Texas Equity Toolkit Project: Day 1

Texas Equity Toolkit Project: Day 1
District Training Session This slide presentation and the accompanying handouts are intended for use by Regional Education Service Centers (ESCs) to support districts in using the Texas Equity Toolkit (TET) to develop local equity plans. The materials include facilitators notes and supplemental handouts, and can be used as-is or modified to suit local needs. Questions regarding these materials can be directed to For more information on the Toolkit and to download the Toolkit and training materials, visit the TET website: The presenter notes are organized in the following manner: Time: Time is provided in minutes. It includes the estimated time allotted for each slide. If it is the first slide in a section/session, it will also include the total estimated time for that section/session. The actual time it takes to facilitate each slide and section of the training will depend on facilitation preferences, pacing, or decisions to modify the training materials. Materials Needed for Participants: This describes the materials the participants will need for this slide and where they are located. Materials Needed for Presenters: This describes the materials the presenter will need for this slide. If this is the start of a section/session, the first slide will list everything the presenter will need for that section/session. Presenter says: This includes talking points for the presenter and describes what the presenter will say. Presenter will: This describes what the presenter will be doing during the slide or section/session. Participants will: This describes what the participants will be doing during the slide or section/session. Additional notes: This describes any additional miscellaneous points for the presenter’s reference. Please note that there will be slides that do not include all of the bullets listed above because they may not be relevant or are redundant. Preparing the Room: Before you start this training, place poster boards in the corners of the room. This will serve as a parking lot where participants can jot questions for the presenters and their responses to the questions: "What do you need from us to help you turnkey this information and training to the districts you serve?” and "What do you need from us to help you turnkey this information and training to the districts you serve?” at the end of each activity, and participants can add to it whenever the mood strikes them. At the end of the training, read the questions and responses as a recap. We recommend setting up the room so that participants can work in small groups and still see the front of the room where the materials are on-screen. Materials Needed for Participants: Chart paper Markers Sticky notes Pens Handouts (available for download here: Handouts with blank planning templates for the activities supporting Steps 4, 5, and 6 A “mock data” Excel handout Other Laptops – Participants should plan to bring laptops to the training to view and use the electronic versions of the toolkit materials and data worksheets. Their laptops must have Excel installed. Materials Needed for Presenters: Projector & laptop This PPT file On-screen versions of the Excel Mock Data and other training handouts On-screen versions of the Texas Equity Toolkit (Steps 1-5, Roadmap Reporting Template, Project Management Template) 3/30/2017

Welcome and Introductions
Time: This section will take about 5 minutes. The entire training takes 2 days. Presenter says: Throughout the presentation, the presenter will see “screenshots” of images of tools, planning templates within tools, and the data worksheets. These screenshots are meant to indicate that the presenter should pull the actual tool, planning template within a tool, or data worksheet up on-screen and guide the user through where to go in the tool and how to fill it in. The screenshots are meant as guidance to the presenter and are not likely to be useful in slide form given the size of each image. The presenter should plan to closely review the training slides and the tools and data worksheets so that at the appropriate time, they can pull up the materials on-screen for users to view.

Introductions Who is here today?
Time: Depends on number of participants. Presenter will: Introduce yourself and the project team and, if relevant, partners. Ask stakeholders to do a quick go-around by stating their name, organization, and their role in their organization. Participants will: Introduce themselves.

Objectives of Equity Toolkit Training
Build a shared understanding of the Excellent Educators for All Initiative—what is equitable access, and why does it matter? Introduce the Texas Equity Toolkit Project. Build a shared understanding of the resources and tools in the Texas Equitable Access Roadmap: A Toolkit to Support Texas Districts to Develop Local Equitable Access Plans. Build district capacity to use the toolkit to develop and implement a local equity plan. Time: (2 mins) Presenters says: (Review slide.)

Agenda: Day 1 Session Title Timing Welcome and Introductions
8:30–9:00 a.m. The Excellent Educators for All Initiative and the Texas Equity Plan 9:00–10:00 a.m. Overview of State, ESC, & LEA Roles 10:00–10:15 a.m. Break 10:15—10:30 a.m. Introduction to the Texas Equity Toolkit “Roadmap” Process 10:30–11:00 a.m. Introducing the Toolkit Step 1. Engaging and Communicating with Stakeholders 11:00–11:30 a.m. Lunch (provided) 11:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. Step 2. Reviewing and Analyzing Data 12:30–2:45 p.m. District Planning Session: Steps 1–2 3:00–3:30 p.m. Equity Data Survey 3:30-3:45 p.m. End-of-Day Wrap-Up 3:45–4:00 p.m. Time: (1 min) Presenter will: Review agenda.

Agenda: Day 2 Session Titles Timing Introducing the Toolkit
Welcome Back—Recap of Day 1 and Kicking Off Day 2 8:30–8:45 a.m. Introducing the Toolkit Step 3. Conducting a Root Cause Analysis Break Step 4. Selecting Strategies, Part I 8:45–11:00 a.m. 11:00 –11:15 a.m. 11:15–11:45 a.m. Lunch 11:45 a.m.– 12:45 p.m. Step 4. Selecting Strategies, Part II Step 5. Planning for Implementation Putting It All Together: The Roadmap Reporting Template 12:45–1:30 p.m. 1:30—2:30 p.m. 2:30—2:45 p.m. 2:45—3:00 p.m. District Planning Session: Steps 3–5 3:00–3:30 p.m. End-of-Day Wrap-Up & Training Feedback Survey 3:30–4:00 p.m. Time: (1 min) Presenter will: Review agenda.

The Excellent Educators for All Initiative: Communicating With Districts About Equity
Time: (1 min) Presenters says: (Review slide.)

Session Outcome Participants have a better understanding of what the equity plan process is and is not. Participants see value in the equity planning process for the district, the region, and the state. Time: (1 min) Presenters says: (Review slide.)

Federal Requirement – State Level
For State: Sec. 1111(g)(1)(B) – as it relates to what must be included in the state’s Title I application: “how low-income and minority children enrolled in schools assisted under this part are not served at disproportionate rates by ineffective, out-of-field, or inexperienced teachers, and the measures the State educational agency will use to evaluate and publicly report the progress of the State educational agency with respect to such description…” Time: (2 mins) Presenters says: The Excellent Educators for All Initiative is in Title I, Part A under ESSA. Therefore, there is a federal requirement for the state to create and submit plans describing how the state will improve gaps as they relate to low-income students and students of color being taught at higher rates than other students by inexperienced, out-of-field, and ineffective teachers. This is an annual obligation. TEA actually received this directive before ESSA went into effect, beginning the equity plan process back in The Texas State Equity Plan is publicly available for reference. Today, we will talk through the process the state implemented in developing their State Equity Plan.

Federal Requirement – District Level
For Districts that receive Title I funds: Sec. 1112(b)(2) – as it relates to what must be included in the district’s Title I application: “how the local educational agency will identify and address, as required under State plans as described in section 1111(g)(1)(B), any disparities that result in low-income students and minority students being taught at higher rates than other students by ineffective, inexperienced, or out-of- field teachers;” Time: (2 mins) Presenters says: Title I, Part A under ESSA also includes a requirement for each district that receives Title I funds to create and submit plans describing how the district will improve gaps as they relate to low-income students and students of color being taught at higher rates than other students by inexperienced, out-of-field, and ineffective teachers. This is an annual obligation as well. An important item to note is that this is a district level plan rather than a campus level plan. Therefore, any district that receives Title I funds will examine possible equity gaps across all district campuses, regardless of each campus’s Title I status. Today, we will also talk through the process districts will engage with in developing their own district equity plans.

Tension One more thing We’re not hiding magical strategies Are we moving teachers? Aren’t resources an issue? Are we being asked to solve the nation’s equity issues? Time: (5 mins) Presenters says: When the state team received this requirement from the Department of Education in 2015, they felt some initial tensions. Some of these tensions listed may be similar to those you are feeling in this moment. Is this just one more thing? The state team thought through the amount of federal requirements they and Texas districts must comply with yearly, and initially felt that this was just one more thing to add to a full plate. Are they assuming we’re hiding magical strategies? The state team felt that this new requirement may have implied that there were strategies that could close equity gaps across the state and within districts that they and we were choosing to leave on the table. We know that this is not the case. We are using all the tools at our disposal to do the best we can for students across our state. Are we moving teachers? The state team wondered if this requirement was actually indicating the need to redistribute effective teachers. To put your mind at ease right away…no, this is not the case. Aren’t resources an issue? We all recognize that there are real resources challenges across our state, and the state team wondered if the equity plan process would take that into consideration. And lastly, the state team thought about the dynamics of the K-12 educational system over the past 20 years, which has slowly asked us to not only serve as educators, but counselors, healthcare workers, food service employees, and in some cases even the bus drivers. Was the Department of Education asking the state and districts to now solve the most challenging and complex issue facing education today as well?

Goal Time: (2 mins) Presenters says: After those initial, honest reactions, though, the state team thought through their approach and what they, and districts within Texas, value. As campus, district, regional, and state leaders, one of our primary goals is “It doesn’t matter what classroom these students walk into – an effective teacher awaits them”. They, therefore, recognized that the equity plan process truly aligns with our ultimate goal. (Note: Presenter may choose to add a personal anecdote, sharing what this means to them based upon their experience in the education field). I know that the ultimate goal for each of you is to give every child in your district the opportunity to receive effective instruction no matter what campus or classroom they walk into. It doesn’t matter what classroom these students walk into – an effective teacher awaits them.

Outcome Hopes Equity planning emanates from district improvement planning processes Approach is about continuous improvement, not a need to find the magic solution to ending inequity Opportunity to align work between districts, ESCs, and TEA Sheds coordinated light on where additional support is needed – focuses the conversation moving forward Time: (7 mins) Presenters says: Once the state team began to feel optimistic about the process, they began to ask, what are the real values of this process for both the state and districts Presenters will: Click to animate bullets 1 and 2. The first value of the equity plan process is how clearly it folds into the continuous improvement model the state and districts already engage with yearly. The state team capitalized upon this, intentionally designing the equity plan to ensure that it aligned to the district improvement planning process. If continuous improvement is the focus of the equity plan, this also means that there is no need to find a magic solution for inequity, but rather asks districts to engage in a process of continually getting better at what you already do. The real value is that the focus is just on getting a little better each year, reaching towards our ultimate goal of ensuring that effective teaching is occurring in every classroom. Presenters will: Click to animate bullet 3. Another clear value of the equity plan process is that it provides an excellent opportunity to align the work between districts, the ESC, and TEA. A critical component of the equity plan asks the district to identify key strategies they’re implementing or plan to implement to address equity gaps. The service center will have access to this database of equity plans, not as a form of oversight, but so that we can note and synthesize strategies districts are implementing. This allows us to identify the top strategies districts are using across the region and align our programming and services to support the development and implementation of those strategies. Then TEA can ensure that state-level Title II funds are allocated to support these strategies as well. For example, if the top strategy districts are choosing to implement in Region [insert ESC number] is a Master Teacher Program, then we at the ESC can develop professional development opportunities, establish master teacher cohorts, provide ongoing support, etc. for those districts. TEA can then back-up this strategy with state-level Title II funds. Presenters will: Click to animate bullet 4. Ultimately the equity plan process is also valuable because it allows us, possibly for the first time, to truly capture what districts across the state are trying to do and the outcomes they’re achieving with clear evidence. Every two years, 180 legislators hear anecdotal stories from folks in education across the state regarding their needs and the best pathway forward. The equity plan process sheds a coordinated light on where additional support may be needed, by telling one clear narrative: this is where we were, these are the research-based strategies we’ve pursued for the past 3-4 years, and these are our outcomes. This could then focus that conversation around what would be needed moving forward to move the needle further for students across the state.

