INDISTAR® FEATURESAcademic Development Institute

• Continuous Improvement

• Tiered support for school improvement

• Effective practices indicators

• Research base

• Customized filters and crosswalks

• Bulletin Board

• Customized and Reviewable Forms

• School and District reports

• Document Upload

• Coaching Critiques and Feedback

• State level reports

• Guest Page

Features

School TeamEngage with School-Level Success Indicators AND Receive Support from SEA and LEA

District TeamEngage with District-Level Success Indicators AND Provide Support to School-Level Teams

State TeamProvide Support to District and School Teams

CoachingProvide Support to School-Level and/or District-Level Teams

Tiered Support

Research-based Indicators

• Each state may select from ADI’s library of indicators of effective practice, or create their own with ADI’s feedback and guidance.

• ADI’s indicators are research-based, each linked to a research and practice brief called Wise Ways.

• Additional resources such as video clips of real leaders, teams, and teachers engaged in real practice can be found in Indicators in Action and in Indicators Now.

The Leadership Team shares in decisions of real substance pertaining to curriculum,

instruction, and professional development.

Instructional Teams meet for blocks of time (4 to 6 hour blocks, once a month; whole days before and after the school year) sufficient to develop and refine units of instruction and review student learning data.

The principal develops the leadership capacity of others in the school.

The principal compiles reports from classroom observations, showing aggregate areas of strength and areas that need improvement without revealing the identity of individual teachers.

Units of instruction include pre-/post-tests to assess student mastery of standards-based objectives.

Indicator examples…

Each state can create custom filters to:

pull out specific subsets of indicators, such as SPED, RTI, etc.;

identify indicators due at certain benchmarks during the school year; or

crosswalk the indicators to display them within different categories, such as the Turnaround Principles, 9 Effective Practices, accreditation requirements, Title I requirements, or an instructional model.

Customized filters and crosswalks

INDISTAR USERS HAVE COMPLETE ACCESS TO LIVE REPORTS OF THEIR WORK. TEAMS CAN EXPORT REPORTS FROM INDISTAR, SPECIFIC TO THEIR SCHOOL OR DISTRICT. REPORTS HELP TEAMS KEEP TRACK OF TARGET DATES AND TASKS, AS WELL AS THE PROGRESS AND PLANS THEY HAVE CREATED.

SCHOOL AND DISTRICT REPORTS

Forms customized for the state’s purposes for districts and schools to submit to the state. Created forms can then be completed by schools and districts and then submitted electronically to the state. Examples of these forms might include supplemental documents such as SMART goals, technology plans, corrective action forms, etc.

Forms may also be reviewed prior to submission. See “Reviewable Forms”.

Customized Forms

Forms are completed by the school or district

Forms are saved and submitted for Review

The reviewer (designated by the state) makes suggestions/updates and may or may not approve the form for final submission

Updates are made by the school or district

When a form has been given the reviewer’s approval, the school or district can submit a final version to the SEA from the dashboard.

Forms may be sent for review multiple times, if needed.

Reviewable Forms

School level forms are filled out by each school/leadership team. Once the form has been completed, it may be sent off for review. The state will decide who will review a school form: the district liaison, school consultant, district office, or a state reviewer. Each form may only be connected to one reviewer. Once the form has been reviewed, the reviewer can make comments and decide whether revisions are needed, OR decide that the form is accepted and a final version may be submitted to the state.

School level: Reviewable Forms

District level forms are filled out by each district/leadership team. Once the form has been completed, it may be sent off for review. The state will decide who will review a district form: the district consultant, a state reviewer, or a state administrator. Each form may only be connected to one reviewer. Once the form has been reviewed, the reviewer can make comments and decide whether revisions are needed, OR decide that the form is accepted and a final version may be submitted to the state.

District Level: Reviewable Forms

On the Complete Forms tab, fill out the form and then click “SAVE AND SEND FOR REVIEW” to send to state for comments.

Reviewer makes comments and sends form back to school or district

Reviewers will have three choices when reviewing a school or district form. After making the appropriate choice, the form will be sent back to the school or district. The school or district should look at the form for suggested updates and further instructions, prior to submitting to the SEA.

