This document will be updated during the 2016-2017 school year Updated March 2017 In mid-june 2016, the District ratified a three-year contract agreement with our teachers association. The agreement addresses the need for consistent collaboration time and additional student contact days. Beginning in August 2017, students have a weekly 90-minute Wednesday Early Release so teachers have consistent and sustainable time for collaboration. In addition, the agreement builds in more student contact days by gradually adding nine student days over three years. More full weeks of school will increase the continuity of instruction for students. 2016-2017: Add 2 student contact days 2017-2018: Convert 4 staff development days to student contact days 2018-2019: Add 3 student contact days The District s Strategic Plan, developed with broad community involvement and support, identified teacher collaboration as the key strategy for ensuring individual student growth. Beginning with the 2017-2018 school year, students will be released 90 minutes early on Wednesdays to allow teachers time for collaboration. 1. What is teacher collaboration? Teacher collaboration is an ongoing process of small teams of educators working together to know each student s strengths and challenges, and to meet students specific learning needs, while strengthening the teacher s own teaching practices. Collaboration time gives these teams a more comprehensive view of each child s academic progress and results in greater achievement, individual student growth and personal success. Collaboration occurs when a group of educators meets regularly, shares expertise, and works collaboratively to improve teaching skills and the academic performance of students. (http://edglossary.org/professional-learning-community/) 2. UPDATE: How will the time be used? The time will be used to collaborate with colleagues and to participate in professional development options relevant to instructional practice. While not all professional development will occur on Wednesdays, many opportunities will be provided. Most required professional development will be provided during the summer and August pre-service week. To avoid conflicts, the Professional Development Advisory Committee has determined professional development options will be provided on the third Wednesday of the month. 1
Examples of collaborative work with colleagues include analyzing data, creating and scoring assessments, calibration, ensuring consistent expectations and practices across grade level teams and content areas, deconstructing learning targets, unit development, selecting common instructional strategies, determining results indicators, creating a theory of action and reflection, monitoring and evaluating results, etc. With the exception of the 5th Wednesday of the month, the time is not to be used for individual planning. Note: Additional examples may be added throughout the year. Acceptable use of Early Release Deconstructing learning targets Analyzing student data Calibration Creating and scoring assessments Selecting common instructional strategies Determining results indicators Creating a theory of action and reflection Monitoring and evaluating results Unit development Unacceptable use of Early Release Individual planning (except the 5th Wednesday of the month) Meetings with parents Non-instructional meetings with colleagues, e.g. social planning Committee meetings IEP meetings Autonomous decision-making about essential learning, pacing and assessment Non-emergency personal appointments Collaborating for less than 90 minutes Working off-site rather than at a school or other district facility Voluntary participation in District or site PD Professional book study with colleagues Inter-school collaboration with grade 2
level or content colleagues Learning Teams 3. UPDATE: If my collaboration colleagues want to attend professional development on the third Wednesday and I do not, can I use the ninety minutes for planning? No. You will decide as a team whether to use the time for collaboration or professional development. 4. What are the benefits to students? Students benefit when teachers are highly skilled and utilize the best instructional and assessment practices. Providing teachers with time for professional development and time to collaborate with peers on each student s progress increases their effectiveness. The opportunity for teachers to calibrate scoring of student work and collaborate with peers will provide students with better feedback and greater instructional consistency from classroom to classroom and across grade levels. Providing professional development during non-student contact time reduces reliance on substitutes and increases the continuity of instruction for students. In addition to the instructional benefits for students, the non-classroom time will provide secondary students with more opportunities for internships, job shadows and homework completion. 5. Don t teachers already have individual planning time? Why can t collaboration occur during the time they already have? The teachers contract provides for daily lesson preparation time. The former contract did not provide any time for collaboration with peers. 6. My school already has collaboration time. Why is more needed? Over the past several years, a few schools were able to provide some time for collaboration, primarily by using substitutes to release teams of teachers. These practices were inconsistent and difficult to sustain. Having consistent time across all schools provides opportunities for inter-school collaboration and professional development, as well as reducing inequities related to some students receiving differing amounts of time for PE or music to create time for collaboration. 7. UPDATE: What does this mean for PYP schools? PYP schools are provided additional plan time in their respective schedules in order to complete PYP unit plans. PYP schools will have the same amount of collaboration time as all other elementary schools. 3
