ance on outside consultants to provide pro-
fessional development and sets the basis for
a large school district to establish a system-
wide structure to not only build capacity but
also to benefit from various skills and levels
of expertise teachers and leaders have within
the district.
Cohort visits to school sites is another im-
portant layer to the deep implementation of
the high-impact strategies throughout the
district. Principals visit each other’s school
sites, providing feedback on evidence of
success criteria aligned to the professional
learning received by the Instructional Lead-
ership Team. This method of support is es-
sential as it allows for our newest principals
to interact with more experienced leaders
within the cohort to gain the necessary in-
sight and courage to face challenges when
working towards establishing high expec-
tations for teaching and learning at their
school sites.
The ongoing professional learning ses-
sions are deliberately designed to occur over
the course of the entire school year. Content
is intentionally developed to reach deep lev-
els of implementation with the understand-
ing that time must be devoted to rich col-
laboration, discussion, and reflection on the
implementation of the high-impact strate-
gies in the classroom by teachers, as well
as site and district leadership. Across the
district, teachers have approximately three
hours of collaboration every other week,
which allows for a designated time for teach-
ers to discuss the high-impact strategies and
their effect on the students they serve.
The cohesion and consistency of the learn-
ing is another contributing factor to the deep
levels of implementation of the research-
based practices. Across the district, there
is a common language of the high-impact
strategies that support language develop-
ment and the expectations for addressing
the needs of various target groups, par-
ticularly ELs, students with disabilities,
students of poverty and foster youth. The
common language not only benefits teachers
and leaders, but also serves as a guiding lens
for CVESD board members as they visit
schools throughout the district, giving them
an opportunity to see first-hand the invest-
ment in the learning throughout the system.
Leading a district that sees each child
is an individual of great worth takes dedi-
cated and committed educational leaders
at both the district and school-site level. At
CVESD, the focus on deep learning around
strategies to address individual student
needs and success demands that we work to-
gether to thoroughly address the individual
challenges and opportunities presented to
each of our students. Utilizing our diverse
talents through our interdependence means
students benefit from all of the collected
knowledge and skills contained in our large
and unique district. While CVESD un-
derstands the magnitude of moving such a
large system forward in the improvement of
teaching and learning, it is only together, in
our unity of purpose, that we can confidently
meet the needs of all of our students.
Dr. Gloria Ciriza is the Executive Director of
Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment of
Chula Vista Elementary School District.
November | December 2018
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