April 21, 2023 RCSD Educator Blog

Classified Calendars
All classified employees have received their calendars for the 23/24 school year. Additionally, employees that follow the 225, 250, and 260 day calendars received updated calendars for the 22/23 school year as they now have June 19th off in recognition of Juneteenth, a Federal Holiday. 

CRITICAL Google Chrome Update - Please Update & Relaunch Chrome

The California Cyber Threat Integration Center (Cal-CSIC) has become aware of a zero-day vulnerability which affects Windows, Mac, and Linux systems, and is actively being exploited. The high-severity vulnerability allows a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption via a crafted HTML page.

Please use the below steps to update Google Chrome to version 112.0.5615.121 or higher as soon as possible.

1. On your computer, open Chrome.

2. At the top right, click More .

3. Click Help About Google Chrome.

4. Click Update Google Chrome.

Important: If you can't find this button, you're on the latest version.

5. Click Relaunch.

The browser saves your opened tabs and windows and reopens them automatically when it restarts. 

Contact: Site Information Systems Technician 

Learning Management System Selection Committee Update

We wanted to give you an update from the Learning Management System Selection Committee. First, we would like to thank the teachers, clerical, admin, and parents on the committee for their time and hard work. Please click below for the Board Presentation given on April 20th for more details.

Learning Management System Selection Committee Board Update, April 2023

Process

The committee met to review different products in February. After the initial meeting, the committee selected to pilot Schoology and Canvas. There was no need to pilot Otus since we have been using it for the past 3 years.

After presentations and training from those two companies, the committee was able to utilize a sandbox to try both Schoology and Canvas for over a month. At the end of a month, a form was sent to gather feedback on those two vendors, as well as score Otus. You can find the results from the form on slides 5 and 6 of the Board presentation that was given on April 20th. After the initial scoring, the committee met in person to discuss the pros, cons, and references from other districts. The committee eliminated Canvas due to a number of reasons and then revoted between keeping Otus or moving to Schoology. The results of that form are on slide 7 of the presentation. Based on the results, the final recommendation is to keep Otus for at least another year.

Elementary- What This Means/Next Steps

One of the biggest pieces of feedback for elementary is the need for a report card that we can customize, and that is also easier to use. For both Schoology and Canvas, we would have to use PowerTeacher Pro as the report card. The decision was made to utilize Otus for the district Learning Management System, assessments, and data, and use PowerTeacher Pro as the gradebook/report card system for elementary starting in August 2023. While we have used this system in the past, we will make sure to provide updated training to teachers in August.

Middle School- What This Means/Next Steps

For middle school, there has been a lot of feedback around the online gradebook view for students, parents, and teachers. Canvas and Schoology scored low in this area as well. Otus is coming out with a new landing page for students and parents that will help with this. We are also working on a grade passback with PowerSchool (meaning the standard scores will be passed to PowerSchool without teachers having to double-enter grades) to see if the view is better there with parents. We are in the middle of working on these solutions, and will have more details about where parents will go to view grades at the start of the next school year.

We have not made any final decisions on if the final report card for middle school will be in PowerTeacher Pro or Otus for the 23/24 school year, but will share that information once grade passback has been tested, and when we have a chance to see the new PowerSchool parent view that they are rolling out next school year. The District will create a guide for parents and students on how to view grades with either the new Otus landing page or within the PowerSchool app or website.

Next Steps for All

The committee took feedback from teachers seriously and wanted to make a change if it made sense. However, the committee felt the best decision right now is to not switch, due to not feeling that either system was a large enough upgrade for us to commit to for the next 3-5 years (which is the minimum we would want to commit to with a new system, with Otus we can continue one year at a time for now). We continue to give Otus feedback on improvements.

We also heard feedback that there is additional training needed within Otus. We want to make sure teachers know what updates Otus have made, and also how to utilize Otus in the best way possible (for example, how to view assessment data as a PLC). We will have more details when we start the 23/24 school year but wanted to get you as much information as possible before the end of the year.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Contact: Brandon Blom

i-Ready Window 3

i-Ready Window 3 begins April 17th and ends May 26th. Window 3 is required for 2nd-grade students and is option for 3rd-8th grade students. 

Contact: Kelly Yusim

CAASPP Testing- 3rd-8th

CAASPP testing begins the week of April 24th, starting with CAST (Science) test. Testing will continue May 1st through May 12th, with makeups the week of May 15th through May 19th. We are so proud of how hard our RCSD students have worked this year and know that everyone will do great on their assessments! 

K-5 Summer Access

Students will have access to i-Ready instruction until July 21, 2023. Students who have Lexia will have access until June 30th, 2023. 

Contact: Kelly Yusim