Delaware Department of Education



|Goal 1: Accelerate achievement and improve outcomes for all students with rigorous standards, curriculum, and assessments |

|Objective 1: Implement college and career ready standards and assessments |

Summary of strategies:

|Required Strategies |

|Support the development of new standards, align curriculum, and conduct assessments (SoW 1) |

|Build a culture of college- and career-readiness in schools (SoW 2) |

|Additional LEA Strategies |

|Remove barriers to student success |

| |

Activity plan by strategy:

|Strategy 1: Support the development of new standards, align curriculum, and conduct assessments (SoW 1) |Owner: Alex Neal, Director of Curriculum &|

| |Instruction |

|indicate each activity, the budgeted amount required for|Timeline: Place an “X” in each box that represents a time period in which the activity will be |Deliverables: List the major deliverable(s) for |

|it (with funding sources), and the person who will be |carried out. |each activity, and when they will be completed. |

|responsible for it. Required activities have already | | |

|been included. | | |

| |2010/2011 |2011/2012 |

|Strategy 2: Build a culture of college- and career-readiness in schools (SoW 2) |Owner: Alex Neal, Director of Curriculum &|

| |Instruction |

|indicate each activity, the budgeted amount required |Timeline: Place an “X” in each box that represents a time period in which the activity will be |Deliverables: List the major deliverable(s) for |

|for it (with funding sources), and the person who will |carried out. |each activity, and when they will be completed. |

|be responsible for it. Required activities have | | |

|already been included. | | |

| |2010/2011 |2011/2012 |

|Additional LEA Strategy: Remove barriers to student success |Owner: Dorothy Linn, Superintendent |

|indicate each activity, the budgeted amount required for it |Timeline: Place an “X” in each box that represents a time period in which the activity will |Deliverables: List the major deliverable(s) for |

|(with funding sources), and the person who will be responsible|be carried out. |each activity, and when they will be completed. |

|for it. Required activities have already been included. | | |

| |2010/2011 |2011/2012 |

|Objective 1 Measures: Which measures will this objective impact, how much, and when? |

|Measures |

|Colonial’s needs assessment indicated that students were not prepared for college or the world of work. Staggering numbers of students are achieving well below benchmarks. In addition, disaggregated data |

|indicates that minorities, students from low income and students with IEPs are less likely to be prepared for or attend college. During our strategic planning process throughout this year, parents and the |

|community have indicated students from elementary to high school need more challenging coursework to better prepare our students for post graduation opportunities. As indicated by our needs assessment, |

|Colonial has challenges in both reading and math and although an achievement gap is evident, the challenge exists across the board with all students. It is determined by the RTTT committee that all |

|students and all subjects are in need of serious improvement. Therefore, many of our strategies will be district and school-wide to improve our teaching and learning for all. |

| |

|Our district-wide efforts will focus on: |

|Teacher and administrator collaboration (PLCs), |

|data literacy; including analysis, interpretation, and instructional improvement, |

|curriculum and assessment alignment; including development and implementation of formative assessments, |

|improving teachers’ deep content knowledge, |

|rigor (LFS), and |

|support for all students. |

| |

|Colonial’s focus on collaboration began in summer 2010. Colonial is committed to professional learning communities beyond the state requirement. Colonial values the deep philosophy that PLCs will provide |

|the framework for all improvement in schools. Therefore, the focus is not just the implementation/compliance of PLCs but the cultural shift from teaching in isolation to community practice. Colonial has a|

|strong support plan to bring all administrators and teachers to full implementation in the DuFours’ model by June 2012 through professional development and technical assistance from the experts (e.g., |

|DuFours and associates delivering professional development sessions in the DuFours model to principals, teacher leaders and entire Colonial staff and technical assistance sessions to leadership and a |

|selected staff of 300 from all schools) to on-going coaching (principal meetings, effective schools’ PLC visits/observations, instructional coaches coaching during PLCs, and district staff coaching |

|principals on-site). All teachers have two 45 minute protected collaborative planning sessions per week. Teachers are expected to review pre-determined student data, share instructional strategies to |

|address student needs, adjust instructional delivery to address students that have not learned the expected outcomes and accelerate students that do learn grade level expectations. Full implementation will|

