The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning

Passionately pursuing to create generations of globalized citizens.

The Charter Petition for

The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning

Submitted to the

DeKalb County School District

March 17, 2016

(Revised: April 25, 2016)

(2017-2018 Academic Year)

The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning 2016 Charter Petition

Charter Information & Petition Questions

The DCSD Charter School Petition Guidelines questions are aligned and consistent with the GADOE Application. ALL questions and sub-questions must be answered. Corresponding tips are located at the back of these guidelines.

Including the SBOE application, the petitioner should copy the following form as the first page of their DCSD charter petition:

Name of Proposed Charter School: The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning

Check one: _x_New Start-Up _New Conversion

_Start-up renewal _Conversion Renewal College & Career Academy

If renewal, when was the original charter term start date? If renewal, for how many charter terms has the school been in existence?

Name of the Georgia nonprofit corporation that will hold the charter, if granted:

The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning, Inc.

Contact person: Tomiko M. Thompson, Ed.S Founder Name Title

Contact address:

Telephone number of contact:

E-mail address of contact: i

Grade Levels Served: K-8

Ages Served: 5-14

Proposed Opening/Renewal Date: August 2017

Proposed Charter Term: Five years

The Petitioner should indicate all grade levels to be served each year during the charter term. For each year of the charter term, please indicate the maximum number of pupils the charter school plans to serve each school year.

Year/Grade K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Total 2017-2018 72 80 80 80 88 400

2018-2019 72 80 80 80 80 88 480

2019-2020 72 88 88 88 88 88 88 600

2020-2021 72 88 88 88 88 88 88 96 696

2021-2022 84 88 88 88 88 88 96 96 96 812

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C H A R T E R A P P L I C A T I O N C O V E R P A G E S

Check one: _x__New Start-Up ___New Conversion

___Start-up renewal ___Conversion Renewal

If renewal, when was the original charter term start date? _____

If renewal, for how many charter terms has the school been in existence? ____

* Due to changes in Georgia State law, all charter contractsincluding those of conversion charter

schoolsmust be held by a Georgia non-profit corporation.

Name of the Georgia nonprofit corporation that will hold the charter if granted:

_______The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning, Inc. ____________________________

Name of Proposed Charter School: __The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning______________

Local school system in which charter school will be physically located: DeKalb County School District

Contact person: Tomiko M. Thompson Founder

Name Title

Contact address:

Telephone number of contact:

Fax number of contact:

E-mail address of contact:

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Charter School Name _____The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning_____________________

Type __Locally-approved Start-up_______________________(Locally-approved Start-up, State Chartered

Special School, Career Academy, Jointly Authorized, Virtual)

Approved by the _____________________________ Board of Education on _____________

Grade Levels Served _____K-8____________________

Ages Served _____5-14___________________________

Proposed Opening/Renewal Date __August 2017____________

Proposed Charter Term __Five years________________ (If this is a renewal petition with a term other

than 5 years requested, please give the rationale for the requested term length)

Mission Statement __ The mission of the Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning is to create globalized citizens who embody a passion to make a positive impact in their community and in the world. We will

accomplish this goal by providing high quality educational programming in a service-learning environment

for our students through the use of effective instructional tools, specialized training for our faculty and staff,

and cooperative collaboration among all stakeholders.

For each year of the proposed charter term, please indicate the number of pupils the charter school

plans to serve.

K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Total

Yr 1 72 80 80 80 88 400

Yr 2 72 80 80 80 80 88 480

Yr 3 72 88 88 88 88 88 88 600

Yr 4 72 88 88 88 88 88 88 96 696

Yr 5 84 88 88 88 88 88 96 96 96 812

Yr 6

Yr 7

Yr 8

Yr 9

Yr 10

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The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning 2016 Charter Petition DCSD Charter Informationi

DCSD Signature Sheetii

GADOE Cover Application Pagesiii

Table of Contentsv

Charter Petition Questions Page # Question 1. The Purpose and Motivation for a Charter 1 Question 2. The Schools Mission & Legislative Intent 5 Question 3. The Spence Institutes Performance Objectives 8 Question 4. Monitoring Academic Goals and Progress 10 Question 5. Curriculum and Innovations 12 Question 6. Special Populations 28 Question 7. Gifted and Talented 29 Question 8. Students with Disabilities 30 Question 9. Supplemental Education Services 32 Question 10. Remediation for At-Risk Students 32 Question 11. English Language Learners 34 Question 12. Proposed Extracurricular Activities 36 Question 13. Academic Waivers 37 Question 14. Organizational Goals & Measures 39 Question 15. Description of Organizational Innovation 40 Question 16. Organizational Waivers 42 Question 17. An Autonomous Governing Board 44 Question 18. Grievances 48 Question 19. Certificate of Incorporation 49 Question 20. Governing Board Members 50 Question 21. Bylaws 51 Question 22. Conflicts of Interest 51 Question 23. Educational Service Provider 51 Question 24. Proposed Partnerships & Business Arrangements 51 Question 25. Financial Goals and Measures 52 Question 26. Achieving Financial Objectives Through Financial Innovation 55 Question 27. Fundraising or Other Sources of Income 57 Question 28. Financial Waivers 57 Question 29. Student Admissions 58 Question 30. Proposed School Facility 61 Question 31. MOU for the Proposed Facility 61 Question 32. Certificate of Occupancy 62 Question 33. The Spence Institutes Safety Plan 62 Question 34. Student Code of Conduct 62 Question 35. Organization and Management of the School 64 Question 36. Staff Qualifications, Recruitment and Hiring Practices & Procedures 64 Question 37. Addendum Question 3- Certification & High-Qualified Teachers 66 Question 38. Background Checks 67 Question 39. Employee Evaluation 67 Question 40. Addendum Question 6- State Health Benefit Plan Participation 67 Question 41. Transportation Services 67 Question 42. Food Services 67 Question 43. Legal Representation 68 Question 44. Insurance Coverage 68 Question 45. Additional Information 68 Question 46. Letter of Assurances 68 Questions 47-49 Conversion, High School, and Renewal Petition Requirements 68

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Tab Number

Document Name

1 Community Support Survey Results Marketing Brochure Committed Partners

2 The Spence Institutes Programs & Initiatives Pilot and Rollout Plan

3 i-Ready & Ready Sample Reports 4 Content Area Instructional Frameworks 5 Service Learning Toolkit 6 Full Curriculum

7 Planned Materials ELL Planned Materials

8 New Tech Network 2015 Student Outcomes Report 9 Community Memberships 10 TKES& Teach Like a Champion Crosswalk

Collaborative Metrics Appraisal 11 College & Career Readiness Checklists 12 Internal Plans for Special Populations 13 Extracurricular Partnerships 14 High Performance Organization (HPO) Framework 15 Governance Matrix 16 Certificate of Incorporation 17 Resumes of Governing Board 18 Bylaws 19 Conflicts of Interest Forms 20 Proposed Partnerships & Business Arrangements 21 Budget 22 CFO Resume 23 Intentionally Left Blank 24 Tax Exempt Status 25 Enrollment Application 26 Calendar & Schedules

27Code of Conduct Student Handbook Uniform Policy

28 Proposed School Facility 29 Faculty Handbook 30 Job Descriptions 31 Salary Schedule 32 Letter of Assurances

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I. The CaseQ1. The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning desires a charter to achieve its vision of delivering optimal levels of academics, core values, and social skills that will position our students to succeed in secondary, collegiate and professional programs. Obtaining a charter will allow us to create the systems that firmly supports the academic foundation that DeKalb County School District students need to become academically advanced and global-minded.

Our motto, Passionately pursuing to create generations of globalized citizens, serves as a blueprint for the encapsulating work that we will seek to achieve with our students. A globalized citizen is one that believes:

every community is our community; our educational foundation can contribute and impact our community through service-learning, we can take action to create positive change and cultural awareness helps us to identify with an emerging world.

