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Student Group School Improvement Designations

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Student Group School Improvement Designations

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Educator Licensure and Endorsements

Apply for an Educator License

University Recommends
Utah State Board of Education (USBE) Educator Licensing

Educators are recommended for initial licensure through a Utah-approved educator preparation program.

Initial licensure includes the license and at least one license area of concentration and one endorsement. Additional endorsements may be added to a license area of concentration.

Educator Endorsements

Applications
USBE Educator Licensing

Download the PDF(s) to your desktop and complete the form(s):

Endorsements attach to a current Utah Educator license with a qualifying license area of concentration.

Submit Educator Endorsement Applications digitally to licensing@schools.utah.gov.

Request university registrar(s) submit original digital transcripts via Clearinghouse to transcripts@schools.utah.gov.

License Areas of Concentration

Alternate (Licensure Only)

Preparation Programs

USBE Alternate Path to Professional Educator Licensure - Special Education (USBE APPEL-SpEd)
USBE Canvas

Audiologist

Current Endorsements

Audiology

Other Endorsements

American Sign Language (ASL)

Bilingual

English as a Second Language (ESL)

Preparation Programs

Utah State University

Communication Sciences Degree Options
University of Utah

Deaf Education

Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (USDB) Only.

Current Endorsements

American Sign Language (ASL)

Bicultural

Bilingual

Deaf, Hard of Hearing Early Intervention

English

Listening and Spoken Language (LSL)

Preparation Programs

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Graduate Degree and Program Information
University of Utah

Education of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Utah State University

Preschool Special Education

Current Endorsements

Deaf and Hard of Hearing (Birth - Age 5)

Other Endorsements

Bilingual

English as a Second Language (ESL)

Preparation Programs

Early Childhood Education and Special Education (Composite): Bachelor of Science (BS), Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Utah State University

Preschool/Early Intervention Special Education Undergraduate Degree and Program Information
University of Utah

Special Education (K-12+)

Current Endorsements

Adaptive Physical Education

Blind and Visual Impairment

Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) Endorsement for Serving Young Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH)
Utah State University

Special Education Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Special Education Deafblind

Special Education Eligibility Evaluator

Special Education Mild/Moderate

Special Education Severe Disabilities

Special Education Visual Impairments
Handbook for the Utah Special Education Eligibility Evaluator (SPED-EE) Endorsement
Other Endorsements

American Sign Language (ASL)

Bilingual

Driver and Safety Education

Driver License Examiner

Elementary Keyboarding

Elementary Mathematics

English as a Second Language (ESL)

Library Media (K-12)

Mathematics - Special Education

Mathematics Endorsements 2, 3 and 4

Reading

Work-based Learning (WBL)

Preparation Programs

Bachelor of Arts Special Education (Mild to Moderate)
Western Governors

Bachelor of Science (BS) Special Education: Mild/Moderate Disabilities
Brigham Young University

Degrees and Programs Overview
Weber State University

Department of Special Education
University of Utah

Special Education
Southern Utah University

Special Education: Master of Science (MS), Master of Education (MEd), Education Specialist (EdS)
Utah State University

Special Education
Utah Valley University

Special Education
Westminster College

Speech-Language Pathologist (SLP)

No Endorsement Required.

Other Endorsements

Listening and Spoken Language (LSL) Endorsement for Serving Young Children who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH)
Utah State University

Preparation Programs

Communication Disorders (ComD)
Brigham Young University

Speech-Language Pathology
University of Utah

Speech-Language Pathology
Utah State University

Preparation Programs from Out-of-State

Out-of-State (OOS)
Utah State Board of Education Educator Licensing Apply for an Educator License

SLPs with Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) out-of-state apply for the SLP through the out-of-state process.

Speech-Language Technician (SLT)

No Endorsement Required.

