20090715_moran_catalyst Proposal_final For Submission

DC Public Schools DC Catalyst Project Proposal to the Moran Family Foundation July 15, 2009

Narrative A Crisis in the Nation’s Capital Public schools in the District of Columbia have historically failed to provide our children with the education they deserve. Scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) expose a striking difference in student performance for the nation versus the nation’s capital. By the 4th grade, DC Public Schools (DCPS) students’ scores lag behind those of their national peers by 24 points in reading and 26 points in math.1 By the 8th grade, DCPS students perform at even lower levels relative to their national peers — in other words, students fall further behind as they proceed through DCPS. Compounding this low overall performance is the fact that DCPS evidences a broad racial achievement gap. Discrepancies in student performance based on race are wider in DC than in the nation as a whole. NAEP test scores reveal that nationally there is a 27-point difference in the reading scores of White and Black 4th graders and a 24-point difference in the reading scores White and Hispanic 4th graders; in DCPS the differences between these groups’ performance jump to 66 points and 58 points, respectively. Clearly the schools in our nation’s capital are not providing all children with the high-quality education that will prepare them for success in the workplace and as citizens.

Transformation and Innovation After her appointment by Mayor Fenty in June 2007, DC Public Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee established a dual mission for DCPS: to become the top-performing urban school district in the country and to close the achievement gaps that currently persist along racial and socioeconomic lines. Despite the

1 2007 data. U.S. Department of Education. NAEP Data Explorer. Retrieved April 18, 2009, from National Center for Education Statistics website: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/naepdata.

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significant challenges DCPS faces, the district has made considerable progress toward closing these gaps in the first two years of the Chancellor’s tenure. In 2008, scores from the District of Columbia Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS) revealed an 8-point increase in the percent of DCPS students who are reading at grade level at the elementary level and a 9-point increase at the secondary level. DCPS’ 2009 scores demonstrate further improvement at both the elementary and the secondary level, as well as additional progress in closing the racial achievement gap. Realizing that sustainable change would be impossible without a clear roadmap, Chancellor Rhee and her team developed a 5-Year Transformation Plan that laid out six interdependent focus areas for improvement in all aspects of the District’s operations: Compelling Schools, Great People, Aligned Curriculum, Data-Driven Decisions, Effective Central Office, and Engaged Community. In early 2009, DCPS developed a comprehensive Effective Schools Framework2 to support its efforts to improve these areas and to serve as a foundation for reform. To overcome the diverse challenges DCPS faces as an urban school district, it adopted a portfolio approach to school support. With this approach, DCPS seeks to acknowledge and respond to the range of needs in its schools while maintaining a set of core principles and a unified vision. It identifies strategies appropriate to the challenges associated with each level of school performance—low-performing schools in need of intensive support, middle-performing schools in need of targeted reform, and high-performing schools that would benefit from greater autonomy. Grouping schools into performance-based categories allowed DCPS to implement a differentiated strategy, by which schools at all starting points receive appropriate support, and interventions are tailored to a school’s particular circumstances and needs. The following graphic summarizes these aligned goals, frameworks, and strategies.

2 Appendix A includes a description of the Effective Schools Framework.

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Six focus areas constitute a roadmap for achieving DCPS’ mission: close the achievement gap and become the topperforming urban school district. Focus on developing schools that provide a consistent foundation in academics, strong support for social and emotional needs, and a variety of challenging themes and programs. Emphasize collaborative school leadership, professional development, and community engagement to advance student learning and achievement.

Implement whole-school reform models that vary depending schools’ needs and abilities, as well as community input. Engage students, develop educators and strengthen communities of middle performing DCPS schools using a themebased school reform model.

