BASRC District Focal Work
Bay Area Reform School Collaborative (BASRC) (now Springboard Schools) began with a focus on school-level change as an avenue for spreading change throughout the Bay Area. BASRC's years of experience with reforming schools has demonstrated that if schools are to sustain their progress, they need active support from their districts. Just as schools need to support teachers to collaborate and improve their practice, districts need to support schools to collaborate and foster instructional improvement and innovation.
Alameda Unified is expanding the work of BASRC through a number of initiatives. Besides the Alameda Reform Collaborative, and the implementation of the Cycle of Inquiry through the Single School Plans, the District has been able to take advantage of the BASRC Joint Leaders Network.
For additional supplemental materials, see Building Professional Learning Communities focused on learning.
Alameda Reform Collaboartive (ARC)
Goal: To increase the capacity of sites and the district office to support a sustainable adult learning community focused on closing the achievement gap in literacy.
Past Learnings from working with the four BASRC schools (Paden, Woodstock, Chipman, Encinal):
- We are closing the achievement gap by improving teaching and learning
- We have the capacity to support more schools directly
- Education Services is working to spread inquiry district-wide
- We need support from the School Board to do the work
Future Work to be Done:
- Intentionally build the culture
- No excuse/no blame
- Clear academic focus
- Adults and students are learners
- Value collaboration
- Norms of behavior
- Risk-taking is safe
- Needed structures to support the culture
- Professional development and coaching
- Data driven inquiry
- Collaboration
- Time for reflection
- K-12 learns from each other
- Theory of Action
- If we create professional learning communities for adults who influence student; and
- if these learning communities focus on learning how to close the achievement gap,
- then we wil see increases in student achievement especially for our underperforming groups.
ARC Design Features to Support Learning for Principals:
- Principals and district leaders meet together to share strategies and knowledge
- Shared professional development for principals (Title 1 funded)
- Principals have on-site support of School Coach
- Coaching in Cycles of Inquiry, use of data, school planning and leadership development
- Involvement in BASRC Principals Network
ARC Design Features to Support Learning for Teachers:
- Opportunities for teachers work together across sites to share strategies and knowledge
- Coordinated professional development across school sites
- Coaching in Cycles of Inquiry, use of classroom data
- Involvement in BASRC Teacher-leaders Network
Work Done to Date:
- Expansion of the local Collaborative from the four BASRC to include all remaining Title One schools(Haight, Longfellow, Miller, Washington)
- Site reform coordinators identified
- School coaching is in place at all eight schools
- Established structure and common agreements/goals
- Monthly local Collaborative meeting
- Reform coordinators and principals facilitating "protocols" to review Single School Plans
December 2004 Update: Title One schools will be implementing an after school program called LEAPS.
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BASRC Joint Leaders Network
The BASRC Joint Leaders Network is the place where all of the participating Districts from the Bay Area discuss their ongoing BASRC work. There are three levels: Teacher Leaders Network, Principals Network and District Leaders Network. The theme for the networks in 2004-05 was "Developing Professional Learning Communities for Equity". Using a BASRC developed framework, the meetings focused on the learning how to implement the components of the framework.
BASRC Nested Professional Learning Communities for Equity
Learning communities engage in........
Learning communities are based on........
Collaboration
Professional learning communities work collaboratively. No matter what their roles or levels in the system may be, educators seek out the expertise and feedback of their colleagues. They are particularly attentive to the cultural insights that members of diverse backgrounds bring to bear on the problems at hand. They share with one another, solve problems together, and support each other to do high-quality work.
Continuous Inquiry
Professional learning communities engage in continuous inquiry. They identify problems based on data, try research-based practices to address them, continuously examine the effectiveness of strategies for the lowest-performing groups and make changes based on what they learn.
Reflective Dialogue
Members of professional learning communities reflect on the effectiveness of their work, both individually and collectively. Reflective dialogue produces shared understanding about the purposes and processes of teaching and learning, as well as awareness of the ways practices at each level of the system can be honed to improve student achievement and close the achievement gap.
De-Privatizing Practice
In professional learning communities, educational practice (whether teaching or leadership) is not a private act. It is shared openly so educators learn with and from one another. Educators are open to sharing what they do and why they do it.
A Focus on Student Learning
Every activity of the professional learning community is focused on improving teaching and learning, and of improving achivement of all students, while closing the achievement gap for those who are traditionally underserved.
A Systems Apporoach
As nested professional learning communities, all levels of the school system are aligned with the purpose of improving instruction. Teacher work collaboratively to improve their practice, principals provide instructional support for the teachers, and the district office focuses its support on schools.
Common Practice
The work of professional learning communities is based on shared best practices (whether teaching or leadership) that supports the development, implementation and continuous refinement of a common curriculum, and set of instructional strategies that are robust and challenging for all students.
Shared Norms and Values
Professional learning communities devleop shared norms and values that establish, reciprocal expectation for members. In addition to promoting healthy communication and decision making, these norms and values promote a commitment to cultural proficiency by ensuring that all members experience the community as accepting and responsive to their cultural background.
BASRC Norms
- Be polite and respectful, assuming best intentions
- Listen carefully to your colleagues
- No side bars
- Reflect publicly and critically on your own practice
- Be rigorous
- Be careful not to dominate the discussion
- Come prepared and in an inquiring frame of mind
- Clarify jargon
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Last modified: March 29, 2005
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