Uinta County School District #1
May 2018-Weekly Newsletter, Vol. 24
~THANK YOU OFFICERS~
UCSD#1 would like to recognize everyone in our local law enforcement and the outstanding job that they do for our community. We appreciate all you do for us today and every day!
PLC AT WORK
Creating conditions to allow educators to succeed at what they are being asked to do.
The prevailing assumption of our national school reform effort has been that educators must be threatened with increasing punishment in order for them to put forth the effort to improve schools. As Barber and Mourshed (2007) point out, “One cannot give what one does not have” (p. 16), regardless of the threats. States have an opportunity to adopt a very different mindset based on the notion that the challenge of improving schools is fundamentally a challenge of building the collective capacity of educators. The challenge for states will be to ask, “How can we help support the educators in building their collective capacity so that they can succeed at what they are being asked to do?” The five points listed above provide examples of that support. But states should also have systems for providing districts and schools with specific training and support. The province of Ontario provides a great example of this systemwide reform that is fully supported by the government. If an elementary school in Ontario is unable to help at least 75 percent of its students meet the provincial standard on its assessments, it becomes part of the Ontario Focused Intervention Plan (OFIP). Rather than resorting to sanctions, the program takes a capacity-building approach, operating under the assumption that the educators in the school must be the force for change, and the ministry must help build the collective capacity of educators to overcome their challenges (DuFour and Fullan 2013).
OFIP provides support for on-site professional learning in the form of offering advice; sharing research into effective practices; creating structures to encourage collaborative inquiry into problems of practice; gathering and analyzing data to identify student learning needs; monitoring progress; building networking opportunities with other schools of similar demographics that have been successful in overcoming their challenges; and funding a $15,000 stipend to provide the staff with release time for
planning, monitoring, reflecting, and integrating what is being learned in classroom practice. A provincial capacity-building team provides ongoing consulting services directly to the school. Schools in this program must complete a needs assessment, develop an action plan, engage the faculty in a school-based professional learning
community, and participate in formal and informal learning opportunities. When the program began in 2003–04, 780 elementary schools were identified as being in need of assistance. By 2014 the number had shrunk to sixty-three, even though the prerequisite
standard of achievement required of schools had been raised. Furthermore, the rate of improvement for OFIP schools has exceeded provincial averages throughout the program’s history (Ontario Ministry of Education 2014). This approach to school improvement has led to Ontario consistently scoring twenty or more points above the OECD average on all three of the areas assessed by the PISA exam.
-2016 Solution Tree Press, Compiled by, Dr. Rick DuFour
-BIRTHDAYS-
15th-Kara Willis, Cheri Collins, Brandee Ridenour, Natalie Mackey
16th-Mackenzie Booth, Julie Staley, Lisa Foust
17th-Gwen Stiegelmeyer, Margaret MaGee
18th-Jenny Day, Angela Johnstone, Alicia Johnson
19th-Scott Robinson, Amy Velasquez
20th-Stephanie Morrow, Katrina Skaggs, Gabriela Blevins
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
UCSD#1 Administration
Cheri Dunford, Supt., Board Exec. Assistant Ext. 1021
Dr. Joseph Ingalls, Assistant Superintendent K-5 Ext. 1026
Doug Rigby, Assistant Superintendent 6-12 Ext. 1025
Alicia Johnson, Instructional Services Admin. Asst. Ext. 1024
Kristine Hayduk, Human Resources Ext. 1023
Matt Williams, SPED Director Ext. 1040
Shannon Arellanes, SPED Admin. Asst. Ext. 1041
Bubba O'Neill, Activities Director Ext. 1060
Dauna Bruce, Activities Admin. Asst. Ext. 1061
John Williams, Business Director, Ext. 1030
Jaraun Dennis, Facilities Director, Ext. 1075
Email: ajohnson@uinta1.com
Website: uinta1.com
Location: 537 10th Street, Evanston, WY, USA
Phone: 3077897571
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Uinta-County-School-District-1-Pathway-to-Excellence-480272945367024/
Twitter: @ucsd1