Category: Elementary Action Required

DATE: 
Thursday, April 7, 2022

TO:   
Elementary School Administrators

FROM:  
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:  
2021-22 KEEP Exit Administration Guidelines and Materials

Elementary school administrators are asked to pass this information, along with the materials included with this memo, to their kindergarten teachers as soon as possible.

KEEP Exit administration for the 2021-22 school year is still required by the state. The KEEP Exit window is scheduled during the end-of-year kindergarten testing days (Friday, May 20^th through Friday, May 27^th). However, the official state test administration window opens Monday, May 9^th and ends on the last day of school.

Data entry into the Data Gateway is due by Wednesday, June 15, 2022. Those who are administering the KEEP Exit (including kindergarten teachers and classroom aides) should have been trained. Test administrators can access training in one of two ways:

• Self-guided Canvas Course
• Recorded webinar on YouTube

The KEEP Exit materials included with this memo are:

• KEEP Exit Test Administration Manual
• KEEP Exit Student Materials
• KEEP Exit – Additional Guidance on Scoring Questions 7 & 13

KEEP Exit Guidelines and Materials

KEEP Exit Scoring – Additional Guidance on Scoring Questions 7 & 13

KEEP Exit Student Materials

KEEP Exit Test Administration Manual

DATE:   
Thursday, March 31, 2022

TO:  
All Elementary School Administrators

FROM:    
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching and Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:    
Spring 2022 Summative Testing Reminders

School administrators are encouraged to share the following information with their RISE-tested teachers.

Please see the memo below.

Spring 2022 Summative Testing Reminders – Elementary

Kindergarten Night Out will be held on April 6 in the ASB auditorium from 4:15 to 5:15. We will be talking about writing! We will be giving ideas on how to prep for the KEEP test and other ideas to easily integrate writing throughout your day. Please sign up on JPLS. This is one that every kindergarten teacher will want to attend! Please share the attached flyer with all kindergarten teachers.

Kindergarten Night Out April

DATE:   
Thursday, March 24, 2022

TO: 
Elementary School Administrators

FROM:  
Carolyn Gough, Administrator of Teaching & Learning
Ben Jameson, Director of Evaluation, Research and Accountability

SUBJECT:  
EOY Acadience Testing Reminders

The end-of-year Acadience testing window opens on April 11^th. With a six-day spring break and six additional days with no kindergarten students in buildings, the 2021-22 EOY window is one of the shortest testing windows on record. As we prepare for Acadience testing, there are a few friendly reminders that help the district testing teams be as efficient as possible while they are at your school testing students:

• Avoid scheduling kindergarten and first grade classes back to back, when possible. They take longer because assessment assistants are administering both the reading and math measures.
• Encourage your teachers to be flexible. They need to be prepared to come early or late to their allotted time.
• Be sure to have an adult runner available who knows the school and can quickly have a teacher come to the testing area, distribute student cards, and help the testing run as efficiently as possible. If schools don’t have a runner available, a parent who knows where teacher classrooms are is a viable option. If there is no runner, one of our assessment assistants has to do it, which means she is testing less students.
• We continue to need the assistance of instructional coaches as well as anyone else who has been trained to administer all of the Acadience Reading and Math measures on the days we are in your building. We have been unable to fill 10 district assessment assistant positions. Earlier this year, we sent department personnel to help with testing (though there are only eight of us). Testing in RISE, Utah Aspire Plus, DLM, Reading Inventory, and AAPPL for foreign language are all being administered at the same time as Acadience Reading and Math. Because of this, department personnel will not be as available to assist with Acadience testing during the EOY window.
• We have left some time at the end of the testing window for assessment assistants to complete absent testing for any students at any of the 41 schools that were absent on the day(s) of testing. That said, there have been occasions in previous windows this year where there were 60-90 K-3 students absent on testing day(s). If there are that many absences in a school during the end-of-year window, the school will need to help test some of those absent students.

