Great Things Going On
Because I just participated in the Haskin Elementary mid-year building site evaluation on Friday I would like to highlight some of the great work we observed going on there. First I would like to commend K-2 principal Kathy Kulp and 3-5 principal Sarah Vance for the quality of instructional and lesson plan feedback they continually offer to their staff members. As hard as we know all our teachers work to submit their lesson plans for the upcoming week by midnight each Thursday evening, Kathy and Sarah work just as hard to comprehensively review each of these plans for quality instructional focus and alignment to the curriculum. They then offer feedback geared at improvement of the plans by the end of the day each Saturday so teachers can revise their plans if necessary before they start to teach on Monday. As you can see, in Center we believe there is no better way to ensure excellent quality first instruction than to make sure each teacher has effectively planned to conduct it.
Though we certainly identified many things for Kathy and Sarah to improve on to support Haskin’s work as a result of this mid-year review, it is clear their staff appreciates many of the things they are doing well. Feedback we received about Kathy’s leadership included a clear appreciation for the way she helps her staff set and attain student achievement goals. This was evident as we reviewed mid-year NWEA and DIBELS data that showed grade level cohorts attaining all but one of their mid-year learning targets. Sarah’s staff highlighted her excellent ability at holding students accountable for their behavior, making it easier for instructors to focus on classroom instruction as opposed to student disciplinary issues. It was evident as we visited many classrooms and walked the hallways that this aspect of the upper elementary school grades is far more positive than it was only three short years ago. We also noticed that the whole Haskin staff is doing great work driving math performance to higher and higher levels by engaging parents in supporting their children with math fluency facts, and holding students accountable for learning them. What I was most impressed with about both Sarah and Kathy was how when we reviewed student achievement data they were intimately familiar with each of the 300 plus children in their care, especially those for who it has been a greater challenge to show growth in achievement.
Though we certainly identified many things for Kathy and Sarah to improve on to support Haskin’s work as a result of this mid-year review, it is clear their staff appreciates many of the things they are doing well. Feedback we received about Kathy’s leadership included a clear appreciation for the way she helps her staff set and attain student achievement goals. This was evident as we reviewed mid-year NWEA and DIBELS data that showed grade level cohorts attaining all but one of their mid-year learning targets. Sarah’s staff highlighted her excellent ability at holding students accountable for their behavior, making it easier for instructors to focus on classroom instruction as opposed to student disciplinary issues. It was evident as we visited many classrooms and walked the hallways that this aspect of the upper elementary school grades is far more positive than it was only three short years ago. We also noticed that the whole Haskin staff is doing great work driving math performance to higher and higher levels by engaging parents in supporting their children with math fluency facts, and holding students accountable for learning them. What I was most impressed with about both Sarah and Kathy was how when we reviewed student achievement data they were intimately familiar with each of the 300 plus children in their care, especially those for who it has been a greater challenge to show growth in achievement.
On another positive note related to Haskin Elementary School, as a result of unanticipated revenues and because of the thoughtful work of the Center Schools Board of Education through the mid-year budget adjustment process, we are excited to be able to actually expand our after school intervention programs. This means EVERY child who needs additional help acquiring reading or math computation skills will be able to participate in our after school academies. Additionally, this is also allowing the school to offer an after school program for advanced readers, called “Ink Drinkers,” and after school support sessions for 4th and 5th graders who want to participate in this year’s San Luis Valley Regional Science Fair.
On a final note I would like to thank Center Virtual Academy director Chris Vance and Academic Resource Center director Joy Werner for the great work they are doing in preparation for the February 7th All Valley PLC session when teachers will be working in groups to develop models to be used in evaluating their performance based on measures of growth of the students in their care. Joy and Chris have been working to enhance an interactive model developed by Dirk Oden from the Monte Vista School District that we are hoping will make it easier to quantify the value of each individual teachers instruction as it will relate to their overall teacher evaluation rating. In support of this effort they worked with educators from around the San Luis Valley last Friday on the process design.
On a final note I would like to thank Center Virtual Academy director Chris Vance and Academic Resource Center director Joy Werner for the great work they are doing in preparation for the February 7th All Valley PLC session when teachers will be working in groups to develop models to be used in evaluating their performance based on measures of growth of the students in their care. Joy and Chris have been working to enhance an interactive model developed by Dirk Oden from the Monte Vista School District that we are hoping will make it easier to quantify the value of each individual teachers instruction as it will relate to their overall teacher evaluation rating. In support of this effort they worked with educators from around the San Luis Valley last Friday on the process design.
