• Executive Director. Martin G. Brooks has succeeded John Bryan Starr to become the Consortium's second Executive Director. Read more.
  
  
• Revisions to the Consortium Model. The Steering Committee has approved major revisions to the Tri-State model. Read more.
  
  
• New Member Districts. At its May meeting the Steering Committee approved the applications of Croton-Harmon and North Salem to become Consortium members.
  
  
• Visit Team Training 2008-09.The Consortium will conduct regional visit team training sessions in Westchester, Rockland, Long Island, Connecticut and New Jersey in October, November, January and February. Read more.
  
  
• District Visits, 2008-09. The Consortium is scheduled to conduct seven district visits this year. Read more.
  
  
• The "Consultancy" is a variation on the standard district visit that is particularly effective where the district has undertaken a new initiative and is in need of outside advice on how it is implementing the initiative. (Read more.)
  
  
• Study Groups. As a vehicle for exchanging best practice, the Consortium has convened two study groups--one including deputy and assistant superintendents, the other middle school principals. Read more
  
  
• Consortium Membership.Information on membership in the Consortium is available here.
  
  
• Strategic Plan, 2005-2010. An updated version of the Consortium's Strategic Plan, showing progress made toward its goals and objectives, is available for downloading in a Word or PDF format.
  
  
• On-line Databases. Our searchable District Data Base includes data on teachers, administrators, students and budget for each of our member districts. In addition, it contains information on reading, writing and math programs currently in use, together with contact information for those responsible for administering the programs in the district. Our Participants Directory contains contact information for our 2000 trained practitioners. Do we have your correct address in the directory? If not, send us your corrections.
  
  
• Superintendents' Contact List. A mailing list of member superintendents is available in PDF or Word format for downloading.
  
  
• Fee structure. A sheet listing the Consortium's current fees is available here.


Return to Tri-State Consortium Home Page
[Updated: 6 July 2008]






























• Revisions to the Consortium model.
  
  A team of experienced practitioners has been meeting regularly over the last two years to review the language of the indicators that constitute the Consortium's evaluation model. In May they completed work on consolidating the original fifteen indicators into eight. The Steering Committee approved the committee's revisions and the new model will be used for visits beginning in September. The revised definitions are posted in the opening pages of this Web site. Revised self-study questions are included in Section 3 and revised scoring rubrics in Section 5 of the current edition of the Resource Handbook. They are available for downloading on the Publications and Forms page of this Web site.
  
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• Visit Team Training 2008-09.
  
  The Consortium will conduct regional visit team training sessions in New, Jersey, Westchester and Connecticut in July, August and October.
  
  
• North Salem, NY. October 6-7, 2008
  
  
• Hauppauge, NY. October 14-15, 2008
  
  
• University of Connecticut Stamford Campus, Stamford, CT. October 16-17, 2008
  
  
• Herricks, NY. October 27-28, 2008
  
  
• Pearl River, NY. November 18-19
  
  
• Princeton, NJ. January 15-16
  
  
• Princeton, NJ. February 12-13
  
  
Participants from any member district are welcome to attend any of the six sessions. The training fee for the North Salem, Hauppauge,Pearl River and Princeton sessions is $300 per participant, and for the Connecticut session it is $400 per participant, including meals and materials. On-line registration forms are available as follows:


• North Salem
• Hauppauge
• Connecticut
• Pearl River
• Princeton1
• Princeton2
  
  
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District Visits, 2008-09.

• The Consortium is scheduled to conduct eight district visits this year. For a list of the visits click here. To sign up to participate as a member of one of the visit teams, click here.
  
  
• An on-line refresher course that covers the current visit process is available here.
  
  
• We will also be conducting eight follow-up visits in 2008-09. Read more.
  
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The Consultancy.

Piloted in Easton-Redding in 2006, the consultancy is a vehicle for providing a district with feedback in the early stages of adopting and implementing a new program or process. In Easton-Redding, the district was working on a third iteration of its student data management system and sought outside advice. In preparation for the consultancy process the Consortium assembles a team of experienced practitioners from member districts and the district provides the team with a written report on its work. The day-long process is conducted using the Annenberg Institute's consultancy protocol to guide a two-way conversation between team members and district representatives. The goal is to provide the district with the team's best advice about the district initiative. The "report" of the consultancy is a transcript of the day's conversation. Consultancies are intended to supplement the district's triennial visit cycle, not to take the place of a standard district visit.

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Executive Director.

After nine years' service as the Consortium's first Executive Director, John Bryan Starr retired on June 30. He was succeeded by Martin G. Brooks. Dr. Brooks served for seven years as Superintendent in member district Plainview-Old Bethpage, during which the district received two Tri-States evaluation visits. Most recently he served for a year as Interim Superintendent in Kings Park on Long Island. Dr. Brooks is thoroughly familiar with the work of the Consortium, having served as a member and, subsequently, co-chair of the Consortium's Steering Committee. Trained as a visit team member, Dr. Brooks has served both as a team member and as co-chair of three Tri-States visits. With his wife, Jacqueline, he is the author of In Search of Understanding: The Case for Constructivist Classrooms (Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 1999). Accompanied by Director of Training Kathleen Reilly, Dr. Brooks plans to meet with each member superintendent during the next several months to explore with them how the Consortium can better serve their needs.

