The GSP Monthly Dispatch – December 2021
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December 2021
Welcome to the December issue of the GSP Monthly Dispatch! This month, we bring you:
- Our next discovery session on building more equitable advisory systems
- An invitation to join our four-part virtual series on planning for change in your school or district
- Our latest success story about collaboration, risk-taking, and professional development in the era of Covid-19 at Nokomis Regional High
- An opportunity to share your thoughts and insights about the Common Data Project’s 2021 Annual Report—a deep dive into high school graduation and dropout rates, as well as college enrollment, persistence, and completion measures from across New England
Building a More Equitable Advisory System
If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that strong relationships between students and school staff members are critically important. During this virtual discovery session, participants will learn how advisory systems can improve outcomes for all students. Participants will also examine effective middle and high school advisory structures in order to build or refine their school’s or district’s own advisory system.
Date: January 26, 2022
Time: 1:00-4:00 PM ET
Where: Virtual, via Zoom
Cost: $150/person
Planning for Change in your School or District
Join us for this four-part virtual series is designed to help teams of three to seven participants envision, design for, and begin to enact the steps necessary to make specific and meaningful improvements in their schools or districts. This is not broad strategic planning; this is targeted movement on a specific goal that is essential to the work of educating all students.
Dates: February 9, March 2, March 16, April 6
Time: 3:30-5:00 PM ET
Where: Virtual, via Zoom
Cost: $1,500 per team
Success Story: Collaboration, Risk-Taking, and Professional Development at Nokomis Regional High
At Nokomis Regional High in central Maine, the original plan for the 2020-21 school year called for intensive staff development around project-based learning (PBL), which was an important element in the school’s work to improve outcomes for all students. Unfortunately, the pandemic derailed the school’s ability to meet in person and the opportunity to provide teacher release time via substitutes. It also forced every teacher to have to rethink every aspect of their standard classroom practice, adjusting to remote and hybrid teaching models. The option to delay a deep-dive into PBL until the following year seemed reasonable, even enticing. However, educators were determined not to lose a year of professional growth and forged ahead despite the pandemic.
The Common Data Project Annual Report provides transparent, comparable data about high school and college outcomes from across New England. By disaggregating the data by student characteristics across six indicators, we can examine educational equity in regional secondary school outcomes by economic disadvantage (ED), English learner status (EL), disability status, gender, as well as race and ethnicity.
Are you an educator, administrator, parent or caregiver, researcher, student, policymaker, or any other stakeholder with an interest in educational equity? Have you looked at this report? Do you use the data? Then we want to hear from you! Please share your feedback about the Common Data Project Annual Report. By sharing your insights, we hope to continuously improve how we report the data and convey our insights to better serve you.
This survey is open to all. Please feel free to share it widely.
Thanks for reading! See you next month.
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