What Do We Look For?

Support and advocate for the adoption and implementation of high quality, culturally responsive instructional materials and related unit design, professional development and support that are standards-aligned. Ensure the use of tools and processes that vet instructional materials and PD for bias.

Support the development of professional learning that is timely and relevant and equips teachers to effectively provide culturally responsive and linguistically sustaining instruction. Help to prepare teachers to lead and facilitate sessions that are cognitively demanding tasks and instruction, and to assess their peers for learning.

Monitor and ensure high quality, culturally responsive instructional practices among teachers and staff to advance learning for every student. Ensure instruction is contextualized in students’ lives, promotes academic discourse, develops students’ critical consciousness, and enables students to demonstrate learning in a variety of ways.

Model and coach educators to provide culturally sustaining instruction that incorporates research-based best practice. Provide opportunities for educators to model for and coach each other.

Consistently examine and use disaggregated data to support calls for change in practice or instructional approach, paying close attention to inequities and gaps for historically marginalized students.

Provide pathways and opportunities for educators to grow as instructional leaders by providing opportunities for educators to lead in all of the above.

Support and advocate for the adoption and implementation of high quality, culturally responsive instructional materials and related unit design, professional development and support that are standards-aligned. Ensure the use of tools and processes that vet instructional materials and PD for bias.

Support the development of professional learning that is timely and relevant and equips teachers to effectively provide culturally responsive and linguistically sustaining instruction. Help to prepare teachers to lead and facilitate sessions that are cognitively demanding tasks and instruction, and to assess their peers for learning.

Monitor and ensure high quality, culturally responsive instructional practices among teachers and staff to advance learning for every student. Ensure instruction is contextualized in students’ lives, promotes academic discourse, develops students’ critical consciousness, and enables students to demonstrate learning in a variety of ways.

Model and coach educators to provide culturally sustaining instruction that incorporates research-based best practice. Provide opportunities for educators to model for and coach each other.

Consistently examine and use disaggregated data to support calls for change in practice or instructional approach, paying close attention to inequities and gaps for historically marginalized students.

Provide pathways and opportunities for educators to grow as instructional leaders by providing opportunities for educators to lead in all of the above.

Take clear, swift action to disrupt inherent inequities within the school community and culture and relentlessly pursue what is right for students, even in the face of opposition from those in power.

Require all educators in the school to maintain and model a similar asset-based perspective of students and families and commitment to student learning, growth, and opportunity. Our school leaders maintain and continue to model this confidence in every student even when the students demonstrate that they believe in themselves.

Embrace all student cultures and native languages, and engage and lead others in creating opportunities for the full community to celebrate and learn from them through linguistic and culture-sustaining experiences.

Ensures regular opportunities for educators to build awareness of their own cultural identities, lenses and biases through text-based dialogue and activities that enable educators to identify, confront and disrupt biases and racism.

Actively confronts racism, stereotypes and biases and empowers the school community - educators, students, families and partners - to do the same.

Able to build authentic relationships with students, families and communities to enable learning partnerships. Support educators in establishing genuine partnership with families, intentionally learn from families, and encourage family involvement in classrooms and school. Ensure proactive and positive outreach to families and partners so that they may engage meaningfully with school in traditional and non-traditional ways.

Ensure practices that yield and retain staff that have an asset-based mindset and fervent belief in the students and families served by the school. Place staff in roles that play to their strengths and enable them to have the greatest impact on students.

Facilitates the growth of individuals through ongoing, actionable feedback and evaluation; creating and empowering educators to seek out stretch opportunities; and coaching and mentoring teachers to achieve the school mission and grow as leaders.

Provide space for staff to engage in collaborative work to meet their immediate needs and build their longer-term capacity through Common Planning Time, coaching, mentoring, and the development of teacher-led PLCs and other opportunities for growth and collaboration

Provide and support others to provide real-time personalized, actionable feedback and opportunities so staff can celebrate their wins, and identify areas where they need to improve. Hold staff members accountable to changes in their practice to best serve students.

Practice, model, and encourage distributed and shared leadership. Provides coaching and clear pathways for others to grow into leadership roles

Demonstrates an ethic of care. Create and sustain a school culture of “we” vs. “I”, with partnership and collaboration for all of the adults across the building, including teachers, administrators, central office staff, paraprofessionals, custodial staff, families and partners.

Value and harness the strengths of families through a demonstrated commitment to frequent, meaningful and authentic partnership and engagement opportunities.

Create a psychologically safe space for all students, families and staff, where they feel consistently heard, seen, valued and respected.

Proactively seek out and leverage local partners, leaders and community organizations to complement teacher expertise, inform school improvement, and provide additional resources and learning opportunities for students and teachers. Ensures partnerships are culturally competent and target supports for students who are carrying the greatest burden of inequities.

Models the principles of culturally responsive social and emotional learning through daily interactions with staff and students; coaches staff to do the same to provide students with the social and emotional support they need.

Creates and supports the development of inclusive efforts to celebrate student culture and diversity.