Tension One more thing – Nope, it’s a part of what we already do for district continuous improvement planning We’re not hiding magical strategies – continuous improvement of what we do Are we moving teachers – no, we’re continuing to grow and develop across the board Aren’t resources an issue – yep, and this process could unify evidence to suggest how much of an issue resources are Are we being asked to solve the nations equity issues – no, just keep moving forward in providing effective teaching and leadership for all students Time: (3 mins) Presenters says: So ultimately… Presenters will: Click to animate bullet 1. Is this one more thing? Nope, it’s a part of what we already do for district continuous improvement planning. Presenters will: Click to animate bullet 2. No, we’re not hiding magical strategies. The equity plan is focused on continuous improvement of what we do. Presenters will: Click to animate bullet 3. Are we moving teachers? No, we’re continuing to grow and develop the teachers we have across the board. Presenters will: Click to animate bullet 4. Aren’t resources an issue? Yep, and this process could unify evidence to suggest how much of an issue resources are. Presenters will: Click to animate bullet 5. Are we being asked to solve the nations equity issues? No, we are just continuing to move forward in providing effective teaching and leadership for all students.

State Equity Plan Texas’s plan process (2015): Charge to all states:
Specific steps that the state education agency will take to ensure that students from low-income families and students of color are not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified effective, or out-of-field teachers, and the measures that the agency will use to evaluate and publicly report the progress. Texas’s plan process (2015): Analyze data on experience and qualifications Examined gaps between high and low-quartile poverty and minority Time: (1 min) Presenters says: Back in 2015, the state team received this charge from the Department of Education. Due to the end of the highly qualified requirements, they changed the language from “unqualified” to “ineffective”. Based upon this charge, the state team went through the process of examining statewide data and analyzing statewide equity gaps.

Continuous Improvement Process
2015 State Plan Contents Stakeholder engagement Analysis of state data Identification contributing factors of equity gaps Strategies to address each contributing factor Timeline outlining the implementation of the strategies Ongoing monitoring and public reporting on progress Time: (1 min) Presenters says: (Review slide.) The state team went through the following process in the development of the State Equity Plan. This should be a familiar process for everyone in the room. This is your traditional continuous improvement process. Your district most likely engages with a similar process on a yearly basis. Continuous Improvement Process

Percentage of Teachers With Less Than One Year Experience, 2014
All Schools Lowest Minority Quartile Schools (LMQ) Second Lowest Minority Quartile Schools Second Highest Minority Quartile Schools Highest Minority Quartile Schools (HMQ) Lowest Poverty Quartile Schools (LPQ) Second Lowest Poverty Quartile Schools Second Highest Poverty Quartile Schools Highest Poverty Quartile Schools (HPQ) Time: (2 min) Presenters will: Orient the participants to the graphic. Presenters says: This slide shares some of the results that the state team found in examining statewide data. The state team took all of the districts from across the state and divided them into quartiles (or groups) based upon their percentage of minority students and economically disadvantaged students, the two subgroups the Department of Education requires that the state and districts examine. The state team then compared data points from the highest and lowest quartile schools for each subgroup. This graphic represents the percentage of first year teachers across the state by quartile. As the graphic indicates, when examining statewide teacher experience data, 6.2% of teachers were first year teachers in the lowest minority quartile schools versus 12.1% in the highest minority quartile schools. This effectively means that students in a high minority campus were twice as likely to be taught by a first year teacher as students in a low minority campus. These results were mirrored in the results examining the economically disadvantaged quartiles. Additional information for facilitator reference: Data Sources: Texas Academic Performance Report (TAPR) for the state The TAPR Reports present a wide range of information on the performance of students in each school and district in Texas every year. The reports also provide extensive information on school and district staff, programs, and student demographics. The data we’re presenting come from the campus-level TAPR data for the entire state. Highly Qualified (HQ) Report for the state No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires states to annually report the percentage of teachers who are not highly qualified to the U.S. Department of Education. Districts submit to TEA campus-level information concerning the number and percentage of teachers and number and percentage of classes taught by highly qualified teachers. This is collected annually through the Highly Qualified Compliance Report in the eGrants system. The data reported must reflect the “highly qualified” status of teachers at each campus in the district. Percentages double going from lowest to highest quartile.

Probationary Certificates
Time: (5 mins) Presenters says: The state team ran this report after the initial submission of their State Equity Plan, as they began to dig further into greater specifics around state equity gaps. This report is especially interesting because it adds a layer of nuance to the equity gap analysis. The report groups campuses across the state based upon their percentage of probationary certificate teachers. As a reminder, a probationary certificate teacher is a teacher of record, the instructional leader of a classroom alone with students, who has not finished their credentialing process. The state team grouped campuses by their percentage of probationary certificate teachers and then examined the makeup of those campuses in regards to percentages of minority and economically disadvantaged students. Within the campus group in which 0% of teachers were on probationary certificates, on average 61% of the students were minority students and 57% were economically disadvantaged. This can be compared to the campus group in which >20% of the teachers were on probationary certificates, where on average 88% of students were minority students and 78% were economically disadvantaged. This represents approximately a 20% gap. This is the reality of what districts across the state face. The state team recognized this, knowing that districts and campuses are making the best hiring decisions possible with the candidates that they have. The state team, therefore, discussed what would be the best response to this data, given what they, and we, can control. Research tells us that teachers leave the career early due to two factors, (1) feeling unsupported and (2) feeling ineffective. The state team, therefore, focused on supporting teachers on probationary certificates so that they feel supported in their work and are effective for students. The goal is not only to support effective teaching, but also to mitigate attrition, encouraging new teachers to stay in the profession so that in the future, districts need to hire fewer first year and probationary certificate teachers. The state team went about this by updating an SBEC rule, ratcheting up the support required for probationary certificate teachers. Educator Preparation Programs (EPPs) are now required to conduct 5 observations, rather than the 3 previously required, if the teacher has not yet passed their pedagogy exam. SBEC also increased the requirements for those who conduct the observations, ensuring that they are trained as instructional coaches. This is ultimately an example of developing a strategy aligned to a gap revealed in an equity gap analysis. It is also a response to teacher shortages, recognizing that retention is our backend response to shortages. We know that when we slow attrition, we need fewer new teachers to fill spots on an annual basis. *Based on ECOS and PEIMS data

State Equity Gaps and Areas of Focus
Equitable Access Gap Focus: Students from low-income or minority backgrounds are taught by novice or inexperienced teachers at higher rates than other students High-Priority Areas of Focus: Improve training and support for teachers Continue to improve campus leadership Additional Area of Focus: Work with districts to strengthen systems for recruiting, developing, and retaining excellent teachers and principals T-TESS T-PESS Time: (2 mins) Presenters says: Ultimately, the state team found that there were statewide equity gaps, with students from low-income or minority backgrounds being taught by novice or inexperienced teachers at higher raters than other students. The state team’s response was to focus on training and support for teachers and campus leaders, thinking towards that goal of having an effective teacher in every classroom. Specifically, they focused on T-TESS and T-PESS. Again, as emphasized previously, this process is not about finding new or magical strategies, but rather identifying what they were already doing that they felt would be successful in closing equity gaps. T-TESS and T-PESS were already in the works when the equity plan work came along. The focus was, therefore, on getting better at those strategies that were most effective rather than beginning something new. As the work with T-TESS and T-PESS has progressed, and as the Commissioner has further established the four strategic priorities of the agency, the state equity work has focused around the first priority, recruiting, supporting, and retaining excellent teachers and principals.

Equity Plan Toolkit Project
Intended to support districts that receive Title I funds in creating their equity plans Designed to guide districts through the planning process Website up and running: texasequitytoolkit.org ESCs will be trained in the toolkit in order to provide assistance to districts (district not mandated to receive assistance) Time: (2 mins) Presenters says: Now that we have walked through the process that the state team engaged in as they developed the State Equity Plan, we will now shift to discuss the process each district will engage with in developing a district equity plan. The state team, in partnership with the American Institutes for Research, has worked over the course of the past 9 months to develop a toolkit to support districts as they develop their equity plans. The Texas Equity Plan Toolkit includes the equity plan template that all districts receiving Title I funds will be required to submit. In addition, the toolkit provides step-by-step directions for completion of each section of the equity plan template, as well as additional resources to support districts throughout the process. The Texas Equity Plan Toolkit can be accessed at the website dedicated to the equity work in Texas, texasequitytoolkit.org. All education service centers (ESCs) have been trained on the Texas Equity Plan Toolkit and are ready to support districts at all stages of equity plan development. (Insert ESC specific information regarding training opportunities). While districts are not required to use the equity plan toolkit, they are highly encouraged to do so. All districts will be required to use and submit the Equity Plan Reporting Template.

District Plans Texas’s District Equity Plan Vision:
Really just folds into districts’ own continuous improvement efforts Prioritize and sequence Leverage not layer Highlight what’s working Time: (2 mins) Presenters says: In designing the equity plan template, the state team, in collaboration with their stakeholder group, was intentional in aligning this process with the district continuous improvement process. Therefore, this should fold into a district’s already established annual continuous improvement process with clear overlaps. The district equity plan process also provides an additional lens for districts to consider as they determine what strategies to prioritize and their implementation sequence. The ultimate goal, as we have emphasized, is to leverage not layer, ensuring that we’re just getting better at what works rather than continuously adding new initiative to our plates. Lastly, this also provides us with a unique opportunity to effectively document what is working across the state. Just as this process provides us with a clearer picture of what strategies districts are most often implementing across the region and state, it also provides us with a clearer picture of what strategies are most effective in closing equity gaps. These are lessons that can then be shared.

District Plans There is no “equity” jail – the process is simply about identifying ways within the district that you can continue to improve instruction and leadership. District strategies will inform how the state uses federal funds (Title II, Part A) to support district plans. Time: (2 mins) Presenters says: The district equity plan is a continuous improvement process. There is no equity jail. No one is going to have their Title I funds taken away if their equity gaps do not close enough, and there is no standard amount of improvement required. This process is simply about identifying ways within the district that you can continue to improve instruction and leadership. The goal is to get a little bit better each year, driving towards our ultimate goal of having an effective teacher in every classroom. Ultimately, our best path forward is an honest assessment of where we are, so that we can develop strategies that really target the issues at hand, and provide support at all levels (district, ESC, and TEA) in alignment. We do this knowing that we are just focused on continuous improvement.

Plan Specifics First plans would be due in fall of 2017 (Nov. 1)
Ultimately, could be a five year “living” plan with annual updates Equity Plan Toolkit to help navigate the process ESC support to work through the process Plan reporting template Time: (2 mins) Presenters says: In regards to logistics, all Texas districts receiving Title I funds will be required to submit an equity plan by November 1, The timing of the submission was chosen so that equity plans could be developed in conjunction with a district’s annual improvement planning process. The ultimate goal is for the equity plan to become a five year “living” plan with annual updates. This came from the state stakeholder group, who wanted the freedom to develop a longer term, sequenced plan that allowed them to build upon what worked rather than solely measuring success in one year increments. For example, a district implementing their equity plan could address cultural competency in Year 1, develop principal instructional leadership in Year 2, and focus on teacher recruitment in Year 3, knowing that when they recruit effective teachers, they will stay because of the strong campus culture and quality of campus leadership support. We will not require five year plans to begin with, though, and will utilize a one year plan for the first few years as districts become accustomed to the process. The Equity Plan Toolkit is currently available at the texasequityplantoolkit.org for district access. We encourage districts to use the ESC as a resource in developing their district equity plan. Each ESC has received extensive training on the equity plan development process and can provide support as needed. The equity plan reporting template is the required component of the equity plan toolkit and can also be accessed at the equity toolkit website.

Overview of the District Support Plan and ESC Role
Time: 1 minute for this slide, 10 minutes for the session. Materials Needed for Participants: Electronic or paper copies of the graphic shown on slide 27. Materials Needed for Presenters: Computer to navigate to the page.

