CORE Communities of Practice
Guidelines & Requirements:
 School teams must participate in CoPs; teams must include
classroom teacher representation
 Schools in CoP identify a common Problem of Practice (PoP)
 CoP engages in 3 PDSA cycles:
1. Plan
 Define/refine PoP
 Engage in shared learning
(readings, site visits,
engaging experts)
 Define common
intervention to be tested at
each site
 Determine evidence to be
collected (*include both
teacher practice and student
impact evidence)
2. Do
 Implement the intervention strategy and collect evidence
3. Study
 Review and reflect on evidence and share learnings
4. Act
 Decide what to do next based on evidence and learnings
(refine strategy, scale the strategy, try a different
strategy)
 One PDSA cycle must be completed by December 2014; two
PDSA cycles will occur by May 2015
Sup’t Zone Bayview 9.9.14
Tentative Schedule for Bayview CoP:
Timeline
Key Activities
Sep-Oct 2014

Zone checks in with CoP leaders/teams to provide overview of
CORE/SQIS/CoP and to support site generation of PoP based on
BSC
Oct. 21, 2014

CoP meets at CORE Institute

PM time will be spent in “Plan” portion of cycle
o Engage in shared learning
o Define common intervention to test at sites
o Determine evidence for collection
Oct-Dec 2014

Sites engage in “Do” portion of implementing intervention strategy
at sites and collecting evidence
Dec. 2014
(choose date)

CoP re-convenes for “Study” and “Act” portions of cycle

Sites will review and share evidence and learnings

CoP will agree on next steps
o What intervention will be tried next
o What evidence will be collected
Dec-Mar 2015

Sites engage in “Do” portion of implementing intervention strategy
at sites and collecting evidence
Mar. 2014
(choose date)

CoP re-convenes for “Study” and “Act” portions of cycle

Sites will review and share evidence and learnings

CoP will agree on next steps
o What intervention will be tried next
o What evidence will be collected
Mar-May 2015

Sites engage in “Do” portion of implementing intervention strategy
at sites and collecting evidence
May 2014

CoP re-convenes for final “Study” and portion of cycle
(choose date)

Sites will review and share evidence and learnings

Sites will leave with plans for following school year
Sup’t Zone Bayview 9.9.14
Key Terms & Acronyms:
Acronym
Definition and Description
CORE


Stands for California Office to Reform Education
Consists of 10 California school districts working together to design a coherent
plan for school improvement and accountability to use in place of No Child Left
Behind
SQIS


Stands for School Quality Improvement System
For schools in CORE districts, it replaces No Child Left Behind as the federal
program for monitoring school achievement and improvement
Consists of 3 key principles of reform: 1) College & Career Ready Standards, 2)
Differentiated Accountability, Recognition & Support, and, 3) Supporting Effective
Teaching & Leadership
Cross-site collaboration and Capacity-building are features of the new
improvement system. Two models that embody these features have been
identified: School Pairings and Communities of Practice


“The
Index”
(SQII)



Stands for School Quality Improvement Indicator
Replaces AYP as the indicator of school success and comparisons
Includes 3 measures to determine school success – Academic domain, SocialEmotional Factors, School Culture & Climate Factors
CoP


Stands for Community of Practice
Represents one of the cross-site collaboration models schools will engage in to
meet the expected measures of success in The Index
CoPs can consist of 2 to 4 schools
Each school team should consist of the principal (or other decision-maker),
teachers (or other implementers), instructional coaches (those who directly
support implementation of the identified strategy)
In the Sup’t Zone Bayview there are 3 schools working together in a CoP



PoP



PDSA



Stands for Problem of Practice
School working together in a CoP will define a common PoP to anchor their crosssite collaboration throughout the year
The PoP should be identified based on site’s needs assessment with references to
both quantitative and qualitative data;
o should address one or more metric from The Index;
o should identify an aspect of classroom practice;
o should address subgroups not making gains.
Stands for Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle
CoPs will complete 3 PDSA cycles this year
Evidence of strategy implementation and impact will be collected based on
implementation of PDSA cycles
Sup’t Zone Bayview 9.9.14