District Accreditation2011

Dr. Leontine J. Butler Dr. Marie WrightDeputy Superintendent, Curriculum Executive Director, Core Curriculum

The School Board of Broward County, Florida

SACS CASI -> AdvancEDSACS CASI merged with multiple accreditation agencies to become AdvancED the largest accreditation agency in the United States

Systemic educational approach for continuing improvement

District Accreditation: 5 Year Cycle

School Improvement

SACS CASI

International

5 Year Cycle

Global Approach to Education: Best practices from around the world

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1. Sustain and strengthen the large-scale implementation of the system-wide program and framework for continuous improvement (Stay the course!)

2. Use technology and training resources to build the capacity of the professional staff to disaggregate, analyze, and use student performance data to inform and direct classroom instruction

3. Establish and commit to Board policy in the following areas:• Board training requirements and orientation of members

related to their role and function as a corporate board• Role and responsibilities of the Board consistent with

constitutional requirements• Issues and conflict resolution• Operational definition of equity

2006 Recommendations

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4. Build understanding and provide support for departments and schools to purposely and seamlessly align goals, strategies, and assessments with the strategic direction of the district

5. Expand the capacity of the instructional staff at the school level to identify, execute, and monitor the impact of research-based strategies for improving student learning

2006 Recommendations

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• 3 Year District’s Strategic Plan

• Strategic Plan is an important component of Accreditation

• The current Strategic plan will be extended for 1 year

• Accreditation recommendations will be incorporated into the next Strategic Plan along with the BROAD recommendations

Strategic Plan

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High• Blanche Ely• Taravella• Fort Lauderdale• Mcfatter Tech.• College Academy• Cooper City

Schools Selected: 2011

Elementary• Challenger• Lloyd Estates• Maplewood• Oakland Park• Parkside• Sanders• Tedder• Winston Park• Bayview• Bennett• Griffin• Sunset Lakes• Collins

Middle• Westglades• Arthur Ashe • Indian Ridge• Crystal Lake• Sunrise• Parkway• Gulfstream• New

Renaissance• Perry• Lanier -

James

• Endeavour• Stephen Foster • Meadowbrook• Nob Hill• North Fork• North Side• Boulevard

Heights• Chapel Trail• Coconut Palm• Pembroke Pines• Sheridan Park

•The accreditation team arrives Sunday

October 23rd and will depart Wednesday

October 26th after the Board Workshop

•Interviews for staff members and

stakeholders will be held at JA World – 1000

Coconut Creek Boulevard, Coconut Creek,

Florida 33066

•Accreditation VisitOctober 23 – 26, 2011

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Day 1: Sunday October 23• Broward County School staff members will meet with the 4

chairs on Sunday to take care of any last minutes preparation

Day 2: Monday October 24• Early morning presentation by the Superintendent to the

visiting team• Morning Interviews: Superintendent, ELT, Board Members• Afternoon Interviews: Principals, District Leadership, Community Stakeholders (Held at JA World)

Day 1 and Day 2

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• Team members will be picked up at the hotel, by SBBC staff, using Driver’s Education vehicles

• Teams visit school #1 in the morning and school #2 in the afternoon

• Each school visit will consist of:• Classroom and Facilities Walk Through• Interviews:

Principal, Assistant Principal, Specialists, Coaches, Teachers, Students, Parents and Stakeholders

• Lunch at School #1: • With School #1 and School #2 Principals

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Day 3: October 25 – School Visits (2 persons in a team)

• The visiting team will hold their final interviews at JA World

• Participants Include: Superintendent, Executive Leadership Team, Central Office Staff

• Visiting team asks clarifying questions before they write their recommendations

• Visiting team meets to write the final recommendations and issue their final report

Day 4: October 26

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Mission & Vision

Strengths• The data collection and reporting processes allow all stakeholders the opportunity to engage in

data-driven decisions.

• The accessibility of data to all stakeholders provides real-time profiles of the system at all levels

and disaggregated in all possible ways. Levels of data begin with the individual students,

teachers, and schools to demographic subgroups and whole-district snapshots.

• The District has implemented collaborative teams to systematically review and realign initiatives

to meet strategic plan goals and vision and to proactively align to emerging state and federal

regulations.

• A robust inventory of current technology hardware and software along with a focus on a 21st

century curriculum provides all levels of leadership with the resources necessary to prepare

today’s students for tomorrow’s world.