A Common Vision for the Work
Equitable access to excellent educators is at the heart of all educator quality issues. Equity should be seen as embedded within all programs and initiatives to recruit, develop, and retain the best teachers for all students. Leverage, not layer. Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Local equity plans should not be considered a “separate” requirement or initiative. The Equity Toolkit process can be a way to further the philosophy of continuous improvement introduced with the implementation of T-TESS, T-PESS, and AEL. Ideally, ESCs can help districts recognize the larger value of the processes (data analysis, root cause determination, examination of district systems) involved in creating their Equity Plans beyond meeting the TEA submission requirements. Although districts are not compelled to receive training from ESCs regarding development and submission of Equity Plans, your ESC is prepared to guide this as an impactful process worthy of your investment of time and resources. Your development of an Equity Plan is complimentary to the district planning in which you are already engaged. Equity planning can be a powerful vehicle for continuous improvement. Presenter will: Reinforce introductory content and allow for questions/clarifications. Establish that ESCs have been assigned an expectation to support and facilitate the Equity planning process. Allow participants to ask questions and recognize ESCs as a partner in this work. Participants will: Ask questions.

Implement Equity Plans Support Plan Implementation
Begin internal briefings Identify LEA project leaders & stakeholders Communicate timelines Schedule meetings Distribute FAQs Send district leaders and project leaders to ESC training Use toolkit to develop equity plans Engage stakeholders & board Submit plans to ESCs/TEA Align planning processes Support plan implementation Continue to support plan implementation Identify key project contacts Establish project plans, staffing, budget Introduce project in meetings and communications Involve key staff in “Train the Trainer” Plan training logistics Provide toolkit resources and offer toolkit training to districts Provide TA for plan development, revision, and implementation Assist districts with planning alignment Provide TA to district leads to support plan implementation Continue TA support Introduce project to stakeholders Continue to communicate with stakeholders about project details Launch website with toolkit and resources Share FAQs Provide guidance and quality assurance for trainings Partner with ESCs to consistently and effectively communicate with districts Review selected district plans Sustain open communication with districts for implementation support Review selected reports Initiate state-level programs to support equity efforts Districts ESCs TEA Developing & Implementing District Equity Plans in Texas: Timeline, Roles, and Responsibilities Develop Training Fall  Winter 2016 Develop Toolkit Launch Toolkit Early 2017 Develop Equity Plans Spring Fall 2017 Launch Training Spring 2017 Implement Equity Plans 2018 Support Plan Implementation Review Equity Plans Fall  End of 2017 Time: 2 minutes Materials Needed for Participants: Possibly handouts of the slide graphic. Presenter says: (Review slide.) This is a quick introduction to the bigger picture of the statewide project; we will have a chance to dig deeper into ESC responsibilities in the planning session this afternoon. Presenter will: Walk through the timeline as a group, focusing on the ESC responsibilities. Clarify/expand on details or specifics where necessary. Emphasize the potential for this process to spur districts to identify services/products offered by ESCs that can help address equity gaps.

Questions? Time: 15 minutes Presenter says: Are there any questions?
Districts are encouraged to participate in the Equity Toolkit and process trainings provided by your ESC. ESCs can provide technical assistance, direct training, or process facilitation. You will submit your plan to your ESC through ISAM. ESCs will not monitor or approve your plan but can support you in the development and review of the plan. Participants will: Review the slide content and ask clarifying questions.

Introduction to the Texas Equity Toolkit “Roadmap” Process
Time: This section takes 15–20 mins for reviewing a high-level overview of the steps and website. Materials Needed for Participants: Participants can look at the Roadmap tool online, or an electronic or paper copy. Materials Needed for Presenters: Toggle between the PPT and website. Make sure you have both open. Presenter says: Now we are going to present an overview of the Toolkit process.

Take a few moments to review the Roadmap Reporting Template.
Time: 1 minute to review slide and 5 minutes for participants to review the Roadmap. Presenter will: (Review slide.) To support Texas districts in better understanding and addressing the challenges they face in providing equitable access to excellent teachers for the students who need it most, TEA has developed the Texas Equitable Access Roadmap: A Toolkit to Support Texas Districts to Develop Local Equitable Access Plans. The Roadmap will take district teams through a series of processes to understand, interpret, and action plan around equitable access. These are the five steps in the toolkit, which will guide districts in the process of developing their equity plans. As district staff and leaders complete each tool in the toolkit (i.e., engaging and communicating with stakeholders, reviewing and analyzing data, conducting a root cause analysis, selecting strategies, and planning for implementation), they will be asked by the TEA to provide the TEA with a summary of the key takeaways developed while engaging in the processes involved with each tool. Participants will: Review the Roadmap. Take a few moments to review the Roadmap Reporting Template.

Step 1. Engaging and Communicating with Stakeholders
Build a district team to lead and be responsible for stakeholder engagement and communications. Identify stakeholders. Develop a plan to engage stakeholders. Collect feedback from your stakeholder engagement efforts. Note: TEA does not require reporting of these efforts. Time: 1 minute Presenter will: (Review slide.) Make sure you mention that TEA does not require districts to report on their efforts related to Step 1. However, TEA does encourage districts to engage stakeholders and recommends district leaders follow the guidance provided in Step 1.

Step 2. Reviewing and Analyzing Data
Establish definitions of effective teaching. Collect required data to calculate equity gaps for access by students of color and low-income students to effective teaching, experienced teachers, and in-field teachers. Calculate equity gaps. Time: 1 minute Presenter will: (Review slide.)

Step 3. Conducting a Root Cause Analysis
Review data to consider why a district is experiencing gaps in equitable access. Ask why: “Why is this happening? How do I know?” Identify key “root causes” for the equity gaps in their district. Time: 1 minute Presenter will: (Review slide.)

Step 4. Selecting Strategies
Perform a high-level inventory of current policies related to the root causes. Review the research to scan for recommended strategies. Select strategies that are aligned to the root causes and are evidence-based, measurable, and viable. Look ahead to consider barriers to implementation. Time: 1 minute Presenter will: (Review slide.)

Step 5. Planning for Implementation
Identify key outputs of selected strategies. Consider short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes of strategies. Envision a timeline with benchmarks for each desired outcome. Reflect on implementation to continuously improve. Time: 1 minute Presenter will: (Review slide.)

Project Management Planning Templates
Project management tools to support districts with: Identifying a district team Establishing roles and responsibilities Planning implementation over time Time: 1 minute Presenter will: (Review slide.)

Roadmap Reporting Template
Overview of the five steps Centralized reporting template Easily transfer key takeaways from each step Guidance for reporting Time: 1 minute Materials Needed for Participants: Ask participants to bring the Roadmap Reporting Template up on-screen to review it together. Presenter will: Put the Roadmap up on-screen and walk through each section to show how the steps flow together. (Review slide.)

Texas Equity Toolkit Website
Time: 3–5 minutes Presenter will: Pull the TET website up on-screen for participants and share the basic organization of the site, including how to access toolkit materials, training materials, the Texas state plan, equity plan submission guidelines, and who to contact for support. Website:

Download the TET Handouts from the Website
Visit: Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide) Take a moment to download the handouts from the TET website (show download on screen). The first file is a Mock Data Excel file that will be used to support the Step 2 activities. The second file is a handout packet in Word that includes planning templates and other resources for the activities in Steps 2, 3, 4, and 5. We will reference these handouts throughout the training. You may work with on-screen versions of paper copies, depending on what is made available by your facilitator.

Questions? Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: Are there any questions?

Introducing the Toolkit

Time: This section takes about 30 minutes. Materials Needed for Participants: Participants can look at Step 1 online, or an electronic or paper copy. Materials Needed for Presenters: None. Presenter says: Now we are going to present an overview of the Step 1 process.

Time: 6 minutes (1 minute to present, 5 minutes for participants to review slides). Materials Needed for Participants: Step 1 Engaging and Communicating with Stakeholders Materials Needed for Presenters: Computer to navigate to the page or paper copies in case some participants want to use paper or do not have access to a computer. Presenter says: For this session, we will work with Step 1: Engaging and Communicating with Stakeholders. Please navigate to it on the website or look at your paper copy of Step 1. Please take a couple of minutes to review this step right now, on your own. Presenter will: Pull up the toolkit on the website and navigate to Step 1. Participants will: Explore Step 1 online or in a paper copy. Before we get started, take 5 minutes at your table to silently review this tool.

Stakeholder Engagement and Communication Session
Purpose and Process Identify stakeholders to engage. Design an approach to engaging stakeholders. Integrate feedback into the plan. Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) We’ve included this step as the first step in the process because it is so important, and it will be used in the other five steps. Why do we engage stakeholders? There are a few reasons. First, engaging stakeholders will increase buy-in and participation in your efforts. Second, it will allow you to improve your equity plan by integrating the wisdom, perspectives, and values of stakeholders in your district. The process that we will go through in this tool is to first identify stakeholders to engage, then design an approach to engaging them, and finally to integrate their feedback into the equity plan. Why do we engage stakeholders? Increase buy-in and participation in your school improvement efforts. Incorporate the collective wisdom, perspectives, and values of your stakeholders to solve issues within your district.

My district already has a stakeholder engagement process in place
My district already has a stakeholder engagement process in place. Can we use that? Yes. This step is optional and is intended to provide guidance to those who are getting started. Time: 1 minute Presenter says: You may be wondering what to do if your district already has a stakeholder engagement process in place. The answer is, use it! We are presenting this step to bolster district engagement plans and to help districts get started if they do not have plans in place. Additional notes: If your district has an engagement process, great! Use this step as needed.

Who Should Be at the Table?
Time: 7 minutes *If extension activity time is used total time is 12–17 minutes* Materials Needed for Participants: Paper to write down their lists Materials Needed for Presenters: Chart paper and markers for sharing out Presenter says: Now we want to consider who should be at the table when creating an equity plan. At your table, make a list of stakeholders in your district. I’ll give you 3 minutes to do that, and then we’ll share out. Presenter will: After 3 minutes is up, have participants share their lists, and write a master list on chart paper. If participants have trouble coming up with a list, you can share these stakeholders: teachers, principals, parents, students, education association leaders, local community (civic, government, or business) organizations, and representatives of higher education and advocacy groups. Participants will: Work in groups to complete the activity, make a list on the chart paper, share out about “Who should be at the table.” Presenter says: Please keep in mind that you do not necessarily need to involve all of your stakeholders to the same extent. You are going to have some key stakeholders – those who are directly involved and will be directly impacted by your efforts. Some of the other stakeholder groups may have valuable input about a particular process. The purpose of this activity is not to overwhelm you, but to encourage you to consider the wide variety of perspectives in your district. KEY POINT: There are a variety of stakeholders in your district that can help with equity planning. Note that there is an extension activity at the end of the notes if you have time or if you think it will help participants to more fully understand the process. **Activity extension (Time: 5-10 mins): Go through each stakeholder type on the list. Ask, What unique perspective does this group have in regard to equity planning? How are these stakeholders typically engaged?

Planning for Engagement
Authentic engagement from stakeholders means helping them to feel they can speak openly—and be heard—about the issues that are most important to them. When should we engage stakeholders? To authentically engage stakeholders, they should be involved throughout the process, not just at the end. Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: When we engage our stakeholders, we are looking for authentic engagement. Authentic engagement from stakeholders means helping them to feel they can speak openly – and be heard – about the issues that are the most important to them. This means carefully considering a few things. First, which stakeholders are brought together at one time. Think about asking a group of high school students to openly discuss and their teacher’s good and bad points when he is sitting in the back of the room. They obviously won’t feel very comfortable. The same can potentially be said for other groups (e.g., a group of teachers conducting a Root Cause Analysis with their principal present). Second, consider how the stakeholder engagement event is designed. The format selected for each group could make the difference between participants feeling discomfort, tension, or exclusion or feeling safe and welcome to speak their minds. The size of the group, the location of the meeting, and even the furniture arrangement of the meeting room all influence the tone of the dialogue. Finally, choose a good moderator (or moderators) for events where you are soliciting participant feedback. When should stakeholders be engaged? We want to encourage you to engage stakeholders throughout the process, not just at the beginning and very end. There are multiple points in the equity plan development process where stakeholders can be engaged: in Step 2, when we define what excellent teaching is; in Step 3, when we conduct a Root Cause Analysis; in Step 4, when strategies are selected; and in Step 5, when designing how these strategies will be implemented. Additional notes: Authentic engagement is the goal. To accomplish, think about who is at the event, how the event is designed, and who you choose to moderate the group. The equity planning process has several potential occasions for engaging stakeholders.

