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Differentiated Roles School Readiness Toolkit
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Differentiated Roles Program
2014-15 SCHOOL READINESS TOOLKIT
Contents
How to Use This Toolkit 2
Differentiated Roles Overview 3
Application Process Overview for 2015-16 7
Application Timeline 9
School Readiness Assessment Rubric 10
Readiness Support: Next Steps and Tools 16
Vision 16
School Leader 18
School Capacity 19
School Culture 20
Structures 20
Appendix A: Professional Learning Supports 22
Appendix B: Available Resources 23
Contact 24
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How to Use This Toolkit
This toolkit is designed as a resource for schools, with the following objectives in mind:
Provide information and an overview of the Differentiated Roles program to assist schools in
evaluating whether or not 2015-16 is the right time to begin implementing new leadership roles
Provide tools for schools to self-assess readiness to join the program
Provide resources to assist schools in improving readiness and creating a strong program
application that is aligned to school needs and goals
The toolkit is divided into separate parts to support each of these objectives. We suggest that schools divide
their time into the following development areas:
Understanding of the Program- Familiarize yourself with the types of roles available, program
goals, and likely areas of impact.
Readiness- Spend time accurately reflecting and utilizing the School Readiness Rubric. It is
suggested that school leaders, teachers, and IS/EDs share perspectives on how they would assess
the school on each readiness factor. To ensure that the right next steps are taken, it’s important to
spend time in discussion and come to a consensus about overall school readiness and areas for
growth.
School Development- After reaching a consensus around readiness and areas of development,
work with school stakeholders to plan next steps and improve readiness. Do you have established
school capacity, but an approaching school culture? If so, look at the next steps and resources
provided in this toolkit and see what might be a good fit for your school to establish a plan of
action.
The tools, strategies, and resources in this toolkit are meant to share learning from the program and provide
recommendations for how schools can implement new instructional leadership roles with greater success. This
is a dynamic document, and by no means exhaustive. As program staff and program schools continue to learn,
we’ll update our resources and share tips and tools that can assist schools. Please reach out to program staff
and your IS/ED with questions and requests for support.
We look forward to receiving your application this fall to participate in Differentiated Roles in 2015-16!
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About Differentiated Roles
DPS Teacher Leadership Theory of Action:
If we create shared leadership structures in schools, where school leaders work with empowered teacher leaders, we can build better opportunities for feedback and growth, retain effective teachers, and drive increased student achievement.
What is the Differentiated Roles Program?
Differentiated Roles focuses on Distributive Leadership to improve student outcomes. By leveraging the expertise of effective teachers in small peer-learning teams, we can elevate the practice of every teacher and leader in the building. The new roles designed by the Differentiated Roles program create a structure for teachers in schools to learn from each other. Collaboration is key; teaching is simply too challenging and complex to be done in isolation.
DPS launched the program in 2013-14 with 14 schools. Because of its success in the first year, 40 DPS schools
will participate in 2014-15, including all 14 of the original schools. All participating schools go through an
extensive application and design process to get accepted into the program. They also receive supports from
the Differentiated Roles program team to help plan how Differentiated Roles will work in their school.
In Differentiated Roles, teacher leaders, known as ‘Team Leads,’ lead designated teams of teachers in their school:
• Guiding collaborative planning time and supporting SLO implementation
• Facilitating lesson planning, data analysis, and group professional learning
• Coaching individual teachers in their classroom practice and contributing observation scores to LEAP
Team Leads receive a stipend for taking on leadership roles and have a reduced teaching load to have time to work with the teachers on their teams. Team Leads in these roles also serve as LEAP observers, logging observations into Schoolnet. In some cases, Team Leads are responsible for the end-to-end LEAP process for the teachers on their team. Throughout the year, Team Leads participate in monthly cohort professional learning and site-based support is available for differentiated development in instructional leadership.
“Differentiated Roles is the greatest step of
innovation that our school, school district, and
state have done in the last twenty years”
-Differentiated Roles Team Lead
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Differentiated Roles Program Goals
OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION
Increase Distributive Leadership
Leverage human capital by distributing responsibilities, management, and decision-making to teacher leaders, so that all teachers receive support that enables growth in teaching and learning, and improved outcomes for students
Improve Teacher Retention Improve the retention of high-performing teachers by providing meaningful opportunities for development and career progression
Make leadership opportunities and advancement pathways clear and accessible so that teachers have the opportunity to take on a variety of roles with varying levels of responsibility
Extend the Reach of Effective Teachers
Leverage effective and distinguished teachers by providing them release time to work with and influence their peers’ practice
When these teacher leaders share professional knowledge, mentor, coach, and observe teachers on their team, more students will be impacted by improved teaching practices
Improve Equitable Access to Effective Teachers
Increase our high need students’ access to effective teachers to support student achievement gains and close the achievement gap
Improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching and learning in the classroom, which will lead to improved academic, cultural, and social-emotional outcomes for children
Elevate the Profession Create systemic changes in school structures that facilitate and encourage the strongest teaching professionals to lead their peers without leaving the classroom
Differentiated Roles Impact
In the program’s first year of implementation, the most profound impact that schools experienced was increased feedback and observation for their teachers. Throughout the year, increased instructional support for teachers led schools to report improved school culture, increased teacher voice in decision-making, and visible school commitment to continuous professional improvement. In addition, the following data was collected:
100% of team leads agreed they were growing in their own instructional practice by serving in a leadership role, and 97% reported they were satisfied or highly satisfied with their leadership role
97% of team leads agreed that the program was having a positive effect on school culture
80% of teachers in program schools stated that the instructional supports they received were helping improve their practice
On average, each team lead contributed over 100 hours of one-on-one observation and feedback to their team of teachers; this is in addition to time spent leading group professional learning, data meetings, and other techniques employed to support team growth
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In 2015-16, it is projected that 90+ Denver Public Schools will implement Differentiated Roles
How has Differentiated Roles impacted teachers?
