1

LEADERSHIP PROJECT
2017-2018 ACADEMIC YEAR

Candidate’s Name: Jill Evans

District: Fremont Unified School District

Site: Mission San Jose High School

University Coach: Marylouise Bailey

Site/District Mentor: Zack Larsen

PROJECT Over the course of the next 6 months I will work with several other FUSD high school Spanish teachers to
DESCRIPTION: develop a Spanish Placement Test for the 8th grade Dual Immersion Students at Hopkins Junior High School in
order to determine appropriate placement at their respective high schools for the 2018-2019 school year.

PROJECT GOAL: As part of the World Language Curriculum Committee during the 2017-2018 school year, I will participate on a
sub-committee with a group of Spanish teachers from other high schools in FUSD to develop and implement a
Spanish Placement Test for the Dual Immersion students at Hopkins Junior High School.

ESSENTIAL CAPE 2– Instructional Leadership

QUESTION: What difference are we making and for which students? From whose perspective? What skills and support do I
need to take risks and lead for equity?

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CAPE 1: Development and Implementation of a Shared Vision (A-C)

CAPE 2: Instructional Leadership (A-D)
CAPE 3: Management and Learning Environment (A-C)
CAPE 4: Family and Community Engagement (A-B)
CAPE 5: Ethics and Integrity (A-C)
CAPE 6: External Context and Policy (A-B)

CAPE and DATE ACTIVITIES What I Learned/

CAPE Sub-section Outcomes and/or Reflections
CAPE 1C Implementing the 9/25/17 District World Language Meeting - I learned that this assessment is basically being
Vision discussion of Spanish Immersion test (see driven by the high school teachers. It doesn't
minutes) appear that much thought has gone into the long
term planning of language placement for students
exiting the immersion program at Hopkins. If I
were a parent of one of the students I would want
to know how my child will be assessed and what
level will my child be able to sign up for in the
Spring. Parents might assume that their child will
automatically be allowed to enroll In a certain
level they completed the immersion program
from Kindergarten to 8th grade. There needs to be
content in the course catalog that dictates how
the child will be placed once they exit the
immersion program, especially since many of the
high schools start AP Spanish at level 4. At IHS and
MSJHS we don't start AP until level 5, though. Our
thinking is that most will go into level 3. Some
parents may wrongly assume that their 9th grader

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can enroll in AP Spanish.

CAPE 1C Implementing the 10/23/17 District World Language Meeting - We decided at this meeting that our release days
Vision continued discussion of Spanish Immersion will be December 7 and February 8th. On the first
test (see minutes) release day we will make a draft of the exam.
Then, we will take this to our PLC's for review. At
the District Wide Curriculum Council on Feb 5th
we will present our assessment to everyone. The
final release day will be to make any necessary
modifications.

*Release dates were changed after this meeting to

Dec14 and Feb 22.
CAPE 1C Implementing the 11/15/17 Meeting with mentor (Zack Larsen) and During this meeting we discussed my leadership
Vision University Coach project and went over areas of concern. One issue
is the timing of the assessment that is to be given
to the 8th graders. Will the teacher have time to
grade it and place them appropriately in the
correct Spanish class?

As a follow-up I contacted Amanda Melsby, who is

the Assistant Principal in charge of the World
Language Department meetings in our district. I
asked her if she thought the timing of the exam
would be a problem for the purpose of
registration and she said it would most likely not
be possible to change the release days.
CAPE 1C Implementing the 11/29/17 Email with Amanda Melbsy Received approval from Federal and State at FUSD
Vision for release days on 12/14 and 2/22 for 4 high
school teachers and the immersion teacher at the
junior high school.