Planning for Engagement
How should we engage stakeholders? Multiple events throughout equity plan development: Focus groups Root cause analysis meeting(s) Town halls Surveys Online meetings Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: You will need to design engagement events that provide stakeholders with the opportunity to constructively contribute. The events should fall at key points along your equity plan development timeline and should be structured to provide new information, foster discussion, solicit perspectives, and reach consensus. In order to have the best possible experience with your stakeholders, consider the most appropriate setting to engage each group. Here are some potential formats for engaging stakeholders: Focus-Group-Style Discussion Meeting. These meetings of 4-10 participants are led by a trained facilitator and generally focus on a relatively narrow topic. For example, you may wish to invite teachers from a single school to discuss a potential strategy, or convene a group of principals from multiple schools to discuss a common problem. Root Cause Analysis. This meeting has 6-15 participants work to identify root causes of equity gaps and share possible strategies to address these root causes. Town Hall. A town hall has participants and is a great opportunity to communicate information or receive feedback from a diverse group of community members all at once. Survey. Surveys can be used to receive feedback from a large number of stakeholders. They can be administered online, by phone, or in person. Online Meeting. An online meeting or webinar can have up to 150 participants and is an excellent way to present a proposed plan and receive feedback to groups as an alternative or a make-up to a town hall. Additional points: There are several event options for engaging stakeholders.

Utilizing Feedback Results
Authentic engagement from stakeholders means integrating their feedback into your equity plan. Questions to ask: Were there consistent concerns raised across groups? Did some groups focus on a concern more than others? What approaches to addressing equity gaps were participants most in favor of? What were some interesting revelations? Time: 1 minute Presenter will: (Review slide.) Presenter says: Once you have met with your stakeholders and gathered their feedback, what are you going to do with the information? Set aside time as a team to review the major themes of stakeholder comments and organize them for patterns and areas of divergence. As a team, consider these questions: Were there consistent concerns raised across groups? Did some groups focus on a concern more than others? What approaches to addressing equity gaps were participants most in favor of? What were some interesting revelations? Additional notes: Plan to meet with your team to discuss and integrate stakeholder feedback.

Reporting Template Time: 1 minute Presenter says: As we said earlier, at the end of each step, we will discuss what to put in the reporting template to send to TEA. Districts are not required to report their efforts on this step, so there is nothing to report on the template. Additional notes: No reporting required Note: TEA does not require districts to report on their stakeholder engagement efforts in the Roadmap Reporting Template

Wrap-Up What challenges do you see for your district in selecting stakeholders? What challenges do you see for your district in actively engaging stakeholders in the equity planning process? What potential pitfalls do you see for involving stakeholders at each point in the process? Time: 10–15 minutes Materials Needed for Participants: Step 1 Engaging and Communicating with Stakeholders Materials Needed for Presenters: Computer to navigate to the page or paper copies in case some participants want to use paper or do not have access to a computer. Presenter says: Now that we are at the end of this step, I’d like us to consider some challenges that your district will face, and maybe we can brainstorm some potential solutions as well. Presenter will: Assign a question per table. Have participants discuss these questions as a table for a set amount of time (5 mins). Tables summarize their discussion and share out. If there is time, ask participants to brainstorm solutions to these questions/issues. Make sure the authentic ones get raised. Common responses are listed below. Participants will: Discuss the assigned question with tablemates, then share. Additional notes: Common challenges/pitfalls and potential solutions: The same people tend to get engaged every time – This is very common, especially in small districts. Make an effort to identify and invite new stakeholders as well as frequent contributors. Difficulties in getting some stakeholders to participate (e.g., parents) – try a different format than you’ve tried in the past (maybe a survey), or a different location or time (maybe in the evening, at the community center). Engagement events turning into a ‘gripe session’ – very important to have a strong facilitator who can keep participants on task. It’s important for people to feel they can be heard (even about gripes), but we don’t want the session to get derailed. This is overwhelming / my district is too small and people wear too many hats – Remember that you don’t have to engage all of the stakeholder groups during each step.

Questions? Time: 1 minute
Presenter says: Are there any remaining questions at this time about this step?

Lunch! Lunch BREAK Lunch

Session 2. Reviewing and Analyzing Data
Time: This section takes 135 minutes Materials Needed for Participants: Participants can look at Step 2 online, or an electronic or paper copy. They will also need their laptop, Excel, the Excel file (“MockData.xlsx”), and a paper copy of the Step 2 handout (included in “Handouts.docx”). Files are available for download on the TET website: Materials Needed for Presenters: Presenter will also need the Mock Data Excel file and will need to toggle between this PPT file and the Excel file on the screen. Presenter says: You will want to gauge the participants’ familiarity with Excel. Ideally, each table should have at least one individual who is comfortable with Excel and has some expertise with sorting and formulas. Before you start the session, say and do the following. Before we start this session, we want to gauge everyone’s expertise in Excel because we know some people are more comfortable working with Excel than others. Although this activity will provide detailed guidance for participants on how to use Excel to calculate equity gaps, it is helpful to us as facilitators to both understand your experience with Excel, and potentially organize participants so that if we have any participants with more advanced Excel skills, they are distributed throughout the room to support their colleagues. Ask the participants: Please raise your hand if you have some experience using Excel and are comfortable using Excel for basic calculations (for example, you know how to use formulas). Count hands. Please know that it’s okay if we have limited or no participants with experience using Excel – the purpose of this training will be show you how to make the calculations, and we will provide detailed guidance for participants. Now please raise your hand if you have limited experience using Excel or would like some additional support. Presenter will: Count hands. Aim to group participants so that each table has at least one person who is comfortable using Excel and can potentially support other people at the table. Facilitators will also want to rotate throughout the activity to provide support as needed.

Step 2. Data Review and Analysis
Time: 10 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) For this session, we will work with Step 2: Data Review and Analysis. Please navigate to it on the website or look at your paper copy of Step 2. Please take 10 minutes to review this step right now, on your own. Presenter will: Pull up the toolkit on the website and navigate to Step 2. Participants will: Participants will explore Step 2 online or in a paper copy. Before we get started, take 10 minutes at your table to silently review this tool.

Data Review and Analysis Session
Purpose and Process for this tool: Define effective teaching. Calculate equity gaps. Present equity gaps. Time: 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.) This tool is designed to help district leaders calculate their district equity gaps by assessing, analyzing, and communicating their equitable access data. The data review tool will assist district staff with a five-part process, but mainly the purpose is threefold: 1. Develop a local definition of effective teaching for measuring equity gaps in your district. 2. Organize and analyze your data to determine equity gaps in your district. 3. Present your equity gaps in various ways so stakeholders can understand.

What is an “equity gap?” The difference between: The rate at which low-income students or students of color are taught by excellent educators and The rate at which their peers are taught by excellent educators Time: 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.)

Equity Gap Example Percentage of teachers in their first two years of teaching placed in high- poverty schools Percentage of teachers in their first two years of teaching placed in low- poverty schools Equity Gap 12% 6% Time: 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.) 6 percentage points

Quartiles Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.)
In the earlier slide, we discussed the calculation of the equity gap, which comes from subtracting low-poverty schools from high-poverty schools. But, how do we group schools into these two categories of high and low? Presenter will: Ask participants to popcorn their ideas on how to create the high and low categories. If someone suggests quartiles, say the following: Presenter says: Who here can tell me what is a quartile? A classic example of a quartile comes from a bell curve or a representation of a normal distribution of scores. In this image of a bell curve, the scores are normed and range from -4 to 4, with the average being zero. The red lines show how scores can be grouped into 4 quartiles, or groups of 25%. The first quartile consists of below average scores that are the lowest scores ranging from -3 to slightly over -1. The second quartile consists of scores that are the second lowest, ranging from slightly over -1 to 0. The third quartile has scores that range from average to above average (0 to almost 1). And the fourth quartile has the highest scores, ranging from 1 to almost 3. Participants will: Respond to questions (whole-group format).

Data Review and Analysis
Define Student subgroups Organize data Calculate gaps Results Time 5 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) This tool is designed to help district leaders calculate their district equity gaps by assessing, analyzing, and communicating their equitable access data. The data review tool will assist district staff with a five-part process: 1. Engaging a district team or group of stakeholders to develop a local definition of effective teaching for measuring equity gaps in your district. 2. Defining which types of equity gaps your district will calculate (i.e., whether your district will calculate equity gaps within district for low-income students and students of color only, or for additional subgroups such as students with disabilities or English learners, or if your district will compare district gaps to the state average gaps). 3–4. Organizing and analyzing your data to determine the current distribution of effective teaching, and inexperienced and out-of-field teachers by student subgroups across the district. 4–5. Examining and determining whether there are equity gaps in student access to the following three categories and preparing a presentation of these findings to stakeholders: Effective teaching, Inexperienced teachers, and Out-of-field teachers. At the end of this data review and analysis phase, district stakeholders will have defined effective teaching and calculated the gaps in student access to effective teaching and teachers who are inexperienced and out-of-field.

Definitions State definitions District-developed definitions:
Inexperienced teachers: Teachers in their first two years of teaching. Out-of-field teachers: Teachers who do not possess the appropriate certification based on the state assignment chart for the grade and subject taught. District-developed definitions: Effective teaching Teacher performance Student learning Student engagement Time 5 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) In accordance with the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which replaces No Child Left Behind (NCLB), states must now ensure that low-income students and students of color are not served at disproportionate rates by teachers who are: Ineffective, Inexperienced, or Out of field. Please take a look at page 3 of Step 2. Here you see the definitions TEA provides for inexperienced and out-of-field teachers. Read the slide aloud. ESSA requires states and districts to focus on measurable criteria when developing definitions of effective teaching. Districts must use the metrics that TEA and research have indicated to be components of effective teaching. TEA asks districts to consider three possible categories of metrics when defining effective teaching to arrive at a definition that they feel is appropriate to their context. Please turn to page 4, “Planning Template: Considering Teaching Effectiveness Metrics.” You may also look at page 5 for an example, if it helps. Participants will: Review page 3 of Step 2.

“Effective Teaching” Discussion
How do you anticipate districts will define effective teaching? What do you think will be the challenges districts will face in developing a definition of effective teaching? Is there a way the ESCs can help mitigate those challenges? Do you think it will be challenging for districts to come to a consensus on defining effective teaching? Please jot down your table’s responses to these questions and report out your table’s thoughts. Time 10 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) At your table, think about and discuss how would you help districts with the process of defining effective teaching. Please jot down your table’s responses to these questions and report out your table’s thoughts. Discussion Questions: How do you anticipate districts will define effective teaching? What do you think will be the challenges districts will face in developing a definition of effective teaching? Is there a way the ESCs can help mitigate those challenges? Do you think it will be challenging for districts to come to a consensus on defining effective teaching? Participants will: Small-group activity addressing the four questions on the slide.