“I think it makes performance
observations less intimidating and
more supportive.”
“There is greater communication and collaboration
across the school as a result of this pilot.”
“It has had a WONDERFUL
impact on my school culture,
leadership, and providing
teachers with resources/links to
the administration, that we may or
may not have had without the
Differentiated Roles pilot. I
STRONGLY recommend this
program to other schools.”
“I like that there is a bridge between
school administrators and teachers. I
also like that the roles are fair and
that the teacher leader is continuing
in their own practice to help with our
practice as well.”
“Data meetings are being conducted
consistently and efficiently. It is very
helpful to discuss data results with
another teacher once a week and
plan accordingly.”
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Implementation Design
Program Design
IMPLEMENTATION REQUIREMENTS Consistent Across All Schools
FLEXIBILITIES School Decisions
Roles
Eligibility requirements and hiring practices
Include teaching time and non-teaching time
Compensation
Training and certification requirements
Scope and definition of responsibilities
Regularly observe team of teachers and contribute to
formal evaluation
School Expectations and Partnership Agreement
Participation in program feedback and sessions
Documentation
Design
Number of team leads
Role selection and focus area
Team Lead selection and hiring
Team formation
Amount non-teaching time
Instructional leadership techniques
Schedule and structures
Participation in site-based supports and 1:1 coaching
Program staff and supports
Current Differentiated Roles
TEAM LEAD (TL) TEACHER TEAM LEAD (TTL)
Contributes to formal evaluation and professional growth of all team members
Responsible for complete evaluation of all team members (in lieu of school administrator)
Focuses on supporting a specific area of instructional practice
• Blended Learning • Culture • Content • English Language Acquisition • Data • Subgroups
Focuses on holistic improvement across Framework for Effective Teaching, including professionalism
Team formation centers around common instructional need or development area
Team formation typically determined by grade, subject, or teacher experience
$3,000 Stipend $5,000 Stipend
To access full role descriptions, please click here
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Application Process Overview
Application Process
The Differentiated Roles Program has a multi-month application and implementation design process, intended
to align differentiated roles to the needs of each individual school. During this process, there are two main
phases, each accompanied by workshops to push and support school thinking around differentiated roles and
team work in each individual school.
Pre-Application Phase (October-November)- Schools create design teams to conceptualize how Differentiated Roles might
be used as a leverage point to increase student achievement. During this phase, schools complete the Pre-Application, which
communicates a school’s vision for this work, alignment between the Differentiated Roles program and school goals, and
school readiness. Workshops and resources are offered to assist schools with the Pre-Application and encourage strong
working teams ready to take on this work in their school.
Final Application Phase (late November-January)- Each semi-finalist school works with program staff and consultants to
create an implementation design plan. During this time, schools will attend design workshops in teams, select the roles that
will most benefit their school, and begin to create an implementation plan. Role and stipend approval as well as funding
notification will be sent to schools by Jan 30 so that schools can plan their 2015-16 budget. Team Lead Selection support and
additional hiring guidance will follow in the spring after the application phase is completed.
Selection Criteria
During both the Pre-Application and Final Application phases, the program staff convenes a selection
committee. The selection committee will speak with schools to better understand their application, discuss
school applications with IS/EDs and other stakeholders, and analyze school data and additional information.
Joining the Differentiated Roles program introduces a great amount of change to the school’s structures and
culture. Selection criteria are aligned to readiness indicators which gauge how the school is prepared for such
changes, including:
The school has a strong strategic vision for differentiated roles that is aligned to its needs and goals
The school demonstrates stable school leadership that supports teacher leadership efforts, distributes leadership, and effectively manages change
The school has a strong school culture that encourages continuous professional learning, teacher voice, and celebrates growth within the school community
The school demonstrates its capacity to incorporate and sustain differentiated roles, including having teacher leaders and/or candidates who can serve in Team Lead roles
The school is ready and willing to make changes to school structures and schedules to support teacher leadership and team professional learning with the goal of affecting student achievement
Sept-Oct
2014
Nov-Jan
2014-2015
Feb-May
2015
Summer
2015
PRE-APPLICATION
IMPLEMENTATION DESIGN
FINAL APPLICATION
TEAM LEAD
SELECTION TRAINING
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Overview: School Readiness Indicators
INDICATOR ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS
1. Vision for the Work
Is the Differentiated Roles Program aligned with the school’s strategic vision?
Will this work be a priority amidst other efforts and initiatives?
Is the school committed to distributed leadership?
2. School Leader
Is the school leadership stable?
Does the school leader have experience managing large-scale change?
Does the school leader have experience distributing leadership?
3. School Culture
Is there a decision-making process that includes teacher voice?
Is there a strong school culture to support the changes of the program?
Is teacher leadership present and visible in the building?
Is there a culture of continuous improvement?
4. School Capacity
Does the school have the capacity to implement new teacher leader roles?
Are there strong performers in place to fill the roles (or a strategic plan for
recruitment)?
