Glenda Copeland, SECC program associate, participated in the initial meeting of GaDOE School Improvement staff, RESA school improvement specialists, and Georgia learning resource specialists (GLRS) to establish goals and processes for work in Priority, RT3, and Focus schools during this school year. Groups met in regional and work-alike groups to establish their goals, review the College and Career Readiness Performance Index computations, and identify their professional learning needs for the coming year.

Glenda Copeland, SECC program associate, participated in a Summer Leadership Academy session for schools and districts that have both Priority and Focus designated schools, and a Summer Leadership Academy for schools and districts that have only Focus designated schools. Teams of educators from the district office and designated schools’ leadership participated in both general informational sessions and breakout sessions based on their needs and interest. This reflects the department’s focus on district involvement and support for school improvement efforts.Based on conversations with Cayanna Good, state director, Office of School Improvement, and Sam Taylor, program manager, District Effectiveness, SECC is supporting their engagement with work being done by the Building State Capacity and Productivity Center, especially as it relates to demonstrating the impact of programs/efforts in relation to resources expended.

Due to unforeseen budgetary restrictions, the principal training scheduled for August 9–30, 2013, has been canceled by the Professional Standards Commission. The need for this work will be revisited in 2013–2014.

SECC and GA PSC staff participated in a conference call on May 21 regarding the principal training and peer equity review pilot. The revised dates for the principal training are August 29–3, 2013. PSC staff currently are reviewing data to determine what next steps are needed internally to move forward with the aforementioned work and will contact SECC when decisions have been made. The peer equity review pilot work has been postponed until 2014, with a specific date to be determined later.

On April 2, Debra Meibaum, SECC Program Associate, and Glenda Copeland, SECC Georgia state liaison, met with Dr. Ann Marie Fenton, Professional Standards Commission, to debrief the 10th Annual Title II, Part A, Conference, “Advancing Teacher Quality in Georgia,” held in March and to plan future collaborative activities. After identifying positives and areas for improvement for future conferences, staff brainstormed potential plans for a two-day principal training event in July and for a peer-equity review pilot to be conducted regionally in September. PSC staff will explore these options, and a follow-up conference call will be scheduled.

On March 5, SECC presented two concurrent sessions on “Effective Turnaround Leadership for Title II, Part A Coordinators” at the Georgia Professional Standards Commission’s (PSC) 10th Annual Title II, Part A "Advancing Teacher Quality in Georgia" Conference. The interactive sessions examined strategies that have proven to be successful in bringing about quick, dramatic improvements in teaching and learning. Participants identified strategies to support principals, teacher leaders, and central office staff in meeting implementation challenges. A follow-up meeting was scheduled for April 2 to debrief the conference and to plan future collaborative activities.

On February 6–8, Glenda Copeland, SECC program associate, participated with School Improvement, Turnaround, and RESA school improvement specialists in professional learning sessions on topics and skills related to their work in schools. She also worked with the Professional Learning team to develop agendas and identify content for the March district meetings and summer leadership training for teams from districts that have schools identified as priority and/or focus.SECC staff also assisted the Georgia Professional Standards Commission (PSC) with planning its 10th Annual Title II, Part A "Advancing Teacher Quality in Georgia" conference. Staff participated in conference calls and communication with PSC staff to identify conference content and conference speakers.

SECC Program Associate Glenda Copeland works with individuals in planning and reviewing session designs used in the professional learning events and identifies appropriate resources. On January 3, Copeland met with the GaDOE professional learning planning group, comprised of representatives from the offices of School Improvement, Turnaround, and the RESA school improvement specialists, to review evaluation results from the December 2012 professional learning session and to identify sessions and presenters for the February learning event.

SECC staff assisted GaDOE in the summary of data from April through May 2012 professional learning sessions. A brief summary of all sessions from January through May was also produced. Although this portion of the project has been completed, SECC staff is following up with the GaDOE regarding the state’s ongoing data collection and analysis processes relative to professional learning sessions.

On May 31, data from professional learning sessions during April and May 2012 were downloaded. SECC staff will work with GaDOE staff in summarizing data during June 2012.

By mid-April, SECC staff had assisted the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) in the interpretation of the survey data through March 29, 2012. Web links were also created to allow state and district staff access to professional learning session participation data from districts and schools.

On March 30, survey data was downloaded and SECC staff began assisting the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) in cleaning, organizing, analyzing, and compiling the data for the period of February 13 through March 29, 2012.

On February 13, SECC staff assisted the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) in compiling survey responses for January through mid-February into charts and tables: survey responses were downloaded, then the data set was cleaned, organized, analyzed, and compiled for interpretation. Survey responses are scheduled to be compiled at the end of March and the end of May 2012.

Professional learning sessions are ongoing January through mid-May 2012.

During this month, the web version of the survey was tested, tweaked, and finalized in preparation for the professional learning sessions scheduled to begin in January 2012. Web links were established and activated.

SECC staff worked with several staff at the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) in November 2011 to decide on survey questions for participants who were receiving professional learning sessions through webinars via the GaDOE Web site. Staff also discussed the mechanics for linking the GaDOE Web page to the survey and for participants to provide information on their participation in the webinars. During this month, the survey was developed and uploaded onto SEDL’s Web site, and the links to the GaDOE Web page were completed.