(7 \wéopendont School District 199 District Professional Development Plan 2014-2015 May 2014Inver Grove Heights Community Schools District Professional Development Plan 2014-2015 District: Inver Grove Heights Community Schools, # 199 District Superintendent: Dr. Deirdre ‘Wells Director of Curriculum and Instruction: Penny Kaszas Address: 2990 80" Street East Inver Grove Heights, MN. 55076 Email: jisd199.ors Phone: 651-306-7806 ~ Inver Grove Heights ‘Community Schools Vision and Mission Vision The vision of Inver Grove Heights Community Schools is to create learning environments that provide for high student achievement so all learners are academically and socially prepared for life-long learning. Mission ‘The mission of the Inver Grove Heights Community Schools is to provide a challenging education through which all learners achieve success in a diverse society. This will be accomplished through: safe and caring environments; strong and stimulating curriculum; high academic standards; respect, honesty and accountability in all relationships; effective and innovative teaching; + open communication and partnerships with families and community; and facilities that support and enhance learning. Department of Curriculum and Instruction Vision Every educator engages in effective professional learning every day so every student achieves. District Professional Development Plan 2014-2015 Page 1+ We believe our schools exist to educate children, in cooperation with families, to become responsible productive citizens and life-long learners, + We believe all leamers should have the opportunity to reach their maximum Potential in a safe, caring, and respectful environment where fun is a part of learning, + We believe a challenging comprehensive curriculum that emphasizes basic skills will ensure the highest quality education for every child. + We believe positive open communication and a trusting partnership of families, community and schools are keys to building and maintaining a strong learning community. Learning Community Overview Inver Grove Heights is proud to have a school system that is competitive in academic test scores and known for being student-focused. The goal of the Inver Grove Heights Community Schools is to meet the needs and desires of both students and parents, The district includes three elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. A full-day kindergarten program is offered at all three elementary schools. Atheneum, a magnet program for highly gifted students, opened in 2002. The program serves students in grades two through five and is followed by honors and advanced courses in middle school and high school. The district Community Education program meets family needs for life-long leaning, offering a variety of programs for learners of all ages, The diversity of the learning community continues to grow rapidly. In 2012-2013, approximately 65% of the student population in Inver Grove Heights identified themselves as Caucasian. The change in ethnic and cultural diversity has been sudden. The district lacks racial diversity among staff, and in turn, staff lacks the opportunity to collaborate with racially and culturally diverse groups of colleagues, District Professional Development Plan 2014-2015 Page 2_ The District is actively involved in the East Metro Integration District’s programming to improve cultural awareness and aggressively close the achievement gap. The District has begun work with the University of Chicago to assess the essential elements associated with improved school culture and _ student : achievement, effective leaders, collaborative teachers, involved families, supportive environment and ambitious instruction, Survey results will be used to identify each school’s strength areas and areas for improvement. All staff will complete the survey again during the 2013-2014 school year. In addition, the District is working in collaboration with Dr. Yvette Jackson, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (NUA), to develop instructional practices that integrate language, cognition, and culture to improve student learning and achievement as well as working with the Pacific Education Group (PEG) to improve staff understanding of issues surrounding equity and race. ‘The district and individual buildings have a coherent set of goals focusing on seven key focus areas: Professional Learning Communities, Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, Equity, iObservation (Instructional and Leadership Improvement Systems), Digital ‘Teaching and Learning, Literacy, and College and Career Readiness. Using a variety of professional development opportunities, staff will be afforded opportunities to improve their professional skills in these areas and imbed their skills into their professional practice with students. District Professional Development Plan 2014-2015 Page 3Overall Outcomes (per state statute) = focus on the school classroom and research- - improve student achievement of state and local based strategies that improve student learning; education standards in all areas of the - provide opportunities for teachers to practice curriculum and improve their instructional skills over time; | - effectively meet the needs of diverse student = provide opportunities for teachers to use population, including at-risk children, children student data