Are there systems in place (or a plan for new systems) to support teacher leaders
in the work?
5. School Structures Are school structures (schedules, planning time, meetings and budgets) flexible
enough to accommodate the program?
Available Readiness Supports
There are a number of program and district supports in place to help schools assess readiness, improve and
refine their applications, and build school understanding and support for differentiated roles during the
application process. A host of additional implementation supports are available once a school is accepted into
a Differentiated Roles cohort. Pre-Application supports include:
Differentiated Roles School Readiness Toolkit and resources
Informational webinars and roundtables
Differentiated Roles school visits (dates TBA)
Pre-Application workshops and Office Hours to support application development
Consultations with program staff (Program Manager, Operations Lead, and Teacher Leader
Coordinators)
For a full list of supports, please see Page 22 of this Toolkit
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Application Timeline
Dates to be confirmed Contact the Differentiated Roles team at [email protected] or look for updates in ConnectED
MONTH ACTIVITY AUDIENCE DATES
September Information Sessions Teachers, Staff Members, and School Leaders
from interested schools
Sept 23, Sept 24
October Applications emailed to
schools and posted online
All DPS schools Sept 30
October Informational Roundtables Teachers, Staff Members, and School Leaders
from interested schools
Oct 1, Oct 8
October School Visits (optional) Teachers, School Leaders TBA
October Pre-Application Workshops School Teams (comprised of at least one school
leader and one teacher)
Oct 15, Oct 21
October Pre-Application Office Hours School Teams can meet with Program Staff Oct 23, Oct 28
October Pre-Application DEADLINE School Teams Oct 31
November Semi-finalist Notification Program Staff will notify School Leader and all
members of School Team listed on application
Nov 21
December Design Workshops School Design Team (comprised of at least one
school leader and one teacher)
Dec 2,3, and 4;
Dec 11, 16, and 17
December Implementation Design
Consultations & Planning
School Design Team will work with Program Staff
and/or outside consultants
On-going
January Final Application Office Hours School Design Teams can meet with Program
Staff
Jan 6, 7, 8
January Final Application Review
(suggested)
School Design Teams are encouraged to have
their applications reviewed by consultants for
feedback
January
January Final Application DEADLINE Program Staff & Selection Committee Jan 12
January Role, Stipend, and Funding
Notification
Program Staff will notify School Leader and
members of Design Team
Jan 30
2015 Post-Application Planning Phases
February-May Team Lead Selection and Hiring
April-May Spring Implementation Workshops
June-August Team Lead Training & Professional Learning
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DIFFERENTIATED ROLES PROGRAM – SCHOOL READINESS ASSESSMENT RUBRIC
School teams considering participating in the Differentiated Roles Program should use this rubric for self-reflection around the school community’s
readiness to pursue distributed leadership through this program opportunity.
1. VISION FOR THE WORK
Is the Differentiated Roles Program aligned with the school’s strategic vision?
Will this work be a priority amidst other efforts and initiatives?
Is the school committed to distributed leadership?
APPROACHING EMERGING ESTABLISHED
The school’s vision does not clearly align or articulate how the
objectives of the Differentiated Roles Program meet a need of
the school, based in part on the school UIP.
The vision for implementing differentiated roles is disjointed,
considering the school’s strategic vision and would not relate to
other efforts and initiatives.
Distributed leadership is not really part of the school’s vision
and teachers are not utilized as instructional leaders.
The vision aligns and articulates how the objectives of the
Differentiated Roles Program meet a need of the school, based
in part on the school UIP.
The program is aligned to school’s strategic vision and is
reasonably related to other efforts and initiatives already
occurring within the school
The school’s strategic vision supports distributed leadership
through instructional leadership roles and has some goals in
mind around this work.
The objectives of the Differentiated Roles Program very clearly
meet a major need of the school, based in part on the school
UIP.
The program will explicitly enable the school to pursue its
strategic vision because it is so well aligned with other efforts
and initiatives in the building.
The school is already distributing leadership through
instructional leadership roles and is measuring progress toward
goals.
Core Metrics
The stated vision aligns school needs and school UIP with the objectives of the Differentiated Roles Program
The Differentiated Roles Program would address gaps in teacher need
The Differentiated Roles Program complements other work going on in the building
The school’s strategic vision distributes leadership through instructional leadership roles
The school’s strategic vision includes clear, measurable, and achievable goals
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2. SCHOOL LEADER
Is the school leadership stable?
Does the school leader have experience managing large-scale change?
Does the school leader have experience distributing leadership?
APPROACHING EMERGING ESTABLISHED
School leader is focusing on the development of his/her
leadership skills, learning to distribute leadership and use
resources strategically.
The school’s IS/ED works collaboratively with the school leader
to help him/her become a practitioner of distributive leadership,
and to develop experience managing large-scale change.
The school leader is in the process of developing a
communications strategy, including putting a communications
plan into place that provides consistent and transparent
messages to teachers around school goals and progress.
School leader generally has effective leadership skills (per the
School Leadership Framework), specifically around distributing
leadership (SL2) and using resources strategically (OL),
although these skills are still developing.
The school’s IS/ED considers the school leader to be a
practitioner of distributive leadership with experience managing
large-scale change.
The school leader has a communications strategy, including a
communications plan that provides consistent and transparent
messages to teachers around school goals and progress.
School leader has consistently strong leadership skills,
specifically around distributing leadership and using resources
strategically, as per multiple metrics
The school’s IS/ED considers the school leader’s approach to
be an exemplar of distributive leadership and has observed
him/her successfully managing large-scale change.
