Assistant Dean of Academics Report - November 2020

In order to make sure that everyone is gaining the understanding of what we are accomplishing at Encore, I am going to share on this blog reports that are part of Encore's regular school board meeting every month from our key administrative and executive team. You are always welcome to join the Encore School Board meeting. It happens generally the second Monday of every month.

Today, I am sharing the November 2020 report from our Assistant Dean of Students, Ms. Julia Dolf.

This has been a busy and productive few weeks at Encore. Our teachers and instructors have been working collaboratively to make sure that instruction, student success, and student well-being are number one even through distance learning. The loss of one of our teachers has put and emotional strain on staff and students however, as Encore Pirates we have come together to lift each other up during this time.

o Teachers met via Google Meet with students and parents who were in danger of failing and or have shown little progress during the first two months of school. The result to this was an increase in attendance and students participating in classes synchronously and asynchronously

o In the data portion of the report, action plans were presented that represent a great starting point with assisting students with academic support and growth during distance learning based on our CCSA, benchmark, and state summative assessment data. These action plans discuss ways to support student subgroups and stating points for teachers to prepare our students for success on summative assessments

o During the summer, the Data Committee met to analyze assessment data. During this time, the team and I discussed that the data reports pulled from our previous benchmark platform lacks in disaggregating data and is challenging to determine where teachers need to work on for student growth

o We are implementing a new benchmark platform called Naiku

• Naiku has comprehensive, student centric assessments

• As a school, we will be able to measure, track and visualize student proficiency

• Standards based reports and performance data to gather for PLCs

• National assessments, ACT and SAT assessment practice

• Students have pre-tests and post-reflections

o Our new math teacher started this past week. He will assist with our Math I and Math II student caseload and work with our credit recovery students

o We continue to hold interviews for our vacant position in English

o Student material deliveries will take place starting the week of November 9th so we can provide that fair and equitable academics and arts experience for our students

o Mini walk thru/observations began. After a class observation, an immediate email is sent with quick feedback and resources if necessary, for each teacher.

Looking ahead:

o Train staff on new benchmark platform

o Prepare students for Fall benchmarks

o Hold Fall benchmark assessments

o Review and reflect on assessment action plans

o Continue to hold mini walk thru with staff and provide feedback and resources

I hope that this information is helpful to all of you. We have a very committed crew on the Encore Pirate Ship. I want to share the hard work of all of them with you. Have a great day!