Coherence Guidebook

CSDP Coherence Guidebook

We believe great schools create the conditions that ensure all students regularly engage in deeper learning, where all students have consistent access to grade-level work that is relevant, real world, and interactive, which fosters not only mastery but also identity-development and creativity.

Over the last several years, the Department has published and utilized several frameworks and resources that capture elements of great schools and levers to create conditions that improve student outcomes. The Coherence Guidebook pulls them together into one place to illustrate a systems-level path toward deeper learning.

Resource Links

Explore the Coherence Guidebook and companion Self-Assessment

• Coherence Guidebook

• Coherence Guidebook Self-Assessment

Appendix Resources

• Appendix Frameworks

• Appendix Effective Instructional Practice

• Appendix Prioritization Template

• Appendix Crafting a Common Instructional Vision

• Appendix ILT Framework

• Appendix Action Steps and Resources

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

Wraparound Replication Cookbook: Recipes for Creating Strong School Culture and Addressing Social Emotional Barriers to Learning

This cookbook is the result of the Massachusetts Wraparound Zone Initiative - an initiative aimed at helping schools tackle both academic and non-academic barriers to student learning.  A rigorous evaluation of the Massachusetts Wraparound Zone Initiative (5 districts, 30 schools) conducted by the American Institutes of Research found that wraparound strategies made a significant contribution to improved student outcomes, particularly those related to student behavior, student support, and family engagement. This handbook represents the best thinking and strategy "recipes" on how to support the social emotional aspects of learning:

• Addressing school culture and the social emotional aspects of learning

• Rethinking systems for holistically identifying and addressing student academic and social emotional needs

• Creating focused partnerships and coalitions

• Treating parents as full partners

• Big district and state takeaways

• How to get started and how to manage priorities coherently

• Profiles of six districts and the strategies they used

• Links to resources, tools, templates and more

Resource Links

Wraparound Zone Cookbook

Individual Recipes

1. Doing a Welcoming School Walkthrough

2. Creating a School Culture Team

3. Rethinking Recess

4. Students as Culture Builders

5. Assessing Student Strengths & Needs

6. Student Success Teams (Student Support Teams, Child Study Teams, Whole Child Support Teams)

7. Mobilizing around a Tiered System of Supports Framework

8. Tracking Student Support

9. Mapping Your Resources

10. Creating Deep Wraparound Partnerships

11. Managing Partnership Development at Your School

12. Organizing as a Coalition of Partners

13. Academic Parent Teacher Teams

14. Parent House Parties | Academic Support Parties

15. Rethinking Parent Academies and Cafes: Pooling Community Resources

Wraparound Video Series - hear Mass educators, students, staff, parents and partners highlight their strategies and the impact

• Why Wraparound Works

• School Culture and the Social Emotional Aspects of Learning

• Understanding and Supporting Student Strengths and Needs

• Focused Partnerships & Coalitions

• Parents as Full Partners

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and School & Main Institute

MTSS Mobilization Guide

All students are capable of success. A Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) is a framework for how school districts can build the necessary systems to ensure that each and every student receives a high quality educational experience. In order to support implementation of the MTSS Blueprint, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education welcomes educators and leaders to use MTSS Mobilization Guide to help understand the most current research on MTSS and how to get started building a system that will address the needs of all students.

Resource Links

MTSS Mobilization Guide

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with Novak Educational Consulting and Rodriguez Educational Consulting Agency

The School Climate Survey Suite→

The School Climate Survey Suite is a set of four multidimensional surveys to measure student, teacher, administrator, faculty, and family perceptions of school climate. The surveys are brief, reliable, and valid for assessing perceived school climate among students in Grades 3-12. Teams can use each survey separately or in combination to assess perceptions. Each survey includes a set of demographic questions about the participant and a number of questions related to school climate with Likert-scale response option.

Resource Links

School Climate Survey Suite

Source

OSEP Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, University of Oregon

SEL Integration Approach for Classroom Educators

Transforming Education has developed an adaptive approach for educators eager for ways to integrate SEL into their academic curricula and other classroom activities. It provides guidance around six key components that are critical to supporting the whole learner: conducive environments, strong relationships, explicit instruction, thoughtful modeling, practice opportunities, and teachable moments. Using the SEL Integration Approach, educators can integrate SEL in a way that is flexible, equitable, responsive to their students’ needs, and can be easily aligned with ongoing academic instruction in the classroom.

