Learning Record Policy and Procedure
REVISED 05/2012

Learning Record Policy:
Parents/Students and education specialists meet face to face at least once every 20 school days* to review and document the learning that occurs in each growth area. (If the student must be absent from the meeting due to an unavoidable time conflict, this would be acceptable but is considered the exception rather than the rule). The ES then has 5 school days* in which to write the learning records in FRED (it will show up as late on the 6th school attendance day). For example, if the ES met with a family on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving vacation, then the ES has until Friday of the next week to get the LR submitted. *(Please refer to the school calendar).

Learning Record Contents:
Use the Learning Record Checklist, and read this “Learning Record Policy and Procedure” Document.
All LRs must contain the following elements:

● LR templates have been created for each LR growth area; copy and paste the template as needed into the growth area documentation sections of the learning record beginning with the first LR of the year so that the information can be organized and consistent from month to month. Learning Record Templates More info in “preparing the LR” below.

● Working Grade Level: The working grade level must be chosen for each growth area, with standards selected from that level.

● Course names: for all students earning HS credits and title of text for a-g courses. (Course names automatically entered when courses are selected for a report card, but text info must be entered by ES.

● Descriptions of the major objectives (content) and activities: This may be accomplished by marking the appropriate standards. If content standards are not addressed during the learning period, the objective (content) and activities must be written out.

● Methods of assessment or evaluation must be recorded in the text section of the LRs.  This is rarely contained in any standards statement, therefore must be written in each section each learning period. Be sure to use the word "assessed" or "evaluated" for this section, or use the template provided.

● PLIPs: All Learning Records for students who have Personalized Learning Improvement Plans as described in the CW Curriculum Policy, must use the word "PLIP" by the activities in any learning area where the student is required to participate in a PLIP. (This is accomplished through the use of the templates.)

● HQTs: All Learning Records must also include the means of meeting the ESEA/NCLB HQT requirements. See HQT Learning Record Documentation for details. The HQT notations should be included in all core growth areas on each learning record: English, Math, Social Science, Science, VPA and Foreign Language for all students taking HQ dept. or High School level courses. This should occur automatically when the selections are made on the HS report card.

Learning Record Procedure:
Determine the Assignment Period
When the ES meets with the parent and student to sign the Student Agreement, there must be an agreement about the time and frequency of the regular meetings. The time indicated on the student agreement is the clock time and day that the actual assessment of the work occurs. Example: Tuesday, 10 am. The frequency agreed upon defines how often this assessment occurs. Example: Once a week, once a month, etc. For some families, meeting once a month is adequate. AESS (Additional ES Services) students require more frequent meetings: weekly or twice a month. The assignment period is the agreed upon time and frequency of the regular assessment meetings between the ES and the student/parent. It is the responsibility of the Education Specialist (ES) in conjunction with the parent (as determined by the agreements the parent signed) to regularly document the learning of each student.

Scheduling Learning Record Meetings
It is necessary for a full-time ES to spread their learning record duties throughout the month by scheduling their meetings in such a way that they meet with a portion of their families each week rather than attempting to meet with all of them at once. In order to accomplish this, the ES must schedule meetings with a portion of their families at the beginning of the year just one week after school has started. It will be a proportionately short learning record for that first week, of course. Another group of families can be met on the second week, and another on the third and fourth, thus establishing a pattern for the rest of the year; meeting each family subsequently 19-20 days thereafter (unless AESS). This will spread the workload out over the month so that any deadlines become more manageable, and the 5 day span required for completing the learning record, is reasonable. Be sure you are not scheduling more than 6 to 8 LR meetings on any one day (except for the last day of school). Remember that each meeting with a student must last a minimum of 1 hour, and according to CDE guidelines, an independent study charter school teacher works 6 hours a day. To prove our accountability to an auditor, therefore, you cannot possibly be meeting with more than that number of students in one day.  It is also almost impossible to keep up with the job if you are not spreading your LR meetings out over the month. Talk to your advisor if you need scheduling help.
Scheduling example: If an ES has 25 students, they should plan to meet about 7 of them a week so that their work load is spread out evenly throughout the month. A good weekly schedule might be:

● Monday: Meet with 4 students

● Tuesday: Complete their LRs, submit any POs, get rollsheets ready for mailing at end of week

● Wednesday: Meet with 3 students

● Thursday: Complete their LRs, submit any POs, get rollsheets ready for mailing at end of week

● Friday: Complete all paperwork for the week, copy and mail, submit vendor approvals, call any vendors, follow up on PO requests, input CP set-ups, complete any research, read agendas/prepare for ES meetings, prepare for the next week.

