Tiger Teams

Middle school should be more unified. Current system is siloed, lacks connection, and makes community building difficult. Shift in schedules, practices, and teacher behaviors can help. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ciqP-FAQfzsl83jixGe4qyqJTHDS-6k2THGIaM7B1EA/edit

This team will be responsible for conducting professional development sessions on a variety of topics such as technology, health and wellness, and other sessions. The members of this team are committed to promoting a growth mindset. The goal is to build morale, and empathy, and foster an environment

Avenues has long struggled with making people feel valued at scale. This team will develop and recommend strategies for systematizing recognition and the sharing of accomplishments, large and small, at scale.

Curation and exhibition of student work in targeted locations alignment with Avenues mission and graphic standards.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ecAtGZlwLo-V0FuCLa3JZI7zODsJSVX7ZR2w1sRuyi8/edit?usp=sharing

We will implement outdoor education programs as a part of the student experience at Avenues. Outdoor education can holistically enhance student wellbeing, create opportunities for deep interdisciplinary learning, build tradition and culture in our schools, and market these signature experiences.

Conduct a Design Thinking inspired process to create policies and practices at Avenues that foster empathy and inclusion for Faculty and Staff returning from parental leave.
Design brief can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eBUZbwxUmXa66yyw60id828q1BZjQVf1LhgggdtTFdU/edit?usp=shari

Without AP exam scores our graduates are generally not qualified for direct entry to the UK or other European universities. This team intends to craft the "AP pathway" that will optimize university opportunities for all Avenues students.

Currently, each Avenues campus has its own approach to Creative computing. In order to help establish innovative programming and growth, our aim is to globalize our approach and implementation of Creative Computing.

Our aim is to consider whether the Avenues transcript might more fully represent the noncognitive skills/dispositions that are part of AWE as a means to show the organization's prioritizing of student wellbeing.

ACE Avenues Curated Exhibits
Carving our space for rotating exhibits of significant student work. Work will be curated and exhibits designed to align with Avenues Creative Teams in heavily trafficked areas and in the windows of both buildings.

The goal is to create a Bullying Intervention Protocol, which will provide alignment in our actions regarding a comprehensive response to bullying incidents and also help in the implementation of bullying preventive programs.

Offer a robust Extensions Program that is known for its innovative, mission-aligned, unique options for students.
Doing fewer things very well requires elegant, thoughtful subtraction rather than simply adding more and more options. Not offering more but becoming the best at what we do locally or in

Nearly all of the students in the secondary division, Shenzhen are English language learners. This team aims to develop a division-wide approach to vocabulary acquisition that will increase academic success by reducing variability of methods between teachers.

Our team aims to revise the current Avenues Shenzhen language policy based on research related to translanguaging, inclusiveness, and best practice with regards to multilingual learners. Additionally, we strive to offer professional development to the secondary division related to these topics.

Convert a large unused space on the roof of our campus into an eco-friendly environment for students and contribute to a sustainable city. A green rooftop can be a catalyst for many potential student projects, provide opportunities for outdoor learning and be used to launch J-term co-labs in June.

To create a Creative Reusing Center, inspired by the Italian practice of Remida. This is space would inspire a culture of resourcefulness, creativity and sustainable practices when dealing with materials used for any variety of projects across divisions.

This team will identify and recommend solutions for problems on when, where, and how gender inequities arise within the flow of the Avenues NY Mathematics experience so that our students pursuant to STEM-minded post-secondary tracks represent a broader variety of genders beyond male-identifying.

Nurture a vision for our future as a Nature-Rich School where our community understands themselves as part of natural systems seeking a holistic connection with nature contributing to a regenerative present and future.

Initially create and implement a fully articulated ELL pilot program for online learning, including design of a curriculum unit to pilot, timetabling, pedagogical guidance and training, to accelerate English language skill development for learners in grades 6 or 7.

Provide Avenues students with a best in class college counseling/deans program. Our goal is to review the current offering in NY and what is working and what is not. We will decide if anything needs to change, evaluate global/local and ensure we are communicating the offering consistently.

This global TIger Team of multiple members has taken on a multi-year task of mapping the global mathematics curriculum in order to organize, supplement, align and promote the different levels of our integrated works. We hope to make the all outcomes transparent and accessible to all consituents.

To establish an innovative hub where students gather to read, write, collaborate, & create. Home to our Writing Fellows program, Master Classes, & school publications, The Humanities Center cultivates a passion for scholarship & community engagement that leaps the walls of our campuses.

To build an environmentally conscious school which facilitates global environmental sustainability from physical space, educational programs and community culture.

Currently, there are no developmentally appropriate play spaces for gross motor development at our SZ campus, and we have found this is a common problem. Through research and the ideas of the ELC staff, we will provide a document to the design team outlining the needs in our play spaces.

We have seen that there is a lack of connection to AWE for our youngest learners. Our team is creating a teacher resource to help students track and demonstrate their understanding and skill development of AWE Jr.

