Join us on Monday, November 20, at 2:45 p.m. in banquet room 8 of the Lansing Center. 
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” - V. Lombardi.  
As we continue to reflect on what defines success in some area schools, we see some of the same principles from Kotter’s Change Process, which begins with a sense of urgency.  Learn how we create urgency through the lens of poverty and the stories of multiple elementary schools across two districts.  Common steps in a change process, however, context really matters.  Leave with tools to begin your own session.  Resources linked here the day of the conference:

• One page summary of a "change process" highlighted in Lansing
• Access to the presentation slides as PDF
• Common School Improvement Plan in Zeeland
• Dashboard concept of SI Activities in Grand Haven
• More information about Reading Now Network and/or the Data Tool

MDE has negotiated with Advanc-ED to continue for one more year (2017/18) the ASSIST platform.  However, most compliance reports have become optional, knowing best practice is to make the best use of the school improvement process using your own templates or continuing to use those in ASSIST.  The key is to make the process practical for your school and district.  The Home page provides the general requirements for three different situations:  Priority schools, Advanc-ED external review, or the most common option for both Advanc-ED and MDE accredited schools pictured below.  In addition, slides for the SI Update at OAISD on 10/16 are located here. 

The Reading Now Network Data for 2017 is now online.  NEW this year is an online, interactive tool from Tableau and an updated MS Excel Document. Find links to the data on the RNN Data Tool page.  

The law (PA 173) requires student growth to increase to 40% of an educator's evaluation for tested grades and subjects.  Half of the measure shall be based on growth and assessment data from the state assessment.  The other half comes from local assessments.  What happens when benchmark assessments such as NWEA-MAP, iReady, and STAR become approved by the state as the state tool to measure student growth?  What will districts use to measure local growth and assessment data?

Since Student Learning Objectives are simple a PROCESS and a FRAMEWORK, educators must choose a growth measure to set growth targets. The two most common growth measures are Simple Gain (i.e. pre/post-testing) and Categorical Growth.  Portions of the Practitioner's Guide from CCSSO focuses on these two common forms of growth:  Simple Gain and Categorical (PDF).  An example of categorical growth can be seen in the Sample Algebra 1 SLO by OAISD. Both guidance and the blank template can be found on the SLO Writing Guidance page.  

Recent presentation on writing a SLO using interim assessments typically used within a PLC was offered in August: Key slides and ALL potential slides with links.  

During the month of May and June, school districts and buildings are in the process of updating their DIP's/SIP's.  If you are "stuck" on how to write a quality goal, go to Required Reports and click on District or School Improvement Plan (DIP/SIP).

RNN Presentation (PDF) at the Governor's Summit on Education & Talent.

Description:
The Reading Now Network (RNN) began in 2012/13 by studying high performing schools in West Michigan. The original findings of the qualitative study were cited in the Governor’s report chaired by John C. Kennedy. Since then, MASA Region 3 has separated themselves from the rest of the state in achievement around elementary reading and language arts. However, the early indicators of success are not the real story. The true story is around the collaboration and commitment of a 100 districts across Region 3 committed to improve 3rd grade literacy that has begun to spread to multiple regions. Join our panel of presenters to learn about the five findings, the interactive data tool, stories of collaboration and next steps for educators.

Links:  RNN Page, goMASA RNN page, and  Presentation 04.25.2017

Speakers:  Amanda Price, Tom Reeder, Doug Greer, Jean Logan, Okeelah McBride, and Erin Brown.

A half day session focused on student growth for educator evaluations will include a streamlined document for student learning objectives.  The key slides for the presentation will be posted HERE by the start of the session.  Pages of interest for the session will likely include:

• Defining Student Growth for Educator Evaluations and better understand the purpose of this session.
• Regression Analysis with Reading Now and the Data Tool.
• Student Growth Percentiles, both tools and guidance.
• Exploration of Student Learning Objectives Samples, including robust examples found on the state website of Rhode Island.
• Understand the process used to streamline the Professional Growth Plans and multiple Student Learning Objectives.
• Finally, steps to help write certain components of the Student Learning Objective, under SLO Writing Guidance.
  • Who will be taught and what do they already know: Baseline Data.
  • What will be taught and how will it be measured: Essential Targets.
  • Student Growth Targets and why are they rigorous:  SMART Goal.

The release timeline for the state’s Scorecards, the Top-to-Bottom list and its tools, and the Annual Education Report (AER) is delayed as we coordinate with other state agencies. A new timeline is being established that will provide schools with ample time to communicate with their communities. Information is expected to be available in late January. Until that time, districts may continue to internally use data for instructional purposes, but we ask that the information remain publicly embargoed. Thank you for your patience.

This impacts the release of Focus Schools by MDE and Priority schools by SRO.  No action will be taken until after the Scorecard release.  Please note that the Annual Education Report will also be delayed.