Basic Requirements

Beyond Textbooks is easy for any teacher to use. Any educator with the following requirements can start using Beyond Textbooks:

•    A computer with the ability to open MS Office™, iWork ‘08™ or Office Office™ files.
•    Broadband Internet access.
•    Basic web-browser and productivity software skills
•    A desire to connect with other educators

With simply Internet connectivity and the tools that come with every computer sold today, an educator can have access to collective knowledge of teachers across Southern Arizona.

The key to Beyond Textbooks success is educator involvement. The calendars, curriculum documents, and resources in Beyond Textbooks were made for teachers, by teachers.

To ensure that your implementation of Beyond Textbooks is successful, mandatory trainings are provided during the first and second years of use

Gaining the Vision

Step One – District Administration Overview of the BT Vision
Superintendent, building principals, and district level curriculum staff visit Vail for a two hour overview and opportunity to make a decision on moving forward with BT.

Step Two – Teacher Buy In Meeting of the BT Vision
Vail staff come to your district to meet with your language arts and math teachers, superintendent, building principals, and district level curriculum staff meet to gain the buy in of your teachers.

Staff Development Requirements

Two Day Leadership Retreat
The leadership retreat is meant to give your district’s key stakeholders a chance to become familiar with the theory and practices that make Beyond Textbooks a success.

The key stakeholders will typically include your superintendent, a governing board member, district and site curriculum staff, district or site technology staff, principals, at least two language arts representatives, and two math teacher representatives from each school site.

Day 1 AGENDA – (6 hour training)

• Vail Academic Results Overview
• Overview of Vail Instructional Pyramid
• Overview of Beyond Textbooks wiki – what are essential standards, curriculum calendars, unwrapped documents, and formative assessments?
• Preview of implementation timeline recommendation and synthesis of current materials and practices
• Homework – Look at Vail curriculum calendar and decide how it fits what you already have regarding your district’s current instructional model, materials, and practices

Day 2 AGENDA – (6 hour training)

• Synthesize current materials and practices with BT
• Create a plan for implementation of essential standards, unwrapped documents, curriculum calendars, use of formative assessments, and use of the BT wiki

Six Professional Development Conferences

• PD One – BT Basics Part 1 – (Curriculum Process & Wiki Access) -1/2 Day  (occurs prior to Summer Break)
• PD Two – BT Basics Part 2 (Review of the Curriculum Process) – 1/2 Day  (occurs prior to start of school year)
• PD Three – Formative Assessments & What to do with them – Webinar (occurs in September)
• PD Four – Collaborative Tools Review – Webinar (occurs the beginning of January)
• PD Five – 4th Quarter Check In – Webinar (occurs the end of January)
• PD Six – Year Two Pre-Planning – 1/2 Day (occurs the end of March)

Semester Check Ins

Late October – by phone or webinar
January – face to face

Access to Monthly Vail PD on Balanced Math, Balanced Literacy, EEI

Vail provides monthly professional development offerings in the above areas that are available to you if you would like to send your staff members to Vail for training.

Site Visits with Vail Schools

Your district may send teams of teachers and a principal to any of our sites to conduct school site observations and interviews regarding various aspects of Vail’s instructional process.

Unlimited Phone and E-mail Access to BT Staff

Members of the Beyond Textbooks staff are available for unlimited questions via phone and/or e-mail and will work to get back to you in a timely fashion to address your needs.