8. Was a late start considered? Yes. However, late start creates more challenges for families of elementary students and for transporting students to Special Education programs. Implementing an afternoon Early Release maintains the stability of transporting Special Education students. 9. Why was Wednesday selected? Wednesday typically has the fewest District and school scheduling conflicts. It is also a peak day for after school athletics and activities. An Early Release on this day allows the District to transport a significant number of these trips originating at 2:45 p.m. or later which we currently have to outsource. 10. UPDATE: Why is late start beginning September 13 instead of September 6? Due to the half-day transition activities occurring on September 6, e.g. LINK, WEB and kindergarten, it would be too disruptive to also have early release. 11. UPDATE: Who will direct the time on September 13? Since this is the second Wednesday of the month, the time will be teacher-directed. 12. Do other school districts have release time for teachers? Most school districts in the metro area have some form of late start or Early Release for educator collaboration and professional development. These include Portland, Hillsboro, Forest Grove, Sherwood, Oregon City, Canby, Tigard-Tualatin, David Douglas, Lake Oswego, Reynolds, Parkrose and West Linn-Wilsonville, to name a few. This is a common practice for schools across the nation. 13. How do our number of student contact days compare to neighboring districts? We anticipate that adding nine more student contact days will provide Beaverton students with more days of instruction than any of our neighboring districts. Portland currently has 176 days, Hillsboro has 178 days and Tigard has 180 days, the national average. Prior to 2016-2017, Beaverton had 175 days. 14. Will instructional time remain the same? In 2016-17, there will be an increase of approximately thirteen (13) hours of instructional time due to the addition of two (2) student days. In 2017-18 there will be a net increase of six (6) instructional days. While students will be in school for six more days and have more full weeks of school, there will be a loss of approximately eighteen (18) hours of instructional time for one year only with the implementation of Early Release. These hours will be restored in 2018-19 with the addition of three (3) more student days. At the end of the three-year implementation period, 4
students will have nine (9) more days in school, more full weeks of instruction and instructional hours will remain the same. 15. Why are two days being added to June instead of August next year? Since the contract with teachers was ratified mid-june 2016, there was not adequate time to notify parents and staff of the change if the days were added to August 2016. Pending stakeholder input and completion of major bond projects, these two days will likely be moved to August beginning in 2018. 16. How will future calendars be developed? As is current practice, a calendar committee, with parent representation, will develop multiple calendar options. Staff and community will be surveyed regarding their preferred calendars, and this information will be presented to the Superintendent who will make the final decision. 17. Will school eventually begin before Labor Day? From an instructional perspective, it is beneficial to maximize the days of instruction students receive before they take exams such as ACT, Smarter Balanced, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), etc. Several calendar options will be presented to staff and parents through a survey similar to what has occurred in the past. 18. How will collaboration time on Wednesdays work with the current semester and trimester calendar for schools? All schools will be on a semester schedule when collaboration time begins in August 2017. Elementary schools will report student progress mid-year, the end of the year, as well as during fall and spring parent conferences. Secondary schools will report student progress four times per year. 19. Will the District have to increase class size to cover the cost of the additional days? No. Part of the agreement with BEA is to maintain reasonable class sizes. If there is insufficient revenue to add days and we cannot identify mutually acceptable options, the Early Release will be discontinued, and we will revert to the current 175 student days. 20. In what way is the model saving the District money? There may be a savings based on an anticipated reduction of substitute costs and extended pay for teachers working outside of their contractual day or year. This will allow schools to use these funds for other purposes. 21. What input will parents have on the implementation of Early Release? Parent focus groups were conducted in July 2016 to advise the District on challenges that will need to be 5
