Welcome Back!
As a new school year begins across Kentucky, the Office of Teaching and Learning Division of Program Standards sends best wishes for a wonderful start to the year. Educators across the state are beginning the work of providing resources to families, building relationships with students and planning for high-quality instruction. The information included below, and each week in the Standards Newsletter, is designed to support the important work happening in schools and classrooms. Take time to review the resources provided, and please share them with others in your building or district that could benefit, as well.
Family Resources for Back to School
Start off back to school relationship-building with students and families with these three helpful 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.
-
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.
-
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), the Read to Succeed Act, 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).
Resources for EBIP 1: Establishing the Learning Environment
The quality of the daily classroom instruction students receive significantly impacts their overall achievement. As teachers start the year and begin implementing their local standards-aligned curriculum, it is important that they strategically and intentionally utilize evidence-based instructional practices that support students in reaching the intended learning outcomes.
To support teachers in this work, the first EBIP focuses on Establishing the Learning Environment and includes the following:
-
A narrative introduction that synthesizes the current research on creating safe and supportive learning environments;
-
Facilitation considerations for structuring the professional learning; and
-
Content-specific resources to support implementation.
The Importance of High-Quality Instructional Resources (HQIR)
As teachers return to the classroom for the 2024-2025 school year, they deserve access to high-quality instructional resources (HQIRs) that increase their content knowledge, provide guidance to inform strong instruction and support implementation of vibrant, grade-level appropriate experiences and assignments. Access to comprehensive HQIRs enables teachers to adapt lessons to meet the diverse needs of students and to focus their time, energy and creativity on bringing lessons to life and engaging students with the content.
Yet, instructional resources are not just for teachers; they are critical for student success. Students deserve access to standards-aligned instructional resources and grade-level assignments to help them reach the intended learning outcomes within the Kentucky Academic Standards. Students also deserve HQIRS that are engaging, accessible and culturally relevant.
Standards Newsletter Archive
Did you miss last week's Standards Newsletter? You can access all previous editions of the newsletter on the Standards Newsletter Archive webpage.
|
