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Welcome to

Centennial Lane Elementary School

Back to School Night

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VISION: Every student and staff member embraces diversity and possesses the skills, knowledge and confidence to positively influence the larger community.

VALUE

ACHIEVE

EMPOWER

CONNECT

MISSION: HCPSS ensures academic success and�social-emotional well-being for each student in an inclusive and nurturing environment that closes opportunity gaps.

More information: www.hcpss.org/scta

Superintendent Michael Martirano has established a bold Strategic Call to Action to guide our school system. “Learning and Leading with Equity” is a strategic plan for building an instructional program to enable every student to reach their greatest potential.

HCPSS is focusing our resources and priorities to make certain that every child graduates from high school and is prepared for the world of work and ready to enter college.

The Strategic Call to Action embodies four commitments to each student, staff member, parent, and community member:

We VALUE every stakeholder, whether student, employee, parent, or community member.
We commit to ACHIEVEMENT by supporting every person in our system - both students and staff - in reaching milestones for personal growth that are appropriate to their goals and strengths.
We CONNECT with students, parents and community members in ways that nurture and restore.
We EMPOWER schools, employees, families, and community members to actively support student achievement and well‐being.
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Mental Health and Student Supports

School Counselor: Kevin Gillespie

School Psychologist: Mary Nelepa

Pupil Personnel Worker: Betsy Fleming-Rice

More information: �www.hcpss.org/supports/mental-health-wellness

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School and System News and Information

Text

Email

School news, HCPSS News,

emergency notices

Urgent / emergency notices only

HCPSS website

www.hcpss.org

System-wide news and information resource

School website

cles.hcpss.org

School news, calendar, sports and clubs, staff directory; more

Parents receive news and announcements from our school and system via the HCPSS News service. Parents are automatically registered for this service. Email messages are delivered to the contact information that you provide in the Family File.

Parents receive via Email:

School newsletters & other communications
Major system-level announcements
HCPSS News weekly newsletter, providing news and upcoming events.
Emergency notifications (school closings/delays).

Text messages: Parents have the option to receive text messages. Texts are sent only for urgent/emergency announcements (school closings and delays, etc.)

New parents are sent a text message to opt-in for text alerts. If you didn’t receive this, visit www.hcpss.org/hcpss-news/ to troubleshoot.
Text alerts will be sent to the mobile phone number identified in Family File.
If you were opted-in to receive text messages last year, and your phone number has not changed, you do not need to opt-in again.

Our school website is a one-stop destination where you can quickly find:

School calendar, announcements and news
Student activities, sports, clubs
Services including school meals
Staff directory and email links
Quick Links to HCPSS Connect, system website, and other resources for students and parents

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Synergy Student

Information System

Canvas

Learning System

www.hcpss.org/connect

Family File

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Canvas: What to Expect

CANVAS

Course Homepage:

Overview

Student privacy information

Resources

Calendar dates/events

Announcements

Student skill building (grade appropriate)

Have Canvas Questions? Click the Orientation box�on the Canvas homepage to access Parent Guides

Canvas is HCPSS’s Learning Management System. In elementary school, teachers primarily use Canvas to share general course information and resources, send out announcements, and share calendar events. Your child’s classroom teacher may publish their individual ELA or Math courses, or they may work as a grade-level team and share information from the grade-level page. In upper-elementary grades, your child’s teacher may use more of Canvas’s other tools, such as online discussion boards, quizzes, and digital assignment submissions.

CANVAS EXPECTATIONS for teachers:

Each Canvas course will have the following:

Course homepage

Overview - Information about the course and teacher or about the grade-level team
Student privacy information - Information on homepage or grade level page regarding teachers’ use of recording devices and digital tools for school-related activities
Resources - Links to instructional tools or resources for families

Calendar dates - Share class/grade specific dates and events with families and students using the Canvas calendar
Announcements – Teachers will communicate timely information with students and families using announcements either through the teacher course or grade level course. By default, announcements will be sent to parent’s primary email in Family File

In addition, teachers will help students develop their Canvas and online learning skills with grade-appropriate activities.

