Friday Flyer - December 17, 2021

 

Thank you for persisting through these challenging months. The days will start getting longer next week, and we will begin to bounce back. Take time during holiday break to recharge and renew.
You are deeply appreciated every day.

From Grace and Jodi

Pre-collaborations have been going well. I appreciate your preparation in the process! These are the big buckets for January/February:

• January 15 - Formative Assessments for provisional teachers
• Budget/Staffing for 2022-23
• ACCESS and MAP Administration - aim to complete by end of January
• February 1 - Date by which teachers self-excess
• February 1-18 (3 weeks) - Analyze MAP, celebrate growth, prepare for seven weeks of strong standards/grade aligned targeted instruction from February 28-April 15 (7 weeks)
• March 1 Early Hiring Season begins

Region 6 Meeting Arc of Learning

January: After observing & analyzing, write feedback tagged to DESE Focus Indicators (Learning Walk - in person - January 19, 2022)

February: Above + Plan/Role-play coaching conversations

March: MAP Data Dive, turn-key for ILT

March: Bring ILT Agenda/Notes from Data Dive

May: Set up priorities for 22-23

June: Simulate root cause analysis with EOY data

January Region Meeting

Please put a hold Wednesday, January 19, 2022, 8-noon, to conduct a learning walk. We will try again a few weeks after the break.

Colleague Connections - Assessment and Data

Everett: 62% of Everett students are meeting Lexia Usage goals! This is reflected in student progress on grade-level skills. Students meeting usage goals who are working on skills in or above grade level increased by 18 percentage points. Students meeting usage goals working on skills two or more grade levels below decreased by 12 percentage points. Reach out to Karen to discuss her implementation and monitoring plan which is impacting student results!

* There are no district expectations for Lexia usage. Schools that opted in are encouraged to utilize the tool in ways that help them reach their student learning goals.  Lexia's own research shows that students show growth when they meet their suggested usage. Students that do not meet the recommended usage do not typically show impactful growth. These students may benefit from either increasing usage to meet the recommendation or from using time in a different way.

Murphy: The Mighty Murphy Team has a data-based student support team. This team uses data to monitor the effectiveness of behavioral interventions and collaboratively manage the cases of students that are struggling with social-emotional wellness. Reach out to Courtney to find out how she prioritizes time and leans into her team to get this work done.

Friday Flyer

Please review highlighted content carefully.

Friday Flyer - December 10, 2021

 From Grace and Jodi

Although we pivoted from an in-person learning walk to a virtual region meeting this past Tuesday, we successfully calibrated on observing instruction, calibrated on look-fors, and wrote targeted feedback. At our next meeting, we will do the same plus tag feedback to DESE Focus Indicators. The region arc of learning for the rest of the year looks like this:

January: After observing & analyzing, write feedback tagged to DESE Focus Indicators (Learning Walk - in person - January 19, 2022)

February: Above + Plan/Role-play coaching conversations

March: MAP Data Dive, turn-key for ILT

March: Bring ILT Agenda/Notes from Data Dive

May: Set up priorities for 22-23

June: Simulate root cause analysis with EOY data

January Region Meeting

Please put a hold Wednesday, January 19, 2022, 8-noon, to conduct a learning walk. We will try again a few weeks after the break.

Colleague Connections - Assessment and Data

Orchard Gardens: is setting plans to be ready to administer ACCESS during the first two weeks after the new year followed by the MAP assessments. Their target completion date is the end of January so that the team/school have enough time to analyze mid-year growth and create instructional plans to commence right after February break. They will maximize teaching/learning time from after vacation to April break, which is a solid seven weeks of school!

Murphy/Perry Interims: These are two examples of how third-grade students are beginning to shine at two of our schools.  Reach out to Mike and Courtney to find out what instructional leadership moves they made to get these results and what their next moves are to continuously lift instruction and improve student outcomes. 

Murphy: Grade 3 Math Interims

Perry: Grade 3 ELA Interims

Pre-Probable Org/Budget Collab

If I cannot attend your scheduled meeting, Jodi will be there in my stead. There will be a notation in the invite if I cannot attend. Some of your configuration maps are inaccurate because they are auto-generated from projections, so if you have questions, you should reach out to your PandA liaison.

Friday Flyer

Please review highlighted content carefully.

Friday Flyer - December 3, 2021

From Grace and Jodi

After this week, Thanksgiving seems like a distant memory! We've turned the page on the calendar, and it is time to put our attention on two big buckets (aside from the every complex and growing operational/health and safety work around Covid) - formative evaluations and projections/probable org/budget. If you have not heard anything about ESSER, you should be receiving a notification soon. 

As you know, Jodi and Rubén are currently the only two RRADs that have been able to transition to the role; they will be turning their attention to more district work and focusing on a few schools across the district. This is a loss for us, but I promise, although Jodi may be less present in the schools, you will feel the positive impact of the work differently. 

I am working on my schedule to make it more predictable, but realize with probable org and collabs, negotiations, already scheduled central office meetings, and Mission Hill, I may not be able to be as visible as I would like. Please continue to use our WhatsApp, call, or text for support. In advance, I thank you for your "flexibility, patience, and grace" - our motto all through Covid.

December/January Region Meetings

As a result of our 4:30 Friday meeting on the anticipated surge of Covid infections rates, we will not meet in-person at Orchard Gardens on Tuesday. We will meet remotely from 10:30-12 with an alternative plan to focus on the five observation look-fors.  Many thanks to Lauren for her willingness to host, and to Jodi for being a thought partner in the arc of learning. With formatives coming up the plan for December and January was:

December: Conduct focused observations using the five look-fors and provide OGPS with the school trends based on the data.

January: After analyzing an observation write-up, conduct an observation and practice authoring the write up with a partner.

Lauren suggested we each videotape lessons to bring to future meetings. This may be an option for January. 

Text Complexity

Our equitable literacy work has sparked curiosity about Lexile levels, grade level, and text complexity. Text complexity is measured using three factors. 1.) Qualitative factors  2.) Quantitative Factors 3.) The relationship between reader and task. 

The Lexile level is the most commonly used quantitative factor. Here is a tool for converting Lexile level to grade level.  That may help you address some questions that you are getting. 

Colleague Connections

Mission Hill: If you are looking for a way to facilitate dialogue about updating your 90-day plan with input from your staff reach out to Matt. Mshuman@bostonpublicschools.org

Timilty: If you are looking for a way to embed equitable literacy in your community's learning culture even with all of the other challenges you face on a daily basis reach out to Marvin. Mgutierrez2@bostonpublicschools.org

Perry: If you are looking for a way to motivate students and families connect with Mike. He dove in with a cool challenge that the community reseponded to. Mmacchi@bostonpublicschools.org

Friday Flyer

Please review highlighted content carefully.