Welcome to the Educational Directions professional development session presented to the participating districts of the Southwest Arkansas Education Cooperative (SWAEC). This is our third and final scheduled professional development session for the 23-24 school year.
We would like to thank Commissioner Jacob Oliva and Deputy Commissioner Stacy Smith and their team at the Division of Elementary and Secondary Education for both providing resources and guidance to our work with SWAEC districts this year. We would also like to thank Phoebe Bailey, the director of the Southwest Arkansas Education Cooperative, for providing support and facilities as well as being a great partner on this project.
As we created this PD session, we realized there were a few different audiences that might be attending: some schools that have been with us since the opening of school, some schools that have been with us since December, and possibly some people in the room or joining us online that have not been through any professional development sessions with us nor have an Ed Directions coach helping with processing and implementing the PD curriculum.
Therefore, we streamlined this PD to be laser focused on the time between when this PD is given on February 29 and the week after testing ends. This session does not require prerequisites of having attended previous PD sessions, nor should it require an Ed Directions coach to help with the activities that ultimately create a school’s plan for preparing for, administering, and reviewing the testing period.
There are three major components to today’s session:
Section 1 – LEARNS and High Stakes Testing: We look at the importance of this year’s test especially as it relates to refining planning and operations already getting ready for next year’s testing cycle.
Section 2 – The Four Test Preparation Environments: Many times, testing can be viewed as something that needs to be administered by adults with minimal preparation time required. We will go deeper into getting both kids and adults engaged with the upcoming testing, make sure that modes of delivering the test are well understood and practiced, and that we have a month-long social-emotional aspect to getting kids into the right headspace to give best effort.
The four test preparation environments are: Academic, Emotional, Social, and Physical. For each one of these environments, we will make sure schools are aware of some of the longer-term, systemic strategies they can integrate into their summer planning and year-long efforts for next school year, but since there is precious little time before this year’s testing cycle starts, we will focus on Band-Aids (or tactical short-term planning) that will help the schools reach their potential. And next year, the systemic strategies will help them increase that potential.
We also break down the responsibilities in each one of these environments into three groups: what leadership should be doing and monitoring, the teacher’s role in helping the kids achieve their best, and strategies that the kids should be doing in preparation for testing. These are very practical, common sense, lists that should spark some good ideas for the working lunch where participating schools will create their testing plan.
Section 3 – The Four Phases of the Testing Period: We break the testing period of the year into 4 discrete parts:
During the optional lunchtime activity, participants will be planning for the first three phases of testing. Included in the participants guide, there is also a tool in the appendix for the Refocusing Phase for capturing what went well, ideas for what to do next year, factoring this year’s testing into summer programs and priorities for opening school next year, and finally looking at what didn’t go well and trying to develop mitigating strategies while everything is still fresh in the educators’ heads.
Artifacts and Resources: We have also customized a Participant Guide specifically for the SWAEC teams. We have activities that follow key learnings to make sure participants understand the competencies of each section. The guide has both activities and reference materials about models and systems indicators.
Also included in this landing page are the key slides from the presentation, a robust Participant Guide, longer form videos on key topics (shorter versions were recorded for the actual live PD session), and access to all the materials from the two previous PD sessions.
Welcome to the second Educational Directions professional development session presented to the participating districts of the Southwest Arkansas Education Cooperative. The training is specifically tailored to both the districts present today as well as the time of year (in Learner Year terms, the Formative Period and moving into the Calibrating Period). The training will cover several models and includes activities and reference materials so that the participant can translate the content of today’s PD into immediate action.
In the first section of the training, we will review Ed Directions’ School Improvement Framework. We will look at a Venn diagram with the three intersecting circles that make up the district’s and the school’s approach to the LEARNS Act: Circle 1 – High Stakes Accountability and Student Performance, Circle 2 – Standards-based Teaching and Learning, and Circle 3 – The Local Context. In the first PD, we looked at each of the three circles. We will look at where the circles overlap and the different timelines we need to keep in mind when doing strategic planning.
