Dr. Villar's Latest Blog - Alliance Grant for Year 2 Approved

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See:  http://www.windsorct.org/pages/Windsor_Public_Schools/District/Superintendent_s_Corner/Blog_Folder/S...

http://www.windsorct.org/pages/Windsor_Public_Schools/District/Superintendent_s_Corner


Year Two Alliance Grant Approved Done J. Villar 1 day ago

Recently, the Windsor Public Schools’ Administration presented the District Improvement Framework to the Board of Education. The documents, calendars, and action plans are all available for review on our district website at www.windsorct.org . During the presentation, I shared with the Board of Education that the District Improvement Plan was constructed using a Holistic Accountability Framework. A relatively small component of the plan is supported by the District’s Alliance Grant. Recently, we were notified that our application for the second year of the Alliance Grant has been approved by the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE). I am very pleased to share that the district has been awarded an additional $647,476 in funding for the limited purpose of district improvement! The CSDE describes the Alliance Grant Program stating:

Public Act 12-116 established a new process for identifying 30 Alliance Districts – the districts with the lowest district performance index (DPI) scores statewide – and targeted increased Education Cost Sharing (ECS) funding for these districts. The Alliance District program is designed to help districts raise student performance and close achievement gaps by pursuing bold and innovative reform strategies. Each district’s receipt of its designated ECS allocation is conditional upon district submission and the Connecticut State Department of Education’s (CSDE) approval of an Alliance District plan in the context of the district’s overall strategy to improve academic achievement.

Alliance District plans are locally conceived, evidence-based reform plans that propose detailed initiatives for improving student achievement. The CSDE will review district plans on an annual basis, and approve plans that align with the goals of the program. Approval of plans in years two through five will be predicated upon progress towards the described year one performance targets, among other factors. Proposals for the use of Alliance District funding will be considered in the context of the quality of the overall strategy for reform proposed in the plan, as well as the degree of alignment between the proposed use of funds and the overall district strategy.

Through our grant application, the district proposed to use Alliance District funds working in three, key high-leverage areas which were identified in the larger Windsor Public Schools District Improvement Plan. These areas are:

1. Curriculum Development and Implementation to align with Common Core State Standards
2. Implement Best Practices for instruction through the Connecticut System for Educator Evaluation and Development (SEED)
3. Ensure that schools have a positive supportive climate that is inclusive for all learners and maximizes learning opportunities

In addition, the district proposed to place emphasis on improving the performance of Windsor High School.

The following is a brief description of the proposed work for each of these areas of focus taken directly out of our Alliance Grant application. Admittedly, the text at times is dense and there is a significant amount of “education speak”, however, I thought it more important to provide the information to interested citizens than to take the time to boil these important topics down to sound bites.

Curriculum Development and Implementation to align with Common Core State Standards

A Curriculum Development and Implementation Action Plan has been drafted to guide the continuing work on curriculum development and commence ongoing audits of its implementation. It will be reviewed and updated in preparation for monthly District Data Team meetings using the stoplight indicators of green as an indicator of completion, yellow as an indicator of progress and red as an indicator of no progress. The first two days of professional development are devoted to the rollout of the elementary curricula at Grades K-5 with technical assistance provided by the curriculum specialists and content coaches. At the secondary level, continued work will take place on the development of performance assessments in core areas and curriculum development in areas outside of Language Arts and Mathematics. Curriculum supervisors will meet regularly with the elementary teachers before and after each unit of study to plan for instruction and revise units as necessary. The ongoing embedded professional development will provide classroom teachers and special education teachers time to reflect on instruction, analyze student data, revise the curriculum in real time and to preview upcoming units. This model ensures the targeted CCSS within each Mathematics and Language Arts unit are addressed. The calendar of in-house professional development sessions by grade level and school has been generated and shared with the administrators. In addition, a matrix of curriculum approved by the Board of Education and curriculum under development for 2012-2016 has been created and shared with administrators and will be shared with all staff at the commencement of the 2013-2014 school year.

Principals, vice principals, curriculum supervisors and Central Office staff will visit classrooms to monitor the fidelity of implementation of the new Language Arts and Mathematics curricula every month. Teams of administrators will begin a calibration process using the Curriculum Implementation Monitoring instrument, already field tested in the spring of 2013, to discover the level of fidelity of implementation of the curriculum at the classroom level. Pacing, CCSS, and the delivery of the curriculum will be documented with particular attention given to student discourse and critical problem solving components of the curriculum and instruction. The implementation data in combination with MAP outcomes will inform the DDT about the status of the implementation of the new curricula and about any needed changes in adult action. Many of the supporting documents previously mentioned will soon be made available for review on our district website.