Handbook
Utah State Board of Education (USBE) Special Education Services (SES) Handbook for Speech Language Technicians (SLTs) Working in Utah Public Schools
In-state Communication Disorders Degree Programs

Bachelor's Degree in Communication Disorders
Brigham Young University

Communication Sciences and Disorders
University of Utah

Communicative Disorders and Deaf Education (COMDDE)
Utah State University

Speech-Language Technician License Area of Concentration Preparation Program (SLT-ARL)

Communication Disorders BS Degree needed to apply for SLT-ARL
Utah State Board of Education (USBE) Speech-language Technician (SLT) Licensing Program Description
Speech-Language Technician (SLT) Institute Application
Qualtrics

Employment

Find Jobs Now
Department of Workforce Services (DWS)

Utah Schools and Educational Institutions
Utah Education Network (UEN)

Professional Learning Opportunities
Utah State Board of Education Massively Integrated Data Analytics System (MIDAS)
Scholarships and Other Fiscal Support

College of Education Scholarships
University of Utah

Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
Federal Student Aid

State of Utah Scholarships and Aid Programs
Utah System of Higher Education (USHE)

Teacher Salary Supplement Program (TSSP)
Utah State Board of Education Educator Licensing Educator Incentive Programs

Utah Mathematics Endorsement Project (UMEP)
Utah State University

Minimum qualifications include working in a secondary Mathematics teaching assignment including Special Education.

Utah State Board of Education (USBE) Administrative Rules
R277-301: Educator Licensing R277-303: Educator Preparation Programs R277-304: Teacher Preparation Programs R277-306: Educator Preparation Programs for School Psychologists, Audiologists, Speech-Language Pathologists, Speech-Language Technicians, Counselors, and School Social Workers R277-309: Appropriate Licensing and Assignment of Teachers R277-514: Deaf Education in Public Schools
Contacts

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Title III Classroom Observation Tool, compliments of Dr. Christelle Estrada

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Title III Classroom Observation Tool, compliments of Dr. Christelle Estrada

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REVISED OBSERVATION TOOL TO USE (2) copy (2).pdf

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Core Standards

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE), in January of 1984, established policy requiring the identification of specific core standards to be met by all K-12 students in order to graduate from Utah's secondary schools. The USBE regularly updates the Utah Core Standards, while parents, teachers, and local school boards continue to control the curriculum choices that reflect local values.

Current Standards
Utah Core Standards: Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards Utah K-12 Science
Utah Core Literacy Standards

Utah State Board of Education Core Standards for English Language Arts (ELAs) and Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects
Utah State Board of Education Elementary Language Arts

Included are standards for Science Literacy Instruction in both reading and writing:

Reading Standards for Informational Text K-5 (Page 15)

Writing Standards K-5 (Page 21)

Reading Standards for Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects 6-12 (Page 74)

Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects 6-12 (Page 78)

Standards Information
Preparing Students for a Lifetime of Understanding New Science Standards Success
This document was created for students, parents, teachers and school leaders as an information resource to better understand the State Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards.

E-mail Lists

The Utah State Board of Education, in collaboration with the Utah Education Network (UEN), has created two e-mail listservs for science teachers to learn more about Utah science events and professional development. One is focused on elementary (K-6) science and the other on secondary (6-12) science.

Core Guides

Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd)

The Science Core Guides are created to provide guidance for developing effective instruction aligned to the Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards. They are intended to support teachers, administrators, science specialists, instructional coaches, parents, and other stakeholders as they plan instruction at a local level.

The Core Guides are not intended to be read from cover to cover. They are meant as a resource document to be used, when needed, to support teacher professional learning and curriculum decisions. They are not meant to be used by students, and therefore they may not be written in student-friendly language. The Core Guides are meant to inform teachers and leaders as they make science curriculum decisions.

Google Docs:

Educator Endorsements

The Utah State Board of Education desires that all educators in Utah are fully qualified to teach the courses they are assigned to assure that all students get the best education possible. All secondary science courses (Grades 7-12) require specific secondary science endorsements for teachers to be eligible to teach them.

Utah Secondary Science Endorsement Format Changes and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Course Assignment Eligibility for Secondary Science Endorsements
Google Docs

Applications

Endorsement Courses

To fulfill university course requirements for secondary science endorsements each course needs to meet the following three requirements:

The course must be posted on a college/university transcript,

The course must be worth 3 or more credits, and

The course must be passed with a grade of C or better.

University Online Course Options

Many universities offer online courses that can be taken to fulfill endorsement course requirements. These courses vary from semester to semester and vary in price from university to university. Some universities also require a small payment to become a matriculated student and gain a student identification number. Please be sure to read all university requirements to assure that you are eligible, can meet prerequisite requirements, and can successfully take the course.

Partner Organization Courses for University Credit

There is a partner organization that has paired with local universities to offer endorsement courses for university credit.

Endorsement Courses
Utah Science Teachers Association (USTA)

UtSTA partners with local colleges and universities to connect teachers from across the state with experienced teachers in Both Online and Face-to-Face models.

