THE NEWARK GLOBAL VILLAGE SCHOOL ZONE

1. THE NEWARK GLOBAL VILLAGE SCHOOL ZONE CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL- RAS BARAKA, PRINCIPAL BURNET STREET SCHOOL – ROY WILSON, PRINCIPAL CLEVELAND ELEMENTARY SCHOOL- ZAKIYYA RAZZAQ, PRINCIPAL EIGHTEENTH AVENUE SCHOOL – BARBARA A. ERVIN, PRINCIPAL NEWTON STREET SCHOOL – JAMES CARLO, PRINCIPAL QUITMAN STREET COMMUNITY SCHOOL – JACQUELYN HARTSFIELD, PRINCIPAL SUSSEX AVENUE SCHOOL – JO ANN GILMORE, PRINCIPAL The NEWARK GLOBAL VILLAGE SCHOOL ZONE (NGVSZ)will implement the Newark Public Schools’ Priorities with fidelity.

2. Providing a 21st Century Education • Our Shared Goals: Preparing all students for work, college, and citizenship. • Priority 1: Ensure highly effective teachers and principals deliver strong curriculum, instruction and assessment. • A challenging curriculum, instructional program, and assessment consistently implemented • Professional improvement plans • Stronger pipeline of quality teachers and principals • Priority 2: Build a system of great schools that serve students, their families, and the community. • Align Pre-K - grade 3 programs • Stronger middle grades • Transformed high schools • Aggressive turnarounds for the lowest-performing schools

3. Priority 3: Ensure that schools are safe, welcoming, and working collaboratively with parents, families, and community partners to support student success. Safe, family-friendly schools Informed and involved parents and families Stronger community and national partnerships Priority 4: Improve our educational practice by creating an accountability system that promotes data-informed, effectively, and efficient management and operations. Reorganized and streamlined central and regional offices A culture and system of accountability Transparent decision-making and reporting Providing a 21st Century Education

4. The Challenges: 50 years of research established the correlation between social, emotional and economic disadvantage and low student achievement Achievement gaps related to socioeconomic status can be found in children before they begin school School improvement strategies brought about by the No Child Left Behind legislation have impacted achievement to a degree Results did not sufficiently close substantial gaps and methods were inconsistent and seldom sustainable.

5. OUR CHALLENGE • Our challenge is to ensure that bureaucratic policies, political agendas, and empathy do not overwhelm this potentially powerful seedling before it has an opportunity to take hold and become the mighty oak that can shade our students by enabling them to read, interpret and reason critically and compute and apply mathematics and science skills that will allow them to compete at the international level, until they are empowered to reach their potential.

6. RESTRUCTURING Newark Global Village School Zone policies will be structured to allow the Newark Central Ward schools to coordinate teaching and learning, educational activities, curricula, professional development, social services, budget and enrichment opportunities. • The Newark Global Village School Zone principals will: attend all Broader Bolder Approach Steering Committee meetings and be actively involved in the development and facilitation of meeting agendas; • The Newark Global Village School Zone principals will only attend district meetings when they directly relate to school data current instructional goals and activities for the schools’ identified goal and objectives; • The Newark Global Village School Zone will be responsible for creating a calendar of meetings to determine agendas, that will focus on professional development, school data and District Priorities. • The Newark Global Village School Zone should be designated as schools of choice commencing with the school year 2012-2013. First priority would be to enroll students from Central Ward schools when vacancies will be filled from other schools through an interview process.

7. Restructure the seven schools as follows: Elementary Campus Burnet PreK 3-Grade 5 Cleveland PreK 3-Grade 5 Newton PreK 3-Grade 5 Quitman PreK 3-Grade 5 Sussex PreK 3-Grade 5 Secondary Campus Eighteenth Avenue Grade 6 - 8 Central High School Grade 9 - 13 (Grade 13 - Opportunities to attend college courses or gain trade certification presented during high school by college professors/licensed trades- persons.)

8. TIMELINE FOR RESTRUCTURING: • 2010-2011: Open two PreK 3 classes at - Burnet, Cleveland, Sussex Quitman and Newton Schools. • 2010 – 2011 Voluntary transfers for grade 6 from all pre-K to 8 schools to Eighteenth Avenue School upon parent request. • 2011 – 2012 Move PreK 4 and Kindergarten classes from Eighteenth Avenue to Cleveland and Quitman schools • 2012-2013: Phase out grades 2-3 at Eighteenth Avenue School Move the grade 2-3 students to other Newark Children’s Zone School Transfer grade 6 from all pre-K to 8 schools to Eighteenth Avenue School • Class of 2013 begins college/trade classes at Central High School • 2014 — Phase out grades 4-5 Eighteenth Avenue Schools Move the grade 4-5 students to other Transfer grade 6 from all pre-K to 8 schools to Eighteenth Avenue School All students will remain in the Central High School feeder pattern unless parents move (or transfer students out) and will benefit from all initiatives generated and implemented by the Newark Global Village School Zone.

9. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT • The NGVSZ will choose the professional development that best supports the individual needs of each school, as well as the collective needs of the zone. As a result, attention will be given to particular and general challenges. The assets of each school come to bear in supporting each others development and progress. • The NGVSZ will implement strategies in order to become one professional learning community. • The NGVSZ will maintain the option for all school staff to participate in district professional development when the NGBSZ Advisory Board, Executive Board and school data determines that it is applicable to specific needs. • Two leadership planning retreats per year will provide time for administrators to plan collaboratively for the NGVSZ. • Monthly staff development days will provide time to support teachers in the delivery of instruction.

10. STAFFING and BUDGET Staffing • Hire highly qualified teachers who fit the needs of the school . • All perspective teachers must be interviewed and accepted by Newark Global Village School Zone (NGVSZ) principals. • Align human, financial and community resources to the work that must be done to create the optimum learning environment across seven schools. • Existing teachers and staff will have a transfer option. Budget • Newark Global Village School Zone will receive a lump sum per-pupil budgets that include all non-salary funding sources (federal, state, and grants), control of all decisions regarding spending, including individual and collective spending, and negotiation of vendor contracts, or oversight and input, which will allow schools to provide programs and services based on data and school-wide needs. School budgets are approved by the Newark Global Village School Zone Advisory Board. • Contractual agreements will determine teacher and administrators salaries.

11. CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT The Newark Global Village School Zone will be held accountable for all state and federal testing requirements. • To have the flexibility to streamline the curriculum, through mapping, by going deep, rather than wide. We will prioritize the concepts and skills to be taught, by grade level. This will encompass an interdisciplinary approach to instruction for all Newark Global Village School Zone. • We will employ the use of an electronic curriculum mapping program that will manage student results and provide informed next steps. The NGVZ schools will have the option to use district assessments at any time. • Elementary schools will implement promotion and highs schools will implement graduation requirements that are comparable to the expectations set by the district. • Create a secondary campus that includes Eighteenth Avenue School and Central High School. Ensure on-going articulation and cross professional development between the schools to provide opportunities for the middle school: advance placement classes; access to high school curriculum, facilities and support services.

12. SCHEDULE/LENGTH of SCHOOL DAY The NGVSZ will have the flexibility to determine both the length of the school day and the school year for students, as well as to schedule time during the summer for faculty to work collaboratively to plan for the school year. This applies to both academic content and enrichment activities. • The NGVSZ will stagger starting times for students and faculty between the hours of 8:10 - 4:30 in accordance with negotiated salaries. • The NGVSZ will increase time for planning and professional development for faculty.

13. GOVERNANCE • The NGVSZ will be held to the highest levels of accountability through shared leadership, district, state and school reviews, and assessment. The NGVSZ Advisory Board brings increased decision-making closest to the students and those most familiar with the schools. • The NGVSZ Advisory Board: - supports school curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development, operations, career development, and social and emotional programs that benefit student achievement in the seven participating schools. -will create a Memorandum of Understanding that supports the autonomy structure and practices. -Sets and maintains the NGVSZ mission -Reviews school budgets -Reviews school performance -Streamlines requests for reports; meetings, professional development; etc. and ensures that they do not circumvent the established District Priorities and the goals of the Broader Bolder Approach.

14. ACCOUNTABILITY The Principal’s Evaluation will take into consideration: district walkthrough implementation of BBA initiatives as evidenced by a revised Data Foundation Report that is comprised of data analysis by teachers, instructional alignment to identified needs, and evidence of student work that is rigorous, relevant and aligned to the standards; evidence of the ongoing and consistent use of data to drive instruction; staff and student attendance; administrative attendance and attendance at the advisory board meetings. • The Principal’s Evaluation tool shall be the same as used for the evaluation of all Newark Public School’s principals. Principal’s will be evaluated by the NGVSZ Advisory Board during the 2011-2012 school year. • The Principal will be evaluated by multiple measures including, but not limited to district walkthrough data, CAPA reports, peer reviews and the use of data to drive instruction. • Beginning in 2011, a document will be created that evaluates implementation of the Newark Public Schools initiatives developed to address District Priorities 1-4, the Newark Global Village Zone mission and initiatives. The document will be developed and aligned with the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Commissions’ Standards for School Leaders and will become the evaluation tool for the principal and the school.

15. ACCOUNTABILITY • “Accountability must be a reciprocal process,” according to the Harvard University professor Richard F.Elmore. “For every increment of performance I demand from you”, Elmore explains, “I have an equal responsibility to provide you with the capacity to meet that expectation. Likewise, for every investment you make in my skill and knowledge, I have a reciprocal responsibility to demonstrate some new increment of performance”.

