Dear Pleasant Valley Families,
I hope you had a safe, relaxing break. I miss seeing all the little faces, but at least I’ve been able to join in some Zoom meetings! And it has been inspiring and uplifting to see so many photos of families engaged in creative, community-building activities. These are memorable times…
Update on Distance Learning: During the first three weeks of our distance learning adventure we were in “crisis mode.” Our main task was to connect with all of our students on a regular basis, ensure that students and families were all right, get devices into the hands of our students, and learn how to Zoom and teach in Google classrooms. Then we went on Spring Break still hoping to return to school in May, only to learn that distance learning will continue for the rest of the academic year. Because of this development, NUSD teachers spent Monday planning how to continue instruction of grade level standards while ensuring best outcomes for students under these circumstances. We switched to distance learning in mid-March, which means that at least 75% of the standards for the year had already been taught, leaving only 25% to go. How to teach these remaining standards?
Fortunately, NUSD has been moving toward Proficiency-Based Education, a standards-based system that meets students “where they are,” providing instruction at every student’s academic level to move them along to the next level. This is our basic plan moving forward:
- All NUSD curriculum is aligned with the California Common Core Standards
- Teachers have identified the most “essential common core standards” for every subject area that students need to master in each grade level.
- An NUSD leadership team comprised of teachers from every school and grade level helped create “proficiency scales” for each of these essential standards at every grade level. Proficiency scales provide a breakdown of skill levels within a standard as “developing,” “proficient,” and “advanced.” They help teachers, students and parents understand where a student falls in terms of mastering a standard and indicate the next steps needed in their academic progress. (Hence the term “Proficiency-Based Education.”)
- The task for teachers on Monday was to identify which of the remaining essential standards in English Language Arts and Math still need to be taught, and which of these are the most essential in order to ensure that students are ready for next year. Then they discussed how to teach them online so that students will continue to learn and make academic progress.
- Next year’s teachers will pick up where this year’s teachers left off, filling in the gaps, and making sure to teach all the standards that were not covered.
- PV teachers will inform parents of the grade level essential standards that will be covered for the remainder of the year. In this way, parents will know what their children will be working on and, hopefully, they will be able provide additional support for students at home.
It is extremely important that students participate in their teacher’s Google classroom and Zoom meetings so that they can benefit from instruction, and for parents to check for messages from their child’s teacher on Konstella. Also, we continue to provide support services online such as intervention, Special Education, English Language Development for English Language Learners, and counseling. Be sure to contact your child’s teacher or myself if you have any questions or concerns!
May you all be safe, healthy, happy, and well. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sincerely,
Dana Sadan
Principal