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JANUARY 2021 ■ VOLUME 23 ■ NUMBER 1

Professional Learning Communities

TABLE OF CONTENTS

JANUARY 2021 ■ VOLUME 23 ■ NUMBER 1

The Indiana Association of School Principals leads in the advocacy and support of all principals in their commitment to every child.

Professional Learning Communities President’s Letter - Professional Learning Communities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

“PLC”ing in a Small School. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 STEM Integrations Community Partnership Series:

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Tiffany Barrett Steve Samuel Kelly Storms Matt Stark Debra Misecko Jared Leiker Roy Hufford Keith Burke Kevin Rockey Andrew Hawk Troy Albert Rick Hunt Chrystal Street Lori Graham Nicholas Mitchaner Jason Cary

Professional Learning Communities as Social Capital in STEM/STEAM Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Rethinking PLC’s for 2021 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Similar to Identical: Creating Systems that Cultivate Equitable Practice. . . 13 PLC During a Pandemic: Staying Focused on Learning & Keeping Culture Strong. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

11025 East 25th Street Indianapolis, IN 46229 1-800-285-2188 or 317-891-9900 www.iasp.org tbarrett@iasp.org

Professional Learning Communities for Social Justice: A Promising Practice.

20 IPLI News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

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Riley Kids Caring & Sharing Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Spotlight on Service Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 LEGAL REVIEW

Situation Briefs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Student Engagement & Attendance Policy Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Return to Table of Contents

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PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Professional Learning Communities I may be biased, but I thought the IASP fall conference was a huge success. As you read this, it will have been a month or so since it occurred, but for me, as I write, it just happened. The content, speakers, and relevance may have been one of the best offered. Kudos need to go out to the IASP staff and the IASP members who were on the Assistant Principals Conference and the Fall Professionals Conference planning committee. If you registered, you have a plethora of quality PD at your fingertips whenever you are available to watch or listen.

Although good PD is something we all long for, we know that one-time shots of PD are not good enough. We need the community, connections, people to bounce ideas off of, and people who hold us accountable.

As educators, we know the importance of cooperative learning. We know the significance of having students learn to work collaboratively. We hear the phrases like, “Two heads are better than one” and “A cord of three is not easily broken.” We know that students who learn to work as a team will become more successful.

Why? When we lift something heavy by ourselves, we may be able to do it but with great effort. When we lift something with the help of others, the weight of the object doesn’t change, but the amount of effort to lift the object is distributed amongst all who help, thus making it easier for each individual person. Also, the variety of skills, talents, experiences, and knowledge that each individual brings to a problem increases the chances that a successful solution may be found.

To me, a good Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a collaborative team that makes the workload easier. It brings people of a common purpose together to solve a problem: improve student learning.

The articles in today’s Indianagram highlight the importance of a PLC, establishing a PLC, and how to monitor a PLC within your building, but I want to talk about you being in a PLC. The PLC you are in may look different than your teachers, but it is just as important for you to collaborate with other principals. It is often difficult to meet with other principals inside and outside your district. I have found that it is when I make the time to speak with other principals that I come away rejuvenated and filled with ideas and encouragement.

A principal’s PLC may look different. In fact, several years ago I was introduced to the term Personal Learning Network (PLN). It is establishing a network of people with whom you can chat, call, text, or a direct message regarding “principal” things. Here are some ideas to help develop your PLN: Attend IASP district meetings. You will find other principals within your area asking the same questions and facing similar challenges as you. Get to know them.

Set a time to meet. Have a weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly meeting with other principals. With our increased skill in video conferencing, you don’t even have to leave your building, or you can meet for breakfast, coffee, or chat over the phone.

Establish a group text. This is for those quick moments of frustration, fear, or excitement.

Text words or gifs of encouragement.

Social media feeds. Find other principals and follow them. There are some good principal groups on Facebook. There are some quality people to follow on Instagram and Twitter as well.

As you build your school’s capacity to learn from each other, don’t forget to build your capacity to learn from others as well!

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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

IASP Executive Committee Eric Gilpin President Aimee Lunsford President-Elect Happy New Year! Our first issue of 2021 is packed with articles and information that is applicable to the PLCs within your school, and your own PLC, or PLN according to President Eric Gilpin.. We hope that over the past several years, and especially in 2020, IASP was one of your primary sources within your PLC. Each of you modified your leadership styles and practices to better engage students, staff, and your community in 2020, and IASP did also. While this was extremely difficult for all of us, we know that at IASP we have learned even better how to serve you and how what we will continue in 2021. Our 3100 member strong PLC gives you access to live and recorded sessions that allow you to then serve as a resource to others. I’m grateful to the numerous members who stepped up in 2020 to offer virtual concurrent sessions during our AP and Fall Conference, and it was a delight to know that our community and network helped sustain and propel IASP into 2021. We continue to celebrate and thank you for your leadership, and we look forward to seeing you soon in 2021!

Dr. Todd D. Bess IASP Executive Director

Matt Shockley Vice President Lizz Walters Past President Kelly McPike NAESP State Representative Dave Strouse NASSP State Coordinator Steve Baker Liaison to the DOE Amy Boone Assistant Principal Liaison

Future Indianagram themes Alternative Education/Traditional Education

February 2021

Digital & Physical Building and School Safety

March 2021

Culture/Celebrations

April 2021

Highlighting Community Partnerships

May 2021

Professional Development

June 2021

Share your thoughts on the Indianagram https://forms.gle/sCmLHwnh4aYcTJdr8

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

“PLC”ing in a Small School Nick Mitchaner Assistant Principal New Palestine High School We’ve all heard the acronym: PLC Professional Learning Communities. As educators, student learning is what we are tasked to do (although we all know we do so much more than that). PLCs can really be boiled down to being able to answer four main questions: ■ What do we want our students to know?

■ How will we know they know it?

■ What do we do about it when they don’t?

■ What do we do about it when they do?

To PLC is really just to be practicing good teaching to be honest. Teachers do this day in and day out - and not always in an official capacity either. Teachers might collaborate between passing periods with a quick conversation on how their students performed on an assessment. There may be some curriculum work as a team to determine which standards to hit, and where and when to cover them after school one day. On a deeper level though, PLCs, when used effectively, can promote curriculum development among teaching teams, allow teachers time to gather and interpret student data, and center the classroom around student needs. Ultimately, they can lead to higher student academic achievement.

As a teacher, I’ve gotten to experience PLCs in a large, urban school district with a science department of over 30 down to a small, rural district with a department of only eight teachers.

When I started at my current school, only two of us taught chemistry. I was the only integrated chemistry teacher, there was only one physics teacher…

Other departments were in the same boat - there was only one calculus www.iasp.org

teacher, one FACS teacher, one band teacher. I’m sure many schools can relate to this - or maybe be even smaller in size.

In short, there were a lot of more singletons. How do you collaborate with a group of teachers when you might be the only one teaching that subject? Being a smaller school didn’t mean we didn’t value PLCs or couldn’t use them effectively. It didn’t mean we didn’t hold our students to the same high expectations. But it did mean we needed to think about them a little bit differently.

For those starting their PLC journey, I highly recommend the book series from Solutions for Professional Learning Communities. We started with “How to Develop PLCs for Singletons and Small Schools” by Aaron Hansen. Several other books in this series proved quite useful, including “How to Launch PLCs in Your District” and “How to Coach Leadership in a PLC.” They are quick reads, but rife with applicable guidance for schools. We used these to help us as we started - and they were insightful and tremendous resources.

We learned a lot along the way about really cultivating a PLC culture in our school. We started first by working as a staff to understand PLCs and develop norms for our meetings. Collectively, we all needed to understand the “why” we were doing what we were doing.

