February 3, 2022 RCSD Educator Blog

 General Update

• COVID-19 Symptoms Protocol
  Just a reminder to all RCSD employees to complete our symptom screener if you are not feeling well, stay home and isolate. In addition, please inform your supervisor and enter any absences into Frontline (if applicable).
  
  More importantly, please remember that RCSD cannot administer COVID-19 tests to individuals that are symptomatic in order to protect the health and safety of our employees. If you are not feeling well, please utilize an at-home test, and/or you may also register to get a test at LHI Testing. Thank you!

Ed Services Update

• Trimester 2 Report Card Information
• Information for TK-8:
  If you have questions please reach out to the following people:
• Brandon- TK, Sargeant, Diamond Creek, Crestmont, Orchard Ranch, Middle School
• Jennie- Kaseberg, Woodbridge, Blue Oaks, Riego Creek
• Megan- Spanger, Junction, Thomas Jefferson, Brown
• Brandon (while Kelly is out on maternity leave)- Cirby, Fiddy, Gates, Stoneridge
• Joe Clark- RVA
  
• We will have an optional report card training on Monday 2/7 at 3:15pm. This is completely optional. Here is the Zoom link. If you are unable to attend the training will be recorded and linked in the blog.
  
• Report Card prep is 2/07/22.
  
• RCSD Report Card Comment Bank- Optional Comment Bank teachers can use to copy and paste comments into Otus.
  
• Report Comments and Elementary Report Card Rubrics must be dated 2/18/22 or before. If they are after 2/18/22 they will show in Trimester 3.
  
• If you have a student that you know is disenrolling at the end of the Trimester, please work with your admin team to run a report card before they are disenrolled. It is difficult to run the report card once they are no longer in our system.
  
• Report cards are run at the site level other than TK. Your site admin will give you additional information about report card previews and dates.
  
• A student that comes in the middle of a Trimester receives a Domain score on anything that they have had: Sufficient Practice (practice aligned to the learning target), Feedback (timely, specific, aligned to the learning target), Opportunity to improve learning based on feedback from the teacher. If a student has received that for a domain then it is appropriate to give them a summative score on a specific domain.
  
• If a student is not going to receive any scores the teacher should contact the parent and put the following comment on the report card (or something similar): "Student enrolled on (date) and there was not adequate time for the student to be assessed before the end of the Trimester."
  
• You can find previous PDF Report Cards in the Google Drive folder shared at your site. Or you can also find scores (not report cards) within 3rd Party data within Otus. Here is a video showing how to find scores within Otus.
  
• Attendance (absences and tardies will show on the report card)
  
• TK ONLY -Brandon Blom will email you with training dates and your report card dates. RVA TEACHERS- Joe Clark will email you with your specific information.
  
• A reminder that all domains should have a score in the 3rd Trimester as they are yearlong standards and the final report card should show all Domains assessed in your class.
  
• Information for 6-8 Only:
• Report cards will be emailed home by the site on February 25.
  
• Report cards need to be completed by Wednesday, February 23. That gives clerical time to run the report on the 24th and then email home on the 25th.
  
• Trimester 1 there was an overlap between Trimester 1 and Trimester 2 Wheel Classes. We will no longer have this overlap due to both teacher and clerical feedback, as well as the issues this causes on the backend of PowerSchool and Otus.
  
• If you have a wheel class, the class will no longer show starting on Saturday, February 19. You can either get grades done for that class before that date, or there is a process to unarchive the class in order to enter grades. It is helpful if you rename your classes with the year (for example putting 21/22 at the end of the class) before they are removed on February 19. Here is a video showing how to both rename and unarchive. Unarchived classes stay until you archive them again.
  
• If you have a student that is no longer in your class (for example they disenrolled a few weeks before the trimester ended) and you need to enter a grade or have a report card printed for them, you can add them back. Here is a video showing how to do that. Students will only be there for that day you add them back and then are dropped again when the sync happens at night.
  
• You can override a standard or domain grade in Otus (not an overall grade). At this moment any overridden domain would need to be reverted at the start of the next Trimester (it does not start over for overridden grades). We have asked for it to reset each trimester but that is not available yet.
  
• Information for K-5 Only:
  Teachers must use the Report Card rubrics to assign final grades. You can find the report card rubrics in your Assessment Shared With Me folder under Tri 2 Elementary Report Card.

• Report Card Rubric Guide Here is the guide showing how to assign rubrics in Otus. This guide shows you how to enter comments for the report card, and how to assign the report card rubrics and grade the rubrics.
  
• When assigning the rubric please put 02/18/22 as the due date. This is the same even if your site is printing it earlier than that date.
  
• A reminder that for trimesters 1 and 2 you score the domains you have assessed. If you leave a domain blank on the rubric it will not show on the report card.
  
• Even if you used the grade book feature in Otus, we are still asking that you use the Rubric for a final grade.
  
• A reminder to assign the rubric to the specific class. For example, the Math rubric should be assigned to your Math class.
  
• Participation Scores for science and social studies comments, not rubrics.
  
• You do not need to enter the comment in 3 classes just your Homeroom class, one time per trimester. You can add it in your "homeroom" class or under where you put comments for ABC Standard comments. Do not put the comment in Science, Social Studies just put the comment once. Please add one of the following comments:
• Your child participated in Science and Social Studies.
  OR
• Your child did NOT participate in Science and Social Studies.
  
• PE Teachers will enter PE grades.
  
• TK/K Update for 2022/2023
• A “TK/K Planning Committee” will be developed with teachers and administrators to plan instruction, recommend materials, and plan for a seamless two-year Kindergarten program -2022-2023 school year.
  
• The TK/K Planning Committee will review and discuss:
• Lengthening the school day for TK and Kindergarten in the future.
• Purchasing materials needed for the grade levels.
• Reviewing and planning instruction and activities for a two-year Kindergarten program.
  
• Transitional Kindergarten-2022/2023
• 200 minutes each day (Same as this year)
• IA for every TK class (200 min.) to bring the ratio to 24 students to two adults
• Early/Late can remain for the 2022-2023 school year - the classes must never have more than 12 students and one adult as the ratio.
• Early (12:1) - Overlap time with IA (24:2) - Late (12:1)
• TK classes at Title I schools will be longer days using supplemental dollars for increased and improved services
  
• Kindergarten-2022/2023
• 260 minutes each day (Same as this year)
• Early/Late can remain for the 2022-2023 school year.
• Kaseberg will be piloting an all-day Kindergarten
  
• TK/K must begin simultaneously as the other grades for early start students because there may not be onsite daycare in the morning for students. There is also a need to ensure universal feeding of breakfast and lunch for all children at every site next year.
  
• K/1 Foundational Skills
  Please enter your data for Trimester 2 foundational skills in Otus by February 18, 2022. Please refer to the Trimester 2 section in the guide linked below for specific how-to’s and resources. Please note that some rubrics have more than one rubric descriptor, please make sure you are entering in T, B, or L for each rubric descriptor, unless the rubric descriptor is labeled as optional. Please watch this Phonics example for a more detailed explanation.
  
  Guide: 2021/2022 Foundational Skills Assessments and Resources
  Contact: Megan Spears