Standard 1: Vision and Purpose

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Challenges• Personnel turnover resulting from drastic funding cuts and legislative

changes make long-term planning and project management challenging.• Communication to a highly mobile and diverse community has become an

even greater challenge as poverty levels rise and District resources decline.

Standard 1: Vision and Purpose

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Strengths• The District’s various advisory groups, task forces, and community

committees provide internal and external stakeholders meaningful roles in the stakeholder process.

• School Board Member Maureen Dinnen named ‘School Board Member of the Year’ by a consortium of Florida Education Foundations.

• Meetings and supporting documents are available to all stakeholders in the community via television broadcasts and the District website.

• Level principals sit on our Executive Leadership team and have input on administrative issues.

• The District has cultivated strong and meaningful relationships with state and federal legislators to ensure that local policies align to current and emerging state and federal legislation.

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Standard 2: Governance and Leadership

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Challenges• Rapidly changing legislation and accountability standards at both state and

federal levels require flexible and real-time adjustment by the system from the level of the classroom teacher to the Executive Leadership Team.

• Internally, the District has faced the challenge of providing a system of checks and balances to insure that individuals consistently act within established standards of professional practice and ethics.

• $149 million in unfunded state mandates• Student population decline of 11% (27,000) due to Charter School growth• Findings of the Nineteenth Statewide Grand Jury in the Supreme Court of

the State of Florida (Case No. SC09-1910).

Standard 2: Governance and Leadership

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Strengths• District departments, among and between Divisions, collaborate to support school staff with improving

student achievement.

• Collaborative Problem-Solving Process through the Response to Instruction/Intervention (RTI) Model is

embraced in schools via District support.

• The review process for selecting instructional resources is based on effectiveness as evidenced by scientific

research.

• Lesson plans and supplemental resources are designed based on best practice, and shared with school staff to

support effective instructional implementation.

• District guidance documents provided to school-based staff bridge requirements of state and local policies

with school-based curriculum design, assessment administration, and instructional planning and delivery.

• BROAD finalist the last three out of 5 years.

• Recognized by the Council of Great City Schools for student achievement the last nine years.

• Black students performing at the highest achievement level four and five on state assessments ranked in the

highest docile.

Standard 3: Teaching and Learning

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Challenges• Updated versions of technology hardware and software vary among

schools/classrooms.• Decreases in school budgets have negatively impacted the staffing of the

schools’ media centers.• Budget crisis limits funding, which prevents the purchase of new

supplemental instructional resources and replacement resources.

Standard 3: Teaching and Learning

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Strengths• Aligned interim assessments and progress monitoring tools allow the District to

appropriately consider student achievement in the context of the Next Generation Sunshine State Standards (NGSSS), which are being taught in the classroom.

• An extensive Data Warehouse provides the District and schools with immediate access to current data that is useful in addressing student achievement questions.

• The Data Warehouse and Virtual Counselor allow the District to provide schools and stakeholders with nearly real-time access to student achievement data.

• More students than ever are being exposed to college entrance tests such as the ACT and SAT as well as college level coursework through AP, IB, Dual Enrollment, and AICE. This may foster consideration of college enrollment in students who may otherwise have not considered higher education, as well as provide data points for scholarship or grant awards targeting such students.

Standard 4: Documenting and Using Results

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Challenges• With Florida’s transitioning toward computer-based testing (FCAT 2.0, FAIR,

PARCC, EOC, etc.) it is difficult for the District to keep pace with the assessment-related technology demands while also keeping technology available for instructional use.

• The recent (NGSSS) and future (Common Core) revisions to Florida's education standards will result in substantial changes to the curriculum standards over a short period of time (FCAT to FCAT 2.0 to Common Core). This instability in the curriculum impacts the useful lifespan of instructional materials, ancillary materials, and assessments, creating substantial costs to the districts as we must realign curriculum and assessments several times in a short period. Furthermore, these changes create instability in the accountability systems making for a constantly changing standard by which schools are judged.

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Standard 4: Documenting and Using Results

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Strengths• The district has a multitude of professional development programs that provide

capacity building, mentoring and incentives to all employees, non-instructional to instructional. Participation in these programs with avenues that allow them to reach their potential and to serve as leaders within their respective positions.

• The District has been recognized nationally for budget procedures and accounting measures which serve to foster credibility with District stakeholders.

• The District promotes innovation and ownership by internally developing and sustaining operational systems such as transportation, data management, etc. Quality control and expertise regarding operational systems are promoted by the District’s continued commitment to fund and manage the operational aspects of a large, urban school district.

