laboratories of innovation (families for excellent schools)
TRANSCRIPT
Laboratories of Innovation:NYC charters share what works #forNYCkids
Mitch Brenner
Assistant Principal - KIPP Academy Middle, Character Education - KIPP
PERMA
ngagementelationshipseaningccomplishment
ositive Emotions
“When we talk about culture, we're talking about all the little micro moments - the little interactions - that every single person has in the building.” Ian Willey
20,000
Micro-moments
• Any of the 20,000 moments in a day when we have the
chance to build more positive relationships and increase the
positivity ratio
55:38:7
2.5 : 1
4.3 : 1
~5 : 1
The Triangle
April 12, 2023 | 9
Growth Mindset
Constructive Responding
Character Behavior Language
Effort
Good Strategies
Proactive Help Seeking
PERMA
ngagementelationshipseaningccomplishment
ositive Emotions
Maria Williams
Debate and Public Speaking Teacher at three Success Academy middle schoolsCoach of the Success Academy Harlem West Debate Team
Mike D’Auria
Associate Chief Operating Officer for Uncommon New York City, Grades 5-8
Leading school operations
November 20th, 2013
16
Who we are
9,900 Scholars
1,200 Staff
78 School Leaders
38 Schools
5 Regions
3 States
How are our students doing?
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Every Uncommon school in every region outperformed the district in which it is located on both the ELA and Math exams.
Uncommon high school students in New York City and Newark outperformed white students nationally on all three sections of the SAT.
81% of students who took an AP exam scored at least a 3 on at least one exam.
About 80% of Uncommon 12th grade graduates are either enrolled in or have graduated from a 4-year college.
93% of cohorts with us for at least 2 years in grades 3-8 closed the achievement gap in Math.
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There is no secret sauce
“At Uncommon Schools, we do not believe that there is a panacea that makes a school work.
Nor do we pretend that what we do is “rocket
science.” We work hard and use common sense,
because elevating student achievement and
transforming lives requires constant
attention to hundreds of different elements – not
one, magical 100% solution but rather one hundred, individual 1%
solutions.”
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How common schools feel
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What operations looks like at Uncommon Schools
The business of schools
• Create and manage a $5M budget
• Oversee large scale facilities• Manage HR for 40+
employees• Contract with hundreds of
vendors and service providers
• Manage hundreds of thousands of dollars of technology
• Develop a marketing and community engagement strategy
• Steward relationships with media, institutional funders and politicians
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It takes more than great instruction to run excellent schools.
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A week as an Uncommon Director of Operations
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday6:30 - 7:00 Meeting with building staff (Custodian, Security, Cafeteria)7:00 - 7:30 Facility Walkthrough7:30 - 8:00 Arrival8:30 - 9:00
School tour to Board member
9:00 - 9:30
Meeting with COO
Meeting with Director of
Special Projects
Community meeting at
Brownsville rec center
9:30 - 10:00 Check in with
tech service provider10:00 -
10:30 Ops Team Meeting
Shared Space
Building Council10:30 - 11:00 Bathroom duty 8th Grade Book
Club Call with Marketing team
on website11:00 - 11:30 Meeting with
Office Manager
Certification check in
Certification check in
11:30 - 12:00
Cover Math Class
12:00 - 12:30 Facility
walkthrough Lunch Facility walkthrough
12:30 - 1:00 Lunch Recess Lunch
1:00 - 1:30 Call with copy machine vendor
Data analysis for Wed staff PD
Dismissal Planning for upcoming week
1:30 - 2:00
Staff Meeting and PD
2:00 - 2:30 Family disciplinary
meeting
Prep benefits Kickoff for staff
PD
Bathroom duty2:30 - 3:00
Planning for Report Card Conferences
3:00 - 3:30 Set up CM
3:30 - 4:00Brooklyn
monthly DOO meeting
Community meeting4:00 - 4:30 Dismissal Dismissal
4:30 - 5:00 Financial Audit Board Call
Meeting with Principal
Dismissal5:00 - 5:30 Leadership team
