Through a college-ready learning experience, our scholars will not only receive a quality education to prepare them for success in, through, and after high school but to also feel loved and celebrated for who they are. In addition, our educators will collaboratively build skills and work with the high-quality materials necessary to create engaging, culturally-responsive, and grade-appropriate classroom experiences every day.
We will set and maintain clear expectations around school and classroom culture and foster connectedness to ensure all scholars feel safe, seen, and ready to engage deeply in learning.
It’s important to establish baseline expectations and practices for scholar culture across all Alliance schools. By doing so – and by backing it up with the appropriate professional development, tools, and support – we can support staff development and ensure that each school is set up to thrive.
By establishing a vision for the experiences of scholars through school-wide “culture of learning” inside and outside of the classroom and coaching staff to identify and maintain that culture, we will make sure every teacher has access to “essential content” that prepares our scholars for college.
Teachers can reflect on the vision for the experiences of scholars in the “culture of learning” to establish clear expectations, routines, and procedures in their classrooms. A consistent and clearly-communicated classroom environment will allow teachers to proactively build positive relationships with and among scholars, allowing everyone to thrive.
We will ensure that all scholars are equipped to access and engage in relevant, grade-level content that puts them on a path to college-readiness by ensuring all teachers have high-quality instructional materials, are using those materials to intellectually prepare to meet the needs of all scholars, and are supported through regular, personalized instructional coaching.
By strengthening each element of the instructional cycle – with curriculum, preparedness, and scholars’ and their families’ feedback – teachers will have the tools and time to better plan for every lesson, which in turn will better accommodate all learners.
By establishing clear systems that strengthen lesson planning and preparation, teachers will feel supported and aligned with each other in creating a cohesive learning experience that benefits all scholars. Prioritizing coaching for teachers around this “essential content” will foster teacher development and positively impact every scholar.
Teachers must focus on intellectual preparation and anticipate the needs of diverse learners by increasing access to the “essential content.”
We’ll refine and strengthen existing data practices at school sites to ensure intentional, evidence-based, collaborative approaches to improving culture and instruction and to give teachers regular information to better tailor learning for scholars to meet “essential content” expectations.
We will complete and refine 4DX implementation across schools, focusing on Culture of Learning and Essential Content strategies.
By aligning on and developing best practices for high-quality Data & Teacher Planning Day that serve a purpose across schools and roles.
Teachers should be prepared to ground their conversations with leaders in the experience of scholars and evidence of scholar learning using quantitative and qualitative data metrics. Teachers must focus on using scholar expectations and data to make strategic pivots to best serve our scholars, especially our English Learners, scholars with disability, and Black/African American scholars.
Our innovative pilot program is tackling teacher retention and burn-out by giving our educators additional planning time through customized school schedule redesigns. Our 2023-24 school year pilot schools, Middle Academy 4 and Valera Academy, are already reporting better balance for their teachers, which is having a direct effect on scholar outcomes. This is thanks to the pilot providing a stronger learning environment, expanded enrichment programs, and giving teachers more space and time for scholar intervention as needed. The schools will continue to refine their process and track their success through iReady, as well as direct feedback from teachers, scholars and families. In the 2024-25 school year, Mohan high school will join the pilot program. Beyond a redesigned schedule to give teachers more planning time, they will offer dual enrollment classes to their scholars helping them faster reach the ultimate goal of graduating with a four-year college degree.
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