Policy Documents

Fernway School

Shaker Heights, OH

IB School code 004838

Contents

Language Policy ………………………….……………………….……………………….2

Assessment Policy………………………………………….………………………………4

Staff Essential Agreements ………………………………………………………………...6

Academic Honesty Policy …………………………………………………………...……..7

Portfolio Policy …………………………………………………………………………….9

Fernway School Language Policy

(Revision approved by BLT; needs to be approved by staff, October 2013)

Purpose

At Fernway School, it is our responsibility to provide an integrated, language-rich environment so that each student becomes a “confident, competent communicator.” Reflecting on the International Baccalaureate mission statement, we also know that effective language instruction helps students to become “active, compassionate, and lifelong learners” and global citizens. Shaker Heights is a community that is actively seeking to draw in those from diverse places and actively desiring to send students to diverse places to have a powerful impact across the globe. That is impossible without effective language skills.

Principles

  1. We believe that language is central to communication and learning. Language has various components: listening, reading, speaking, writing, viewing, presenting, and non-verbal communication.
  2. We believe that language is a means for understanding, exploring and gaining world and self-knowledge. Just as importantly, we believe language is crucial to conducting and sharing inquiry research.
  3. Shaker Heights is a community that historically encourages and welcomes diversity. Thus, our community attracts many families with a range of cultural backgrounds. We value each student’s country of origin and mother-tongue language. We know that we become better global citizens learning from those who come to us from different places.
  4. The mission of Shaker Heights City Schools is to “…nurture, educate and graduate students …with a knowledge of our global and multicultural society.” We believe that the learning of an additional language is central to our school mission statement and the mission statement of the International Baccalaureate Programme.

Practice

The language in which most of the curriculum is delivered is the Language of Instruction. At Fernway School, the language of instruction is English. The language that the school offers, in addition to the language of instruction, is the Additional Language. At Fernway School, the additional language is Mandarin in grade 1-4. Students receive one hour of instruction a week. The language spoken at home is the Mother-tongue. At Fernway School, we have several students whose mother-tongue is not English.

That being said:

  1. At Fernway School, we acknowledge differences in developmental stages, learning styles, as well as, previous language experiences. We recognize and respect the different ways in which students express themselves, including mother tongue development.
  2. We present language through meaningful authentic contexts and integrate language and other subject areas in classrooms that physical enrich their language development
  3. At Fernway School, students are engaged in a literature-based approach to language learning. There is an increased emphasis on reading for meaning, problem solving and information processing.
  4. Writing is teacher-directed and/or spontaneous. Writing, including mechanics, is process-focused.
  5. Creative expressions (non-verbal, speaking, drawing, drama etc) are ways to share and make meaning.
  6. Reading, writing, and expression are all used to demonstrate learner profile attributes and attitudes; likewise they aid in effective research, thinking, self-management and social skills. With guidance, students are encouraged to select texts based on interest and need. Other texts are teacher and/or student selected to foster inquiry and research.
  7. Differentiation is essential because our students have a range of language needs and abilities, including those whose mother-tongue differs from the language of instruction. Student assessment drives differentiated instruction. Process, product and content can be differentiated within each Unit of Inquiry to meet students’ language needs and abilities
  8. Students have access to culturally diverse reading material, and the expanse of learning available in multi-media formats.
  9. While respecting and supporting the students’ mother-tongue, we believe it is important to teach students to communicate effectively in the language of instruction. Instruction is aligned to state standards which are an adoption of the Core Standards.
  10. All students whose mother-tongue is not the language of instruction are assessed to see what kind and degree of instruction they may need to succeed academically. Those services are coordinated by an ELL specialist. ELL services are provided to support students, families, and teachers. (ELL refers to English Language Learners.)
  11. School documents, including assessment documents, will be made available in mother-tongue as necessary.
  12. Resources for language development, in school and within the community, are available to families, students and teachers.
  13. Students are encouraged to speak in and share their mother-tongue at school and at home.
  14. Student products and responses can be made in English and in mother-tongue. We, at Fernway, are encouraged to be open-minded and welcome many languages and language-speakers.
  15. Through Mandarin instruction, all students acquire some proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing basic Mandarin. Integration to the Unit of Inquiry’s central idea play a part in Mandarin instruction as well. As grade levels progress, Mandarin vocabulary becomes increasingly sophisticated. Students are able to produce meaning and use language upon a continuum, knowing that rates and success of language acquisition varies from child to child.
  16. Visual labels in Mandarin and other languages of interest are used throughout the school and within classrooms to reinforce Mandarin instruction and students’ mother-tongue languages. Also, ELL teachers work with students to bridge the gap and increase comprehension between the mother-tongue language and English.
  17. Various assessment methods are used (such as portfolios, conferencing, writing sample analysis and response journals) to guide students to become increasingly committed and knowledgeable communicators.
  18. The Policy Team at Fernway School will annually reflect upon the Language Policy, ensuring that it fully articulates current practices and is a “living” document, fully serving Fernway’s students, staff, and families.