as part of their daily work to with disabilities, and gifted children, within the increase student achievemer regular classroom and other settings; - enhance teacher content knowledge and ~ provide an inclusive curriculum for racially, instructional skills; ethnically, and culturally diverse student ~ align with state and local academic standards population that is consistent with the state ~ provide opportunities to build professional education diversity rule and the district’s relationships, foster collaboration among education diversity plan; principals and staff who provide instruction, ~ improve staff collaboration and develop and provide opportunities for teacher-to-teacher mentoring and peer coaching programs for mentoring; teachers new to the school or district; ~ emphasize coaching, professional learning - effectively teach and model violence communities, classroom action research, and prevention policy and curriculum that address other job-embedded models; early intervention alternatives, issues of = maintain a strong subject matter focus premised | harassment, and teach nonviolent alternatives on student learning goal for conflict resolution ~ engure specialized preparation and learning _| - effectively deliver digital and blended learning about issues related to teaching students with | and curriculum and engage students with special needs and limited English proficiency; | technology ~ reinforce national and state standards of effective teaching practice Minnesota Statute 122A.60; Staff Development Program The Inver Grove Heights Community Schools’ Professional Development Plan was developed by members of the Inver Grove Heights Leaming Community. The plan is based on Minnesota statute and focuses on effective practice and overall outcomes, The plan includes seven focus areas aligned with district priorities, identified staff development needs, and strategies to provide job-embedded staff development to meet those needs thereby improving student outcomes. “Professional learning embedded into educators’ workdays increases the opportunity for all educators to receive individual, team, or school-based support within the work setting to promote continuous improvement. Dedicated job-embedded learning time elevates the importance of continuous, career long leaning as a professional responsibility of all educators and aligns the focus of their learning to the identified needs of students they serve.” — Learning Forward (formerly the National Staff Development Council) Standards for Professional Learning District Professional Development Plan 2014-2015 Page 4Professional Learning Communities Focus Area “An ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.” Learning by Doing, Second Edition (Rick DuFour) Aligned with District Priorities: 1. Focused on learning, commitment to continuous improvement and a focus on results. 2, Define focus on teacher effectiveness to improve student achievement. 3, Educators committed to working together in order to achieve better results for the students they serve. 4, Core mission of a formal education is not to ensure that students are taught but to ensure that students learn. 5. Ensure that all students graduate and are college and career ready. Staff Identified Needs: Strategies: District Professional Development Plan 2014-2015 Page 5Focus Area | 2: Multi Tiered Systems of Support (PBIS, Rtl, SIOP, AVID, ete.) Multi-Tiered Systems of Support represent a system in which increasingly intense interventions are directed at correspondingly smaller population segments so that a Continuum of supports are available to students based on their needs (Mellard & Johnson, 2008). Multi-Tiered Systems of Support that Accelerate the Learning of All Students has been identified as one of the eight common principles of effective Practice that the Minnesota Department of Education recognizes as an integral Component of a systemic framework needed to support and sustain educational innovations. -U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions & Support (OSEP) Aligned with District Priorities: 1. Develop personalized learning plans (PLPs) for all learners. 2. Create a personalized learning system that provides opportunities to maximize the potential of all students based on their needs, abilities, and preferences, 3. Develop common expectations for student behavior and common response sets for inappropriate behaviors across all elementary schools. 4. Defined goals and benchmarks for instruction and student achievement with targeted interventions and support and remove the need for remedial instruction. 5. Close the academic achievement gap among racial, ethnic, and economic categories of students, Staff Identified Needs: Strategies: District Professional Development Plan 20142015 Page 6[ Focus Area 3: Equity y Inver Grove Heights Community Schools is committed to closing the academic achievement gap among racial, ethnic, and economic categories of students. In collaboration with EMID, NUA, and PED, the District will establish a program to promote diversity, racial and economic integration, and increase student achievement. Ultimately these partnerships will “substantiate an irrefutable belief in the capacity of all public school children to achieve the highest intellectual performances demanded by our ever-changing global community.” ~NUA Aligned with District Priorities: 1, Eliminate barriers that decrease or deplete opportunities for students to participate in the highest academic programs. 