Faculty and staff have raised concerns about diversity and racial awareness and its impact on our campus culture and curriculum. We will explore race within our community in order to strengthen culture at the Avenues São Paulo campus.

Develop and implement a global recruitment strategy for upper division math teachers.

In order to create consistency across learning spaces around personal smartphone usage, and to give teachers a regulatory framework for managing these personal devices in the classroom, the Upper Division would like a formal policy on student smartphone usage during the academic day.

Our Tiger Team is designed to address the number of dress code violations on campus. We are creating a strict enforcement policy with clear consequences when a violation has occurred. Teachers will also be educated on the guidelines and enforcement policies.

Within the Lower Division, teachers use a variety of strategies, structures and lessons to support social-emotional learning of their students. While these are effective in different classrooms and at different grade levels, there is not a clear continuum of SEL practices for the LD.

Create a guiding philosophy for student behavioral expectations and a strategy to address misconduct, along with corresponding protocols, reporting measures, interventions and consequences.

We plan to gather information about English word study practices in grades 3-5. Based on our research, we will outline a scope and sequence curriculum, learning targets, assessment tools and resources so that the curriculum can be written and later implemented by grades 3-5 English teachers.

Develop an integrated view of high-quality assessment, report card and qualitative data that is relevant to teachers/admin/parents/students. The goals of these views are to understand student performance, existing efforts to stretch student success, and make plans to improve outcomes.

In collaboration with the Museu do Amanhã in Rio develop project seeds of tomorrow based on a unifying concept of Future Literacy. Increase faculty understanding of a new concept of Future Literacy aiding transference and implementation of underserved AWE based concepts.

We are creating an executable, 3 year rollout plan for a creative computation program in grades 6-10, with the goal of intermediate level on the AWE scale for all students, and a robust elective plan for advanced and expert level course or project work in 11-12.

We will devise best practices for email etiquette among colleagues to limit the number of messages that are being distributed on a daily basis. We will also develop methods for staff members to manage their inboxes to reduce stress and lead to better work-life balance.

As Avenues opens up new campuses we are cognizant of creating a positive and connected culture within individual schools as well as across campuses. Thus, developing a comprehensive strategy regarding language use can help transform a potential cultural vulnerability into a source of advantage.

Explore learning collaborations between Sao Paulo and New York where students are working with and learning from each other remotely.

Pilot the use of online projects and differentiated interviews in UD admissions so as to identify predictors of success at Avenues, internationalize admissions, and increase yield.

A cross-disciplinary team of experts will be dispatched to Avenues São Paulo during opening week to conduct user research from an experience-design (XD) perspective, and to then memorialize their observations and lessons learned for the benefit São Paulo and future Avenues campuses.

A common framework is needed for a way in which to provide students opportunities to explore and understand Avenues values with regard to character and ethics in Lower/Primary Divisions. We seek to implement effective social/emotional learning in a way that aligns with Avenues’ values.

Develop Learning Outcomes Scales for Avenues Community Engagement & Inclusion

Develop and market online STEAM projects for ESL students in China wanting advanced English instruction in preparation for study at a US university. Enroll student(s) to pilot the program during the 2018-19 school year.

Our goal is to create and support the implementation of a framework to provide faculty with the clarity associated with their role accountabilities that goes beyond core teaching expectations.

Our aim is to develop an Avenues-wide goal-setting philosophy, accompanied by guidance and tools for all colleagues, that engages individuals, incites learning, rapidly develops skills and improves results.

We are creating an AWE scale for Creative Computation to create a pathway for consistent and comprehensive instruction for all students. We believe that computational thinking and computer programming are essential skills necessary for all our students to fullfil the Avenues’ mission.

Kindergarten is a year of transition from the ELC into the Lower Division. To ensure a smooth transition for the children and their families, we want to look more deeply at our expectations for each grade and the supports in place for students and teachers.

Middle Grade Program Design: Create a well defined instructional pathway for mathematics at Avenues.

Professional Learning: Articulate a comprehensive strategy and underlying philosophy for professional learning at Avenues.

Common educational requirements in grades 1-9 and the large footprint of a full Avenues campus are challenges to opening new campuses. The Mastery Academy in Shenzhen aims to pilot a unique curricular model while building government relationships to pave the way for Avenues' first China campus.

We aim at creating a new set of Chinese speaking assessment for Upper Division that is aligned to Avenues Language Scale. The set of speaking assessments aims to be feasible and efficient to administer, accurate to reflect students' proficiency skills and age appropriate to the UD students.

We're adjusting our current math assessments in the Lower Division to be longitudinal by design, and to cover the right content. Our goal is to show student growth over multiple years, and be able to monitor whether students are on track for in the Middle Grades math program and beyond.

We need a way to involve faculty in conducting research, provide more organizational support for faculty and R&D research, and provide a way to create and sustain a culture of innovation and research at Avenues NYC and Sao Paulo.

This team will review our current expectations for handwriting instruction focusing on Pre-K through 3rd. After confirming best practices, we will create a scope and sequence for handwriting expectations, with clear guidelines for teachers as well as develop resources for parents.

