School District Adams 14 School District Accountability Directed Action External Management Overall Summary Priority Adams 14 School District is working with their management partner, Beyond Textbooks, to establish a teaching and learning cycle within Adams City High School (also year 7 on the accountability clock) and two other specific schools, Central Elementary and Rose Hill Elementary. The district is also focusing on creating district systems to support school improvement. Description Key Strategies/Actions CDE Mid-Year Reflection Academic Systems: Implement Beyond Textbooks at Three Schools Beyond Textbooks (BT) is the district's management partner and is working with Adams City High School, Central Elementary and Rose Hill Elementary. The management partner is responsible for prioritizing and supporting high-quality instruction aligned to standards. - Create professional development calendar for participating schools - Align curriculum, assessments and instructional support - Revise schedule, including a reteach and enrichment block - Provide ongoing coaching and feedback on implementation, monitoring and progress - The professional development calendar was set at the beginning of the year and staff in Beyond Textbooks schools have been trained on the basics of the approach. Professional development events continue throughout the year to deepen and expand understanding. - School schedules have been revised to include a reteach and enrichment block. - Staff are actively using Beyond Textbooks process to align lesson plans, curriculum and formative assessments. - Implementation is at the emerging level and varies classroom to classroom. Schools are still working to fully take advantage of the reteach and enrich block. - Beyond Textbooks visits each school on a regular basis and provides differentiated feedback on strengths and areas for future focus. They report progress in implementation. - The district has taken the Beyond Textbooks feedback and adjusted programming accordingly to date (e.g., Kagan training after Beyond Textbooks identified low student engagement). In particular, the district is focusing on how to more effectively take that feedback and support schools in accelerating implementation. Academic Systems: Implement District-Led Supports at Eight Schools The district will establish teaching and learning cycles based upon a systematic framework of instruction, monitoring (assessment, walkthroughs, teacher evaluation/effectiveness, professional development) and extended opportunities for students to learn (enrichment/reteach). - Provide best first instruction - Offer embedded professional development and supports - Conduct frequent progress monitoring - Ensure enrichment and intervention - Implement multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) - Best first instruction has been a priority for the district for many years and it is difficult to say whether there is much change yet. Observations suggest that staff are beginning to implement some of the strategies learned from recent professional development. - Professional development and follow-up coaching has been offered for teaching staff (e. g., Kagan, READing Foundations, establishing data systems, Systemic ELD, Constructing Meaning) and for building leaders (e.g., data analysis, improvement planning, principal role in teaching literacy). - While progress monitoring data is being collected, it is not routinely analyzed and discussed by school staff. For example, elementary data meetings are scheduled after school and staff attend on an optional basis (as per agreement with Classroom Teachers Association). District reports concerns about lack of alignment on common assessments and has future work planned to address that. - Enrichment and intervention time for students has been scheduled, however, the time is not leveraged as effectively as it needs to be. District is considering the best way to make that time more effective. - MTSS is focused now on providing wraparound services for students. The overall process is being supported through a partnership with CDE's Office of Learning Supports. March 2018 1 Build Systems of Support and Accountability District systems of communication, support and accountability are being created between the district, schools and the community. This includes gathering student performance data, as well as observational and perception data, to differentiate supports for schools. - Establish and support the practice of district level data routines, reporting and accountability. - Differentiate supports to schools based on their needs. Supports are available through the district and through external partnerships. - Engage in ongoing communication regarding pathway implementation and progress monitoring with the community and stakeholders. - Adams 14 School District has established a process and a regular schedule for weekly school visits, which is a new practice for the district. The district is establishing data routines, including discussing the site visit observations, using the data to adjust practices, and collecting and analyzing student, staff and community surveys. These practices were not in place until recently due to reorganization of district staff. There is an emerging process for discussing data and adjusting supports as district staff have now been assigned to specific roles. The district has not made clear what the responsibilities and the degree of authority are for staff, which is leading to inefficiencies. The district is aware of this challenge and is working to address it. - Differentiation of supports is mainly coming through external partnerships including the Turnaround Network, Connect for Success, and diagnostic review and planning supports. - The district admits to struggling with communication to the community about the implementation of its pathway plan. Communication mainly occurs through superintendent-hosted community forums, district accountability committee and local school board meetings, and meetings with the educator association. Given that questions and concerns continue to arise from the community, this is an area that needs greater attention. Summary of Student Performance Trends Based on Mid-Year Local Data - There is an increasing number of K-3 students on READ plans (approximately 1065 in early January). District reports this is due to clarifications in identification process and increased fidelity to the assessment process. - The district is not meeting STAR literacy (grades 4-8) or math targets (grades 3-8) as set in the Pathway Plan, but there is higher status and growth than at this time last year at almost all grade levels. Growth is ranging by grade level from about the 42nd percentile to about the 57th in literacy and about the 41st percentile to the 49th in math. The middle schools continue to show the most consistent growth. High school patterns are discussed in the Adams City High School summary. - Attendance targets (as defined in the Pathway Plan) are not being met across the board. Overall, the district was at a 92% attendance rate at the end of the first quarter which is significantly higher than last year and close to the state average (92.9%). The district has declined to 89% districtwide in the second quarter. The district reports that this follows a past pattern and is already showing signs of increasing for the next quarter. Overall Assessment of Progress by CDE The major tenets of the district's Pathway Plan are being addressed to some extent. Over the summer, the district and CDE worked on a progress monitoring plan that was delivered on time in August. The district is making progress implementing Beyond Textbooks in the three identified schools and is making adjustments in practices as directed. At the same time, the district is working on systems to support the other eight schools. The quality and sophistication of the implementation of critical practices, however, needs to increase. The district has encountered unexpected barriers and has had to slow down some actions to prioritize on other higher leverage strategies that are foundational to implementing the plan. District systems to effectively manage and support schools are newly emerging but are not in place solidly enough to create changes in school-level practices. The district has focused on setting up important systems, such as district-level data discussions, that district staff and leadership are just now using. While student-level data from the middle of the year shows some promise of growth, overall, Adams 14 schools are not on track to meet state expectations in math or English Language Arts. March 2018 2 School/ District Adams City High School (Adams 14 School District) Accountability Directed Action External Management Overall Summary Priority Hire a leadership team Implement Beyond Textbooks March 2018 Adams 14 School District is partnering with Beyond Textbooks to establish a teaching and learning cycle for grades 9-10 at Adams City High School (ACHS). The district also committed to hiring a new building leadership team at the school. For grades 11-12, focus is being placed on building out solid teaching and learning cycles focused on college and career preparation. Description Key Strategies/Actions CDE Mid-Year Reflection During the pathways hearing, the high school did not