University Online Programs and Courses that meet Secondary Science Endorsement Requirements

Safety Certification

As part of the application for a secondary science endorsement, the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) asks that all applicants complete a safety certification. There are three options for Safety Certification:

1. District Safety Course
Many school districts offer a safety course for teachers that fulfill the safety certification requirement. Please ask your district office if a course like this exists.

2. Lab Safety Courses
Flinn Scientific offers an online course that qualifies to fulfill the safety certification requirement. The course is self-paced and has been said to take only 4+ hours to complete. Please note that this is a vendor company and completing their free course will sign you up for marketing with that company.

3. Endorsement Courses
Utah Science Teachers Association (UtSTA)
This certification process is a four-week online course from UtSTA in partnership with Utah Education Network (UEN). It is associated with 1.0 USBE credit and helps to assure that all our science teachers are knowledgeable about the safe science classroom and laboratory practices.

Professional Learning

The Utah State Board of Education (USBE) offers two different types of Canvas courses for K-12 Science:

1. Implementing the Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards (K-12)

2. SEEd Content Courses for each grade (K-8)

Implementing the Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards K-12
Enroll in Implementing the Utah Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards
The course's purpose is to support educators in understanding shifts to instruction that are required to effectively implement the Utah SEEd Standards. The Canvas-based course contains six modules: Introduction to the SEEd Standards, Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs), Crosscutting Concepts (CCCs), Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs), Engineering Design, and Using Phenomena.

This course is free for participants and is self-paced. K-12 educators may register at any point. Successful completion of the entire course is worth 2.0 USBE Credits. Credit will be assigned three times during the year as delineated in Table 1 below.

SEEd Content Courses Grades K-8
Accessing SEEd Content Courses for Grades K-8
The purpose of these courses is to build and support teacher science conceptual knowledge of the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs) used within the SEEd Standards. The Grade K-6 courses are developed specifically for elementary educators and therefore only licensed K-6 teachers will be awarded USBE credit upon completion.

Completing content courses for Grades 6-8 do not qualify teachers to meet requirement areas for a Science Core (6-8) Endorsement. For information on the course requirements for this teaching endorsement, review the USBE Educator Licensing Educator Endorsements.

For these content courses, each grade level or content area has one main course in which to enroll. Within the course, there are mini-courses that explore the content knowledge expectations of each strand within the SEEd Standards for that grade level. The number of mini-courses available for each grade level are equal to the number of strands within the SEEd standards for that grade level. Educators may select which mini-courses they want to pursue and the order they want to take each one after a short introduction module is completed within the main course. Educators do not need to complete all of the mini-courses. Credit for the K-5 mini-courses is either .5 or 1.0 for each strand mini-course depending on the number of standards within the strand (2-5 standards = .5, 6+ standards = 1.0). Credit for 6-8 courses is listed as you sign up for the course. Credits will post in MIDAS three times during the year as delineated in Table 1 below. These courses are free for participants and are self-paced. Educators may register at any time.

To receive credit for a mini-course or for the K-12 Introduction to Three-Dimensional Instruction course, educators enrolled in any of the courses must receive 90% on the quizzes, complete the discussion posts, and submit the required feedback survey for the mini-course or the entire Introduction course. Once enrolled in a course the participants will continue to have access to the Canvas course content even after they are finished so that it can be used as a reference in the future.

May 31

August 31

December 31

Third week of June

Third week of September

Third week of January

Critical Registration Note

Log into your Canvas account before clicking on the enrollment links provided above. If you are already logged in when you enroll, the self-enrollment process will be much smoother. This is important because if you cannot remember your password, the login page will provide a Forgot Password link to fix the issue. The self-enrollment page of each course does not provide that option.

If you do not have a Canvas account when you self-enroll in a course, you will not be asked for a password at that time. You will receive an e-mail asking you to finish setting up your account.

Utah Science Open Educational Resources (OER) Textbooks

Note: The final revision of the OER Textbooks do not have a year posted on the front cover.

OER textbooks are available for K-12 and align to the Science with Engineering Education (SEEd) Standards. The Utah Science OER Textbook Project was started to bring Utah teachers together to create a resource that aligns to the Utah core science standards. They are not intended to be curriculum as they do not include labs, assessments, or a teacher guide with answers. They are intended as a reference material for students with content to support teachers' classroom instruction and help make sense of science concepts found in standards.

