Leading Change: Policies, Practices, and Programs for Excellence and Equity in Education

1. Leading Change: Policies, Practices and Programs for Excellence and Equity California Alliance of Black School Educators (CABSE) Dr. Steve Gallon III Miami-Dade County Public Schools

2. Career Pathway • Teacher • Assistant Principal • Elementary School Principal • High School Principal • District Administrator • Superintendent of Schools • College Professor • Author • Elected School Board Member • Educational Consultant

3. Miami-Dade County Public Schools • 4th Largest District in the Nation • 472 Schools • 354,172 of Students • White: 6.9% • Black: 20.5% • Hispanic: 70.9% • Other:1.7% • F&R Lunch:66% • ELL:19.1% • SPED: 10.1 • 9 Geographical Districts

4. District 1 • 50 Schools • Number: 26,667 • White: 1.4% • Black: 76.7% • Hispanic: 20.7% • Other: 1.2% • ELL: 14.9 % • ESE: 10.5 % • F&R: 79.3

5. Florida’s School Grading System • Grading System established under Jeb Bush • Relies 100% on Students’ Performance given one day • Reflect whether students are learning a year’s of knowledge in year’s time--leading indicator of success. • Evidence of the quality of education their child is receiving so they can make informed decisions for their family and to inform the public. • School districts use school grades to identify strengths and weakness so resources can be targeted for continued improvement

6. Florida’s School Grading System • “The school grading system has changed multiple times over the past few years, including 34 changes in 2011-2012 alone. • …What the tests were really tracking was demographics. Schools in poorer communities around the state nearly all finished lower than their counterparts in affluent suburbs, regardless of academic methods. High schools that were graded A had an average of 9 percent of their students on free or reduced price lunch. Schools that got an F had 61 percent of their students receiving subsidized lunches. To a great extent, the test was simply a measure of poverty, not school quality…Alan Ehrenhalt, Governing Magazine, October 2013”.

7. Teacher Quality: Unequal Access, Unequal Results • The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) is a non-partisan research and policy organization committed to restructuring the teaching profession, led by our vision that every child deserves effective teachers. • For more than a decade, teacher quality has received much attention by policymakers and district leaders trying to improve the outcomes of students in their communities. • The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has begun collecting data on student enrollment by race and ethnicity and teacher characteristics. The first summary of these data indicates that 1) black students are more likely to be taught by a first-year teacher than white students, 2) their teachers are more likely to be paid less and 3) they are more likely to have an uncertified or unlicensed teacher.

8. Teacher Quality: Unequal Access, Unequal Results • In recent years, research has shown that lower-performing schools often experiencing greater difficulty in recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers than more effective schools in the same district. • Compounding this issue is the fact that lower-performing schools tend to be those with a high percentage of minority and/or low-income students, resulting in the oft-discussed achievement gap between wealthier white students and poorer minority students. • These schools would most benefit even more than most from a higher-quality teaching force comprised of teachers who can move the needle on student achievement quickly and effectively to get students up to grade level.

9. Teacher Quality: Unequal Access, Unequal Results • Almost two-thirds of the first-year teachers in Miami-Dade were either hired or placed in voting districts 1 and 2. • Within schools, principal-determined assignments may further disadvantage high-need students. The prevalence of within-school sorting of teachers so that less experienced teachers get lower-performing students is confirmed by multiple studies, including data from Miami-Dade itself. • A significant discrepancy exists between the overall experience distribution for Miami-Dade as a whole and voting districts 1 and 2. Voting district 2, in particular, has fewer mid-career teachers (11 to 20 years of experience) and far more novice teachers.

10. Highest Number of F schools in Miami-Dade County

11. 2016 District 1 Academic Achievement 10% of A schools 7 % of B schools 61% of C schools 12 % of D schools 10 % of F schools

12. 2016 Failing Schools • Miami Carol City Middle School***** • North Dade Middle School** • Parkview Elementary School* • Dr. Frederica S. Wilson/Skyway Elementary* • Miami Carol City Senior High School • Thomas Jefferson Middle • Crestview Elementary

13. 1001.42 Florida Statutes Establish, Organize, and Operate schools • Achievement • Enrollment • Facilities • School Hours • Teachers • Special Needs • ELL • Personnel • Course/Materials • School Improvement/Accountability • Early Warning System

