This iNACOL webinar focused on how school and district leaders can most effectively and efficiently promote and support the integration of blended learning into their schools.

1. The Role of Leadership in the
Implementation of Successful
Blended Learning Programs
• Rachel Goodwin, Administrator, Chicago Virtual Charter
School
• Jacquii Leveine, Director of Professional Learning,
iLearnNYC , New York City Schools
• Eileen Marks, Implementation Manager, iLearnNYC, New
York City Schools
• Cary Matsuoka, Superintendent, Milpitas Unified, Ca
September 2013

2. Blended Learning
• “a formal education program in which a
student learns at least in part through
online delivery of content and instruction
with some element of student control over
time, place, path, and/or pace and at least
in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar
location away from home…”
- (Horn and Staker, 2013)

3. Tech-rich = blended

4. Teaching and Learning
• What the student is
doing and where the
student is.
 What the teacher is
doing and where the
teacher is.
 What and where the
content is.

5. Webinar Focus
• Leadership and Implementation of
Blended Learning Programs
– District Perspective
– School Perspective
– Teacher Perspective

6. Cary Matsuoka
• Superintendent, Milpitas Unified
• Milpitas, Ca (Northern California)

7. Blended Learning
in Milpitas Unified
• Started in the 2012-13 school year
• Why?
– Schools are still operating with an industrial,
factory model, one size fits all, sequential use of
time and delivery system – the complete
opposite of differentiated instruction
– Blended learning offers the possibility of
customized learning, putting the student in
charge of their learning

8. How we got started
• By posing a single question – “if you could
design a school of the future, what would it
look like?”
• With accompanying design guidelines, we started
with design thinking conversations with our
principals and teachers.
• We have had two spring design cycles in our
district in 2012 and 2013
• The spring 2012 cycle led to two full K-6 blended
learning schools in the fall of 2012

9. Communicating with
Concentric Circles
• Communicating the vision in the right order was
essential
• Started with the Board
• Then the management team AND teacher
union leaders
• Then school staffs
• Then the parents, once schools were ready
• Then the local community via the media

10. Implementation Stages
• Year 1, 2012-13
– 2 elementary schools and a preschool
• Year 2, 2013-14
– two elementary schools and pre-school
continue
– Blended learning is expanding to 7 other
schools
– 9 out of 14 schools are using a form of blended
learning

11. Role of Leadership
• Vision – answer the question of why, present the
need for a paradigm shift
• Defined autonomy – let school-based teams
design their model, provide support and
boundaries
• Get the infrastructure right – hardware, software,
wireless
• Get ready for lots of problem-solving, meetings

12. Getting Started
• Read, do field trips, visit other schools and
districts
• The importance of models – the best models
are happening in our charter schools when it
comes to blended learning
• Network and learn from others – this is very
new work

13. Other Reflections
• Common Core and blended learning are
complementary
• Go open source as much as possible – we
have adopted Google tools, Gmail,
Chromebooks as our primary standard
• Be willing to risk

14. Questions?

15. Contact Information
Milpitas Unified
• Cary Matsuoka, Superintendent
• cmatsuoka@musd.org
• www.musd.org

16. Rachel Goodwin
Chicago Virtual Charter School
• K-8 Academic Administrator
• Master in Elementary Education
• Currently finishing a Masters in
Administration and Leadership

17. Chicago Virtual Public School
• K-12, 651 students (cap of 680)
• Students living in Chicago city limits.
• Public school so all students are welcome
• As charter school, some flexibility of
structure and management

18. Chicago Virtual Public School

19. School Perspective
Blended Learning Journey
• When and why?
– CVCS opened their doors in 2006 (K-8)
– Curriculum and management services provided by K12
– Board and K12 had a vision to provide a state of the art
curriculum and create an environment where students can
learn at their own pace
• How started?
– K12 worked with the state in allowing a hybrid school to
open in Chicago, then worked with CPS to be the charter
authorizer, and then worked in establishing a board had a
vision in making this model a reality.

