CFDA: 84.325P - NIUSI Leadscape

CFDA: 84.325P
PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE TO SUPPORT SCHOOLWIDE IMPROVEMENT
Year 2, Quarter 2 Report April1, 2008 – June 30, 2008

TABLE OF CONTENTS
LEADERSHIP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
PROJECT OVERVIEW .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
NETWORKING AND DISSEMINATION.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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LEADERSHIP
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
Elizabeth B. Kozleski
Director and Principal Investigator
Arizona State University
PROJECT COORDINATOR
Elaine Mulligan
Project Coordinator
Arizona State University
PROJECT OFFICER
Anne Smith
Project Officer
Office of Special Education Programs
U.S. Department of Education, Washington, D.C.
STAFF
Michael Knapp
Software Designer
Green River
Aaron Michal
Software Designer
Green River
Crystal Rueb
Office Specialist
Arizona State University
ADVISORY BOARD
Alfredo Artiles
Arizona State University
Frank Bingham
University of Colorado at Denver
and Health Sciences Center
Stan Buckley
Jefferson County Public Schools
Beverly Cross
University of Memphis
Paula Goldberg
PACER Center
Charlene Green
Clark County School District
Joe Johnson
National Center for Urban
School Transformation
John Radloff
Guideworks, LLC
Paul Teske
University of Colorado at Denver
and Health Sciences Center
GRADUATE ASSISTANTS
Carlos Calderon
Angela Clark-Oates
Wendy Duran
Bradley Herron
Pratap Joseph
Kathleen King
Latha Mukkavilli
Rebecca Neal
Amanda Sullivan
Federico Waitoller
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Project Overview
In spite of powerful federal legislation, embodied in the IDEA
reauthorization of 2004, schools and local educational agencies
continue to serve almost 50% of all students with disabilities in
separate classrooms and schools. IDEA mandates that students
with disabilities receive their education with non-disabled
peers to the maximum extent appropriate. However, by 2003,
according to the U.S. Department of Education, only about half
of all students with disabilities nationally were being educated
for more than 80% of the day in general education classrooms.
Evidence from two large national studies, the second National
Longitudinal Transition Study and the Special Education
Elementary Longitudinal Study (SEELS), suggest that students
with disabilities who spend more time in general education
classrooms tend to be absent less, perform closer to grade
level than their peers in pull-out settings, and have higher
achievement test scores (Blackorby et al., 2005).
While NCLB has focused public and professional attention on
the outcomes of education through annual measurement of
student progress; focus on annual yearly progress on a school
by school basis; and disaggregating of test scores by race/
ethnicity, English language learners, and students in special
education; special education services remain much as they
were in the eighties and early nineties. Special education
experiences a troublesome and persistent overrepresentation
of students who are culturally and linguistically diverse,
particularly in urban areas (Donovan & Cross, 2002). Further,
students who are African-American and Latino are more
likely than White and Asian-American students to be in more
segregated placements.
Schools need to develop their capacity to teach students who
are culturally and linguistically diverse within general education
using research-based teaching and learning practices that
produce high quality learning for all students. Further, special
education needs to become a proactive, preventative system
that does not wait for students to fall behind before they get
the educational supports needed to learn. This means that the
roles of special educators and related service providers must
be reconceptualized to enhance whole school improvement.
Through collaborative professional learning opportunities,
special and general educators must work together to support
learning in the general education curriculum.
This kind of change requires local leadership. Principals
must engage whole school improvement that binds special
and general education in a seamless learning system for
all students. To ensure that principals have the technical
knowledge and skills to be instructional leaders for all students
is a daunting task. To do so, knowing that principals change
positions frequently, requires a response that grounds learning
in present circumstances but bridges future changes by
anchoring learning and development to web-based, e-learning
solutions that provide multiple kinds of tools for knowledge
development, diffusion, implementation, and continuous
improvement. Enter NIUSI-LeadScape.
The National Institute for Urban School Improvement
(NIUSI) has established a principal leadership professional
development center, LeadScape, which supports school
improvement to ensure access to and participation and
progress in the general education curriculum in the least
restrictive environment. Originally titled the NIUSI Principal
Leadership Academies iNitiative (NIUSI-PLAN), the center’s
name was changed to LeadScape in order to increase its
marketability. NIUSI is an OSEP-funded technical assistance
and dissemination project with almost 10 years of national
experience in supporting the development of networks of
schools as they develop robust practices for ensuring that
students with disabilities have access to and participate
successfully in the general education environment.
