Classroom Walkthroughs: Understanding the Impact of Personalized Instructional Shifts
8:30am - 11:30am
Note: this workshop is SOLD OUT
A major challenge of trying innovative things in the education space is measuring impact of these changes along the way. Highlander Institute has created a three-pronged measurement plan to help school teams leading personalized initiatives quantify impact by understanding the extent to which instruction is shifting (process measure), whether those shifts correlate to increases in student outcomes (outcome measure), and how much teachers and students like the changes underway (balance measure). This session will explore the tools and resources used by the Highlander Institute team to collect process measure data that quantifies instructional change within a classroom. Participants will review the tools and engage in a simulated calibration activity to standardize observation, interpretation, and scoring practices. The session will conclude with the examination of how calibrated walkthrough data collected by the Highlander Institute over the past three years has generated important evidence for various coaching practices and logistics, as well as impact data supporting personalized learning priorities for various student subgroups. All materials are open source, allowing participants to bring the entire process back to their schools to train a walkthrough team, or leverage pieces of the process to customize to local context.
Born and raised in New York City, Karina graduated from the University of Chicago with a degree in Anthropology and received her masters from Brown University in Urban Education Policy. Karina has had great opportunities working and teaching students from the south side of Chicago and from her hometown in Brooklyn. She previously interned at PPSD with the Ethnic Studies program assisting with the development of the program and its curriculum during their pilot year. She also worked with the New York office of the Annenberg Institute for School Reform as their Data and Research Analyst and worked alongside community organizations across the United States on projects around equity and culturally responsive education. As part of the impact team, Karina aims to support, monitor, and learn from the different programs led by Highlander in order to strengthen her team’s influence and impact on the schools and teachers. With this position she hopes to learn and grow with the educators in Rhode Island and support the different programs and efforts led by Highlander to support the teaching work-force while promoting blended and personalized learning.
As Continuous Improvement Coordinator, Zack co-manages on-the-ground data collection efforts in schools partnering with the Highlander Institute. Zack applies various methods in interviewing, focus group facilitation, survey design, and classroom observation to build intuition and knowledge bases that support sustained growth in school communities. Prior to joining the Institute, Zack was a Middle School Social Studies teacher and Summer Programs Associate in the Fall River, MA Public Schools. He earned his B.A. in History and Secondary Education from the University of Rhode Island and his M.A. in Urban Education Policy from Brown University. In addition to education research, Zack also passionately enjoys the guitar, golf, and his collection of rare basketball sneakers.
Prior to joining Highlander Institute, Michaela taught third grade at a private school in Warwick for 12 years. Michaela is most looking forward to utilizing the organizational and planning skills she developed through her teaching career in a new opportunity, while still keeping her hand in education. She lives in Warwick with her husband and daughter.
Danielle is the Research and Evaluation Manager at Highlander Institute. Before joining the Institute, she worked as the Assistant Director of Data and Research at the Center for Leadership and Educational Equity and as the TSLP Data Coach in the Providence Public School District. Previous to her career in educational data systems she worked in fundraising at Brown University and Rhode Island Public Radio. Creating accessible data is her passion and she is excited to work with even more educators in the state now that she is at Highlander Institute.