Resource Links

SEL Integration Approach Quick Reference Guide

SEL Integration Approach: Teacher Self-Check Toolkit

Source

Transforming Education

Family Guides to the Standards→

Family-friendly guides to learning standards for each grade level, designed to structure and strengthen school-family partnerships.

Resource Links

Family Guides to the Standards

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Curriculum & Instruction

Social and Emotional Learning in Math →

Resources describing connections between the Massachusetts Mathematics Curriculum Frameworks and development of students' social and emotional skills.

Resource Links

Social and Emotional Learning in Math

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Curriculum & Instruction

Aligning Curriculum to Massachusetts Standards→

A “quick reference guide” to tailoring nationally available curriculum products for use with Massachusetts standards.

Resource Links

Aligning Curriculum to Massachusetts Standards

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Curriculum & Instruction

The Case for Curricular Coherence →

A “quick reference guide” to ensuring that instruction aligns across classrooms and tiers in ways that maximize student learning.

Resource Links

The Case for Curricular Coherence

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Curriculum & Instruction

Assessing Your Curriculum Landscape→

A “quick reference guide” to evaluating systems and structures supporting curriculum at the school or district level.

Resource Links

Assessing Your Curriculum Landscape

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Curriculum & Instruction

MA DESE Instructional Leadership Team (ITL) Project→

Distributed leadership is identified in the Massachusetts Turnaround Practices as an essential element of school improvement. Development and support for Instructional Leadership Teams (ILTs) is an efficient, high leverage means to build school and district capacity to engage sustainable continuous cycles of improvement. This strategy for building distributed leadership is an emerging focus of Massachusetts Statewide System of Support assistance. The ILT project provides focus, resources and training to ensure that ILT development is supported in turnaround schools across the commonwealth.         

Resource Links

• Instructional Leadership Teams

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Statewide System of Support

MA DESE Conditions and Habits of Successful Partnership Guidance →

MA ESE conducted research on successful partnerships, reviewing exited 2010 Massachusetts Level 4 schools supported by one or more partner.   The interviews, focus groups, and research led to the conclusion that there are necessary conditions at the outset of a partnership, as well as ongoing habits throughout a partnership, that make the difference between successful and unsuccessful relationships. This led to a theory of action: If districts and partners establish conditions for success and monitor these over time, then partnerships will be more likely to have greater academic return on investment, thereby increasing student achievement in high-needs districts. This guidance aims to provide clarity around the necessary conditions, as well as a set of tools for districts and partners to voluntarily implement.        

Resource Links

Conditions and Habits of Successful Partnership Guidance - Full Document

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education 

Professional Learning Communities Resource Modules→

This set of tools and resources from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, in collaboration with the Center for Collaborative Education is devoted to supporting schools and districts with their efforts to establish and sustain cultures that promote Professional Learning Communities. Through these modules, teams can explore the essential questions: What role do professional learning communities play in improving instruction and student achievement? How can we leverage change in our school and build capacity by implementing professional learning communities?

Resource Links

• Module 1: Why Professional Learning Communities (PLCs)?

• Module 2: The Structures of PLCs

• Module 3: Building Effective PLC Teams

• Module 4: The Practice of PLCs

• Module 5: District-Level PLCs

Source

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Center for Collaborative Education (CCE)

Student School Climate Leadership Teams

A lot of school climate and culture is "what's happening when adults are busy doing other things."  Use these resources from the Center on School Climate & Learning to involve a variety of students (not just natural or known leaders) in gathering student voice and pinpointing aspects of school climate/culture that need work and strategies for addressing them.

Resource Links

• School Climate Through Students' Eyes

• Selection Criteria for Student Leadership Teams

Source

The Center for School Climate and Learning

Academic Parent Teacher Teams (APTT) Model

Learn how to shift from traditional parent-teacher open house and curriculum nights to teacher-facilitated sessions designed to help parents support their child's academic success:  Academic Parent-Teacher Teams (APTT).

Resource Links

• Lynn APTT Initiative - Mass Wraparound Replication Cookbook

• The Power of Academic Parent-Teacher Teams - Edutopia

Sources

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, School & Main Institute, Edutopia