SAS Educational Programs

January 28, 2008

Dear Parents,
I am writing to inform you of the following decisions that have been predicated by the existing weather conditions and concern over traffic congestion and safety on the roads today.

Please be advised of the following:

1. We will cancel all after-school activities today. All students will be sent home at 3:00 PM.
2. School will be closed tomorrow, January 29.
3. School will re-open again on Wednesday, January 30.
4. If there is any reason to change our decision to open again on Wednesday, we will communicate with you via email as well as by activating our phone tree.
5. The Board Meeting for tomorrow night will be moved from the Vizcaya compound to the clubhouse of Le Chateau compound at 200 Jian He Lu, Honquiao. Due to this change of venue, we will schedule the March Board meeting to be held in Pudong.
6. The parent forum prior to tomorrow evening’s Board Meeting will be postponed. This forum will be presented prior to the March Board Meeting.

We have informed students and parents by phone regarding the cancellation of after-school activities today. This email carries news of the decisions regarding tomorrow’s schedule. The announcement is also posted on the SAS website and Edline.

The decision to close school is not taken lightly. It is based on the best information available to us at this time related to what is expected to be deteriorating weather conditions through tonight and tomorrow. We have been in contact throughout the morning with officials at the weather bureau, at the Shanghai Vehicle Management office, at the Shanghai Municipal Emergency office, and at the Bureau of Education. Additionally, we have consulted officials at the local Public Security Bureau.

We wish to insure that all students and staff are safe at home during this current circumstance. To promote continuity in learning to the best of our ability, teachers will inform their students to use the various on-line facilities they have developed including Moodle sites, Edline and individual websites.

I want to thank our support services staff on both campuses, all of whom have made extra efforts to keep walkways clear and to insure safety for our staff and students on both campuses today. I also wish to acknowledge our security guards who are working double shifts today to be sure the driving areas for buses and private vehicles are, to the best of our ability, sanded and salted throughout the day.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation.

Sincerely,
Dennis Larkin Ed. D.
Superintendent

I took my usual jaunt down the SAS online lane of blogs and podcasts this last week. I spend between three and five hours a week looking online at a variety of different blogs and web sites. I consider this online time part of my own personal learning network and I count the work that our students do as part of that network.

I noticed some very interesting things that have become part and parcel for any standard weblog (blog). The first is that the graphics and titles of these web sites. At SAS, we have struggled with the standardization of our teacher web pages, and have a draft of a set of guidelines that will most likely come into practice early next year. But with the world of blogs, ours is a mere drop in the bucket compared to some of the things that the more “professional” bloggers do out there. Scenes from around the world (mountains, valleys, oceans and lush tropical jungles are not unusual), but our kids have taken this form of expression to a whole new level with names of their favorite bands, great splashes of colors and faces of the authors right before our eyes.
The other notable and interesting item on most blogs is a “stats” tracker. Those of you new to the Web 2.0 application of a stats tracker should note that nobody (okay … almost nobody) is anonymous on the web. We all are assigned a identifiable address when we access the web and a web-based stats tracker can identify from where you are accessing the web page and in some cases can pinpoint your exact location. This is a little less exact in China (but don’t count on it if you are doing something inappropriate). Nonetheless, these stats trackers can tell if you are in Shanghai, and even in Pudong or Puxi. The programs are pretty amazing and provide the owners of these weblogs with all sorts of interesting stats. This is where I got interested as I started to dig into the stats from our school podcast site. Who exactly is dropping in and reading what we wrote or is listening to what we say?

A glance at the map at the left of the educational programs blog (http://teachers.saschina.org/edpro) shows a preponderance of visits from Shanghai. That would be obvious! But wait! Why all this interest from the Los Angeles area? What about that blip from Tucson, Arizona? Oh, I should tell you that that dot probably is my mother-in-law who keeps close tabs on me (smile). Other blips link to Australia, Africa, Saudi Arabia, all over Europe. If I dig a little deeper into my stats tracker, I can see how many “unique” visitors I have had — that means first time “hits” to our web page.
The Pudong podcast page (http://pudong.saspodcast.org/) is even more impressive. When we started podcasting last year, we were able to get our podcasts registered with Apple Computer company’s iTunes Store and the podcasts are still available for free downloads that way. That is just the start, however, as our podcast site has had thousands of hits this year and is heard by students, teachers, parents, grandparents (and mother-in-laws) from all over the world. Since we started over 7000 hits have been registered from all over the world. Look at the map and you’ll see dots on every continent (except Antartica), and you have to wonder who is in Central Africa listenting to our work here in our school? Shanghai American School is staking out our part on the educational technology landscape with work from our students in the classrooms, in the hallways, and in our technology labs and libraries with great success.

