Unified Improvement Planning: District Support for Turnaround and Priority Improvement Schools Sponsored by The Colorad

1. Unified Improvement Planning: District Support for Turnaround and Priority Improvement Schools Sponsored by The Colorado Department of Education Fall 2010 Version 1.0

2. Introductions Center for Transforming Learning and Teaching • Julie Oxenford O’Brian • Mary Beth Romke www.ctlt.org

3. Purpose Enhance the support that district leaders provide to turnaround and priority improvement schools as they engage in unified improvement planning.

4. One in a series of CDE sponsored sessions on UIP. . . • School Level Support for Schools assigned a Priority Improvement or Turnaround Plan under state accountability • District Level Support for Districts with schools assigned a Priority Improvement or Turnaround Plan Under State Accountability • District Level Support for Districts Accredited with Turnaround or Priority Improvement plans under state accountability or identified for improvement under ESEA, including Titles I, IIA and/or III • Using the Unified Improvement Plan for Title I Requirements (Webinar Only)

5. Materials

6. Norms The standards of behavior by which we agree to operate while we are engaged in learning together. Page 2

7. Introductions • Introduce yourselves to the folks at your table: • Name/Role • One hope and one fear you have about supporting your district’s turnaround and priority improvement school(s). • Select one hope and one fear from your table to share.

8. Outcomes • Understand district roles in supporting Turnaround (TA) and Priority Improvement (PI) schools. • Recognize unique needs of TA and PI schools • Support development and review of school plan components including: • Data analysis; • Annual targets; • Major improvement strategies; and • Title I requirements (if appropriate). • Provide relevant views of school-level data. • Determine the relationship between district and school-level improvement plans. • Identify collaboration and support needs. Engage in hands-on learning activities and dialogue with colleagues. Complete readings. Facilitate processes locally.

9. Go to Progress Monitoring page 5. Re-write the learning targets for day one in your own language. Describe what these learning targets mean to you. Create a bar graph which describes where you currently believe you are in relationship to each of learning target. Activity: Progress Monitoring

10. Agenda Unified Improvement Planning Basics Review Turnaround and Priority Improvement Requirements The data views your schools need UIP Quality Criteria for Development and Review School Plan Feedback and Review Support and Collaboration Opportunities

11. Purposes of Unified Improvement Planning • Support school and district use of performance data to improve student learning. • Transition from planning as “an event” to planning as “continuous improvement”. • Provide a mechanism for external stakeholders to learn about schools/district improvement efforts. • Reduce the number of required improvement “plans”. • Align improvement efforts within schools and districts. • Meet state and federal accountability requirements.

12. What School Planning Requirements will the Unified Improvement Plan Meet? • State accountability • Title I • Improvement Plan for schools on improvement, corrective action or restructuring • Targeted Assistance Plan* • Schoolwide Plan* • * some requirements may need to be included as addendums for Targeted Assistance and Schoolwide Plans.

13. Colorado Unified Planning Template for Schools Major Sections: • Summary Information about the school • Improvement Plan Information • Narrative on Data Analysis and Root Cause Identification • Action Plan(s) Page 9

14. Basic Steps in Improvement Planning • Summary Information about the school II. Additional Information III. Narrative on Data Analysis and Root Cause Identification IV. Action Planning

15. Theory of Action: Continuous Improvement Evaluate Evaluate FOCUS Implement Plan

16. Timeline • August 15th– SPF Reports and initial plan type assignments released to districts. • October 15th– district submits accreditation categories and case for revising plan type assignment if appropriate. • November 15th– Final plan type assignments. • January 15th– Priority Improvement, Turnaround and schools on improvement for Title I submit plans to CDE. • February and March – state review, feedback to schools and revision • April 15th– plans submitted for publication on schoolview.org

17. Stakeholder Roles • Consider: • District Roles • Add any missing roles (extra rows) • Table discussion: • What questions, if any, do we have about these roles? • What additional roles should be added to the list? • Share out additional roles Page 21

18. Chalk Talk • Determine your table color (2 colors in the room). • Each table has one of the following topics: • Timeline for school planning • Reviewing and providing feedback about priority improvement and turnaround plans • Building school-level capacity to engage in planning • Selecting and implementing turnaround options. • Write notes on the paper at your table about where you are as a district on the topic at your table. • Move with your district team to the next topic/table with the same color. • Continue to make notes and move until all you have addressed all topics and return to your original table. Page 23

19. Current District Challenges • Using sticky notes, brainstorm and record (one per sticky note): Our current most significant challenges in supporting Turnaround and Priority Improvement schools • As a table group, sort like challenges together. • Prioritize. • Share top two.

