SOAR Services

SOAR SERVICES

The ESU #13 SOAR facility contains a reception area, small conference room, professional library, production center, teacher training media as part of the media center and computer laboratory.

Working within the research base developed by MCREL in their landmark "What Works" series, SOAR staff can provide training and support for leadership, curriculum, instruction and assessment.

· Organizational support, grant writing and management

Professional Development offerings related to organization support include:

Data Collection/Analysis	Consensus Building	School Climate
Results Based Staff Development	Leadership and Team Building	Effective Schools
Change Management	School Board Self-Evaluation
Balanced Leadership	Professional Learning Communities
School Improvement-NCA Ambassador and AdvancEd Quality Assessment Review Chair
Grant management includes:
Title III ESL

· Community celebrations of learning and student special events

Coordination with regional agencies to provide these events:

Trip Through Time-K	Zoo Quest-2	Body Walk-3
F.A.R.M-4	Historic School-4	Water Wonders-5
Branch Out-6	Let’s Rock-6	Environ-Art K-12

· Staff development including the planning and provision of educator designed mini-courses. Workshops, college credit courses, seminars, conferences, individualized professional growth activities, professional learning communities and supporting instructional coaches.

· Curriculum development and alignment with standards

Professional Development offerings related to curriculum support includes:

Curriculum Mapping	Curriculum on the Wall	Common Regional Curriculum Objectives
Tech Paths Support	Textbook samples	Curriculum Assessment Standards Alignment

· Instructional Strategies

Professional Development offerings related to instructional support includes:

Multiple Intelligences	Instructional Theories Into Practice	Cooperative Learning
Curriculum Integration	Technology Integration	Multicultural Education
Teacher Questioning Skills	McREL’s Research Into Practice/9 Strategies Learning Styles	Discipline Based Art Education
Reading in the Content Areas	6 Traits/ Writing Processes	High Ability Learners
Behavior Strategies Support	English Language Learners	Vocabulary/Background Knowledge
Framework for Understanding Poverty	Coaching Support	Researched Based reading
Orton-Gillingham Multi-sensory Approach to Reading w/ Sonday	Differentiation	Response to Intervention

· Assessment support

Professional Development offerings related to assessment support includes:

District Assessment Plans	Assessment Portfolios	Statistical Studies on Assessments
Scantron Achievement Series	Meeting Assessment Quality Criteria	DIBELS
Survey development and model surveys	Student/Parent/Teacher Conferencing	Student Involved Assessment
Conducting Classroom Walkthrough	Data Retreats	School Improvement Process
SIP External team leaders	Progress Monitoring	Universal Screening
NWEA

· Talent resource referrals including community persons with special interests and expertise.

· Professional library of books, periodicals and curriculum available for two-week check-out.

· Media center with teacher training videos and multi-media curriculum kits

· Production center with letterpress, rubber stamps, embosser plates and stylus, book binder, laminators, badge-maker, engraver, overhead, copier. Some equipment may be checked out. Charges to members are cost only.

· Computer training center with twenty state-of-the-art stations including multimedia capability.

· Periodic communications in the form of calendars, flyers, announcements, newsletters, and web pages

