Mon Mar 27 2017, 5:30pm
District Meeting Room
Regular Meeting

DISCUSSION ITEMS

Overview of School Turnaround Principles 2, 3, 7 & Planning for next Worksession

At the next board workession the board will discuss with school staff and principals the work they are doing to provide focused improvement in learning and teaching.  The structure of these conversations will be around the seven (7) "turnaround principles"    As a "Primer" to the April conversation, Asha Riley will review with the board principles 2, 3, and 7.   Principles 4,5,& 6 will be discussed at the May worksession.

Principle #2

Ensures that teachers are effective and able to improve instruction by reviewing quality of all staff and retaining only those who are determined to be effective, preventing ineffective teachers from transferring to other schools; and by providing job embedded, ongoing professional development informed by the teacher evaluation a and tied to teacher and student needs.

District Indicators:

  • District policy and practices ensure highly qualified teachers are recruited, placed and retained
  • District has policies and practices in place that prevent ineffective teachers from transferring schools (shifting the problem)
  • Professional development is built into schedule by the district, but the school is allowed discretion in selecting training and consultation

School Indicators:

Professional development is aligned with identified needs based on staff evaluation and student performance.

  • Aligns with the staff evaluation system.
  • Is guided by formative teacher evaluation data and formative and summative student assessment data.
  • Focuses on research- and evidence-based practices, interventions, and supports designed to eliminate inequities in student outcomes.  
  • Provides opportunity for teachers to be involved and deliver PD.  
  • Is regularly monitored to see extent of changes in instructional practice and to see if goals for professional learning are met.  
  • Aligns with state and district standards, assessments, and goals.
  • Incorporates principles of adult learning into professional development activities.  
  • Facilitates active learning and provides sustained support

The school provides all staff high quality, ongoing, job embedded, and differentiated professional development.

  • Is standards-based, results-driven, and job embedded.  
  • Occurs within learning communities committed to continuous improvement, collective responsibility, and goal alignment.
  • Is collaborative and differentiated.
  • Requires skillful leaders who develop capacity, advocate, and create support systems for professional learning.
  • Uses a variety of sources and types of student, educator, and system data to plan, assess, and evaluate implementation and impact.

The school sets goals for professional development and monitors the extent to which it has changed practice.

  • Includes peer observation, mentoring, whole faculty or team/department study groups, shared analysis of student work, teacher self-assessment, and goal-setting.  
  • Aligns with the staff evaluation system.  
  • Is guided by formative teacher evaluation data and formative and summative student assessment data.
  • Is monitored to see extent of changes in instructional practice.
  • Ensures that school leaders act as instructional leaders, providing regular, detailed feedback to teachers to help them continually grow and improve their professional practice.

Principle #3

Redesign the school day, week, or year to include additional time for student learning and teacher collaboration.

District Indicators:

  • District policy and practices ensure highly qualified teachers are recruited, placed and retained
  • District has policies and practices in place that prevent ineffective teachers from transferring schools (shifting the problem)
  • Professional development is built into schedule by the district, but the school is allowed discretion in selecting training and consultation

School Indicators:

The school monitors progress of the “extended learning” time programs and strategies being implemented and uses data to inform modifications. The Leadership Team and teachers:  

  • Implemented strategies to extend learning time
  • Transformed time structure during school day (block scheduling, student advisories)
  • Extended school day (additional time spent in core classes, community partnerships with internships)
  • Extended or altered the school year (year-round school with increased learning time, summer programs).  
  • Ensure that the students who need the most support are given more instructional opportunities.  Implement professional development to ensure that teachers use extra time effectively.  
  • Monitor progress of extended learning time initiatives.

The school has established a team structure for collaboration among all teachers with specific duties and time for instructional planning.

  • Organized teachers into Instructional Teams to develop formative assessments and plan units of instruction with differentiated lessons.
  • Provides predictable blocks of time sufficient for teams to meet to develop instructional strategies and monitor student progress.  
  • Distributes leadership across the school through a team structure.
  • Creates a culture in which teachers spend more time together to plan instruction, examine student work, and develop interventions.
  • Holds teams accountable for improving the team's professional practice as a whole within a culture of candor.

Principle #7

Provide ongoing mechanisms for family and community engagement

District Indicators:

  • The district has announced changes and anticipated actions publicly; communicated urgency of rapid improvement, and signaled need for change.
  • The district has engaged parents and community in transformation processes.

School Indicators:

Parent (Family) representative advise the School Leadership Team on matters related to family-school relations.

  • Promotes connections among teachers, staff, and students that form the web of a community of the school.
  • Communicates the school’s purpose and everyone’s role in getting the job done.
  • Provides opportunities for members of the school community to share expectations for one another, strengthen their relationships, and amplify the effects of their individual contributions to children’s learning and personal development.
  • Ensures documents are available in the language of their students’ families.
  • Provides opportunity for parents and teachers to develop new skills to bridge language, cultural, economic, and social barriers and to build trust between home and school.

The school’s key documents (Parent Involvement Policy, Mission Statement, Compact, Homework Guidelines, and Classroom Visit Procedures) are annually distributed and frequently communicated to teachers, school personnel, parents (families), and students.

  • Helps parents fully engage in the learning lives of their children by building connection between the school and the home founded upon a common purpose, communication, education, and association.  
  • Provides opportunities for members of the school community to share expectations they have of one another, strengthen relationships, and amplify the effects of their individual contributions to children’s learning and personal development.

The school’s Compact includes responsibilities (expectations) that communicate with parents (families) can do to support their students’ learning at home (curriculum of the home, with learning opportunities for families to develop their curriculum of the home).

  • School leadership shares leadership with parents in order to boost school improvement.  
  • Engages a School Community Council that unites efforts of parents, teachers, and students to look at the connections between the school and families and to make recommendations for strategies to build on family school connections.  
  • Nurtures parent leadership for a variety of purposes: deciding, organizing, engaging, educating, and advocating and connecting.  
  • Uses a variety of mechanisms to engage parents in decision-making (e.g., school councils and committees, school action teams for planning and research).