RACE TO THE TOP DISTRICT GRANT APPLICATION OVERVIEW October, 2012

1. RACE TO THE TOP DISTRICT GRANT APPLICATION OVERVIEW October, 2012

2. Overview of RTTD • RTTD is a competitive grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Education to districts who propose to transform the way teachers teach and children acquire knowledge and skills in a manner that is personalized to help students set and achieve individual goals • The application is due October 30th and notification of awards will be made in December • City Schools is applying in the category that reaches at least 25,000 participating students and $40 million • 4 year time period - January 1, 2013 – December 31, 2016

3. Requirements The LEA must demonstrate its commitment to preparing all students for college or career, demonstrated by— • Being located in a State that has adopted college- and career-ready standards; • Measuring student progress and performance against college- and career-ready graduation requirements; • Implementing a robust data system • Include the signature of Superintendent, local school board president, and local teacher union or association president

4. What Can It Fund? • Professional Development for teachers • Content development • Technology for teachers and students • Consultants • Data system upgrades • Enhancing internships and mentoring for college and career preparedness • Family and community partnerships • Wraparound supports for students

5. Application Priorities Absolute Priority Competitive Preference Priority Personalized Learning Environments • Designed to significantly improve learning and teaching through the personalization of strategies, tools, and supports for students and educators that are aligned with college- and career-ready standards or college- and career-ready graduation requirements; • Accelerate student achievement and deepen student learning by meeting the academic needs of each student; • Increase the effectiveness of educators; • Expand student access to the most effective educators; • Decrease achievement gaps across student group Results, Resource Alignment, and Integrated Services • The extent to which the applicant integrates public and private resources to augment the schools’ core resources by providing additional student and family supports such as those addressing the social-emotional, behavioral, and other needs of the participating students, giving highest priority to those students in high-need schools.

6. The Need Based on Expectations for Students • Expectation for the district is to be fully implementing Common Core in SY 2014-2015 including college and career ready standards • Chronic absenteeism has broad impacts on student achievement • On the 2011 NAEP assessment which measures ability to apply critical real world thinking skills, only 11.9 percent of Baltimore City 8th graders at proficient or advanced in reading; 13.1 percent are proficient or advanced in math • Compared to other urban districts Baltimore City 8th graders rank 15th out of 21 in math and 13th of 18 in reading pointing to a need to better prepare kids for college and career skill sets

7. The Need for Teachers to Adjust Instruction • In order to get students thinking critically and to be equipped with college and career skills, teachers need to change their instruction to be standards-based • Teachers require development on setting personal goals for students and the creation of individual pathways for meeting goals • Integrating technology into the classroom and for use in personalization will require training for teachers to be comfortable with the devices, capitalizing on features, and incorporating it into day-to-day teaching • Teachers must be culturally competent and engage the community contexts and students’ families in supporting student learning

8. The Need to Engage Parents and Community • Families and community partners are critical to kids’ success and in combating chronic absenteeism • There is a need to emphasize the increased academic rigor and expectations • Parents need to be partners in helping their kids become college and career ready, and City Schools needs to give parents the tools to support them • Businesses, nonprofits and community groups are great resources for providing career experiences and assisting with wraparound services

9. Why Are We Applying? • Race to the Top District provides City Schools with the opportunity to leverage $40 million to advance teaching and learning and expand college and career pathway preparation • The idea of choice and options drives City Schools’ theory of action: • Schools have choice and autonomy over resources and staffing • Families have choice and options for selecting their school • The next step is providing students with choice in how they demonstrate mastery of skills and broadening their options for career exploration earlier and more intensively

10. Solution - Addressing the College and Career Preparedness of 6th – 12th Grade Students Creating Pathways of Student Progression – from broad skills and interests to specialized skill sets • A shift in how we look at classroom instruction • Personalized plans for student growth by year and long term with parent involvement • Technology access and personalization • Teacher Development • Internships (exploring career interests earlier) • Mentoring • Additional interventions for students in crisis and approaching crisis

11. City Schools’ Personalized Learning Philosophy Students will: • Be provided choices in how they demonstrate mastery of concepts and standards • Collaborate with educators and families in establishing their academic goals • Receive meaningful feedback and frequent updates on their progress • Engage in learning experiences that extend beyond the classroom

12. Areas of Impact • Preference- Student choice over content delivery • Place- Location of learning experiences • Pace- Speed of progression through content • Platform- Learn any way at any time with the assistance of a mobile technology tool that enables students to track their own progress, access valuable learning resources

