WCS Board Hears Textbook Plan
April 13, 2022 at 12:58 a.m.
By Jackie [email protected]
The Indiana history and math books will be voted on by the Board April 25.
The curriculum council – made up of administrative and teacher representatives from all schools, parents, Board members and community members – approved the recommendations a week before spring break, Robertson said.
The first recommendation discussed was for Indiana history for fourth grade.
Robertson said the big need in the school corporation in Indiana history was the need for flexibility with the program.
When WCS started working with textbook companies, Robertson said the school corporation really wasn’t finding anything that was really working. So WCS engaged with a current teacher and a couple former teachers to develop and create its own curriculum based on Indiana state standards.
The curriculum is called 100 Questions. It’s based on 100 questions that come straight out of the Indiana history standards and there are resources lined around it. Teachers have access to a Google drive, which has most of the resources in it, including an overview manual, question-and-answer cards students can use, lesson plans and extended learning, he said.
For the math textbooks, Robertson said the curriculum committee approved recommending the Reveal program through McGraw-Hill for kindergarten through eighth grade.
The school corporation went into the textbook adoption process in the fall by meeting with the middle school and elementary school teams separately, Robertson said. It was never an idea where the school corporation had to adopt the same curriculum between the elementary and middle school levels, “it just worked out that way.”
Priorities going into adoption for the math curriculum included aligning with Indiana standards. The Reveal program was designed with Indiana standards at its core, Robertson said.
All the curriculum the school corporation looks at is designed kindergarten through fifth grade, then sixth, seventh and eighth grade, Robertson said.
The last recommendation that was made had to do with Advanced Placement (AP)/SAT/PSAT assistance.
The high school team has recommended a couple pieces of digital media to help make sure students are successful in those areas, Robertson said. The first is the Albertson’s program, which focuses on helping students with AP and SAT prep. It is a cost of $8.70 per student. It was recommended it for all students as they prepare to take the SAT and any AP courses, Robertson said.
The second piece is Standards for Success, which allows to build a pathway for students, he said. Dr. Dani Barkey, assistant superintendent of secondary education, said a pilot was done for the program with the junior class this year and the counselors had a chance to interact with the program, while not all students were on the program. The counselors felt it could be scaled out to all high school grades, Barkey said.
In other business, WCS was recognized as a 2020-21 Project Lead The Way Distinguished District.
The PLTW Distinguished District recognition is a one-year designation that recognizes pre-K-12 student engagement, Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert said. To receive the designation, a district must have had at least 20% of students in each grade participate in PLTW programs in the previous school year. WCS is one of 17 PLTW districts nationwide to receive the designation.
Hoffert said the school district applied for the 2021-22 PLTW Distinguished District and they should know the results by the summer.
Hoffert presented Robertson Tuesday with the award WCS received for the designation.
Robertson said he would accept the award on behalf “of a ton of different people,” such as teachers and STEM coaches.
The designation is something the school corporation has been working towards for several years. Robertson said Barkey has been working with the secondary schools, especially with the PLTW program, at the high school. He said the elementary level work has been done in regards to STEM integration at the schools for years. There’s a lot of work in enrolling students in PLTW classes and parents help with that.
The Indiana history and math books will be voted on by the Board April 25.
The curriculum council – made up of administrative and teacher representatives from all schools, parents, Board members and community members – approved the recommendations a week before spring break, Robertson said.
The first recommendation discussed was for Indiana history for fourth grade.
Robertson said the big need in the school corporation in Indiana history was the need for flexibility with the program.
When WCS started working with textbook companies, Robertson said the school corporation really wasn’t finding anything that was really working. So WCS engaged with a current teacher and a couple former teachers to develop and create its own curriculum based on Indiana state standards.
The curriculum is called 100 Questions. It’s based on 100 questions that come straight out of the Indiana history standards and there are resources lined around it. Teachers have access to a Google drive, which has most of the resources in it, including an overview manual, question-and-answer cards students can use, lesson plans and extended learning, he said.
For the math textbooks, Robertson said the curriculum committee approved recommending the Reveal program through McGraw-Hill for kindergarten through eighth grade.
The school corporation went into the textbook adoption process in the fall by meeting with the middle school and elementary school teams separately, Robertson said. It was never an idea where the school corporation had to adopt the same curriculum between the elementary and middle school levels, “it just worked out that way.”
Priorities going into adoption for the math curriculum included aligning with Indiana standards. The Reveal program was designed with Indiana standards at its core, Robertson said.
All the curriculum the school corporation looks at is designed kindergarten through fifth grade, then sixth, seventh and eighth grade, Robertson said.
The last recommendation that was made had to do with Advanced Placement (AP)/SAT/PSAT assistance.
The high school team has recommended a couple pieces of digital media to help make sure students are successful in those areas, Robertson said. The first is the Albertson’s program, which focuses on helping students with AP and SAT prep. It is a cost of $8.70 per student. It was recommended it for all students as they prepare to take the SAT and any AP courses, Robertson said.
The second piece is Standards for Success, which allows to build a pathway for students, he said. Dr. Dani Barkey, assistant superintendent of secondary education, said a pilot was done for the program with the junior class this year and the counselors had a chance to interact with the program, while not all students were on the program. The counselors felt it could be scaled out to all high school grades, Barkey said.
In other business, WCS was recognized as a 2020-21 Project Lead The Way Distinguished District.
The PLTW Distinguished District recognition is a one-year designation that recognizes pre-K-12 student engagement, Superintendent Dr. David Hoffert said. To receive the designation, a district must have had at least 20% of students in each grade participate in PLTW programs in the previous school year. WCS is one of 17 PLTW districts nationwide to receive the designation.
Hoffert said the school district applied for the 2021-22 PLTW Distinguished District and they should know the results by the summer.
Hoffert presented Robertson Tuesday with the award WCS received for the designation.
Robertson said he would accept the award on behalf “of a ton of different people,” such as teachers and STEM coaches.
The designation is something the school corporation has been working towards for several years. Robertson said Barkey has been working with the secondary schools, especially with the PLTW program, at the high school. He said the elementary level work has been done in regards to STEM integration at the schools for years. There’s a lot of work in enrolling students in PLTW classes and parents help with that.
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