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LEADS past events

LEADS District-Hosted Residency
March 10-12, 2008, Milwaukee Public Schools

Public Access
• Residency Agenda
• Superintendent's Grounding Powerpoint (Coming soon)
• MPS' "Characteristics of High Performing Urban Classrooms"
• Summary
• Newsletter overview (pdf file)

Network Access Only
• School Observation Tool
• Roster

 

Summary

This two-and-a-half day session was co-hosted by Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and SRN LEADS, and held at the Hotel Metro in Milwaukee. On Monday, March 10, participants received a thorough grounding in Milwaukee’s reform story, shared by MPS Superintendent Bill Andrekopoulos, and met several MPS central office leaders. As a result of the grounding session, participants signed up for one of three school visit groups for the next two days, and learned an observation tool based on MPS’ “Characteristics of a High Performing Urban Classroom.” During school visits, participants were asked to make observations in 4 of the 10 characteristics:

• Active engagement of student learners
• Cultural responsiveness
• High expectations based on learning targets
• Strategic instructional choices

MPS hosted a delightful dinner Monday at Bacchus Restaurant, on the shore of Lake Michigan. (Are you picking up a pattern here?) The group was augmented by principals who would be hosting site visits over the next two days.

The sequence of the following days included:

1. Morning site visit to selected K-8 schools, regular and charter high schools, and to multiplexes (sites housing more than one school)

2. Lunch at the Hotel Metro, followed by a debriefing of the morning’s visits, using the notes taken on the school observation tool

3. World Café: A roundtable opportunity to sit with MPS leadership on specific aspects of their district reform. Topics included: Union Perspectives, Using Data for School Improvement, Serving Students with Special Needs, Interview Process and Staffing, Differentiated Principal Evaluation Processes, The Curriculum Generalist, Benchmark Assessments, Mathematics Initiatives, High School Reform, and the First Things First Framework.

Many thanks to Marty Lexmond, Anita Pietrykowski, and Mr. A for their efforts in planning and hosting this first, very successful residency. To quote Mike Winstead from Knox County (and I do often), “This residency should be the model for every LEADS residency. Milwaukee really allowed us into their district to learn and see. This residency was very valuable.”

 

 

"LEADS focuses on a critical arena in school reform, and it is founded on operating principles that promote high quality practice and effective outcomes. First, all arrows point to instruction. The implicit, sometimes explicit theory guiding the work is that districts are there to support effective teaching, and every practice and policy needs to be assessed in that light. Second, it emphasizes the importance of evidence - decisions informed by careful analyses of information - which is so critical and all too rare at both district and school levels. Finally, LEADS stresses the importance of documenting knowledge that can be shared among participants and beyond. We spend too much time re-inventing the wheel in education. Learning about best practices is just as important at the district level as it is at the classroom level, and LEADS participants contribute to as well as benefit from that knowledge base."

— Deborah Stipek, Dean, Stanford University School of Education

 

 

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