Our First Years Journey

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Azusa Unified School District

• Our First Years Journey
• As a
• DAIT Pilot District

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Azusa USD Panel MembersContact 626 967-6211

• Cynthia Cervantes McGuire, Superintendent
• Alexis Ruiz- Alessi, Asst. Supt., Educational
  Services
• Ena Pastora, Director ELL Services/Instructional
  Services
• Sharron Lindsay, Director, Curriculum,
  Instruction, Assessment
• Susan Mummert, Director of Categorical Programs
  and Instructional Support
• Sara Shankin, Director MS/Technology
• Lydia Estep, Senior Director, Pupil Services
• Gayle Odell, Ed.D. DAIT Lead, LACOE
  (626-221-1797)

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The DAIT TeamActing with Intentionality

• Building Trust
• The Speed of Trust
• Hedgehog Concept
• Good to Great
• Natural Planning Model
• Getting Things Done
• Six Circle Model
• Leadership and the New
• Science

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Six Circle Model
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Hedgehog Concept

• Blueprint for Adult and Student Learning
• The Fundamental Belief
• The greatest impact on student achievement is
  quality instruction, a process over which
  educators have control. Therefore, the most
  direct way to increase student learning is for
  teachers to continually improve instructional
  practice, and for educational leaders to
  continually improve the courageous and
  influential leadership practices necessary for
  continuous improvement to thrive.
•  

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Blueprint for Adult and Student Learning

• Overarching Theme Continuous Improvement
• ?A steady, ceaseless increase in value
• ?A commitment embraced by proficient
  professionals
• The Areas of Focus
• 1. Strengthen the instructional core
• 2. Increase the effectiveness of the program for
  English Language Learners
• 3.Implement an accountability system for adults
  and students
• The Context for Implementation
• ? Essential Elements of Effective Instruction
  (E3I )

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Strengthening the Instructional Core

• By increasing
• Teacher knowledge and skill
• Student Engagement
• Challenging standards-based curriculum

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The Essential Skill Sets for Teachers

• Use the components of lesson design, a
  decision-making model, effectively
• Use the variables of motivation appropriately to
  motivate students
• Ask questions and prepare learning activities at
  various levels of Blooms Cognitive Taxonomy to
  promote higher level thinking

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The Essential Skill Sets for Teachers

• Organize and implement a standards-based
  curriculum to support student understanding of
  the subject matter
•  
• Collect and use multiple sources of
  information/data to assess student learning and
  make instructional decisions
•  
• Plan and implement classroom procedures and
  routines that support appropriate student
  behavior and learning
•  

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DAIT Action Plan
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Increase the Effectiveness of the Program for
English Language Learners

• Summary Report of Findings Regarding Program for
  English Language Learners
• Strengths
• Core materials and ELD instructional materials
  are available in all classrooms.
• An extremely high percentage of your teachers
  have met credential requirements to teach ELL.
• Those instructing in Spanish speak the language
  very well.
• Azusa has hired personnel that match the student
  population, who are culturally sensitive, and who
  speak Spanish.
• Middle school newcomers were clustered at Center
  Middle School to ensure appropriate instruction
  and support.
• The District has met all CPM requirements for
  ELLs.

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Program for English Learners

• Concerns
• There is not a clear, articulated program for
  English Language Learners
• English Language Development is not a part of
  many English Learners instructional program.
• There is a need for a District protocol for
  placing ELL students in appropriate programs that
  is adhered to by each person making those
  decisions.

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DAIT Action Steps to Alleviate Concerns

• Incorporated an English Language Development
  Handbook in the ELL Master Plan that describes
  placement procedures, instructional time
  allocations, and instructional program components
• Principals/Curriculum APs/Counselors were
  trained to implement the procedures outlined in
  the ELL Handbook
• Provided district training to schools ensure the
  implementation of quality English Language
  Development lessons

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DAIT Action Steps to Alleviate Concerns

• Educational Services Personnel and Principals
  co-facilitated training for school staff and
  parents on the ELL Master Plan
• Developed AUSD criteria aligned to CDE guidelines
  to ensure consistency of identification and
  interventions for strategic and intensive
  students
• Provided training in how to teach Academic
  Vocabulary within the context of E3I, Edge, and
  SB472 and follow-up trainings
• Hired elementary ELD support teachers

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Implement an Accountability System for Adults and
Students

• The Essential Skill Sets for Administrators
• Coaching-Embedded Leadership
• Incorporate coaching into daily individual and
  group conversations centered on professional
  practice and its impact on student learning
• Maintain a respect-expect balance
• Provide data-based affirmative and corrective
  feedback on implementation of essential skill
  sets
• Apply differentiated coaching approaches
• Coach for insights, commitment, and action

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Change of Principal Workshop

• Helps to promote continuous improvement and a
  collaborative culture and lessens the resistance
  to change.
• All staff are surveyed
• Leadership Team analyzes the survey results and
  presents the Strengths of the school and the
  Situations in Need of Attention (SITNAs) to the
  new principal
• Plans are made to develop an action
  plan to address the SITNAs.

