The DN OPS Team:
Balancing Collaboration and Organizational Priorities
Introductions:
Session Objectives:
After completing this session, participants will be able to:
1.Clearly define the role and responsibilities of the Diplomas Now Operations Team, including how to include all citywide support staff (i.e. Instructional Facilitators, S4s, etc..)2.Recognize how to effectively partner with their DN team to achieve both individual organizational and DN goals.3.Understand how the DN Operations Team interacts and integrates with other local Diplomas Now teams, including each school team, the local executive team and the DNIST-especially to help solve and troubleshoot implementation challenges.
The DN Multiplex !
Agenda
1.Define Diplomas Now Operations Team2.Review DN and CY Goals3.Describe each of the DN Teams4.Examine the OPs team relationship to each
of the DN Teams5.Develop some key action steps to take back
to local OPs team 6.Reflect and Evaluation
National Exec Team
DNIST
Local Exec Team
Local Ops Team
School Team
Standard Team Structures
*in applicable cities
Unpacking the Roles on the DN Operations Team
Who Sits on the DN Operations Team?
Comprised of:•CY ProServe Director(s)•TDS Field Manager•CIS Executive Director/Program Director
New this year!•TDS Instructional Facilitators – Math and Reading•TDS School and Students Support Services Facilitators (S4)
• Responsible for ensuring the quality of the City Year services provided at each site
• Engages in district-level planning and implementation that supports effective execution at each school
• Engages in school-level planning and implementation that supports effective execution at each school
• Ensures AmeriCorps goals are met• Oversees City Year trainings for corps and program staff• Oversees City Year Program Managers, Team Leaders and
Corps Members
The ProServe Director
• Responsible for ensuring the quality of the services provided by Talent Development at each school.
• Works with the school district to create a district-level implementation support plan
• Reviews the student outcomes and fidelity of implementation metrics at each site
• Provides accountability and support to each school team with regards to meeting their individual school’s goals.
• Typically oversees STFs
The Field Manager
• Responsible for ensuring the effective delivery of the Communities In Schools components of the Diplomas Now model at each site
• Provides ongoing, job-embedded professional development for each of the CIS site coordinators
• Develops new partnerships with community organizations and stakeholders that can enhance each school’s resource map
• Oversees the Site Coordinators at each school
The CIS ED / PD
• Two Talent Development instructional facilitators (1 math, 1 language arts)
• Focus on integrating Diplomas Now’s curriculum and instructional supports with district-level curriculum and instructional resources and requirements
• Provide ongoing job-embedded professional development to the math and language arts coaches at each school
• Assist sites in troubleshooting instructional or curricular barriers to implementation, including work with teacher and corps members
The Instructional Facilitators
• School and Student Support Services facilitator – learn it!
• Focus on integrating Diplomas Now’s data, climate, and culture supports with district resources and requirements in these areas
• Provides ongoing job-embedded professional development to the school transformation facilitator at each of the schools in a district
• Assists sites in remedying barriers to implementation that are related to data systems, climate, and culture
The S4
Spotlight – 2 Specific Challenges
Wearing multiple hats as a City Year
ProServe Director – who also happens to oversee some
DN schools
Working in a city that may be missing one or more of the Ops-level positions, because of hiring,
budget, or capacity constraints
• Break into groups of 5• Each person will take one role from the Ops Team
– CY ProServe Director– TDS FM– CIS ED/PD– TDS IF– TDS S4
• Prepare a 30-60 second Elevator Speech on the role of that person, specifically within the collaborative, and include one sentence about the value-add of that position to DN
• Share with your group
Elevator Speeches
The DN Ops Team – Whole Team Functions
• City-level teams are responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Diplomas Now program components
• Monitoring should look at the implementation of the program structure as well as the implementation of projects, activities, and initiatives proposed or supported by the Diplomas Now team
• Members of city-level teams visit schools regularly to see Diplomas Now teams in actions, engage with teams during their regular meetings
• Check-in with school leadership to ensure that the work documented in the School Transformation Plan is occurring in an effective, efficient manner, and that this work is aligned with the mission, vision, and education plan of the school
Understanding the Ops Team as a Whole
Understanding the Ops Team as a Whole• City-level teams will often be the first line of defense when a
school-based team needs to troubleshoot a challenging issue or a barrier to implementation
• Troubleshooting should occur with solution-oriented, collaborative mind-set
• City-level team will often advocate on behalf of the school-based team with school and/or district personnel around specific issues.