The DC Catalyst Project The DC Catalyst Project is an innovative initiative targets middle-performing “good” schools and pushes them to become high-performing “great” schools. The Catalyst Project aims to alleviate three major obstacles middle-performing schools face: 

Poor student engagement arising out of a failure to fully address student needs



Weak teaching practice resulting from insufficient professional development and ineffective communication

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

A lack of meaningful points of entry for families and communities

The Catalyst Project seeks to address each of these issues using a themes-based school design with the goals of dramatically raising student engagement and achievement and creating a unified school culture. The Catalyst Project offers schools an opportunity to adopt one of three whole-school themes: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM); Arts Integration; or World Cultures. Every Catalyst school will integrate the theme-area skills and knowledge into all aspects of the curriculum while providing its students with a comprehensive education in all core subjects. Schools accepted into the Catalyst Project will have the opportunity to undergo an intensive year of planning with a focus on teacher professional development, enrichment of curriculum and strengthening of school culture.3 Catalyst Project schools demonstrate a variety of approaches to integrating the theme across the curriculum, but all articulate plans for rich and deep engagement with the themes. One example comes from the design team at Eaton Elementary School, who established a strong vision of building on the school’s diverse student body and current Chinese program to create a World Cultures school anchored in Chinese language instruction, with a school-wide focus on the study of global countries and cultures. In implementation, they intend to partner with foreign embassies and local universities, devote a full schoolyear to a particular continent, and establish a parent-run World Cultures Resource Center and Language Lab. The Catalyst Project will transform and improve schools like Eaton Elementary by creating schoolwide cultures that effectively support students, educators, and communities. Alignment of vision, mission, and curriculum will breed a common language and establish a shared goal around which all stakeholders can mobilize.

3 Appendix B includes a list of the 13 participating schools.

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The Catalyst Project seeks to comprehensively address each of the aforementioned obstacles faced by middle-performing schools in the following ways:

Catalyst Implementation DCPS is firmly committed to the success of the Catalyst Program. It is taking a deliberate approach, supporting each of the Catalyst schools throughout one planning year to allow these schools to shape their model, determine resource needs, train staff, and recruit new staff as needed. Implementation of the school themes will begin in the 2010-2011 school year.

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Spring 2009  DCPS released a Request for Application in April 2009, inviting all DCPS elementary, middle and K-8 schools to apply for participation in the Catalyst Project.4  DCPS evaluated applications and selected thirteen schools for participation in the Catalyst Project. School Year 2009-10: Planning5  Catalyst school leadership teams develop program and submit strategic plans for program and curriculum design.  DCPS central office supports school-based planning.  External experts advise school-based teams. School Year 2010-11 and 2011-12: Implementation Begins  Catalyst schools open with their new theme in August 2010.  DCPS central office and external experts provide ongoing support. The table below describes the actions that will be taken at each Catalyst Project school to address the Project’s focus areas for improvement during the planning and implementation years.6

4 The DC Catalyst Project RFA is included in documents submitted to support this proposal. 5 Catalyst Project schools will operate during the planning year. 6 Appendix C describes the explicit roles and responsibilities of the Catalyst school teams, DCPS central office and expert support throughout planning and implementation.

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Focus Area

Planning

Implementation

Engage Students

Students will:  Take part in one theme-related unit during spring semester, providing teachers with feedback

Develop Educators

Catalyst Project schools and DCPS central office will:  Create strategic plan  Implement theme-appropriate professional development  Hire school-based theme coordinator  Develop and manage relationships with expert partners  Develop theme-appropriate curriculum and assessments

Strengthen Communities

Catalyst Project schools will:  Market theme adoption to community  Develop school culture around theme  Engage expert support

Students will:  Attend theme-related trip  Take part in theme-related curriculum throughout year

  



Catalyst Project schools and DCPS central office will: Continue professional development Plan collaboratively within school and with other theme schools Implement new instructional strategies

Catalyst Project schools will: Introduce interactive theme-related community events

Milestones and Expectations The metrics measuring the success of the Catalyst Project will be developed to align appropriately with each school’s program, but all Catalyst schools are expected to demonstrate gains in student achievement and engagement, educator performance and retention, and overall community investment. DCPS has developed a set of milestones for the planning year, with a corresponding set of expectations for the implementation years.

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Focus Area Engage Students

Develop Educators

Planning Year Milestones 







Strengthen Communities



Student enrollment and student attendance will show improvement.

Implementation Years One and Two Expectations  DC-CAS proficiency will improve 3-5 percentage points per year in ELA and math, for a cumulative growth of 9-15 points over the first three years in each subject.