LeadScape directly assists at least 400 principals across the
country to develop, implement, and sustain inclusive schools
ensuring that ALL students with and without disabilities meet
or exceed academic standards set by each state and measured
by state assessment systems. Based on the tools and products
developed and field tested by NIUSI, LeadScape has developed
an electronic platform called LeadScape to bring principals
from around the country together, in sustained professional
communities, focused on leadership for inclusive schools. The
platform makes it possible to incorporate effective researchbased
strategies and methods for professional learning as
well as effective research-based content and tools focused on
information that principals need to know and do to achieve
and sustain effective, inclusive schools. An important part
of this work is the direct technical assistance, coaching, and
mentoring that NIUSI LeadScape provides to principals both
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online and in-person.
LeadScape is developing powerful networks of principals
that embrace and implement evidence-based, systemic
school improvement approaches for inclusive practices. The
initiative is organized into four action arenas, each of which
has a core team that implements the goal, objectives and
manages the timelines. These goals include (1) continuous
improvement systems for classrooms, schools, and school
systems; (2) ongoing participatory research and development
to inform and improve outcomes for all students; (3) inclusive,
culturally responsive professional learning that results in
improved outcomes for all students; and (4) networking and
dissemination that extends the reach of this project and
impacts practice nationally.
This report describes LeadScape’s activities for the past quarter,
focusing on our progress in meeting our goals and objectives
in each of the four action arenas. For this first quarter of 2008,
the Center’s primary activities have revolved around the launch
of the LeadScape platform and providing professional learning
and technical assistance to participating principals.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Year 2, April 1 – June 30, 2008
• Winter Principals’ Institute in Scottsdale, AZ.
• Implementation of coaching process.
• Development of data maps in progress.
• LeadScape website updated monthly.
• LeadScape blog launched.
• New Practitioner Brief published.
• Summer Institute planning completed.
• Provided technical assistance in Memphis, TN.
• 4 new principals added.
Continuous Improvement
GOAL 1: INCREASE KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING
OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION THROUGH CONTINUOUS
ASSESSMENT OF CURRENT PRACTICE, CHANGE EFFORTS AND
IMPACT.
1.1 Create, launch, and refine the LeadScape platform
1.2 Engage principals in data analysis, school
improvement planning, and implementation.
1.3 Track changes over time in sites and within the project
using project management tools.
SUMMARY
The work of the Continuous Improvement Core Team has
focused on refining the LeadScape website and platform and
on engaging the pilot group of principals in data analysis
and school improvement planning. This period, project staff
continued implementation and refinement of a new coaching
process to facilitate these processes. Principals receive ongoing
biweekly coaching and mentoring via email and phone.
Individual goals for all participating principals were reviewed at
the end of the academic year. In addition, technical assistance
was provided in Memphis, TN regarding training special
education personnel on how to write IEP Services page for
inclusive classes.
This quarter, a School Improvement Plan tool was added to
the LeadScape platform to allow principals to manage their
goals. This new addition also includes a task tracker function
to help users keep track of assigned duties Data maps for our
participating schools are in progress. Graphic representations
have been created for four new schools in addition to Orlando.
In May, the LeadScape advisory board convened to review
activities and progress and to provide feedback and ideas for
future directions, including ways to improve the platform and
expand content to address important issues.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Implementation of coaching process.
• Development of data maps in progress.
• LeadScape website updated monthly.
NEXT STEPS
• Continued development of LeadScape platform.
• Monthly updates to the LeadScape website.
• Continue providing individualized technical assistance
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to participating principals via site visits, conference
calls, and email.
• Continue to build data maps for participating districts.
Research and Development
GOAL 2: PRODUCE A SET OF 20 RESEARCH SYNTHESES
THAT ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF PRACTITIONERS AND
DECISION-MAKERS.
2.1 Complete a synthesis of available research literature
within the first 6 months of the project start date
including a review of current NIUSI products and
audience needs
2.2 Edit, review, and produce 4 new products per year
2.3 Design and launch dialogue guides for each product
to be launched on LeadScape
SUMMARY
This quarter, a new Practitioner Brief was published. Written by
Drs. Beth Harry and Robin Waterman, Building Collaboration
Between Schools and Parents of English Language Learners:
Transcending Barriers, Creating Opportunities extends our
work building culturally responsive educational systems to
parents of students identified as English language learners (ELL),
beginning with the premise that parents of students who have
been identified as ELL are a vital source of support for increasing
student engagement, bringing profound commitments and
motivation to the school community.
The R&D team continued work on LeadScape core concepts
paper “Leadership for Inclusive Schools: A Conceptual
Framework and Review of Literature.” This document synthesizes
the existing literature on inclusive schools and explores issues of
social justice, education policy and case law, disproportionality,
and the conceptualization of principalship.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Core concepts paper revisions in progress.
