Culture

Articulates school expectations and describes responsibilities of families in terms of attendance, academic support, homework, grading, and overall support. Parents sign at beginning of school year to show their commitment to supporting their child's academic achievement.

Guidance for 9th-graders on leading progress-report conferences with their parents. Template includes directions on opening and closing the conference, explaining examples of student work and interim test results, and reviewing individual SMART goals. Used by teachers to help students practice for conferences they lead three times a year.

PowerPoint presentation for teachers provides overview of meeting protocols and portfolio materials, as well as rationale for the conferences and key expectations for teachers, students, and parents.

Videos highlight how staff members prepare for and conduct home visits to orient and welcome new students and their parents to school. The school conducts training each year to ensure that the message at every home visit is consistent and that all staff members are culturally competent when entering students' homes as guests.

During the two featured home visits, pairs of staff members explain the commitment to excellence contract, nonnegotiable policies, and the zero tolerance for fighting policy. They then ask the parents about their child as a learner. At the end of the visit, the parents and students complete an exit ticket.

Explores ways to support teachers and students to address discipline and behavior issues in a way that is mutually respectful and positive. Highlights how interventions can support struggling students and help to build relationships between teachers and students.

Articulate a personal vision, as well as assess capacity to convey school vision and achieve buy-in. Workshop includes two videos, visioning exercise, and postwork. A Visioning Graphic Organizer allows participants to define the "end state" aligned to their personal vision. (Developed for Chicago New Leaders, fall 2009)

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.

A charter high school employs comprehensive, descriptive tools—including a teacher-evaluation rubric, teacher-observation guidelines, teacher portfolio samples, and a teacher self-appraisal—to judge evidence of quality teaching as part of an evaluation and promotion system.

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.

Explores ways to support teachers and students to address discipline and behavior issues in a way that is mutually respectful and positive. Highlights how interventions can support struggling students and help to build relationships between teachers and students.

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.

A charter high school employs comprehensive, descriptive tools—including a teacher-evaluation rubric, teacher-observation guidelines, teacher portfolio samples, and a teacher self-appraisal—to judge evidence of quality teaching as part of an evaluation and promotion system.

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.

A charter middle school develops a character education program that includes a comprehensive set of behavioral standards aligned with student learning objectives, clear descriptions of expected behavior, daily assessment and feedback by all teachers, and instructional planning based on analysis of aggregated behavioral data.

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.

Includes plans for spiral-reviewing standards and sub-standards into homework assignments, Do Nows, mini-lessons, quizzes, and tests. Identifies whole-class vs. small-group teaching needed to address students' needs, and lists students of significant concern and instructional strategies designed to attend to their needs.

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.

Dean of instruction coaches veteran seventh-grade teacher on increasing and aligning rigor of lesson objectives with independent learning tasks that require students to explain their analysis of a text's mood and justify their answers for how the author created that mood.

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.

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.

Dean of instruction coaches veteran seventh-grade teacher on increasing and aligning rigor of lesson objectives with independent learning tasks that require students to explain their analysis of a text's mood and justify their answers for how the author created that mood.

Dean of curriculum observes and coaches eighth-grade teacher on setting lesson objectives aligned with bigger-picture concepts and skills and redesigning engaging small-group activities focused on higher-order thinking tasks to meet these objectives.