Sunday, December 21, 2014

Week of December 22nd

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II
Issue 19
Week of December 22nd  2014

Announcements




Last Post of 2014!  It's hard to believe how quickly this term has flown by, but here we are at the last blog post of 2014!!   It has been a year of many changes, but as a ending punctuation point to 2014, UAI has had an amazing fall term.  Monday and Tuesday are regularly scheduled classes.  Monday, we will have our usual grade teams and Pods.  On Tuesday, we will all be rapidly dismissing at the end of 7th period to launch into a well-earned vacation!



Policy and Procedure Reminders.  The end of the calendar year is a great time to do a little refresher on school policies and procedures.  In particular, two questions seem to arise more often than others these days.  One - what's the policy on cell phones, and two - the reminder system - when do students get removed?  We'll be discussing this in more detail during PD today, but here's some refreshers

  • Throughout the reminder system, students are reminded and given option to correct their behavior three separate times.  On the 4th time, they are removed from class and given a disciplinary consequence as defined by the Citywide Discipline Code.
  • Unless provided explicit direction from the teacher having/using a cellphone is breaking school rules.  According to our system of reminders, when students break a rule, they receive one reminder to correct it.  If after one reminder, they cannot correct the behavior (e.g. put the phone away), then they jump to a principal's referral.
Here's the section from the UAI Staff Handbook that explains this policy.   

Technology
Classroom technology will be provided to each classroom. Each classroom teacher must sign a teacher technology contract and put down a $75 deposit on the classroom's cart.  The classroom teacher(s) are responsible for the maintaining the carts in good condition. Students must also sign a student technology contract to be eligible to use classroom technology.

Student-owned technology use within the classroom is at grade team's discretion. All students, prior to using any student-owned technology in the classroom, however, must return a signed electronics policy contract back to their advisor. Examples of personal electronics in the classroom are Kindles, iPads and other eReaders (like Nooks). Smart Phone use in the classroom is not approved. As with all electronics, it is the responsibility of the classroom teacher to make all electronics expectations (how, when and what) explicit and monitor individual student use during the day. Inappropriate use of electronics consists of (but is not limited to): Facebook, YouTube, eBay, Games, Texting, Web Searches and completing work for other classes.   There is NO Electronics use outside of the classroom (Stairwells, hallways, bathrooms). As with all school rules, students are given a reminder to change behavior and adhere to rules. Failure to do will result in confiscation of device. All devices must be immediately submitted to the dean/admin closest to you by the end of the period.

If a student has had their electronic device confiscated, the item will be given to the Dean and can be picked-up at the end of the day. Dean will also follow-up with a phone call to the student’s home.


Food
All food must be eaten in the cafeteria.  If students are seen eating in class or the hallways, again, give them the initial warning and ask them to put the item away/throw it out. If the student does not follow your directive, refer incident to the Dean/Administrator on your floor.



Tuesday, December 23rd. We will be dismissing everyone at the end of 7th period on Tuesday. Please escort your 7th period class from the building at the end of the day. Prior to starting 7th period, make sure all students have everything they need from their lockers. No one will be allowed back into the building. There is no after school . Please make sure that prior to dismissal you have secured all technology and any other valuables that you do not want stolen or damaged. The building will be closed over the break for cleaning and minor repairs.




The first day back to school is Monday, January 5th.

That's the only important date I'm going to share right now ;-)

Have a safe, wonderful, and relaxing winter recess!! You all deserve it for the incredible work that you've done to make UAI HS so amazing this year!!




Sunday, December 14, 2014

Week of December 15th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II
Issue 18
Week of December 15th  2014

Announcements




Bookends of Celebration.  We started the week with Well-Developed news and ended it with good times with the UAI family.  We've worked long and hard to make UAI a great school.  It was a wonderful win for everyone to finally get the recognition that we deserve, and finally to celebrate with our UAI family.


The Last Full Week of School Before the Winter Break.  In between the good times, the kids have gotten frisky.  The Chancellor is putting extra emphasis on the 7th and 10th grades, as grades in need of some TLC.  She's not wrong.  Something happens in the neurological development of kids at these critical stages.  That coupled with the social status of a middle grade makes for quite a volatile combination.  In addition, the holidays is a stressful time for everyone, and our young ones have not quite mastered handling stress.  So to help them this week, we need to make sure that we're on our A-games this week.   In particular for this week please

  • Stick to the system of reminders and call me/Jen/Colleen/Pamela if students cannot correct their behavior after the 3rd reminder.
  • If you hear rumblings of drama, please outreach to the grade social worker immediately.  Don't assume that someone else has done it.  It's better for us to be repetitive than to miss something.
  • Grade teams should coordinate calendars.  When all their teachers have tests/due dates on the same date, this exacerbates stress (and subsequent drama).  Try to stagger dates as much as possible!
As a final reminder, kids sometimes just want to know we care.  So, take a moment to check in with the quiet ones this week and make some good calls home so that those kids can enjoy some extra holiday cheer.


