times.

B2: How Students Learn

To what extent does the professional staff use research-based knowledge about teaching and learning? To what extent does the professional staff design and implement a variety of learning experiences that actively engage students at a high level of learning consistent with the school’s purpose and expected school-wide learning results?

Teachers obtain graduate credits from colleges or universities in order to maintain their professional certification. They attend staff development and faculty workshops provided by GPSS and at the same time stay abreast with the latest education research and technology by subscribing to or reading various educational publications. All teachers are required to obtain six graduate credits to maintain their teaching credentials every certification period. As indicated in our faculty survey, 90% of our professional staff holds a valid teaching certificate.

Through these and many other practices, teachers have acquired a wide range of research-based activities to help meet the particular needs of each learner and engage them to meet higher educational standards. Examples of learning theories include Bloom’s Taxonomy, Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences, schema, Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, developing critical thinking skills, use of portfolios, assessment tools, integrating technology, methodological strategies and various instructional techniques.

In order to ensure the achievement of our school purpose and ESLRs, our professional staff provides a variety of learning experiences that actively engage students at a higher level of learning. Teachers make their students own and internalize the ESLRs. The following graph shows the variety of learning activities that teachers at AIJMS have acquired and are implementing in their classes:

The following graph shows from greatest to least what classroom activities students learn best from:

Lesson Planning

The professional staff designs lesson plans that are aligned with the GPSS content standards, the SAT10 skills, and the school ESLRs. To ensure that classroom lessons include the Essential Elements of Instruction, which Board Policy 378 mandates, daily lesson plans must be written using the twelve components model proposed by Madeline Hunter.

Character Education

The Character Education program has been implemented in the last two years as part of the school’s curriculum. The main goal of this program is to improve character and leadership traits among AIJMS students. The lessons are taught during homebase and are designed with age-specific real world examples and activities that allow students to be confident in the skills they are learning. The lessons include basic concepts of ownership and respect for others, issues of bullying, peer pressure, and how to make decisions and set goals. The character education committee known as the school climate cadre has also implemented a positive behavior intervention support, which organizes and gives away prizes to students who have demonstrated positive behavior in school.

Corrective Reading/Math (Direct Instruction Program)

Corrective Reading (see Appendices E and F) has been implemented to promote reading accuracy (decoding), fluency, and comprehension skills of students who are reading below their grade level. All lessons in the program are sequenced and scripted, and provide ongoing development of a particular topic or item. The skills are taught one by one, reviewed, and practiced until mastered.

Connecting Math Concepts has also been implemented to help teach students explicit strategies that enable them to master difficult ideas such as ratios, proportions, probability, functions, and data analysis. All lessons in the program have detailed explanations and guided practice that move students toward independent work. It ensures that students will learn to work mathematics problems accurately and confidently. Students are shown how to use consistent, step-by-step thinking processes to solve increasingly complex problems independently and with confidence.

English as a Second Language

In the ESL program, teachers provide instruction for students who speak a language other than English. The lesson emphasizes English language development in speaking, listening and writing skills in all subject areas. For language acquisition, activities utilized to increase participation and experiences in the classroom include oral presentations, cooperative learning, the total physical response, hands-on activities, projects, and other methods and strategies to challenge the students and meet their diverse needs.

Evidence

• Student projects
• Student portfolios
• Student work
• List of club and organization
• Co-curricular activities
• List of sports activities
• Intramurals
• Morning, after-school and weekend tutorials and activities
• Field trip request forms
• Character education activities
• Teacher lesson plans
• Teacher profile
• School master schedule
• Staff development agendas
• Sign-in sheets for staff development

Areas for Growth