project clear

8/9/2019 Project CLEAR

1/4

--- .JPORT FROM THE SUPERINTENDENTfice of Superintendent of Schools NO ACTION REQUIREDard Meeting of September 17, 1998UBJECT: PROJECT CLEAR:IEVEMENT RESULTS CLARIFYING

LEARNING TO ENHANCE

ard policy 610.000 requires a well-balanced, challenging, districtwiderriculum that encompasses and goes beyond state requirements. The State ofxas has developed the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), whichorm the foundation for our objectives. The TEKS must be implemented in everyxas school district beginning in school year 1998-99. The changes in theKS required major revision of our curriculum objectives. However, even with.all-written, well-developed set of curriculum objectives, objectives are open tonterpretation. In order to clarify district expectations for student learning, a newol is needed.oject CLEARoject CLEAR-Clarifying Learning to Enhance Achievement Results-wasveloped to be an instructional planning tool for teachers. It clarifies in detailat is to be taught and assessed. It establishes uniform standards across thestrict by subject and grade. It thus clarifies the TEKS and the HISD Scope andquence. This enables teachers to focus their planning time and professionalnversations on how best to teach the knowledge and skills so that all studentsster the objectives.oject CLEAR not only provides detailed information on what is to be taught, itso indicates how it is to be assessed. It lists prerequisite knowledge for eachjective and indicates how one objective is linked to other objectives toinforce learning and build concepts. Instructional considerations are providedsupport teachers in their planning, but teachers determine the instructional

tivities and strategies best suited to enabling their students to reach thesired objectives.day's students need both traditional knowledge and skills and the knowledged skills that will prepare them for a rapidly changing, technological world.oject CLEAR ensures that the curriculum includes these components.achers and administrators have praised these new materials for their clarityd ease of use.

1 of 3


2/4

---- .Jntent Areasoject CLEAR is being developed in four academic content areas over a three-ar period. This school year, Project CLEAR materials are available for Englishd Spanish Language Arts Writing (K-8), mathematics (K-8), and science (6-8).is painstaking work requires over eight hours of development time perjective to ensure that concepts develop across grade levels, that TAAS andanfordjAprenda objectives are included, and that the content specified can beught within the time span of the school year. To our knowledge, no otherhool district has curriculum documents developed to this level of specificity.

July, lead teachers from each school were involved in five full days of staffvelopment held at Revere Middle School. These teachers explored theterials in depth. In turn, they will be presenting modules to their co-workersth support from their district offices, as needed. Language Arts Writingesentations are divided into four modules; mathematics has three modules;d science has two modules. Each school will determine how best to presente modules. Many are using grade-level meetings or vertical-team meetings. Aporting form will keep administrative-district staff members aware of school-vel plans and implementation of the specific modules.incipals had an overview of the materials in June and will have additional staffvelopment in September and throughout the school year. The district-officeaff has had two full days of inservice and will assist lead teachers. Otherntral-office departments including Special Education, Reading, andchnology have also attended inservice sessions.ring school year 1998-99, Project CLEAR materials will be revised throughput from teachers and administrators in focus-group meetings and from on-lined written comments sent to the Curriculum Department. Project CLEARcuments will be posted on-line, and a Web site will be established on the

98-99 Developmentring school year 1998-99, Project CLEAR materials will be developed for high-hool Language Arts Writing and for the TEKS strand of "Viewing andpresenting." This new strand is of great importance in an age where so muchformation comes to us through the media. We need districtwide understandingwhat must specifically be taught.

ge 2 of 3


3/4

J

ience for grades K-5 will be developed to provideementary science instruction districtwide. Socialntent specifications for each objective K-9. Thisnsensus-building throughout the district.

clear direction forstudies will concentrate onlevel of specificity will require

entually, all core curriculum courses will be clarified through Project CLEAR.en Project CLEAR is completed, every teacher, parent, and student will knowactly what learning is expected in our district. We have taken a very real steprward in ensuring equity of access to a high quality, challenging curriculum thatll prepare students for success.ge 3 of 3


4/4

---- J

uston Independent Schoolstrictwide Improvement

DistrictPlan, 1998-99ecutive Summary

e Houston Independent School District (HISD) is the largest school system in Texas and the sergest school system in America. HISD's annual budget is more than one billion dollars. We havudents and 290 schools spread out over more than 300 square miles. We operate a fleet of 1,40ses and transport 45,000 students to and from school every day. We have more than 30,000ployees, and we manage 23 million square feet of space at our various campuses.r student population is 52 percent Hispanic, 34 percent African-American, 11 percent white, arcent Asian and other minorities. Houston is a diverse, international city, and 60 differentoken in HISD, 14 at Piney Point Elementary School alone. Because we are a large urban schoolhave more special-education and limited-English-proficiency students than other districts inaddition, 65 percent of our students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches and are thus

onomically disadvantaged. But our economically disadvantaged students are not academicallysadvantaged. On the TAAS test they strongly outscore similar students in Fort Bend, Spring Brllas, Austin, and San Antonio, sometimes by nearly 13 percentage points.have done a lot to achieve the goals of a focus on teaching and learning, decentralization,

rformance rather than compliance, and a core curriculum for all students.We have decentralized the district, forming 13 administrative sub-districts to better ser

dividual communities.Parents can now decide where they want to send their children to school.We ended exemptions from the Texas Assessment of Academic SkillsWe ended "social promotion" and require students to earn advancement to higher grade leveWe have created project CLEAR (Clarifying Learning to Enhance Achievement Results) to hel

achers know what should be taught, plan how to teach it, and determine how well students havearned it.We have created a new program to get disruptive students out of the classroom.We have moved to hire private companies to repair and maintain our buildings and manage a

od-service operations.We are streamlining by decentralizing our facilities" maintenance operations and eliminat

ndreds of positions, including many high-level management jobs.We have established 31 parent centers where parents can meet, get information about

ucational activities, and interact with teachers.We have created tax reinvestment zones so we could build two new high schools to help sol

r student overcrowding problems on the east and west sides of town.other of HISD's initiatives to make the district a leaner, more efficient, even better schoolw Beginning," a five-point blueprint for HISD's future based on accountability, best efforts,chool competition, decentralization, and expanded parental and communitynvolvement. These efforts are helping HISD to increase efficiency and student achievement, trastrict's progress, reward employees for excellence and creativity, assist schools in their imfforts, give schools greater control over matters that affect them, and enlist parents and thehe education of Houston's children.

the classroom level, HISD is leading the nation in the campaign to teach children to read asssible. The district is determined that Houston's children learn to read on grade level by tho they can read to learn for the rest of their lives.he Reading Initiative and the companion Mathematics Initiative are major components of HISD'scademic excellence. Our students are learning better than ever, and in many of our schools the

project clear

Documents