Building a Unified and Coherent Statewide System of Support Sandy Vasu-Sarver, Executive Director, Center for Students, Families & Communities Deborah Telfer, Executive Director, Center for School Improvement 2009 OESCA/OTESCA Fall Conference September 15, 2009

OIP is the Enactment of the Leadership Development Framework DLT Regional OIP Training OIP is the Enactment of the Leadership Development Framework 2 2

Why Leadership Team Structures? Shift focus from a single individual to a team Distribute key leadership functions Align and focus work using few district goals Ensure effective leadership at all levels of the system Engage in the OIP for the long-term

Redefining Our Work Design everyone’s work primarily in terms of improving the capacity and performance of someone else

Three Critical Commitments (from Marzano & Associates, 2008) Develop a system of individual student feedback at the district, school, and classroom levels Ensure effective teaching in every classroom Build background knowledge for all students (particularly those with educationally challenging backgrounds)

Scale & Sustainability Michael Fullan asserts that the difficulty of sustaining change at the classroom level occurs if other levels of the system (school, district, regional agencies, and state) don’t change in ways that enhance coherence, alignment, connectedness, synergy, and capacity for continuous improvement (The New Meaning of Educational Change, 2007).

SSOS Improvement is everyone’s job All districts/schools can improve State role – to ensure high quality consistent support to any district/school, regardless of status Consistency in Design and Message – SLDT Consistency in Delivery – Quad Leads/Structure Consistency in Ongoing Support – SSTs and ESCs

Effective & Aligned Resource Management District-wide Districts have local discretion in identifying critical needs and are better positioned to do so through OIP Regionally Aggregated data on district identified needs allows for more intentional and targeted PD/TA by regional providers Statewide OIP provides common structure for identifying needs and promoting district focus State responds to district and regional directed needs 8

The OIP: Ohio’s Strategy for Creating a Unified SSOS Common process allows for consistent provision of high-quality training and support through unified regional infrastructure Differentiated accountability provides additional leverage to support unified system 10

Ohio’s Approach: Key Features The role/responsibility of the district is key to making and sustaining improvement Data are organized to aid in identifying the most critical needs and customizing solutions to critical needs High quality consistent training and support are provided through a unified regional infrastructure Leadership is defined as a set of practices to be implemented across the system

Core Principles of OIP Use a collaborative, collegial process Produce one coherent, focused plan Rely on quality data and data interpretation Expect changes in instructional practice and student performance

OIP Benefit Eliminate Fragmentation Recognize evident connection of district to all buildings Move AWAY FROM program ownership TO shared/collective ownership for improvement DLT-BLT offers parallel process for aligning and focusing the work

OIP Promotes Shift in Practice OLD PRACTICE Plan developed in response to funding provided Schools develop plans disconnected from each other and the district Plans include too many goals/strategies with no coherence across district NEW PRACTICE Plan drives intentional/aligned resource management District plan drives development of school improvement plans Plans include a limited number of goals/strategies to address biggest problems

OIP Partnerships & Accomplishments During the past year, over 500 SST and ESC OIP facilitators were trained during 21 training events SSTs and ESCs facilitated the OIP in 283 districts and with 14 community school sponsors These districts and community schools included over 1000 SI buildings

Addressing ALL Children What does your “ALL” look like?

Old Thinking Special Education Regular Education

The School Community Serves Students with Disabilities New Thinking The School Community Serves All Students Students with Disabilities School Community

Did You Know? Of the 294 Ohio school districts that were identified under Ohio’s Model of Differentiated Accountability as needing high, medium or low support, 56% of them did not meet AYP only for children with disabilities.

Results for Kids with Disabilities IDEA requires states to measure and improve academic performance results for SWD annually All states must measure districts’ performance on SPP/APR indicators

SPP Performance Indicators Graduation/Dropout of SWD Performance on statewide assessments Discipline Least Restrictive Environment Disproportionality Early childhood outcomes Post school outcomes

Learning from Districts Districts that have consistently shown high performance for children with disabilities have engaged in strategic practices to make this happen.

“Lessons Learned” Planning is critical All means All – Own the kids! Principals took charge Schedule for success Keep data and monitor the course Maximize teaming Engage parents and the community

Performance Agreement Identifies the work of the SST to improve results for ALL kids Is connected to the SPP Supports the development of the SSOS

ESC-SST Coordination