SOAR RESEARCH BASE

What theory and research-base supports the delivery of this service on content, process or form?
Professional Development Services	Research Summary	Researcher and Dates
Events	A leader must strike a delicate balance so that people feel the need the change without feeling overwhelmed by the change. Methods: recognizing first and second order change implications, create demand, (also includes but not addressed at these sessions: implement, manage personal transitions, monitor and evaluate.)	Heifetz & Laurie , 1999 McREL, Managing Change, 2006
Training RBSD, classes, learning teams	When theory, demonstration, and peer coaching are present in the training model, the more transfer is involved in complex content. Attaching college credit to some trainings allows teachers to get increased salary increment (motivation) and for recertification. (professionalism) Use of innovation configurations, Stages of Concern and Levels of Use recognizes that people differ in their approach and response to change and may require different support for success. Staff Development Standards are developed in 3areas: Context (learning communities, leadership, resources), Process (data-driven, evaluation, research, design, learning, collaboration), Content (equity, quality teaching, family involvement.)	Bennet, 1987 Joyce, Showers,& Bennet, 1987 SEDL, Hord, 1990 NSDC 2001
Purposeful Community learning teams	-A purposeful community is one with the collective efficacy and capability to develop and use assets to accomplish purposes and product outcomes that matter to all community members through agreed-upon processes. -“When teachers believe they are members of a faculty that is both competent and able to overcome the detrimental effects of the environment, the students in their building have higher achievement scores than students in the building with lower levels of collective teacher efficacy. Ways to develop collective efficacy: Mastery experience, vicarious experience, social persuasion, affective states, group enablement	McREL, 2004 Goddard, Hoy & Hoy, 2000, p. 503 Goddard, 2001
Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction Support	Indicators of use of research-based school practices: guaranteed and viable curriculum, challenging goals and effective feedback, collegiality and professionalism, instructional strategies, classroom management and classroom curricular design. To learn declarative information need to hear it 4-6 times in a 2-3 day period. Procedural takes up to 24 practice sessions to accomplish 80% proficiency. Nine categories of instructional strategies have been shown to impact with high effect size and can be generalized across all content areas: similarities and differences, summarizing and note-taking; reinforce effort and recognition; homework and practice; nonlinguistic representations; cooperative learning; goals; generating and testing hypothesis; and activating prior knowledge.	McREL, 2003 McREL Marzano, 2000
Modeling and facilitating adult “holding environments” imbedded in events, courses and team sessions.	Agreed-upon processes are the processes that lead to patterns of communication, relationships among community members, a sense of well-being, connection between the schools and other institutions, shared leadership opportunities, and a sense of order and discipline.	Waters & Cameron, 2006
ELL Support	ELL/ESL Services • Children need to have strong control of the vocabulary and syntax of a subject matter before they can read with comprehension. Research shows best achievement in children who are taught to read in their strongest oral language. Learning decoding follows the same research as found for the National Reading panel. Comprehension, however similar, requires additional oral language development support.	Collier &Thomas, 1992. A Synthesis of Studies Examining Long-Term Language Minority Student Data on Academic Achievement. Bilingual Research Journal, 16(1-2), 187-212.ERIC Digest (1999). Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth, 2006
Continuous School Improvement	School improvement process engages entire school staff in using effective school research to improve student performance. Sustainable school improvement is a process that is inside-out, bottom-up, and school-by-school. Internal commitment by the school's stakeholders coupled with effective leadership is the fuel for the improvement process. Likewise, the internal school improvement process represents a rich opportunity to strengthen the leadership capacity of each school. Like all organizational change, implementing a successful school improvement process is a challenging and demanding task. Those responsible for implementing school improvement must become skilled and effective leaders who can: --Understand the importance of the school's vision, mission, and core values. --Obtain a commitment from school stakeholders to perform the tasks necessary to achieve the mission. --Anticipate, facilitate, and lead change. --Utilize data in the decision-making process. --Provide guidance in the development, implementation, and monitoring of the plan to improve the school. --Document results	NWREL, Onward to Excellence 1984 Lezotte & Kelly, 2003 for NCA-CASI
Electronic information and assessment data management systems	Promising practice to manage increasingly complex data analysis requirements related to increased accountability and need for relevant instructional interventions.
Professional Library and Teacher Training Media	Standard Practice for providing resources efficiently. School library media centers can contribute to improved student achievement by providing instructional materials aligned to the curriculum; by collaborating with teachers, administrators and parents; and by extending their hours of operation beyond the school day.	“ Close Up: NCLB-Improving Literacy Through School Libraries”, NCLB The Achiever, Sept. 15, 2004
Celebrations of Student Learning Enrichment Events	Intangible assets “represent the ways that people and resources are brought together to accomplish work. They form the identity and personality of the organization by defining what it is good at doing, and , in the end, what it is.” Includes networks and alliances Indicators of use ofresearch-based school practices include parent and community involvement, learned intelligence and background knowledge.	Ulrich and Smallwood (2004) Marzano, 2003
Grants Management	Collaboration and consortiums are standard best-practice for efficiency and leveraging funds for maximum impact.
Production	Standard practice to develop the materials necessary to support other services and classroom instruction.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FORMATS

SOAR utilizes several ways to deliver services to area educators. Personal goals as well as building and district goals influence participation. Because this is a rural area, the goal of providing awareness to motivate change towards researched-based innovations and national trends is also recognized. It is possible that all the following configurations will be used over time as staff is supported to improve student achievement in a school improvement goal. SOAR is committed to working with school leadership to enhance staff collaboration and direct involvement.

