Coaching, Training and Assessment with EMLSS

After coming off of a year meeting all virtual, we had our first face to face EMLSS district meeting this week. This district team represents district leaders, school administrators, instructional coaches and school student services professionals. The Theory of Action that we have been operating under for the past year and a half states that: Without deliberate improvement in instructional practice resulting in student impact, universal student performance will remain stagnant. We have 3 workgroups taking action to address our root causes; (1) There is inconsistent district-wide implementation of a guaranteed and viable curriculum,(2) There is not a clear system of assessment including universal screener, benchmark and common assessments, (3) Teachers do not have the depth of knowledge needed around grade-level standards.

Since the Spring, we have built intentional training with our instructional coaches and have added consistent Comprehensive Literacy professional learning district-wide. We were able to garner extra resources from Dr. Sebert and allocate FTE in the area of district and instructional coaches to focus on supporting our teachers in the most impactful way. We have 6 PCL (Partnerships in Comprehensive Literacy) focused elementary schools this year where we are able to have a full time coach in those particular schools. The schools are Prairie, Whittier, Meadowbrook, Hillcrest, Banting, and Hadfield.

We are working intensely with Michelle Amend, our Partner in Comprehensive Literacy consultant, to equip our coaches with learning and transfer with the instructional framework of Gradual Release of Responsibility and our Comprehensive Literacy Model. As we identify and develop our model classroom teachers and our lead teachers across the system, they will grow their capacity and further be equipped to truly lead the transformational work that needs to be happening in each of your PLC’s throughout the school year. I will keep you updated throughout the year on our action planning progress and want to thank all of you for your intentional work to help us achieve at high levels for each and every student in our district.