20. • What was focused on first, second, etc?
– Getting the right teachers in place
– Developing a mission
– Developing a strategic plan
– Developing the right culture
• How was support for the blended learning
direction developed with Board…with staff…
with community?
– Constant communication
– Clear objectives
– Review of data

21. Implementation Stages
• Where we are now
• We are outperforming the neighborhood schools
• Increase in State assessment scores each year
• Increased the student cap and now have a complete K-12
school
• Where we are going
• We want to be the best hybrid school
• Improving our support programs
• Use data more effectively to drive our instruction and
support, but also to determine the type of individualized
teacher PD we can provide

22. Our Blended Learning Model
• What does it look like?
Learning Center one day a week
Virtual leveled groups sessions twice a week
Individual or small group virtual sessions focused on
curriculum or provide academic interventions
Students who are behind receive additional support at
the Learning Center and virtually by the Academic
Support Teachers.
Students receive their curriculum and we allow a
certain amount of flexibility.

23. Leadership and Implementation
• Key aspects of leadership
– Effective communicator
– Mission driven
– Able to develop relationships with all
stakeholders
– Risk-taker
– An advocate

24. • What daily/monthly leadership activities take
place to support blended learning direction?
– Weekly staff meetings to review data, school
operations, and instructional PD
– Monthly PD- presenting current research, scaffolding
instructional approaches, reviewing data as a school,
and reflective converations
– One on one weekly meetings
– Formal and informal observations

25. Leadership
• Promising Practices:
• Data meetings, ILSP, check-in meetings, PD that
allows teachers time to implement and reflect
• Lessons Learned
• Being transparent
• Having a clear direction
• Understanding the student body
• Providing quality PD and training for the staff

26. • Recommendations
• Have high expectations for all stakeholders
• Developing a year and 3 year PD plan to support the
teachers moving into a blended model
• Listen to the students and teachers
• Working as a team
• Willing to be reflective and change what is not
working
• Using data effectively

27. Questions?

28. Contact Information
Chicago Virtual Public School
• Rachel Goodwin, K-12 Administrator
• Email: rvelazquez@k12.com

29. Jacquii Leveine
Eileen Marks
• New York Public Schools

30. iLearnNYC is a blended and online program that
enables teachers to differentiate instruction by
coupling online content with face-to-face instruction
to allow for student control over time, place, path
and space.
History
Year 1 (2010-11): 40 schools – pilot program
Year 2 (2011-12): 124 schools
Year 3 (2012-13): 196 schools
Year 4 (2013-14): 240+ schools

31. Middle Schools and High Schools are using
blended and online learning for many purposes:
Providing Credit Accumulation / Credit Recovery
Sharing Instruction across multiple schools
Infusing technology into the traditional F2F classroom
for differentiated instruction and improved engagement
Supporting Students with Interrupted Education

32. Providing Credit Accumulation / Credit Recovery
Lab Rotation Model A
• Content is homogeneous
• Teacher of Record (TOR) supervises the lab
Lab Rotation Model B
• Content is heterogeneous
• Facilitator supervises the lab
• Teacher of Record (TOR) may push in
periodically, mostly works virtually with students

34. Sharing Instruction Across Multiple Schools
Self-Blended Model
• Advanced Placement
• World Languages
• Electives
• Independent Study

35. AP SPANISH
SCHOOL 2
SCHOOL 3SCHOOL 1
TOR

36. Infusing technology into the traditional F2F classroom
for differentiation instruction and improved
engagement
Station Rotation
 Once a week
 Three times a week
 Daily
Delivery
 1:1 computing
 Small group work
 Whole class presentation

37. http://www.iLearnNYC.net

38. Blended Learning:
Six Success Indicators
That Guide Implementation
• Proactive and reactive instructional strategies
• Engaging content experiences
• Structured and integrated approach to data collection
and measurement
• Data driven, student-centered instructional strategies
• Evaluation and ongoing improvement strategies
• Online communication tools and student collaboration

39. Leadership and Implementation
• Key aspects of leadership
• Professional Development
• Implementation Managers / Support Staff

40. Leadership
• Promising Practices
• Lessons Learned
• Recommendations

41. Questions?

42. Contact Information
iLearnNYC, NY
• Jacquii Leveine, Director of Professional
Learning, jleveine@schools.nyc.gov
• Eileen Marks, Implementation Manager,
New York, EMarks@schools.nyc.gov

43. Future iNACOL Webinars
• http://www.inacol.org/events/webinars/