have a permanent leadership team after many years of continuous turnover. The district committed to hiring a new team as a first priority. - Hire a principal, five assistant principals with specific assignments, content area coaches, a special education coordinator, an English language development coordinator and counselors for each grade level. - Leadership team was hired by Summer 2017. - The leadership team created a 90-day plan and shared it with the district and CDE by August 2017. Beyond Textbooks (BT) is the district's management partner working Adams City High School in grades 9-10. The management partner is responsible for prioritizing and supporting high-quality instruction aligned to standards. - Create professional development calendar - Align curriculum, assessments and instructional support - Revise schedule, including a reteach and enrichment block - Provide ongoing coaching and feedback on implementation, monitoring and progress - The professional development calendar was set at the beginning of the year and Adams City High School staff have been trained on the basics of the Beyond Textbooks approach. Professional development events continue throughout the year to deepen and expand understanding. - The schedule was built to include a reteach and enrichment block for students. Further refinements were made at the beginning of the second semester. Ninth graders have a lab for both math and language arts for reteach and enrichment opportunities; tenth grade advisory is used to support reteach. - Staff are actively using the Beyond Textbooks process to align lesson plans, curriculum and formative assessments. Implementation is at the emerging level and varies classroom to classroom. - Beyond Textbooks visits the school on a regular basis and provides feedback on strengths and areas for future focus. They report progress on implementation to the school, district and CDE. - The district has taken the Beyond Textbooks feedback and adjusted programming accordingly to date (e.g., Kagan training after Beyond Textbooks identified low student engagement). In particular, the district is focusing on how to more effectively take that feedback and support the high school in accelerating implementation. 3 Create schoolwide systems of support and accountability Systems that support the entire school are being built to support students and staff. - Implement effective datadriven instructional systems to monitor grade-level, rigorous, standards-based instruction, differentiation, and students’ mastery of learning targets consistently across all content areas - Implement intentional systems of support that are positive and culturally responsive to the learning environment. - College readiness systems are aligned to rigorous instructional and assessment practices (especially for grades 11-12). - The leadership team has launched several new accountability systems such as tracking grades and course recovery. Data is reviewed on a regular basis and adjustments made in implementation of those systems. - CDE and Beyond Textbooks have raised concerns on the lack of interim assessments for both reading/writing and math. The district/school discontinued the use of the STAR assessment at the high school as they did not feel they were getting meaningful information. There is a plan in place for a new system next year. Formative assessments are being monitored but it is difficult for the district and state to determine whether students are on track to meet state expectations. - The district is intensifying its involvement to provide additional accountability and support at Adams City High School, which had lagged because of a reorganization at the district level, but appears to be getting back on track. - Attendance policy has been updated. Accountability systems for attendance (e.g., teacher reporting, student and family contracts, home visits) are being implemented. - College readiness dean and counselors are working with students to track credits and prepare for postsecondary options. ICAPs are being integrated into students' school day. - Career and technical education options continue to be offered, and, in alignment with the Adams County Workforce Council recommendations, a healthcare track is being explored. Summary of Student Performance Trends Based on Mid-Year Local Data - STAR Interim assessments, a measure included in the Pathway Plan, were discontinued by Adams City High School this year. The school and district have agreed to use a valid interim assessment next year. Formative assessments (e.g., Light Sail, Beyond Textbooks assessments, unit tests) are being monitored this year. - Average daily attendance at Adams City High School is not meeting district targets (95%) and but is higher than last year's rates by close to 5% each month (93-87% depending upon the month). Chronic absenteeism is averaging at 41%, compared to 47% at the end of the year in 2016-17. - ICAPs, grade audits and credit checks are being conducted on a regular basis. There is no record of these practices consistently being gathered and tracked in the past. Overall Assessment of Progress by CDE The high school's major strategies from the Pathway Plan have begun to be addressed. The partnership with Beyond Textbooks is established and work is being done to refine implementation. The new leadership team moved quickly to establish new reporting and accountability systems across the whole school, which are vital to know when students need additional support. While formative assessments are actively used to inform instruction and make adjustments in the reteach/enrich blocks, the lack of a valid interim assessment makes it difficult for the school, district and state to determine overall academic progress in the school. March 2018 4 District & School Accountability Directed Action Aguilar School District & Aguilar Junior-Senior High School External Management Overall Summary Priority Provide instructional alignment, standards, rigor and planning and consistent support for instructional practices. Aguilar is implementing its approved pathway plan with a management partnership with Generations Schools. Develop multiple and consistent use of data to guide instruction. March 2018 Description Key Strategies/Actions CDE Mid-Year Reflection There are significant challenges in curriculum and instruction. Specifically, there is a lack of resources and processes in place to ensure consistency and fidelity to implementation. In the 2015 TELL survey, 50% of the staff indicated they lacked the resources to ensure aligned curriculum including materials. - Analysis and redesign of daily use of instruction time to best meet student needs - Provide professional development and coaching on English language arts (ELA) implementation and instruction - Work to align all instruction to rigor level of Colorado Academic Standards in math and English language arts - Analyze and choose a new English language arts curriculum to implement which better meets the needs of students and aligns to expectations in Colorado Academic Standards. - Complete monthly instructional rounds in math with teachers to improve instructional practice in math across all grade levels - Teachers and leaders worked to reallocate instructional time in the fall to better meet students needs - The district has continued to use Generation Schools to provide professional development and coaching to teachers on an ongoing basis. - The district’s ELA curricula materials were not meeting the needs of students and were not aligned to the rigor level expectations of the standards. The district moved immediately to work to adopt new materials. With support from Generation Schools, the district adopted new curricular resources and got them into the hands of teachers as quickly as possible. This move has also meant a shift in focus to supporting teachers in implementing and using the new resources. Teachers are inconsistent in using data to drive instructional decisions. A consistent district-wide data system must be used. - Create a new assessment calendar - Use an assessment day after each interim assessment to analyze data and develop action plans for all classes and students - Implement reteach plans after each 4-6 week assessment cycle to focus on teaching high leverage skills for students based on misunderstandings - Teachers will meet with students to craft NWEA goals for each and work with students to develop Student Success Binders - Data driven instruction has been a major focus for the district this year. - The district has moved forward with a new assessment calendar and is using the newly-created data days after each interim assessment to develop reteaching plans based on student needs. - Data is now being used more for action planning purposes and teachers are starting to bring more purposeful assessment into the classroom on a routine basis. - Every student has a Student Success Binder which allows them to track their progress in each class as well as set goals for how they will improve in the future. 