Aligned Staff

Dean of curriculum solicits advice from leadership team on personal challenge concerning how to coach a new teacher who meets many but not all performance expectations. The team brainstorms coaching tactics and language to use to provide supportive coaching while maintaining consistent accountability standards.

Administrative team and teachers reflect on evolution and protocol of informal observation process and describe how feedback about instruction is shared with colleagues. Teacher discusses how initial ambivalence toward process changed into understanding of observations as tool for development and improvement.

Identify and analyze key processes that enable effective facilitation of data-team meetings. Workshop includes two videos. Participants engage in small-group and whole-group discussions, as well as reflect on their own capacity to lead or support data teams. (Developed for New Leaders Summer Foundations, 2009)

High school science teacher's written observation of less-experienced colleague. Shows teacher and student actions noted during observation to assess teacher's lesson-planning, use of questioning, and classroom management. Includes questions for reflection. Submitted as evidence of teacher's professional growth in a promotion portfolio.

Participants in support-staff meeting brainstorm to create individualized behavior plan for student. Principal and school counselor describe goals of meeting and components of behavior plans, including providing student mentors and conducting informal check-ins. Support staff also includes nurse, head secretary, and security staff.

Form used by administrators to conduct brief, frequent classroom observations. Contains measures for instructional rigor, narrative observational notes, Yes/No checklist for 12 aspects of teaching, including student engagement, lesson objectives, resources, assessment, and classroom management. Completed examples from 7th-grade writing and math included.

An elementary school taps into school-based expertise to provide ongoing teacher-led professional development on literacy workstations and guided reading instruction. It also builds leadership capacity by coaching teacher leaders on the design and facilitation of PD and by supporting the development of veteran teachers as peer coaches.

YES Prep full-lesson, evaluative observation form. Includes descriptions of teacher-performance standards from school's Instructional Excellence Rubric with numerical ratings. Rubric scores, key take-aways, and next steps discussed during post-observation conference to prepare for formal evaluation meetings. Used midyear and at end of the year.

Dean of curriculum solicits advice from leadership team on personal challenge concerning how to coach a new teacher who meets many but not all performance expectations. The team brainstorms coaching tactics and language to use to provide supportive coaching while maintaining consistent accountability standards.

Instructional leaders at a charter school use an Instructional Excellence Rubric to observe, coach, and evaluate teachers. Coaches work with teachers to increase rigor by setting ambitious lesson objectives and creating higher-level small-group and independent activities. Midyear teacher-evaluation meetings link instructional goal-setting to student data.

Form used by administrators to conduct brief, frequent classroom observations. Contains measures for instructional rigor, narrative observational notes, Yes/No checklist for 12 aspects of teaching, including student engagement, lesson objectives, resources, assessment, and classroom management. Completed examples from 7th-grade writing and math included.

Principal facilitates a faculty meeting to analyze teacher evaluation data and to set a schoolwide focus on the standard for developing higher-level understanding through effective questioning. Teachers share strategies for meeting one of the most challenging indicators—getting students to ask the teacher and each otherhigher-level questions.

YES Prep full-lesson, evaluative observation form. Includes descriptions of teacher-performance standards from school's Instructional Excellence Rubric with numerical ratings. Rubric scores, key take-aways, and next steps discussed during post-observation conference to prepare for formal evaluation meetings. Used midyear and at end of the year.

Dean of curriculum solicits advice from leadership team on personal challenge concerning how to coach a new teacher who meets many but not all performance expectations. The team brainstorms coaching tactics and language to use to provide supportive coaching while maintaining consistent accountability standards.

Instructional leaders at a charter school use an Instructional Excellence Rubric to observe, coach, and evaluate teachers. Coaches work with teachers to increase rigor by setting ambitious lesson objectives and creating higher-level small-group and independent activities. Midyear teacher-evaluation meetings link instructional goal-setting to student data.

Teachers describe their initial resistance to change and eventual buy-in to principal's vision for workstations. Principal provides opportunities for teachers to share and practice strategies to build their comfort level with workstations. Principal reflects on personal leadership lessons and importance of having difficult conversations with resistant staff.

Principal facilitates a faculty meeting to analyze teacher evaluation data and to set a schoolwide focus on the standard for developing higher-level understanding through effective questioning. Teachers share strategies for meeting one of the most challenging indicators—getting students to ask the teacher and each otherhigher-level questions.

An elementary school taps into school-based expertise to provide ongoing teacher-led professional development on literacy workstations and guided reading instruction. It also builds leadership capacity by coaching teacher leaders on the design and facilitation of PD and by supporting the development of veteran teachers as peer coaches.

YES Prep full-lesson, evaluative observation form. Includes descriptions of teacher-performance standards from school's Instructional Excellence Rubric with numerical ratings. Rubric scores, key take-aways, and next steps discussed during post-observation conference to prepare for formal evaluation meetings. Used midyear and at end of the year.

Instructional leaders at a charter school use an Instructional Excellence Rubric to observe, coach, and evaluate teachers. Coaches work with teachers to increase rigor by setting ambitious lesson objectives and creating higher-level small-group and independent activities. Midyear teacher-evaluation meetings link instructional goal-setting to student data.

