School and District Performance Unit 201 East Colfax Avenue Denver, CO 80203-1799 Superintendent Jones Board President Sanchez Pueblo City Schools 315 W. 11th St. Pueblo, CO 81003 April 29, 2016 Dear Superintendent Jones and Board President Sanchez, I would like to follow up on our recent conversations about your school and district improvement efforts. We appreciate the ongoing collaboration between CDE and Pueblo 60. Through the Turnaround Network, the Turnaround Learning Academy, and the leadership work that we have engaged in together for the past two years, it is clear that you have school and district leaders who are committed to making the dramatic and urgent improvements needed to better serve your students. This letter will outline our response and feedback to the Innovation plans that are being considered. Pueblo City Schools entered its fifth year of being Accredited with Priority Improvement on July 1, 2015. Six schools have also entered the fifth year of implementing a Priority Improvement or Turnaround Plan, as follows: ● Benjamin Franklin Elementary School Turnaround ● Bessemer Elementary School Priority Improvement ● Heroes Middle School Turnaround ● Irving Elementary School Turnaround ● Risley International Academy of Innovation Turnaround ● Roncalli STEM Academy Turnaround Pueblo City Schools presented to the State Board of Education on April 9, 2015, describing the district’s interest in pursuing Innovation status for a group of low-performing schools and creating an Innovation Zone to support this subset of schools. Since that time, CDE has collaborated with district and school leaders on the development of the Innovation Plan. My team reviewed the Innovation proposal using a rubric that qualitatively assesses the likelihood that the plan will result in dramatic improvement of student outcomes. Whereas the plan can still be strengthened in some areas, overall, we believe that the Pueblo Innovation plan is ambitious and addresses some of the core challenges facing the district. Along with ongoing progress monitoring and collaboration, the CDE Office of School and District Performance supports Innovation as the accountability pathway for the Year 5 schools that are a part of the Innovation Zone. Below is a brief summary of feedback on the plan. Strengths ● Overall, the plan is ambitious, well thought out and geared toward the needs of the specific schools. ● The focus and commitment of the plan on recruiting, growing and retaining quality educators for each school is an immense strength and should serve the district well across all schools. ● The zone concept is well developed from a leadership perspective with strong performance management routines and practices embedded that should allow for growth, accountability, transparency and adjustment. 201 East Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO 80203-1799 P 303.866.6600 F 303.830.0793 Rich Crandall, Commissioner of Education www.cde.state.co.us ● ● The plan shows an obvious commitment by the district to utilize the Innovation Zone as a proving ground for innovative ideas to share and disseminate collaboratively throughout the district. The current leaders in the schools and the Innovation Zone have demonstrated flexibility to think innovatively, persistence to break through barriers, and passion for all of their students. Questions ● While the performance management structures are clearly delineated, the district support structure for the zone needs to be defined and strengthened for the Innovation Zone to be successful. What is the timing of this work? Is the district equipped with enough personnel to be flexible in its support across departments? ● A major purpose of the Innovation Schools Act is to provide greater autonomy for select schools within a district. While support from the district must be developed, are all parties—including district leadership and the local school board—willing to recognize the relative autonomy of the zone schools so they can fully implement their plans? ● Without having seen a budget, there are questions about the cost of the initiatives within the Innovation Zone and the district’s willingness to pay for those initiatives. We encourage the district to prioritize some level of budget flexibility for Zone schools so that school leaders can make fiscal decisions they deem necessary to enact their plans. As limits to funding to zone schools are reached, will the district provide the schools with the flexibility to spend their funding in a manner that allows for successful implementation of the innovation plan? ● The commitment to leadership built into the zone structure is strong—especially the collective buy-in between the different school leaders. Risley, however, is in need of a new principal for next year. How will the district ensure the hiring process will result in the selection of a leader who shares the beliefs of the zone and has the skills and background to effectively lead the school? Next Steps Approval of the Innovation Plan from the staff at the six Pueblo schools that are a part of the zone is a great accomplishment and indicates strong support for the improvement strategies articulated by your community. The next step is for the Pueblo City Schools Board of Education to approve and adopt the Innovation plans and the Innovation Zone. This is a critical step as such improvement efforts require the unwavering support of the Board, Superintendent, and community. I want to encourage your Board to address this topic as urgently as possible. Once plans are approved by your board and submitted to CDE, they will be reviewed and considered by the State Board of Education. In order for you to present your Innovation Plan to the State Board in June, the Pueblo Board should adopt the Innovation plans by May 6, 2016. Delaying the local school board’s vote would present a significant implementation challenge for the targeted schools that would begin the school year without a definitive answer on the status of their Innovation waivers. (The State Board of Education does not meet in July, so the next meeting would not be until August). We acknowledge and applaud the efforts made by Pueblo City Schools to use the Innovation Schools pathway to bring about the dramatic and systemic improvements needed at the school and district level. Pueblo has been proactive in communicating, partnering, and opening its doors to CDE and the State Board of Education. We look forward to deepening our collaboration. Please feel free to contact me or my staff with any questions. Sincerely, Peter Sherman Executive Director 201 East Colfax Avenue, Denver, CO 80203-1799 P 303.866.6600 F 303.830.0793 Rich Crandall, Commissioner of Education www.cde.state.co.us