As a service-learning institution, TSILL will guide students in demonstrating curricular objectives while engaging in meaningful and interactive service with those in the broader communities of DeKalb County, as well as nationally and globally, in order to develop a fuller awareness and understanding of the diversity of human experiences.

Dedicated to the advancement and cultivation of teacher leaders, we also desire a charter to better support, train, develop and celebrate the greatest asset of the school, effective teachers who provide game changing instruction.

Q1a. The premise to which The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning (TSILL) was founded was to reawaken an educational atmosphere that is focused on building and developing teachers. We firmly and whole-heartily adopt the notion that the education of a child cannot be enriched without first cultivating the education and effectiveness of teachers. TSILL seeks to create a culture that evokes productivity, passion and excitement. The creation of that culture will be established when we provide teachers with the needed resources, training and support to make informed instructional decisions based upon academic data that will result in individualized and differentiated support for all students.

TSILL strives to deliver optimal levels of academics, core values and social skills that will position our students to succeed in secondary, collegiate and professional programs. We believe that our uniquely defined and research-based charter petition will exponentially demonstrate our intent to deliver a personalized learning experience that provides every student the opportunity to achieve their academic goals regardless of previous preparation or background. Through differentiated planning and support, service learning, and leveraging the best practices of curriculum design and technology, TSILL will engage students in 21st century work, using competencies necessary for productive lives as citizens in a dynamically and increasingly competitive global world.

Q1b. With a charter, Spence will be able to provide teachers with the job-embedded training that allows the relevancy and needs-based support that teachers need to succeed. We can afford this opportunity to teachers through our schools on-site teacher and development center, Spence University. Our larger mission is to shift our focus from desired student outcomes to answering the question of how do we create and enrich the processes and structures needed to achieve the student outcomes we want. In essence, when the process through which change and improvement must travel is defined and established; the outcome of desired results is a natural occurrence.


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Spence desires the opportunity to sustain dynamic learning practices amid required accountability, increasingly diverse student populations, and a growing alienation and disengagement among many young people. A charter will assist us in meeting these challenges by engaging students of various abilities and learning styles; fostering a healthy balance between a students individual aspirations and his or her responsibility as a productive citizen through regular and authentic service learning. As a service learning school, Spence will strengthen the school-community relationship by providing the window for communities to see students and classrooms as resources for addressing issues and in exchange shifting the mindset of students to become active contributors of the community rather than passive observers. Without a charter, it would not be possible for us to make the intended contribution to a system that has demonstrated over 190 years of excellence1. Granting us a charter to open The Spence Institute allows us to participate in DeKalb County School Districts campaign to become a nationally recognized school system that builds partnerships, values teachers and produces tomorrows leaders. More importantly, with a charter we will have revolving opportunities to partner with other DCSD traditional schools, charter schools and centers to create a network that is focused on contributing to the mission and vision of our county and school system. Q1c. In gathering data for community support and involvement in the development of the charter petition, the petitioning group developed grass root efforts to engage with DeKalb County School District parents of K-8 students. A small group of Spence supporters (comprised of parents and teachers of DeKalb County) joined members of the petitioning group to engage the community by talking with parents at local retail stores, churches, and community events to introduce the school and briefly entail the schools intent to be a community contributor through service learning. The Founding Board collaborated with the research team of Constant Contact, to form marketing campaigns and survey platforms that would reveal what academic structures were most important to DCSD parents. The petitioning group used the training provided by Constant Contact and the research behind the characteristics of high performing schools to elicit feedback on numerous school elements including the academic support structures, fine arts, parent involvement, and school culture and then designed the survey and related methodology. The findings were utilized by the Founding Board to inform the development of our submitted petition. Our creatively designed marketing tools included our Facebook page and school website to gained the public interest and support for the charter petition. Our Explore Spence-Service Learning is one brochure in a series of brochures that were created to market the school and it also created the most attraction to complete our Community Support Survey. Our service-learning brochure is included in Tab 1. The Founding Board used the open comment sections of the schools Community Support Survey to gauge how parents feel about their current DeKalb County school as well as answering the question on what Spence could do to garner and sustain parent support and involvement. The very audacious and honest feedback that we received helped fueled our academic design on what supports and structures need to be in place on day one. All survey responses are documented and included in the survey results. From the 150 respondents, 90% of the respondents (134) were DCSD parents with the remaining 10% of the respondents as community members. This significant sample size provided the petitioning team a true picture of educational programming that parents desire for their children. While many of the survey school elements are present in DCSD schools, Lithonia area schools have maintained long standing performance data at levels of Priority, Focus and Alert. With research demonstrating that these survey elements can produce high performing

1 Retrieved on January 30, 2015 from http://oldwww.dekalb.k12.ga.us/about/history.html.


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schools, we will actualize on those results by analyzing and designing a more strategic and intentional processes for how the school elements are created and performed. Long after the approval of our charter petition, we intend to highlight parent involvement as an essential part of our academic program. TSILL will be committed to not only involving parents in the traditional events (parent night, open house, etc.), but also soliciting formal and informal input. Survey results revealed, that Spence must fulfill the need for an open, transparent, and inviting environment for our families. In the effort to formalize a supportive partnership with our parents, our priority will be to form the TSILL Parent Advisory Committee. Members of this committee must be parents/guardians of enrolled students. The purpose will be to actively advise and make recommendations to the school regarding creation of structures to improve student achievement, opportunities for increased parent/community involvement, parent education, and overall improvement of the school community. Additionally, the TSILL Parent Advisory Committee will formally present an annual report to the Governing Board of its recommendations for overall improvement of TSILL. Strong communication and substantive collaboration with families and community will be the hallmark of TSILL. We will continue to develop parental involvement and participation in the school through methods that include, but are not limited to:

Back to School, Open House Night Parenting classes Computer Literacy Night School volunteer opportunities

Q1c.i TSILL will have a strong focus on community both in and outside of the school. Our vision is to serve a truly diverse background of students, representing the racial, cultural, and socio-economic demographics that DeKalb County offers. The Spence Institute plans to serve approximately 812 students in grades K-8 by way of a full build out in Year 5, and will open August 2017 with grades K-4, accepting approximately 400 applications. TSILL will offer quality programs and supplemental educational opportunities that are not readily accessible to many DCSD students. TSILL intends to work in partnership with the DeKalb County School District to attract families and teachers by offering a unique, dynamic, and challenging charter school option. Our research of the academic data on surrounding schools in the Lithonia area matched survey results that the need for additional charter options were needed and wanted by parents and guardians. While our initial focus groups and one-on-one conversations were focused upon introducing the school, the concepts of service-learning, STEM and fine arts, we felt it was vital to collect our data on how to build a program based upon the academic components that were most important to parents and the education that they want for their children. With participation of 150 DeKalb County parents and guardians, our survey results reflected that 75% of those parents considered their school to be good or fair. When asked to rate academic components that were the most important to them, respondents selected high quality teachers (54%), individualized learning plans and supports (52%), instructional strategies that reaches diverse learners (50%), and fine arts (48%) completing the top four academic components. Ninety-seven percent of the respondents stated that they would consider enrollment at The Spence Institute. Q1c.ii Community Support Survey Result and Letters of Support- Tab 1: Community Support.


