AVID

AVID is by invitation only and is designed to further academic achievement by helping students to master advanced level classes with extra support. Students attend an AVID elective class every day where they learn a variety of organizational skills and study strategies. The curriculum of AVID is WICR (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration and Reading). AVID students are required to take Cornell Notes during classes or use a Learning Log. These notes and logs are then utilized in the AVID elective class and are counted in their AVID grade. The AVID elective teacher should be made aware of any difficulties the student is having in class to allow for intervention necessary. All AVID students must carry binders to class to allow for organization of material presented. The mission of AVID is to prepare students for college.

For information on the AVID program, visit their web site or the web site provided by the district.

WEB Program

WMS is participating in the nationwide WEB Program, an organization whose sole purpose is to help 6th graders feel more comfortable as well as help them achieve success in their first year of middle school.

The WEB sixth grade orientation and transition program is designed to both welcome and support 6th graders by assigning them an 8th grade WEB leader as a mentor during this first year. This WEB leader is a responsible older student who was hand selected from a large pool of applicants and has met the qualifications of being a good role model and a positive leader on campus.

Call Ms. Hunter for more information.

STAR Reading

- Testing Dates: September, December, May
- Testing takes place during language arts block and takes approximately 20-25 minutes
- Format is 24 multiple choice questions
- Students will read a passage and fill in the blank of a missing word
- The test gets harder as the student does well
- Testing will be conducted by the literacy coach and the classroom teacher(s)

AIMSweb Progress Monitoring and Response to Intervention System

AIMSweb is a scientifically based, formative assessment system that 'informs' the teaching and learning process by providing continuous student performance data and reporting improvement to parents, teachers, and administrators to enable evidence-based evaluation and data-driven instruction.

AIMSweb provides its users the assessment materials and ability to organize and report Curriculum-Based Measurement (CBM) - standardized measures of basic skills - including reading, early literacy, early numeracy, mathematics, spelling, and written expression. CBM is an approved set of testing practices based on over 25 years of federally funded research and has been reviewed as meeting professional assessment standards by the Reading First Assessment Committee and the National Center on Student Progress Monitoring. AIMSweb also has the capacity to organize and report early developmental skills and user defined measures.

AIMSweb reports CBM or DIBELS student progress in a 3-Tier Problem-Solving model, including Response-to-Intervention (RTI), through web-based data management and reporting applications to provide a proactive and preventive solution for universal screening and progress monitoring for general education, strategic assessment for remedial programs or at risk, and intensive progress monitoring, including IEP goals for students with severe achievement problems.

photo source

Is my absence excused or unexcused?

When a student is absent, a parent is to call the school between 7:30am and 9:00am. If no phone call is made, the school will attempt to contact the parent or guardian. If no contact is made between the parent and the school, the absence will be unexcused.

Absences are excused for: (1) illness of a student, (2) death in the family or of a close friend, (3) critical illness of a near relative [parent/guardian, brother, sister, grandparent], (4) dental or medical appointment when prior arrangments have been made, (5) absence due to a bus problem beyond the student's control, or (6) family trips where parents accompany students.

Absences are unexcused for: (1) running errands for the family, (2) staying home to care for younger children, (3) working at or away from home, (4) visiting friends or relatives without parents or guardians, (5) shopping with parents, (6) minor aches and pains, (7) ordinary weather hazards, or (8) mechanical failure when parents assume responsbility for transportation or missing the bus are both unexcused. Preplanned vacations during the school year are strongly discouraged.

Suspension

Suspension from school is considered an excused absence. Suspension can be from one to ten days. For specific information on procedures relative to student work during suspension, please see INFORMATION AND DISCIPLINE HANDBOOK FOR STUDENTS.

Truancy

Truancy is missing school for an unacceptable reason. Parents of truant students will be notified. Truant students, along with thier parents, will be referred to the court Truancy Review Board. Continued truancy may result in fines, jail terms or loss of welfare benefits.

Tardy Policy

Being tardy is when a student arrives to class or school after the permitted passing period without being excused by an adminstrator or with prior arrangement with their instructor. The WMS tardy policy is strictly enforced.

The Progressive Policy is as follows:
1st Tardy = Warning
2nd Tardy=Lunch Detention
3rd Tardy=After School Detention
4th Tardy= 1/2 Day In-House
5th Tardy =Full Day In-House
6th Tardy=2-Day Suspension

Any questions regarding this policy or the status of your student can be directed to their
Guidance Dean at 525-3182.