The school leader has a strong communications strategy that
enables him/her to consistently and transparently communicate
with teachers in a way that builds trust and helps manage
change.
Core Metrics
Rating on School Leader Framework SL2 (distributes leadership)
Rating on School Leader Framework OL (strategic use of time, people, money)
Teacher Perception Surveys and CollaboRATE, specifically related to how the school leader distributes leadership and uses resources
IS/ED view of the school leader (specifically regarding distributed leadership and change management)
School leader’s communication strategies and effectiveness
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3. SCHOOL CULTURE
Is there a decision-making process that includes teacher voice?
Is there a strong school culture in place to support the changes of the program?
Is teacher leadership present and visible in the building?
Is there a culture of continuous improvement?
APPROACHING EMERGING ESTABLISHED
The Teacher Perception Survey suggests that teachers want to
see the school’s culture improve so that it consistently
promotes growth in teaching and learning.
The school struggles to retain its effective teachers from year
to year, sometimes due to issues with school culture.
Teachers generally consider the school to have a strong and
positive culture that promotes growth in teaching and learning.
Very few effective teachers choose to voluntarily leave the
school for positions elsewhere.
Teachers consistently consider the school to have a strong and
positive culture that promotes growth in teaching and learning,
and which is reflected in teacher effectiveness ratings and
student outcome measures.
Effective teachers almost never choose to voluntarily leave the
school for positions elsewhere.
Core Metrics
Rating on School Leader Framework CEL2 (Culture of empowerment, improvement, celebration)
School leader rating on Teacher Perception Survey and CollaboRATE
Rate of voluntary teacher turnover
IS/ED feedback on school culture strengths and areas of development
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4. SCHOOL CAPACITY
Does the school have the capacity to implement new teacher leader roles?
Are there strong performers in place to fill the roles or a strategic plan for recruitment?
Are there systems in place (or a plan for new systems) to support teacher leaders in this work?
APPROACHING EMERGING ESTABLISHED
School has not participated, or has very little experience, in
other teacher leadership or school design pilots.
The school is not yet implementing a strategic plan to develop
its teachers and leaders to improve their instructional
effectiveness.
School has participated in other teacher leadership, leadership,
or school design pilots, but may not be implementing those
initiatives on an ongoing basis or might not yet have seen
direct evidence of impact from those initiatives.
The school is actively working towards providing increased
teacher leader roles in the building to improve instructional
effectiveness.
School has participated in other leadership or school design
pilots that yielded positive results for teaching and learning
outcomes.
The school has a successful history of implementing teacher
leader roles, including roles that directly focus on instructional
leadership.
Core Metrics
School participation in other pilots, especially history of implementing teacher leader roles with impact on instructional effectiveness
Percentage of teachers in building earning “effective” rating or higher
Current teacher-to-teacher leader ratio in the building
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5. SCHOOL STRUCTURES
Are school structures (schedules, planning time, meetings and budgets) flexible enough to accommodate the
program?
APPROACHING EMERGING ESTABLISHED
School schedule has some absolute restrictions that simply
cannot be adjusted under any circumstance.
School budget is very tight (declining enrollment, loss of grant
funds, etc.) and there is little to no flexibility to move dollars
around if needed to co-fund this program.
There is a school-wide desire to restructure collaborative
planning and meeting time so that it is more useful in driving
instructional growth, but a plan has not yet been implemented.
School schedule has no absolute restrictions that could not be
adjusted if needed.
School budget has sufficient wiggle room to move dollars
around if needed to co-fund this program.
Some of the existing collaborative planning and meeting time is
considered to be useful in driving instructional growth, some is
not. The school is actively testing new approaches to better
meet the needs of teachers.
School schedule is flexible enough to accommodate both ad
hoc and systematic adjustments to serve student needs.
School budget has funding set aside to support the leadership
development of teachers either through the program or in other
ways.
Teachers would agree that most of the existing collaborative
planning and meeting time is considered to be useful in driving
instructional growth, very little is not.
Core Metrics
Flexibility of school schedule and proactive understanding of what might need to change to effectively implement Differentiated Roles
Flexibility of school budget, and/or ability co-fund the pilot costs, with a particular eye towards sustainability
Evidence that collaborative planning time and meetings oriented toward driving instructional growth
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DIFFERENTIATED ROLES PROGRAM - SCHOOL READINESS
RATINGS
Use the School Readiness Rubric to engage in self-reflection. Capture scores for each Indicator in the table
below. Use the notes section for additional thoughts, context, and reflection on the ratings.
INDICATOR ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS RATING AND NOTES
1. Vision for the Work
Is the Differentiated Roles Program aligned with
the school’s strategic vision?
Rating________________
Notes:
Will this work be a priority amidst other efforts and
initiatives?
Is the school committed to distributive leadership?
2. School Leader
Is the school leadership stable? Rating________________
Notes:
Does the school leader have experience
managing large-scale change?
3. School Culture
Is there a decision-making process that includes
teacher voice?
Rating________________
Notes:
Is there a strong school culture in place to support
the changes of the program?
4. School Capacity
Will the school implement the program well? Rating________________
Notes: Are there strong performers in place to fill the
roles?
Are there systems in place to support teacher
leaders in the work?
5. School Structures Are school structures (schedules, planning time,
meetings and budgets) flexible enough to
accommodate the program?