Highlights a selection team's postdemonstration lesson debrief with a teaching candidate and an activity designed to simulate a coaching session with the school's literacy coach. The team then meets alone to analyze the candidate's performance during the lesson and postlesson interview and decide on next steps.

A chief academic officer, principal, and curriculum coordinator develop a six-week plan for a struggling new hire, prioritizing the teacher's areas of need, laying out a plan of action for addressing these areas of need, and setting measurable goals for improvement at two-week intervals.

Video clip features a leadership team discussing past teacher recruitment and selection challenges and brainstorming strategies for attracting a diverse pool of teaching applicants. The team also reviews and fine-tunes the set of the questions they will use to screen candidates in the phone and postdemonstration lesson interviews.

Focuses on the practices the leadership team puts in place to define "The Bruce Randolph Way" and how they develop a plan to describe the systems, structure, and protocols of the school. Demonstrates how the school uses the "Challenge 2010" plan as a tool to define a school culture and support new teachers in successfully managing their classrooms.

Outline of activity for screening teacher candidates on planning and collaboration, including instructions for candidates on working together to analyze test data and produce improvement plan. Evaluators at charter school observe candidates during 30-minute activity and rate each candidate on abilities to analyze and collaborate.

Teachers describe their initial resistance to change and eventual buy-in to principal's vision for workstations. Principal provides opportunities for teachers to share and practice strategies to build their comfort level with workstations. Principal reflects on personal leadership lessons and importance of having difficult conversations with resistant staff.

An elementary school taps into school-based expertise to provide ongoing teacher-led professional development on literacy workstations and guided reading instruction. It also builds leadership capacity by coaching teacher leaders on the design and facilitation of PD and by supporting the development of veteran teachers as peer coaches.

A principal and humanities facilitator meet with the teacher leaders of a PD session to provide coaching on the content and facilitation of the session. Participants reflect on the requirements for effective facilitation, the challenges of stepping into the role of teacher leaders, and important moves for ensuring that PD addresses the needs of teachers.

Excel sheet with ratings on teacher's performance in planning and delivery of instruction, classroom management, expectations for student success and relationships, and adherence to school values. Includes ratings and comments by the teacher herself, as well as by her supervisor—Xs indicate teacher's self-ratings; highlighted boxes indicate supervisor'...

A general- and special-education teacher meet to prepare for coteaching a sixth-grade English language arts reading workshop in an inclusion classroom. They review coteaching norms, lesson objectives, standards, and learning activities; discuss appropriate accommodations and modifications for a special-needs student; and agree upon a coteaching plan.

Chart listing appropriate accommodations and modifications (out of list of 43) for students with IEPs in sixth-grade English language arts class. Includes in-class work and assessment accommodations.

An elementary school taps into school-based expertise to provide ongoing teacher-led professional development on literacy workstations and guided reading instruction. It also builds leadership capacity by coaching teacher leaders on the design and facilitation of PD and by supporting the development of veteran teachers as peer coaches.

A principal and humanities facilitator meet with the teacher leaders of a PD session to provide coaching on the content and facilitation of the session. Participants reflect on the requirements for effective facilitation, the challenges of stepping into the role of teacher leaders, and important moves for ensuring that PD addresses the needs of teachers.

Administrative team and elective arts teachers meet to discuss the trends and tendencies in students' writing, debrief observations made in the language arts classes, and brainstorm strategies for integrating writing instruction into their courses. Principal also reflects on leadership's evolving role in collaborative planning meetings.

A general- and special-education teacher meet to prepare for coteaching a sixth-grade English language arts reading workshop in an inclusion classroom. They review coteaching norms, lesson objectives, standards, and learning activities; discuss appropriate accommodations and modifications for a special-needs student; and agree upon a coteaching plan.

Lead teacher conducting 3rd-grade Data Talk provides glimpse into protocols and pre- and post-meeting expectations. Teachers participate in an in-depth analysis and discussion about students' performance on diagnostic assessment on fractions.

Explores how a principal implements "Data Talks," a systemized, schoolwide protocol for ensuring teachers know how to use data to drive instruction. Highlights how she developed the roles of "lead teachers" to support their grade-level peers in honing their instruction.

Observe and analyze how principals guide and support high-performing teams, including vertical and grade-level teams. Workshop includes two videos, prework, participant polls, and self-reflection activities. (Developed for Aspiring New Leaders, winter 2010)Aspiring principals will also:

Rubric describing four levels of competency for six lead teacher responsibilities. Covers instructional modeling; data use; planning and problem-solving; peer observation and coaching; collaboration; and advocacy of school's mission. Expectations listed are for lead teachers who facilitate grade-level data teams and who sit on the school's leadership team.

Teachers at 3rd-grade data-team meeting share strategies and activities to teach fraction equivalency and use assessment results to determine which concepts need reteaching. Principal and teachers reflect on how Data Talks focus instructional plans. One teacher leads lesson on concept indentified at data-team meeting.