Fernway School Assessment Policy

(Revisionapproved by BLT; needs to be approved by staff, October, 2013)

Purpose

Fernway School personnel are responsible for providing students, parents, and instructional staff with frequent, effective, and ongoing feedback about learning. We are accountable to communicate students’ acquisition of knowledge, understanding of key concepts and transdisciplinary skills, as well as learner profile attributes and attitudes. We do so for particular objectives at various times and in various ways throughout the learning process. Assessments are used to:

  • know what a student knows and can do at various times in the learning process;
  • collect, organize, and use data;
  • guide planning and instruction;
  • monitor growth;
  • inform parents, teachers, and students of progress;
  • assist all members of the learning community in setting goals;
  • celebrate student learning;
  • encourage students to take responsibility of their own learning.

Principles

  1. We believe that the teaching/learning cycle starts with assessment.
  2. We believe the right learning experience created at the right time with the right kind of feedback creates meaningful learning for all students. Hence, assessment should be differentiated.
  3. We believe that information can be gathered in various important ways, through self, peer and/or teacher assessment.
  4. We believe it is crucial that students are assessed in authentic ways and from various perspectives with specific criterion known to each before the assessments take place.
  5. We believe that some of the most crucial assessment can be done by a student. Thus, students will regularly reflect on their learning about growth within the learner profile; use of transdisciplinary skills; work on formative and summative assessments; and the artifacts they choose to include in portfolios.
  6. We believe that parents should contribute valuable assessment data, which will be actively sought. Similarly, we believe that regularly and positively reporting student growth and areas of concern to parents is a paramount responsibility of each teacher.
  7. We believe all aspects of the assessment process will be part of on-going reflection. At Fernway, administrators and staff will reflect on the effectiveness of:
  8. strategies and tools used in diagnostic assessments, pre-assessments, formative assessments and summative assessments;
  9. timeliness for giving assessments and providing feedback;
  10. the modes of reporting assessment results and the responsiveness of the audience (students and parents);
  11. assessment accommodations for individual students;
  12. the Assessment Policy as reviewed on an annual basis.

Practice

At Fernway, we use a combination of diagnostic assessments, pre-assessments, formative and summative assessments. Teachers use a variety of strategies and tools to do so. We assess what students know (knowledge), understand (concepts), do (skills and action), and how they feel (attributes and attitudes).

Types of assessments:

  1. Progress monitoring assessments: Diagnostic assessments are repeated standardized measures that help students and teachers know what is known and how students have grown.
  2. Pre-assessment: Pre-assessment allows students to communicate or demonstrate their prior knowledge about a concept or skill. Data from pre-assessments guides teacher planning and instruction.
  3. Formative: Formative assessment is an integral part of daily instruction. It allows teachers to check for understanding in order to plan and make decisions about the next step in the learning process. Formative assessment informs the students, teachers, and families about a student’s current scope of learning, what is understood, and what might need further instruction.
  4. Summative: Summative assessments take place at the end of a unit. These assessments measure a student’s ability to independently demonstrate comprehension and application of articulated objectives. In fourth grade, the final grade at our school, students will use exhibition as a summative assessment. The exhibition allows them to demonstrate their knowledge and use of transdisciplinary skills and learner attitudes and attributes as viewed through a transdisciplinary theme.

