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OLL Middle School Communication

Post-ESY Guidance for 8th Graders not meeting promotion requirements

Updates have been made to the placement guidelines for 8th graders who have not met middle school promotion requirements by the end of ESY.

  • Students will be retained at their middle schools for the 22-23 school year, with the ability to promote to their zoned high school if all middle school promotion requirements are met by Friday, September 1st, 2022.
  • Students who will turn 16 years of age during the 22-23 school year will be retained and served at the Education Academies (WPEA & EPEA), with the ability to promote to their zoned high school if all middle school promotion requirements are met by Friday, September 1st, 2022.
  • Students who are still working on middle school promotion requirements after Labor Day will remain at their school for the remainder of the school year. Please refer to the   8th Grade Post ESY.pdf guidance document for implementation updates and reminders.

After ESY, middle schools should pull the msPromotion report (myEWSàEarly Warning SystemàmsPromotionReport) to access details on their students who will be retained, and communicate this information on the   Post ESY 8th grade spreadsheet.xlsx by July 20, 2022.

If you have any questions, please visit the  ESY Summer 2022 Guidelines.docx or email Melissa Caruso.

 

“Grading From the Inside Out” Standards-Based Grading Practices Workshop

OLL is excited to announce that we will be hosting a 2-day grading practices workshop with Solution Tree. The event will take place at Pasco Hernando State College- West Campus in New Port Richey.

June 13th and 14th will be focused on secondary. Each middle and high school can send up to 3 people.

Spots are limited so please use the criteria below when selecting who will attend this required training:

  • 1 admin and 2 Instructional employees who will be with your school in the 22-23 school year.
  • At least 1 of the instructional should be a classroom-based core content teacher
  • The other instructional can be a coach or another instructional leader on your campus

Please fill out this form to sign up your school for the event by May 6, 2022.

Please reach out to Melissa Caruso with any questions regarding this event.

Middle School Math Adoption Update

We have made the recommendation to the school board to approve the adoption of Savvas Envision for 6-8th grades including 6th, 6th-accelerated, 7th, 7th accelerated and 8th pre-algebra.  On Friday the state released their approved lists and it included nearly all the courses we were recommending for with the exception of 7th grade regular. Currently the publisher is seeking additional information about 7th grade materials, and we anticipate having additional information about next steps for our school board by the next meeting.  We will keep you updated as we hear more, but for the time being we wanted to share the updates as it stands. 

B.E.S.T Journey into Mathematics Virtual Parent Night

Pasco County Schools will be hosting the B.E.S.T Journey into Mathematics Virtual Parent Night on May 10th at 6 pm.  This event will be focused on new benchmarks, the Mathematical Thinking and Reasoning standards, and course pathways. Parents and families of K-12 students are invited to join us as we dive into the resources provided by the state and what will be used in classrooms across the district. 

Each school will be receiving 11 x 17 posters in English and Spanish with a QR code to RSVP for the event and to receive the zoom information.  School Webmasters have also received information on adding the event to your school’s website so that it is ADA compatible.

Please click  here to get the graphic design for social media and for newsletters. This folder also contains flyers and language for you to use to promote the event at your school. Thanks for supporting our students and families as we begin the journey into the B.E.S.T. mathematical standards.

If you have any questions about the event, please reach out to Kim Hedgspeth at kfoster@pasco.k12.fl.us.

GRACE Program for New Credit

The current Student Progression Plan gives permission for schools to offer initial credit for students who are behind in new credit and need the program to meet the 18 or 24 credit graduation requirement or to meet the promotion requirements to transition to high school from middle school. Schools have the ability to offer this opportunity provided they can document the required supervised seat time for students beyond the school day. Schools would create a plan to provide supervised work time for students to meet the seat time requirement. Students may also work during the school day and at home on the content, but this time would not be included in the documentation towards the supervised seat time.

The SPP states, “Students must complete 135 hours of seat time for a full one credit course, or 68 hours of seat time for a semester course.  This is required by Florida Statute 1003.436. Schools must file verification of seat time completion in the student’s cumulative folder.” ESY provides 70 hours of seat time during the 20-day program, which would provide an opportunity for one semester course to be earned during that time. Schools could create plans that begin now to provide additional hours for seat time, if they desire.

Since ESD has ended, schools can consider utilizing GRACE on a case-by-case basis. For 21-22 ESY, students would utilize the APEX curriculum in the GRACE program. A certified teacher for that subject area must be tagged in APEX to provide monitoring, support, and feedback. Administrators should use the   GRACE Program Certification Form.docx to document decisions made regarding GRACE.  The administrator and teacher of record have the responsibility of ensuring the seat time requirements have been met, documented, and placed in to the student’s cumulative folder.

Please visit page 37, 64, or 65 of the  Final 21-22 SPP – Clean Copy.docx for guidelines and requirements, or email Melissa Caruso with any questions.

