English Language Arts
Ewing Township Public Schools
July 2010
New in 2009 – 2010
• Achievement Academy and
LEAP Academy to Build Skills
– November 2009 through May 2010
– July 2010 and August 2010
• Response to Intervention at
Parkway and Fisher Schools
• Alternative High School
Assessment (AHSA)
Focus…Data Driven Decision Making
Alternative High School Assessment
Class of 2010
• March 2009 – 219 EHS students passed HSPA
• October 2009 – 20 additional EHS students
passed HSPA
• 11 students participated in the AHSA
process during the 2009-2010 school year
• 100% passed the Alternative High School
Assessment
• No students were denied a
diploma for failing the state
assessment
AHAS
Data Analysis and Program Review
• 7 of the 11 students (64%)
entered the Ewing Township
Public Schools within the past
two years
– 3 of the 7 were new to the
country
• 1 student attended Ewing
Schools for only four academic
years
• 3 of the 11 students attended
Ewing Schools at all levels
Standards for English Language Arts
and Literacy in History/Social Studies
and Science
• Reading and Writing across
the Curriculum
• Reading to Develop
Critical Thinking and
Problem Solving Skills
• Writing as a Craft
• 21st Century Learning
Revised Language Arts Curriculum
Grades K - 12
• Backwards Design (Wiggins and
McTighe)
• Focus on the Common Core
State Standards
• Inclusion of cross-content
reading, especially nonfiction
texts
• Writing across the curriculum
• Vertical alignment, K-12
Data Analysis
and Needs Assessment
• Grades K – 5
– Reading
• Fluency vs. comprehension
• Responsive writing and the NJ ASK
– Writing
• Formulaic writing vs. structured
writing
• Writing as a craft…with
compositional risks
• Grammar and the conventions of
writing
Data Analysis
and Needs Assessment
• Grades 6 – 8
– Reading
• Focus on higher-level questions and
responsive writing
• Supporting struggling readers
• Empowering students with a desire
to read
• Diversifying the Book Rooms at all
grade levels
– Writing
• Writer’s notebook
• Formulaic vs. structured writing
• Including compositional risks
Data Analysis
and Needs Assessment
• Grades 9 – 12
– Reading
• Supporting struggling readers
• Empowering students with a desire to
read
• Expanding the Book Room to include
fiction and nonfiction texts by authors of
color and female writers
– Writing
• Including “compositional risks” when
writing
• New Expository Prompt on HSPA
• Linguistics and code-switching
Professional Development
Provided by Language Arts Supervisor
• Test Data Analysis and Reflection
– Quantitative data
– Analysis of written responses
• Backwards Design
• Teaching Grammar in the Writing
Workshop
• Using the DRA2 to Drive Instruction
• Supporting Struggling Readers in
Grades 6 – 12
• Model writing lessons
• Effective Practices of Culturally
Diverse Schools
Professional Learning Communities and
Professional Book Clubs
District Literacy Coach
• Supporting K-5 teachers
– Collaborative lesson planning
– In-class demonstration lessons
– Peer observation and collegial
feedback
– Professional development
– Turnkey training
– Curriculum revision, K-5
– Collaborate with District
Supervisor to analyze data and
reflect on needs
National Writing Project
at Rider University
“The NWP is a professional
development network that serves
teachers of writing at all grade levels,
primary through university, and in all
subjects. The mission of the NWP is to
improve student achievement by
improving the teaching of writing and
learning in the nation's schools.”
- www.nwprider.org
• Invitational Summer Institute
– 4 teachers attending July and August
• Open Institutes
– 3 teacher attending
• Administrators’ Workshop, July 2010
Best Practice is the Best Test Practice
Presented by National Speaker Barry Lane
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sponsored by
the Ewing Public Education Foundation
NOTE: As of July 15th, fifty-four Ewing teachers and administrators registered to
attend this summer workshop.
Gifted Programs
• ACE
– Review and revision of program
and curriculum
• Humanities
– Revision of curriculum
• The curriculum adopted in 2001 is
now used in all reading classrooms.
• Honors English
– Revision of curriculum
Advanced Placement
English Literature Composition
• 2008-2009
– 15 students took AP English
– 6 chose to take the AP Exam
– All 6 earned passing scores
• 2009-2010
– 36 students took AP English
– 15 students took the AP Exam
• 1 student scored a 5
• 10 students scored a 4
• 2 students scored a 3
• 2 scored a 2
Continuing Education
Students who scored a 4
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Princeton University
Boston University
Rutgers University
American University
Albright College
Johns Hopkins University
Oberlin College
Middlebury College
Shenandoah University
Students who scored a 3
• Stevens Institute of Technology
• Clarion University
Students who scored a 2
• American University
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute
and State University
The student who scored a 5…
• was only a junior! This
student will be attending
Ewing High School in the
fall.
Fourteen of these fifteen students
attended Ewing Township Public
Schools from the elementary level.
One student entered the Ewing
Township Public Schools in middle
school.
Preparing Students for
Post-Secondary Education
• AP teacher worked with TCNJ
librarians and met with EHS
students on TCNJ campus to
assist with research (i.e. primary
vs. secondary sources, literary
criticism and reliable sources)
• Secondary Education Teachers
Association met with AP
students at TCNJ Library to assist
with college-level research