16. “Allow me the time to complete the job. There’s no secret to school improvement. It takes hard work, perseverance, consistent leadership, and perhaps most importantly, time - perhaps five to 10 years, according to the respected education researcher Michael Fullan. Yet the advocates of instant school transformation still grasp futilely for substitutes to the prescription. There are, in fact alternative school models, but whether I’m in a charter, a magnet, a private, or a comprehensive public school, I need the time to change that school’s culture, its faculty’s mind set, and the communities engagement...I’m simply asking for that autonomy now. Don’t lower expectations for me or my students. Just untie my hands so that I can work to meet them.” From ‘Untie My Hands’: A Principal’s Plea. Education Week by Gerald N. Tirozzi, the Executive Director of the National Association of Secondary School Principals

17. Advisory Representation The NGVSZ Advisory Board will include: one university official; one central office administrator; Ras Baraka-high school principal; Jo Ann Gilmore, Zakiyyah Razzaq, James Carlo, Jacquelyn Hartsfield, Barbara Ervin, and Roy Wilson-elementary principals; one community-based organization representative; one representative from the Victoria Foundation; one secondary parent; one elementary parent; one high school student; one professional development consultant, one school based NTU representative and two SLC chairpersons. Decisions will be made by consensus, utilizing Roberts Rules of Order. The NGVSZ Advisory Board will operate as a region, with the same responsibilities as the region in governance of the seven schools participating in the NGVSZ.

18. THE Newark global village SCHOOL ZONELeadership for Sustained Student Achievement in the 21st Century

19. ACCOUNTABILITY Changes to school administrative teams, when necessary, will only occur after the fifth year with the approval of the NGVSZ Advisory Board when school-wide data identifies that: 1.) students learning has declined for three consecutive years; and , 2.) data reflects no growth for two consecutive years; using multiple measures. The NGVSZ will develop a parent contract that must be signed by every parent who wishes to enroll a student. The Executive Board of the PTA/PTO will consist of the PTA/PTO President from each school. Members of the board will interact with principals and parents to support community friendly strategies throughout the Newark Global Village School Zone.

20. OUR GOAL The goal of the NGVSZ is to have the seven schools operate as one school with the same mission, values, and beliefs. We intend to operate one school that plans collectively and collaboratively to educate the approximately 3,500 children ages 3-21 that live in Newark’s Central Ward from PreK3 to College.

21. OUR SHARED BELIEFS • We believe that: • Effective leadership is the key to ensuring that schools meet the academic, social-emotional, and physical needs of students; • All students are entitled to an equitable educational experience; • All students are entitled to effective teaching grounded in researched based practices; • All students should be college-ready and/or workplace trained by the end of grade 13;

22. OUR SHARED BELIEFS • Schools are morally obligated to provide the environment, curriculum, assessment and technological experiences that will produce high performing 21st century learners; • Parents offer the best partnership for fully educating their children; • The community has a vested interest in providing the best possible education for all students; • The success of the Newark Global Village School Zone is dependent upon commitment, collaboration and support from all stakeholders – the schools, parents, community, district and city government.

23. OUR MISSION We intend to prepare students to internalize and apply a body of knowledge which will lead them to become highly motivated, economically independent, contributing members of their community in an increasingly global society.

24. Restructured Curriculum Features Move curriculum down one year beginning in PreK 3; Change/raise benchmark for Observation Survey, writing rubric; beginning in PreK- 4 and adjust to grade 5. Running records PreK 4- grade 5 Project based learning PreK 3 – grades 13; Half semester foreign language classes grade 4 and 5; Develop syllabus for each content area in grades 5-13; Advanced placement classes in grades 6-8 (English I, Algebra II, Biology, and include Genetics at the high school); Require summer reading projects – grade K-12; Weekly career planning sessions in grades 5 – 13; Require summer institute program in one content for grades 6-12 to include Project Use team building experiences; Require 12-20 page performance assessment in grades 5 – 13.

25. Restructured Curriculum Features Art, music, media and technology will be infused into the curriculum; Literacy/Social Studies will be an aligned interdisciplinary curriculum in grades 6-8; Daily Advisory groups – 30 minutes per day; Two years of foreign language in grades 7 and 8; Year long math and science content (geometry & astronomy- grade 6, pre-algebra & life science- grade 7, and algebra & physical science- grade 8); Introduction to skilled trades: carpentry, electronics, plumbing principles grades 6-8 – to continue into high school; Social service and extra curricular activities for all students PreK-3 – grade 13

26. Restructured Curriculum Features High School: Daily Convocations; Small Learning Communities–multiple pathways to achievement engineering, dental/health careers, social justice, environment and green technology, entrepreneurship and vocations, advanced placement credits, skilled tradesmen training;

29. March Learnia Results Mathematics

30. Restructured Curriculum Features Dual Enrollment; Early Graduation; Global Learning-Semester Abroad; Advisory Program