District Implementation

Operation Public Education (OPE) has developed a district-level strategic plan to help school districts develop the neces­sary capacity to implement our reforms. As part of this plan, OPE will oversee training on all components of the accountability system - value-added assessment, evaluation, compensa­tion, peer review and mandatory remediation among others - and will serve as the liaison to outside pro­viders, com­mun­ity partners and the public.

The goal of the pilot is to provide all the detail necessary for local educators to understand what the elaborated OPE model would look like when fully embedded in the culture and practice of a public school district. Some components are specified. In teacher eval­u­a­tion, for example, the value-added assess­ment model developed for Tennessee by Dr. William Sanders will be used for the empirical portion, and the frameworks developed by Charlotte Danielson will be used for the observation portion. Although OPE has established guidelines for the work that must be completed in other components, they require specification before they can be considered complete. For example, the evaluation procedures for teachers in specialist positions such as art and music and for personnel such as nurses, librarians and counselors.

Getting Started

Stage One: Design

Stage Two: Implementation Planning

Stage Three: Outreach

Getting Started

OPE will secure a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the District and the Union that outlines the parameters of the project and each party’s roles and responsibilities The project will commence when the MOU is signed by all parties.

To guide the process, a joint District/Union Steering Committee will be established with an equal number of administration and teacher/union members to ensure that representation is balanced between the two groups. Although specific members of the Steering Committee will be determined by the district, OPE has identified key stakeholders that should be included: the super­in­ten­dent and union president; the director of curriculum and instruction; three principals (one each from the elementary, middle and high school levels); teacher leaders (one from each level); testing/pupil personnel, business and technology administrators; and school board, parent and union representatives. Once the Steering Committee is established, an organizational meeting will be held to provide members with an overview of OPE’s reforms, a description of the proposed process and an outline of their duties and responsibilities.

Additional tasks in the “Getting Started” period include hiring a full-time District Project Coordinator, clarifying the working relationship between OPE and the district offices (e.g., communications, roles and responsibilities) and gaining the support of key civic, political, business and foundation stakeholders.

Stage One: Design

Learning Institute: Gaining Mastery

OPE will run a six-day Learning Institute that explores the reform model through a series of learning modules. Modules will focus on specific aspects of the OPE model including Value-Added Assessment, Teacher and Administrator Evaluation, Peer Assistance and Review, Compensation and Professional Development. Two additional modules that apply to the pilot pro­cess in general, Communications/Community Outreach and Pilot Evaluation, will also be pre­sented. OPE will provide the national experts, session content and facili­ta­tion. A group of nation­ally prominent educators who have endorsed our model have agreed to work with us in intro­ducing specific components to the Steering Committee and to guide the efforts of the individual Work Groups.

The Steering Committee will then organ­ize eleven Work Groups – led by a member(s) of the Steer­ing Committee and augmented with stakeholders from the district – that will each focus on one of the modules presented at the Institute.

Work Groups: Elaborating the Model’s Components

Following a one-day orientation on the OPE model, the Work Groups will meet for up to nine months to design how the model will be embedded in the district environ­ment. Expert consultants, staffing and research support will be provided by OPE. Work Group chairs are expected to provide on-going progress reports to the Steering Committee and provide feedback from the Committee to their respective Work Groups. As the Work Groups complete their tasks – and it is expected that some Work Groups will take longer than others – they will present their recommendations to the Steering Committee to review. Once all the Work Groups have finished, the Steering Committee will then approve the completed model.

Stage Two: Implementation Planning

Implementation Planning (six months)

After the approval of the district model, OPE will support the Steering Committee (which can also be supplemented by Work Group or other members) in developing imple­men­tation plans for the building-level and community rollout. At this time, members will address infra­struc­ture issues such as technology, financing and human resources; community issues such as communi­ca­­tions with parents, the public and the media; the implementation timeline and eval­ua­tion and re­porting issues. OPE will help set project goals and benchmarks to ensure account­abil­ity, assist with marketing research and communication planning, and provide on-going technical assis­tance.

Stage Three: Outreach

Community Outreach

During the last five months of this process an intensive outreach effort will be launched to educate the broader community about the comprehensive reforms and build sup­port in advance of the union’s ratification vote. As in the Denver ProComp example, a broader ref­er­endum might be undertaken, should a district decide to tie a tax levy to new investment in the schools in support of the reforms.

For the community outreach effort the target groups are threefold: (1) local citizens and parents of the city’s school children; (2) the community’s business, civic and political lead­er­ship; and (3) the state department of education or state legislature if appropriate.

Following Union Ratification: Rollout to Individual Schools

Once the union ratifies the reform package, the rollout to individual schools will begin by bringing together building teams - principals, assistant principals, selected teachers and union representatives - to attend a three-day School-Level Institute on the new system. The Institute will be co-led by the Steering Committee and Work Group members along with additional local experts and support from OPE. The first day will feature an overview of the new district accountability system followed the next day with a presentation of the implementation plan. On day three, building-level teams will meet to discuss individual school implementation plans.

During building-level implementation, OPE will continue to serve as a resource and pro­vide technical support as well as work with the District Project Coordinator on the evaluation process.

OPE views its role as one that will diminish over time as these reforms take hold and become fully institutionalized across every building in the district.

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