Virginia Foundation for Educational Leadership

VFELs Turnaround Zone Collaborative working with public school divisions with priority schools.Virginias Turnaround Zone draws its conceptual framework from the work published in The Turnaround Challenge by Mass Insight Education and Research Institute, Inc.In Virginias Lead Turnaround Partner (LTP) strategy, turnaround is a collaborative effort with the state, school division and LTP. The state is responsible for supporting the school division and LTP. At the state level, a differentiated system of support has been developed through collaboration among various offices within the VDOE and a multitude of educational partners. The state supports the reform by developing local capacity through the alignment of targeted differentiated supports through collaboration among various offices within the Virginia Department of Education and a group of external educational partners. The LTP, under contract with the local school board, brings increased resources and support for deep, systemic instructional reform. Under the ultimate authority of the local school board, the LTP leads the reform effort within the turnaround zone and is afforded the authority to act and make decisions. The LTP supports reform within the division in four key areas: people, time, programs and money. VFEL, under contract with the local school board, leads the reform effort within the turnaround zone by bringing increased resources and support for deep, systemic instructional reform. The state is responsible for supporting the school divisions and providing oversight of VFEL. State support includes, but is not limited to, ensuring the school and division teams are given convenient access to tools and resources to get the job done. A well-coordinated reform effort delivered with quality and accountability develops capacity in the division and school for sustained improvement. The transformation process requires a culture of candor in which VFEL, division and school personnel talk openly and honestly about the priority schools professional practices that contribute to student learning. Summary of VFEL Responsibilities defined in the Virginia ModelThe main purpose of VFEL is to assist the priority schools to increase student achievement and graduation rate. VFEL responsibilities include, but are not limited to:building local capacity with targeted and differentiated supports and interventions as determined by diagnostic reviews of student performance and practices; bringing increased resources to the schools and students in low-performing schools. These resources include increased human capital (people), time, money and programs; providing deep, systemic instructional reform for the school division and its affected priority school(s); coordinating and delivering practices with quality and accountability; andproviding a NISL-trained LTP representative to serve on the school Transformation Team. National Institute for School Leadership Training in VirginiaIn the Virginia Turnaround Zone Collaborative, VFEL will provide instructional and leadership specialists. One NISL-trained LTP representative will be assigned to meet monthly with the Transformation Team. These NISL trained LTP representatives will be in the training provided by the National Institute for School Leadership (NISL) for principals and division. This extensive training over the course of three years will provide everyone on the ground a better understanding of the school and the current resources brought to the school by the division staff and principal as well as the current instructional operational framework. This training will build the division and schools capacity to lead in times of adversity and make decisions to support student achievement for the period after the three years of the schools status. NISLs training is the research foundation of the VFEL project. The importance of leadership required in challenged schools not just by the principal, but by everyone tied to the school.NISL's Executive Development Program was established to train school leaders to drive their schools to high performance. The program helps make struggling principals more effective and good principals great. The program emphasizes the role of principals as strategic thinkers, instructional leaders, and creators of a just, fair, and caring culture in which all students meet high standards. It ensures that the school leaders it trains have the knowledge, skills, and tools to effectively set direction for teachers, support their staffs, and design an efficient organization.

NISL EDP-Under the guidance and direction of the Virginia Department of Education VFEL worked with the National Institute for School Leadership in bringing about their Executive Development Program for selected school principals and other school administrators in Virginia.