Policies for a School-Wide Writing/Communication Program



REGULATION

KRS 158.6453 (Senate Bill 1) requires that all public schools develop a school-wide writing program and submit policies for that program to the Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) for review and comment. Policies will address state regulations, core standards, and guidelines for program reviews. Polices will be formed and revised over time and used in on-going planning, implementing, and monitoring the program.

GOAL STATEMENT:

McKell Elementary School recognizes writing communication as defined broadly to include oral and written texts, multi-media (multi-modal) communications, and communications through technology. The writing program will provide opportunities for students at all grade levels and across the curriculum to develop complex communication skills for a variety of purposes and contexts. Students at all grade levels and across the curriculum shall develop communications that are for narrative (fiction and nonfiction), informative/ explanatory, and opinion/argumentative in purpose and shall write to learn, write to demonstrate learning, and communicate for realistic purposes and audiences in a variety of real-world forms/modes. The focus of the program is to help all students develop communication skills that will serve them in their lives.

POLICY COMPONENTS:

Component I: SBDM Council

The Site-Based Decision Making Council, school leaders, writing teams, and instructional staff (resource and itinerant teachers) shall:

1. Determine/review policies for the school’s writing communication program.

2. Monitor the program through the implementation of the school improvement plan and assess the program annually by means of the program review and student/teacher data provided through the communication folders.

3. Ensure the program meets state requirements, program guidelines, standards, and student needs.  

 Component II: School Writing/Communication Team:

 

Team members shall include an administrator, collaborative special education teacher, itinerant teacher, teacher representatives from each grade level, with other members appointed as needed.

1. Responsibilities of team members shall include but are not limited to:

A. Reviewing relevant Kentucky regulations, KDE guidelines for program reviews, Kentucky Core Content standards, and state mandated assessments.

B. Planning a writing program that meets school needs and state regulations.

C. Addressing components of the writing program with school staff, parents, and community stakeholders.

D. Revising current writing program as needs indicate through annual reviews and action plans.

E. Providing professional development opportunities based on state and school reviews. 

 

Component III: Developing Students’ Communication Skills:

 

The school’s communication/writing program and student development of the communication folder will be defined broadly to include oral and written texts, multi-media (multi-modal) communications, and communications through technology. The Site-Based Decision Making Council, school leaders, writing team, and instructional staff shall ensure that teachers at all grade levels and across the curriculum engage students in communicating for a variety of purposes/contexts, producing narrative, informative/explanatory, and opinion/argumentative samples as well as help students write to learn, demonstrate learning, and communicate for realistic purposes in a variety of modes. The focus of the program shall be to help all students to develop communication skills.

Instruction-

2 Lesson plans shall reveal the occurrence of communication/writing instruction at all grade levels and across the curriculum, making appropriate connections and integrating each strand of literacy (reading, writing, speaking, listening, observing).

1. School leaders and teachers will collaborate in aligning of curriculum and instruction for the communication/writing program both vertically and horizontally with state regulations.

2. Teachers at all grade levels and itinerant teachers shall provide effective instructional practices across the curriculum to enable all students to develop effective communication skills.

A. Instruction shall focus on text types (narrative, informative/explanatory, and opinion/argumentative), writing

techniques (strategies for improving writing- eg. addressing audience and tone), and processes (brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing), criteria for effective communication, and language use as well as other subjects shall include student use of models and other resources.

B. Instruction shall enable students to discuss their

work with peers and others utilizing a writing/communication checklist.

3. Teachers shall help students use a variety of language resources, including models to develop communication skills.

A. Examples for modeling and developing communication skills may include: rubrics, checklists, peer/teacher conferencing, and multi-media.

Feedback

4. Teachers shall provide effective, descriptive feedback to students and shall help students use the feedback to develop their communication/ writing skills.

A. As needed, teachers and school leaders shall provide interventions for targeted students (advanced and non-proficient) through differentiated instruction, RTI and Team Time.

5. The Principal shall monitor instruction and provide feedback to teachers on their practices.

A. Teachers, principal, and instructional staff (resource and itinerant teachers) will engage in professional learning communities and other contexts to discuss practices for helping students develop communication/writing skills.

C. Student Expectations

1. At each grade level students shall engage in inquiry/research relevant to their

study and interest and shall produce communications/ writing based on their

research.

