February 6, 2014

 General Information – Creative Explorations, Director’s Meeting, Identification, Budget, Summer Programs  Unified Improvement Planning  Differentiation for Gifted Learners

“Colorado schools and districts can improve student learning and system effectiveness by engaging in a cycle of continuous improvement to manage their performance. To support this purpose, the Education Accountability Act of 2009 requires each Colorado district and school to create an annual improvement plan.” Source

The Gifted Education Addendum to the UIP template is really an action planning document that replaces the annual program plan for gifted education. The UIP process helps us develop and practice problem-solving skills we should use with our students.

Gather and organize data Analyze three years of data for significant trends Prioritize performance challenges Set performance targets Identify interim measures Identify root cause Identify major strategies for improvement Identify implementation benchmarks

Join a small group to look through the data sheets about the achievement of gifted students in the SLV Groups will focus on data about: Area of Identification Minority/Nonminority FARM eligible/ Not FARM eligible Grade Level – E,M,H

Complete your data sheet and record achievement trends over the last three years on the bottom of your sheet Record the observed trends on your wall chart

Look at the data from your district Do gifted students in your district show the same type of trends as the AU data shows?

Where the gifted students did not meet state or local expectations in achievement or growth See handout of gifted state expectations in achievement for gifted Growth – Low 1-34 Typical in percentiles High By definition the 50 th percentile is considered 1 year’s growth

Take a carousel walk around the room Place a check mark next to the two challenges that you feel are the most important for the AU (When making your selection consider what your district’s challenges are also)

Group discussion of what seem to be appropriate targets for the AU for the next year based on the priority challenges

What interim measures does your district use to measure student progress through the year? Examples - NWEA, Curriculum Based Assessments Are they an effective way to measure growth and achievement for your gifted learners?

The deepest, underlying cause(s) that, if dissolved, would result in elimination or substantial reduction of the symptom(s) The purpose of identifying the root cause is to bring about system changes that will improve student performance Source

Focuses on systems, not people Positive approach to system changes Helps identify successful areas or weak points in processes Source

Non-Root Cause 1. Poor instruction in mathematics 2. Student intervention processes not aligned to student needs Root Cause 1. Lack of staff development in mathematics instructional strategies 2. Unorganized Response to Intervention process absent of key staff members Source /files/Root_Cause_Presentation.pdf

You have been working very hard !!! Now it is time to hear a story about the next phase of the determining the root cause process from Dr. Seuss

During this part of the process the goal is to identify what is causing the priority challenge(s) Complete the “20 Hunches” Protocol worksheet by brainstorming in a small group For your most compelling hunch – remember we are looking for systemic issues

With the same group, extend your thinking by completing the “5 Whys” worksheet to identify your root cause At this point in time we only have student learning data but you may want to think about the other data forms for your district

Identify the major research-based strategies to create improvement – these need to directly relate to the Priority Performance Challenge and the root cause Narrow the strategies to those that are most likely to improve the priority challenge

Look at the UIP Action Planning Template to develop ideas for a two-year span with at least quarterly action steps. Clarify roles and responsibilities of the staff who are implementing the action steps. Remember the action plan will be most effective when it is integrated with the UIP action plan for your district.

Is the performance challenge significant (with magnitude) given student data? Is there alignment among: data analysis, performance challenge, root cause, and improvement strategies?

Is the target(s) clear, attainable, and measurable? Is the action plan clear, reasonable, credible with use of evidence based instructional strategies and with sufficient focus on instructional practice or systemic function to change practice and support the targeted student outcome?

Every district submits a district UIP template. Each district may have a different way to complete the steps in the planning process. The SLV AU has decided to create one addendum for use throughout the valley. Each district will need to attach the addendum to its UIP template. If a district sees different priority challenges or will use other improvement strategies they certainly may do so but will need to change the addendum to match their information.

Your have completed a complex process