The OER textbooks are available in digital formats for free under a creative commons license. These digital documents can be used and adjusted to support teacher and student needs. They can be loaded onto student electronic devices or printed in their entirety or as individual pages through school or district printing services. Formatted OER textbooks are also available to purchase in bulk at a low cost using a state printing contract.

New for 2022

The OER textbooks were revised in the spring of 2022. Currently, the revised versions are only available in English. Revised textbooks in other languages are yet to be translated.

2022 OER Textbooks

Open Educational Resources: Utah's Open Textbook Projects (Science)
Utah Education Network (UEN)

To provide teachers with a formatting version of each textbook, PDF versions of the printed books are available to download for free. These files can be used to print the books in-house if districts and charters have a better system for printing or they can be loaded on student machines.

Important Note: The OER Textbook Project works very hard to ensure that only materials with an open creative common license are used. After a copy is made it is the responsibility of that person to assure that any content, pictures, illustrations, diagrams, etc. added to your adapted books are free of a private copyright license and are solely responsible for consequences regarding breaking regulations with these copyrights.

State Science Education Coordinating Committee (SSECC)

SSECC is voluntary science community that work to discuss the needs of and share information about how to improve science education in Utah. It is made up of representatives from Utah districts and charter schools, Utah institutes of higher education, and Utah informal education organizations.
Utah State Board of Education (USBE) Massively Integrated Data Analytics System (MIDAS) Course Registration
Meetings

State Mathematics Education Coordinating Committee (SMECC)/State Science Education Coordinating Committee (SSECC)

Elementary
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Combined
Time: 10:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.

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Observation Rubric for Three-Dimensional Science Teaching and Learning

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For the economically disadvantaged student group:

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For the economically disadvantaged student group:

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Assessment and Accountability Resources (current 2023 report available)

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Assessment and Accountability Resources (current 2023 report available)

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Assessment to Achievement

New Cohort Beginning Summer 2023 - Apply Now!

We are currently accepting applications from schools to participate in our next cohort of the state's Assessment to Achievement (A2A) project. Within this project, schools receive all expenses paid targeted support related to collaboration, effective data use, and evidence-based instructional practices via professional learning sessions and on-site visits. Space for participation in this upcoming cohort is limited and applications are due by December 31, 2022. For additional information, reach out to Whitney Grant at whitney.grant@schools.utah.gov or Megan Lopez at megan.lopez@schools.utah.gov.

Assessment to Achievement Application
Google Docs

What is Assessment to Achievement?

The Assessment to Achievement (A2A) project provides implementation support in using data, creating collaborative structures, and engaging in evidence-based instructional practices to increase student achievement. Using content tailored to schools' needs, the Assessment to Achievement project leverages evidence-based strategies in combination with implementation science to improve student outcomes. School and district teams who participate in this four-year project increase their own expertise in collaboratively analyzing multiple data points and using the analysis to inform instructional and program decisions that positively influence students and schools.

In addition to A2A, Assessment to Achievement Plus (A2A+), launched during the 2021-2022 schoolyear, uses these project objectives to focus specifically on achieving growth for multilingual learners. Participants report looking forward to engaging in professional learning and coaching centering on multilingual learner needs: "A2A+ will provide a structured approach for our school to address the linguistic and academic needs of our multilingual learners at the classroom and grade-level team levels."

Who is Participating?

Since 2015, as many as 100 schools have participated in the program. Cohort 3 began the program during the 2019-2020 school year and will participate through the 2022-2023 school year. Cohort 4 began the program during the 2020-2021 school year and will participate through the 2023-2024 school year. Applications will be available and accepted in the summer of 2022.

Project Impact

Within the Assessment to Achievement and Assessment to Achievement Plus projects, student learning is at the heart of the program.

According to data collected from previous cohorts after three years of participation in A2A, these schools' student proficiency grew to be almost four times higher than non-A2A schools in Utah.

In the current cohorts of A2A schools, we see promising feedback from teachers and administrators. 92% of teacher respondents indicate that their own instruction is more effective as a result of the A2A project, and both school leader and teacher participants report strong levels of agreement that their school now has a culture that prioritizes student growth.

According to one teacher respondent from December 2021, "I am seeing a lot of student growth in math. I am also becoming more comfortable with analyzing data and knowing how to take next steps to help student learning." Some school leaders report high levels of collaboration, data-use, and instructional growth; "Collaboration among teachers, quality classroom instruction, levels of student engagement, and student achievement results have increased as a result of our participation in Assessment to Achievement.".