Parents can learn more about how to use Canvas by going to the Canvas Orientation course (link at the top of the Canvas homepage). There, they can learn how to navigate Canvas and change their notification preferences.

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Boundary Review Process

Potentially impacting any HCPSS school

2020-2021 school year

Upcoming public input opportunities:

Online: through August 1
Board public hearings: September

Full information: �www.hcpss.org/school-planning/boundary-review

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Reporting

For each learning behavior…

1 - Meets expectations

2 - Making progress towards expectations

3 - Limited / no progress towards expectation

Elementary Report Card: Changes for 2019-20

Learning Behaviors

Student demonstrates…

Interpersonal skills
Responsibility
Perseverance
Collaboration
Initiative

Beginning this year, changes to Learning Behaviors will be made to your child’s report card to provide greater insights to parents/guardians.

Beginning this school year, you will notice a minor modification to the Learning Behaviors section of your child’s report card. Previously, the report card included 12 learning behaviors. On the 2019-2020 report card, closely related learning behaviors are combined into five major categories, to support parents and teachers in identifying the areas of focus. These will identify how the student is demonstrating:

Interpersonal Skills
Responsibility
Perseverance
Collaboration
Initiative

Teachers will report student performance on each learning behavior your child demonstrates in their class, based on developmentally and age-appropriate expectations and standards:

1 - Meets Expectations

2 - Making Progress Towards Expectations

3 - Limited / No Progress Towards Expectations

The revised reporting aligns with changes recently made to HCPSS Policy 8010: Grading and Reporting. On the HCPSS website at www.hcpss.org, you can find the indicators that identify the specific behaviors, actions, and expectations that align with each learning behavior.

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MCAP Assessments - Spring

Mathematics and English/Language Arts
Grades 3-5

MCAP (Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program) English Language Arts and Math is the name for the standardized reading, writing and mathematics assessments implemented in all Maryland schools. MCAP ELA and Math assessments are directly aligned to the MD College and Career Ready standards.

MCAP ELA and Math purposes:

Indicates how closely students, beginning in Grade 3, are on track to graduate college- and career-ready.
Gives teachers insights to guide instruction.
Provides data comparable across districts and states.

�Scoring:

The MCAP ELA and Math assessments are scored on a 5 point scale: 1-Did not yet meet expectations, 2-Partially met expectations, 3-Approached expectations, 4-Met Expectations, and 5-Exceeded expectations:

In grades 3-8, ratings of 4-5 indicate students are academically well-prepared to engage successfully in further study.
In high school courses, a 4-5 indicates students are on track to graduate prepared for colleges and careers. In future years, 4-5 will be used by in-state community colleges for placement in credit bearing courses.

Students will take MCAP ELA and Math assessments in the spring. Students will hand-carry the results home in the first few weeks of the following school year.

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Grades 1-2: fall, winter and spring
Grades 3-5: fall and winter
Mathematics and reading
Computer-adaptive
Year-to-year growth

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)

MAP (or Measures of Academic Progress) is an online test used in Grades 1-8.

MAP allows us to assess where a student is performing, and how they’ve grown in achievement. All HCPSS Elementary and Middle schools participate in MAP.

This school year, Grades 1-2 will take MAP in the fall and spring. Grades 3-5 will take MAP in fall and winter.

�MAP gives timely feedback on student progress that teachers use to adjust instruction effectively.

MAP provides many advantages:

Assesses proficiency in Math and Language usage in addition to Reading.
Computer-adaptive – i.e. the questions adapt in real-time to the student’s proficiency level. This appeals to students, because it isn’t a typical “mastery” test.
Provides quick, actionable feedback to teachers.
Directly aligned to Common Core standards.
Provides information on a student’s year to year growth.
Takes less time than the previous HCPSS quarterly assessments.

Students hand-carry results home a few weeks after the testing window ends.

