DPS Thrives: Our Strategic Roadmap calls on us to continue our journey toward educational equity by Accelerating the Trajectory of Marginalized Learners in order to eradicate access and opportunity gaps.

In previous iterations of DPS strategic plans, we relied heavily on innovation, autonomy, and independence as critical drivers of student success. While this work has yielded strong outcomes for some students, it has generated and highlighted inequities for others. With DPS Thrives, we aim to build on the progress we have made toward equity by accelerating the trajectory of marginalized learners, which is our North Star. We will do this by: 

DPS is not the only school district aiming to overcome inequity and undo historical systems of oppression. Los Angeles Unified School District, Seattle Public Schools and Chicago Public Schools, to name a few, are also doubling down on the work of providing students access to a high-quality curriculum that honors who our students are and developing our teachers around a solid instructional framework that meets the needs of diverse learners at all levels. 

The pursuit of Educational Equity is a journey, not a destination. By engaging our parents, teachers, leaders and students in the journey, we believe DPS will attain the knowledge, skills and fortitude to redesign the educational experience in such a way that Every Learner Thrives! To that end, we are seeking your support to share school-based practices that accelerate the trajectory of marginalized learners by considering consider a small sample of school-based strategies below.

A Sample of Current School-Based Strategies Aligned to Accelerating the Trajectory of Marginalized Learners:

With your help, we can better understand the great things happening in our buildings to help guide and support best practices across the district and ensure the success of Black and Latinx students. Please take a few minutes to share what you do and how you do it in your classroom so that we can continue toward Educational Equity. 

Visit The Commons to access resources for teaching about cultural moments. Resources are currently available for Native American Heritage Month, which runs from Nov. 1 through Nov. 30. Is your school or community planning an event or project to honor and celebrate one of these cultural moments? We want to spotlight your work! Reach out to dpsequity@dpsk12.org to share your school’s plans and information.

This updated look functionality took effect the week of Oct. 24.

Beginning the week of Nov. 5, “Control Center” will be renamed “Teaching Center” in the Campus Instruction Index. Student detail information, which is displayed in different areas of Campus Instruction when a teacher clicks a student's name, has been updated to sort student contacts in order by emergency priority and to display the priority ranking of the contact.

The TSEAL team is conducting two virtual feedback sessions to understand how to better provide supportive and responsive resources to our educators and students. The sessions are from 4-5 p.m. on Nov. 10 and 14. Extra duty pay will be provided to eligible participants. Fill out the interest form for more information.

Were you recently hired as a new teacher, or just need a refresher on LEAP and Learning Cycles? Please ensure you watch these important LEAP 101 Screencasts that were previously shared in the New Educator Welcome sessions. Also, if you haven’t already done so, please take the time to review this observation training around Learning Cycles, the new protocol that was launched this year. This approach is set up to better support ongoing coaching and feedback. Other resources for Learning Cycles can be found here. Questions? Email LEAP@dpsk12.org.

Help your students get a head start on college and career through ASCENT, a fifth-year high school program that allows students to attend college full-time for one year after high school for free. The application is now open! New legislation has made it easier to participate in ASCENT, and there is no longer a limit on how many DPS students can participate -- any qualified student can join! Schedule time for your students to learn about ASCENT -- click here for more information.

Click here to learn more about these resources and opportunities: 

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