The beauty of Web 2.0 applications is the ability to create and share content. As we all know, that when we create and share we take our learning to new and higher levels and that translates into great student success.

The beauty of all this communications and sharing is the fact that we are reaching out and building relationships not only with ourselves, but with this ever-shrinking, ever-flattening world of ours. This is the world that our children will inherit and live in when we are all done with our work. I think it is pretty important that we give them the opportunity to build these understandings and relationships in ways they will use in the future as well as in the present.

Friday, January 25, 2008

1. Our SAS Self Study benefits student learning though a careful look at each subject area, but also through how learning is structured in divisions. This year, there is a special focus on learning and research about middle schools. The Middle School Task Force began their work this past week; they will be looking into what the experts say about elective programs, integrated curriculum and other middle school topics. Want to share in the research? Watch this space next week for links to explore.
2. Grades 6-12 Mathematics Program Review Task Force members are ensuring continued enhancement of student learning through their work. Teachers on the task force, Clive Russell, Bob Gould, Robert Burke, Steve Nakai, Amanda DeCardy, Hank Claasen, Mel Ryan and Kay Saich, are addressing a number of research questions, including

• • • To what extent are the two campuses offering similar learning experiences in Math?
    • What professional development would help Math teachers with differentiation grades 6-12?

In addition, the group is aligning process benchmarks between MS and HS as well as incorporating data analysis and probability benchmarks into the high school curriculum.

Finally, the group is investigating options for a new blended high school course in grade 9.

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Smithsonian Education

If you are looking for enrichment materials for the students in your classes who need more challenge, try this website: Smithsonian Education. The world’s largest museum complex, The Smithsonian Institute, offers teachers, students, and families a wide array of quality teaching and learning materials for students grades K-12 in art and design, science and technology, history and culture and language arts.

Cheers from the Ed Programs Office,

Lynne Coleman
Curriculum Coordinator
Shanghai American School
lynne.coleman@saschina.org

Thank you for the many parents who came out to listen to Mrs. Bernadette Carmody, Dr. Ron Roukema, and me (Mr. Andrew Torris) speak about the alignment efforts of Shanghai American School Middle School Task Force. Below is the link to the slideshow used to guide the presentations.

| View | Upload your own

If you have any specific questions please contact your school principal or the Educational Programs office.

Thank You,

Andrew Torris

Deputy Superintendent

Friday, January 18, 2008

Our SAS Self Study benefits student learning in all subject areas: as a part of self study work, Chinese faculty are revising placement procedures to include portfolio assessment

1. Monday February 11, subject area and grade level leaders will pull together our self study work from the past three months in a draft overview, in each subject area, of what students learn, how they learn it, and how we assess that learning and use it to inform teaching.
2. 6-12 Chinese Program Review: Portfolio Assessment and Placement. Last semester Chinese teachers in grades 6-12 began using student portfolios for assessment. For the first time, portfolios will add additional data for placement of students from Middle School into High School courses. The Task Force has aligned content and units of study for Chinese as a Foreign Language courses in grades 6-12.

Tuesday, all teachers will review and respond to draft self study reports from their subject areas with the dual purposes of learning about their subject area in other divisions and offering input into the report

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Do you want to maximize the benefits of living in China for your students, no matter what subject you teach? Explore this link for ideas and resources for math, reading, science, social studies, art and more: Education World

Cheers from the Ed Programs Office,

Lynne Coleman
Curriculum Coordinator
Shanghai American School
lynne.coleman@saschina.org

As mentioned in earlier articles in ParentTalk, the SAS self-study is in full swing as the end of the first semester has passed. The self-study has involved virtually all members of the faculty and staff at SAS in some way and continues to be the focus of efforts in the Educational Programs office. The organizational lead for the self study are the members of the Student Programs committee, which has met three times this year and has had a full orientation on the effort. While Student Programs Committee’s “heavy lifting” has really not yet begun, the focus groups that have been to the preliminary work have been busy.Three Key Outcomes
Our goals for the self-study focus on three key outcomes. The first is to get an accurate picture of the current operational levels in Shanghai American School. We do this by our community survey, our staff survey, the surveys given to our students and assessment data. We will also be conducting day long “data in a day” activities later in the year to take snapshots of our school for analysis. The second goal is to change the way do our work in significant ways. This change is already seen in many ways, through the cross-river conversations we have held with our teachers and the way we are organizing our curriculum and data through the use of on-line curriculum data tools like Atlas Rubicon. Finally, our third outcome we hope to achieve is the establishment of metrics through which we can measure our success in achieving our school’s vision as we move to 2012. These metrics can be used as benchmark points for SAS and will be used as tools for communications amongst the faculty, administration and staff as well as with our parent community.