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CAPE 1C Implementing the
Vision
CAPE 1C Implementing the
Vision
CAPE 2B Promoting Effective
Curriculum, Instruction, and
Assessment
CAPE 2B Promoting Effective
Curriculum, Instruction, and
Assessment
CAPE 2B Promoting Effective
Curriculum, Instruction, and
Assessment
CAPE 2B Promoting Effective
Curriculum, Instruction, and
Assessment
CAPE 2B Promoting Effective
Curriculum, Instruction, and
Assessment
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LEADERSHIP PROJECT
2017-2018 ACADEMIC YEAR
12/4/17 Email with Amanda Melbsy Sent clarifying email to Amanda (see Exhibit #1
below).
12/11/17 Email regarding 1st Release Day Sent confirmation email to group regarding plans
for release day (see Exhibit #2 below).
12/14/17 Release Day #1 Met with colleagues Luis Pérez, Julia Danner-Vera
and Alberto Ballado. Produced minutes (Exhibit
#3) and a rough draft of the immersion test
(Exhibit #4) and sent them both to district level
stake-holders. Unfortunately the immersion
teacher at the jr. high school could not attend
because she had a training that day.
1/19/18 Email to Rosie (Immersion teacher at Sent Rosie an email asking her for input into the
Hopkins Jr. High) culture questions since I did not hear back from
her after sharing the draft of the immersion test
with her. She promptly replied to my email and
provided some questions that she thought would
be beneficial to include on the placement test (see
Exhibit #5 below).
2/19/18 Email regarding 2nd Release Day Sent confirmation email to group regarding
agenda and details for release day. Also requested
input to agenda (see Exhibit #6 below).
2/22/18 Email to Meg Moore (counselor at Hopkins Sent clarifying email to Meg Moore to see what
Jr. High) feeder schools 8th graders will be attending (see
Exhibit #7 below).
2/22/18 Release Day #2 Met with colleagues Luis Pérez, Julia Danner-Vera
and Rosie Ventura-Moore. Produced minutes
(Exhibit #8) and a final draft of the immersion test
(Exhibit #9) and sent them both to district level
stake-holders. Unfortunately Alberto Ballado could
not attend because he had a mix-up in his
schedule.
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CAPE 2B Promoting Effective
Curriculum, Instruction, and
Assessment
LEADERSHIP PROJECT
2017-2018 ACADEMIC YEAR
Next steps include presenting the immersion test
to the rest of the World Language teachers,
implementing the test, assessing the students and
placing them in the correct level for high school
Spanish.
2/22/18 Email to Christie Rocha (Director of Federal Sent email to Christie Rocha and Greg Bailey
& State Programs at FUSD) and Greg Bailey regarding immersion test (see Exhibit #10 below).
(Director of Secondary Education)

CAPE 1C Implementing the 3/2/18 Email correspondence to Rosie Ventura- Results of the assessment - 19/26 passed with
Vision Moore regarding assessment results more than 70% and the highest grade was 93%. 4
students did not pass and will therefore be placed
in Spanish 2.
CAPE 1C Implementing the 4/18/18 Email correspondence to principals Since the immersion placement exam was created
Vision the district decided that they would allow 9th
graders to take Spanish 4, which has created an
issue (see Exhibit #11 below). Administrators have
instructed us that they will resolve the issue.

Exhibit #1 From: Amanda Melsby

Sent: Monday, December 4, 2017 12:18 PM
To: Jill Evans
Subject: Re: Course catalog for WL

Hi Jill,

I turned in to Greg the revisions to the course catalog last month, however there was not anything about Spanish 4. I think it would be best to have it listed as
10-12 like the AP classes.

In terms of the immersion students, yes, they should be signed up for Spanish 3 and then changed into Spanish 2. There could be an added line in the course
catalog saying something like, "Prerequisite for students from the immersion program: Successful passing of benchmark test." It could also go onto the course
registration sheet but the catalog is probably best.

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Let me know if you need anything.

Thanks,
Amanda

Amanda Melsby, Principal

Irvington High School
510-656-5711 ext. 46486

From: Jill Evans

Sent: Monday, December 4, 2017 11:54 AM
To: Amanda Melsby
Cc: J. Carlisle Kim
Subject: Course catalog for WL

Hi Amanda,

We've been asked to double check the course catalog for next year and a thought occurred to me. Since the Spanish Immersion teacher may not have the
placement tests graded before Hopkins students complete their HS registration, would we have all of the immersion students sign into level 3 and then, based
on their test results/teacher recs, move them to Spanish 2 if they don't perform well enough on the placement test in February? Do we need to include anything
in the course catalog regarding placement of the immersion students?

Also, we discussed that we don't really want freshmen in the Spanish 4 class (Irvington and Mission) because we use a college text and the material may be too
mature for them. Is this something that needs to be addressed in the course catalog?

