The document provides information about various curriculum and instruction updates in the Hilliard City Schools district. Some of the key points include: 1) Kindergarten registration will take place between January 30th and February 22nd for the 2012-2013 school year. 2) Beginning in 2012-2013, some middle school language arts courses will transition from two periods to one period to allow for additional electives and intervention. 3) Summer school will be offered at various grade levels from June to July, focusing on intervention and enrichment.

1. Hilliard City Schools
January, 2012
A Monthly Bulletin from the Offices of Curriculum and Instruction
The Curriculum Connection
Kindergarten Registration at the Welcome Center
Parents of new K students for 2012-2013 will have a face-to-face appointment at the Welcome Center between
January 30th and February 22nd to submit residential documentation.
Please send the schedule of appointments for your building to Jan Hemsworth and Carolyn Flowers at least one
day before your building’s Registration date.
If school is cancelled due to weather on your building’s registration date, your make-up date will be Friday of
that week. If school is delayed, all appointments prior to 11 a.m. will be re-scheduled for Friday (same time).
There is a screening meeting scheduled for elementary principals - Friday, February 24th, 10 a.m.-11 a.m. at
SSF.
Middle School Language Arts Courses Transition from Two Periods to One
Beginning with the 2012-2013 school year, some middle school language arts courses will transition from two
periods to one period. The courses moving from two to one are: Language Arts 7, Advanced Language Arts 7,
and Language Arts 8. LEAP 7, LEAP 8, ELL Language Arts, and Special Education Resource Room Language
Arts will all remain two period courses. Additionally, Honors English 9 will replace Advanced Language Arts 8
at the eighth grade level for high school credit; this will be a one period course.
These changes are logical next steps in the evolution of our literacy course of study and Common Core
implementation as we are now more purposeful in unit design (thematic), text selection (tiered), assessment
(MAP), and intervention (READ 180). Additionally, literacy instruction strategies are now an expectation in all
content areas.
This adjustment will create an additional period in the school day for the majority of our middle school students
creating time for more exploration (through elective courses) and /or intervention (especially in mathematics as
all 8th graders will be taking Algebra I beginning with the 2013-2014 school year). Intervention will also be
available in language arts for those students needing additional time.
It is important to note that all seventh grade students (with the exception of those still in a two-period language
arts course) will now be required to take a semester-long public speaking course. Additional elective courses
in language arts courses will also now be available for eighth grade students: Introduction to Writer’s Craft,
Introduction to Journalism, and Media Explorations.
Middle school language arts teachers will be involved in several work sessions throughout the second semester
to modify existing courses and develop new courses to match new standards and expectations.
These changes are a result of the district’s middle school curriculum alignment project that began during the
2010-2011 school year to align the schedules and course offerings at all three middle schools. Implementation
of the recommendations from this work/research began during the 2011-2012 school year and will continue
through the 2013-2014 school year. For more information about the middle school curriculum alignment
project, contact Mike McDonough.

2. The Curriculum Connection
Summer School
The Hilliard City School District will offer summer school this year. Intervention classes for grades 2-5 and ELL
programming will be offered at Avery Elementary. Enrichment, remediation, and/or grade replacement courses
for grades 6-12 will be offered at Heritage Middle School.
2012 Summer School dates and times are as follows:
Elementary: June 5 - June 28, three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), 8:30-11:30 a.m.
Middle: June 6 - June 22, 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
High: Session I: June 6 - June 22, 7:45 a.m. - 12:25 p.m.; Session II: June 25 - July 12, 7:45 a.m. - 12:25 p.m.,
no class on July 4
ELL: June 5 - June 28, three days a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday), 8:30-11:30 a.m.
Summer school registration materials will be sent to buildings in mid-February; registration begins on February
28th.
For more information about summer school, contact Joyce Brickley.
Summer Work for AP Courses
Summer work will continue for the following advanced placement courses for the summer, 2012: Biology,
Chemistry, English Language, English Literature & Composition, European History, Physics,
US Government & Politics, and US History. No other courses have summer assignments.
Teachers collaborated in the winter and spring of 2011 to create common summer assignments for use at all
three high schools. These assignments were developed as part of the curriculum for these courses; therefore,
their use is NOT optional — nor should changes or alternative assignments be created at the building level.
The summer assignments for these courses will be posted on the district website in early spring for students to
access.
If teachers are interested in making modifications to a summer assignment, they need to collaborate with their
colleagues at all three high schools and contact Mike McDonough prior to February 29, 2012.
K-12 Performing Arts Course of Study Revision
Revision is underway! The Steering Committee of Music and Drama/Theatre teachers representing grades
K-12 are facilitating the work of developing revised Course of Study documents using new state standards. The
projected completion date for this new course of study is June 2012.
Tentative plans are to implement the new course of study in grades K-5 at the start of the 2012-2013 school
year; grades 6-12 implementation will take place at the start of the 2013-2014 school year.