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Q1c.iii During the writing stage of this petition, the Founding Board connected with community leaders and officials, businesses, schools, colleges, universities, learning centers, churches and retailers through the means of email, introduction letters, phone calls and scheduled meetings to establish a base to which the school can build and sustain community support. The initial campaign to seek out and establish successful partnerships is summarized below. Following this model of building and sustaining partnerships provided by NewSchools Venture Fund2, allowed the Founding Board to better understand how to engage and collaborate with community leaders and organizations. While it is laborious to find partnerships that meet all of the needs of a charter start-up, we sought to identify core needs that were critical to our initiation. By first identifying primary needs, of facilities and academic supports, it provided a clear focus of how we would invest our time and resources and we targeted our relationship-building efforts accordingly. Our facilities-related correspondences involved land owners, real estate agents, loan agencies, builders including persons or organizations that could provide temporary spacing. We eventually partnered with Josh Gregory, Vice President of Colliers International Atlanta. This partnership provided an analysis of promising DeKalb County facilities that could serve as our school home. More information on this partner is listed under Q24. Please see Tab 20 for additional partners. TSILLs enriched academic program has been supported through many interested parties. While the mutual benefit to partner with suppliers of instructional resources and support is understandable, TSILL will develop the infrastructure to maintain our partnerships overtime, moving beyond the roles of buyers and sellers. Building successful partnerships requires a clear and shared vision for the relationship and structures that will allow partners to work together on an ongoing basis. Several factors played a major role in how we created partnerships. Those factors included sharing a common bond, seeking a two-way value, on-going communications and by establishing a relationship management structure to handle conflicts, answer questions and mediate problems. In addition to those factors we will seek to:

Build Internal Capacity. By establishing a Collaborative Partnership and Outreach Design Team, TSILL will strategize how to effectively engage community stakeholders and specialize in creating specific partnerships that will enhance our curriculum, effectively market our charter school, and benefit the overall operations of the school.

Build External Capacity. As we dedicate staff resources for future community outreach efforts, TSILL will also strive to garner support in the communities we intend to serve by attending neighborhood meetings and organizing focus groups.

TSILL will create avenues to support and sustain our newly founded partnerships. Those paths include, but are not limited to:

Setting clear expectations for the partnership Maintaining open lines of communication Quarterly continental breakfast and tours of the school Invitations to school functions and sports events Annual Partnership Review/Evaluation

2 Building and Maintaining Successful Community Partnerships, NewSchools Venture Fund, June 2007.


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TSILL recognizes the importance of community ties. Schools are an integral part of the community in which it serves and as such, they are heavily impacted by the people and organizations that surrounds it. In creating a road map to maintain and build future partnerships, our efforts must not be haphazard or reactive, but strategic and proactive. We believe that we can best bridge community partnerships and enhanced curriculum by establishing a Collaborative Partnership and Outreach Design Team. Our Collaborative Partnership and Outreach Design Team will be responsible for community outreach efforts that:

builds and sustains positive community relations; showcases the school through organized school tours and social media creates access to valuable resources (i.e. instructional materials, volunteers, etc.) and develops partnerships that enhance and support the schools curriculum

We intend to quarterly measure the performance of our Collaborative Partnerships and Outreach Design Team by creating systems and metrics that track and maintain the progress and status of our community outreach efforts. Q1c.iv- The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning has sought to establish itself among DeKalb Countys most elite organizations. Our memberships are targeted to pursue networking opportunities that are beneficial for both parties. Evidence of membership to the following organizations is included in: Tab 9 Community Memberships.

DeKalb Chamber of Commerce Georgia Charter School Association Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce

Additional partners are included in Tab 20. Q2. The mission of The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning is to create globalized citizens who embody a passion to make a positive impact in their community and in the world. We will accomplish this goal by providing high quality educational programming in a service-learning environment for our students through the use of effective instructional tools, specialized training for our faculty and staff, and cooperative collaboration among all stakeholders.

The Spence Institute promotes the legislative intent to increase student achievement through academic and organizational innovation (O.C.G.A. 20-2-206) by way of building an advanced model of instructional supports and systems that promotes service-learning, K-5 STEM, and fine arts programming. By identifying and embracing flexible and innovative programs from what researchers have gathered from other high performing schools, TSILL will have the opportunity to actualize even better outcomes for our students. Our mission statement was methodically created to support this intent through the following academic and organizational innovations:


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Excerpts from Our Mission Statement Academic & Organizational Innovations

to create globalized citizens who embody a passion to make a positive impact in their

community and in the world.

Core Curriculum Academic Blueprints & Standards-based

Portfolios Youth Advisory Councils

Community and Advisory Meetings that include:

4cs of 21st Century Learning Social Skills Instruction Thinking Maps

Academic Enrichment Strands:

Visual Arts Performing Arts Foreign Languages

providing high quality educational programming

Morning & Afternoon Study Halls Saturday Learning Program Afterschool Tutorial Extended school day and instructional

time Unique School within a School Model Service Learning K-5 STEM

through the use of effective instructional tools

TKES & Teach Like a Champion Crosswalk

Differentiated Instruction & Curriculum Compacting

Digital Literacy Tools & Blended Learning

Diagnostic Assessment Tools specialized training for our faculty and

staff Spence University High Performance Organization

Orientation & Training

cooperative collaboration among all stakeholders.

Parent University Parent Advisory Committee Community Partnerships Special Population Advisory Committees

Q2a. Cemented in our name, we are centralized on the advancement of teacher leadership and student learning. The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning offers a variety of programs and initiatives for both teachers and students that are not currently offered at existing schools in DCSD. Specific examples and documentations are detailed below.


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Programs &Initiatives for Spence Students Service Learning. Spence will guide students through developed partnerships with community organizations to meet community needs through the application of academic objectives. Lessons plans, unit plans, planning and reflection tools, and culminating Institute Projects for fifth and eighth grade students will be a guiding standard for how students and teachers at Spence will strive to make an impact in local, national and global communities. Our partnership with New Tech Network (the first in DeKalb County and second in Georgia) will assist us in building a foundation of project-based learning supports that will be used for the advanced application of service learning as well as provide the needed structures in our quest to become a 1:1 technology school. Question 5 contains additional information on service learning at Spence and New Tech Network. Service learning documentation can be found in Tab 5 and New Tech Student Outcomes are included in Tab 8. Public Speaking Courses & Clubs. Through our partnership with Toastmasters, Spence will create opportunities for students to develop and enhance their leadership and presentation skills. Utilizing the Toastmasters Leadership Youth Program resources and our state speaking and listening standards, we will develop avenues for our globally-minded students to become great communicators, presenters, and leaders. Question 5 contains additional information on this Performing Arts component. Supporting documentation from Toastmasters International can be found in Tab 13. Saturday Learning Program. Our bi-weekly Saturday Learning Program is an added layer of support for Spence students to accomplish both academic and social leadership goals. Informed by student data, we will plan to offer remedial support to students in core subjects as well as foreign language acquisition. Tentatively, we will plan to use achievement data from Year 1 to determine qualifying students. Question 5 and Question 10 contain additional information on this program. Enrichment opportunities will be provided based up students service learning projects. Students will meet Saturday mornings to engage in volunteer opportunities, clubs, and events that nurtures problem solving skills, develops social skills and enhances critical thinking. Programs and Initiatives for Spence Teachers The Spence Institute will be a leader in placing great emphasis on People + Products= Performance. Our innovation will be in creating stronger frameworks and structures to achieve maximum productivity that yields desired student outcomes. Teacher supports to increase capacity and develop professionally will be a hallmark of the school. Two of the three programs and initiatives listed below were developed by the Founder of The Spence Institute and therefore do not exist in DCSD. Great Teaching Everyday!: A Teach Like a Champion & TKES Crosswalk. Only the state of Missouri and The Spence Institute have developed structures to heighten and develop teacher awareness of how teacher evaluation performance standards are exemplified in everyday teacher behaviors and actions. Spence teachers will receive specialized training in writing SMART goals to improve Level I and II ratings utilizing the TLAC & TKES crosswalk. Question 5 contains additional information on this crosswalk. A sample of our crosswalk is located in Tab 10. Spence University. As an on-site and job-embedded teacher development and curriculum center, Spence University seeks to provide real-time demonstration lessons, modeling and coaching that leads to improved teacher and learning. Spence teachers will be required to seek out opportunities of development and


