Email by Date

Attached below, in order by date, are copies of sent or received email messages that members of the Maine SLC community may stiil find relevant and useful. For email messages regarding the dates, locations, etc. for specific seminars, please click here.

July 2, 2008

June 17 COT Meeting Follow-up - This version provides website links where appropriate.

Dear SLC leaders,

While most of my recent emails have directed you to the SLC website for "attachments," there are several actual attachments to this email. The first reason for this is that some of these items contain data about the project. Although I think these data are positive and worth sharing, I don't think it's appropriate to post them on a public website. The second reason is that Weebly (the host of the SLC website) has been engaged in "unexpected maintenance" for at least the past couple of days - I'll post the appropriate documents once Weebly is working again. Most of these documents were distributed in hard copy at the June 17 COT meeting:

1. Agenda for June 17 COT Meeting, 6/17/08

2. Notes from the June 17, 2008 COT Meeting (thanks, Gerry)

3. An updated COT member contact list 6/30/08 - please check and send any corrections to Mary

4. Cross-school Seminar Participation Data, 5/22/08

5. Seminar Feedback Form Comparative Data, 6/16/08 (The most useful pages in this "workbook" for data analysis are the ones with graphs for each feedback form question, which have the question number in the tab title.)

6. Project Director Comments on the Spring 2008 Seminar Feedback Form Data, 6/6/08

7. Updated Maine SLC Goals, Objectives, Definitions, and Measurement, 6/5/08

8. Maine SLC iWalkthrough Data Monthly Totals - Relevant to Objective 3d, 6/6/08

9. Mini-Reports on Objectives 1b and 2a for Five SLC High Schools, 6/17/08 (These reports are still not quite complete.)

10. Mini-Reports on Objectives 3a and 3b for Five SLC High Schools, 6/17/08 (These reports are still not quite complete.)

11. PLG Approach Chart for 2007-2008, 6/17/08

12. Spring 2008 PLG Survey Graphs, 6/14/008 (The graphs are on pages 9-15 of this document. Please note this version does not contain the new data from Oxford Hills.)

13. Donahue Year 1 Progress Report, 6/13/08 (Please note that the correct number of SPHS suspensions/expulsions in table 1d is 568, not 98, and that Lonnie and Joe are working to correct the mistake with Questions 12 and 14. Lonnie writes on June 13: Please let the COT know that our year-two ANNUAL REPORT (different from progress report) will contain more comprehensive analysis of each of these objectives including feedback from site visits, utilization of other survey and student database records, etc. The point of this Year One Progress Report is to provide the schools with baseline data on where they are with each of the objective while simultaneously gaining everyone’s feedback on how data should be presented.


14. Respondent Profile Data for the Spring 2008 Donahue Surveys for Teachers and Students, 6/13/08
Lonnie writes on June 13: These have just been completed. We’re moving along pretty well with full Year Two survey analysis but won’t have this finished for a few weeks. My plan is to disseminate the year two survey reports with the year two annual report at the end of the summer.

15. Interventions Chart - I decided to not attach this since it will be updated today. Mary will post an updated version on the website soon.

This may be my last email to you in my role as project director. It's been an honor to serve you and your students. I look forward to the next time I see each of you!

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
773-0505

June 14, 2008

Cross-school Seminar Dates

Dear Cross-school Seminar Facilitators,

A few moments ago I cc'd you on the email that went to the participants in your seminar, which included the dates of your seminar - those dates are repeated below as well. PLEASE RESERVE THESE DATES in your calendars - changing them now would not be impossible, but it would be very difficult. I believe I have worked around all the "black-out" dates for the all the facilitators and all the schools, and most seminars are spaced by about 4 weeks, which is the goal.

Steve and Connie, please reserve your space on the dates listed.