Meet Face-to-Face with the Parent/Student
The first option for learning record meetings is to go to the parent’s home. Meeting at a public place is used only when it is by mutual agreement between the ES and the parent, when the home is not a safe place to meet or when the ES has agreed to take the family because they were not in their zip code area but meet them at a mutually agreed upon location.
The following activities must occur during the face-to-face meeting:

● assessment of the student's work product to verify that the student has made adequate and appropriate progress toward the attainment of the student standards

● provide educational support and counsel to the parent

● pick up of the hard copy attendance roll sheet which the parent kept for that learning period, and provide them with one for the next period.

● arrange the next two appointment dates and locations with the parent.

● assign work if AESS

● pick up portfolio samples

During the face-to-face meeting, it is expected that each ES will view work completed that learning period, and interview the students to ascertain/verify the learning for that period. This can be accomplished by viewing the work and interviewing the student on what they did/learned in each subject.

Assessment of Work Product
It is the responsibility of the ES to:

● Evaluate the work product of the student in order to determine if adequate and appropriate progress toward the charter school objectives (the student standards listed in the school charter and the California state standards) has been made during that assignment period. This assessment occurs when the ES meets face-to-face with the parent/student at the end of each assignment period. During this regular, required meeting, the ES will read examples of the student's work, listen to the student's explanation of a concept learned, watch while a student demonstrates an activity, taste a sample of a baking assignment, etc. Writing how the learning is assessed is part of the learning record.

● Assess the student's progress and to prepare the learning records. Parents are NOT REQUIRED to keep lesson plans, take notes or write learning records. Parents can choose to keep notes or a journal if they wish. Parent notes can be written by hand or sent to the ES electronically via e-mail. If the parent does document their observations of the child's learning, that documentation can be used as the basis of the learning record along with the ESs own observations. Even with parent documentation, the ES is still required to meet face-to-face with the parent/student in order to assess the work product. ESes are encouraged to give parents copies of the content standards, either printouts or electronically by email or Google Docs, so parents can, if they wish, mark the standards covered each learning period. If a parent does not mark these, then the ES must do it together with the parent during the LR meeting.

● Determine which growth areas learning fits in. It would be prudent to discuss the placement of learning in various growth areas and the standards with a concerned parent. Often, such a discussion helps the parent to "see" educational value in activities they had not before considered educational. This enables parents to maximize this Charter School's educational possibilities for their child. Learning may not have occurred in every growth area. This happens often with elementary age students who do not always learn content which would fit under "political" growth area. And it happens with high school students who may be concentrating in a specific growth area to meet graduation requirements or have complete the graduation requirements in an area.   If a student has not worked in a specific growth area that month, and alternatively put more emphasis in a different growth area, state this in the LR. For example, if a student concentrated more on their English during a learning period instead of working on their science, one would state in the math portion of the LR: “No new learning in math this learning period, extra emphasis placed on English”.

Educational Support and Counsel
These regular meetings provide an opportunity for the parent to ask questions and for the Education Specialist to share different teaching strategies, suggest activities and resources with educational value, offer support and encouragement, or identify appropriate work samples to be included in the student's semester portfolio. The time spent with the parent during the face-to-face meeting is an opportunity to help parents and students.
The ES must become skillful in "interviewing" the parent and student in order to find all learning which occurred. The technique of interviewing is a balance between questioning and careful listening. Every student is an individual. Each student learns in different ways and at varying ability levels. All students in charter schools are required to achieve at least as much learning as would be required in the regular schools in California. Keep in mind that there is no requirement that charter school students learn in exactly the same way as students in traditional public schools. The Charter School gives parents the opportunity to allow their child to learn in ways that are not typical in regular public schools, thus we can meet the needs of students on an individual basis.
The ES verifies that learning has occurred, so it is the responsibility of the ES to learn the various ways learning can take place. There are many philosophies of education and styles of teaching. Again, it is the responsibility of the ES to learn what these philosophies and styles are, and how to recognize the learning that has taken place. Much of this information will show itself during the monthly interview for the learning record if the ES asks the right questions, listens carefully to the parent/student and recognizes the various ways learning occurs. If the parent agrees, ask the student questions about what he/she learned.
Here are some examples of how an ES can view learning in alternative ways:

● A child may not have a lot of papers to show you, but can explain what kinds of birds build which kinds of nests.

