Doing What Works Implementation Awards Announced
Doing What Works (DWW) has funded 26 Implementation Awards to be used for the integration of DWW resources into professional learning or school improvement support processes.
Awards went to one national organization, two state departments of education, six support organizations, six districts, six universities, five Office of Special Education personnel preparation grantees, and the partners of these fiscal agents. See the full list below.
For additional information, please email dww@wested.org, or call Kacey O'Kelly at 415-615-3111.
Doing What Works Awardees (January-August 2011)
National Organization
National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) will train principals to use DWW resources mapped to their needs through existing platforms that NAESP currently offers to principals (Professional Learning Forums and Communications & Dissemination Platforms). The end goal is to train principals to use DWW resources in order to drive school and student performance. NAESP has 62,000 members.
State Departments
Alaska Statewide Mentor Project will conduct a systematic assessment of DWW use in AK and embed relevant resources in Mentor curriculum, which includes face-to-face and virtual support strategies. Mentors work with early career teachers throughout AK. Over 400 educators in 80% of Alaska's districts will be reached.
Montana Office of Public Instruction will integrate the DWW resources into an already existing online infrastructure for administrators and teachers, specifically in schools in need of improvement, RtI schools and reading centers. State consultants and school level coaches will use these electronic professional development tools to further enhance and extend the mastery of research-based practices into the schools and classrooms they support. Approximately 211 schools, 67,811 students, 2,718 teachers, and 77 school improvement coaches will be reached.
Intermediaries/Support Organizations
Education Northwest in Oregon will use DWW resources on "quick wins," "instruction," and "committed staff" from School Turnaround and How to Organize Your Teaching in its inquiry cycle with low-performing schools. They will develop and test an instructional quick wins 90-day cycle. Approximately 17 school leaders and 35 staff members will be reached this year and in the future 250 leaders and 80 district and school improvement coaches will be impacted.
Mid-Iowa School Improvement Consortium (MISIC) will align DWW resources with the common core standards and link within the "teaching resources" and "instructional activities" components in content management software. Over 9,600 teachers will have access.
The National Equity Project in California will incorporate DWW videos into Partnerships for Learning professional development institutes, school based coaching, and district coaching with 200 teachers and 40 schools.
Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services will incorporate DWW materials into the existing regional, district and school professional learning processes to help instructional coaches increase their knowledge and use of recommended practices. Math coaches will refine and expand their roles in working with teachers to translate practices into classroom instruction through implementation of DWW evidence-based strategies and tools.
Region One Education Service Center in Texas will Integrate DWW into their RtI cohort using "Turning Around Low-Performing Schools" to incorporate culturally responsive core academics and behavior supports to minimize the need for supplemental and instructional interventions. They will reach 50 team members and 50 teachers.
Regional Service Education Agency 4 in West Virginia will offer DWW content as part of a 5-day professional development workshop using DWW videos, sample materials, planning templates, and related links. RESA will then collect data on use of DWW practices through lesson plans, observations, and self-reported data. They will reach 85 middle school teachers.
School Districts
Lafayette School Corporation (LSC) in Indiana will embed DWW instructional resources into the existing LSC professional development resource site and build modules around the "Learn, See, Do" approach of DWW. Approximately 140 teachers will be reached.
New York City Department of Education is working with ten inquiry teams to design and pilot a revised inquiry process. DWW will be imported into NYC's teacher portal, ARIS. Inquiry spaces in ARIS will serve as online communities about DWW. The inquiry team members will put together a process for identifying DWW resources that address the challenges of focus students and monitor their use.
North Kitsap School District in Washington will identify a learning community from seven schools to use DWW teaching practices in model lessons, videotaped lessons, and collaboration time. They will reach 55 teachers.
Post Falls School District in Idaho is using a multi-pronged approach to embed DWW into district planning and focused professional development. They will reach 18 administrators, 464 teachers, and 17 professional development committee members.
Spring-Ford Area School District in Pennsylvania will train a Behavior Response Team in DWW methods (one team per school) to work with and support existing Child Study Teams to assess behavior problems, propose interventions, and collect and analyze data. They will reach 7 elementary schools.
Whatcom Day Academy in Washington will produce video cases of phonemic awareness and dialogic teaching to be used in a wide variety of courses and workshops. They will reach 6 teachers, 30-40 parents and 15-20 teachers from other early learning centers.
Universities
George Washington University in Virginia will use DWW with a rural district to support the leadership team, PLC's, professional development sessions, and classroom observations specifically with ELL students. They will reach 5 schools, 12 district and school leaders, and 25 teachers.
Loyola Marymount University in partnership with a California school district will use DWW to frame professional development in dialogic reading for transitional kindergarten classes. Over 650 students and 32 teachers in dual language classrooms will be reached.
McDaniel College in Maryland will incorporate DWW mathematics resources into their professional development and coaching with mathematics specialists and teachers leaders. They will ultimately reach 15,000 teachers.
State University of New York, Albany will incorporate DWW info and tools into courses for master's degree special education teachers. Approximately 50 graduate students will be reached this year.
Utah State University will develop new learning modules incorporating preschool literacy resources into existing curriculum for 145 students. They will pilot a new course with 15 Head Start and childcare teachers at a summer workshop.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill will develop a full module around the practice of dialogic reading. They will then teach it in a course with extensive evaluation during the practicum and make it widely available. Audience is 18 sites with over 100 children, expanded through CONNECT online to thousands of sites.
Office of Special Education Personnel (OSEP)
School of Special Education, College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, University of Northern Colorado will infuse DWW topics (RtI in reading and math; Organizing Teaching) into their Intervention Specialists graduate program. Pilot this spring with longer-term plan for additional courses as well as practicum.
College of Education University of St. Francis in Illinois will network with three universities to integrate DWW resources into specific courses at each designed for special education majors (Teaching Reading to ELL; RtI in Math; Organize Teaching; Preschool language and literacy).
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin will use in-depth professional development sequence to focus on embedding effective vocabulary teaching school-wide through use of DWW (Adolescent Literacy) and other resources by different content area departments.
Boise State University will use the DWW RtI math structure to frame pre-service courses and incorporate DWW resources. An addition is to develop and pilot a module about RtI to serve the state of Idaho.
Regents of Colorado University of Colorado Denver Special Education Program will introduce all faculty to DWW practices (DDDM; Reducing Behavior Problems) and then integrate selected content into courses taken by all general education and special education teacher candidates. They will also use online professional development with partner schools.