Charleston County School District School of Innovation Waiver Request for North Charleston High School
Item 1 Demonstrate how the proposed programs, strategies, or approaches are new, innovative, and more flexible than current district programs, strategies, or approaches.
We believe strongly that our students will realize greater levels of success if we have the latitude to design strategies based upon the North Charleston community’s unique needs and context.
We are requesting greater autonomy to create more innovative, engaging, and flexible ways of educating the students we serve. In return, we commit to improving student outcomes by: ● Recruiting, retaining, and supporting talent, ● Engaging students and their families, and ● Enlisting partners to provide wrap-around services and supports.
This proposal will outline the educational design choices we propose at North Charleston High School that are based upon best practices research, are tailored for our community, and empower teachers to assume a leadership role in the development and implementation of the plan’s components.
Recruit, Retain, and Support Talent Research has long reported on the powerful influence of the teacher in positive student learning outcomes, and while many factors can impact student learning, teachers matter more to student achievement than any other aspect of schooling. Because of the critical role of teachers, our plan places primary importance on recruiting, retaining, supporting, and empowering talented teachers.
As we think about the human capital required to actualize this plan, we have thought about “Re- Commitment” as a component of a school. Staff will need to commit or recommit to the mission and action steps that NCHS has developed to transform the educational environment in the school. In the following table, we outline the strategies and flexibilities we believe are necessary for success. These strategies may include but not be limited to the following:
Recruit Retain Support
Aggressively recruit top Focus on Professionalism - Develop a school-based talent Implement strategies for professional learning plan that teachers to lead program is aligned to the school- evaluations, strategies for developed goals change, and opportunities to collaborate
Determine contract length Pay for the courses Design structures to effectively for key staff positions necessary for teachers to be implement job-embedded, qualified to teach identified during the day professional dual-enrollment courses learning opportunities
Establish and expand Time for collaborative Ensure all professional learning partnerships with higher planning during the day that is meets the six-core principles of education institutions to teacher-led effective professional learning: attract and retain a diverse 1) Content & Pedagogy, 2) teaching staff Active Engagement & Inquiry Based; 3) Collaborative; 4) Sufficient Duration; 5) Sustainable; and 6) School Context Support
Determine staff Allow time for virtual Partner with institutions of compensation utilizing articulation meetings both higher education as well as factors such as the number within content areas and cross- experts in the field to plan and of contract days and hours curricular during the day that implement strong professional is teacher-led learning opportunities
Create new or revamp staff Focus on Professionalism- Utilize train-the-trainer models positions internally allow teachers to develop and where staff in-house assume revising job descriptions implement structures that some of the responsibility for and hiring criteria, and foster professionalism, training and professional processes that include professional growth, and learning teachers in the design and recognition in the Charleston implementation Metropolitan Region
Offer signing Focus on Professionalism - Create a paid summer bonuses/longevity bonuses engage teachers in leadership experience for all first-year structures that actively engage teachers and teachers new to them in the school NCHS for onboarding, and also compensate teachers for required summer training
The NCHS Instructional Team Extend essential collaborates with and staff contracts to allow for empowers teachers to lead onboarding new teachers, data- Professional Learning analysis, and planning during Community meetings and the summer and prior to school professional learning start opportunities
Structures will be put into Create a full-year teacher place that create leadership residency in collaboration with higher-education insitutitions opportunities for staff that for students completing their may include: student-teacher internship with ● School Leadership slots for a competitive Team (MTSS) application process governed ● Department Teams by the school and a stipend ● Teacher - each semester Administration Advisory ● Strategy Teams (4 Elements of Plan)
It is evident throughout this proposal why we chose to focus on talented staff as the foundational component for our plan. Each of the other three components are dependent on recruiting, hiring, supporting and retaining talented, leadership-oriented staff. While we are committed to retaining current staff who opt in to this plan through a “Re-Commitment” or addendum to their contract, we are also seeking approval from the CCSD District Leadership and CCSD Board of Trustees for these plan components.
