Support & Technical Services

A Summary of Activities for Year 1

WFSG Center Services

 

Support and Technical Services

The National WFSG Center offers a range of support and technical services to schools and districts. 
These services can be categorized as:

I. Orientations to WFSG
II. Launching WFSG
III. Support during Year 1
IV. Support during Years 2 and 3
V. Conferences and Institutes
VI. Connecting WFSG Worldwide

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I. Orientations to WFSG

WFSG Consultants will conduct orientations to WFSG for schools, districts, regional agencies, state organizations, and national conferences.

II. Launching WFSG

WFSG consultants work with schools and districts to determine how WFSG will be launched.  The options are:

1. Sending a team (4 or 5 people, including the principal) to a Level I Institute in Augusta, GA (2 ½ Days) in February, June, or July.  This option means that the Focus Team from a school will conduct the launch with the whole faculty.
2. Having a WFSG consultant conduct a Level I Institute at a location within a district or RESA area for Focus Teams from several schools (2 Days).  This option means that the Focus Team from a school will conduct the launch with the whole faculty.
3. Having a WFSG Consultant lead one whole faculty through the Decision-Making Cycle, determining what study groups will do and organizing the faculty into study groups.  The consultant would spend a half-day with the administrative team and a half-day with the whole faculty (1 day).  This option means that a consultant will conduct the launch with the whole faculty.

III. Support during Year 1

WFSG consultants and school leaders determine they types of on-site support is needed during the first year study groups are implemented.  If WFSG are launched before the end of September, three (3) visits from the WFSG consultant is scheduled during the school year.  The visits would most likely occur in October/November, February/March, and May.   During visits the consultants will conduct on-going training and provide support to individual study groups, whole faculties, focus teams, principals, district staff, and Instructional Councils.  All work is tailored to the needs of each school.

IV. Support during Years 2 and 3

WFSG consultants and school leaders determine what types of on-going support are needed during the second and third years of implementation to insure the institutionalization of WFSG.  By the end of Year 3, it is expected that:

Student achievement has improved in the areas targeted. The culture of the school is more collaborative. All faculty use WFSGs to address specific instructional student needs. All faculty use student data to make decisions about their own professional development needs. All faculty see the relationship between study group work and improved classroom practice. All faculty use LASW as a strategy to reflect on instructional practice. The instructional component of the School Improvement Plan is generated from recommendations from the WFSG Time for study groups to meet has been built into the school day. Continuation of WFSG is a ‘given’.

      IV.    Conferences and Institute

The Center sponsors a yearly national conference for all schools currently implementing WFSG and those interested in implementing WFSG.  The conference is held in Augusta, GA the first or second week in February.

The Center also sponsors WFSG Institutes in February, June, and July in Augusta, GA that target specific audiences.  Consultants will also design Institutes for local sites.  Level I Institute is to train Focus Teams to orient and lead a faculty through the WFSG Decision-Making Cycle to determine the student needs to be addressed and how the groups will be organized.  Level II Institute is for schools that have started implementing WFSG and need skills to deepen the work.  Other institutes can be tailored to meet specific district and school needs.

V. Connecting WFSG Worldwide

The Center is in partnership with RubiconAtlas, the sponsor of a website connecting all WFSG schools.  Templates for WFSG forms are on the website and study groups can capture its work electronically with instant connection to all other study groups in the school, district, state, and nation.  It is a global website so connections are worldwide. 

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A Summary of Activities for Year 1

The following activities would typically occur during the first year a faculty implements WFSG.  The activities represent a school whose faculty chose to have a Focus Team trained to launch WFSG.

• Faculty is provided an orientation (Feb.-Aug. prior to Year One)
• Consensus for participation reached.
• Focus Team members identified.
• Focus Team attends WFSG Level I Institute at regional, state, or national level, or  WFSG Consultant conducts WFSG Level I Institute for several Focus Teams within a district (June-Sept)
• Focus Team schedules and plans meeting with faculty, selecting student data to be reviewed
• IC meetings put on school calendars
• Focus Team leads faculty through Steps 1 – 4 of DMC, study groups formed
• Action Plans completed by end of 2nd  meeting
• Action Plans sent to WFSG Consultant for feedback to principals
• WFSG Consultant visits district/schools (Sept.-Nov.) to give feedback on WFSG work, to continue training, and to conduct LASW training  for Focus Teams or at schools (Sept. – Nov.)
• Action Plans posted and Logs being posted on Website by 11/1
• WFSG Consultant visits district/schools (Dec.-Feb.) to give feedback on WFSG work and continue training, to include Action Research.
• National WFSG Conference (February) is attended by at least one person from each WFSG School
• Study group logs reflect authentic work
• WFSG Consultant visits district/schools (Mar.-May)
• SIP includes strategies from WFSG
• Study group work assessed and celebrated (May)
• Results/reports sent to WFSG Nat. Center
• Options available for attendance at Summer Institutes

The Mission of the WFSG National Center is to ensure student achievement through the authentic application of the WFSG system in schools.

 

Annual National Conference

The Conference focuses on a data-based, student driven, job-embedded approach to professional development that results in the establishment of professional learning communities. 

The Conference:“Professional Learning Communities in Action”	Feb. 8 –10, 2006  Registration Fee:  $300.00
Pre-Conference Level I Institute:“ABCs for Launching WFSG” (or, Basic Training)	Feb. 5 – 7, 2006 Registration Fee:  $325.00
Post-Conference Level I Institute:“ABCs for Launching WFSG” (or, Basic Training)	Feb. 10 – 12, 2006 Registration Fee:  $325.00
**The location of all conferences is Augusta, GA.

 

WFSG Level I Institute

WFSG Level I Institute: “The ABCs of Getting Started”

Participants will

• Know that the WFSG is a system that targets the instructional needs of students.

• Be able to give others the basic information about WFSG, to include:  definition, grounding questions, principles, guiding question, and functions.

• Know how to explain the difference in WFSG and other types of collaborative groups and the differences in WFSG meetings and other types of meetings.

• Understand how the 15 procedural or process guidelines provide a structure or vehicle for working on the work of teaching and learning.

• Understand the importance of data-based decision making.

• Be guided through the WFSG Decision-Making Cycle that identifies the student needs that will be the focus of WFSG and will determine how study groups are organized.

• Know how to write a Study Group Action Plan.

• Experience multiple uses of protocols.

• Begin developing a plan for introducing a faculty to WFSG and for leading the same faculty through the Decision-Making Cycle.

**Offered in Augusta, GA in February, June, and July. 

 

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