5 Create tiered academic There is not a continuum - Use Building Leadership Team (BLT) to - The Building Leadership Team (BLT) spent time in the beginning of the of evidence-based, develop more robust Multi-Tiered year developing new Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) processes. and behavior support supplementary Systems of Support (MTSS) processes to They also attended a professional development event by the CDE MTSS integration. instruction or intervention. support all students - Communicate with families about MTSS process through handbook and meetings - Train teachers on problem-solving protocol and use it regularly in MTSS meetings - Consistently track MTSS process for students through regular data meetings - Quarterly check on MTSS implementation by using a selfassessment tool team from which they gathered many resources and immediately used them to help bolster MTSS processes throughout the building. - Teachers have been trained in MTSS protocols and communication to families has happened as described. In response to new learning at the CDE professional development in January, the BLT is working on further revisions to MTSS protocols and structures to further bolster the system. - The BLT is working to refine tracking of MTSS practices through new processes learned from MTSS professional development including using the self-assessment tool for further action planning Summary of Student Performance Trends Based on Mid-Year Local Data NWEA Map data shows increases in all grade levels from fall to winter in English language arts, which indicates that students are on track to meet end-of-year achievement expectations. Grades 1-3 mid-year data already surpassed end-of-year targets, as defined by NWEA. Overall Assessment of Progress by CDE The district is implementing their accountability plan and working hard to improve in their targeted areas. They have shown an attention to the work and a willingness to alter their plan as necessary based on identified needs along the way. Leadership was willing to adopt a new literacy curriculum mid-year based on what they were seeing as a large deficit within the building in order to better support teachers and students. The district has also sought out other resources, specifically with the MTSS team at CDE and through joining the Connect for Success program. The work with Connect for Success will allow the district to partner with a successful school to learn how to better implement targeted strategies. March 2018 6 School Accountability Directed Action Overall Summary Priority Intentional planning for rigorous, standards-based instruction Student-centered data-driven instruction March 2018 Aurora Central High School (Aurora Public Schools) Innovation with external management Aurora Central is implementing its innovation plan with critical and intentional support from the Zone leadership as well as targeted management expertise from its partner organization. Description Key Strategies/Actions CDE Mid-Year Reflection Standards based instruction helps guide the planning, implementation, and assessment of student learning. Following a standards-based model for classroom assessment and instruction is an approach teachers use to track student performance and plan focused instruction to meet the specific needs of students. - Cast a vision for planning for the year - Train teachers in planning for gradual release, standards-based learning targets, academic language supports - Continual lesson plan review, feedback, and coaching for teachers - Leadership crafted a vision for planning and rolled out to staff with a focus on gradual release, standards-based learning targets and academic language supports as the main lesson planning and instructional components for targeted areas of professional development. Training and coaching continues to be prioritized around these areas. - Grade level leadership teams are collecting lesson plans and providing feedback in the key areas of gradual release, standards-based learning targets, and academic language supports. When teachers carefully observe the impact of their instructional practices and strategies on student learning they can truly understand each of their students’ academic status and progress. They can begin to adapt and personalize their instruction to best meet the unique needs of students. To do this, teachers can draw on evidence of learning within lessons. - Provide professional development on data-driven instruction in all facets - Create and execute on interim assessment calendar - Provide extra time for teachers to analyze data and develop teaching plans based on student needs - Align scope and sequence with interim assessments and support revision of scope and sequence to create further alignment - Teachers have received data-driven instruction professional development and coaching - Interim assessments aligned to the scope and sequence are given and utilized according to created assessment calendar - Teachers use the Professional Learning Community (PLC) structure and time to collect and analyze data as well as plan common formative assessments based on proficiency scales developed during work with Marzano Research. The use of 4 point proficiency scales is common across most teachers and drives the data-driven work within the school. - Next steps include paring back the amount of data being collected and analyzed by teachers and supporting a simple tracking system. 7 Professional development Differentiated professional learning is the formal and informal learning experiences undertaken by teachers and school leaders that improve their individual professional practice and the school’s collective effectiveness as measured by improved student engagement and learning outcomes. - Use data of a variety of sources to determine the highest leverage teacher needs and build professional development calendar to match - Build professional development calendar as a continuous cycle to build on and aid teacher development in key identified areas - Use professional learning communities to continue to hone and build skill within focused professional development areas - Identify lead teachers to be experts and build their capacity to lead professional development and coaching of other teachers. - School leadership uses regular learning walks to identify areas of teacher needs and consistently modify the professional development plans based on the observed needs of teachers - Regular PLC times are used to build on professional development - Aurora Central holds professional development every week on Friday afternoons with alternating focus on these key instructional areas and on culture and climate work. Professional development is delivered by either leadership on campus or bringing in expertise from the district. Professional development also includes new teacher induction in conjunction with West College Preparatory Academy. Professional development is followed up by regular cycles of coaching with each teacher receiving observations and feedback every two weeks. Staff survey data indicates teachers believe the professional development is worthwhile to helping them improve their instruction. Student support systems A continuum of student supports provides the process and procedure for schools to address and improve student achievement. It includes a full range of interventions, programs, supports and/or services of a continuum of integrated and proactive supports to improve student’s academic and behavioral performance within and beyond classroom instruction. - Set expectations for student attendance and communicate the processes, protocols, structures, and tools to achieve set goals - Train and support teacher teams on collection, analysis, and use of attendance data to identify students requiring home contact and plans developed by attendance deans - Implement school-wide monitoring of feedback cycles - ACHS leadership set attendance expectations and communication, trained teacher teams, and implemented monitoring of the feedback cycles through each grade level team - Culture and climate has improved in the building as indicated by higher attendance rates and teachers indicating better relationships within classes. The school believes these improvements are due to multiple efforts at improves school culture including: higher number of home visits by staff, use of advisory classes to regularly contact parents about struggling students, use of restorative practices in discipline, "Hero" program to track student attendance, provide whole class incentives for improved attendance, and restructuring the leadership team so each assistant principal is in charge of a grade level with a specific support team. March 2018 8 Post-secondary workforce readiness Students should be able to exhibit postsecondary education readiness by not needing remedial classes at the student’s postsecondary institution. Students should demonstrate workforce readiness by choosing a course of higher education that will lead them on a pathway to an occupation. Additionally, students are prepared with the general knowledge and skills – such as motivation and collaboration – that are needed in any occupation. - Increase credit recovery options by increasing the number of courses available, increasing access before and after school, and making courses available through Aurora Central Career Academy. - Increase students and parent awareness of importance of assessments. - Counselors use career and college exploration programs to support postsecondary preparation. - Support students in SAT preparation through online test prep services and having students