Connecticut State Department of Education Norwalk Cambridge Review Presented to the Norwalk Board of Education February 26, 2008 Review Process: Bill No. 8003, Sec. 32. Section 10-223e & Sec. 33 passed in July 2007 gives the State Board of Education (SBE) authority to require schools and districts in need of improvement, under Connecticut Law and require corrective action under No Child Left Behind, to participate in an operations and instructional audit to identify strengths and weaknesses in the schools and districts. In September 2007, the district and school reviews were conducted by the review team which included Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) consultants and Cambridge Education associates. Both the district review and each school review was lead by the Cambridge Education associates. The district review was four days and each school review was two days. The following four schools: Silvermine Elementary School, Nathan Hale Middle School and Richard C. Briggs High School were required to participate in the review process. In addition to above the listed schools, the superintendent decided to have the remaining schools in the district participate in the review process. (The findings for those reviews are not included in the reports that CSDE sent to the district). School and district team members had daily debriefing session to discuss the review findings and the evidence to support those findings were collected and triangulated to ensure that claims were only made when there were several sources of information that could substantiate judgments. The draft report was shared with the review team members, superintendent and participating principals for a fact check to ensure that information and figures were accurate prior to the report being published. The purpose of the district assessment is to answer the following questions: How well is the District doing now? What is the evidence that all components of the District’s improvement plan and, where relevant, the District’s restructuring plan, have been implemented? What is the impact of the restructuring and improvement plans, and what evidence is there that the actions have resulted in improved student learning? What does the District need to do in order to continue to improve? The district review focused on five domains and they are as follows: Attainment, Learning, Teaching, Curriculum and Assessment Leadership, Culture and Accountability Management of Human and Fiscal Resources Operational Systems Stakeholder Engagement and Satisfaction The following scale is used to rate a districts performance in each of the domains, the rating includes the district’s achievement level and (overall judgments): Below Basic Level (in need of substantial improvement) Basic (in need of improvement) Proficient (meets requirements or seen as meeting the basic or minimum level) Goal (exceeds minimum requirements) Advanced (excellent) 1
Norwalk Domain Ratings: Attainment, Learning, Teaching, Curriculum, and Assessment: Below basic and needs substantial improvement Leadership, Culture and Accountability: Below basic and needs substantial improvement Management of Human and Fiscal Resources: Below basic and needs substantial improvement Operational Systems: Basic and needs improvement Stakeholder Engagement and Satisfaction: Below basic and needs substantial improvement What the district does well: Instructional specialists provide good support to kindergarten through grade 12 school programs, particularly in mathematics, language arts and science. Instructional specialists are highly regarded by schools, and are frequently mentioned as the strength of the district. There has been some progress in raising levels of achievement in recent years, although not for all students in all grades. In order to meet the requirements of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), improvement needs to be faster, particularly for socio-economically disadvantaged students. The district has a good department of Information and Instructional Technology with a positive culture, instructional focus and well-constructed, phased program to schools. This department is doing its best, with limited resources, to improve the level of technology to support student learning in schools. There is a well-managed and efficient school transportation system, focused on student achievement and welfare, which makes effective use of its resources. In recent years, there has been a high level of investment in school buildings, facilities and resources, resulting in an attractive physical learning environment in most schools. The district has recently started to provide high quality student assessment data to schools to enable them to evaluate issues and identify priorities more effectively. There is a high quality teacher evaluation process which is rigorous and focused on student achievement.
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What the district needs to improve: Improve communication with schools, parents and the wider community. This should include more opportunities for: listening to the views of stakeholders, encouraging participation in decision making, and ensuring the district’s values and policies are clearly and consistently communicated to, and embraced by, all stakeholders. Improve the district culture and climate which is regarded by many people in schools, central office, and the community (including parents) as lacking in openness and authenticity. Many staff and parents feel undervalued, disempowered, and isolated. District senior leaders need to take action to improve the district’s culture, in part by improving communication as noted above. Focus greater attention on closing the achievement gaps between socially and economically disadvantaged students, including African-American, Hispanic and ELL students, and more advantaged students. This focus should include more differentiated programs to meet the specific needs of those students. Ensure that the pace, range and implementation of curriculum and instructional change meets the requirements of all students and schools. Commission a full program and fiscal audit of the pupil services department conducted by an appropriate external agency to determine key priorities for improvement. This will assist the newly appointed director of pupil personnel services in operating more effectively and equitably in supporting pupils with special educational needs. It will also bring benefits to schools and improve the quality of advice available to the district’s senior leaders. The board of education and the superintendent should develop more effective and transparent processes for evaluating and making senior district staff more accountable for district performance. This relates both to student performance and the annual budget process.
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Areas in Need of Improvement
Current Strategies
Questions to Consider for Plan Revision
Improve communication with schools, parents and the wider community. This should include more opportunities for: listening to the views of stakeholders, encouraging participation in decision making, and ensuring the district’s values and policies are clearly and consistently communicated to, and embraced by, all stakeholders.
The District’s improvement plan has established as a goal, “Improve partnerships with parents and community stakeholders to increase the academic performance of all students. 1. District’s close alliance with the Norwalk Early Childhood Council 2. School-Community Early Childhood Action Plan (recognized as model by State) 3. AfterSchool Alliance 4. Norwalk ACTS 5. School-to-Career with Chamber of Commerce 6. Partnerships with Maritime Aquarium; Norwalk Community College 7. Norwalk Children’s Foundation 8. Norwalk Reads 9. Norwalk Education Foundation
How can the district establish a protocol for formalizing the input of these various groups? Does the protocol insure representation to reflect the demographics of the district’s student/family population? Has the district considered a comprehensive effort to reach out to all stakeholders in a formal way to elicit feedback and input relative to priority goals and values held by the community relative to the product of the school district? Is there a process in place for receiving input from these various groups relative to budget decision making?
