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Sanger Unified School District
Presented by Matt Navo
Superintendent, Sanger USD
Where is Sanger?
Sanger Unified School District
3
The Basics of Sanger• Located in the Central Valley approximately 20 miles Southeast of Fresno.
• 188 square miles, predominately rural.
• 10,535 students
• Schools:
– 14 elementary schools (2 of which are charter schools)
– 1 intermediate school
– 1 comprehensive high school
– 3 alternative education schools, and an adult school.
– 1 charter home-school program (K-12).
Sanger Unified At A Glance
▪ 85% minority enrollment
▪ 74% qualify for free or reduced price lunch
▪ 20% English Language Learners
▪ 17% RFEP, 3.3% IFEP
▪ 6% students with disabilities
▪ 22% of parents did not graduate from high school
1999
Looking Back...
1999
Home of 400 Unhappy Teachers
1999 Home of 400 Unhappy Teachers!!
Where we were in 2004-05• One of the first 98 California school districts to enter PI status. • Five elementary schools were PI status (1 school at PI 4, 2 schools at PI 3,
and 2 schools at PI 2), as well as intermediate school (PI 2). • API of 599. • The district had not maintained adherence to the State textbook adoption
cycle, or maintained a focused staff development program. • Schools had little fidelity to State curricular standards. There was not an
effective district-wide assessment system to monitor student achievement.
Superintendent’s Directives• Increase Student Achievement
• Build a collaborative culture
• Parents as partners
• Fiscally sound
District Achievement API 2004 API 2013
District 599 832
Centerville 675 876***
Del Rey 532 – PI 4 830*
Fairmont 677 – PI 4 882**
Jackson 624 842*
Jefferson 531 854**
John Wash 744 889***
Lincoln 536 – PI 3 789
Lone Star 643 862**
Madison 644 825*
Quail Lake 756 948**
SACS 721 901***
Sequoia 898*
Wilson 533 – PI 4 741*
WAMS 549 – PI 4 848****
Sanger High 592 788*
*CA Dist. School *** National Blue Ribbon School ****CA School to Watch *CA Dist. School 2012 *CA Dist. School Visitation 2014
What’s the Vision….
Three Guiding Principles• Hope is not a strategy.
• Don’t blame the kids.
• It is about student learning.
– Instructional focus on PLC/RTI/EDI
Principles
Believe ALL students can and must learn.
Leadership
The good, the bad, and what we did about it, five reasons we turned the corner.
• Changing our culture.• PLCs• RtI• EDI• ELD
Structure
OperationsStrategy
Information
IdentityConnections
Relationships
A Systems ViewA Systems View of School ReformAdapted from the work of Margret Wheatley
Multi-Tiered System of Supports
Innovators – 3-5%Early A
dopters – 9 – 15%
Adopters – 66%
Late Adopters – 9 – 15%
Fundamentalist – 3-5%
Understanding Staff Acceptance
Getting Everyone on the SAME PAGE1. What do we want students to learn?
Agreed upon essential standards for every class – Every teacher… and every student must be crystal clear on what they are learning.
Agreed upon learning objectives.
2. How will we know when they have learned it?Agreed upon “common assessments” for every class… before any instruction begins.
Clarity on the assessments brings clarity to the instruction.
Getting Everyone on the SAME PAGE3. How will we respond when learning doesn’t take
place?Common pacing guides for same course
Sharing and building lessons utilizing best practicesInterdependency and learning from one another becomes a realityEach PLC plans a response after every common assessment (deployment, small groups, spiraling)
4. How will we respond when learning has taken place?
PLC’s plan a response when they do learn it that go deeper, not necessarily wider.Pre-assessments and classroom differentiation.Common assessments bring clarity to the curriculum which in turn brings clarity to the
instruction.Common assessments bring clarity to the students
InterventionPrograms
Classroom response
Classroom remediation
Common Intent
Aligned goals and objectives
Development of Professional Learning Communities
Instructional Norms + HOTS EL EmphasisCommon Core Curriculum Enhancement and TrainingDistrict Progress Assessment With Reliable Reporting
LeadershipIncreased instructional
competency, focus, and understanding by leadership at all levels
A District wide Approach to Improvement
District Initiatives
SPED: Then and NowThen Now
SPED Student Inclusion Limited Full Inclusion
SPED Staff Inclusion Limited Full Inclusion
Responsibility for SPED student success
Resource Teacher ALL staff members
Role of Resource Teacher SPED students only SPED students and struggling learners
Level of SPED understanding
Limited to resource teacher, possibly admin.
Instructional and leadership teams with ongoing training & support
IEP meeting Meeting we “must” attend
Collaborative effort to support student achievement
Winning the Battle or the War?• The answer is simple, leadership, true leadership, is the art of getting
people to do what you need them to do, without them knowing that you need them to do it. Giving them wins along the way as you drive to the end outcome, gives them ownership, makes them part of the process and allows them to be heard. The key is strategically knowing which wins or battles to give them and, knowing when to let go of your grip and allow the process in the decision to unfold.
Loose – Tight Leadership
SCHOOL DISTRICT GOAL
Current Reality
Parameters
What do we need to do?
Current Partnerships
• Sanger, Clovis, Fresno, Central
SANGER UNIFIED /FRESNO STATE PARTNERSHIP
Partner School ProgramsSchool districts reported that partner universities produced new teachers who:•utilized a greater variety of assessment strategies•applied standards to classroom lessons•managed classrooms effectively•worked with diverse populations of learners•used a variety of instructional strategies•knew how to be better learners
Teacher Candidate Perspective
Teacher candidates placed in a cohort in a partner school with a consistent faculty liaison or supervisor, rated their preparation higher than did their peers in more traditional programs.
Dinsmore and Wenger (2006)
Phase I• Summer Integration• Introduction to co-teaching models
SANGER UNIFIED /FRESNO STATE PARTNERSHIP
Phase II• AM co-teaching• Introduction district EDI/PLCs/RtI
SANGER UNIFIED /FRESNO STATE PARTNERSHIP
Phase III• Final Student Teaching• All day/Differentiated instruction course
SANGER UNIFIED /FRESNO STATE PARTNERSHIP
Defining Consensus
We have arrived at consensus when all points of view have been heard and the will of the group is evident…..
even to those who oppose it.
A Culture of Collaboration
“Improving schools requires collaborative culture…. without collaborative skills and relationships, it is not possible to learn and to continue to learn as much as you need to know to improve.”
Michael Fullan
Michael Fullan
Leadership
• Knowing how to collaborate in ways that build capacity remains a daunting intellectual challenge.
Evidence of Collaboration
• Coherence system wide.• Capacity building.• Strong relationships parents, community, staff
and students.• Student centered focus.• Shared responsibility for school improvement.
What is the leaders role?
“tragic gap….believe!”
What We’ve Learned
• You must change the focus from the needs of adults to the educational needs of children.
• Educational excellence is expensive. It requires targeted use and commitment of all available resources.
• You must develop a crystal clear vision focused on student learning.
• Competent and informed instructional leadership at the school site level is critical to improving student achievement.
What We’ve Learned• Reliable and valid student achievement data collected on a
regular basis is essential to informing and guiding instructional and district decisions.
• You must have a willingness to confront deficiencies.
• No one of us is as good as all of us. Collaborative teams are much more effective than individuals working in isolation.
• Every child, every day, must know that there is an adult who cares about them and believes in them.
