ESEA Flexibility Waiver Webinar Early Childhood, Special Education, Title Program Services Kansas State Department of Education Pat Hill Norma Cregan

Kansas State Department of Education Agenda  Part 1: School Improvement Process Flowchart Next Steps Support for Districts and Schools District Facilitators (DFs) and Implementation Coaches (ICs) Kansas Integrated Innovation Teams (KIITs) Technical Assistance System Network (TASN) and Directory of Resources Additional Support  Part 2: Role of KansaSTAR System Purpose/Key Features Dashboard – Login/Password, Enter School Information Getting Started – School Leadership Team Steps  Part 3: Focus of the School’s Work: Four Team Structure Indicators Assess – Assessing the Indicators Plan – Creating the School Plans and Tasks Monitor – Implementation & Sustainability 2

Part 1: School Improvement Process Flowchart Next Steps

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Kansas State Department of Education School Improvement Process –  KLN Team conducts DNA  DNA Reports including recommendations of Menu of Meaningful Interventions (MMIs). 5

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Kansas State Department of Education Priority and Focus Schools’ Next Steps  Implement targeted technical assistance and professional development that is based on data from the District Needs Assessment.  Required in Priority Schools (Address First):  Review the performance of the current principal  Replace the principal if such a change is necessary to ensure strong and effective leadership; or demonstrate to the KSDE that the current principal has a track record in improving achievement and has the ability to lead the turnaround effort.  Review the quality of all staff and retain only those who are determined to be effective and have the ability to be successful in the turnaround effort.  School Improvement Grant (SIG) schools will use the Menu of Meaningful Interventions. 7

Kansas State Department of Education Priority and Focus Schools – Next Steps  Complete an analysis of the DNA Report  Begin using the KansaSTAR system to track implementation of DNA Report recommendations.  Refer to the Crosswalk document that aligns the 7 Turnaround Principles, Menu of Meaningful Interventions and the KansaSTAR Indicators. 8

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Kansas State Department of Education Priority and Focus School – Next Steps  Using the KansaSTAR system Assess, Plan for, and begin to implement 4 Key Indicators (Team Structure).  Dates for implementing 4 Key Indicators  Refer to the KansaSTAR Reporting Requirements and Timelines document for specific directions on the number of indicators to complete in a given timeframe and the KansaSTAR Indicators of Effective Practices document. This cycle will continue for 3 years. 10

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Kansas State Department of Education Priority and Focus Schools – Next Steps  Determine what types of technical assistance will assist the district and school(s) in addressing the challenges and recommendations indicated in the DNA Report.  Utilize the Technical Assistance System Network (TASN) and the Directory of Resources to assist the district and school(s) in providing additional professional learning opportunities aligned to the DNA Report’s recommendations. 13

Kansas State Department of Education TASN and Directory of Resources Links  TASN:  Directory of Resources:

Kansas State Department of Education Role of District Facilitator (DF)  DFs will work directly with the district and Priority and Focus schools.  DFs work at the district level to facilitate the implementation of the improvement process.  DFs provide ongoing technical assistance to the district as they implement interventions related to the needs assessment.  DFs serve on the KIIT. 15

Kansas State Department of Education Role of Implementation Coach (IC)  ICs work at the school level to facilitate the implementation of the improvement process in Priority Schools.  ICs will support the implementation of the interventions at the school level.  ICs will evaluate whether the key indicators and turnaround indicators are met.  ICs will serve on the KIIT. 16

Kansas State Department of Education Additional Support for Priority & Focus Schools  Federal School Improvement Grants  Title I funds reserved by districts  Support provided by KSDE through the Kansas Learning Network (KLN)  KSDE—School Improvement Coordinator Sandy Guidry  Network Providers (service centers)  Cross & Joftus Consultants  District Facilitators  Implementation Coaches  Kansas Integrated Innovation Team (KIIT) 17

Kansas State Department of Education Support for Priority and Focus Schools – Kansas Integrated Innovation Teams (KIITs)  KSDE staff is assigned to KIITs.  The KIITs will offer technical assistance throughout the school improvement process.  The KIITs will provide On-site monitoring two times a year in Priority Schools. 18

The KansaSTAR System Dashboard Login/Password School Information School Leadership Team Steps

Schools are given a unique password and enter here through a link from the SEA website

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Kansas State Department of Education The first items that a process manager should do in the system, are: Update school information Add Team Members Add demographics and test assessment scores

Focus of the Work Four Team Structure Indicators Assessing the Indicators Creating School Plans and Tasks Monitoring: Implementation & Sustainability

Kansas State Department of Education Indicators of Effective Practice-Samples Teams All teams operate with work plans for the year and specific work products to produce. Instructional Teams meet for blocks of time (4 to 6 hour blocks, once a month; whole days before and after the school year) sufficient to develop and refine units of instruction and review student learning data. Teachers All teachers maintain a record of each student’s mastery of specific learning objectives. All teachers differentiate assignments (individualize instruction) in response to individual student performance on pre-tests and other methods of assessment. Principals The principal spends at least 50% of his/her time working directly with teachers to improve instruction, including classroom observations. The principal challenges, supports and monitors the correction of unsound teaching practices.

