Coming of Age: The Virginia SIM Story

James Madison University, KUCRL and the Virginia Department of Education work together for Students in the Middle.

The Virginia Department of Education’s Content Teaching Academy at James Madison University turned 18 in June 2017. This coming of age is significant for the state, the university, the partnership with KUCRL and SIM, and for SIM Professional Developer Diane Gillam. Since 2000, the first year the academy opened, at least one SIM professional development session has been provided each year for educators who represent the eight superintendents’ regions across Virginia. There has only been one year when the academy was SIM-less!

SIM has a history at the academy that reflects the demands of the educational landscape and the responsiveness of the leaders to provide evidence-based practices. Because it makes no difference what the forces are or who the current “rock star” of instruction is, SIM always finds its place in the middle. KUCRL has developed a comprehensive program, with SIM with the primary focus on literacy for adolescents. Diane Gillam explains, “For us, SIM stands for ‘Students In the Middle’, where both general and special education teachers have evidence-based practices to select and design an amazing instructional experience to meet the academic and social-emotional needs of all.”

Over the years and under Diane’s guidance, SIM has taken myriad forms. SIM has been one session embedded into a content area academy; SIM has been embedded in multiple academies with multiple sessions; SIM has been a separate academy that focused on the strategies to support struggling students in reading and writing; SIM has been the evidence-based practice in
the CLC academy; and in the last three years, it has been the SIM Academy.

The SIM Academy represents teachers and administrators who are working in specific schools and divisions that are implementing a multi-tiered framework to address academic, behavioral, and social-emotional needs for all students to prepare them to be future-ready. During the three days, educators are learners, planners, and above all, collaborators.

The culminating event of the SIM Academy is the development and sharing of their schools’ Professional Learning Plan for the upcoming school year with all schools and divisions in the academy. With an eye on sustaining the work and by building capacity through all educators in attendance, they enter the SIM micro-credentialing process. All participants have the opportunity to earn a SIM Academy micro-credential and session specific Level 1 Professional Learning micro-credentials. Upon completion of the academy, teachers and administrators who participate in coaching with a SIM Professional Developer can move on to earn a Level 2 Fidelity of Implementation micro-credential and hopefully, a Level 3 Specialist micro-credential. Such achievements enhance capacity building and sustainability outcomes for the divisions and state.

Lessons learned from each year’s academy are evidenced in subsequent years. As a result, the 2017 academy will reflect co-design with schools, embedded support during and after the academy, and more cross-school dialogue activities to share the multiple perspectives that can benefit stakeholders and impact student learning.

The SIM Academy is future-ready! The leaders in the VA SIM Network are invested in seeing the SIM Academy come of age and into adulthood—no matter the trajectory it might take next. The credibility of KUCRL and SIM has proven to be timely, relevant, and useful to all educators across Virginia.

Diane Gillam
KUCRL Research Project Manager
Manakin Sabot, VA

About SIM