• Or, city-level team will make the Executive Team aware of larger or more complex challenges that will involve problem solving with the district at a higher level.
Supporting implementation of Local Executive vision at school site:•Manages administrative relationships•Liaison between school based team and local executive team•Manages school based staff•Ensures quality execution of the model•First line of support for trouble-shooting and problem-solving implementation challenges
Boiling Down the Responsibilities of the Ops Team
• Get into groups of 3• Write a team/collaborative description for a
city-wide Ops Team.– What are they responsible for?– How are they held accountable?– Who do they interact with?– What are they measured on?
Check for Understanding
Leveraging DN to Achieve Organizational and Collaborative Goals
The 2013- 2014 DN Goals
Overall EWI Distribution:
At least 67% (two-thirds) of students within DN focus grades have no EWIs at the end of the school year.
AttendanceOf students that were off-track at any data point:50% or more move on-track
BehaviorOf students that were off-track at any data point:50% or more move on-track
ELA/LiteracyOf students that were off-track at any data point:50% or more move on-track
MathOf students that were off-track at any data point:50% or more move on-track
In schools:•9th grade on-time promotion•Closing achievement gaps in math and reading( this is better way to say what I wrote earlier)•Increasing strong sense of community between students
In districts/cities:•Growing TDS presence in schools and districts
Understanding Our Partners – TDS priorities in FY14
Understanding Our Partners – CIS Priorities in FY14
• DN Goals – HPG and IOGs• AmeriCorps Dosage and Achievement Goals
1.How have we improved this past year in aligning the above two goals?
2.What do we need to do better this year to push our alignment even more?
City Year Goals and Organizational Priorities
The DN Ops Team Meeting
• At least bi-weekly meetings with the full Ops team– What are the advantages to this? What are the challenges?
• Clear roles assigned in the meeting (facilitator, recorder, etc.)– Who is doing this well? Where are we not seeing these norms
implemented?• Information (data, school-level info, upcoming school/district info) shared
prior to the meeting – Who is doing this well? Where are we not seeing these norms
implemented?• Clear action steps coming out of the meeting• Understanding of how/when to share info with full Exec Team and request
support, etc.
What Does an Ops Team Meeting Look Like?
How would you like to see your Ops Team Meetings improve over the next year?
How can you utilize Ops Team Meetings to better support schools and school teams?
Ops Team Meeting Improvement
Getting Support
Standard Team Structures
National Exec Team
DNIST
Local Exec Team
Local Ops TeamSchool Team*in applicable cities
Pop Quiz! •Who are the members of the Exec Team?•How does the Ops team fit into the Exec Team?
The Local Executive Team
• Local Vision and Strategy for DN, including district strategy
• Local fundraising and Sustainability for DN• Connections to organizational national leaders in DN• Ultimately accountable for the success of DN in their city• Troubleshoot and help resolve major conflicts/school
issues, as elevated by the Ops team
The Local Executive Team
Where do you and your city need to improve in working with the your Exec Team?
Interacting with the Exec Team
Pop Quiz!•Who is on the DNIST?•Who is your DNIST rep?
Be Nice to DNIST!
• Doubling down on implementation and school level support
• Working more closely with Ops teams• Remaining as members of Exec Teams, but will
play smaller role in facilitating/operating• Standardizing travel schedule to cities and
schools
DNIST in FY14
What do you need from the DNIST as a whole, and your DNIST rep in FY14 to successfully implement DN and increase student achievement?
DNIST in FY14
Case Scenarios
• Get into groups of 3-4• You will receive a common issue / challenge
faced by DN Ops Teams• On Flipchart paper, describe how you would
react/solve the issue in your position (CY ProServe Director) and describe how the Ops team should respond overall
• Highlight any resources you would use or would want to use
Closing Activity – Case Scenarios
• Ensure DN trainings for all DN staff are set• Ensure SOY All-city meeting/retreat is set• Timeline established for STP
completion/review/feedback • Opening Strong plans for each school, using
baseline/EOY data where possible – incorporated into the STP
Key Next Steps in Your Cities