20. Agenda Unified Improvement Planning Basics Review Turnaround and Priority Improvement Requirements The data views your schools need UIP Quality Criteria for Development and Review School Plan Feedback and Review Support and Collaboration Opportunities

21. State Distribution of Schools by Preliminary Plan Type Assignment Page 27

22. Reorganizing school management Incremental change: smaller, limited focus, over time District can choose and manage change Innovation school School Improvement Needed Employing turnaround partner Dramatic change: big, broad focus, fast District can choose but needs help managing change Public or private management organization State takeover: district doesn’t have capacity to choose or manage change Charter school Adapted from: School Restructuring: What Works When, Learning Point Associates, June 2010

23. Incremental vs. Dramatic • Work with your table. Select a recorder. • Using a flip chart page create a t-chart • Brainstorm examples of incremental changes • Brainstorm examples of dramatic changes Incremental Dramatic

24. School Turnaround is a dramatic intervention in a low-performing school that both produces significant achievement gains within two years and prepares the school for long-term transformation into a high-performance organization. – Mass Insight Restructuring means making major, rapid changes that affect how a school is led and how instruction is delivered. Restructuring is essential to achieving rapid, dramatic improvements in student learning – Learning Point Associates

25. Dramatic change for “persistently low-performing schools” This idea is not new. . . • Comprehensive School Reform Designs (New American Schools Development Corp. & IASA) • School Restructuring (NCLB) • School Improvement Grants Under Section 1003(g) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 -- January 2009 amendments – school turnaround,transformation, restart or closure. • Colorado SB09-163 Educational Accountability Act: Turnaround and Priority Improvement .

26. Reorganizing school management Incremental change: smaller, limited focus, over time District can choose and manage change Innovation school School Improvement Needed Employing turnaround partner Dramatic change: big, broad focus, fast District can choose but needs help managing change Public or private management organization State takeover: district doesn’t have capacity to choose or manage change Adapted from: School Restructuring: What Works When, Learning Point Associates, June 2010 Charter school

27. Reviewing Turnaround Options • Work with a partner. Take out “Turnaround Options,” page 31. • Silently read one row in the chart (individually). • When each partner has completed a row, look up and “say something.” Something might be a question, a brief summary, a key point, an interesting idea or personal connection to the text. • Continue until you complete all of the rows in the chart.

28. Title I Requirements • If your school also receives Title I funding, additional planning requirements will apply . . . • Schoolwide Title I • Targeted Assistance programs • on improvement, corrective action or restructuring • Quality criteria for school UIPs • Review NCLB Restructuring Options, page 32 • How do the NCLB restructuring options compare to the Colorado Turnaround Options?

29. Factors for determining approach • School performance – How persistent is the low performance? Are there any strengths to build upon? • Root cause analysis – How far-reaching are the causes of persistent low performance? • School-level leadership – Can current school- leadership lead dramatic change? Does school leadership understanding of root causes align with district understanding? • Community readiness – Is the community ready, could the community be made ready for comprehensive change? • Does the district have capacity to provide change leadership and support? Will an external partner be engaged? • Is the school already implementing a dramatic change strategy?

30. Necessary for Dramatic Change • A clear vision. What will the school look like when the restructuring process is completed? • An empowered leader, a change agent, who can maintain a focus on the vision, motivate members of the school community, plan, communicate, and persist in keeping the change process on track. • Improvement teams, generally at both the district and school level. • Involvement of the whole school community: faculty, support staff, parents, community members, and students. • Sufficient time to craft a quality plan. A summer is not enough. • Small, “quick wins.” Relatively small, simple changes that have large, quick payoffs and can provide the momentum for more difficult changes. Wahlbert, H.J. Eds. (2007). Handbook on Restructuring and Substantial School Improvement. Lincoln, NE: Center on Innovation and Improvement.

31. Resources to help. . . • Resources available through: comprehensive school reform, NCLB restructuring, Turnaround/Transformation • Centers: • The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement: http://www.centerforcsri.org • Center on Innovation & Improvement (CII): http://www.centerii.org/ • Learning Point Associates: http://www.learningpt.org/ • Mass Insight Education: http://www.massinsight.org/ • Public Impact: http://www.publicimpact.com • U.S. Department of Education: http://www.ed.gov/ Page 35

32. Turnaround Options Table dialogue, consider: • Which turnaround option(s) would your district be ready to implement and support with your school(s) by fall 2011? • What needs to happen between now and fall 2011 to prepare various educational stakeholders for this approach to change?

