The Communicator - January 5, 2018
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I sincerely hope the holiday season provided the opportunity for everyone to spend time with family and enjoy some well-deserved rest and relaxation. January is always a special time for us to reflect on the past calendar year and its impact on our personal and professional lives. The successes and challenges that we all experienced in 2017 will help us to prepare for what lies ahead in 2018.
In the past year, our school district has witnessed a wide variety of student accomplishments. Our students have shown both growth and excellence in academics, performing arts, practical arts, and athletics in a manner that should make our community extremely proud. Many individual and team performances within the past year have established a new level of excellence for students in all of our schools.
With the arrival of 2018, we are well into the second year of implementation of our 2016-2021 Strategic Plan--
Framework for Success.
Our strategic plan is a dynamic, living document, and we will continue to closely monitor the quality of implementation of the plan's initiatives and action steps. Additionally, in the Organizational and Operational Effectiveness Goal Area, we will be updating the plan to include a systematic review of the district's current services, programs, procedures, staffing, costs, and communications plan.
Our intent is that everyone in the District understands and works to accomplish the efforts contained in our Five-Year Strategic Plan in order for us to achieve maximum levels of student success. In our work to serve and support, the district office staff and I will be keenly focused on improving communications with all stakeholders in our school community. This edition of
The Communicator
is slightly longer than most, but I hope you will take the time to read and review it in its entirety. We can do this together, as we work to serve "Every Student, Every Day."
Sincerely,
Chuck Bell
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Instructional Conversations Pedagogy - Partnering with UGA to Improve Student Achievement
--By Dr. Fran Floyd
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Entering the 2017-2018 school year, the
Georgia Department of Education
, as part of a Title III review, advised our school district to provide research-based training and support to all K-12 teachers to “make content and language standards real and relevant for all learners.” According to Superintendent Chuck Bell, “Since adopting our five-year strategic plan (
Framework for Success
) in 2016, our instructional emphasis has been on implementation of a balanced literacy framework and fostering rigorous and relevant learning environments. Our challenge was to make sure that our response to the GaDOE recommendation was a direct extension of work that was already underway in the district.”
After consultation with the
University of Georgia
(UGA), Elbert County Schools entered into a service agreement with UGA through the Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education (CLASE) to provide professional learning services for the 2017-2018 school year. The focus of the professional learning is Instructional Conversations (IC), which is a research-based pedagogy found through empirical studies to improve the academic achievement of
all
students, but particularly culturally and linguistically diverse learners. This pedagogy has the power to provide a structure for teachers to integrate focused language goals with rigorous content instruction rather than creating “one more thing” that teachers have to find time for. The Instructional Conversation (IC) system is a method of teaching that conceptualizes teaching and learning in a way that positively impacts student language development while opening the space for formative assessment and differentiation. Importantly, the Instructional Conversation pedagogy also aligns with the district’s Strategic Plan and current initiatives to improve rigor and relevance for all students.
Mrs. Tanya Long, Director of Teaching and Learning, and Dr. Fran Floyd, Director of Federal Programs, attended the IC Foundational Training for Administrators in October and presented highlights from the training to district leaders and principals in November. The 2017-2018 IC Cohort recently attended the Instructional Conversation Institute in December. Below are some of their reflections on the impact IC can have on teaching and learning in our district.
“The professional development was engaging and provided data and experiences that prove collaborative conversation-based instruction is highly beneficial to ALL students. I cannot wait to see the impact conversational norms and individual goal setting will have on classrooms, students. and teachers in our building!”
“Integrating collaborative, conversation-based instruction into our classrooms can not only lead to more complete understanding of the learning process, but it will yield the positive results that we are seeking for student achievement. If our goal is to improve academic success, then we need to be mindful of how ALL of our students learn, and these conversations afford us this insight. Instructional conversations can certainly impact writing, the ability to differentiate, individual and classroom behavior and discipline, and ultimately the culture of the school. I look forward to moving towards this type of pedagogy in our classrooms and schools.”