• New Practitioner Brief published.
NEXT STEPS
• Publish core concepts paper.
Professional Development
GOAL 3: LEVERAGE CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT OF INCLUSIVE
PRACTICES IN SCHOOLS THROUGH COLLABORATIVE
WORK WITH PRINCIPAL LEADERS FOCUSING ON RESEARCH
VALIDATED PRACTICES IN THE SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT
PROCESS, COLLECTION AND USE OF EVIDENCE,
UNIVERSAL DESIGNS FOR LEARNING, EARLY INTERVENING,
RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION, AND CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE
PRACTICES
3.1 Recruit, select, and convene 400 principals across the
U.S. for inclusive education leadership development.
3.2 Produce 5 online leadership modules for LeadScape.
3.3 Refine NIUSI coaching process using webinars, enews,
email, weekly phone calls, and site visits.
SUMMARY
Planning is well underway for the LeadScape Summer Institute
in Seattle, WA July 14-17. Principals from throughout the nation
will be gathering to engage in professional learning to support
a number of outcomes, including:
• Match Instructional Designs to Inclusive Education Goals
• Develop Whole School Approach to Support Positive
Behavior
• Improve Student Engagement
• Focus School Improvement Efforts on Systemic Design
• Network to Improve Results for Students
The Institute will feature several speakers including Sue
Abplanalp, Jack Jorgenson, Dorothy Garrison-Wade, Rob
Horner, and Shelley Zion, as well as project leadership, who
will address a variety of topics such as instructional models,
instructional design, positive behavior supports, student voice,
and leadership identity.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• Planning for Summer Institute completed.
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NEXT STEPS
• Summer Institute
• Complete RTI Module.
Networking and
Dissemination
GOAL 4: ENGAGE NATIONAL DISCOURSE IN LOCAL,
PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE, AND POLICY COMMUNITIES ON
IMPROVING EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES FOR ALL STUDENTS.
4.1 Expand existing network to 16,000 participants.
4.2 Infuse regional accreditation standards with NIUSI
inclusive education standards thru CITA.
4.3 Increase the usage of LeadScape from 400 to 1,000
principals.
SUMMARY
This period, LeadScape launched a new interactive blog on the
project website. Our blog now features scholars, researchers,
and teacher educators, who inform, share and provoke
discussions about the complexities of leadership for equity
and inclusiveness in teaching and learning. Like Anais Nin’s
astute observation about the purpose of art, we hope that the
blog will function to challenge perceptions about inclusive
education, equitable practices, and systemic change. She
writes, “What we are familiar with we cease to see. The writer
shakes up the familiar scene, and, as if by magic, we see a new
meaning in it.” Our first guest writer was Dr. Mike Rose. He
is on the faculty of the UCLA Graduate School of Education
and Information Studies and the author of Possible Lives: The
Promise of Public Education in America, recently released by
Penguin with a new preface, and The Mind at Work: Valuing
the Intelligence of the American Worker. The second posting
featured a piece by Dr. Julio Cammarota, where he discussed
the achievement gap between Latina/os. Julio Cammarota
is an assistant professor in the Bureau of Applied Research in
Anthropology and the Mexican-American Studies and Research
Center at the University of Arizona. His research focuses on
participatory action research with Latina/o youth, institutional
factors in academic achievement, and liberatory pedagogy.
He is currently the co-director of a youth participatory action
research program, the Social Justice Education Project (SJEP).
Last year, five districts from North Carolina, Wisconsin,
Tennessee, Florida, and Arizona were selected to participate
in our pilot group of principals that would test the LeadScape
platform, based on the principals’ dedication to inclusive
education and culturally responsive practice. This period, four
new principals have joined LeadScape’s pilot group:
• Whitney Oakley of Sylvan Elementary in Snow Camp, NC
• Rea Goklish of John F. Kennedy Day School in Cedar Creek,
AZ (White Mountain Apache Reservation)
• Rebeckah Winans of Fuller Elementary in Tempe, AZ,
• Laura Suprenard of Shingle Creek Elementary in Orlando,
FL.
Month Hits Visitors
April 17,922 206
May 12,509 208
June 30,495 827
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
• 4 new principals added to pilot group.
• Presentation at OSEP Personnel Preparation Meeting in
June.
• 60,926 hits to the website
NEXT STEPS
• Continue recruiting new principals.
• Present information about NIUSI-LeadScape to TA&D
Information Services Group.
JULY PRINCIPALS’ INSTITUTE: Angela Whitelaw, Chloé Sims, Harold Beaver, Cynthia Alexander, and Gloria Williams
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NOTES
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