Deck 2: Learning Capacity Domain
The Pacific East District strives to have a positive impact on students to ensure various learning opportunities are available by:
Adopting rigorous DoDEA College and Career Ready Standards
Developing and implementing a comprehensive assessment system to monitor student learning progress: DoDEA-CAS.
Creating and deploying student support programs to meet the specialized needs of all students, including special education students, English language learners, and advanced learners
Developing and implementing educational programs to support struggling and advanced learners
Developing the 21st century skills of collaboration, communication, critical thinking, and creativity
Aligning teacher performance evaluation with expectations that support the needs of all learners
Creating a collaborative framework through Focused Collaboration to foster teacher collaboration regarding meeting the needs of all students
Providing resources, tools, and curricular supports to help meet the needs of all students
In SY15-16, the Pacific East District implemented the newly adopted College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS). Dedicated attention was directed toward providing professional learning to educators in support of the CCRS rollout. The rigorous CCRS were adopted to ensure all students have equitable access to high-quality educational experiences.
In SY 16-17, the Pacific East District implemented Focused Collaboration as a structure to provide educators with time and space to analyze data, and use the data to drive instruction based on students' needs. Additionally, the district recruited instructional systems specialists (ISS) in specialized areas to augment the existing special education ISS team and support schools in providing students appropriate education opportunities.
In SY 19-20, the Pacific East District synced job-alike collaboration time across the district. Additionally, an ePortal was developed as a one-stop resource to house procedures to guide the work of Focused Collaboration teams.
The Pacific East District is committed to providing educators with the tools and resources needed to successfully implement the CCRS through ongoing ISS support and progress monitoring tools. The district will continue to modify and adjust its structures based on the needs of educators and their students.
The Pacific East District will continue to provide professional learning aligned with the Strategic Plan, focusing on digital learning in SY22-23 and project- based learning (PBL) in SY23-24.
The Pacific East District offers a variety of opportunities to meet the needs of advanced learners. Elementary schools within DoDEA follow the Advanced Academic Programs & Services (AAPS) – Elementary (Grades K-5) Implementation Guide which outlines levels of service for all students at the elementary level. The elementary program enables all students who show mastery of grade-level skills the opportunity to receive extension opportunities. All elementary students also receive instruction in critical and creative thinking skills on a quarterly basis as part of the AAPS program guidance.
At the secondary level, students are afforded opportunities to engage in content, course, or grade-level acceleration. Students at the high school level can participate in Advance Placement (AP) courses either through Pacific East schools or through DoDEA Virtual School courses.
The programs and policies in place within the Pacific East District enable students who demonstrate mastery of grade-level skills and knowledge the opportunity to extend their learning.
The Pacific East District’s Advancement Via Individual Determination (AVID) program focuses on providing students with equal access to learning opportunities and is annually certified for quality assurance by AVID Center. AVID uses the WICOR curriculum (Writing, Inquiry, Collaboration, Organization, and Reading), which supports 21st century skills, to prepare students for college, careers, and life.
DoDEA Pacific East has continued to gradually increase their enrollment in the AVID program to support student readiness. The impact of the AVID program is demonstrated by the number of AVID seniors who are accepted to two or four-year colleges and universities compared to the national average.
The Pacific District uses their allocation of funds to provide clear, consistent, and equitable support to lead to school improvement.
The Continuous School Improvement (CSI) networking sessions serve as opportunities for continuous school improvement teams within schools and complexes to engage in professional learning, share best practices, and collaborate on methods to improve schools.
Schools monitor student success through their continuous school improvement work and ensure that all learners are receiving equitable opportunities to learn through an analysis of their school data.
The Department of Defense Performance Management and Appraisal Program (DPMAP) aligns with standard 2.1 as it serves as the professional evaluation system within DoDEA. The DPMAP process provides professionals within DoDEA with performance elements aligned with expectations regarding their role. Evaluators engage in beginning-of-the-year, middle-of-the-year, and end-of-the-year meetings with each educator. As part of their performance elements, DoDEA educators are expected to ensure equitable opportunities for all students by supporting the implementation of DoDEA adopted curriculum and standards.
DoDEA’s College and Career Ready Standards (CCRS) provide rigorous standards and curriculum for all DoDEA students. The DoDEA CCRS frame the instructional expectations for all students and set the standard for high instructional expectations and practice with 21st century skills for all students.
