Focus Schools outlines plan to strengthen middle-school instruction and leadership

Carrie Purcel of Focus Schools presented a detailed partnership plan aimed at strengthening instructional leadership teams (ILTs), coaching cycles, and schoolwide instructional focus, with an emphasis on the middle school.

Purcel said the approach centers on three levers: empower building leadership, build teacher teams, and create a coherent district-of-one strategy so every school pursues the same measurable priorities. She described a timeline of monthly 90-minute ILT sessions and plans for four-week monitoring cycles in the middle school to enable faster measurement of impact.

"We are here to support the efforts of supporting every student every day," Purcel said, describing Focus Schools’ work in leadership capacity-building, evidence-based practices and tiered coaching. She outlined tools the consultant team will use, including task trackers, Depth of Knowledge (DOK) frameworks and SMART goals tied to a schoolwide instructional focus.

Purcel also presented a tiered coaching model intended to balance schoolwide coaching, small-group PLC work and individual coaching so instructional leaders can scale supports rather than rely exclusively on one-on-one interventions. The committee asked for progress metrics and for evidence of impact at the next reporting points.