4 EDCAL April 24, 2017
MATH
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wrong with the answer to the problem and
I don’t mind that.”
McDonald says the challenge of his
district and so many others was finding pro-
grams that could elevate students’ opportu-
nities for college and career readiness.
“Equity is a value and in a district
with declining enrollment, we embarked
on a mission to provide our families with
strong academic programs,” he said. “This
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school has become one of the most highly
sought after in the district because of the
math academy and similar programs now
offered.”
But Roberts says his students are no dif-
ferent than students in any other classroom
in any other school.
“They would look exactly the same.
Some are athletes, some are artists and some
are goofballs,” he said. “They just happen to
love math and they are good at it.”
Maharaj and Roberts know the work the
students are doing in their classrooms is set-
ting them up to dream bigger.
“We’re changing the lives of these stu-
dents,” Roberts said. “Some kids had aspi-
rations of just graduating high school or
community college. Now they are thinking
bigger and wan ting to go to Cal Tech.”
Gieselman admits that being able to do
the math that many high school and some
college students can’t do is an incredible
feeling.
“We’re half their age and it’s an ego boost
because it’s very cool to see this cool math
and be able to do it,” he said.
Nominations now open for
national superintendent award
April 25 is the deadline to sub-
mit nomination forms for the National
Association of School Superintendents’
2017 Superintendent of the Year award.
“We had two incredible education lead-
ers win the award in 2016,” said David
Brown, NASS executive director. “This year
we are searching for a student and com-
munity advocate that puts students first in
terms of equity, proficiency, and college and
career readiness.”
The 2016 winners of the National
Superintendent of the Year award were
Timothy Purnell of Somerville Public
Schools in New Jersey and Cedric Gray
of Jackson Public Schools in Mississippi.
Nominees for the award must possess
important leadership skills, including evi-
dence of productive innovations, effective
communications, demonstrated success with
student-growth; integrity in service, models
of relationship building for the entire school
district, as well as positive leadership with
equity and social justice.
Candidates may self-nominate, but
NASS is looking primarily for peer recom-
mendations. A committee of five superin-
tendents has been assembled to review the
submissions and recommendations.
“Leadership is incredibly important as
we see public education evolving nation-
wide,” Brown said.
Nomination forms are available at nass.
us. A decision will be announced May 15.
CalPERS OKs five-year strategic plan
The California Public Employees’
Retirement System Board has approved a
new five-year strategic plan that will serve
as a blueprint for meeting the investment,
retirement, and health benefit needs of
members and their families into the future.
The plan was the product of a year-long
effort by CalPERS Board members, senior
leaders, and CalPERS employees, with con-
tributions from employer associations, labor
groups, retiree associations, federal repre-
sentatives, health and investment business
partners, and state government officials.
“The ideas and resolve that went into
developing this plan represent collabora-
tion, innovation, and thoughtful insights
that lay a strong foundation for the years
ahead,” said Rob Feckner, president of the
CalPERS Board.
The 2017-22 Strategic Plan identifies
five overarching goals: Strengthen the long-
term sustainability of the pension fund;
transform health care purchasing and deliv-
ery to achieve affordability; reduce com-
plexity across the enterprise; cultivate a
risk-intelligent organization; and promote
a high-performing and diverse workforce.
Within these five goals are 36 specific
measures that will be monitored over the
life of the plan to track progress. These
measures will track a broad range of tar-
gets, including employer contribution rates,
investment returns, access to primary and
specialty health care, benefit payment time-
liness, total overhead cost, cyber security
risk rating, and workforce diversity.
For more than eight decades, CalPERS
has built retirement and health security for
state, school and public agency members
who invest their lifework in public service.
The pension fund serves more than 1.8
million members in the CalPERS retire-
ment system and administers benefits for
more than 1.4 million members and their
families in our health program, making it
the largest defined-benefit public pension in
the U.S. For more information, visit www.
calpers.ca.gov.
Two new cohorts focusing on continuous improvement being
developed for ACSA’s Systems Leadership Collaborative
meetings master
For Principals and Central Office Administrators
June 13
Butte COE, Oroville
June 14
ACSA Ontario Office
June 15
Santa Clara COE
register online today!
https://www.regonline.com/meetingsmaster2017
ACSA is excited to collaborate with CCSESA and CCEE to inform content created
for our professional learning programs focused on continuous improvement. Over
the three years of implementation, we have worked with nearly 200 districts and
have enjoyed a focus on using the LCAP to close the achievement gap and make a
difference for the students of California. We continue to develop programs to sup-
port counties, districts, and schools as they implement our state’s Local Control and
Accountability Plan system in the California Way.
Last year, we started the Systems Leadership Collaborative in association with
Michael Fullan Enterprises and Jay Westover at InnovateEd. We still have nine of the
original 15 districts engaged: Santa Rosa City Schools, Ukiah USD, Lynwood USD,
South Whittier SD, Corona-Norco USD, Gateway Charter Schools, Woodland JUSD,
Visalia USD, and Riverside USD.
We are happy to announce we are opening membership for two new cohorts in
our Systems Leadership Collaborative. System leaders catalyze collective leader-
ship with a commitment to the health of the whole (Senge, et al., 2015). As district
leaders pursue bold goals for student achievement, it is important they can see
their district as a system connected at every level rather than a disconnected set of
departments, schools, classrooms, and individuals.
Pre-LCAP, the California education system was driven by what Michael Fullan calls
the wrong drivers: external accountability, individualistic policies, superficial use of
technology, and ad hoc policies. External accountability by way of NCLB did little to
motivate or create sustainable change; individualistic policies focused on improving
individuals have no impact on the overall culture of a system, superficial use of
technology does not result in deeper learning, and ad hoc policies create scattered
and unconnected initiatives to increase student outcomes (Fullan and Munby, 2016).
ACSA’s Systems Leadership Collaborative will allow leaders to build their system
leadership qualities as they use the right drivers to create coherence in their continu-
ous improvement cycle. Through vertical team involvement, including teacher and
principal leaders, the superintendent and the district cabinet, a district can create
the kind of system-wide collaboration needed to make sustainable change to create
better outcomes for all students.
The collaborative year is comprised
of 3 two-day sessions:
Fall Winter Spring
Oct. 10-11. . . . . . North
Oct. 12-13. . . . . . South Feb. 20-21. . . . . . North
Feb. 22-23. . . . . . South May 1-2. . . . . . . . North
May 3-4. . . . . . . . South
Planning actions toward specific goals will be integral to each session and will
address the California accountability context. During the year there will be opportuni-
ties for on-site consultation with facilitators. In between sessions, district teams will
be expected to apply learning from sessions and complete actions.
A Learning Fair will be the culminating and powerful activity held on the final
day to share and showcase the work of each district as they strive to “Maximize
Coherence.”
Program Cost
• $15,000 for districts above 5,000 ADA for up to nine people with $1,000 for each
additional member.
• $5,000 for each district below 5,000 ADA for up to three people with $1,000 for
each additional member (small districts are encouraged to partner with two other
small districts).
• This is a vertical team based approach, thus districts are strongly encouraged to
include ALL district cabinet members, as well as principal and teacher leaders.
Membership Process
• Contact Gicel Viveros to set up a conversation with an SLC Team member at
[email protected] or 916-329-3844.
• The SLC team will want to meet with the superintendent, either in person or over
the phone, to determine if the program is a good fit for your district.
• Mutual agreement between the district and SLC will be made around the partici-
pation of your district.
• The deadline to join is August 1, 2017.