Teaching is very personal in nature anyone who has been in a classroom feels this deep in their soul. But PLCs are meant as a way to collaborate and learn without taking anything personally (I know, harder said than done). It’s important to remember that honest conversations need to take place for PLCs to truly work. As Dufour (2004) states, PLCS “require school staff to focus on learning rather than teaching, work collaboratively on matters related to learning, and hold itself accountable for the kind of results that fuel continued improvement” (p.11).

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Once the norms were created, we dove into the four questions. We brainstormed what it meant to answer each of the four main PLC questions writing our essential questions, creating common assessments, and created plans for recovery, reteaching, and enrichmen.

Great - we know what the four steps are, we’ve developed our norms, and brainstormed what each of the four questions entailed. The next step was to dive in and practice a PLC cycle - which is exactly what we did.

The concerns became apparent pretty quickly. How can we go through a PLC cycle with so many singletons? Who is supposed to work together? What about teachers who have fundamental teaching styles that differ among common contents? How do PLCs translate into smaller school settings?

And as usual - teachers did what they do best: they got creative. They took the norms - knowing that they wanted to try new things - and got to work.

Our AP teachers decided to form their own PLC group and focus on writing strategies for their AP tests. That lone band teacher? He was able to work with the middle school band teacher and PLC by creating a vertical team.

They traded off - one week meeting at the high school, the next week at the junior high school. Instead of our world language teachers splitting into their own languages, they came together to create a common rubric for speaking and writing that could be translated (pun intended) across any language and level. They worked on this rubric, tweaked it, and practiced it for several months. They each even decided to use it as their student learning measure goal this year. I’ve seen a group of science teachers that worked on writing skills, specifically around writing formal lab reports. Teachers developed a common rubric that could be used to guage student informational writing proficiency in any science class or grade level.

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Some teachers decided to use NWEA data. Others used common formative assessments (some used summative assessments). Some teachers differed in their assessments as a whole, but decided on common language and a few essential questions that they could analyze together as a group. Some teachers used writing prompts; others used some edtech tools to gather quick data at the end of each week to compare with others. Our business and FACS teachers took an interdisciplinary approach and came up with a list of common leadership and job skills that would scan their content areas.

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What it came down to was this: regardless of “where” or “with whom” the PLC took place, the “what” and “how” of PLC didn’t really change. The four questions remained consistent.

The cycle is constant and repeating.

PLCs don’t have to necessarily be among exact content areas (i.e. regular English 10 with regular English 10). If you find yourself with a lot of singleton teachers like we did, try to figure out which teachers could work together on skills rather than specific content standards. Where could that teacher support another group of teachers (such as special education teachers)?

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Think about literacy standards and content connectors. Could teachers work vertically? Are there specific skills that students haven’t mastered among an entire grade level or general content area? Once we got out of our heads and expanded our ideas of what a PLC group could be, it paved the way for us to really dive deep into student data to help increase student achievement across our entire school.

We’re continuing to expand and perfect our PLC culture - but I’m excited to see where we go.

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

STEM Integrations Community Partnership Series: Professional Learning Communities as Social Capital in STEM/STEAM Learning Krista M. Stith STEM Integrations, LLC

Rachel L. Geesa STEM Integrations, LLC The Indiana Department of Education’s Office of School Improvement defines Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) as “an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively to improve student learning” (IDOE, 2020, para 1). One of the hallmark features of meaningful PLCs is the time and space for educators to strategize to best serve students and thrive through collaboration with peers. Educators within PLCs can support one another as they explore and reflect upon their educator resources, personal educational experiences, and the experiences of their colleagues.

For organic educational experiences to support students’ authentic learning in science, technology, engineering, arts/ humanities, and mathematics (STEM/ STEAM), PLCs provide critical time and space for discourse. Discourse regarding STEM/STEAM should include strategies to build robust and equitable programs and opportunities in schools and districts. One strategy for deeper, authentic, and organic engagement of STEM/STEAM experiences for students is developing and implementing community partnerships.

In reviewing the Office of School Improvement’s recommendations for educational leaders, the following are some actions recommended by the IDOE as providing a foundation for Indiana teachers’ PLCs.

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PLC Culture A school vision and mission focus on the core values, goals, and desired future of the program’s long-term results within a school and community. At Brownsburg High School in Hendricks County, Indiana, grade-level leadership teams model PLCs for leaders to address all students’ social, emotional, academic, and career and college readiness needs by each leadership team working with the same group of students throughout their four years of high school. Each team consists of an assistant principal, academic coach, school counselor, administrative coordinator, and two teachers of record. The organization of these teams allows leaders to build relationships, communication structures, and ways to collaborate with students, teachers, staff, families, and community and industry partners.

learning organizations to empower students to confront global food security, sustainable energy, childhood obesity, climate variability and change, bioenergy, and water and food safety (Bott-Knutson et al., 2019). A significant outcome of this partnership program was evidence of youth capacity to apply their new knowledge and experiences as designers of solutions.

Educators and leaders within a PLC should accurately reflect in what ways strategic planning with community partnerships can be a part of the school’s larger organizational strategy - a clear plan- to prepare all future learners for a scientific and technologically-driven world.

Interdisciplinary Teams Students should engage in real-world problems at the local, state, national, or global levels as thinkers and designers to innovate solutions. PLCs can be a valuable platform for the collaborative efforts to create multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary experiences for students.

Unpacking Standards During PLC meetings, teachers provide diverse voices to crystallize what concepts, skills, and contexts students should be able to know and do, as well as plan lessons accordingly.

Unpacking standards with the lenses of inquiry and problem solving can provide real-world relevance to students.

For example, the U.S. Department of Agriculture partnered with students of K-12 schools, universities, and informal

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In PLC meetings, educators can think of these global issues, as well as local issues, and share what they feel problem solving solutions can provide rich and rigorous experiences that align with Indiana standards. Integration of the technology/engineering standards and the employability standards can be particularly helpful in planning community partnerships to enrich STEM/STEAM curriculum.

The principal of Brownsburg High School, Dr. Bret Daghe, credits PLCs’ effectiveness with regularly scheduled meetings in a common meeting space with focused agendas to guide each 45 minute meeting and meeting minutes shared at the end of each PLC meeting with faculty and school leaders.

Expectations are that all teachers and administrators participate in these PLCs and have focused conversations related

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

to curriculum development, teaching the standards, instructional strategies, and consistent assessments to determine what students know and how best to support all students. PLCs present their data to the administration team on a quarterly basis, and they reflect upon the data to make decisions about next steps to ensure all students have opportunities for success. Brownsburg hosts a STEM PLC with educators of diverse STEM strengths and backgrounds, so that they are well-positioned to add community partnership discussions to the agenda.

■ Describe the authentic problem/task for students to solve

Maximizing PLC time for Discourse on Partnerships Where should educators begin when it comes to thinking about community partnerships while in a PLC meeting?

Below are introductory prompts that can provide a starting point for thinking about community partnerships to enrich STEM/STEAM curricula:

PLCs provide time and space for educators to collaborate to improve student learning and achievement. From some of the actions recommended by the IDOE, we highlight community partnerships as part of a wider conversation on strategies and best practices to build STEM-capable students. Educational leaders may

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■ Identify the content standards/skills to be focused on in the lesson ■ List possible community partners (e.g., local, state, national) ■ Provide a rationale for each community partnership integration into curricula to create an inter-, multi-, or transdisciplinary experience for students ■ List potential barriers or challenges with the community partnership

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consider prompting teachers to use some of the PLC time to improve students’ learning through the enrichment of STEM/STEAM curricula and providing an organic context for students to solve real-world problems through community partnerships.

References Bott-Knutson, R. C., Larson, B., Van Heek, N., Nichols, T. J., & Stluka, S. (2019). Community partnerships help undergraduate students to meet the ‘grand challenges’ of today. Collaborations: A Journal of Community-Based Research and Practice, 2(1).

Olson, L. A. (2018). School-Community Partnerships: Joining Forces to Support the Learning and Development of All Students. Aspen Institute.

