1. The Principal’s Role in Leading College and Career Readiness September, 2014
We hope you have had a wonderful morning of planning with your team and learning alongside your teachers. In the afternoon session, I hope you spend time planning what and how you are going to share the learning and resources from these meetings with others in your district.
Ask if there is anyone new joining us today Do introductions.

2. Looking Back…
Feedback from you has been –don’t give us anymore new information. Give us time to go deeper into what we’ve already learned. Dr. Bice has been very clear about the message that we are “staying the Course” this year. I would like to take just a few minutes to look back over last year, what we learned together, some resources we explored, and finally, review where we left off at the end of the year with our “next steps”
Throughout these past several years, we have tried to honor feedback that you’ve given One of those suggestions was to add a time to focus on how you might support leaders in this transition to the new vision, new standards and instructional practice, and new accountability system. These leadership sessions grew out of those requests.

3. Our Vision Every Child a Graduate – Every Graduate Prepared for
College/Work/Adulthood in the 21st Century
Knowing the vision is the first shift. I hope you are not tired of seeing or hearing this. This is our collective vision in this state. As we have talked before, over the last 10 years we have focused on every child being a graduate – which may have resulted in a lot of practicing for the test (AHSGE) so they could graduate. But, you all know, for many of our students that did not equate to every graduate being prepared for college, technical school, career, life…
Now, we are looking at more that just 1 test with minimum requirements to determine readiness. There are multiple ways a graduate can receive a College and Career Ready Indicator: 1. Benchmark on ACT, 2. Qualifying score on AP exam/IB program, 3. Benchmark on WorkKeys, 4. Completion of dual enrollment course, and 5. Receiving a CT Career Ready Credential.
So, this vision has to be at the forefront of everything we do. Consider how we transition our leaders from thinking about AYP to CCR.

4. Prepared Graduate Defined
Possesses the knowledge and skills needed to enroll and succeed in credit- bearing, first-year courses at a two- or four-year college, trade school, technical school, without the need for remediation.
Possesses the ability to apply
core academic skills to real-
world situations through collaboration with peers in problem solving, precision, and punctuality in delivery of a product, and has a desire to be a life-long learner.
Our working definition of a prepared graduate - not to merely graduate every student, but to prepare graduates who are uncommonly ready for success in their work places, their families, and their communities
Again, remind ourselves of what being a prepared graduate actually means. This is why we have the CCRS Implementation Team quarterly meetings and the quarterly Curriculum/Instruction meetings. This is also why there have been many changes over these last few years…..we have a new vision for the students of Alabama and it is the right one.

5. What are the District’s Roles and Responsibilities?
Provide administrators and teachers the information, professional learning, and resources to support transition to new standards and assessment.
Ensure alignment of policies and structures to support transition.
Stay focused and ON MESSAGE!
We started talking about this early on last year. So, the SDE’s responsibility is to the district. So, what are the district’s responsibilities?
Emphasize that if they don’t have a plan for using the information, professional learning, and resources with their schools, it may not get to the teachers – the ones who directly impact children. Feedback from surveys tells us that teachers and leaders not involved with the CCRS Implementation Team Meetings do not feel as prepared to implement the standards.
We acknowledged that you have a lot on their plates and may be protecting teachers from being overwhelmed – totally understandable – but find a way to keep teachers informed and engaged in the process.

6. KNOW the SHIFTS! Shift in vision and goals for students
Shifts in content
Shifts in instructional practices
Shifts in assessment practices
Shift in culture
Shift in leadership expectations
Shift from compliance to innovation
Shift in accountability for College and Career Readiness
We looked at the big shifts for all of us as we implement the CCRS. We spent a great deal of time in content sessions learning the shifts in content for math, ,ELA, and literacy. These shifts are the more comprehensive shifts that involve changes in behavior and expectations for everyone involved in implementing the standards (Go to next slide to talk about the shifts in instructional practices)
Are there any other shifts you think should be added to this list?
Talk to your neighbor about these shifts. which are problematic and which have had the greatest impact on effective implementation of the standards?