Implement Best Practices for instruction (SEED)

The district participated in the Connecticut System for Educator Evaluation and Development (SEED) pilot for the 2012-2013 school year. We have determined that we will continue our focus on implementing this valuable framework as a means of improving the teaching and learning within the district. The CSDE has reviewed and approved Windsor’s District Evaluation Plan. Windsor has contracted with ProTraxx to provide the talent management software and has already scheduled training for the administrative team on August 14, 2013 and for the teaching staff in early September. As part of an ongoing embedded professional development plan for the administrative team, the district has contracted with the Center for School Change effective as of June, 2013. Initial work in the calibration of the administrative team began at that time.

Professional development in evaluation of teacher performance, the crafting of meaningful Student Learning Outcomes, and calibration using the StEPP rubric and planning for effective feedback using Jackson’s Strategic Conversations is underway. Monthly professional development meetings specific to teacher evaluation and feedback is scheduled with additional embedded calibration visits among administrative teams to take place between meetings. Evaluators will receive continued support from the Center for School Change and from Central Office staff throughout the year as the evaluation process unfolds.

The district is focusing professional development opportunities to align with the three priority areas outlined in the District Improvement Plan: CCSS/Curriculum Development and Implementation, SEED and Teacher Evaluation and PBIS. Building administrators will collaborate with teachers to identify personalized areas of growth and provide building level professional development opportunities to address these areas. The District Data Team will monitor the implementation of curriculum, student achievement and behavioral data to inform professional development needs within buildings and provide technical support accordingly. Additional professional development opportunities to target specific areas of growth or interest including educational technology, research-based teaching strategies, motivation and educationally related book discussions will be offered through Windsor University. These sessions are facilitated by in house talent and occur after school hours at various venues around the district on a voluntary basis. In the absence of guidance from the CSDE on the delivery of personalized small group professional development opportunities, Windsor University offerings, embedded Professional Learning Communities at all grade levels and district directed professional development in CCSS, PBIS and SEED will round out Windsor’s Professional Development Plan for the upcoming academic year. Outside district professional development requests for attendance at national or regional conferences will be reviewed and vetted by the District’s Professional Development Committee.

Windsor Leadership Academy is entering into its second year as one high profile mechanism to retain and provide professional growth opportunities to local talent. The initial cohort will continue work this year on mutually agreed upon projects and shadowing experiences. At the end of the academic year, this cohort will provide feedback to improve the structure and support systems for the following cohort of educators in Year 3 of the Alliance Grant.

Ensure that schools have a positive supportive climate that is inclusive for all learners and maximizes learning opportunities.

The district will use the District School Climate results from the National School Climate Instrument (NCCI) in conjunction with the individual school climate surveys and SET results by school, to develop district-wide and school based plans to address climate and ensure that positive behavioral supports are in place in all schools. Data collected as a result of the district-wide implementation of PBIS will be reviewed each month by the District Data/ Leadership Team. These data are essential components to the district Holistic Accountability Framework and are scheduled to regular review before the Board of Education. The District will also develop a comprehensive communications plan as a means of improving parental involvement and communication between the Windsor Public Schools and the greater community.

Providing wrap around services for at-risk students at Windsor High School and the development of district capacity to seek external private resources in support of our work.

There are no schools within the Windsor Public Schools identified as Review and Turnaround schools by the Connecticut State Department of Education. However, the administration of the Windsor Public Schools has identified that additional focus and effort will be placed upon addressing the needs of Windsor High School. Over time, the school has not made sufficient progress in improving its overall performance on the CAPT test and the SAT.

To this end, the district is prepared to provide additional support and resources to help the administration of Windsor High School dramatically improve school-wide performance. The district has engaged the faculty of Windsor High School in the ongoing curriculum and assessment revision commencing with Language Arts and Mathematics curriculum development in Year 1 of the Alliance Grant. The work will continue over the next year and beyond to ensure all grade levels and content areas have and are delivering high quality curricula. In addition, the district has and will continue to provide the high school faculty with extensive professional development in SEED. These centralized interventions with the following supports described below are being provided to Windsor High School.

The district will continue its partnership with the University of Connecticut, Neag School of Education, to provide the professional staff of Windsor High School with professional development in reading and writing across the content areas. The professional development model will include individual coaching and consultation to the newly formed Professional Learning Communities as well as the formal academic departments. Specialized technical support will be given to literacy staff who manage programs including Read 180, the Homework Club, and the Access courses. Additional formal course work will be offered by UConn staff after school and afford teachers with credit for college study in adolescent literacy/reading. Substantial funds will be set aside to provide culturally relevant and engaging texts to students in print and electronic format in each classroom at Windsor High School. Without providing students with texts they can and want to read, improvements in student achievement in reading will be less likely to be realized. Currently the school is devoid of substantial quality adolescent literature of interest to the student population and classroom libraries have not been financially supported. WHS will partner with the HuskySport program where UConn students and athletes mentor WHS students and track their independent reading status. Students are likely to be motivated by an individual outside of the school who has taken and interest in their progress.

