Welcome to the ACCESS Newsletter
Happy Spring!
 
Spring is a time for new life, growth, hope and to celebrate. As we see signs of life in our area's blooming flowers, budding trees and longer days, we cannot help but be filled with gratitude, a want to celebrate and a reminder to do more – to be more that we could ever imagine. 
 
Spring is a fitting time for this month's focus: Growth. More specifically, we are exploring growth as it relates to mindset. Our mindset drives and shapes all that we do. It determines how we engage with others as well as how we behave in every moment and situation.

Mindset is also at the core of Delaware's redesigned teacher evaluation system, which includes a deep sense of responsibility to focus on the learner, collaborate, receive continuous feedback and believe that we all have more to learn. Both the framework and the process of the redesigned system provide a platform for teachers and leaders to talk about more supportive teaching and learning so that students are learning skills and knowledge, but also demonstrating the understanding of how to apply and transfer this knowledge to new situations.

This month we spotlight four amazing educators who apply growth mindsets that foster collaboration, innovation, leadership, culture and value to all through their strategies, systems, processes and day-to-day work. 

Enjoy!
Celebrating amazing educators participating in DTGSS pilot year 1
Kimberly Marquis, Assistant Principal Lake Forest Central Elementary
Nicole Kurz-Dowell, Assistant Principal Lake Forest East Elementary
Lisa Fox, Assistant Principal
Lake Forest North Elementary
Lisa, Kim, and Nicole are leaders in the Lake Forest School District who are engaged in pilot implementation of the DTGSS.

Each of these instructional leaders are commended for implementing this learning-focused model of evaluation with a growth mindset. They can be found at PLCs collaborating with teachers about instructional choices, and the impact these choices have on student learning.

They can be found participating in learning visit sessions, attending support sessions offered by the DDOE, and creating internal structures that support ongoing feedback and coaching. They strive to develop their skill in providing feedback with balanced analysis.
Dan has a strong desire to grow his skills and knowledge as a teacher leader. As a member of the DTGSS Steering Committee since 2018, Dan supports pilot implementation by engaging stakeholders, participating in DTGSS training for both leaders and teachers, attending all committee meetings, and offering useful feedback. Dan's ability to think forward, to appreciate the process, and to spread positivity wherever he goes is valued.
Dan Bruno, Teacher
Henry B. DuPont Middle School
If you would like to nominate an educator to be recognized in the Spotlight section, please email Angela Socorso.
Shifting from a Teaching Focus to a Learning Focus
As Dr. Jon Saphier states, "We are in the midst of a significant revolution in the ways we think about and carry out teacher evaluations. These changes include shifting from teaching-focused to learning-focused interactions in all phases of the process, redefining and expanding what we mean by the terms observations and data from an observation, and increasing teachers’ opportunities for regular, brief bursts of feedback." (Strengthening Teacher Evaluations, 2014).

All of these changes have implications for our work and require us to think about the essential habits of mind and practice that should be in place to create a school culture focused on maximizing adult and student learning. The design of the DTGSS calls us shift our mindset and to ask ourselves the question, “How might we think differently about teacher evaluations?”
How does mindset drive our thoughts and behaviors?  
When we think about the critical importance of mindset shifts around teacher evaluations, a very important factor to consider is schema. Schema describes a pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information, skills, and the relationships among them. In short, it is the how we learn and eventually know how to do something such as riding a bike. Yet the schema itself can make it really difficult to learn how to do something differently; it can prevent us from seeing different possibilities and can inhibit the transfer of what we do know in the service of learning and doing something quite different. We want our teachers and leaders to do more than simply learn a new process and rubric; we want them to demonstrate the understanding of how to apply and transfer what they know to new way of thinking about evaluations. The important distinction here is that knowledge does not equal understanding. 
In the video above, Dustin talks about how he knows how to ride a bike, so making one change really shouldn't change the skills needed. However, redesigning the handlebars to go backwards changes it just enough so that he no longer understands how to apply the skills he knows and has used in the past to be successful. Watch how the schema, the pattern of thought or behavior that organizes categories of information, skills, and the relationships among them, he has so deeply internalized continually foils his efforts at mastering this newly configured bicycle. The backward bicycle gets at the challenges about mindsets and how shifting mindsets can affect behavior. 
How does the design of the Delaware Teacher Growth and Support System call for a shifting in mindset? Learn more
Educator Resources
  • ACCESS eNewsletter: Read Delaware’s monthly eNewsletter focused on school staff evaluations. View previous issues here. 

  • DTGSS Schoology group: Get DTGSS information specific to teachers and administrators. Find downloadable resources, including training and overview materials. For access, enter Schoology code: X8WB-ZKQJ-M585J or email [email protected]