As a new school year begins there is always a feeling of excitement. We said good-by to the graduates and will welcome the 9th grade and the new students. For me it is about getting things ready for the teachers and students. I update and make changes to the handbooks and create agendas for the first of many meetings. I reflect on how things went last year and make adjustments where needed. My decisions are always based on doing "what is best for kids." I enjoy reading books about educational leadership strategies. The books I read focus on schools who are very successful and have implemented strategies that increase student achievement. The last couple of years my passion has been learning all I can about Standards Based Education. I believe we can do a better job of instructing, assessing student learning and reporting student progress. Adopting a Standards Based approach will allow us to do that. That will be one of the initiatives we will be working on this year. A second initiative that will be put in place will be the development of Collaboration Learning Teams. Our staff will learn and practice collaboration techniques with the main focus being on increasing student achievement. That is what we will be doing on the Wednesday early outs. The collaboration will involve discussions about student data and Standards Based Education. Four questions will serve as framework for all of our professional development and discussions this year;
1. What is it we want all students to learn - by grade level, by course, and by unit of instruction?
2. How will we know when each student has acquired the intended knowledge and skills?
3. How will we respond when students experience initial difficulty so that we can improve upon current levels of learning.
4. How will we respond to students who have already learned it?
These questions come from the book "Whatever it Takes." We will begin with question three and develop a much needed organized system of support. I challenged the parents at the 9th grade orientation to ask us these four questions throughout the year. I will broaden that challenge to all parents. I would like you to ask staff and myself these questions when discussing your child's progress and current status. We are just beginning to address these questions but I hope to have quality responses to all four by the end of the year. You can also ask about Standards Based Education and our Collaboration Learning Teams. I am very excited to begin work on these initiatives but it is always about achieving the desired results, which is giving every student the best chance possible to be successful. We will do Whatever it Takes to make this happen.