Specific strategies and tools will be consistently used in the assessment process. Assessment strategies and tools will be meaningful, consistent, and fair. These strategies and tools are:

  1. Specific strategies used for assessment: These strategies include observations, performance-based tasks, process-focused tasks, selected response tasks, open-ended tasks, reflections, conferencing, and/or computer-assisted individual assessments.
  2. Specific tools used for assessment: These tools include rubrics, exemplars, checklists, anecdotal records, continuums, teacher constructed quizzes and tests, standardized tests including Ohio Achievement Assessments, district benchmark measurements, (curriculum-based measurements, AIMSweb Assessments, Developmental Spelling Analysis), and/or computer-assisted assessment data.

Assessments are reported in various ways throughout the year. Progress is reported in the following ways:

  1. Trimester progress reports – an overview of student data on Ohio Department of Education content standards (ODE), a reflection about IB Units of Inquiry, and the ways in which students are demonstrating transdisciplinary skills, learner profile attitudes, and attributes.
  2. Portfolios - includes student work samples and reflections gathered throughout the year. Specific agreements about the use of portfolios will be laid out in a separate document, “Portfolio Essential Agreements.”
  3. Conferences involving parent, teacher, and student participation will be done at least once a year; this may be triangular conferencing or student -led.
  4. Informal mini-conferences occur at various times throughout the year, involving student/teacher and student/student reflection and feedback.
  5. Teacher communication with parents via notes home, e-mails, and phone calls.
  6. Computer-assisted documentation for student progress monitoring
  7. Teacher/student and student/student dialogue and reflection
  8. Staff, student and occasional parent climate surveys
  9. School-wide data from the Ohio Department of Education reports

Fernway SchoolStaff Essential Agreements

(ADOPTED and unchanged since 12.12.11)

General meeting essential agreements (PYP CPT, TBT, BLT, Staff mtgs, etc)

  1. Try to schedule conferences, appointments or meetings at non-CPT times.
  2. Meet promptly and leave at designated time.
  3. Focus only on relevant issues.
  4. Bring required materials/documents ( including Making the PYP Happen to common planning time)
  5. Stay on task. Be respectful of our time. Minimize sidebar conversations.
  6. Work professionally.
  7. Be open-minded, value others’ opinions.
  8. Show respect for the presenter or speaker.
  9. Take care of personal needs as necessary. Cell phones on vibrate.
  10. At the close of the meeting, attempt to brainstorm the agenda for the upcoming meeting.
  11. All created documents and document revisions are sent to staff and placed in a shared folder.
  12. Do any follow-up action on assigned responsibilities.

Planner/POI agreements

  1. Write, reflect, and revise planners/POI in grade level teams with appropriate support and special staff.
  2. Changes to the planner/POI can only be made by consensus of the relevant staff.
  3. Teachers will adhere to the intent of learning activities and assessments, differentiating as necessary.
  4. Learning activities and assessments will be done in a balanced timeframe.
  5. Reflection will follow each planner within two work sessions of the completion of a planner.
  6. Current planners/POI and documents are available in shared documents folder.
  7. All staff members will safeguard shared documents, as not to lose any important work.
  8. The POI is on display in the building and all planners/POI will be made available to the community as needed.

Professionalism essential agreements

  1. Maintain student and staff confidentiality in public places including social networks.
  2. Problem solve with colleagues about a specific student in private spaces.
  3. Teachers exhibit learner profile attitudes and attributes conscientiously.
  4. Welcome parents into instructional spaces at all times.
  5. Respond to all parent inquiries within one work day.
  6. Check email at the beginning and end of the working day.

NOTE:

PYP CPT = Primary Years Program Common Planning Time

TBT = Teacher-based Teams

BLT = Building Leadership Team

Fernway School Academic Honesty Policy - “Give credit where credit is due!”

(ADOPTED April, 2013)

Purpose

In accordance with the International Baccalaureate Organization’s desire for all students to demonstrate principles of academic honesty as an essential part of their involvement in the Primary Years Programme, students will know about and comply with an Academic Honesty Agreement.

Principles

The Academic Honesty Agreement reflects our schools commitments to the learner profile attribute of being principledas well as the attitude of integrity. At Fernway School, we value the creative interpretation and generation of new thinking linked to, but not copied from, other sources.

