A notforprofit organization

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Closing the Achievement Gap through Professional
Development Using Videoconferencing Presented
by Claudia Wheatley Director of Outreach Center
for Interactive Learning and Collaboration cwheatl
ey_at_cilc.org 812.952.1503 812.972.1025
(mobile) www.cilc.org
A not-for-profit organization dedicated to
transforming learning through collaborative
technologies
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The District Challenge
Create Demand or Sense of Urgency

• Poor scores most schools not making AYP
• Poverty throughout
• High student mobility
• Leadership turnstile
• Poorly trained staff
• Lack of resources
• Curriculum, instruction and assessment not
  aligned
• Unmotivated students

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Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum

• Work to align curriculum to state standards
• District A participated in ongoing
  videoconferences on Unpacking the Standards
  with an expert
• Multiple school teams working with mentor on-
  site and through video conferences to ensure all
  educators know how to achieve the standard
  indicators
• Technology tools are used to assess standard
  achievement
• All teachers participated in after school PD-no
  subs needed. Saved time and travel.

District A Solution
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Parent Involvement

• What Every Parent Needs to Know
  Videoconferencing Series for Parents Broadcast at
  Several Schools in District
• I Know You Dont Want to Leave any Child Behind
  but Where Are You Taking Them?
  in English and Spanish
• How to Help Your Child with Homework
• Theyll Never Know They Are Learning Creative
  Ideas for Down Time!
• Parenting with Love and Logic
• Making Sense of New Math
• Silent Sufferers Identifying the Signs of
  Emotional Problems

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Authentic Student and Community Involvement

• Coastal Lake Project
• Involves several school districts in northern
  Indiana and Michigan
• Student teams take part in problem-based
  learning as they work with experts in the field,
  community members, and schools throughout the
  region to solve environmental issues related to
  coastal lakes.
• Video conferencing is utilized as a tool to keep
  all stakeholders collaborating and to learn from
  experts throughout the country. Students also
  share their projects with other teams over video
  conferencing

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Collegiality and Professionalism
District A has extremely high mobility. They
are using video conferencing as a way for schools
within the district to collaborate to ensure
consistency of programming. This is essential if
we are not going to experience large gaps in a
students learning. We also are using it to
collaborate with other urban schools to identify
issues and to share solutions. District A is
taking advantage of the PD toolkit series to
ensure our in-house facilitators and coaches are
as professional and as skilled as possible.
Dr. Myrtle
Campbell Asst. Supt., District A Schools
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Professionalism

• Aligning with NCLBA, District A is certifying all
  teaching assistants. They take part in
  Paraprofessional Academy, a video conferencing
  series to prepare them for the ParaPro test and
  to support them as they strive to learn new
  skills.
• District A is also taking part in beginning
  teacher mentor certification through video and
  online collaborative tools.

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Instructional Strategies

• District A is in a state initiative that focuses
  on Dr. Robert Marzanos research on Classroom
  Instruction That Works. They receive ongoing
  training on the following through video
  conferencing and online collaboration
• 9 instructional strategies that increase
  achievement most
• Research-based vocabulary strategies
• Research on homework, literacy frameworks,
  curriculum design, assessment and leadership.

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PD Aligned to Academic Goals

• Writing across the curriculum and math problem
  solving are the two goals where many District A
  schools are centering their improvement efforts.
  They take advantage of many of the ongoing video
  conferencing and Centra online conferencing to
  continue to expand educator skills and knowledge
• Writers Workshop Series
• Math Problem Solving Series

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Powerful PD Models Effective with VC
Save time Save money Save travel Save subs

• Administrative coaching
• Instructional coaching
• School district mentoring
• Examining student work collaboratively
• Designing and aligning lessons collaboratively
• Direct knowledge and skill building
• Sharing processes such as action research
• Blended graduate and certification classes
• Model teaching
• Study groups

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Closing The Gap for Kids

• Video conferencing can help us close the
  achievement gap by providing student programming
  that
• Provides deeper knowledge than texts
• Teaches by experiencing (80 of students from
  poverty are kinesthetic learners)
• Provides targeted audiences for student products
  and performances
• Creates real world applications
• Builds civic engagement
• Ensures students hear vocabulary in context

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How Can Video Conferencing Work for You?

• Share with neighboring participants two ideas
  that could be or are used in your school or
  organization
• For pre-service and experienced teachers
• For paraprofessionals
• For administrators
• For students
• For parents
• For community partners

Becoming a Professional Learning Community