Focus Group: Organization for Student Learning
Organization for Student Learning is one of the key areas of focus on the self-study. In this section of the report submitted to the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) focuses on the way SAS is arranged, organized and administrated to meet the learning needs of the students and their families. The self-study, aptly named a Focus on Learning, drives us to take a deep look into the ways we focus our work on our classrooms and our students. Issues such as trusteeship, staffing, leadership, governance, staffing and qualifications is examined and data is disaggregated from the work we do in our school and from the feedback received from the NSSE community satisfaction survey.

Focus Group: Support for Student Personal and Academic Growth
This important section of the self-study report focuses on how SAS supports student in their learning. The areas which are important to this focus group allows the school to look at our ESOL program, our academic support program, our co-curricular programs (after school activities, athletics, and clubs) and our counseling program. Again, like the Organization for student learning, data is analyzed and the committee will draft a report.

Focus Group: Curriculum and Instruction
This, by and large, is the biggest section of the the self study report. The representatives in the Curriculum and Instruction department examine what students are learning, how they are learning the content and how they are being assessed in the learning the content taught. This data is very important to our report and will create a comprehensive snapshot of the classroom activities at Shanghai American School. Lynne Coleman, our curriculum coordinator, along with Pip Curtis, our curriculum consultant, are working long hours to put this part of the report together.

Focus Group: Resource Management
This is the only focus group not to have met thus far in our self study effort, but will be meeting soon to examine how SAS gathers, manages and uses it’s many resources to operate the school. This focus group asks if the resources available to the school sufficient to sustain the school program and effectively used to carry out the school’s purpose and student achievement of the expected school-wide learning results? Again, data will be analyzed and a report is drafted.

Student Programs Committee Oversight
All draft reports from each focus group will be reviewed for content and accuracy by the student programs committee and will take recommendations from each focus group as to the areas in which the school needs to focus further growth efforts in the coming years. From those recommendations, action plans will be created and those plans will be reviewed and finalized by the Student Programs Committee. My the end of the school year the entire process will be complete and a final draft of the SAS self study report will be published for the community and for dissemination to the visiting team. This effort by the Student Programs Committee is key, as the group is representative of parents, board members, teachers and administrators.

WASC Visiting Team
Shanghai American School has requested a large visiting team to examine our school for a full week in October. The team will consist of educators from other international schools and from schools in the United States. The team members will be teachers and administrators who have received special training from WASC and are considered to representative members of school communities that are accredited by WASC. Special consideration is made to ensure that there is no conflict of interest with any visiting team members and Shanghai American School. The process has a very open feel, and a public report will be made to the school on the last day of the visit.

Re-accreditation is not the end of the journey
After the process is all finished, the school will have a set of action plans and a set of recommendations to follow for the next 3-5 year period of time at which point the school will begin preparing again for the re-accreditation process, and for renewed school improvement efforts.

Friday, January 11, 2008

Our SAS Self Study benefits student learning in subject areas and in middle school learning:

1. February 11-12, subject area and grade level leaders will pull together our work from the past three months in a draft overview of what students learn and experience in subject areas across the school. The overviews, which will identify strengths of our program and the areas for improvement, will form the basis of action items for student learning for the coming years.

2. Learning in Middle School: What direction will we take? I invite you to read the seminal research on Middle School best practices, the first installment of which can be found at this link. Do you have ideas for Middle School Task Force members as they begin this work January 21? Please offer your insights to Nancy Bell, Theron Mott, Scott Williams, Dave Baxter, Alfred Olivas, Deanne Bister.

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This We Believe: Successful Schools for Young Adolescents is the landmark position paper from National Middle School Association in which the association’s vision for a successful school for 10- to 15-year-olds is delineated in 14 characteristics.

The most profound and enduring lesson learned in 30 years of active middle school advocacy is that the characteristics are interdependent and must be implemented in concert.

Research and cumulative, empirical evidence have confirmed that these characteristics when present over time lead to higher levels of student achievement and overall development.

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Cheers from the Ed Programs Office,

Lynne Coleman
Curriculum Coordinator
Shanghai American School
lynne.coleman@saschina.org