The literacy standards represent the 7 capacities such as critique, building content knowledge and valuing evidence. The mathematics standards stand on the expertise of practices such as mathematical concepts, making sense of problems and persevering to solve them, and reasoning abstractly (SMPs).
DoDEA’s Comprehensive Assessment System (DoDEA-CAS) provides the measurement and monitoring tool to determine whether the Pacific East District is increasing student learning and achievement. Educators utilize results from the DoDEA -CAS during their work in Focused Collaboration to determine instructional paths forward for students and ensure they are meeting the needs of all students.
The DoDEA Learning Walkthrough Tool (LWT) provides administrators and educators with guidelines and expectations regarding instructional practices. Administrators are provided with the expectation to engage in five learning walkthroughs each week and use the LWT as a method to monitor that students have equitable access to learning opportunities in all classrooms. The walkthrough process clarifies and focuses the work that is needed to assist all students with achieving college and career readiness skills.
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) is a program designed for students whose primary or home language may be a language other than English. The ESOL program within DoDEA utilizes the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA) tools to identify student ESOL levels. The DoDEA ESOL Program Guide and Instructional System Specialist (ISS) team provide guidance and support to ESOL teachers regarding instructional accommodations and modifications for ESOL students.
Educators receive instructional information about each ESOL student including their language comprehension in the domains of speaking, listening, reading, and writing, along with instructional accommodations and modifications.
The policies and procedures for the ESOL program provide insight into how the Pacific East District ensures learners have equitable access to educational opportunities to develop the skills necessary to be college and career ready.
Focused Collaboration serves as the vehicle for educators to collaboratively discuss and study student learning. All educators engage and are provided with direction and guidance regarding Focused Collaboration weekly. The district’s guidelines, expectations, a common schedule, calendar, and framework for all educators in the Pacific East have led to improvements in its implementation.
Internal Review Visits (IRVs) within the Pacific East District are how the district measures continuous school improvement. The annual IRV process, provides the district with insight into growth areas and ways to provide support for schools. Schools demonstrate progress toward four district-selected Cognia Standards focusing on continuous improvement, differentiation, assessment, and professional learning. In addition, the Pacific East District utilizes IRVs to monitor schools' processes for ensuring equitable learning opportunities for all students. Results from the IRVs have suggested that the Pacific East District has improved by providing equitable opportunities for all students.
The Pacific East District developed the levels of support as a means to determine resource allocation regarding support for schools, which provides a method for the Pacific East District to support student learning and teacher instruction by providing a framework for structured and strategic assistance for schools.
The Pacific East Data Management System (PEDMS) aligns with standard 2.1, as it was developed as a system for the district, schools, teams, and teachers to engage in ongoing data analysis. Embedded in PEDMS is a structured approach for schools to analyze data. The implementation of PEDMS enables schools and the district to measure and examine student learning in providing all students access to rigorous DoDEA College and Career Ready Standards.
The Pacific East District Professional Learning Plan outlines the professional learning opportunities for educators within the district. The plan uses the Kirkpatrick Model of Evaluation to describe how the district will evaluate the results, behavior, learning, and participant reaction to the professional learning opportunities within the district. The Pacific East utilizes ongoing professional learning opportunities to ensure all educators know how to implement equitable learning opportunities for all students. Professional learning opportunities include a focus on student-led discourse, project based learning, and integrating digital learning.
The Pacific East Strategic Plan, developed by the Pacific East Steering Committee outlines the district’s expectations and plan to provide rigorous learning opportunities for all students through an emphasis on 21st century innovative skills of collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication.
The Pacific East District offers a variety of student educational programs to ensure that all students have equitable access to learning opportunities.
We have programs to target areas, such as:
Reading and mathematics remediation and Tier II and III interventions
Extended learning opportunities through career and technical education (CTE) courses, fine arts, and world language
Additional learning opportunities available through DoDEA Virtual School.
The Pacific East District provides early childhood education opportunities through Sure Start and Preschool Services for Children with Disabilities (PSCD).
Students also have the opportunity to engage in a variety of extracurricular activities that focus on physical fitness, college and career readiness, and student interests.
SPED
SST Process
504 Policies
Counseling
The Student Services Team is composed of general educators who provide support to teachers to improve the quality of the general education program and reduce the underachievement of students.