meeting 5:30 - 6:00 6:00 - 6:30 Facility Walkthrough
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A week as an Uncommon Principal
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday6:30 - 7:00 7:00 - 7:30 7:30 - 8:00 Arrival8:30 - 9:00
Classroom Observations
School tour to Board member
Teacher Feedback
9:00 - 9:30
Meeting with Managing Director
Teacher Feedback
Teacher Feedback
9:30 - 10:00
Grade level leader meeting
Classroom Observations
5-8 Reading Taxonomy
Conference
Teacher Feedback
10:00 - 10:30 Joint classroom
Observations10:30 - 11:00
Classroom Observations
Cover Reading Class
Teacher Feedback
11:00 - 11:30
Teacher Feedback
Teacher Feedback
11:30 - 12:00 Student Support
Team meetingClassroom
Observations
Teacher Feedback
12:00 - 12:30 Lunch
12:30 - 1:00 Lunch Recess Lunch1:00 - 1:30
Classroom Observations
DismissalJoint classroom
Observations
1:30 - 2:00
Staff Meeting and PD
Teacher Feedback
2:00 - 2:30
Bathroom duty Dean of Students Check in
Bathroom duty Teacher Feedback
2:30 - 3:00 Joint classroom Observations 3:00 - 3:30 Detention
CoverageClassroom
Observations3:30 - 4:00 Community meeting4:00 - 4:30 Dismissal Dismissal Dismissal
4:30 - 5:00 Dean of Curriculum
check in
Instructional Leader Meeting
Meeting with DOO
Dismissal5:00 - 5:30
Leadership team meeting
5:30 - 6:00 6:00 - 6:30 Lesson plan review
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Separate skill sets for separate roles Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
6:30 - 7:00 Meeting with building staff (Custodian, Security, Cafeteria)7:00 - 7:30 Facility Walkthrough7:30 - 8:00 Arrival8:30 - 9:00
School tour to prospective Board
member
9:00 - 9:30
Meeting with COO Meeting with Director of Special Projects Community meeting at
Brownsville rec center9:30 - 10:00 Check in with tech
service provider10:00 - 10:30
Ops Team Meeting
Shared Space Building Council Meeting10:30 -
11:00 Bathroom duty 8th Grade Book Club Call with Marketing team on website re-
design11:00 - 11:30 Meeting with Office
Manager
Certification check in
Certification check in
11:30 - 12:00
Cover Math Class
12:00 - 12:30 Facility walkthrough Lunch Facility walkthrough
12:30 - 1:00 Lunch Recess Lunch
1:00 - 1:30 Call with copy machine vendor
Data analysis for Wed staff PD
Dismissal Planning for upcoming
week1:30 - 2:00
Staff Meeting and PD
2:00 - 2:30 Family disciplinary meeting
Prep Open Enrollment Kickoff for staff PD
Bathroom duty2:30 - 3:00
Planning for Report Card Conferences
3:00 - 3:30
Set up community meeting
3:30 - 4:00
Brooklyn monthly DOO meeting
Community meeting4:00 - 4:30 Dismissal Dismissal4:30 - 5:00 Financial Audit Board
CallMeeting with Principal
Dismissal5:00 - 5:30 Leadership team
meeting
5:30 - 6:00 6:00 - 6:30 Facility Walkthrough
Less teacher observation and feedback, less teacher development,
less student learning
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday6:30 - 7:00 7:00 - 7:30 7:30 - 8:00 Arrival8:30 - 9:00
Classroom Observations School tour to
prospective Board member
Teacher Feedback Meeting
9:00 - 9:30
Meeting with Managing Director
Teacher Feedback Meeting
Teacher Feedback Meeting
9:30 - 10:00Grade level leader
meetingClassroom Observations 5-8 Reading Taxonomy
Conference Call
Teacher Feedback Meeting
10:00 - 10:30Joint classroom
Observations10:30 - 11:00
Classroom Observations Cover Reading Class
Teacher Feedback Meeting
11:00 - 11:30
Teacher Feedback Meeting
Teacher Feedback Meeting
11:30 - 12:00Student Support Team
meetingClassroom Observations
Teacher Feedback Meeting
12:00 - 12:30 Lunch 12:30 - 1:00 Lunch Recess Lunch1:00 - 1:30
Classroom Observations Dismissal
Joint classroom Observations
1:30 - 2:00
Staff Meeting and PD
Teacher Feedback Meeting
2:00 - 2:30Bathroom duty Dean of Students Check
inBathroom duty
Teacher Feedback Meeting
2:30 - 3:00 Joint classroom Observations 3:00 - 3:30
Detention Coverage Classroom Observations3:30 - 4:00 Community meeting4:00 - 4:30 Dismissal Dismissal Dismissal
4:30 - 5:00 Dean of Curriculum and Instruction check in
Instructional Leader Meeting Meeting with DOO
Dismissal5:00 - 5:30 Leadership team
meeting 5:30 - 6:00 6:00 - 6:30 Lesson plan review
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When Principals and teachers do operations work, students learn less.
