A proposal to the Louisiana Department of Education for six charter schools that will form
Fundamental features of our educational model that will drive educational outcomes
Download 93.62 Kb.
|
- Navigate this page:
- Mechanisms by which the fundamental features described in (2) will dramatically influence student success.
- SCALE STRATEGY Steps we will take to scale our model to new sites
Fundamental features of our educational model that will drive educational outcomes. Listed below are the programs we will provide at each complete GEO Academy campus in Louisiana. The list is extensive as we are proposing a complete K-12 program AND an “early college” night high school. GEO proposed to create campuses that are inclusive and serve the needs of all students. With our core beliefs acting as the guardrails in the development of our educational model, the GEO Foundation has adopted the following programs to drive superior educational outcomes and expand students’ pathways to success through college:
Successful implementation of the Common Core State Standards depends on a more rigorous, focused and relevant approach to content delivery and skill development. To achieve this, all GEO schools utilize Core Knowledge, founded by E.D. Hirsch, as the foundation of our K-8 curriculum. Through the implementation of the Core Knowledge sequence, our school leaders and teachers are able to accelerate learning by:
Our focused curriculum allows teachers to spend more time on the topics that matter most, thus ensuring adequate time for mastery of essential content and skills. GEO’s mastery approach to learning consistently translates into higher growth rates and faster pathways to proficiency for students enrolled in our schools.
Blended learning is fundamental to the realization of our core belief that all students should be afforded an individualized and rigorous curriculum designed to help them achieve success through college and beyond. In our model, students spend a portion of their day engaged in online learning. GEO has partnered with Edgenuity, a high quality provider of on line digital curriculum (used by the highly successful Carpe Diem charter schools in Arizona), to not only supply rich online content aligned to Common Core standards, but also provide extensive professional development in the use of online instruction and learning activities. As such, Edgenuity supplies many of the essential components that make up the foundation of our comprehensive approach to implementing flex and rotational blended learning models in grades 6-12 classrooms. An added advantage of our partnership with Edgenuity is having the flexibility to allow our students to demonstrate college readiness without having to enroll in our early college program. For some parents, their desire to shield their students from exposure to the social culture of college while in high school outweighs the benefits of an early college program. By partnering with Edgenuity, GEO schools are able to offer an extensive selection of College Board approved Advanced Placement courses.
GEO strives to accelerate the development of our students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills. Through participation in Project Lead the Way courses, our students have the opportunity to engage in daily lessons that task them to apply what they learn to solve real-world challenges. Presently, high school students have the ability to participate in the Pathway to Engineering and Biomedical Sciences programs. In 2013-2014, GEO will be adding the middle school Gateway to Technology program to our list of course offerings. Both the middle and high school programs align with the Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards.
To shrink the gap between college aspirations and attainment, GEO schools prepare students to participate in our early college program beginning as early as 9th grade. Participating students have the opportunity to earn 60+ college credits while simultaneously earning their high school diploma. Through partnerships with local institutions of higher education, GEO makes the college experience real by not only engaging students in rigorous coursework, but also fully integrating them into the social experience through participation in on-campus college classes. To ensure our student’s hard work pays off, a dedicated team of school leaders, teachers and counselors works to ensure students and families are fully supported as they apply for financial aid and complete the necessary steps to enroll in college. Our wrap-around support is designed to ensure all students transform the credits they earn in high school into poverty-busting degrees from accredited two- and four-year universities.
GEO is committed to providing students with multiple pathways to access and achieve success in college level coursework while earning a high school diploma. Through our partnership with Edgenuity, GEO is able to leverage the expertise of virtual instructors to guarantee students access to nine Advanced Placement courses covering a wide range of disciplines. Although the primary instructor is virtual, students enrolled in Advanced Placement courses are provided with individualized and small group tutoring and support from a highly qualified school-based instructor. Our combination of online instruction and in-person support allows students to have the flexibility to learn at their own pace – easing the transition to more rigorous college-level coursework.