Once the form has been approved and all updates are made, the form is submitted to the SEA

Once all updates are made as suggested in the Reviewer comments, go to the Submit Forms/Reports tab, find the report name, and click the submit button to send a final version to the state.*Submit buttons for reviewable forms will not be available until the form has been accepted by the reviewer.

The Document Upload feature enables districts and schools to upload documents for the state to view. The district can also view documents uploaded by its schools. The state may designate the names of the folders for schools or districts to place their documents in.

Document Upload

Coaching Comments are meant to be specific comments and/or suggestions in relation to an indicator or area of leadership team planning (e.g. team meetings, forms, updates).

Coaching Review enables the coach to scan a variety of reports in order to create an overall review of the leadership team’s progress.

Coaching Critique enables the coach to address a specific set of questions, set by the state, relative to the leadership team’s progress.

State Feedback enables state administrators to address a specific set of questions, set by the state, relative to each leadership team’s progress.

Coaching and State Feedback

Choose a site to view

Coaches can access these tools by logging in and choosing a school or district to view

View reports, comments, quick score, meeting minutes, etc.

Choose Coaching Review

Coach’s critique or state feedback using state questions

Coach’s comments

Coach’s review

COACHING COMMENTS AND REVIEWS

The “Coaching Review” link enables the coach to scan a variety of reports while entering a “coaching review” or “coaching comment.” When a coach enters a coaching comment or coaching review, the principal and process manager receive an email alert and a dialogue can be created with the coach within Indistar maintaining documentation of the conversation.

COACHING REVIEW REPORTS

• Summary Report... summary report of all work, information and activity that a school or district team has completed.

• Comprehensive Report...detailed report of all assessments, plans, and monitoring information.• Comments & Reviews...Coaching comments, reviews and responses; history and ability to send

or respond anew.• Task Report...detailed list of all tasks created.• Where Are We Now...overview of a school or district’s plan, in graph form.• Team Meetings... agendas and meeting minutes as entered by the school or district.• Quick Score Report...a quantitative rating summary of the school or district’s progress, based on

key factors within the tool.• Coaching Critique/Feedback… an electronic form used by coaches and/or state administrators to

add a standardized assessment of the quality of work of the school or district team. Critiques are a series of questions or items, determined by the state.

1. Recent activity....login activity, meetings and agendas, chart progress in the Where Are We Now report.2. Quantity of work...has the school or district completed what is expected of them? Summary Report has a list of recent dashboard submissions as well as an indicator count for the assessing and planning pieces.3. Quality of work...in the Comprehensive Report, the coach will be able to see levels of implementation as well as evidence provided for each indicator or objective4. Responses…to Coaching Comments or Reviews5. Critique or Feedback information…sent to the school or district by the state or other coach(es).

COACHES MOVE THRU EACH TAB LOOKING FOR…

COACH’S CRITIQUE AND STATE FEEDBACK

The state may choose to add one or both of two optional coaching features to Indistar. Coach’s Critique enables the state to determine a set of questions or items for the coach to address relative to the district or school’s work in Indistar. This report is then viewable by states, districts, and/or schools.

State Feedback works the same as a Coach’s Critique but is completed by SEA staff rather than the coach. The Coach’s Critique and State Feedback are ways to add a standardized assessment of the quality of work.

Once a feedback or critique form has been submitted to a school or district, a copy is also visible to the state, coaches, district, and school.

 The state completes the Feedback form by drilling down to a school or district’s Coaching page, from the state administration page. The state will then complete the Feedback form and submit a copy to the school or district. All levels (coaches, districts) will have view-only access of the form as submitted by the state.

For the Coaching Critique, coaches will be able to access the form as set up by the state, via the Coaching Review page. The coach will then complete the Feedback form and submit a copy to the school or district. All levels (state, coaches, districts) will have view-only access of the form as submitted by the coach.

State Administration levelAt the SEA level, a variety of reports are available electronically so that the SEA cannot only track progress, compliance monitoring, and additional information for each school or district, but the SEA can also track trends across all schools and districts. State level reports can show areas of strength, and areas of needed focus. SEA’s can drill down to see how coaches are working with each of their schools and districts.