7. Instructional Practices
Emphasis on real-world problem solving (Project Based Learning, internships)
Reading and writing in every classroom
Student collaboration and engagement in meaningful, productive classroom discussions centered on worthwhile content
“Bell to bell” learning – maximizing instructional time
Extended learning opportunities – beyond the classroom
Formative assessment – frequent checks for understanding
Compliance to Innovation
Here are some big ideas regarding changes in instructional practices. They are very doable, but may not happen without intentionality.
Many of these are already happening in our schools. Partnerships with business and industry to provide learning experiences that are real world. Not limiting the learning to the four walls of the classroom, but expanding it from the classroom to the real world.
Are you seeing these shifts in instructional practices at your schools (just reflect to self)?

8. All districts and schools should have a PD plan for teachers to learn together about the standards and effective instructional practices. Again self reflect…..
Do you have a CCRS PD Plan? Do you know what is in your plan? Do you know what is working and not working? How do you know?
Talk about this for just a minute….
Wrap up with “If you can’t really answer these questions, that may be where you will want to start this year with your team…”

9. TOOLS to SUPPORT CCRS IMPLEMENTATION
These tools were shared as resources you could use with your team to reflect on your professional development plan, results you are seeing, adjustments needed, etc.
Do these look familiar?
The Guide for PD Planning was a resource organized around the areas of awareness, implementation, follow-up and support, and evaluation. It is a collection of documents and links where teachers and leaders can learn on their own or revisit as needed.
The Toolkit is another resource. You may remember that we shared a video last year of a school district that used the IMET to evaluate some reading resources that they purchased and all our sessions are using the EQuIP Rubric for lesson plan development. Other tools included help evaluate assessments and reading passages. You should have copies of this in your district, but if not, you can go to achievethecore.org and download your own.

10. District Progress and Capacity Rubric
Used by district teams to guide reflection related to effective implementation of the CCRS
We introduced the District CCRS Implementation Progress and Capacity Rubric last year. Some districts have shared how they have used the rubric and how it has really helped them move forward.
If you haven’t had a chance to revisit this tool, now would be a great time as you begin this school year.
Using this tool to self-assess is actually part of the PLU for the upcoming year.

11. Instructional Practice Guide
Remember these? We talked about the Instructional Practice Guides in just about every meeting last year. We watched a video of a math lesson and practiced using the IPG. Anyone remember some of the big take aways you identified from using this tool?
Ask to share….
You may hear:
Focuses on what the student is doing; makes us look for the math practice standards; great reflective tool to use with teachers to talk about lessons….
I think what the biggest take away was that high quality conversations around instruction are not happening or they are not beneficial. This tool really provides a structure for having dialogue about the teaching learning that is taking place.

12. CCRS Implementation Team Survey CCRS Teacher/Administrator Survey
56% response
Teacher/Administrator Survey
23% response
Briefly discuss the two surveys and the response we received
IT Survey – sent to over 1800 participants of our CCRS IT PD, over 1000 responses…over 50% response!
Teacher/Administrator Survey – sent to all LEAs, all teachers and admin, over 12,000 responses…between 23-25% response
We are using this data as we plan forward for our content in CCRS Implementation Team PD and our Overall support to you

13. We spent our last meeting talking about these things that teachers say would help them feel better prepared to teach the CCRS.
The survey with the larger group identified the exact same things.

14. Remember talking in groups about how we could provide more time for collaboration, lesson planning, and planning for assessments that were aligned with the standards?

16. Next Steps from April CCRS Leadership Session
How can you use information from the surveys to plan for next year?
What structure do you have in place for teachers to express their needs/concerns?
Would it be helpful to get this same type of information from leaders and teachers from schools in your district?
We hope to hear from you at our first QM what changes you have made at your schools to support teachers and
implementation of the CCRS.
This was a quick recap of some of the things we learned together last year and this is how we ended our last meeting in April. Take just a few minutes to talk with your neighbor about the changes you have made at your schools to support teachers and implementation of the CCRS.
Ask for some to share.