Indiana Department of Education (2020).

Professional Learning Community. https://www. doe.in.gov/school-improvement/professionallearning-community

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

Rethinking PLC’s for 2021 Angela Girgis Girgis Educational Consulting Professional Learning Communities (PLC) have become a familiar and collective inquiry practice in most Indiana schools.

As a former administrator, I found out first-hand how PLC’s had a pervasive and ongoing impact on my school’s structure and culture. I always appreciated the opportunities to drop in on grade level PLC’s and hear my staff analyzing student achievement, sharing successful practices, and setting goals for the next week. What I often noticed that went unnoticed was how the teachers unknowingly utilized adult social and emotional learning (SEL) competencies. Teachers’ social awareness was demonstrated by their sense of empathy for their students and their colleagues. Relationship skills were sometimes put to the test as teachers would disagree on the best evidence-based practice to implement for the next unit of study. Responsible decision making had to be agreed upon to empower and equip their students.

PLC’s are a strategic time for our educators now more than ever to foster a supportive environment to cultivate intentional, personal social and emotional well-being. The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) suggests that schools are more effective at teaching and reinforcing SEL when the competencies are also cultivated in adults. Due to the Covid pandemic, PLC’s should now also serve as a time for respite and social and emotional learning opportunities for our educators. This scheduled time can allow for a safe environment for our teachers to engage in SEL competencies such as self-awareness. Self-awareness is one competency that identifies and recognizes emotions, personal strengths in oneself, self-efficacy, and self-confidence. Teachers need time to breathe intentionally. The burden is heavy, and many of our teachers are exhausted and overwhelmed. Stress affects teachers’ health and well-being, job satisfaction, job turnover, and student outcomes (Greenberg et al., 2016). Encouraging teachers to collaboratively address how they manage their stress, stay persistent, and motivated can provide much-needed support.

care during their PLC time. Provide resources such as Mindful Teachers.org that addresses burn-out and exhaustion. Pose a SEL question for your teachers to reflect upon such as “Name an emotion you are feeling and why you may be feeling that way?”

Don’t stop there, but continue to listen and provide support and information from your school counselor or community counseling supports to address these emotions. Isolation has become a devastating issue during this unprecedented time in our history. Create opportunities for your staff to come together, even if it is a scheduled Zoom or Google Meet. If a PLC time has already been carved out in your schedule, utilize this opportunity to work smarter, not harder. Teachers have a full plate, and adding more meetings can add even more stress.

For now, PLC’s might have to take on a different look as we finish out the school year. Whether in-person or virtually, teachers need time to practice self-care for their well-being.

By designating a portion of PLC collaboration time to address adult social and emotional self-care, administrators can demonstrate their gratitude and compassion, acknowledging that educators are also serving as frontline workers during this pandemic.

Special thanks to our Silver Corporate Sponsors:

As an administrator, what can you do to nurture a work environment where your staff feels supported and empowered to address their SEL needs? Support and encourage that a portion of PLC time to be dedicated to adult SEL? Give your staff permission to engage in their own social and emotional well-being during this time. Teachers are often pleasers and overachievers and need to hear from their administrator that they have the support and approval to focus and reflect on selfwww.iasp.org

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Leading for 100 Years The NAESP Annual Conference is the one national event that provides the strongest unified voice for pre-K–8 educators across the U.S. and around the world.

Join us in Chicago, July 8-10, 2021, to help celebrate NAESP’s 100th anniversary of offering professional learning experiences designed to inspire bold thinking and innovative leadership.

National Association of Elementary School Principals Serving all elementary and middle-level principals 800-386-2377 • naesp.org • twitter.com/naesp • facebook.com/naesp • instagram.com/thenaesp • linkedin.com/company/naesp

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Similar to Identical: Creating Systems that Cultivate Equitable Practice Carrie Rosebrock Professional Learning Specialist Central Indiana Educational But how do we do this? How do we Service Center create a sense of belonging in our schools? And what do PLCs have to do In workshops with school leadership with this? teams, I often ask leaders to work together to define professional learning communities. Typically, the groups’ definitions overlap and shared beliefs quickly emerge within the room. While the participants listen for the common ideas to appear, I listen for something completely different: I listen for the name.

Every definition begins like this, “A PLC is a __________________, that…” and so it goes. That blank is a name, a noun, and it’s what I listen for. Some groups call it a process; some a system; some a meeting. And while these names describe the professional learning community, each misses out on the key word right there in the name itself: community.

When I was studying school administration at Butler University, the director of our program, Dr. Marilyn Sudsberry asked us all this same question. And like my many workshop participants, my classmates and I missed the people part of PLC. I remember with clarity the night Dr. Sudsberry said, “You don’t do a PLC; you are a PLC.” One sentence; massive implications.

To be a community requires a sense of belonging among members. If you live in a town, but do not feel you belong, the people in that space are not your community. We know this to be true outside of school walls, and I believe that we know it to be true within the walls, as well. www.iasp.org

To truly create spaces of belonging for all children in our schools and society, we must ensure that each learner has equal access to both content and dignity. Marzano refers to access to content as a, “guaranteed and viable curriculum” for all students in a course, class, grade, or district. While I’m not suggesting that every district adopt the same curriculum (that is crazy) I am making the unavoidable claim that leaders are all too often failing to ensure the guaranteed part of the curriculum.

Teachers spend months to years unpacking standards, writing learning intentions, determining success criteria, mapping units--to inevitably disregard the map when they hit a story, unit, or task they do not prefer. Deviating from the agreed upon, selected, written curriculum has a name: it’s called going rogue.

Or at least that’s what I call it. When leaders fail to clarify the importance of sticking to a map and teaching a guaranteed curriculum, teachers will take liberties with what they can teach versus what they must teach. I have seen this over, and over, and over again in schools.

The other half of the belonging equation is that all students must have equitable access to dignity. Now, what in the world does that mean?

Dignity, though a common enough term in our vernacular, is often

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underemphasized and overlooked.

Students must receive equitable access to worth, honor, and respect if they are going to feel the necessary sense of belonging in their school.

What does a lack of worth, honor, and respect look like in our classrooms?

Teachers disregarding or ignoring cultural differences of their students.

Teachers stereotyping students’ abilities based on background, language, identifications, race, gender, size, sexuality, and socio-economic status.

Teachers taking an authoritarian approach, or belittling approach, or shaming approach. Because they can.

Here’s the truth: the overwhelming majority of teachers in our country intend to treat all of their students with dignity; however, we also fall short at times and may have trouble realizing it.

We may let our own frustrations, fears, shame, and vulnerability allow us to lash out and attack, blame, or “otherize” our own students. Even the best of teachers is still a human being, and human beings can, at times, fail to treat one another with dignity.

To avoid the discrepancies, in either access to content or access to dignity, districts must develop similar to identical practices. In our book, Arrows: A Systematic Approach to School Leadership, Sarah Henry and I define the concept similar to identical as, “a belief that two or more aspects...are monitored inside of a system that promotes commonalities over individualism. To be similar to identical is to adhere to a collective drive to make decisions in groups and then follow-through with the expectations that are set.”

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Your systems must ensure that students have equitable access to grade-level appropriate content in each of their courses. Two separate Algebra II teachers should not have two completely individualized ideas about learning intentions, success criteria, or assessment. Why? Because that is a system that creates two different versions of access to content. Two different curriculums. You wouldn’t want your two 11th graders having such drastically different learning experiences, so why would you want this for any 11th graders?

Likewise, two separate fourth grade teachers should not have two completely individualized ideas about who deserves dignity within the school and who does not. Hearing about actions of indignity in our schools makes us uneasy. We don’t like it, but also, we have trouble naming every example of it, as well.

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All students deserve the right to a sense of true belonging within their school. Not assimilation. Not tolerance.

Belonging. Arguably, creating similar to identical approaches for ensuring dignity is more complex and personal.