The next three components of the proposal are contingent upon deeply engaging students, parents, and the community, as well as leadership by capable, talented staff. For these strategies to be woven into the culture at NCHS and impact student learning, they must be supported by a community-wide effort.
Engage Students & Their Families North Charleston High School’s efforts to engage students and their families are built upon three key components: ● Developing and facilitating student agency - students owning the learning, ● Creating meaningful engagement opportunities for students and families, and ● Providing relevant, personalized experiences for students and families based on identified needs.
We believe that what matters gets measured, and the first step in improving student and family engagement is to ask students and parents what is working and what is not. Feedback will be utilized to develop and implement strategies that may include, but not be limited to those listed.
To ensure that staff, parents and families, and the external community are meaningfully engaged and help guide these efforts, advisory cabinets, teacher groups, School Improvement Council, and Student Leadership Teams will be actively involved in the planning and implementation efforts. Additionally, faith-based, business and industry, and local leaders in North Charleston will be provided opportunities for engagement in these efforts. The administrative team at North Charleston High School will seek input and utilize research-based best practices to develop and implement a blueprint that will provide the foundation for active stakeholder engagement.
The staff at North Charleston High School will design a comprehensive action plan that may include but not be limited to the following strategies: Engaging Students Engaging Families
Partner with an organization that provides schools, Develop and implement a strategic plan districts, and communities with tools and strategies focusing on parents as partners that for absenteeism and student engagement includes: ● Frequent Communication Redefine “student success” to more than just Between School & Home academics using the SC Profile of a Graduate as a ● Strategies for Creating a guide as well as the local Talent Demand Study Welcoming Environment published by the Charleston Metro Chamber ● Feedback from Parents to design activities ● Student-led Parent-Teacher Conferences ● Workshops and Activities Based on Parent Interest ● Offer Parent Focused Classes That Pertain to Identified Interests ● Assist students in connecting with service agencies for support and assistance ● Leadership & Influence Opportunities ● Virtual Resource Center
Foster learner agency - Individual goal setting, voice Offer a Parenting Hub - for parent & choice support & assistance staffed by parenting coordinator
Implement research-based best practices pertaining Offer Bi-lingual Services in the Parent to the concept of every student having a mentor that Hub meets the criteria of “Trusted Adult” who engages with students not just around academics, but also the skills and life and career characteristics outlined in the SC Profile of a Graduate
Partner with the local and regional business Host Digital Literacy Sessions for community for real-world problem solving Parents opportunities that are woven into the curricula
Host weekly morning “Target Talk” that functions Provide College & Career Supports almost like a pep rally to celebrate what is going (FAFSA, Resumes) well at NCHS and reinforce positive discipline strategies, core values, and what it means to be a NCHS Cougar Offer career pathways by building out courses and Offer Adult Education Services on Site content tied to the region’s business and industry. Courses could include aeronautics, computer science certification, medical and health terminology and coding. Partnering with the Center for Advanced Studies that is next door and expanding our course options opens a world of possibilities for NCHS students
Flexible scheduling during the day that may include Provide Wrap around Services for a digital learning lab staffed with certified teachers Families who can provide personalized support ● Mental Health ● Medical Clinic
Create a personalized learning plan for each student Offer Financial literacy for families that integrates academic goals, individualized needs, as well as special interests and passions
Focus on Learning to Learn - Interest-Based internships with approved community mentors
Provide Student Leadership & Governance Opportunities
Develop a Student Capstone Project - Students Present Their Learning to a Public Audience
Implement Behavior Supports - Currently, NCHS Parent Knowledge & Confidence - students with multiple/serious behavior concerns are Establish programs and information that placed at a separate CCSD school, and we want to orient parents and families to the school keep our students on campus. We believe that and what it has to offer as well as who providing wrap-around services such as mental to contact with questions health, school counselors, community volunteers ( Combined Intervention), teachers and social workers will transform our students and keep them in school. Also, this designated location on campus will allow students to continue building relationships with adults they know and trust.