The current list of participants can be found at the following website, but please keep in mind that there are likely to be updates to this list, so please check this website again for a more accurate list:

http://gspslc1.weebly.com/participant-lists-for-seminars.html

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
773-0505


DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Wednesday, Sept. 24
Tuesday, Oct. 21
Wednesday, Nov. 19

LAYERED TEACHING
Thursday, Sept. 18
Friday, Oct. 17
Thursday, Nov. 20

PERSONALIZING THE CLASSROOM AND THE 3Rs
Tuesday, Sept. 23
Monday, Oct. 20
Friday, Nov. 14

READING
Tuesday, Sept. 16
Thursday, Oct. 16
Thursday, Nov. 13

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION BASICS A
Friday, Sept. 19
Wednesday, Oct. 22
Tuesday, Nov. 18

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION BASICS B
Thursday, Sept. 25
Tuesday, Oct. 28
Friday, Nov. 21

WRITING
Wednesday, Sept. 17
Tuesday, Oct. 14
Wednesday, Nov. 12


June 14, 2008

Seminar Dates and RSVP Request

Dear SLC Leaders,

Below is a copy of the Seminar RSVP information that went to all seminar registrants this morning, but this version includes the dates for ALL the seminars in one email so you don't receive 7 emails from me. PLEASE GIVE THESE DATES TO THE PEOPLE WHO NEED THEM TO AVOID SCHEDULING OTHER EVENTS THAT WOULD NEED LOTS OF SUBS ON THESE DATES. The current list of teachers who will need subs for seminars on these dates can be found at the following website, but please keep in mind that there are likely to be updates to this list, so please check this website again a few days before each session for a more accurate list:

http://gspslc1.weebly.com/participant-lists-for-seminars.html

thanks,

John


Dear SLC Cross-school Seminar Participant,

I hope the end of the school year is going well for you. The 2 purposes of this email are to:

1. Inform you of the SIMPLE FINAL STEP you must take to confirm your registration for the Fall 2008 3-day cross-school seminar titled:

2. Provide you with the dates for this seminar, which are:

DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION
Wednesday, Sept. 24
Tuesday, Oct. 21
Wednesday, Nov. 19

LAYERED TEACHING
Thursday, Sept. 18
Friday, Oct. 17
Thursday, Nov. 20

PERSONALIZING THE CLASSROOM AND THE 3Rs
Tuesday, Sept. 23
Monday, Oct. 20
Friday, Nov. 14

READING
Tuesday, Sept. 16
Thursday, Oct. 16
Thursday, Nov. 13

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION BASICS A
Friday, Sept. 19
Wednesday, Oct. 22
Tuesday, Nov. 18

TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION BASICS B
Thursday, Sept. 25
Tuesday, Oct. 28
Friday, Nov. 21

WRITING
Wednesday, Sept. 17
Tuesday, Oct. 14
Wednesday, Nov. 12


All seminar sessions will be held in the Portland area from 7:30 - 2:45 on those dates. The exact location and directions will be emailed to you later.

Now that you know the dates, PLEASE REPLY TO THIS EMAIL BY TUESDAY, JUNE 17 TO CONFIRM THAT YOU WILL OR WON'T BE PARTICIPATING in this seminar. A simple "YES" or "NO" will suffice!

If you're thinking about not participating, please check with your principal before replying since he/she has recently confirmed your participation from his/her perspective, and is budgeting for your participation.

For seminar information including seminar descriptions, agendas, directions, weather cancellations, goals, food and materials, recertification credit, connections to PLGs, participant lists, etc., please go to:

http://gspslc1.weebly.com/general-current-seminar-information.html

Please don't hesitate to call or email if you have any questions.

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
773-0505


June 13, 2008

Seminar Non-registration Notice

Dear Colleague,

I regret to inform you that the Fall 2008 seminar for which you recently completed an on-line registration form is either CANCELLED OR FULL, so you are not registered – please see explanations below. I'm cc'ing the principal and other SLC leaders in your school to they are aware of this situation as well.