Book clubs and discussions, theatre performances related to literary works and college visits will provide incentives for students to read. To supplement the core writing/reading assignments, non-traditional, but engaging, partner reading/writing experiences will be employed including, but not limited to, “Correspondence Match” where students pair with a Peace Corp Volunteer to write back and forth and ePals, “high school abroad” experience where students engage in corresponding with a student from another country around a specific topic, issue or project. Other connections will be made by inviting local authors to visit and work with students whenever possible.

In order to support the school improvement plan which targets reading and writing as two focus areas, a consultant with a skill set in school improvement initiatives and the training/support of Professional Learning Communities will provide job-embedded professional development/coaching to building administrators and teachers working with data, teaming protocols, and development, revising and monitoring of improvement plans.

In addition to the items mentioned previously, the district will expand upon the original Alliance Grant application for Windsor incorporating support for programs to assist at-risk students who attend Windsor High School. We intend to expand upon these efforts and include the following within our revised Year 2 application:

• Additional professional development in Year 2 of the grant will be provided to improve and expand the co-teaching model as a means of providing additional support to include special education students. The district continues to work with consultants to provide training to our faculty in regards to the best practices in co-teaching and effective practice including all learners within the classroom.

• The restructuring and expansion of the school’s Math lab student assistance and tutoring program to allow for supplemental services in mathematics to reach more students. Additional computers, software and licenses will promote access to lab services.

• Technical support for the development of Student Success Plans (SSP) will be secured. The district is monitoring the effectiveness of SSPs as one data point under the District Improvement Plan measuring the readiness of our student population to successfully transition into the post-secondary world. A rubric for identifying quality plans is under development and will be applied to a representative sample of plans for graduating seniors annually. The ratings of the plans will be used to develop and provide ongoing professional development to faculty.

• Develop plan to provide necessary professional development to Board of Education, administration, teachers and staff based on validated findings and recommendations from the Equity and Excellence Review conducted during the 2012-2013 school year.

The following is the budget submitted to the CSDE for the second year of the Alliance Grant.

Section 2: Key Initiative Budgets for Alliance District

District Priority #1:

Element

Positions

Amount

Justification

Personnel Services - Salaries

$30,000

Curriculum writing salaries for faculty (Continued from Year 1)

Personnel Services - Employee Benefits

0.00

$0

Purchased Professional and Technical Services

0.00

$40,000

Consultants to assist in the development and implementation of curriculum (Continued from Year 1)

Purchased Property Services

0.00

$0

Other Purchased Services

0.00

$2,000

License fees for software (New)

Supplies

0.00

$0

Property

0.00

$10,000

Chrome book computers to assist in the assessment of students (New)

Other Objects

0.00

$0

Total

0.00

$82,000

District Priority #2:

Element

Positions

Amount

Justification

Personnel Services - Salaries

0.00

Personnel Services - Employee Benefits

0.00

$0

Purchased Professional and Technical Services

0.00

$52,000

Consultants to provide embedded executive coaching, support for Windsor University and Windsor Leadership Academy (Continued from Year 1)

Purchased Property Services

0.00

$0

Other Purchased Services

0.00

$25,000

Support from CCSC to calibrate Administrators for SEED, data warehousing system for SEED (New)

Supplies

0.00

$0

Property

0.00

$35,000

Computer hardware (surface windows tablets) necessary to support implementation of SEED (New)

Other Objects

0.00

$0

Total

0.00

$112,000

District Priority #3:

Element

Positions

Amount

Justification

Personnel Services - Salaries

2.00

$60,000

Salary community outreach and coordinator (Continued from Year 1)

Personnel Services - Employee Benefits

0.00

Purchased Professional and Technical Services

0.00

$70,000

Contract with EASTConn for PBIS support services, contract with firm to develop communications plan (Change from year one- district had worked with CREC in Year 1)

Purchased Property Services

0.00

$0

Other Purchased Services

0.00

$10,000

School climate surveys (New)

Supplies

0.00

$0

Property

0.00

$0

Other Objects

0.00

$0

Total

2.00

$140,000

District Priority #4 (optional):

Element

Positions

Amount

Justification

Personnel Services - Salaries

0.00

$77,000

Salary for Alternate Education Facilitator, tutor salaries for Math Lab and student support services (New)

Personnel Services - Employee Benefits

0.00

$17,500

Portion of benefits associated with Math Lab expansion, benefits for Alternate Education Facilitator (New)

Purchased Professional and Technical Services

0.00

$138,976

Cost associated with UCONN Professional Development Collaborative, Husky sport program, expansion of Math Lab, implementation of EER study findings, additional training on Co-teaching, support of Student Success Plans (New)

Purchased Property Services

0.00

$0

Other Purchased Services

0.00

$10,000

Licensing costs for software used in Math Lab/student support services (New)

Supplies

0.00

$30,000

Literacy materials necessary for book clubs, classroom libraries (New)

Property

0.00

$40,000

Computer hardware necessary for expansion of math lab and student support services, support Student Success Plans (New)

Other Objects

0.00

$0

Total

0.00

$313,476

Total

$647,476

Jeffrey A. Villar, Ph.D.

October 16, 2013