Item 2 Describe, in detail, how the plan supports all students achieving the Profile of the South Carolina Graduate.
In order to support all students in achieving the Profile of a South Carolina Graduate, NCHS will: ● Empower Student Influencers through Student Think Tanks and the following: o Students will facilitate sessions during student and teacher conferences. o Use the characteristics to identify acceleration students and influencers. o Build the capacity of student leaders by identifying students who already exhibit the characteristics of the Profile of a S.C. Graduate in order to help build the capacity schoolwide.
● Empower all learners through the following strategies: o Infuse World Class Skills and Life and Career Characteristics into the curriculum, so students and teachers collaborate to reflect on their strengths and areas of growth as they master state standards. o Create Individual Learner Profiles that track mastery of standards as well as World Class Skills and Life and Career Characteristics. o Allow students to have more opportunities to engage with experts in the community. This will support students in building these characteristics and get feedback from mentors. o Foster learning agency through goal setting, student voice, and student choice. o Ensure each student is partnered with a trusted adult to build Academic Skills, World Class Skills, and Life and Career Characteristics Item 3 Include evidence of capacity to implement.
NCHS is dedicated to building collective teacher efficacy and has put a plethora of strategies in place to continue to strengthen. ● NCHS has already built a system of Personalized Professional Development, Interdisciplinary Professional Learning Communities, and ongoing Coaching Cycles based on where a teacher is in the learning and implementation progression. Teachers are currently refining the progression of implementation to include strategies such as: Student-centered classroom climate and culture, unpacking standards, utilizing learning progressions, creating and using assessment data to inform personalized instruction, implementation of station rotation and small-group instruction, aligning authentic tasks and activities, technology, and instructional strategies to learning progressions, increasing student agency through student learning plans, implementing competency-based grading and personalized pacing, and implementing personalized, contextualized, and relevant curriculum. ● NCHS has identified a group of teacher leaders to lay the foundation of student-centered learning and be integral in developing a progression of implementation. ● During the Summer of 2021, NCHS has built an extensive Summer PD Plan that will empower teacher leaders and the entire faculty and staff as well as students. ● To further support this initiative, existing partnerships and future partnerships include: Boeing, City of North Charleston, Charleston School of Law, Combine Intervention, Student Concerns Specialists, Communities in Schools, Volvo, Bosch, The Citadel, and The Charleston International Airport. ● NCHS is a 1:1 environment where all students have Chromebooks.
Communications Plan The administrative team at North Charleston High School in collaboration with Charleston County School District’s Office of Strategy and Communications will develop a communications plan that will outline the what, where, who, and how for communicating this exciting initiative to the North Charleston Community. The plan will include a timeline and individuals responsible. Updates to the community and ongoing communications will be essential, and at least annually a formal update will be developed and shared.
Item 4 Include any partnerships with outside experts, development networks, or organizations to support the plan.
At North Charleston High School we believe “It Takes a Village” and that partnerships are an essential ingredient for students to survive and thrive. Partnerships strengthen the beneficial services a school can provide to its students and families. Enlisting partners both who can amplify the school’s impact on positive student learning outcomes. Specifically, partnerships can help accomplish the following through collective impact: ● Provide wrap-around services for students and families that focus on multiple aspects of a student’s development (academic, social, emotional, physical, civic, and career) ● Support the development of high-quality, engaging learning experiences ● Provide access to an array of learning opportunities outside the school walls ● Enhance the instructional program through business, industry, and community expertise ● Facilitate communication and strengthen the ties between the school and community ● Support the school culture and community image through student exhibitions that showcase student talents ● Provide access to mentors, work-based learning opportunities, and other community resources ● Expand and refine services to students and families to ensure health and well-being
Some existing partnerships and future partnerships include: Boeing, City of North Charleston, Charleston School of Law, Combine Intervention, Student Concern Specialists, Communities in Schools, Volvo, Bosch, Coca-Cola, The Citadel, and the Charleston International Airport.
