2018 Utah Rural Schools Conference

Share what's happening in Assessment and Accountability at USBE

Just because all kinds of interesting technology is being discovered and released, that doesn't change what good instruction looks like. Through a discussion of ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) standards and several technology implementation frameworks (SAMR, TPACK, and Triple E), we will consider how pedagogy and technology need to work together to achieve meaningful and effective results in learning.

As an educator, do you consider yourself a data collector or a data user? Many of us fall into the category of data collectors, but how many are actually using data to impact student learning in an immediate and meaningful way? Come see how teachers and administrators collect and use data in MasteryConnect with proven results of student growth. Whether you are a teacher, principal, or district administrator, MasteryConnect is accessible and easy to use and contains both free and premium features.

Movement and play is an essential piece of learning. The human brain cannot sustain long term sitting and listening without a movement break. Our workshop will give you tips, ideas, and strategies to incorporate movement into every lesson, thereby insuring student engagement throughout your lesson.

A closer look at the 2017 NAEP results. An overview of the NAEP Data Explorer and digging deeper into gaps, state comparisons, and growth over time.

Early childhood matters most because it is the most impact you can possibly have on a child’s academic future and success in life. Utah is leading the way in supporting children during these critical years. This is especially true in the programs being offered in rural settings such as the UPSTART program and the Early Intervention Software Program (EISP). These programs ensuring that every child, especially those in rural settings, have every advantage to be school ready, literate and able to engage in the opportunities our schools offer to them. Every $1 spent on a child in early education yields a $17 annual “return on investment.” It is time for a national Call to Action to ensure that ALL students can excel in our education system.

Movement and play is an essential piece of learning. The human brain cannot sustain long term sitting and listening without a movement break. Our workshop will give you tips, ideas, and strategies to incorporate movement into every lesson, thereby insuring student engagement throughout your lesson.

Everyone has heard about the most famous number in the world, Pi. Come learn why Pi is so important, how it got its name, and how we determine what Pi equals. This session will be instructive to mathematics teachers of all grades as well anyone else who would like to learn more about this mysterious number.

Looking at 2017 Utah student results for NAEP in mathematics and reading with a comparison to SAGE results in both 4th and 8th grade, as well as a National comparison.

Canvas in Elementary, Mastery Paths

This session will provide an overview of the MTSS for Mathematics Framework. We will learn how task based learning supports high-quality instruction. Participants will engage in a task and discuss strategies around task implementation and how it leads to high-quality instruction. Come see how and why tasks provide students with a deeper understanding of standards. 

Rod Hinck & Matt Rhees will discuss how North Sevier Middle School uses SAGE strand scores in selecting students for 1 quarter of targeted intervention in both language arts and math. This session will give step-by-step instructions of how students are selected and how they are chosen based on their own individual weaknesses. They will also present results from this last year.

Screencastify will allow you to make short learning videos that can be posted on websites. This program will allow you to share you screen and video important information you wish to share with your students.

Carbon County Mining Ghost Towns: A microcosm of early 20th Century immigration in our backyard. This workshop is mainly for social studies teachers however teachers of other disciplines might also enjoy this presentation. This session will introduce educators to the mining towns of Carbon County and their settlement by immigrants. We will discuss the coal mine disasters, racism against immigrants, the role of the Ku Klux Klan, and the changing politics of early 20th Century immigration. This will be particularly relevant considering that next year's URSA Convention will be held in Price, UT.

Canvas in Elementary, Mastery Paths

Have you ever wondered why some math concepts seem more difficult for students to grasp than others, or perhaps why students seem to have a great depth of background knowledge with some topics and not so much with others? The Utah Core Standards in mathematics were developed from documents describing the progressions of topics across a number of grade levels, informed both by research on children's cognitive development and by the logical structure of mathematics. Come learn how to use the progressions of elementary math content standards to intentionally activate background knowledge, focus on the essence intended in core standards, and prepare students with the foundation they need to access the next grade level’s content. You will learn why some topics have such a major focus in particular grade levels and how some standards have subtle details intended to build a foundation for future learning. You will acquire resources to find the answers to essential planning questions such as: What background knowledge should students come in with from the previous grade level? What emphasis should be placed on given topics within my grade level? How do I prepare students for where they are going next in their journey of mathematical learning? Emphasis will be on fractions in this section.

Links for Resources on Progressions:
Focus by Grade: http://achievethecore.org/category/774/mathematics-focus-by-grade-level
Coherence Map: http://achievethecore.org/coherence-map/
Progressions Documents: http://ime.math.arizona.edu/progressions/
Utah Core Guides: https://schools.utah.gov/curr/mathematics