|be determined through self-report on the PLC rubric implementation survey and principal and district staff observation of PLC practice. PLCs will be realized when collaboration goes beyond the 90 minute |

|scheduled time to collaboration as a school culture. |

| |

|The district is committed to every principal and teacher having a strong background in data analysis, interpretation and informed instructional improvement. To meet this commitment the district hired a |

|data specialist to provide on-going professional development and coaching. In addition, the district is committed to making data a part of all conversations and district-wide priority setting through |

|biannual Data Days, expanding data systems with Data Service Center (DSC) for ease in collecting and analyzing appropriate data and using the state data coaches. By teachers reviewing data weekly through |

|PLCs and leadership reviewing data monthly and quarterly, the district will be able to provide continuous improvement targeted to Colonial’s identified needs. Additional training in selecting the |

|appropriate data and increasing the ability of our School-based teams to use data to match appropriate interventions when needed will increase our ability to serve students with identified needs. |

| |

|The institution of a common district-wide walkthough tool, process and procedures, will provide leadership with the ability to more closely monitor the implementation of curriculum and instructional |

|strategies based on high quality professional development more closely and be able to make necessary adjustments more timely. The district is committed to improving the rigor in all classes at all grade |

|levels. Learning Focused Strategies, a research based improvement system, based on the work of experts such as Marzano, Reeves, and Stiggins was adopted at William Penn High School in 2009. It was |

|expanded to our three middle schools in 2010 and will expand to our elementary schools in 2011. Learning Focused was contracted to provide on-going professional development, conferencing, modeling and |

|coaching across two to three years in each school. In addition, the district is committed to long-term, on-going coaching for all staff and professional development to new staff and therefore has plans to |

|institute a career ladder for Learning Focused certified trainers/coaches placed in each school. These LFS coaches will work additional days in the summer providing professional development for teachers |

|and receiving professional development to enhance their ability to work with adult learners. In addition to providing teachers with instructional strategies to improve curriculum delivery, LFS provides |

|each school with a common language of teaching, facilitates opportunities for focused feedback and promotes discussion for continuous improvement during PLCs. |

| |

|Colonial SD has completed a curriculum alignment process for the current State Standards. Teachers continue to develop model units through the LFS model that are reviewed through Leadership Councils. The |

|alignment process will continue with the implementation of the Common Core Standards. The district has developed and implemented common formative assessments aligned with the current curriculum. A |

|review/alignment process with convene once the Common Core Standards are implemented. Although some teachers use on-going formative assessments, this has not been a district-wide effort. By establishing |

|expectations and implementing professional development through PLCs in all schools, the district will monitor the improvement and use of on-going formative assessments as a process for improving teaching |

|practices. |

| |

|Support for struggling learners begins in the general education classroom through differentiated instruction. Instructional coaches and literacy coaches provide teachers with instructional support to |

|improve classroom instruction to meet the needs of these struggling learners. When data indicates students need additional support in ELA and math, the school based teams determine which intervention is |

|most appropriate. The school is provided with a plethora of researched-based strategies and computer-based programs to address needs. Reading and math specialists not only provide much of the |

|interventions, but they also coach teachers with selection and delivery of interventions as well. The school based team monitors and adjusts intervention as needed so students’ needs are best addressed and|

|increases the students’ ability to achieve at or above Standards. Enrichment is provided for all students in much the same way in order to increase all individuals’ level of performance. |

| |

|The Curriculum and Instruction Division along with the district-wide instructional coaches are working to improve each teacher’s content knowledge, ability to maximize the use of curricular materials, and |

|the ability to develop appropriate on-going formative assessments and use the results to adjust instruction. Through the DuFour’s model of PLCs, teachers are not only focused on students that are not |

|learning but those that are by moving these students far beyond grade level expectations. With a strong framework for teacher collaboration, teachers’ will better prepare all students to achieve at higher |

|levels. Through these district-wide initiatives (collaboration, data analysis and instructional improvement, and strong support for students in need of extra help in mastering the Standards as well as |

|accelerating students that master rigorous coursework), the district is building an inherent process for sustainability and should see immediate and long-term student achievement growth. |

| |

|In addition to strengthening our teaching and learning for all students in all schools, our district has two additional areas of concern as identified in our needs assessment, kindergarten readiness and |