Value-Added On-Line Courses
K-6 principals need to complete the teacher-level module prior to next administrative team meeting on February
9th. You are encouraged to use any of the free on-line modules with your teachers prior to the linkage process
(which will begin in mid-April).
There will be two important value added workshops for principals beginning in March to continue our
preparation for these new value-added reports. More details will be provided on February 9th!
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3. The Curriculum Connection
High School On-Line Courses
Hilliard City Schools’ on-line courses will be available to high school students for first time credit beginning in
the 2012–2013 school year. In the past, district on-line course have been for remedial credit only. This change
comes after a full year of revision and updating of current on-line courses to ensure appropriate rigor to
justify the first time credit.
In addition to modifying existing courses, many new on-line courses have also been created this year for
2012-2013 implementation. These new courses include: Personal Finance, Media Communication, Leadership
Development, Personal Decisions, Spanish I, and Chemistry.
For a complete listing of district on-line courses, go to page D-56 of the high school program of studies:
http://www.hilliardschools.org/audience/studentSection.cfm
Students may request a maximum of two online courses during the registration process. The pacing/timeline
for on-line courses taken for first time credit will mirror those of the traditional setting (i.e. start on first day of
semester and end on last day of semester). Additionally, seating capacity (and, thus, teacher-student ratio) for
on-line courses will resemble those of a traditional course. Teaching assignments and section numbers will be
determined as part of the staffing process once all course requests have been processed.
For more information about district on-line courses, contact Mike McDonough or Mark Pohlman.
Senior Capstone Experience
Beginning with this year’s ninth grade class (class of 2015), students will be required to complete a senior
capstone experience for ½ credit to fulfill graduation requirements. It is important to note that, because
students do not declare how they will complete the capstone requirement until second semester of their
sophomore year, we are still in the process of finalizing exactly what the capstone will look like.
We do know . . .
• The senior capstone experience can be fulfilled in one of the three following categories:
• Advanced Studies Experience: The Advanced Studies Experience is designed for the student
who has a desire to focus his/her senior capstone within a particular content area and/or area of
study, complete the experience during the school day, and earn college credit while in high school.
• Explorations Experience: The Explorations Experience is designed for the student who wants to
explore career interests or design his/her own unique capstone experience.
• Service Learning Experience: The Service Learning Experience is designed for the student with a
strong interest and passion in community service.
• All capstone options will require some type of external (outside of the high school building)
experience; however, the amount of time, structure, logistics, requirements, etc. are still being
developed. Teachers in content areas with a capstone option will be involved in finalizing these
requirements in the coming months. Nothing has been finalized yet.
• Potential capstone options have been identified in the 2012-2013 High School Program of Studies
so students can begin to develop an understanding of expectations, format, etc.
Please encourage teachers to develop and share capstone experience ideas in their respective content areas
and share them with Mike McDonough by the end of the school year. All departments are eligible and
encouraged to participate in this important requirement for students.
For more information on the Senior Capstone Experience, please refer to page D-71 in the 2012 -2013 High
School Program of Studies: http://www.hilliardschools.org/audience/studentSection.cfm or call Mike
McDonough.
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4. The Curriculum Connection
K-1 New Standards Professional Development
The third full-day of district professional development will occur Tuesday, February 28th (Kindergarten) and
Wednesday, February 29th (First grade), 8:45am-3:30pm in the CO Large Annex on both days.
Teachers will receive four Common District Trimester Curriculum Maps. Building teams will plan
collaboratively to build a monthly pacing guide for all four content areas.
A small curriculum subcommittee will provide feedback on District Curriculum Maps, Friday, February 10th,
9:00 a.m.-3:30pm at Washington prior to sharing the documents with all teachers later in the month.
2nd - 3rd Grade Standards Professional Development
Work sessions have been scheduled for 2nd and 3rd grade teachers to introduce the new standards in
English-language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science.
All 2nd grade teachers will attend on Tuesday, April 24th; the overview will take place on Thursday, May 3rd for
all 3rd grade teachers.
Implementation of new standards in grades two and three will begin with the 2012-2013 school year.
Secondary Course Registration Updates
• High School Course Registration
• Online registration/modifications to 4-Year Plan for Freshman and Sophomore students will close
on Friday, February 3rd.
• Paper/pencil registration for Juniors and Seniors will close on Friday, February 3rd.
• Middle School Course Registration
• Registration materials will be distributed to Middle Schools on Monday, February 27th.
• Parent Meetings for students entering 7th Grade will be held at the respective middle schools on
Wednesday, February 29th.
• Parent meetings for students entering 8th Grade will be held on the following nights:
• Heritage MS – Thursday, March 1st; Memorial MS – Wednesday, March 7th;
Weaver MS – Thursday, March 1st
• Registration materials are due back to student’s respective home school by Friday, March 16th.
• 6th Grade Course Registration
• Registration materials will be distributed to 6th Grade buildings on Tuesday, February 21st.
