In this Issue
Dear Colleague,

We trust those on the east coast have dug out from the recent snow and are back to your schools and districts. In this issue, we showcase some of the work we are doing with districts around innovative school design and district accountability systems as well as some upcoming professional development opportunities.

Finally, our executive director, Dan French, wrote about a recent Washington Post blog post titled, "U.S. education policy: federal overreach or reaching for the wrong things?" by Arthur Camins. Read Dan's post. 

Sincerely,

 

Lisa Giuffre, Sr. Director, Operations

School Quality Reviews

In partnership with the Center for Collaborative Education, Boston Public Schools (BPS) has launched a new district-wide accountability system for all BPS schools. Based on CCE's prior work building a strong accountability model for Boston's Pilot Schools, School Quality Reviews (SQRs) enable rapid support and intervention in struggling schools, continued support to improving schools, and advocacy for successful schools.

 

This year, our District and School Design Team is facilitating and coaching the implementation of SQRs in 14 schools across the district. BPS plans to expand the use of SQRs to 25 schools in SY2015-16. The goals of this new model are to:

  1. Bring a higher level of accountability to all schools, conveying expectations of high performance
  2. Build capacity for school improvement focused on student learning
  3. Proactively identify schools in need of support and intervention 
  4. Provide useful feedback on each school's strengths and challenges that leads to action planning
  5. Provide school data to inform district planning decisions

Quality Performance Assessment Summer Institute 

We invite you to take advantage of the Quality Performance Assessment Summer Institute from July 13-16, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts. 

 

For educators new to the Summer Institute, the following topics will be shared:

  • An introduction to quality performance assessments
  • Task, rubric development, and validation process
  • Field testing, scoring calibration and identifying anchor papers to ensure reliability
  • Data analysis to improve instructional practice and student learning
  • Quality administration and implementation of performance assessments
More rigorous material will be offered to past Summer Institute attendees.

Autonomy and School Design  

We are excited to share our experience in the use of autonomy to drive vision-based school design by providing technical assistance and professional development to the Minneapolis Public Schools. We are working with the district to assist in the planning and design of a new model of innovative schools, Community Partnership Schools designed to accelerate student learning through autonomy, accountability and partnership.

 

The Community Partnership School (CPS) model includes a vision of schools in which there is a focus on high academic expectations for every student, the whole child (academics and social-emotional-physical well-being), learning experiences inside and outside the school, and family and community partnerships.

Webinar: Serving English Language Learners
You are invited to a complimentary webinar, Serving English Language Learners: Moving beyond Compliance towards Equity, on Wednesday, March 4th at 3:30 pm. This one-hour webinar, facilitated by CCE's English Language Learner programs staff, will share teacher successes and highlight effective practices in serving ELLs, the nation's fastest growing student subgroup. 

This webinar will emphasize the importance of student-centered, asset-based and culturally responsive teaching in the effort to move beyond compliance measures towards equitable education for all learners. 


Related Resources: CCE offers professional development on the WIDA� integrated system of language proficiency standards and assessments and standards-based program evaluation and development. For more information, please contact Sarah at sottow@ccebos.org

In the News 

CCE is seeking a Research Associate to assist with research and evaluation activities for various projects on a range of topics in education, including English Language Learners, performance assessment and STEM; and work with program and administrative staff from across the organization. View job announcement.
 

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We are proud to highlight the work of one of the residents in CCE's Los Angeles Urban Teacher Residency program.Tina Hannouche, an Animo Venice Charter High School physics teacher, is bringing an enthusiastic group of high school students to the national Rube Goldberg Machine Contest in Wisconsin after placing first in the LA county regional competition. Their project was to create a giant chain reaction in order to complete a simple task-erase a chalkboard. The machine is a combination of all of the STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Art Math) genres into one patience testing contraption. Read about their journey.

Center for Collaborative Education
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