Approve Agreement for Technical Services with Chris Lewis for Middle School Writing - $16,800 (Curriculum and Instruction Division)

Middle school students need additional support in writing. An Agreement for Technical Services has been developed with Chris Lewis, to plan and deliver writing lessons for teachers and students at Davidsen, Dowdell, Eisenhower, Franklin, Jennings, Pierce, Shields, Sligh, and Webb Middle Schools beginning October 16, 2006, through February 6, 2007.

For the past five years, Hillsborough County eighth grade student writing scores have ranked first in the state. Chris Lewis, a retired Language Arts teacher, is a specialist within the writing arena who has provided his services to Hillsborough County since 2004. Through his extensive work with the Florida Writes rubric, he has developed effective instructional practices to raise FCAT writing scores and he specializes in helping low-level students.

Instruction in higher level elaboration will be provided to teachers and students. The consultant will implement the + part of writing for teachers and students, with a goal of a 5% increase in the number of students scoring a 4.0 or above on the state writing test. Mr. Lewis’ responsibilities will include:

1. Assess weaknesses of student papers prior to site visit;
2. Use sample writing papers to plan instruction;
3. Teach in the classroom at each site for three days;
4. Model how to assess and plan instruction for teachers at the 9 middle school sites, and
5. Train teachers and work with students on FCAT writing strategies. The strategies are based on the sunshine standards, district benchmarks, and middle school grade expectations.

Goal 4 - The percentage of students achieving a score of 4.0 or higher on FCAT Writing will increase a minimum of 5 percentage points.
Goal 5 - The District will eliminate the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) achievement gap by a minimum of 10 percentage points as reported by No Child Left Behind.

Funds of $16,800 are available through the general operating budget for Middle School Education, Project 6153.