17. Staying the course….
As we move into this year, we are going to work hard to not throw anything new at you. We really are committed to staying the course by going deeper into what we’ve learned the past several years and using the tools and resources we’ve explored.

18. This is the reflection tool that participants in each session use to capture what they’ve learned about in their sessions and what is important to share with the team in the afternoon planning.
Feedback form the larger survey last year said that about 30% of the teachers did not feel they received adequate PD to effectively implement the standards.
How can you maximize the use of your CCRS Implementation Team. Take just a few minutes to talk with those sitting around you about how your team uses the team time and what are your expectations for team members after the implementation team meetings? (Give a little time to talk)
Would anyone like to share an idea that you found to be effective or that you heard from someone else?
So this is the structure we have in place to learn together, to plan for implementation of the standards, and to share resources. Again, we are committed to staying the course with this structure. So…let’s talk about what we’re going to do for the rest of our time together.

19. The Power Lies Within Does this picture look familiar?
This is from the Wizard of Oz and Dorothy and group on our their way to see the wizard because Dorothy wanted_____________, the tin man wanted a _______, the scarecrow wanted a ____________, and the lion wanted a ______________.
Let participants fill in…

20. But, when Dorothy and gang actually got to the wizard, what did they find out?
(they had what they were looking for all along – it was inside them)
What we heard over and over last year was that you enjoyed networking with one another and hearing about effective practices that other leaders were experiencing in their schools. The power of leadership really does lie within each of you. Together, you can share what is working and problem solve together to overcome the challenges you have.
So, we’re going to try something a little different for this meeting and possibly future meetings. We’ll get your feedback at the end of this session about whether this was beneficial or not.

21. Table Talks
We surveyed a sample of leaders in every region to get ideas on what leaders say they want to learn more about.
You will have an opportunity to network with one another about 1 or 2 topics of your choice.
(Time and engagement will determine whether 1 or 2 table topics will be visited.
After sharing the topics, They will be placed on tables – each facilitator should have blank signs to add or change topics based on feedback from the group. If one topic is really in demand, there may be 2 tables of the same topics)

22. Table Talk Topics… Collaborative Planning
Selecting materials/resources
Effective PD
Communication of the CCRS
Look Fors in the Classroom
Effective lesson plans/planning
Other
These are the topics that leaders said would be helpful to talk more about. Take a few minutes to read the topics. Does at least one of these hold interest for you? We are not limited to these topics if there are other topics that you would like added. Talk together about this for a minute. Any new topics to add? (you have blank signs in your packet to write new topics on – you can add or replace topics as indicated by your group. Place table signs with topics on the tables and give instructions).
You may choose the topic that you are most interested in networking with your colleagues about. Discussions seem to go best when there are 3-5 people at a table.
(If a table is full and there are more people interested in the topic, make another table sign to discuss the same topic.
Have a few copies of resources for the topics (collaborative planning – 3 tasks; selecting materials/resources – Toolkit or IMET; Effective PD – standards for professional learning; communication – GRIT resources; look fors – IPG; lesson plans – EQuIP – (you can add anything you think is helpful)
(Circulate to check engagement and determine if participants need an opportunity to move to another topic – hold time at the end to wrap up.
Allow time at the end to do the following:
Think about what is important to share with your team during your afternoon planning session? – provide next step templates at each table
2. Get feedback on if this was beneficial (why or why not) and
if it is something you would like to do again.

23. Feedback Complete the short survey
Use the “wrapping up” template to capture what you want to share with your team
Participants will be given a short survey to get feedback.
There will be a yes-no question about where the Table Talks were beneficial.
Topics will be listed for participants to rank according to interest.
Participants may also suggest topics for the next meeting.

24. Next Steps
Share what you have done in your schools to go deeper into implementation of the standards
Future topics
Gay Finn
When we come back together in November, we want to hear from you what you are doing in your schools to support implementation of the standards.
Also, if you have ideas for topics or resources you want to explore, please let me know.