Great Things Going On Now
My hat goes off to our Director of Instruction Lori Cooper this week for spending dozens of hours during winter break to prepare and submit a Colorado Department of Education School Improvement Grant that was due on January 4th. Not only did Lori give up much of her break, she continued to work on this grant despite the passing of her mother-in-law. Through the grant we are asking for roughly $94,000 to support our efforts at increasing student engagement in lessons by providing Kagan training for all teachers as well as training to support administrators in implementing these instructional techniques and to certify several staff members as Kagan staff developers so we can sustain our efforts in this area after the grant dollars are gone.
Also this week our 5-12 Music Director Kate Newmyer received news that a Mr. Holland’s Opus Grant she applied for has been funded. This grant will provide $21,149 to our music program; $1,100 towards the repair of instruments as well as 3 mellophones, 2 trombones, 2 tenor saxophones, 3 refurbished flutes, 2 refurbished alto saxophones, 2 refurbished trombones, 4 refurbished trumpets, 1 refurbished oboe, and 1 refurbished cello. I want to thank Mrs. Newmyer for the hard work she put into writing the grant as well as Skoglund Middle School Principal Carrie Zimmerman for the great job she did responding to many of the foundation’s follow up questions. A gigantic thank you also goes out to Denver Radio Station KVOD for being the ones who are funding this project for the children of Center.
I would also like to take a moment to thank Third Grade Teacher and Ski Club Sponsor Meagan Long, as well as a whole slew of Center Schools staff members, for taking time out of their winter break to sponsor a Ski Club trip to Wolf Creek this past Friday. Though there was virtually no powder, the weather was great and the kids behaved wonderfully. I may have missed some folks but I know for sure I saw Fourth Grade Teachers Ashley Maez and Amy Halbach, Assistant Teacher John Noriega, and Cafeteria Cook Jeannette Garcia on the slopes. Cipriano Pacheco drove the kids to and from the ski area safely.
Finally, I want to belatedly thank Vocational Technology Teacher Dennis Schoenfelder for once again providing the opportunity for some of our young runners in Center to experience an out of state trip, this time to Orlando, Florida, for the Junior Olympics National Cross Country Meet. Dennis has been working with aspiring junior athletes for the past dozen or so years and he has given many of Center’s children the gift of a once in a lifetime experience like participating in a national meet. The trip took place in early December and the Center community once again came together to pay a large portion of the expenses. I, for one, know that Dennis often reaches into his own pockets to offer this opportunity and I know he engages some outstanding parents each year to support his travel efforts as well.
The Past Week
Though we were on winter break this week I spent some time completing a solid draft of our district Unified Improvement Plan despite it not being due to CDE until January 17th. This needed to be done in conjunction with the School Improvement Grant Lori Cooper was working on. District Librarian Becky Reed was a big help on this as we did much of the work on the road as we drove from Tucson to Center after a visit to some family in the area.
Other things I was involved with this week included presenting information on the Lobato v Colorado lawsuit at the Monte Vista Rotary Club meeting, catching up and keeping up on a lot of email and paperwork, attending a dinner meeting about the possibility of establishing a Boettcher Teacher Scholarship program in the San Luis Valley, and attending our weekly construction core group meeting.
On Thursday I also attended a Colorado Department of Education webinar (from my kitchen) on the implementation of HB 1277 from the 2011 legislative session. This law requires school district input to be offered to the legislature regarding the fiscal impact of proposed education legislation. Center Schools is one of a dozen or so districts that have been drafted to support the legislature in this manner this year and we have already been asked to cost out some potential laws.
Before the weekend is over I also hope to have completed new Google Document walkthrough forms for each building principal so we can more easily track, separate and work with their individual teacher observation data at the end of the spring when we do final teacher evaluations.
Big Things We Are Working On
We are currently in the midst of our annual financial audit. We will also continue to work for the next two weeks on our district Unified Improvement Plan and submit a final draft of it to the Colorado Department of Education prior to the January 17th deadline.
With the School Improvement Grant submitted we will now begin focusing on a proposal for a 21st Century Community Learning Centers Grant to support literacy interventions, and I will be working on completing and meeting with building administrators about their mid-year evaluations.
Construction News
Construction slowed down a little over the holidays but is now back in full swing. Work on the outside skin of the early childhood learning center is at full gear and I have attached a picture showing the wonderful splash of color that has been included on the North side outer wall. The intent of our architects has been to make the early childhood learning center stand our in appearance, apart from the rest of the school facility. Thus you will notice quite a different outside look emerging from this structure.
We are also continuing to work on issues like the timing of the demolition of our current varsity gym and the construction of the new one, general classroom furnishing purchases, and removal of asbestos before demolition of existing facilities. Upon touring the project after New Years Day I noticed some classroom walls have already been sheet rocked, as can be evidenced in this picture.
There appears to be a groundswell of interest in securing some souvenir bricks from the schools when they are demolished and the district is collecting that information on a master list. If you are interested in securing such a memento from one of the old schools please contact me at [email protected] to get on the list.
There appears to be a groundswell of interest in securing some souvenir bricks from the schools when they are demolished and the district is collecting that information on a master list. If you are interested in securing such a memento from one of the old schools please contact me at [email protected] to get on the list.