The people who tend to give the least amount of dignity to others tend to be the ones who feel the least amount of dignity themselves.

As leaders, it is up to us to clarify expectations, define what practices must be similar to identical across all classrooms in entire districts, and then work one-on-one with our teachers to support their development. If our teachers feel inadequate about their ability to teach the content, inequity appears. If our teachers feel their own lack of belonging within a school, inequity appears. If our teachers feel they are not worthy, valued, or respected--inequity appears.

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Bio: Carrie Rosebrock is a Professional Learning Specialist for the Central Indiana Educational Service Center in Indianapolis, Indiana. She teaches and presents at schools and centers across the state. Before joining the CIESC team, she served as the Secondary English Administrator for Brownsburg Community School Corporation.

She works with schools to improve their PLC processes, instructional leadership, curriculum and assessment development and teacher leadership.

She is also the co-author of the educational leadership book Arrows: A Systems Based Approach to School Leadership which will launch in February of 2021. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter @CarrieRosebrock, or reach out to connect: crosebrock@ciesc. org. You can also find free resources, videos, and sessions from Carrie on Keepindianalearning.org.

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

PLC During a Pandemic: Staying Focused on Learning & Keeping Culture Strong Ashley Hammond Principal Fountain Central Jr/Sr High School, Southeast Fountain School Corp

to the most important things: people, culture, and learning for all. We have all experienced many challenges, distractions, and unknowns. Educators are faced with many new demands and barriers such as remote learning, feeding students, technology concerns, grading practices, teacher evaluations, budget straints, and much more. We find ourselves seeking normalcy.

The truth is, the foundational values and beliefs of the school remain the same. Educational leaders must ensure learning for all students.

Brian Johnson Principal Green Meadows Intermediate, Community Schools of Frankfort Ashley Gustin Assistant Principal South Madison Middle School, South Madison Comm School Corp In times of uncertainty, leaders should focus on what matters student learning! Each year, the Green Meadows Intermediate administration team administers anonymous mid-year and end-of-year staff surveys focused on school culture and the current year’s school-wide PLC goals. All staff members are given a week to take the survey. While they know it would probably be best to wait until the survey closes to check responses, Green Meadows administrators monitor the responses throughout the week analyzing them as they are submitted. It’s just the nature of educators to want the data and feedback quickly, so they can reflect and continue improving their practice.

While the results of the surveys and feedback each year tend to show that Green Meadows has a strong culture and the focus of staff and students is on learning, this year has been different.

We are in the middle of a pandemic and so much attention has needed to be on COVID-19 and safety protocols and procedures. Green Meadows administration felt like the results of the survey would be positive but had some anxiety that staff may not feel culture was as strong and the circumstances had taken our focus away from learning.

So, what were the results of the survey? Staff felt that culture, morale, and relationships have never been stronger and that as a school, the focus continues to stay on learning for both students and adults even with everything that schools and educators have faced throughout the first half of the 2020-2021 school year.

In 2019, the three of us met through our strong passion for the professional learning community (PLC) process. Mr. Johnson, the principal at Green Meadows Intermediate School has successfully implemented the PLC process and led his building to become a model PLC school for the last two years. Mrs. Hammond, the principal at Fountain Central Jr/Sr High School was in the beginning stages of implementing true professional learning communities and eager to learn more, and Mrs. Gustin, assistant principal at Pendleton Heights Middle School, has successfully implemented and monitored a cyclical PLC model based on Tier 1 and 2 instructional practices and data disaggregation. Through collaboration over the last couple of years, we have solidified our beliefs in successful PLC implementation, practices and monitoring.

In 2004, Rick DuFour wrote, “The professional learning community model flows from the assumption that the core mission of formal education is not simply to ensure that students are taught, but to ensure that they learn. This simple shift—from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning—has profound implications for schools” (p. 7).

Solution Tree defines professional learning communities as “an ongoing process in which educators work collaboratively in recurring cycles of collective inquiry and action research to achieve better results for the students they serve. Professional learning communities operate under the assumption that the key to improved learning for students is continuous job-embedded learning for educators.” Professional learning communities (PLCs) allow intentional time for educators to collaborate, identify important content, assess student learning, dissect data to guide instruction, and build strong relationships.

It is critical that the mission and core purpose of a school become more fundamental than ever. The pandemic is a unique opportunity for educational leaders to shift their focus

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PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES

The four main questions to the PLC process are:

1. What do we want our students to know?

2. How do we know if our students learned it?

3. What do we do if our students did not learn it?

4. What do we do if our students did learn it?

Intentional time built into the master schedule for teachers and staff to collaborate on a weekly basis within their PLC teams in a meaningful way is critical. PLC time is not professional development or training, rather collaboration around planning, instruction, curriculum, assessment, and data. Depending on where your school is in the PLC journey will determine the amount of guidance or support needed from administration.

However, simply allowing time for teachers and teams to collaborate around teaching and learning during contract hours energizes and empowers them and supports a positive, collaborative culture.

PLC time allows collaborative teams to identify the most important content we want and need our students to learn (Question #1 in the PLC process). Teams are able to identify high priority standards for each grade level and/or content area, break down learning objectives, and focus on instructional strategies. Regardless of your mode of instruction (in-person, virtual, hybrid), the instructional process has been adjusted due to a variety of factors, and learning has shifted from pre-pandemic times. Ensuring all students learn the most important content is essential for current and future success.

Question two in the PLC process addresses how we know if students have learned the content we have taught them. It is essential that educators continue to assess students through formative and summative assessments. While time is valuable and teachers continue to have the internal struggle of, “how am I going to fit this all in,” assessing student learning is still a must. Teachers should assess students in their classes every day through informal and formal checks for understanding and common formative and summative assessments focused on the priority content and skills. This allows teachers to collaborate and determine how cohorts of students are performing as a whole. (Question #2)

Educators are overwhelmed, not only at school but outside of school as well. PLC collaboration time provides the opportunity for celebrations and support for each other.

Educators should celebrate the positives and focus on even the smallest victories. Education is not an easy profession.

If the place where educators spend most of their time is one characterized by positivity, support, and recognition for the great work being done, then they are more likely to give their all to each other and the students and families they serve. This positive culture also creates a safe environment for teachers to be more reflective on their own practices and look for ways to improve. Together, this can result in a high level of learning for all, students and adults.

Professional learning communities create the “All for One and One for All!” approach within a school building. Collaborative teams foster connected relationships with and among staff, staff-to-staff and staff-to-students. As educational leaders, ask for input and feedback on what teachers need to be successful, what is going well, and what needs to improve. Listen with intent and take action accordingly, which in turn will help staff and students feel valued and heard. Encourage staff to reach out to colleagues in different grade levels or content areas that they may not normally talk with professionally. This is key as relationships are the glue that keeps teams together, and together is the only way educators can meet the needs of all students and staff while ensuring high levels of learning.

References DuFour, R. (2004). What is a Professional Learning Community?

Educational Leadership, 61: 8 (p. 6-11).

DuFour, R., DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2006). Learning

by Doing: A Handbook for Professional Learning Communities at Work™, pp. 2–4.

Now, more than ever, using data to drive instruction is crucial to the success of all students. The data produced from common formative assessments gives us the information necessary to provide the appropriate instruction and supports for students.

This data guides Tier 1 instruction along with any remediation, intervention, and/or enrichment needed. Data should be a part of any collaborative team meeting when discussing future instruction and making decisions around curriculum and assessment. (Questions #3 & #4)

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UPCOMING EVENTS IASP hosts events throughout the year to support the growth and development of Indiana school administrators and students. Each event is intentionally designed to encourage and engage you in the pursuit of learning!