What are Educators Saying about Assessment to Achievement?

Assessment to Achievement (Full Version) | Assessment to Achievement (Short Version)
YouTube

In addition, across 81 schools and 16 Local Education Agencies (LEAs) completing this 4-year partnership with the Utah State Board of Education (USBE):

86% of teachers reported that their school-based teams are functioning more effectively

92% indicated that their own instruction was more effective

90% of teachers and administrators affirm that they use data more effectively to identify student learning gaps

Contact

Formative Assessment

What is Formative Assessment?

Utah State Board of Education (USBE) has created a Formative Assessment Toolkit to support educators by increasing their capacity to leverage the formative assessment process to inform personalized instruction and more effectively work with students to build competency. This toolkit will help drive teachers' instruction based on the needs of their students. This is a great resource for classroom educators filled with ideas of how to leverage in the moment student responses to adjust and drive future instruction.
Formative Assessment Process Toolkit
Formative Assessment is a planned, ongoing process used by all students and teachers during learning and teaching to elicit and use evidence of student learning to give teachers and students the opportunity to identify strengths and weaknesses with specific knowledge, skills, and abilities outlined in the Utah Core Standards. It is often referred to as assessment for learning.

The formative assessment process requires students and teachers to integrate and embed the following key practices in a collaborative and respectful classroom environment:

Clarifying learning goals and success criteria within a broader progression of learning

Eliciting and analyzing evidence of student thinking

Engaging in self-assessment and peer feedback

Providing actionable feedback

Using evidence and feedback to move learning forward by adjusting learning strategies, goals, or next instructional steps

Formative tools are provided to assist with this planned process including the RISE Benchmark modules, RISE Interims, High School Core Benchmarks, Acadience Reading Progress Monitoring, Utah Compose, and Utah Test Item Pool Service (UTIPS).

What is a Learning Progression?

A learning progression is a carefully sequenced set of building blocks composed of the essential skills and knowledge that students must master as part of the path to achieving a learning goal. They are not standards or instructional objectives.

Provide educators a pathway to think carefully about what is required to keep learning moving forward

Serve as the foundation and blueprint for instruction and formative assessment

Describe the stages or levels students move through as their understanding develops, the kinds of tasks that students can perform at each level, and what that performance looks like

Allow educators and students to focus on deep learning

Use multiple measures that focus attention on what students are learning

Increase student motivation and self-regulation with individualized instruction

Creating a Learning Progression Framework
YouTube

Utah Compose

Utah Compose is a formative assessment tool that is provided free of charge to all public school teachers and students in grades 3-12. It is a web-based writing program designed to help Utah public school students in grades 3-12 improve writing through practice, immediate feedback, and guided instructional support.

Educators can assign the pre-packaged prompts that include source material that provides students with the needed textual evidence required in effective writing; or teachers can write and add their own prompts and stimulus material to assign to students.

Prompts and lesson supports are provided in four genres: opinion-argument; informative/explanatory; narrative; and constructive-response/short answer; across multiple content areas. Reports are provided with detailed results that can be used to inform writing instruction across disciplines and to assist students in setting learning goals.

Utah Compose Formative Writing Tool
Measurement Incorporated (MI)

Utah Compose Help Desk

support@utahcompose.com

Utah Test Item Pool Service (UTIPS)

The Utah Test Item Pool Service (UTIPS) is a formative assessment tool provided to all Utah K-12 educators for use in any subject area (e.g. Career and Technical Education (CTE), Social Studies, Health Education, etc.) at any grade level.

Educators can use the UTIPS tool to write their own assessment items to assign to their students in a variety of formats including multiple-choice, multi-select, hot text, matching, and short-answer questions. An equation editor is provided for teachers and students. Automated scoring is available for all item types except writing. Assessments can be shared across classrooms, schools, and across Utah. Reports have been updated and provide detailed results that can be used to inform instruction and to assist students in setting learning goals.

UTIPS was launched in 2011 in a collaborative effort between the Utah State Board of Education and the Utah Education Network (UEN) and includes a Utah educator-created item bank for English Language Arts and Mathematics. The UTIPS item bank was realigned to the 2013 Utah Standards ELA and Mathematics. New items were added to the item bank in 2019 (math) and 2020 (ELA).