Rating________________
Notes:
ADDITIONAL FACTORS TO CONSIDER
School SPF Growth in the previous year
Number of teachers in years 1-2 of teaching
With these Ratings, Notes, and Additional Factors in mind, what are the school team’s conclusions about school areas of need,
development, and readiness to participate in the Differentiated Roles Program?
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Readiness Support: Next Steps and Tools
How to use these supports to assess and improve your readiness for Differentiated Roles
The Next Steps on the following pages have been culled from best practices in the field. These steps are not
meant to be exhaustive, but rather to provide a menu of options to help schools move forward on the readiness
spectrum. Identify where you fell on the rubric based on your school self-assessment, then discuss with your
IS/ED and school team which ideas might work well for your school moving forward. Use these discussions
and ideas as the basis of an action plan to develop the competencies needed to implement Differentiated
Roles.
VISION FOR THE WORK: Next Steps
APPROACHING NEXT STEPS EMERGING NEXT STEPS ESTABLISHED NEXT STEPS
Create a Vision Statement
Develop a working group that is comprised of
teachers, school leaders, and other
stakeholders for the purpose of identifying
school strengths, big needs, and opportunities
available by implementing differentiated roles.
Analyze data and seek teacher input on
school-wide strengths and areas for
development .
Prioritize needs and define a plan that helps
your school develop a foundation of utilizing
teacher leadership to strategically extend the
reach of effective teachers.
Develop your vision so that it specifically
aligns to the areas of greatest need.
Revise Vision Statement
Share vision statement within school
community and solicit feedback from IS/ED,
teachers, parents, and other stakeholders.
Develop your vision; check that your
statement is clear, concise, and concrete;
does it clearly articulate WHO, HOW, and
WHAT you want to see happen?
Workshop your vision statement to test that it
includes the types of activities you envision
and that both actions and results are
included in the statement.
Refine Vision Statement
Test your vision statement with “elevator
pitches”. When you talk about the work briefly
in conversation, do others understand the
vision? Can listeners repeat where the school
is headed and how Differentiated Roles will
help them get there? If not, continue to
develop and iterate the vision statement until
it is easily repeated and understood by
stakeholders.
Strategy for Setting a Vision: School teams should establish a clear vision statement for distributing leadership, including specific goals and a sense of urgency. This vision should clearly state how Differentiated Roles can help the school reach its goals, and all goals should be SMART: Strategic, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. A clear, succinct, inspiring vision can frame the conversation as a common effort toward a goal. The details of program or implementation design are meaningless without a shared understanding that distributing leadership will impact teacher effectiveness and improve student learning. Your vision statement can help clarify your school’s purpose for taking on this work, identify the big need that you will be addressing, and share the impact you expect to see as a result. Ideally, this happens before any of the design process, but clarifying the vision is necessary at any stage to unify the school around a shared goal and communicate a consistent and clear message about what will happen as a result of participating in Differentiated Roles.
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The following vision statements are examples of how schools organized and articulated plans for Differentiated Roles:
“At Cole Arts and Science Academy (CASA) through the use of Differentiated Roles, teacher leaders will be empowered to directly increase the quality and quantity of coaching, individualized teacher development, and shared accountability of the school mission and goals, ultimately improving student achievement on Common Core State Standards (CCSS) in Math and ELA, the school-wide culture and climate, and teacher effectiveness.”
“High-Tech Early College (HTEC) believes that the TIF program is an essential leverage point for ensuring a culture of continuous improvement that leads to instructional excellence, improved student achievement, and increased teacher effectiveness. HTEC will leverage three roles across five staff members to distribute instructional leadership that supports the HTEC instructional model and three key improvement strategies…”
“At Skinner Middle School, we will increase effective implementation of Common Core and WIDA Standards through intentional development of data-driven instructional practices in areas of literacy and mathematics, while maintaining a positive school culture focused on high expectations and academic growth for all learners.”
Sample Vision Setting Process School teams should address each of these questions sequentially in order to generate a simple, clear, bold vision statement.
The big picture: What do we envision for our school in the next three years?
Because of our work, what kind of school will we become by the end of that
period? What do we need to focus on as a school to impact student growth?
Breaking down the big picture: What big things must happen for that vision to
be realized? What are the milestones we need to hit, and what information do we
need to know to know that we’ve been successful?
Narrowing the focus: What is most important for us to accomplish this year,
and over the next two, as a team? Of all the items on the list above, how should
they be prioritized?
Individual application: What specifically is each team member’s role in making
sure we meet our school-wide goal and priorities? How can we use Differentiated
Roles to help our school achieve our goals and reach our vision?
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SCHOOL LEADER: Next Steps
APPROACHING EMERGING ESTABLISHED
School Leaders should identify recent
changes in the building or district, then solicit
teacher feedback on pluses and wishes
around change management and
opportunities to start distributing leadership .
School leaders should reflect on teacher input
and work collaboratively with IS/EDs to
improve practice of distributive leadership, and
help develop experience managing large-
scale change.
Document examples of change management
and distributive leadership. Reflect on what
structures could help propel that work forward.
Reflect on school assets that could be
leveraged to improve student growth,
including identifying potential teacher leaders,
improving school communications and
understanding potential barriers to change.
Seek out other school leaders in your network
or across the district to learn about their
experience implementing Differentiated Roles.
Reflect on successful strategies that you
could begin implementing.
Anticipate and identify challenges that might
stand in the way of change in your building.
Reflect on how you could utilize teacher
leaders in Differentiated Roles to innovate
and address these challenges.