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Accountability SystemThe Essential Skill Sets
for Administrators

• 2. Courageous Conversations
• Set clear expectations
• Implement a solution-focused approach to
  leadership
• Initiate conversations around essential skill
  sets for teachers and administrators
• Lead, model, and set expectations for consistent,
  substantive collaboration regarding quality
  instruction, common assessments, student work,
  interpretation of multiple data sources, and
  re-teaching
• Confront low performance

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Accountability System Azusa DAIT Plan E3I
Implementation Commitment Rubric

• Commitment defined as
• an act of committing to a charge or trust
• Commit defined as
• to carry into action deliberately to obligate
  or pledge oneself
• Principal developed

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Accountability SystemDAIT Plan/School Plans

• Each DAIT Plan Action Step is in each School Plan
  for Student Achievement
• We established our priorities through the DAIT
  process and then aligned our budget to these
  priorities
• High Priority and QEIA plans match the priorities
  in the DAIT Plan
• DAIT Action Steps are integrated in WASC Plans

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Accountability SystemStudent Assessment

• Data Road Shows
• Data used to provide rationale and purpose for
  DAIT Action Steps
• Dennis Fox administrator training regarding
  analysis and presentation of data to staff and
  parents
• Grade level/subject area scheduled reflection
  time around benchmark results

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Year 2 of Our Journey

• Deeply implement the action steps we began last
  by monitoring and providing quality follow-up
• Develop a plan to implement Response to
  Instruction and Intervention (RtI2) in 2008-09
• Provide a quality K-12 Mathematics Program by
  purchasing State Board of Education adopted (K-8)
  or Standards aligned instructional materials
  (9-12) including intervention materials, and by
  training teachers in research based instructional
  strategies to use teaching the core program, with
  an emphasis on grades 6-12 mathematics.

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AUSD RtI2 Beliefs

• We believe in the practice of
• providing each student high quality instruction
  and interventions matched to student need
• monitoring student progress frequently to make
  decisions about changes in instruction or goals
  and
• applying student response data to important
  educational decisions for all students including
  those with special needs, leads to increased
  student achievement.

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Wildly Successful OutcomePhilosophy of RtI2

• The Azusa Unified School District will implement
  a system of Response to Instruction and
  Intervention (RtI2) practices in order to
  establish differentiated structures within the
  general education setting that curtail the cycle
  of failure and promote early intervening student
  services.

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Wildly Successful OutcomeMathematics

• Improved mathematics instruction through the
  training and follow-up of E3I and SB472 enhanced
  by DAIT mathematics coaches
• Development and implementation of Districtwide
  mathematics pacing guides and benchmark
  assessments.
• Enhancement of student supports through the
  collaborative design and implementation of a
  system of interventions (RtI2)

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At the Rest Stop on Our Journey

• We asked ourselves
• What are the things we are most proud of as part
  of the DAIT process that we would want to share
  with our colleagues across the State?

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The Rewards of the Journey

• Even though the journey was hard and was
  difficult at times, and generated lots of work
  and unknowns, there was much change and lots of
  learning.
• We now have an agreed upon focus and are making
  efforts to follow through.
• Initiatives are limited to the DAIT Plan so
  full implementation will take place and the focus
  will not be lost.
• Having outside eyes and critical friends
  helped us look at things in a new way.
• Communication between and among the District
  and schools has increased.
• We have accomplished so much!

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Our Best Advice

• Determine your Hedgehog Concept
• Determine your Wildly Successful Outcomes
• Dont end a meeting without determining your next
  action steps and assigning responsibilities
• Pay attention to the Below the Green Line
  aspects of your culture
• Establish a culture of trust and
  continuous improvement.

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Questions????

• Comments
• THANK YOU for your dedication to the education of
  our future generation!

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Bibliography

• Allen, David (2001) Getting Things Done. Penguin
  Group, New York www.davidco.com
• Collins, Jim (2002) Good to Great. Harper
  Business
• Covey, Stephen M.R. (2006) The Speed of Trust.
  Simon Schuster, Inc, New York
• Kubinec, Jannelle, School Services of California,
  916 -446-7517
• Tabor, Marilyn, Organizational Dynamics
  Associates, Inc. 949-452-4011
• Response to Intervention Blueprint for
  Implementation District Level National
  Association www.nasdse.org/Portals/O/District.pdf
  of State Directors of Special Education, Inc
• Wheatley, Margaret (1992) Leadership and the New
  Science. Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco
• Zuieback, Steve, www.stevezuieback.com
  707-463-2088