UTIPS Help Desk
utipshelp@schools.utah.gov

Students must contact their teacher(s) for UTIPS assistance. No Help Desk assistance is provided to students.

Contact

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Data Gateway for the Utah State Board of Education

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"We're a good district - we have great students and great families - we shouldn't be eighth from the bottom in respect to data," says Sheri Heiter, director of assessment, school improvement and research for the Weber School District in Ogden, Utah.

The Weber School District, which serves about 33,000 students, is situated north of Salt Lake City. Its western border runs along the shores of the Great Salt Lake. About 70 percent of its students are white, 20 percent are Hispanic, and almost 30 percent are designated by the state as economically disadvantaged.

In the fall of 2022, 33 of the 45 schools in the Weber School District were flagged by the state for its "Targeted Support and Improvement" list. According to the Utah State Board of Education , only 21 percent of students in the district demonstrated mastery of grade-level standards in math, and just 19 percent demonstrated mastery in science. Both of those percentages are double digits below statewide averages.

"With all of the great things we've got going for us, that wasn't acceptable," Heiter says. "I knew we needed something - a framework, a tool - to kick us up," she says.

The tool the Weber School District ended up calling upon was CALL - the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning. CALL is a first-of-its-kind survey and feedback tool developed by two faculty at the UW-Madison School of Education based upon decades of research on school improvement.

Since its inception in 2009, CALL has made the rare transition from research project to fee-for-service product, reaching outside the halls of academia with the help of the Wisconsin Center for Education Products & Services (WCEPS).

On the precipice of its 15th birthday, CALL is supporting hundreds of schools across the country, as well as school districts and state departments of education - and it's just getting started.
A "CALL" to action
In the early 2000s, UW-Madison School of Education faculty members Rich Halverson and Carolyn Kelley, both professors in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, were focused on the concept of school improvement. As scholars, they both delved deep into how struggling schools could more effectively work their way toward better classroom environments, test scores, and professional development and support for educators.

They saw a glaring hole in how that work was being done.

"We were both sort of taken aback by, in the early 2000s, how much attention was being paid to evaluating teachers and evaluating leaders and saying, 'You stink - now fix it,' but there were no tools to help them do so," Halverson says.

So, the duo set a goal of creating that tool.

"We wanted to create a tool to support school improvement, a formative tool that answered not just, 'Are you doing a good job?', but showed how you can make it better," Kelley explains.

In 2009, Halverson and Kelley won a four-year, $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) to begin the project. Calling upon decades of research on school improvement, Halverson, Kelley, and their research team identified roughly 100 key leadership tasks necessary for school improvement - things like creating opportunities for educator mentoring and fostering the school's relationship with families and the community.

The team divided the tasks into five categories and worked for more than a year to write understandable questions that would help educators adequately identify whether these leadership practices were in place at their school - and how well they were being carried out. The team also made the unique decision to build the survey to be taken by everyone in the school, not just its leadership team.

"That gives people a much better sense of how things are going in their school," Kelley explains. "When people in the school disagree about an item, it is an opportunity for conversation - maybe people don't have a clear understanding of the practice. We're trying to create spaces for building shared understanding."

Another key element of the design process - and a crucial one to ensuring Halverson and Kelley's goal of building a practical, solutions-driven tool - was creating a survey that didn't simply spit out a score at the end of the evaluation. So, in addition to showing a bar graph distribution of a school community's answers to each question, CALL was also built to provide actionable steps for improving in identified problem areas. For each area of practice, the system offers research-based strategies and suggestions for growth, along with links to resource documents that school leaders can use and share.

"That opens up options for action," Kelley says.

Katina Stapleton, an education research analyst at IES, recalls being struck by CALL's unique approach to supporting educators' learning and growth: CALL was formative - a "test" built to be part of a continued growth process, not just to generate a score.

"What stood out about CALL was that it was a formative measure and pretty unique," Stapleton said in a 10-year oral history of CALL . "That's not something we were seeing a lot of at the time."

CALL's unique identity wouldn't be limited to this approach, either. At the end of its initial grant funding period, the tool made a nearly unprecedented leap: the transition from a research project to a fee-for-service model.
Getting down to business
In 2014, at the end of their initial IES grant but interested in continuing to offer CALL to enthusiastic users, Halverson and Kelley turned their eyes toward a relatively new campus institution: the Wisconsin Center for Education Products & Services (WCEPS).

