Focus of Collaboration: Elementary Principals as Leaders of Learning

Learn how principals and teams use effective collaboration strategies embedded in routine practices to ensure student success. Time is built in for teams to have access to relevant information, develop intensive writing plans, and create explicit norms for guiding collaborative practices and set measurable performance goals. See an example of a mathematics facilitator working in a 2nd grade class.

Examine All Aspects of School: Using Data to Close the Achievement Gap

In this segment you will learn how to look at data in new ways to assess policies, practices, programs, interventions, and school culture. Learn how data is more than looking at numbers, it is about looking at people. Change comes in slow, thoughtful ways by examining school schedules and school calendars must be examined for it’s impact on student performance. See examples of alignment of curriculum, assessments, and teaching practices that affect student achievement.

Formative Assessment – Elementary Edition

Gain new understanding of how to use assessment practices that allow teachers to determine whether or not the students are reaching target mastery. Learn how to use formative assessments in an ongoing manner to evaluate student learning and gain strategies that are purposeful and used intentionally. Watch a 2nd grade teacher checking for understanding using a thumb strategy. See how middle school math students decode a message and teacher feedback is given to ensure growth among students. View a math teacher observing students working in groups and see how immediate feedback is given and what effective teaching and learning looks like.

Closing the Racial Achievement Gap: Practical Equity Walkthroughs

This segment highlights an elementary school and the positive effects that occur through equity walkthroughs. The focus of the Practical Equity Walkthrough team is on the students and how they're responding to instruction. An important part of closing the racial achievement gap is to keep the focus on students. Learn how to develop an assessment wall to track and monitor where at-risk students are in terms of learning and achievement growth.