School Leader Strategies: Outline recent examples of change management and distributive leadership in the pre-application, being
reflective of what went well as a school and what strategies might be employed in the future.
We understand that schools may or may not have experience successfully implementing big changes like they
those they will experience with Differentiated Roles. However, to demonstrate readiness, school leaders should
accurately reflect on their experience with change management and distributive leadership using current DPS
examples (SLOs, Common Core, LEAP, etc.). Sharing reflections around what has worked and what hasn’t and
how you would like to use Differentiated Roles to create positive change in your school is an effective strategy
for demonstrating the efficacy of school leadership.
The final application should clearly articulate change management and distributive leadership strategies for
implementing Differentiated Roles in the future, the school leader’s role in leading that work, and evidence
that indicates they may be successful. School leaders might find it helpful to discuss implementation design
with current schools, IS/EDs, and program staff and to receive feedback prior to submission on this section. In
gauging school readiness, accurate reflection and strategy are as important as experience.
Recommended approaches for articulating school leader readiness:
Provide examples of change management and successful communications
Provide examples of distributing leadership
o Decisions made by school SLT and teacher leaders
o Teacher ideas or innovations that have been implemented
o Soliciting teacher voice and input on school decisions
o Current examples of how teachers contribute to instructional leadership
Articulate a pro-active understanding of the changes that will occur by participating in
Differentiated Roles
o Share strategies for addressing these changes and the needs of your school
o Share communication strategies and share how different roles will contribute to
communications
Share accurate reflections about your readiness and next steps as an individual leader and
school leader
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SCHOOL CAPACITY: Next Steps
APPROACHING NEXT STEPS EMERGING NEXT STEPS ESTABLISHED NEXT STEPS
Develop teachers and leaders to improve their
instructional effectiveness.
Celebrate successes and make school
community aware of in-building expertise.
Identify existing and new structures that can
help develop and grow instructional practice.
Leverage current teacher leaders in the
building to create greater impact; instead of
just delegating tasks, could teachers be
responsible for making decisions about HOW
to do more things in the building?
Collaboratively with teachers, look at the DPS
Teacher Leader Framework. Identify areas of
immediate need and available resources to
help teachers develop as instructional
leaders and prepare to apply for
progressively more responsible roles.
Identify instructional needs and strengths
across the school; develop a list of available
assets and resources that can be deployed.
Develop flexible groupings to address
instructional growth and provide additional
formal and informal leadership opportunities
for teachers.
Assess how you can build on other systems
and successes while continuing to build
capacity among your staff.
Strategy for Improving School Capacity: School leadership teams should focus heavily on improving teacher effectiveness in their buildings, both
through targeted use of teacher leader roles and by developing teachers to serve as instructional leaders.
In addition to implementing new roles to provide teachers with more feedback and support, High-Tech Early
College (HTEC) set out to formally articulate the school’s career lattice and make sure that leadership
opportunities were visible and available to all eligible teachers. HTEC’s goal was to provide teachers with
various pathways to serve in progressively responsible leadership roles, while aligning those opportunities with
the needs of the school. To do this, school leaders collaborated with teachers to define available opportunities,
create roles, and articulate criteria for selection. The resulting career lattice made visible a working environment
full of development opportunities—a prospect that the school hopes will aid in recruiting and retaining effective
teachers, while simultaneously supporting a culture of continuous growth.
Tool: Process for Developing a Teacher Leader Pipeline
Diagnose: What roles and growth opportunities are available for teachers in your school?
What are the responsibilities of each role? Who is eligible? What does the selection process look like? What is the next step for someone successful in that role?
Define Skill-Building: For each role or growth opportunity available to teachers, what
skills will this role cultivate and develop?
Create Gap Analysis: Are the existing available teacher leader roles and growth
opportunities preparing teachers for increasing responsibility as building and instructional leaders? If not, what are the gaps? Are there ways you can start addressing those gaps now to build readiness for Differentiated Roles?
Revise and Develop Available Opportunities: Respond to the gap analysis by re-
leveling current roles and growth opportunities, adjusting role descriptions, adding new roles and/or removing roles that are not cultivating and developing skills needed for quality instructional leadership.
For a list of district professional learning opportunities to build instructional and personal leadership, please click here
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SCHOOL CULTURE: Next Steps
APPROACHING EMERGING ESTABLISHED
Accurately reflect on current state of school
culture, including working environment,
professionalism/collegiality amongst peers,
culture of continuous learning, and culture
around observations and feedback.
Identify root causes of issues and concerns in
school culture.
Build a culture of continuous improvement and
collaboration by focusing discussions around
shared values, team growth, and existing assets.
Work collaboratively with teachers to solicit
feedback and brainstorm strategies and
immediate next steps that will strengthen
school culture across multiple dimensions.
Set clear culture goals with input from the
whole school.
Engage teacher leaders as ambassadors of
school culture; empower teacher leaders to
facilitate conversations and develop
solutions.
Create a culture of peer observation and
feedback, formally or informally.
Develop optional classroom visits to get
teachers into one another’s classes.
Create an accessible database of school
“experts”.. Start by documenting the talent
existing in the building-- whether it’s a lesson
idea, a classroom routine, pedagogy, or a
talent outside of school. Knowing what
people are good at and being valued will
improve building culture.
Strategy for Improving School Culture: Build an intentional school culture of continuous professional growth by establishing informal opportunities
for teachers to observe one another and provide feedback.