Registration for the following Fall 2008 seminars is still OPEN at this point:
Differentiated Instruction
Reading
Writing
Layered Teaching
Personalizing the Classroom and the 3Rs

If you wish to register for one of these seminars, please go (again) to:

http://fs19.formsite.com/dhart/SLCfall2008/index.html

The explanations for seminars being cancelled or full vary by seminar:

1. For the Interdisciplinary Teaching seminar, there were not enough registrants to run the seminar so it has been cancelled. This has been the case several semesters in a row, so when the 5-school oversight team meets next week it will discuss other ways to support teachers in the development of interdisciplinary teaching – please check with your principal after June 17.

2. For the Technology Integration Basics seminar, there were exactly 40 registrations for this seminar from teachers who have not yet completed a seminar, so they went to the front of the line regardless of the date and time of registration, and completely filled two sections of this seminar. If you have already completed a seminar and registered for this one, you were unfortunately “bumped” because the technology integration seminar facilitators could not add a third section of a seminar in the fall. There is likely to be one section of this seminar offered in the spring that is not likely to be completely full of first-timers, so please try again early in the registration process.

3. For the Technology Integration, Information Literacy, and Web 2.0 seminar, there was enough interest to run the seminar, but it was not full, and again, the technology integration seminar facilitators could not facilitate a third section of a seminar in the fall, so this seminar has been cancelled. There is likely to be one section of this seminar offered in the fall, so please try again early in the registration process.

I apologize for this inconvenience, and I hope you have a great summer!

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
773-0505

June 13, 2008

Seminar RSVP Lookout Notice Request

Dear SLC Principals,

The dates have finally been finalized for the Fall 2008 seminars, so I'm ready to send an RSVP email to the participants who have been confirmed by you in order to provide them with these dates and to request that they send me a return email confirming that the dates work for them and that they will be participating.

Getting an return email from each participant is critical. When we send participants emails in the future with agendas, etc., we need to be sure that these emails are going to the correct email addresses. (I've already corrected more than a half-dozen obviously incorrect registrant email addresses this week using the addresses on your school's website, but there may be incorrect addresses that are not so obvious.)

As you did last semester, please send an email to ALL teachers so we finalize seminar numbers and can catch any mistakes now. A suggested draft of this email is below, but of course feel free to customize!

I will be sending a separate email to those who registered for a seminar that didn't run or was full.

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

Dear Faculty,

On June 13 - 15, John Newlin will be sending an RSVP email to each person who is registered for a 3-day cross-school seminar for Fall 2008. If you receive such an email, please be sure to open and respond to it. If you do NOT receive such an email but still believe you are registered for a Fall 2008 seminar, please contact John immediately at 773-0505 or [email protected] and leave a quick message including how John or Mary Hastings can reach you so this can be cleared-up before you leave for the summer.



June 12, 2008

Certificates of Completion

Dear SLC folks,

Just a heads up that Certificates of Completion for the Spring 2008 Seminars went out in the snail mail today, so most of you will receive them tomorrow (Friday). They were addressed generically to the high school from GSP. I hope someone at your school will make sure they get put into teacher mailboxes asap.

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

June 10, 2008

Approval of Seminar Registrants

Dear SLC Principals,

Thanks again for another successful seminar registration process. We're ready for the next step, which is for principals to approve the list of registrants from their school. After I receive that approval I will send an email notice to each of the participants requesting that they confirm to me.

1. While much of the process went well, it appears that the information we received from the interest survey did not match the registrations nearly as well as it has in the past. As a result, of the 8 seminars we thought there would be enough registrations to run, one will have two "sections" instead of one, and two seminars will be cancelled, so several registrants will not have a seminar in the fall - or at least not the one they most wanted. There will be 7 sections total, which is typical.

2. "Interdisciplinary Teaching" will be cancelled because there were only 6 people registered for that seminar who didn't register for another seminar. In thinking about the continued low numbers of registrants for this seminar, I'm wondering if teachers think, perhaps correctly, that the only efficient setting in which to do learning and planning regarding interdisciplinary teaching is with their teaching teams. I will contact those 6 people directly to explain the situation and encourage them to consider one of the other seminars, and I'll include the names of these 6 teachers at the bottom of the attached list so you can see who they are.