33. Steps to prepare for dramatic change • Determine who will engage in planning for dramatic change (district staff? new leadership?). • Engage in a comprehensive qualitative review of school. • Engage school and community stakeholders (input to the approach) • Establishing data infrastructure. • Determine an approach. • Define a new vision.

34. Integrating your Thinking • Take out, Supporting Schools Notecatcher • Make notes about your efforts to determine a dramatic improvement approach and engage local stakeholders. • What tools will you use?

35. Agenda Unified Improvement Planning Basics Review Turnaround and Priority Improvement Requirements The data views your schools need UIP Quality Criteria for Development and Review School Plan Feedback and Review Support and Collaboration Opportunities

36. Multiple measures must be considered and used to understand the multifaceted world of learning from the perspective of everyone involved.-Victoria Bernhardt

37. Demographics Perceptions Student Learning School Processes What types of data do we have?

38. Demographics School Processes Provides information that allows for the prediction of actions, processes, programs that best meet the needs of all students. Perceptions Student Learning Victoria Bernhardt

39. Activity: Data Intersections • Refer to the CreatingIntersections Activity worksheet • Working with a partner, select a 2-way intersection, then identify what questions you can answer with that data intersection. • Try a 3-way intersection. Page 43

40. To answer questions about performance: Significant rends Priority needs)? To determine why school performance is what it is (root causes)? To monitor school progress towards annual targets (interim measures). To monitor implementation of improvement strategies (implementation benchmarks). For what do you use multiple data sources in UIP? Performance Measures Process Measures

41. Drilling-Down • Consider Data Analysis: Drilling Down, page 47 • Choose a sub-indicator for which your school did not meet state expectations. Select questions that would help your school staff to drill-down. • Identify what state and local data reports would be needed to investigate each question. • Evaluate the data that is available: • State-provided reports • relevant/available local data Page 47

42. Develop a Data Analysis Plan • Consider the data analysis plan template, p. 57. • What guidance can you provide your school-level planning team about drilling deeper to understand the school’s performance? • Evaluate the data that is available: • State-provided reports • relevant/available local data • Is the data organized in a way that would allow your team to answer the most critical questions?

43. Data Sources Calendar Consider the sample Data Sources Calendar. • What are the benefits of having timing attached to a survey of data sources? • What would you add, delete from this template? • How will you facilitate school/district leader organization of their data sources over time? Page 63

44. Tools you can use

45. Integrating your Thinking • Take out, Supporting Schools Notecatcher • Make notes about your efforts to support your schools in gathering and organizing data • What tools will you use?

46. Agenda Unified Improvement Planning Basics Review Turnaround and Priority Improvement Requirements The data views your schools need UIP Quality Criteria for Development and Review UIP School Plan Feedback and Review Support and Collaboration Opportunities

47. Key Planning Resources Resource Uses Provide a “target” for plan developers for Section III and Section IV plan elements. Serve as the basis for plan review (district leaders, school accountability committees, local school boards, state department staff, state review panel) Examples of what might be included in each section of the plan. • Quality Criteria for Unified Improvement Plans (school level) • Unified Improvement Plan Examples (elementary and secondary, turnaround)

48. UIP Components Section III Section IV School Goals Worksheet Annual Targets (2010-2011 and 2011-2012) Interim Measures Action Planning Worksheet Major Improvement Strategies Root Cause(s) addressed Action Steps (timeline, key personnel, resources, implementation benchmarks) • Data Analysis Worksheet • Significant Trends • Priority Needs • Root Causes • Data Narrative • Data analysis processes used • Data used • Significant Trends • Priority Needs • Root Cause Analysis

49. Reminder: Significant Trends • Include all performance indicator areas. • Identify where the school did not at least meet state and federal expectations. • Include at least three years of data. • Consider data beyond that included in the school performance framework (grade-level data).

50. Reviewing priority need(s) Priority needs are. . . • Specific statements about the school’s performance challenges • Strategic focus for the school • Description of what is based on analysis of trends Priority needs are NOT • What caused or why we have the performance challenge • Action steps that need to be taken • Concerns about budget, staffing, curriculum, or instruction • Data interpretation