Guide to Services - Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District

General Education
Data Management and Analysis Services
The timely collection, analysis, and sharing of
information about student achievement are common
elements of high performing schools. In response
to this, TBAISD is supporting its local districts in
developing systems for assessing student progress,
collecting and analyzing that information, and
sharing results. A secure and confidential, webbased
Performance Management System has been
developed for our districts. MEAP, MME, NWEA, and
common formative assessment results are collected
and analyzed. These results inform teachers and
administrators about how schools are doing at the
student, classroom, district, regional and state levels.
In addition, TBAISD provides models and templates
for the effective use of student achievement data for
decision making within the context of Professional
Learning Communities.
All schools have access to:
•Reports of their performance across time on
MEAP compared to the state and all other regional
schools.
•Reports of their individual progress across time
on MEAP, other standardized assessments, and
common assessments.
•Specific desegregation of achievement data upon
request.
•Support to all elementary buildings in assessment
of early literacy, including a regional reporting
format to track student literacy progress across
time within buildings and across the region.
Professional Development
In support of school improvement goals,
educational initiatives and teacher development,
TBAISD delivers a wide variety of Professional
Development offerings.
A Regional Staff Development Board (RSDB),
comprised of representatives from each district in
our region, meets throughout the year. This board
selects quality topics and presenters based on
regionally identified needs. An annual Regional Staff
Development Day is held in the fall of each year for
educators in the five-county area.
SB-CEUs
TBAISD is an approved State Board-Continuing
Education Units (SB-CEU) sponsoring agency. We
provide application instructions and forms for
school districts, departments and agencies wishing
to award SB-CEUs for attendees at approved
workshops, trainings and conferences. SB-CEUs are
State Board approved inservice, workshop, training,
6
or conference credits that are used for the renewal
of selected certificates issued by the Michigan
Department of Education.
Literacy
The following goal was set by Superintendents
throughout our region: “All children will be
reading at grade level by the third grade and will
continue to make adequate reading progress
throughout their schooling.”
TBAISD has embarked on an ambitious literacy
initiative in support of this goal by providing
extensive sustained professional development on
reading philosophy, methodology, and assessment.
Ongoing professional development is offered for
Michigan Literacy Progress Profile (MLPP), and
Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and
Spelling (LETRS)/Foundations, as well as the Teacher
Reading Academy, writing workshops and curriculum
development initiatives. A focus on early childhood
literacy is provided through TBAISD’s way to grow
program.
Literacy Contacts from each district meet regularly
to assist with developing systems for assessing student
progress. TBAISD has developed and provides a
reporting format to monitor student literacy progress
across time within buildings and across the region.
Online Tools for Instruction and Student/
Teacher Collaboration
Consistent with the educational needs and strategies
emerging in the 21st century, TBAISD is providing
all local districts with web-based tools to deliver
classroom instructional and assessment resources
and support collaborative work among the region’s
students and teachers. Through the 2007-08 school
year, SharePoint Services will be made available to
all area teachers and students. It includes:
• Tools for creation and delivery of web-based
instructional content and web-based assessments.
• Tools for teachers and students to store/share
documents, do online research, and create,
track, and turn in assignments.
• Networking tools to support teacher and student
learning including blogs, vlogs, podcasts,
wikis, and personal web spaces.
• tools for creation and editing of web content
(e.g. WebQuest, RSS feeds, online simulations,
performances, and games).
• Web work spaces for teacher collaboration in
Professional Learning Communities.