Syllabus and HPCSD Policies

📚Course Overview:

AIS Reading provides eligible students with small group, supplemental reading instruction. It is intended to assist students in developing skills needed to meet grade level expectations. Targeted intervention and instruction will be provided to meet the needs of each student.

📚Course Objectives:

By the end of this class, you (or your child) will be able to:

• apply decoding, fluency, and comprehension strategies while reading.

• respond to reading through writing.

📚Learning Management System:

If the district is fully remote:

While all students will be enrolled in Google Classroom as the learning management system for in-class, hybrid, and/or remote learning. Parents and/or guardians who provide teachers with their email are able to receive email summaries and updates on their child’s progress.

📚Teacher Bio:

Hi. I am Mrs. O'Connell and I am one of the reading teachers at North Park Elementary School. This is my 19th year teaching! I love to read, be outside, and spend time with my family. My daughter, Audrey, is in 5th grade this year; and my son, Aiden, is currently in 2nd grade. We also have a dog named Virginia and she tends to keep us pretty busy. I can't wait to read with you!

📚Logistics:

If the district is in-person:

• Students are to receive Tier 3 AIS support every day for 30 minutes per day.

• AIS is supplemental in nature and is goal-specific to students' needs.

If the district is fully remote:

Daily:

• A Daily Attendance question will be posted in Google Classroom. This needs to be done each day for attendance to be counted.

• AIS assignments are posted in Google Classroom

• Office Hours are between ______________. Specific information regarding support during this time will be found in Google Classroom.

1-2 Days per Week: (specific days are TBD)

• Weekly Google Meets (Synchronous Live Reading Group Sessions) will occur and are in addition to the assignments posted within Google Classroom.

Monday:

• Daily AIS assignments for the week will be posted on Monday of that week.

Saturday:

• AIS assignments will be due by Saturday of the same week it is assigned.

Weekly-

Synchronous Live Reading Group Sessions will take place at a scheduled time to be determined with school staff and parent/guardian. These sessions will be scheduled during the school day but will not interfere with classroom synchronous instruction.

*To join our Google Meet:

• Log in with your school account

• Click on the 9 dots at the top right corner of your screen

• Click on the Meet icon

• Join a Meeting with the code word given for the reading group

💬 Participation Policy:

Students will be expected to:

• read daily.

• try their best.

• be actively engaged in lessons.

• read at home to practice skills learned and worked on in class.

• ask questions if help is needed.

If the district is fully remote:

Participation in our Google Classroom and synchronous sessions will be the same as participating during in-person learning. Participation in this class is vital for reading growth.

💻 Course Communication:

Class Announcements & Daily Assignments

If the district is in-person:

Class announcements may come home through the mail, email, phone, or on paper. At times, if I need to send a note and/or a flier home, I will send it home through the students' reading bag or through their classroom mailbox/folder.

If the district is fully remote:

Class announcements and AIS assignments will be posted in Google Classroom. Class announcements will be found in the “Stream”- the homepage of the Google Classroom. AIS assignments will be posted in the “Classwork” section.

Email/Personal Messages

The best way to get in contact with me is through email. My email is catherineoconnell@hpcsd.org

When leaving a message through email, please follow the expectations below:

• Include your name/child’s name and topic of the message.

Please Note: It may take up to 24 hours to receive a reply during the week and 48 hours on the weekend.

General Class Questions

If the district is in-person:

Please don't hesitate to email or call me with any questions you may have.

If the district is fully remote:

If you have a question about the class or an assignment, I encourage you to post your question in the Google Classroom “Stream” or in the assignment comments. Comments posted are visible to the entire class community, so I encourage you to both ask and answer questions there.

Live, Recorded, and Posted Discussions

If the district is fully remote:

Live and recorded discussions, through our weekly Google Meets, and Flipgrid recordings, are an opportunity for you to interact with and learn from your peers. The class will regularly engage in conversations about reading. You may receive credit for your participation in these discussions.

You are expected to post (type) and reply with thoughtful, respectful, and well-written responses.

