Welcome CMSD principals, teachers, and central office support! In collaboration with Education Resource Strategies, CMSD has prepared a suite of tools and resources to support you during the 2016-17 strategic planning and budgeting process. Below you’ll find guidance on how to develop strategic school designs—the deliberate organization of people, time, money, and technology to meet students’ needs. This guidance focuses on prioritized improvements in Cleveland’s schools and includes the following:

• Videos that bring the implementation of strategic design building blocks to life.
• Best Practices Templates to guide you through the specific resource decisions needed to implement key building blocks, including case studies of effective schools’ approaches.
• CMSD School Profiles to show how principals and teachers in Cleveland have organized resources in support of strategic design building blocks.
• Supplemental curriculum to support resource decisions relevant to teaching teams and blended learning.
• School scheduling tools to align your bell and master schedules with your school’s priorities.

If you’d like a refresher on strategic school design before exploring these resources, check out ERS’ paper Designing Schools that Work.

We hope this collection of tools and resources will support innovation and strategic decision-making as you plan and budget for 2016-17. Please contact Megan Traum (Megan.Traum@clevelandmetroschools.org) and Genevieve Green (ggreen@erstrategies.org) with any questions or feedback. Thank you and we look forward to supporting you! 

Jump to the following sections:

• Teaching Teams
• Data-Driven Instruction
• Targeted and Dynamic Learning Resources
• School Culture and Personal Relationships
• Individual Professional Growth
• Making it Work

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Teaching Teams

Teacher Teaming Module: Teaching teams are central to any school’s strategic design. This module outlines the key decisions needed to define your school's teaming strategy and associated resource implications. See the module (PDF).

 

Shared-Content Teams at UP Academy: See how shared-content teaching teams at UP Academy Boston collaborate on common lessons and assessments to improve instruction and student outcomes.

 

Shared-Content Teaching Teams Best Practices Template + UP Academy Profile: Use this Best Practices Template to answer key questions about how to structure and support shared-content teaching teams in your school. See the template (PDF).

 

CMSD School Profile: Student Support Teams at Louisa May Alcott K-8: Louisa May Alcott (K-8) in CMSD relies on a strong Student Support Team to identify and monitor student interventions. This profile describes the team's approach and how resources have been organized to support it. See the profile (PDF).

 

CMSD School Profile: Student Support Teams at Artemus Ward K-8: Artemus Ward (K-8) in CMSD has reorganized resources to support a more effective Student Support Team. This profile describes how staff work together to support the school's highest-need students. See the profile (PDF).

 

 

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Data-driven Instruction

Data-driven instruction at Queens Metropolitan HS: See how staff at Queens Metropolitan High School in New York use interim assessments and dtrong teaming practices to continuously improve teaching and learning.

 

Data-driven instruction Best Practices Template + Queens Metropolitan HS Profile: Use this Best Practices Template to guide the planning for how Data-driven Instruction should be implemented in your building. See the template (PDF).

 Queens Metropolitan HS Artifacts: Explore the protocols and data reports that support strategic data-driven instruction at Queens Metropolitan High School.

• Data Cycle Calendar: The science teachers at Queens Metro use this calendar to plan key steps in the data-driven instruction cycle. 
• Data Report - Class Proficiency: This one-page report offers a snapshot of a class' proficiency on the standards that were tested on an interim assessment.
• Data Report - Item Analysis: This one-page report shows the percent of students in one class who selected the correct answer for each question on an interim assessment. It also shows the most commonly selected incorrect answers to help teachers uncover students' misconceptions.
• Corrective Instruction Action Plan (Blank): During collaborative planning time, teaching teams at Queens Metro use this protocol to fully understand what the data reveals about student misconceptions, and to plan how to adjust instruction moving forward. 
• Corrective Instruction Action Plan (Example): This filled-out example shows the type of content and level of detail required in a completed action plan.

 

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Targeted and Dynamic Learning Resources

Freshman Acadmy at Revere High School: See how Revere High School targeted transformative support to its Grade 9 students. 

 

Targeted and flexible intervention blocks Best Practices Template + UP Academy profile: Use this Best Practices Template to answer key questions about what your school's targeted and flexible intervention block should look like. See the template (PDF) 

 

CMSD School Profile: Cross-grade Flexible Grouping at Riverside K-8: Riverside (K-8) in CMSD has begun flexibly grouping students across grades K-2 in order to improve personalized instruction in literacy. This profile describes the school's approach and how resources have been reorganized to support it. See the profile (PDF).

Riverside K-8 Artifacts: Explore the artifacts that support strategic flexible grouping at Riverside K-8.

• Achievement Plan and Research Addendum: Review Riverside's Academic Achievement Plan and accompanying Research Addendum to see how and why they initiated cross-grade flexible grouping.
• Professional Development Agendas: Review the Professional Development Agendas that guided support on flexible grouping over the course of fall 2015.
• School Schedule: See how Riverside K-8 structured its schedule to support flexible grouping in literacy.

 

Co-teaching at Revere High School: See how Revere High School set up special education and general education staff to co-teach effectively and improve instruction for all students. 

 

 

Co-teaching Best Practices Template + Revere High School profile: Use this Best Practices Template to answer key questions about what your school's co-teaching strategy should look like. See the template (PDF).

 

Blending Learning Module: Blended Learning can be a powerful enabler of personalized learning and other design stratgies. Explore options for leveraging technology effectively in this module. See the module (PDF).

 

CMSD School Profile: Personalized Learning through Technology at Ochard STEM K-8: Orchard STEM (K-8) in CMSD has incorporated technology into core instruction to improve personalized learning and enable teachers to offer more small-group support. This profile describes how the school has reorganized resources to support this effort and its plans for future expansion. See the profile (PDF).

•  Orchard STEM K-8's ConnectEd Grant Application: Review Orchard STEM's ConnectEd grant application for 1:1 technology as part of its blended learning initiative.
  

 

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School Culture and Personal Relationships

Schoolwide systems and routines at Ridge Road MS: See how Ridge Road Middle School transformed its student and adult culture through instituting strong schoolwide systems and routines.

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Individual Professional Growth

Building Professional Development at Match Community Day: See how staff at Match Community Day (K-4) continuously improve through a multi-tiered approach to professional growth. 

 

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Making it Work

School Scheduling Tools: Use these scheduling tools to refine your school's vision for how time should be used and to construct your bell and master schedule. See the tools.

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