Introduction to the CORE District Waiver for Interested Local Education Agencies (LEAs) May 2013

ESEA W AIVER O VERVIEW

W AIVER O VERVIEW Principle One: College- and Career-Ready Expectations For All Students  All districts have committed to transitioning to Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and Smarter Balanced Assessments (SBAC);  Member districts have agreed upon a strategic implementation timeline, including detailed activities for each phase. Districts have already begun to implement these activities; and  CORE, working closely with district leaders and teacher-leaders, has developed pilot assessment materials to better prepare teachers for this transition Principle Two: Differentiated Recognition, Accountability, and Support  CORE and its member districts have established a rigorous accountability structure based on achievement targets in the academic, social, and school climate domains; and  Districts have built consensus on a framework and implementation timeline for identifying and supporting Reward, Priority, and Focus schools Principle Three: Supporting Effective Instruction and Leadership  Districts have agreed to refine educator evaluation systems to align with the common effectiveness indicators developed as part of Principle Two, and a timeline for doing so; and  CORE will support districts in this effort and will develop guidelines for classroom observation procedures and data collection, as well as provide a forum for further educator collaboration ESEA Waiver Core Principles Principle One College- and Career-Ready Expectations For All Students Principle Two Differentiated Recognition, Accountability, and Support Principle Three Supporting Effective Instruction and Leadership Following California’s decision to forgo applying for an ESEA Waiver, in 2012 CORE districts began laying the groundwork for seeking the first-ever district level ESEA waiver. To date, CORE and its member districts have made significant progress in the 3 core principles of the waiver application:

P RINCIPLE 1. T RANSITION TO C OLLEGE - AND C AREER -R EADY S TANDARDS Building Shared Knowledge and Understanding Building capacity for transition to CCSS Transition Bringing life to the CCSS / Application Putting the CCSS in practice / CORE CCSS Transition Timeline

College and Career-Ready Graduates Academic DomainSocial/ Emotional Domain School/District Culture & Climate Domain Elimination of Disparity and Disproportionality Achievement and Growth All Students NCLB Subgroups Gaps Graduation Rate Persistence Rate Suspension/ Expulsion Chronic Absenteeism Non-Cognitive Skills Shareholder Voice/ Perceptions Students, Staff, Parents Special Education Identification English Learner Entry/Exit P RINCIPLE 2. D IFFERENTIATED R ECOGNITION, A CCOUNTABILITY, AND S UPPORT

S tandardized annual Achievable Measurable Objectives for all schools will provide a system to reward, support and intervene as needed

Districts will use CORE-defined AMOs to identify Reward, Priority, and Focus schools and to implement intervention and support as needed

District Guidelines: Teacher, Principal, Superintendent Evaluation & Support System (For both CORE and non-CORE LEAs)  A common set of educator effectiveness indicators agreed upon by CORE member districts with input from non-member LEAs  Classroom observation procedures that provide teachers with quality feedback regarding instructional practice, aligned to adopted educator effectiveness standards  At least one significant component based on a measure of student academic growth  Data collection with sufficient frequency to provide a basis for evaluation  Ratings that meaningfully differentiate among teaching effectiveness using at least four categories  Support for growth and capacity building  Increase in teacher collaboration to inform classroom instruction for increased academic achievement Principle 3: Supporting Effective Instruction and Leadership Participating districts will create or redesign their evaluation systems to include the principles agreed upon by CORE districts as part of the waiver process Notes: Above framework adopted from Greatness By Design, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson’s Taskforce on Educator Excellence, September 2012

Implementation of redesigned evaluation systems will take place over 3 years Build Shared Knowledge and Understanding Building capacity for new educator evaluation systems Design & Pilot Design new, modify or pilot educator evaluation systems aligned to local district contexts / Implementation Implementation of new educator evaluation systems Districts engage bargaining units, administrators, and other stakeholders to build support for tenets of waiver application Districts participate in CORE-facilitated cross- district collaboration sessions Design or refine educator evaluation system (teacher, principal and superintendent) to align with CORE Districts agreed upon common effectiveness indicators Districts will begin to pilot refined evaluation systems in school year CORE will continue to offer support and facilitate collaboration sessions in order for district leaders to learn from one another’s implementation efforts

