|
August 13, 2020
Updates in this email:
As planning continues for the 2020-21 school year, school districts and charter schools should be actively engaging with students, families, educators and other members of the school community. Here is an excerpt from the 2020-21 Planning Guidance for Minnesota Public Schools to help guide that work:
Create a plan for developing, seeking feedback and communicating the district or charter school’s plan under each scenario for the 2020-21 school year. Involve students, families and staff in developing these plans. Your plan should include, at a minimum, how you will address operations; academics; student, family, and staff supports; and professional development and training. The plan must be translated and communicated in both written and oral languages based on the needs of your community.
- How will the district seek input from families and students in the development of the plan? How will the district share the plan with families and students?
- How will the district seek input from key labor groups (teachers, secretarial, custodial, etc.) throughout the development of the plans, especially on any job description adjustments based on identified needs? How will the district share the plan with key labor groups?
- How will the district seek feedback from district and school staff? How will the district share the plan with district and school staff?
As you are working closely with public health experts to determine your Safe Learning Plan for the start of the school year, it is critical to continue engaging with those in your school communities who will be directly impacted by this decision, particularly teachers, students and families.
MDE has created a Family Guide to Minnesota’s Safe Learning Plan available now in English, Hmong, Karen, Somali and Spanish. This guide provides an overview of the safe learning plan, and includes information on the role of schools, MDE and the Minnesota Department of Health.
Earlier this summer, we developed a Family Guide to the 2020-21 School Year Planning Guidance, which expands on each of the learning models and provides information about attendance, nutrition, transportation, student and family support and more. This guide is also available in English, Hmong, Karen, Somali and Spanish.
Please share these helpful resources with your school communities, especially families.
Arts instruction is an essential part of a public-school education in Minnesota and should continue in distance learning, hybrid learning, and in-person learning models. MDE, along with several partners, has developed guidance to assist in planning arts education programming in the 2020-21 school year.
MDE is in the process of finalizing three guidance/FAQ documents, which will be available next week:
- Early Learning Programs Guidance and FAQ
- School-age Care Guidance and FAQ
- Assessing Learning Guidance
We will share these documents when they are available.
Please share these opportunities with your staff as appropriate.
Professional Development Opportunities for Q Comp and Teacher Development and Evaluation
The teacher effectiveness team is announcing three ongoing professional development opportunities for educators related to the Q Comp and Teacher Development and Evaluation programs for the 2020-21 school year.
Community of Practice for New Teacher Leaders
I am a Teacher Leader. What Now? Are you interested in exploring this question with other teacher leaders new to their role? Strong teacher leadership has always been important in the success of schools, and it is even more important now as we serve students during a pandemic and in various school scenarios, in-person, hybrid, or distance learning. Participants will learn about and strengthen their teacher leadership skills to be successful in their roles. Topics will include, but not limited to: National Teacher Leader Standards, Adult Learning Theory, team building, resolving conflict, communication skills, and working with diverse populations.
This is the first of an ongoing series of virtual networking sessions designed to enhance previous learning, reflect on leadership practices while developing strong connections with other teacher leaders. Additional sessions will occur in October, January, April, and May and will last 60 or 90 minutes. Dates and times will be confirmed during the first meeting.
Audience: Teacher Leaders (0 to 3 years in role)
Registration: Space is limited; registration is required. Registration will close Thursday, September 10 or when registration is full.
Participants can register for one of the following dates:
Please contact Tamara Valmé at tamara.valme@state.mn.us or at 651-582-8413 two weeks before the event to request a reasonable accommodation.
Questions about this workshop can be sent to Tamara Valmé .
Professional Learning Communities (PLC) Series
Are your professional learning communities (PLCs) feeling a little flat? Do your meetings lean heavy on the professional and light on the community? Do you want to review or catch-up on the PLC series on building and sustaining a collaborative culture that was presented last year? This workshop series is for PLC facilitators who want to add meaning and purpose to their current PLCs to help move teaching and learning further. Each session will focus on essential elements of the PLC process including the four critical questions that guide the work of PLCs and explore the implications of those elements on the school setting (in-person, hybrid, and online). During each session participants will have the opportunities to share local practices and network with each other.
