Common LINKS 19 presented upon at Norwich BOE meeting
NORWICH – At the regularly scheduled Norwich City School District Board of Education meeting last night, Assistant Superintendent Dara Lewis familiarized the board with the outcome of Common LINKS 19: an annual summer teaching workshop for NCSD faculty.
64 NCSD teachers attended the Common LINKS 19 workshop this summer, where a shift in focus was collaboratively agreed upon. The goal after LINKS 18 was to “increase student achievement through focused instructional practice,” but this year, Lewis says the goal is to “increase student learning through improved professional practice.”
“We knew coming into this year's LINKS that we are a district in good standing––each building is in good standing, and this is a huge deal for us here in Norwich,” Lewis said. “Our district goal is to provide clarity and maintain focus on foundation to get better at what we're already doing. Even our very best teachers can get better.”
Lewis went on to say that one of the main conclusions came to at Common LINKS 19 is that the district has to align its policies and expectations.
“What happens at Gibson greatly matters to Perry Browne, what happens at Perry Browne greatly matters to the middle school, what happens at the middle school greatly matters to the high school,” said Lewis. “We need to maintain focus on foundation to get better at we're already doing. We need to finish what we've started before we take new initiatives.”
In order to apply this, Lewis says participating LINKS teachers have agreed to allocate one bell per day to collaborate with colleagues.
Another concept agreed upon, according to Lewis, is to enforce a guaranteed viable curriculum in the district.
“By that I mean: It won't matter which second grade teacher your child had, they will be learning the same curriculum and will be graded the same way,” said Lewis.
Lewis would also touch on applying effective, research-based teaching strategies, as well as a more frequent, formative monitoring of learning.
“We have moved beyond the stand and teach approach. How can we engage our students? How can we assure that our students are doing most of the thinking, most of the talking, most of the communicating?” asked Lewis. “It is not acceptable to wait until the end of a quarter to inform a student they are not doing okay.”
Following the presentation, board members each agreed it was well thought through, but they asked for some measure of how effective the LINKS program actually is.
“It was a great presentation, and I've seen them before, but we don't see the results,” said Jennifer Collins, Board of Education Vice President.
NCSD Superintendent Gerard O'Sullivan said that the results are displayed in quarterly and bi-monthly reports, to which Collins replied, “Reports are one thing, but data are another. We would like to see just how effective LINKS has been on a yearly basis.”
Lewis responded that data-driven results can be attained in the future.
64 NCSD teachers attended the Common LINKS 19 workshop this summer, where a shift in focus was collaboratively agreed upon. The goal after LINKS 18 was to “increase student achievement through focused instructional practice,” but this year, Lewis says the goal is to “increase student learning through improved professional practice.”
“We knew coming into this year's LINKS that we are a district in good standing––each building is in good standing, and this is a huge deal for us here in Norwich,” Lewis said. “Our district goal is to provide clarity and maintain focus on foundation to get better at what we're already doing. Even our very best teachers can get better.”
Lewis went on to say that one of the main conclusions came to at Common LINKS 19 is that the district has to align its policies and expectations.
“What happens at Gibson greatly matters to Perry Browne, what happens at Perry Browne greatly matters to the middle school, what happens at the middle school greatly matters to the high school,” said Lewis. “We need to maintain focus on foundation to get better at we're already doing. We need to finish what we've started before we take new initiatives.”
In order to apply this, Lewis says participating LINKS teachers have agreed to allocate one bell per day to collaborate with colleagues.
Another concept agreed upon, according to Lewis, is to enforce a guaranteed viable curriculum in the district.
“By that I mean: It won't matter which second grade teacher your child had, they will be learning the same curriculum and will be graded the same way,” said Lewis.
Lewis would also touch on applying effective, research-based teaching strategies, as well as a more frequent, formative monitoring of learning.
“We have moved beyond the stand and teach approach. How can we engage our students? How can we assure that our students are doing most of the thinking, most of the talking, most of the communicating?” asked Lewis. “It is not acceptable to wait until the end of a quarter to inform a student they are not doing okay.”
Following the presentation, board members each agreed it was well thought through, but they asked for some measure of how effective the LINKS program actually is.
“It was a great presentation, and I've seen them before, but we don't see the results,” said Jennifer Collins, Board of Education Vice President.
NCSD Superintendent Gerard O'Sullivan said that the results are displayed in quarterly and bi-monthly reports, to which Collins replied, “Reports are one thing, but data are another. We would like to see just how effective LINKS has been on a yearly basis.”
Lewis responded that data-driven results can be attained in the future.
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