Kimberly Expectations for High Student Performance

The faculty and staff of Kimberly Elementary are committed to using effective instructional practices in every classroom for our students to be successful and achieve at the highest level. To meet this goal:

We will adhere to the following Non-Negotiable Instructional Expectations:

• Meet at least twice a week as a TEAM in PLC Meetings
• Use of Backward Design Model in Assessment Building and Unit/Lesson Planning
• Develop/Utilize Common Assessments
• Quizzes
• Tests
• Benchmarks
• Assessments are Teacher-Generated and based on GSE
• RTI/Tier II Meetings will be held at least 2x’s a month

We will teach the Georgia Standards of Excellence with fidelity by:

• Designing challenging lessons aligned to Georgia Standards of Excellence
• Identifying key concepts in the language of the standards
• Using essential questions to connect instruction to the standard
• Asking students to explain the standards in their own words

 We will use a collaborative, team-based improvement process to monitor student progress by:

• Developing formative assessments that are explicitly aligned to standards
• Collecting, charting, and analyzing student work on a regular basis
• Identifying students who are not meeting standards, meeting standards, or exceeding standards
• Using common and benchmark assessments to assess student progress
• Adjusting instruction based on assessment results
• Using a variety of instructional strategies to address student needs

All teaching and learning activities will reflect a shared understanding of what students should know, be able to do, and understand and will be built around a common learning focused/best practices/standards based framework for instruction that consists of: 

• Standards-Based Objectives: A common understanding of what students are expected to know, understand, be able to do
• Academic Vocabulary: Emphasis on Tier II and Tier III vocabulary words so students have a deep understanding of what they are expected to learn and an ability to access the content through meaningful dialog.
• Activating strategies: Opening is focused on the standard, element(s), and essential question
• Teaching a mini-lesson: Modeling while referencing standards and key vocabulary
  • Using exemplars (examples of student work that meet or exceed the standard)
  • Engaging students using performance tasks during the work period
  • Using higher-order thinking questions to probe student understanding
• Summarizing: Various strategies to assess student understanding throughout lesson and during closing

Our classroom environment will be built on:

• Strong student-teacher relationships based on the school district’s core values
• The social-emotional needs of our students
• Established rituals and routines
• Displayed Standards Based Objectives and Academic Vocabulary
• Evidence of the common framework for instruction
• Evidence of student work that reflects the Standards

Our communication with parents will be:

• Frequent, clear, and consistent (20 Contacts per Month)
• Focused on building a partnership with parents for improving student performance