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Center for School Turnaround and Improvement’s Talent Management Academy Supports District and School Leaders to Recruit and Retain Talented Teachers

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Center for School Turnaround and Improvement’s Talent Management Academy Supports District and School Leaders to Recruit and Retain Talented Teachers

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WestEd today announces the development and launch of a Talent Management Academy with teams of district- and school-level leaders from three local education agencies (LEAs) in Delaware.

Research continually reinforces how highly qualified teaching professionals are the most important school-based factor in rapidly improving learning outcomes. Leaders, too, are instrumental in fostering effective teaching and learning environments that support student learning and academic growth. As a result, districts spend about 80 percent of their budget on identifying and maintaining talent. In schools that are poised for additional improvement and support, talent development and management is a crucial aspect of far-reaching school improvement efforts, which also include the domains of turnaround leadership, culture shift, and instructional transformation.

To help districts craft comprehensive talent development plans to attract, hire, support, and retain exemplary educators who can make a difference in students’ lives, the Delaware Talent Management Academy, hosted by WestEd, convenes a cohort of district- and school-level staff from improving school districts, as well as individuals with a strong commitment to comprehensive support and improvement.

The Talent Management Academy consists of on-site meetings facilitated by technical experts from WestEd’s rapid school improvement team. Virtual professional learning and coaching sessions are interspersed with in-person sessions to promote the selection and implementation of effective talent management strategies. These strategies prioritize competencies for teacher selection and development in each LEA’s unique turnaround context and include areas of recruitment, hiring and placement, induction, ongoing development and support, retention, and promotion.

Delaware’s state leaders have formally adopted the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement. The Talent Management Academy will draw on the framework to ensure that LEAs operating in high-need, hard-to-staff school districts have the teachers and leaders needed for success.

For more information about talent development for rapid school improvement, please contact Caitlin Beatson at [email protected] and Sarah Barzee at [email protected].

Join WestEd at the 2020 National ESEA Conference in Atlanta, Georgia

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Join WestEd and the Center on School Turnaround and Improvement at the National ESEA Conference, which will be held on February 4–7, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

With the theme “Together for Equity,” ESEA will emphasize understanding the unique needs of learners who experience disproportionate marginalization and strengthening federal program practitioners’ abilities to centralize support across all ESEA programs.

Conference lectures and sessions are organized by strands and explore many challenges faced in federal education programs, including family involvement and engagement, cultural understanding and support, and developing schoolwide practices that ensure the success of every child, regardless of their race, gender, ethnicity, language, ability, sexual orientation, or income.

Add our sessions (see below) to your calendar and visit WestEd’s booth #323 to meet our staff and to learn about WestEd’s resources, professional learning opportunities, and research.

Leadership

Tuesday, February 4
Session: Family Engagement with an Equity Lens: Continuous Improvement Resources and Practices
Presenters: Margit Birge, Lidia Renteria, Marcelino “Mars” Serna, Marissa Lazo-Necco
Time & Location: 10:30–12 pm, Room 305

This hands-on session will explore two free resources that can help leverage family engagement to improve student outcomes at the school and district level: The “Family Engagement Toolkit: Continuous Improvement through an Equity Lens” and the “Self-Reflection Tool for Family Engagement.” These resources are grounded in the Dual Capacity-Building Framework and support a continuous improvement process with a focus on engaging underrepresented families.

Thursday, February 6
Session: The Four Domains for Rapid Improvement, for Practical
Improvement: The Delaware Story
Presenters: Terry Hofer, Mark Blitz, High Broomall, Eric Niebrzydowski
Time & Location: 3:30–5 p.m., Room 404/405

Learn the keys to engaging in impactful school improvement work that moves beyond compliance alone. Leaders from the Delaware Department of Education and a Delaware local education agency will share their story of working together to create an effective needs assessment and school improvement process. External partners who led the development and implementation of the research-grounded Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement Framework as well as the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) will also share insights.

Instructional Transformation

Tuesday, February 4
Session: Providing English Learners and Other Students Deep and Generative Opportunities to Learn
Presenter: Aída Walqui
Time & Location: 12:30–1:30 pm, Room 311/312

This presentation makes the case that rigorous and deep learning occurs when students are invited to engage in activity that is intellectually honest and that challenges and supports them. Dr. Walqui will present five principles that define quality instruction in classrooms where students who are English learners study alongside native speakers of English. Participants will understand and recognize how these principles are applied to instruction that simultaneously develops students’ conceptual, analytic, and language practices deeply.

For more information about ESEA 2020, visit the conference web site.

Explore promising practices with WestEd’s comprehensive School Improvement webinar collection

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WestEd is pleased to announce a comprehensive collection of webinars designed to help school and district leaders create cohesive systems that support sustainable school turnaround using the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement: A Systems Framework.

The Four Domains framework organizes focal areas and promising practices related to each that research and experience suggest are central to rapid and significant improvement, including:

  • Turnaround leadership
  • Talent development
  • Instructional transformation
  • Culture shift

Schools, districts, and states nationwide are integrating the Four Domains framework as a research-informed approach to building and sustaining school turnaround efforts. Now available is a comprehensive series of engaging webinars featuring WestEd experts and partners who provide successful examples of the domains in action systemwide.

Getting Started

The Comprehensive Needs Assessment Process
This webinar describes WestEd’s Comprehensive Needs Assessment, a service designed to help education leaders quickly and thoroughly assess and strengthen school improvement plans and achieve enduring outcomes. Learn to leverage diagnostic data and a variety of assessment tools to provide guidance uniquely tailored to the challenges of your school or district.

Special Education Systems Review: Aligning Resources for Improved Outcomes
The special education systems review process helps school districts align their special education services and include a cost-benefit analysis to ensure that funds are effectively and efficiently used to benefit students. This webinar examines how Halifax County Public Schools is using the special education review process to help improve student outcomes and streamline costs.

Data-Driven School Improvement with WestEd’s Four Domains CALL System
Discover WestEd’s Four Domains CALL System, a tool that identifies a school or district’s unique leadership opportunities and challenges. The webinar also explores how to best use the tool to assess core leadership practices distributed across an organization and create a targeted action plan that supports professional growth and school effectiveness.

Implementation

Building Capacity for Improving Instructional Practice for English Learners with Disabilities
Improving outcomes for English learner students with disabilities requires research-based instructional strategies to tailor academic instruction for dually identified students. Learn how Georgia is building statewide teacher capacity to instruct English learner students with disabilities.

The Formative Writing Framework: Advancing Balanced Literacy through Engagement and Empowerment
The Writing Framework is an approach to improving literacy outcomes by supporting teachers in developing authentic writing performance tasks, collaboratively analyzing writing data, and implementing targeted instructional supports. Gain real-world perspective from Cascade Union Elementary School District as the district implemented the Formative Writing framework to enhance student writing and discourse.

Improving Teaching and Learning for Students with Disabilities
Learn to maximize the impact of school improvement efforts to meet the needs of students with disabilities.

How Successful School Improvement Plans Prioritize Culture and Climate
Apply strategies for prioritizing equity, addressing disparities, cultivating student voice and leadership, engaging families and communities and building a culture of safety, inclusion, and collaboration.

Supporting Transformational Leadership
Learn research-informed strategies for diagnosing and responding to student learning needs, providing rigorous evidence-based instruction, removing barriers and providing learning opportunities for all students through targeted.

Supporting Charter School Improvement
Learn how to assess whether a charter school is a candidate for comprehensive improvement and how the Four Domains framework can be used in the charter context.

To stay tuned about future webinars related to school improvement, please subscribe to the CSTI e-newsletter.