Family Resources for Back to School
Start off back to school relationship-building with these three helpful family resources: “Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) Family Guides,” “A Family’s Guide to Understanding Student Assessment” and the “Read at Home Plan Family Guide.”
The “KAS Family Guides” were developed to help families familiarize themselves with the concepts of each grade level’s standards and include suggestions for how families can reinforce standards content at home. Each guide contains a standards overview for reading and writing, mathematics, science and social studies. Guides are available for grades K-8 and high school and even come in Spanish for Spanish-speaking families. These guides can be found on the Standards Family Resources webpage.
“A Family’s Guide to Understanding Student Assessment” was made to help families understand how assessment can support student learning. The guide includes information about formative, diagnostic, interim and summative assessment and gives teachers and families common language to use when discussing student assessment. This guide can be found on the Standards Family Resources webpage.
The “Read At Home Plan Family Guide” includes learning experiences families can have with children at home to support their reading skills development. Additionally, the guide includes information about Senate Bill 9 (2022), Reading Improvement Plans and the key role families play in student success. A glossary of literacy terms and general tips for reading at home also are included. The at-home learning experiences contained in this document are organized into the five essential components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension). This guide can be found on the Early Literacy Resources webpage.
New Teacher Resources: Standards Professional Learning and Evidence-Based Instructional Practices
The Standards Implementation Guides provide a template for sequencing essential standards professional learning for new teachers. Guides are available for the Kentucky Academic Standards for Reading and Writing, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science, in addition to a General Standards Implementation Guide.
These guides can help districts and schools plan for differentiated professional learning opportunities around standards implementation that use the most current resources.
Districts and schools also may find the Evidence-Based Instructional Practices (EBIPs) resources especially helpful for use with new teachers. An overview document provides background on EBIPs. There also is an overview video, facilitation considerations and content area specific resources for six evidence-based instructional resources: Establishing the Learning Environment, Clarifying and Sharing Clear Learning Goals, Explicit Teaching and Modeling, Discussion, Questioning and Meaningful Feedback.
Calling All Coaches: Apply Now for the Roadmap to Implementing High-Quality Mathematics Instruction Workshop for Coaches
The Roadmap to Implementing High-Quality Mathematics Instruction Workshop for Coaches seeks to guide instructional planning by taking educators on a journey designed to:
- Ground instruction in the Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) for Mathematics, thus reaffirming a commitment to equitable learning opportunities for all students in Kentucky;
- Support intentional integration of evidence-based instructional practices; and
- Expand educator familiarity with strategies to interweave the development of social-emotional competencies with the development of mathematics content.
The workshop consists of a series of 2-hour synchronous, virtual sessions across the 2023-2024 school year. In the fall, the sessions will be for coaches only. In the spring, the coaches will attend with the classroom teachers from that school/district.
The vision is for coaches to attend the fall sessions to learn alongside one another, considering how the learning from the session can support coaching within the local school/district. During the spring sessions, the coaches will support facilitation of that same learning with the teachers they support at the local level, including embedded opportunities for coaches to lead small group discussions with local teams.
Fall Sessions*
- Session 1: Week of Sept. 25-28
- Session 2: Week of Oct. 23-26
- Session 3: Week of Nov. 13-16
- Session 4: Week of Dec. 18-21
Spring Sessions*
- Session 4: Week of Jan. 15-18
- Session 5: Week of Feb. 12-15
- Session 6: Week of March 11-14
- Session 8: Week of April 15-18
*Specific dates and times will be finalized once applicants have been selected. For each window there will be options provided within the weeks listed. Participants will only attend the one, two-hour session they signed up for within each window.
A stipend of $500 from the Kentucky Department of Education will be provided for the coaches participating in the workshop.
There are a limited number of spots available for this workshop. Coaches interested in this opportunity should complete the Roadmap to High Quality Mathematics Instruction Workshop for Coaches Application no later than Sept. 1. Selected participants will be notified no later than Sept. 8.
Last Day to Apply! The Interdisciplinary Literacy Practices Video Series: A Cohort for K-12 Reading and Writing Educators
The Interdisciplinary Literacy Practices Cohort is an opportunity for K-12 reading and writing educators to engage in deeper learning about the Kentucky Academic Standards for Reading and Writing Interdisciplinary Literacy Practices. It features student engagement in the practices in a professionally produced video series.
Selected participants will:
- Engage in professional learning about the Kentucky Academic Standards for Reading and Writing’s Interdisciplinary Literacy Practices in action;
- Form a community of K-12 literacy educators to share evidence-based practices and high-quality learning experiences across Kentucky;
- Be featured in a short, professionally produced video published on KYstandards.org demonstrating students engaging in the interdisciplinary literacy practices;
- Share learning about the interdisciplinary literacy practices and the project outcomes with professional learning communities, school and/or administration; and
- Receive a stipend of $600 for completion of the cohort objectives.
The cohort will meet six times throughout the 2023-2024 school year. With the exception of the in-person orientation, each session will consist of a 90-minute synchronous virtual session paired with asynchronous opportunities between each session.
- Fall/Winter Sessions:
- Session 1 (in-person orientation in Frankfort): Week of Sept. 25
- Session 2 (online): Week of Nov. 6 or 13
- Session 3 (online): Week of Jan. 15 or 22
- Winter/Spring Sessions:
- Session 4 (online): Week of Feb. 12 or 19
- Session 5 (online): Week of March 11 or 18
- Session 6 (to be determined): Summer 2024 - screening of videos and final meeting
*Precise dates and times to be determined based on educator availability.
There are a limited number of spots available for this cohort. Educators interested in this opportunity should complete the Interdisciplinary Literacy Practices Video Series Cohort application no later than Aug. 23. Selected participants will be notified on Aug. 30.
Selected educators will be eligible to receive up to 15 professional development hours for their participation in cohort meetings and asynchronous learning opportunities, as well as a stipend of $600. (Note: The decision to accept professional development hours is at the discretion of the local school/district.)
Please submit any questions to Kristen Tinch.
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