Dare County Schools

Peer-to-Peer Professional Development - On the afternoon of Tuesday, August 10 at NHES, selected district 3-5 teachers continued their work of revising pacing guides. Kindergarten through second grade teachers met in the mornings throughout the week on the same task. Both groups participated in targeted professional development that they are taking back to their schools and sharing with colleagues.

With Pacing Guide Revisions

In an effort coordinated by Director of Elementary Instruction, Judi Hornbeck, representatives from each of Dare County's five elementary schools met for professional development and to revise the district's K-5 pacing guides during the week of August 9.  Teachers from grades K-2 met in the mornings; those in grades 3-5 met in the afternoons.

On the first day, at First Flight Elementary, both groups were provided with in depth information about Common Core Standards, ACRE and Formative Assessment as a backdrop to the week's mission. In June of this year, North Carolina adopted the Common Core State Standards in K-12 Mathematics and K-12 English Language Arts (as released by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers). These standards define the knowledge and skills students should have throughout their K-12 education careers so that they will graduate high school fully prepared for college and careers. ACRE - North Carolina's Accountability and Curriculum Reform Effort - is the state's comprehensive initiative to redefine the Standard Course of Study for K-12 students, the student testing program and the school accountability model. "Formative Assessment" is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes.

On Tuesday morning, Manteo Elementary School Assistant Principal Lisa Colvin focused on K-2 literacy and the state guidelines.  In the afternoon, Nags Head Elementary School Assistant Principal Freda Ballard led participants in a literacy exercise.

For Wednesday, the focus was on mathematics.  MES teachers (first grade) Barbara Barnett and (kindergarten) Lydia Byrum shared in the morning about a mathematics professional development that they participated in this summer; district Lead Title I teacher (based at MES) Rendy King followed by examining learning targets, differentiation, and problem solving for K-2. Kitty Hawk Elementary School AIG teacher Barbara Hardy led the 3-5 group in the afternoon as they focused on learning targets, benchmark and formative assessments.

Thursday saw the completion of pacing guide revisions, and the same agenda for both groups. Ballard returned to present an overview of NC FALCON and Nags Head Elementary School technology facilitator Cathy Evanoff covered the district's newest web presence, Dare to Learn, and resources offered through Google Apps.  NC FALCON is the Department of Public Instruction's online resource for teachers formative assessment modules provide a solid framework on which to build effective formative assessment practices in the classroom.

Hornbeck remarked that she was impressed with "both groups' collaborative efforts to accomplish the pacing guide revisions in a compressed amount of time, as well as their genuine excitement about the strides their students will make this year as they implement the district's literacy and math curriculums."

Their work on formative assessments and pacing guide revisions provided much of the content for the full elementary staff meetings and workshops that followed during the week of August 16 when teachers returned to prepare for the new school year.

Collaborative Copy: R.King/S.Sullivan