How cool is this (and the questions that it raises).  A friend of mine who teaches science at PS295 posted this video on her Facebook page.  She called it "How the Chinese Multiply".  It is super cool and made me think about the kinds of questioning that could happen.  On the one hand, there's the mechanical understanding of the process (e.g. How do you use this method?  How can you check you work? What happens if a column adds up to a sum >9?).  On the other hand, there are higher order questions like (Can I use math principles like place value or distribution to explain why this works?  Wait...why does this work?)  Take a minute or two to enter into this same thought exercise.  What kinds of questions did this video raise for you?  Would your kids develop the same type of questions?  How would they see this video and what would be their perspective.


Sorry for the lack of pretty pictures this week.. Xmas cookie cooking all AM and now I'm late for the Packer game!

Important Dates

  • Thursday 18DEC14. Winterfest Talent Show
  • Tuesday 23DEC14.  Last School Day of 2014
  • Monday 05JAN14. First School Day of 2015

Per Session Posting

No new postings this week.



Monday, December 8, 2014

Documents and Resources for 13K527's School Quality Review

School Quality Review Resources for 13K527 High School 

Proposed Schedule for 08DEC
  • 8:00-9:30 Meeting with Leadership
  • 9:30-10:30 Classroom Visits
  • 10:30-11:10 Students
  • 11:10-12:00 High School Pod
  • 1:00-2:00- Classroom Visits
  • 2:00-2:30 Parents
  • 2:30-3:00 Teacher Teams
  • 3:00-4:00 Work Time
  • 4:00-5:00 Final Debrief


High School Documents

Click on the links below.



Sunday, December 7, 2014

Week of December 8th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II
Issue 17
Week of December 8th  2014

Announcements



Quality Review Time!  Today Superintendent Karen Watts will be joining our community Monday to see how far we've come since her last visit, our first year of Learning Cultures.  We have a lot to proud of when we look back on where we've come since our last review.  I'm personally excited to show her how amazing you all are!  Here's the schedule:  8:00-9:30 Meeting with Leadership
9:30-10:30 Classroom Visits, 10:30-11:10 Student Meeting in 145, 
11:10-12:00 High School Pod:  Martine, Kristin, Kerry, and Michael, 1:00-2:00 Classroom Visits, 2:00-2:30 Parent Meeting, 2:30-3:00 Teacher Teams 3:00-4:00 Work Time For Superintendent, 4:00-5:00 Final Debrief




Anna Rodriguez & her Dad pose with
teachers, Mike, Ilyana, Anna & Hassan
Our 7th NYU Poly Engineering Cohort is the most successful yet!  Many thanks to Mr. Hassan and his work with our NYU Poly Partners to revamp the program to enable our young women to be the most successful cohort to date.  Last Thursday, all our 18 young women successfully completed 100% of their assignments for the term and successfully commissioned their robots.  Staff joined our students to celebrate their achievements.  We cannot be more proud of them, and we happily give a big shout out to Mr. Hassan for helping us elevate the quality of our partnership with NYU-Poly!

Click HERE to see the wonderful clip that Noam shared of the evening!




Annual Staff Party is THIS FRIDAY!  Our annual winter staff party is on Friday 12DEC14.  We'll once again be having it at Sharlene's Bar from 4-6PM.  We're asking for $20 from staff for an open bar and light appetizers.  Family and friends are welcome to join us at 6PM.   I'm trying to get a head count for Friday so I can budget and plan food and drink.   Please RSVP using this LINK by Wednesday, 10DEC14 and if you are coming, please give me your $20 by Thursday, 11DEC14.   We have a lot to celebrate together this year!  Looking forward to Friday!!








Important Dates

  • Monday 08DEC14.  School Quality Review
  • Monday, 08DEC14.  Staff PD and Grade Team Meetings
  • Friday 12DEC14. Full UAI Staff Winter Party.  Come and be merry!
  • Thursday 18DEC14. Winterfest Talent Show
  • Tuesday 23DEC14.  Last School Day of 2014
  • Monday 05JAN14. First School Day of 2015

Per Session Posting

No new postings this week.










Sunday, November 30, 2014

Week of December 1st

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II
Issue 16
Week of December 1st  2014

Announcements


 It's December already!  Unbelievably, we are already starting our 4th month of school, which means we have already completed 1/3 of the school year.   For December, we have 17 uninterrupted instructional days, which is a great opportunity to get some traction under your new classroom initiatives (work out plans are mandatory for all and responsibility teams are optional, but highly recommended!).  I'm going to be working closely with a couple of people on each grade team to refine responsibility team practice this month.   If you are interested in joining the work, just let me know!




Grades are Due.  Benchmark grades are due to be uploaded into THIS DOCUMENT.  Last week Colleen emailed out instructions for uploading your Marking Period 2 grades.

Click HERE to see that email.

Both Benchmark grades and MP2 grades are due on Wednesday, 03DEC14 at 3PM.






