Office of Student Learning

1. Office of Student Learning Updates School Board Work Session May 23, 2018

2. History of Social Emotional & Development in ACPS • Safe Schools Healthy Students Grant (2011-15) • School Climate Survey • Restorative Practices (2014-15) • Responsive Classroom (2014-15) • Developmental Designs (2017-18) • Additional school counselors in middle schools (2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20) • SEAD Initiative (2017-18) • Freshman Seminar (2018-19) • Creation of STEP program (2018-19 and 2019-20) • Elementary school counselors increased to full-time at 5 elementary schools (2019-20)

3. Equity & Access Initiative Update School Board Presentation, May 23, 2019 Nick Smith, Doug Granger Jennifer Sublette

4. Rationale for Equity and Access Initiative: From 2006 to 20017 • ACPS enrollment grew by more than 1000 students (8.2%). • Within the urban ring, student demographics changed • Economically disadvantaged students up by 67.4% • English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) students up by 37.1% • Increases in the numbers and severity of learning needs of Special Education students increased

5. 2017-2018 Budget Initiative School and Educator Support & Credentialing • SEAD Team • Teacher Micro-Credentialing

6. The SEAD Team • Purpose: • Develop evidence based approaches to addressing students’ social, emotional, and educational needs • Support teacher and staff understanding of their students’ social and emotional needs to ensure academic success • Develop a division prototype team to consider expanding the support structure to other schools • Placement of Team: Urban elementary schools • Agnor-Hurt • Cale • Greer • Woodbrook

7. Major Areas of Focus for SEAD Team • Culturally Responsive Teaching • Trauma-Sensitive • Family Support • Behavior Supports

8. Highlights from First Year (2017-18) • Embedded in 4 urban ring schools • Created and presented professional development experiences in all four areas (1,666+ hours) • Assisted with planning for new micro-credential system • Outreachto target communities and collaboration with public and private service providers • Rubricscreated to guide work.

9. Highlights from Second Year (2018-19) • Increasedfocus on building staff capacity through collaboration and modeling • Assisted schools with implementing and writing protocols (attendance and behavior) • Collaborated with service providers to plan events and to build a support network for children and families. • Aligned efforts and practices with those of other entities within ACPS (ESOL, FEED Team, Community Engagement).

10. How we spend our time: • Building Staff Capacity • Attendance • Family Engagement • Community Partnerships • Behavior

11. Building Staff Capacity – 46 % of our time • Conductsindividual, small, and large group professional learning opportunities • Collaborateswith other ACPS entities to create and present new PD • Collaborateswith school based teams • Collaborates with principals and assistant principals • Models self-regulation tools for use with students • Gathersinformation and pooled resources

12. ACPS Attendance Flow Chart Response to Absenteeism Process for eliminating barriers through Family Engagement Best Practices Level 1: When a student is absent, the teacher will call home each day the child is not present. Sentence stems can be provided for this conversation *Teacher will check in with office staff to see how the absence was coded (excused, unexcused, unverified) prior to calling family in order to inform the conversation. Chronic Absence Level 2: Student is chronically absent (missed 10% or more) of the number of days within a semester. The attendance team meets with parent/guardian to make an individualized attendance plan. Click here for an example of a sample attendance plan. *Daily call of concern by classroom teacher. Level 3 “Plans Fail, People Don’t: Schedule a 2nd Attendance Plan meeting and continue to monitor weekly to adjust plan. *Daily call of concern by classroom teacher. Level 4: LEGAL INTERVENTIONS ARE A LAST RESORT. If the team has exhausted all resources and efforts to resolve barriers and absences continue, administration can consider seeking Central Office for next steps. If legal proceedings are initiated team meets to review plan Level 3 within 2 weeks following chart. Level 1 Classroom Engagement Tier 2 Attendance Team Attendance Flow Chart Level 3 Review Plan Level 4 Community Intervention Refer to SED committee

13. Attendance – 26% of our time • Developed to support school staff and administration address Chronic Absenteeism (CA). • Focus on maintaining a collaborative relationship with the family by understanding the reasons behind the CA. • Support is individualized by developing a plan to help eliminate a barrier and/ or locate needed services. • Court system involved only if the parents are unable to resolve the CA. • Goal is to find support/ services to address the CA, not to punish.

14. Family Engagement (FE) – 11% of our time • Focuseson engagement and building partnerships. • Emphasis on effective, regular communication. • Collaborates with staff and parents to plan and carry out events. • Collaborateson the FEED Team to align FE efforts by various programs within and outside ACPS. • Links families with needed services through contacts within ACPS and referrals to other agencies. • Creates a welcoming milieu where parents are empowered to be involved in their child’s education.

