Teacher Feature: Kimberly Duran
Early Literacy Specialist Facilitates Learning for Teachers and Students
 

"How do we maximize and accelerate opportunities for literacy learning, especially for our students who are below grade level?" It's a guiding question that helps Kimberly Duran and her fellow teachers focus their efforts on what will make the most impact for their students. In addition to her role as the STEM SmartLab facilitator at William (Bill) Roberts ECE-8 School, Kimberly is also the early literacy specialist, a new role that was created to provide ongoing, school-based professional learning and support as part of the Early Literacy Plan.
 

Kim participated in the Foundations of Early Literacy training over the summer along with

	Duran in the community garden at Bill Roberts.

more than 2,400 other educators. She described the experience saying, "[Deputy Superintendent] Susana [Cordova] was very clear about the what and why of the training, explaining that although schools are very different across the district, we needed to level the playing field and ensure we all had a common understanding of literacy."
 

Bill Roberts is one of the higher-performing schools in the district. Kimberly believes, "Whether you are a high-performing or low-performing school, the better trained a teacher is, the more opportunities students have to succeed, and every child deserves access to solid instruction." As the early literacy specialist, it is Kimberly's job to support her fellow teachers in providing that solid instruction.

Training Her Fellow Teachers in Early Literacy

 

Each month, Kimberly attends training provided by the district's literacy department; she then delivers that training to educators in her school. The monthly training and support she provides typically includes helping with the practical application of newly learned content, lesson planning and using literacy data to inform instruction. Kimberly appreciates that the training allows for differentiation: "If you know your staff well, you can take the parts that work and supplement in a way that makes sense for them and their students." 

She also works with grade-level teams to provide an additional two hours of professional learning. Part of the DPS Early Literacy Plan includes an investment that allows for teachers to get paid for the time they spend outside of regular work hours to engage in early literacy professional learning.

One of the things Kimberly discovered at Bill Roberts was that teachers were not using the same word lists across grade levels, which made it difficult for teachers to accurately compare student growth. "We needed more vertical alignment and articulation across grade levels. We want our students to be familiar with the resources we are using so we are talking the same language," she explained. By collaborating across grade levels, they are aiming to accelerate learning for students, particularly those who are below grade level.

Schoolwide Focus on Culture, and a Community Garden
 

Bill Roberts' schoolwide focus on culture has also contributed to a more collaborative environment. Kim shared, "Our goal is to become a blue school [on the School Performance Framework]; we've been a green school for a long time." Over the last few years, the staff has worked with the Culture, Equity and Leadership Team (CELT) to identify and understand inequities and biases each person brings to the table. They've also carved out time during meetings just to focus on culture.
 

When asked what makes Bill Roberts special, Kimberly described the variety of opportunities that students have to explore and learn. "We do a good job of looking at the whole child. We are fortunate to be able to expose our students to a variety of opportunities and avenues for them to explore their unique gifts and talents that are not strictly academic in nature." For Kimberly, that comes in the form of a community garden that she helped launch. With the help of a local donor, they've been able to expand the garden so each grade has a bed for which they are responsible.
 

Kimberly Duran has worked in education for more than 25 years; 11 of those years with DPS. William Roberts ECE-8 School is located in the Stapleton neighborhood in northeast Denver and has approximately 850 students.

CollaboRATE, DPS' all-employee survey, is live. By now, you should have received an email from Newmeasures with your personalized username and password. If you haven't already, please make some time between now and Friday, Dec. 9 to complete the survey -- it should only take about 15 to 20 minutes. This is an opportunity to share your voice regarding how we're doing in DPS as a whole, and you also will be able to give feedback for your principal, assistant principal, dean and, if applicable, Teacher Leadership & Collaboration team lead. All information shared is anonymous. Supervisors with five or more responses will receive a report that groups all employee feedback. For more information, visit celt.dpsk12.org/collaborate/.

Faculty Meeting Q&A

A feature focused on sharing your top questions from recent faculty meetings

Superintendent Tom Boasberg and Deputy Superintendent Susana Cordova visit schools several times a week to meet with teachers and specialized service providers throughout the year. Most recently, they met with educators from  College View, Denison, Johnson, PREP Academy, Contemporary Learning Academy, Emily Griffith HS, Compassion Road, Gilliam and John F. Kennedy. 