At GEO, our teachers and school leaders strive to develop pathways to proficiency that will bring all students up to or beyond grade level performance within three years of enrolling in our schools. Our commitment is driven by our organizational mission to break the cycle of poverty. Given that many of our students come to us one to two years behind grade level, achieving our goal often necessitates the implementation of an extended learning day and calendar. To do this within the confines of our budget, GEO employs a portfolio approach to extended day services that include online and traditional options. In each situation, we leverage the technology and human capital resources we have to provide affordable options consistent with our “whatever it takes” approach to ensuring college access for all students that walk through our doors. STRUCTURES 1. Leadership Fellowship To support our replication efforts in Louisiana and ensure a consistent pipeline of highly qualified candidates for the principalship at our existing schools, GEO will implement a comprehensive principal fellowship program. Fellows will participate in a one-year paid fellowship to prepare them to lead a GEO school. The comprehensive program will consist of an intensive one week orientation, 16 week residency program, quarterly participation in the Weekend Warrior Series offered by Building Excellent Schools, and attendance at regional and national conferences to learn more about TAP, Core Knowledge, and Edgenuity. During the initial two-week summer institute hosted at the GEO office in Indianapolis, fellows will learn about the GEO model, data systems, and culture. The intensive institute will be led by qualified GEO personnel and consultants. Prospective principals will learn from experienced principals, curriculum and special education directors, and former superintendents of demographically similar school corporations. A curriculum for the program will be available in July of 2013. To ensure we induct the right people into our leadership programs, GEO will utilize a principal selection process developed by New Leaders. This rigorous, multi-staged selection process examines each candidate’s skill set in six different competencies: Personal Leadership; Teaching, Learning and Data-Driven Instruction; Strategic Planning; Systems and Operations; School Culture and Community Engagement; and Human Capital Management. Performance tasks and question responses will be evaluated using rubrics to ensure we don’t just get the best person that applied, but we continue our search until we have the most qualified person. 2. Teacher Selection, Development and Retention GEO recognizes that the quality of the individual classroom teacher is the single most important in-school factor affecting student achievement results. On average, our most effective teachers help students achieve between 1.5 and 2.0 years of growth in a single academic year4. Given the impact these teachers have on our students’ lives, GEO places a great deal of importance on recruiting, developing and retaining highly effective educators.
In 2013-2014, all GEO schools will implement TAP, The System for Teacher and Student Advancement. We will leverage this program to attract and retain talented educators excited about the opportunity to participate in job-embedded professional development, receive performance-based compensation, and advance up career leaders. To staff our schools, GEO plans to continue our partnership with Teach for America and implement our multi-tiered teacher selection process that includes a combination of interview questions and performance-based tasks5. For the selection of TAP master and mentor teachers, GEO will incorporate the recommendations contained within the Louisiana TAP Selection and Hiring Process. As with our principals, the selection of teachers will be guided by detailed rubrics to help ensure we select the most qualified people, the first time.
For years, GEO school leaders have led weekly cohort meetings to help teachers analyze student-level data, observed professional practice, and developed action plans with teachers to improve student performance. While we have experienced success, it has not been systemic due to variability in processes and the capacity of our leadership teams. Through the implementation of TAP, GEO will have the personnel and structure to ensure a consistent, supportive and professional process to drive greater levels of teacher growth and student achievement.
Over the years, we have learned to leverage performance data to make smarter retention decisions6. Unfortunately, smarter decisions on the behalf of the administration have not always translated into actually retaining the teacher. We believe TAP can help change this. By implementing a comprehensive system of career ladders and performance-based pay, GEO hopes to increase the retention rates our most effective teachers, while simultaneously establishing a more efficient system to identify and remove ineffective teachers from our classrooms. 3. Subject Matter Specialists For 15 years, GEO has remained steadfast to our core belief that all children should have access to a quality education that includes college. During this time we have learned that actualizing this belief is not easy, as the first step on the pathway to college is grade-level proficiency. Given that many of our students come to us one or more years behind grade level, helping them achieve proficiency requires rates of growth that are substantially greater than one year in one year’s time. An internal analysis of our teaching staff revealed that while the majority of our teachers are able to help a significant number of students achieve growth rates of greater than one year in one year’s time, the gap between our highest and lowest performers is, in many cases, significant7. Our conclusion is that in order to get more students to proficiency faster, we will need to extend the reach of our most effective educators. In the fall of 2013, GEO will work with Pikes Peak Prep, our Colorado-based charter school, to pilot the transition to subject matter specialists in grades K-8. Each specialist will quadruple their reach through the implementation of an innovative