Special Event	Long Term Goal Results-Based Staff Development	Learning Team	Class/Course
Open to anyone	In-district or open to anyone	In-district or open to anyone	In-district or open to anyone
Focuses on awareness, and building common knowledge of research for regional educators.	Implements Levels of Use stages to lead to quality implementation of innovations.	Aspires to implement NSDC professional development standards	Follows guidelines of sponsoring colleges.
Large groups	School teams chosen for their common interests and ability to share and support rest of staff	Participants network in groups of 3 to 6 adult learners	Participants participate in a variety of group configurations designed by instructor.
Content, outcomes and pace determined by presenter based on input from regional planning group.	Content, outcomes and pace developed by district leadership teams in conjunction with facilitator.	Content and/or outcomes and pace directed by team members (shared decision making)	Content, outcomes, and pace directed primarily by instructor based on participant feedback.
At least 6 hours of learning in a single day.	Dates planned on school calendar distributed over time with follow-up and support, even coaching.	At least 15 hours of learning spent working collaboratively with team members distributed in smaller chunks over time	At least 15 hours spent working face to face with instructor in larger blocks of time
School discussion and decisions about future adoption and implementation in expected. Individuals may pilot.	Implementation of concepts is expected and monitored	Implementation of concepts is expected and may be monitored.	Implementation is encouraged and supported as best practice
No assignments are given as part of the event, but schools assign participants to share information.	Individual assignments are completed between team meetings to learn about and practice concepts/strategies	Individual assignments are completed between team meetings to learn about and practice concepts/strategies	Individual assignments are completed to demonstrate knowledge and skills gained
Regional leadership has responsibility to determine topics and presenters.	District/school leadership teams working with staff input determine needs, actions, facilitation and support.	All team members share responsibility for identifying and completing necessary tasks.	Instructor has the primary responsibility of identifying key concepts or tasks necessary for mastery of outcomes.
Primary activities: 1. Delivery of theory and research 2. Opportunities to view demonstrations of concepts 3. Discussion on how the topic may be relevant to local issues, mandates, compliance measures, needs shown in data.	Primary activities: 1. Determine how theory and research will be shared with staff 2. Delivery of theory and research 3. Opportunities to view demonstrations. 4. Some supervised practice and plans for classroom practice. 5. Monitoring by leadership team for on-going practice and support needs. 6. May use learning team to enhance implementation directly related to team specific issues. 7. Review of impact data and celebration of learning, next steps.	Primary activities: 1. Planning and development of lessons 2. On-going examination of student and implementation data 3. Collaborative conversations to solve problems encountered during implementation 4. Peer observation and reflective conferencing	Primary activities: 1. Delivery of theory and research 2. Opportunities to view demonstrations of concepts 3. Simulated experiences for practice and collaborative problem solving 4. May have limited authentic implementation opportunities with support
Funding: Regional funds, grants, fees, ESU personnel primary organizers. These events are designed to be efficient use of regional resources to enable larger numbers of educators to become aware of issues.	Funding: Usually district funded with ESU staff support personnel at no cost	Funding: District funded with ESU staff role to support in specific skills, resources, methods, and data analysis as requested by team.	Funding: Regional funds, instructor’s income from colleges, blended funding, teachers usually pay college fees on their own. May take courses without credit.

SOAR POLICIES

SOAR Hours	The ESU #13 SOAR Educators Support Center has its own entrance which is open to members from 8:00-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The ESU front doors are open by 8:00 a.m. The center is also open when workshops are in session on occasional weekends. With a phone call request, we are usually happy to stay later to allow a teacher access to our materials. To contact the center call (308) 635-0661. The fax is 635-0680
Cancellations and refunds	ESU#13 reserves the right to cancel any class or event that does not have an adequate prepaid enrollment number. If minimum registration figures are not met, a particular class may be cancelled and your registration will be refunded after the next monthly board meeting. Registrations for a particular class will be accepted until the first day of class; however, waiting to register this late could cause the class to be cancelled. Refunds will only be granted if requested five (5) days before the class is to begin and you have notified the SOAR office. Cancellations due to low enrollment will be made in writing, by phone or email, whichever is convenient and expedient, to registered people only. Cancellations due to inclement weather will be announced on radio stations KNEB and on internet and email if possible.
Payment of Fees	Fees can be billed to districts or individuals after the start of a session. Purchase orders are accepted. Area colleges do accept credit cards, but please do not request credit card for any other form of registration. All fees (unless otherwise stated) are to be made payable to ESU#13.
Registration Procedures	Complete and send a copy of any registration forms via US mail, ESU#13 van mail service, email or calling the office. Check for registration deadlines. It is advisable to register as soon as possible because some classes fill up or my be cancelled due to insufficient enrollment.
Professional Development Meeting Rooms	ESU#13 makes its conference rooms and distance learning services available to member schools when space is available. Other non-profit or for profit agencies may have to pay a small use fee.
Professional Library	The professional and curriculum library maintained by ESU#13 SOAR is developed for use by staff development, but is available for checkout to members and the community. Because the materials exist to support teacher training and classroom teaching, the weeding policy is not just based upon recency of usage, but upon staff developers’ professional judgments on future use and appropriateness in view of recent research.
Production and Supplies	Production equipment is available to staff and member schools. To save frustration, call SOAR to check on schedule and availability of the production equipment that you want to use or check-out. Everyone must fill out an invoice for materials when they come in to use the production room and check out with Randy or Cindy before leaving. Please report all equipment breakdowns. Paper can be purchased at ESU #13 or you may bring your own. Poster paper does not work well in the laminator. Construction paper or light weight tag board or cover stock, buttons and other materials for sale are listed on the price list. The letterpress is available at SOAR during regular hours. Call ahead to confirm availability of the dies you wish to use. Three regular and an extra large press are available for checkout. The regular press and dies must be returned in a week. The extra large press, due to its size, must be personally picked up or used at the unit office, again with a week usage. It will not be delivered by the van. Dies may be checked out (maximum one set of alphabet or 15 shape dies) at one time. Plan ahead for the holidays. Holiday dies are not checked out the month the holiday occurs, i.e. no Christmas dies will be checked out in December.