Practice

  1. Students have various tasks they need to do with information:
  2. Identifying text facts as written to show comprehension
  3. Expressing information from previous knowledge to demonstrate connection and application
  4. Researching and fact finding during inquiry
  5. Sharing information through oral, written and creative presentations
  6. Thus, each year, teachers will have discussions about and model how and when to convert information from various sources for various reasons to original text. We will develop age-appropriate expectations and teach common lessons. (See suggested scope and sequence)
  7. Knowing that students can struggle with forming original thought from various sources, they will be counseled/coachedas to the importance of intellectual property in conversation with faculty or staff.
  8. Grade 2-4 students will sign and comply with a grade level appropriate Academic Honesty Agreement (See item 1) and/or students/teacher will add the idea of Academic Honesty to the class essential agreements.
  9. In fourth grade, a specific document insuring academic honesty will be signed by students and parents as part of exhibition. (See item 2)

Scope and sequence

K / Begin converting text into own words (literature) when appropriate and teacher directed
1 / Converting text into own words (literature) and begin to introduce students to conversion of informational text
2 / Converting literature and informational text and begin to cite sources, sign Academic Honesty agreement with Sharing the Planet research
3 / Converting literature and informational text and cite sources for all individual and collaborative inquiries, sign Academic Honesty policy.
4 / Converting literature and informational text , cite sources for all individual and collaborative inquiries, and sign Academic Honesty policy for Exhibition

Item 1

Because I am principled and show integrity, all of the work I do is my own. Nothing is copied from another source without citation.

Date:______Signed:______

Grade 4 Exhibition

Item 2

Declaration of

Academic Honesty

As an IB student who understands the importance of being principled and showing integrity, all of the work presented as a part of Exhibition will be referenced to acknowledge the thoughts and contributions of others. Students will submit work that is their own and not a plagiarized copy of someone else’s work or thoughts. This applies equally to pictures, music, video and any other form of presentation.

Please sign the Academic Honesty Agreement. Parents or Guardian(s) are also asked to acknowledge compliance with this policy as well.

Student

Because I am principled and show integrity, all of the work I do will be my own. Nothing will be copied from another source without citation. For example:

I will not cut-and paste information from others without appropriate use of quotation marks and direct reference to their work;

I will summarize information in my own words;

I will document the resources I have used.

Date:______

Signed:______

Parents/Guardian(s)

I/We will support my/our child in developing an appreciation for Academic Honesty.

Date: ______Signed: ______

Signed: ______

(Parents/Guardians)

Fernway Essential Agreements Portfolios

(ADOPTED August, 2012. minor revision adoption August, 2013)

  1. Our portfolios are used and made by the students to show growth over time and across the curriculum.
  2. Students, teachers, parents and IB visitors have access to the portfolios; file folders are stored in individual classrooms. Those people who view the portfolios will be open-minded and generous-hearted about the wide range of portfolio inclusions we will see as they move from grade to grade.
  3. Students begin with a new file folder in kindergarten. The portfolio moves with the student until the end of grade four. Each year, students will pick up their file folders outside of their last year’s classroom during the first week of school every year. At the end of grade 4, each student gets his/her portfolio.
  4. Teachers and students use dividers to separate transdisciplinary themes in the following order. There will be a sample included from each theme for each year. (30 work samples minimum by the end of 4th grade).
  5. Who We Are; Where We Are In Place and Time; How We Express Ourselves; How the World Works; How We Organize Ourselves; Sharing the Planet
  6. Learner profile /goals/action -- teachers would include a copy of the third trimester learner profile self-evaluation in this section.
  7. Single subject and support staff submit one piece for each grade level. (Art, Mandarin, Music, Library, PE) As directed by the special teacher, each work sample is placed in the appropriate theme. This may not be true for art, as art may chose to continue to have students maintain their own art portfolios. Support staff, like KRP, ERP, Special Education and Skills, are also encouraged to include pieces in the portfolio. The classroom teachers will file the documents provided by single-subject area teachers.
  8. Students reflect on each of the permanent pieces, why it was chosen and how it represents each student’s understanding. The tags state the theme and central idea. Reflection tags are attached to the artifact. Below is a possible sample tag -- the actual ones will be forthcoming.