TLC Webinar to Support End of the Year Report

The Iowa Department of Education will be hosting a webinar to support districts with completing the end of year report for the Teacher Leadership and Compensation (TLC) system. There will be two opportunities to attend. Click on the date to connect via Zoom~

·         Thursday, February 2nd from 9:00-10:30

OR

·         Tuesday, February 21st from 1:00-2:30

The webinar will be also be recorded and posted on the Department’s TLC webpage for those who are unable to attend. Webinar connection information can be found at the bottom of this email.

The end of year report is based on the goals and evidence school districts identified in Part 8 of their TLC plans. This included a description of how the district will determine the impact of the TLC plan as well as a description of how the district will monitor and adjust the plan based on the results of these measures. 

What To Do With Differentiated Accountability

We were ecstatic with the number of our Keystone AEA schools that participated in the Assessment & Data Based Decision Making and Universal Tier Differentiated Accountability (DA) sessions this fall.  Not only was there great learning around the processes and protocols of this new statewide school improvement plan, but schools left with meaningful action plans that promised to make a difference for kids!
And then....there were snow days, and ice days, and late starts and early dismissals and end of the semester days, and so life goes days.  Teams struggled to find time to get together to reconnect over the work they started in the DA sessions.  
This blog post serves as a gentle reminder to "get back at it".  Here are a few things to get you started.  Make sure:

• your team is meeting on a regular basis to start working the Differentiated Accountability action plan.  
• all PK-6 students are completing the Winter Universal Screening assessment (i.e., FAST)
• classwide interventions are being used with classrooms that struggle to meet benchmarks
• students that are not meeting benchmark are provided with a research-based interventions that will remediate the identified skill deficit
• weekly progress monitoring occurs and is recorded properly
• you CELEBRATE the successes you see.  

As always, we're here to help.  If you have any questions or need any assistance, please don't hesitate to give your Keystone Navigator team a call. 

Mentoring & Induction Plan Update

At today's Statewide Curriculum Network meeting, Marietta Rives from the Iowa Department of Education shared the following information regarding Mentoring & Induction Plans that were submitted in the CASA in September 2016.  This information is important and I will definitely keep you posted with any new developments.

• 2016-2017 has been determined as a "Pilot year for submission" for all Mentoring & Induction Plans.
•  As required, all districts will submit a Mentoring & Induction plan with their Comprehensive School Improvement Plans in the fall of 2017.
•  A "District Mentoring and Induction Profile" will be made available by the Iowa Department of Education by the end of February to assist districts with reviewing their current plans to facilitate plan improvement efforts.
• As always, your Keystone Mentoring & Induction facilitators are here to help.  If you have any questions, please contact Sarah Lehmann @ slehmann@aea1.k12.ia.us or Marcia Kruse @ mkruse@aea1.k12.ia.us

HELPFUL RESOURCES 

• Iowa Department of Education Mentoring & Induction webpage
• Marietta Rives, Iowa Department of Education @ Marietta.rives@iowa.gov (515.281.6038)