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Secondary Math: Considerations for Placement

1/26/2022

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By Jill Kalb

“Should this Math 7th student be in Algebra 1? The body of evidence is strong!”  “ Did this student opt out of Algebra 1 credit in MS?  If so, what math do they take as a freshman?” These are questions and discussions that are happening at this time of the year. Knowing that accurate placement is imperative to a student’s future plans and academic pathway, we need to be extremely considerate of our process of placing students in math courses.  When having these collaborative conversations in your buildings and with your teams, consider the following reflective questions:

Step 1: Establishing Communication
  • Who will be your contact person to communicate with families, schools, or colleagues?
  • What does your common and consistent teacher recommendation process include?
  • What might be your timeline to share information? For example, with parents, feeder schools, etc.
Step 2:  Gathering the Data
  • What student information in the body of evidence will you strongly consider, in addition to MAP or CMAS scores?
  • What information about student proficiency with grade level content standards will be considered in the body of evidence?
  • How will you collect and calibrate teacher recommendations?
Step 3: Determining Placement
  • Does the student meet the prerequisites for the intended course? (See the suggested prerequisites on the MS and HS documents.)
  • How does the course placement for the student impact their overall math pathway, including Jeffco Graduation Requirements?  
Step 4:  Skipping Content - Demonstration of Grade Level Standards (This step is used for determination of placement on a student by student basis.)
  • What evidence is there that the student has received equitable access to ALL grade level standards?
  • What evidence is there that the student has mastered ALL grade level standards in order to be accelerated?
Step 5:  Final Confirmation of Math Placement
  • How is final course placement being communicated with all stakeholders?

According to the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ position on Access and Equity in Mathematics Education , “Achieving access and equity requires that all stakeholders:
  • ensure that all students have access to a challenging mathematics curriculum, taught by skilled and effective teachers who differentiate instruction as needed;
  • monitor student progress and make needed accommodations; and
  • offer remediation or additional challenges when appropriate.”
Please refer to the Student Placement and Math Pathways page on the Jeffco Math Website for additional information and resources, or click on the links below:

MS Placement doc
HS Placement doc
5-12 Math Pathways
Jeffco Math Acceleration Process

Please reach out to the Secondary Math team (Jill Kalb, Lindsey Kjoller and Ali Tanner)  with questions or if you would like a thought partner around math course placement and scheduling. 

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Career Connected Learning: Jeffco Career Links

1/20/2022

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By Sheri Bryant

Did you hear the buzz about the fall semester Career Expo? Wondering how 1300 students, 120 industry professionals, 80 educators and 30 volunteers made that happen? These connections continue well after the event! Meet the Work-Based Learning Team, Jeffco Career Links! With one administrator and two specialists, we provide those services to a district of 80,000+ students, with a primary focus in the secondary levels. 

But let’s take a closer look at who really does that career-connected learning in Jeffco Public Schools. This collaborative effort started with a vision for students to have authentic engagement with community and industry professionals. Our team seeks out those key partners by elevating the work of teachers, administrators and counselors. Whether that is making a cold call, sending an introductory email or attending a community event or chamber of commerce meeting, we know that when educators and school staff open their minds to what is possible, that is where the true magic can begin. Think about students in classrooms who no longer have to “imagine you are a…”, because industry experts from throughout our community are giving their knowledge and expertise so students can hear first-hand about those career cluster opportunities in business, agriculture, energy and natural resources, STEM and IT, hospitality, human services and education, health sciences, criminal justice and public safety, and skilled trades and technical sciences. Work-based learning experiences can occur in all grade levels, whether it's a Kindergarten class learning about careers, a middle school STEM class designing a city planning project, or a senior English class engaging in interviews with designated industry experts. Work-based learning is for all!

Students can engage in everything from an informational interview, job shadow, mentorship, internship, CareerWise apprenticeship, and paid work experience or on the job training. This work is vital to assisting a student in answering that age old question, “What do I want to be when I grow up?” or “When will I ever use this?” Because of work-based learning (WBL) engagement, students have multiple pathways for career options that can lead them directly into the workforce, military, or any amount of college and beyond. 

Recent school-based and district WBL programming include Golden Senior English Industry Interviews, McLain Job Fair and Industry Days, Standley Lake Industry Interviews, District Wide Mentorship Fair, Arvada West Informational Interviews, Arvada Capstone Pitches, Green Mountain Capstone Pitches, Dakota Ridge STEM Engineering Fair and Capstone Presentations, and Career Explore Trainings with students from Chatfield, Bear Creek, Dakota Ridge and Wheat Ridge. Next on the radar for the Career Links team are Spring Job Fairs, mentorship supports for English & Math Capstones, and programming for both students and industry on developing and growing their WBL skills.   

Looking for ways to connect with our team? Check out our Jeffco Career Links website at: https://www.jeffcopublicschools.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=627965&pageId=6121129

We look forward to collaborating with you on how to begin the career-connected conversation in your classroom and beyond!

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Science Planning Tool

1/6/2022

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By Megan Hurley
Last science blog we discussed ways to shift our science instruction with one small teacher move: Using phenomenon for students to first explore and then to explain. Today, I would like to introduce a planning tool that can help us tackle the other three aspects of shifting our instruction to a three-dimensional approach. The four pieces that are necessary are task, content, teacher moves, and student moves. Let’s take a closer look:
As you are planning consider these 4 questions:
  1. Task - What is the focus question? What are students trying to answer, or what problem are students trying to solve?
  2. Content - What standard(s) are students learning? Is the lesson aligned to grade-level three-dimensional learning? Is it a Core Disciplinary Idea, a Cross-Cutting Concept, or a Science and Engineering Practice?
  3. Teacher - What instructional strategies are you using to allow the students to engage in three-dimensional learning? How are you allowing all students to sense-make? What opportunities are there to explore before explaining? Are you co-constructing explanations with students?

    4. Students - What are students doing? How are students interacting with each other, the task, and the three dimensions? What are students figuring out or solving? What phenomenon are being examined? What questions are students generating? Are students adding to their understanding through Science Practices?
    ​

    When students are figuring out natural events, they must engage in a Cross-Cutting Concept to tackle a problem. This comes from teacher moves that support the lens and thinking from the Cross-Cutting Concept. For example, if students are trying to figure out why hail forms, we would want them to use a Cross-Cutting Concept such as cause and effect or in the middle school scale and proportion so they can “see '' what's happening at a smaller (molecular) scale. 

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