Quality Review Prep.  Last week I wrote about next steps needed to prepare us for a strong review.  During our full staff monthly PD, you'll have time to attend to these next steps.  In addition, I will be making rounds of Informal evaluative visits.  My goal is to do same day feedback and to try to get to as many people as possible.  I'm also using this opportunity to norm with the lead coaches on feedback and next steps, so please expect them to join me on these visits.  They are there for training only, I'll be doing the evaluations.

As a reminder, there were 4 next steps:

  • Teach into the breach.  We need to elevate the rigor of student thinking.  The optimal method is to explicitly teach students how to make higher quality breaches in all formats.
  • Launch Work Out Plans.  We need to be more attentive to providing all students with access to our content.  Work Out plans is the optimal strategy to address this.
  • Keep up with the Formats.  From speaking with students, formats are consistently occurring throughout classrooms.  Keep this up. It demonstrates strong coherence in our school.
  • Turn in your Current Unit Arcs. Another example of strong coherence and also a prime tool we use to align our curriculum to standards are our unit arcs.  To be able to present these to our reviewer, please upload them to this folder by the end of the day on Monday, 01DEC14.


Agenda for Monthly Full Staff PD. 

  • 2:50-3:10: Review Old/Add New Ideas for PODS.  Our first round of PODs is ending.  It's time to start our next round, select new topics and do some final reflections.  
  • 3:10-3:20: SQR Next Steps and Round II of Observations.  Kiri will review expectations for Observations and Next steps and review tentative schedule of review and bio of the reviewer.
  • 3:20-4:10: No grade team meetings this week.  Teachers will have time to beautify and put student work up!  Click HERE to look at last week's post to get ideas of some strong classroom environments and student work posts.



Quality Review Info.  Our quality review is one week from Monday.  It is an important day for our school.  Coming together to put our best foot forward will shine the best and brightest light on everything we have done as a community to bring our high school where it is!  The Urban Assembly put together a wonderful data dashboard which highlights some of our chief accomplishments.  Additionally, the new High School Quality guide has some really pretty graphics that illustrate our growth!  Here are some pretty amazing highlights:


  • Last year's graduation rate was 91%!
    (Brooklyn and City rates were 68% & UA Network rate was 74%)
  • Our college persistence rates are amazing.  88% of our first class was enrolled in college 6 months after they graduated with 92% of them were enrolled 1 year after.  
    (UA network rates were 70% and 77%, respectively.  6 month city & Brooklyn rates were 50% and 51%, respectively.  Data for city and Brooklyn rates one year out are not readily available.)
  • Click here to see more of the amazing growth stats we had last year!
    (the data and goals I shared at the beginning of this year.)



Important Dates

  • Monday, 01DEC14. Full Staff PD and Unit Arcs Due
  • Tuesday, 02DEC14. Kiri out of the building at Superintendent's meeting.
  • Wednesday 03DEC14. Grades for MP2 and Benchmarks are Due
  • Friday 05DEC14.  2nd MP Progress Reports distributed 8th period.
  • Monday 08DEC14.  School Quality Review
  • Friday 12DEC14. Full UAI Staff Winter Party.  More details to follow.
  • Thursday 18DEC14. Winterfest Talent Show
  • Tuesday 24DEC14.  Last School Day of 2014
  • Monday 05JAN14. First School Day of 2015

Per Session Posting

No new postings this week.



Saturday, November 22, 2014

Week of November 24th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II
Issue 15
Week of November 24th,  2014

Announcements


Click Here for the Full Program
Benchmark Testing.  Monday is a regular schedule and Tuesday and Wednesday will be benchmark scheduling.  All teachers need to make sure that students take the exams seriously.  We will be using the exams to chart student growth.  Students will be released early on both Tuesday and Wednesday to give teachers time to grade. Benchmark Exams need to be graded and the percent correct entered into the Benchmark Tracking document by the end of the day on Wednesday, December 3rd.  If you missed entering data for the first round, please also enter that data into the sheet.   Note - if there are no make-up exams, staff will be released early for the Thanksgiving break!



UAI Staff Potluck.   In place of Grade Team and Pods, we'll be having a UAI Potluck!  We'll be joining the middle school.  Girls Inc and Carrera Partners are also invited.  Just join a grade team to bring what you'd like!  Please drop off your food in the main office conference room.  Here are the Assignments:  9th Grade Team - Please bring side dishes. 10th Grade Team - Please bring desserts. 11th/12th Grade- Please bring appetizers.  Admin and Main Office support will be on Main Dishes and Drinks.  We'll be joining the middle school in the library to celebrate the event!  The exact space is still TBD, but we'll announce it at the end of the day on Monday.




Student Work in the Classroom Environments.  We need to prepare our environments for the SQR walk-through.  Across grades and subjects, environments are strong! We do need to tidy up, but most importantly, we need to get student work up.   Student work comes in all shapes and sizes - unison & conference records, breach journals, completed tasks, assessments, etc.  The most important thing about seeing student work up is the purpose it shows.  It can serve to provide a mentor text for their peers (like the work from Colleen's room pictured at left). It can show the process of student thinking (like a conference record).  Whatever the purpose, all student work needs to have teacher feedback that clearly supports student growth (actionable and clear).  Click here to get some ideas.  Our Quality Review is Monday, DECEMBER 8th.  