FIND A FULL LIST OF EVENTS AT IASP.ORG/EVENTS

Special thanks to our Platinum Corporate Sponsor

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LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Professional Learning Communities for Social Justice: A Promising Practice Kendra Lowery Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership Ball State University

The events of 2020 and 2021 collectively illustrate yet again, the importance of teaching and learning about democracy, social justice, and critical thinking for our students and ourselves as educators. Schools are not separate from what happens in our society. The COVID-19 pandemic, killing of Black people by police, protests against racism and police brutality, calls for anti-racism and inclusiveness in general, controversies over the presidential election, and the assault at the U.S. Capitol building (re)raise questions about how race, gender, income, and citizenship status influence how people are treated and how one can effectively advocate for change in our democracy. This includes issues that intersect with schools such as police, housing, medical care, and food insecurity. For example, in schools, a discussion of what types of students have access to rigorous courses that develop critical thinking skills that develop inquiry about such topics must include a discussion and analysis of student groups by race, gender, home language, and income.

We must lean into the challenge of creating structures to engage in such thinking, dialogue, and change while naming and addressing barriers to high-quality, engaging school opportunities. A promising practice is bridging professional learning communities (PLCs) and social justice inquiry and practice. Through my interaction with practitioners, I realize that many schools operationalize some form of PLCs and have had some level of discussion about social justice, poverty, or racial equity. That is a good start. If these concepts are new to you, now is a good time to begin…and it is indeed a life-long learning process.

Hord (1997) characterized a PLC as a community in which teachers and administrators continuously seek, share, and act on their learning, making them “communities of continuous inquiry and improvement” (p. 10). Key characteristics of PLCs are: a principal who supports distributed leadership (does not dictate all of the questions and actions); creativity, reflective dialogue, and inquiry; a vision that focuses on student learning; the physical structures and human capacities for respect and trust to engage in regular meetings; and review and feedback of teachers’ classrooms, data, and practice to support improvement.

Social justice refers to awareness and commitment to actions that disrupt inequities in access, opportunities, and outcomes for students who are linguistically, culturally, and racially diverse and have been historically underserved in schools. Social justice educators seek to increase democracy at all levels in schools and society (Dantley & Tillman, 2010).

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Cochran-Smith (2015) highlighted the bridge between these two important aspects of education. She described how teacher communities for equity (another term associated with social justice) are PLCs where teachers engage in data-based discussion as a way to challenge school inequities. Further, she explained that the questions generated by teachers are “about how to foster the learning opportunities and life chances of all students, especially those marginalized by the system and those usually considered from deficit perspectives” (p. 112). The essence of the intersection between PLCs and social justice is captured in that statement. In order to engage in social justice inquiry in a PLC, we must seek to understand the elements of a PLC and social justice-related constructs.

In PLCs for social justice we are accountable to ourselves as individuals and we are accountable to the group. If our schools do not achieve the measures or outcomes that are set, it is not enough to blame the institution, displacing individual accountability.

We must ask ourselves, What did I do to contribute to success?

How did I contribute to barriers? What individual learning did I pursue? How did I enact this learning on behalf of marginalized communities in my educational practice and in my community?

I encourage us to think about how education goes beyond the role of principals and teachers. We should consider how school professionals such as counselors, school psychologists, and paraprofessionals for example, can be integrated into PLCs. Finally, I often get asked what readings I suggest for those wanting to learn more and improve. The list evolves as relevant scholarship continues to grow. My recommendations regarding PLCs and social justice are (abbreviated citations): Blankstein A. M., & Noguera, P. (2016). Excellence through equity.

Cochran-Smith, M (2015). Teacher communities for equity. (Cited below).

Lindsey, D. B. et al. (Eds.) (2009). Culturally proficient learning communities.

Muhammad, A., & Hollie, S. (2012). The will to lead, the skill to teach.

Oluo, I. (2018). So you want to talk about race.

References Cochran-Smith, M (2015). Teacher communities for equity. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 51(3), 109-113.

Hord, S. M. (1997). Professional learning communities: Communities of continuous inquiry and improvement. https:// files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED410659.pdf Dantley, M. E., & Tillman, L. (2010). Social justice and moral transformative leadership. In C. Marshall & M. Olivia (Eds.), Leadership for social justice: Making revolutions in education (2nd ed., pp. 19-33). Pearson.

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Ball State Online

Ball State alumna Ceara Jackson in her math-teaching days

Online Master’s in Educational Administration with Principal’s License Earn your confidence when you earn your master’s For teachers like Ceara Jackson, Ball State University’s fully online master’s in education and administration with principal’s license was the direct route to school leadership.

Ceara was a fourth grade math teacher at North Elementary in Danville, Indiana, when she found that path. Today she is assistant principal at North and preschool director.

“This graduate program provided relevant learning experiences that helped me transition from teacher to assistant principal with confidence,” says Ceara.

• • •

Ranked 11th in the nation for 2020’s Best Online Programs by U.S. News Opportunity to fulfill internship while you continue to teach within your school or district Offered 100 percent online; no GRE required

Contact Casey Schultz, Academic Advisor, today: cmschultz@bsu.edu

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LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

IPLI News

Dysfunctions of a Team.” Joining him will be Kim Campbell, a practicing middle school teacher with a generous gift of humor and a straight-talking approach.

Kelly Andrews Director Indiana Principal Leadership Institute While we wade into the new year of 2021 with hope, we are bombarded with new obstacles. Yet, the resilience of principals leading their schools continues to inspire us all. Our structures in place are unwavering with the virtues of kindness and compassion at the foundation built on solid ground.

We continue to focus on our students, teachers, and our community to provide for their needs to journey forward. We will continue to work together in support of one another. Thank you to all, and may we continue to learn and grow together.

Please let me know how IPLI can support you!

IPLI is so excited for applications currently being received for Cohort 9 participants and mentors, scheduled to begin July 6, 2021. Information about Cohort 9 is available on IPLI’s website http://indianapli.org/. If you or you know a principal who wants to grow their leadership, please consider connecting with IPLI. Stay up to date with IPLI through Twitter and like us on Facebook.

2021 Updates: January: Dr. Michael McDowell, Superintendent of Ross School District north of San Francisco, California, will be the keynote for Cohort 8, Year 1. He will be discussing “Visible Learning for Leaders” at the January Seminar. Dr. McDowell is a national speaker on instruction, learning, leadership, and innovation.

Dr. Steve Gruenert from Indiana State University will also work with Cohort 8 on the selection of teacher-leaders as they move toward Year 2. Dr. Gruenert has authored several books on his research on organizational culture and climate. Dr. Phil Warrick of Marzano Research will work with Cohorts 7 and Extended 2 on High-Reliability Schools Levels 2 and 3. Dr. Warrick is an author and consultant working globally in the areas of school leadership,instruction, collaborative practices, and grading.

April: Dr. Tony Sinanis, cohost of the Successful Schools podcast and author of several leadership and culture books, will be the keynote speaker for Cohort 7 graduation on April 13, 2021, after the Showcase of Schools. Dr. Steve Gruenert from ISU will speak on “School Culture” for Cohort 8, Year 1, after the AR Showcase.

Dr. Todd Whitaker and Dr. Nancy Dana will join the Summer Seminar once again to provide relevant insights into school leadership and action research. Dr. Whitaker is known for his expertise in staff motivation, teacher leadership, technology, instructional improvement, and principal effectiveness. Dr. Dana, from the University of Florida, is an expert in practitioner inquiry and action research.

September: Cohort 9 Principals and Mentors will pilot the Process Communication Model to increase Leadership Capacity in Year 1, beginning at the Summer Seminar in July 2021. The PCM is a leadership tool that can assist with productive communication, team building, and selecting effective leadership styles. Dr. Nate Regier, a former practicing psychologist and expert in social-emotional intelligence, interpersonal communication, and leadership, will be a guest speaker in the September Seminar 2021.

Upcoming IPLI Seminars: January Seminars – Virtual Zoom: ■ IPLI Extended Cohort 2 will work with Dr. Phil Warrick on Monday, January 25, 2021, on Digging Deeper into HRS 2Effective Teaching in Every Classroom.