lab-based rotational blended learning model8. The lessons learned from the pilot will inform the development of a similar model in our Indiana and proposed Louisiana charter schools. GEO adopted blended learning not just as another initiative, but as a purposeful and fundamental design element of our instructional model with the goal of accelerating learning towards college and career readiness. To us, blended learning represented an opportunity to develop schools that are better positioned to reach the right students with the right resources and interventions at the right time. The key to our success with blended learning has been our portfolio approach to software adoption and implementation. Through the implementation of both prescriptive and adaptive blended learning software, we have been able to increase our ability to provide tiered levels of intervention for all students, thus empowering a greater number of students to “catch up,” “keep up,” or “speed up.” Students that need to “catch up” receive targeted interventions appropriate for their current ability level9 – for example, a new 6th grade student performing at a 3rd grade level in math will be able to receive targeted online and in-person interventions to help her move towards proficiency by the end of the year. Students that need to “keep up” are those students that are currently performing at grade level, but have yet to master the skills necessary to be accelerated to more advanced coursework – the interactive and personalized learning environment our adaptive learning software allows us to provide will ensure these students achieve mastery by the end of the year. Students that are in a position to “speed up” demonstrate an ability to easily master the content in their current grade level. These students can be accelerated to the next grade level, allowing them to take high school courses while still in middle school or college courses while still in high school. In 2013-2014, GEO will fully implement rotational and flex blended learning models at all of our current campuses in grades K-12. These models will allow us to better individualize and support the attainment of a rigorous standards-based curriculum, leverage the time of our teachers to provide targeted small group and individualized instruction, and accelerate our gifted learners. It is important to note that GEO employs a fulltime Director of Instructional Technology to support schools in with the implementation of blended learning and associated software. GEO views blended learning as our pathway to developing schools that deliver uncommon results. By aggressively pursuing innovations in technologies that allow us to individualize our approach to education, GEO has been able to consistently lead our students to greater levels of student growth as compared to their traditional public school peers10. 5. Flexible Success Period In 2009, we piloted the use of “Flexible Success Periods” at 21st Century Charter School in Gary, Indiana. During this time students were divided into classes not by grade level, but rather by their level of proficiency as measured by NWEA Map scores. The Descartes Continuum (aligned to NWEA RIT bands) and additional data collected from Acuity testing and local assessments was used to identify instructional objectives for a period of direct instruction focused on the specific learning needs of the student. The end result of this approach was a single year increase of 34% in student proficiency as measured by state tests11. Success periods are now a foundational element of each schools comprehensive response to intervention programs. It is relevant to note that in 2011, the leadership team from the 21st Century Charter School @ Gary was invited to present “Flexible Success Periods” at the National Charter School Conference in Atlanta. To support the implementation of our middle college evening program, GEO builds in additional structure to ensure a holistic set of supports to assist students on their path back to high school and beyond. Our night schools staffed with additional social workers to build strong connections with our students and those that are in their larger support network. Our classrooms are limited to a student to staff ratio of 12:1. Each classroom is staffed with a student support specialist, learning guide, and lead teacher. This instructional support team provides assistance with weekly planning and goal setting, individual and small group tutoring, and online assistance. Our staffing structure reflects our commitment to ensuring that every student that walks through the doors of our middle college will have the opportunity to walk out a college graduate.
The mechanism by which the fundamental features will not only influence, but drive greater levels of student achievement are built into the programs and structures themselves.
We can’t replicate “autonomy.” Too many schools rely on the “one great leader” to succeed. They build themselves around this leader and thus leave themselves vulnerable when the inevitable transition to a new leader is necessary. Likewise, schools rely heavily on their “great teachers”, but without a consistent pipeline of new talent and replicable processes and curriculum, sustainable success will be hard to achieve. Since we provide a full K-12 program, we have deliberately chosen and implemented the aforementioned educational and human capital management programs and structures to ensure a focused and replicable foundation upon which to build great schools. Every program we implement and structure we put in place is research -based, field-tested, and rigorous. Furthermore, they were chosen because of the results attained by the schools that have implemented them with fidelity.
Our entire approach to education is centered on providing individualized pathways to grade level proficiency and beyond. This very approach necessitates the use of data to guide the decisions we make and the type of instruction we provide. Through the implementation of TAP and the cluster meeting process, we will be able to guarantee something that we have never been able to systematically guarantee in the past, frequent and focused follow-up to drive greater levels of student learning.
