Building Strong Partnerships to Support Future Ready Schools

Guests
Jerry Almendarez, Superintendent, Santa Ana School District (CA), @JerryAlmendarez
Chip Slaven, Chief Advocacy Officer, National School Boards Association @NSBAPublicEd
Mary Ann Wolf, Ph.D., Sr. Director of the Professional Learning and Leading Collaborative,The Friday Institute at NC State University @maryannwolfed, @FridayInstitute

Moderator
Thomas C. Murray, Director of Innovation, Future Ready Schools®, Alliance for Excellent Education @thomascmurray

On March 31st, 2020, Future Ready SchoolsⓇ (FRS) held a webinar providing an overview of our latest leadership strand, Future Ready School Boards. FRS School Boards will provide a suite of tools and free resources to help school board members connect with their communities, support a culture of innovation within their schools, and promote a vision for teaching and learning that is student-centered, forward thinking, and designed to meet the vast needs of today’s learners.

In this webinar, Superintendent Jerry Almendarez and school board member Mary Ann Wolf, Ph.D. described the FRS School Boards framework, which will help school board members forge a visionary and systemic path to support long-term academic, financial, pedagogical, and political sustainability. Included in the framework are eight “gears” focused on personalized instruction for students; ongoing and job-embedded professional learning; robust infrastructure; strategic fiscal planning; community partnerships; the use of data to transform instruction and support students; support for anywhere, anytime learning; and collaborative leadership.

This framework affirms the belief that all students, regardless of where they live, should have access to opportunities that maximize their unique gifts and abilities. Panelists will discuss four elements of the framework:

1. Collaborative Leadership: The importance of collaborating with district administrators to plan, implement, measure, reflect, and refine systems and structures to sustain high-quality teaching and learning.
2. Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment: How curriculum, aligned to state standards, can ensure deeper learning outcomes connected to real-world applications and prepare learners for future success.
3. Community Partnerships: The importance of collaborating and engaging community members, including students, parents, businesses, organizations, and taxpayers without children in schools.
4. Data and Privacy: How the adoption of clear policies and support practices on the use of student data will ensure high levels of data privacy and security that adhere to state and federal laws.

This webinar is made possible with support from Konica Minolta | All Covered. Learn more about the unique opportunities Konica Minolta offers for district partnerships.

Please direct questions concerning the webinar to ldossin@all4ed.org. If you are unable to watch the webinar live, please register to receive the video archive directly in your inbox.

Future Ready Schools® is a project of the Alliance for Excellent Education (All4Ed), a Washington, DC–based national policy, practice, and advocacy organization dedicated to ensuring that all students, particularly those underperforming and those historically underserved, graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship. all4ed.org

Follow FRS on Twitter (twitter.com/FutureReady) and Facebook (facebook.com/futurereadyschools) or visit our website at futureready.org.