We dropped the ball

It has been far too long since our last post here on the district blog. In our defense, our department has had our sleeves rolled up dealing with communication needs for issues such as Swine Flu, construction delays at a new elementary school, and even Tuberculosis! Plus, we've had a hand in the district's employee reception, administrator retirement receptions, as well as preparations for high school graduations.

(Whew!)

That said, we want to continue to provide a trusted source for district information, behind the scenes knowledge and useful updates so we will work to get (and stay) on a better schedule for you.

You can help
What would you like to see covered here on the district blog? What do you want to know about within the district? There may be a few posts out there waiting to be written.

Thanks for your patience and for your valuable time. Also, look for more guest posts from other people in the district. There are great stories out there and we'll try to bring them to you.

Questions on Hiring of Non-Certified Teachers

Image via Wikipedia

Note: This is a guest post by Mrs. Venetia Sneed, MISD Coordinator of Personnel for Recruiting and Retention.

In response to the questions regarding Mansfield ISD’s hiring of non-certified teachers, I would like to share the following:

Mansfield ISD considers fully certified teachers for all of its open positions. “Fully certified” means that an applicant has completed all of their university or teacher preparation coursework, passed their content and pedagogy state exams, fulfilled their student teaching or one year of internship requirement and has been issued a Standard Teacher Certification from SBEC (the State Board for Educator Certification Agency.)

Teachers issued a Probationary Certificate are still in the process of completing one of the aforementioned components. Currently, MISD does not have an in-house Alternative Certification Program nor do we officially partner with Teacher Preparation Programs to hire their interns or provide the one year internship opportunity.

Once a teacher has obtained a Standard Certification, whether it was acquired via the University Education route (or "Traditional Certification" as mentioned in Dr. Cunningham's previous post) or an Alternative Certification Program, they are eligible to apply and be considered for any MISD opening they are certified to teach.

Having said this, if we are unable to fill a shortage area with a fully certified teacher, we will consider an applicant who is still in the process of obtaining their standard certification. As a matter of fact, we hired a few teachers in this category this school year in the areas of Special Education, Foreign Language, Career Technology, Math and Science. These content areas are typically our high shortage areas.

MISD Substitutes and Aides are encouraged to complete the requirements for their standard certification, as well, so they can be considered for open positions in their certification area.

~ Venetia Sneed

Teaching as a Second Career

So You Would Like to Become a Teacher
by Dr. Claude Cunningham, Associate Superintendent Curriculum & Instruction

The current economy has caused many of our local businesses and industries to make work force reductions. The employees displaced have skills and knowledge which may be of great value to the children of our community. If you are in this situation, you may have decided that it is time to look seriously into teaching as a possible career. Teaching is not easy. Teaching is very time intensive and requires a lot of emotional energy. If it is a fit for you, teaching is one of the most rewarding professions in the world. To make this career change, there are some things that you need to know:

Entering the teaching profession as a public school teacher requires that you become certified by the State of Texas. There are two primary routes to certification; the traditional certification route and an alternative certification route.

Traditional Certification
The traditional pathway to certification is to enroll in the Teacher Education program at a local college or university. Typically, you will be required to take 18 hours of professional education course work. These may include a field experience or internship. Many of our local colleges and universities have special programs for individuals who hold a bachelor’s degree who are looking to change professions. The requirements for these programs may vary, but the number of courses is about the same.

Alternative Certification
There are several programs which offer alternative routes to certification. Some of these are proprietary programs; others are offered through colleges and universities or the regional Educational Service Center (FYI, Mansfield ISD is in ESC Region 11). These programs typically offer intense, short term instructional programs in the summer followed by regularly scheduled follow up sessions in group or individual settings. Alternative certification often allows you to become a regularly employed classroom teacher while completing the certification program.

Either route will result in the receipt of a Texas Standard Teaching License. The State Board of Educator Certification (SBEC) has a very helpful web site which lists all the approved teacher certification programs in the state, traditional and alternative. It will be to your benefit to “shop” the various programs as each has unique requirements. Identify the one that best fits your needs before you commit to any particular program.

Next Steps
If you are interested in determining the opportunities available to you in this area, go to the SBEC Web site and pick the region in which you would like to pursue a certificate. You will be given a list of programs and links to each program.

Recipe for Math Success

The following is a guest post written by one of the district's math teachers.

Some people claim that “shortcuts” and “tricks” are detrimental to true learning. I disagree…giving our students tools to employ simply makes them better able to problem-solve in the future. With TAKS right around the corner, I want to share with you some strategies I have employed in the past to aid my students in increasing their overall grades as well as their TAKS test scores. I am hoping that you will be able to reinforce these methods at home and encourage your student to use some or all of these test-taking strategies to increase their achievement on all types of tests.

I have been using the following acronym (I know, I know…not another one) for several years and it has proved to be useful to many students.

We call it the “RECIPE.”

• R - Read each problem carefully twice
  (We all miss things the first time around.)
  