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• Consortium Membership.
  
  
  • Application process. In January 2007 the Steering Committee adopted a new set of criteria for Consortium membership as follows:
    
    
    • Operational criteria:
      • The district is committed to continuous improvement.
      • The district has a strategic plan (or improvement plan, theory of action, or theory of change).
      • The district is willing to receive external feedback on its work.
      • The district is able to articulate how Consortium membership will advance its plan and contribute to continuous improvement.
      • There is a level of commitment to Consortium participation that includes the board, the superintendent and the assistant superintendent.
      
      
    • Performance criteria:
      • The district serves high performing students well and adds significant value to lower performing students.
      • The district can articulate a systemic approach to the use of student performance data.
      • The district collects and analyzes longitudinal data on student performance and provides teachers the opportunity to use data in improving their instruction.
      
      
    The revised application process involves the following steps:
    
    
    • Potential applicant districts will be screened by staff to insure that they meet the first performance criterion listed above. Those that do will be encouraged to complete an application.
      
      
    • Applicant districts will complete a self study designed to provide information on the degree to which the district meets the remaining operational and performance criteria listed above.
      
      
    • The Steering Committee will appoint each year a standing Membership Committee made up of two Steering Committee members, an active participant in the Curriculum Leaders Study Group (made up of deputy and assistant superintendents) and a teacher member of the Indicator Review Working Group (made up of experienced practitioners).
      
      
    • The Membership Committee, accompanied by staff, will meet with those in the applicant district responsible for conducting the self study. The purpose of the meeting will be to amplify information contained in the self study.
      
      
    • The Membership Committee will prepare a report to the Steering Committee evaluating the degree to which the district meets the performance and operational criteria and making a recommendation for the Steering Committee’s action on the application.
      
      
    • The Steering Committee will review the self study and the Membership Committee’s report on the district and base its decision on this information.
      
      
    
    
  • Term Membership. In June 2006, member superintendents approved an amendment to the Consortium by-laws introducing term membership. The bylaw reads as follows:
    
    
    Section 2.4: Membership term. Membership in the Consortium shall be for a five-year renewable term. Membership renewal will be contingent on the member district’s having fulfilled its obligations as stipulated in Section 2.3 above. Current members’ terms will be up for renewal at the end of the school year in which the two-year follow-up visit following their triennial district visit is conducted.
    
    
    The membership obligations referred to in Section 2.3 include the following:
    
    
    1. The superintendent’s attendance at at least one Members Meeting per year.
    2. Member districts receive a visit team once every three years as a minimum.
    3. A substantial number of district faculty and staff participate in training and serve as members of visit teams.
    4. The superintendent familiarizes him- or herself with the visit process by participating in a training, serving as a visiting team member, or observing a portion of a district visit.
    
    
    In applying for renewal of its membership in the Consortium, the district is asked to prepare a brief description of its plans for participating in the Consortium over the next five years, including the subject of its next evaluation visit, its expectations for sending teachers and administrators through visit team training and enrolling them as members of visit teams. The district is also asked to indicate how the Consortium can be helpful in deriving the maximum benefit from its membership in the organization.
    
    To date, the Steering Committee has reviewed and approved 15 applications for membership renewal.
    
    
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• Follow-up Visits.
  
  The practice of the follow-up visit was approved by the Steering Committee in January 2005, piloted in the spring of 2006, and made a requirement beginning in 2006-07. Two years after receiving an evaluation visit, the district is asked to prepare a 3-5 page report on actions taken in response to the recommendations contained in the visit report. A group of six to eight members of the original visit team then spends a half-day in the district in conversation with district representatives about their report. The visitors offer their reactions to the district's response to the team's recommendations and their recommendations regarding next steps the district might consider. The district is provided a transcript of the morning's conversation. Reaction to the new practice on the part of the eight districts receiving follow-up visits in 2006-07 was uniformly positive. In several instances, recommendations by the visitors were immediately implemented by the districts visited.
  
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  • Study Groups.
    
    The Consortium is currently facilitating the work of two study groups, the purpose of which is to share best practices among educators in member districts:
    
    
    • Curriculum Leaders Study Group (CLSG). Initially convened four years ago, the CLSG is made up of deputy and assistant superintendents from member districts whose responsibilities include curriculum and instruction. The group meets quarterly. The meeting format is typically a consultancy to which a member brings a particular problem of practice, seeking the advice of her colleagues. During school year 2007-08 the focus of the work was on "twenty-first century skills"--what they are and how curriculum, instruction and administration need to change in order to ensure that students graduate possessing them.
      
      
    • Middle School Principals Study Group (MSPSG). In the spring of 2008 a pilot study group was convened made up of principals from districts in which the curriculum leader is an active participant in the CLSG. The initial meetings of the group were devoted to a discussion of how to incorporate twenty-first century skills into the middle school curriculum.
      
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