take practice tests. - Aurora Central developed a Career Academy to support students who are behind grade level. These students receive intense supports and credit recovery. - Mid-year on-track-to-graduate numbers are higher in 2017-18 when compared to 2016-17. - Aurora Central held a college day with a focus on students filling out applications and scholarships with a follow up of 12th grade leadership team meeting one-on-one with each student twice about post-secondary options and plans. - Concurrent enrollment courses are being taken at higher rate than the previous year. Summary of Student Performance Trends Based on Mid-Year Local Data Academics: Mid-year NWEA MAPs data show small increases across most areas. Both math and English language arts assessments showed small increases in percentile rank from fall to winter as well as an increase in comparison to the the 2016-17 school year fall to winter data. As of the end of first semester, on-track-to-graduate percentages were up from last year at each grade level. Attendance: The average daily attendance rate is up approximately 4% from last year, while chronic absenteeism (the percentage of students who are at-risk of academic issues due to absences) is down almost 20%. Overall Assessment of Progress by CDE Overall, Aurora Central High School is implementing its innovation plan with fidelity with support from both the district's Innovation Zone leadership team and Mass Insight. Zone leaders provide professional development, conduct learning walks, and coach building leadership on a regular basis. Mass Insight has provided specific diagnostic feedback and concrete, high leverage next steps to steer school leadership in positive directions for plan implementation. March 2018 9 School (District) HOPE Online Learning Academy Elementary & Middle Schools (Douglas County School District) Accountability External Management, Board Reconstitution Directed Action Overall Summary HOPE Online is partnering with two management consultants in several priority improvement areas and is adjusting their board membership. Priority Description Key Strategies/Actions CDE Mid-Year Reflection Teacher/Mentor Pipeline March 2018 Ensuring that higher quality teachers and mentors are recruited, hired, and supported is a critical factor to improvement efforts at HOPE. - Focus on recruiting licensed staff or staff willing to pursue licensure. - Develop licensure pathways for current mentors. - Create and implement an extension of the Douglas County School District (DCSD) alternative certification program. - Evaluate the effectiveness of the teacher/mentor pipeline. - The focus of this priority is to ensure the recruitment, selection and retention of highly qualified teaching staff. This year, HOPE hired 43 new mentors, 23% of whom were licensed and 33% of whom possess a bachelor degree (but are not licensed). Each new hire has expressed interest in becoming licensed. It is not clear how this hiring data compares to previous years, but HOPE developed new screening and interview tools to increase the number of of mentors willing to pursue licensure. However, at this point, three quarters of new mentors are not licensed. - HOPE has decided not to pursue alternative certification through Douglas County, so it remains unclear what the plan is to ensure veteran and new mentors are certified, trained and highly qualified. CDE's priority is to work with and support HOPE in implementing a strong teacher and mentor pipeline. - While each new hire has expressed interest in pursuing licensure, it is not yet clear how many current mentors are currently pursuing licensure. - HOPE is not pursuing Douglas County School District's alternative certification program, but has sought pathways through Metropolitan State University, Regis University and Colorado Christian University that provide a more direct plan for HOPE mentors. - HOPE has revised the mentor evaluation process and results from the new process will be used to drive an evaluation of effectiveness of recruitment. 10 Leadership Program for Directors Increasing leadership development for the directors of HOPE's 21 Learning Centers is needed so that all directors can provide the high quality instructional and academic leadership needed to see adequate student performance gains. - Guide a needs assessment, planning, oversight of professional development programs for directors. - Create coaching and peer training models for directors. - Conduct evaluation of implementation of leadership strategies at learning centers. - Learning center directors completed self-assessments of the centers. CDE has not received a copy of these assessments. - HOPE is working with the University of Denver through the School Turnaround Leaders Development Grant. HOPE has designated a Director Liaison responsible for professional development and the implementation of turnaround strategies. This includes a needs assessment, implementation of a performance monitoring and support plan, and training in coaching and evaluating staff. Learning Center Directors are engaged in training modules and coaching sessions around turnaround strategies. - The work with the University of Denver has included training in how to use date to drive instruction, and tools for meaningful evaluation and fidelity of implementation. There will be a formative evaluation of these activities. HOPE reports that feedback from Directors related to professional development is positive. - The Director Liaison is a former Learning Center Director, and is working as a peer coach to help share best practices. HOPE is currently piloting peer coaching utilizing building resource coordinators in five centers. Data about early impacts of this coaching and training has not been shared with CDE. - HOPE has shared a number of inputs designed to improve instructional leadership across centers. However, as HOPE continues to implement these strategies, there needs to be refinement of what data HOPE is collecting to evaluate their effectiveness and what action steps they take as a result of the data. PD Training for HOPE Staff For the existing instructional staff, and those hired without significant instructional experience, HOPE has developed and is implementing professional learning experiences to support higher quality and more effective instruction to students. - Guide a needs assessment, planning, oversight of professional development for four levels of HOPE staff. - Integrate professional development with alternative certification requirements. - Enroll HOPE teachers in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) endorsement programs. - Support design and oversight of professional development programming. - HOPE has assigned a member of their leadership team to be the director of professional development (PD) and lead the design and oversight of all internal professional development at HOPE. A professional development plan was developed for the 2017-18 school year that includes clearly defined outcomes and differentiated elements for each level of service. Evaluations were conducted for a number of PD sessions throughout the year, and HOPE is working on establishing a consistent method for evaluating PD. - Because HOPE is not pursuing alternative certification through Douglas County, it is unclear how professional development for mentors integrates with alternative certification requirements. - HOPE is focusing efforts on CLD endorsement to HOPE teachers. Currently about 30% of HOPE teachers hold a CLD endorsement. HOPE continues to seek resources to assist teachers in obtaining funds to meet the upfront costs that are incurred when enrolling in a program. March 2018 11 Accountability Accountability measures are implemented to document and inform the HOPE Governing Board and to track the effectiveness of each Learning Center's instruction with students. - Train all staff on performance expectations resulting in more-impactful instructional strategies. - Oversee an evaluation of the HOPE learning centers. - Arrange for progress reports of each learning center. - A new governing board will be established. - Evaluations aligned to the Teacher Effectiveness Rubric have been developed and implemented for Mentors, HOPE Teachers and Academic Leadership positions. - Directors have been trained and provided tools about instructional strategies. HOPE has set a target that, by the end of the year, there will be data about staff and Learning Center performance per their goals. - Academic Liaisons and Learning Center directors collect data on instructional strategy implementation with the Classroom Observation form. This data collection is still in the pilot stage and in use at only two Learning Centers. - Progress monitoring plans for learning center performance and accountability have been developed and implemented. All directors have completed a self assessment using the tool. Designated staff have also completed an assessment for each center. An action plan was developed to improve in the area of greatest need as determined by data from checklist and student performance data. The progress reports/evaluations of the learning centers have not yet been provided to CDE. - Several new members have been added to the governing board of directors. HOPE’s Governing Board currently consists of seven members: Dr. Michael