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advancement by obtaining 20 in-house PLUs each school year. Question 5 provides additional information on Spence University. Accountability for All: Collaborative Metric Appraisal (CMA). In an effort to adopt the notion that all members of the school staff are contributors to the articulated goals of the school, the Founder of Spence developed the Collaborative Metrics Appraisal (CMA). The CMA is intended to be a fair and balanced assessment of a non-instructional employees performance. From the development of SMART goals and request for needed resources to achieve those goals to concluding with an EOTY performance conference, we are drawing accountability lines that encompasses all staff members. Question 39 provides additional information on this tool. Our non-instructional evaluation tool is located in Tab 10. High Performance Organization Framework. With the endorsement of the author Dr. Andre de Waal, Spence will utilize the conceptual framework introduced in What Makes A High Performance Organization: Five Validated Factors of Competitive Advantage That Apply Worldwide, to instill a school culture that acts with urgency in manifesting a start-up charter school into a High Performance Organization (HPO). Additional information on the HPO Framework is detailed in Questions 14-16 with a letter of support from the author and phase plan included in Tab 14. The innovativeness and creativity that TSILL offers not only meets the needs and desires of the community for which it dwells, but it seeks to illuminate a standard of excellence that will set it apart from other DeKalb County schools. The Spence Institutes Program & Initiatives Pilot and Rollout Plan is presented in Tab 2.

II. Academic Objectives, Plans, and Waivers Q3. TSILL has created the following goals and measures of student achievement to ensure that we meet our mission, CCRPI and Beating the Odds goals for startup charter schools, federal and state goals for all subgroups attending our school, and compliance with the NCLB. TSILL will continue to examine and refine its student and school outcomes over time to reflect the schools mission and any changes to state or local standards that support such mission. These goals shall result in improvement of school-wide student achievement and comply with the Single Statewide Accountability System in accordance with O.C.G.A. 20-2-2063. Spence has viewed the CCRPI and BTO goals (Attachments A and B) and the PowerPoint found on the GADOEs Charter Schools Divisions website to inform our performance goals and objectives.

Academic Goal 1: The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning will meet or exceed all State Performance Targets.

Measure 1: Beginning Year 1 of the first charter term and every year thereafter, instructional staff members will consistently participate in professional development and training that increases capacity and improves performance as measured by earned in-house Professional Learning Units (PLUs) and quarterly data.


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Academic Goal 2: The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning will demonstrate proficiency on national norm-referenced assessments.

Measure 1- From Year 1 baseline data gathered from norm-referenced assessments, the School will increase the percentage of students scoring at or above the 50% percentile by 2% in Year 2 and every year of the first charter term. Target 1: Beginning Year 1, the School will use diagnostic and predictive data from i-Ready Diagnostic Reading and Mathematics Program as a universal screener to provide differentiated instruction and individualized support to all students.

Academic Goal 3: The Spence Institute will present and implement a School-wide Positive Behavioral Intervention and Support (SWPBIS) Program that positively impacts student behavior and student achievement.

Measure 1: In Year 1, the School will gather previous years behavioral data (where applicable) on each student to determine initial focus and needed supports (i.e. suspensions, attendance, etc.). Measure 2: In Year 2, through increased awareness, the School will form SWPBIS tier teams that improves the social and self-management skills of targeted students. Measure 3: By the end of Year 2, the Schools behavioral data will reflect a 5% decrease in office referrals and increased student achievement when compared to Year 1.

Academic Goal 4: The Spence Institute will implement an evidence-based Service Learning Program that facilitates a personalized climate in the school.

Measure 1: By the end of Year 1, the School will demonstrate academic and community need connections through documented lesson and unit plans to reflect authentic service learning experiences. Measure 2: By the end of Year 1, the School will demonstrate positive engagement with the community through narrative reports from community organizations that details the Schools impact.

Academic Goal 5: The Spence Institute will earn K-5 STEM certification by the end of its first charter term.

Measure 1: By the end of the Year1, the School will form a STEM Task Force to design a strategic action plan toward certification. Measure 2: Every year of the first charter term, the Executive Leadership Department will ensure inception and success of the Schools STEM Program through targeted hiring and development of structures and process that support STEM planning, instruction, enrichment and assessment.


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Contingency Plan for Unmet Performance Goals and Objectives Performance goals and objectives will be closely monitored by all leadership departments (See pg. 71 for a description of the organizational model). Leadership departments will meet quarterly to analyze and discuss the impact of their strategic planning in the forward progression of the schools stated performance goals and objectives. Should it be determined that there is stagnation or a decline in performance, each leadership department will complete the following emergency action tasks:

Revisit the departments strategic plan. Examine each target and its evidence Determine which target and its evidence was insufficient. Develop a strategic plan with SMART goals to remedy the failing targets. Reevaluate progress using a 30-60-90-day review interval pattern.

Q4. The principal will present the status of the school during the Boards monthly meetings through the presentation of the Principals Report which will include academic progress and achievement as well as other aspects of the school. The instructional staff will compile and analyze data during grade level meetings and quarterly professional development days. The quarterly analysis will be used to plan instruction for the subsequent quarter. Teachers will maintain on-going communication with parents and guardians to discuss academic progress. Student portfolios will allow teachers, parents and students to view, discuss and set learning goals that leads to student achievement. Q4a. All students will participate in ongoing assessments that will be used to measure student and school growth, as well as drive instruction. The table below provides the assessments and monitoring tools that the school intends to administer to obtain performance data for each student.

Assessment Name

Assessment Area Applicable Grades

Administration Frequency

i-Ready Diagnostic

Assessment

Reading, ELA, Math

Grades K-8

Fall, Winter Spring and Progress Monitoring of

Skills

GA Kindergarten Inventory of

Developing Skills

ELA, Math, Social Studies, Science,

Approaches to Learning, Motor Skills, Personal

and Social Development

Kindergarten only

Annually

Georgia Milestones Reading, ELA, Math, Social Studies, Science

Grades 3-8 Annually

Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)

Reading & Math Grades K-8 Pre Assessment (August) Post Assessment (May)

In-House Benchmarks

Social Studies, Science, Foreign Language

Proficiency

Grades K-8

Quarterly

CogAT, TTCT

Eligibility for gifted services

Grades K-8

Upon identification of eligibility for

assessment


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WIDA, ACCESS

English proficiency

K-8 for ELLs

Semiannually (or when data suggests a student may be ready to test out

of services) EOG In-house

Benchmark Reading, ELA, Math,

Social Studies, Science Grades K-2 Spring

Student Learning Objectives (SLOs)

Non-tested Subject Areas

Grades K-8 As completed by the local districts timeline

Standards-Based Learning Portfolio

Reading, ELA, Math, Social Studies, Science

Grades K-8 Presented at the end of each semester

Q4b. Baseline data will be gathered within the first two weeks of the first day of school (or the students enrollment if they enter after the start of the school year) with the applicable assessments for that grade level. This data will be analyzed, along with standardized assessment data and Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) from previous school years, to determine appropriate interventions, enrichments or additional assessments that students may be required to take to determine eligibility for special programs (gifted, SPED, etc.). The school registrar will work with prior schools to obtain student records as soon as a students enrollment is confirmed to ensure instructional and support staff have adequate time to review records and schedule appropriate supports in advance of the start of the school year.