“Instructional Conversations professional learning was a very worthwhile endeavor. It will work well with our RRR plans, especially higher order questioning. It can be used with any age group and actually provides a way to monitor the progress of speaking and listening standards.”
Members of the 2017-2018 IC Cohort, along with Mrs. Long, and Dr. Floyd will be re-delivering foundational information to all schools during the months of January and February. We look forward to sending a second cohort to the 2018 IC Summer Institute. If you are interested in attending, please review the video below, and contact Dr. Floyd.
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"Hanging Out" in the Elbert County School District
--By Clint Winter
As our school district continues its transition to the Google Suite for Education, one of the technology tools that our faculties are taking advantage of is
Google Hangouts
. Google Hangouts enables teachers and students to remove the walls from the classroom and expand teaching and learning to the world.
In December, students at
Elbert County Primary School
(ECPS) took part in the “Hour of Code” week. This is a week where students from all over the world learn about Computer Science. Thanks to the
Hour of Code
website,
ECPS Media Specialist Michelle Scarborough was able to connect with Computer Programmers in New York and Canada. These programmers were able to do a video call with our students to discuss what life is like as a computer programmer. Teachers clicked on a link provided by Ms. Scarborough and their students were immediately able to interact with an expert in the field that was hundreds of miles away!
The faculty and administration at Elbert County Comprehensive High School recently completed a book study on the book
Empower
by John Spencer.
Elbert County Comprehensive High School
(ECCHS) Principal Jason Kouns contacted the author via
Twitter
to ask if he would be available to speak to the faculty about the book once they finished the study. Spencer agreed, and on January 3, the ECCHS faculty spent an engaging hour discussing the book with Mr. Spencer via Google Hangouts.
Students and teachers in the Elbert County School District now have the ability to create new tasks thanks to this technology. Want to learn about programming? Learn from an expert. Have a question that you always wished you could ask the author of the book that you just read? Ask it. We are very excited and thankful for these opportunities.
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ECES Receives Tree Grant from Georgia Forestry Commission
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--From the 1/3/2018 edition of
The Elberton Star
Elbert County Elementary School (ECES) was recently awarded a $5,000 “Making the Shade” Program Grant through the Georgia Forestry Commission (GFC) to provide shade trees for the elementary school’s playgrounds. The “Making the Shade” program is funded in cooperation with United States Forest Service and is designed to create healthier, shaded playground areas on elementary school campuses throughout Georgia. According to the program plan, “Making the Shade” addresses children’s health issues that can be improved through the proper placement and planting of large-growing shade tress. The trees can provide multiple environmental, social and economic benefits while creating a better learning environment. ECES Principal Stephanie Wiles says that 47 volunteers came together for planting on two days over the holiday beak (Dec. 27 and Dec. 28) to plant 44 trees on the ECES campus. Community Forester and Certified Arborist Seth Hawkins, along with Wiles, spearheaded the project at ECES. According to Hawkins, Wiles knew of the program through her husband - Circuit Writer Arborist Mark Wiles - and applied for the grant last summer.
According to the Georgia Forestry Commission, playgrounds that are fully exposed to the sun can become unhealthy for children to play. The program’s objectives are meant to combat unhealthy sun exposure during elementary school recess and to provide significant health benefits to students. Those objectives are: • A reduction in surface temperatures of school yards and playground equipment • A reduction in children’s skin damage • A reduction in respiratory problems • A reduction in air playground temperatures • A reduction in AD/HD symptoms • An increase in green learning environments • An increase in energy conservation through shading of air conditioning equipment and school buildings. Studies have also been done to prove that a green environment helps with students’ concentration, behavior and overall morale. The program helps school administrators, parents, teachers and students “grow a healthy urban forest by providing landscape plans, recommending species and planting assistance.” Schools who are recipients of the grant must have a strong local partnership with the Georgia Forestry Commission, as well as a commitment to maintenance of the shade trees. “The volunteers and teachers were great,” Hawkins said, “It is awesome to see such school and community pride. ECES was some of the most enthusiastic that I’ve worked with.”
