May 12, 2015
As this school year is winding down, the SAS staff has been reviewing our instructional practices and researching ways in which to make improvements. Teachers will receive training in June on two initiatives.
STAR360 is a comprehensive assessment tool, allowing educators to screen and group students for targeted instruction, measure student growth, predict performance on summative exams, and monitor achievement on Indiana state standards in Reading and Math. All students in grades kindergarten through eighth grade will take the STAR360 assessment in the fall, winter and spring. This online assessment will take each child less than one hour, but it provides a wealth of knowledge for the teacher in terms of strengths and weaknesses. We are excited to be able to improve our ability to make intentional, informed instructional decisions about each student in our building.
Teachers in grades 1-3 will also receive training on
Accelerated Reader (AR). AR is the nation’s most widely used K12 reading program. Student are motivated to grow as goal-focused readers though individualized, independent reading practice -- teachers assist students in finding books on their reading level; students read books independently and then take online quizzes to check for comprehension. Teachers are able to easily gather data to highlight student strengths and weaknesses. This data is used to set and monitor personalized goals for each student within AR and within the classroom curriculum.
