November 18, 2021 RCSD Educator Blog

General Update

Tommy Apostolos Kids Shopping Days - December 4 & December 11
That time of the year is fast approaching and the Tommy Apostolos Fund is looking for lots of volunteers for their annual Kids Shopping Days. As they did last year the shopping will take place without the kids in order to maintain COVID safety but they have over 580 children nominated and they want to help as many as they can. They have lots of slots available from 6:00am – 11:00am on December 4 and 11. Volunteers can sign up on Tommy Apostolo's website and then arrive at Kohl’s to shop. Even without kids, they want this to be a fun day for everyone as they help their community. If you can spare some time for this wonderful experience please sign up! Thanks!

Ed Services Update

1st, 4th, and 5th-grade teachers needed for the Elementary Assessment, Feedback, and Grading (AFG) Sub-Committee
The RCSD Elementary Assessment, Feedback, and Grading Committee has been meeting for the past two years to look at best practices when it comes to assessment, feedback, and grading. All RCSD elementary staff will learn more about the recommended updates or changes from the committee at the March 21, 2022, District PD Day.

In order to get specific advice for each grade level, we are creating a sub-committee that will have two to three representatives for every grade level K-5. We currently have reps for Kindergarten, 2nd, and 3rd grade. We still need reps for 1st, 4th, and 5th grade.

The sub-committee will be working on the following: creating Learning Behavior Rubrics, providing clarity around additional standards on the report card, updating progress reports, and grade-level specific parent guides. We will look to do similar work with TK in the future.

If you are interested in joining this sub-committee please fill out the form below. The form includes details on the who, what, when, where, and why. Teachers that are selected for the committee will be compensated for 10 hours at the Professional Development rate of $32 per hour. The cut-off date for applying is the end of the day Friday, November 19.
Elementary AFG Sub-Committee Application
Contact: Brandon Blom

Middle School Only- Otus Assessments on the Points Grade Scale
After receiving feedback from middle school teachers, any points-based assessment will now go only into the Formative gradebook, not the Summative gradebook. This change will start on November 19 and impacts both district-created common assessments and any points-based assessments that teachers created. The main reason for this change was feedback around the number of data points those assessments were giving in the gradebook.

This impacts District ELA and Math assessments and any other assessments that were built on the points grade scale. For the District common assessments, the coordinators will be creating summative rubrics where teachers will enter a final score for each domain.
Contact: Brandon Blom

iReady Diagnostic Window 2
The iReady Diagnostic Window 2 will begin on December 6, 2021, and end on January 21, 2022. This diagnostic is required for all K-8 students. Please remember that all testing should be done within the assigned Diagnostic Window, please do not assign the assessment before the start of the window. For more information on how to assign the diagnostic assessment please refer to the document below.
Assign iReady Diagnostic
Contact: Kelly Paese Yusim

Upcoming RCSD PD Day Schedule

Please see the details below regarding the upcoming January 3, 2022 PD day. Your site administrator will give you more details on the exact times and details for the day. More details for aides will be coming from Educational Support Services in the weeks ahead.

Elementary January 3rd PD Schedule

• PBIS Tier 1 Behavior Strategies
• Round 2 Data Team Meetings
• Science Asynchronous Learning

In order to prepare for Round 2 DTMs please work with your PLC and administrator to identify common assessment(s) and essential standards data.

Middle School January 3rd PD Schedule

• PBIS Tier 1 Behavior Strategies
• Round 2 Data Team Meetings

In order to prepare for Round 2 DTMs please work with you PLC and administrator to identify common assessment(s) and essential standards data.
Contact: Site Administrator