School leaders will deliver a set of strategic professional development and curriculum development plans which will include: o Minimum of 8 hours of school-wide (themerelated) professional development throughout the year. o Minimum of 6 hours collaborative planning time for teachers throughout the year. School leaders will identify two partner organizations to enrich school theme and provide theme-related out-of-school time activities. All teachers will implement at least one theme-related unit.



School leadership will host a minimum of two parent/family information sessions.



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





Schools will demonstrate measurable improvement on DCPS accountability measures, including School Scorecards and Quality School Reviews. 75% of teacher corps at each school will have attended at least one theme-related professional development workshop. Teachers will demonstrate improved understanding of theme concepts emphasized in professional development.

Increased attendance at parent-teacher conferences and community events. Improved survey feedback from families and communities.

Sustainability DCPS is building a strong portfolio management team to both grow and manage its school portfolio. DCPS expects to realize greater central operating efficiencies, allowing more dollars and operating resources to flow to individual schools. Additionally, schools will build internal capacity to execute Catalyst programs, allowing DCPS to allocate fewer central resources over time to their support. Specifically, it is the expectation of DCPS that following three years of implementation, Catalyst schools will have the internal capacity to financially sustain the core theme in future years. The expert support provided to Catalyst schools will be instrumental to achieving this goal. These experts will consult with principals on prioritization and resource allocation and improvement of leaders’ strategic, organizational and financial management skills. Additionally, DCPEF will work with schools to identify additional external funding opportunities that are a good match for that particular school’s mission and brand. In addition to the development of internal capacity to sustain the Catalyst schools’ work, DCPS has developed a plan for cost savings district-wide. In conjunction with the 5-Year Action Plan, DCPS has laid out a plan to dramatically reorganize the public budget – reaping cost-savings by increasing operating efficiency and shifting funds to high-priority and high-impact areas.

Budget Narrative

Over three years, an investment of $7.75 million in private dollars will support the Catalyst project in thirteen schools across seven of the city’s eight wards, including three schools in Wards 7 and 8, where the Moran Family Foundation focuses its philanthropy. These funds will support: 

Professional development opportunities for teachers,

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

Extensive curricular and instructional support for schools, including school-based instructional coaches and expert consulting,



Central office coordination for each of the three themes,



Theme-specific materials, and



Out-of-school experiences.

All private support for the Catalyst Project will be dedicated entirely to high-leverage components that are critical to the achievement of project goals. 7 These core components are detailed below.

Professional Development While much professional development will be provided at the school level by the theme coordinator, experts from relevant fields will also provide ongoing support in teaching practice and curriculum design to teachers in Catalyst schools. These professional development supports will look different in each theme cohort and school depending on the needs and interests of that school. For instance, STEM schools may work with providers of science professional development who have expertise coaching teachers of other subjects, while arts integration schools may work with a teaching artist-inresidence to enrich their teachers’ practice.

Branding As part of reforming a school’s mission and vision, DPCS feels it is critical that the school identify its “brand”—its mission statement, motto, logo, mascot, and key messages must all align with the school’s 7

DCPS is committed to continuing to fund all Catalyst schools at the level determined by DCPS’ budgeting formula.

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theme and focus. This branding will help the school develop a coherent culture and market itself to potential students as well as community partners.

Expert Support Schools will require expert support to ensure that they are aligning their theme with the best thinking and research in the careers and fields related to the school’s theme. This support will also serve as a resource to the school leadership, helping to ensure that leaders are effectively and consistently prioritizing, strategizing and allocating resources to support the theme.

Materials The precise types of materials required for each school will vary depending on the school’s theme. In a World Cultures school, a portion of the materials cost might go toward subscriptions to National Geographic magazine for science and social studies classes. In STEM schools, the funds may go, in part, toward purchasing microscopes that could be used, as part of a Language Arts class nature poetry project, to closely examine objects found in the school yard.