P. Bautista (Legacy), Joe Rice (Legacy), Kim Rossi (New-6/2016), Dr. Kristine Turner (New-8/2017), Bill de la Cruz (New11/2017), Betty Johnson (new- 11/2017) and Dawn Rocky (New- 11/2017). The three newest members were elected at the November 9th Governing Board meeting. Summary of Student Performance Trends Based on Mid-Year Local Data HOPE provided mid-year DIBELS and NWEA data. Compared to last year, most grade levels have higher percentages of students meeting benchmark at mid-year compared to last year. HOPE provided context on how this year's data compares to previous years. DIBELS Mid-Year Results: Of K-3 students tested in the fall and winter of 2017, 41% were at benchmark or above in the fall, with 51% at benchmark or above in winter. Of K-3 students tested in the fall and winter of 2017, 44% were well below benchmark in the fall, with 34% well below benchmark in winter. HOPE'S Pathway Plan goal is 58% of students at benchmark or above by the end of the year to show above average gains. Given fall to winter growth, HOPE expects to make this target. Students who were second language learners made the greatest gains in DIBELS. Of the NWEA MAP data submitted, no grade-level is performing at the 50th Percentile RIT score in fall 2017. The data submitted did not include comparisons to previous years and did not include winter or spring data for this year. Overall Assessment of Progress by CDE HOPE leadership reports implementing many activities in the improvement plan, including director self-assessments of learning centers, professional learning with the University of Denver, and revised evaluation processes. To date, HOPE has produced two quarterly reports about their pathway plan shared with CDE on August 7, 2017 and November 11, 2017. The reports provide overviews of some of the activities in the accountability plan with some data and information about their progress, however more information is needed for all four priority areas. On a phone call on January 26, 2018, CDE, HOPE, and Douglas County School staff reviewed the information still needed and agreed on next steps. Next steps for CDE include gathering more information as summarized above and continuing to support HOPE in monitoring the implementation and effectiveness of their Pathway Plan. March 2018 12 School Accountability Directed Action Overall Summary Priority Implement Summit Personalized Learning Program March 2018 Prairie Heights Middle School (Greeley School District 6) Innovation Status Prairie Heights is implementing their Innovation Plan as directed Description Key Strategies/Actions CDE Mid-Year Reflection There are 3 pillars to the Summit Learning Program; each of these pillars need to be fully implemented to be successful. The 3 pillars are Mentoring, Personalized Learning, and Project Time. - Attend Summit professional development opportunities - Ensure every teacher receives three observation cycles per quarter - Host Summit team for an implementation review - Implement professional learning opportunities regularly for teachers - Facilitate collaboration between special education and general education teachers to modify Summit tools as needed - Prairie Heights Middle School has attended the required Summit professional development opportunities including the summer institute and the fall convening. The school will attend the spring convening in March. In summer 2018, the school will onboard new teachers to Summit. The school is working on adding two additional professional development days before school starts to allow teachers to deepen planning around Summit. - Teachers receive coaching visits at least three times per quarter. - The school has met the goal of 100% of mentor conversations happening, which is the first pillar of the Summit learning program. - The school's assigned mentor from Summit has visited twice to complete walkthroughs and an evaluation of progress based on Summitt's rubric. Based on the rubric and the visits, Prairie Heights is meeting expectations. In addition, the mentor checks in regularly with the school keeping on-going notes and documentation about celebrations and next steps around implementation. The meeting notes are shared with CDE. - After some initial challenges, the school has worked to streamline implementation of Summit as it relates to special education and other intervention services for students. 13 Climate and Culture: Improve culture by creating and School-Wide & implementing Classroom schoolwide and classroom systems. Professional Learning Communities March 2018 Professional Learning Communities will be implemented in each grade for the following content areas: English Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. A specific Weekly Data Team protocol will be used to facilitate the instructional conversations, which will be grounded in student work. - Provide 100% of staff with WellManaged School training prior to the beginning of the school year - Provide professional learning for new systems (School-wide, Classroom, and Teacher Proficiencies) - Implement mentoring program for students - Work with Youth Family Connections to organize weekly check-ins for students struggling with attendance - Use positive behavior support during community meetings to reward students for positive behavior and reinforcement - The school provided all staff with training around well-managed schools and is building on that training through classroom observations. Leadership and in-house trainers provide additional support to teachers as needed on the implementation of new systems. - The school is meeting its goal of 100% of mentoring conversations (one of the three pillars of Summit) and has expanded its mentoring program to include outside partners like University of Northern Colorado to support students in goal setting and attendance. Mentors meet weekly and the school is seeing an impact based on improved attendance for students and increased project completion. - The school began implementing community meetings this school year and will continue to hold community meetings weekly. This is one way the school uses positive behavior support. The school has moved from teachers recognizing students to students recognizing each other as well as other teachers. - The school has reset and established schoolwide routines and procedures, which has helped attendance and helped reduce referrals across grade levels. -Last year, a challenge the school faced was being over-enrolled by 100 students. The district created a district aligned feeder program to balance out enrollment at the schools. For the current year, a little over 700 students are enrolled and the school doesn't feel over crowded. Only 4 students are choicing out of the school for next year. In the past around 120 students chose to enroll elsewhere due to the perception of the school. - Offer embedded workshops during the week for teachers to attend. Teachers will have a variety of options throughout each quarter. - Core teachers will attend a weekly data team meeting facilitated by an administrator or instructional coach. - Workshops will be provided on specific data tracking through the Summit Platform. - Teachers will develop exemplars for checkpoints and admin will provide exemplar recordings of data teams to staff. - 100% of teachers have attended a workshop either during their individual planning time or a professional development day - 100% of all core teachers have been meeting in professional learning communities weekly where they have analyzed checkpoint data and plan reteaches based on the critical mass of error. This weekly meeting is facilitated by an administrator or an instructional coach and is based on data from the Summit platform. - Teachers have been focused on ensuring the Summit structure supports special education students and English Language Learners. This has included evaluating and differentiating tasks to ensure rigor and alignment. - A task force comprised of school leadership, coaches and teachers has been formed to develop exemplars and additional scaffolding. The task force will be meeting in the spring and the summer with the goal of a deeper implementation of the Summit curriculum in the fall. 14 Summary of Student Performance Trends Based on Mid-Year Local Data - At least 70% of all students in each grade level demonstrated growth from their Quarter 1 to Quarter 2 NWEA Map Assessment in all three categories: reading, language usage and math. Nearly 60% or more of all students in each grade level met their projected growth in all three categories as well. Overall Assessment of Progress by CDE The school is implementing their innovation plan and has proactively addressed implementation challenges. They have actively participated in progress monitoring activities through CDE's Turnaround Network. The school agreed to progress monitoring metrics in their pathways plan and is meeting their established benchmarks, which were identified in the areas of leadership, leading indicator data (attendance and behavior), student achievement and short cycle planning. For the leadership benchmark, by fall 2017, the principal was expected to participate in the Behavior Event Inventory, identify growth areas in partnership with the Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools, meet weekly with the Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools to support those growth areas, and participate in a quarterly review of those growth areas with CDE and the Assistant Superintendent of Secondary Schools. All of these benchmarks have been met. For leading indicator data, the school has increased average daily attendance (92%) from the prior school year (91.85%), decreased chronic absenteeism from the previous year (37.1%) to 22.2% for the current year, reduced out of school suspensions from 327 in the previous year to 106 for the current year, and reduced in school suspensions from 242 (previous year) to 96 for the current year. For student achievement, the 2017-18 school year is the first year the school was administering NWEA Map and wanted to collect baseline data before setting targets and outlined that future benchmarks would be set in the Unified Improvement Plan. A summary of current student performance is listed in the box above using data from NWEA Map and student progress on the Summit platform. The final benchmark is 75% of action steps in short cycle planning would be on track. This is documented in the performance management tool monitored as part of the CDE Turnaround Network. 