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TMS is the recipient of a competitive grant designed to bring about comprehensive school reform that supports student achievement. Our CSR grant will run for the next three years as we work to implement what we believe will be significant improvements to our program. The grant design is based on the assertion that gains in student achievement are related to three interconnected factors: curriculum effectiveness, instructional quality, and student engagement. These three strands are interconnected and embedded within the culture of a school.
- Student Engagement with learning is where student achievement begins. Two key components of developing engagement in the learning process are the capacities of agency and voice. Students must see themselves as part of the learning process and as connected to their teachers and the curriculum. The improvement of student achievement by developing engagement, agency, and voice as learning tools for all students constitutes the first strand of our plan.
- Curriculum Redesign is the second strand. Our planned curriculum supports the expectations for student learning spelled out in our mission statement. Over the next three years our planned curriculum will be redesigned to increase both rigor and support through two school wide strategies: differentiation and what we call coherent literacy. Differentiation is central to learning support and making the heterogeneous classroom a successful learning experience for all students. Differentiation requires curriculum redesign as we work to design lessons better matched to student interest, readiness and learning style. Coherent literacy is central to rigorous and autonomous learning for all students. Coherent literacy is the capacity to use reading, writing, critical thinking, and numeracy for problem solving, inquiry, and analysis. Redesigning curriculum for coherent literacy and differentiation will require a redesign process using essential questions in order to drive inquiry and support critical thinking.
- The third strand of our plan is Teacher Professional Learning. Research establishes a positive connection between student achievement and teacher learning. Out CSR program will engage teachers in ongoing action research related to their classroom practice.
In conclusion, the Telstar Middle School CSR reform program addresses our school needs in both a comprehensive and systemic way. We believe the reform program outlined above will bring demonstrated and measurable improvement over the three-year implementation phase.
To view a larger version of the CSR logo click here. (227KB PDF File)
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