The Salisbury Township School District curriculum and technology committee held its monthly meeting Feb. 24 at Harry S Truman Elementary School. Students from Jennifer Judd’s class presented on mystery science.

Currently implemented in third grade, but available to other grade levels, this addition to the standard science curriculum “taps into the child’s curiosity and allows them to think critically” according to Judd. The program presents lessons across two days, with the first being the presentation of a video and the next focusing on activities and experiments to expand on and illustrate points taught through the video on day one.

HST Principal Zachary Brem said mystery science connects to “the natural sense of wonder for students.” Judd said students are responding positively to this program; however, she said mystery science is not necessarily a complete replacement for the traditional science curriculum but that it works in concert with established standards.

After the presentation, the meeting moved on to the introduction of guest William Fitzpatrick, executive director of Arts Academy Charter Middle School. He was present to speak briefly about the renewal of the charter for AACMS through the school district.

Initially approved in 2012, and then brought up again in 2015 for a five-year renewal, the charter is for the school focused on arts-based education, underscored by rigorous academic standards for students in grades five through eight. If approved in 2020, this charter will last until 2025.

Both Fitzpatrick and the board members acknowledged their appreciation for the openness, transparency and respect from both parties as they worked toward an amicable charter agreement. The board moved to vote on the approval of the charter renewal at the next regular board meeting.

This month’s assessment update focused on text-dependent analysis, or TDA, which is a segment of the PSSA tests for children in grades four through eight. It accounts for 25 percent of a student’s overall score. For student responses to these questions, they are meant to demonstrate their reading comprehension through written responses.

The three main components of TDA are reading comprehension, analysis and essay writing.

To support high scores in this area, close reading lessons are used widely throughout grades where TDA responses will be required. Extensions of close reading include collaborative discussions, dedicated time and deciding which passages require more than one reading.

By approaching this skill from a pre-teach and re-teach method, staff has found renewed and reinvigorated attitudes from students.

Next, building leaders from HST and Western Salisbury Elementary School presented on multi-tiered systems of support and ways of integrating these into their classrooms.

Ambassadors from the district took part in training to implement new screening tools to identify who in classrooms would qualify as needing additional support.

The Social-Emotional Behavior Risk Screener or SAEBRS is an evaluation taken by students (who rate themselves) and teachers (who rate the students), ideally taken at multiple junctures throughout the course of the school year.

This research-supported tool is currently implemented in HST second grade classrooms and at WSE it is being used in second and fourth grades. Through evaluations already applied, staff have identified a good number of students who would qualify as “at risk” or in need of additional support.

The next curriculum and technology committee meeting will take place 7 p.m. March 30 at WSE.