Agora Vitals with Dr. Butler

CSI. SIP. TDA. Learning Intentions and Success Criteria. Type 1 writing. Success Guides… What does it all mean?

As you may know, Agora has been named one of Pennsylvania’s Comprehensive Support & Improvement (CSI) schools, and we are tasked with creating and implementing a School Improvement Plan (SIP) that outlines the ways that we will help improve student achievement in ELA and Math, as well as our attendance and 4-year graduation rates.

Our full SIP plan is available on agora.org for your review, but I wanted to give you a quick guide to the major things you may be seeing so that you can help to support us, too!

*ParentSquare – this tool allows Agora staff to communicate directly with parents in several different ways, including class announcements, forms and sign-ups, and direct back-and-forth messaging (like texting).

How you can help: Download the ParentSquare app so you can receive alerts and announcements and can interact with your teachers and family coaches

*Attendance supports – We know that students to attend classes at Agora GROW academically and eventually earn their diplomas. The data shows it! But we also know that if students don’t attend classes, we can’t help them learn. Therefore, we’re working with some state-endorsed programs like Attendanceworks, RENEW, Check and Connect, and Check In Check Out to help identify and remove the barriers that prevent students from attending school.

How you can help: Make school attendance a priority for your children. Talk about what they’re learning and why. Set up your home school space so that it minimizes distractions and provides needed supplies within easy reach. Work with your family coach if attendance issues arise, so that we can help to remove barriers and support you in getting your child to engage in classes.

*Learning Intentions and Success Criteria – throughout your child’s classes, teachers will be sharing the lesson objectives and state standards in ways that make sense for the child and the lesson. Students who can articulate the purpose and relevance of lessons are not only more engaged in the learning, but also retain that knowledge as they apply it to new situations.

How you can help: Ask your child what they’re learning, why they’re learning it, and how they know they’ve learned it. This reinforces student ownership of their own learning.

*Emphasis on reading and writing – Agora recognizes literacy as the key for success beyond our virtual walls. In order to function in society and interact with the world, every person must be able to critically read and write. Therefore, we’re working on strategies that help our students read and respond to text with a critical eye in every class, every day. You might see and hear things like Collins Writing, Constructed Response, Text Dependent Analysis, and Structured Literacy.

How you can help: Encourage your child to read beyond the classroom (and ALL reading counts – graphic novels, sports scores, audiobooks!) and encourage your child to take risks and try the writing assignments.

*Math Success Guides – Historically, math is difficult to teach and learn in an online setting! We’re working to make sure that our students have the opportunity to experience all of the required skills and standards at each grade level through intentional planning and pacing of lessons.

How you can help: Monitor your child’s work in math, knowing that the idea of “productive struggle” is powerful for student learning. We want our students to experience a balance between fluency in basic facts and the ability to apply mathematical skills and strategies to solve and explain real-world problems. All of that takes practice!

Finally, you may notice more visitors in your child’s classrooms throughout the year. Leaders are visiting teachers more frequently to make sure we know what’s happening and to help celebrate the successes of our faculty and students; teachers may be visiting each other’s classrooms (and family coaches and counselors may be visiting each other’s conferences) to learn from one another as well.

Are there other new or different things that you’ve seen in Agora’s classrooms and procedures about which you have questions? Please reach out to me – I’m happy to talk about what we’re doing and why we feel that these things will help your child achieve their highest potential.

May you enjoy the rest that comes with winter break, and may we all return ready to learn and grow together in 2023.

Onward and upward,

Dr. Butler