Bartlett High School

"How Young Minds Differ"

Bartlett High School is engaged in a multi-year smaller-learning-communities project. The goal is to group the students in ways that will permit Bartlett faculty and staff to ensure that "no child is left behind" or gets lost in the large-school crowds. The ideal will be that every student at Bartlett High School has meaningful interactions with at least one adult and with several peers every day of every academic year.

"Problem and Relationship to Overall School Improvement"

Bartlett High School is engaged in a multi-year smaller-learning-communities project. The goal is to group the students in ways that will permit Bartlett faculty and staff to ensure that "no child is left behind" or gets lost in the large-school crowds. One model being considered calls for houses organized around the four core curriculum areas-mathematics, science, English, and social studies. Whatever the organization, faculty in the Bartlett Science Department recognize that their curriculum must be coherent across the smaller learning communities, must be aligned with Alaska content and performance standards, must effectively integrate technology, and must provide faculty (especially those new to Bartlett) with course content guides that support their instructional planning.

Bartlett HS Young Minds Study Group Proposal 2002-2003

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Bartlett HS Problem and Relationship Study Group Proposal 2002-2003

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Study Into Brain Research

Central Middle School is in our third year of being a Professional Development School. Collegial conversations and our three prior study groups have helped us build a vibrant collegial relationship and atmosphere, and helped us toward developing a common purpose and language to talk about teaching and learning. Last year six teachers participated in a study group on Brain research that was funded using the discretionary PDS funds provided by APTE. Theses funds were also used to send two teachers who led the study group to the national Brain Research Conference. At the school's inservice at the beginning of this year the teachers from the study group presented to the staff on their learning and implementation projects from that study group. The session was well received and comments from the staff indicated that it was one of the best professional development sessions the school had ever conducted. This year when the PDS Leadership Team administered a Study Group Interest Survey the results indicated that continued study of Brain Research was of great interest for a number of teachers. We are excited by the high interest level of this topic and the opportunity another study group would offer to continue and expand our inquiry into brain research. The study group would focus on the following questions:

1) What does brain research suggest about teaching middle school students?

2) How can I (we) teach with "the brain in mind?"

Central MS Study Group Proposal 2002-2003

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Chevak School

Study of Current Certified Evaluation Instrument

The staff at Chevak School would like to conduct a study of the current certified evaluation instrument. The final product will be an evaluation tool that is aligned with the standards, incorporates district initiatives, and focuses upon improvement of instruction for all staff members. This tool will be utilized beginning with the 2003-04 school year.

Chevak Study Group Proposal 2002-2003

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Chinook Elementary

Problem Based Learning

1. Research question and its importance

Does the regular use of problem-based questions as well as regular feedback from scored problems using a 5/6 point rubric with k-6 students lead to increased achievement on such tasks?

Our students are not scoring well on their benchmark tests in this area. We want to do everything we can to ensure that our students have been given the groundwork to become creative and capable problem-solvers in life as well as in school.

2. Relationship of question to overall school improvement

a) Math problem-solving (problem-based learning) is one of our school goals this year. Students are not scoring as well as we would like on standardized measures in this area.

b) We need to increase our competence as educators in the teaching of problem-solving. We recognize that many of us did not emerge from our teacher training with strong skills or concept knowledge in this area.