Q:

Do you think it's easier to get a "Distinguished" LEAP rating at Slavens than it is at Bruce Randolph? And if you acknowledge that it's not fair, what are you doing about it?

A:

We recognize this is an ongoing concern and have considered this issue from many perspectives. There are several mechanisms built into the LEAP system to address this.   First, all observers participate in ongoing training to improve their understanding and application of the LEAP framework. As part of this training, observers participate in calibration sessions to ensure consistency, fairness and shared expectations and definitions for effectiveness.  As a result, we see significantly more variations of LEAP ratings within schools than across schools, which we would expect given that all schools have teachers at different performance levels.     Secondly, when determining a final LEAP rating, leaders have the discretion to weigh each teacher's individual contributions based on the school context. When making these decisions, school leaders draw on guidance documents encouraging them to look holistically at a teacher's performance and to consider the unique circumstances and challenges of the school when determining a final rating.   Lastly, a school's overall rating on the School Performance Framework (SPF) is based on student growth, status (current achievement), and parent and student engagement measures. Of these measures, student growth measures are the only part of the SPF used to inform a teacher's rating. Student growth measures evaluate how much growth students made from one year to the next and do not evaluate students' current achievement status. The largest portion of student growth is based on a teacher's individual impact determined by student learning objectives (30% for teachers with state measures and 40% for teachers without state measures). SPF growth counts for 10% of an overall evaluation. Our desire is that teachers have confidence in the LEAP system as a fair and equitable measure of their practice; a solid definition of what good teaching looks like; and a clear understanding of how they are being evaluated. Findings from a recent survey indicate many of you see LEAP as a positive experience: Between 82% and 85% say your assistant principal, principal or senior/team lead has "an accurate understanding of my overall effectiveness as an educator." 75% agree "my teaching practice will improve as a result of the supports I receive through LEAP." 80% agree "Overall, my experience with LEAP this year so far has been positive." Still, we know we can do better and we are working diligently to improve the system, including addressing concerns such as the one articulated above. To do so, we need to hear from you. What can we do to make LEAP better? Please join us at one of the upcoming focus groups to share your feedback.   If you have additional questions, check out the LEAP FAQ or contact the LEAP team.

Have a question we can help answer? Email us at  [email protected].

New Reports Available for Spring 2016 CMAS: PARCC 

Content Standards Rosters and Evidence Statement Analysis Reports are now available for math, English language arts and Colorado  Spanish language arts.These reports are similar to the Content Standards Rosters and Item Analysis Reports already available for science and social studies.The Content Standards Roster Report analyzes student performance on the operational items of the spring 2016 assessments. Evidence Statement Analysis Reports analyze the performance on the evidence statements for each operational item on the spring 2016 assessments. Information is reported for each content area for each grade level and course. Log into PearsonAccess to view these reports -- reference this guide for directions to access the reports.

For more information, see the Interpretation Guide for ELA and Math Performance Level Summary, Content Rosters and Evidence Statement Reports.

Updates for Administering ACCESS 2.0  

The window to administer ACCESS 2.0 opens Monday, Jan. 9 and will be administered as a paper-based assessment. Since DPS will administer the paper version of ACCESS 2.0, the speaking portion for all grades requires that the test administrator score that portion of the test. As this is a state assessment and the only such test that allows local staff to score students, certified personnel -- who have been trained this year to administer ACCESS --should be familiar with administering all portions of the test, including the speaking administration. The same requirements apply to staff serving as test administrators for the kindergarten test or the alternate version of ACCESS for severely cognitively disabled students. Learn more about these updates.

In an effort to provide teachers with quality products, DPS will be transitioning from Schoolnet to Schoology for professional development course completion and curriculum access. Schoology is a versatile digital tool that will give schools what they need to access professional development courses and curriculum as well as create engaging classroom environments to support student success and personalized learning. Schoology will be available for teachers to use in April, in preparation for the 2017-18 school year, and can be accessed through the Teacher Portal.  If you have questions, please contact [email protected] .

Read more about this transition.