School Support Intensive

Our signature program supports school leadership teams to build learning engines for leaders and teachers by both developing leader skills (through world-class practice and coaching) and supporting the strong execution of a robust playbook of customizable and turnkey-able PDs and systems.  The core components of the intensive are as follows, and we can customize further to meet the needs of individual networks, city organizations, or districts.

We work with schools to be able to ensure the following are true:

  • Readiness & Commitments

    • 100% of the most critical readiness items complete with all criteria met at least three weeks before teacher training. These include clear goals, roles and responsibilities, coaching times chart, leader calendars, summer PD plan, yearly PD plan, “common pictures” for critical school-wide times, etc.. (A comprehensive readiness planning tool with exemplars and criteria for success is part of the intensive.)

    • 100% of schools have made clear, public commitments to all of the coaching structures necessary for the goals below. (We provide a clear list of the specific commitments schools must make to ensure excellence.)

  • Teacher Development

    • 90% of teachers get a weekly practice-based coaching session that practices a clear action step

    • 100% of schools have at least 25 school-wide practice-based, Arc-aligned PD sessions a year.

    • 85% of coaches do at least one hour of real-time coaching every day

    • 85% of teachers show proficiency on 3 of 4 critical measures for each of four “Arcs”:  Foundations, Classroom Environment, Feedback, Thinking, Crescendo

  • Leader Development

    • 85% of leaders show proficiency on at least 4 of 6 critical skills: coaching meetings, real-time coaching, leading PD, critical conversations, class/grade/school resets, leading data meetings

  • Attendance

    • Leader attendance is at least 98%, Teacher attendance is at least 97%, and Student attendance is at least 95%

  • Curriculum & Program

    • 85% of 3rd-8th grade students do at least 200 minutes of independent reading a week (or read at least 600,000 words a year)

    • 100% of curriculum is high-quality (either EdReports green or used by schools/network that consistently demonstrate outsized student achievement gains compared to similar schools)

    • 100% of schools have a proven phonics program in K-2, systematically screen for phonics/fluency gaps in all grades, and have a phonics/fluency intervention at all grade levels for student who need them

When these are consistently true, our experience is that schools create learning engines for leaders and teachers that result in student learning. Gains of 5-10 percentage points or more a year can then become the norm and expected.

Core School Support Intensive

  • In-person, practice-based professional development

    • 2 days: Hiring and Readiness

    • 4 days: Summer Leader Intensive: Leader Mindsets, Core Skills (PD, Real-Time Coaching, Critical Conversations, Data Meetings) in service of effective execution of the first two parts of “Arc” of the year

    • 1 day per additional “Arc” (4 days total): Practice leading PD and coaching to support the new “Arc”

  • Zoom-based PD

    • Nine 1.5-2 hour Zoom sessions. Each session practices a critical leader skill or skills in service of the current “Arc”

  • Zoom-based coaching

    • Nine 1-hour Zoom sessions per school. Each session reviews data, stamps clear “keep doings” and actions based on “Arc” data, and practices key leader skills

  • In-person, site-based visits

    • 4 half-day visits per school. These visits model what an effective principal manager visit should look like each week, combining data analysis and action planning, real-time coaching, PD preparation, and critical conversations

  • Access to the full Simply Great Schools Toolkit

    • “Goldmine” … “Leader Fantasy” … “Incredible Resource” … “Saves me Hundreds – if not Thousands – of hours” When we share our toolkit with school leaders, they are simply amazed. It is unlike anything our partners have ever seen in its comprehensiveness and simplicity. Every staff-wide PD for the year. All the coaching tools. Every data tracker. Exemplars for all Readiness items. Talent Calendar with all the tools. All of this in a clear folder system with all resources linked. This toolkit takes the best of what worked at Achievement First and other top charter organizations and makes it clear, simple, and actionable for any school leader.

Partnerships are most effective when … the partnership for the next year is solidified by January or February of the previous year. That allows time for a school or network review and the launch of deep readiness work. In the partnership process, Simply Great Schools works to get exceptionally clear about the commitments schools must make to maximize the impact of the work, and schools/networks/cities work with Simply Great to identify areas for emphasis or custom support.

Partnership example: Simply Great Schools partnered with three networks in Milwaukee, WI - Carmen, Lumin, and Messmer - to design a year-long intensive support program for 15 schools. In the 4-day summer PD intensive, we offered 25 sessions, and we received 100% agrees or strongly agrees with 9X% being strongly agrees as the networks embarked upon transformative PD together. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. This email from Nicole Schmidt, Vice President and CAO of Lumin, captures the mojo very well:

Just a quick and BIG note of gratitude from your LUMIN friends. Our PD has never felt so rejuvenating and on fire (in the BEST way) as it has this year. We have overwhelmingly positive feedback from leaders and teachers about the session topics, amount of practice and a genuine hunger for more! 

I've been leading practice sessions with leaders, and they love it so much they are taking initiative to schedule more together! The network-wide leader collaboration is at an all time high. I'm seeing confidence build before my very eyes. Val has never led a PD on her own, and is just killing it!! Stacey led the Read Baby Read chant in front of her team today! Springer and Doc are like the dream team modeling and practicing and giving eachother live feedback in every PD session. It's all so beautiful... 

AND this didn't happen by chance. Much of how we are currently operating is a direct outcome of your coaching and support. Thank you for holding a high bar for my leadership, and our collective excellence in developing our people through feedback and practice. It's making a huge impact already, and we've only just begun :)

So- THANK YOU! 

Nicole

Optional additions:

  • HQIM Implementation: This year-long addition supports schools implementing high-quality math or ELA curriculum at a single site or across multiple schools. Simply Great Schools design the tools, train the leaders, and support those leaders to train teachers on implementing HQIM with fidelity and excellence through site visits, coaching, and PD.

  • School Leader Skill Intensive: This 5-day, in-person, practice-based intensive builds strong leader mindsets and skills across six critical dimensions: coaching meetings, real-time coaching, leading practice clinics (PD), critical conversations, and class/grade/school resets,. The week culminates with each leader “going live” with each of these skills with a Simply Great Schools coach, and each leader leaves with clear, specific feedback on their strengths and areas for growth.

  • New Teacher Training: This 3-5 day, in-person, practice-based intensive prepares new teachers to confidently build a strong classroom environment. By exploring and building strong teacher mindsets and practicing core relationship-building and routines-building skills, new teachers (and returning teachers who want to start the year stronger than ever) exit in a radically more prepared place than they enter. Like our school leader intensive, the week culminates with “going live” with a Simply Great Schools coach, and each teacher leaves with clear, specific feedback on their strengths and areas for growth.

  • Additional Site-Based Days, Zoom Coaching, or Custom PD: Many schools participating in our intensive programs decide to add additional site-based days, Zoom coaching, or custom PD to accelerate the growth of their schools or networks.

  • School or Network Review: Many schools participating in our intensive programs start the work with an intensive network review. This helps to provide a baseline for future growth while identifying areas of strength and growth to emphasize in ongoing PD and coaching support.