Dear Alki Families:

As we move through our year we are continuing to focus on our School Improvement Plan which is based on the following seven Turnaround Principles:

  1. Strong Leadership
  2. Staff evaluation and professional development
  3. Expanded time for student learning and teacher collaboration
  4. Rigorous, aligned instruction
  5. Use of data for school improvement and instruction
  6. Safety, discipline, and social, emotional and physical health
  7. Family and community engagement

This month I want to talk about rigorous, aligned instruction.  Our teachers begin with the Common Core State Standards and develop learning targets that support those standards.  Using those learning targets, they develop lessons that guide the learning and provide opportunities for students to develop skills and expand their knowledge.  Assignments and assessment opportunities are created to show evidence of student learning throughout a unit of study.  The district provides a variety of research based curriculum options to assist teachers in their planning.  The iReady diagnostic, a district assessment we give three times per year, provides student growth data related to the Common Core State Standards.  That data is used to guide planning around academic goals.   Our classroom, district and state data supports the hard work our staff and students are doing in the classroom.  Thank you to our families for valuing education and supporting us in our efforts.