Mid-year Update

Many teachers have been doing a great deal of work during the first half of our school year in the area of curriculum development and implementation.  In order to better communicate and keep everyone up to date on our efforts I have added a page to this blog entitled District Curriculum News.  I understand that as educators we are always busy but I also know it is a priority to stay informed, with this new page, you will have one spot to go to so that you can stay informed on district activities related to curriculum.  I also encourage you to visit the other pages which are available, they have important information for all teachers including links to CCSS resources.  Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for making this resource more valuable.
Thank you

Students took a new package of NWEA MAP tests this year, the tests they took are aligned to the Common Core State Standards rather than the WKCE-Criterion Referenced Test and State Standards.  The new test RIT scores are consistent and we can confidently measure growth across the measures but if you see a difference that you did not expect in a student score it is most likely a curriculum alignment issue.  Please recall that we have aligned our ELA Curriculum to the CCSS but we have not aligned our Math Curriculum.  For more information regarding alignment please visit NWEA’s Common Core MAP and MAP for Primary Grades web page. 

To help our students advance their knowledge and skills it is essential we take advantage of the resources available through the Instructional Resources on the NWEA Reports page.  I suggest clicking on “Class by RIT” to access a functional breakdown of the data gathered through MAP testing.  When you click on “Reading”, “Math”, or “Language Usage” you see headings that are different than in previous years because of the CCSS MAP package we used.  When you click on the headings on this screen you will get a print out of DesCartes information that is useful but another option for you that I think is more teacher friendly is to take the information from the “Class Breakdown by Goal” page and then visit For the Teachers:  Resources for Teachers and utilize the Curriculum Ladders that are available.  Curriculum Ladders are a visual representation of the range of complexity for a set of skills based on NWEA’s DesCartes Continuum of Learning.   This website was recommended in a NWEA Webinar about the new Common Core MAP test package and includes other valuable resources for teachers.

Everyone in our district is working hard to help every child be successful; this tool can make sure our hard work is focused and productive!

Welcome!  This curriculum resource blog has been created to provide you with quick, up to date information regarding our curriculum.  I will utilize this blog to post relevant information and links to important resources to help support you in the implementation of our curriculum. On the right of this page are links to 4 different pages, 3 with content specific information for English Language Arts, Math, and Science and one which contains information on the curriculum management tools we use in our district including tutorials for using Eclipse.  Please contact me with questions, comments, or suggestions.