■ IPLI Cohort 7, Year 2, will also work with Dr. Phil Warrick on Tuesday, January 26, 2021, on The Journey to Becoming a Professional Learning Community – HRS 3 – Guaranteed Viable Curriculum.

■ IPLI Cohort 8, Year 1 (on Wednesday, January 27, 2021), will hear Dr. Michael McDowell on “Visible Learning for Leaders.”

Our afternoon speaker will be Dr. Steve Gruenert on “Selecting 2 Teacher Leaders for IPLI Year 2.”

More Seminar News (Planning for an in-person event at this time!)

■ April 13, 2021: IPLI Cohort 7 Seminar & Graduation in Indianapolis ■ April 14, 2021: IPLI Cohort 8 Seminar in Indianapolis Check out IPLI Blogs written by our mentors on the IPLI website http://www.indianapli.org/ IPLI would be happy to present at IASP district meetings.

Contact Dr. Kelly Andrews at Kelly.Andrews@indstate.edu

July: IPLI is excited to announce that Dr. David Simpson from Patrick Lencioni’s Table Group will be a guest speaker in July 2021 during the Summer Seminar at ISU. He will share with all cohorts “The Six Types of Working Genius” and” The Five 22

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SERVICE

Riley Kids Caring & Sharing Update Susan Miles Officer, Kids Caring & Sharing TM Riley Children’s Foundation End of alphabet hazard, no excuse Sincere apologies to Yorktown Community Schools for not including their school corporation family in the 2019-2020 Riley Corporation award list in November’s Indianagram. The school corporation has achieved Red Wagon (Miracle Corporation) or Riley Corporation recognition status since the inception of the corporation recognition program in 2007-08. The 12th annual Yorktown High School Dance Marathon raised an amazing $31,000 last school year and one of the corporation’s elementary schools raised nearly $5 per student despite the challenges presented by the public health crisis! We appreciate their corporation-wide support.

Meet the 2021 Riley Junior Champions & Riley Champions Riley Children’s Foundation created the Riley Champions Presented by Kroger program to honor a special group of patients from Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health. This year, we celebrate some of Riley’s smallest supporters who are serving as our inaugural Riley Junior Champions. These tiny kids and their families will join the returning Riley Champions to raise awareness and funds for Riley Hospital throughout the year.

Lyla DeArmond, Indianapolis Lyla DeArmond was just a few days old when Riley Pediatric Surgeon Troy Markel, M.D., removed life-threatening cysts from her right lung. She spent 74 days at Riley Hospital for Children, including Halloween when she dressed up as a Riley nurse. Lyla went home just in time for Thanksgiving. Now one year old, Lyla continues to receive follow-up care from Riley specialists.

She loves scooting around the house, watching Minnie Mouse and Daniel Tiger, and playing with her older brother Daniel.

River Harbin, Otwell River Harbin was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy at birth and had his first heart surgery at Riley Hospital for Children when he was seven days old. His heart health took a tough turn in 2018 and he became critically ill. Decisive care by River’s medical team helped him survive several crises that required ECMO life support and 158 days on the Berlin Heart.

On May 29, 2019, River received his “hero heart” in a transplant operation performed by Riley Pediatric Heart Surgeon Mark Turrentine, M.D. Today the 5-year-old is in preschool and loves dinosaurs, sharks, fishing, and swimming.

Selena Lipscomb, Muncie Selena Lipscomb was born with a rare, life-threatening pulmonary condition that can cause breathing problems, apnea or respiratory arrest during sleep. She spent six months at Riley Hospital for Children and needed a tracheostomy to help her breathe. Now looking forward to her second birthday, Selena only needs a ventilator at night. She is an energetic toddler who talks nonstop and loves playing in water, dancing to Sesame Street, and being outside.

Caiden Rogers, Indianapolis Caiden Rogers was born prematurely at just 24 weeks gestation.

Once considered one of the sickest babies at Riley Hospital for Children, Caiden required six months of care to grow strong enough to go home. Today Caiden loves playing at the park, watching Paw Patrol and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and eating Cheetos. His mom Shakiyla was so inspired by her family’s journey that she began working in the Riley Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and recently completed her nursing degree.

Jameson Dolan, Fishers Jameson Dolan began his Riley Hospital for Children journey before he was born when an ultrasound revealed he had organs developing outside his abdomen. The Riley Maternal Fetal Medicine team prepared for his complex birth and managed a serious maternal complication for his mom Sheila as well.

Today Jameson receives ongoing treatment from doctors in several Riley specialties including urology – ranked second in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. His favorite things include Marvel superheroes, Mickey Mouse, cars, and trucks, basketball, swimming, and playing with his sisters Olivia and Paige. www.iasp.org

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Let’s work together to find creative ways to keep supporting Riley!

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SERVICE

Each year, Riley Champions are selected because of their perseverance through medical challenges and their commitment to helping others. These Riley advocates are no strangers to adversity – and they know how to come back stronger than ever. When the COVID-19 outbreak limited their opportunities to act as ambassadors, they stepped up to serve an additional year as 2021 Riley Champions.

■ Katherine Alderfer – Lakeland Christian Academy, Winona Lake ■ Kylee Appman – Heritage Hills High School, Lincoln City ■ Britton Helmuth – Homeschool, Harlan ■ Luke Jackson – Bloomington High School North, Bloomington ■ Ke’Mora McMiller – Homeschool, Indianapolis ■ Jace Randel – Northfield Jr./Sr. High School, Wabash ■ Addyson Wooldridge – Miami Elementary School, Lafayette

IASP Districts who donated auction items and the shipping expense to send the items to the winning bidders.

Concord Community High School in Elkhart used the auction tool successfully in both November and December to host an online pottery auction with participants bidding on ceramic bowls and vases created through their annual Potter’s Marathon. Event advisor Bob Bieber and a student event coordinator uploaded all of the item photos and descriptions and shared messages through school email and social media channels to direct supporters to the bidding site. It proved successful - and easy - enough that the school will host two more online auctions in spring 2021.

If a club, classroom, or teacher in your school would like to learn more about how this online auction tool can augment your Riley fundraising campaign in a safe, no contact way, please contact Susan Miles, smiles@rileykids.org.

Online Auction Tool: Keeping KCS Schools Safe Many of you took advantage of our new online auction fundraising tool during the IASP Fall Professionals’ Conference, which took the place of the traditional Principal Service Corps sponsored Riley Raffle. The auction raised more money for Riley kids than any previous raffle! Many thanks to the generous

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SERVICE

Spotlight on Service Learning INvolve, INvest, INSPIRE3 INSPIRE3 provides resources to Educate, Engage, and Empower students, classrooms, schools, and communities as they seek opportunities for service-learning and philanthropy. The Indiana Association of School Principal (IASP) and the Indiana Middle Level Education Association (IMLEA) facilitate and support INSPIRE3. While the INSPIRE3 program has undergone recent changes in funding, the program, support, and resources continue to be available to educators. You can find many examples and resources on our INSPIRE3 page to help introduce, implement, and continue service learning in your school community. You can find the resources below, as well as many more. Share them with your colleagues and teachers today.

■ Check out the INSPIRE3 Snapshots of Service Learning page All of our “Snapshots” include the Learning To Give lesson plan that the teacher or counselor used with their students to enhance their service-learning experience. These are packaged and ready to use in your classroom.

■ NEW Learning To Give Resource- Civility and Civil Conversations- Learning to Give just published a new resource to guide youth in debate, conflict, and civility. “It is more important than ever to talk about civics and civility with our students and help them navigate listening and finding their voice for the common good.”

■ Learning To Give Social Awareness Resources- Incorporate teaching SEL and Social Justice in-class and in remote settings. Two sets of resources were designed by educators, all of whom are also parents, with the intent to provide activities and experiences that build community while promoting awareness of self and empathy for others. These videos and resources help to facilitate the intersection between home and school.

