Curriculum and Instruction - SAS-WASC

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SAS is emerging as a stronger school from an intensive three years of curriculumdocumentation and alignment. The role of professional learning in this progresssince the midterm report is significant and wide-ranging and provides the researchbasedknowledge about teaching and learning that helps to guide the work.In subject areas and grade levels where there are clear teacher leadership structuresin place (elementary grade level teams and the core subjects of mathematicsand language arts are good examples), the professional learning is vibrant andcollaboration on unit plans and common assessments is evident, though not fullyimplemented. In other subject areas, the leadership structures have not kept pace withthe rapid growth of faculty numbers (e.g., visual and performing arts is an example).To address this area of need, teacher leadership structures and teacher leadershipjob descriptions were revised in the spring 2008 to ensure that all subject areas atSAS have teacher leaders to coordinate subject area efforts towards shared goalsand to ensure clear communication between and among grade levels, divisions andcampuses. Moving forward, the school will want to continue to review these roles toensure the structures allow clear lines of communication and effective coordinationof the work of teaching and learning.“There is a great desire amongALL constituents to make this agreat school.” - Kirk Mitchell, highschool counselor and member ofthe Student Programs Committee(SPC).In 2006-2007, the school implemented Curriculum Wednesdays – two after-schoolmeetings each month devoted to professional learning and work on curricular goals,including technology integration, in departments and teams. The main focus of thosedays in 2007-2008 was the self study and recording units on Atlas. In 2008-2009, thefocus of one after-school Wednesday meeting per month will be looking at learning.In these Look @ Learning meetings, as well as in selected team and departmentmeetings, faculty will tune unit plans, moderate assessments, look at student work inlight of our goals to further integrate differentiation, the EAGLES, technology andbest practices in assessment into the daily teaching and learning at SAS.ConsultantsDeveloping deeper relationships with outside consultants and a scholar-in-residenceover a longer term has helped nurture the growth of a positive school culture. SASis gradually emerging as a learning community in the early stages of looking at howstudents and adults learn together. An example of how consultants have contributedto this development includes analyzing how curriculum is delivered in classrooms.Scholar-in-residence Dr. Peter Relic, in his time at SAS during the fall 2005 andspring 2006 and fall 2006, visited every classroom, offering feedback to teachers andadministration on the nature of curriculum delivery he observed. In another example,Dr. Frances Hensley of the National School Reform Faculty, is conducting trainingon an ongoing bases, helping to train SAS staff to continue and expand the work oflooking together at student and adult work. As a result, reflection on practice anddiscussions of student learning are beginning to emerge with the help of Dr. Hensleyand Critical Friends Training (fall 2006, summer 2007, fall/spring 2007-2008 andongoing). A third example, Bambi Betts (who leads the Principal’s Training center)has returned to the school over the past two years to offer teacher leadership trainingas well as specialized work with developing essential teaching agreements based ofbest practices research (fall 2006, fall 2007).At the writing of this report, teachers trained under Hensley, are working incollaboration with administration and using Bambi Betts’ leadership materials as thefoundation, to design teacher leadership training for all team and department leadersin 2007-2008.Specialist TeachersSpecialist teachers in academic support and in ESOL provide an example of thepower of specialist teachers to provide professional learning in their areas ofexpertise. As an example, the ESOL program review resulted in offering ESL inthe Mainstream, recently redesigned and named Teaching English to Students in80Shanghai American School Self Study Report
Mainstream Classes (TESMC) to teachers on both campuses (spring 2007 andspring 2008)*. In addition, ESOL subject area coordinators on each campus havecollaborated in the development of an embedded professional development plan toengage all teachers school-wide in ELL-friendly strategies across the curriculum.Similarly, academic support teachers and counselors offer teachers strategies forinterventions and support for academic and emotional needs. The support teams arestrongly collaborative, not only in their support of students directly, but also in theirprofessional learning support of teachers.*Note: EASL in the Mainstream was offered at SAS in 2003, but in 2006-2007,course designers updated the content and SAS sent two ESOL teachers to be trainedas tutors in order to offer the professional development to faculty who have not yettaken the course.Teachers Teaching TeachersTeachers who have expertise in school-wide initiatives linked to the school’svision such as Atlas, Chinese, and wellness, as well as in stated program reviewprofessional development needs such as Writers Workshop teach their colleagues intime provided during professional development days, and Wednesdays set aside forlooking at learning and curriculum. In addition, new teachers are supported in theirlearning about teaching and learning at SAS through the buddy system and the newhire mentoring program (see Appendix for detail).Plymouth State PartnershipA partnership with Plymouth State University (PSU) offers teachers credits towardgraduate degrees for work on school initiatives such as curriculum review, criticalfriends training, curriculum mapping, teacher leadership, reflective teaching, andso on. Through this program teachers from across the school participate in researchand reflection, discuss their learning in meetings and online forums, and engage withvisiting Plymouth State faculty in courses like Theories of Learning and CognitiveDevelopment and Educational Philosophy as they are teaching. In the second year ofthe partnership, the PSU forums show an impact on the conversations participatingteachers are having about their own learning and that of their students.Program Review Task ForcesAs curriculum program review task forces and teaching teams and departmentsdevelop subject area and team principles of learning and essential teachingagreements, they are having conversations about the nature of the experiencesthey want for the students they teach. They are looking explicitly at methods ofcurriculum delivery for that purpose.Teachers at SAS design and implement a variety of learning experiences that activelyengage students at a high level of learning consistent with the school’s purpose andEAGLES. Through the work of the self study, all teachers were asked to identifyand discuss the range of strategies they use to deliver their curriculum (See SubjectArea Evidence Binders). Walk-through observations would provide ongoing data fordiscussions about instructional strategies and their impact on student learning – avaluable area for follow-up.Just over 77 % of students report that their teachers use a variety of teachingstrategies and learning activities to help them learn (NSSE Survey). That said, ESOL,academic support, 6-12 mathematics, 6-12 language arts and 6-12 Chinese taskforces agree that there is a need to offer focus in identified subject areas on methodsthat help all students access the learning, thus ensuring access to the learningfor students representing a range of abilities. Training faculty in differentiatingcurriculum for these students would impact student learning and is an area forfollow-up.Shanghai American School Self Study Report 81
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Curriculum and Instruction - SAS-WASC

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