13. District Strategy for Personalization

14. Each Student Has an 8+ Year Plan • Teachers, guidance counselors, students and parents will collaboratively map out a path from 6th grade to 12th grade and even into their college or career • Initially the plan identifies each student’s academic interests and needs and adjusts as he/she grows, with behavioral and emotional supports for high-needs students • The Plan maps out class schedules and course sequences, and opportunities in future years that allow students to reach the goals that they have set for themselves • It drives a student’s choice of high school in the district and the college selection process • The Plan helps students structure their learning to achieve their college and career goals beginning in 6th grade

15. Universal Design for Learning Drives Change in Teacher Practice Every ELA teacher in grade 6-12 will receive training in UDL, ensuring that they know how to: • Present information and content in different ways (the “what” of learning) • Differentiate the ways that students express what they know (the “how” of learning) • Stimulate interest and motivation for learning (the “why” of learning)

16. Problem-Based Learning Projects Will Occur in Every Grade • The skills and knowledge learned in the LDC units from ELA, science, and social studies classes will be integrated in a yearly Problem-Based Learning (PBL) project • PBLs allow students to demonstrate mastery of standards and build the skills on which the unit is based in a way that appeals to their academic interests • Students will work with teachers and parents to select a research topic of question that will be the basis of an in-depth and long term project that increases in rigor each year

17. Technology Platform Aids Personalized Goal Setting and Performance Tracking City Schools will work with a partner to develop a personalized, mastery-based learning platform on a tablet or laptop. The device must provide: • Real-time student performance data and progress analytics. Analytics should “learn” about the student based on his or her performance and preferences and provide recommendations for activities. • Pre-populated, high quality resources, with the flexibility for the district, teachers or students to add new applications as needed • An intuitive interface that adapts to students’ need for further practice on a skill • Training and technical support for families will be part of rollout

18. A New Emphasis on Internships and Apprenticeships • Expanding the reach of Career Technology Education and Learning to Work programs • 9th and 10th graders will shadow professionals in the field to explore a career interest and the district will partner with organizations to bring in experts from the field to do activities, info sessions, lead a specialized lesson, etc. • 11th and 12th graders will engage in internships and apprenticeships in a desired field, trade or profession • 12th graders (some 11th) will have dual enrollment opportunities at colleges, universities, trade schools to earn credit or certifications ahead of graduation

19. Professional Development Strategy

20. Additional Professional Development Strategies • Enhanced shared learning- use of technology • Use of live video conferencing technology for teachers to collaborate across schools (or country or world) to observe other classes/teachers • Videos of highly effective teachers • Video library of City Schools effective teaching • Access to other district’s libraries • Engagement training for teachers and parents • Developing relationships, cultural competence, and effective collaboration • School-wide campaigns to improve in ways identified by the school community • Partnerships with teacher preparation pipelines • Working with schools of education and alternative certification programs to train on personalization and technology in classroom • Teachers Leading Teachers in School Based Development • Teacher Leaders will facilitate learning at the school through cycles of development and collaborative meetings

21. Layered Support for Students Facing Multiple Challenges • Focus on chronically absent students, particularly those involved in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems • Pathways Coordination via Family League • Identify students involved in DJS, CINS, foster care for whom additional services are available • Work with counselors and families to integrate supports with Personalized Pathway • Examples include PACT Center, CINS, Ready by 21 • Expand community resource schools to 4 additional high schools • Expand intensive mentoring from 2 to 3 high schools with a heavy concentration of high-needs students • Demonstrate coordination of intensive mentoring with Personalized Pathways and Community Resource Schools. • 97% college matriculation at two current sites

22. Ongoing Engagement of Stakeholders • Personal Pathways Advisory Committee to advise district • Including parent representatives, principal, teachers’ union, higher education, business, students, community partners • Feedback on implementation and efficacy

23. Phase I: January 1, 2013 – June 2014 • Revise LDC modules • Implement Universal Design for Learning as a lesson planning and curriculum design framework • Work with students to develop their 8+ year plans, • Offer internships through current programs • Continue offering blended & distance learning, i.e. an AP Statistics class could be offered by live video conferencing with small groups of students at multiple high schools in the district • Engagement training for teachers and parents • Create 4 new Community Resource Schools in middle and/or high school • Hire Pathways Coordinator to coordinate services for chronically absentee and at-risk students

24. Phase II: July 2014 – June 2015 • Continue implementation of Phase I • Integrate year-long Problem Based Learning projects into all ELA classes in grades 6-12 • Implement mentoring program • Expand internship experiences • Implement technology platform in a subset of schools in ELA class

25. Phase III: July 2015 – June 2016 • Continuing implementation of Phases I-II • Roll out technology • Achieve 1:1 computing in grades 6-12 • Expand blended & distance learning

26. Phase IV: July 2016 – Dec 2016 • Continuing the implementation of Phases I-III • Implement accelerated pathways • More students taking college courses • More advanced classes offered to gifted and talented students across the district using technology • Students able to pass a course by demonstrating mastery of skills on an accelerated timeframe