addressed prior to the implementation of Early Release. Parents are able to submit questions and suggestions at Community_Involvement@beaverton.k12.or.us. Additional input may be collected through parent surveys and focus groups over the coming year. 22. UPDATE: What will be the role of principals in communicating collaboration time and Early Release information? Principals support staff collaboration time. They will assist their communities with understanding how this will benefit students and will be supported with common messages to share with staff and community. 23. UPDATE: How will these changes be communicated to staff? These changes were communicated to staff in the spring of 2016. They will continue to be communicated to staff and community in August/September and throughout the 2016-2017 school year via District communications, social media, District website, Beaverton Education Association (BEA) and staff meetings. Final details will be provided during pre-service week August 2017. 24. Do teachers support these changes? The contract with these changes was overwhelmingly approved by 82% of teachers. 25. How will these changes be communicated to parents? Following the ratification of the teachers contract in mid-june 2016, changes were communicated via BSD Briefs and social media. A page on the BSD website was created in July 2016, and parent focus groups were conducted to determine how to ensure an effective transition for families. Additional communication will be provided in September and throughout the fall and winter via District and school communications in preparation for implementation of additional days and collaboration time in 2017-2018. 26. How will this impact high school athletics and activities? Wednesday athletic and activity events will begin no sooner than 110 minutes following the release of students, e.g. if release is at 1:00 p.m., practice will start no sooner than 2:50 p.m. This allows students opportunities to participate in academic support, including Options students who participate in activities at their home school. 27. Will coaches be allowed to leave for games rather than participate in collaboration? Yes. Coaches will accompany athletes when game times require them to leave early from school. 6
28. What will be done to assist parents with remembering the weekly Early Release? For the first few months of implementation, weekly reminders will be sent to parents regarding the Wednesday schedule via SchoolMessenger. 29. What after school options will be available? The District will work with local after school providers and community partners to identify and publish options for students and families. Families will be responsible for after school plans for their children. 30. UPDATE: What is the Wednesday early dismissal time for my school beginning in September 2017?* At this time, the plan is to dismiss schools as follows: Elementary schools that start at 8:00 a.m. will dismiss at 1:05 p.m. Elementary schools that start at 8:30 a.m. will dismiss at 1:35 p.m. Schools housed at Timberland during rebuilds will dismiss at 2:25 p.m. Middle schools will dismiss at 2:20 p.m. High schools will dismiss at 1:00 p.m. Bridges Academy will dismiss at 1:00 p.m. ACMA, Health & Science, SST, ISB, Rachel Carson and Merlo will dismiss at 12:35 p.m. *Subject to change as new schools and bus routes are added. 31. UPDATE: Will students receive lunch prior to dismissal on Wednesdays? Yes. It may be at a different time than other days of the week. Each school will determine their lunch schedule. 32. How will finals week be impacted? To maintain K-12 continuity, students will be released at the regular Early Release time during finals week, e.g. comprehensive high schools will release at 1:00 p.m. Release times during finals week for Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday will be determined by Transportation as is current practice. 33. What if a staff member needs to have some time to prepare for collaboration? Staff are expected to be fully prepared to engage in 90 minutes of collaboration time. The majority of individual preparation should be done during daily individual planning time or on a 5th Wednesday. If teams periodically find they need additional data or materials as they are meeting, it is reasonable for them to take a few minutes to gather this information and continue working. 7
34. Can teachers take this time for personal appointments, etc.? The time for collaboration and professional development is to be protected. All contractual requirements for leave usage apply. 35. How will the Wednesday schedule impact part-time staff? Principals will work out a plan with part-time staff in advance of the implementation of Early Release in the same manner as they have done in the past with part-time staff members regarding other school expectations, e.g. staff meetings. 36. UPDATE: How will this impact classified staff? Classified staff will be able to participate in professional development and/or be partners in collaboration, as determined by the supervisor. This time can also be used to support teachers and classroom instruction. There will be no reduction to classified hours. Schools may not flex, comp or otherwise adjust classified employees hours. 