Audience: PLC facilitators, Q Comp coordinators and administrators (We highly recommend the full team of PLC facilitators attend.)
Registration: Participants can register for the following sessions based on their needs. Two options will be offered on each day. One from 9:00-10:30 am and the other from 2:30-4:00 pm. Participants will be asked in the registration survey which option they prefer to attend.
-
September 29: What is a PLC? Norms, protocols and trust
- October 29: Unpacking: What do we want students to know?
-
December 8: The role of a guaranteed and viable curriculum in what we want students to know
-
January 19: Unpacking: How will we know when students have learned?
-
February 23: Data systems and how we will know when students have learned
-
March 30: Unpacking: What we will do when students don’t learn?
-
April 27: Unpacking: What will we do when students already know?
-
May 18: Assessing PLC systems
-
June 15: Planning for 2021-22 PLCs
Please contact Kristie Anderson at kristie.anderson@state.mn.us or 651-582-8860 at least two weeks prior to the event to request reasonable accommodations.
For questions about any of the PLC sessions, please contact Kristie Anderson.
Observation, Coaching, and Feedback Series
Are you in search of the skills, tools, and support you need to shape a new coaching practice in this ever changing learning environment? In an effort to support coaches, Q Comp coordinators, and administrators who now find themselves shifting between different support models for teachers, we are offering a coaching and feedback series for the 2020-2021 school year. This series will offer opportunities for participants to hear directly from colleagues with experience coaching and delivering feedback in an online environment and time to problem solve and plan through networking with others.
Please contact Angela Mansfield (angela.mansfield@state.mn.us or 651-582-8371) at least two weeks before the event to request a reasonable accommodation.
Audience: Peer reviewer/coaching teams, Q Comp coordinators and administrators. We recommend the full team of peer reviewers and evaluators attend.
Registration: Please take a look at the outline below and follow the links to register for any of the webinar sessions that interest you. Once registered, you will receive a confirmation message from Google Forms with information on how to join the webinar.
This series will be offered every other month, with two sessions in September, following the schedule below:
For questions about any of the Observation, Coaching and Feedback Series, please contact Angela Mansfield.
Webinars—Setting Q Comp Site Goals
Audience: Coordinators or site leadership team members responsible for implementing Q Comp
Based on the “Guidance for Minnesota Public Schools: 2021 School Year Planning” document, sites will need to submit Q Comp site goal(s) for 2020-21. To assist with this process, the Minnesota Department of Education has planned two WebEx sessions around goal setting. These sessions are a repeat of the sessions conducted in July. Each session will be similar in content, so participants only need to attend one of the following WebEx sessions:
Register for the August 25, 10-11 a.m. webinar here
Register for the August 27, 2-3 p.m. webinar here
Please contact Michael Foster two weeks before the event to request a reasonable accommodation.
Questions can be sent to mde.q-comp@state.mn.us , and one of our team members will follow-up with you.
Teaching and Learning Led by Evidence
As we all head into a school year that will look different than any previous year we have experienced, this webinar series is for teachers and school leaders to sharpen their skills and fluency around using evidence of student learning to support student-centered instruction.
These webinars are designed for teachers, principals, instructional leaders, curriculum directors, and any school leader who would like support in turning student learning data into action that drives instructional decisions. Each session will engage participants in making sense of their data so that it can be used to build trust and collaboration. Each session also emphasizes building fluency in using assessment and data as a set of tools to increase awareness of what students know and can do, and to close gaps in instruction and learning, especially during this unprecedented time in education.
Session 1 is August 19:
Reimagining Assessment and Data to Guide Learning for All Students – Considerations for Fall 2020
Questions: Please reach out to Kendra Olsen, outreach specialist in Statewide Student Assessment and Data Analytics.
|