Our curriculum, largely driven by the Core Knowledge Sequence and Edgenuity Common Core aligned courses, has been vetted by national curriculum experts. This intentional approach ensures our teachers spend more time focusing on how to teach as opposed to what to teach.
Individually developed learning plans used to be limited to students with an identified learning disability. To us, this didn’t make sense. Every student deserves the opportunity to operate with their proximal zone of development every day. Our adaptive and prescriptive learning technologies make this possible, but the TAP process will help GEO schools make it a systemic reality across our network of schools.
The TAP system ensures each teacher, and under our model each administrator, receives frequent observations, feedback, and opportunities for reflection and growth throughout the school year. Under this system, school leaders and teachers are held accountable for improving their professional practice and advancing student achievement.
The GEO Foundation supports the implementation of our multi-dimensional instructional programs with qualified and experienced GEO staff members; which include former building administrators, school superintendents, state department personnel and legal staff. To further ensure our leadership and teachers have the skills and knowledge necessary to implement the instructional programs with fidelity, GEO insists they engage in regular professional development opportunities provided by the Core Knowledge Foundation, Edgenuity, PLTW, NIET, and the National Consortium of Middle Colleges. SCALE STRATEGY Steps we will take to scale our model to new sites: The first step in our scale strategy is to understand who we are serving and the expectations of our authorizer. After being contacted by the Louisiana Department of Education in February, we reviewed the state’s charter legislation, your beliefs and the opportunities. We have made two trips to Louisiana in the past two months and visited with Louisiana Department of Education leadership, Jefferson Parish leadership, New Schools New Orleans leadership and leaders from the state’s charter school association. We are impressed with the warm welcome we have received and believe our missions align. The second step is to review the financial support and likelihood for success if GEO opens a new campus in Jefferson Parish and other parts of the state. We believe the resources are there for us to be successful as the per pupil funding is similar to that which we receive in Gary, Indiana and allows for ample staffing at the school site. The premise that an existing building might be available is also enticing. Lastly, it appears that there is a great working relationship between the school district and the state and that charter schools are accepted as a quality option for students to choose. The next step we considered is our own ability to support new schools in Louisiana. In this regard, GEO Foundation is a much different organization today than we were 10 years ago when we opened our first charter. Back then, we were a scrappy little organization with big dreams, small bank account, and little staff. We were transitioning from a school choice “advocacy” organization to a school choice “provider” organization. Today, we still have the big dreams, but we have 10 years of experience, much more qualified and experienced staff, and a healthy $5 million reserve. Ten years ago, we were building the ship as we were floating down the river. Ten years ago, we had a powerpoint presentation that promised to get results. Today, we have the ship and the results—and they are good. Today, we are ready to assist in opening new schools. As described earlier, GEO will provide new principals and teachers extensive curriculum support and professional development. Today, instead of relying on a powerpoint presentation, we can and will have future principals and staff visit and learn from our existing qualified staff and schools to help them see the reality of what we propose and to develop a successful series of campuses in Louisiana. To the degree necessary, we will provide financial support to lead to the successful opening of new schools in Louisiana. Over the years, GEO has provided significant financial support to our schools in the form of grants, loans, guarantees, etc. We have reserves that we can use to make no-interest bridge loans if necessary to provide support for a new building, and/or the infrastructure necessary in the classroom—technology, desks, chairs, etc., as well as providing the support to hire and train the right teachers. We plan to hire an executive director for GEO Academies-Louisiana. This executive director will be tasked to help us understand the challenges and opportunities in communities we seek to serve, assist in the hiring of the principal, assist with outreach efforts in the state, and to keep us informed of legislation and other regulations necessary.
Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2014 2014 -> For want of a nail 2014 -> Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act of 2014 2014 -> Ihbb asian Championships 2014 middle school bowl Round 4 First Quarter 2014 -> Ihbb european Championships 2014 Bowl Round 4 First Quarter 2014 -> International History Bee and Bowl 2013-14 Asian Division Question Set Bowl Round Six 2014 -> United states patent and trademark office 2014 -> Coffs harbour eisteddfod vocal syllabus 2014 -> Listen News Programs Schedule pledge now 2014 -> Slow club announce third album complete surrender Download 93.62 Kb. Share with your friends:
|