Student Events.  The past couple of weeks have been pretty awesome with student events.  Sarah worked with Adrienne to launch a Keepers of the Culture Summit in which they trained new students to take up the roll as advisor, mentor, and peer mediator.  Jen  & our Carrera partners had another successful event with our Senior Mentors.  Finally, after months of planning, Jamie & Danielle brought Sonia Kovalevsky day back to UAI's freshmen and sophomores.  Girls Inc launched their first Lunch with Leaders for our students this month, and Carrera gave the opportunity for one of our seniors to represent our school and her learning at a Junior Achievement dinner.   With the day-to-day grind, it's easy to miss all the awesome work everyone is doing in addition to being dedicated educators on a daily basis.   These are just some of the events of the last few weeks.  I'm sure I'm missing something - so much is going on for our girls.  It's pretty awesome!  Thanks for being such an amazing, dedicated, and talented staff!  Our girls deserve the best and you guys always deliver!



Spread the Warmth.  Girls Inc and Carrera are kicking off a winter clothing campaign.  To get all the kids involved in this community service project, they are sponsoring a party and raffle to the group that collects the most items.   Please help them help those who need it most.  Donations should be labeled with student groups so they can accurately tally.  Teachers and staff can also participate.






Important Dates

  • Monday 24NOV14. In place of Grade Team and Pods, we'll be having a UAI HS Potluck!  Here are the Assignments:  9th Grade - Sides; 10th Grade - Desserts; 11th/12th Grade- Appetizers.  Admin and Main Office support will be on Main Dishes and Drinks.  We'll be joining the middle school in the library to celebrate the event!
  • Tuesday and Wednesday 25NOV14 and 26NOV14.  Benchmark II Assessments
  • Wednesday 26NOV14. Marking Period II Ends. 
  • Thursday & Friday 27NOV14 and 28NOV14. Thanksgiving Recess NO SCHOOL
  • Wednesday 03DEC14. Grades Due
  • Friday 05DEC14.  2nd MP Progress Reports distributed 8th period.
  • Monday 08DEC14.  School Quality Review
  • Thursday 18DEC14. Winterfest Talent Show
  • Tuesday 24DEC14.  Last School Day of 2014
  • Monday 05JAN14. First School Day of 2015

Per Session Posting

No new postings this week.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Week of November 17th

UAI High School Staff News

Volume II
Issue 14
Week of November 17th,  2014

Announcements




SLC Wrap Up.  We have done a really amazing job getting families in for SLCs.  As a reminder, if you have not already done so, please make sure that Carol has your sign in sheets. They were due on Friday at the end of the day.  So, if you forgot, no biggie, just make sure Carol gets them first thing on Monday so we can finalize the count together.





SQR Preparation.  As part of the Quality Review process, I've asked the Cabinet to help me write our Self Reflection.  The self-reflection is the school's self-evaluation on each of the indicators.  The cabinet has divided up each of the indicators and is working on deepening their understanding of their selected indicator.  In addition, I've asked them to get a sense across grades and classrooms of where we are on their chosen indicator.  This means they'll be popping in to collect low inference observations and other data points to sustain their evaluations.  This is not an evaluation of you as individual teachers.  Rather this is a collection of data points to evaluate us as a school.  Please do feel free to ask questions or share your thoughts with anyone on cabinet.  All input is important to get a good picture of where we are.  In addition to cabinet visits, the LC principals will be doing an instructional rounds visit in the morning tomorrow.




Benchmark Testing.  Our next round of benchmarks is coming up next week.  Please make sure that you have reviewed the schedule with your team.  If you see anything that was problematic last time but still has not been changed on the schedule, please let me or Colleen know ASAP.  Also, please make sure that the teachers who are testing students with test modifications have adequate copies of the benchmark prior to the close of school on Friday.  As a reminder, we are using the exact same benchmark that we used in September.  The only variation being the questions selected (e.g. choosing the odds instead of the evens).   It's important that we use the same benchmark because I will be tracking growth based on this data.  The turn around window for grading these benchmarks will be tighter this time.  I want to have the data entered into the document and ready for your use prior to the Quality Review.  So, benchmarks will have to be completely graded by Tuesday, December 2nd.




Work Out Plans.  The deadline for introducing work out plans into your classrooms is 24NOV14 and they should be a staple in your unit arcs that start after the Thanksgiving break.  Workout plans are not intended to be extra in any way.  Rather, they are necessary components of getting the girls to be able to achieve (or excel) in your course.  In addition, there doesn't have to be a huge number of different activities.  Start small and build over time.  As you grade the benchmarks, that will give you plenty of ideas of where your youngsters are falling down and what background abilities needs shoring up for your particular discipline.  Work Out plans are just a new approach to differentiation.  Rather than modifying tasks, you're adding in necessary activities to enable students to achieve on the tasks you assign.  There are coaches on each grade team that can help you!  Please reach out to them!