Westerly Creek Elementary School and Cole CASA are two examples of schools who developed an intentional
culture of peer observation and feedback before they began implementing Differentiated Roles. These schools
and others worked to create informal structures that helped teachers get into one another’s classrooms to
observe lessons and provide informal feedback, sometimes for months, before Differentiated Roles team leads
started formal coaching cycles. Informal classroom visits helped alleviate the sense of isolation that teachers can
sometimes feel and made it more comfortable for teachers and students to have observers in the classroom.
The result was that schools intentionally created a school culture that celebrated and leveraged the expertise
already in the building, while slowly building up to formalized (scored) peer observation.
SCHOOL STRUCTURES: Next Steps
APPROACHING EMERGING ESTABLISHED
Identify instructional leadership
activities/programs that will yield the biggest
leverage points for your school.
Identify areas in your budget that are flexible,
or that could be reduced or cut; work with your
school Budget Partner and IS/ED to discuss
co-funding Differentiated Roles.
Work collaboratively with school stakeholders
to think through how you could restructure
professional learning and meeting times to
better meet the needs of teachers.
Review schedule examples from current
Differentiated Roles Program Schools. Are
there structures that could work at your
school?
Articulate and weigh trade-offs to see where
you can create the most impact for students
by re-designing your schedule and increasing
time for instructional leadership.
Discuss how to effectively create and
develop high-leverage structures with your
IS/ED and Differentiated Roles program staff.
Build leadership capacity around strategic
school design (see other resources in this
toolkit for strategic design ideas).
Develop a School Design Working Group to
solicit stakeholder feedback, provide input and
ideas for new structures, and to assist school
leaders with drafting options for the 2015-16
schedule.
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Strategies to Improve School Structures:
Demonstrate an understanding of the schedule and structure changes your school needs to be successful in
implementing Differentiated Roles.
Review sample applications and current program school resources shared online. These sample
materials will inform you of changes you might expect at your school when implementing
Differentiated Roles, as well as provide ideas for how other schools have tackled the issue.
Reflect on what strategies you currently employ to effectively utilize time, people, and money in
your school.
Understand what activities will have yield the highest instructional leverage, and demonstrate
your readiness to build your schedules around those activities.
Seek out resources to better understand strategic school design, such as those available within DPS and online.
Differentiated Roles Program Staff can provide consultations and feedback on leverage points in
design, models other schools are utilizing, and schedule considerations that improve likelihood of
successful implementation
DPS Strategic School Design (OSRI) offers a variety of workshops, resources, and school support
services for school leaders and teachers to learn about strategic school design and apply learning to
decisions in their building
Public Impact’s Opportunity Culture provides resources and models for strategic school design
being implemented across the country
Education Resource Strategy’s online tools provide schools with diagnostic tests to assess focus
areas for strategic school design
Consider how your school might benefit from doing things differently. This question asks schools to think
through What might you need to stop doing in order to maximize school time, people, and money?
Differentiated Roles shouldn’t become another thing in your school, but rather should serve as a vehicle by
which other goals can be realized.
What professional learning or whole school PD structures are currently in place? Does everyone
in your school currently attend the same one-size-fits-all PD? Is there a different way you can
address the needs of your teachers and differentiate? How can team leads serve as the point
person and leader for the professional growth of their teams?
Can aspects of your schedule be flexible instead of fixed? Can team time be scheduled in such a
way that instructional leaders can direct weekly objectives and utilize the same time for different
purposes according to need?
Ask teachers to help create new structures and schedules.
Build schedules and structures that support teacher leaders in their roles. At Gust Elementary, all Differentiated Roles team leads have time to meet regularly one-on-one with school leaders. This structure not only supports the work of team leads, but also the development of teachers as instructional leaders. Meetings provide time for mentorship, as well as calibration, ensuring stronger implementation and better supports for the whole school.
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Appendix A: DPS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING SUPPORTS
For more information about these supports or how they align to Differentiated Roles, please contact Program Manager Allison Trombley ([email protected])
DOMAIN SUPPORT DESCRIPTION AUDIENCE
Readiness Differentiated Roles School Readiness
Toolkit
Program information, school self-assessment, and tools to assist with completing the
pre-application for Differentiated Roles
All interested schools,
IS/EDs, and HRSPs
Program Information Differentiated Roles School Visits Beginning October, then on-going throughout the year.
Dates and locations TBA
All interested DPS
employees
Application Differentiated Roles Informational
Webinars and Roundtables
September and October, dates TBA Teachers and school
leaders from schools
considering applying
Application Pre-Application Workshops October 2014- sessions, dates and locations TBA
Join program staff for a series of two-hour evening workshops that will address:
Program Overview and Information
Readiness Assessment and Recommendations
Support with data analysis, defining big needs, developing your vision
statement, and incorporating teacher voice into your application
Attendance in school teams consisting of a school leader and one or more teachers is
suggested.
