0.4 Elementary master schedule  (Page 2/2)

Instructional priorities

In order to more efficiently utilize Madison's resources, administration has identified instructional and organization priorities that would increase Special Education, ELL, and General Education common planning time. The increase of common planning time for grade level and special education teachers would encourage professional learning communities, more effective exchange of ideas, and further increase student learning.

• Develop a schedule that supports all stakeholders
• Support schedules coordinated with general education programs (inclusion, intervention and planning).
• Uninterrupted blocks of time for reading and math
• Common daily grade level planning and instructional time for teachers. Additionally, grade level planning time could provide a time for staff development for grade level teams of teachers.
• Incorporated block of time for intervention/enrichment to meet the needs of response to intervention (RTI) and or Enrichment.

Organizational priorities

In order for Madison faculty and staff to meet its organizational priorities it must align itself with its vision for the school year: support the school community, meet AYP, empower teachers, and treat all children with respect. Madison faculty and staff is confident this can be accomplished by creating blocks of time for teachers to share ideas, lessons, discuss remediation and enrichment. Our organizational Priorities are listed:

• Common planning time for grade level and special education teachers.
• A block of time for each grade level to incorporate the Student Intervention Specialist supportive of the Response to Intervention Model.

Constraints

Current constraints we are facing are school-wide budget cuts and a reduction in staff.

• Budget
• Special Education schedules and coordinating them with general education classes.
• Number of special education teachers and when they are available for assistance and co-teaching in general education classes. A special education teacher may work across grade levels so when creating a master schedule this would need to be considered to be sure she is available for reading and math in the specific grade levels in which students have been identified as needing special education services.
• Itinerant teachers (Music, Art, P.E., Guidance, Library, etc.) and their number of days available in the building.
• Intervention and Enrichment: Does our school have a Student Intervention Specialist or do teachers have to incorporate remediation into their school day? For example, during planning time or before or after school?
• Time for special programs.
• Time for PALs tutors, speech teachers, and guidance.
• Grade level numbers: Number of homerooms on a particular grade level which could interfere with common planning time, as there may not be enough itinerant teachers to cover classes from the same grade level at one time.
• Do we have a gifted teacher or are classroom teachers responsible for providing enrichment activities for students?

Ideas to consider

• Consider the Reading First Model to establish guidelines for the reading blocks.
• The Standards of Quality requires five full time equivalent positions per 1,000 students in grades kindergarten through five to serve as elementary resource teachers in art, music, and physical education.
• The Standards of Quality for school guidance counselors for 500 or more students is one full time counselor, plus one hour per day 100 students.
• The Standards of Quality for school librarians for 300 or more students is one full-time librarian.
• Language in the Appropriation Act permits school divisions to use SOQ Prevention, Intervention, and Remediation funds to employ additional English Language Learner teachers and to provide instruction to identified limited English proficiency students
• Staffing standard: 17 full-time equivalent instructional positions for each 1,000 students identified as having limited English proficiency.
• The funding formula in the Appropriation Act is one hour of additional instruction per day based on the percent of students eligible for the federal free lunch program.
• The student-teacher ratio ranges from 18:1 to 10:1, depending upon a school division’s combined failure rate on the English and Mathematics Standards of Learning tests.

Elementary school data - school year: 2009-2010

School characteristics (as of sept. 30 2009)

*Refer to School Profile Mobility Index

Here is the link to our master schedule in Excel .

Here is the link to our PowerPoint presentation .

www.doe. virginia .gov/boe/ quality /review_process/soq_review.ppt