Moving Your Numbers

1. Moving Your Numbers An NCEO Technical Assistance and Dissemination Initiative Presented by: Martha Thurlow, Deborah Telfer, and Laurene Christensen July 11, 2012

2. Poor Performance of the Students with Disabilities Subgroup: 08-09 Heavy Solid Bar = Students with disabilities percent proficient Dashed Line = Gap between students with disabilities and regular students. For some states the “regular students” comparison group may include students with disabilities, because states report data differently. Middle School Mathematics Performance on Regular Assessment, 2008-09 From NCEO, Technical Report 59

3. Poor Performance of the Students with Disabilities Subgroup: 02-03 Middle School Mathematics Performance on Regular Assessment, 2002-03 From NCEO, Technical Report 40

4. Policy Initiatives • College and Career Readiness for All Students • Fewer, clearer, higher! • Internationally benchmarked • Assessment Consortia • Regular assessments – PARCC, SBAC • Alternate assessments – DLM, NCSC • ELP assessments – ACCESS • Flexibility Applications • New groups for accountability • Educator effectiveness

5. States with Flexibility Applications 5

6. Intervention Approaches • Response to Intervention • Screening • Progress Monitoring • Multi-level prevention • Positive Behavior Supports • Identifying, adapting, and sustaining effective school-wide disciplinary practices • Implementation Science 6

7. Declining School Finances National Governors’ Association and National Association of State Budget Officers, 2012

8. Moving Leadership! Frequent superintendent turnover not uncommon School district leaders average 3 years in position Shalee Cunningham Photo by Brian Ray.

9. New Measures for Results at OSEP… • New measures being developed by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) that will allow for better monitoring of outcomes for improved student performance. • A process has been developed that will enable experts to work together to provide input and then reach consensus on the new measure.

10. NCEO “Rhetoric” • Need high expectations for students with disabilities • All but a small percentage of students with disabilities should be held to grade-level achievement standards • There are places where students with disabilities are achieving Needed new existence proofs – districts where students with disabilities really were improving!

11. Focus on Effective Districts • Built on previous work with Ohio – values, structures, leadership • Focused on what adults do – intentionally and collectively – to include and assist all students in learning at higher levels • Highlighted districts across the U.S. With considerations for states, districts & schools, and parents and families

12. MYNWork: Process • Advisors/Work Group Members • Identifying/Contacting Districts • Structured Interviews • Known to be engaged in certain practices believed to be associated with higher learning; • Committed to district-wide implementation of such practices; & • Committed to and showing evidence of improving the performance of all students and student groups

13. MYN Assumptions Improving outcomes for students receiving special education services: • Requires their inclusion and participation in statewide assessment & accountability systems • Requires a sustained focus on teaching and learning • Acknowledges that consistent, high-quality implementation is a challenge for many districts

14. Implementation Gap • What is adopted is not used with fidelity and good outcomes for consumers • What is used with fidelity is not sustained for a useful period of time • What is used with fidelity is not used on a scale sufficient to impact social problems Source: Blasé, K., Fixsen, D., & Duda, M. (2011). Implementation science: Building the bridge between science and practice. University of NC at Chapel Hill/NIRN.

15. Essential Practices & Lessons Learned • Use data well • Focus your goals • Select and implement shared instructional practices (individually and collectively) • Implement deeply • Monitor and provide feedback and support • Inquire and learn

16. Lessons Learned: Use Data Well • Use (and require the use of) data at all levels to focus critical conversations, identify needs, gauge/monitor progress, and make continual improvements to instructional practice (ensuring that teams are working with district-wide data, not only school-level data)

17. “Accessibility of data has changed the conversation across the district.”Cynthia Van Meter, Associate Superintendent, Curriculum & Instruction, Brevard Public Schools

18. Lessons Learned: Focus Your Goals • Establish a foundation to guide all work • Align all work across the district with the district goals/district strategic plan to improve student learning • Focus all work across the district to meet district-wide goals and strategies • Align decisions about resource management with district goals • Focus PD on district goals and involve EVERYONE

19. Stoughton Area SchoolsDepartment of Teaching & Learning • Work together to create unified message • Jointly plan and implement PD for ALL staff • Focus on “growing our own capacity” to improve instruction & higher student learning

20. Lessons Learned: Select and Implement (deeply) Shared Instructional Practices • Hold all adults to high standards and clearly define expectations around the core work of teaching and learning, and for supporting all children to learn at higher levels • Reduce the number of initiatives and ensure that all work aligns directly with a small number of goals and strategies • Avoid programs or initiatives as the “answer” or silver bullet • Support shared learning and responsibility among adults for the success of all students • Embed intervention as part of the district’s instructional process/framework

21. Districts Speak “There are two overriding messages from the district to all staff – that our systemic focus on instruction is non-negotiable and that I’m a critical part of it.” Laura Kintz Principal, Alberta Rider Elementary School Tigard-Tualatin School District

22. Lessons Learned: Monitor and Provide Feedback and Support • Measure both adult implementation and student achievement to focus on the impact of district actions on student performance • Value accountability and make results the central focus of the school system • Provide a balance of defined autonomy and flexibility for schools to met expectations, but require that every single school meet them

23. Changing the way Adults Work “We need to be able to connect results to specific action steps. We wouldn’t be able to do that if schools worked in isolation.” Alex Barbour Assistant Superintendent Lake Villa School District #41, IL

24. Lessons Learned: Inquire and Learn • Share leadership and support the development of essential leadership practices across the district • Align curriculum, instruction, and assessment in real ways • Move from a focus on individual buildings to a focus on district-wide implementation to sustain the work • Make sure the district leadership team includes staff from across the district, not only cabinet level personnel or administrators • Use the expertise around you, always reaching to the next level; never be satisfied with where you are

25. Districts Speak “It’s not what we do, it’s who we are.” Bob Marquis Assistant Superintendent SAU #56 Somersworth, NH

26. Redesigning Systems to Promote Scalability & Sustainability • Support shared work & accountability of improvement of instructional practice and achievement for all students through unified system • Redesign work at all levels to be about improving capacity at other levels (coherence) • Redefineleadershipas set of essential practices that must be implemented at all levels • Providestructures & tools to support intentional use and consistent implementation of identified strategies/actions

27. 2012 MYN Districts • Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.(Columbus, Indiana) • SAU 56 (Somersworth, New Hampshire) • Stoughton Area Schools (Stoughton, Wisconsin) • Tigard-Tualatin School District (Tigard, Oregon) • Val Verde USD (Perris, California)

28. MYN 2012 • Parent/Family Companion Guide • Higher Education Companion Guides • Administrator Preparation Programs • Teacher Preparation Programs • District Self-Assessment Guide • Other Products (District Synthesis, webinars)

29. Higher Education Guide: Administrators

30. MYN Website

31. MYN Website

32. Facilitated discussion: how does Moving Your Numbers relate to the work of OSEP?

33. Ways to Use MYN • How NCEO is Using MYN for Technical Assistance • Ways MYN Relates to Selected OSEP Initiatives (e.g., monitoring results vs. compliance, RtI, Implementation Science) • Ways MYN Relates to Other Initiatives (e.g., CCR, educator effectiveness, etc.)

34. Comments & Questions • Visit the MYN web site (undergoing redesign) at www.movingyournumbers.org • Contact Laurene Christensen, NCEO, at: chri1010@umn.edu • Contact Deb Telfer, Project Director, at: dtelfer1@udayton.eduor deborah.telfer@yahoo.com