100% of all action steps have been completed as of second quarter. Sixty one percent of benchmarks set at the beginning of the year have been achieved and benchmarks that have not been achieved have been reflected on and next steps to accomplishing achievement of that benchmark have been documented. In addition to the monitoring from the Turnaround Network and through the pathways plan, the school is required to report out to its local board. The school presented an update in January of 2018 to the local board. March 2018 15 School Accountability Directed Action Overall Summary Priority Math instruction that supports all students to be successful in the major works of the grade Literacy instruction that supports all students to read, write, and speak about grade level text. March 2018 Bessemer Academy (Pueblo City Schools) External Management and Innovation Status Bessemer Academy is implementing their approved Pathway Plan of management by the Achievement Network. Description Key Strategies/Actions CDE Mid-Year Reflection Instruction focuses on major work of the grade.Teachers use weekly planning meetings to backwards plan daily lessons that align with standard, objective, exit ticket, and tasks/problems through collaborative analysis of the standards and curriculum. Data from formative assessments is used to inform daily instruction. - Grade level teams meet weekly to annotate, review and plan from EngageNY lesson plans - Initial professional development on backwards planning for math focused on close reading the standard - Focus work on unpacking the standards to identify daily objectives - Leadership to observe math lessons weekly to give prioritized, actionable feedback to teachers. - Weekly professional learning community (PLC) time focused on analyzing weekly common formative assessment data to create targeted re-teaching plans - School leadership has prioritized this work and continues to support math instruction on a weekly basis which has resulted in great increases in math instruction. - Grade level teams meet weekly in PLCs and focus on analyzing data and creating reteach plans. - PD and collaborative work have focused on backwards planning and unpacking standards into daily objectives. - Leadership regularly observes math instruction and provides ongoing feedback. - The overall impact of this work has resulted in notable progress in math instruction across grade levels. Teachers use standards and curricular resources to engage students in daily reading and writing about text. Weekly collaborative planning meetings to support teachers to discuss text, determine what will be challenging for students to comprehend, and scaffold questions to a daily exit ticket aligned to a key understanding/aspect of complexity in a text. - Grade level teams meet weekly to annotate, review and plan from Journeys lesson plans. - Initial professional development on backwards planning focused on text-based planning and analyzing the text. - Focus work on unpacking the standards to identify daily objectives. - Leadership to observe literacy lessons weekly to give prioritized, actionable feedback to teachers. - Weekly professional learning community (PLC) time focused on analyzing weekly common formative assessment data to create targeted re-teaching plans. - Similar to the work in math, leadership has provided prioritized, focused support to literacy teachers in text-based planning, which has led to stronger instruction that meets grade level expectations. - Grade level teams meet weekly in PLCs and focus on analyzing data and creating reteach plans. - Professional Development and collaborative work have focused on backwards planning and unpacking standards into daily objectives. - Leadership regularly observes literacy instruction and provides ongoing feedback. - Like in math, the overall impact of this work has shown notable progress in literacy instruction across grade levels. 16 Student culture: Continuously improve, monitor, and react to student culture data. Students succeed when they have clearly defined expectations that are supported by consistent routines and procedures throughout the building. Teachers provide feedback to students that is intentional, positive, direct. Students feel safe and supported by the school staff. - Teachers trained in Capturing Kids Hearts. - Implement social contracts within classrooms. - Implement school-wide discipline practices. - Monitor referral data to provide support for different areas and teachers as necessary. - Capturing Kids Hearts continues to be a positive force for school culture and the building culture is overall in a better place this year. Work has included training for teachers, implementing social contracts, revising school-wide discipline practices, and monitoring referral data. - This work has resulted in a 50% decrease in both office referrals and suspensions as well as a marked increase in a culture of performance, warmth, and joy throughout the building. Summary of Student Performance Trends Based on Mid-Year Local Data Academics: While results on interim assessments through first semester show Bessemer students scoring below the district average in both English language arts and math, the primary use of the interim data is for classroom use in modifying instruction to meet student needs and not for progress monitoring purposes. Attendance: Average Daily Attendance has decreased by 2% points from last year at this time, down from 94% to 92%. Behavior: Out-of-School suspensions and behavior referrals are each less than half of the 2016-17 results, which reflects the improved school culture. Overall Assessment of Progress by CDE While student achievement results during first semester have not shown significant gains, the level of work happening within classrooms provides a stark contrast to past efforts at the school. New school leadership, along with targeted supports from district leadership and Achievement Network coaches, has provided needed instructional supports for teachers that has had a significant impact on classroom instruction across the building. The Achievement Network has a strong relationship with the school's principal manager and other district leadership, which helps ensure that district and external supports for the school are aligned. March 2018 17 School Accountability Directed Action Overall Summary Priority Improve literacy instruction Improve math instruction through a shift of focus and rigor March 2018 Heroes Academy (Pueblo City Schools) External Management and Innovation Status Heroes is implementing their approved Pathway Plan of innovation with management of academic systems by the Achievement Network Description Key Strategies/Actions CDE Mid-Year Reflection Within the curriculum/instructional resources, identify the appropriateness of texts for a given grade level, the aspects of complexity that would make texts difficult for students, and the quality of text-driven, standardsaligned, text dependent questions - Teachers know and understand the grade level standards. - Teachers will be using a text first planning approach. Teachers will have internalized the text before teaching it and identified qualitative features of text and key understandings before teaching it, using the complexity rubric. - Developing, evaluating, and modifying text-dependent questions (pre-planning) to support the key understandings aligned to grade level standards. - Identifying and adapting the text selection as necessary. - Teachers are using professional learning community (PLC) time to plan by knowing the expectations of the grade level text and creating scaffolded questions to engage all students. - Teachers are beginning to use a text-first approach to planning and developing text-dependent questions to allow students greater access to grade-level text analysis and thinking. - Current work has now shifted to focus on selecting appropriate grade level text and using those texts to plan intentional close reading lessons. - Overall progress has been slow due to new leadership at the building. Study the major work of the grade to understand the demands and aspects of rigor called for by the