Vista PEAK Exploratory Bulletin 9_10_2012

Cafeteria staff would like to thank Andrea and Corine for all of their hard work in the cafeteria!

Cafeteria staff would like to thank our wonderful custodial staff for all of their hard work, and everything they do for us!

Props to the preschool team and the preschool parents for all the amazing donations to the art classroom!

-Adam Laughlin Props to all the paras and people who have come down to my room to support me with timeouts and pull outs.

-Kory Jensen

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER monday, september 10th Staff meeting #2: 3:45-4:45 in the PREP Learning Commons / Aquity Reports training Grades 3-7 K-2 Teachers will meet in the Exploratory Learning Commons to enter BAS data

wednesday, september 12th Wendesday morning PD in the Learning Commons (see more information on page 2 regarding PBIS)

thursday, september 13th

Melanie out at Principal’s Meeting All Day

friday, september 14th

IMPORTANT SEPTEMBER DATES monday, september 17th POWER Proposals Due IC/SBG training from 3:45-5:15 for all 6th –11th grade teachers new to APS/VP in the PREP LC

September 6 2012

Director Learning Walks POWER Workshop #2 (Optional)

VISTA PEAK campus PHILOSOPHY

24551 E. 1st Ave Aurora, CO 80018 www.vistapeakcampus.org 303.364.3757

Bulletin #02

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“Education must be real-world and relevant, innovative and connected; where staff and students thrive with choice and responsibility; to cultivate creativity and invention.”

VISTA PEAK campus VISION “To ensure every student who enters the Vista PEAK Campus graduates with a high school diploma, college credits and/or degrees, industry credentials and certifications in order to be successful in postsecondary and workforce experiences.”

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VP staff members interested in getting feedback or additional support on your PoWeR proposals for the 2012-13 school year, listen up! This week the Directors and select staff will offer optional PoWeR workshops to interested teachers. If you would like support crafting your proposal, having the chance to ! ask questions, or just want feedback then this is the meeting for you. Meet in the Learning Commons on either of the 2 offerings on Sept. 4th or 14th.

Expedite the process of approval by putting forward the best proposal possible with the support of your peers and leaders. Bring your laptops and your best thinking and we will see you there. The AWA outlines compensation for this work.

VISTA PEAK COMMITTEE NEWS STUDENT

Parent Teacher Student Association

We will use this portion of the bulletin to share news and happenings from committees across campus. Staff asked for a way to know what others were producing and accomplishing and we wish to heed this call. See update from Staff Climate & Culture below!!

Checkout our PTSA information page & join us on Tuesday, September 11, from 6:00-7:00PM in the Exploratory Learning Commons for our first general meeting. We are excited about this year and have some wonderful activities planned. If you are interested in a leadership position, we are looking at filling our secretary and Vice President of Prep positions.

Staff Climate and Culture is up and running. We have a fast and easy way to provide feedback around staff satisfaction. Please go to www.vistapeakstaff.org and click on staff climate and culture. Then click on Staff Climate and Culture Feedback Form.

Please list the following: • Issue, idea, concern • Who is affected: Exploratory, Preparatory, Whole campus • Possible solution • Any other pertinent items…

Check out our volunteer board in Exploratory by the display case outside the main office for the many volunteer opportunities for you to get involved with.

We're all in this together, so let's make this a great year!

To view agendas for other committee work see the following Instructional Leadership Team Equity Team

POSITIVE BEHAVIOR SUPPORT (PBIS)

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PBIS is really Tier 1 Intervention for Behavior.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT MEETINGS (SAMS)

Purpose: The purpose of SAMS meetings are to discuss your classroom's reality in terms of where your students are in relation to the standards. We will discuss academic strengths and challenges of your class as a whole and also discuss specific students you will target throughout the year.

Together we will identify solutions and set goals in the content area(s) you teach. We will have a conversation regarding what you can do for students who are still not making progress or achieving at the level necessary to reach proficiency.

Below see the form that we will use for our SAMS meetings. https://docs.google.com/a/vistapeakstaff.org/document/d/1OeXWexNHTvYHRVmumOgMhIJDMapFY3oD ezvXDu-Im54/edit

UNIFIED IMPROVEMENT PLAN UIP We are continually working on the UIP in ILT. We have done some amazing work.

STRATEGIC PLAN 3 Year Strategic Plan The 3 Year Strategic plan is essentially our implementation plan for our innovation application. We have made great strides and you can see all completed actions listed in green! Great progress thus far.

This year’s THEME:

Relationships

This year’s INSTRUCTIONAL FOCUS: The WHAT=Content

September 10, 2012 February 2009

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The mission of the Colorado Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Initiative is to establish and maintain effective school environments that maximize academic achievement and behavioral competence of all learners in Colorado.

We are getting ready to ramp up our PBIS program at Vista PEAK Exploratory. Andrea and Erin will be providing professional learning on Wednesday morning to provide you an overview of what PBIS is and how we will be ramping up its implementation at Vista PEAK. By implementing PBIS with fidelity we can really impact our entire school culture and eliminate most of the behavior challenges that do not fall under the RTI system.

ACUITY DO’S AND DON’TS FROM NORM ALERTA IN THE DIVISION OF ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Since this is the first year of using the system I would suggest holding off on including Acuity results as part of the Body of Evidence (BOE) for student grades. That being said my thoughts on things to think about if schools want to explore the possibilities: 1.

Acuity A is designed to provide baseline information about a student so it would not be fair to hold them accountable for the results that early in the year.

2.

Using the results for grading purposes, even as part of a BOE, might introduce student cheating into the test environment – if a student knew that their Acuity results had a positive impact on their grade they might try to do better. a.

The flip side to that is a student knowing Acuity counts as a grade might take the test more seriously and work to learn the content in the class so as to do well on Form B and C acuity assessments.

3.

Schools should ensure that the initial Form A data is used to set instructional/learning goals for students. If the results are not used to further instruction and learning, then students should not be held accountable for the results on subsequent Acuity testing the rest of the year.

Expect more guidance from Dr. Enriquez at the staff meeting Monday