Virginia Department of Education Office of School Improvement Kathleen Smith, Director Lynn Sodat, School Improvement Specialist Jo Ann Burkholder, Student Assistance Systems Coordinator

 Dr. Kathleen Smith, Director, Office of School Improvement  Dr. Lynn Sodat, School Improvement Specialist  Jo Ann Burkholder, Student Assistance Systems Coordinator  Regional Liaisons ◦ Frank Ehrhart ◦ Courtney Graves ◦ Steve Sage ◦ Dr. Greg Wheeler ◦ Melanie Yules

1. Read the State Board of Education agenda item outlining the Board approved academic review process for high schools provisionally accredited or accredited with warning-graduation rate: /2011/07_jul/agenda_items/item_h.pdf

2. Submit Verification form to OSI (due today) to include: ◦ Division central office level contact person ◦ Data technology contact person ◦ Principal contact information ◦ Other personnel that you wish to include on correspondence (optional)

3. Determine membership and meeting schedule for DIVISION LEADERSHIP TEAM ◦ Will review data from VEWS and other sources to make decisions about resources, policies, and strategies that will impact high school achievement at all grade levels ◦ Must include:  The high school principal  The division’s top elementary, middle, and secondary leaders  Title I  Special Education  Recommended: Student Support Coordinator

◦ Will meet monthly, and will submit agendas and minutes to Regional Liaison following each meeting ◦ One representative from the division team must attend the school team’s monthly meetings and participate in technical assistance offered by OSI ◦ If you already have a division leadership team comprised of the required participants, you may incorporate K-12 graduation rate into the meeting agendas instead of forming a new team:  Principal must attend meetings  Meeting agendas and minutes required

4. Determine membership and meeting schedule for SCHOOL TEAM ◦ Will execute the 7-step VEWS implementation process in order to identify and provide interventions for students at-risk of failure or drop out. ◦ Must include:  The high school principal  The division representative  Guidance and/or other Student Support Staff  Special Education  Instruction

◦ Will meet monthly, and will submit agendas and minutes to Regional Liaison following each meeting ◦ Monthly meetings will focus on early warning system data and other pertinent data, with a goal of providing effective interventions to identified students to prevent failure and drop out:  9 th through 11 th grade students—ongoing and consistent focus  12 th grade students—immediate and intense focus ◦ Select members of this team will participate in technical assistance offered by OSI

Continuum of Ongoing Strategies

5. Upload VEWS Pre-HS data no later than October 20, 2011 ◦ Flags incoming 9 th graders as on-track or off- track ◦ Technical assistance webinars offered to high schools that need assistance uploading data on Wednesday, October 12 at 10:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. ◦ For more information, go to: rovement/early_warning_system/index.shtml

6. Prepare to attend your first face-to-face meeting on a day occurring between October from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ◦ HELP NEEDED —we are looking for divisions to offer meeting locations and to provide light refreshments for a reasonable cost ◦ Minimum of 3 attendees per school team: division representative, principal, additional person  May be data person, guidance/student support staff, instruction ◦ Focus of first meeting will be analysis of VEWS data

 Determine which Early Warning System (EWS) you will use this year ◦ Required for all 9 th grade students—data must be updated and analyzed at a minimum after each marking period ◦ School divisions decide which system they will use:  VEWS  “The Virginia Dashboard”/DataCation  Locally developed EWS

 Eight Elements of High School Improvement—webinar series ◦ Participation in each of 5 webinar sessions as assigned  Principal, division contact, and additional team member(s) must participate  Completion of related assignments  Importance of attention and participation in webinars

 Regional liaisons will communicate with division contact and school principal primarily through: ◦ Phone calls ◦ Webinars ◦ It is important that you treat these contacts seriously. We have minimized face-to-face interaction for your convenience and expect your attention as we communicate electronically.

 It is likely that warned high schools will participate in an on-site academic review  Reviews will be held over multiple days and will be scheduled by OSI  Review categories include: ◦ Implementation of curriculum aligned with the SOL ◦ Time and scheduling practices ◦ Use of data ◦ Professional development ◦ School improvement planning ◦ Research-based instructional interventions ◦ Organizational systems and processes  For more information, go to: mprovement/academic_reviews/index.shtml mprovement/academic_reviews/index.shtml

 Eight Elements of High School Improvement—webinar series ◦ Participation in each of 5 webinar sessions as assigned  Principal, division contact, and additional team member(s) must participate  Completion of related assignments  Importance of attention and participation in webinars

 By May 1, 2011, each warned school will submit an actionable, three-year school improvement plan  Plans will be developed using the Indistar web-based school improvement planning tool  Webinar training for Indistar is scheduled on January 5, 12, 19, and 26 at 10:00 a.m.  The principal and division contact must participate in this training

 Spring face-to-face regional meeting week of April 16-20, 2012  Differentiated Technical Assistance Team– DTAT  Webinars on selected topics developed by OSI  Regional liaisons may assign schools to attend webinars on specified topics  BRIM – Breaking Ranks in the Middle ◦ November ◦ Contact Lynn TODAY if you wish to register

 VPSA Technology Grant  $26,000 per school over 3 years  Restrictions  Hardware  Software  No salaries, etc.  More information to come via Superintendent’s

Questions

 Kathleen Smith ◦ ◦  Lynn Sodat ◦ ◦  Jo Ann Burkholder ◦ ◦