Important Dates

  • Monday, 17NOV14. PER SESSION SHEETS DUE
  • Thursday 20NOV14. Cabinet Meeting in 403 - Agenda TBD
  • Monday 24NOV14. In place of Grade Team and Pods, we'll be having a UAI HS Potluck!  Here are the Assignments:  9th Grade - Sides; 10th Grade - Desserts; 11th/12th Grade- Appetizers.  Admin and Main Office support will be on Main Dishes and Drinks.  We'll be joining the middle school in the library to celebrate the event!
  • Tuesday and Wednesday 25NOV14 and 26NOV14.  Benchmark II Assessments
  • Thursday & Friday 27NOV14 and 28NOV14. Thanksgiving Recess NO SCHOOL

Per Session Posting

No new postings this week.

Monday, November 10, 2014

SQR Resources

School Quality Review Resources

School Data Reports

Here are our school's data reports

UAI HS Self Reflection

From a number of different perspectives (Learning Cultures Principals, middle school leadership, and UAI HS Cabinet and Coaches), we have completed our initial self-evaluation for the high school.  Below is a summary of the findings.  To see more specific details, scroll down to see the evidence listed in blue.

1.1 - Rigorous, engaging, and coherent curricula aligned to CCLS - Proficient
1.2 - Research based, effective instruction that yields high quality student work - Proficient
2.2 - Curricula-aligned assessment practices that inform instruction - Proficient
3.4 - A culture of learning that communicates and supports high expectations - Proficient
4.2 - Teacher teams engaged in collaborative practice using the inquiry approach to improve classroom practice - Well Developed


Next Steps

Trend #1:  The quality of student questioning is inconsistent and often low level.
Teach into the breach.  Last year Colleen & Martine explicitly taught into the different kinds of breaches kids could make in Unison, and in other formats (e.g. the Conference, Work Time, the lesson, etc.).  In short, using the Unison breach categories helped students understand how to make higher quality breaches, which led to elevated levels of discussion and thinking.  Additionally, the team collectively taught into Webb's Depth of Knowledge chart, which gave the kids some concrete verbs and descriptions to help them develop more complex and rigorous questions, leading to higher order thinking skills.  Teaching kids to question is the equivalent of teaching them to fish.  (Give a person a fish, they feast for a night...Teach a person to fish, the feast for life).  When we focus on teaching explicit content, we are in essence, giving the kids the fish.  Teaching them to question is teaching them. Click on the pictures to see more.  When Deputy Chancellor Phil Weinberg visited their classroom last year, the girls were engaged in extremely impressive discussion and questioning during the mini-lesson.  He was incredibly impressed by their level of discourse that day.  


Trend #2:  Differentiation is not readily observable when all students are working on the same task during work time (which is a common observation across grades and subjects). Additionally, when everyone is working on the same thing, it is not readily apparent how data is being used to drive instruction.  Launch Workout Plans. One question that arose consistently through all of the observers was why all students were working on the same task (across grades and subjects).  While working on the same task is not necessarily the problem, it does highlight a lack of differentiation and calls into question what data is being used to drive curriculum.  To address this, we have put the pedal to the metal on launching Workout plans.  Workout plans need to be launched by Monday and should include the following:  (1) Teaching into the Fixed vs. Growth Mindset, (2) Using Data (at minimum - Benchmark Data, 1st MP grades, and DRP) to situate progress (any other course specific data is welcome!), and (3) Logistics of how workout plans are happening in your classroom (where to find them, what standards they address (like this document that Marianna uses).


Trend #3:  Students are able to consistently identify when they had their last unison reading group and conference, indicating a consistency in practice across grades and classrooms.  In talking to students, this is one of the things that is very consistent across classrooms (at least from the student's perspectives- which is awesome!).  Please keep adhering to the formats, and keep your fidelity high for these weeks to come.  It's totally working!!


Trend #4: Students are consistent in reference to Unit Arcs as a common tool across grades and subjects to track progress and responsibilities to CCLS and NYS Standards.  Another strong practice is our consistency across grades and subjects with respect to our Unit Arcs.  I need to ask for your most recent arcs so that I have current ones to share with the reviewer when she comes.  Please make sure that you upload your current arcs by Monday, December 1st into THIS FOLDER so that I have them on hand.