Student Subgroups Required: Optional:
Students of color—All non-White students Low-income students—Students eligible for free or reduced- price lunch Optional: What other student groups may have inequitable access to inexperienced, out-of-field teachers or to effective teaching in the districts you serve? Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide) ESSA will require districts to examine equity gaps in terms of students of color and low-income students. Students of color are all non-White students and include Latinos (which can be of any race). Basically, districts will create this category by grouping all students who are coded as 1 in the PEIMS 101 record in the race/ethnicity categories (i.e., the category will be composed of students who have a 1 for American Indian, or a 1 for Black/African-America, or 1 for Asian, or 1 for Latino, or 1 for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander). Districts can include other student subgroups as well. Let’s discuss which other student subgroups are relevant in the context of the districts you serve. This is especially relevant to districts that have homogenous student populations. For example, a district may have over 90% of its students classified as low-income and students of color. What student subgroups are relevant to the districts you work with? Participants will: Whole-group activity in which participants respond to the question: What student subgroups are relevant to the districts you work with? Additional notes: If they don’t mention these groups, present the following: Districts may consider including: Students with disabilities (receiving special education supports), Students who are limited English proficient (LEP), Students at risk for dropout, and Other subgroups of disadvantaged students as determined by the district.

Calculating Equity Gaps
Turn to p.15 and 16 of the Step 2 tool Table A: Districts with four or more campuses: Two sets of calculations (within-district comparison using quartiles AND comparisons with the state average) Table B: Districts with three or fewer campuses: Comparisons with the state average (p.16) Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide) Turn to pages 15 and 16 of the Step 2 tool. We will calculate equity gaps in two ways: by comparing schools in the highest and lowest quartiles of student subgroups (for larger districts) and by comparing to the state. First, we will walk through how to make comparisons to the state averages for smaller districts that have three or fewer campuses. Participants will: Look at pages 15 and 16 on Step 2.

Calculating Equity Gaps: Small District Example
Download both training handouts from the TET website: Time: 5 minutes Materials Needed for Participants: Laptop, Excel file, Step 2, and Step 2 handout from handout packet. Presenter says: (Review slide) For this exercise you will need your laptop. Please open the Excel file named “Mock Data” and click the ”Small District” tab. Click on the Small District tab. Look at the first column, where you’ll see there are three campuses listed, 1, 2, 3. In the next column, we have Title I status listed. Which school is Title I? (Campus 3.) That is the school we will be looking at for this example. Next, you can see the percentage of inexperienced teachers and the percentage of out-of-field teachers. We’ll be entering these into Table B. Presenter will: Check to make sure the file is open on all laptops. Participants will: Open Excel file on their laptops, and open Small District sheet.

Calculating Equity Gaps: Small District Example
Download “Handouts” Word file (with planning templates for Step 2, 3, 4, and 5 activities) “Mock Data” Excel file In the Mock Data file Click on the “Small District” tab (Additional information to support previous slide)

Smaller District Example (Table B)
Time 10 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide and help participants complete Table B.) Because districts that have three or fewer campuses cannot create a quartile distribution of their campuses, TEA requires those districts to compare their percentages of inexperienced and out-of-field teachers at each Title I campus to the statewide averages of inexperienced and out-of-field teachers. There is no requirement to make a comparison with the state average for gaps in access to effective teaching, although TEA encourages districts to reflect on the distribution of access to effective teaching on their Title I campuses. Please turn to Table B on page 16 of Step 2 or on page 2 of your handout. Look at your Excel data file. Open the tab “Small District” and enter the percentages of inexperienced and out-of-field teacher for the Title I campus (Campus 3) into row A. On Table B, enter into row B the state averages from the Excel file ”state averages” tab. Keep in mind that districts will need to enter the percentages of inexperienced teachers and out-of-field teachers from each Title I campus into row A. So they will need to complete Table B for each of their Title I campuses. Subtract B from A to calculate the state comparison equity gap. Enter the gap into row C. Participants will: Individual activity – participants complete Table B. See page 16 of Step 2 tool

Final Results: Smaller Districts
Time 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.) Here is what your Table B should look like. Participants will: Walk around the room and make sure everyone has completed Table B and they have the correct numbers in their Table B.

Calculating Equity Gaps: Large District Example
In the Mock Data Excel file: Click on the “Large District - Low Income” tab Time: 1 minute Materials Needed for Participants: Laptop, Excel file, Step 2, and Step 2 handout. Presenter says: (Review slide.) Go back to the Excel file but click on the Large District tab. Look at the first column, where you’ll see there are 26 campuses listed. Presenter will: Check to make sure the file is open on all laptops. Participants will: Open Excel file on their laptops and Large District sheet.

Calculating Equity Gaps: Large District Example Student Subgroups
This district is examining the required subgroups: (column G) Percentage of low-income students Percentage of students of color We have split these two subgroups into two different tabs for you (Large District – Low Income & Large District – Minority) Make sure you have the “Large District – Low Income” tab opened.. Time 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.) Look at columns G and H. You’ll see the two student groups this district is examining are low-income students and students of color. Presenter will: Going forward, plan to have the Excel sheet up on-screen to share and zoom in on the appropriate part of the sheet for users. The screenshots may be difficult to follow. If participants have a copy of the slides, they can see the “steps” on each slide but then also see your screen and navigate and use their Excel spreadsheet based on how you model this on-screen.

District definitions: This district is defining effective teaching by:
Calculating Equity Gaps: Large District Example Defining Effective Teaching State definitions: Percentage inexperienced teachers (Pct Inexperienced; column B) Percentage out-of-field teachers (Pct Out of Field; column C) District definitions: This district is defining effective teaching by: Teacher performance: Percentage of teachers who have a T-TESS rating of proficient or better (Pct >= Proficient T-TESS; column D) Student learning: Percentage of teachers meeting their student learning objectives (SLO) goal (Pct Met SLO; column E) Student engagement: Average percentage of days that students attended school (Pct Days Attended; column F) Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: Now we are going to work with our example data set to calculate equity gaps. Please open the tab that says “Large district.” As you see, the data are organized at the campus level. See the column labeled “Campus” (A, B, C, etc.). That means the data are at the campus level. Districts will have access to campus percentages of inexperienced and out-of-field teachers and student attendance. However, the effective teaching data will need to be aggregated/rolled up to the campus level. T-TESS data will be organized in district records at the teacher level, as will SLOs. District staff will need to aggregate these individual teacher-level data to the campus level. Presenter will: Open EXCEL spreadsheet on the screen. Participants will: Have the Excel file open and review the Large District sheet/tab.

Here’s what we will need to put in Table A
Table A. Districts with Four or More Campuses—Reporting Template for Calculating Equity Gaps for Inexperienced and Out-of-Field Teachers Row Comparison Percentages of: Inexperienced Teachers Out-of-Field Teachers Equity Gap Calculations: Low-Income Students A High-poverty quartile B Low-poverty quartile C District equity gap: High-poverty quartile minus low-poverty quartile (row A–row B) D State averagea E State equity gap: High-poverty quartile minus state average (row A–row D) Equity Gap Calculations: Students of Color F High-minority quartile G Low-minority quartile H District equity gap: High-minority quartile minus low-minority quartile (row F–row G) I State equity gap: High-minority quartile minus state average (row F–row D) Time 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.) Please look at Table A on your handout. We will complete this table together. Participants will: Should have Excel Large District sheet open on their laptops and review Table A of the handout.

How do we identify the top and bottom quartiles of campuses in our district?
Time 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.) This is the question we will work on together to address. Additional note: To support participants in carrying out this task, TEA has developed a voiceover demonstration of the process using Excel, available on the TET website:

3 easy steps to create quartiles
Sort by column Divide data into 4 Keep high and low quartile Time 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.) Here is an overview of what we will be doing. Conceptually, this is very simple. We take our data – the percentage of students on free or reduced lunch (column G) and sort it in ascending order so the smallest percentages are at the top and the largest are at the bottom. Next, we’ll divide the data into four quartiles and then keep the highest and lowest quartiles. Hold tight! We’ll go through each of these procedures in the upcoming slides. Don’t get started yet! Participants will: Should have Excel Large District sheet open on their laptops.

Quartiles Example: Low-Income Students
First, sort your data so that the campus with the lowest percentage of students in poverty is first. Click the small arrow in cell G1, then select “Ascending” Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: Now, sort your data so that the campus with the lowest percentage of students in poverty is first. See the green column, column G. You can sort the data by clicking on the little arrow in the bottom right corner of cell G1. Click “Sort Ascending.” You can also go to Data -> Sort. The Column should be “Pct Low Income,” Sort on “Values,” Order on “Smallest to Largest” (if the column name doesn’t show up and you only see column letters [e.g., A, B], check “My list has headers”). Let’s look at our campuses to make sure the data sorted correctly. The Pct Low Income column should start at 0.8, then 1.1, then 5.2, and the School letters in Column A should be E J, X. B, I, T. Does that match what you have written? Presenter will: Demonstrate sorting the data of column G. After you sort, walk around the room to make sure participants have correctly sorted column G. Participants will: Work with the Excel file and correctly sort column G.

Next, divide data into quartiles
We have 26 schools. To divide into quartiles, divide by / 4 = 6.5 That means 2 quartiles will have 6 schools, and 2 will have 7 schools. Let’s plan to put 7 schools in our high and low quartiles, and 6 schools in the other two quartiles. Time: 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.)

Choose Quartiles We will count out 7 schools at the top and the bottom of the data set. These will be our high and low poverty quartiles. Type ”low” in column H for the 7 low-poverty schools and “high” for the 7 high-poverty schools Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: Enter quartiles 1, 2, 3, and 4 into column I. Use the cutoff scores to guide the numbers you need to enter. For example, quartile 1 ends at 41.8% low-income students, which is campus O. Enter 2 for second quartile in column I for campus V-C and so forth. Presenter will: Do what you just said in Excel. Then, walk around the room and make sure that everyone has the correct quartiles. Check: Low (1) includes campus E to O High (4) includes campus K to Z

Calculate Average Percentage of Inexperienced Teachers for High and Low Poverty Quartiles
The formula for average is: =AVERAGE (first cell: last cell) Type this formula in any empty cell to calculate the percentage of inexperienced teachers for the low poverty quartile: =AVERAGE (B2:B8) Use the same method to calculate the percentage of inexperienced teachers for the high poverty quartile. Time: 10 minutes Presenter says: I don’t know what version of Excel you have, but if it’s a more recent version, then it’s very easy to calculate an average for a group. Let’s start with the highest poverty quartile of campuses. Scroll down to rows in column B for the seven campuses that are in the 4th quartile (i.e., the campuses with the highest percentage of low-income students). See how those campuses all have a 4 in column I. Highlight those seven campuses (campus K thru Z) in column B. Look at the bottom bar of Excel. See it shows you the average, count, and sum. For the highest poverty campuses, the average percentage of inexperienced teachers is 9.56%. Go to Table A on your handout and write into Row A for the inexperienced teacher column 9.56%. Presenter will: Show on-screen how to calculate the average by using the formula. Participants will: Write in Row A the average percentage of inexperienced teachers.

Record Data in Table A Time: 2 minutes
Presenter says: If you haven’t done it already, record the percentage of inexperienced teachers in the high- and low-poverty quartiles into Table A of your handout. Participants will: Write in Rows A and B the average percentage of inexperienced teachers for high and low quartiles.

Quartiles Example: Low-Income Students— Calculating Average Percentages for Out of Field Teachers
Now, try it! Calculate the Average Percentages for Out of Field Teachers for the Highest and Lowest Poverty Quartiles. Bonus points: Calculate the average percentages for effective teaching Time: 20 minutes Presenter says: The participants will do the calculates for out-of-field teachers Now we will give you the opportunity to try this on your own. Calculate the average percentages for out-of-field teachers and enter them into Table A of the handout. We will walk around the room to help people that need it. If you are feeling ambitious, you can calculate the averages for the other three columns (percent proficient in T-TESS, percent meeting SLO objectives, and percent attendance) if you’d like. Participants will: Individual activity. Participants complete the out-of-field teachers column of Table A for rows A-E. For those participants who finish early, let them complete table on the third page of the handout (effective teaching). Checking work: All of the correct numbers are listed on pages 9 and 11 of Step 2.

