Six half-day late starts coming this school year in Federal Way
Published 3:15 pm Thursday, August 13, 2015
As part of Federal Way Public Schools’ continuing effort to increase student achievement, the board of directors in May approved six half-day late starts for the 2015-2016 school year.
The six days scheduled for Sept. 30 and Oct. 28 of this year and for Feb. 24, March 30, April 27 and May 25 of next year, will allow for three-and-a-half hours of time for teachers to collaborate together with a focus on student data and formalizing ways to help students learn better. These teacher teams are called Professional Learning Communities.
“Professional Learning Communities work when teachers come together with a focus on student learning,” said Dani Pfeiffer, chief academic officer for Federal Way Public Schools. “Professional Learning Communities work together and share best practices as they unpack Common Core Learning Standards and instructional strategies. They discuss strategies in order to positively impact student achievement. They make informed next steps for the instruction, and do so as grade level teams.”
A grade level team consists of three-to-five teachers. A team at the high school level could encompass an entire subject and within that team there could be smaller subsets, Pfeiffer said. For example, within the math team there could likely be subset teams for pre-algebra, geometry and pre-calculus.
District-wide there was a huge launch on the Professional Learning Communities concept on July 29-30. Pfeiffer said approximately 350 principals and teachers attended to grow their capacity of knowledge on what high-performing learning communities look and sound like.
The six half-day late starts will increase the number of student school days by two, up from 173 to 175. According to school district administrators, bus schedules will be adjusted for those six days and lunch will still be served on those days.
To view a revised school calendar and bell times for the 2015-2016 school year, visit www.fwps.org.