Personnel Support In order to ensure successful implementation, DCPS feels strongly that each Catalyst Project school requires a full-time staff person, whose role will be to manage the themes implementation— liaising with DCPS central office, coaching teachers in effective practice that supports the core theme, and collaborating with other schools offering the same theme. This person will provide support on all theme-related initiatives within the school.

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Budget The DC Public Education Fund has determined the average per-school cost of a planning year in Catalyst schools. These costs are detailed below. Budget Item

Per School Costs

Non-Personnel Support Professional Development

$

60,000

Expert Support

$

6,000

Branding

$

5,000

Materials

$

55,000

$

80,500

Personnel Support School-based Theme Coordinator (1 per school) Subtotal

$ 206,500

The DC Public Education Fund is asking the Moran Family Foundation for $50,000 to support one-quarter of the Catalyst Project planning year costs for a school in Ward 7 or 8.

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Appendix A DCPS Effective Schools Framework The District of Columbia Public Schools is committed to providing all students with a high-quality education. The goal of the DCPS Effective Schools Framework is to ensure that every child, in every classroom, has access to engaging instruction. The elements of the DCPS Effective Schools Framework reflect the key focus areas for district reform. The framework has been developed to ensure alignment with the DCPS Five-Year Strategic Plan and related Performance Plans. In the spirit of our commitment to data-driven improvement and the “Plan, Do, Assess” model, this framework will be continuously evaluated to examine its effectiveness. Elements of Effective Schools Element 1: Teaching and Learning Teachers work together to plan instruction that holds students to high standards and expectations for achievement, and gives them the skills to meet those expectations. Element 2: Leadership The school leader fully understands his or her role as the leader of instruction for the school. The principal creates a vision aligned to district goals that is individualized to meet the needs of the school community. Element 3: Job-Embedded Professional Development High-quality professional development happens at school. It fits with district and local school goals, is driven by data, and meets teachers where they are—individualized to their subject areas and the challenges they face. Element 4: Resources Instruction and student achievement drive the way the school allocates its resources. Funding, staff, materials, and time are distributed according to the teaching and learning needs at the school. Element 5: Safe and Effective Learning Environment Policies, procedures, and practices support a safe environment that communicates high expectations, mutual respect, and a focus on teaching and learning. Element 6: Family and Community Engagement School staff communicate well with families and community members, supporting them to know their important roles in creating effective learners and schools. The school invests families and community members in that work. Data-Driven Decision Making The use of data is an essential component of the DCPS Effective Schools Framework. For each of the six elements, decision-making will be supported with accurate information about how our students and the school district are performing.

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Appendix B Catalyst Schools Cohort School

Grade Levels

Theme

Ward

Beers Elementary School Burroughs Education Center Columbia Heights Education Campus Eaton Elementary School Emery Educational Campus Langdon Education Campus Ludlow-Taylor Elementary School Malcolm X Elementary School Payne Elementary School Sousa Middle School Takoma Educational Center Tyler Elementary School Whittier Education Campus

Preschool-5th Preschool-5th 6th – 8th Pre-K –5th Preschool –8th Pre-K – 8th Pre-K–5th Pre K – 5th Preschool – 5th 6th – 8th Preschool – 8th Preschool – 5th Preschool–8th

STEM STEM World Cultures World Cultures STEM STEM Arts Integration STEM World Cultures Arts Integration Arts Integration Arts Integration STEM

7 5 1 3 5 5 6 8 6 7 4 6 4

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Appendix C Description of Roles and Responsibilities School leadership teams, DCPS, and external experts each have a role to play throughout the Catalyst planning and implementation:

School Team

DCPS

External experts

Planning Development of:  Strategic plan  Professional development plan  Engagement of communities Facilitation of:  School plans  Hiring of school-based coordinators  Quarterly collaborative meetings among theme schools Advise on:  Design and implementation of professional development  Development of curriculum and assessments  School models  Theme-related opportunities

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Implementation Continuation of:  Professional development  Collaborative planning Response to:  School and cohort needs Facilitation of:  Informal evaluations for reflection and improvement  Principal forums to support school reform Advise on:  Professional development  Theme-related curriculum and assessments  Theme related opportunities Facilitation of:  Reflection and improvement