New Middle School Professional Development Plan
Middle schools will have a late start every Tuesday morning
August 22, 2006
- What's happening at all Middle Schools in Torrance Unified this 2006-07 school year?
Starting this 2006-07 school year, all middle schools will be having late start every Tuesday. This will begin on Tuesday, September 12, 2006. On this day, school will begin at 9:30 a.m. with dismissal time remaining the same, ending at 3:02 p.m.
Students will not be required to attend middle school until 9:15 a.m. on these days. Students on campus at 8:00 a.m. will be provided a Study Hall opportunity by their middle school.
- How can we justify taking away educational minutes from our students?
The goal is to create higher-achieving middle schools in TUSD that have collaborative cultures with better focus on teaching and learning. For the most part, our TUSD teachers work in isolation. Unlike other employment fields, and despite near-universal agreement on the importance of teaming, our TUSD teachers do not work in structured teams. We believe having one consistent minimum day a week, every week throughout the school year, is the best way to support this goal and be a first step to improved student achievement.
We believe teachers need to have a regular schedule of formal meetings where they can meet to focus on the details of their lessons and adjust them on the basis of assessment results. Current research supports that school leaders need to arrange for teams of teachers to meet regularly to create, craft and refine lessons and teaching units until they have the maximum impact on student learning.
- What will happen to students that must be dropped off in the morning due to family childcare hardships?
All middle school campuses will continue to open campus gates at regular scheduled times (typically between 7:30 and 7:45 a.m.) Please review your school's PTSA Handbook for specific times. Students are not to be on school grounds prior to this time, as there is no supervision. All schools in Torrance Unified have closed campuses and students will not be allowed to leave the school campus until the regular dismissal time.
Each middle school will make available a Study Hall location between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. Students participating should bring appropriate study materials and follow all school/district rules for behavior. For more information regarding this opportunity, please see your middle school principal.
Each middle school will have staff members on campus during the morning hours on these minimum days.
- How will this change affect middle school students taking classes at the high school in the morning?
This will have minimal impact on middle school students who take classes at their high in the morning. All students will attend their high school classes and return to their middle school as regularly scheduled. Upon their return to the middle school campus, students will have an opportunity to work on their studies/homework in a designated Study Hall location until their 2nd or 3rd period class begins.
- What will teachers do with this time?
Formalized staff development meetings will be arranged to support classroom instruction. Teachers will meet in structured teams to allow for collaboration time to accomplish the following:
- Aligning curriculum standards; aligning curriculum both horizontally & vertically
- Analyzing & evaluating student test data
- Analyzing student work
- Collaborating with school-site counselors & resource/intervention teachers
- Developing common assessments & rubrics
- Developing curriculum; developing lessons aligned to state standards
- Developing thematic units
- Mapping the curriculum to the instructional calendar
- Monitoring growth of individual students on assignments & assessments
- Sharing of "best practices"
- Working with instructional coaches/TUSD curriculum directors
- What are some other benefits to TUSD by implementing this new staff development proposal?
First and foremost is the goal to improve student achievement and better prepare them for high school and beyond. This is supported by our State Superintendent, Jack O'Connell, who believes that middle schools are a vital link in educating students and that it is important that content area teachers from middle schools and high schools collaborate regularly to build seamless curricula and smooth transitions for our students. Implementing this new middle school staff development proposal will help support this objective.
Other benefits include:
- Less need for substitute teachers. Current practice involves having substitute teachers available on particular days where staff development is done centrally within the district. This proposal would allow for all staff development to be done at the site-level, by area, outside scheduled student instruction time.
- TUSD will be supporting all teachers in their need to be No Child Left Behind compliant.
- Will this staff development time be adequately supervised?
Principals will play a critical part in ensuring that this time is used effectively. Each principal will be responsible for submitting agendas ahead of time and maintaining sign-in sheets to ensure attendance. In addition, principals will be expected to document and share reports on what work is being performed by their teacher teams. Reports might include analysis on annual achievement data, including identification of lowest scoring areas within particular subject areas and where teams will concentrate their efforts. Principals will provide support and leadership by making data available to all teachers.
- How will this impact bus schedules and students who take the bus?
The Transportation Department will be able to maintain all current bus schedules for students.
- How will this change be communicated to the school community?
Principals believe this to be very important and want to begin communicating this new schedule immediately. School-sites would communicate this schedule change in the following ways:
- Board presentation
- Flyer announcement within the Pre-Registration packets
- School marquees
- Websites
- Flyer announcements/signs during Pre-Registration week
- Discussions with PTSA/School-Site Council/Parents
- First day of school announcements to students
PEASE NOTE: If you have further questions regarding the TUSD Middle School Staff Development Program, please call your Middle School Principal.