There are 10 quality review indicators, but only five of them will be used in the formal report for the 2014-2015 Quality Reviews.  Those 5 indicators and our self evaluation and examples of evidenece to support this assessment, and their "Well-Developed" look-fors are:

Instructional Core

Indicator 1.1:  Rigorous, engaging, and coherent curricula aligned to CCLS

  • UAI HS Cabinet Evaluation - Proficient
    • (A) Curricula aligns to CCLS and/or content standards and instructional shifts. 
      • Curriculum Arcs are consistent within subjects and across grades
      • Curriculum Arcs are aligned to CCSS and/or NYS Standards for subjects
      • Subject Teams meet weekly to discuss:  benchmark assessments, classroom resources, curriculum arcs, and common evaluation tools (e.g. rubrics).
    • (B) Rigorous habits and higher order skills for all.  
      • Inconsistent levels of task demand across grades and classrooms.
      • Consistent practice of scheduled conferences and unison reading across classrooms, but quality of conferences and UR groups is still inconsistent
      • Consistent expectations for formats exist across classroom (social emotional learning via the social norms and other format expectations and rubric indicators)
    • (C) Planning and revising to ensure access to curricula and cognitive engagement for all students.
      • Inquiry sheets and pretest data are used to structure work time activities in many classrooms
      • Benchmark testing and DRPs are used on a schoolwide level to track student progress on macro levels towards content mastery and reading level development.
      • CBMs and fluency assessments are used to track student progress on micro, content specific topics and skills in addition to tracking background abilities.
      • Wide variety of resources for students at multiple levels to engage diverse learners.
Quality Review "Look-Fors"
  • (A) Curricula aligns to CCLS and/or content standards and instructional shifts. 
    • School leaders and teachers can articulate how they ensure curricula are aligned to the CCLS and other content area standards; they can also articulate a chosen strategy for integrating the instructional shifts.  These strategies have resulted in coherence across grades and subjects. Coherence is defined as a fluid connection and coordination between topics student study in each subject within a grade and as they advance through the grades.
    • The school has clearly defined criteria for what it means to exit a grade level and to attain the enduring understandings and key skills that ensure success in college and career.
    • School leaders and teachers integrate the instructional shifts by making purposeful connections between the shifts and the topics in each subject - both within a grade and as students advance through the grades - so as to promote college and career readiness.
    • School leaders and teachers can articulate how curricula, across and within grade levels are aligned to the CCLS and scaffold student success to promote college and career readiness for all students.
  • (B) Rigorous habits and higher order skills for all.  
    • Rigorous habits and higher order skills - such as those that require students to create their own meaning, integrate skills into processes, and use what they have learned to solve real world problems - are identified, defined, and embedded within curricula and academic tasks coherently across grades and subjects.
    • Curricula and academic tasks require students, including English Language Learners and students with disabilities, to think accurately and with clarity, identify and consider multiple meanings and interpretations, take and support positions, resist impulsivity and engage in disciplined inquiry and thought, use and adapt what they know, deal with ambiguity, and demonstrate their thinking in new learning situations.
    • Habits, as follows, are explicitly embedded in classroom instruction and academic tasks: persisting, managing impulsivity, listening with understanding and empathy, thinking flexibly, metacognition, questioning and problem posing, applying past knowledge to new situations, thinking and communicating with clarity and precision, creating, imagining, and innovating, taking responsible risks, thinking interdependently, and remaining open to continuous learning.
    • Curricula and tasks, across grades and subjects, challenge all students, including English Language Learners and students with disabilities, to think critically; instruction provides scaffolds to ensure students can demonstrate their thinking through the work products they are asked to create.
  • (C) Planning and revising to ensure access to curricula and cognitive engagement for all students.
    • Teachers across grades and subjects use student work and data to plan and refine curricula and academic tasks in order to cognitively engage all students, including lowest and highest achieving students. 
    • School leaders and teachers provide a data-based rationale that identifies areas of growth or achievement gaps for all students, including ELLs and students with disabilities and other subgroups, and explain how curricula and academic tasks are planned and refined accordingly so that all students access curricula and tasks and are cognitively engaged at a level consistent with the academic expectations for that grade level or beyond.
    • Curricula and academic tasks are designed to engage students, advance them through the content and asses their understanding as evidenced by their work products.

Indicator 1.2: Research based, effective instruction that yields high quality student work

