Mundo Verde requires that teachers possess one of the following: A) A DC teaching license/certification (or in the process of obtaining reciprocity), B) a commitment to taking and passing PRAXIS (Elementary Education: Content Knowledge (10014) within the first year of teaching, or C) degree in early childhood, elementary or in the subject they are teaching (for Specials teachers). On rare occasions, when a vacancy proves hard to fill, offers may be extended to a candidate without one of the three requirements barring that no one more qualified is an option at that time. In these unusual circumstances the new hire is required to have the equivalent of an associate’s degree and be making a concerted effort to complete his or her bachelor’s degree. Those brought on as long-term substitutes are not held to the same requirements.

Mundo Verde has sponsored staff in the past, this can be a long and laborious process with no visa guarantee. We are not sponsoring visas at this time.

Mundo Verde evaluates teaching and learning with tools aligned to the Danielson Framework and tenets of accountability from the Public Charter School Board review process. Practices are evaluated against standards, EL Education’s Core Practices, and other frameworks that inform our model. (Common Core Standards, Teachers’ College Readers’ Writers’ Workshop, Responsive Classroom, Eureka Math, Cloud Institute Education for Sustainability standards). Each teacher has sessions with coaches during the school year to support their path to become better educators alongside Mundo Verde’s work plan goals.

Teachers are assigned to a manageable and reasonable class size, historically between 20-25 students per cohort. A dedicated fellow is provided in PreK-1st grades to support a classroom and shared fellows are assigned in 2nd grade to support a cohort of students. PreK classrooms also have a dedicated PK Associate. PreK (combined 3 and 4 year olds) and Kindergarten are full Spanish immersion; 1st-4th grade teachers teach all subject areas in either English or Spanish and manage two cohorts of students; 5th grade is departmentalized into Spanish Humanities and Language Arts, English Humanities and Language Arts, and Math and teachers provide instruction to all 5th grade students.

• We teach our students to be stewards of their communities. Our expedition topics are all aligned to sustainability themes aligned to standards developed by the Cloud Institute for Sustainability. Our expeditions are designed to be of service to the community around us. We promote student character aligned to our habits of community stewardship (known at school as ESPICA).

• We aim to reduce waste. Mundo Verde switched from using paper plates and compostable utensils in our food service to plastic, reusable plates and utensils that are washed and reused everyday. Mundo Verde encourages reusing materials whenever possible and keeping paper copies to a minimum. Students do at times work on papers, but they also frequently use white boards, scrap paper or other materials that do not require using a new sheet each time. We try to laminate papers that we know we will use for a period of time. Then we can use markers and erase and reuse them again. Whenever possible we try to think of other ways to practice content that does not require the use of paper or limits its use. Most parent communication is done electronically. We encourage careful printing and copying to avoid paper waste.

• We recycle and compost our waste. Every classroom, office, and kitchens at both campuses actively recycle and compost. Our J.F. Cook Campus has two hens that enjoy eating food leftover from our kitchen. Mundo Verde recently joined the DC Food Project Share Table program. Share Tables address both student hunger and food waste during the school year and summer. Share Tables are filled with any excess fruit left over from the Mundo Verde kitchen, classrooms, and garden market, and are available for students, parents/guardians, and community members to take as needed. Students know how to sort their waste and why it's important. We've been able to dramatically reduce the amount of trash we're sending to the landfills, and we also have started a community composting project.

• The Cook campus includes a renovated GOLD LEED certified building and a newly constructed annex building that is PLATINUM LEED certified, the highest LEED certification a building can receive. The buildings are extremely energy efficient, make use of a lot of natural lighting, and have reused building materials wherever possible. Eventually we're looking to put solar panels on our roofs and source only from clean energy. Our water cistern collects tens of thousands of gallons of rainwater from our roof and uses it to flush our toilets. We renew our outdoor space by planting 40 trees around the schoolyard, including fruit trees, and building a raised bed vegetable garden with an outdoor kitchen. Our newly renovated Calle Ocho campus included green lighting and plumbing elements and systems for recycling and composting. Our long-term goals for the campus include adding sustainability elements over time to continue reducing our environmental impact.

• We encourage healthy eating and physical activity. All students receive a cooking and gardening specials class once a week. Our school lunches are served family style in the classroom, and use a lot of local, organic, and seasonal food items. They are prepared either on site (Cook Campus) or by a small local business (Calle Ocho Campus).

Mundo Verde evaluates teaching and learning with tools aligned to the Danielson Framework and tenets of accountability from the Public Charter School Board review process. Practices are evaluated against standards, EL Education’s Core Practices, and other frameworks that inform our model. (Common Core Standards, Teachers’ College Readers’ Writers’ Workshop, Responsive Classroom, Eureka Math, Cloud Institute Education for Sustainability standards). Each teacher has sessions with coaches during the school year to support their path to become better educators alongside Mundo Verde’s work plan goals.

Teachers create their own curriculum from the standards of each grade (Creative Curriculum PK3/4; Common Core in grades K-5th). As well, teachers use curriculum and resources from Teacher’s College Reader’s Writer’s Workshop, and Investigations to support English language Arts and Eureka (EngageNY) for Math. For grades PK to 5th grade, there is a baseline of curriculum developed from teachers with support from the coaches from previous years available to revise and implement.