Q4c. The Spence Institute is committed to developing processes that measure student growth. We will use benchmark assessments as a tool to measure student growth and design curriculum that meets individual learning needs. Formative benchmark assessments, will allow our teachers to gauge the next steps in learning and develop a strategic action plan. Summative assessments will ascertain whether students and teachers have met yearly performance goals. A growth to proficiency model will be developed as a road map for our instructional team to monitor student growth. Using our baseline data, we will set growth targets that are measureable and reasonable. Quarterly assessment data will inform our instructional efforts throughout the year allowing us to keep our growth targets as a focal point for student achievement. Q4d. The table presented in Q4a presents the wide variety of formal and informal assessment measures we will use to authentically gauge student mastery and growth in each content area. Where standardized assessments and benchmarks will be the primary means of determining school-wide trends, the need for student interventions, informal performance-based assessments will be critical to teachers content area planning and support of students. We will encourage teachers to administer daily assessments, such as exit tickets, journals, or other means of measuring individual progress toward the lessons objectives reliably and quicklythus informing the subsequent lessons delivery and content. Teachers will be expected to assign varied and valid rigorous assessment tasks that allow students to demonstrate their achievement in the most appropriate ways according to the nature of each subject area. These may include tasks such as open-ended questions, problem-solving activities, investigations, organized debates, hands-on experimentation, analysis and reflection, and/or tests. Providing both qualitative and quantitative feedback on assessments and tasks, teachers will use rubrics that specifically address the objectives being addressed by each assignment. Q4e. The Spence Institute will collaborate with the local school system to participate in all state-mandated assessments by administering assessments in accordance with the DCSD testing calendar. Q4f. The decision to use the i-Ready Diagnostic Assessment was made in large part, of the schools focus on effectively using data to drive instruction and interventions. The i-Ready Diagnostic Assessment is


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aligned to the Common Core standards and provides a lexile score in reading, which will enable teachers to use the i-Ready assessment both as a tool to prepare for state assessments and as a means to measuring individual student and cohort longitudinal growth. While Georgia has renamed CCGPS to Georgia Standards of Excellence, we will ensure that i-Ready tools are aligned appropriately. The i-Ready assessment is a computerized, adaptive test used in grades K-8 to assess reading, language arts and mathematics standards mastery. The assessment determines the level at which students are performing and can project predictive benchmark scores that are criterion referenced and normed. Additionally, reports are generated that provide targeted instruction and intervention that meets the specific needs of each student. Three times a year we will administer the diagnostic portion of i-Ready to determine student progress. Utilizing the formula behind Georgia Student Growth Model, Spence will examine the individual growth of students to provide instruction that is tailored to meet the goals of all students. Teachers will receive generated student profile reports that detail flexible groups based on ability and level of mastery with prescribed tools for instruction. Differentiated lesson plans based upon achievement data is produced for each teacher to guide instructional planning. See Tab 3 for sample i-Ready and Ready student reports and class profiles as well as Question 5 under Innovations in the Use of Instructional Strategies for additional information. Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) will also be utilized to determine student progress. The primary purpose of SLOs is to improve student achievement at the classroom level and to provide evidence of teacher effectiveness. The process of setting and using SLOs requires teachers to use assessments to measure student growth. This allows teachers to plan for student success by ensuring that identified strengths and needs are used for instructional planning. Q4g. Weekly data meetings will be held by grade level teams and content area representatives to give teachers the opportunity to analyze the data and discuss the implications. Professional development days will be scheduled at the conclusion of each quarter to allow grade levels and content area representatives to analyze data and modify academic achievement plans for the subsequent quarter to effectively ensure the most dramatic student gains. Post-planning, summer professional development and summer programming for students will be organized according to achievement data with adjustments made to scopes and sequences, intervention and enrichment structures accordingly. This analysis will be shared with the Governing Board to provide an additional level of accountability to results. Q4h. TSILL is subject to the accountability provisions of O.C.G.A. 20-14-30 and 20-14-41 and will comply as stated in State Board of Education (SBOE) Rule 160- 3-1-.07 with applicable federal accountability requirements by maintaining awareness and compliance requirements through in-house training sessions. Q4i. Adhering to DCSD assessment guidelines and procedures outlined by the State Assessment Handbook, the school will maintain a designee who will act as the primary assessment coordinator and will be responsible for communicating with the district liaison designee and/or other DCSD officials regarding assessment participation and implementation. Q4j. TSILLs assistant principal will assume the role of testing coordinator and will attend required test administration trainings held by DCSD. Q5. To ensure that performance objectives are met, the school will create a school climate that acknowledges and acts upon the urgency to effectively educate students by providing needs-based support and resources


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to teachers, a wide variety of learning formats and structures for students, and on-going collaborative partnerships with parents and other stakeholders for continuous improvement of products and services for all. More specifically, the school will establish structures for continuous feedback and dialogue regarding data progression, on-going training on how to tie data to teaching and learning and safety net programming for at-risk students. Q5a. Distinguishable from most curriculum frameworks that regularly includes foundational academic skills and formal instruction of subject content areas, at Spence we seek to set a standard for creating an academic agenda that spans across the academic development of our students, to the measurement of teacher and student effectiveness and then arriving at the necessary and vital inclusion of rewarding teacher and student performance. We believe that when our lens is expanded to include these components, our curriculum focus targets the performance development of both teachers and students. Our focus on curriculum for students alone will not lend itself to how effective the learning of curriculum can be if we do not include the guidance of best practices for how the curriculum is taught.

What We Teach Academic Standards The curriculum framework at TSILL will be based on the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) for Reading/ English Language Arts and Math, the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS) in Science and Social Studies, and both the GPS and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) standards for foreign language in Spanish and French. Accompanying the GSE in Speaking and Listening we will use program and leadership resources from Toastmasters International for our public speaking course. Core Curriculum The core curriculum at The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning is a common set of courses that are required of all students and considered necessary, irrespective of their college and career pathway those courses are described below.

Reading/English Language Arts The Reading/English Language Arts classroom at Spence will be a place where students can connect their own lives to the lives of others through great literature. Students will have the opportunities to read and respond creatively, expressively, and analytically; to develop effective oral language skills; to investigate and present topics of interest using research methods, and to use media and technology to communicate for a variety of purposes. The Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE) for Reading/ English Language Arts will be the primary curriculum resource for teaching this content area.

Language and Literacy Framework

Academic Standards Core Curriculum

The Arts

What we Teach

Service Leaarning Teacher Keys & Teach Like a

Champion Crosswalk

How we Teach Service Learning Projects

Portfolios

Demonstration of Learning

Youth Advisory Councils Prescriptive Assessments Performance Evaluations

Measurement of Our Work Student Performance

Awards Teacher Performance

Awards

Rewarding Our Work


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The Spence Institute will utilize the Language and Literacy Framework for Literature and the Content Areas (K-8) was created by Fountas and Pinnell (2006)34 as a student-centered approach to teaching literacy and language. The framework provides many opportunities for authentic reading and writing, as well as focused work on the essential elements of phonics, word study, and oral language development. The three blocks framework consist of language and word study, a reading workshop, and writing workshop. The framework design is a conceptual tool for organizing instruction that remains flexible, allowing numerous variations in content, student groupings, and the level of teach-directed instruction. Our students in grades K-3 will engage in an uninterrupted two-hour instructional block that will aid in our goals to develop proficient readers and writers by the end of third grade using differentiated instruction, blended learning, and personalized instruction. In a 50-minute instructional block, our 4th-8th grade teachers will utilize the three block framework, providing explicit strategy lessons in reading, writing and grammar using literature studies. Additional information on this instructional framework is presented in Tab 4 Content Area Instructional Frameworks.

Mathematics Math instruction at Spence will emphasize the application of mathematics to real world problems through the use of mental process, collaboration, calculators and computers as tools in problem solving that allows students to develop their own mathematical understanding. Integrated math, science, and technology through STEM related activities will allow our students a more comprehensive view of how essential skills and knowledge can be connected.

The standards-based aligned curriculum, assessment components and differentiated instruction of i-Ready, Ready, and GADOE Math Frameworks will guarantee a viable curriculum that is conceptually oriented and contains a broad range of content. To ensure that our math instruction meets the needs of a large spectrum of learners that may exhibit learning disabilities, attention deficits, and/or higher order thinking skills, we will design our lessons to include:

Systematic and explicit instruction, a detailed instructional approach in which teachers guide students through a defined instructional sequence.

