BSD and WWU PARTNERSHIP - COORDINATING BOARD

February 25, 2004

5:00 PM - Roeder Administration Building - Rm. 212

Attendees: Sheila Fox, David Carroll, Bill Lay, Laurie Phelan, Stephanie Salzman, Lisa Conlon, Rob McElroy, Steve Dolmatz, Becky Elmendorf, Susan Zoller, Dale Kinsley, and Adrienne Nelson

Reconnection: Partnership Binders and Website

Each Board Member was given a binder in which to keep minutes and handouts from the work of the Coordinating Board. Adrienne will see that Shirley, Jeff, and Leslie get their binders.

Adrienne shared that all the minutes and links to other partnership work are now on the BSD Web page ( http://www.bham.wednet.edu/staff/committee.htm )

Joint Learning Project

Celebrations

•  Good turnout

•  New Connections/Networking created

•  Comments about valuing the learning together

•  Opportunity to put talented people together

•  Increased mentor capacity

•  Our leaders are together right from the beginning of our partnership

•  Sheila's Slides!

•  Good conversations about professional norms left them wanting more

•  The right people were there along with critical leadership

•  Resulted in clarity of what we need to do

•  Wonderful pictures of the event that were immediately available to all the participants

Challenges

•  The group needs to engage with the larger picture of the partnership: the shared continuum of standards or essential teaching behaviors before digging into the assessment tools.

•  Each partner needs to develop a list of what is "essential" in powerful classroom teaching.

•  The group needs to work on a distilled list of teaching essentials

•  We need to be sure that we don't get wrapped up in creating documents and that we focus on the work that we can do together   

Next Steps:

•  To create a work plan for the April 22 and 23 Joint Learning Institute that results in the development of a shared list of what is essential in powerful teaching and the beginnings of a continuum that describes these "essentials" in each phase of teacher development. A planning group will meet to outline the strategies and activities for the two day Institute. The Planning Group: Sheila Fox, Adrienne Nelson, David Carroll, Shirley Potter, Lisa Conlon and Rob McElroy will meet on March 12 th at 9 am in rm. 204 at Roeder Administration Building. A second meeting is set for April 6 th to merge "Essentials" documents and April 20 th for final planning.

•  Dale and Susan discuss the next steps in meeting with the Association to create a description of Powerful Teaching and Learning (Possibly April 2 nd ) and involve Shirley, Steve, and Rob in the planning.

•  Stephanie will work with WWU/WCE to create their list of "Essentials".

•  David, Sheila, Lisa, Rob, and Adrienne are available to attend the separate partner meetings.

Professional Certification Program

  Sheila shared how the implementation of the professional certification program course, Assessment Seminar, is going. There are 14 participants, Sheila meets with Heather bi weekly, and a set of literature materials have been purchased and will be housed in the district library media department for check out by the participants. Adrienne and Sheila also meet regularly to identify and implementation strategies for the Behavior Indicator Courses and the next Assessment Seminar for Cohort II to begin in the fall.

Next Steps:

•  Dale and Susan will let Sheila know about a time to meet with the principals regarding their roles and responsibilities in the professional certification program - by April.

•  Sheila and Adrienne will hold an information meeting for "Advocates on April 5 th

•  Sheila, Heather and Adrienne will meet with the New Teachers on April 27 th at 4 PM to provide information about the Partnership Professional Certificate Program. This meeting will be open to all teachers who are interested in attending.

Clearinghouse and Menu of Partnering Options
  Jennifer and Laurie shared a draft of a document that outlines Partnering Opportunities; a description of the program and the criteria needed to host the program. A separate document would be developed for elementary and secondary levels. The document would be shared with the principals who would discuss the opportunities with their staff and decide which opportunities are a good match for their schools. Laurie and Jennifer have been contacting departments at WWU in order to share the concept as well as getting program information. Jennifer's department would then use the principal's interest information to make matches with programs placement needs.

  Dale and Sheila described the changes in the current "Teacher on Sabbatical" position. A new job description is being written which would describe this position more in keeping with the current TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment). Some suggestions for this position included working with the Professional Certificate Candidates, New Teacher Seminar Series, Mentors and/or Advocates.

Next Steps:

•  Susan will talk with the supervisors to identify a meeting in March to share the "Partnering Opportunities".

Mentor Academy

  The School Board approved policy 5440 regarding intern placements with qualified teaching staff. The policy lists mentor or coach training as one of the criteria of "qualified" teacher. Steve Dolmatz suggested that a letter be written to all staff about this change in policy. Dale will contact Shirley to write a joint letter to the teachers and principals. Steve also suggested that a Mentor Academy be held this spring for teachers who would like to have student interns. Adrienne suggested that this Mentor Academy be open to WWU/WCE staff who supervise interns and that the academy be jointly facilitated. Shirley, Lisa, Bill, and David volunteered to help facilitate.

Next Steps:

•  The Mentor Academy Facilitation Team (Bill, David, Shirley, Lisa, and Adrienne) will meet and plan a two-day Academy to be held tentatively May 17 th and June 1 st . Adrienne will contact team for a planning date.

Evaluation Strategy

  David shared a conceptual model of the Continuum of Professional Learning and Reciprocal Nested Spheres of Learning. This model is a visual representation of how the partnership supports and interacts along a continuum that is aligned with linked standards, assessment, and professional development.

Next Steps:

•  David asked the Board to be thinking about what formative assessments support the model.

Next Meeting: March 19 th at 3:30 PM in Rm.212, Roeder Administrative Building

Future Agenda Items:

Administrative Internship Description

NSF Grant