■ Learning To Give Calendar Guide- Infuse service into your school’s teaching calendar by aligning lessons and service-learning projects to monthly events and themes.

■ generationOn website free service/service-learning resources for teachers, students, and parents ■ INSPIRE3 PowerPoints available and Tutorials found HERE ■ Visit our INSPIRE3 page on the IASP website HERE

Coming up soon: The second annual Eva Education Day! On Wednesday, Jan. 27 — the 76th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp — we invite all Indiana middle and high schools to show the award-winning film “Eva: A-7063” and use the lessons in the Eva Educational Toolkit to teach your students the life-affirming messages of late Hoosier Holocaust survivor Eva Mozes Kor. Those materials were sent to all of your schools last year, and the first Eva Education Day, as proclaimed by Governor Eric Holcomb, was an enormous success. With studies showing young people’s knowledge of the Holocaust to be disturbingly low, and with Eva’s themes of inclusiveness, moral courage and forgiveness more important than ever, the IASP would like to see this become an annual tradition. Please see the attached video from Eva’s son, Dr. Alex Kor. www.TheStoryofEva.com

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LEGAL REVIEW

Situation Briefs Dave Emmert Emmert School Consulting The following issues have been presented to this writer in the recent past by school administrators. The summary responses are shared to improve administrator recognition of problem areas and to give a brief legal background to assist in problem resolution. Consultation with the school attorney is very important because each situation is different and the law to be applied is more complex than what is revealed in these responses. This column is intended for informational purposes only and should not be viewed as legal advice. Dave may be contacted on his cell at 317-432-4514 and on the web at; davidjemmert@gmail.com.

Issue: Can you direct me to state requirements with teacher evaluations.

Specifically, the mandated components of the teacher evaluation rubric. We were “dinged” by the DOE last year for not having growth measure data for all teachers in our corporation. We were going to include the SLOs (student learning objectives) back into the evals this year. However, our union is saying those do not need to be in there and are causing a stink with us requiring them.

I always thought the growth measures (SLOs) had to be in there. I am not sure why Springs Valley took them out four years ago? I was not here at that time.

When I came here, I asked why we didn’t have SLOs and the superintendent at that time said he didn’t know why they were taken out either. Now our current superintendent said we were “dinged” by the DOE/state for not having them and they need to go back into our evaluation process. Your guidance is appreciated.

Response: From what I could gather from the Indiana Code and State Board of Education Rules, this issue is up in the proverbial “air” at the moment due to www.iasp.org

COVID 19 and the Governor’s Executive Order 20-20 dated April 9, 2020 which suspends and modifies numerous former requirements which are too numerous to list here. It may be found on line at: www.in.gov/gov/governorholcomb/newsroom/executive-orders The Teacher Evaluation Code is found at IC 20-28-11.5, the table of contents for which is: ■ 20-28-11.5-3 “School corporation” ■ 20-28-11.5-4 School corporation plan; plan components ■ 20-28-11.5-5 Conduct of evaluations ■ 20-28-11.5-6 Completed evaluation; remediation plan; conference with superintendent ■ 20-28-11.5-7 Instruction by teacher rated ineffective ■ 20-28-11.5-8 State board actions; model plan; approval of plan by teachers ■ 20-28-11.5-8.5 Plan for performance evaluations not subject to bargaining; review of plans by the department and the Indiana employment relations board; requirement to present plans selected to the state board of education ■ 20-28-11.5-9 Department report of evaluation results If you or your superintendent purchased the 2020-2021 edition of the book, Indiana School Laws and Rules, there is an important Commentary on page 749 which states that “an evaluation plan is no longer required to use student assessment results as an objective measure of student achievement and growth to significantly inform the evaluation.”

You will see beginning on page 1496 of this book, the inclusion of the State Board of Education rule concerning evaluation measures which is 511 IAC 10-6-4 and it includes student growth measures. However, you will see in italics

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at the very beginning of this rule the editor’s note concerning its suspension or modification due to COVID 19 and the Governor’s Executive Order No. 20-20, dated April 9, 2020.

I advise you to contact the IDOE for the latest status of this rule and its application to your specific situation.

Issue: We have a situation where we have a student who is male in gender but dresses and identifies as female. Legally the student has not changed names or been through any gender reassignment surgery. “She” is now taking PE class and wants to dress in the female locker room. Are we within our legal rights to ask her to dress in a different area for gym class? Would it also be within our legal rights to ask this student to use a separate restroom?

We were under the assumption that it would be within our legal rights to ask this student to dress in a different area as long as this same option was offered to all other students. We also thought restrooms were not necessarily an issue since there are stalls in the women’s restroom.

Response: In the attachment (not included in this Indianagram article), I included the three federal appellate circuit court transgender student cases in full, including our Seventh Circuit’s 2017 Whitacre v. Kenosha Sch. Dist. case that sets the legal precedent in favor of transgender students having the legal right to use the restroom of their identified sex in the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin due to being constitutionally protected under the Equal Protection Clause and being statutorily protected under the federal Title IX code.

Said 7th Circuit’s Whitacre case relied upon a 2004 Sixth Circuit decision that also gave protection to transgender students. Hence there are at least four 27

LEGAL REVIEW

federal appellate level courts that have allowed these students to choose to use the restrooms of their identified sex, and which overrode their respective school’s requirement that a neutral restroom had to be used instead. I am not aware of any appellate decisions where the school district has won.

Although your presented issue dealt with locker rooms, the term “restrooms” is used above because that is what these cases were about. In my view based on these cases it doesn’t really matter what the room is called, but on matters of equality and the school’s motivation.

However, to litigate this issue your school would have to decide to make this situation a major test case and go against precedent by denying transgender students locker room (or restroom) use of their choice, and hope the U.S. Supreme Court would take you would have lost in the Seventh Circuit.

The Supreme Court would most likely deny your request to appeal because at this time there is no legal conflict between the federal appellate courts for the high court to settle. Therefore, it is highly advisable in my view to fall in line and allow these students to choose which room they will utilize.

Technically, in answer to your question about the school “asking,” rather than “requiring” transgender students to use a neutral room or a “different area,” you could offer such potentially dangerous, fact-sensitive option as long as the evidence would be absolutely clear (which it seldom is in reality) that the student knew and understood that he/she had total freedom to choose a neutral room/area or the room/area of his/her gender-choice.

Issue: The local library has asked for STN numbers of students in order to set up Online Digital Library cards. Is this something we can share with them, legally? Just double checking because this is an amazing opportunity.

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Response: The following is the definition of “directory information,” which is an exception to the normal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) general requirement that personally identifiable student information may not be shared with a third party without the student’s written consent. Since the library in this situation would be such a third party, the question is whether a student’s (or all students’) STN number may be released by your school without written consent.

I generally understand the meaning of “STN” to be the student tracking number, but am not familiar with the its practical and usual everyday use by a school district. §99.3 What definitions apply to these regulations?

The following definitions apply to this part: ….

Directory information means information contained in an education record of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. (a) Directory information includes, but is not limited to, the student’s name; address; telephone listing; electronic mail address; photograph; date and place of birth; major field of study; grade level; enrollment status (e.g., undergraduate or graduate, full-time or part-time); dates of attendance; participation in officially recognized activities and sports; weight and height of members of athletic teams; degrees, honors, and awards received; and the most recent educational agency or institution attended. (b) Directory information does not include a student’s— (1) Social security number; or (2) Student identification (ID) number, except as provided in paragraph (c) of this definition. (c) In accordance with paragraphs (a) and (b) of this definition, directory information includes—

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(1) A student ID number, user ID, or other unique personal identifier used by a student for purposes of accessing or communicating in electronic systems, but only if the identifier cannot be used to gain access to education records except when used in conjunction with one or more factors that authenticate the user’s identity, such as a personal identification number (PIN), password or other factor known or possessed only by the authorized user; and (2) A student ID number or other unique personal identifier that is displayed on a student ID badge, but only if the identifier cannot be used to gain access to education records only when used in the stated except when used in conjunction with one or more factors that authenticate the user’s identity, such as a PIN, password, or other factor known or possessed only by the authorized user.

(Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(5)(A)) I highlighted the language that I believe is relevant in this inquiry and am of the opinion you would be acting validly within this law if the STN number(s) you are referring to fit(s) the language in number (1), especially the requirement that this identifier “cannot be used to gain access to education records,” and that the STN’s purpose is for use in “conjunction with one or more factors that authenticate the user’s identity.”

My general conclusion is that this fits the FERPA “directory information” exception because the local library cannot use the STN number to gain access to a particular student’s personal records, but it can properly use the STN number to authenticate the individual as one of your students to whom it will establish an Online Digital Library Card.

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LEGAL REVIEW

Issue: I am not sure if this is something that has been discussed in your column over the last couple of years, but we are having a few concerns being brought to us about students who wear the confederate flag on their clothing or person, and whether or not the school may ban such.

Our language is found in two areas under dress code: ■ Racist, sexist, and gang related symbols are not permitted to be worn or displayed.

■ Clothing advertising alcohol, tobacco, or illegal drugs, clothing with satanic emblems or inappropriate graphics or language, including but not limited to anything that is lewd, vulgar, indecent, or offensive for school purposes is not permitted.

There are many members of our community who do not view the confederate flag as a racist symbol.

I know that whenever you deal with a student’s First Amendment speech rights, there should be evidence that it is causing a significant distraction from learning. It hasn’t created a distraction yet, but the growing belief by the concerned parties is that the Confederate flag is a symbol of racism.

Personally, I struggle with the wearing of the confederate flag on clothing

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at school, but as with many things in administration, I have had to put my personal feelings aside.

Response: You were wise to seek legal advice on this one because it has complications, especially from the factual standpoint as to whether or not this student intended to express a message that a reasonable person would understand, and if the answer is “Yes,” answering the question if this particular message caused, or could reasonably be foreseen to cause substantial disruption of, and/or material interference with or at the school.

If your situation is one in which there is no history or past incidents of conflict caused by the display of the Confederate flag, and you have no information that the student intended for its display to potentially create a disruption, you would have no legal basis to intervene at this point in my opinion.

If you learn that a student displayed it to irritate a staff member, and it in fact did upset the member, this is not sufficient disruption because an adult staff member is expected to professionally and maturely adjust and smoothly handle such attempted messages from students.

There is no court authority in this country that I have ever seen that

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ruled that the simple display of the Confederate flag, by itself without other evidence indicating a racial motive for its display, is, by itself, racist.

However, if a school had a veritable “explosion” of racist indicators surrounding the display of this flag, you would have a valid legal basis for banning its display for such period of time as reasonably necessary to deter a repeated occurrence, perhaps months and years, depending on the facts of what happened.

Or, if the flag was adopted as a symbol by a known group of students known by the administration to have racist tendencies or attitudes, there would be a sufficient basis for banning its display in my opinion because the group’s motive to demean, diminish, and even bully African-American students would be apparent.

As you indicated, many in your community do not see the Confederate flag by itself as racist, and neither do I. In that I spent three years teaching in Africa and two years working at the Indiana Civil Rights Commission during and after law school investigating allegations of racial discrimination, I can say that I am reasonably sensitive about these matters and work hard to be a “fair and balanced” individual.

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LEGAL REVIEW

Student Engagement & Attendance Policy Update email the Indiana Clearinghouse for Information on Missing Children at stugradrate@isp.in.gov.

Séamus Boyce Attorney Kroger Gardis & Regas, LLP (KGR)

Schools are subject to several state reporting requirements related to attendance, including a mandate that school boards adopt attendance policies and maintain an accurate daily record of attendance.

Molly Connor Attorney Kroger Gardis & Regas, LLP (KGR) The virtual educational environment has presented significant challenges for attendance and engagement of students.

Schools must follow the law regarding attendance and truancy reporting requirements, whether students are participating in on-site or off-site learning.

The importance placed on attendance is well founded – “showing up” is a critical indicator of student success and determines funding through the bi-annual “Average Daily Membership” count.

How do attendance policies work?

Any person between the ages of seven and eighteen is bound by the state’s compulsory attendance requirements, unless the individual reaches the age of sixteen and meets the legal prerequisites to withdraw from school prior to graduation.

Students who accumulate ten or more unexcused absences are considered to be habitually truant. Students who accumulate ten or more absences, excused or unexcused, are considered to be chronically absent. School leaders must report students falling into these categories to juvenile courts where the truant student may face legal consequences.

The measuring of chronic absenteeism aligns Indiana state law with federal laws on attendance, found in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). ESSA’s provisions require that states adopt an indicator for accountability, such as chronic absenteeism.

While rare, prosecutors may bring misdemeanor charges against a parent who commits educational neglect by failing to send their child to school. Charges may not be brought until the parent has notice and the child has not returned to school the following day. Convictions for committing educational neglect range from 180 days of jail time to fines of up to $1,000 per day.

Students who cannot be located by their school are considered missing. If after sending a letter of concern to the student’s last known address the student does not respond, schools should 30

Attendance Policy Considerations The most important consideration from a legal standpoint is implementation. Schools have wide latitude in developing their policies. They do not have latitude in implementation.

Attendance policy audits conducted by the Indiana State Department of Education will be limited to examining whether a school followed its policy. Thus, when developing and evolving your attendance policies, ensure it is practical enough so that implementation will not be a significant burden.

Attendance policies are not one-size-fits-all, and the IDOE has recommended distinct attendance policies for off-site and on-site learning. Though the policies must have attendance and engagement expectations, the way in which these expectations are met may differ. For example, in a typical on-site setting, attendance may be measured through synchronous, physical class attendance. Given that virtual instruction may take place synchronously or asynchronously, schools should establish an attendance policy that accounts for different environments, that may include measuring minimum log-in time, specific task completion over a given time period, or minimum lesson completion over a given time period. Broadly, these statemandated requirements exist regardless of the method of instruction employed. Your attendance policies should allow for the consistent measurement and analysis of attendance data to attempt to prevent learning loss.

Allowing for flexibility in implementing various attendance policies will be paramount for the remainder of the pandemic, as schools may continue to fluctuate between on-site and offsite learning. If, however, you are offering the option between on-site and off-site learning then you should strongly consider communicating that the option for off-site learning is subject to revocation if students do not adequately attend and engage the off-site option.

Aside from developing tailored attendance policies, schools should consider providing supports that attack the root cause of chronic absenteeism, such as technological investments to address problems with connectivity the digital divide , and connections to community resources that can address health,

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LEGAL REVIEW

economic, and housing-related challenges. Community leaders should be equally invested in the academic attainment of its students, as persistence and completion have a profound impact on the economic vitality of the community to which the school district belongs.

Engagement Just because a student is “attending” school through virtual means does not mean they are “engaged.” Though “academic engagement” is not defined by statute, the IDOE defines the term as “the quality of students’ participation or connection with the schooling endeavor and hence with activities, values, people, goals, and places that comprise it.” To the extent it is possible, academic engagement off-site should mirror academic engagement on-site.

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Maximizing engagement in an off-site environment will require a combination of innovative approaches. While a punitive approach may not yield results, parents should be reminded of the consequences of educational neglect. Additionally, the decision to remove students from a school in favor of homeschooling does not absolve parents of attendance reporting requirements. Indiana law allows public school superintendents to request homeschooled students’ attendance records to verify attendance.

IASP is a Resource Meeting attendance requirements while engaging students in the virtual setting is daunting. IASP is there to provide you with resources and support.

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JANUARY 2021

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