2. Develop a comprehensive system that is based on an equity framework. 3. Create a personalized learning system that provides opportunities to maximize the potential of all students based on their needs, abilities, and preferences. 4. Close the academic achievement gap among racial, ethnic, and economic categories of students. 5, Ensure that all students graduate and are college and career ready. Staff Identified Needs: Strategies: District Professional Development Plan 2014-2015 Page 7Focus Area 4: iObservation (Instructional and Leadership Improvement Systems) iObservation is an instructional and leadership improvement system. It collects, manages and reports longitudinal data from classroom walkthroughs, teacher evaluations und teacher observations. Teacher growth and leadership practices inform professional development differentiated to individual learning needs for every teacher and leader to increase his/her classroom effectiveness each year, “SObservation is the only system where you can find Charlotte Danielson’s teacher evaluation framework, Dr. Robert Marzano’s official research-based strategies for teacher effectiveness, and Dr. Douglas Reeves’ standards-based dimensions for leadership performance.” — Learning Sciences Marzano Center Aligned with District Priorities: 1, Increase the integrity and consistency of definitions, observations and feedback to instructional staff by supervisors 2. Improve the specificity of feedback by providing explicit observation data and applicable examples of higher order instruction 3. Utilize a system to periodically review and evaluate the effectiveness of instruction and curriculum. 4. Utilize education effectiveness practices that integrate instruction, curriculum, technology, teacher quality, performance, and effectiveness. Staff Identified Needs: Strategies: District Professional Development Plan 2011-2015 Page 8Focus Area 5: Digital Teaching and Li “National and local research shows that working with digital resources allows for easily shared resources, allows more opportunities for differentiation, increases student engagement, and creates teaming opportunities that extend beyond the classroom walls and outside of the school day and improves student achievement.” -Lynn Tenney, ISD 199 Digital Conversion Plan Aligned with District Priorities: 1. The vision of technology use in District 199 is to integrate effective and efficient administrative and instructional applications of technology into the educational program and the district’s operations. These applications are intended to promote and enhance the communication and collaboration necessary for meaningful lifelong learning. 2. Utilize education effectiveness practices that integrate instruction, curriculum, technology, teacher quality, performance, and effectiveness. 3. Create a personalized learning system that provides opportunities to maximize the potential of all students based on their needs, abilities, and preferences. 4, Ensure that all students graduate and are college and career ready. Staff Identified Needs: Strategies: District Professional Development Plan 2014-2015 Page 9Focus Area 6: Literacy “Literacy is the cornerstone of all learning. In each subject area, the ability to read and produce written material is of the highest importance. Supporting the development of capable readers at every level is our goal as educators, parents, and as a community. In order to ensure that all students are reading well by the end of third grade, curriculum, instruction, and assessment need tobe aligned with current research-based practices.” ~Minnesota Department of Education, Minnesota Blueprint for Literacy Aligned with District Priorities: 1, Develop a written comprehensive literacy plan that clarifies the literacy goals in the district consistent with MN State Statute 122A.06, subdivision 4. 2. Develop and implement grade-level benchmarks to ensure consistency in covering the standards and pacing instruction. 3. Achieve third grade literacy for all students, 4. Ensure that all students graduate and are college and career ready. Staff Identified Needs: Strategies: District Professional Develepment Plan 2014-2015 Page 10Focus Area College and Career Readiness ‘Today’s world demands that students pursue formal training after high school in order to secure career-track jobs that pay a living wage and offer opportunity for promotion. It is imperative that all students graduate with college and career readiness in five areas: academic readiness, admissions readiness, career readiness, financial readiness, and personal and social readiness. —Ramp-Up to Readiness Aligned with District Priorities: 1. Ensure that all students graduate and are college and career ready. 2. Create a personalized learning system that provides opportunities to maximize the potential of all students based on their needs, abilities, and preferences in AVID elective and other areas. 3. Establish college and career readiness outcomes that are incorporated into student personalized learning plans. So Pe Staff Identified Needs: Strategies: District Professional Development Plan 2014-2015 Page 17 $G_Server.Vol]/Curriculum and Instruction/Staff Development/2014-2015