This has been a great start to the school year! It is so wonderful to see all of the smiling faces throughout the building so far this week. Teachers are having a great time getting to know kids and the kids are having a great time getting back into the swing of school. As we finish up with our first week of school I want to highlight some of what we are focusing on for this school year. Each year every Colorado school is asked to develop a Unified Improvement Plan (UIP), which helps guide what we will be focusing on for the upcoming school year. The UIP development process involves looking at year long student data, progress against our goals from the previous year, and development of Major Improvement Strategies. Last year, we focused on Social Emotional Learning, Kagan Cooperative Learning Literacy instruction and K-5 adoption of CKLA literacy curriculum. Listed below are our Major Improvement Strategies for this year. I am especially excited about rolling out of our new Owl Values, Continuing with Kagan Cooperative Learning and having a common math curriculum that we use in all grades. Below you will see this year's Major Improvement Strategies.
Safe and Welcoming: We will integrate Culturally Responsive Education, Restorative Practices, and Social Emotional Learning throughout the school day. Our Owl Values will be aligned with Second Step Curricular language and our school wide vision/mission. (Joyful, Growth Mindset, Creative, Inclusive, Advocate)
Continuous Improvement: We will plan and coach for student discourse through the use of Kagan Cooperative Learning strategies, utilizing purposeful questions, while providing appropriate and rigorous language supports for Multi Language Learners, Students of Color and Students with Disabilities.
Grade Level Text and Tasks: Illustrative Math (IM) in K-5 will be appropriately paced and planned in response to regular analysis of student data. Our instructional planning and DDI time will be focused on teaching with fidelity and regularly monitoring student progress.
Thank you,
Eric Atonna
Team UPark
eric_atonna@dpsk12.org