Instruction

The Maryland College and Career Ready Standards are an essential part to ensuring students continue to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century. Every class will be implementing these standards as applicable. Appropriate modifications in pacing, instructional delivery, and assessment may be necessary when addressing interrupted instruction and made under the guidance of the Director of Curriculum and Instruction.

Career and Technology Education shall resume all courses, including those previously not offered during the 2019-2020 school year because these courses could not be modified for online learning platforms. All courses will follow respective Maryland State Department of Education standards including Technology Education and Maryland State Fine Arts Standards.

Physical Education is also being taught at all grade levels and in alignment with Maryland’s Physical Education Standards.

Middle school and high school American Sign Language classes will also be offered to satisfy the foreign language requirement.

All courses requiring hands-on components will follow all school health and safety protocols to mitigate the risk of transmitting COVID-19.

— ADDRESSING INTERRUPTED INSTRUCTION

As MSD was engaged in online learning from April 2020 to February 2021, and provided online and hybrid learning options from February 2021 to June 2021, all of MSD’s students experienced interrupted instruction during the fourth quarter of the 2019-2020 school year and the entire 2020-2021 school year.

In order to address interrupted instruction, MSD shall have tutoring support available through our after school and student life programs, increase intervention in the classroom and throughout the day for students who demonstrate learning gaps which negatively impacts their educational performance, and focus on learning acceleration through grade-level instruction and just-in-time instruction.

MSD has thus far taken the following steps:

Conducted a teacher-reported audit of topics and standards that were not sufficiently covered during the 2020-2021 school year
Provided summer learning guidance and opportunities to families
Provided a robust ESY summer program
Begun compensatory education and services determinations
Hired curriculum specialists for English Language Arts/Social Studies and Math/Science, and a Special Needs Coordinator
Included seminar courses in the middle school and high school schedule to support students who are struggling in English Language Arts and Mathematics
Increased the amount of instruction in Science and Social Studies that students in elementary school receive on a daily basis
Adopted ARC Core for students in Grades 3 to 5
Adopted new curricula for English Language Arts/English, Mathematics, and Science
Trained teachers to implement and pilot the Children Explore Their World curriculum for three-year-olds
Provided in-service training to teachers on best practices for addressing interrupted instruction and classroom-based interventions
Provided in-service training to Residential Child and Youth Care Practitioners (RCYCPs) and after school program staff on effective tutoring practices
Enhanced service and classroom aide inservice on effective academic support strategies

— IDENTIFICATION OF LEARNING GAPS AND RECOVERY EDUCATION PLANNING

The following assessments will be used for data collection to identify learning gaps:

ASSESSMENT	STUDENT GROUP
Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA)	Kindergarten
Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)	Grade 2-12
ARC Core Reading Level Assessment	Kindergarten-Grade 5
Classroom-Based Just-in Time Pre-Assessments	All students on an ongoing basis

Teachers will use the above assessment results to plan instruction for students. All courses will be taught using on-grade level standards, utilizing pre-teaching and just-in-time instruction to address student learning gaps from the extended school closure. Intervention time has been built into the middle school and high school schedules.