• Parent Meetings for students entering 6th grade will be held at the respective 6th Grade School on
the following nights:
• Station 6th Grade – Thursday, February 23rd
• Tharp 6th Grade – Wednesday, February 22nd
• Registration materials are due back to student’s respective home school by Monday, March 5th.
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5. The Curriculum Connection
Clarification about Common Formative Assessments (CFAs)
Common Formative Assessments (CFAs) are designed collaboratively by grade level or course teams of
teachers and represent the power indicators of the standards in focus. Being formative, the assessments are
administered prior to and during the instruction; and the intent is two-fold. The teacher is provided with regular,
timely feedback regarding student attainment of the most critical indicators, allowing time to modify the
instruction to better meet the needs of diverse learners. In addition, students can receive specific feedback on
the learning targets to be achieved.
Questions arise about administering CFAs in a heterogeneous classroom. Regular education, special
education, and gifted students, many times, are scheduled to the same classroom. Regardless of the
achievement level of the student, the same CFA should be administered to all students on that roster. The
assessment questions should not be modified nor should they be made more rigorous to match the student
population. Remember that these assessments are measuring the tested indicators, of which all students will
be held accountable. The information will be used to “drive the instruction” and predict student attainment of the
priority indicators. With CFA data, the entry point for instruction will be established, and the teacher can then
differentiate the lesson to meet the needs of all students. Students on target will be instructed at grade level;
adaptations will be created for students in need of support, and increased rigor will be provided to students who
have already mastered the indicator.
An exception to this process would be if a student’s reading level was far below the Lexile range of the test
questions. This student would be unable to read the question, and therefore, it would be difficult to determine
whether the student had prior knowledge of the content. In this case, the CFA questions would remain
unchanged, but it would be acceptable for a staff member to read the passage/questions to the student.
In summary, the purpose of a CFA is to determine where students are in the continuum of acquiring the
intended knowledge and skills. This information will be used in instructional planning, as well as in data team
analysis.
Keeping Your Eye on RTI!
The key to remember is that tier 1 interventions take place within the normal classroom, with the classroom
teacher, and should be helping/reaching a large percentage of your students (75-80%). Working together
through data teams and other collaborative efforts, we can keep the majority of students successful in the
normal classroom and save our tier 2 & 3 interventions for those that need it most!
Tier 1 interventions you might be using and don’t even realize it, may include:
• preferential seating • examples of strong • proper cues
• freshman teams & weak work • good questioning
• extended time • home access • information
• class websites • proximity organizers
• guided notes • data teams • and many more…..
• use of rubrics • calling on each
student daily
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6. The Curriculum Connection
Gifted Task Force
A twelve-member Gifted Task Force (GTF) has been assembled to study service delivery model options for
gifted students in Hilliard Schools. The task force met for the first time on January 25th.
The GTF is comprised of parents, classroom teachers, gifted intervention specialists, and administrators. The
focus group will meet four times this school year to study the expectations of ODE’s Operating Standards for
identifying and serving gifted students, read research about best-practice, and survey neighboring districts. The
group will share their feedback on the pros and cons of ODE’s allowable service delivery model options that
meet the needs of Hilliard students. The focus group will ultimately report findings to the Superintendent.
We are not expecting the findings of this group to impact gifted service delivery prior to the 2013-2014 school
year.
February 2012 Calendar Dates:
Feb. 1—Gr. 7-8 MAP Window Opens
Feb. 2—7:45-2:45 Gr 6-8 Social Studies Collaborative (Lg Annex)
Feb. 6—1:00-3:00 HS Dept Facilitators (ABC); 3:00 & 4:30 Project Based Learning Cohort Meeting (Lg Annex)
Feb. 7—7:45-2:45 Gr 7-8 Lang Arts Common Core (Lg Annex); 8:00-4:00 Alternate Assess (ABC)
Feb. 8—7:45-2:45 Gr 6-12 LEAP Collaborative (Lg Annex)
Feb. 9—PLTW—DE/POE 8:00-11:00 Pre K-12 Administrative Meeting (Annex); 2:30-4:00 The iGeneration
Seminar (Lg Annex); 3:30-4:45 Resident Educator Mtg (Board Conference Room)
Feb. 10—Gr 6-12 Interims; 8:00-4:00 Alternate Assess (ABC)
Feb. 13-17—CONFERENCE WEEK
Feb. 13—8:00-4:00 Alternate Assess (ABC)
Feb. 17—Parent Teacher Conference Comp Day—NO SCHOOL
Feb. 20—President’s Day—NO SCHOOL
Feb. 21—7:45-2:45 Gr 7-8 Lang Arts Common Core (Lg Annex); 10:00-6:00 LPDC Meeting (SSF Comp Lab)
Feb. 24—Gr 7-8 MAP Window Closes
Feb. 27—1:00-3:00 HS Dept Facilitators (ABC)
Feb. 28—8:45-3:30 KG Standards Implementation PD (Lg Annex)
Feb. 29—8:45-3:30 Gr 1 Standards Implementation PD (Lg Annex)
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