3. "Technology Integration, Information Literacy, and Web 2.0" will be cancelled, displacing 16 teachers, because there was so much unexpected interest in "Technology Integration Basics"  that we need 2 sections of that, and the technology facilitator's schedules won't allow them to run 3 sections this fall. I expect the "advanced" technology seminar will be offered in the spring. In addition, 4 teachers who have already completed another seminar had registered for Technology Integration Basics.  They were "bumped" because both sections of that seminar are full with just teachers who have not completed any seminar. I will contact the 20 teachers involved directly to explain the situation and encourage them to consider one of the other seminars (or wait until the spring), and I'll include the names of these 20 teachers at the bottom of the attached list so you can see who they are. I apologize for the problems this will cause. The COT will need to discuss what might be done to prevent this from happening again.

4. Attached is a list of current registrants by school and by seminar. Please check to make sure you're OK with the folks from your school on this list and the seminars they want to take. Currently, the largest number of subs that will be needed by any one school on the same day will be 7.

5. The following seminars have room for a few additional registrants. To register, they should go to the on-line registration form at the following link, just as others did before registration was "closed." I will send the names of any new registrants to principals for their approval as I receive them.

Open Seminars:
Differentiated Instruction
Layered Teaching
Personalizing the Classroom and the 3Rs
Reading
Writing

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

May 30, 2008

Fall 2008 Seminar REGISTRATION

Dear SLC Principals and other SLC folks,

Thank you for your efforts to get teachers to complete the seminar interest survey. The Registration form for Fall 2008 Cross-school seminars is now available for teachers to complete on-line, which teachers need to complete by June 6 so schools can confirm and teachers can be confirmed before leaving for the summer.

Please communicate to your teachers the information regarding this Registration form that you feel they need. Below is some suggested language for an email on this from principals to teachers. Please feel free to customize it or use whatever approach you think will work best.

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

Dear Faculty,

Based on the teacher responses to the recent Seminar Interest Survey it is anticipated that 8 different seminars will be offered in Fall 2008. Please remember that completing the Seminar Interest Survey did NOT register you for a semianr. If you wish to register for one of the 8 seminars, please go to the following URL and complete the Seminar Registration form by the end of the day, Friday, June 6.

http://fs19.formsite.com/dhart/SLCfall2008/index.html

If you have trouble accessing the online registration form or have any questions about it, please contact John Newlin at 831-2359 or [email protected].

May 28, 2008

Dear SLC folks,

I realize most schools have already made their plans about the PLG survey, so this email may not be necessary, but I want to make sure all COT members have easy electronic access to this survey. Again, this survey is designed to help each of the five schools in the SLC consortium determine next steps for their PLGs and enable the SLC consortium to compare and learn from the different ways PLGs are being implemented in the five schools. (This PLG survey is separate from the "big" SLC survey that everyone has just completed, and this survey will be done on-line, for faculty only.) We know some schools will be administering and analyzing their own data from this survey soon - so the data can inform discussions about their PLGs for next year. I anticipate there will be some time for the COT to analyze all the PLG survey data at the June 17 COT meeting, so I hope as many surveys as possible will have been completed by June 12.

The URL for faculty to take the survey is: http://fs19.formsite.com/dhart/PLGsurvey/index.html

The URL for a download of the text of the survey (on the SLC website) is: http://gspslc1.weebly.com/plg-survey-form.html

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

May 23, 2008

SLC - RSVPs for June 17 and July 2 COT Meeting and Retreat

Dear SLC folks,

As of today, it looks like we'll have a great turnout for both the June 17 and July 2 meetings. Current (5/30/08) RSVPs are listed below. If you have a question mark after your name, please RSVP soon.