In the second section, we will review Student as Learner (the neuroscience of learning model) versus Student as Performer (5 Legged Model of Performance). In the past PD, we introduced the types of student work that are used to enhance performance. In this session, we will dive deeper into each style of work and activities will reinforce the use and strategies associated with student work types.
In the third section, we will look at the Learner Year. We are in the second half of the Formative Period and need to prepare for Calibrating Period. In the Formative Period, we build the potential of the learner. In the Calibrating Period, we continue to build independent learners, but the focus shifts to performance. . . their ability to retrieve learning and work with it at the level they will be assessed. Several strategies will be covered with a deep dive on the 4 Column Method, and organizational tool that can help all 5 legs of performance.
In the fourth and final section, we will go deeper into three of the School System Indicators presented briefly in the first PD. Specifically, we will review: Time Management Systems, Performance Assessment Systems, and Planning Systems. This will help develop priorities for the spring semester and will be incorporated into the end of term readiness report that will be written by the Ed Directions Leadership Coaches and the Program Manager.
We have also customized a participant’s guide specifically for the SWAEC teams. We have activities that follow key learnings to make sure participants understand the competencies of each section. The guide has both activities and reference materials about models and systems indicators. An optional working lunch will be available for teams to work on activities or strategically plan with the senior team members of Educational Directions.
Welcome to the first of two Educational Directions professional development sessions presented to the participating districts of the Southwest Arkansas Education Cooperative. The training is specifically tailored to both the districts present today as well as the time of year (in Learner Year terms, the Formative Period). The training will cover 3 models and includes activities and reference materials so that the participant can translate the content of today’s PD into immediate action.
The first model is Ed Directions’ School Improvement Framework. We will look at a Venn diagram with the three intersecting circles that make up the district’s and the school’s approach to the LEARNS Act: Circle 1 – High Stakes Accountability and Student Performance, Circle 2 – Standards-based Teaching and Learning, and Circle 3 – The Local Context. These areas of influence will be covered in detail in the presentation and have a large reference section in the participant’s guide.
The second model (which is really a 2 model set) looks at how students learn and how students perform. In the Neuroscience of Learning diagram, participants will understand how Learning is really the process of getting content and the understanding of how to use that content into long-term, (to move that content or change into) retrievable memory (which in the next model, becomes the Knowledge leg). We do not test what students know. We test how they can perform with what they know. If students have a performance issue, we have to look at where student work breaks down. For this, we use the 5 Legged Model of Performance (1 – Knowledge, 2 – Attitude, 3 – Perception, 4 – Thinking, and 5 – Experience). To improve student performance, we must do a causal analysis of what key issue(s) a student is having. This allows us to target interventions and address the root cause of poor performance.
Finally, we will cover arguably the most important model of understanding student-focused instruction and the key to building better Learners and Performers: The Rhythm of the Learner Year. We have broken the school year down by student need and focusing on building the potential of learners early in the year then actualizing that into performance as we get later in the year and prepare for high stakes testing. This process is not about just improving test scores. We do not teach to the test. We teach through the test. We believe that if you build self-starting, confident, engaged learners and performers, high test scores are a natural byproduct.
We have also customized a participant’s guide specifically for the SWAEC teams. We have activities that follow key learnings to make sure participants understand the competencies of each major point. Since this is the first time many of these educators have been introduced to these models, we put longer form explanations as a reference. We have also included an after action activity to capture successes and areas of opportunity from the opening of the 2023-24 school year as well as a strategic planning activity for creating 30 day, 60 day and end of semester priorities to close out the first semester.
Educational Directions
Educational Directions specializes in customized academic improvement programs and strategies geared toward enhancing student performance, boosting leadership capabilities of school faculty and staff, and positively impacting the culture and outcomes of K-12 schools.
Want a complimentary copy of Turning Around Turnaround Schools – Volume 2: Embracing the Rhythm of the Learner Year? Email us at info@eddirections.com.
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