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CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test)

Grades 3 & 5
Verbal, quantitative, and learned reasoning abilities
Informs GT placement decisions

CogAT (Cognitive Abilities Test) is used in grades 3 and 5 to make student placement decisions for Gifted & Talented (G/T) programs. CogAT measures students’ verbal, quantitative and nonverbal reasoning abilities: the three areas most closely related to success in school.

�We know that students who participate in our Gifted and Talented program are well-prepared for the rigorous opportunities that come later in high school and college. Our goal is to widen access to enriching learning opportunities for all students. CogAT is only one of many pieces of data that are looked by a school based committee to make placement decisions.

The CoGAT provides valuable data that is not measured by other tests. This data is used to identify students who would benefit from GT coursework, and by teachers to tailor instruction to meet student needs:

CogAT measures learned reasoning abilities. These include abilities developed through both in-school or out-of-school experiences. Each of the three subtest areas make use of multiple test formats. This increases both the fairness and the validity of the scores.
The verbal portion of the test measures flexibility, fluency, and adaptability in reasoning and solving verbal problems. These play an important role in reading comprehension, critical thinking, writing, and virtually all verbal learning tasks.
The quantitative portion measures quantitative reasoning skills that are significantly related to problem solving in mathematics and other disciplines.
The nonverbal portion measures a student’s ability to invent and implement strategies for solving novel problems.

Results are mailed home with placement recommendations in the spring.

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Maryland Integrated Science Assessment (MISA)

Grade 5
Aligned to HCPSS science curriculum and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)

More information: �Search for “NGSS” on www.hcpss.org

MISA (Maryland Integrated Science Assessment) is the standardized science assessment, developed and implemented by the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE).

MISA is an online test and, like our science curriculum, is aligned to the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). MISA covers all science disciplines: Earth/Space science, Life Science, Physical Science, and Engineering.

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are critical for all students, beginning as early as prekindergarten. The NGSS provide consistency in science instruction while connecting tightly with mathematics and English Language Arts.

Students cannot simply read about science in order to learn science – they must do science. In an NGSS science classroom, students operate as student scientists under the skillful facilitation of their teacher. Participation in science enables students to apply their mathematics learning, and to read and communicate using evidence.

�Our goal is to ensure students are scientifically literate, rather than teaching them to pass a standardized test. Thus, the MISA test is not aligned to any unit of study or specific content to memorize.

�For elementary students, MISA will take place in 5^th grade. Students will take MISA again in 8th grade, and then in High School.

You can find more information about the HCPSS science curriculum and the Next Generation Science Standards on our website: search for “NGSS” on www.hcpss.org.

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Interactive School Menus

Food descriptions
Nutrition and allergens
Carb counts
Pre-payment links
Menus
Breakfast and lunch

http://hcpss.nutrislice.com

HCPSS Mobile App

free iPhone or IOS app

HCPSS offers online school menus through a website and mobile app by Nutrislice.

The interactive menus provide access to up-to-the-minute content anytime, anywhere.

The innovative school menu site features nutrition and allergen information for all Howard County school meal items, both breakfast and lunch, and includes:

Carb counts
Allergen filters
Food descriptions and photos
Menu item rating system
Links to MySchoolBucks pre-payment options
Monthly menu email subscription sign-up
And more

Menus are available in several languages: English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, and French.

Options for using the interactive menus:

Online: hcpss.nutrislice.com
Download the free app, “School Lunch by Nutrislice,” in the Google Play or App stores.
Select the “Menus” icon on the HCPSS mobile app

Pick up the “Food and Nutrition Services” handout for more information about school meals, our Point of Sale system, and more.

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Qualifying families can receive free or reduced-cost:

School meals
Health insurance
HCC tuition
SAT, ACT and AP exam fees
Camps, sports, child care
Many other benefits

Learn more and apply: www.hcpss.org/farms

Free and Reduced-Price Meals (FARMs)

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On Canvas via �HCPSS Connect

Curriculum content overview for each

Grade (PreK – 5)
Subject area

What Your Child Will Learn Guides

www.hcpss.org/connect

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