Student services encompass a variety of processes, such as Student Support Teams (SST), Special Education, 504, school counselors, and school psychologists..
The SST process provides schools with early intervention for struggling students.
Special Education and 504 follow established DoDEA guidance, processes, and procedures. Schools develop Case Study Committees (CSC), a school-level multidisciplinary team, which includes the parents, responsible for making educational decisions concerning a student with a disability.
Counselors and school psychologists work to support social emotional needs of students and support educators by providing support necessary to meet the needs of individual students. In addition, military bases partner with schools to house Military and Family Life Counselors (MFLC) within the schools to support service members and students with counseling services for a variety of issues that affect student learning and achievement.
Student services in the Pacific East District serve as one way the district ensures equitable access to learning opportunities for all students.
The Pacific East District, in partnership with DoDEA Virtual School, offers a variety of Career and Technical Education (CTE) career path courses, including:
Video Production
Computer Technology
Video Game Design
Coding
Business
Culinary
Family and Consumer Science
Junior Reserve Officer Training (JROTC)
Engineering
Robotics
DoDEA CTE certification courses can allow students to become certified in career fields of their choice upon completion of the necessary courses.
The DoDEA Blueprint for Continuous Improvement provides the framework for continuous improvement across the organization. The Pacific East District utilizes the Blueprint to guide the continuous improvement work of the Pacific East District.
The DoDEA Mission and Vision provides direction to districts within DoDEA. The Pacific East District utilizes DoDEA’s Mission and Vision to help drive the direction of the district.
The Pacific East District, in partnership with DoDEA Virtual School, offers a variety of courses, including:
Elementary Art
Elementary Music
Band
Choir
Piano
Guitar
General Music
Drama
Visual Arts
Art History
AP Studio
Painting
Ceramics
Drawing
The Pacific East district offers Host Nation classes with a cross-cultural and language acquisition focus to develop an appreciation and understanding of the culture and language of the country in which we are located.
The role of the DoDEA School Library Information Center program is to support the DoDEA mission by providing access to diverse print and digital resource materials that are aligned to the DoDEA curriculum and engage student interest. DoDEA’s robust media and library services allows students to equally access information utilizing a wide variety of digital databases.
The Pacific East District provides literacy support through remediation and intervention opportunities. At the elementary level, literacy support is offered through literacy support services, a pull out tier II intervention program. At the secondary level, students receive literacy support through reading elective courses, in addition to their English Language Arts courses.
The Innovation Configuration Map (ICM) for Student Behaviors aims to outline and project the change indicators that may reveal, support,
and motivate student growth throughout DoDEA’s implementation of the College and Career Ready Standards for Literacy (CCRSL).
The Master Calendar aligns with the Pacific East District continuous improvement process by outlining professional learning and internal review visits in the district.
The Pacific East District provides literacy support through remediation and intervention opportunities. At the elementary level, mathematics support is offered through mathematics support services, a pull out tier II intervention program. At the secondary level, students receive mathematics support through mathematics lab or strategic mathematics elective courses, in addition to their mathematics courses.
The Pacific East implemented the Pacific East Data Dashboard to make data more easily accessible to colleagues throughout the district.
The Pacific East District, in partnership with DoDEA Virtual School, offers a variety of Physical Education courses, including:
Lifetime Sports
Personal Fitness
Activity Nutrition
Health Education
Preschool Services for Children with Disabilities (PSCD) is offered to young children with disabilities in the Pacific East District. The program is specially designed to provide instruction, support, and services to meet the individual needs of students in alignment with each child’s IEP.
The Pacific East District offers early child education through the Sure Start program. Sure Start is a full day preschool program serving eligible military children and families living overseas.
The Sure Start program utilizes the Teaching Strategies - Creative Curriculum program that builds children’s confidence, creativity, and critical thinking skills through hands-on, project-based investigations. It promotes discovery and inquiry with opportunities for children to think critically and develop process skills with rich, hands-on investigations of relevant and interesting topics in the classroom.
The Pacific East District, in partnership with DoDEA Virtual School, offers a variety of World Language courses, including:
Japanese
Spanish
Chinese
French
German
Students engaging in levels 2 and 4 of language courses take the ACTFL Assessment of Performance toward Proficiency in Languages (AAPPL) to determine their proficiency levels in the target language.