A: We are seeking five Clark County School District middle school leadership teams to participate in the Middle School Accelerator. Your organization is an ideal candidate for the program if you:
are looking to support your school community to promote the growth of all students, particularly those who have been marginalized
are eager to learn and have thinking pushed by Program Leaders
are committed to the school community's thinking about how to approach this middle school work effectively and in the best interest of kids
have questions about how to approach your middle school growth and would like strategic support
A: From your organization,
the middle school principal will be the project lead for the work and be a consistent participant in regular meetings with the cohort and Bellwether.
the Core Planning Committee of 4 to 6 school leaders and staff to participate in the weekly advisory sessions and working sessions. Each member of this group will participate in a subset of interactions with Bellwether and the cohort
Beyond that, we will set you up to effectively engage your organization’s broader stakeholders
Please see the Roles and Responsibilities section on the Middle School Accelerator School Leader Criteria document for more detail.
A: The formal activities will span early-March 2021 to December 2022.
Middle school principal will commit at least 4-5 hours per week of planning time and can ensure strong management of the design process. This person will also play a key role in identifying the appropriate stakeholders to engage throughout the process
The Core Planning Committee members will engage in at least 3-4 collaborative hours per week
A: Your school organization will gain:
support creating a strong reopening plan using best practices and resources from across the nation
a complete middle school Success Plan, including key middle school design elements such as school vision, academic program, non-academic offerings, student culture and support systems, master schedule and staffing, talent strategy, financial model refinement, and community partnership/engagement
coaching supports throughout the experience and afterward as you launch your middle school plan
deepened relationships with other members of your cohort — middle school leaders at a similar stage of middle school program development
A: The Middle School Accelerator Cohort comprises core elements that you will benefit from as a participant:
Tailored Advising: Bellwether’s team will provide customized, tailored support to ensure that schools and leaders have the necessary support to make progress on their middle school design planning work. This support will include bi-weekly meetings or phone calls with a senior Bellwether leader and other team members as needed, depending on the topic. After the initial sessions designed to orient participants to the approach, the focus of these sessions will quickly shift to providing feedback and advice to participants based on pre-work completed in advance of the advising session. The goal is to have these sessions structured like a “flipped classroom” with cohort participants completing pre-reading and work in advance.
Collaborative Cohort Learning Sessions: There will be 3 collaborative learning sessions (1.5-2 hours each) where cohort leaders learn from national models and have the opportunity to share planning progress with peers to receive feedback and ideas to strengthen approach for their respective plans
Throughout the process Bellwether will provide you with guidance to translate the templates you complete and decisions you make into a PowerPoint strategic plan, keeping in mind the various stakeholders you want to engage with the plan
A: The Dell Foundation and Opportunity 180 are generously supporting all of the cost for this offering of the Cohort.
A: Attend the information session on Tuesday, February 9th, 8:00-9:00am. You can register for the first required phase of the application process through this link. Be on the lookout for an event invite. Please email Bill Durbin at bill.durbin@bellwethereducation.org with any other questions.
A: After attending the information session, complete the application, which you can find here. Applications are due by Wednesday, February 24th.