1. Freedom Intermediate School
Honors Parent Orientation

2. Honors Program Vision
The vision of the Honors program is to empower students to acquire academic skills necessary for success in Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

3. HOW??? Accelerated Classes Challenging Materials Emphasis on Rigor
Higher Order Thinking Skills
Compacting Material
Coaching Student Responsibility
Allow/Learn from Failures

4. Honors Qualification
Meet qualifying cut scores on Explore Test for your grade level.

5. Explore Test 8th Grade Level Test
A predictor of future success on ACT & AP
Performance Standards aligned with College Readiness Standards

6. Assessment Swim… Who can swim across the POOL?
TCAP Proficient (on target)
Who can swim across the POND?
TCAP Advanced (above target)
Who can swim across the RIVER?
EXPLORE/PLAN/ACT (college/AP ready)
Who can swim across the OCEAN?
AP Exam - College Success!

7. Honors Qualification
Explore cut scores : 5th grade 6th grade
Lang. Arts*:
Reading*:
Math:
Science:
*Social Studies: Qualify in Lang. Arts and Reading
RLA is tested as one class and student must qualify for both
May qualify in one or more subjects

8. Student Characteristics
Demonstrates an ongoing ability to actively participate in class and punctually complete advanced level assignments
Thrives upon learning beyond the basic element of a concept
Has sufficient organizational skill to sustain the rigorous pace of course work

9.
32.4 percent of U.S. high school graduates in the class of 2012 took an AP Exam at some point in high school.
Among the class of 2012, 19.5 percent of U.S. public high school graduates scored a 3 or higher on an AP Exam during high school.

10. Honors Criteria A student does not need to re-qualify each year
Once a participant - always participant if:
Maintain a “C” in all Honors Classes, and…
Continue quality work ethic
Parents will be asked to sign a commitment form each year
Must re-qualify if a student drops Honors
See complete Honors Guidelines on school website

11. New In 2013-14 Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Tncore.org
Full Implementation in Math
Partial Implementation in English/Language Arts
Tncore.org

12. Literacy for social studies, math, and science
We will begin state-wide implementation of 3-8 math standards this coming school year
Grades K-2
Math and ELA
Grades 3-8
Math (partial)
Math and
ELA (partial)
Grades 9-12
Grades 6-12
Literacy for social studies, math, and science

13. TCAP
We will remove 15-25% of SPIs that are not reflected in
Common Core State Standards from the TCAP NEXT year.
The specific list of SPI’s will be shared on May 1.
We will narrow the focus of the TCAP and expand use of Constructed Response Assessments
Constructed Response
We will expand the constructed response assessment for all grades 3-8, focused on the TNCore focus standards for math.
PARCC
NAEP
NAEP

14. Tennessee’s Competitiveness
Our transition to Common Core Standards is central to strengthening Tennessee’s competitiveness
Tennessee’s Competitiveness
Only 21% of adults in TN have a college degree
TN ranks 46th in 4th grade math and 41st in 4th grade reading nationally
54% of new jobs will require post-secondary education
Only 15% of high school seniors in TN are college ready
Source: “Projections of Jobs and Education Requirements Through 2018” (The Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce), 2011 NCES NAEP data, ACT

15. The Common Core State Standards represent six key instructional shifts
ELA:
Building knowledge through content-rich nonfiction and informational texts
Reading and writing grounded in evidence from text
Regular practice with complex text and its academic vocabulary
MATH:
Focus strongly where the Standards focus
Coherence: think across grades, and link to major topics within grades
Rigor: require conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application with intensity.
(SAY) The Common Core transition requires six instructional shifts, three in English/Language Arts and three in mathematics.
The focus standards in each subject area are shown here, and we would like to direct you to information about the instructional shifts in your packet. In ELA, we will shift toward more non-fiction and informational texts, to reading and writing grounded in evidence from the text, and to regular practice with complex text and academic vocabulary. In math, the three shifts are: focus, coherence, and rigor.
Though the focus of our training is 3-8 math, as this is the portion of the standards we will be adopting this school year, we believe that it is important for you all as school leaders to be well versed in the instructional shifts overall. The shifts in each area demand changes across the curriculum, and part of this transition will be working on specific pieces of implementation (like the focus standards we are implementing this year), while maintaining a concept of the larger direction and intent of common core. These six instructional shifts are positioned at the center of our implementation of common core.

16. What does this mean for my student?
High standards in ALL classes for ALL students
Students expected to perform at higher levels of THINKING
Students will be expected to reason, explain, and give evidence
How we assist students as they struggle will be different

17. FSSD 5th-8th Grade Honors path…

20. Candidate for 7th Grade Foreign Language
5th Grade Honors RLA
6th Grade Honors RLA
7th Grade Honors RLA
Candidate for 7th Grade Foreign Language
8th Grade Honors RLA

21. Honors is NOT….. …a program for giftedness
…for those who do not want to make a B
…easy
…a social club
…a group of students that are “smarter” than everyone else
…a requirement for those who qualify
…an automatic course placement (i.e. 7th grade Algebra)

22. Honors is…..
An excellent opportunity for students to be challenged and pushed to reach full potential for growth in future AP success.

23. Freedom Intermediate School
Please be sure to submit your signed Honors Parent Commitment Form.
Questions…????