Item 5 Include the following table to describe how the plan will be evaluated. Data should be disaggregated by student subgroups.
At North Charleston High School we know that transformation will require substantive changes. NCHS accepts responsibility for designing learning experiences that will accomplish the following: ● Redefining Student Success - Knowledge, Skills & Life & Career Characteristics (Profile of a South Carolina Graduate) ● Engaging the Local, Regional, and Global Community ● Personalizing Learning, Varying the Learning Environments, and Providing Adult Support
Our bold commitment to the increased accountability that accompanies increased autonomy is that we will guarantee improvement in at least 60% of outcomes, such as these, within 3 years: Key Performance Indicators Tool(s) Measures
Leading ● Student Student Engagement Track metric Indicators Engagement Surveys levels, trends, and (monitored and Measures Parent Satisfaction comparisons for utilized in ● Parent Satisfaction Surveys disaggregated improvement Measures Teacher Satisfaction groups for all of cycles at the ● Course Pass Rates Surveys these indicators project launch and ● Reduction in Disaggregated Student building out a during Discipline Assessment Data NCHS Scorecard implementation) Referrals to track and ● Lexile Levels monitor ● Adaptive Digital performance. Content ● Engagement in Community Service ● Participation in Extracurricular Activities ● Formative Assessments: o MAP o TE21 Benchmark s
Primary ● State EOC Pass National, State, & Track metric Indicators Rates Local Assessment and levels, trends, and (monitored yearly ● Dual Enrollment/ Data comparisons for and used for AP Enrollment/ disaggregated accountability for PLTW Dual- groups for all of the school once the Weighting these indicators plan is fully ● Honors Level building out a implemented for at Course Enrollments NCHS Scorecard least three years) ● ASVAB to track and ● Career & monitor Technology performance. Certificates Earned ● Career & Technology Completer Status ● Improved Performance on State Report Cards ● ACT/ SAT Scores ● ACCESS ● Students Qualifying for Scholarships
Long-Term ● Graduation rate Track metric Indicators ● Post-Secondary levels, trends, and (student outcomes Success- comparisons for post-graduation- Matriculation to 2- disaggregated monitored yearly 4 year colleges groups for all of and used for ● Percentage of these indicators accountability after Students Exiting building out a the plan has been Not Needing NCHS Scorecard implemented for at Remedial Courses to track and least three years) for Post-Secondary monitor ● Military Enlistment performance.
Item 6 Describe a system of ongoing professional learning specific to the district’s unique school(s) of innovation.
The professional learning plan will be built around a progression of implementation that is created by students and teachers. This progression of implementation serves as a roadmap and guide for teachers to take steps to get to a student-centered and personalized class in which students are owning their own learning and are empowered. PD and Coaching Cycles will be personalized and built based on where each teacher is in the progression and the goals(s) he or she sets for him/herself and students. This PD and Coaching Cycle model will be a “model the model” approach as we allow teachers to work at their own pace and create goals that empower them and their students.
Item 7 Include the following table to identify the specific state statute(s) and/or regulation(s) for which the district is seeking exemption(s) and a rationale for why the innovative proposal requires the exemption(s). (The rationale must be specific and clearly articulate how the flexibility will support academic achievement for students and the Profile of the Graduate. No district is permitted to request flexibility from all state regulations and statutes for any school or schools.).
Regulation (Including Specified Components) Rationale
43-205: Administrative and Professional Personnel Determining staff positions, job Qualifications, Duties, and Workloads descriptions, and hiring criteria provides ● 43-205(IV)(A)(3). Teachers, School NCHS the flexibility necessary in Counselors, and Library Media Specialists. “Each teacher, school counselor, and library order to staff the school to best meet the media specialist must be properly certified needs of students by the State Board of Education. Their duties and responsibilities are to be prescribed by the principal. The district superintendent must request a certification permit from the Office of Educator Services for each eligible teacher, school counselor, and library media specialist who are not properly certified (see Reg. 43-53).”
