GSRP Early Childhood Specialist (ECS) Meeting

Wednesday, March 15, 2016 Oakland Schools / 9 AM – 11 AM

AGENDA

  1. Introductions/ Norms
  2. Specific questions saved for your support person
  3. If more clarification is needed concerning agenda items, please contact your Oakland Schools support person(Chris or Gerri first for everything) “One stop shop”
  4. Communications: concerns, challenges, suggestions, questions

a.Communicating with directors in your programs

b.Communicating with teaching staff (teams)

c.Communicating with your Oakland Schools support person

d.Communicating with other ECSs

e.Other topics related to communication / The Audit has muddied the waters…

Go to your support consultant person first with questions. Then Gerri or Chris will go to other support people if necessary.

What can we do better here at Oakland Schools to better support communication?

  1. Always invite directors to your meetings with teachers.

It would be helpful if Oakland Schools communicates with the ECS about what’s been shared with the program.

Communication with programs, copy Chris or Gerri if needed.

Share GSRP meeting minutes with ECSs as well as the dates of the GSRP meetings; add schedule to the ECS site as well as the minutes.

b. Avoid written communications with the teachers that are not copied to the director. For example: texting…encourage teachers to put their ideas in email and when you respond, copy the director. This helps with transparency. Be cautious and encourage communication between the director and the teacher.

c. Communicating with OS

For Southfield: For audit information having Oakland Schools communications be copied to the ECS who is also an administrator has been helpful.

There is a lot of emails. In subject line “Read now” or “RSVP” or “Response Needed”.

If you have a data meeting question go directly to Krista. Copy Gerri or Chris. All other communications go directly to Chris or Gerri.

d. If you give support to another ECS make sure you can back it up with print. If you hear support from another ECS, double check it with your support consultant. Also, we do things differently than other counties.

Overall communication: Pause on Advice / Provide documentation

  1. Goals Form Revision (revised recently)
  2. Review of how to use the form
  3. Questions / Feedback
  1. It may be that in the future that ECSs work with teachers/programs to establish a PD plan.
  2. At the next directors meeting share the distinction between PD and certified curriculum training and what MDE requires.
  3. Aim to have your feedback session within 2 weeks of the PQA observation. This guidance can be found in the implementation manual in the ECS job description:
  1. Clarifications:
  2. Behavior plans in GSRP
  1. Behavior Plan does not equal sticker chart. A sticker chart can be a part of someone’s behavior plan. The behavior plan is where adults have taken data and sat down with the family to develop support actions to help the child strengthen skills. Behavior plans are about support not exclusion/separation. You still score what you see; you just now know “why” the stickers or other things that might occur. Behavior plans can exist without an IEP.
  2. IEPs are different from behavior plans. Behavior plans can be a part of the IEP (individual education plan). There must be clear documentation for behavior plans.
  3. What’s a good behavior plan? We’ll invite Jennifer Champagne to a future meeting to help us determine what a good behavior plan looks like.
  4. Behavior Support Resource from Karen Anthony
  5. See Handout
  6. Pause on Advice and Provide MDE/HighScope/OS/Licensing documentation for strategies. Ask Chris or Gerri if you need help finding resources.
  1. Badges
  2. Have Shawn look into badges for ECS to get onto the office side.
  3. Audit
  4. March 21rst – hold this day on your schedule from 1pm – 3 pm room 250

Notes from Joan:

  • Thank you for all of your prep work.
  • We don’t know exactly what will happen at the meeting. Joan, the ECC are not given the information. Chris, Krista and Gerri will be there. Her guess is that they’re interested in:
  • 1-Do you have the time you need to do the work you do and is pay handled well?
  • 2-How does OS support you in the work you do as an ECS. Do you get PD, do you understand your job, do you get answers for your questions.
  • 3-How’s it going? What are you suggestions for the state?
  • Or, they may not…Their main focus is how we as Oakland Schools adhere to the legal mandates.
  • Be as honest and candid as you can be. We want to continue to improve.
  • On Monday morning, we will find out which programs will be visited.
  • They’ll be looking at current child records and that those records are maintained well.
  • There may be a need for overall COR report for where children are developmentally.
  • Where are the records kept for your program?-You may be asked for this information so that we can direct the MDE consultants where to go.

Q&A

  • Do directors know this info?-yes.
  • Should you bring anything?-you may be asked questions. She already has access to the data that you’ve sent in.
  • Their role is to act very neutral and not necessarily “see” the classrooms. They will look at the PQA data for that information.
  • They will look at the end-of-year PQA and give us how we’re doing in relation to the state.
  1. Documentation needed for audit and deadlines
  1. Reminders:
  2. Form A baseline that is 3.25 or lower – let us know about Form B if it’s lower than 3.25 also
  3. Reliability recertification – keep track of your renewal date
  4. Start End of Year Form A for ALL programs (March 1st through May 1st) NEW!!!!
  5. Data meetings / Local Advisory Meetings
  6. Reflection on how they are going
  7. Questions / Concerns
  8. Question: What if there is no new data for the April meeting? That meeting is a check in. Look at the goals from the first meeting. How are things going? Look at COR data Period 2 as well.
  9. Question: What should be covered in the second meeting.Email Krista with your questions.
  10. Resources
  11. Mary’s Team Teaching Checklist

See handout: This is a resource to help people think about sharing tasks in the classroom as co-teachers instead of teacher and aid.

  1. Karen Anthony’s Resource List

See Handout: behavior supports in community

  1. We have some Oakland Schools Guidance documents
  1. COR Reliability Test
  2. If you are interested in taking it, we can talk at lunch time.
  3. In the future this may become a requirement for all teaching staff and ECSs
  4. Questions from the group
  5. Office matters / Contractor needs
  6. Today’s PD is “Writing SMART Goals with PQA Data”/ Both Ends of the Spectrum – (teams that are high scoring on PQA and reliable on COR / teams that struggle to improve)
  7. Future meeting dates and PD topic

April 20 – Summit 126: PQA Form A Dissection of Examples

June 1 – 170: Celebration and Reflection / Setting Goals for Yourself as an ECS