Notes from Teaching and Learning
Greetings,
It has been a pleasure to serve as the Chief Academic Officer in Tukwila School District and to welcome Dr. Deno, Executive Director of Multi-lingual and PreK-12 Education, Ms. Mora, Administrative Assistant for Teaching and Learning and Ms. England, Administrative Assistant to the Chief Academic Officer.
In the short time that I’ve been with Tukwila, I’ve learned about our hopes and dreams. We want our scholars to be curious, critical thinkers and problem solvers; confident, independent thinkers and leaders who question the dominant society and challenge systemic racism in institutions like schools. The hopes and dreams of staff and learning that from scholars (they want to set academic goals to guide their learning) has guided the focus of the District Strategic Plan.
District Strategic Plan
In Tukwila School District, our ultimate goal is to create a learning community that supports and empowers students, staff, and families reach their greatest potential, which is outlined in our District Strategic Plan. As a learning community, we will set High Expectations, demonstrate Equity and Empathy, build authentic Relationships and Engage Learners so that H.E.R.E. Learning Starts. While on my look, listen and learn tours, some of the things, that have been shared is the need for a guaranteed and viable literacy curriculum that will address the needs of our mono lingual and multilingual learners, identification of priority standards, professional development, increasing our daily attendance rates, consistency in data entry for all in the Student Information Systems, district-wide systemic processes and procedures, the implementation of a dual language program, early identification for summer school, a robust fine arts program and an increase in 4 year graduation rates. In this edition on Notes From Teaching and Learning, you will have an opportunity to learn about the work that we have accomplished and the work that will be forthcoming.
Notes from Teaching and Learning
your continued support is needed. Your support is needed in setting outcomes, analyzing data, ensuring educational and racial equity and evaluating success indicators as Teaching and Learning works to co-create guiding principles for our curriculum and instructional framework. There will be 5 phases to this work:
Phase 1 Establish Guiding Principles for Curriculum Development
These guiding principles will help us build an authentic cur riculum that meets the needs of all scholars, PreK-12.
Phase 2 Plan and Research
The goal of this phase is to gain a deeper understanding of all related standards and best practices to develop a plan that will ensure timely completion and implementation.
Phase 3 Curriculum Development
The intended outcome for this phase is to create and/or refine a yearlong curriculum map that includes the scope and sequence for teaching and learning and to investigate poten tial resources that will support the curriculum that will be vetted through the Curriculum Council. We will later determine the professional development need to support teaching and learning. This phase is where the curriculum will be written. The work completed in phase 2 will inform the writing process so that what is developed is a Guaranteed Viable Cur riculum (GVC) that is rigorous and aligned to all standards for PreK-12 so that there is a logi cal progression of skills from one grade level/course to the next to ensure that every student is college and career ready.
Phase 4 Professional Learning and Continued Curriculum Development
The goal of this phase is to design or select common assessments, select resources if needed, provide professional development and to develop an evaluation plan for the curriculum. During this phase, the curriculum will be prepared for implementation and professional learning will be provided. Professional development will take place to ensure that the written curriculum becomes what is actually taught in the classroom. Through professional de velopment, ultimately, teachers will have a clear understanding of how to implement the curriculum and any new resources and assessments.
Phase 5 Implementation
Since curriculum development is iterative, the goal of this phase is to gather feedback the that will inform future curriculum development and professional development. During this phase, the written curriculum will become what is taught in class. As the curriculum is imple mented, evaluation of the curriculum will take place simultaneously as teachers will be able to provide feedback to improve instruction, curriculum, the use of resources and assess ments, and any other aspect of teaching and learning as needed. Curriculum Council will meet on January 26, 2023 from 4pm to 6pm in the board room. Agenda: Introductions, Share Your Why, Review of Board Policy 2020 and Creation of Agenda for next meeting scheduled for February 9, 2023.
Notes from Teaching and Learning
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Notes from Teaching and Learning
Early Warning Indicator System (EWIS)
In January 2023, Teaching and Learning will be meeting with administrative teams to learn about the number of students who are on track for graduation at the secondary level. If there are students who are in need of credit recovery or support in passing a class, the process for credit recovery will begin in January 2023 and students in grades 9-12 will be given 6 weeks to recover the credit through Grad Alliance.