  
• E - Estimate your answer
  (Often answer choices can be eliminated with estimation.)
  
  
• C - Check/Convert units
  (Test writers just love to mix up the units.)
  
  
• I - Is it on the formula chart?
  (If they are going to give you a cheat sheet, USE IT!)
  
  
• P - Picture, Proportion, or Pythagorean Theorem?
  (The 3 P’s can solve about 1/3 of the problems on TAKS tests.)
  
  
• E - Eliminate wrong answers
  (Crossing out obviously incorrect answers takes your focus away from them and increases the probability of getting them right.)

I always add one final question…“Does my answer answer the question?” You would be surprised at how many questions are answered incorrectly, not because the student didn’t know how to do the problem, but because they did not provide the answer to the question that was asked.

Other techniques
In addition to following the “RECIPE” to success, we can encourage our students to utilize other strategies as well, some they already use on the reading sections of tests:

• Highlighting only the important information given in a problem and making notes in the margin about the type of problem or what you are looking for in the problem are both similar to techniques taught in Language Arts classes to help with reading comprehension.
  
• Focusing on one sentence of the word problem at a time helps students by breaking the problem into more manageable pieces to avoid becoming overwhelmed.
  
• Writing out the formulas, defining the necessary variables, and showing all of their work are a few more ways a student can be sure to be successful on tests.
  
• Bubbling the answer document last. So many kids get so bogged down in bubbling that they are not focused on the work necessary to be successful.

If you want to help your student further, there are many excellent resources available on the internet. One would be the Released TAKS test Web page. There you can access previous TAKS tests for each grade level and each subject. At the same site, you can access Test Study Aids on the left. Under the Study Aids link you will find TAKS study guides, released tests and answer keys. On the Legacy High School website, Stephanie Barnes, the TAKS coordinator, has created a series of links to pertinent TAKS information, including those websites referenced above.

Here are some last minutes things you can do as parents to help your student do their very best on TAKS:

• make sure they get a good night’s sleep the night before the test,
  
• make sure they get a good breakfast on the morning of the test, and
  
• send them to school with lots of positive encouragement and, of course, #2 pencils.
  

Good luck and high scores!!!

Kristi Kelton
Algebra I Teacher, Mansfield Legacy High School

GroupWise E-mail Down Over Spring Break

During Spring Break, GroupWise e-mail web access will not be available consistently from Monday, March 16 through Friday, March 20.

The web access system will be intermittently available due to scheduled maintenance. Access using the GroupWise e-mail system from within the district will not be affected.

Here's more information from Doug Brubaker, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer:

"In January, a new configuration was set up for the GroupWise system in order to provide a more reliable service.

We have over 3,000 email accounts in our district, and completing the reconfiguration has required moving all of them to new locations. Some of the work was completed in January. Initially, network techs worked modified schedules after hours and on weekends to move accounts at times that would be least inconvenient for our users. Because of concerns that the data could be corrupted if accounts were accessed while they were being moved, the migration was suspended until Spring Break.

The work may be completed before Friday. Because of the exceptionally large size of some user accounts, it has been difficult to predict the length of time required to complete these changes. Please note that service will be available from within the district during this time frame. The scheduled maintenance only affects web access.

Staff members, please be sure to log off of the system before leaving for Spring Break."

What does this mean for the rest of the District community? While the District is on Spring Break March 16-20, we will not have complete access to our e-mail so we will likely not be able to get back to you until after the break. Thank you for your patience.

The 21st Century Library

The following is a guest post written by one of the district's librarians.

Three events have occurred since the beginning of 2009 which have reinforced the concept that my library is much larger than it first appears. In January, Pam Pinkerton, the librarian at Legacy High School, shared with the secondary librarians how she has used Survey Monkey with the Legacy students to help her plan the wisest use of her dollars in purchasing books (graphic novels in particular) for her campus. I have begun using Survey Monkey with my students since then. Thank you, Pam, for reminding me of an additional application of a digital survey within the library environment.

The second event was a workshop I attended sponsored by the Education Service Center Region XI. Cindy Gray, Margie Gallagher, Deborah Jones and I spent a day with David Warlick, who reinforced my educational philosophy that we must address a new literacy, a digital literacy, a web-based literacy, as well as the traditional literacies about which we librarians have been passionate. I learned a great deal Tuesday. I have commented that “my brain is full.” As I process what I was taught I will share with my colleagues ways to incorporate this information within our schools. Thank you, Mansfield ISD, and in particular, our principals, Travis Moore , Marilyn Varner, John Williams, and Sharon Ferguson for providing the funds and the time for us to attend this valuable workshop.

