Fresno Unified School District Artifacts

Click the links below to access tangible materials—such as templates and tools—that leaders in Fresno Unified School District created to guide their work.

These artifacts are organized around the three parts of Fresno's theory of action:

1. Extend the length of the school day in targeted elementary schools.
2. Build the capacity of principals and central office staff to serve as instructional leaders for teacher PLCs and student intervention time.
3. Prioritize professional learning time and content.

Extend the length of the school day in targeted elementary schools.

#1: Explanation of Compensation Structure

What is this? This fact sheet explains changes to teacher compensation for those working in Fresno Unified's Designated (extended-day) Schools.

How can you use it? Use as an example of how a district’s human resources department communicated with teachers about compensation changes.

Build principal and central office capacity to serve as instructional leaders for teacher PLCs and student intervention time.

#2: Instructional Superintendent Job Description

What is this? This updated school supervisor job description  focuses on helping school leaders analyze teacher and student data, grow teachers’ instructional practice, and lead PLC implementation.

How can you use it? Use as starting point for your district’s job descriptions when implementing a similar teacher PLC model.

#3: Instructional Practice Guide for Literacy

What is this? These guides for each grade level and subject (developed with support from the New Teacher Project) help teachers guide their own professional learning and help school leaders and instructional superintendents assess teacher practice against common guidelines.

How can you use it? Compare this instructional practice guide to your system’s instructional standards or use as a starting point to create a parallel document.

Prioritize professional learning time and content.

#4:  PLC Foundations Guidance

What is this? These guidelines outline how Fresno Unified teachers should spend their PLC time based on best practices from “Professional Learning Communities at Work” and adapted to meet the district’s needs.

How can you use it? See a concise summary of PLC best practices to apply to your system’s teacher professional learning.

#5: Designated Schools Use of Time Guidance

What is this? Central office shared a set of guidelines and best practices to inform school leadership teams’ scheduling decisions about how to distribute teacher professional learning time across the school year.

How can you use it? Use as an example for how to support and empower school-level decision-making around teacher professional learning.

#6: Sample Elementary School PLC Calendar

What is this? This calendar shows how one school distributed 80 additional hours of professional learning time across the school year.

How can you use it? See a concrete example of how school in Fresno Unified implemented the extended teacher professional learning time.

#7: PLC Implementation Rubric

What is this? Fresno Unified school leaders and instructional superintendents use this to assess teachers’ practice related to each of the district’s PLC Foundational Guidelines. One instructional superintendent keeps a rubric for each teacher team he oversees on a portable tablet and uses it to track progress over time. 

How can you use it? See how Fresno Unified translated overarching professional learning guidelines into a concrete and portable tool for teachers, school leaders and central office staff to assess implementation.

#8: Sample Eight-Week Action Plan

What is this? School leaders work with instructional superintendents to identify goals and corresponding activities to support student and teacher learning for each 6-8 week period in the school year. This sample draft action plan includes feedback from an instructional superintendent. 

How can you use it? See a concrete example of how Fresno Unified school leaders monitor teacher and student progress and create professional learning goals.

#9: Data Wall Photo A and Photo B (Elementary School)

What is this? Fresno Unified school leaders work to make the PLC value of analyzing data for continuous improvement come to life in their school buildings using "data walls" that show student progress trends over time and are updated by teacher teams throughout the year.

How can you use it? See a concrete data wall example to apply a similar practice in your system’s schools.

Explore all case studies in the District at Work series

About This Series

The Districts at Work series of case studies shares specific examples of districts around the country that struggle with the same challenges as many urban systems—but are taking new approaches to school support and seeing exciting results.

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