Thanks,
Jill Evans
Spanish Teacher/ World Language Department Chair
Mission San Jose High School
41717 Palm Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 657-3600 ext. 37076

Exhibit #2 Hi everyone,

I just wanted to touch bases regarding our immersion placement exam release day this Thursday. I've reserved the Flex room at MSJ for the day for us to use
since we discussed this location at our last meeting. You can park in the back parking lot or horseshoe and then go check in at the front office (located by the
horseshoe, next to the flagpole).

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Let's plan to meet in the flex at 8:30am and we can wrap up by 2:30 (this way we will avoid the traffic mess before and after school). Please bring your laptops
and any assessment pieces that you think would be useful.

Rosie, since you will not be attending can you please email us or send with Luis any feedback/criteria that you think would be valuable to use for planning? It
would be great if Luis could bring up the textbook(s) that the 8th graders are using in the immersion class so that we can see the vocabulary that's being used.

Thanks,
Jill Evans
Spanish Teacher/ World Language Department Chair
Mission San Jose High School
41717 Palm Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 657-3600 ext. 37076

Exhibit #3 Minutes from Release Day #1

Exhibit #4 DRAFT - Immersion Test

Exhibit #5 Thanks, Rosie, these questions would be great to add. The listening section is from our Avancemos software. Luis should be able to share the selections with
you since he has access to the software. Or, we can just play it for you at our meeting on 2/22 (yes, we'd love you to come!). We can also plan to incorporate
your cultura questions into the exam that day.

Thanks,
Jill Evans
Spanish Teacher/ World Language Department Chair
Mission San Jose High School
41717 Palm Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 657-3600 ext. 37076
REPLYREPLY ALLFORWARD

Mark as unread
Rosie Ventura-Moore
Fri 1/19/2018 11:50 AM
Inbox
To:
Jill Evans;
You replied on 1/19/2018 12:10 PM.

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LEADERSHIP PROJECT
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Get more apps

Action Items
Hi Jill,
I read the test, and saw a listening section without the section that needs to be read.

As far as cultural questions, see the ones below in case you want to add them! I pulled the questions from the World History Book.

¿Cuáles fueron los factores clave del ascenso del Imperio azteca?
¿Cuál de las siguientes opciones no fue una razón por la que los exploradores y soldados españoles llegaron a América?
¿Qué fue lo que los españoles trajeron sin saberlo y que les permitió conquistar a los aztecas?
¿Qué función cumplían los sacrificios humanos en la sociedad azteca?
¿Cuál era la diferencia principal entre la religión de los aztecas y la religión católica?

I can send the answers if you are interested!

Do you still want me to come to your next meeting on Feb.22?
Rosie Ventura-Moore
Spanish Immersion Teacher
Hopkins Junior High
510-656-3500
Exhibit #6 Jill Evans
Mon 2/19/2018 8:06 AM
To: Rosie Ventura-Moore; Alberto Ballado; Luis Perez; Christina Vega; Julianna Danner-Vera;
Cc: Zack Larsen; Megan Barrington; J. Carlisle Kim;

Hi everyone,

Just a reminder that our second and final release day is this Thursday, 2/22 at MSJHS in the FLEX Room.
You can park in the back parking lot or horseshoe and then go check in at the front office (located by the horseshoe, next to the flagpole).

Let's meet in the flex at 8:30am and we can wrap up by 2:30 (this way we will avoid the traffic mess before and after school). Please bring your laptops and
any assessment pieces that you think would be useful.

Here are the main things we need to do:

1) Go over the culture questions and get input from Rosie regarding which ones we should keep and any new ones to add

2) Get feedback from Julianna's "pilot" of the sample test

3) Finish editing and formatting the test so it is is ready to go

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LEADERSHIP PROJECT
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4) Discuss logistics for the testing, including date, grading, results and high school placement in Spanish

5) Feedback from PLC's?

Is there anything else we need to include?

Here's a link to the test and notes we created last time in case you want to review any of it.

Release Day 1 Notes

Draft - Immersion Test

Thanks!
Jill Evans
Spanish Teacher/ World Language Department Chair
Mission San Jose High School
41717 Palm Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 657-3600 ext. 37076

Exhibit #7 Jill Evans

Thu 2/22/2018 9:49 AM
To:
Margaret Moore;
Hi Meg,

I am collaborating on the Spanish Immersian test with Luis Perez, Rosie Ventura-Moore and another teacher from Washington. Is is possible to get a list of
which high schools the 8th grade students in Rosie's immersion class are slated to attend? We're curious to know how many are going to Washington, Kennedy
and Irvington.