🙋🏻‍♀️ AIS Attendance Policy:

Daily attendance will be taken in eSchoolData, our student management system.

If the district is fully remote:

Attendance will be based on the required scheduled student contact sessions/assignments, and engagement done through Google Meets and Google Classroom.

• Synchronous (live) attendance will be taken during the group meeting.

• Asynchronous (not-live) attendance will be taken through a daily attendance question posted in Google Classroom.

• Students will be marked present if they respond to the daily attendance question within a 24 hour time period.

• Contact with the families may be made daily to determine reasons for absence and needs or barriers the student may have to participate in daily lessons.

💡AIS Session Norms:

If the district is in person:

• All comments should be positive and productive.

• Use appropriate language at all times.

• When someone is speaking please give them your full attention.

• Everyone tries our best.

• Our reading room is our space, it is a safe space where we all work hard, may make mistakes, and make progress.

If the district if fully remote:

• Our meeting room is our space, so we keep the link private.

• Our meeting room is our space, it is a safe space where we all work hard, may make mistakes, and make progress.

• All comments made in the chat should be positive and productive.

• Everyone tries our best.

• Use appropriate language at all times.

• Be sure to follow the dress code when we are meeting virtually.

• We never take a picture or record anyone without permission.

• Video is optional: (you may leave your screen off).

• When someone is speaking please give them your full attention.

• We mute ourselves when not speaking so no one hears background noise.

• The teacher will be the first person and the last person to attend the Meet. Students should never attend a Meet without a teacher present.

📚 Required Materials and Online Resources:

If the district is in person:

Materials needed for AIS sessions are kept within the reading room.

if students have books within the reading bag, the bag and books are to be returned to and from school/home everyday.

If the district is fully remote:

You will need the following for this course:

• Chrome book: If you are a student in grades K - 5, the District Chromebook should remain at home.

• Paper (Maintaining a notebook for this class would be helpful rather than loose leaf paper)

• Pencil

• Dry erase board and dry erase board markers (if available)

• Books you are interested in and do not seem too easy or too hard for you to read at home

• Additional Online Resources are TBD

HPCSD BOE POLICY 4710: Grading Systems

Student performance is assessed in many ways, but primarily through assigned grades. The District will help ensure the integrity of student grades by controlling access to its grading information system and by approving modifications to grades where warranted.

The System

The District utilizes an electronic software system that contains a record of student performance, credit accumulation, report cards, progress reports, and a transcript. More specifically, the system includes class rosters where teachers enter student grades and track their students' academic progress. The system is used to generate student report cards and transcripts, and to maintain all student grading records.

To protect student data in the system, the District will first establish who has the authority to grant, change, or terminate user access. The personnel with this authority will be very limited. Further, if the grading system has a feature that allows one user or account to assume the identify of another user or account, the District will restrict or disable that feature. These types of features could allow a user greater access than intended, including inheriting permissions of another user that are greater than the user's.

System Access

The District will create categories of system users and assign appropriate system permissions to each. Users' permissions will be compatible with and restricted by their roles and job duties; their access will be as restrictive as possible. Typically, teachers will have the ability to enter, update, and modify grades each marking period before a pre-determined lockout date. The lockout function will be consistently used throughout the school year to help prevent grade modifications without authorization after a marking period closes. Through increased system permissions, other individuals - counselors, information technology (IT) staff, and clerical staff will be able to view or modify grades after getting the building principal to sign the required grade change sheet. In an extenuating circumstance where the teacher is not available, the original teacher shall be notified and involved in the process, as appropriate.

Grade Changes

Once the lockout period begins, only authorized users identified by the District may change grades, and only under certain circumstances. The system will recognize when grades change, and a log of modified grades may then be viewed and printed. Any grade mismatches will be reconciled before the next marking period closes or before the end of the school year, whichever is earlier.

