RISE educators benefit from opportunities to learn with and from one another. This summer, we are excited to offer optional virtual professional learning opportunities to teachers, counselors, and administrators across the RISE Network. We recognize that the summer offers much-needed time to rest and recharge, but it also offers time and space for RISE educators to reflect, plan, and collaborate. Following a school year unlike any other, collaboration feels particularly important.
In a typical summer, RISE convenes school leaders for an early-summer retreat and educators gather for our back-to-school summit inAugust. But this summer, the ongoing pandemic and social distancing guidelines make in-person gatherings challenging. However, as we’ve found these past few months, social distancing cannot put a damper on RISE Network collaboration!. We’ve had over 80 educators participate on role-alike weekly and biweekly calls this spring! Continuing in this spirit, we are excited to invite school leaders, teachers, and counselors to engage with one another through the Summer of Network Learning. This one-pager outlines the specific offerings available to educators in June, July, and August, with three strands of programming summarized below.
- Reflection, planning, and learning for school leaders: Principals and assistant principals will partner with their RISE school support teams to reflect on the 2019-20 school year, including by reviewing student outcome data, RISE by 5 strategy implementation, and distance learning efforts. Through this reflective process, school teams will identify priorities for 2020-21. We also invite administrators to a session with Joe Feldman, education leader and author of Grading for Equity; in this session, we will explore grading as a key lever for equity, engagement, and learning — and a focus for ongoing network collaboration.
- Collaboration and learning for educators: RISE aims to support and connect educators leading critical summertime work. Leaders of summer melt texting campaigns and Grade 9 transition programs are invited to join recurring cross-district calls to share successes, ideas, and resources. We are also excited to offer a virtual book club focusing on Feldman’s book, Grading for Equity. Finally, educators are invited to come together (with multiple sessions offered at different times) to reflect on the 2019-20 year and look ahead to 2020-21 with optimism and a spirit of innovation.
- Cross-network back-to-school planning: In mid-to-late August, RISE school support teams will facilitate meetings with educators at each school who lead Grade 9 and CCR strategies; these sessions will focus on data-driven reflections action planning for the start of school. RISE will also convene role-alike groups from across the network to collaborate around back-to-school plans focusing on Grade 9 data teams, college and career supports, on-track coordinators, and more.
We look forward to continuing to collaborate with you this summer! RISE educators, please RSVP for open-invite sessions via this survey — and be on the lookout for calendar invitations to role-alike gatherings.