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PURPOSE ThepurposeoftheNorthHigh’sPolarAcademyistomeettheliteracyneedsofstudents.
GOALS ThegoalofthePolarAcademyistoimprovestudent’sreadingskillsandkeepallstudentsontargettograduateontime.
FIVE FEATURES TherearefivefeaturesofPolarAcademythatarevitaltothesuccessoftheprogram.Theseinclude:teaming,smallclasssizes,integratedstrategiesandcurriculum,assessment,andtutoring.TeamingTheimportanceofhavingateamofteacherswiththesamestudentsandtohavedailymeetingsiscriticaltothesuccessofPolarAcademy.Themeetingtimeallowstheteamtodiscussindividualstudentissuesandtocollaborateonthebeststrategiestomeetastudent’sneeds.Asecondaspectoftheteammeetingisthetimeforstaffdevelopment.Inordertointegratetheliteracystrategiesacrossallcontentareas,timeisneededtoteachandpracticethosestrategies.Finally,itisagreatbuilderofmorale.Teachingstudentswithliteracyissues—andthebehaviorsthatsometimescomewiththoseissues—canbeachallengingtask.Theteamtimecreatesanenvironmentthatissupportiveandletsteachersknowthattheyarenotisolatedintheirdifficulttask.SmallClassSizesInPolarAcademy,wehaveclasssizesthatarecappedat15.Thisallowsforatotalof459thgradestudentsintheprogram.SmallclasssizesinPolarAcademyallowsformoreindividualizedinstructionthatleadstomoreeffectiveinstruction.Wealsobelievethatsmallerclassesallowformorecompletecurriculumcoverageandgreaterstudentinvolvementandaccountabilityinclassroomactivities.InPolarAcademy,ourteachersreallygettoknowtheirstudentsonanacademicandpersonallevel.Academically,teachershaveabetterunderstandingofstudent’sskillsandtheirspecificskilldeficitswhichleadtotargetedinstruction.SmallerclassesgivePolarAcademyteacherstheabilitytoconnectwitheachstudentonadailybasisanddevelopstrongrelationshipswhichleadstostudentsuccess.
IntegratedStrategiesandCurriculumThegoalofthecurriculuminPolarAcademyistopreparestudentstobeabletocriticallyreadtexts,processtheinformation,anddiscussinformationinaSocraticseminar.Thejourneytoreachthispointislongandfilledwithsignificantscaffoldingofbasicskillsinordertoreachtheselevels.
Forexample,therearespecificstrategiesthatareusedinPolarAcademy.CornellNotesareusedinallclasses;however,beforebeingtaughttheCornellNotesprocess,studentsmustbeabletoaskdeep-thinkingquestionsandwritesummaries.BothofthesefeaturesofCornellNotesrequiredetailedscaffoldingofbasicskills.ThesearethestepsthatareimportantpartsofPolarAcademy.AssessmentStudentassessmentinPolarAcademyfocusesonthefiveareasofreading(phonemicawareness,phonics,fluency,vocabulary,andcomprehension).
Teaming
Small Class Size
Integrated Strategies & Curriculum
Assessment
Tutoring
FIVE FEATURES OF POLAR ACADEMY
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TheTier1assessmentsaregiventoeachstudent.Theseassessmentsareusedtoscreenwhichstudentsmightneedtutoring.TheTier2assessmentsaregiventostudentstodetermineiftheywillneedindividualtutoringandwillhelpdetermineinwhatareasofreadingastudentmayhaveadeficit.Tier1Assessments1. FastBridgeaReading2. WordsTheirWaySpellingAnalysisandthe
DevelopmentalSpellingAnalysis(Flynn,1994)
3. QualitativeReadingInventory(LeslieandCaldwell,1990
Tier2Assessments1. QuickPhonicsScreener(Hasbrouck,2006)2. FlynnAdaptationofTestofAuditory
Analysis(AAT-R)3. PeabodyPictureVocabularyTest(PPVT-4)4. TestofWrittenLanguage
TutoringIfitisdeterminedthatastudentisinneedofremediation,studentsareassignedatutoringtimebyeitherremovingthemfromanelectivecourseorfindingtimeinthePolarAcademyschedule.Thenadailycurriculumisconstructedthatspecificallytargetstheneedsofthestudent.Thedailycurriculumwillfocusoneachofthefiveareasofreadinginwhichthestudenthasadeficit.Forexample,studentAmayneedremediationinfluencyonly,butstudentBmayneedhelpinvocabularyandcomprehension.Thefollowinggraphicisabreakdownofthefiveareas(phonemicawarenessandphonicscombined)andthesystemsorstrategiesthatwillbeusedinthetutoringsessions.