Thanks,
Jill Evans
Spanish Teacher/ World Language Department Chair
Mission San Jose High School
41717 Palm Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 657-3600 ext. 37076

Exhibit #8 Minutes from Release Day #2

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LEADERSHIP PROJECT
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Exhibit #9 Final Draft of Immersion Placement Test for 8th graders

Exhibit #10 Re: 2nd Release Day - Immersion Test

DELETEREPLYREPLY ALLFORWARD
Mark as unread

Jill Evans
Thu 2/22/2018 12:02 PM
To:Christie M. Rocha;
Cc: Greg Bailey;

Hi,

Just to clarify, Juliana didn't use the test with her Spanish students, just with students who had gone through the immersion program in FUSD. We wanted to
get an idea of what they have learned in K-6 in order to know if we had logical and fair questions on the placement test. We're glad that she ran through it with
"real" immersion students as it gave us an idea of what topics they have covered and how they would score based on placement criteria. Based on her feedback
we re-structured some of the questions on the test.

Rosie will give her current 8th grade immersion students the placement test on March 1. Students will be placed into Spanish 2 or 3, based on the results of the
test. She will relay the placement information to Hopkin's school counselor, Meg Moore, who will give the information to the high school counselors.
The only concern is with IHS students, who may want to go into the level 4 class (only MSJ and IHS have a level 4 class before the AP level).

I sent you minutes from our last meeting and today's (still in progress).

Thanks,
Jill Evans
Spanish Teacher/ World Language Department Chair
Mission San Jose High School
41717 Palm Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 657-3600 ext. 37076

From: Christie M. Rocha

Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2018 11:21 AM

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To: Jill Evans
Cc: Greg Bailey
Subject: RE: 2nd Release Day - Immersion Test

Hello Jill,
Thank you for your email! I spoke to Greg and we are wondering why the assessment is being piloted? The purpose of the assessment is for the Spanish
immersion students who attend Hopkins to be evaluated to determine the correct Spanish course they should in 9th grade. We need this to be standardized as
students will be returning to their home schools for high school. I am not sure why Juliana would use this exam with her students.

Sincerely,

Christie Rocha, Ed.D.

Director of Federal & State Programs
Fremont Unified School District
4210 Technology Drive
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 659-2531

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE TO RECIPIENT(S): This e-mail communication and any attachment(s) may contain information that is confidential and/or
privileged by law and is meant solely for the intended recipient(s). Unauthorized use, review, duplication, disclosure or interception of this e-mail is strictly
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From: Jill Evans

Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2018 9:59 AM
To: Christie M. Rocha
Subject: Fw: 2nd Release Day - Immersion Test

Hi Christie,

Just wanted to fill you in our second release day for the immersian test planning.

Teachers attending: myself, Luis Perez, Juliana Danner-Vera, and Rosie Ventura-Moore.

Is it possible for Juliana and Rosie to submit a time card to you for extra hours they have/will spend on piloting the test and assessing the students' placement?

Thanks,
Jill Evans
Spanish Teacher/ World Language Department Chair
Mission San Jose High School
41717 Palm Avenue

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LEADERSHIP PROJECT
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Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 657-3600 ext. 37076

Exhibit #11 To:

Amanda Melsby; Corey Brown; J. Carlisle Kim;
Cc: Rosie Ventura-Moore; Alberto Ballado; Luis Perez;

Hi everyone,

This past winter when we created the Immersion Test for the Spanish students in Ms. Ventura-Moore's class at Hopkins, we were under the impression that
incoming 9th graders would not be able to enroll in Spanish 4 at MSJ and IHS (2018-2019). Because that is not the case now, there may be some 9th graders
who request to go into Spanish 4 at our schools.

I've received a string of emails already from one of the student's parents so I thought we might want to decide what to do now since we have already developed
a formal assessment for the students that is only based on Spanish 3 material.

Thanks,
Jill Evans
Spanish Teacher/ World Language Department Chair
Mission San Jose High School
41717 Palm Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538
(510) 657-3600 ext. 37076

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