GENERAL OVERVIEW OF STATE ADMIN PAGE…

IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

State leaders can view and export the percent of indicators that have been assessed, planned for, and achieved for all schools or districts in their state.

This information can be helpful to track areas most in need of improvement and support, as well as areas of strength for schools or districts.

SCHOOL DRILLDOWN

REPORTThe Drilldown Report aggregates progress for all schools or districts, as well as each individual site for the areas of assessing indicators, planning, and achieving, based on how long each has been using the Indistar system.

This report also includes a link to each school and district, to obtain more specific details about their progress.

COACHING ACTIVITY REPORT

The Coaching Activity Report is helpful to state leaders to track recent activities of their coaches as they work with assigned schools and districts. State leaders can utilize this report to view individual coaching activity, as well as a complete coaching log history for each school and district.

Flag to Reassess is a feature that tags:

•indicators fully implemented at initial assessment,

•Indicators initially assessed as no development/not a priority,

•or objectives met with a plan and completed tasks…

more than a specified number of years ago, to be reassessed by the school or district team.

States are able to choose to have their reassessment feature set for 1, 2, or 3 years.

A flag on the main menu page will alert teams when indicators are marked for reassessment.

Flag to Reassess

• Indicators that have been flagged to be re-assessed are re-set in the Assessment process with a link to their history.

• In the Assessment step, they are marked to ‘Re-assess’.

Flag to Reassess - Assessment

School and district teams will be able to access all previous work history for any indicator marked for reassessment by clicking on the ‘Indicator History’ link located in the Assess, Create, or Monitor steps.

Indicator History

Flag to Reassess – Indicator history

Tasks Management

• Establish a date this task will be complete or will become routine.

• Is this a recurring task?

• If yes, how often:

• Task table will now show if a task is recurring and how often, in both Creating and Monitoring steps.

• Tasks Report also reflects task recurrence.

Tasks Management details

o dailyo four times a year

o twice weeklyo three times a year

o weeklyo twice a year

o twice monthlyo once a year

o monthly

Forms and Submissions by Group

States can use multiple sets of indicators for schools.

Forms and submissions can be tailored to only show for groups of schools using a specific set of indicators.

Bulletin Board You’ve got mail!

General announcements can now be sent to coaches, schools, districts, and administrators. The bulletin board can be accessed from each level’s dashboard.Alerts team to new message

*A school group is identified by a set of indicators.

The guest page shares the ongoing progress and achievements of a school or district with its teachers, parents, school board, community, and others.

Leadership Team members will have additional access to Coaching Comments and Meeting Agendas/Minutes with their login.

Leadership Team and Guest Page

The Welcome Tab displays information about work the school or district leadership team has just completed and upcoming due dates for the ongoing work on their improvement plan. Several graphs display progress of their leadership team’s efforts in implementing effective practices.

Welcome Tab

Reports/Wise Ways/Indicators/Rubric

Example:

ID07 A Leadership Team consisting of the principal, teachers who lead the Instructional Teams, and other key professional staff meets regularly (twice a month or more for an hour each meeting).

ID10 The Leadership Team regularly looks at school performance data and aggregated classroom observation data and uses that data to make decisions about school improvement and professional development needs. ID11 Teachers are organized into grade-level, grade-level cluster, or subject-area Instructional Teams.

ID13 Instructional Teams meet for blocks of time (4 to 6 hour blocks, once a month; whole days before and after the school year) sufficient to develop and refine units of instruction and review student learning data.

Indicators of effective practice…

Wise Ways – research briefs that provide an explanation, relevant research, and citations of resources for each indicator of effective practice.

Reports – several reports to display progress

Websites

Academic Development Institute

School Community Network

Indistar Center on Innovations

in LearningVideos

What is Indistar?

The Indistar Leadership Team

Indicators in Action

Indicators NOW! Communities of Practice• Ed Leaders Network• Indistar Connect

Documents

Making Indistar Work for You

Theory of Action