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Improve the district culture and climate which is regarded by many people in schools, central office, and the community (including parents) as lacking in openness and authenticity. Many staff and parents feel undervalued, disempowered, and isolated. District senior leaders need to take action to improve the district’s culture, in part by improving communication as noted above.
1. Senior Central Office administrators have increased their presence in buildings 2. District Improvement Goal focuses on improving parental involvement and communication – in process 3. Public Relations Advisory Committee established 4. Structures that are in place, i.e., regularly scheduled meetings with Central office administration and building principals will be used to enhance communication and create a greater sense of involvement? 5. Newly developed protocol to ensure involvement of stakeholders in all District initiatives 6. Senior operations administrators conducting needs assessments in all schools through observations and interviews with principals 7. Staff and administrative committees regularly review teacher and administrator evaluations, elementary progress reports
When Central Office staff visit buildings, is there a defined purpose for these visits? Is there a log of visits to be used in measuring levels of contact? Are building level administrators and teachers regularly involved in district policy and operations meetings? How is this input gathered?
Is there a plan to gather baseline data relative to perceptions within the district as to issues raised in this section? This and a later repeat gathering of the data could serve as a pre and post measure of efforts for improvement in this area.
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Ensure that the pace, range and implementation of curriculum and instructional change meets the requirements of all students and schools.
1. Central Office and building level data teams being formed to identify indicators of progress and determine cycle of data collection 2. Pacing guides and district assessments are developed or in process of development in all major subject areas 3. Common final exams in most high school major subjects 4. Clearly articulated common curriculum based on state frameworks and standards exist in all areas 5. Training scheduled in February and March for Central Office Data Team on “Unwrapping Curriculum Standards” – will provide greater focus for schools 6. Implementation of a standards-based math program in K-5 7. Secondary math professional development focuses on hands-on activities and writing in the math classroom.
How is differentiated instruction supported throughout the district? When are the building level data teams to be formed and operational? What training is planned to insure the effective and efficient operation of these teams? How does the curriculum address the needs of all learners within the school district?
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Focus greater attention on closing the achievement gaps between socially and economically disadvantaged students, including African-American, Hispanic and ELL students, and more advantaged students. This focus should include more differentiated programs to meet the specific needs of those students.
1. District Improvement Plan and School Growth Plans address specific objectives and strategies for all subgroups 2. District initiated ELL Program Review resulted in K-12 recommendations, many already implemented 3. The District has accessed the expertise of noted researchers to address issues related to closing the achievement gap, For example, Dr. Ann Levett from the Yale university Child Study Center relative to reducing student suspensions. Dr. Ron Ferguson, specialist on Black-White inequities and author of Toward Excellence with Equity: An Emerging Vision for Closing the Achievement Group, to address middle and high school administrators and teachers in March. 4. K-5 literacy coaches and specialists work with teachers and students in need of additional help 5. K-8 numeracy coaches work with teachers and students in need of additional help 6. ELL Saturday Academy for parents of ELL students 7. ELL administrator provides professional development with Language Arts and Science specialists for all teachers 8. Science specialist and ELL administrator met with secondary teachers to explore enhancing greater opportunities for minority participation in AP class 9. Emerging Scholars recruits and supports minorities for participation in upper level high school classes
Is there a protocol in place to determine what teachers are in need of additional help? What is the purpose of Dr. Ferguson presentation? What type of follow-up will the district do after Dr. Ferguson presentation? What is the purpose of the ELL Saturday Academy? When does the academy start? Has a location for the academy been identified? Have you consider possible transportation issue? Have any other content specialists meet with the ELL administrator to identify strategies to increase minority participation in AP courses? What types of initiatives have the Emerging Scholars developed to increase minority participation in upper level high school classes? Also, what types of conversations are being had if any at all at the elementary and middle school level to prepare students to take upper level high school classes?
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Commission a full program and fiscal audit of the pupil services department conducted by an appropriate external agency to determine key priorities for improvement. This will assist the newly appointed director of pupil personnel services in operating more effectively and equitably in supporting pupils with special educational needs. It will also bring benefits to schools and improve the quality of advice available to the district’s senior leaders. The board of education and the superintendent should develop more effective and transparent processes for evaluating and making senior district staff more accountable for district performance. This relates both to student performance and the annual budget process.
1. The District has prepared a Request for Proposals to conduct an in-depth and comprehensive review of our Pupil Personnel Department. This will be reviewed by the State Education Department to determine if they can conduct this assessment. Alternatively, proposals will be sought from qualified assessors.
What steps is the district willing to take prior to the completion of the audit to building capacity for an effective delivery of instruction for all students utilizing differentiated instruction?
1. The superintendent is evaluated annually by the Board of Education which uses a comprehensive set of rubrics. The superintendent uses the same as a guide in his evaluation of senior staff. 2. The district’s annual budget is reviewed internally with all groups and with the Board and public over a series of evening meetings 3. Annual Board-Superintendent goal-setting for district and instructional plan provides a context for senior administrative accountability
How often does senior district staff meet with curriculum leaders and building level administrators to review progress of curriculum implementation, related PD, and the impact of these on student achievement? What data is used to measure progress? Are there bench marks predetermined for measuring progress?
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