September 10, 2012

1. Scope of Services and Deliverables Presentation PPSD School Board Meeting September 10, 2012 Presented by: Dr. Sheri L. Miller-Williams, Executive Director

2. Presentation Outcomes • Provide a general overview of the scope of services to be provided by United Providence (UP!) to three Cohort II PLA schools. • Summarize the three-year UP! Transformation Model to include an explanation of the: • Theory of Action • Field-Based Support Model • Three Phases of Work • Performance Measures (Leading and Lagging Indicators) • Evidence of Success/Core Strategies • Questions from the Board

3. UP!s Sense of Urgency “Those who strive to turn good into great find the process no more painful or exhausting than those who settle for just letting things wallow along in mind-numbing mediocrity.” -Jim Collins, Good to Great, 2001

4. The Call to Action • United Providence (UP)! represents a new and exciting strategy that will jumpstart the reform process in PPSD. • UP! is a new nonprofit education management organization (EMO) designed to manage the turnaround process in a cluster of Providence’s lowest-performing schools. • The Providence Teacher’s Union (PTU) and Providence Public School District (PPSD) recognized that the time had come to collaboratively forge a new relationship that would result in improved student outcomes in the district’s chronically low-performing schools.

5. Theory of Action • Lasting transformations from good to great follow a general pattern of buildup followed by breakthrough. • -Jim Collins, Good to Great, 2001

6. Theory of Action PRINCIPAL Increased capacity, more PSS focus TEACHERS Increased capacity, more PSS focus To achieve our goal of significantly increasing achievement levels at all three UP! schools, the focus has to be on impacting all parts of the education eco-system including: principals, teachers, students, and parents in collaboration with Providence Public School District (PPSD). STUDENT Increased effort, engagement, and achievement DISTRICT LEADERSHIP to support focus on PSS PARENTS Increased support and involvement

7. Theory of Action • UP!'s Theory of Action is grounded by Transformational Leadership Theory focused on the development of reflective school leaders capable of transforming urban schools. • The UP! Model relies on a coaching and mentoring model which requires collaboration at all levels of the school organization, and is based on three components: technical help, personal support, and individual challenge. These three elements are held together by an emotional bond between the UP! Executive Team, the ILT, and supporting committees (shown in the figure below). Technical Assistance UP! Schools Personal Support Individual Challenge Emotional Bond

8. A Distributed Leadership Approach • The EMO has been designed to enable UP!’s staff, principals, teachers, students, and community members to lead the charge for reform through the use of a distributed leadership model. This model will govern school activities and frame the decision-making process. • At a minimum, each UP! school will establish five committees comprised of UP! staff, school administrators, faculty members, staff, parents, community partners, and students:

9. UP! Organizational Support Structure (Year One) • UP!will be led by a governing Board with the support of a national Advisory Board. To drive reform efforts, UP! will function with a lean staffing structure in Year One focused on providing direct campus-based support to the three UP! Schools.

10. Field-Based Support Model (Year One) • UP!’s core team members will spend the majority of their time in UP!’s schools. The figure below provides a sample staffing schedule that illustrates how UP!’s staff will maintain a consistent and embedded presence in all of its schools. With the exception of the Executive Director, an UP! team member is on site at every school four days per week.

11. UP!s Transformation Model: Phases of the Work UP!’s school turnaround model requires a three-year intensive turnaround period that includes:

12. The Framework of Modern School Culture • Cultural change is a much more difficult form of change to accomplish. It cannot be gained through force or coercion. It requires leaders adept at gaining cooperation and skilled in the arts of diplomacy, salesmanship, patience, endurance, and encouragement. It takes knowledge of where the school has been, and agreement about where the school should go. Cultural change must precede technical change”. • -Anthony Muhammad, Transforming School Culture, 2009

13. Phase I: Planning & Culture-Climate Change(Year 1: 2012-2013) The initial phase of the transformation model will focus on school planning, stabilization, and culture and climate change. UP! will work with schools to lay the groundwork for the transformation process.

14. Phase I: Planning & Culture-Climate ChangeLeading Indicators of Performance (Year One) Leading indicators demonstrate signs of growth or change in a particular direction and provide an early read on progress towards long-term goals.During the first year of turnaround, UP! will rely heavily on:

15. UP!s Instructional Impact through Content Coaching • Content coaching defines “the work” as lesson design, enactment, diagnosis, and enhancement of student learning-the instructional core. Content-focused coaching does not advocate for a specific program, set of materials, or one particular instructional strategy. Content coaches keep an eye on the bigger picture-effective instruction as evidenced by student learning. • -Lucy West-Transforming the Teaching Profession, 2009

16. Phase II: Intensive Turnaround and Instructional Reform (Year 2: 2013-2014) • The second phase will focus on the implementation of the school reform plans and performance monitoring.

17. School Level Performance Measures for Year Two (Lagging Indicators-2013-2014) Lagging indicators include outcome metrics or results expected in the long term. Though UP! will track lagging indicators (e.g., student achievement data) throughout the process, there will be a heightened focus on impact metrics during the second and third years of implementation. Lagging performance measures for Year Two are as follows:

18. The Seven Levers of Sustainability • School leaders drive consistent, transformational, and replicable growth in their schools by structuring their work around seven core areas of school leadership: student culture, staff culture, managing leadership teams, data-driven instruction, observation and feedback, instructional planning, professional development • -Paul Santoyo-Leverage Leadership, 2012

19. Phase III: Capacity Building and the Sustainability of Reform Efforts (Year Three 2014-2015) • The final phase will focus on building school-level capacity and ensuring the sustainability of reform efforts; UP! will decrease its involvement in the daily management of the schools.

20. UP!s Core Strategies: Internal Measures of Reform Success Alongside leading and lagging performance indicators, UP! will measure organization impact in PLA schools based on an evaluation of cultural, instructional, and operational systems based on the following core strategies: • Core Strategy I: The School as a High Performance Organization • Core Strategy II: Establishing a Culture of Achievement for All Students • Core Strategy III: Safe and Orderly Schools that Promote Learning First • Core Strategy IV: Public Engagement that Creates Alliances and Partnerships • Core Strategy V: Continuous Improvement of Curriculum and Instruction in Every School