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Frequently Asked
Questions:
How can parents stay informed and get involved?
Why has the Bellevue School District begun the process to adopt
K-5 literacy materials?
How does the materials adoption process work?
What has been the level of teacher participation and
collaboration in the process?
What grade levels will this materials adoption
affect?
Why did Bellevue School District choose
Good Habits, Great Readers and Journeys?
How can
parents stay informed and get involved?
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Examine the materials – Hard copies of
proposed materials are available for viewing at each of
BSD's 16 elementary schools. Not every school will have an
example of both programs at each grade level. If you are
interested in previewing materials at your child's home
school, please email the principal for a list of teachers
participating in the field study. If your school does not
have the grade level materials you would like to view, can
can email Bonnie Benz at
benzb@bsd405.org to make an appointment to view the
materials at the district office. After viewing the
materials, the review committee would appreciate your input
via email
k-5literacy@bsd405.org
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Attend one of the three Information
Nights to learn more about the materials review and adoption
process.
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Why has the Bellevue School District
begun the process to adopt K-5 literacy materials?
Recent reviews of our student reading
assessment data indicate that our literacy instruction across
the school district is not currently meeting the needs of all of
our students, specifically those performing below grade-level
and those performing above grade level. While we have as a
district embraced the tenants and framework of balanced literacy
instruction, the materials available to support this endeavor
are not currently consistent from school to school. The
materials we seek to adopt will provide a range of materials
teachers can select based on the needs of their students.
These materials include explicit, sequential instruction in
phonemic awareness, alphabetic principal, accuracy and fluency,
comprehension, and vocabulary. To learn more about the 5 Big
Ideas in reading click
here to visit the university of Oregon's website.
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How does the materials adoption process
work?
This process will span the 2009-2011 school
years. Below is a timeline of what will be accomplished during
this time.
October-November, 2009 -- Initial Review
Committee looked at five literacy programs and narrowed them down to
two:
Good Habits, Great Readers and Journeys.
February-June, 2010 --
Positions were advertised for parents, teachers, and facilitators
and applications were received for K-5 Literacy
Review Committee. During this time we also solicited field study volunteers
and formed field
study teacher teams. On the afternoon of Wednesday, April 21st
field study teachers had their first introduction
to materials.
August, 2010 --
Trainings for field study teachers were held at the annual Elementary Summer
Institute. These trainings were open to all interested parties district-wide.
September-December, 2010 --
During this time teachers
will complete the field study. We will hold monthly field study
meetings with field study teachers, curriculum
developers, and publishers to provide additional support and training
as well as gather feedback. We will also hold several parent information
nights.
January, 2011 --
The Review Committee will formally
assesses each set of materials with an evaluation tool. They
will also compile and examine
data from field study, and solicit input directly from the field
study teachers.
February-March, 2011 --
The recommendation from the
Review Committee will be made to Instructional Materials Committee
who in turn will make a recommendation to the School Board. The
School Board will then issue a decision on the materials.
April, 2011 -- Purchase
the materials
June-August, 2011 -- Implementation
Training for all teachers in the new K-5 literacy materials.
Fall, 2011 -- New K-5 literacy materials
will be in the hands of students.
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What has been the level of teacher
participation and collaboration in the process?
While instructional materials matter, it is
our teachers that make literacy come alive for students. These
professionals are spending hours meeting as a group and in
smaller subcommittees to ensure that we select materials
that serve our students well. Every school has at least 2
teachers, and as many as 7, participating in the field study and
their feedback will be received and considered by the Review
Committee. Additionally, the Review Committee has a classroom
teacher representative at each grade level. School facilitators
are also represented on the Review Committee.
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What grade levels will this materials adoption affect?
Every K-5 general education classroom in
BSD's 16 elementary schools will be adopting and using these
materials starting in fall of 2011.
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Why did Bellevue School District choose
Good Habits, Great Readers and Journeys?
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Good Habits, Great Readers and Journeys
match the State Reading Standards well.
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Both publishing companies were on the
Reading First State List of Approved Curriculum.
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They each address current reading
research in the 5 Big Ideas in Reading.
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Both programs employ a balanced
literacy approach.
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Both had a Spanish component for Puesta
del Sol.
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