Instructional Materials Updates

The planning period for the re-order instructional materials for the 2022-2023 is upon us. Schools are responsible for placing consumable re-orders for their sites. To ensure consistent processes across the district, OLL hosted a series of Instructional Materials Workshops to review the process and share helpful documents.  The folder linked below contains the documents shared with attendees. The timeline for instructional materials is as follows:

  • from now through the May 17th board meeting,  schools should be budgeting for their needs- refer to the school level worksheets in the folder below to identify quantities and access the quote system in FSBD to determine what the shipping costs for your reorder (deduct the shipping costs from the funds that will be allocated to your cost center to determine the funds you will have available to place additional orders)
  • if additional materials are needed and the cost exceeds the funds you have remaining, please be sure to complete and submit the machform available in the folder below-
  • ** quotes must be submitted with the machform
  • May 18th requisitions can be submitted for delivery on or after July 1st
  • on May 9th schools will receive templates for the Math adoption- those templates need to be completed and sent back to instructionalmaterials@pasco.k12.fl.us (a separate communication will be sent with directions after the board approval)

School Resources- Instructional Materials

Please contact instructionalmaterials@pasco.k12.fl.us or Francesca Howard with any questions.

Summer Clinical Educator- Time to Recruit and Refresh Mentors at your School!

Full Clinical Educator:

Please check out this flyer for Clinical Educator summer trainings and information. All candidates will need to meet the criteria below.

List of approved mentors at your school.

Fill out this recommendation form, select date of cohort on form, and send to Charlotte Kralik to register in myPGS.

Clinical Educator Refresher Updates and Important Information:

Great news! We will be requiring Clinical Educator trained mentors to take the refresher every five years. We are constantly revising the course content to best serve our new teachers and interns. Mentors are one of the greatest support systems in our district. It is time to step up our game to ensure the high-quality mentoring.

Please check out this flyer and share with teachers that have not taken Clinical Educator in more than five years. You may view this contact list of mentors by school to connect with teachers that require the refresher to continue mentoring. This is your opportunity to select the key leaders in your building to take on this important role.

Please also note that we have hundreds of teachers that need to take the refresher. We will not be expiring any certificates until June 30, 2023 and will be flexible. Clinical Educator approved mentors will not lose their certificate we are just starting communication of this new expectation. The goal is to offer many opportunities and for our mentors to be actively refreshing their certificate.

Fill out this recommendation form for Clinical Educator trained teachers with expiring certificates, select date on form, and send to Charlotte Kralik to register in myPGS.

Criteria for Clinical Educator:

  • Minimum of three (3) years “highly effective or effective” teaching experience 
  • Demonstrated emphasis on personal professional development and advancement of the education profession. 
  • Demonstrated effective skills related to: 
    • designing, delivering, and assessing high-impact learning activities for ALL students 
    • building a compassionate classroom 
    • Communication, collaboration, and organization 
  • Demonstrated effective leadership skills, qualities, and experiences 

Any questions, please contact Charlotte Kralik.

Zearn Summer Math Series

We have current Pasco County data that proves students doing 3 Zearn lessons per week have a significant increase in their NWEA and FSA data. Wouldn’t it be great if we could continue that for the summer? Well, it is here!

Zearn presents their summer 2022 Intensive Math Series which offers a coherent, focused 4–6-week sequence that will build strong foundations for all rising 1st through 9th graders to help them succeed in their 22-23 academic year.

Please note that these lessons would have to be assigned to your students before leaving for the summer and I also encourage you to notify parents about this incredible summer opportunity. Click here to find out more.

Feel free to contact Jan Anderton, should you have any questions.

Coaching SMORE, Summer Coaching Academy and Coaching Pool Updates

Today we are sharing a link to our Coaching SMORE.  This is one of the key structures we use to communicate with our stakeholders.  In the SMORE, folks can find links to our  Instructional Coaching Dates 2021-2022.docx, meeting information and links for upcoming events, highlights on best practices around equity, data usage & display, and other key coaching skills.  We also offer nice-to-know information around professional development opportunities and state updates.

The Summer Coaching Academy is designed for both coaches and administrators to work together around coaching in your building.

Summer Coaching Academy

June 21st or 22nd (PHCC Porter Campus) 8:30-3:30pm

Sharon Thomas from Jim Knight’s Instructional Coaching Group provides professional learning where admin teams and coaches work together. Each school will join the event for one full day of learning.

Here are sign-ups for teams to choose the date that will best fit their Summer Plans.  Thanks in advance for booking your day and letting us know how many folks from your team will join.  Stipends are provided for School-Based Coaches for this Summer event.

Updates to our Instructional Coaching Pool

As you may know, we have completed the latest round of interviews for the  Instructional Coaching Pool.  We have added a record number of new candidates.  If you have an open coaching position, we have likely been in touch.  Not only will we advertise your open coaching positions to this pool, but we would like to provide you access to preview or review the status of any applicant. 

If you would like to chat about the pool, process information around a specific applicant or talk through any logistics, please email Jeremy Blair jdblair@pasco.k12.fl.us.

 

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