District administrators gathered for a two-day retreat, August 1 and 2, to prepare for the 2018-19 school year.

The first day of the retreat began with team building exercises at NYA Sports & Fitness Center, and topics covered following the exercises included how to better utilize student assessment data.

At the August 2 meeting at Newtown Municipal Center, Dr Lois Lanning spoke to the group about concept-based curriculum. Dr Lanning, who lives in Hingham, Mass., is the author of Designing a Concept-Based Curriculum for English Language Arts: Meeting the Common Core With Intellectual Integrity, K–12.

During a break in her presentation on August 2, Dr Lanning explained she has been working with Newtown teachers over the last year to develop concept-based curriculum strategies to implement in schools.

As Dr Lanning shared her August 2 presentation at Newtown Municipal Center, district principals, lead teachers, and other administrators were seated at tables. Part of the presentation included watching an animated video explaining that concept-based curriculum focuses on instilling higher understanding and thinking skills.

“They are a great group that is obviously supportive and eager to help their teachers,” said Dr Lanning.

Dr Lanning added that complex change does not “happen overnight” and “if we stay the course, it is the students that will be better prepared for the complex world out there.”

The curriculum changes, she said, were based on cognitive research that looked at how people learn.

Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue and Reed Intermediate School Principal Anne Uberti ran a presentation on August 1 about student assessment data. Dr Rodrigue said August 2 that the district administrators feel they are “moving in the same direction, looking at conceptual frameworks” to support teaching and learning.