I love when the #100DistrictConversations project allows me the chance to catch up with friends who I haven't had the opportunity to talk to in years. Conversation #18 reunited me with Tom Flanagan, Superintendent of Burlington School District in Vermont. Tom and I met when he was Chief Academic Officer in Providence Public Schools, and I have always appreciated his practical approach to complex and systemic issues.

"One of our biggest priorities in Burlington is deeper learning, a strategic focus that extends beyond curriculum and instruction. When planning our professional learning, we recognize the importance of providing an experience for teachers that mirrors what we want to provide for our students; ensuring that our teachers have agency and ownership in their own learning process.

We have found that engaging principals and coaches in the design process for professional learning from the beginning is absolutely key. By having principals at the table during curriculum adoption and professional learning sessions, they gain a deeper understanding of the materials and the instructional shifts required. We don't have a ton of dedicated professional learning time, but we're working to maximize the use of our weekly teacher professional learning communities (PLCs) and strengthen the effectiveness of our Instructional Leadership Teams.

While there is no curriculum mandate in our state, we chose to adopt a new ELA curriculum from American Reading Company when I arrived four years ago to address some gaps in phonics instruction and revitalize our overall approach to literacy. We have also focused on making our materials more relevant, place-based, and engaging for our students, incorporating feedback from our teachers and connecting classroom learning to our community and sustainability initiatives.

Connecting rigorous curriculum to deeper learning practices requires a common vision and language across our district. In order to get everyone aligned, we've partnered with Leading Educators to develop a comprehensive framework that will guide our instruction. This framework is being co-constructed with a large group of educators and principals. Hiring a professional learning partner allows us to engage even more voices, including 300+ empathy interviews conducted with district stakeholders to inform the framework. Partners help us push our practice by bringing an external perspective that helps us identify areas for growth and refine our approach, using activities like learning walks for data-driven feedback.

Our deeper learning framework will be complete by next school year. At this point our district will likely have the skill and capacity to manage the implementation of the framework internally. We will need a partner who keeps us accountable to the rigorous bar that we want to hold around grade level tasks and instruction. We are a very fortunate district because we can also lean on local Burlington area partners for questions and support."