WCEPS, established by former School of Education dean Julie Underwood, was created to extend the impact of innovations born at the School of Education by bringing them to the commercial market. Profits from products' sales would be used to help endow further research and development at the university.

"It was a good way for us to continue offering CALL to the world," Halverson says.

Matt Messinger, director of WCEPS, brought CALL into the organization as one of the first projects in its portfolio. In the 10-year oral history of CALL , Messinger said he appreciated the CALL team's willingness to collaborate and blaze a new path for the research.

"There were several reasons why WCEPS worked with CALL," Messenger said, pointing to the tool's user focus and practical orientation. He said he also saw promise in CALL's digital identity.

"CALL is an online tool we could adjust," he said. "As schools adopt more ed tech, WCEPS wanted to get into that space as well."

A complex transition from research to market involved copyrights and ensuring a robust firewall between future academic inquiry and business. Mark Blitz, a former doctoral student in Halverson and Kelley's lab, stepped in to shepherd the project into a new era.

A former classroom teacher who earned his doctoral degree from the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis in 2011, Blitz became an unlikely marketing and sales professional as CALL's project director.

"These are not things I thought I would be doing in my career," Blitz says. "But I don't mind being in sales, because I actually believe in this. I've been convinced - and I'm convinced every time I get positive feedback from others. It's really not hard to be genuine about it."

Under Blitz's leadership, CALL has partnered with learning and research organizations across the country to build out specialized versions of the tool. CALL developed the WIDA School Improvement System (WIDA SIS) in partnership with WIDA, a national leader in multilingual teaching tools and assessments based out of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER).

In partnership with WestEd, a national education nonprofit, CALL built the Four Domains CALL System, which measures key instructional leadership practices at the school and district level aligned to the Four Domains for Rapid School Improvement framework developed at WestEd's Center on School Turnaround. The Four Domains CALL System is what is currently in use at the Weber School District in Utah.

CALL has also rolled out customized versions of the survey to support leadership for personalized learning (CALL PL) and, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual learning (Long Distance CALL).

"There's still room for more," Blitz says, floating the potential for CALL products focused on special education or community and parent engagement. "The versioning capacity will always be there."

In fact, Halverson and Kelley are currently at work on a new version: CALL for Equity Centered Leadership (CALL-ECL).

Thanks to an $8.1 million, six-year grant from the Wallace Foundation , the team - which expanded for this project to include Halverson and Kelley's Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis department colleagues Christopher Saldaña and Anjalé Welton and colleagues from Teachers College, Brown University, UCLA, the American Institute for Research, and WestED - will create a tool that gives school districts feedback on the leadership practices that create more equitable schools.

"This project will tackle one of the most important education issues today: Can we prepare leaders to create more equitable schools for students and communities?" Halverson says. "As a nation, we urgently need a new generation of school leaders who can create conditions for teaching and learning in schools that support social justice, achievement, and equity."
'We saw the change in our students'
As new tools develop, existing CALL surveys continue to bolster educators across the country, lighting the way toward better teaching and learning. Often, those results are deeply felt and greatly appreciated.

In West Grove, Pennsylvania's Avon Grove School District, assistant principal Kim Hall says WIDA SIS has helped her empower and unite teachers in her school.

"It was pivotal in my career," Hall says. "I think partnering with WCEPS and WIDA SIS has brought to light what teachers need. We were really able to create an actionable plan for multiple years to continue to grow parent engagement and professional learning."

From Wisconsin to New York, Indiana, Colorado, and California , educators credit the survey with "tremendous gains" and well-deserved celebration .

"We saw the change in our students," Hall says. "Once you see that, what other motivation do you need?"

In Mississippi, Shakinna Patterson says the Mississippi Department of Education has been so impressed by the Four Domains CALL System that it has expanded its use from 32 schools in the 2022-23 school year to 240 schools in the 2023-24 school year.

"I really find value in the system as a tool and a resource," Patterson says. "A lot of times, we can believe we are doing things well, we can believe staff are all having the same experiences - CALL allows us to get data based on their experiences. It's a really great tool to be able to see that."

And back in Utah, Heiter says the Weber School District has received preliminary data for the next set of state school rankings - and it looks like several schools are poised to move out of their "targeted for improvement" designation.

"It's making a difference for Weber," she says. "I think it's just awesome."

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School Improvement Network Meetings Google Folder

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