Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Professional Learning topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Newfields staff push for 'all means all' approach, early-literacy focus after national PLC training
Summary
Teachers who attended a national professional development conference urged the board to expand professional learning communities, prioritize K–1 early literacy interventions and repurpose staff time to support tiered instruction and co-teaching.
Members of Newfields School staff described lessons from recent professional development in Texas and asked the school board on Nov. 4 to back expanded professional learning communities and new scheduling priorities to boost early literacy.
Susie (special education teacher) and Christina Groulard (special education teacher) told the board that the conference reinforced the PLC idea: regular, job-embedded teams where educators analyze student data, design shared assessments and plan targeted interventions. “We always think about these four essential questions: what do we expect students to learn, how do we respond when they don’t learn it, how do we know they are learning, and how do we advance those who already have learned it,” Susie said.
School leaders said the district intends to emphasize K–1 reading so that more students leave first grade on a green trajectory rather than falling into widening intervention gaps. That could mean reallocating the 30-minute periods now used for unified-arts instruction so kindergarten and first-grade students receive more targeted reading intervention. “If we truly believe ‘all means all,’ then all hands on deck,” Susie said, describing cross-role collaboration among classroom teachers, paraprofessionals, the BCBA and the reading specialist.
Staff also described the district’s NTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) meetings and weekly special-education team coordination. They said co-teaching in the classroom and placing more Tier 2 work in-classroom reduces pull-outs and can increase instructional coherence. Conference takeaways included grouping students by instructional need rather than by grade and a “visual cultural audit” of the building—posting student work and values more clearly so the school space signals its priorities to families and students.
Board members asked about next steps and suggested teacher collaboration across the SAU for singleton grades (one class per grade in small schools). Susie said the SAU already offers job-alike professional development for librarians and music teachers and that extending grade-level collaboration would be a priority. She asked the board to continue funding targeted professional development; the draft budget includes a $4,500 increase for PD to bring additional staff to future conferences.
The presentation concluded with public questions about volunteer involvement. Staff welcomed community volunteers for reading and other supports, noting that adult volunteers can provide additional exposure to print and oral language in K–1 classrooms.
The board received the presentation for planning and budget consideration; no formal action was taken at the meeting.
