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The annual DoDDS Pacific Principals' Conference, scheduled for
November 17-22, 2003, at the New Sanno Hotel in Tokyo, Japan,
will focus on success for all students. The conference will
address initiatives that are being implemented under the
2001-2006 Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA)
Community Strategic Plan. The theme of the conference is
Different Students—Different Starting Points: Differentiated
Instruction in a Standards-based School, and will provide
guidance for administrators on how to lead schools in using
research-based best practices to implement the system’s
initiatives. The conference capitalizes on the DoDEA vision, “Communities
Investing in Success for ALL Students,” and the President’s
national education agenda to “leave no child behind.”
Effective instructional leadership is the underpinning for sessions
in understanding assessments, promoting reading comprehension,
and supporting improved mathematics education in the school.
Dennis Ward, Mathematics Curriculum and Instruction Support Specialist
for DoDDS Pacific, stated, “This year, the new DoDEA theme
is Math Matters, which coincides with the President’s education
agenda and initiative in mathematics. The conference sessions
on mathematics will give principals the opportunity to learn
how to observe and evaluate a mathematics classroom and will
strengthen their understanding of how to support the National
Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) standards and guiding
principles--equity, curriculum, teaching and learning, assessment,
and technology.”
At the February 3, 2003 Mathematics Summit, Secretary Paige remarked, “Too
many of America’s young people are not literate in mathematics
and science. Too many are graduating from high schools without
the skills or the knowledge to take their place in the fields
of mathematics, engineering, and science—all critical to
maintaining American’s leadership in the world.” Dr.
Peggy Bullion, Chief, Education Division, DoDDS Pacific, stated: “In
order to meet the goals of the DoDEA Community Strategic Plan,
our system must offer challenging standards and courses of rigor.
To help students reach high levels of achievement and succeed
in their courses, DoDDS Pacific has been offering support classes
in literacy and mathematics. This year, every high school is
offering an elective Geometry lab class, specifically for students
enrolled in Geometry whose test scores reveal that such support
would enhance their success levels. Last year, DoDDS Pacific
implemented a similar lab course for students needing help in
Algebra I.”
New more rigorous mathematics requirements will be in effect
for the graduating class of 2008. These graduates will need to
complete Algebra I, Geometry, and a third higher level mathematics
course--to be determined. This is in response to the belief that
standards-based schools and rigorous coursework will provide
students with the needed foundation to compete for and succeed
in technically-oriented careers. As stated by William Schmidt,
Michigan State University, “recent results from the Third
International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) show that
US eight and twelfth graders do not do well by international
standards—ranking below average in both grade and , in
fact, near the bottom of the international ranking on a mathematics
literacy test at the end of high school.”
Ward added, “Right now we are looking at best practices
and ways to improve mathematics education. This is year one of
the DoDEA six-year curriculum development cycle, where we look
at our standardized test results, performance assessment results
and other measures which will help us in reviewing mathematics
materials and correlating those materials with our curriculum
standards.”
The conference will also focus on how standards-based instruction connects to
the DoDEA Community Strategic Plan, school improvement, and the curriculum development
cycle. The end result of DoDDS Pacific emphasis on mathematics is to lay the
foundation for students to develop into competent, literate adults.
This year, during their classroom visits, administrators will be observing, analyzing,
and giving feedback to teachers related to standards-based curriculum and instruction,
and the conference is intended to provide them with knowledge and tools for leading
learning and instituting research-based best practices within their schools.
Administrators and guests will hear welcome addresses from COL Edward Patrick,
USPACOM./J1, BrigGen Timothy R. Larsen, Deputy Commander, United States Forces,
Japan; and Dr. Joseph Tafoya, DoDEA Director, will deliver a message.
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