|high school enrollment. The district has made the move to provide the current kindergarten programs within district, instead of the current practice of contractual services. This provides the district |

|with greater control over program delivery and hiring appropriate personnel, as well as expansion of services to a greater number of students. The program will begin under Colonial control in August 2011. |

|In addition to hiring staff with specific roles and responsibilities in mind, the district will evaluate the program during the fall. A plan will be developed during second semester. The plan will begin |

|full implementation in August 2012. The goal is to provide better services to a greater number of students in order to improve the ability of students entering kindergarten to master kindergarten |

|standards. Research indicates this early support is necessary to prepare students for school, especially for low income and students of minorities. |

| |

|A review of William Penn’s offerings indicates that students have little choice other than the traditional program. Expanding AP courses and dual enrollment offerings will entice certain students to remain|

|in Colonial by providing a more college ready experience to a greater number of students while offering a greater selection of courses. By building a partnership with the IHEs, a number of students will |

|enjoy an early college campus experience. The ROTC program has been very successful. The high school has maintained a waiting list of interested students. Committing to an expansion of this program |

|provides more students with a rigorous high school experience and a focus for post high school college and career. It was determined that the CTE pathways need a facelift if we are to attract students to |

|William Penn, providing them with interest-based learning. The community has determined that the culinary program should be the focus for improvement in 2011. Therefore, plans are being developed to |

|improve the facilities and expand offerings to more students. In addition, the school is committed to offering one additional pathway for 2011. Project Lead the Way, offering engineering courses to |

|students, should provide a new interest and promote rigor for college-bound students. For students interested in the Arts & Humanities, Colonial will expand these offerings as well. The district believes |

|this will not only attract more students to remain in Colonial but will increase student interest in attending school, looking forward to a post high school career, and being prepared for a competitive |

|college and career experience. However, the district is of the mindset that due to the size of William Penn, there needs to be additional programs in order to meet such a diverse and large student |

|population. Therefore, the district is looking into funding for a school within a school, possibly a New Tech model that would provide interested students in a true 21st century learning experience while |

|preparing them for college. By not only focusing on increasing rigor for all students, but on providing a choice of stimulating and interest based high school experiences provided in smaller learning |

|communities, Colonial will not only attract more students to William Penn but to do a better job educating all students for a competitive world, post graduation. |

| |

|It was also determined in our needs assessment that we need to meet all the needs of our students. This includes addressing the social-emotional aspect of our students’ lives. Although the high school |

|has the Christiana Health Care Wellness Center located on campus, the middle schools and elementary schools are in need of greater support. This year a mental health program was instituted at McCullough |

|Middle School. An additional program is planned for George Read Middle School in August. Family Crisis Therapists are in many of the elementary schools. However, greater awareness and training with all |

|staff is important. Therefore, the district will evaluate the PBS implementation level at each school and make recommendations for improvement. The Collaborating Problem-Solving professional development |

|has begun this year and implementation will be monitored throughout the following school year. The district will address the identified concerns from the needs assessment through the development of a |

|district-wide counseling plan. |

| |

|With the district’s concern for teachers’ ability to understand the culture of our diverse population, including African American, Hispanic, low income and students with disabilities, it is important to |

|provide professional growth opportunities to ensure consistent implementation of district policies and school practices so all Colonial students receive the same advantages and support for a rigorous |

|college and career ready experience. Therefore, beginning in August 2011, the district will launch an on-going focus on awareness and celebration of our diverse populations supported by a deep cultural |

|competency program for all staff. |

| |

|By increasing our rigor and ability to address the needs of our diverse population, we certainly expect to increase attendance, behavior and motivation over time. Research indicates that attendance |

|increases, behavior decreases, and the failure rate decreases when a school has a strong focus on learning. Colonial’s focus on PLCs and LFS is the best strategy for addressing these non-academic needs. |

|In addition, the duties of the visiting teacher have been revisited to improve the home-school experience and involve students and families in meeting the needs of the student so they have a better school |

|experience. |

| |

|And lastly, it was determined by the RTTT committee that the grading policies do not support 21st century learning. Grading practices that include percentage scales are not aligned with researched best |

|practices. Grading policies including homework grading practices, weighting of assignments and first attempt assignments, inclusion of “responsibility,” “effort,” “behavior,” etc as part of grading, and |