standards. Strategically use opportunities within the curriculum/instructional materials to prompt and require students to share, discuss, and critique each other’s thinking both orally and through writing. - Use the standards to drive the instruction. - Study the standards to understand the necessary skills, models, etc. students must master - Identify the targeted aspect of rigor for the standard and use that understanding to develop lesson - Use the coherence map to support any prerequisites for students - Provide students the opportunity to discuss and write about math on a consistent basis. - PLC work is moving forward with planning instruction based on the shifts in the standards particularly around focus and rigor. - The focus of teachers has been to study the standards and understand what students need to know and be able to do. - Teachers are using the coherence maps to support student misunderstandings. - Teachers are working on providing students with more opportunities to write about math in classes. - Overall progress has been slow. 18 Student Culture Restorative practices will be an integral part of leadership development and reshaping the culture of the school. At Heroes, we will take a multi-tiered approach to restorative practices built on both developing mindsets about learning, life, and foundation character skills by addressing ways of thinking and through restorative justice school wide. - Develop and implement restorative practices vision and strategic plan - Create school-wide referral system - Develop Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) which provides appropriate tier 2 and tier 3 supports - Begin peer mediation program - Train multiple staff in restorative practices - Restorative practices vision and strategy has been developed. - A school-wide referral system is in place. - MTSS systems have some appropriate supports, but these need to be further developed. - Peer mediation program has started, but staff need additional training in this area. - The school culture work has resulted in more use of restorative practices for students sent out of classrooms for disciplinary reasons. The work has also led to significant decreases in both office referrals and suspensions in the school. Summary of Student Performance Trends Based on Mid-Year Local Data Academics: While results on interim assessments through first semester show Heroes students scoring below the district average in both English language arts and math, the primary use of the interim data is for classroom use in modifying instruction to meet student needs and not for progress monitoring purposes. 8th grade is an exception; 8th graders have scored at or above the national and district average in English language arts. Attendance: Attendance rates are flat compared to 2016-17 with an average daily attendance rate of 89%. Behavior: Office referrals and suspensions are considerably lower than in 2016-17. Overall Assessment of Progress by CDE The school, alongside the district, is implementing their pathway plan with the external management partner, the Achievement Network. With a new leader in place, implementation has been slow and the district does not anticipate large gains by the school this year. Leadership is not only new to their roles, but new to the building. This, combined with a significant number of new staff in the building, has resulted in slow progress in the implementation of key practices at the school. The district and the Achievement Network have prioritized support for the work at Heroes Academy with a goal of seeing greater implementation throughout the spring. The Achievement Network has a strong relationship with the school's principal manager and other district leadership, which helps ensure that district and external supports for the school are aligned. March 2018 19 School Accountability Directed Action Overall Summary Priority Improve math instruction Improve literacy instruction March 2018 Risley International Academy of Innovation (Pueblo City Schools) External Management and Innovation Status Risley is implementing their approved Pathway Plan of innovation with management of academic systems by the Achievement Network. Description Key Strategies/Actions CDE Mid-Year Reflection Study the major work of the grade to understand the demands and aspects of rigor called for by the standards. Analyze curriculum/instructional materials for evidence of focus and rigor, and make adaptations as necessary to better reflect these shifts. -Leadership to define instructional and lesson planning expectations for math teachers - Professional development of the shifts in the standards and how to plan standards-based lessons - Coaching of math teachers - Use of professional learning community (PLC) time to collaborate around planning from standards, analyzing interim data, planning teaching based on student data - Professional development and coaching around developing higher level questioning skills - Leadership has defined expectations for math instruction and professional development has been provided. - Leadership is providing high quality coaching and feedback to math teachers through the coaching and support from the Achievement Network. - Majority of time in PLCs is spent aligning instruction to grade level expectations. - While progress has been incremental, the work has taken hold to a much greater degree than last year. Each quarter has seen some gains in implementation. - School leadership has added more targeted coaching for teachers on a weekly basis. All non-math teachers identify texts within the curriculum that are worthy of instruction. Deeply internalize these texts in order to build knowledge and understanding by pre-reading and annotating chosen texts. Teachers will use Text Based Planning practices to build knowledge and understanding of complex texts. - Leadership to define instructional and lesson planning expectations for all teachers in use of textbased planning - Professional development of the shifts in the standards and how to plan standards-based lessons - Coaching of all teachers in choosing and analyzing appropriate texts, preparing for lessons around chosen texts using text-based planning best practices. - Use of professional learning community (PLC) time to collaborate around planning from standards, analyzing interim data, planning teaching based on student data - Professional development and coaching around aggressive monitoring and text-dependent questioning strategies - Leadership has defined expectations for literacy instruction and provided professional development. - The focus of most teachers on developing a strong understanding of text-based planning has provided a common focus for the staff and allowed leadership to coach and support in a prioritized and aligned fashion. - PLC time has been used for implementation of datadriven instruction. - A new team supporting literacy instruction has caused a shift for teachers. This reality has made for slow progress but the trajectory is heading in the right direction towards high-quality literacy implementation. 20 Student climate and culture Create a partnership with parents to provide a safe, positive, engaging learning environment focused on the teaching and learning cycle. Staff members will implement the Capturing Kids Hearts process in partnership with the Positive Behavior Support structures in all areas of the building. - Conduct staff training on Capturing Kids Hearts and Positive Behavior Support structures - Ensure morning messages include IB learner profiles and positive messages - Conduct open house which sends a positive message about engaging in academics and attendance - Recruit parents to serve on school steering committee - Work with Capturing Kids Hearts and Positive Behavior Supports continues to be a positive influence within the school, with the majority of new teachers picking up on the strategies successfully. - School culture remains a challenge. School and district leadership are working hard to continue to combat issues. In response to challenging situations and data, the district has committed more resources to support school leadership in this area. Summary of Student Performance Trends Based on Mid-Year Local Data Academics: While results on interim assessments through first semester show Risley students scoring below the district average in both English language arts and math, the primary use of the interim data is for classroom use in modifying instruction to meet student needs and not for progress monitoring purposes. Attendance: Average Daily Attendance is flat compared to last year at this time at 88%, but the school's percentage of students considered chronically absent has decreased by 3%, meaning less students are at-risk for academic issues due to chronic absences. Behavior: Out-of-School suspensions have remained flat compared to last year, although there has been a small increase in the number of office referrals. Overall Assessment of Progress by CDE The new Risley leadership has been able to gain traction on moving forward on their instructional priorities due to a focused leadership team and intense supports from both district leadership and Achievement Network coaching. The Achievement Network has a strong relationship with the school's principal manager and other district leadership, which