Federal Programs in Charlotte County
Race to the Top
Charlotte County Public Schools (CCPS) participates in the Florida Race to the Top (RTTT) grant program. The funds received through this grant help CCPS implement a number of school improvement strategies as funding permits. Some of the strategies are required through recently enacted legislation.
The CCPS Comprehensive Reform Plan supports and is strategically aligned with the State’s Theory of Action (highly effective teachers and leaders make the difference in student achievement).Through RTTT we will bring in or expand some areas to meet the expectations of Florida’s RTTT application (as funding permits).
In recent years there have been major, integrated programs and processes established in CCPS. These unique programs and processes bring together the human resources (HR) functions of hiring, compensation and evaluation with professional development (PD) functions at the district and school levels for instructional and leadership staff. As a result of this collaborative integration our teachers and instructional leaders (at district and school levels) continue to bring our students to increasing levels of high academic achievement. The programs were developed collaboratively with teachers, principals, and HR, PD, and CCPS leadership over several years; they work synergistically as integrated parts of the CCPS Comprehensive Reform Plan.
The CCPS Reform Plan as outlined in the RTTT documents will serve to refine the focus and bring together the details of the work that we have been doing to continually increase the academic achievement of our students. The RTTT components align with one another and with our work as outlined in part A.1 (a) above. As an Academically High Performing District for the past 6 years, CCPS has been on the right track towards achieving the State Goals.
While the goals focus on targets to be attained by our graduates, the teachers and leadership at all levels of the district are very aware that achieving them is the work of everyone. This includes not only district employees, but also parents and the community as a whole. It is important for us to share these goals with all our stakeholders, so that students benefit from the support of all individuals and groups who can help them achieve their goals.
There are multiple levels of strategies for monitoring the implementation of the RTTT projects, and various teams or Forum Levels will be involved. The RTTT projects will be infused into the current structure of CCPS’s Comprehensive Reform Plan. As current program expansions, additions or improvements, it is both logical and practical to use current structures as much as possible to ensure proper implementation and monitoring. This is also how we will build sustainability into the implementation. RTTT is not an “extra” that will be put in place for 4 years and then abandoned. CCPS is committed to ensuring sustainability by merging the RTTT components into our current programs, practices and structures.
There are 13 project areas in Florida’s RTTT program. CCPS is participating in 11 of the 13; because we have no persistently low performing schools, we are not required to participate in projects 11 and 12. Project 1 is not required for CCPS, however, we chose to participate in it because of the strong value that Lesson Study brings to increased student achievement.
- Expand Lesson Study
- Expand STEM Career and Technical Program Offerings
- Increase Advanced STEM Coursework
- Bolster Technology for Improved instruction and Assessment
- Improve Access to State Data
- Use Data to Improve Instruction
- Provide Support for Educator Preparation Programs
- Improve Teacher and Principal Evaluation Systems
- Use Data Effectively for Human Capital Decisions
- Focus Effective Professional Development
- Include Charter Schools in LEA (District) Planning
Link to the entire CCPS RTTT application document:
http://www.fldoe.org/ARRA/word/Charlotte.doc