Dr. Fishbein reports on Ridgewood Schools revised curricula in over 100 courses
September 15,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ , in Superintendent Dr. Fishbein’s Opening of School Report, Dr. Fishbein presented to the Ridgewood Board of Education what he called “many important changes in our curricula and programs” .
Accoring to Dr. Fishbein .” last year, teachers and administrators revised curricula in over 100 courses, most for the purpose of aligning to the newest version of the New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards or the New Jersey Common Core State Standards. ”
Dr. Fishbein offered the key initiatives in this area are the implementation of a new science program in grades k to 8, continued refinement to math curricula in grades k to 8, and the expansion of the sail program to 12th grade.
New courses at RHS include Forensics, Flash Animation, Project-based Probability and Statistics, NonFiction Creative Writing, Spanish III, and Music Rewind.
Administrators received two days of training on the Stronge Teacher evaluation system in August, and they turn-keyed the information to their teachers on September 4/5. All reports are that it was successfully received.
In addition to implementing the new evaluation system this year, staff will also be working to pilot measures of student growth, which will be required by the NJDOE as part of teacher evaluations next year.
We are also moving this year to a new online formative assessment system for students in Grades 3-8. Measures of Academic Progress, from the North West Evaluation Association, is an adaptive test, meaning that it identifies instructional levels for students in reading and math, helping teachers to match their instruction more closely to individual needs. Administrators received their final day of training on this in August. Staff will begin to evaluate student results on the upcoming professional day in October.
all sourced form the “SUPERINTENDENT’S OPENING OF SCHOOL REPORT HIGHLIGHTS FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL, NEW PROGRAMS, FACILITIES UPDATE”
Oh jeezus…Regina is gonna step into the limelight again.
I’m gonna read “The Glass Menagerie” again just to get some context.
Here is what I know. The district’s mission statement is full of it. They are not trying to create a community of lifelong learners, but a community full of successful test takers. It won’t matter what else you do as long as you pass your tests. Forget everything else since the district is judged by those test scores. Message to students is not about learning and enjoying that, but passing a test so the district looks good. Scoring high on all your tests doesn’t make you a lifelong learner. Here’s what I propose…if you’re going to base my child’s whole(80%) academic record on his test scores we should be able to base teacher’s reviews and compensation at that same percentage. 80% of your review and therefore comp will be based upon how the students do on those all important tests. What’s good for the goose…