{"id":2978,"date":"2014-03-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/blog\/cw_post\/sanborn-regional-school-district-flips-district-reform\/"},"modified":"2020-02-05T13:24:14","modified_gmt":"2020-02-05T18:24:14","slug":"sanborn-regional-school-district-flips-district-reform","status":"publish","type":"cw_post","link":"https:\/\/aurora-institute.org\/cw_post\/sanborn-regional-school-district-flips-district-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Sanborn Regional School District Flips District Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"sanborn<\/a>
Sanborn Superintendent Brian Blake<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is the first in a series\u00a0on Sanborn Regional School District. Read Part 2<\/a> and Part 3<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe know more about our students than ever before.\u201d At Sanborn Regional School District<\/a> (SRSD), competency education is about relationships.\u00a0 It\u2019s also about common sense, finding practical solutions to make education work for kids.\u00a0 This post and the two following it will provide a look into Sanborn Regional School District.<\/p>\n

Background on Sanborn Regional School District<\/b><\/p>\n

Our site visit began with a conversation with Ellen Hume-Howard, Curriculum Director for SRSD, Brian Stack, Principal of Sanborn Regional High School<\/a> (SRHS), Michael Turmelle, Assistant Principal\/Curriculum Director at SRHS, and Jonathan Vander Els, Principal of Memorial Elementary School<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hume-Howard began with the story of the district\u2019s journey towards competency education. \u201cBefore the arrival of Dr. Brian Blake as superintendent in 2009, the district was paralyzed and unable to work as a system. \u00a0Dr. Blake brought focus to\u00a0the district and provided a clear and ambitious goal for us to reach.\u201d One of the first things the district decided to tackle was the misalignment of curriculum. \u00a0Hume-Howard explained, \u201cWe became experts in standards,\u201d by embracing the New Hampshire state standards and Understanding by Design<\/a>, developed by Tighe and Wiggins. They learned what was required to operate a standards-based school, including the calibration that happens as teachers use weekly meetings and professional development to talk about how they know when students are proficient.<\/p>\n

Second, they built the capacity of the district and school to use Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) based on Dufour\u2019s approach<\/a>. PLC\u2019s focus is on students as they become proficient, close in on proficiency or struggle far from proficiency in a course, described as the data team cycle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Blake\u2019s leadership was invaluable,\u201d Hume-Howard emphasized.\u00a0 \u201cAs a leader, he had confidence in us\u00a0and trusted us to do the right things. He believes in the learning process and gave us the chance to invest time in research and then building initiatives based on that research. He also focused heavily on the importance of the Professional Learning Community as a foundational piece of our work that enables us to work through challenges and to build a common purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the State introduced the policy for competency-based, rather than seat-time, credits, SRSD saw an opportunity. First, they set a vision of excellence, with an operational goal of being in the top 10% of the state. Second, they took the time to look at what the research says about how to implement competency education, reviewing the work of Guskey<\/a>, Ainsworth<\/a>, Wormelli<\/a>, O\u2019Connor, Reeves, and Marzano.<\/p>\n

Third, they introduced a new approach to district leadership and reform. \u201cWe flipped district practice on its head,\u201d curriculum director Turmelle said. \u201cThe district embarked on a school-by-school redesign, with standards providing a common thread.\u201d<\/p>\n

They have been working to reduce the number of rules, providing schools with flexibility to design structures and establish practices that make sense for their teachers and students. They haven\u2019t found many intractable rules, and so far nothing in teachers\u2019 contracts has been an impediment.<\/p>\n

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The Competency Framework<\/b><\/p>\n

Sanborn School District approached the effort to convert to competency education as a district-wide reform.<\/p>\n

At SRSD, competencies are equivalent to the essential standards. Teachers design units<\/a> based on Understanding by Design, identifying the enduring understandings as an overall structure to house the necessary standards. Teachers identify those most important anchor standards that \u201crise to the top\u201d and then write them as \u201cI can\u201d statements.\u00a0 Howard-Hume pointed out that if you fail to focus on the anchor standards, the number of standards can overwhelm teachers and students \u2013 there might be as many as 100 standards at kindergarten.\u00a0 Follow these links to learn more about how they are organizing competencies and standards<\/a> and for tips for unpacking standards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SRSD thinks clearly about the continuum of assessments<\/a>, describing formative assessments as a \u201cvideotape of the learning process\u201d and summative as a \u201csnapshot\u201d at the close of a learning cycle. They also know they don\u2019t have all the pieces in place yet.\u00a0 They are working with the Center for Assessment to create performance tasks that will allow them to better assess the application of knowledge.<\/p>\n

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Human Resources and Human Capital<\/b><\/p>\n

Competency education is changing the way that SRSD thinks about hiring. In the traditional model, they searched for teachers who had experience in teaching the curriculum for a specific grade. \u201cNow we look for teachers who are interested in teaching students and know the discipline so they can help students who are in different places along their learning progressions,\u201d Hume-Howard said. The PLCs provide much of the orientation for new teachers.<\/p>\n

The district also has invested in enriching their evaluation process, which includes using a rubric to observe each teacher five to ten times a year. They haven\u2019t worked all the kinks out yet \u2013 teachers said that there wasn\u2019t enough transparency in the process and it didn\u2019t allow them to share what they have been working on in their personal professional development.<\/p>\n

The emphasis on PLCs is consistent, with even the district administration having its own PLC that focuses on data that can drive improvement. SRSD uses Pinnacle as their SIS system, and has developed the capacity to include standards in each course and manage standards-based grading. It hasn\u2019t yet been able to provide a full student profile that includes how students are progressing in their learning<\/p>\n

The culture of learning is strong at SRSD, with many of the leaders writing about their own learning in school and national blogs, including CompetencyWorks.<\/p>\n

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Next Steps<\/b><\/p>\n

SRSD knows that they have a ways to go to fully develop a personalized, competency-based system.\u00a0 A few of the elements they hope to tackle in the coming years include:<\/p>\n