42-234 Defined Program, Grades 9–12 and Recognizing that learning occurs inside Graduation Requirements and outside the school building and day, ● 43-234(II)(B). “A school may award one NCHS is asking for the ability to award unit of credit for an academic standards- credit based upon course content based course that requires a minimum of mastery rather than the number of hours 120 hours of instruction. A school may students spend in seats award one-half unit of credit for an academic standards-based course requiring a minimum of 60 hours of instruction and one-fourth unit of credit for an academic standards-based course requiring a minimum of 30 hours of instruction.” ● 43-234(VI)(C)(1). “The instructional day for secondary students must be at least 6 hours, excluding lunch, or the equivalent weekly.” ● S.C. Code Ann. §59-1-425 (E) The instructional day for secondary students must be at a minimum six hours a day, or its equivalent weekly, excluding lunch. The school day for elementary students must be at a minimum six hours a day, or its equivalent weekly, including lunch.
43-62. Areas of Certification. Allowing flexibility of compliance I. INITIAL CERTIFICATION AREAS AND related to teacher certifications for GRADE SPANS In consultation with the South courses would allow NCHS to utilize a Carolina Department of Education (SCDE), the content area expert or field experienced State Board of Education (SBE) has the authority to expert to fill a limited instructional need establish initial certification areas or fields as well in courses but would not exceed 25% of as certification grade spans, to revise or amend the teaching staff. This waiver would certification areas, and to abolish certification areas be used in the event that a certified that no longer reflect professional practice or needs teacher could not fill the vacancy. of South Carolina schools and students. NCHS will continue to mandate II. ADDING AREAS OF CERTIFICATION In background checks for all candidates. consultation with the SCDE, the SBE has the For example, if NCHS had a vacancy in authority to establish certification areas that may be math, we could hire a college math added to a valid educator certificate, to revise or professor. Although he/she may not amend these areas, and to abolish add-on possess a current certificate to teach certification areas that no longer reflect professional high school math, they have content practice or needs of South Carolina schools and expertise in their field. This option students. In order to add an additional area of would greatly outweigh the current certification to a valid South Carolina credential, an existing option of procuring a substitute educator must complete the specific requirements with little or no expertise in math for that area as outlined by the SBE’s guidelines. III. SPECIALIZED ENDORSEMENTS In consultation with the SCDE, the SBE has the authority to establish specialized endorsements that may be added to a valid educator certificate, to revise or amend specialized endorsements areas, and to abolish specialized endorsement areas that no longer reflect professional practice or needs of South Carolina schools and students. In some instances, an endorsement may be required to teach specific courses. In other instances, the endorsement represents additional training and study to enhance an educator’s professional practice. In order to add an endorsement to a valid South Carolina teaching credential, an educator must complete the specific requirements for that area as outlined by the SBE. IV. SPECIALIZED ALTERNATIVE CERTIFICATION In consultation with the SCDE, the SBE has the authority to establish alternative certification areas and routes that are based on specialized training and do not lead to an alternate route certificate, revise or R.43-62 Page 2 amend these specialized areas, and abolish specialized alternative certification areas that no longer reflect professional practice or needs of South Carolina schools and students. In order to be issued an educator certificate in one of these areas, the applicant must complete the specific requirements for that area as outlined by the SBE.
Item 8 Disclose the financial model to be used.
Collaborating with the Finance Office, all funding streams for North Charleston High School will be documented showing the funding source, total amounts, and current use. Before making requests for any additional funding, all revenue streams will be reviewed and utilized in the planning process. Budget requests for any additional funds will be made in a timely manner meeting the established budgetary timeline for the 2021-2022 school year. Please see the Staff Allocations and GOF and SRF Allocations for 21-22 SY below.
Click here for the Staff Allocations Click here for the GOF and SRF Allocations.