The two areas within the Race to the Top initiative with the greatest impact for the Woonsocket Education Department were the development of CCSS-aligned curriculum and the educator evaluation and feedback initiatives.
Development
of CCSS-aligned curriculum: The WED participated in this initiative from the
beginning, with over 80% of our faculty attending the initial Study of the
Standards sessions conducted by the Rhode Island Department of Education. RIDE came to the WED to present the sessions as part of the WED’s required
10 hours of professional development, thereby meeting
virtually every classroom teacher in every content area. Once a Director of
Curriculum was appointed in December of 2012, CCSS-aligned curriculum
development began in earnest. Over the
last 17 months curriculum development committees made up of teachers have been
formed in: Math K-12, English Language Arts (Reading) 6-8, English Language
Arts (9-12), English Language Arts Writing (K-8), Social Studies K-12, Art K-5
aligned to CCSS, Music K-5 aligned to CCSS, Library Media Studies K-12 aligned
to CCSS Literacy, Science K-12 aligned to NGSS/CCSS Literacy and Math (also in
partnership with the Math/Science Partnership Grant), Health and Physical
Education K-12 aligned to CCSS Literacy, Engineering 6-12 aligned to CCSS Math.
The WED has also entered into a partnership with the Learning Community Charter
School to improve the implementation of the K-5 Reading curriculum aligned to
CCSS. This initiative has involved all teachers at four schools, reading
specialists from seven schools, and selected teachers from three schools. By
September 2015, all teachers will have been provided with professional
development through this initiative, the MSP, Title II, and other grants.
The
Woonsocket Education Department has been committed to improving our educator
evaluation system. The WED is one of six districts in the Rhode Island
Innovation Educator Evaluation and Support System (also known simply as the
Innovation Model). While this endeavor began as part of an Investing in
Innovation (I3) Grant received by the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers, the
WED enhanced that work utilizing RTT funds to create the position of District
Educator Evaluation Administrator. This position enabled the WED to identify a
principal who became the district liaison for the development and
implementation of the evaluation and support system, providing individualized,
job-embedded professional development to evaluators, assisting the District
Evaluation Committee in developing uniform procedures and protocols, and in
developing and implementing a calibration system for evaluators to ensure
uniformity of implementation. All principals and administrative evaluators
participated in the professional development and calibration work. In addition,
the DEEA developed and implemented professional development for all teachers –
delivered by the principals.
What we found surprising about our involvement in Race to the
Top...
The
greatest impact came as the RTT initiative continued. Having originally been
part of the Math and Science Partnership curriculum development with the RIDE
and the Charles A. Dana Center of the University of Texas at Austin, teams of
active practitioners in mathematics focused on realigning the designed
curriculum to the CCSS and on developing CCSS-aligned assessments for the Units
of Study. That work continues with the elementary and middle school teams
focusing on the assessments and the high school teams realigning Algebra II,
Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Applied Mathematics, and Financial Algebra courses to
the CCSS. The WED has also developed CCSS-aligned curriculum in English
Language Arts grades 6-8 and is currently working on aligning the ELA
curriculum in grades 9-12. Social Studies curriculum in grades K-12 is
currently being developed aligned to the CCSS ELA and will be completed by
September 2014. One of the surprises we found was the interest among
professionals in complementary subjects such as music, art, health and physical
education, engineering, and library media to align their curricula to the CCSS.
These professionals embraced the idea of aligning the subject matter in each of
the areas to the CCSS, both Literacy and Mathematics. Science teachers in the
WED are also working diligently to align curriculum to CCSS and NGSS.
Race to the Top impacted our district by...
The
greatest impact on the culture of our district has been the opportunity the
RTT initiatives have provided for practitioner collaboration. In the work on
curricula development, teams of teacher across schools and grade levels have
worked together to build a guaranteed and viable common curriculum. For our
district with its high inter-school mobility trends among the district’s elementary
schools, this is a critically positive impact. Even in our high school and
middle school, where there is no mobility as the WED has one middle school and
one high school, the RTTT initiative has broken down walls and created an
atmosphere of enhanced discussion and collaboration.The WED plans to utilize funds from Title II, the Math/Science Partnership, and other grants to continue professional development in the implementation of the initiatives started under RTT. The District Evaluation Committee will continue to meet as part of the WED’s commitment to the implementation of the BEP.
Contact Linda Filomeno, Director of Grants and Assessment at lfilomeno@woonsocketschools.com or (401) 767-4614.