Guidance

Technology

Food Service

Custodians

Principal

Assistant
Principal
(5/6)
Related Arts
Leader

ELA Leader

Math Leader

Assistant
Principal
(7/8)
Science
Leader

Social Studies
Leader

Related Arts
Leader

ELA Leader

Math Leader

Special
Education
(5/6)
Science
Leader

Social Studies
Leader

Special
Education
(7/8)

Learning
Support

Learning
Support

Physical
Education

Physical
Education

Emotional
Support

Emotional
Support

Language

Language

Autism
Support

Autism
Support

Family
Consumer
Science

Family
Consumer
Science

Life Skills

Life Skills

Music

Music

ELL

ELL

Technical
Education

Technical
Education

Gifted

Gifted

Library

Library

Administrative Leadership Style of the Twin Valley Learning Academy:

A Participative/ Transformational Leadership style will be the goal of the
Administrative team. This leadership style combines coaching, delegation, open
communication, and diversity of collaboration leading to a family atmosphere in
the school setting. Transformational leaders become educational servants who
create a vision that inspire an agreement of students and staff to do the right thing
for others. These leaders are capable of creating an environment where staff and
students form a facilitative learning partnership that leads to a feeling of unity of
purpose in creating a productive learning community.
1. Coaching: This style of evaluation will be a more user-friendly tool of
teaching and learning. Dialog between administrator and teacher will be ongoing with monthly check-ins on goal progress along with plans for
troubleshooting problem areas within the classroom or teaching techniques.
2. Open Communication: Administrators will be highly visible in hallways and
classrooms. Administrators sitting at tables learning along with students or
offering their expertise as a classroom guide will be commonplace.
Opportunities for communication and open dialog will be a daily occurrence
between administrators and teachers.
3. Diversity of Collaboration: Administrators will frequently play the role of
convener to ensure that collaboration among teachers, between grade levels
and across the curriculum is a priority.

Comment [SH1]: NOTE: This exemplar

does not include the
Logistical/Geographical considerations
expected on the Ideal School Project
checklist.

Teacher Leadership Style:

In keeping with the vision of creating a collaborative learning partnership, Twin
Valley Learning Academy will initiate a voluntary team of Teacher Leaders who will
change roles on a two year rotation based on best interests of school community.
This team will be responsible for bringing data, information or suggestions from
their content area to a meeting once a month with administration. Each grade level
and Related Arts area will have a representative on the Leadership Team as well as
the following additional Leadership Team Positions:
1. Instructional Resource Leader: One teacher from each grade level will be
responsible for helping colleagues to share instructional resources,
professional resources along with implementing and modeling effective
classroom strategies.
2. Curriculum Leader: These teachers (one from each instructional area) will be
responsible for ensuring consistent curriculum implementation. Other
responsibilities include using the curriculum to plan instruction, create
shared assessments and facilitate cross-curricular studies.
3. Special Education Leader: These teachers, one from each grade level, will be
responsible for assisting special education teachers and core and specialty
areas teachers with differentiating activities to fit their subject area. They
will also assist with expectations, specialized plans and full inclusion coteaching and techniques within each subject area.
4. Climate and Culture Leader: This position includes implementation of
Student Mentoring Program, initiating school-wide events involving
community, and organizing activities that support the social and emotional
health of the faculty and staff.
5. Data Facilitator: These leaders from each of the core instructional areas will
be responsible for organizing the collected student data, and using that data
to drive analytical conversations on how to best design strengthen student
instruction.

Organization for Curriculum & Instruction

No significant learning occurs without significant relationship. James Comer
We believe that through relationship and ownership in curriculum, students will be
naturally motivated to do creative and rigorous work.
Students will be grouped by grade level, with full inclusion.
All teachers will be held accountable for posting and maintaining the culture of the
full value contract within their classroom.
Mentor Group:
-Each day, all faculty will break for a mentor group of ten students. In this 45 minute
time frame, teachers will be responsible for checking in with each student to build a
relationship. At least one of the five days in the week will be used to team build with
the mentor group. The remaining days can be used to review progress toward
individual student goals, help students catch up on missed work, discus problems in
their lives and community, or work together to help a cause. This faculty mentor will
be present at all meetings regarding this child and will move with the child in the
same group from 5th to 8th grade.
Core Subject Areas:
-Each core content teacher will have a special education teacher in their classroom
as a coteacher to assist with differentiating activities for the diverse needs of the
learners in front of them.
-Each classroom will consist of no more than twenty students.
-Teachers will hold students accountable for the standards in the Pennsylvania
Common Core that correspond with the students academic levels. Thus, a child
reading at a third grade reading level receives instruction and expectations set for
that level, until the child advances.
-Teachers will follow PA requirements for content in their grade level.
-Teachers will be held responsible for setting individual goals with students related
to their content area. Goals and evidence of progress toward them will then be
forwarded to the childs mentor teacher, as well as sending the data to a
comprehensive data dashboard.

-All core content area classes will have a one-to-one computer to student ratio.
When best practice dictates, students will be encouraged to use technology to
display their learning through the use of movies, e-portfolios, website builds, and
other applications.
Related Arts:
-Related Arts classrooms will consist of no more than twenty students.
-Teachers will assist Core Content teachers by implementing the common core
when appropriate within their subject area.
-Technology will be available to these teachers through the use of mobile computer
carts, as well as up to date devices that best fit the course content (i.e. specialized
technological education equipment, low and high ropes course in physical
education, kiln in art).
-Related Arts teachers will be supported by special education teachers on a rotating
schedule (7th grade related arts classes, will have 7th grade special education
teachers).
RTII Instruction:
-RTII Instruction begins when a student is one or more grade levels behind.
-Tier two instruction is held during one of the childs related arts periods every
other day. Instruction in tier two groups is taught by specialists within the field and
limited to a group of five students per class.
-RTII instruction for students two or more grade levels behind will be taught in
addition to the tier two class after school for a period of 45 minutes every other day.
This programming will focus on remedial skills and be taught by specialist. Again,
these class sizes will be limited to five students.