The staff member seeking to change a grade will submit a grade-change form signed by the requesting party, the teacher who assigned the original grade, and the building principal. This form and all other documents supporting a grade modification will be electronically filed in the grading system or filed in a non-electronic system, if electronic filing is impossible or impractical, and maintained for six years. The personnel seeking the modification should specify one or more reasonable grounds for the grade change on the form. There must be reasonable grounds to alter a grade. The reasons may include:

• Data entry error;

• Computational error;

• A modification based on work submitted or considered after the lockout date;

• Changing an incomplete grade to a regular grade because a student completed course requirements;

• Credit recovery coursework;

• Administrative change; or

• Other acceptable justifications.

Audit Log and Monitoring

The District's grading system will have an audit log or grade-change report function that records certain system activities, including modifications to grades. The District will periodically monitor audit logs or grade-change reports to confirm the integrity of the system, to ensure proper access by personnel, and to confirm that modifications within the system are appropriate and completed in a timely manner. The District will also periodically monitor user accounts and rights so that the permissions granted are proper and the minimum necessary for each user or user group. To the extent feasible, the District will make sure that user accounts are current and updated regularly. The District will be able to print user information, logs, reports, and other documents from the student grading information system, as needed.

Student Transcripts

Student transcripts may show all credit-bearing classes; final grades; test scores; grade-point average; class rank; diploma type; SAT, ACT, and other standardized test scores; and graduation date. The same controls, protections, and monitoring applicable to student grading information apply equally to student transcripts.

*****

Grading practices will follow a standards-based framework designed to provide direct feedback regarding students’ mastery of course content. Whether working in-person, online, or in hybrid instructional models, the District will develop grading policies applicable to each model that are clear and transparent to students, parents, and caregivers. These guidelines will align with the outcomes of the course and the State’s learning standards.

-Taken from 2020-2021 District Reopening Plan

Attendance and Attendance Reporting

All schools in HPCSD will take daily attendance whether school opens in September in-person, hybrid, or remote. Attendance policies and procedures will be communicated with families and students prior to the start of the school year or if the instructional model changes during the year. Parent permissions for all remote learning will be collected for every student at the start of the school year. HPCSD will create a synchronous learning schedule by building if remote or hybrid learning is necessary. Protocols for dress, behavior, etc. will be communicated. Communication will take the form of building level parent letters/newsletter, robocalls, emails, text messaging, and social media. Classroom teachers will record daily attendance in eSchoolData, our student management system, based on the required daily scheduled student contact and engagement. Synchronous attendance will be taken by classroom teachers during session or via a virtual daily attendance question. Asynchronous attendance will be taken by classroom teachers through a virtual daily attendance question. Attendance will be taken for required services (Special Education, ENL, AIS, etc.) by the service provider as required. Daily reports will be generated to identify students who are absent and/or chronically absent. Contact with the families will be made daily to determine reasons for absence and needs or barriers the student may have to participate in daily lessons.

Chronic Absenteeism

While there is no one-size-fits all approach to addressing chronic absenteeism, HPCSD is committed to providing interventions to prevent and address health-related and mental health chronic absenteeism. We recognize that many factors will influence student attendance, and may be greatly impacted by the instructional models provided; in-person, hybrid, and remote.

HPCSD addresses chronic absenteeism as follows.

1. Nurture a culture of attendance

   1. Communicate clearly to families and students what the attendance policy is and expectations for participating based on the model of instruction

   2. Explain the importance of attendance to the entire school community

   3. Track daily attendance, tardies, and student engagement in one central, secure location with a tool that helps you can quickly see how these data points impact student behavior.

2. Early Identification and Intervention

   1. Each school regularly monitors attendance data and communicates with parents about issues as they arise.

   2. Use data to identify which students are at risk, so you can intervene before isolated absences become chronic absenteeism.

   3. Establish intervention plans; parent phone call, home visit, counseling, instructional modifications, engage community partners, etc.

3. Create a more positive school culture and a focus on engaging instruction

   1. Evaluate and address your students’ engagement in learning

   2. Provide teachers and school leaders with multiple levels of support to help students stay more engaged and act positively.

   3. Help students achieve positive social and emotional character development, while reinforcing the behaviors that make up your ideal school culture.

   4. Use goal-based incentives and rewards to motivate attendance and positive student behaviors where age appropriate.

-Excerpt from 2020-2021 District Reopening Plan