Summer School Planning
Dr. Deno, will begin Summer School Planning in January 2023. In an effort to provide maximum support, Teaching and Learning will post 2 positions for a summer school coordinator; one for elementary and one for secondary. After window 2 of the iReady assessments, scholars will be identified for summer learning. Ultimately, the goal is to provide summer learning for scholars who have yet to meet to grade level standards; however, there may also be an opportunity to provide enrichment opportunities and the planning for a freshman academy will begin this academic year for scholars as well. More information will be forthcoming in March, 2023.
Budgeting
In an attempt to ensure that we remain fiscally responsible, Teaching and Learning will be meeting with school leaders to discuss each school’s budget and share the process for accessing funds so that the requests are in alignment with the school improvement plans, the district improvement plan and the district strategic plan. Once this information is shared with school leaders, school leaders will then share the process with each school.
5th Grade Camp
Mr. Camacho has done an outstanding job meeting with teachers and making himself available to visit camp groups for the 5th grade scholars. The administrators and 5th grade teachers will work with Mr. Camacho to present a final recommendation to Dr. Deno in March 2023.
Dual Language Program
Programming for the Dual Language Program will continue to move forward under the leadership of Dr. Deno. TSD will continue the partnership with Exchange Impact Programs (EIX) and will resume meetings in January 2023. We will open applications for our first Kindergarten class in January 2023.
Student Information System
Ms. Mora has done an incredible job working with the Office Managers to accurately input data into Skyward. Accurately, inputting information is incredibly important as it feeds into so many other systems such as CEDARS, Homeroom, LAP reporting and eventually SWIS. Teaching and Learning had to request an extension for the 2021-2022 end of year reporting for data that is routinely captured from the Student Information System, but wasn’t for TSD. For this reason, Teaching and Learning will be working with building leaders to identify students who are receiving LAP services so that this information can be entered into the Student Information System in February 2023 and completed in April, 2023 after the final iReady assessment and finals have been administered.
Notes from Teaching and Learning
Student Growth Goal Rubric
As we continue our work with the revised Student Growth Goal Rubrics from OSPI; Teaching and Learning will be facilitating a “Calibration of the New Student Growth Goal Rubric” on January 19, 2023 from 3:45pm 5:15pm with building leaders in the board room. The presentation will be lead by Mr. Theren Hayes, Mr. Ian Sample and Ms. Suzanne Hamilton. Ultimately, the goal is to ensure that there is common language and understanding on how the shifts outlined in the revised Student Growth Goal Rubrics.
Comprehensive School Counseling Program (CSCP) - Senate Bill 5030 (SB5030)
According to SB5030, districts must develop a comprehensive school counseling program (CSCP) that uses state and nationally recognized counselor frameworks and is systemically aligned to state learning standards. Things districts should consider are: alignment with the districts’ strategic plan, collaboration with school counselors regarding the incorporation of standards and professional development around school counseling standards. This work with be lead by Ms. Jones, Director of Special Education; there will be 3 members from the district on the team and 3 members selected from TEA to assist in developing the CSCP. The team will meet bimonthly from January through May 2023 in order to meet the mandate of SB5030. Meetings will be 90 minutes, one meeting will take place during the school day and the other meeting will take place after school; all TEA members will be compensated for any meetings that take place after school.
PSESD Race and Equity
Tukwila School District entered into a multi-year partnership with Puget Sound Educational Service District (PSESD) to systemically institutionalize racial equity within TSD:
Year 1 (2020– 2021): The focus was on leadership
PSESD’s Equity in Education Services staff will deliver foundational racial equity training for TSD Leadership (Executive leadership, school board, principals/assistant principals, equity leads, parent/community leaders) in order to build capacity for future systemic racial equity work.
PSESD will work with TSD School Board and Superintendent to review the Racial Equity Policy and create or review the policy implementation plan and re-establish/re-commit to year one outcomes.
Year 2 (2021-2022): Focus on teachers/staff
PSESD will provide equity training to all TSD teachers and classified staff
PSESD will provide technical assistance in implementing the racial equity policy Year 3 (2022-2023): Focus on student outcomes
PSESD will support the evaluation and evolution of ongoing racial policy implementation efforts; paying attention to the impact on student outcomes.
PSESD will provide ongoing training and technical assistance as needed by district. With new leadership at the elementary schools, within Teaching and Learning, and on the board of directors, PSESD facilitated professional development with the leadership teams and the board of directors. The initial training occurred in October 2022; more training is scheduled for January 2023.
