The Student Learning Process
Assessment & Team Meeting
The PARC has initiated a two-phase assessment process. All learners in PARC will participate in receiving informal assessments early in the academic year so we can approach student learning in a proactive way. Students will typically receive informal assessment on goal setting, motivation, educational engagement, mind-set, and grit. All of these factors help to determine a student’s approach to learning. In addition, nonacademic factors have a sizable impact on how a student performs academically.
The second phase will consist of informal and formal academic/achievement assessments. In addition to a comprehensive review of psycho-educational evaluations from either the Board of Education or independent evaluators, students material review and interviews may include: organizational and study strategies, classroom work, tests & quizzes, formalized tests, and normed measures often used in testing batteries used to determine if a student has a disability. Assessment of therapy needs will also be conducted on an as-needed basis.
Individualized Learning Program
Meeting
Once assessment is complete, the director, appropriate PARC staff, classroom teachers, family members and student (when appropriate) will meet in the beginning of the school year to discuss the Individualized Learning Plan (ILP) and adjust the learning goals as necessary.
Instruction & Monitoring
The goal of PARC is to construct a developmental model that can be used and follow a child from Pre-K3 through Grade 12 across ability levels. This allows for greater differentiation within a classroom, and more seamless movement from one developmental goal to the next. PARC staff will conduct individual and small group skills lessons for PARC students on a regular basis as outlined in the individualized learning program. A focus on accommodations, direct skills instruction and learning growth evaluation for students who learn differently will be a cornerstone in the PARC.
Evaluation
Finally, all PARC services and instructional sessions will be coded and saved electronically. This way, learning growth can be monitored to allow for learning objectives, and goals can be changed, recalibrated and celebrated in real time as necessary. This system would also be used in ILP meetings at the beginning and end of the school year. In addition, statistical analysis will be conducted to monitor individual student's growth and to inform our instruction at PARC specifically and SIA in general.