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People are our most valuable assets, we invest in serve them well
Staff
Everything else
Happy teachers who have what they need serve students better
Interestingly enough, for all of its success, the Disney theme show is quite a fragile thing. It takes just one contradiction, one out-of-place stimulus to negate a particular moment’s experience…tack up a felt-tip brown-paper-bag sign that says “Keep Out”…take a host’s costume away and put him in blue jeans and a tank top…replace that Gay Nineties melody with rock numbers…place a touch of artificial turf here…and a surly employee there…it really doesn’t take much to upset it all. What’s our success formula? It’s attention to infinite detail, the little things, the little minor, picky points that others just don’t want to take the time, money, or effort to do. As far as our Disney organization is concerned, it’s the only way we’ve ever done it….its been our success formula. We’ll probably be explaining this to outsiders at the end of our next two decades in the business.
Excellent customer service takes an uncommon attention to detail in
everything you do
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Operations make schools run, leaders make schools great.
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How Uncommon schools feel
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It takes more than great instruction to run excellent schools.
When Principals and teachers do operations work, students learn less.
Operations make schools run, leaders make schools great.
Arthur Samuels
Executive Director, MESA Charter High School
MESA Charter High School
Who we are
Relationships
Co-located schools
Collaborative Projects
Back to shoe leather and listening
Morgan Altman
Math Instructional Coach at Girls Prep Bronx
A Best Practice in Teaching and Learning Math
Number Talks
What is a Number Talk?
• It is a short routine where students engage in conversations around purposefully crafted computation problems
• Problems are designed to elicit specific strategies that focus on number relationships and number theory
• Students learn to solve problems accurately, efficiently, and flexibly
Key Components of Number Talks
• Classroom environment and community
• Classroom discussions • Teacher’s role• The role of mental math• Purposeful computation problems
Students Have the Opportunity to…
• Clarify their own thinking• Consider and test other strategies to
see if they are mathematically logical• Investigate and apply mathematical
relationships • Build a repertoire of efficient
strategies
Why do We Use Number Talks?
• Number talks are one approach we use to support our girls in developing fluency…with understanding
• Fluency allows our students to access and grapple with more complex mathematics
What does Fluency Look Like?
• Rather than seeing a symbol and automatically setting up a procedure students will consider the numbers and operation together
• Students will break numbers apart and put them back together, find friendly numbers to work with and compensate, apply properties of operations and knowledge of number relationships
For Example…
• Take a minute to mentally solve
32 x 17
• How did you solve? • Can you find a second way? • What strategy and/or model did you
use?
Here is How Students Might Solve
Here is another way…
One more way…
Resources We Often Use
• Number Talks Helping Children Build Mental Math and Computation Strategies, Grades K-5 (Parrish)
• Math in the City, Mini Lessons. (Fosnot, Uittenbogaard)
Mery Melendez and Shamona Kirkland
Parents and Organizers at Families for Excellent Schools
Harlem Town Hall
Harlem Town Hall
Bed-Stuy Town Hall
Mayoral Forum
What innovation would you like to see the next Mayor support all schools in implementing?
THANK YOU