Winter 2016
HPSD
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment News
Curriculum:
HPSD adopted Everyday Math 4 and Glencoe Mathematics (both McGraw-Hill Publishers) for K-12 implementation for the 2015-2016 school year. Professional development occurred last Spring and this Fall, and future PD has been planned. The new resources better align to the PA Core Standards for mathematics and our HPSD curriculum.
This Fall all content area curriculum committees met to check that all components of the curriculum were complete, including KUDs, Learning Maps, common assessments, and resources. Plans were made to ensure completion by July 30, 2016. Please note that parents can access all curriculum from the district’s website.
Elementary science and social studies committees developed common assessments for all teachers to utilize to build consistency in instruction and assessment. The assessments are located in the resource section of the curriculum designer in Firefly. All questions are linked to state standards, with a future goal of converting the upper elementary written common assessments to online assessments for ease of administration and easier data analysis.
The High School science department is examining instructional resources for possible adoption for the 16-17 school year. The FCS department has chosen new resources for Culinary I and II. The High School plans many new initiatives for the 16-17 school year which will be shared by Mrs Houck at the upcoming HPSD Curriculum Council meeting and in the next Curriculum newsletter.
The next HPSD Curriculum Council meeting is February 24th, 2016. Please contact me directly at sseiple@hanoverpublic.org if you wish to present a current curricular topic to the council. Thank you to Mr. Reagan Bitler and Mr. Gene Kraus for presenting at previous council meetings.
Select elementary teachers in grades 3-5 are piloting the Wonders Reading Series to determine if the standards’ alignment and increased rigor will benefit our students. A gradual adoption of any new series depends, in part, on state and federal funding, teacher recommendation, district needs, and data analysis.
Superintendent, Dr. John Scola, recently worked with the administrative team to formalize processes for ensuring our highest-performing students are taking advantage of our most rigorous courses. Counselors and principals developed templates for 5 year personalized student learning plans to help all students select courses to best prepare them for their college and career goals. The district now offers 14 Advanced Placement courses to allow students to take the prerequisite courses needed to gain admittance into the most selective colleges in the nation.
Instruction:
This year HPSD has been focusing on writing. Most teachers have attended 3 Collins Writing Trainings in order to prepare to teach students to write daily, and to plan focused correction areas to improve conventions, content and style. The January 18th Collins Writing Sessions offered by Dr. John Collins and Mrs. Joan Smith, were among the highest rated professional development sessions offered in the last few years at HPSD.
HPSD Middle School and High School teachers are utilizing the ILC’s for instruction. You can read more about the ILC’s here.
Clearview Elementary teacher, Mrs. Ashley Longenberger was selected by the Lincoln Intermediate Unit 12 to receive training in Item scoring of PSSA assessments. Mrs. Longenberger then re-delivered this workshop to educators throughout the county as well as to the fourth grade teachers at HPSD.
The LIU’s Dr. Carrie Soliday continues to offer targeted instructional coaching for our district. She recently offered demonstration lessons on text dependent analysis to middle school ELA teachers at Hanover Middle School.
Our next Professional Development day is March 16th, 2016. Students will present graduation projects, we will register incoming Kindergarten students, and work on curricular integration of Collins Writing. Additional content-specific professional development sessions will also be offered.
Employees are reminded to complete required online SafeSchools Training. A variety of additional relevant topics are available for your professional growth at http://hanoverpublic.pa.safeschools.com/.
Assessment:
As of January 20, 2016, the Senate unanimously concurred on the House amendments to SB 880, which delays Keystone Exams as a graduation requirement for two years. This means that students do not need to pass the Keystone or complete a Project Based Assessment to graduate. However, Pennsylvania high schools are still required to administer the high stakes exams which largely impact a school’s SPP score.
Winter Keystones were recently administered at Hanover High School. The majority of our tested students will take the Spring Keystones in May in the areas of Biology, Algebra, and Literature May 16-27th.
This year the Wida ACCESS 2.0 tests for English Language Learners is primarily administered online. Our ELL teachers participated in extensive preparations for this endeavor. The testing window is now open and runs through March 4, 2016.
PSSA testing will be conducted from April 11- May 6th for students in grades 3-8. Students will be tested on PA Core standards in the area of English Language Arts (including a writing component), Mathematics, and Science (grades 4 and 8).
Free SAT preparations courses are currently being offered at Hanover High School, taught by Mrs. Kate Walton and Mrs. Betsy Beal. Students will receive test preparation tips as well as diagnostic testing and targeted online tutorials.
Numerous local and universal assessments are administered at HPSD throughout the year. The district assessment calendar can be accessed here.
Miscellaneous:
Mr. Jay Czap, Mrs. Mandy Morgret, and Mrs. Ashley Longenberger will travel to Houston Texas later this month to represent Clearview Elementary in the Distinguished Title 1 School Conference. Clearview was recently nominated as Pennsylvania’s Distinguished Title 1 School for Exceptional Student Performance.
Reading Specialist Michele Becker and Elementary Spanish Teacher Shaina Castillo will be presenting instructional strategies at this year’s Pennsylvania Improving Title 1 School Conference in Pittsburgh.
Elementary Report Card revisions will occur this Spring as needed. A standards-based elementary report card was initiated this Fall.