Elbert County Elementary School tree-planting volunteers team members included Devon Davis, Brittany Fleeman, Adam Nash, Casey Nash, Marjorie Moon, Renee Dove, Kevin Hunt, Mark Wiles, Dolores Bell, Jason McCalla, Denise Callaway, Sarah Welch, Kayla Hudson, Rebekah Poss Jon Jarvis; Anya and Shaun Human; Jennifer Whitmire and her children Annaleigh, Maddie and Brenna; Kenneth and Brandi Brown and their children Rylan and Brant, Amber Dixon, Marti Wiles and her children Levi and Jacob; Katie Aston; Brooke Chatham; Ginger Bowen and her father, Charles Watson; Amy Barden; Donna and Danny Kotal; Ashley House and her son Kason; Tracy Lunsford; Haylee Mayhue; Mindy and Wesley Black; Cassidy Sorrow; Lydia Stowers; Melissa Brady; Lysheka Stowers; Anne Fernandez; Leanne Layne and Patrick Marcellino.
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GLISI Team Taking Steps to Improve Student Attendance
--By Tanya Long
Across our school district, we have a significant number of students missing so many days of school that they are academically at risk. Chronic absence — missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any reason—excused, unexcused absences and suspensions, can translate into third-graders unable to master reading, sixth-graders failing subjects and ninth-graders dropping out of high school. All of our schools are actively addressing this challenge of chronic absenteeism, and a very important group of our district's leaders have taken a lead in this effort.
For the past four years, Elbert County Schools has sent a team of teachers, school leaders, and central office leaders together to the Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement (GLISI) Base Camp and Leadership Summit. Using our district's performance data as their focal point, the team identifies our most pressing school improvement challenges and commits to implementing a plan for growth.
Our 2017-2018 GLISI Cohort 53 team members are Teresa Bell, Denise Callaway, Stacy Drake, Shawn Rivers, Alton Smith, and Tanya Long. After reviewing data at all levels, the team decided to focus its plan on student attendance, and developed the following SMART goal:
From January 2018 to May 2018 the Elbert County School District will decrease the number of students missing five or more days by 20%.
The following two initiatives have been
developed by the team to support the SMART goal.
- Review district and school attendance policies. Consider changes or amendments to the policies.
- Equip teachers to engage students through implementation of Instructional Conversations pedagogy.
The team met on January 3 to review fall semester attendance data for each school, and plan next steps for development of a District Attendance Protocol Committee and the redelivery of professional learning related to the Instructional Conversations pedagogy to all district staff.
The school and district data below shows the percentage of students that missed five or more days for the fall semester.
- PJBLC - 42%
- ECPS - 26%
- ECES - 23%
- ECMS - 18%
- ECCHS - 30%
- ECSD - 25%
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Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Calendar of Events
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Thursday, January 11
Movie - "Our Friend, Martin"
Elberton Theater, 8:30 a.m.
Saturday, January 13
MLK Ecumenical Banquet
The Rock Gym, Tickets $20.00
Sunday, January 14
MLK Jr. Day Parade 4:00 p.m.
Blackwell Cultural Center - Registration Cost $20.00
Monday, January 15
Academic Bowl & Oratorical Contest
Blackwell Cultural Center, 10:00 a.m.
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In recognition of MLK, Jr. Day, on Monday, January 15, 2018, all Elbert County schools and the Board Office will be closed.
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2018-2019 Academic
Calendar Survey
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On January 22, 2018, the Elbert County School District will adopt an academic calendar for the 2018–19 school year.
After reviewing the calendar options below, please go to the survey at
https://kwiksurveys.com/s/D777lj5K to
cast your vote for the 2018-2019 academic calendar. Only one survey submission per person is allowed, and the survey will remain open through Tuesday, January 16.
Thank you for your input!
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Elbert County School District
50 Laurel Drive, Elberton, GA 30635
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