● A boy diagnosed with ADD may not be able to sit quietly and take tests easily, but he would love to explain to you how his science experiment foamed over, almost exploded and why.

● A low-level reading high school student may want to share with you the works of a composer he just discovered through listening to an audio tape.

Prepare the learning record:
The main purposes of learning records are to document the new learning represented on the attendance roll sheets and how the learning was assessed or evaluated, and document a student's progress toward the charter school objectives (the student standards listed in the school charter and the California state standards). Time spent in preparing this documentation is a significant portion of the ES job responsibilities. Preparation of the learning record requires that the ES complete the following steps:

● Select appropriate learning template based on STAR proficiency*

● Decide what standards the student has progressed in and enter content and activities for courses with no applicable standards (typically life skills or special interests)

● Match the beginning and ending dates on the learning record and attendance roll sheet

● Refer to the Learning Record Checklist to insure that all necessary elements are included

For Reading/Writing and Math Growth Areas: *please copy and paste templates from this link: http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/learnrecord/LR_Template_for_FRED2.htm

The template components are explained below:

Templates for Reading/Writing and Math Growth Areas:

1) Proficient/Advanced Students: (Choose One)

● The student scored Proficient or Advanced Proficient on the STAR exam.

● This 2nd grade student scored 90 or above on the WRAT.

Curriculum/ Concepts and Skills Review: The student has been provided curriculum and Concepts and Skills Review to address grade level standards

Means of Assessment: _______________

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2) Basic PLIP: (Choose one)

● The student scored Basic on the STAR exam;

● This 2nd grade student scored 80 - 89 or above on the WRAT.

The student has been provided curriculum and and Concepts and Skills Review to address grade level standards.

Curriculum: (Choose one)

● The student is using a standards aligned curriculum at the student’s ability level

● A PLIP checklist has been completed ensuring that all standards are being addressed at the student’s ability level.

Concepts and Skills Review: (Choose one)

● The student is enrolled in Study Island which addresses grade level standards:

● The student has received advisor approval to use another school approved program. (give details)

Means of Assessment: _______________
Progress Monitoring: (Choose one)

● The student is making sufficient progress

● The student is not making sufficient progress (add discussion about changes implemented)

Spring Benchmark Results:
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3) Below Basic and Far Below Basic PLIP Intensive: (Choose one)

● The student scored Below Basic or Far Below Basic on the STAR exam;

● This 2nd grade student scored 79 or below on the WRAT. The student has been provided curriculum and test prep to address grade level standards.

Curriculum: (Choose one)

● The student is using a standards aligned curriculum at the student’s ability level

● A PLIP checklist has been completed ensuring that all standards are being addressed at the student’s ability level.

Concepts and Skills Review: (Choose one)

● The student is enrolled in Study Island which addresses grade level standards:

● The student has received advisor approval to use another school approved program. (give details)

The parent completed Parent Training on: (Provide date)

The student is completing the following options as defined in the PLIP Policy: (Choose one and add descriptions of any exceptions or changes)

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Means of Assessment: _______________
Progress Monitoring: (Choose one)

● The student is making sufficient progress

● The student is not making sufficient progress (add discussion about changes implemented)

Spring Benchmark Results:

(The below templates should be used for all students)

Science and History Growth Areas:
Please use this statement: “The student is using curriculum that addresses standards at their ability level.”

Learning records will include descriptions of the major objectives (content) and activities. This may be accomplished by marking the appropriate standards. If content standards are not addressed during the learning period, the objective (content) and activities must be written out.

The means of assessment/evaluation is included from the template.

Life Skills and Special Interest Growth Areas:
Learning records will include descriptions of the major objectives (content) and activities. This may be accomplished by marking the appropriate standards. If content standards are not addressed during the learning period, the objective (content) and activities must be written out.