STUDENT SELECTION AND SCREENING Duringeachstudent’s8thgradeschoolyear,multipledatapointsareanalyzedtodetermineifastudentisacandidateforPolarAcademy.WelookatMCAreadingscores,grades,FastBridgeaReadingScores,andtheACTExploreTest.
Studentswhoscorebelowthe30thpercentileinanytestareautomaticallyflagged.Wethenmeetwith8thgradeteacherstodetermineifthestudent’sskilllevelwarrantsplacementinPolarAcademy.
Phonics and Phonemic Awareness
WordsTheirWay
PullDownSounds
SlashandDash
Fluency
RepeatOralAssistedReading
(ROAR)
IndependentReading
Comprehension
MarkingtheText
WritingintheMargins
CornellNotes
Vocabulary
VocabularyWorkshop
VocabularyforSuccess
TUTORING CURRICULUM BREAKDOWN
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StudentSampleScheduleThissamplescheduleisbasedonasix-periodday.NorthHighrequiresthreetrimestersofScience,Math,andEnglishinthe9thgrade.SocialStudiesisofferedfortwotrimestersandHealthandPhysicalEducationisrequiredonetrimester.MathcoursesarenotpartofthePolarAcademyteam.StudentsareplacedintoMathandelectivesduringteacher’steamtime.Thisallowsstudentstotakeelectives,PE,andMathcourseswithnon-PolarAcademystudents.ThisallowsstudentstointeractandfeelpartofNorthHighSchoolandnotisolatedinaspecialprogram.
StudentSchedule
Hour Trimester#1
Trimester#2
Trimester#3
1 English9A English9B English9C
2 Science9A Science9B Science9C
3 Elective1 PE Elective2
4 Health SS9A SS9B
5 Math Math Math
6 IntensifiedEnglish9A
IntensifiedEnglish9B
IntensifiedEnglish9C
STAFFING AND SCHEDULING ForPolarAcademy,wehaveusedthefollowingstaffmembers:1.0 FTEEnglishTeacher1.0 FTEReadingTeacher.83 FTEScienceTeacher.13 FTEHealthTeacher.83 SocialStudiesTeacher.2 ReadingSpecialist1.0 ReadingSpecialist0.2 EducationAssistant5.19TotalFTE
ScienceTeacherSchedule
Hour Trimester#1 Trimester#2 Trimester#3
1 Science9A Science9B Science9C
2 Science9A Science9B Science9C
3 Bio.10A Bio.10B Bio.10C
4 Prep/TeamTime
Prep/TeamTime
Prep/TeamTime
5 Science9A Science9B Science9C
6 Elective* Elective* Elective*
*ThisisacoursethatisoutsideofPolarAcademy.
COURSE OFFERINGS Currently,PolarAcademyencompassesgrades9-11.Thenumberofstudentsingrades10and11declineasstudentsmeetingcriteria(ontrackforgraduationandreadingatgradelevel)aregraduatedfromtheprogram.In10thgrade,studentsarebrokenintotwogroups.Thefirstgroupiscomprisedofstudentsthatarereadytobemainstreamed,butmayneedsomesupport.Thesecondgroupcontinueswiththreeyear-longcourses.In11thgrade,studentshavethreecoursesinPolarAcademy.
PolarAcademyCourseOfferings Trimesters
9th
English9 3IntensifiedEnglish9 3HumanGeography 2PhysicalScience 1EarthScience 2Health 1
10th Group1:ReadingStrategies 3
Group2:English10 3WorldHistory 3Biology 3
11th AmericanLiterature 2
WritingStudio 1U.S.History 3
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