Now, Calculate Averages for Students of Color
Sort your data by column G. Find the top 7 and bottom 7 schools and label them high and low. Calculate the averages for inexperienced teachers and out-of-field teachers for high and low minority campuses and enter them into table A. For bonus points, calculate the averages for the other three columns and enter them into the table on p.12. Time: 2 minutes to present and 20–30 minutes for participant individual activity Presenter says: Participants will do the calculations for students of color (bottom part of Table A on the handout). Now you practice this exercise on your own by creating quartiles for the students of color subgroup, then calculating the averages for each variable. Presenter will: Walk around the room and help out as needed. Make sure participants at least finish the columns for Inexperienced Teachers and Out-of-Field Teachers. Participants will: Have participants calculate the quartiles for Students of Color for the five teacher variables (columns B-F in Excel; Table A and Effective Teaching table in the handout).

Calculating Equity Gaps Example: Completing Table A
Table A. Districts with Four or More Campuses—Reporting Template for Calculating Equity Gaps for Inexperienced and Out-of-Field Teachers Row Comparison Percentages of: Inexperienced Teachers Out-of-Field Teachers Equity Gap Calculations: Low-Income Students A High-poverty quartile B Low-poverty quartile C District equity gap: High-poverty quartile minus low-poverty quartile (row A–row B) D State averagea E State equity gap: High-poverty quartile minus state average (row A–row D) Equity Gap Calculations: Students of Color F High-minority quartile G Low-minority quartile H District equity gap: High-minority quartile minus low-minority quartile (row F–row G) I State equity gap: High-minority quartile minus state average (row F–row D) Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: Now, let’s use the data we’ve entered into Table A on the handout. Open the tab “State Averages” in your Excel file to find the state average percentages of inexperienced and out-of-field teachers. Enter those percentages into Row D of Table A. To calculate within-district gaps: Subtract row B from row A for low-income students for both inexperienced and out-of-field teachers. Enter gap in row C. Subtract row G from row F for students of color for both inexperienced and out-of-field teachers. Enter gap in row H. To calculate gaps comparing to state average: Subtract row D from row A. Enter the state comparison equity gap for low-income students in row E. Subtract row D from row F. Enter the state comparison equity gap for students of color in row I. Compare the equity gaps for your within-district comparison to the equity gaps when comparing to the state average. Identify which gap is larger. This will be the gap you report to TEA. Participants will: Participants complete Table A.

Calculating Equity Gaps Example: Final Results – high vs low poverty
Here’s what the final results should look like: Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Here are the answers to our calculations for low-income students. Let’s discuss what we found. Where is the higher gap, at the district level or at the state level? (Here it’s at the district level.) Participants will: Answer question.

Calculating Equity Gaps Example: Final Results – high vs low minority
Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Here are the answers to our calculations for students of color. Let’s discuss what we found. Where is the higher gap, at the district level or at the state level? (Here it’s at the district level.) Participants will: Answer question.

See pages 11 and 12 of Step 2 tool
Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) For those of you who completed the last table of the handout, here are the final results for Effective Teaching. Note there is NO gap for Student Learning for High- vs. Low-Minority Quartile. The answers are also shown on pages 11 and 12 of Step 2.

Putting It All Together
The Roadmap Reporting Template for Step 2

Reporting Template: Districts with Four or More Campuses
Row Comparison Percentages of: Inexperienced Teachers Out-of-Field Teachers Equity Gap Calculations: Low-Income Students A High-poverty quartile B Low-poverty quartile C District equity gap: High-poverty quartile minus low-poverty quartile (row A–row B) D State averagea E State equity gap: High-poverty quartile minus state average (row A–row D) Equity Gap Calculations: Students of Color F High-minority quartile G Low-minority quartile H District equity gap: High-minority quartile minus low-minority quartile (row F–row G) I State equity gap: High-minority quartile minus state average (row F–row D) Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: For the next three slides, you’ll go over what districts will need to report to TEA. Here is Table A. This is what districts with four or more campuses will be required to report to TEA.

Reporting Template: Districts with Three or Fewer Campuses
Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: Here is Table B. This is what districts with three or fewer campuses will be required to report to TEA.

Reporting Template: Effective Teaching
Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Although districts are not required to report the findings of their analysis of gaps in access to effective teaching, all districts will be required to describe the district’s definition of effective teaching and the district’s overall conclusions related to the distribution of access to effective teaching in the district. Please turn to page 16 of Step 2. The example on the screen is on page 5. District staff will complete this table by describing the data sources used to define: Teaching performance Student learning Student engagement Districts must also define effective teaching based on the selected data sources (as shown in the second row of the table presented). After examining the equity gaps in your district related to student access to effective teaching, what are your conclusions? Describe what participants should do: Participants will discuss the question on the slide at their tables. After examining the equity gaps in your district related to student access to effective teaching, what are your conclusions?

Wrap-Up: Results What did you think about this process?
What challenges do you anticipate with calculating equity gaps?? Time: 10 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) What did you think about this activity? What challenges do you anticipate you will experience with Step 2? Will it be difficult for you to calculate equity gaps? Participants will: Participants will jot down their responses to the questions on the screen and then share out.

Questions? Time: 1 minute
Presenter says: Are there any remaining questions at this time about Step 2?

District Planning Session: Steps 1 and 2
Time: minutes, as determined by presenters 70

District Planning Time
Begin work on Steps 1 and 2 of the Roadmap process Revisit the “Roles and Responsibilities” chart Explore the TET website Brainstorm anticipated challenges districts will face and possible solutions Consider how best to message the work to district and school staff and the community Time: 10 minutes Presenter will: Review slide and support participant planning time as needed. Presenter says: This time can be used to: Revisit the Roles and Responsibilities chart introduced earlier in the day; Demo/navigate/explore the Equity Toolkit website; Brainstorm together the anticipated challenges districts will face and possible solutions; or Reinforce the positive messaging that should be initiated immediately upon completion of the TOT. We should also communicate future opportunities to collaborate virtually through TETN, videoconference, webinar, and so on to plan consistently for district supports.

End-of-Day Wrap-Up Exit Ticket and Previewing Day 2 72

Previewing the Day 2 Agenda
Session Titles Timing Welcome Back—Recap of Day 1 and Kicking Off Day 2 8:30–8:45 a.m. Introducing the Toolkit Step 3. Conducting a Root Cause Analysis Break Step 4. Selecting Strategies, Part I 8:45–11:00 a.m. 11:00 –11:15 a.m. 11:15–11:45 a.m. Lunch 11:45 a.m.– 12:45 p.m. Step 4. Selecting Strategies, Part II Step 5. Planning for Implementation Putting It All Together: The Roadmap Reporting Template 12:45–1:30 p.m. 1:30—2:30 p.m. 2:30—2:45 p.m. 2:45—3:00 p.m. District Planning Session: Steps 3–5 3:00–3:30 p.m. End-of-Day Wrap-Up & Training Feedback Survey 3:30–4:00 p.m. Time: 1 minute Presenter will: (Review slide.) Presenter says: Here is the agenda for tomorrow.

Wrapping Up Day 1: Exit Ticket
Take two sticky notes: PLUS: On one sticky note, jot down one or two things that were most helpful, useful, or interesting about today’s training. DELTA: On a second sticky note, jot down one or two things that were confusing or could be improved. Leave your anonymous sticky notes on the PLUS and DELTA posters on your way out. We will use this information to improve the way we support you tomorrow and going forward. Time: 5 minutes Materials Needed for Participants: Sticky notes (located on their tables), and 2 pieces of chart paper posted on the wall– one labeled PLUS and the other labeled DELTA. Materials Needed for Presenters: None. Presenter says: (Review slide.) Please take two sticky notes. On one note, jot down one or two Plus comments. On the other note, jot down one or two Delta comments. Before you leave, please place your sticky notes on the posters near the exit of the room. Participants will: Jot down notes and paste them on the poster.

Texas Equity Toolkit Project: Day 2
District Training Session 75

Welcome Back!

How Are We Doing Meeting Our Objectives?
Build a shared understanding of the Excellent Educators for All Initiative—what is equitable access, and why does it matter? Introduce the Texas Equity Toolkit Project. Build a shared understanding of the resources and tools in the Texas Equitable Access Roadmap: A Toolkit to Support Texas Districts to Develop Local Equitable Access Plans. Build district capacity to use the toolkit to develop and implement a local equity plan. Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Review objectives – yesterday we built a shared understanding of the equity initiative and were introduced to the toolkit project and the first few steps of the toolkit. (Click for checkboxes to appear next to first two bullets.) Today, we’ll continue to walk through the toolkit and familiarize ourselves with Steps 4-5, along with the reporting template. In the afternoon, TEA and ESC 13 will guide districts through some planning sessions to prepare to turnkey this material to districts.

Agenda: Day 2 Session Titles Timing Introducing the Toolkit
Welcome Back—Recap of Day 1 and Kicking Off Day 2 8:30–8:45 a.m. Introducing the Toolkit Step 3. Conducting a Root Cause Analysis Break Step 4. Selecting Strategies, Part I 8:45–11:00 a.m. 11:00 –11:15 a.m. 11:15–11:45 a.m. Lunch 11:45 a.m.– 12:45 p.m. Step 4. Selecting Strategies, Part II Step 5. Planning for Implementation Putting It All Together: The Roadmap Reporting Template 12:45–1:30 p.m. 1:30—2:30 p.m. 2:30—2:45 p.m. 2:45—3:00 p.m. District Planning Session: Steps 3–5 3:00–3:30 p.m. End-of-Day Wrap-Up & Training Feedback Survey 3:30–4:00 p.m. Time: 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.) Here is today’s agenda.

Step 3. Conducting a Root Cause Analysis
Time: 75 minutes for the session. Materials Needed for Participants: Step 3 (online, electronic, or paper version). Poster paper, markers, and pens. Training handouts (step 3 RCA mock data handout) Materials Needed for Presenters: Poster paper and markers, volunteers from the facilitator team to role play a root cause analysis session.

Step 3. Root Cause Analysis
Time: 10 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Please turn to Step 3: Conducting a Root Cause Analysis. Take 10 minutes to review the tool. Before we get started, take 10 minutes at your table to silently review this tool.

Root Cause Analysis Session
Purpose and Process: Identify the root causes of the equity gaps. Review data. Ask WHY. Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Root Cause Analysis (RCA) centers on data review to identify possible root causes of the equity gaps calculated. Stakeholders will work together in groups to review data and determine the root causes of inequitable access in their district. Ask WHY – RCA process is centered on uncovering the causes of the equity gaps in your district. That is, the reasons why this problematic equity outcomes may have occurred. The Root Cause Analysis process is structured so that stakeholders question why there are equity gaps in their district and then work toward identifying a root cause and continuing to probe until they get to a deeper set of root causes. Stakeholders continue through this cycle until all root causes have been identified. This simple and straightforward exercise often unearths useful new insights for informing policy and helps participants learn from one another’s perspectives. By the end of the process, facilitators will gather the groups’ identified root causes and general comments to share with the district team developing the strategies for the district equitable access plan.

Discussion Norms Time: 1 minute
Presenter says: These are the discussion norms we will use during this session: Assume all participants have good intentions. Listen and share the floor. Ask questions. Respect others’ perspective.

Guiding Question “Why do some high-poverty campuses in Texas have higher percentages of inexperienced teachers than do low-poverty campuses?” Time: 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.) Here are the equity gaps we found during Step 2 that we framed as a question. For this session, we’ll dive in and ask Why? Why do some high-poverty campuses in Texas have higher percentages of inexperienced and out-of-field teachers than do low-poverty campuses?

