{Mr. Bradford Thompson}
Where We've Been and Where We're Going
Killingly educators are committed to offering a rigorous and relevant learning environment to all students and, at the same time, are passionate about reducing what's commonly known as “the achievement gap.” Administrators and teachers can take great pride in their continuous efforts to establish effective professional learning communities – a quest that began in Killingly in 2003. Our teachers, from Pre-K to grade 12, meet regularly and collaboratively to identify essential and valued student outcomes, develop common formative assessments, analyze performance results, set on-going achievement goals, share instructional strategies, and create lessons to improve upon those results. The focus of their decisions have been, and will continue to be, on what to teach, how to teach it, how to meet individual student needs, and how to be confident that the strategies they employ are indeed working. Administrators and teachers alike have been relentless in their efforts to find ways to provide expanded opportunities for all students to meet identified standards. They have fervently endorsed the “fair is not always equal” mantra as they have creatively designed tiered systems of intervention to provide timely support for struggling students.
A new curriculum design format has been created by the district's Curriculum Council and will play an important role in curriculum revision. The new format parallels the Connecticut State Curriculum Frameworks and promotes the teaching of Big Ideas through essential questions and the assessment of clearly defined grade-level expectations through common performance assessments. And, speaking of assessments, the primary purpose of assessment in Killingly is currently being redirected from an assessment of learning to an assessment for learning - one that emphasizes the improvement of student achievement and the enhancement of teaching practices. Thus, frequent common assessments are fast becoming the vehicle for gathering timely evidence for both classroom and building-level decision-making.
As the percentage of proficient students needed to determine adequate yearly progress on the CMT and CAPT continues to rise, staff must be ever-conscious of the need to challenge all students with high academic standards. And, to continue to provide an inviting and engaging academic experience for all students at all grade-levels, teachers must be attentive to the need to enhance relevance both in the delivery of instruction and in the design of assessments. Thus, in the foreseeable future, there will be continued efforts to address the Board of Education's goals of increasing rigor and relevance.
Many thanks to Killingly's dedicated staff for their hard work and tireless commitment.
Refer inquiries to:
Bradford W. Thompson
Assistant Superintendent