The third event happened on February 24, during the monthly MISD School Board meeting. Dr. Cunningham shared with the school board the proposal to purchase the Gale Virtual Reference Library. The school board unanimously approved this purchase. For the first time since we began building additional campuses at each level we now have reference equity. Every student who has access to a computer and the Internet, be it at home, at school, on vacation, wherever, will have 24-hour access to a full authoritative reference library. All students, teachers, administrators, school board members, and their families will have access to this product. Having equity of materials in our library environment has been my dream since I opened the DJMS Library in 2004. The Danny Jones students had newer reference materials than the other middle schools. However, the other middle schools had a more extensive collection than Danny Jones. This inequity was glaring and seemingly impossible to address with our library budgets. Thank you, Dr. Cunningham, Mr. Sneed, Dr. Brubaker, and the MISD School Board for your enthusiastic support and approval of this resource.

We librarians must now undertake the task of teaching our clientele: students, teachers, administrators, instructional coordinators, families, etc., how to use the GVRL. This is a challenging undertaking. I am confident we are up to that challenge. Through the training which Gale will provide and the training which we can provide to each other we will be able to positively impact our community as we prepare our children for 21^st century life. Our biggest challenge will be equity of access; however, I am certain that the MISD school board will embrace innovative solutions to address that particular inequity. I am proud to be a librarian in the 21^st century in the Mansfield Independent School District.

Debbie Andrews
Teaching Librarian, Danny Jones Middle School

Sixty-two Days and Eduspeak

Hello MISD community. We know it has been a very long time (62 days to be exact) since our last post. There really is no good reason for the lag in writing other than the days just kept getting away from us and we look up and realize a significant amount of time has passed.

For our first post back in this space, we want to provide you with a useful resource.

Eduspeak
Have you ever thought people in education speak in a different language? We know we participate in some so-called "eduspeak."

So here is a resource of public education-related acronyms and what they mean:

1. ACCEL - Advanced Courses and Curriculum for Exceptional Learners
   
2. ACT - American College Test
3. AEIS - Academic Excellence Indicator System
4. AEP - Alternative Education Program
5. AP - Advanced Placement
6. ARD - Admission, Review and Dismissal Committee
7. AVID - Advancement Via Individual Determination
8. BE - Bilingual Education
9. BIP - Behavior Intervention Plan
10. CBA - Curriculum Based Assessments
11. CEHI - Compensatory Education Home Instruction
12. CTE - Career & Technology Education
13. DAEP - Disciplinary Alternative Education Program
14. DAP - Distinguished Achievement Program
15. DEIC - District-wide Educational Improvement Program
    
16. DRA - Developmental Reading Assessment
17. ELA - English Language Arts
18. ESC - Education Service Center
19. ESL - English as a Second Language
20. ESY - Extended School Year
21. ExCET - Examination for Certification of Educators in Texas
22. FAFSA - Free Application for Federal Student Aid
23. FAPE - Free and Appropriate Public Education
24. FERPA - Family Education Rights & Privacy Act
25. FIRST - Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas
26. FTE - Full Time Equivalent
27. GED - Graduation Equivalency Degree
28. GPA - Gold Performance Acknowledgement
29. GT - Gifted and Talented
30. IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
31. IEP - Individual Education Plan
32. ITP - Individual Transition Plan
33. JFK - Just for Kids website
34. LDAA - Locally Developed Alternative Assessment
35. LEA - Local Education Agency
36. LEP - Limited English Proficiency
37. LPAC - Language Proficiency Academic Committee
38. NCLB - No Child Left Behind Act - 2001
39. OEYP - Optional Extended Year Program
40. PDAS - Professional Development Assessment System
41. PEIMS - Public Education Information Management System
42. PEP - Pregnancy Education & Parenting
43. PGP - Personal Graduation Plan
44. PSAT - Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test
45. PTA - Parent Teacher Association
46. PTO - Parent Teacher Organization
47. RPTE - Reading Proficiency Test in English
48. RTI - Response to Intervention
49. SACS-CASI - Southern Association of Colleges & Schools - Council on Accreditation & School Improvement
50. SAT - Scholastic Aptitude Test
51. SBDM - Site-Based Decision Making
52. SBOE - State Board of Education
53. SCE - State Compensatory Education
54. SDAA - State Developed Alternative Assessment
55. SEM - Standard Error of Measurement
56. SE's - Student Expectations
57. SIOP - Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol
58. SSI - Student Success Initiative
59. TAKS - Texas Assessment of Knowledge & Skills
60. - TAKS Acc. - Accommodated
61. - TAKS Alt - Alternative
62. - TAKS M - Modified
63. TBA - TAKS Based Assessments
64. TBSI - Texas Behavior Support Initiative
65. TEA - Texas Education Agency
66. TEKS - Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills
67. TELPAS - Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System
68. TExES - Texas Examinations of Educator Standards
69. THEA - Texas Higher Education Assessment
70. TOPT - Texas Oral Proficiency Test
71. TPRI - Texas Primary Reading Inventory
72. TRS - Teacher Retirement System of Texas
    

We'll start with 72 (62 for every day since our last post and an extra 10 as a bonus.)

Periodically check back to this list since it may grow as needed to accommodate new acronyms. If you come across an acronym and want to know what it means, please leave a comment and we'll see about tracking it down for you.

(Note: Most of these eduspeak acronyms and their meanings were compiled by our good friends in the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD.)