|scales v. rubrics, including inappropriate translation from rubric scores to percents and alignment with formative assessments will be explored. Therefore, a task force will be named and directed to provide|

|recommendations to the Board for a more accurate way to assess student learning. |

| |

|Many of these strategies cross several objectives within this plan, but it is important to see how Colonial is comprehensively addressing the needs of the students. Colonial district took the initiative to|

|involve the community and families of Colonial School District in a strategic planning process, and it is important that we address the needs identified to provide our students a learning experience that |

|develops well rounded and educated students into productive adults. |

|Goal 2: Accelerate achievement and improve outcomes for all students with sophisticated data systems and practices |

|Objective 2: Improve access to and use of data systems |

Summary of strategies:

|Required Strategies |

|Implement and support improvement of the state longitudinal data system (SoW 3) |

|Additional LEA Strategies |

| |

| |

Activity plan by strategy:

|Strategy: Implement and support improvement of the state longitudinal data system (SoW 3) |Owner: Karen Thorpe, Business Director |

|For the above strategy, indicate each activity, the |Timeline: Place an “X” in each box that represents a time period in which the activity will be |Deliverables: List the major deliverable(s) for |

|budgeted amount required for it (with funding sources), |carried out. |each activity, and when they will be completed. |

|and the person who will be responsible for it. Required| | |

|activities have already been included. | | |

| |2010/2011 |2011/2012 |

|Additional LEA Strategy: |Owner: |

|For the above strategy, indicate each activity, the |Timeline: Place an “X” in each box that represents a time period in which the activity will be |Deliverables: List the major deliverable(s) for |

|budgeted amount required for it (with funding sources), |carried out. |each activity, and when they will be completed. |

|and the person who will be responsible for it. Required| | |

|activities have already been included. | | |

| |2010/2011 |2011/2012 |

|Objective 2 Measures: Which measures will this objective impact, how much, and when? |

|Measures |

|The Colonial School district is committed to improving the use of data with all stakeholders. The district first instituted a data retreat for principals in July 2010. This practice supported the need for|

|data training among principals and staff, as it had not been a pervasive practice among all principals. The data retreat was followed up by data discussions at monthly principal meetings during the 2010-11|

|SY. In addition, the data specialist as well as the Data Service Center staff has provided on-site coaching for principals and staff. This school year will end by providing every teacher and administrator|

|training in data selection, use of data and data interpretation. The administrators will once again participate in a data retreat in June. The district will then institute a bi-annual “Data Day” for the |

|entire district staff to review and set priorities on the identified data in this plan. The district instructional coaches will continue to provide data support to identify strategies and adjust |

|instructional delivery based on data analysis during PLC, which began this years. Instructional coaches attend all PLCs but provide more support to PLCs in greatest need. The state data coaches will offer|

|additional support to PLCs whose data indicates the greatest need. Colonial parents were provided with “Home Access” in 2009. Data included grades and DSTP and now DCAS scores. In the coming year, |

|results from common assessments will be added. Beginning the 2012-13 SY, parents will have access to I-tracker Pro so they can view all data on their child that the teacher views. Training for parents on |

|how to use Home Access and I-tracker Pro will begin 2011-12 SY. As Parent Resource Centers are opened in each school, computers will be made available for parents during extended school hours. Colonial is|

|committed to making data a priority in every decision and with all stakeholders. |

|Objective 3: Build the capacity to use data |

Summary of strategies:

|Required Strategies |

|Ensure implementation of instructional improvement systems (SoW 4) |

|Additional LEA Strategies |

| |

| |

Activity plan by strategy:

|Strategy: Ensure implementation of instructional improvement systems (SoW 4) |Owner: Lori Duerr, Manager of School |

| |Improvement |

|For the above strategy, indicate each activity, the |Timeline: Place an “X” in each box that represents a time period in which the activity will be |Deliverables: List the major deliverable(s) for |

|budgeted amount required for it (with funding sources), |carried out. |each activity, and when they will be completed. |

|and the person who will be responsible for it. Required | | |

|activities have already been included. | | |

| |2010/2011 |2011/2012 |

|Additional LEA Strategy: |Owner: |

|For the above strategy, indicate each activity, |Timeline: Place an “X” in each box that represents a time period in which the activity |Deliverables: List the major deliverable(s) for |