Self-instruction, through which students learn to manage their own learning with specific prompting or solution-oriented questions.

Peer tutoring, an approach that involves pairing students together to learn or practice an academic task.

Visual representation, which uses manipulatives, pictures, number lines, and graphs of functions and relationships to teach mathematical concepts.

Our K-3 math classrooms will also utilize the Glenna Tabor Math Group Rotation5 during the 1.5-hour instructional math block and the 50-minute instructional block in grades 4-8. The Tabor Math Rotation is an instructional framework that effectively differentiates math instruction. The framework allows for RTI Tier I and Tier II interventions and small-teacher ratio for instructing every student in the room. A sample week-long rotation plan using Tabor Math Rotations for grades K-8 is presented in Tab 4 Content Area Instructional Frameworks.

3 Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. (2006). Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency K-8: Thinking, Talking, and Writing About Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 4 Fountas, I.C. & Pinnell, G.S. (2000). Guiding Readers and Writers (Grades 3-6) Teaching Comprehension, Genre, and Content Literacy, Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. 5 Retrieved on March 29, 2015 from www.glennatabor.com.
http://www.glennatabor.com/http://www.glennatabor.com/http://www.glennatabor.com/http://www.glennatabor.com/


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Science STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education is active and focuses on a student-centered learning environment. Students engage in questioning, problem-solving, collaboration, and hands-on activities while they address real life issues. The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning seeks to create a pipeline of STEM proficient students. However, we know that our work of impacting science in Georgia high schools, must begin in kindergarten. Typically, primary school teachers of grades K-3 have focused instructional time on reading, writing and mathematics with science and social studies times are shorten. Spence has taken the opportunity to provide additional learning time in these science with K-3 students receiving 50 minutes of science and a 45-minute laboratory time built into their connections schedule. We believe STEM skills built from early learning will help our students to develop the knowledge and habits that will engender a lifetime of STEM understanding and proficiency. Supporting research shows that younger students naturally explore, ask questions and discuss their findings. When those natural impulses are matched with fundamental science concepts and instruction in inquiry methods such as controls, communication, and record keeping, students gain a solid foundation in science that can help them move ahead and excel in STEM fields. At Spence, we will begin with the end in mind. Using documents such as GADOE STEM program certification rubrics for elementary and middle school, recommendations from the National Research Councils (NRC) report on science education, and adapting Maryland State STEM Standards of Practice Frameworks for Grades K-5, we will design a STEM program that encompasses the following components:

STEM Program Design Component How will we incorporate this component?

Makes STEM experiential, fun and engaging

The schools leadership department instructors and administrators will research and utilize secondary resources, such as Engineering is Elementary (EIE). EIE provides hands-on and interactive learning that is aligned to state standards and International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) Standards to ensure that the instruction we provide meets our desired design components.

Focus STEM activities on real-life

issues and problems

As a servicing-learning institution, Spence will design lessons and projects that demonstrates application of academic knowledge and skills to real-life issues and problems.

Approaches STEM through multiple

paths of engagement

Whether designing, creating or problem solving, we will develop multiple pathways of engagement that entices all students by capitalizing on our students early interests and experiences.

Includes STEM activities across the curriculum

Professional development on incorporating the principles of STEM will be provided to all content instructors to ensure that students find STEM connections across the curriculum.

Considers gender differences

Moving away from the preconceived notions, such as men are doctors and women are nurses, we will seek to create more exposure to women and minorities that have made both present and historical contributions to science as well as providing like role models.


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Offers extracurricular activities

During the initial charter term, Spence will create plans to include STEM related summer programs, afterschool enrichment activities, robotics competitions, science fairs and Olympiads.

Brings real world STEM professionals

into the classroom

Our school developed STEM Task Force will collaborate with faculty, staff, and the school community to establish a STEM outreach team that creates related community partners.

Encourages parents to engage in creating STEM activities with their sons and daughters

Spence parents will be able to learn about STEM and how to participate in both school and community STEM activities through informational sessions offered at our Parent University.

Social Studies K-5 & Global Studies 6-8

At Spence, the purpose of our K-5 social studies curriculum is to prepare students to become citizens who participate in a democratic society. Our 6-8 global studies students will engage in targeted Social Studies topics; World Area Studies- Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, Europe and Australia (6th), World Area Studies- Africa, Southwest Asia (Middle East), and Southern and Eastern Asia (7th) and Georgia Studies (8th), respectively. TSILLs K-8 Social Studies curriculum will be based on Georgia Performance Standards with an integration of the Common Core Literacy Standards. The curriculum is designed to provide students with learning opportunities that support critical thinking, collaborative learning, and active participation while enabling students to function in a technologically advanced, economically and culturally diverse society TSILL will utilize the Georgia Department of Educations Social Studies Framework in order to provide the instructional outline for History, Geography, Government/Civics and Economics. Keeping with the three-part lesson format in reading, language arts, and mathematics, teachers will utilize an adapted version of Baltimore Public School Curriculum and Instruction Departments three-part lesson framework for science and social studies. This framework is included in Tab 4 Content Area Instructional Frameworks.

Technology Integration Technology integration will be aligned to the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students to support teaching and learning. We will campaign for our teachers to integrate technology within the lessons and activities they plan for students.

TSILL will incorporate a number of blended learning strategies to complement and support classroom instruction. Sameer Babu (2009) defines blended learning6 as the integration of live classroom activities, including face-to-face instruction, with online learning and instruction. These blended learning opportunities will be designed to capitalize on students interests and build on what they already know so students are engaged in the practice of self-directed learning. Our blended learning formats are presented in Tab 4 Content Area Instructional Frameworks.

Health & Physical Education The Schools Health and Physical Education program will follow the GPS Framework for Health and Physical Education. Our expectation is that all students build on their previous experiences, including those students with disabilities. Although developmental appropriateness figures importantly in these guidelines,

6 Babu M.S. (2009). One plus two is not always three: A look into the merits of Blended Learning. Maitrey College, University of New Delhi.


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the expectation will be that the PE teacher is aware that students are likely to display some characteristics and skills appropriate to groups above and below their age group. The PE teacher will create a comprehensive health and physical education program across age groups that holistically includes quality health and physical education standards.

The Arts Fostering each students development into a responsible citizen, our Visual Arts, Performing Arts, and Foreign Languages are vital and indispensable parts of the comprehensive education that we seek to provide at The Spence Institute. Arts instruction will enable our students to build self-esteem and self-discipline, to work cooperatively within groups and to effectively express themselves. We believe integrating the arts into other content areas will improve academic achievement, motivate attendance, promote involvement, and encourage disciplined behavior. It is our belief that every child can and should participate in the arts, regardless of talent, ability, culture, ethnicity or socioeconomic group. Our arts program will be supported by the highest quality education standards and outreach programs within the cultural community.

Visual Arts At Spence, we know that a work of art is a representation of the world outside of art- often interpretations of everyday life. Through Painting, Drawing, Craft and Design our students will have a unique opportunity to expound upon mathematical and intellectual skills as well as promote positive habits and cooperative behaviors through these learning standards. We will aim to further enrich our Visual Arts Program through development of enrichment activities in photojournalism. Student interest and participation as well as parent feedback and satisfaction survey results will inform when and how these proposed activities will further expand our regular academic program. Foreign Languages Upon graduating from twelfth grade, Spence Institute students will demonstrate proficiency in two languages and have a foundation in world culture. While students in grades K-3 will receive Spanish instruction as a connections class, fourth through eighth grade students will receive Spanish as a daily core subject. During the second semester of the fifth grade year, our students will participate in a Foreign Language Exploratory Seminar designed to introduce European culture and arts. Matriculating to the sixth grade, students will be immerged in dual language instruction by receiving beginning French and continued Spanish instruction. Exploratory language acquisition tracks will be developed for those students who may need additional support in Spanish before enrolling in a second foreign language course. Our partnership with the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and foreign language experts will support the development of programs and initiatives that are targeted to assist our students with continued Spanish instructional support as our middle school students embark on learning a new language.