14. Leading Change through Policy Primary Functions of School Board • Setting direction • Establishing an effective and efficient structure • Providing support • Ensuring accountability • Providing community leadership as advocates for children, the school district and public schools

15. Four Pillars of Policy • Student Achievement • High Quality Teaching and Learning • Research-Based Instruction • Student Assessment and Progress Monitoring • Strong Professional Development • Conditions of Children • Physical, mental health • Safe Learning Environment • Access to community resources • Fair Funding • Ensure provision of programs for learning • Adequate facilities • Appropriate interventions/support • Effective Governance • Approve/Manage Budget • Provide adequate resources to support student learning

16. Board Agenda Item H-5-Update on Fragile Schools • Policy-Driven Practices for Improvement • School Improvement Planning • Intervention and Support • School Leadership Quality • Teacher Quality • Professional Development • Curriculum Alignment and Pacing • Continuous Improvement and Monitoring • Resource Allocation • School Climate and Culture • Parental, Family, and Community Engagement and Partnership

17. Policies and Practices for Improvement • School Improvement Planning • Intervention and Support • School Leadership Quality • (H-15, Evaluation of Superintendent) • Teacher Quality • (H-6, Teacher Compensation) • Professional Development • Curriculum Alignment and Pacing • Continuous Improvement and Monitoring • Resource Allocation

18. Policies and Practices for Improvement • (Board Item H-8, Innovative Programs, Board Item H-3, Educational Services for Immigrant Students) • School Climate and Culture • (Board Item H-7, Success Centers; Board Item H-12, Custodial Allocations) • Parental, Family, and Community Engagement and Partnership • (Board Agenda H-10, Municipalities Partnerships) • (Student of the Month, Town Hall Meeting, Adopt-A-School Program, Student of the Year, Community Meetings)

19. School Improvement Planning  • Conducted with school leadership team during the summer • Use of school data maps for analysis purposes  • Areas of improvement are identified  • Implementation and monitoring during to ensure progress • Goals are reviewed and reassessed and new goals are created throughout the year  • Conduct internal impact review or an external review to monitor progress  • DATACOM • Strategic planning meetings • Frequent school site visits 

20. Intervention and Support • Interventions are integrated with the textbook series  • Intervention dollars to hire interventionists • Student progress is assessed bi-weekly • Response to Intervention 

21. Professional Development  • Development is provided for all stakeholders (teachers, coaches, Assistant Principal, Principals) • Focus includes curriculum, new initiatives, school-site visits, monthly  • Self-selection-choice options  • Survey driven 

22. Curriculum Alignment and Pacing  • District-wide pacing guides in all subjects to ensure standards are covered in a timely, succinct manner  • Topic assessments are administered to cover concepts covered during a certain timeframe 

23. Continuous Improvement and Monitoring  • School Improvement Process Plan approved by the School Board  • Schools are assessed periodically to determine progress towards established goals  • DATACOM • Strategic Planning Meetings • Frequent School Site Visits 

24. School Climate and Culture  • School improvement process now includes data maps on culture  • Staff, students and parents are surveyed annually  • Indicators include attendance, behavior, school safety, morale, involvement  • Key to improving academic performance  • Unannounced School and Classroom Visits

25. Parental, Family, and Community Engagement and Partnerships • College/University Partnerships • Faith-Based Adopt-A-School Initiative • Quarterly Town Hall Meetings • Student of the Month • Student of the Year • Children’s Trust • 5000 Role Models

26. Belief Statements . . . All educators want children to learn. All parents want children to learn. All children want to learn. IDEA Partnership, 2007

27. A Few Fundamental Assumptions • ALL students are EVERYONE’S responsibility • All students can learn when given the amount and kind of support needed • Teaching to the middle does not meet all students’ needs

28. A Shift in Thinking The central question is not: “What is it about this student that is causing the performance discrepancy?”

29. 2017 District 1 Academic Achievement 10 % of A schools 32 % of B schools 51 % of C schools 7 % of D schools 0 % of F schools

30. 2018 District 1 Academic Achievement 15 % of A schools 34 % of B schools 51 % of C schools 0 % of D schools 0 % of F schools

31. The Central Question Is … “What about the interaction of the policy, practices, pupils, programs, pedagogy, parents, and professional should be altered so that your students learn and achieve at higher levels?” This shift alters everything! Dr. Steve Gallon III

32. If not you, then Who?