Standard 5: Resource and Support Systems

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Challenges• Decreases in funding and resources have negatively impacted student

support services, particularly at the home level of support. • As the system has necessarily downsized, reductions in staff have resulted in

a loss of employee quality in favor of seniority. This is because of bargaining unit contracts.

• As the system has necessarily downsized, reductions in staff have resulted in a loss of employee quality, and a less diverse employee pool, in favor of seniority. This is due to bargaining unit contracts.

• Discontinuation of grant funding has also negatively impacted student support services provided by personnel hired through these funds as well as program resources.

Standard 5: Resource and Support Systems

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Strengths• The District’s vision and purpose is broadly shared among parents, community and other stakeholders via a

variety of groups, for example: ESOL Department – ESOL Leadership Council; Title I – Leadership Council; Head

Start - Policy Council; Parents, Business & Community Partnerships Department – Partners in Education (PIE)

Board and Parent Involvement Communication Council (PICC); Exceptional Student Education Advisory;

Advanced Academics – Gifted Advisory Council; District Advisory Council (DAC); PTA/PTSA; Broward County

Association of Student Councils; Student Advisor to the Board; Technology Advisory Committee; Employee

Unions; Facilities Task Force; Supplier Diversity and Outreach Program Advisory Committee; Diversity

Committee; Charter School Task Force; and Broward Education Foundation.

• Transparency at all District meetings is evident and documented via regularly broadcasted Board meetings,

web streaming, and web-based housing of meeting documents.

• Parents and community members are allowed to give feedback at Board meetings and workshops.

• Multiple methods of communication such as parent-link (which texts and phones parents), local media and

BECON broadcasts, and I-Zone meetings provide a variety of easily accessible avenues for reaching the

community.

Standard 6: Stakeholder Communication and Relationships

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Challenges• Currently the Executive Director Public Information Officer position is vacant. This vacancy has

presented a challenge when attempting to formulate and implement communications systems

and procedures.

• Until July 1, 2011 the three main community outreach and communication departments were

not aligned in the same division. This organizational structure made collaboration difficult. As

of the 2011-2012 school year, the Office of Parents, Business and Community Partnerships,

Public Relations & Governmental Affairs and Broward Education and Communication Network

(BECON) are all part of the same division.

Standard 6: Stakeholder Communication and Relationships

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Strengths• BESP is the common language of the District and includes a non-negotiable matrix that ensures a base line of

performance consistency in schools across the District.

• The District’s data resources allow the schools to concentrate on the action steps required to improve their

schools rather than gathering the data to inform their decisions.

• The Community is involved in the School Improvement Plan process as a part of the School Advisory Council

that approves the School Improvement Plan.

• The Broward Enterprise Education Portal (BEEP) provides curriculum resources for students and teachers.

These resources are all district approved best practices (application programs, lesson plans, etc.) and permit

for resources to be available equitably across the district.

• All school administrators are required to be trained in and implement the Florida Continuous Improvement

Model (FCIM).

• The School district links important information directly to school and district websites from the Florida

Department of Education so that community stakeholders can easily access pertinent information.

Standard 7: Commitment to Continuous Improvement

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Challenges• The School Improvement Plan aligns to the Strategic Plan, but the Strategic Plan is out

dated. Since the development of the Strategic Plan, there have been a number of changes to school accountability as part of the state’s A+ Plan, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and to graduation requirements for students.

• District professional development has become more challenging during the school day. In part, due to the teacher contract, trainings are more commonly site-based, after work-hours, on Saturdays, during the summer months and online. In the past, district training during the school day was successful in obtaining large participation numbers for professional development.

• School based professional development opportunities have been minimized by union contracts, disparate school schedules, and a reduction in force.

Standard 7: Commitment to Continuous Improvement

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Preparation Checklist

- Mission and Vision Statement- 2006 Recommendations

- 2011 Strengths and Challenges- Review Self-Guided Study (Accreditation Website)

- Q & A Document Provided to Interviewed Staff Members

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Broward County Public Schools next accreditation visit will occur in the

Fall of 2016

Q & A

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Benjamin J. Williams, ChairAnn Murray, Vice Chair

Robin BartlemanMaureen S. Dinnen

Patricia Good

Donna P. KornKatherine M. LeachLaurie Rich Levinson

Nora RupertDonnie Carter, Interim Superintendent of Schools

http://www.browardschools.com/

The School Board of Broward County, Florida