The Lower Division is looking for a way to consolidate the disparate elements of our PD program into a more cohesive and effective model that will promote both teacher and student engagement and enable us to "continually invest in ways to become better at what we do."

The parent survey gives us a opportunity to rescue families who are not happy before they withdraw, and to partner with our many enthusiastic supporters. The goal is to propose processes, tools, and support for school leaders to use data to proactively and effectively reach out to parents.

To pilot the Global Academic Dean role in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school year across two or more Avenues campuses.

"Right Angle's" mission is to find and pilot the intervention program that is the "reading recovery" of math. Based on our data, students who struggle in 1st in math, continue to struggle come 4th. They will research programs and recommend one.

Evaluate internal intranet-like sharing and collaboration tools to simplify communications, build community and collaborate across Avenues faculty and families.

• Create an education plan that genuinely captures Avenues approach, persuades officials of our innovation, and demonstrates a deep knowledge of Shanghai Education
• Complete all documents in the education plan application checklist （培养目标、教学计划、教学大纲、课程体系、中国文化课程、教材引进渠

One of the root causes believed to underlie many scheduling problems is lack of clear and validated A-Z process. Accordingly, this team is drawing on lessons learned from past years to design a step-by-step A-Z scheduling algorithm to mitigate these problems going forward.

Define fluency of an Avenues graduate and create language plan for N-12

Conference Redesign. This Tiger Team will research successful parent conference models (including student-led conferences) and propose a pilot for grades 3-5 at Avenues, with hopes of expanding the scope of the redesign in future years. WHY: To bring students into the learning process and allow for

3rd-5th will participate in SPARK (passion research project) for 1 month.
WHY: Parents are split 50/50 with HW, too much/ too little. It is difficult to please all parties.
HW in K-5 has no effect on achievement
Mission appropriate
SUCCESS post survey of students, teachers and parents show value

Click 'Create Team' above to create a new Tiger Team.

Create a better process for tracking attendance

Develop a scope and sequence for Integrating computer science into the LS curriculum for the 2016-2017 school year.

Looking at recent data we are not seeing the improvement we would like in English spelling through our word study program. This fall we launched 3 word study programs in first grade classrooms and will compare student growth

I'd like to form a tiger team to explore possible performances venues within walking distance of Avenues. Ideally, the space would be a theater that can seat 200-300 people for concerts, plays, productions, etc.

Middle School Global Issues Curriculum

There is a need to establish a structure of consequences and corrective action for issues that arise, whether behavioral, social, or academic. To date, faculty and staff have been frustrated by the perceived, or real, lack of course of action when students fail to adhere to established standards and

Create an exemplar text for the World Course at the Beijing campus. This WC text will follow the global sequencing, but be locally adapted for use in Beijing. It assumes common global assessments and frequent student-to-student collaboration across borders.

Program to support the transition from traditional math pedagogies to Exeter-style for MS students and new US students.

Project-Based Course Design

Develop the scope and sequence of intended Upper School WC curriculum. We will be examining how WC can be more multidisciplinary and how we can implement WC across global campuses and within the new schedule. This includes looking at the degree our program overlaps with other disciplines.

ERP/SIS Platform- Conduct a needs assessment which will allow us to determine how we should evolve our core systems to fully support our global network

What's Next Research 2.0

LS report card redesign.

Increase stair use through interaction design—continued from 2014-15

Tiger Mini-semester: Evaluate second language output and LS student engagement in week on/week off immersion model (3-year study)

Design “Schedule 2.0” for 2016-17

Upgrade first floor experience for visitors—admissions interviews

Fix MS schedule for 2014-15 and design “New Schedule of Thought” for 2015-16

Artist-in-Residence program

Improve the NYC building visiting/using experience

Develop high-fidelity bottom-up staffing model for new campuses

Upgrade the elevator experience—performance, reliability, usability, emotional reaction

Develop strategies to improve building acoustics

Increase stair use through interaction design

Math Tutorials: Close skill gaps in math skills for students with deficits; Increase challenge/difficulty for advanced students

Project Octopus: Improve decision making through better data collection and system integration

Evaluate new associates' performance and align them to well-defined classroom responsibilities

Leverage existing benchmarks model created in Spanish to create K-4 benchmarks

Improve dual-language literacy in upper elementary grades

Improve second-language integration in new schedule design

Redesign 5th term within the New Schedule of Thought

Develop WORLD Vision for New Schedule of Thought

Develop STEAM Vision for New Schedule of Thought

Design an advisory experience that is aligned with college admissions goals

Develop recommendations to integrate interdisciplinary projects in new schedule

Design ELC alternate day program

Plan/Prototype schedule for 2014-15

ELC Fellowship Program: Increase teacher consistency and stability in ELC for youngest children

AIM Program: Increase chaperones to maintain order and performance in LS

Academic Coach: Increase individual attention/supervision for underperforming students

Improve CS meeting efficiency

Improve faculty evaluation system to better fit with Avenues culture/curriculum

Create Avenues organization design 1.0

Roundtable Discussions: Improve communication between HQ and school leadership