15. Community Partnerships – 8% of our time • Collaborateswith public resources to discuss mutual challenges and to support each other’s efforts • Networks with private resources to create systems to empower families and support commonly served groups • Supports events sponsored by our community partners • Partnerswith neighborhood leaders and managers of housing developments

17. A School’s Perspective

18. Looking Forward… • Continue professional development activities • Refine current protocols and build others as needs are identified • Collaborate with school staff to implement current protocols with fidelity and problem solve as needed • Assist schools to create structures and build a milieu which invites active parent engagement • Continue collaboration with community groups to build a comprehensive support system for children and families.

19. Questions?

20. Micro-Credentialing & the SEAD Initiative: A New Approach in Professional Learning Personal Choice and Interest Based Teacher Growth for Student Learning Strategic Priorities Based Site Based Division Based

21. What is a Mirco-Credential? Personal Choice and Interest Based “This new wave in professional learning provides a way for teachers to earn recognition for the skills they acquire through formal and informal learning opportunities, to personalize their professional learning that meets their needs, and to take what they learn and apply it to their classrooms.” Teacher Growth for Student Learning Strategic Priorities Based Site Based Division Based Acree, L. (2016). Seven Lessons Learned From Implementing Micro-credentials. Raleigh, NC. Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at the NC State University College of Education.

22. Professional Learning through Micro-credentials is characterized by: • Demonstration of competency/mastery • metacognition • Self-paced structure • Job-embedded • Relevant • Personalized • Results oriented • Focused on classroom practice • Collective learning • Rigorous learning • Evidence of Adapted from Seven Lessons Learned From Implementing Micro-credentialsFriday Institute at North Carolina State University, 2016

23. SEAD Micro-Credentialing: a pilot partnership Personal Choice and Interest Based Teacher Growth for Student Learning Strategic Priorities Based Site Based Division Based

24. Four Strands of Professoinal Learning for SEAD School Culture and Responsive Classrooms Culturally Responsive Teaching Safe Brain and Trauma Sensitivity Family Engagement & Partnerships

25. Tier I Foundational Sessions Face to Face Guaranteed Support for Teachers

26. Tier II – Becoming a SEAD Credentialed Educator One micro-credential in each strand Plus one in a strand of their choice Combination of BloomBoard offerings and Face to Face

27. Example of Choices within a Strand through BloomBoard • Reflecting on Trauma Awareness • Instituting a Trauma-Sensitive Classroom • Recognizing Stress Responses in Students Affected by Trauma • Using Protective Factors to Foster Student Resilience • De-escalating Triggered Students Safe Brain and Trauma Sensitive Education

29. The Micro-credential Blueprint: PDSA Alignment Types of evidence: Videos, student work, narratives, lesson plans, audio recordings, agendas, data sets, pictures, etc.

30. Teacher Feedback on BloomBoard Pilot • Rigorous work • Highly relevant • Found working with peers was key • Need to norm demonstration of mastery • Desire for ongoing feedback • Supplemented resources

31. Questions?

32. Freshman Seminar Update May 23, 2019 Jay Thomas, Maureen Jensen, Natalie Farrell From AHS: Katie Christie and Michele Benedict From MoHS: Meghan Streit From WAHS: Lynn Define and Phil Gahring

33. Tonight • Mission & Goals • Highlights from Schools • Plan Do Study Act • Next Steps • Questions

34. Mission The core purpose of Albemarle County Public Schools is to establish a community of learners and learning, through relationships, relevance and rigor, one student at a time. The mission of Freshman Seminar in support of the ACPS mission: • support the transition to high school • foster a sense of community • feel and show empathy for others • help students find voice and agency in their learning • develop and maintain positive relationships, and • promote an understanding of the interdependent relationship among social, emotional, and academic learning - so that our students become knowledgeable, caring, capable, and responsible citizens in high school and beyond.

35. Curriculum Development & Professional Learning Our Journey • Listening Tours • Approval from State • Communications • Counselor Meetings • Curriculum Development with Teachers • Summer of 2018 Finalized Lesson Plans • Professional Learning Sessions

36. Monticello Freshman Seminar • Listento our students’ experiences at Monticello. • Over the summer, students had an opportunity to “meet” their FS teachers through video introductions. • We kicked off our year with a Freshman Seminar dinner at our orientation for 9th graders! Students ate dinner with their FS teachers, and parents had an opportunity to learn about the vision of FS. • MoHS Freminar teachers love sporting their “I Love My Freshmen” t-shirts on Friday as a sign of our Freminar unity and love for 9th graders. • Academic Advisory played a central role in helping freshmen keep tabs on their grades, email teachers, and maintain their personal organization systems. • FS teachers incorporated field trips, class traditions, gatherings outside of school, Breakout boxes, guest speakers, and maker projects into classes.