  • (A) Shared beliefs informed by Danielson framework and aligned to pedagogy and curricula
    • Across a preponderance of classrooms, teacher practices consistently reflect and support school wide beliefs about how students learn best; teachers and administrators can articulate how those beliefs are informed by the Danielson Framework for Teaching, aligned to curricula, and shaped by teacher team and faculty input.
    • Instruction, outcomes, strategies, and learning activities are derived from standards-based curricula and reflect school leadership's espoused beliefs about optimal student learning situations; beliefs are influenced by the priorities of the Danielson Framework for Teaching and CCLS instructional shifts.
  • (B) Teaching strategies provide multiple entry points that engage all learners
    • Instructional student groups are organized thoughtfully and are varied as appropriate; they build on student strengths and incorporate student choices as appropriate to maximize learning.  Plans for lessons or units are well-structured with appropriate pacing and time allocations.
    • Lessons and teaching documents represent deep content knowledge, understanding of diverse students' linguistic differences and other needs, and available resources (including technology) resulting in a series of learning activities that engage students in high level cognitive activity. The lesson and unit structure is clear and allows for different pathways to understanding according to diverse student needs.
    • Teachers can explain how particular teaching strategies and instructional tasks address the needs of individual students and sub-groups (ELLs and students with disabilities, lowest third, and highest performers) by articulating how the task is designed and/or identifying examples of ways student learning is supported or extended.
    • Teaching practices leverage strategies such as inquiry, project-based and collaborative learning, questioning, and discussions that promote high levels of thinking.   Strategic use of scaffolding techniques (e.g. modeling, needs-based grouping, activating prior knowledge, effective use of graphic organizers, visuals, imagery, and technology, building academic vocabulary - all of which may be in the student's native language or in English) provides multiple entry points to lessons and tasks for all learners including ELLs and students with disabilities.
    • Across classrooms, teachers strategically use scaffolds, questioning, opportunities for choice, and other teaching practices to create a variety of ways for students to access the content, learning project, or task, and be supported in learning or extend it to different possible endpoints so that all students show mastery of the learning objectives and corresponding standards. 
    • Teachers across classrooms provide students with challenging learning tasks that require them to use critical thinking, analysis, and problem solving; tasks encourage inquiry, collaboration, and ownership among students. 
    • Teachers use a variety or series of questions or prompts to challenge students cognitively, advance high level thinking and discourse, and promote metacognition. These high quality questions encourage students to make connections among concepts or events previously believed to be unrelated and arrive at new understandings of complex material. Students formulate many questions, initiate topics, and make unsolicited contributions. Students themselves ensure that all voices are heard in discussion. 
  • (C) High levels of student thinking and participation that culminate in meaningful work products.
    • Teachers across classrooms provide students with challenging learning tasks that require them to use critical thinking, analysis, and problem solving; tasks encourage inquiry, collaboration, and ownership among students. 
    • Teachers use a variety or series of questions or prompts to challenge students cognitively, advance high level thinking and discourse, and promote metacognition. These high quality questions encourage students to make connections among concepts or events previously believed to be unrelated and arrive at new understandings of complex material. Students formulate many questions, initiate topics, and make unsolicited contributions. Students themselves ensure that all voices are heard in discussion. 
    • Students across classrooms produce work and engage in discussions that reflect critical thinking, creativity, innovation, and problem solving, as well as student ownership of the learning process. 
    • Ample student-to-student dialogue, using academic vocabulary and evidence-based accountable talk is built into the lesson. Students can articulate what they are working towards, why it is important, and how they help determine the direction of lessons.


Indicator 2.2: Curricula-aligned assessment practices that inform instruction

  • (A) Curricula-aligned assessment practices and grading policies that provide actionable feedback
    • Teachers and administrators articulate coherent reasons for assessment choices; assessments are aligned to CCLS and/or content standards in the curriculum. These choices deliver a range of data, some daily, some monthly, and some quarterly, to sustain collaborative inquiry and continuously improve instruction.
    • Teachers collaborate on designing and/or modifying common grade-wide, curriculum aligned assessments, rubrics, and grading policies that are customized to address data-defined student and sub-group needs. these tools are used by teachers and administrators to track progress towards goals across grades and subject areas and make instructional decisions.
    • A variety of feedback to students, from both teachers and peers, is accurate specific, and timely- advancing learning.
  • (B) Common assessment analysis that drive curricular and instructional adjustments
    • Teachers collaborate on designing and/or modifying common grade-wide, curriculum aligned assessments, rubrics, and grading policies that are customized to address data-defined student and sub-group needs. these tools are used by teachers and administrators to track progress towards goals across grades and subject areas and make instructional decisions.
    • Teachers in teams determine important topics to assess with common formative assessments.  Teachers effectively "unpack" the standards and analyze the instructional shifts for those topics to pinpoint concepts and skills students need to know and be able to do. The validity and reliability of school level assessments are ensured through the consistent, collaborative structures for norming and interpretation of evidence used to evaluate student performance.
    • Teacher teams agree on learning goals and benchmark performances for units, tasks, and courses prior to designing or using formative assessments to measure student mastery of goals. 
    • Teachers and teams effectively analyze data to glean information about students' progress and learning needs relative to the learning goals.
    • Teachers accurately identify specific instructional responses to the data, which might include re-teaching content, changing instructional approaches to meet the needs of all students, and/or developing more challenging tasks/units.  Adjustments to lessons/tasks are effective and teachers can explicitly cite the impact of their instructional responses/adjustments.
    • Assessment criteria are written clearly, students are aware of and able to articulate them, and there is evidence that students have helped establish the assessment criteria according to teacher-specified learning objectives.
  • (C) Checks for understanding and student self-assessment that lead to effective lesson adjustments.
    • A variety of feedback to students, from both teachers and peers, is accurate specific, and timely- advancing learning.
    • Teachers accurately identify specific instructional responses to the data, which might include re-teaching content, changing instructional approaches to meet the needs of all students, and/or developing more challenging tasks/units.  Adjustments to lessons/tasks are effective and teachers can explicitly cite the impact of their instructional responses/adjustments.
    • Assessment criteria are written clearly, students are aware of and able to articulate them, and there is evidence that students have helped establish the assessment criteria according to teacher-specified learning objectives.
    • All learning outcomes have a method for assessment; assessment types match learning expectations and are authentic with real-world applications as appropriate.  Plans indicate student choice in assessments, student participation in the design of assessments of their own work, and modified assessments for some students as needed. 
    • Students are actively involved in collecting information from assessments and provide input.
    • Teacher monitoring of student understanding during lessons is visibly active and continuos: the teacher is constantly "taking the pulse" of the class and makes frequent use of strategies (double entry journals, parking lots, cold call, exit slips, etc.) to elicit information about individual student understanding and trends.
    • Students consistently self/peer-assess against the assessment criteria (rubrics) and monitor their own understanding and progress either by taking initiative or as a result of tasks set by the teacher. Students are aware of their next learning steps.