Kansas State Department of Education First Read Wise Ways Research  Indicator: A Leadership Team consisting of the principal, teachers who lead the Instructional Teams, and other key professional staff meets regularly (twice a month or more for an hour each meeting). (42)  Evidence Review:  Some decisions concern the general operation of the school and its continuous improvement. The Mega System places those decisions with a Leadership Team that is headed by the principal and includes teachers and other staff. In order to facilitate communication and coordination among the grade levels and the departments of the school, a typical composition of the Leadership Team is the principal and team leaders from the Instructional Teams. The Leadership Team needs to meet twice each month for an hour each meeting. Less frequent meetings lead to drift and loss of continuity; less time for each meeting creates hurriedness and insufficient attention to the work at hand. Effective teams operate with agendas, keep minutes, stay focused, and follow through with the plans they make.  Source: Sam Redding, The Mega System. Deciding. Learning. Connecting. A Handbook for Continuous Improvement Within a Community of the School. ©2010 Academic Development Institute 25

Kansas State Department of Education The Leadership Team should ask themselves: 1.What is the straight-forward, literal meaning and intent of the indicator? 2. How would we know the extent to which the indicator is implemented? 3. What data must be analyzed to determine the level of implementation? 4. What instruments must be created to gather the data? 5. Who will make the data available? 6. What does it look like now?

Kansas State Department of Education Team Structure Indicators Category: Leadership and Decision-Making Section: Establishing a Team Structure with Specific duties and time for instructional Planning Four Key Indicators: A Leadership Team consisting of the principal, teachers who lead the Instructional Teams, and other key professional staff meets regularly (twice a month or more for an hour each meeting). (42) The Leadership Team serves as a conduit of communication to the faculty and staff. (43) The school’s Leadership Team regularly looks at school performance data and aggregated classroom data an uses that data to make decisions about school improvement and professional development needs. (45) Teachers are organized into grade-level, grade-level cluster, or subject-area instructional teams. (46)

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Kansas State Department of Education Assess School Indicators Utilizing Wise Ways and candid conversations, teams will determine if indicators are:  Fully Implemented  Limited development  No development

Kansas State Department of Education No Development or Implementation If the team determines there is no implementation, it then decides if the indicator is:  not a priority (provide explanation why)  a priority and will be included in the school improvement plan.

Kansas State Department of Education Will Include in Plan/Limited Development If the team determines that it will include the indicator in their plan OR if the team assesses the indicator as Limited Development, then the team will determine: Priority of the indicator Opportunity to reach full implementation Description of current implementation

Kansas State Department of Education Full Implementation If an indicator is determined to be fully implemented, the team must provide: Evidence of full implementation Description of sustainability efforts *Indicators marked as fully implemented or not a priority will not move into the planning process.

Creating School Plans and Tasks

Kansas State Department of Education Objectives to Plan Teams can create plans for indicators assessed as:  No development, will include  Limited development Indicators that were assessed as:  not a priority or  fully implemented will not appear in Step 5. Indicators are referred to as ‘objectives’ in the planning process.

Kansas State Department of Education Creating Plans assigns a team member to be responsible for the Objective describes how the Objective will look in the school when it is fully implemented describes what they will need to gather to provide evidence when it is fully implemented creates tasks to reach the Objective To create a plan for an objective, the Leadership Team : *Teams should again refer to Wise Ways when creating plans.

Kansas State Department of Education Creating Tasks For each task created, the Leadership Team: describes the tasks assigns a person to complete the task establishes a date for completion Tasks should be simple steps towards completing the objective.

Monitoring: Implementation & Sustainability

Kansas State Department of Education Monitoring the Plan At each Leadership Team meeting, the team will: review the list of tasks that were created for each Objective check progress of each task with the team member assigned check off each task as it is completed.

Kansas State Department of Education Monitoring the Plan Once all tasks for an objective have been completed, the team will decide if:  The objective is now fully implemented OR  More work still needs to be done

Kansas State Department of Education Monitoring the Plan If the team has reached full implementation for an objective, they should: CELEBRATE! Describe evidence of implementation Describe experience Explain how implementation will be sustained.

Kansas State Department of Education Monitoring the Plan If all tasks have been completed, but the Leadership Team does not feel as if they have reached full implementation, the Team will simply add more tasks until the objective has been met.

Kansas State Department of Education Thank You!  Questions?  Contact Information Pat Hill Norma Cregan