Conduct a Data Dive to Review Equity Gaps
Guiding Questions What are the equity gaps in your district? Which groups of students are most affected by equity gaps? Are low-income students taught by inexperienced or out-of-field teachers at higher rates than their higher income peers? Are students of color taught by inexperienced or out-of-field teachers at higher rates than their White peers? Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Please refer to pages 3 and 4 in Step 3. Take a minute to read through those pages. Now look at Tables A and B in the handout that we completed during Step 2. Take a closer look at the equity gaps and data findings and think about the Guiding Questions on page 4 (Guiding Questions Template). Write your responses to the questions on the Template. Participants will: Individual activity writing their responses to the Guiding Questions in the Guiding Questions Template in Step 3.

Modeling Root Cause Analysis Process
Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Please turn to page 4 of Step 3. Look at the example in the section “Identify and Discuss the Root Causes of the Equity Challenges That Our District Faces” (on page 5). Read slide. You’ll see the example equity gap comes from the data exercise we completed. After identifying equity gaps, districts will need to develop Problem of Practice statements that are linked to the equity gap, as shown in our example.

Modeling Root Cause Analysis Process
Time: 15 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Please turn to page 7 of Step 3. Now the team and I will model the RCA process. Presenter(s) will: Model Root Cause Analysis – Facilitators will “demo” the RCA and follow the running example in the toolkit. One of us would play the role of facilitator, and the other three will play a teacher, principal, and principal supervisor (if there are more than three, someone can play the role of a central office staffer). The ”actors” will respond to the WHY/HOW DO YOU KNOW questions/processes and run down each of the three columns of the chart on page 6 to get to the root causes in each of the three categories of attract, support, and retain. Participants will: Watch the role playing and jot down questions.

Root Cause Analysis—Trial Run
“Our district has trouble attracting teachers with effective teaching practices in our high-poverty campuses and provides inadequate supports to improve teacher performance in these campuses.” Time: 65 minutes Materials Needed for Participants: Poster paper with WHY and HOW buckets. One sheet will be for ATTRACT, another paper is for SUPPORT, and a third paper is for RETAIN. Training handout packet – Step 3 “mock RCA data.” Presenter says: (Review slide.) Now its your turn to engage in the RCA. On the screen is the problem statement you will discuss to identify the root causes. You’ll recall from the earlier example (also shown on page 5 of Step 3) another equity gap was that 57% of the teachers in our highest poverty campuses have received a Proficient or better performance rating on T-TESS compared to 76% of teachers in the lowest poverty campuses who received the same rating. This is a 20% equity gap. Here is a problem statement linked to that gap. Read screen. We want for you to brainstorm explanations for this problem statement, considering factors in three categories—challenges in ATTRACTING excellent teachers, SUPPORTING excellent teachers, and RETAINING excellent teachers. Please refer to the Blank Root Cause Analysis Planning Template on page 9 of Step 3. In the training handouts, the Step 3 handout includes some “mock RCA data” for participants to consider when practicing the RCA. Assign one person at your group to be the facilitator. Facilitators ask, “Why is this the case?” and then you all describe the evidence you have available to support your thinking. Then, having identified an initial set of causes of the problem, continue to probe “Why that is the case?” and “How do I know?” to get to a deeper set of the root causes. You will continue through this cycle until all factors have been considered. This is a lengthy process and may require the group(s) to ask “Why?” and “How do I know?” as many as 10 times. We encourage you to focus on system challenges to frame your root causes, not symptoms. For example, the tendency of early career teachers to move from inner-city to suburban campuses after a few years is a symptom, whereas a lack of strong preparation and leadership in inner-city campuses is a systems challenge. Also, the high percentages of teachers of students with disabilities who leave teaching for work in the private sector is a symptom, whereas unmanageable caseloads for these teachers is a systems challenge. Presenter will: Count off by three. Reconvene in small groups according to assignment. Assign one person the role of facilitator. Go through the process we modeled for you. Start with how would you frame this problem statement in terms of category assigned to you (i.e., ATTRACTING/RETAINING/SUPPORTING excellent teachers)? Ideas are discussed. The team decides on their revised problem of practice and writes it on poster paper on wall. The facilitator will then ask, “Why is this the case?” Participants will discuss and note their explanations on the paper. Facilitator will then ask, “How do you know?” (evidence). Participants will discuss and note their evidence on the paper. Participants will: Go through this process until they feel they have reached the final root cause for the problem of practice. They will write down their evidence and root causes on their poster paper. At the end of the activity, all groups will report out to the whole group.

Reporting Template Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.)
Please turn to page 10 of Step 3. Here is the reporting template that shows what districts will be required to submit to TEA. They will need to describe the root causes related to attracting, supporting, and retaining excellent teachers.

Wrap-Up What challenges do you see at your district in completing the Root Cause Analysis Process? What can I do to help? What other information do you need from us? Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: (Review slide.) Discuss these three questions at your table. Participants will: Pair and share.

Questions? Time: 1 minute Presenter says: (Review slide.)
Are there any lingering questions you have about conducting a root cause analysis? Participants will: Ask questions.

Time: 90 minutes

Time: 11 minutes (1 minute to present, 10 minutes for participants to review slides) Materials Needed for Participants: Step 4 Selecting Strategies tool. TET handout packet with Step 4 planning templates. Materials Needed for Presenters: Computer to navigate to the page and/or paper copies in case some participants want to use paper or do not have access to a computer. Presenter says: For this session, we will work with Step 4: Selecting Strategies. Please navigate to it on the website or look at your paper copy of Step 4. Please take a couple of minutes to review this step right now, on your own. Presenter will: Pull up the toolkit on the website and navigate to Step 4, hand out the paper copy of the step to those who need it. Participants will: Participants will explore Step 4 online or in a paper copy. Before we get started, take 10 minutes at your table to silently review this tool.

Selecting Strategies Session
Purpose and Process: Identify strategies the district can use to address equity gaps. Strategies and activities must: Address systemic root causes Be based on best practices or research Be measurable Be viable Have a champion To accomplish this districts will: Inventory current practice Review the research Build consensus Look ahead Time: 2 minutes for presenter to read the slide Presenter says: (Review slide.) The purpose of this step is to identify strategies and activities the district can use to address equity gaps. As you work to develop or uncover strategies keep these things in mind: These identified strategies and activities must Address systemic root causes—the stronger the connection to the ROOT CAUSE the more likely the strategy will have an impact. Be based on best practices or research. Make use what is out there and known to work. Be measurable—defined by data or metrics that can be analyzed. Viable—especially early on the strategy should have few barriers or ones that can be easily overcome. Have a single owner who is a district leader and who is ultimately responsible for implementation of the strategies. The process for developing these strategies includes the following steps: 1. Inventory Current Practice: Perform a high-level inventory of current programs and policies related to the Root Causes Categories identified by stakeholders. 2. Review the Research: Scan recommended strategies related to each root cause category. 3. Build Consensus: Decide which strategies you want to use and which ones you might discard or save for later. 4. Look Ahead: Consider barriers to implementation. As we walk through the process for selecting strategies, you will have the chance to practice and discuss critical features of this step and take time to envision challenges you may encounter as you turnkey this out to your districts.

Inventory Current Practice and Research Base
Time: 20 minutes (10 minutes to introduce the activity and for participants to work and 10 minutes to share out) Materials Needed for Participants: Step 4 Selecting Strategies Tool and Step 4 handout in TET handout packet. Materials Needed for Presenters: Computer to navigate to the page or paper copies in case some participants want to use paper or do not have access to a computer. Markers, easel, and paper for note taking during the share out. Presenter says: The first part of the Selecting Strategies process is to INVENTORY what the district is currently doing in relation to each category ATTRACTING, SUPPORTING, AND RETAINING excellent educators. This is important because some of your district’s final strategies may be to continue with a current approach or to expand or improve an existing program. Presenter will: Use the markers, easel, and paper to note the strategies each group shares. INTRODUCE THE ACTIVITY: Choose ONE of the root causes listed above or one of the root causes you uncovered during the RCA process you just completed. Inventory what strategies, programs, and policies your district already has in place that would address this root cause. For example, if one category highlighted by stakeholders was insufficient professional development, list all the actions your district currently takes related to providing professional development. Next, list potential new or enhanced strategies that could be used to address this root cause. Identify which strategies that you know are supported by research by circling or highlighting them on the table. Work on this for about 10 minutes. When you are done, we will take about 10 minutes to share out some of the strategies your districts currently have in place, an enhanced version of a strategy you already use, or some new ones you have developed to address the root cause. Participants will: Complete the Strategy Template as described above.

Lunch! Lunch BREAK Lunch

Check the Alignment to Arrive at Consensus
For each proposed strategy: Determine how it is aligned to the root cause(s). Note the evidence base for this strategy. Determine how you will measure success. Note barriers to full implementation. Come to consensus about the strategies most likely to be successful. Time: 2 minutes to read the slide Presenter says: (Review slide.) After you have completed your strategy inventory, you will need to check the alignment of your strategy to root causes and to research before deciding if this is a strategy you should focus on. There are five steps in this process. Make sure that each strategy is Aligned to root causes. Is this strategy aligned to a root cause identified in Step 3? To answer this you should have your RCA from Step 3 to look at and determine. Evidence based. Is there evidence or research supporting this strategy? What makes us think this strategy will be effective? You are more likely to get better results with strategies that have been tested. [ESCs may need to help with determining this. If not, write why this step may be effective.] Measurable (defined by data or metrics that can be analyzed). How will we measure the impact of this strategy? This one is important to think about now as you will be using this information in Step 5. Viable. Can we get this strategy done? Are there barriers that will stop it from happening or happening well? Is there widespread support from folks who matter? From that information, determine: Should this strategy be on the plan?

Check the Alignment to Arrive at Consensus
Time: 25 minutes (5 minutes to introduce the activity, 10 minutes for participants to work, and 10 minutes to share out) Materials Needed for Participants: Step 4 Selecting Strategies Tool and Step 4 handout in TET handout packet. Materials Needed for Presenters: Computer to navigate to the page or paper copies in case some participants want to use paper or do not have access to a computer. Markers, easel, and paper for note taking during the share out. Presenter will: Use the markers, easel and paper to note the strategies each group shares. Presenter walks through the first example and models how to answer each question for the example included. (5 min.) Then introduce the activity. Presenter says: (Review slide.) The second part of the Selecting Strategies process is to check the alignment of each strategy and come to consensus. In the example above, there are three different strategies listed. The first one is to provide incentives to experienced teachers who will move to a high-poverty campus. We can see it is aligned with one of our root causes, and there is mixed research on whether this strategy actually works. We have a good way to measure it, by counting the number of experienced teaches who move to get the bonus, but this strategy is NOT VIABLE because the district does not have the money to enact it. Therefore, when we get to the last column, we can see that it is not doable at this time. ACTIVITY: At your table group, decide on a strategy that you will pull all the way through the table. Check its alignment and then determine if it is viable. We will take about 10 minutes to do this, then we will share out what we decided. Participants will: Complete the Strategy Planning Template as described above.

Completing the Reporting Template
Time: 5 minutes Materials Needed for Participants: Reporting Template for Step 4. Materials Needed for Presenters: Computer to navigate to the page or paper copies in case some participants want to use paper or do not have access to a computer. Presenter says: The final step in the process for your districts will be to complete the reporting template for each step. For Step 4, they will cut and paste the strategies they have selected from the Strategy Planning Template as you can see here. Presenter will: Navigate here in the tool to show participants how it works and what to do.

Dissect, Connect, and Reflect
What will come easily or naturally to your district about this approach? What will be challenging for you in answering these questions or completing the activities? What can you do to support your district in completing this activity productively? Time: 20 minutes (10 minutes for participants to work and 10 minutes to share out) Materials Needed for Participants: The questions above. Materials Needed for Presenters: Markers, easel, and paper for note taking during the share out. Presenter says: As a table team, reflect on the Selecting Strategies process. Answer the questions and then we will share out what you have learned. Presenter will: Use the markers, easel, and paper to note what each group shares. Participants will: Complete the activity as described above.

Questions?