Workshops are best
experienced by in a school
team consisting of at least
one school leader and one
teacher
Application Differentiated Roles Office Hours October 2014- dates and locations TBA
Receive feedback on your pre-application from program staff during designated office
hours; available in person or virtually during school hours
School teams or school
representatives
Leadership DPS Aspire Delivered by the Culture, Equity and Leadership Team, this 2-day program is for DPS
employees to explore personal leadership and reflect on actions related to values-
based leadership; offered multiple times throughout year, program will pay for subs for
teachers to attend
All DPS Employees
Leadership DPS Skills Delivered by the Culture, Equity, and Leadership Team, this 2-4 hour sessions that
address the skills individuals need to build and lead strong teams
All DPS Employees
Instructional Leadership Cognitive Coaching Develop coaching skills to help guide reflective conversations to improve instructional
leadership; requires commitment to 8 days of training over one school year
Teacher leaders and school
leaders
Instructional Leadership Adaptive Schools Develop skills needed to assess school needs and tackle changes in building; typically
requires commitment of 4 days over one year (recommended for teams)
Teachers, teacher leaders,
and school leaders
Instructional Leadership Relay GSE Ongoing professional learning that supports principals and helps build school capacity
in instructional leadership
School leaders and teacher
leaders
Strong School Culture School Culture Academy Delivered by the Culture, Equity, and Leadership Team, build unity toward a shared
culture; develop individual and team accountability through working agreements
Whole schools
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Supports for Program Schools Accepted into the Program
Teacher Leader Coordinators work with a group of schools to provide professional learning and site-based support for team leads, to include:
o Support leading teams
o Meeting facilitation and modeling
o Meta-coaching
Monthly PLC’s for all cohorts
Monthly optional differentiated PD to build leadership and coaching skills
Program Manager supports school leaders and is available to consult or coach on strategic school design, distributive leadership, and hiring practices
Appendix B: Resources
Documents listed in bold can be found in the Differentiated Roles Toolkit Google Drive
DOMAIN RESOURCE DESCRIPTION AUDIENCE
Program Information 2014-15 Differentiated Roles Program
Schools
List of the 40 program schools participating in Cohorts 1 and 2, listed by network All DPS employees
Program Information Differentiated Roles Program Guiding
Vision
Articulates how the program aims to increase distributive leadership, improve teacher
retention, extend the reach of effective teachers, improve equitable access to effective
teachers, and elevate the profession
All DPS employees
Program Information 2014-15 Expectations Program requirements and expectations listed with applicable supports for
implementation
2015-16 Applicants and
current Program Schools
Program Information 2013-14 Program Impact Data Slides detailing initial impact for Cohort 1 schools participating in 2013-14; results do not
yet detail LEAP scores or student outcomes (results forthcoming)
All DPS employees
Program Information 2014-15 Team Lead Role Role description for Team Leads, including responsibilities for all six focus areas Prospective schools
Program Information 2014-15 Teacher Team Lead Role Role description for Teacher Team Lead, responsible for comprehensive growth of team Prospective schools
Program Information Sample Pre-Application (2013) Pre-application that schools submitted in 2013 to indicate interest in program and
articulate vision for the work
Prospective schools
Program Information Sample Final Application (2014) Final application for Cohort 2, submitted in 2014 to communicate refined vision and initial
implementation design plan
Prospective schools
Program Information Design Model Template Template used as part of final application; purpose of visually articulating the school’s
vision, goals, and proposed role alignment
Prospective schools
Program Information Role Template Template used as part of final application; schools complete one template for each
proposed role, articulating the details of the role as proposed
Prospective schools
Program Information FAQ Frequently asked questions All DPS employees
Program Information Differentiated Roles Communications
Toolkit
Curated toolkit features media about Differentiated Roles (videos, news articles, etc.) and
sample internal communications for school use
All DPS employees
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Contact
ANGIE GENEROSE
TIF Operations Lead
• Program Information, Application Process, and General Questions
• [email protected] 720-423-3551
ALLISON TROMBLEY
Manager Differentiated Roles
• School Readiness, Implementation Design, and School Leader Support
• [email protected] 720-423-3263
MELANIE SCHULTZ
Teacher Leader Coordinator
• Secondary School Implementation & Team Lead Support
• [email protected] 720-423-3294
MAGGIE GORDON
Teacher Leader Coordinator
• Elementary School Implementation & Team Lead Support
• [email protected] 720-423-3291
DOMAIN RESOURCE DESCRIPTION AUDIENCE
Application Pre-Application Examples Examples from Cohort 2 schools currently involved with the program Prospective schools
Application Final Application Examples Examples from several Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 schools currently involved with the program Prospective schools
Design Design Model Examples Examples from current program schools and models created by program staff Prospective schools
Design Opportunity Culture Strategic School Design models and resources created by Public Impact All DPS employees
Design Strategic School Design Tools School self-assessments and resources created by Education Resource Strategies All DPS employees
Leadership Teacher Leader Framework DPS’s Teacher Leader Framework is useful for self-assessment of leadership growth All DPS employees
Leadership Uncommon Schools Instructional
Leadership Rubric
Resource for cultivating and observing behaviors that lead to improved instructional leadership
Leadership Uncommon Schools Staff Culture Rubric Resource to assist with identifying behaviors of a strong staff culture and addressing growth in
working environment
Leadership Uncommon Schools Student Culture
Rubric
Resource to identify behaviors of a strong student culture in buildings
Leadership Starfish and the Spider Book on distributive leadership by Ori Brafman All DPS employees
Leadership Teacherpreneur Book detailing ways teachers can lead innovation in schools, featuring DPS Lori Nazareno All DPS employees
Leadership DPS Culture, Equity and Leadership
Team Resources
Brochure detailing DPS trainings available to individuals and schools All DPS employees
Leadership Center for Teacher Quality Collaboratory Online community and resources for teacher leaders All teachers and teacher
leaders
Leadership TNTP Teacher Talent Toolbox Resources for schools to help build a strong school culture and effectively utilize teacher talent All teachers, teacher
leaders, and school leaders