Sharon Brown-Welty & James Marshall, CSU Fresno June 2013 CPED Convening

1. “Laboratories of Practice are settings where theory and practice inform and enrich each other. They
address complex problems of practice where ideas—formed by the intersection of
theory, inquiry, and practice—can be implemented, measured, and analyzed for the impact
made. Laboratories of Practice facilitate transformative and generative learning that is measured by
the development of scholarly expertise and implementation of practice.” (CPED Web page)
Higher Ed (Community College) Other Settings
Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership
PreK12
Lindsay Unified School District – Race to the Top Partner
Lindsay Unified School District has begun the
implementation of PBS across the district. The cohort
members undertook an analysis of the Lindsay USD
implementation of their Performance-Based System
There is ongoing work at the district for evaluation of
assessment activities and further implementation of PBS
Kingsburg Union High School District - Reorganization
The governing board and the superintendent decided to
move from the Superintendent-Principal model to a
model with a full-time superintendent and a full-time
principal. The cohort members worked with Kingsburg
Union High School District stakeholders to determine
how this reform model could best be implemented and
developed a 90 day implementation plan.
Haven Drive Middle School – Low Achievement
Haven Drive Middle School implemented a specially
designed approach (AVID-3 classes) concentrated on
(Basic) grade 6 middle school students. Achievement
results post-implementation for focus students did not
meet expectations/intended outcomes. The cohort
members worked on determining the root causes for not
meeting expected outcomes and provided a written plan
for addressing the issues.
Kern High School District – North High School – Writing
Across the Curriculum
The cohort members developed a process to assess the
impact of future writing professional development - both
process and product outcomes for the North High School.
Reform of West Hills Community College District
Education in the Central Valley – C6 Workforce
Imitative
The cohort members developed reform strategies
and action plans for each of the workforce initiatives
and also developed an executive summary literature
review to guide the teams based on best practices.
West Hills Community College District Organizational
And Policy Barriers to Educational Reform
California Community Colleges Education Code
70902(b)(7) required the Board of Governors to
adopt regulations that “ . . . ensure faculty, staff, and
students . . . the right to participate effectively in
district and college governance.” The regulations
mandate that the governing board “consult
collegially” with the academic senate on academic
and professional matters, and that staff and
students have the opportunity for “effective
participation” in decisions that affect them. Each
college in the C6 consortium has their
own, individual interpretation of, what is generally
referred to as “shared governance” and/or
10+1”, both in practice and in contractual
agreements. These differences of interpretation and
implementation have created challenges to create
systematic regional change that this project has
sought to create.
The team completed on a comparative study of the
different shared governance policies in the WHCCC
region and provided a plan to better navigate
through the different governance structures in order
to facilitate district reforms.
Fresno Area STRIVE Action Teams
The cohort members developed reform strategies and
action plans for each of the STRIVE action
teams, developed an executive summary literature
review to guide the teams based on best practices, and
interviewed each team lead to assist in developing
effective reform plans and strategies.
The California Endowment - The Lost Boys of Fresno
Working with the California Endowment and other local
civic and faith-based leaders, cohort members
interviewed young men who were “lost in Fresno”.
From the interviews, cohort members developed initial
reform strategies for the Endowment and others to
consider, developed an executive summary of relevant
literature, and shared the information with the young
men who are interviewed.
CSU Center to Close the Achievement Gap and the
California Business for Education Excellence Foundation
Background: School based staff often use holistic
scoring rubrics to determine the quality of student
work. However, little is known about physical evidence
(and subsequent artifacts—policies, agendas, school
calendars, curriculum, pacing guides, monitoring
forms, intervention logs, etc) of effective adult practices
leading to a reduction of the achievement gap.
The cohort established a holistic scoring rubric for
evaluating the quality of best practice evidence
(artifacts) gathered from both higher performing school
districts, schools or classrooms and lower performing
demographically matched counterparts.