RUSSELL HIGH SCHOOL COUNCIL POLICY
COUNCIL POLICYTYPE:POLICY NUMBER:14.00
By-Laws (Council OperationalPolicies) Function (School OperationalPolicies)
POLICY TOPIC DESCRIPTION: InstructionalPractices
POLICYSTATEMENT:
I.Instructional Strategies
A.On a regular basis in each class, each teachershall:
1.Use varied student centered instructionalstrategies.
2.Address various learning styles and the multipleintelligences.
3.Apply findings from brainresearch.
4.Use activities where all students use higher order thinking and problem solvingskills.
5.Make active use of interdisciplinaryconnections.
6.Provide opportunities for students to connect their learning to real-lifeexperiences.
7.Adjust instruction to respond to the diversity of students in thatclass.
B.Each teacher shall emphasize the following research-based instructional strategieswhiledelivering classroominstruction:
1.Identifying similarities anddifferences
2.Summarizing and note taking
3.Reinforcing effort and providingrecognition
4.Homework andpractice
5.Nonlinguistic representations
6.Cooperative learning
7.Setting objectives and providingfeedback
8.Generating and testinghypotheses
9.Questions, cues, and advance organizers
C.Evidence of these instructional practices shall be included in all lesson plans, unitplans, interdisciplinary units, thematic units, instructional field trips, andhomework assignments.
D.Each teacher shall regularly require students to complete tasks similar to those usedfor state assessments (open-response questions, experiences with various types ofreading, converting data to graphs, on-demand writing,etc.).
E.In each class for each grading period, students shall complete two or more activitiesthatresult in products or performances which will demonstrate their learningprogress. Student products or performances should, whenappropriate:
1.Be aligned with the school’s adopted curriculum, the state learning goals,and Kentucky’s standards for studentperformance
2.Use rubrics or scoring guides that are designed with and /or shared with studentsprior to theassessment
3.Reflect developmentally appropriate practices for the ages and developmentalstages of learners
4.Be embedded in the learning process and be part of interdisciplinary units orthematicunits wheneverpossible
5.Include opportunities for student self reflection and selfevaluation
6.Include options for students to choose from products, performances, ordemonstrations that acknowledge multipleintelligences
7.Be supported by student work samples developed by teachers or students thathelp students understand what proficient work lookslike.
II.Homework
Homework is an extension of classroom instruction and shall consist of additional practiceof skills taught during classroom instruction, activities that contribute to classroom units, anddaily reading logs that record the time students spend reading at home. Teachers shallmonitor homework completion and habits of individualstudents.
III.Portfolios
A.Each teacher will assign at least one finished writing piece in each class, withlesson plansshowing:
1.How the assignment increases student understanding of the curriculum being taughtatthattime.
2.How content area readings of the same type will be used in conjunction withtheassignment to allow the covering of content and the discussion of writing formto occur at the sametime.
B.All teachers in the school shall participate in conferencing on portfolios. Teachersshalllimit conference’s focus to one or two areas of need, addressing patterns of errorsor problems that occur frequently.
C.Teachers shall submit the required pieces, and any other pieces students volunteer tohaveincluded in their writing folders, to each student’s English teacher at the end ofeach semester at the same time they turn in student grades. English teachers shall ensure thatacomplete folder of each student’s pieces to date is passed on to the student’s nextEnglish teacher.
D.In the twelfth grade, students shall review the file of their work and select pieces forfinalrevisions and inclusion in the writing portfolio. English IV teachers shall ensure thatevery student has adult and peer feedback, classroom and homework time, and access towork processing equipment to complete thoserevisions.
IV.Communication of LearningObjectives
For each class, each teachershall:
1.Provide a syllabus which clearly describes what the students are expected to knowand be able to do by the end of each grading period, including essential knowledge,skills, and processes. For all classes teaching core content, the syllabus shall include, ataminimum, the learning objectives set out in the curriculum adopted by theCouncil. Teachers shall have the option of providing a syllabus by grading period, bysemester, or by school year. Each syllabus shall be posted on the school’s website with ahard copy available for any student, parent, or other person requestingit.
2.Post the relevant learning objectives for the current unit in their classroomwherestudents will be able to reviewthem.
3.Post in the classroom work samples developed by teachers or students thathelp students understand what proficient work lookslike.
V.Instructional Resources
Teachers shall use a variety of electronic and printed instructional resources whicharedevelopmentally appropriate to the students in the class and which reflect appropriatediversity.
