Curriculum Corner

What Effective School Leader and Teachers Do...
The school leader’s job is to work with the faculty to 1) identify the key opportunities for improving instruction, 2) organize teachers in teams to research the best practices in the world, 3) come up with a plan based on that research, 4) implement the plan as a team, 5) evaluate its effectiveness, and then 6) improve on it. This will require teachers to work together to design solutions, observe teachers demonstrating the improved approaches, and critique them to make them better. It will require teachers to be in each other’s classrooms all the time, learning from one another. And it will involve a big investment of time on the part of the best teachers in mentoring new teachers and others. The message has to be: No matter how good you are, you can be even better, and, if you are very good, you have an obligation to share your expertise with your colleagues.


Key Concepts for ALL Educators to live by and demonstrate from an accountability standpoint... NOT only Teachers but Administrators also: 


-The best research shows that students will perform at very high levels if 1) expectations are high for all students; 2) all students are exposed to a demanding, well-conceived curriculum; 3) assessments are designed to measure the full range of higher-order thinking skills and other cognitive and non-cognitive qualities now demanded of adults; and 4) teachers have a deep, conceptually grounded command of their subjects and work in an environment characteristic of the best professional workplaces globally (including the incentives to get better at their work, every day, week, and year).
-The whole school must operate as the antithesis of a sorting system. The entire faculty must share the assumption that all but the most severely disabled students can and must achieve at internationally benchmarked levels, and no stone will be left unturned to make that happen.
-The engine of school improvement is not located outside the school; it is located inside the school. It is the school’s faculty. 
-The most effective way to move forward is to identify the most effective teachers and give them the opportunity to lead and empower their colleagues to a more effective school.

+Instructional Best Practices
+Increase PSSA Math/Algebra I Keystone Scores
+Increase PSSA ELA/Literature Keystone scores
+Increase PSSA Science/Biology Keystone scores
+Increase SAT/ACT scores
+Kindergarten - 3rd MTSS/RtI Early Literacy
+K - 12 MTSS/SWPBIS
+Student Engagement

ALL of the Above goals revolve around the structuring of an MTSS shift consisting of undertaking specific work within the Behavior & Academic components as well as being in compliance with new state law - Future Ready PA Index: 

-MTSS will be steering the way for our K-12 School Wide Positive Behavior Intervention System (SWPBIS) training/implementation.
-MTSS will be steering the way for our K-3 Reading Instruction
-MTSS will be steering the way for our 4th - 6th grade Mathematics Instruction
-MTSS will be steering the way for our 7-12 Co-Teaching Initiative 
-Establishing Career Pathways, Career Portfolios - College / Career Readiness opportunities - developing partnerships with LCCC, Lackawanna College, PSU, Wilkes-Barre, Wilkes-Barre Connect, Chamber of Commerce, local businesses
-These goals & initiatives are currently in the planning stages consisting of structuring timelines for on-going professional development & implementation