Curriculum and Instruction

The mission of the Oxford City School System, the focal point of a growing, diverse community, is to ensure the academic success of all students through a student-centered system of individualized instruction, highly qualified staff, exemplary facilities, and effective use of all resources.

Our vision is to be the leader in all aspects of education. From the time a child enters kindergarten until graduation, we want to provide the best instruction, extra-curricular activities, facilities and services enabling our students to become productive successful citizens.

GOAL: To Develop Students Who Take Ownership for Their Learning and Become LIFELONG Leaders of Their Own Learning

• English Language Arts: To Develop Analytical Readers & Writers that Communicate Effectively
• Mathematics: To Develop Mathematical Thinkers Who Solve Real World Problems
• Science: To Develop Scientific Thinkers Who Solve Real World Problems
• Social Studies: To Develop Responsible Citizens

Note: 3 Shifts

1. Covering many standards per grade (example: 114 6th grade) to deeply studying and mastering the most important and relevant skills for our students and to reporting progress on those goals so that parents will know their growth & progress toward goals
2. Report more specific information and feedback to parents & students
3. Foster a mindset of celebrating growth and learning from our mistakes through reflection & revisions

What is standards referenced reporting? Standards based reporting communicates how students are performing on a set of clearly defined learning goals or targets. The purpose of standards referenced grading is to identify what a student knows, or is able to do, in relation to pre-established learning goals or targets, as opposed to simply averaging grades/scores over the course of a grading period, which can mask what a student has learned, or not learned, in a specific unit.

It is our goal to provide parents an accurate and current report of the skills & concepts that students can do, are close on, not yet able to do and exceeding expectations. There are students who have met expectations and are working on skills that are beyond expectations. Oxford City Schools’ teams of teachers have worked together to implement aligned curriculum, instructional materials, assessments, in order to ensure every student in every classroom can maximize their potential. Research supports this new grading and reporting approach as a basis of communication that will help students learn more effectively because more specific feedback to students and parents are provided.

Unlike traditional grading systems, the new grading system measures a student’s mastery of grade level standards by prioritizing the most recent, consistent level of performance. Thus a student who may have struggled at the beginning of a unit, when first encountering new material, may still be able to demonstrate mastery of key content/concepts by the end of the year. In a traditional grading system, a student’s performance for an entire year is averaged together. Early quiz scores that were low would be averaged together with more proficient performance later in the course, resulting in a lower overall grade than current performance indicates. It also allows students who master the grade level skills early on to develop deeper levels of learning, work on skills beyond the grade level or outside the curriculum. Students may use creative problem solving skills with material within the curriculum or outside the curriculum. The traditional report card does not promote growth or allow for reporting of above the grade level standards or beyond what was taught. For a few students, the level 4 is designed to display that learning beyond what is expected was demonstrated by the student and the traditional report card provides an average of only grade level skills over time.

Standards referenced report cards enable parents to receive accurate information based on cumulative student progress throughout the marking period. In addition, the report card might promote more detailed and meaningful conversations at parent/teacher conferences, allow for careful and precise monitoring of student achievement, and reflect grade-level standards and expectations so parents gain a complete idea of student’s progress on grade level skills. Students also can track their own progress, self assess and self report along the way and/or during student led conferences. Averaging grades to come up with a total score does not specifically show what skills the students are having difficulties with.

The goal is to promote a growth mindset in students and avoid not fixed intelligence. We want students to believe through hard work and determination, every student can become more intelligent vs that some students are smart and others are not. We want students to feel supported and encouraged to grow even when things are hard. We want students to not feel punished or defeated when their child can perform a specific academic skill. The most successful people in life are those that work hard and are persistent when something does not come easy. Teachers and parents can encourage and place heavy emphasis on the habits of success, or academic behaviors that translate to eventual personal and professional success. These habits are the characteristics that students need in order to learn newer and harder skills. Authentic growth occurs through failing and re-doing. Students need to feel small success as they are continually practicing academic skills that we have not yet learned. By emphasizing the habits of scholarship, students will begin to become more intrinsically motivated. Celebrating small chunks over the course of meeting a long term goal motivates students to keep working toward a harder goal without giving up. Parents can have conversations with students to break down the skills and figure out the parts they are having a hard time with and practice or seek out help to move beyond the difficulty. Students who very easily master the skill also benefit from this reporting system because it allows them to progress to higher levels of learning. . Students that receive perfect grades the first time and are very rarely challenged, will benefit from opportunities to work beyond expectations. These students will have more learning experiences that challenge them with more complex problems to solve rather than having to do more “busy” work. As students face complex problems, they learn how to persevere or “stick” to coping through the trial and error necessary to be successful instead of giving up to quickly because most tasks have been fairly easy to accomplish the first time. These experiences not only grow the students academically but socially and emotionally as well.
 

1. There is a heavy focus on reporting on academic achievement by each academic skill or concept and separately reporting behaviors such as Habits of Successful Learner. For example, daily schoolwork, projects, or homework will be considered in a separate category when determining a student's level to be recorded on the report card. Teachers look at student’s performance on these activities to monitor student learning, identify strengths and weaknesses, and plan for future instruction. These tasks are not factored into the specific skill/academic grade. These behaviors such as completing assignments and turning assignments in on time are reported in a separate category called Habits of Successful Learner.
2. Standards referenced reporting is based on pattern grading not averaging all grades - The final achievement mark on the report card represents the learning level at the end of an instructional unit. Students are not penalized for mistakes made at the beginning of the learning process.

Levels	Descriptions
Level 4	Exceeds Expectations
Level 3	MEETS Expectations
Level 2	CLOSE TO MEETING Expectations or Learning Goal or Target (Student is close but has not quite met goals)
Level 1	NOT YET MEETING Expectations

Dottye Armstrong

Instructional Supervisor

 

 

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Marilyn Burke

Special Education Coordinator

 

 

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Kay Coger

Secretary, Curriculum and Instruction

 

 

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Rhonda Perry

Elementary Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator

 

 

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Laura Phillips

Secondary Curriculum and Instruction Coordinator

 

 

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Brandy Russell

Director of Curriculum and Instruction