June 17
Bonny Eagle: Bob Strong, Sue Orlowski, Joyce Turrell, Irene Marchenay, Beth Schultz, Phil Blood, Terri Whyte?
Lewiston: Gus LeBlanc, Mike Hutchins,  Bob Meyer? David Bowie
Noble: Joe Findlay, Kevin Perks, Claudia Stephens, Chris Perks, Nancy Simard
Oxford Hills: Ted Moccia, Paul Bickford, David Mason, Jan Gauger, Torrey Poland
South Portland: Jeanne Crocker, Laurie Wood, Suzanne Godin, Steve Bailey

July 2
Bonny Eagle: Bob Strong and/or Beth Schultz, Irene Marchenay, Jen Simonoff
Lewiston: Gus LeBlanc? Mike Hutchins,  Bob Meyer? David Bowie
Noble: Kevin Perks, Chris Perks, Nancy Simard
Oxford Hills: Ted Moccia, Kathy Elkins, Brewster Burns, David Mason, Jan Gauger, Torrey Poland
South Portland: Jeanne Crocker, Laurie Wood (starting at noon), Suzanne Godin, Steve Bailey

Please go to the following link to find draft agendas for both the June 17 COT meeting (4-8 pm) and July 2 COT retreat (9:00 - 3:00?), which will be held at either the Eastland Park Hotel or USM Abromson Center in Portland. Your feedback on these agendas continues to be welcome!

http://gspslc1.weebly.com/june-17july-2-2008-cot-meetingretreat.html

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

May 15, 2008

SLC - RIT Scores

Dear SLC Principals,

As you may remember, at our last COT meeting we discussed RIT scores a bit. Since then I've been working with a "committee" of interested parties to reach a hard-won consensus that could be confirmed by the principals, thus enabling the data coordinators to begin collecting this data for Year 2.  Here is the consensus of the committee of Kathy Elkins (Oxford Hills), Ted Moccia (Oxford Hills), Kevin Perks (Noble), Joyce Turrell (Bonny Eagle), and Steve Bailey (South Portland):

Each school will measure "on grade level by end-of-10th grade" for SLC Objective 4C (SLC Database Variables 34 and 35)  as follows:

Reading: RIT score of 226 or higher

Math: RIT score of 240 or higher

Principals - please confirm that you approve by May 21.

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

May 14, 2008

SLC - AP and Early College data request

Dear Jeanne, Bob, Gus, Ted, and Joe,

As part of the data GSP is collecting for the end of the Great Maine Schools Project, I need to try to collect two pieces of data from your school that I can't get from the SLC Database. I'm hoping to get data going back a few years on:

1. The annual total number of students enrolled (not the number of student enrollments) in AP classes (except not for 2006-2007 since I already have that from the SLC database).

2. The annual total number of students enrolled (not the number of student enrollments) in several other types of early college credit experiences (including college credit experiences at the high school, at a college, or on-line, but not CLEP tests).

I don't want to create a lot of additional work for anyone, so I'd like your permission to contact the following people at your school to see how much of this data might be EASILY found, and leave it at that.

Bonny Eagle - Jen Simonoff or interim guidance director
Lewiston - David Bowie or Joan Macri
Noble - Chris Perks or Nancy Simard
Oxford Hills - Paul Bickford or Brewster Burns
South Portland - Diana Snow or Linda Sturm

Please respond with either a confirmation of whom I should contact OR your concerns by May 21.

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

May 12, 2008

SLC - June 17 and July 2 COT Meeting and Retreat

Dear SLC folks,

As many of you know, we sought input from each school on the better of two dates for a COT summer retreat. After hearing from each of the five schools, it was easy to determine that while July 2 was not ideal for several people, it was significantly better that August 15, so the retreat will be on July 2. Please go to the following link to find updated agendas for both the June 17 COT meeting (4-8 pm) and July 2 COT retreat (9:00 - 3:00?), which will be held at either the Eastland Park Hotel or USM Abromson Center in Portland. Your feedback on these agendas continues to be welcome!

http://gspslc1.weebly.com/june-17july-2-2008-cot-meetingretreat.html

PLEASE RSVP TO ME FOR BOTH THE JUNE 17 AND JULY 2 MEETINGS (SEPARATELY) BY WEDNESDAY, MAY 21 (the same I need your response to the proposed changes in SLC objectives as per my email to you dated May 8.)

