PD Opportunity: "It Starts with Words: Teaching the Holocaust to Combat Hate”

“It Starts with Words:  Teaching the Holocaust to Combat Hate” 

 Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | 9AM-3PM | Burlington, VT 

 Facilitated by Echoes and Reflections 

 WHY ATTEND THIS PROGRAM?

 The Holocaust arose out of antisemitic hatred fueled in part by the power of words. Participants examine the escalation of words to violence, which in turn, became genocide in order to consider where such a progression might have been interrupted. Educators gain tools to apply these lessons to modern day issues faced by students to ensure human dignity for all.

 

 PROGRAM GOALS: 

 Through this program, educators will:

•  Identify how words, images and propaganda were used to isolate and demonize Jews in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. 
•  Discover and utilize classroom lessons and resources to help students explore how hate and prejudice escalate when they are left unchecked.
•  Explore ways to support students’ ability to recognize their role, and the role of groups and individuals, in interrupting hate. 
•  Build confidence and capacity to teach this subject.

 $50 fee per educator includes: Full-day program, 6 p.d. credits, materials, lunch, and snacks. 

 CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION & TO REGISTER 

Special added presentations to be revealed to registrants. Don’t miss out - seats are filling up.

Deeper Learning Ed Camp

 

Here's an opportunity to work with our friends from the Deeper Learning Dozen and use your tuition reimbursement.  

Screening of the documentary film The Right to Read

The Right to Read shares the stories of an NAACP activist, a teacher, and two American families who fight to provide our youngest generation with the most foundational indicator of life-long success: the ability to read. You can read the statistics about illiteracy highlighted in the film here. RSVP by January 17th. 

Literacy Assessment Update for Middle and High School

Exciting stuff, I know. Who doesn't get excited about a literacy assessment update? Here it is: 

How does BSD assess reading in grades 6-10?

The Student Reading Inventory (SRI)  is our universal progress monitoring assessment tool for reading in grades 6-10; we use the SRI to assess every student in those grades.  The SRI generates a Lexile score for each student.  A Lexile is a gross measure of a student’s reading ability.  In addition, the SRI generates a proficiency band for each student score: these are categories of proficiency  that are associated with specific score ranges for each grade level.   SRI uses the terms Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, Advanced for the proficiency bands, or categories. For more on Lexile scores, you can check out Lexile.com. 

What’s changing? 

As a school district, we updated our Lexile grade level proficiency bands to align with nationally recognized standards. All of the new proficiency bands are higher than previously; that is, the starting score required for “Proficient” at a particular grade level is higher.  This means, for example, that a 6th grade Lexile score of 820 was once marked as “Proficient” within the SRI assessment system but will now be marked “Basic”.

What are the new grade level bands?
This chart shows scores for the old bands italicized in gray and the new, revised scores, in bold. 

Grade	Below Basic	Basic	Proficient	Advanced
6	BR-499 BR* - 729	500-799 730-924	800-1050 925-1070	1051-1700+ 1071-1700+
7	BR-549 BR-769	550-849 770-969	850-1100 970-1120	1101-1700+ 1121-1700+
8	BR-599 BR-789	600-899 790-1009	900-1150 1010-1185	1151-1700+ 1186-1700+
9	BR-649 BR-849	650-999 850-1049	1000-1200 1050-1260	1201-1700+ 1261-1700+
10	BR-699 BR-889	700-1024 890-1079	1025-1250 1080-1335	1251-1700 1336-1700+
11 & 12	BR - 984	985-1184	1185-1385	1386-1700+

Why the change?

Several years ago, the makers of Lexile aligned the scores to grade level bands in the Common Core. However, BSD did not update details on our end. Within the SRI assessment system, each district is responsible for setting proficiency bands. This means that the grade level bands we were using were significantly lower than, and not aligned to, Common Core Standards. Low standards are a mark of inequity. This update marks the district’s revision of the bands to align with nationally recognized standards.

What does this mean for our students and for teachers?

This means that students we once thought were proficient may no longer meet  the standard for proficiency in reading.  As a district we have been holding them to a standard that is too low, and we all need to support students who are not yet proficient in reading in accelerating their growth. This needs to happen everywhere - in English Language Arts class, science class, PE class, and  math class. All teachers need to know what students’ strengths and challenges are in reading, and teach their subject matter in a way that helps each and every student:

1. Access the grade level material

2. Improve their comprehension of rich, rigorous texts

Is the SRI the only literacy data we should collect? 

The  SRI is our universal literacy screener, but it is not the only tool we use. The SRI is a blunt instrument. The Teaching and Learning Office also recommends that all students who are below grade level by two or more grades also get additional diagnostic assessment: 

• The Lexia AutoPlacement assessment

• A one-minute fluency screener,  such as the Scholastic 3 Minute

• A spelling assessment, such as Words Their Way. 

Does T&L have a plan for helping teachers who aren't experts in reading instruction?
We’re working on a plan that instructional coaches and members of the Literacy Intervention Task Force are developing. The goal is to have a set of 3-4 classroom reading acceleration teaching strategies that each teacher, across content areas,  is trained in using, starting in the fall of 2024. 

What is the goal for our students?

1. The overall goal is growth in literacy:  we want all our students to demonstrate progress in their Lexile scores.  In general, students should be increasing their Lexile score by a minimum of 50 points per year in 6th through 10th grade.  

2. Increase proficiency and decrease the disparities in reading proficiency based on free and reduced lunch, IEPs, and membership of the global majority. 

How did T&L choose the newly revised bands?

These ranges show where students should be at the beginning and end of the year in order to achieve college and career readiness in literacy (1300L) by 12th grade.

Are the data walls updated?

Data walls are yet not updated. While you will see the new, updated bands in the SRI system (“SAM”) you will see the old bands in the data walls. The next step is to populate PowerSchool, and then the data walls. Our friends on the data team are working on this; thanks for your patience. 

Have more questions? Please connect with your instructional coach. They will be collecting questions for clarification, consideration and discussion.