2. Students shall utilize the writing process to produce writing pieces over time and

produce other writing pieces within shorter time frames (journal writing, daily

reflections, constructed responses, and on-demand).

3. Students shall have many opportunities to discuss their communications/writings

with teachers and peers and to share/publish their writing with appropriate authentic

audience.

4. Students will share/publish their communications/writings through the use of multi-

media and print.

D. Monitoring Plan for Communication/Writing Program

1. The Site-Based Council, school leaders, writing team, and instructional staff shall develop a school plan for communication/ writing at each grade level.

A. The chart shall align state requirements, and core standards as well as

reveal a progression through the grade levels.

B. School leaders shall refer to the chart along with other components of the program for ongoing monitoring and planning for the school communication/ writing program.

C. The chart shall indicate the following:

main types of writing communication completed at each grade level; showing that the students have multiple opportunities to develop complex communication skills for a variety of purposes and audiences, including oral and written text, multi-modal communications, communications through technology, narrative, informative/explanatory, opinion/argumentative texts, writing to learn, writing to demonstrate learning, and writing for authentic-realistic purposes, main types of feedback and assessment relevant to literacy, main language resources, and main uses of technology in developing students’ communication skills.

Component IV: Authentic Communication Folders

The school shall provide student individual communication folders to be developed at each grade level beginning at P-1 level with plans to pass the student writing folder on to the next grade/school.

1. Contents of the students’ communication folder by the end of the 5th grade year shall contain evidence of how the student met each grade level expectation (see chart). Consisting of, but not limited to…

-Informative/Explanatory Texts

-Opinion/Argumentative Texts

-Narrative Writing (real or imagined experiences or events)

-Constructed response

-On Demand

-Other work that provides evidence of

purpose of audience

2. Students’ work should be authentic as in the following examples: writing for a variety of purposes, student interest, multi-media communication through technology, research relevant to learning, engagement in the writing process, grade level samples revealing communication growth over time, evidence of connecting all forms of communication and higher order thinking skills, and including descriptive feedback from self, teacher and peers.

Component V: Feedback and Assessments

Teachers shall use formative and summative assessments and provide feedback through rubrics and student conferencing.

1. Rubrics and scoring shall reflect criteria used in state assessment, as well as criteria for classroom tasks.

2. Provide students with opportunities to provide feedback on their own and others’ work, and encourage students and their families to interact and collaborate with the school to help students develop communication skills.

3. Feedback shall be given in a timely and constructive manner, and focus on processes provided in a variety of methods with emphasis on revising student work to develop appropriate communication skills.

4. Teachers shall provide good models and samples of student work at various rubric levels.

5. Students shall engage in self-assessment and reflection through projects, presentations and journaling activities.

6. Students shall use self-assessment and reflection for setting individual writing goals.

Component VI: Professional Development and Support

The district shall provide professional development opportunities as needed based on annual review results of the writing program.

1. Plans for professional development will be made by the school’s writing team and communicated through the school’s SBDM council with support through implementation by the school administrator.

2. Team leaders will provide training and offer resources, as needed to other staff members.

3. In review of the school’s program, along with examination of student work, the school leaders shall keep all records of professional development activities as to assist in review and refinement of the school’s writing program.

Component VII: Administrative Support and Monitoring

School leaders, including the school’s SBDM, will provide ongoing support of the communication/writing program. This shall include: aligning the program with state guidelines, encouraging use of technology and other forms multi-modal communication, monitoring instruction, supporting higher level learning, and promoting professional development and collaboration among all stakeholders.

1. The school leader will implement grade level guidelines for writing program needs and provide constructive feedback to assist in annual program reviews.

2. The SBDM council will assist the school leader and writing team annually in developing and implementing an effective action plan.

Component VIII: Communication with Families and Community

School leaders and teachers will communicate with stakeholders in various ways to develop a strong understanding of the communication/writing program.

1. Students and family members will have opportunities to review communication folder during

teacher/parent/student conferences to assist in developing communication skills in review

of the writing program.

2. Students shall reflect on skills demonstrated in their communications/writing folders and use

them as a learning tool.

3. School leadership and teachers shall communicate/collaborate with families and the

community through a variety of methods: school/teacher webpages, e-mail, newsletters,

parent-involvement activities, conferences, telephone calls, assignment books, etc.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download