If you are interested in having your aides get trained to administer both Acadience Reading and Math tests, there are two Canvas courses available:

• The Acadience Reading Canvas course may be accessed here:  Acadience Reading Canvas Course
• The Acadience Math Canvas course may be accessed here:  Acadience Math Canvas Course

Please contact Ben Jameson or Shannon Johnson in Evaluation, Research & Accountability with any questions or concerns.

EOY Acadience Testing Reminders

Really Great Reading Training Completion
Really Great Reading training links will begin to expire. These links are only active for one year. Please make sure all K-3 teachers have completed all modules for their grade level. 

Think Central for Literacy Phase Out
As a reminder from the JAM on October 28, the current platform for Think Central for literacy is being phased out by Houghton Mifflin.  As a result, this will be the last year that Think Central for literacy will be provided by T&L. This change will not affect Think Central for math. All Think Central accounts will remain in operation through the end of the 2021-22 school year. Schools can contact Houghton Mifflin directly for information regarding site based purchasing. 

EOY PLCs and Principal/Coach/Specialist Planning Meeting
Assigned literacy teacher specialists will be contacting principals to set up end of year PLC meetings. In addition, they have been asked to meet with principals and coaches to get feedback from this year and begin planning processes for next year. We have designed an EOY District Literacy Initiatives Checklist to help in this process and are asking them to review this with you at that meeting.

Kindergarten Night Out will be held on March 9th in the ASB auditorium from 4:15 to 5:15. Katie Jarvis, a district behavior specialist will be presenting. She will give us tips and tricks to help our students who need extra support for behavior. This is one that every kindergarten teacher will want to attend! Please share the attached flyer with all kindergarten teachers.

Kindergarten Night Out March 9, 2022

Throughout our JELL journey together, we have worked hard to establish practices that not only focus our instruction on high priority standards, but also allow us to pinpoint where each of our students are in the learning process. Doing this helps us know exactly what each of our students needs in order to continue to learn and grow. We know this has not been an easy task, and we honor the work that each school is doing to move forward in their implementation of these skills.

We also know that some schools have felt like they are in a holding pattern until we know what the new report card looks like and how it fits with the work your teachers have done. While this is certainly important, the work your teachers have done to increase clarity around the standards and how students move through the learning process has been crucial in preparing them for the new reporting tool.

Many of you have expressed interest in piloting the new report card next year. While we are excited for this next step, we are also committed to making sure that we get it right. We anticipate working closely with a small number of schools who truly believe that this is their next step in their journey. In order for this to be successful, it is critical that each pilot school considers the culture of their school, current practices, community factors, and the commitment of their faculty.

For those who believe they are ready to move forward, please read the Next Steps section below. If your school is not there yet, don’t worry. We’ll continue to support you. You should not feel pressure to volunteer to pilot something new. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to your AOS for guidance and support.

Next steps:

• Self-Reflection- Take a moment to review the Learning Scale for Standards Based PLC’s. You do not need to fill it out, but reviewing each step may help you celebrate how far you’ve come and reflect on what work may still need to be done.
• Readiness Assessment- If you feel that piloting the new report card is a clear next step for your school, complete the New Elementary Report Card Readiness Assessment by Mar 1, 2022.
• Communicate with your AOS- Make sure your AOS is aware that you are interested in being a part of the pilot, and that you have completed the readiness assessment.

Only 6 additional sections were added to the LETRS for Admin, part 1, course (#60389). Any administrative participants who would like to enroll for Part 1 can do so by following the links below:

LETRS for Amin, part 1 (Admin Overview) – Course #60389

The remaining dates for these sessions include March 4, 15, 31, April 8, 13 & 26. 

You do NOT need to have the Principal’s Primer book read before this session.

LETRS for Amin, part 2 (Principal Primer) – Course #60446

Dates for these sessions are from February 17 - August 16. 

*Remember that LETRS for Admin is a two-part course and you will need to enroll and attend both. These are the same 2 sessions that your school psychologists attend. 

Questions? Call Bev Griffith at 801-567-8466 or email beverly.griffith@jordandistrict.org.