Throughout the school year, internal sessions of professional development for instructional staff take place every Wednesday led by the Principal, members of the Instructional Leadership Team and/or external consultants. During Wednesday PD sessions, staff engage with implementation priorities and content that drive equity and instructional work plan goals for the year, while deepening our school-wide culture. Full PD days are engagements that include ALL staff across our Network and are days off for students. An agenda for PD is shared weekly, along with a year-long view of containers for topics, so participants know what will be covered.

Teachers regularly meet with their English and Spanish counterparts in order to discuss students, the curriculum and other workings within the school. Teachers within a cohort work together to establish norms and expectations that are consistent across the cohort so that students can move seamlessly between classes.

Grade level teams develop a plan for implementing curriculum across languages. In some instances, curriculum is bicycled-- both languages alternating lessons in a given unit of study. While the curriculum of other grades is designed to divide content in a unit, each language assuming responsibility for different standards in the content area. Teachers meet weekly as a grade team, in cohort teams (teachers who share students), and language teams (teachers who teach in the same language). Most collaborative planning happens within the language team, however math content is taught across languages and requires cohort planning as well. Also we use a web-based planning system where teachers post lesson plans and share planbooks and access curricular units from year to year.

Each full workweek, teachers are provided a minimum of two hundred sixty (260) minutes per week of student-free planning time during the instructional day and one hundred (100) minutes during the morning block for conference and preparation/planning time. The use of this time is determined by grade-level teams. Teachers typically have meetings with their language or cohort partner, inclusion teacher, Response To Intervention (RTI) coordinator, or full grade team.

There is a Student Support Team available for students who require extra support with behavioral and/or academic challenges. Intervention and Special Education teachers and related service providers ensure special education and related services are provided as mandated by students’ Individual Education Programs (IEP). Response to Intervention (RTI) is a general education initiative of multi-tiered research-based interventions, designed to support students who have not been diagnosed with educational disabilities but who are experiencing academic and/or behavioral challenges. Section 504 ensures that schools provide reasonable accommodations to students with disabilities for access to the general education environment and curriculum. Behavior support consists of a team of on-call individuals who support and de-escalate students in crisis.

Mundo Verde has a technology policy that articulates the use of technology across the grades, favoring limited screen time for early learners, and intentional use of technology for authentic purposes in upper grades. Teachers and students have access to Ipads, projectors, document cameras and cameras as needed/necessary. Chromebooks for specialized materials are available to students in second grade and up. Assessments in grades Kinder and up are conducted using chromebooks three times a year.

Relative to need, seniority, and capacity to share with others, teachers are given access to external professional development opportunities aligned with our school’s mission, strategic plan and EL Education work plan. Internally teams may receive some professional development differentiated to the needs of grade level teams. Individuals may request or apply for professional development sponsored by the school on a case by case basis. Additionally, instructional staff can engage with self-paced, competency-based digital forms of certification called microcredentials.Microcredentials are a differentiated form of professional development tailored to educator’s needs and focused on transference of skills into classroom implementation through the submission of a Performance Task. Mundo Verde also facilitates non-evaluative learning walks, where leaders and teachers collectively visit classrooms to observe, learn from, and hone in on patterns of teaching and learning throughout our school. All professional development opportunities act together in service of improving equitable student outcomes. The school also provides administrative leave to visit schools or other classrooms for the purpose of learning walks.

Mundo Verde’s biliteracy program begins in the early years for 3- to 5-year-olds as full immersion in Spanish language, in which general educators teach 100 percent of instruction in Spanish. From first to fifth grade, general education classes are dual immersion, with 50 percent of learning in English and 50 percent in Spanish with general educators. While teachers, classrooms, and instructional blocks are dedicated to learning in either Spanish or English, content across all subjects in each language is seamlessly woven throughout the students’ week. Specials are taught in the language of the instructor. (Spanish or English)

Grade level teams develop a plan for implementing curriculum across languages. In some instances, curriculum is bicycled-- both languages alternating lessons in a given unit of study. While the curriculum of other grades is designed to divide content in a unit, each language assuming responsibility for different standards in the content area. Teachers meet weekly as a grade team, in cohort teams (teachers who share students), and language teams (teachers who teach in the same language). Most collaborative planning happens within the language team, however math content is taught across languages and requires cohort planning as well. Also we use a web-based planning system where teachers post lesson plans and share planbooks and access curricular units from year to year.

While students in 1st and 2nd grade are taught all day and all contents by one teacher in Spanish and English on alternating days, students in 3rd through 5th grade have three core instructional blocks daily (M/T/Th/F): Spanish Humanities and Expedition, English Humanities and Expedition, Math and Expedition.

Teachers meet weekly as a grade team, in cohort teams (teachers who share students), and language teams (teachers who teach in the same language). Most collaborative planning happens within the language team, however math content is taught across languages and requires cohort planning as well. Also we use a web-based planning system where teachers post lesson plans and share planbooks and access curricular units from year to year.

Expeditions are interdisciplinary and taught across languages with grade-level teachers strategically planning how to split the content. The expedition has a different focus in each language (for example Kinder studies corn and life cycles, 4th grade does an expedition on renewable energy), but the overall theme or “big ideas” are consistent across the grade and inclusive of both languages.