The means of assessment/evaluation is included from the template.

When to mark a Content Standard:
When marking a standard on the learning record, the ES is noting those standards that the family tells/shows/demonstrates/masters during that learning period. We expect that the essential standards in the core subject areas will be covered as they indicate what will be tested on STAR/CST/CAHSEE and are critical to each student’s graduation/future success. (These essential standards are starred in the learning records and can also be found at: http://www.ieminc.org/handbook/test/cwbenchass/index.htm http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/tg/sr/blueprints.asp). Please consult your advisor for any questions regarding which content standards should be covered.

Student Standards
The Charter school objectives are the student standards (ESLRs) listed in the school charter and the California state standards. Each student must make adequate and appropriate progress toward the attainment of the standards. Each learning record must document the student's progress towards the standards. Below each growth area text field on the learning record in FRED is a list of the state standards for that growth area. You will note that the school student standards (ESLRs) are melded into the CA State Standards that are listed in the learning record. (See How to Create a LR for directions). The ES, in conjunction with the parent, evaluates learning by indicating the standards in which progress has occurred during the learning period by checking it while creating the LR. While in any LR growth area, the ES can toggle between the state standards selected for the year and the ones for the current month being viewed. Since the standards fulfill the requirement of listing objectives, the information regarding content does not have to be repeated in the learning record documentation written by the ES. If the content learned does not have standards to demonstrate the objectives, the ES must write the objectives (or content) in the documentation. Reminder: If a course has no standards, or they are not yet listed in FRED, then you will need to write all of the required LR elements in the top box of each section. This typically only occurs with special interest or life skills courses.  
It may be helpful to have a copy of your students textbooks’ table of content. (Ask parents to supply you with a copy, make a copy prior to giving the family their textbooks, or search the Internet for the table of contents for major publishers). This helps the ES to choose the correct standards when completing the LR. Some texts have tables of content and/or correlations on their website for an "easy" selection of standards achieved in each chapter.

Learning records should only document new learning, and not repetitive activities unless the student has learned increased skills or abilities, and if so, these should be noted.
For example, in PE for young children, they usually do a variety of activities - skating, riding bikes, 2-square, hop-scotch, etc. They often delight in showing their ES the new skills or improved abilities and it can be noted as a teacher comment. For older students, statements like "The student walks daily to complete the requirements of PE 2A" for three LR's in a row, is too repetitive and does not show new learning. You can state "The student walks regularly for increased cardiovascular conditioning, walking about 1.5 miles in 25 minutes - and the next learning period it can be said, " increased walking pace to 1.5 miles in 20 minutes." Students can site heart-rate, distance or time (or all three), and for many sports you can use words like “developed stamina, increased strength, increased endurance, etc”. Learning the rules of a game and participating with a group game fulfills some of the standards. Asking the high school student to keep a journal of their activities, noting nuances, can help the ES when documenting the learning in the LR. Here is an optional Activity Log to help with this documentation. There are some books and programs for teaching about sports that can enhance a PE program.
Other activities not typically done through a text book, computer learning, typing, career exploration, art, etc. should be handled similarly to PE.

Here are guidelines for ESes and Parents for those parents that choose to use Non-School Funded Resources.

Matching LR to Attendance:
The amount of learning (or progress toward the attainment of the student standards) must support the number of days of attendance assigned by the ES. As a charter school we are held accountable for the performance or achievement of our students rather than traditional methods of attendance accounting based on "seat time". It is the responsibility of the ES to verify that adequate and appropriate progress has occurred to justify the number of attendance days assigned to a student. If a student has earned 5 days of attendance, their learning record will not show the same amount of learning as a student who earns 20 days attendance. The definition of a day of attendance for a charter school student is one in which the student has performed what was required of him/her by the charter school. Remember that the requirement will vary for each of student, depending on the student's needs and abilities. The requirements for individual students are discussed with the parent at the time the student agreement is signed. The parent keeps the attendance roll sheet during the learning period, marking those days on which learning occurs. However, it is the Education Specialist who determines how many days of attendance that student's learning period represents. A parent may feel that their student earned full attendance and the ES may judge that the work product does not support the number of days claimed. An ES can disagree with the parent's claim of attendance. Since it is the ESs job to assess and document the student's progress towards the student standards, it would be unprofessional of the ES to assign attendance credit to a student who has not met those requirements.