Performing Arts The Performing Arts at The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning will provide students the opportunity to engage in Music, Dance, and Theater with the expectation of achieving basic literacy in the arts. We are currently working to develop collaborative networks with the fine arts experts at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, DC and other fine arts institutions to provide continued tone and relevance to our Performing Arts Program. Our middle school students will learn to enhance their opinion, informative/explanatory and narrative writing compositions through Public Speaking. We will utilize our Georgia Speaking and Listening Standards to guide our instruction and to build the confidence and leadership capabilities of our students through program resources from Toastmasters International. Public speaking will be a major component


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to the many service-learning and portfolio presentations that our students will deliver to their classmates, school and community. How we Teach The Spence Institute will present the snapshots of student learning and performance as the academic standards, the core curriculum and the arts. The lens through which those components will be taught are the instructional frameworks that are our faculty and staff will create, sustain, and constantly improve upon.

Service Learning In April 2009, President Barack Obama signed the Edward Kennedy Serve America Act, a courageous expansion of opportunities for all U.S. citizens to serve their communities and country.

We need your service, right now, at this moment in history. Im not going to tell you what your role should be; thats for you to discover. But I am asking you to stand up

and play your part. I am asking you to help change historys course.

President Barack Obama

Where President Obamas administration is working to develop national guidelines for service-learning in middle schools and high schools, in DeKalb County, Georgia, The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning will design a K-8 educational institution that is centered on serving communities. The National Youth Leadership Council defines service-learning as an approach to teaching and learning in which students use academic knowledge and skills to address genuine community needs. This innovative approach enhances students academic growth as well as encourages community awareness, social action and leadership skill development. Utilizing a backwards design, teachers will plan the curriculum, striving to culminate units of study with collaborative planning with students to design creative and appealing interdisciplinary service projects that meets the needs of our local and global communities.

We will coordinate with other schools, institutions of higher education, and community service programs to identify the needs of the community and then organize efforts to reach those needs. Lake and Jones (2012)7 specifically state that service learning:

helps foster civic responsibility, is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the education

components of the community service program in which the participants are enrolled, and provides structured time for students or participants to reflect on the service experience.

With the incorporation of the Service Learning Standards for Quality Practice, our teachers and students will be able to determine and ensure that that their efforts mirror high quality practice. A service-learning toolkit that will aid in our introductory presentation to classroom teachers and parents is presented in Tab 5.

Project-Based Learning & Service-Learning An interwoven component of service- learning is project-based learning. Project-based Learning (PBL) is a hands-on instructional method that integrates core content to solve real life problems. Schools that utilize a PBL approach work in teams to create a final product that demonstrates mastery of content standards and a demonstration of key skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. One of the critical 7 Service Learning in the Pre-K-3 Classroom: The What, Why, and How to Guide for Every Teacher. Free Spirt Publishing, Minneapolis, MN.


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aspects of project-based learning is public presentation of the work. The assessment is based on the student's ability to articulate and exhibit the content and the skills learned. Learning is measured and assessed through traditional summative and formative assessments, narratives, public exhibitions, digital creations, and cumulative portfolios.

As a service-learning institution, Spence students will apply content learning to genuine community needs through service. Moving beyond public presentations, we seek to make an impact in our community through a variety of action projects. In an effort to cement our long-term success, we will partner with New Tech Network, an organization that has had great success with training teachers on how to implement project-based learning, providing our teachers and students with an initial foundation for innovative teaching and learning. We believe that this will certainly be a greater advantage to connecting project-based learning to service learning, one that will not be available to other teachers and students in the district.

Q5b. The full and complete curriculum is included in Tab 6. Q5c. The planned materials to purchase/obtain is included in Tab 7. Q5d. During the first five years of our charter, our targets for this goal will be to innovate by pursuing the following:

1. Innovations in Collaboration - Partnerships that enhances the academic program and builds on the strengths of the faculty and staff.

2. Innovations in Scheduling - Changing how teachers and students interact and how teachers maximize instructional time and responsiveness to student needs.

3. Innovations in the Use of Instructional Strategies - Design and planning resources that result in effective teaching and learning.

4. Innovations in the Organization of Schools Models that provide a greater sense of identity, providing students an academic home to support their experience of a scholarly community and structure for how we will achieve and progress.

Innovations in Collaboration Creating a collaborative educational environment at The Spence Institute will build a community of caring individuals who are all working toward our two most important goals: creating and cultivating effective teachers and creating a student body that is more enhanced and equipped for tomorrow through the successful implantation of learning objectives, values and appreciation for the arts. The innovations presented in this section creates the fertile foundation that is needed to grow our goals.

Partnership with New Tech Network The Spence Institutes decision to become a New Tech School was initiated by the New Tech Networks overwhelming evidence of high student achievement data and increased college and career readiness among high school graduates. New Tech Network (NTN) collaborates with administrators, teachers and students to develop innovative public schools who share one common purpose: to provide an education in which students acquire knowledge and develop skills vital to success in the post-secondary path of their choosing.

Founded in Napa, California, in 1996, NTN is a national school development organization that starts and supports innovative Project Based Learning (PBL) schools. NTN works in partnership with schools, districts, and communities to develop innovative schools to promote deeper learning. NTN currently has 135 schools


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in urban, rural, and suburban school districts in 23 states through the United States and Australia, including elementary schools, middle schools, and high schools. The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning will be the 17th elementary school in the United States to join NTN, the second in the state of Georgia (Drew Charter School Jr. and Sr. Academies), and the first of its kind in DeKalb County. As Georgia NTN schools, Spence will design a networking plan to bridge with Drew to establish a collaborative effort to share innovative ideas, instructional strategies and academic design structures. A summary of New Techs student outcomes has been included in Tab 8.

Youth Advisory Councils (YAC) The Youth Advisory Councils will be established to serve as a vehicle for our students to provide valuable instructional and academic feedback. Students in grades 3-8 can gain membership to YAC through teacher nominations and essay submissions. Our students feedback will help design and drive differentiated instruction, lesson planning and student-centered activities. Using additional resources like generationOn National Youth Advisory Council Toolkit, provides a structure for how we will organize our Youth Advisory Councils. We will use this resource to create learning units for our YAC members to facilitate training and purposeful work that will allow our students to serve as a representative voice for the student body. Innovations in Scheduling A schools schedule is one of the most powerful tools used to shape the instructional program. The schedule can facilitate or inhibit the opportunity for teacher collaboration and can provide teaching teams with the flexibility they need to vary the length of classes and to accommodate a range of teaching strategies. Our schedule is a reflection of values with a design that is purposeful and intentional with strategies that will support our desired achievement goals. Please see Tab 26 Proposed Calendar and Daily Schedules.

Extended Literacy and Math Blocks in Grades K-3 Keeping with the foundations of best practices, The Spence Institute will initiate extended literacy and math blocks that provide teachers and students with substantial teaching and learning time. The two-hour literacy block will include balanced literacy instruction and blended learning opportunities that allow students to build upon foundational reading and language arts skills and concepts. The hour and a half math block will incorporate math skills and concepts, math tools, online instruction, and Glenna Tabor Math Rotations. We believe these extended learning opportunities will better position our students academically as they move into intermediate grades.

Departmentalization in Grades 4-8 With K-3 literacy and math concepts cemented through extended instructional time and blending learning opportunities, our 4th-8th grade students will receive instruction from content area experts in a departmentalized environment. We not only believe that our intermediate students of grades fourth and fifth will be better position to transition to the instructional setting of middle school, but that our students will be able to achieve their learning goals through a more individualized targeted plan for teaching and learning.