Update on Timing

February 28: CORE ESEA Waiver Application Submitted April 19: Peer review complete; US ED feedback sent to CORE Mid-April to Mid-May: CORE, member districts, and other stakeholders review and address peer reviewer key feedback areas with particular focus on further refining Accountability System and AMOs March April May End of May: Target for revised application submission CORE and member districts have received feedback from US ED and peer reviewers and have an ambitious plan to improve on the Waiver application Comment Review and Waiver Revision

LEA’s Next Steps

 Carefully review all waivers (pg. 12), assurances made (pg. 13) and accountability, implementation, and improvement plans outlined in CORE waiver  Gather input from teachers, administrators, and other key stakeholders to ensure adequate community engagement  Record stakeholder meeting dates, attendees, and meeting notes; send to CORE in tracking document (included as attachment)  Sign MOU with CORE (once finalized) by June 30 th Immediate (Or by May, 2014 for inclusion in SY ‘14-’15 waiver) Post-waiver approval Principle 1 Must-Dos  Develop district CCSS instructional plans which include necessary pedagogical shifts for engaging all students to master all standards (with EL, SwD emphasis)  Identify ELD benchmarked learning targets within the CCSS and new CA ELD standards  Develop district professional development plan for all teachers aligned to CCSS and SBAC  Engage all teacher leaders in CCSS and SBAC based professional development for preparation of CCSS implementation  Prepare for full district transition to CCSS in  Agree to fully transition to SBAC assessments in , even if CA does not Must-Dos for participation in CORE ESEA Waiver

Post-waiver approval Principle 2 Must-Dos Post-waiver approval Principle 3 Must-Dos  Share district data, including: Summative and formative achievement data Graduation rates (Using CORE agreed upon calculation formula) Attendance (chronic absenteeism) Discipline (suspension/expulsion) Special education identification College and career readiness framework indicators (tbd)  Submit requested data to CORE for accountability reporting monitoring at defined intervals  Employ defined interventions for priority and focus schools  Share “Schools of Distinction” coaching teams of teachers/administrators with other districts for priority and focus school interventions  Accept coaching for priority and focus schools from Schools of Distinction, and potential closure or charter restructure for persistently low performing schools  Adhere to and monitor schools and districts performance using CORE accountability model  AMOs in three domains Year-end achievement data at final schools’ grade level All students and NCLB subgroups growth, gaps and achievement  Growth model (tbd)  Ensure that district teacher/principal evaluation system is aligned to the CORE Districts agreed-upon common standards If necessary, modify or design teacher/principal/superintendent evaluation systems by the spring of 2014 Ensure that system Includes student learning as a significant component (this may need to be bargained) Ensure and set up systems for data collection with sufficient frequency to provide a basis for evaluation Employ ratings that meaningfully differentiate among teaching effectiveness using at least four categories  Pilot newly designed or modified teacher/principal/superintendent evaluation systems during  Implement in  Share aggregate evaluation system data, reports and evidence regarding progress in increasing student outcomes and closing the achievement gap by: Tracking and reporting the aggregate distribution of teachers and principals at the district level by performance level data starting for the 2015–2016 school year

Appendix

Supporting Document Links: Stakeholder Engagement Supporting Documents  Stakeholder Engagement Letter: A template letter district leadership can use to inform key stakeholders about the ESEA waiver process and to collect feedback  Feedback Form: To be filled out and sent to CORE. Form should include information about stakeholder engagement sessions, including date, attendees, and feedback received from teachers, administrators, and others  Statement of Support: A template letter to collect statements of support across all CORE and participating districts Supporting Document Links: Application Process  Waiver: Official US ED waiver. All boxes should be checked before submitting to CORE and US ED  Assurances: To be reviewed and agreed to by participating districts. All boxes must be checked before submitting to CORE and US ED  MOU: To be reviewed and signed by participating districts’ superintendents. MOU must be signed in order to be included in CORE waiver