By the way, since the June 17 meeting will be the fourth of four COT meetings that GSP had budgeted for in 2007-2008, and since the retreat is happening after July 1, I'm considering the July 2 retreat to be the first of the four COT meetings of 2008-2009. If it turns out more than four COT meetings are needed in 2008-2009, the COT can discuss how to handle that.

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

May 8, 2008

SLC Objectives, Definitions, and Data Collection

Dear SLC Principals (and Data Coordinators),

As a result of the first round of school-based data collection for the SLC Database, revisions to a small number of SLC Objectives and/or definitions seemed to be needed in order to make minor corrections, clarify ambiguities, or streamline data collection.

There are 3 other Objectives and/or definitions that I think deserve similar attention. Making the following changes NOW could save your school's Data Coordinator a considerable amount of time later. Principals, please read through the summary of the proposed changes below. If you have questions about the need for these changes please check with your Data Coordinator and/or me. I hope to hear back from you on these by Wednesday, May 21. In the meantime, Data Coordinators may wish to keep these proposed changes in mind if you are working on the collection of data related to these 3 objectives.

1. Change the definition of "Interdisciplinary Team" related to Objective 1a so it:
    a)  counts multi-grade 9th and 10th grade teams as "teams" (instead of only counting single grade level teams),
    b) requires there to be only 3 core subjects on the team instead of 4.
    c) includes the following statement: "Students who are enrolled in self-contained special education, self-contained ELL, and out-placement programs are excluded from the measurement of this objective."

2. Clarify Objective 2b (Honors Challenge) so the Objective reads: "The percentage of class enrollments that are accompanied by successfully completed Honors Challenge Options will increase at least 3 percentage points each year, beginning with Year 2." This wouldn't really change the objective, but it would simplify the data collection process considerably.

3. Clarify the definition of "Intervention Strategies" related to Objective 2f so it:
    a) excludes "interventions" for which it is very difficult to collect student participation data (e.g. "drop-in" interventions), thus making data collection easier
    b) organizes the categories of interventions so they more closely match practices in the five schools.

If you want to see EXACTLY how the Objectives and related definitions would be changed, please go to:

http://gspslc1.weebly.com/definitions-and-measurement-procedures-for-slc-obj.html

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

May 7, 2008

SLC Donahue Survey Anonymity

Dear SLC folks,

I don't know how widespread this situation is, but I feel it's worth mentioning to all. I had a conversation with several teachers today who were mildly upset about what they perceived to be a contradiction between the claim that the Donahue SLC Survey was "anonymous" and the fact that the demographic questions in the teacher survey would enable individual teachers to be identified quite easily. After I explained that the reason for the demographic questions was to be able to disaggregate data by subgroup, and assured them that only the Donahue folks would have access to the raw data, they said their concerns would have never arisen if what I told them had been more clearly explained to them at the beginning of the survey - both in writing on the survey and in the verbal instructions given to teachers. I'm not sure how widespread these concerns are, and I know we did provide some information on this, but I think we should consider putting greater emphasis on this in the instructions.

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

May 7, 2008

SLC Mini-Reports

Dear SLC folks,

During the March Monthly Meetings we discussed the 3 brief reports each school needs to write in regards to 4 SLC Objectives (1b- interdisciplinary work, 2a - College-ready Curriculum, and 3a/3b - PLGs). A couple of weeks later I sent to you an email that included a "model" for each of these 3 reports. Then during the most recent round of Monthly Meetings the five schools reached agreement on a minor change to Objectives 2a that simply clarifies that every school is committed to a curriculum for all students that prepares them for (at least) a 2-year college. Finally, I made a mistake in the model report for 1b in that it indicated a report on interdisciplinary activities would be needed for Year 1 and Year 2, but it is needed ONLY for Year 2.

