November-December News
Posted by Julie DeRoche on 12/6/2016 11:00:00 AM
Curriculum and Instruction
- The New England League of Middle Schools (NELMS) recently conducted the school-wide assessment of MERSD middle school. This comprehensive assessment included: a two-day site visit, school-wide surveys of teachers, staff, and students, school-wide meetings, observations of classroom instruction, and conferences with a wide variety of administrators, community members, parents, teachers and staff. From the NELMS report, we will endeavor to inform our practice as a middle school and create systems of school-wide goals and supports for middle school students, teachers, and parents. We are committed to ensuring a middle school philosophy and look forward to continuously developing our middle school model!
- MCAS 2016: This year, we analyzed school-wide data trends for the past five years. Each school continues to score above the state level in most, if not all, standards across all schools and grade levels. Many strengths were noted, as well as areas for continued focus and support. These data will help us to coordinate a multi-year focus on continuously raising student achievement for ALL students in our schools through assessing aligned curriculum, determining professional development, and supporting our students across all content areas through effective instructional strategy.
- 2016 DESE ELA and Math Framework Revision Updates: DESE has updated the 2011 English Language Arts and mathematics frameworks to better support classroom instruction in critical areas. This week, we will attend trainings on the upcoming new revisions. To learn more about the upcoming revisions and changes, click here. To review overview DESE briefs on the curriculum updates, please see:
- ELA overview: http://www.doe.mass.edu/CandI/StandardsReview/ELA-QRG.pdf
- Math overview: http://www.doe.mass.edu/CandI/StandardsReview/Math-QRG.pdf
- Curriculum Leaders: Throughout the fall and winter, MERSD curriculum leaders have been analyzing elementary school-wide curriculum in an effort to create a holistic view of elementary learning in MERSD. As we review these curriculum plans, as well as updates to the Massachusetts standards and school-based data, we will determine areas of strength and areas in need of support in the existing curriculum at each grade level.
- MERSD High School Curriculum Mapping: Recently, the curriculum department chairs trained with an ASPEN consultant to learn how to write and map district curriculum using the ASPEN curriculum mapping module. Over the course of the year, middle and high school teachers will begin the process of writing grade-and course-level curriculum within ASPEN to ensure that our curriculum is coherent, rigorous, multi-faceted, and aligned to most current Massachusetts standards.
Professional Development
- Wednesday, December 7, 2016, is a half-day for the district. Elementary teachers will be learning about the expectations of the new science standards and how these expectations align with the Know Atom science curriculum. We look forward to working with Dave Lyons, a recent inductee to the Massachusetts Science Teacher Hall of Fame, to support us this year with this important work! Middle school departments will learn about the upcoming changes to MCAS 2.0 and the updates to the Massachusetts standards in ELA, math, and science. High school departments will continue to write district curriculum in ASPEN.
- Professional Development Committee (PDC): MERSD PDC is working to create a district professional development survey for staff. This survey will help inform future decisions related to teachers’ needs for professional development. In addition, the PDC plans to create a year-long professional development plan for the upcoming 2017 school year.
- Reaching All Learners: The district continues to offer Reaching All Learners training in grades K-8. This training supports our teachers with best-practice instructional strategies to ensure that all of our students’ needs are met in the classroom and beyond.
- RETELL: MERSD has coordinated with SEEM Collaborative to host a RETELL course for our teachers. RETELL is a course required by DESE and designed for classroom teachers of English Language Learners. The MERSD RETELL course will begin in December at the high school and will continue throughout the early spring.
State Assessment
MCAS 2.0: DESE Updates for 10th Grade MCAS Changes: Board Sets Implementation Date for 10th Grade Next-Generation MCAS
The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted unanimously on October 25, 2016 to implement the 10th grade next-generation MCAS in spring 2019 (for the class of 2021). Members of the class of 2021 are currently eighth graders and will take the eighth grade next-generation MCAS this year, giving them some experience with the next-generation version before encountering it as a graduation requirement. Students in the class of 2020 and prior classes will take the legacy 10th grade tests to meet their high school competency determination.
- MCAS 2.0 Blueprints: Grade-level teachers and departments are reviewing the new MCAS blueprints to learn more about the new exam and expectations at each grade level. Additional information regarding practice exams and grading rubrics will be released in January 2017.
WIFI Update
Thank you team! MERSD WIFI is back on track! As we continue to update our WIFI and server, we ask that parents ensure that students’ computers are running updated antivirus software and malware detection on students’ devices.At home, if you are a Comcast user and don’t have antivirus software installed, download your free Norton Antivirus software from Comcast at: https://customer.xfinity.com/help-and-support/internet/downloading-the-norton-security-suite/ as well as free Malware detection software from Maleware Bytes at: https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/. Thank you for helping us keep our students’ devices virus free!