Our Core Beliefs
As we have now expanded the audience of this weekly communication to parents, community members, and other interested parties, I want to introduce everyone to the core beliefs of the Center School District. We have established the following beliefs about the purpose of our work and how we will engage in it:
1. Our purpose is to increase academic achievement for ALL students.
2. With our support ALL children can achieve at high levels.
3. Quality planning, instruction, and assessments lead to high student achievement for ALL.
4. There is NO excuse for poor quality instruction.
5. We are preparing ALL our students to be successful in life.
6. EVERYONE must be committed to the pursuit of excellence.
My hope is that you can see the purpose of Center Schools as being to be to provide a quality education to ALL students, no matter what their learning limitations may be. Operating in an environment where this is the expectation can be a little different than when many of us went to school. Because of this I would like to highlight exactly what each of these core beliefs mean as we progress through the next several weeks of Keeping Our Focus.
1. Our purpose is to increase academic achievement for ALL students.
2. With our support ALL children can achieve at high levels.
3. Quality planning, instruction, and assessments lead to high student achievement for ALL.
4. There is NO excuse for poor quality instruction.
5. We are preparing ALL our students to be successful in life.
6. EVERYONE must be committed to the pursuit of excellence.
My hope is that you can see the purpose of Center Schools as being to be to provide a quality education to ALL students, no matter what their learning limitations may be. Operating in an environment where this is the expectation can be a little different than when many of us went to school. Because of this I would like to highlight exactly what each of these core beliefs mean as we progress through the next several weeks of Keeping Our Focus.
The Week Ahead
This coming week I will remain in Center conducting routine duties with highlights being attending a Haskin Elementary Positive Behavior Intervention Support kick off assembly on Monday, attending the monthly San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council meeting, as well as Center Schools District Accountability and Center Schools Board of education meetings on Tuesday.
On Wednesday my focus will turn to construction as our team of architects will be on site and we will hold our weekly core construction team meeting.
On Thursday my focus will turn to mid-year building administrator evaluation as I will work on completing written reports, while on Friday staff members from our turnaround partner Focal Point will be on site to conduct their version of a mid-year administrator evaluation with our building leaders.
On Wednesday my focus will turn to construction as our team of architects will be on site and we will hold our weekly core construction team meeting.
On Thursday my focus will turn to mid-year building administrator evaluation as I will work on completing written reports, while on Friday staff members from our turnaround partner Focal Point will be on site to conduct their version of a mid-year administrator evaluation with our building leaders.
Extra Points
This week I read several interesting internet articles about the value of quality teaching and effective teacher evaluation.
A New York Times article said that an economic study conducted by professors from Harvard and Columbia Universities concludes that elementary and middle-school teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, long lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings.
Meanwhile an article on the SeattlePi website about a Gates Foundation study regarding teacher evaluation said the main conclusions drawn are that high quality classroom teacher observations require clear, specific standards, well-trained and certified evaluators, and multiple observations per teacher. The study said classroom evaluation is not enough, meaning evaluation information should be combined with student feedback and data on improvement in student test scores in order to be valid.
If any of this sounds familiar, it should, as these are exactly the main things we are trying to focus on in Center.
We know the major difference in the education life of a child is the quality and performance of the teacher assigned to them. We also know that effective teacher evaluation and supervision processes can bring about major improvement in teacher quality.
The most telling comment in the Gates study is that the researchers found the most common teacher evaluation method used by school districts today, a single classroom observation once every few years, has only a 33 percent chance of resulting in an accurate assessment of how well a teacher is doing.
The study states that, though different evaluation methods still need to be refined, most are quantifiably better than what most school districts are using right now.
In Center we are, quite frankly, working our tails off to develop building leaders who support the growth of classroom teacher quality. We are evaluating ALL teacher two times per year. We are working toward training our principals in what to look for in classroom instruction and having them observe each teacher 12 to 24 times during the year to support these evaluations. It has been a difficult process. However, this is the right work for us to be focusing on.
I encourage each of you to read the articles at the links provided below and to think about what we can do better to support the positive development of our teachers and administrators. It is clear to me that this is the most important thing we can do for our kids and for their future prospects.
Thanks once again for listening and have a great week!
George
A New York Times article said that an economic study conducted by professors from Harvard and Columbia Universities concludes that elementary and middle-school teachers who help raise their students’ standardized-test scores seem to have a wide-ranging, long lasting positive effect on those students’ lives beyond academics, including lower teenage-pregnancy rates and greater college matriculation and adult earnings.
Meanwhile an article on the SeattlePi website about a Gates Foundation study regarding teacher evaluation said the main conclusions drawn are that high quality classroom teacher observations require clear, specific standards, well-trained and certified evaluators, and multiple observations per teacher. The study said classroom evaluation is not enough, meaning evaluation information should be combined with student feedback and data on improvement in student test scores in order to be valid.
If any of this sounds familiar, it should, as these are exactly the main things we are trying to focus on in Center.
We know the major difference in the education life of a child is the quality and performance of the teacher assigned to them. We also know that effective teacher evaluation and supervision processes can bring about major improvement in teacher quality.
The most telling comment in the Gates study is that the researchers found the most common teacher evaluation method used by school districts today, a single classroom observation once every few years, has only a 33 percent chance of resulting in an accurate assessment of how well a teacher is doing.
The study states that, though different evaluation methods still need to be refined, most are quantifiably better than what most school districts are using right now.
In Center we are, quite frankly, working our tails off to develop building leaders who support the growth of classroom teacher quality. We are evaluating ALL teacher two times per year. We are working toward training our principals in what to look for in classroom instruction and having them observe each teacher 12 to 24 times during the year to support these evaluations. It has been a difficult process. However, this is the right work for us to be focusing on.
I encourage each of you to read the articles at the links provided below and to think about what we can do better to support the positive development of our teachers and administrators. It is clear to me that this is the most important thing we can do for our kids and for their future prospects.
Thanks once again for listening and have a great week!
George