The Effect of Looping

The Effect of Looping

Each school in the system provides research-based curriculum and instructional methods that facilitate achievement for all students. System-wide, expectations for student learning and the development of curriculum are based on the appropriate Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) or Quality Core Curriculum (QCC) standards that are applicable for specific grade and content courses as defined by the roll-out schedule. Our curriculum is aligned both vertically and horizontally to enable a seamless transition on a system-wide level, and to assist with the delineation of expectations for student learning. A review of pertinent test data also helps to define the expectations necessary for curriculum development. System-wide training to become a “Learning Focused School System” has assisted with the clearly defined curricular expectations for student learning. Teachers have implemented the use of Essential Questions to provide a focus for learning on a daily basis. A variety of teaching strategies are employed, enabling students to see and understand expectations before, during, and as culminating activities to each lesson.

Students across the system are actively engaged in the learning process as they utilize higher-order thinking skills in a variety of ways. Beginning with the very youngest children, students interact with technology to demonstrate the skills and knowledge they have learned. Students are involved throughout their school years with a variety of opportunities for hands-on learning and assessment of their higher-order skills. Students are encouraged, and often required, to demonstrate their level of proficiency and mastery with the use of Power Point presentations, oral reports, group role playing, and graphic organizers. Students are involved with labs, demonstrations, and inquiry-based projects. They are often assessed with open-ended questions. There are many opportunities for students to use and demonstrate their higher order thinking skills in their participation in activities such as the Middle School's nationally known living history project, Model UN, and academic clubs.

Data and research are consistently gathered, analyzed and used as curricular and instructional decisions are made. This is done at each grade level, by individual teachers, by content areas, by grades, by schools, and by the system as a whole. There is extensive use of multiple-choice questions similar to those found on standardized assessments such as the ITBS, CRCT, EOCT, and GHSGT.

Students at all grade levels participate in regularly administered Benchmark assessments. The results of these tests are often analyzed to determine which questions are most-missed by students. Professional learning communities then meet to evaluate these results and use them to guide curricular and instructional decisions, both for immediate use and long-range planning. Areas of weakness are identified and targeted to try and enable higher levels of success in those particular domains. This data is also used as instructional calendars and curriculum maps are reviewed and revised. Analyzing and using data is a continuing process. Teachers and administrators need to expand their skills in identifying and using available data to impact curricular and instructional choices.

System-wide staff development applications are based on perceived and previously identified areas of need for improvement in our ...