37. Monticello Freshman Seminar Service Learning • As a result of our “Lorax” projects (student-led passion projects), students in Freshman Seminar created dozens of organized efforts to meet needs within their communities. • Students led food drives, collected donations for the SPCA, launched awareness campaigns regarding JUUL’s, racism, and mental health, created a program to help third world pharmacies get medicine bottles, and collected personal hygiene products for female students in need.

38. WAHS Freshman Seminar • Discovery • Learned more about themselves as learners as well as learned more about Western Albemarle High School that led to a better high school transition. Class Meetings built Community. • Contribution • Students engage in service learning ranging in topics from Mental Health, to the Environment to Cultural Causes. They volunteered with Animal Rescue, raised funds for the Ronald McDonald House and did International Community Service. At WAHS, they held events to relieve stress, beautified the building, and clean up the campus. • Academic Advisory • Students learned about time management, goal setting, study skills, and organization.

39. WAHS Freshman Seminar • Field Trips • Catec and Center One during Midterm Finals, Perrone • Robotics, APEX Clean Energy, SPCA and Senior Center. Also went on an internal field trip at WAHS to discover electives classes and set up Job Shadowing Opportunities. • What the Kids are Saying About Freshman Seminar • “Freshy Sem is actually my favorite class. It is a soft place to land during the day.” • ”Freshman Seminar is a nice break in the day. The relationships I made with the kids in my class are ones I wouldn’t have made otherwise.” • “Freshman Seminar is actually kind of fun. I love that we get to do community service work.” • “Freshman Seminar has helped me to explore opportunities for my future.” • “I like Freshman Seminar. It has allowed me to learn more about myself and my school.”

40. Albemarle Freshman Seminar Strengths of Freshman Seminar: • Academic Advisory and Mentorship • Monitor Student Grades and Overall Progress • Organizational and Study Skills • Advocacy - from their FS teacher and for themselves • Social Emotional Check-ins • Classroom Community • Guest Speakers • Diverse Populations of Students • Strong bonds and relationships to students • Personal Check-in • 1:1 and small group time

41. “Foster a sense of community and develop and maintain positive relationships” A video of Freminar Field Day at AHS https://twitter.com/i/status/1123655064541900801

43. Freshman Seminar Teacher Survey Open: October 23 – November 23, 2018 Student Survey Open: April 12 – May 3, 2019 When Albemarle County Public Schools introduced Freshman Seminar, an advisory period focused on relationship building and meeting the social-emotional and career development needs of students, in the 2018-19 school year we sought feedback from our stakeholders. Two months into the initiative, the division surveyed Freshman Seminar teachers to collect feedback on implementation and identify areas for improvement. Then, in the final quarter of the school year, the division surveyed Freshman Seminar students to evaluate the opportunities provided by the course to develop students’ academic, interpersonal and emotional skills. View survey results segmented by participation group: • Teachers • Students

44. Foster a sense of community Help students feel and show empathy for others Staff Survey Results - Meeting Goals of Seminar Support the transition to high school 52% Very Well & Mostly 66% Very Well & Mostly 75% Very Well & Mostly

45. Help students develop and maintain positive relationships Promote an understanding of the interdependent relationship among social, emotional, and academic learning Staff Survey Results - Meeting Goals of Seminar Help students find voice and agency in their learning 54% Very Well & Mostly 55% Very Well & Mostly 60% Very Well & Mostly

46. Academic Advisory Social & Emotional Lessons Staff Survey Results - Structures of Seminar Classroom Meetings 70% Strong Fit 88% Strong Fit 52% Strong Fit

47. Develop a sense of community with other students in your freshman seminar class Learn how to balance academic, social, and emotional demands Develop a relationship with your freshman seminar teacher Student Survey Results - Frequency of Opportunities 65% Regularly/ Sometimes 61% Regularly/ Sometimes 78% Regularly/ Sometimes 78% Regularly/ Sometimes Work on your transition to high school

48. Freshman Seminar Pacing Guide

49. Each of the 4 instructional modules contains 12 - 20 lessons. Here is the Module 3 sequence for this year’s curriculum.

50. Every lesson in the FS Curriculum is built on a Big Idea Essential Questions guide each lesson As students walk in to FS a simple task called a Bell Ringer is posted