Please go to the following URL to find corrected "model" mini-reports: http://gspslc1.weebly.com/model-school-report.html

In order for these mini-reports to be compiled and available for review by the COT on June 17, please send them to me no later than Tuesday, June 10, although I would prefer to have them well before that.

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259
  

May 5, 2008

Cross-school Seminar Interest Survey

Dear SLC Principals,

The Interest Survey for Fall 2008 Cross-school seminars is now available for teachers to complete on-line. While it may be a little confusing to have this survey happening near the same time as the Donahue SLC survey, we really have no choice. We can't determine which seminars will actually be offered until all five schools are done with this Interest Survey. After all the survey data is in we will be using it to decide which seminars to offer, and then we will finalize facilitators. Then teachers will need to complete a separate online registration process  - which I hope teachers will complete by June 6 so schools can confirm and teachers can be confirmed before leaving for the summer.

I know South Portland will be having teachers complete this Interest Survey this Wednesday, May 7, during a half-day workshop.  I suggest that the other four schools set a deadline for their teachers no later than May 23 - and hopefully well before that - the sooner we have all the survey data the sooner we can set the deadline registration.

At this point, I need two things from each principal:

1. Decide and let me know what deadline date you wish to announce to your teachers for the completion of this online Interest Survey.

2. Communicate to your teachers the information regarding this Interest Survey that you feel they need. Below is some suggested language for an email on this from principals to teachers. Please add your deadline date and feel free to customize it or use whatever approach you think will work best.

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

Dear Faculty,

As you know, one aspect of our school's involvement with the SLC grant is the participation of every teacher in at least one cross-school seminar during the first 3 years of the grant, and we will be entering Year 3 of the grant next fall. Some of you have already completed more than one seminar, but others of you have not yet completed a seminar for a variety of reasons.

In order to help determine what cross-school seminars will be offered in Fall 2008, input is needed from the teachers who are likely to participate. IF (and only if) you might be interested in participating in one of these seminars in Fall 2008, please go to the following URL and complete the Interest Survey you will find there. Doing so will not register you or commit you to participation, but it will help the right seminars and the right number of sections to be offered.

The deadline for teachers in our school to complete this online cross-school seminar Interest Survey is:

The URL for the cross-school seminar Interest Survey is: http://fs19.formsite.com/dhart/SLCseminarsurvey/index.html

If you have trouble accessing the online Interest Survey or have any questions about it, please contact John Newlin at 831-2359 or [email protected].

April 30, 2008

Final Protocol and other Material for Donahue Inst. School Visits

Good Morning Everyone. In preparation for our school visits beginning next week at Lewiston and Bonny Eagle, I’m attaching two documents as follows:
 
1.    Site Visit Overview Handout – This one page document describes the role of the UMass Donahue Institute in the evaluation of the SLC project, and our site visit process. We thought this may be helpful to disseminate to your staff ahead of time who will be participating in our focus groups.
 
2.    Final Site Visit Schedule Yr.2 – This document reflects final changes to the draft we sent out before vacation. This version includes directions for selecting the 15 ninth grade students for our longitudinal study, and the 5-6 seniors for their separate focus group. PLEASE READ THIS CAREFULLY. As you will see, we are also requesting that you compile a list of student names and MEDMS #s for the ninth graders. In addition, we would like we would like each school to compile other essential reports, documents, publications, data, etc., for us to take back and review. This could include anything which may showcase your schools accomplishments and successes, plans for future, community outreach, school improvement plans/initiatives, descriptions of programs, outside reviews, or anything else you think would be helpful for our evaluation of your school and the consortium.
 
Later today I will be sending you a brief survey and introduction to the study for the ninth grade students. We would like to have these students complete the survey before we meet with them. If you have any questions please call. Thanks everyone.
 
