Here are some staff development ideas to help staff understand the design and organization of the Core Learning Goals/Skills for Success. 

 

Staff members need to be highly familiar with the design and language of the Core Learning Goals and Skills for Success. Provide opportunities for training and discussion of the specific goals, expectations, and indicators associated with each content area and with the Skills for Success initiative.
Have staff members participate in articulation meetings involving elementary and middle school feeder patterns. Use these meetings as an opportunity for staffs to develop an understanding of the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program and the State High School Assessments. Explore ways in which a K-12 or K-16 continuum can support student achievement, including potential business and college/university partnerships.
Encourage staff to analyze curriculum guides and related support documents to determine how indicators can be used to design lessons and units and to monitor student achievement within daily, unit-based, and course-oriented points of time.
Provide trainings to improve staff use of the Scope and Sequence documents to ensure that all staff members understand how to prepare students for the High School Assessments.
Use the action research process to investigate the extent to which the achievement problems of students relative to the Core Learning Goals can be addressed and modified or eliminated.
Conduct ongoing discussions, study groups, and collaborative inquiries into the role of standards within the school site as a basis for guiding and informing instruction and student achievement. To what extent is there consensus among staff members about content and performance standards and their relationship to the preparation of students for the State High School Assessments?

 Back to High School Assessment Initiative Page

 

This site was developed by the Department of Staff Development, in collaboration with the Division of Instruction. Questions, comments, and other inquiries may be addressed to Allene Chriest (achriest@pgcps.org) or Jeff Maher  (jmaher@pgcps.org).