School Culture

Indicator 3.4:  A culture of learning that communicates and supports high expectations

  • (A) Communication of high expectations to staff, inclusive of training a system of accountability
    • School leaders create elevated level of expectations for all staff, which is evidenced throughout the community through verbal and written structures (e.g. new teacher orientations, ongoing work-shops, staff handbook, school website) that emulate a culture where accountability is reciprocal between all constituents. 
    • The school has clearly defined standards for professional development (including professional development plans that incorporate staff input) and classroom practices elements of Danielson Framework for Teaching to ensure that learning for all stakeholders consistently reflects high expectations.
    • School leaders and other staff members work as a team in study groups, planning sessions, and other professional development modes, establishing a culture of professionalism that results in a high level of success in teaching and learning across the school. 
  • (B) Communication of and support for families understanding of high expectations for college and career readiness
    • Staff members implement effective strategies for communicating high expectations (e.g. tasks encouraging inquiry, collaboration, and ownership) that are clearly connected to college and career readiness so that all students are challenged to meet or exceed those expectations.
    • The school orchestrates ongoing events and creates multiple opportunities to partner with and engage families in learning, fostering their participation in a culture of high expectations connected to college and career readiness, and offering them feedback on their children's progress towards meeting those expectations.
    • The school provides ongoing, clear lines of verbal and written communication (e.g. online progress reports, parent/teacher conferences, parent informational sessions and workshops, student led conferences) with families to deepen their understanding of college and career readiness expectations for their children and empower them to help support their children in meeting of exceeding those expectations.
  • (C) Staff communicate and support high expectations to students.
    • Teachers and other staff have a set of clear, systematic structures (e.g. advisory, guidance, college counseling) for articulating high expectations and sharing information with students, leading to student progress towards mastery of CCLS and college and career expectations.
    • Staff members have institute a culture for learning that provides all students, especially those in high-need subgroups, with focused, effective feedback including clear next steps that determine student accountability for learning goals and expectations to prepare them for their next grade while ensuring their ownership of the learning process.



Systems for Improvement

Indicator 4.2: Teacher teams engaged in collaborative practice using the inquiry approach to improve classroom practice.

  • (A) Teacher teams engage in collaborative inquiry that supports goals and strengthens teacher capacity
    • The vast majority of teachers collaborate in professional teams where they develop and implement school wide instructional practices, embedding the CCLS and instructional shifts to continuously promote improved achievement for all learners.
    • Teacher teams clearly articulate how they implement structured professional collaboration using protocols (e.g. Looking at Student Work, Tuning, Notices and Wonderings) and other structures to strengthen teacher capacity as they create, revise, and/or adopt curricula to ensure effective integration of the CCLS and instructional shifts into instruction across grades and content areas.
    • School leaders and teachers have built a culture of professional collaboration (e.g. team-initiated inter-visitations, lesson study) in which they share insights relative to the coherence of teacher pedagogy, thus fostering improvement of outcomes for all learners.
  • (B) Student work/data analysis within teams improves curricula, teaching, and learning
    • Teacher teams clearly articulate how they implement structured professional collaboration using protocols (e.g. Looking at Student Work, Tuning, Notices and Wonderings) and other structures to strengthen teacher capacity as they create, revise, and/or adopt curricula to ensure effective integration of the CCLS and instructional shifts into instruction across grades and content areas.
    • School leaders and teachers have built a culture of professional collaboration (e.g. team-initiated inter-visitations, lesson study) in which they share insights relative to the coherence of teacher pedagogy, thus fostering improvement of outcomes for all learners.
    • Teacher teams effectively implement systems to monitor a variety of student data and classroom practices that inform instruction leading to the achievement of goals for individual as well as groups of students.
    • Teacher teams provide a data-based rationale and analysis of student work that inform their decisions to adjust teacher practice and create strategic goals for groups of students.
  • (C) Embedded distributed leadership structures that influence key decisions
    • School leaders and teachers offer specific and clear examples of teacher leadership that illustrate how teachers and teacher leaders play a vital role in school level decision-making.
    • Administrators and teacher leaders (e.g. team leaders, coaches, mentors, cabinet members, instructional leaders, department chairs) are able to identify distributed leadership structures that are deeply-rooted in the school's day to day operations and articulate how they serve as a conduit for teacher input in strategic decisions that affect student achievement.