VI.Protection of Instructional Time
The Russell High School schedule shall provide the required 1,050 hours of instructional timeor more, and students will be actively involved in learning throughout those instructional hours.To ensurethis:
1.Broadcast interruptions from the school office shall be limited to homeroomperiods and emergencies. Whenever possible, e-mail, telephone, quiet messengers, orwaiting until class is finished will be usedinstead.
2.Students arriving in each classroom will immediately have work to begin,withoutwaiting for other students toassemble.
3.When a scheduled activity is unexpectedly delayed or cancelled, students willbegiven alternative, substantive learning activities toundertake.
4.Activities that reward or punish student behavior shall not be conductedduring instructional time unless those activities are strongly supported by the curriculumand instructional policies established by theCouncil.
5.Videotapes and television broadcasts will be used only when they efficientlyconveyknowledge and skills called for in the curriculum and are integrated intoother activities that require the students to process and apply the information thevideo provides. Videos shown in the classrooms at Russell High School must bedirectly linked to and cited in the teacher’s daily lesson plans and on-boardobjectives. No “R” rated or scenes from “R” rated movies will be shown without parentand principalapproval.
6.Our school safety plan and discipline and classroom management policyshallcontribute to ensuring that behavioral problems do not subtract from learningtime.
VII.Use ofTechnology
Teachers shall use technology for appropriate and varied learning activities and to expandtheclassroom into thecommunity.
VIII.Implementation
At least once during each grading period, each department will participate in a meetingto:
1.Review the instructional strategies they have used since the lastmeeting
2.Discuss the effectiveness of thosestrategies.
3.Identify strategy areas needing further work orsupport
4.Discuss possible solutions tochallenges
At the end of the meeting, the department chair shall send an e-mail summary oftheir conclusions to the principal. The principal shall ensure that areas needing further workand support are addressed in teacher professional growth plans and professionaldevelopment.
IX.Monitoring
The Principal (or the Principal’s designee)shall:
1.Check for success in implementing this policy as part of regularclassroomobservation and evaluations of eachteacher.
2.Check teacher lesson plans on a regular basis for evidence of instructionalstrategies and report to the Council at each regular meeting about classroomimplementation.
3.Provide regular feedback to teachers on the writing designs included in theirlesson plans.
4.Make recommendations to the Council about instructional strategies that appear tobeweak and may need to be a professional development priority for theschool.
5.Include areas needing added work under this policy in recommendationsfor individual teacher’s professional growthplans.
6.Report to the Council each December and May on how the instructionalpractices policy is being implemented and make suggestions for further implementationand teachertraining.
7.Review each e-mail summary for indications of trends and school-wideneeds.
8.Maintain a checklist of teachers who have participated in meetings required bythis policy.
9.Remind teachers two weeks before the end of each grading period if they havenotyet reportedparticipation.
10.Assign teacher mentors to new teachers or less experienced teachers, so thatevery teacher has a mentor orpartner.
X.Tracking StudentPerformance
A.At the end of each grading period, each department shall meet to analyze thework samples, products, and performances of the student in their department usingKentucky’s standards for student performance and definitions of novice, apprentice, proficient,or distinguished for the grade where the student will next be tested in that subject.Teacher judgment based on student work samples, products and performances shouldincludewhether each student is novice, apprentice, proficient, or distinguished, and whethereach student is close to progressing to the next performance level. Departments shouldusetheir student data to address gaps in the curriculum and plan instruction for thenextgrading period.
B.At least once a year, each teacher shall meet with a small, multi-department groupto compare student writing samples and discuss how they compare to the scoring guidefor portfolios and the benchmark pieces for the grades being scored. Teacherjudgmentbased on the writing samples should include whether each student is novice,apprentice, proficient, and distinguished, and whether each student is close to progressing to thenextperformance level.
C.Each department and each multi-department group shall send a written report totheCurriculum Committee each grading period that contains information on howmany students are at each performance level, the number of students who are close to thenextperformance level, and any identified curriculum gaps.
XI.Updating thePolicy
The Curriculum Committee shall meet once after each grading period to reviewdepartmentreports tracking student performance and make recommendations to the Council at thenextregular Council meeting regarding any possible gaps in the school’s curriculum andadjustments needed in the school’s curriculum policy, instructional practices policy, or consolidatedplan based on evidence of instructional strengths andneeds.
Adopted/Amended: 05/19/03 Reviewed/Amended/Adopted:06/09/05 Reviewed/Amended/Adopted:03/27/07