Match LR dates and Rollsheet dates in FRED:
In order to accurately match the dates on the learning record and the attendance roll sheet, the ES must be clear on the difference between the assignment period and the learning period recorded on the learning record. The assignment period is the time identified by the ES and the student/parent between face to face meetings. The assignment period can be weekly, bimonthly, monthly or any other amount of time agreed to as long as it is at least one day and no more than 20 days. The learning record includes documentation of learning that took place on 20 or less school days. The learning record can include a learning period of one or more assignment periods.

Example: ES meets a family on 1st Thursday of every month at 10 am. There has been only one assignment period included in this learning record: 18 days from 1st Thursday in one month to the 1st Thursday of the next. The attendance roll sheet corresponding to this learning period includes those same 18 days.
Example: ES meets an independent study student every Wednesday at 4 p.m. There are four assignment periods included in this learning record: 17 attendance days from 1st Wednesday to the 4th Wednesday. The attendance roll sheet corresponding to this learning period includes those same 17 days. The ES met for 3 AESS meetings, and 1 LR meeting in those 17 days.
Example: ES meets a family every twenty school days. There has been only one assignment period included in this learning record. The attendance roll sheet corresponding to this learning period includes the same 20 school days.

The documentation of learning should include content of what is learned but not where it is learned.
As stated in the Charter School charter, the student's community is the school's campus. And since the Charter School is performance-based rather than rule-based, our purpose is to document what the student learns, not where s/he learns it. The ES documents what the student has learned but does not mention by name organizations, community college, or church related groups. This includes groups such as Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, 4-H or any other community organization.
Example:
Community Service - Ramon helped at a community location putting received food goods on the shelf, assisting in distributing food, cleaning and organizing the storage shelves, helping carry boxes as needed, and keeping inventory. He wrote a report on his activities with regard to this volunteer service and received a letter of appreciation from the community organization

Any references to religious content must be in the context of the study of world religion only.

Take time to write your learning record professionally.
This includes using your spell checker, using the templates, and making sure that information is complete. First impressions are important. Take a little extra time to create a document that you would be proud to show anyone: one which positively represents the learning achievements of your students.

Remember that the Learning Record:
1. Is an important parts of the ES job and is reviewed by their ES Advisor and Executive Director.
2. Is a school document that becomes the course of study description for that course.
3. Is looked at by other schools as it becomes a part of the cum file if a student transfers.
4. Is read by college counselors to determine if prerequisites for courses have been met.
5. Could be compared to the transcript by the auditor to be sure it supports the awarded grades and credits.
6. Could be read by the superintendent of the school district and the board to assess the quality of the charter school and the students’ achievements, and may be a determining factor in whether or not a charter is renewed from year to year.
7. Could be viewed by an auditor to determine if we are complying with charter law requirements in stating activities and objectives for each subject area covered.

High School Students' Learning Records
The ES will be assigning credits to the high school student for work completed. Accountability for the assignment of credits is of utmost importance when completing the high school student's learning record. The ES must be able to explain to an outside party why any particular student was assigned credits. When you assign credit, you are verifying that the student has performed the work required in order to earn that credit. You need to have sufficient documentation to "prove" learning took place. Precisely written learning records and other backup documentation is essential. Since documentation and other record keeping is so important the following additional requirements must be met (over and above what is required in the learning record policy).

● The Course title and HQT must be listed on the learning record, and it must match the SA and Report Card names. (this occurs automatically in FRED based on courses selected on the report card).

● If a student is completing an a-g course, the title of the textbook must also be included in the learning record.

● The ES needs to keep copies of graded chapter tests or pertinent documentation to substantiate the credits assigned to a student. You may wish to keep them at your home or store them electronically.

● Keep your high school learning records up-to-date, detailed and accurate. If for some reason your high school student transfers to a different ES or enters another school, your accurate record keeping will make the transition much easier for everyone involved.

● Basic Courses: High School Students taking Basic Courses must have the reading level included. Basic Courses can only be taken by students reading at a level below 5th grade and who score Far Below Basic as indicated in the Course Placement Checklist.