Washington Middle School Dress Code Updated 5/13

DRESS CODE
Any solid colored polo (long sleeve,
and short sleeve polos)
1 emblem is permitted on the shirt as long as it is 1 inch or smaller
No tying of the shirt is allowed
No layering over the polo is permitted. (No sweaters, sweatshirts, scarves, vest, shrugs, 2nd polo.)
Chests may not be exposed.
Solid color shirts may be worn under the polo; patterned shirts are not permitted.
Bottoms: Navy or Khaki color pant, short, skirt, jumper and capri may be worn with the exceptions listed below. They must be district length. Solid color leggings or tights may be worn under the skirt or Jumper.
These MAY NOT be worn: blue denim, pants with holes or fraying, leggings,jeggings, athletic pants, sports gear, wind pants, nylon pants or yoga/ knit pants.
There will be $2 jeans (no holes) days every Friday.
No sagging is permitted. Repeated violators will receive progressive discipline and may result in suspensions.

SPIRIT SHIRTS:
Washington Middle School spirit shirts (with WMS logo) are permitted any day of the week and may not be modified in style. These must be worn with the modified uniform bottom stated above.
*All other Springfield District #186 dress code rules also apply.
BAGS:
Clear backpacks are the only bags allowed in the classroom. No backpacks or backpack style purses are allowed in the classroom.

Clare Hart, Title I Parent Educator

WMS 525-3182
chart@sps186.org

What Makes a Good Assignment

• The team drafts characteristics of what is a good assignment
• One teacher presents their assignment
• Team members ask clarifying questions
• The team look for characteristics that match the charted characteristics
• The team members ask probing questions
• The facilitator asks deeper questions
• The team provides feedback to the teacher

Walk-Throughs

• Teams of 3-4 staff members
• Divide jobs
• Look for evidence/wonderings
• Include observations/student interviews
• As a team, share observations/wonderings
• Record findings to share with faculty

Using Data to Drive Instruction

• Start a frank and honest assessment of current reality based on data
• Set rigorous goals for improvement of student learning
• Turn the data numbers into real students that can't be ignored
• Create plans for those students and hold people accountable for following through

10 Minute Instruction

Direct teacher instruction should be limited to 10 minutes before students are given an opportunity to DO something with the information presented. Fred Jones recommends the practice to Say, See, Do Teaching.
• The teacher explains what to do next ("Listen to me.")
• The teacher demonstrates how to do it ("Watch me.")
• The students practice doing the new skill/task ("You do it.")
• In this manner, the lesson is taught in "chunks", with the cycle repeated every new step presented.

Read Alouds

Read alouds are an agreed upon instructional promising practice used at WMS. Our staff made a commitment to read aloud to each class that they teach every day. Read alouds can be done in many ways:
• Reading a chapter of a novel for enjoyment
• Transitioning with a short story
• Reading an article that is relevant to the curriculum
We read aloud to students to model appropriate reading voice, intonation, and prosody. We also read to students to increase vocabulary development.

Project CRISS

Project CRISS (Creating Independence through Student-owned Strategies) was designed to help students learn more effectively throughout the curriculum. The strategies used by CRISS are practical applications of Robert Marzano's Nine Research-Based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. CRISS focuses on teaching students how to learn through reading, writing, discussing and listening. Students learn to apply CRISS principles and philosophy in all subject areas.

Principles and Philosophy
• Background knowledge is a powerful determinant of reading comprehension.
• Good readers are actively involved in making sense from their reading.
• Students need many opportunities to discuss with one another what they are learning.
• Good readers are metacognitive or aware of their own thinking.
• Students need many opportunities to write about what they are learning.
• Good readers and writers have an intuitive understanding of the author's craft.
• Good readers know a variety of ways to organize information for learning.
• Students learn to become strategic when teachers teach these processes directly through explanation and modeling.
• Students come to understand by attacking a topic in variety of ways.

Looking at Student Work (LASW)

•One teacher presents their assignment
- The assignment
- The standard addressed
- The scoring guide or rubric
- School-wide identified best practices
• The team gathers as much information about the assignment
• The team discusses the implications this work might have for teaching and assessment in the classroom.
• The presenting teacher reflects on the process