Essential 5: Align Resources       Essential Element 5: Look at Resources and Align Them with the Instructional Focus The fifth essential element for Whole School Improvement is to look at resources - human, time, monetary - and align them with the instructional focus.          Key Activities in accomplishing this task: use resource guide and other tools to examine resources train coaches and school staff to examine resources courage schools to share ideas on managing resources align central priorities and practices with thier school's needs develop "all-funds" budgets for schools use technology to support collaboration and improve communication work with national consultants on school budgeting offer fiscal incentives to schools that identify ways to save money e.g. retreiving sped students from private placement establish a central Action Team to support schools that propose innovative uses of resources         What should be seen in the school and classroom: decrease in the number of programs that don't support the school's instructional focus fewer students in isolated or pull-out programs more individualized time for students more teachers working together block scheduling that encourages interdisciplinary teaching large schools organized into smaller learning units clusters pooling resources to support instruction more - and greater diversity - students served and supported in regular education classrooms alignment with instruction of all partnerships additional help for students who need it          Agassiz Self Assessment Summary: How are we succeeding in implementing Essential 5: Look at Resources and Align Them with the Instructional Focus ?   We assess our progress in implementation of the Fifth Essential: Look at Resources and Align Them with the Instructional Focus as: Phase 3 - Ongoing Improvement on the Whole School Improvement continuum. The following evidence was used to determine this marking: The school uses an all funds approach to supporting its teaching and learning agenda. Allocation of funds is determined by need. Primary sources of funds are BPS General Fund, Title I, Transition Program Ch. 636, Cohort I and Reading Excellence Grant. The school's academic focus will remain literacy but we feel we are well along and can become a Math Level II school, therefore, we seek to use some of the Cohort I funds to support a math coach All students at the Agassiz benefit equally from the current allocation of resources. Whenever a discrepancy is noticed, we address it, as has been the case with certain special needs cases. The school has a schedule that accommodates the largest number of common planning times possible. Our Resource Room teachers (with one exception) continue to teach SFA classes during the literacy block. Paraprofessionals are engaged in one-to-one tutoring for gr. 1 students on a daily basis. One BTU specialist (Geography)is teaching an SFA class. Funds have been used to further the establishment of classroom libraries, an initiative started by the school department. Bilingual teachers are teaching SFA English classes. No programs interfere the SFA literacy block.   Our goals for moving to the next phase are: Use of 18 hours for LASW-90 minutes per month. Each Instructional Team will select a day and time after school for their LASW time. Use SY'00 Cohort I roll-over funds from coaching to support math coaching during SY'01. We are making literacy support plans based on the notion that we need to count on the Reading Excellence (READ) grant to provide the funds that might not exist via Cohort I. An example is the funding of professional development activities such as teachers attending the SFA National conference(April 2001.) Use READ grant to fund the half-time Literacy Specialist. The selection of areas that 5th P&D specialists (contracted from outside BPS) will work on will support our literacy needs. Example, substitute dance instruction with creative writing instruction. Perform a Resource Review as part of the IDR process (October 2000).     Essential 6