SLV Race to the Top Round 3 Consortium

1. SLV Race to the Top Round 3 Consortium

2. RT3 Purpose • Promote the implementation of new state standards • Promote implementation of SB 191 • Promote STEM initiatives

3. RT3 Funding • Each San Luis Valley School is allocated dollars based on their Title I funding formula. Some districts are receiving tens of thousands of dollars, some are receiving fewer than $2,000 dollars. • CDE is encouraging the creation of geographical cooperatives to leverage dollars. • If all San Luis Valley districts pool their dollars we would roughly $210,000 to work with.

4. Why Pool Our Dollars? • Many of us are in need of the same staff development and support. Providing support to multiple districts would allow us to get a bigger bang for our buck. • In recent years several districts in the Valley have had access to school and district improvement dollars that schools who are performing at a higher level do not qualify for. Pooling our dollars would be an excellent way to share school improvement lessons learned and knowledge resources with districts that have not yet qualified for these funds.

5. What Do We Focus On? • Investing these dollars in well-researched, fundamental, teacher and leader reform efforts would help us to spread greater academic success all around the San Luis Valley.

6. A Blueprint for Improving Rural School Districts

7. Fundamentals of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment Curriculum: Every Teacher in every subject area needs to have clear guidance on what they are to teach and when they should teach it. This curriculum should… • Be clear, user friendly, and aligned to current Colorado standards. • Be in calendar form with key learning concepts highlighted. • Include clear sample objectives anddaily formative assessments. • Trust Teachers to think, adjust, and monitor when they use it.

8. Instruction: Every Teacher needs to be good at planning for lessons that are aligned to the curriculum and engage all students. Teachers should be able to… • Plan effective lesson objectives aligned to the curriculum on a daily basis. • Plan effective demonstrations of learning that are aligned to the class objective on a daily basis. • Apply a basic instruction model such as the “I Do, We Do, You Do” format. • Instruct their class in a way that engages all students in learning. • Effectively use data to drive instructional decisions.

9. Assessment: Every Teacher should be good at measuring the learning of students and adjusting their instruction based on learning results. • Teachers should be able to… • Measure student learning of the daily objective through the administration of a demonstration of learning. • Use dailyformative assessmentresults to guide future planning and instruction. • Summatively measure student achievement of curriculum standards periodically and use results to guide future instruction. • Use norm referenced tests such as DIBELS, DRA and NWEA to drive instructional decisions. • Use state assessment results such as TCAP and ACT to drive future instructional decisions.

10. Fundamentals of Building Leadership Every Building Administrator should ensure every Teacher has access to a quality curriculum aligned to Colorado standards and that they are teaching it in a way that continually measures student learning and engages all students. The Building Administrator should know how to…

11. General: • Establish and guide collaborative leadership efforts in their building. • Communicate building improvement priorities on a continual basis. • Prioritize tasks and focus their efforts on the right work. • Support improved instruction by knowing what to look for when conducting classroom visits. • Provide constructive feedback to teachers in a way that leads to improved performance. • Evaluate teachers based on their ability to effectively teach the curriculum and produce positive learning results.

12. Curriculum: • Review lesson plans and provide feedback to ensure teachers are planning to teach the curriculum through the use of quality objectives aligned to the curriculum and clear demonstrations of learning aligned to objectives. • Visit classrooms to ensure teachers are teaching the curriculum.

13. Instruction: • Visit classrooms on a periodic basis and provide feedback to ensure teachers are teaching to objectives that are aligned to the curriculum, engaging all students in learning, and measuring student achievement of objectives through a quality demonstration of learning.

14. Assessment: • Visit classrooms and provide feedback to ensure teachers are measuring student achievement of curriculum objectives through quality daily demonstrations of learning. • Guide staff members in the review of summative achievement data for the purpose of guiding future budget, instruction, and staff development decisions.

15. Superintendent Leadership • Every Superintendent should ensure every Teacher has access to a quality curriculum aligned to Colorado standards, that they are teaching it in a way that continually measures student learning and engages all children, and that they are guided by a Building Administrator who supports their professional growth and improvement.

16. Superintendent Leadership The Superintendent should know how to effectively… • Establish and operate a district level collaborative leadership system to guide academic improvement processes. • Establish, promote, and teach a district-wide set of core beliefs. • Support Building Administrators in their efforts to lead improvement processes through the provision of quality leadership staff development and the conduct of effective administrator evaluation processes. • Communicate the district’s core beliefs and improvement processes to the entire education community.

17. RtttVPooled Resources Process • Assess district achievement and readiness in each area of the blueprint and provide training as needed: (ie…do you require teachers to turn in lesson plans, what technology do you have, do you have a curriculum, etc)

18. Refinement of Curriculum • Establishing a valley-wide collaborative to create a Valley curriculum aligned to State of Colorado Standards and set up processes to continually refine this.

19. Teacher Training • Provide teacher training in how to write effective plans for aligned lessons through the creation of quality objectives and daily measurements of learning. • Provide teacher training in fundamentals of effective lesson design such as the “I DO, We Do, You Do” method. • Provide teacher training in how and when to utilize multiple student engagement strategies. • Provide teacher training in how to assess data and use it for the purpose of driving future instructional decisions • Provide teacher training SB 191 implementation processes.

20. Building Administrator Training • Provide building administrator training in how to establish a collective building leadership process. • Provide building administrator training in how to review lesson plans for quality alignment of objectives anddaily formative assessments. • Provide building administrator training in what to look for in a classroom when conducting a visit, and how to effectively communicate change suggestions to teachers. • Provide building administrator training in how to continually communicate core beliefs and academic improvement processes to building staff. • Provide building administrator training in how support teachers in assessing data and using it for the purpose of driving future instructional decisions. • Provide building leadership training in how to implement the provisions of SB 191.

21. Superintendent Training • Provide Superintendent training in how to establish and operate a district level collaborative leadership system to guide academic improvement processes. • Provide Superintendent training in how to establish and communicate a district wide set of core beliefs. • Provide Superintendent training in how to effectively evaluate administrators for the purpose of supporting their leadership of building improvement processes (SB 191). • Provide Superintendent training in how to communicate the district’s core beliefs and improvement processes to the entire education community.