37. How will this impact licensed staff who are not part of a grade level or content-area team, e.g. counselors, nurses, specialists, etc.? Licensed staff will be expected to collaborate with their peers either at their school or at another school. 38. Is there a minimum number of people that constitutes collaboration? Generally, collaboration should include anyone with relevant information or data regarding the student(s). Usually, this will involve 2-8 people. 39. How long will substitutes work on Early Release days? They will work 90 minutes less than other days. For example, if the teacher s day ends at 4:00 on other days, substitutes will leave at 2:30 on Wednesdays. 40. How will elementary specials work during Early Release? Each school will develop a shortened schedule for Wednesday specials. It is recommended some classes rotate so the same one doesn t always get the shortened schedule. 41. How will 90 minutes of PE and music per week be configured with Early Release? All principals will develop a specials schedule to accommodate the needs of their schools, ensuring 90 minutes of PE and Music per week. 42. Do Early Release minutes count toward contractual planning time? No. 8
43. Are plan time minutes adjusted on Wednesdays, or do the additional student contact days help with the averages? Weekly plan time averages remain the same as outlined in the contract. Principals will determine the best way to ensure this occurs within the schedule. 44. How will we address the issue of schools being on different 90-minute blocks of time due to varied start times? With the exception of elementary early/late start schools, times at each level will be the same. 45. Options schools already have less instructional time than other secondary schools. What will be done to address this issue? This is currently under review as new bus routes are added to accommodate new schools. 46. What measures will we use to determine if Early Release has made a difference in continuity of instruction, teacher effectiveness and student outcomes? We will track data such as student achievement over time, teacher evaluations, substitute usage, staff survey data, teacher retention, parent focus groups and Wednesday student attendance rates. 47. How will A/B schedules work on Wednesdays? To maximize instructional time and limit time students spend traveling between classes on Early Release Wednesdays, A/B schedules will continue. This also allows teachers who are shared between schools and students who travel for magnet programs (Health Careers, Terra Nova and Auto Technology) to continue this practice without missing other classes. 48. Who will decide if Early Release will continue after the 2017-2018 school year? Per the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between BEA and the District, Early Release will continue unless resources do not allow the District to reach 184 student days. If mutual agreement is not reached, Early Release will be discontinued, and the calendar will revert to 175 student days. 49. Will Early Release occur on Wednesdays if there is a two-hour school delay due to inclement weather? There will be no two-hour delay on Wednesdays due to inclement weather. School will be canceled. 50. What will elementary grading and reporting look like? Beginning in year two of the contract, grading will occur at the end of each semester with conferences in between. The 9
other two contractual grading days will be used for assessment in the same manner the former spring assessment day was used. 51. What will secondary grading and reporting look like? Beginning in year two of the contract, grading will occur mid-semester and semester. Teachers will update their gradebooks for ParentVue a minimum of every 6 weeks. 52. Will conferences remain the same as in the past? Yes. Elementary will conduct fall and spring conferences, and middle schools will conduct spring conferences. 53. Will staff be able to collaborate with colleagues at other sites? Yes. They will have opportunities to collaborate with colleagues both outside and within their buildings. Collaboration is teacher directed so frequency of off-site collaboration will be based on staff preference. 54. Will the District reimburse for mileage between sites? No. Since collaboration is teacherdriven, mileage is not reimbursed. 55. Who will decide the collaboration location for a teacher who is shared between schools? Principals will confer with the teacher to determine the best model. 56. UPDATE: How will schedules be determined to avoid conflicting priorities between professional development offerings and collaboration options? To avoid conflicts, the Professional Development Advisory Committee has determined professional development options will be provided on the third Wednesday of the month. 57. When will a professional development calendar be available for teachers to review Wednesday offerings to help them coordinate collaboration with colleagues? Teaching and Learning will provide a professional development calendar each June for the following year. 58. In years two and three of implementation, will the District try to condense professional development to only those Early Release Wednesdays? Whenever possible, District required or optional professional development will be scheduled on Wednesdays during Early Release. This will not always be possible, e.g. in curriculum adoption years or when related to immediate requirements. 10