Innovative Scheduling for At-Risk Students Adapting from RTI model conducted at Drew Charter School in Atlanta, GA, The Spence Institute will enact an innovative learning schedule for at-risk students. Identified students will receive differentiated instruction in their regular education classroom in addition to scheduled supports during a non-core curriculum block. Additional learning supports may replace community/advisory meetings, visual arts, performing arts or foreign languages. Students will not be pulled from Health or Physical Education as there are state mandated hours for this content area. This model has proven very successful at Drew Charter School with 80% of their students moving from at-risk to on-target in three years. These results will serve as an achievement benchmark for Spence, as we will set a course to achieve greater results.


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Innovations in the Use of Instructional Strategies The largest variable in gaining student achievement is through creating and sustaining knowledge provided by skillful teachers. At Spence we will make the better investment of making the decision to fully equip our teachers with practices and strategies that not only enhances them, but positively impacts learning.

Great Teaching Everyday! A Crosswalk of TKES Performance Standards and Teach Like a Champion Techniques

Every student deserves the most effective teacher every day. At TSILL, we plan to deliver on that notion. This crosswalk was developed to demonstrate that TKES performance standards are not to be implemented during designated points in the school year, rather it is seamlessly woven into our instruction to students and our collaboration with parents and colleagues, every day. Through the lens of Doug Lemovs Teach Like a Champion, our teachers will be able to better connect to TKES performance standards and quality indicators by moving along the spectrum of theory to practice. TSILL teachers will utilize this crosswalk as an organized structure that continuously engages them in self-assessments, problem solving and professional learning, resulting in a higher level of student engagement and student achievement that leads to college.

The Teacher Keys Effectiveness System (TKES) was developed through the collaborative efforts of the State of Georgia, RT3 Districts, educational partners, and the Evaluation Task Force Committee. TKES was designed to build teacher effectiveness throughout Georgia. The system consists of multiple components, including the Teacher Assessment on Performance Standards (TAPS), Surveys of Instructional Practice, and measures of Student Growth and Academic Achievement. At its core, TKES serves to support continuous growth and development of each teacher8. Lemovs Book Teach Like a Champion provides classroom teachers with techniques designed to increase student engagement and achievement resulting in a pathway to college. The methods described are presented in concrete, specific and actionable ways to allow for immediate use by teachers in any classroom.

The state of Missouri and Spence Institute currently stand as innovators that have reimagined teacher evaluation and developed a structure for more daily and authentic use. There is continued work to create a more intimate connection involving each quality indicator. A sample of our crosswalk is included in Tab 10.

i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction Program in Reading and Math Effective reading and math skills are crucial, if students are to achieve the learning goals established by the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE), which emphasizes the higher-level knowledge and skills students need to become college and career ready. i-Ready Diagnostic & Instruction for both reading and math was designed to develop those needed skills and strategies. This online program addresses the challenges facing teachers--increased focus on accountability while meeting the instructional needs of students above, on, and below grade level.

i-Ready combines an adaptive diagnostic assessment with individualized instruction, reliable progress monitoring, and comprehensive reporting for teachers and administrators. i-Ready gives teachers three ways to deliver whats next? through online instruction, teacher-led instruction, and purposeful practice. This delivers a true blended learning solution through online, print and mobile access. The intuitive reports track student progress toward mastery academic standards and explicitly inform instructional decision making. The combination of i-Ready diagnostic assessment and Ready math and reading instruction provides teachers with a seamless prescriptive teaching and learning that is designed to create an individualized plan for every student.

8 Retrieved on March 15, 2015 from www.gadoe.org.
http://www.gadoe.org/http://www.gadoe.org/http://www.gadoe.org/http://www.gadoe.org/


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The innovativeness that i-Ready diagnostic assessment offers begins with the availability to pinpoint individual student needs down to the subskill, in addition to ongoing progress monitoring that tracks a students ability to achieve end-of-year-targets. The results of the diagnostic assessment afford personalized learning and intervention. Online lessons automatically place students into instruction at their level based on the results from the diagnostic. This provides targeted instruction prioritizing the highest areas of need. Generated reports provide flexible grouping options, delivers differentiated instruction and reinforces student online instruction.

Differentiated Instruction That Meets the Needs of Learners In the most diligent effort to meet the learning needs of our students, differentiated instructional strategies at TSILL will be utilized to match appropriately challenging curriculum and instruction with a students ability, interest and learning styles. We will employ frequent assessments that effectively informs data driven decisions and best supports a focused and purposeful academic curriculum aligned to state and national standards. Our teachers will receive on-going support to enhance their knowledge and implementation of Renzullis Five Dimensions of Differentiation9. We know that our students will vary in their abilities, interests, and prior knowledge. Differentiation at The Spence Institute will serve to address this variation by matching content, instruction, and assessment to students needs and interests. By instituting Dr. Joseph Renzuills model of differentiation school-wide, we aim to create a culture that understands and models the urgency of tapping into the learning styles and academic needs of students. The model demonstrates five areas where differentiation can be formed, implemented, and evaluated.

Curriculum Content Process Skills and Instruction Classroom Organization and Management Student Products Teaching Styles

Curriculum Compacting

Examining its original intent, curriculum compacting was developed by Dr. Joseph Renzulli and Linda Smith in 1978 as a differentiation strategy that was extremely beneficial to many gifted and high ability students. It is a process by which students are pre-assessed to determine what parts of the curriculum they have already mastered. When those areas of knowledge and skills are identified, these students are not required to complete the grade-level work. Instead, they work on alternative activities10. At Spence, curriculum compacting will take on a similar form. We will use this element of differentiation to make curricular adjustments and create flexible groups based upon a students skill readiness. Holding to our facets of prescription teaching and learning, we will use pre-assessment data to determine three levels of instruction to provide to targeted students:

Intensive Remediation Varied Differentiated Instruction Enrichment/Acceleration Activities

9 Renzulli, J. S. (1997, July). Five dimensions of differentiation. Keynote presentation at the 20th Annual Confratute Conference, Storrs, CT. 10 Coil, C. (208). Keys to Successful Districtwide Differentiation: Training, Time, Practice, and Sharing. E-Zine, Vol.2-3


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Thinking Maps At Spence we will create a common instructional thread that unites all teachers across grade levels by utilizing Thinking Maps. Thinking Maps are visual teaching tools that foster lifelong learning and a uniform thought process. Among creating a common visual language, as our students matriculate, the need to relearn the maps basic usage will be eliminated. Instead the maps become a springboard for students to dive into the core of a learning task.

The present academic research on reading text structures shows conclusively that graphic tools are highly effective strategies across disciplines. These findings are backed by a two-year control group doctoral study showing that Thinking Maps have a statistically significant impact on reading comprehension with 5th grade students (Hickie, 2006)11.

The 4 Cs of 21st Century Learning The Spence Institute will use the 4Cs to move 21st Century education forward (Trilling and Fadel, 2009)12 by building them into the core curriculum. The instructional methods utilized by our teachers will give our students the opportunity to apply learned skills in real-world situations that requires students to:

1. Use critical thinking in order to solve the complex problems posed by the questions in their projects and assignments.

2. Collaborate with one another in order to effectively use the skills of everyone on their team.

3. Communicate effectively with one another in order to resolve conflicts that may arise while working together.

4. Use creative and innovative ways not only to solve the problems, but to also present the results of their projects for peer and teacher review.

Ensuring that students develop these skills is imperative as 21st Century citizenship requires levels of information and technological literacy that exceeds basic knowledge levels that were sufficient in yesteryears.

Standards-based Portfolios A portfolio is a purposeful collection of student work that demonstrates effort, progress and achievement based upon standards. This form of assessment provides a richer picture of student performance

Documents

The Spence Institute of Leadership and Learning