This session will focus on how our district successfully implemented standards-based rubrics to drive both writing and comprehension instruction with greater intentionality and rigor. Rather than treating writing as a standalone subject, we embedded purposeful writing tasks throughout the day to align with ELA comprehension standards—ensuring students engage daily in writing that reflects the depth of knowledge required by the standards. Our instructional shift focused on improving our Teacher Clarity by creating and utilizing rubrics that are directly aligned to the language and expectations of each ELA standard. These rubrics serve as both teaching tools (success criteria) and progress monitors, guiding instruction and helping students clearly understand what proficiency looks like. Teachers have utilized the rubrics to design writing tasks that are aligned to our current curriculum that ask students to recount, summarize, analyze, and compare texts—making writing an essential component of how comprehension is taught and assessed. Participants in this session will leave with practical tools, sample rubrics and benchmark assessments, and implementation steps for adopting a similar approach in their own districts or buildings. This includes: ●Developing standards-based rubrics for comprehension and writing ●Embedding writing tasks into daily ELA instruction ●Aligning instruction to the depth of knowledge required by the standard ●Supporting teacher clarity and student ownership of learning Whether you are leading a building-wide initiative or starting with a single team, this session will offer actionable strategies to increase rigor, promote consistency, and help students write with clarity and purpose.
The USD 241 district leadership team will present how we strategically designed and implemented a comprehensive, system-wide Reading MTSS framework across K-12. We will share how we adopted and implemented a new, evidence-based reading curriculum, refined our data practices to drive more precise and responsive instruction compared to previous years, and introduced a building-wide vocabulary initiative at the secondary level to enhance academic language development. Additionally, we will outline how we structured WIN (What I Need) time across all grade levels to provide targeted intervention and enrichment opportunities, ensuring every student's needs are met within the MTSS framework.
Join us for an engaging session designed to increase your knowledge about our process for building an effective secondary schools MTSS model from the ground up. In addition to sharing tips and tools, we will explore scheduling, intervention programs, and building-wide strategies that have a positive impact for all students.