Lonnie
 
Lonnie Kaufman
Research Manager
UMass Donahue Institute
100 Venture Way,  Suite 5
Hadley,  MA 01035-9462
Voice: 413.587.2419
Fax: 413.587-2410
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.donahue.umassp.edu

Donahue School Visit Information

April 15, 2008

Directions for Administering the Surveys

Hi all,

I've taken the directions Lonnie and Joe just sent and have merged them with an updated version of my earlier suggestions about prepping teachers and students for the surveys into one document, the last page of which is designed to be distributed to faculty and staff who will be administering the survey to students. Please download this document from the following URL:
http://gspslc1.weebly.com/survey-administration.html
thanks,
John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

April 15, 2008

Seminar Participation Data

Dear SLC Principals,
After the last Spring 2008 seminar session has been held on May 21, I will send you an updated list of all the those from your school who have "completed" seminars in Spring 2007, Fall 2007, and Spring 2008. From this list you will need to send me a list of names of current teachers who will need to participate in year 3. (Please remember that we decided that teachers who are "new" in Year 3 won't be required to participate.) In the meantime, in order to determine seminar participation percentages for Year 1 and 2, Joe and Lonnie need the following information. Please "reply to all" with the following information so both they and I receive it:

How many "classroom teachers" were there in your school in 2006-2007?  In 2007-2008? (Please remember that for this purpose, the definition of "classroom teacher" is those who you would expect to participate in at least 1 seminar during the first 3 years of the grant.) We're looking for a single number here from each school, such as "82."

thanks,
John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

April 15, 2008

On-line Repository of SLC Grant Information

Dear SLC folks,

One of my goals for this year as SLC project director was to create an on-line repository of documents that could be easily accessed by SLC school-based leaders and coordinators, seminar facilitators, and school coaches. You may have noticed from recent emails that I've started to use it, and I'm already seeing significant benefits. I hope this repository will make it easier for you to find "old" emails and the most up-to-date version of SLC-related documents. It should also enable emails from me (and Mary next year) to be shorter and with fewer attachments since they can include links to on-line documents instead.

If you're interested, check it out at:

http://gspslc1.weebly.com/

thanks,

John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

April 15, 2008

Seminar Replacement Dates and Updated Participants Lists

Hi all,

The replacement dates have been set for all the cross-school seminars that have had snow cancellations.  Below are the replacement dates. Please click on the URL further below to download the final list of registrants, by school, for the Spring 2008 seminars. This is the list that will be used when Darlene invoices each school.
Technology Integration A  will meet on May 9.
Personalizing the Classroom will meet on May 14
Differentiated Instruction will meet on May 21
http://gspslc1.weebly.com/participant-lists-and-dates-for-all-current-seminars.html

thanks,
John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259

April 8, 2008

DRAFT PLG Survey

Dear SLC folks,

Mary Hastings and I have been working on a survey for faculty that will help each of the five schools in the SLC consortium determine next steps for their PLGs, as well as enable the SLC consortium to compare and learn from the approaches to PLGs being used in the five schools. Please note that this survey will be separate from the "big" SLC survey that will happen soon after April vacation, and this survey will be done on-line for faculty only.

Attached below is a draft of the survey questions. This draft includes items that will be "common" across all five schools and a menu of items that each school can be selected by a school for use in only that school. I encourage you to read the draft and send me your thoughts on these two questions to help make this survey as worthwhile to your school's planning as possible:

1. What suggestions do you have for revision of proposed items or creation of additional items regarding the "common" items, introduction, instructions, etc.?

2. What suggestions do you have for revision of proposed items or creation of additional items regarding the menu of "optional" items?

ONLY RESPONSES RECEIVED BY THURSDAY, APRIL 17 WILL BE CONSIDERED IN CREATING THE FINAL VERSION OF THIS SURVEY. Please send your responses by email, phone, or in-person.

thanks,
John Newlin
Great Schools Partnership
831-3259
http://gspslc1.weebly.com/plg-survey-form.html