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| Art Teacher Nik Arnoldi talks with a student at Escalante-Biggs Academy |
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DPS Receives National Award for Developing Great Teachers
We're excited to announce that DPS was selected as a Great District for Great Teachers -- one of only eight districts in the nation to receive this honor. It comes from the
National Council on Teacher Quality
(NCTQ), which made the announcement at this week's South by Southwest Education Expo in Austin. NCTQ chose DPS after a rigorous evaluation, including an analysis of districts' data, policies and considerable teacher input, all of which confirmed DPS as a national leader in supporting and developing great teachers -- so that they, in turn, can deliver great instruction to their students.
DPS was highlighted for excellence in two key areas: teacher leadership opportunities and principal support. The award specifically called out the district's
Teacher Leadership & Collaboration
model, which allows teachers to take on leadership roles to support and grow other teachers while still spending part of their time teaching students in the classroom. In addition, the district was noted for
in-house principal pipelines
that provide intense leadership development for school leaders.
Stay tuned for more information about this award, as well as additional news from South by Southwest, where schools such as Martin Luther King Jr., Early College are presenting how TLC works for their team. Congratulations to all!
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Coming Soon: DPS Transitions to Schoology
Schoology, DPS' new learning management system, will help teachers create engaging, personalized classroom environments and provide access to professional development courses and curriculum content. It will be available for teachers, principals and assistant principals starting in April in preparation for the 2017-18 school year. Teachers will continue to register for professional development in Schoolnet until further notice. To learn more about Schoology,
watch a video testimonial from DPS teachers and students, and check out the
Schoology FAQ.
Please look for access and training information in future issues of this newsletter. If you have questions, please contact
dps_portalteam@dpsk12.org.
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View Istation Results by DPS-Specific Demographics
Based on feedback from schools, the Accountability, Research & Evaluation team worked with Istation to create two new demographic dropdowns that allow users to compare different demographic groups of students to better understand academic performance based on race and ethnicity. This is part of a larger district move toward ensuring equity for all students, regardless of age, ethnicity or ability. These new filters will help schools understand how students are performing and how that information may impact their School Performance Framework (SPF). The two new ways to filter are:
- DPS SPF Disaggregated Group Performance -- Students of Color (SOC): shows performance of students of color alongside their white peers.
- DPS Race and Ethnicity: shows performance of students, broken out by race and ethnicity.
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Faculty Meeting Q&A
A feature focused on sharing your top questions from recent faculty meetings
Throughout the school year, Superintendent Tom Boasberg and Deputy Superintendent Susana Cordova will be visiting every school to meet with teachers and leaders to hear what's going on in their schools and to answer questions. Last week, they met with teachers from Escalante Biggs, Greenwood and Swigert Elementary Schools, and East High School.
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I hear that PERA is not sustainable for the long term. What does DPS think?
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The district works closely with the Public Employees' Retirement Association (PERA) and our legislative partners to monitor the sustainability of PERA. The DPS division of PERA is the highest-funded division at roughly 80%, based on 2015 audited results (2016 audited results will be released in June). The DPS division is projected to be fully funded within 36 years. In addition, even if returns come in lower than the assumed 7.25% rate, the fund is not expected to run out of money. While it is important to become fully funded as quickly as possible, there is a trade-off between the needs of the classroom today versus long-term liability.
Some of the concerns you may hear are likely related to other divisions of PERA or by people who want to see changes to the important defined benefit plans. In order to address this, PERA has started to work with current and retired PERA members to look at the options to determine what changes may be needed. We are committed to engaging in these conversations and working to ensure the continued sustainability of the DPS PERA division.
Note:
Public Employees' Retirement Association (PERA) provides retirement and other benefits to the employees of more than 500 government agencies and public entities in the state of Colorado. Members of PERA include employees of the Colorado state government, public school teachers in the state, many university and college employees, judges, many employees of cities and towns, state troopers and the employees of many other public entities.
PERA is a substitute for social security for most of these public employees. Benefits are pre-funded, which means while a member is working, he or she is required to contribute a fixed percentage of their salary to the retirement trust funds. This percentage is 8% for most members. Employers also contribute a percentage of pay to the trust fund.
The trust funds are then invested by PERA under the direction of the PERA Board of Trustees.
Please contact Chief Financial Officer
Mark Ferrandino if you have further questions.
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Apply Now for Funds to Improve Walking and Biking Conditions on Your Campus
WalkDenver
and Denver Environmental Health's Community Active Living Coalition (CALC) announced a funding opportunity for DPS to improve conditions for walking and biking on school campuses. This spring, two to four DPS schools will receive up to $5,000 for projects supporting active transportation. CALC will contract with DPS facilities for project installation. While we have some pre-approved installations as options, community involvement is highly encouraged, so work with your fellow teachers, students and school leaders to come up with a creative idea! Application materials -- including detailed grant information, a budget worksheet and a list of potential projects -- are available in this Google Drive. Once you've read the grant information, fill out the online application.
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Teacher Leadership & Collaboration
Check Your Eligibility for TLC Roles
Teachers and teacher leaders are encouraged to check their eligibility in Global Human Resources (GHR) to determine which teacher leader roles you can apply for in the 2017-18 school year. Establishing your eligibility is different depending on whether you are a current DPS teacher, a current DPS employee not teaching or a candidate external to the district. Please refer to this page on the TLC website to check your eligibility.
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Now Accepting Nominations for Night of Honor Awards
Do you know someone on team DPS who embodies the Shared Core Values every day? How about a successful and effective team? Recognize these individuals by nominating them for a Night of Honor award:
- Leadership Lamp Award: Our most distinguished award honoring our Shared Core Values champions (four awards)
- Excellence in Team Award: High-performing teams making a difference (teams of three to 12; four awards)
- Living Our DPS: Honoring the actions of individuals living one of our Shared Core Values (as many as 50 awards)
Also, nominate a DPS parent or family who is making a positive impact in their school communities for the Family Leadership Award, presented at an upcoming Superintendent Parent Forum.
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Teacher Resources Available on The Commons from Anywhere, Anytime
DPS' intranet, The Commons, is now available to Team DPS from anywhere, anytime.
With this update, the information on The Commons has stayed the same. However, some links are password-protected and require a secure log-on to access district-only information. If you receive a log-on prompt, simply input your DPS username and password, and you will be able to view the information on Google.
Check out our FAQ section to learn more about how we're protecting district-only information on the intranet.
Now that the intranet is available from anywhere, you can also access the site from home or on-the-go using your desktop, tablet or mobile device. Just type thecommons.dpsk12.org into any internet browser. If you have questions, please email us at thecommons@dpsk12.org.
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Professional Learning & Resources
Expeditionary Learning/Paired Literacy for Third- through Fifth-Grade Teachers
As a reminder, third- through fifth-grade teachers at schools opting into Expeditionary Learning/Paired Literacy are invited to a professional learning session from 4 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, March 14 at Manual High School. Participants will be paid at the extra duty rate. The pre-work window for these sessions is open through March 10 and you will need to register on Schoolnet to get access to the work. Please contact Sara Wortinger with any questions.
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