Staff Development Plan Synopsis

Research on professional development for teachers has shifted in the last decade
from delivering and evaluating professional-development programs to focusing
more on authentic teacher learning and the conditions that support it (WebsterWright, 2009).

When teachers receive well-designed professional development, an average of

49 hours spread over six to 12 months, they can increase student achievement
by as much as 21 percentile points (Yoon, Duncan, Lee, Scarloss, and Shapley,
2007).

Effective professional-development programs are job-embedded and provide

teachers with five critical elements (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009):

Collaborative learning: Teachers have opportunities to learn in a

supportive community that organizes curriculum across grade levels and
subjects.

Links between curriculum, assessment, and professional-learning

decisions in the context of teaching specific content: Particularly for math
and science professional-development programs, research has emphasized
the importance of developing math and science content knowledge, as well as
pedagogical techniques for the content area (Blank, de las Alas, and Smith,
2008; Blank and de las Alas, 2009; Heller, Daehler, Wong, Shinohara, and
Miratrix, 2012).

Active learning: Teachers apply new knowledge and receive feedback, with
on-going data to reflect how teaching practices influence student learning
over time.

Deeper knowledge of content and how to teach it: Training teachers

solely in new techniques and behaviors will not work.

Sustained learning, over multiple days and weeks: Professionaldevelopment efforts that engage teachers in 30 to 100 hours of learning over
six months to one year have been shown to increase student achievement.

No single professional-development practice, strategy, approach, method, or

activity works well under all conditions. Professional development must be
focused on both learning and learners and it should actively involve all
stakeholders in collectively constructing and re-constructing a shared vision of
effective teaching for the local school context. As conditions change,
improvement efforts at all levels should be poised to adapt. Borko (2004) has
found that successful PD programs work because dedicated facilitators are
available to troubleshoot, customize, and adapt PD endeavors to support
schools specific learning needs.

New Teacher Induction Program

Assign an overall program proctor to oversee the new teachers within the
district.
Prior to school beginning, hold a 3-day training session to include, but not
limited to, meet & greet with program proctor, teacher mentor, other new
teachers, district administration; review program requirements; district policies
and procedures; assigned school policies and procedures; content curriculum;
technology; etc.
Assign all new teachers a mentor who will meet with the new teacher 1x/week.
Allow time in teachers schedules to allow this to happen.
All new teachers are required to meet with grade-level principal every 6 weeks.
All new teachers are required to observe and reflect on a minimum of two
classrooms within the district elementary, middle, and high schools. A reflection
on each observation should be submitted at the end of the current school year.
All new teachers should attend a minimum of 15 hours of outside professional
development and produce a reflection to be submitted at the end of the current
school year.

Twin Valley Academy School Effectiveness Plan

School Effectiveness Goals:
Parents, Students, Teachers should know the reasons why effectiveness in education
is important.
Parents, Students, Teachers should be able to understand the characteristics which
make a school effective.
Parents, Students, Teacher should participate in process of making their school
effective.
School Effectiveness Expectations:
All stakeholders will assess school effectiveness based upon the following
characteristics before, during and after the school year as a measurement
benchmark towards growth.

Students, teachers and parents will complete school effective questionnaire the
week before school begins, at the midterm and during the last week of school.
Assessment indicators will be organized by D-developing, P-proficient, Aaccomplished,
D-distinguished and ND - not demonstrated scale.

School Environment a safe environment where all students and teachers feel
safe in and out of the classroom.
Assessment indicators
Environment will be filled with choice in open classrooms with dialogue, team
work and collaboration imbedded in daily routine.
Mechanism for dealing with conflict would be restorative practices for
understanding amongst adults and student population.
Positive Classroom Environment Students feel safe, comfortable to take
risks and know they will not be judged. In addition, students will feel fulfilled
by the content of their classes.
Assessment indicators
Students will have open anonymous online forum to communicate with staff.
Also there will be bi-weekly small group forums with one adult responsible for
connecting with small groups of students ( every student has one adult to lean
on).

Qualified Educational Leaders school administration and teacher leaders are

highly qualified, experienced and goal oriented.
Assessment indicators
Community, administration, teachers and students will identify goals for school
initiatives.
All in- service and graduate work will be funneled towards mutually agreed
upon initiatives.
Setting Goals Academic and non- academic goals are set for school, grade
level, classroom and individual student. These goals are saved, reviewed and
revised as needed.
Assessment indicators
Administration and teaching staff will create quarterly SMART goals for
school and classroom practice which will be posted.

Students will create individual SMART goals per class and post.

All SMART goals will be reflected upon and updated as needed.

High Expectations for Students Students will have curricular goals explained
to them. Student will also collaborate with parents and teachers to establish
personal benchmarks that reflect success.
Assessment indicators
All benchmarks will be district creations under local control with all
stakeholders given opportunity for feedback.
Benchmarks will be connected to and rooted in goals and in-service indicated
above.
Research and Funding All curriculum and pedagogy will be rooted in best
practice with an assist from technology.
Assessment indicators
Funding will be focused on professional development along with a focus on
grant writing to assist school initiatives.
**Assessment indicators will be organized by developing, proficient,
accomplished, distinguished and not demonstrated scale. Interventions will
be based upon feedback. Students, teachers and parents will complete school
effective questionnaire the week before school begins, at the midterm and
during the last week of school to assess achievement of school effectiveness plan.

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