Benefits and Commitments
Benefits to Districts and Schools
- Professional development for district and school-level leadership teams focused on improving student achievement. Provided by the University of Delaware and Focus on Results, the training objectives are to:
- Focus leaders' time and efforts on instruction.
- Refine goals and strategies using student data.
- Develop distributive leadership teams.
- Implement best practice instructional strategies.
- Engage collaborative leadership teams with representation from the district, school, community, board, union, and families.
- Individual expert coaching ("thought partners") for up to 4 days per month on how best to focus their time on instruction.
- Collaboration opportunities with other Network districts and schools to share best practices, successes, and challenges.
- Opportunities to visit best practice schools within and outside of Delaware.
- Regulatory flexibility to help overcome obstacles related to administrative procedures, resource needs, funding restrictions, compliance activities, and other policies.
- Opportunities to apply for private and public sector Vision Network grants to implement initiatives consistent with Vision 2015 recommendations.
- Support for strategic planning and instructional improvement activities through alignment with ongoing district and school efforts.
Commitments from Districts and Schools
- Make student success the #1 priority, and set ambitious student achievement targets for all students.
- Acknowledge that there is room to improve in their school and/or district, and be realistic in assessing current student success.
- Engage in continuous self-reflection. Training activities are designed to build opportunities to examine data and operating procedures.
- Invite the Vision 2015 Implementation Team and its partners to a seat at their tables. The Network is designed as a partnership in which Vision 2015 aims to support districts and schools.
- Commit leadership time. Leadership teams from each district and school—including administrators, teachers, specialists, board members, and parents—are expected to participate in monthly trainings and homework sessions.
- Accept feedback and coaching. Individual coaches (“thought partners”) are available to leadership teams for up to 4 days per month.
- Pursue Vision 2015's aspirations and recommendations.
Commitments from Training Partners
- Make student success in Vision Network districts and schools the #1 priority.
- Provide technical support, flexibility, and other resources to help districts and schools achieve their goals and overcome obstacles.
- Offer training that meets districts' and schools' unique needs.
- Advocate for Network districts’ and schools’ funding, support, and flexibility.
- Engage in self-evaluation, and accept feedback from participating districts and schools. The Vision 2015 Implementation Team has engaged an external evaluator to provide qualitative and quantitative feedback throughout the process, and the Implementation Team has invited participants to provide direct feedback at bimonthly sessions.