|the budgeted amount required for it (with |will be carried out. |each activity, and when they will be completed. |

|funding sources), and the person who will be | | |

|responsible for it. Required activities have | | |

|already been included. | | |

| |2010/2011 |2011/2012 |

|Objective 3 Measures: Which measures will this objective impact, how much, and when? |

|Measures |

|The Colonial School district made the commitment to adopt the DuFour’s PLC model and make PLCs a valued framework for conducting all other work in the district. In the summer of 2010, all principals and |

|the two Director of Schools personnel attended the National PLC Conference in Washington, D.C. The expectations were set for all schools to implement PLCs for every teacher in Colonial School District. |

|Two 45 minute sessions per week were built into the master schedule. The principals have formed a PLC and protected monthly time is devoted for principals to support one another in PLC implementation. |

|Components of PLCs have been the focus of the monthly principals meetings to ensure all schools understand the importance and district-wide focus on full implementation of PLCs. Four district office staff,|

|two Directors of Schools, Director of Curriculum and Instruction and the Manager of School Improvement have been providing on-going on-site coaching with principals. The district instructional coaches |

|participate in the PLCs and provide on-going coaching for teachers. The focus of the DAAC (District Academic Achievement Council) meetings this year is PLCs. The focus of all district-wide PD days is |

|PLCs. Two teacher leaders from each of the 14 schools were identified to attend the DuFours’ PLC conference in Phoenix in February 2011. The purpose is to increase each building’s capacity for full |

|implementation, using these teacher leaders to provide coaching and modeling in PLC implementation. In May 2011, the DuFours will provide a 75 minute video conferencing technical assistance to all building|

|principals, assistance principals and district leadership. The same technical assistance venue will be offered to 300 teachers in the fall so teachers can get questions answered and gain a better |

|understanding of the maximum benefits of PLCs. In addition, the fall district-wide PD day will feature three national presenters from the DuFours’ association. Every staff member in Colonial SD will |

|choose a full day session on PLC implementation (leadership, culture or data analysis). Selection will be structured so that at least one member from each PLC will attend one of the sessions. Follow-up in|

|regular PLC sessions will include sharing important take-aways so PLCs will continue their growth, moving to fully functioning and effective PLCs. The state data coaches will be scheduled for PLCs in |

|greatest need, identified through student achievement data. As stated, the district has invested resources to support principals and teachers in developing effective PLCs. PLCs will drive instructional |

|improvement through the analysis of student data and determining instructional decisions for accelerating students that are meeting the Standards and providing supports for the students that are not meeting|

|Standards. |

| |

|Colonial SD has adopted Learning Focused Strategies as the district-wide instructional improvement system. Through LFS all teachers will be provided with high quality professional development and coaching |

|to improve the rigor in every classroom for every student. Each school will receive two years of on-going training, coaching and modeling from Learning Focused. Two teachers from every school (four from |

|the HS) will be trained as trainers to provide on-going professional development and coaching in all the LFS areas of focus. By building the capacity for long-term support, teachers will have multiple |

|opportunities to improve their instructional delivery so all students meet or exceed the Standards. A walkthrough tool will be developed specifically addressing the rigor expected in LFS. Principals will |

|be trained in the tool and the data analysis component before beginning implementation in August 2011. Data will be analyzed and additional professional development and coaching will be provided where |

|needed. This information will eventually be analyzed along with the DPAS II data (including student achievement measures) to determine effective and high effective teachers, as well as teachers in need of |

|improvement. |

| |

|PLCs are the framework for continuous improvement in the Colonial School District. LFS professional development will be sustained through teachers’ work in the PLCs. PLCs provide the venue to discuss |

|instructional practices and the strategies learned through LFS are a part of those discussions. Data is an integral part of PLCs. Data coaches, and the professional development and coaching provided by |

|Colonial’s data specialist, DSC, and instructional coaches will help develop teachers’ ability to analyze and interpret data to inform instructional decisions. Lesson/unit development as part of |

|curriculum/assessment alignment occurs as an on-going process in PLCs. Curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development are the essence of PLCs. The work of a professional learning |

|community (teams and school) will become a natural part of the way schools operate. |

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