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Hosting a HSTW Technical Assistance Visit (TAV)

Preparing your community

  1. School administration should determine specific areas of their HSTW program to highlight during the team visit (outstanding practices and challenges).
  2. Inform the faculty of the upcoming visit and what to expect.
  3. Choose two local people to be part of the visitation team. One should be from the community college; the other should be a local business person. Discuss with them the purpose of the visit and what their role will be (the same as the other team members).
  4. Provide copies of the interview questions to those teachers, counselors, administrators, etc. who have been selected to be interviewed by the team.
  5. Prepare a list of seniors completing a CTE major (CTE concentrators) for the team to use in randomly selecting those they wish to interview. The students need to represent all CTE program areas and represent the school population. Be sure to arrange a time and location for the students to be interviewed as a group. If you are not familiar with these students, have the classroom teachers review the names before printing the final roster.
  6. Inform the students (to be interviewed) of the visit. You may wish to provide them a copy of the student interview questions in advance. The visitation team leader will work with the HSTW site coordinator on the initial day to finalize the list of students for the interview.
  7. Arrange for space to conduct the interviews. Multiple locations may be needed at the same time.
    • Corner of the Media Center
    • Small conference room
    • Principal's office

Preparing for the Team

  1. Read the "Technical Assistance Visits: A Guide for Local Sites."
  2. Talk with your technical assistance visitation team leader prior to the visit (call them to see if they have any questions/suggestions) and e-mail if you have questions, communicate with your visitation team leader
  3. Prepare a work room for the visitation team. This is an area for the team to meet and work throughout the visit.
    1. The room should be an area that is conducive to "confidential discussions" by the team (conference room, etc.). If necessary, a corner of the library/media center will suffice.
    2. Enough chairs and table space for 10 people.
    3. Please have a stapler, post-it notes, pens/pencils, highlighters, flipchart with markers, and masking tape available.
    4. Access to a photocopying machine is needed.
    5. The work room does not need a computer.
  4. Organize a folder or notebook of information for each team member. Some of the things to include are:
    1. School address and driving directions
    2. Parking instructions
    3. Address and directions to the hotel
    4. School arrival instructions; sign-in book, name tag, room number, etc.
    5. Schedule for each day. (work with Team Leader to create)
    6. Master schedule for the school (including teachers' names, course and room number, explanation of acronyms); if the school is on a block schedule, both semester schedules should be provided.
    7. Map of the school facilities.
    8. List of academic teachers to be interviewed.
    9. List of CTE teachers to be interviewed.
    10. List of seniors completing a CTE major (CTE concentrators).
    11. Copy of the latest "HSTW Data Profile Packet."
    12. Do not expend valuable time and money on professional printing of written materials for the team members, and do not use sheet or page protectors for written materials.
  5. Finalize a visitation schedule and have it approved by the administration. Share the final schedule with all faculty members and the LEA Central Office Staff.
  6. Mail materials to the visitation team members at least two weeks in advance of the visit.
  7. Provide copies of the following information in the team meeting room for use by the visiting team members (2 to 3 copies of each is sufficient):
    1. Demographic information/report.
    2. Any previously submitted SREB/HSTW reports for the school.
    3. School student handbook.
    4. School teacher handbook.
    5. Curriculum bulletin.
    6. Most recent HSTW Assessment Report.
    7. HSTW Site Action Plan or School Improvement Plan.
    8. Most recent student follow-up report.
    9. Names of any teachers who are absent on the day of observations.
    10. Any special activity that may be going on during the visit that you would like the team to observe.
  8. School/Site Presentation on the first day of the visit
    1. Focus on the site's major accomplishments, plans for next steps, and challenges in implementing the HSTW Key Practices. Please be prepared to provide the team members with a written copy (highlights) of the presentation. If using a PowerPoint presentation, give a printed copy to team members prior to the presentation for keeping notes.
    2. The presentation should not exceed one hour. Invite the site HSTW &/or School Improvement Team to attend at a minimum.
  9. Sources of Data/Information
    • HSTW Assessment report
    • HSTW Annual Report
    • HSTW Action Plan and/or School Improvement Plan
    • ABC accountability data
    • CTE postassessment data by course
    • Community college remediation data
    • University remediation data (mailed yearly to each principal by the UNC System Office)
    • SAT and/or ACT scores for the school
    • School dropout data
    • Student failure rates in various courses
    • Student absentee trend data
    • Changes in the number of low-level courses offered
    • Changes in the number of high-level courses offered
    • Focused and longitudinal staff development plans
    • Southern Association Accreditation visit reports
    • Other

Expenses related to hosting the visitation team

  1. The LEA (not the school) will receive $2,250 from NCDPI to help cover the costs of the visit via a contract with NCDPI.
    1. The school/LEA reimburses team members (including team leader and NCDPI staff) for lodging, mileage, meals, and substitute teacher expenses. Be sure to obtain the needed information from each team member during the visit regarding substitute teacher reimbursement and the team member's expenses. Reimbursement checks should be mailed to each team member within two weeks of the visit.
    2. SREB staff will cover their own travel expenses.
    3. Many schools/LEAs will make hotel reservations for the team members and pay the hotel directly.
    4. Do not purchase gifts, fruit baskets, etc. for team members. If you insist on providing team members something, get it donated (ball caps, pencils, school mug, etc.).
    5. Meals
      1. Many schools provide all of the meals for the team members, which eliminates meal reimbursements.
      2. It is permissible but not mandatory to have a dinner involving faculty, school board members, LEA administrators, etc. with the visitation team on the first day of the visit.
      3. Team members will be glad to eat lunch in the school cafeteria.
      4. Please plan to provide dinner for the team members on-site the evening of the second day (sandwich fixings, etc.).
      5. It is nice to have beverages (soft-drinks, coffee, water) available in the team workroom, especially on the second day.
  2. After the visit, the LEA CTE Director (not the school) sends an invoice to the state HSTW consultant. The invoice will be for $2,250 or less, and include a statement like "Reimbursement for the lodging, travel, meals, and substitute teacher expenses for the technical assistance visitation team that conducted a High Schools That Work visit to XXXXXX High School on April XXXXXX, 2011."

Other

  1. It would be beneficial to the school/site for the HSTW site coordinator and/or the principal to have previously served on a visitation team prior to your school's visit. You may also wish to talk with other sites in your LEA or region that have previously hosted a visit.
  2. Appropriate communications among all involved parties is the key to a most successful visit.
  3. The final visit report should be sent to the superintendent of the LEA not later than six weeks following the visit.