helps ensure that district and external supports for the school are aligned. These supports are invaluable to the school's continued improvement and a sustained effort in the same prioritized areas should allow the school to start seeing more student academic gains. School leadership and faculty are highly reflective and adapt their work based on needs identified within their own practice or from district or Achievement Network coaching. March 2018 21 District Accountability Directed Action Overall Summary Priority Ensure consistent and deeper implementation of our Competency Based System (CBS) with regard to all instructional aspects March 2018 Westminster Public Schools External Management Westminster Public Schools is partnering with two organizations to support implementation of their approved Pathway Plan. Description Key Strategies/Actions The Competency Based System is not yet consistently implemented across all schools and gradelevels. This priority area supports the district in developing systems and routines to deepen and ensure consistent implementation of the Competency Based System. - Implement learning walks at all schools on a consistent basis to ensure consistency, identify gaps, and generate next steps - Expand the use of the district's Learning Management System, Empower 2.0, to support instructional planning - Implement short-cycle monitoring to increase the strategic use of data at the building level CDE Mid-Year Reflection - The district has refined the Learning Walk (Classroom Observation) process to ensure each school is visited monthly. CDE has participated in Learning Walks with district teams. AdvancED's recommendations are that the district continue to refine systems and processes to monitor curriculum and instruction. This includes continuing to build district and school instructional leadership aligned to the New Art and Science of Teaching (Marzano's research-based instructional guide). - The district has led three trainings this fall, along with multiple school-level follow-up sessions, to train teachers on using Empower. Additionally, the district has created communication materials to increase parent understanding and access to Empower. - The district has taken steps to implement short-cycle monitoring by facilitating a district-wide mid-year reflection and identification of next steps. The district has established the use of Learning Gauges to establish benchmarks and consistent ways of tracking progress toward goals across schools. 22 Attract, retain and develop effective Competency Based System educators and leaders Critical to the successful implementation of the Competency Based System is ensuring teachers and leaders have targeted, personalized professional development opportunities and that highly effective teachers and leaders remain in the system - Implement teacher and principal mentor program to ensure effective performance in a Competency Based System. - Implement an Aspiring Leadership Program to serve as a leadership pipeline for the district. - Provide rigorous training opportunities on Competency Based System instructional design through an expanded learning symposium model. - Partner with Marzano Research to provide professional development on standards-based instruction, depth of knowledge, and implementing proficiency scales. - Partner with Marzano Research to launch Marzano Academy next fall. Marzano Academy is designed to be a learning lab for on-going embedded PD within the district. - Expand recruitment efforts. - Next steps for the district in this priority include continuing focused and rigorous instructional leadership training, coaching and development. - This year, the district has assigned all new licensed teachers a mentor, who are meeting with mentees four times per year. A new cohort of 12 leaders started in the Aspiring Leaders program this fall. - The district applied to CDE to receive funds through the School Turnaround Leadership Development Program to support leadership teams at three schools attending the University of Denver Turnaround Success Program. - The district has used their PD symposium dates to focus on Kagan Cooperative Learning strategies, supporting teachers with instructional strategies to support language development as well as differentiated opportunities allowing for teachers' personalized needs. The district's application for ESSA grant funds is aligned to this priority and will enable them to deepen PD and coaching around effective instructional strategies. Additionally, the district is continuing to refine their process for professional development delivery to ensure that PD tightly aligns to the district's' instructional goals. - The district has also taken initial steps to establish the Marzano Academy, including three PD/planning meetings prior to December. - The district is taking initial steps to expand teacher recruitment by establishing a year-round recruitment cycle. Foster a strong culture of academic success, including post-secondary, workforce readiness for students and parents The Competency Based System creates a system that focuses on student ownership over learning with the ultimate goal of ensuring students demonstrate the academic and personal habits that ensure they are ready for college and career. -Enhance counselor efforts with academic performance and career planning protocol. -Expand the use of AVID. -Expand the PASS parent Institute. -Utilize the Competency Tracker to determine progress toward on-time high school graduation, beginning at the elementary level. -Increase community partnerships and student certificate achievement in Career and Technical Education (CTE). - An online repository houses Individual Career and Academic Plan (ICAP) data for secondary students and the district has taken steps to build custom reports and subsequently reach out to students based on their academic or career interests. Schools have organized fall tours for students to career and college sites. - The district attended a summer AVID institute for secondary schools, with over 40 teachers participating, and evaluation of the AVID course implementation has occurred. - The district has also expanded the PASS program at additional schools and will begin recruitment for next year in the coming weeks. - The district has also started an initial partnership with CareerWise Colorado to support student externships. March 2018 23 Ensuring a strong early - Adjust staffing ratios at the K-1 level to - The district has reduced K-1 staff ratios in most elementary schools. Strengthen and childhood program sets provide a strategic focus on early literacy. - The district has partnered with CDE to implement K-1 Reading professional expand early development through an Early Literacy Grant. childhood education a district-wide foundation - Provide intensive professional for lasting success. development on K-1 reading pedagogy. - Expand early childhood education to infant/toddler program as part of the Cradle to Career pipeline. - Full-day preschool expansion (Pay for Success pilot) - The district opened an Early Learning Center in the fall to serve toddlers; will be expanding to serve infants and up. - The Full Day preschool programs have expanded at two schools, ensuring early childhood programming in all elementary schools. Summary of Student Performance Trends Based on Mid-Year Local Data The district has seen gains in reading and math from fall to mid-year on the Scantron assessments. Compared to last year, each grade except third and fourth increased the percentage of students meeting their growth goal. Compared to last year, reading shows more students grades 2-6 met Scantron expectations. Similarly, compared to last year more students in grades 7-10 grades met expectations, with particularly significant gains at grades 9 and 10. DIBELS results are more mixed. Each grade level with the exception of first, increased the percentage of students meeting expectations from fall to middle of the year. In Math, in grades 4-10 there were increases in the percentage of students meeting expectations compared to last year, with significant increases in ninth and tenth grade. Additionally, each grade level except first saw an increase in the percentage of students who met their mid-year growth goal compared to last year. Overall Assessment of Progress by CDE Westminster Public Schools is implementing their approved Pathway Plan and has established systems and routines to continually monitor the progress of their goals. The partnership with AdvancED has provided the district with third-party insights to strengthen the district's plan and provide targeted next steps. The district's Pathway Plan outlined that AdvancED will deploy surveys, analyze and report on data, and conduct an ongoing analysis of implementation of practice. AdvancED has engaged in those deliverables and provided the district with a formative report to refine next steps. The district has seen some initial gains in local assessments and has identified areas of focus based on those mid-year results. The focus for the district moving forward is to continue to develop a core set of consistent instructional strategies and continue to offer professional development and feedback dedicated to the implementation of instructional strategies in all learning environments. March 2018 24