Time: 1 hour

Time: 11 minutes (1 minute to present, 10 minutes for participants to review slides) Materials Needed for Participants: Step 5 Planning for Implementation tool and Step 5 handout from TET handout packet. Materials Needed for Presenters: Computer to navigate to the page or paper copies in case some participants want to use paper or do not have access to a computer. Presenter says: For this session, we will work with Step 5: Planning for Implementation. Please navigate to it on the website or raise your hand if you need a paper copy of it. Please take a couple of minutes to review this step right now, on your own. Presenter will: Pull up the toolkit on the website and navigate to Step 5; hand out the paper copy of the step to those who need it. Participants will: Participants will explore Step 5 online to get a feel for the flow of information and the activities contained in it. Before we get started, take 10 minutes at your table to silently review this tool.

Planning for Implementation Session
Purpose: Ensure that strategies are implemented and that they are affecting outcomes. Process: Assemble the team. Complete the progress monitoring template. Determine your meeting schedule. Meet to monitor progress and course correct. Plan for sustaining successful practices. Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: The final step in the Toolkit is to monitor progress, course correct if needed, and plan for sustaining successful strategies. To accomplish this the Toolkit walks you through a process that includes: Creating a Team, pages 2-3 Completing the Monitoring Template, which we will do together today, pages 3-7 Meeting regularly to examine data, note progress, and course correct, page 8 Plan for sustaining practices that are successful, page 9 Reporting template is on page 10 For the completing the monitoring table activity, we will use the blank reporting template on page 11 in the toolkit. A picture of it is on the next slide. Presenter will: Pull up the toolkit on the website and navigate to Step 5; hand out the paper copy of the step to those who need it.

Assemble Your Team and Gather Your Documents
Create a progress monitoring team that is responsible for tracking the implementation progress of the selected strategies. Now that you have your team, gather the following documents to help you complete your monitoring plan: the completed Strategy Planning Template from Step 4 and the Blank Progress Monitoring Planning Template from Step 5 Time: 1 minute Presenter says: Just an FYI—we will breeze by the part where you gather a team. There is a place on the monitoring plan to list your team members, and there is guidance in the Toolkit on pages 2-3 in Step 5 to help you form a really strong team. In the interest of time, we are speeding ahead to the meat of this step: completing the Progress Monitoring Template.

Completing the Progress Monitoring Template
Time: 3 minutes Presenter says: So the next part of this step is to complete the Progress Monitoring Template. At the top left, there is a space to list your problem statement and root cause from Step 3 RCA; on the top right, there is a space to put your team members and list their responsibilities. The first column is where you will list your strategies and any substrategies you will implement. I am going to describe each part of the template, show you how I completed it, and then give you time to complete each section. Then, when it is all complete, we will share out our process. If you have questions during the process, please don’t hesitate to ask them. Presenter will: Point to each section of the Template as you describe it.

Record and Further Define Your Strategies
Tips for completing the template: 1. Each strategy should have its own monitoring plan. 2. Break a larger strategy into smaller substrategies. 3. Make sure there is enough detail that outsiders can understand what you are implementing and how you define success. Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: Here is just a bit of guidance about completing the Template and about the process in general: Each strategy should have its own monitoring plan. If you need to, you can break a larger strategy into smaller substrategies. So, for example, you may want to break a large strategy like educating to staff into smaller components like professional development for each group, which may have different goals depending upon the staff grouping. 3. Make sure there is enough detail that outsiders can understand what you are implementing and how you define success. Presenter will: Point to each this section of the Template as you describe it.

Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: Here is where I have listed my strategy, Principal Supervisor Professional Development on effective coaching and instructional leadership. I don’t have any substrategies yet, but I do have some tasks listed in the next column to help me plan and implement this strategy. You can see also that I have listed my problem statement, root cause, and the team that will work on this strategy. So now you should go ahead and choose a strategy that you will work through the template in your table group. It can be one you listed in your Selecting Strategies Template or another one you would like to work on. Let’s take 2 minutes to decide on one as a group and write it down. Presenter will: Point to each this section of the Template as you describe it. Additional notes: Note that the space is very small on the paper copy. If participants are using a paper copy of the Progress Monitoring Planning Template, they may have to write across the rows.

Envision Implementation
Next look at the columns that ask you to envision what successful implementation will look like in: Up to 6 months Six months to a year One to 2 years Time: 1 minute Presenter says: Next you need to envision what your strategy will look like IF YOU IMPLEMENT IT WELL– at three different time periods—0-6 months, 6 months to a year, and 1 to 2 years. Presenter will: Point to each this section of the Template as you describe it.

Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: Here is where I have listed what successful implementation will look like at each time period. In 6 months, my Principal Supervisor will know some effective coaching strategies and will have scheduled at least one coaching meeting with the principals. Below here you can see where I set targets—75% increase in coaching knowledge and at least one meeting. In one year, the Principal Supervisor will meet regularly to provide PD and will track improvement. The targets here are at least two meetings per semester, and 75% of principals will say the coaching is helpful and effective. Finally, in 2 years these will become regular practice, the PS will improve, and this growth will be validated on the principals’ survey. So now you should go ahead and define what success looks like in each of the three time periods. Let’s take 5 minute to do that. Presenter will: Point to each this section of the Template as you describe it. Additional Notes: Note that the space is very small on the paper copy. If participants are using a paper copy of the Progress Monitoring Planning Template, they may have to write across the rows.

Decide How to Measure at Each Time Point
Tips for choosing measures: Look at the Data Review Activity from Step 2 or the measures from the Selecting Strategies Template for ideas. Look for measures that already exist if possible. Look for data that are easily captured (attendance, for example). Use more than one measure if possible. Decide if you need to develop measures. Time: 2 minutes Presenters says: Now we will complete the final columns of our Progress Monitoring Planning Template. Read tips. Look at the Data Review Activity from Step 2 or the measures from the Selecting Strategies Template for ideas. Look for measures that already exist if possible. Look for data that are easily captured (attendance, for example). Use more than one measure if possible. Decide if you need to develop measures.

Time: 5 minutes Presenters says: Here is where I have listed how I will measure success in each time frame. Remember you may use the same measures in each time frame to look at growth, or you may use different measures because success looks different. For the first time period, I am looking at improvement in the PS’s knowledge before and after the training, so I have a pre- and posttest of skill and knowledge. I am also looking at her logs to be sure that at least one meeting is scheduled. At the end of one year, I am again looking at her logs to be sure that she hit the target of two meetings per semester and also at the principals survey to see if the coaching is helpful and happening. For each of these surveys I may have one already, or I may need to develop one (you can see here in my work plan column I have a note that I need to develop this). I am using the same measures from time period 2 to look at growth for time period 3. So now you should go ahead and define what success looks like in each of the three time periods. Let’s take 5 minutes to do that. Presenter will: Point to each this section of the Template as you describe it Additional Notes: **If the rural/urban difference does not come out here, raise it.

Determine Your Meeting Timeline
Examine each of your measures in each section and determine when you should meet to review. Tips for determining your timeline: Implementation should be underway or complete. Data to address the outcomes should be available. Write in the timeline for meeting your Benchmark Section. Time: 2 minutes Presenter says: Take 2 minutes to review the information on this slide.

Time: 15 minutes—1 minute to describe the last part and 14 minutes to share out the templates. Presenter says: Here is where we begin to determine when we will be monitoring progress. For each time period, you will decide on a date to meet as a team to look at progress. You can see here that I have February 2017 as my first meeting, May 2017 as my second, and August 2018 as my third. Now, examine each of your measures in each section and determine when you should meet to review. Here are some tips about when to meet: Implementation should be underway or complete. Data to address the outcomes should be available. Write in the timeline for meeting in your Benchmark Section. Once you have completed this final part, we will share out about our templates. Presenter will: Ask a few table groups to describe their template—what they listed there and why. Participants will: Share out their experiences. Additional notes: Use the easel and note paper to record what participants say about each part of the template.

Monitor Regularly, Improve, and Sustain
Strategy and sub-strategy: Type of outcome examined: Date: Did your team do what was planned for this strategy? Did the data we collected help us to know if the strategy was implemented well? Describe any additional data you need to help you understand this more or make better decisions. How much progress have you made toward your goals? Do you need to make any adjustments at this time? Was this strategy successful? Yes ☐ Somewhat ☐ No☐ Explain why: If yes: How will we sustain this strategy? What factors need to be in place? If no: Why wasn’t the strategy implemented? (Barriers to implementation?) If it was implemented but did not lead to the expected outcome, was the strategy implemented with fidelity? Why not? Time: 5 minutes Presenter says: Finally, we want you to monitor progress and course correct on a regular basis. You decided when to meet in the last step. This template will walk you through a process of examining progress, making changes if needed, and deciding what strategies to sustain. Each question is designed to help you move sequentially through the process. There is a completed version that shows how you would do this for the principal supervisor professional development example we have been using on page 9. During each progress monitoring meeting, use the information completed from the Progress Monitoring Planning Template for each strategy or group of strategies to discuss the following questions. Did our team do what was planned for each strategy? Did the data we collected help us to know if the strategy was implemented? How much progress have we made toward our goals? Did any of the barriers we foresaw interrupt progress? Do we need to make any adjustments at this time? If the strategies have been successful, reflect on what has contributed to the success. Next, consider how to sustain the implementation of that strategy. What factors must be in place? How can it continue to be successful? If you have not met your short-, medium-, and long-term outcomes, reflect on the barriers. Why wasn’t the strategy implemented? If it was implemented but did not lead to the expected outcome, was the strategy implemented with fidelity? What else went wrong? Presenter will: Walk the participants through the template. Ask if they have any questions. Additional Notes: Use the easel and note paper to record what participants say about each part of the template.

Dissect, Connect, and Reflect
What will come easily or naturally to your districts about this approach? What will be challenging for them in answering these questions or completing the activities? What can you do to support your districts in completing this activity productively? Time: 20 minutes Materials Needed for Presenters: Easel, markers and notepaper Presenter says: As a table team, reflect on the Monitoring Progress process (5 min). Answer the questions (5 min) and share out what you have learned (10 min). Presenter will: Use the easel and paper to note participants’ answers.

Questions? Time: 3-5 minutes as needed
Presenter says: Are there any questions about Step 5?

Completing the Reporting Template
Time: 2 minutes Materials Needed for Participants: The Reporting Template for Step 5. Presenters says: This is on page 10 in Step 5. Navigate here to show participants what this looks like and how to use it. The results of your efforts in Step 5. Planning for Implementation should be documented through completing the Progress Monitoring Plan Template. Note that the reporting template for Steps 4–5 is in one continuous table. Your team should have already completed the first two columns after working on Step 4. You’ll now complete the last three columns by synthesizing key information on desired outputs and outcomes from your team’s completed Progress Monitoring Plan. You will be able to directly transfer the findings below into the centralized Roadmap Reporting Template.

Putting It All Together: Completing the Roadmap Reporting Template

The District Roadmap Reporting Template
Presenter will: Review the “Roadmap Reporting Template” with participants and field questions as needed.

District Planning Session: Steps 3, 4, and 5

District Planning Time
Begin work on Steps 3, 4, and 5 of the Roadmap process Brainstorm anticipated challenges districts will face and possible solutions Time: 10 minutes Presenter will: Review slide and support participant planning time as needed.

Closing and Next Steps

How Are We Doing Meeting Our Objectives?
Build a shared understanding of the Excellent Educators for All Initiative—what is equitable access, and why does it matter? Introduce the Texas Equity Toolkit Project. Build a shared understanding of the resources and tools in the Texas Equitable Access Roadmap: A Toolkit to Support Texas Districts to Develop Local Equitable Access Plans. Build district capacity to use the toolkit to develop and implement a local equity plan.

Next Steps Presenter can fill in relevant information for their district(s) as appropriate.

Questions?

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Texas Equity Toolkit Project: Day 1

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