The New York State Reform Agenda Overview Checklist
Do all staff members have an understanding of the State Reform Agenda and how it will affect schools in the future?
___ Staff members can discuss reasons for the NYS reform agenda
___ Staff members can discuss the four goals from RTTT
___ Staff members can identify implications for how schools will work in the future
Is there a formalized communication system that will keep all staff up-to-date on the
regulations and how the regulations apply to them personally?
___ Staff members can discuss the role(s) they will perform in relationship to RTTT.
___ Staff members can discuss their accountability and know what year they will begin new accountability measures
___ The district has identified and communicated the staff that will be responsible for compliance
Is the district “change ready”?
___ Trust has been established between administration and staff
___ There is a set of beliefs or principles about “how students learn best” that was collaboratively developed between key leaders
___ There is a vision for or healthy discussions about “what is quality teaching/learning?” that is collaboratively developed between key leaders
___ There are on-going discussions at all levels about what the literature identifies as research-based instructional practices that result in the improvement of student performance ___ Elementary and secondary staff utilizes literacy strategies
___ All staff understand the Stages of Change and indicators for each stage
___ There is an openness to examining “sacred cows”
___ Leaders are skilled in turning resistance into readiness
___ There is a model for how decisions are shared in an organization known by all that explains the roles and responsibilities in different modes of decision making
___ There are “leaders” (formal and informal) trained as facilitators
Common Core Standards and Assessments Checklist
Does our staff (teachers, administrators, and support staff) understand the significance of the changes from the existing Standards to the Common Core Standards?
___ Staff can discuss how the Common Core is designed
___ Staff can speak to the similarities and differences between the old and new Standards for their grade and/or content areas
___ Staff can discuss the impact the Common Core will have on their curriculum and ultimately their instruction
___ There is a (pre)K-12 thinking skills model embedded within the curriculum with an understanding of how to teach the skill and how to use the skill
___ There is a common thinking skill language (pre)K-12 and transfer is embedded in the curriculum for the language of testing
Is our curriculum articulated and aligned?
___ Written curriculum maps/guides for each grade and content area
___ Articulated district philosophy
___ Curriculum aligned to district philosophy
___ Curriculum documents aligned within grade and subject areas?
___ Curriculum documents aligned across grade levels and across content areas
___ Curriculum documents aligned to new Common Core
___ Identify gaps in written curriculum documents of alignment to Common Core
___ Identify where Common Core is taught in written curriculum documents
___ Identify where Common Core is assessed in curriculum documents
___ Identify how Common Core is assessed in curriculum
___ Staff can define “formative” and “summative” assessments
___ Staff can identify and design examples of formative and summative assessments
___ Staff can identify Common Core Standards and Anchor Standards assessed with examples
___ Fill in gaps in existing curriculum documents
Are our district’s systems providing the support needed for the staff to be successful?
___ Assess staffs’ skill levels in identifying, integrating, and assessing student learning of NYS Standards
___ Ensure accountability of all staff
___ Provide training to fill gaps based on staff skill level assessment
___ Define systems of support for highly effective implementation for:
___ Principals
___ Teachers
___ Students
Data Systems for Improvement Checklist of Tasks
Does our staff know what data is already available to them and are they using data to inform instructional decisions?
___ All instructional staff members and administrators know what data sets are available to them and know how to read the data displays (both state and local data)
___ All instructional staff members and administrators have protocols to review and analyze data on their own or in grade or content area groups (both state and local data)
___ All instructional staff members and administrators have goal setting formats related to improving instruction based on student performance data (both state and local data)
___ Data analysis and decision making is on-going and happens throughout the school year
Do our staff members understand the regulation for inquiry teams and are they ready?
___ Each building principal has identified their inquiry team members to satisfy the state regulations
___ Each inquiry team has experienced a process to build trust, established group norms and is ready to receive State Inquiry Team Training
Effective Staffing/APPR
Does the current APPR meet the pre-2010 regulation?
___ There is a standing APPR committee
___ Current committee has discussed and reviewed the draft of the new regulation
___ APPR committee and administrators have reviewed what the research
says about effective teacher/principal evaluation models
___ APPR committee has reviewed research based rubrics for teacher
performance and has identified alignment or gaps in current system for
rigor ___ The existing APPR plan has been reviewed for the purposes of identifying where it is aligned to the new regulations and where there are gaps
___ All teachers are currently being evaluated yearly; both tenured and non-tenured teachers
___ All teachers understand the eight state criteria: Content Knowledge, Preparation, Instructional Delivery, Classroom Management, Student Development, Student Assessment, Reflective practice and, Collaboration to meet student needs
___ All teachers are currently being evaluated using the eight state criteria
___ Teachers understand which of the eight criteria can be assessed in a classroom observation and which need to be assessed through other formats
___ The district assessment system for teachers includes tools other than a classroom observation to evaluate the eight criteria
___ Teachers and administrators can articulate the difference between the classroom observation and the evaluation
___ Does our district have a clear picture of the current assessments in place across the district for students?
___ Inventory current assessment tools in use; local, vendor developed and state level
The New York State Reform Agenda is defined by the four main goals from Race to the Top (RTTT):
· Implementation of the Common Core State Standards (Common Core Standards and Assessments)
· Instructional data systems that measure student success and inform teachers and principals how they can improve their practice (Data Systems for Improvement)
· Recruiting, developing, retaining, and rewarding effective teachers and principals (Effective Staffing/APPR)
· Best practice to turn around lowest achieving schools and continuously improve all schools (Continuous Improvement of Schools)
The energies of SED for 2010-2012 are focused to three goal areas.
1. Establishment of Network Teams and Inquiry Teams
2. Teacher and Principal evaluation systems
3. College and Career Readiness
On the following pages you will find checklists of tasks to guide a district’s pre-requisite work in preparing for these major changes. They are intended to be a spark to assist your thinking as we all move forward in meet the state requirements.
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