Big Things We are Working On
This past week Center Schools submitted its annual Unified Improvement Plan to CDE. The Unified Improvement Planning process is a way in which a school district analyzes its student achievement performance for the purpose of building a plan to use the resources available to it to improve overall educational outcomes. In doing so, Center Schools ties together resources provide by local tax collections, state equalization, and federal and state grant programs to offer improved services for its children. Our academic improvement plan focuses on three main areas, continuing our work to provide a guaranteed and viable curriculum to all students in every subject at every grade level, insuring it is taught and taught well, and measuring student learning of it on a daily and quarterly basis so we can make future instructional decisions from a standpoint of knowing what instruction has been effective.
This is also evaluation season in the Center School District as our building principals are completing mid-year teacher evaluations, I am completing mid-year principal and department head evaluations, and the board is conducting my annual superintendent evaluation.
Finally, though our turnaround improvement grant has already been spent out, Center Schools teachers are still receiving support toward providing all class Lindamood-Bell reading instruction for students. Last week Melissa Garcia modeled whole class instruction for Haskin Elementary kindergarten teacher Denise Martinez. Center Schools contracts Melissa for one day per week, and gets an additional day of LMB site coordinator services from the San Luis Valley BOCES through an IDEA grant awarded to the region through the Colorado Department of Education.
This is also evaluation season in the Center School District as our building principals are completing mid-year teacher evaluations, I am completing mid-year principal and department head evaluations, and the board is conducting my annual superintendent evaluation.
Finally, though our turnaround improvement grant has already been spent out, Center Schools teachers are still receiving support toward providing all class Lindamood-Bell reading instruction for students. Last week Melissa Garcia modeled whole class instruction for Haskin Elementary kindergarten teacher Denise Martinez. Center Schools contracts Melissa for one day per week, and gets an additional day of LMB site coordinator services from the San Luis Valley BOCES through an IDEA grant awarded to the region through the Colorado Department of Education.
The Past Week
This past Monday I spent time on San Luis Valley race to the top and Colorado Legacy Foundation Extended Learning Opportunity grant work. I had to tie out all expenditures through January 10th for these grants and I have to submit a quarterly report related to the work. This week I also took the vision begun by our District Leadership Team, District Accountability Committee, and board of education last spring and finalized Center’s annual Unified Improvement Plan for submission to CDE by the optional January 15th winter deadline. On Tuesday I attended the monthly San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council meeting in Alamosa, the January District Accountability Committee meeting here in Center, and our regular January Board of Education meeting. Thursday was spent preparing for Haskin Elementary School’s mid year building review, and Friday was spent actually conducting the on-site portion of this evaluation.
The Week Ahead
On Monday I will be communicating with San Luis Valley superintendents about the dates we will be setting to conduct 2014-15 All Valley PLC sessions. I will also be working with Federal Programs Director Becky Reed on submitting our annual Title I performance report to CDE. In the afternoon I hope to focus my work on increasing the district’s ability to filter our younger students from accessing inappropriate material on the Internet. On Tuesday I head to Denver for an Ed Trust meeting at the Colorado Legacy Foundation aimed at tapping the brains of superintendents and CDE personnel as to how to close the learning gap in districts with high at-risk student populations.
I’ll remain in Denver on Wednesday as I will be attending a workshop with director of instruction Lori Cooper and Haskin Elementary Teachers Jessica Stevens and Zoraya Vazquez on blended learning related to our Colorado Legacy Foundation Extended learning Opportunities grant. On Thursday morning I will attend an SLV superintendent PLC for the purpose of supporting better classroom instructional walkthroughs that will take place in Del Norte. Friday will be spent conducing he Skoglund Middle School-Center High School mid-year building site review.
I’ll remain in Denver on Wednesday as I will be attending a workshop with director of instruction Lori Cooper and Haskin Elementary Teachers Jessica Stevens and Zoraya Vazquez on blended learning related to our Colorado Legacy Foundation Extended learning Opportunities grant. On Thursday morning I will attend an SLV superintendent PLC for the purpose of supporting better classroom instructional walkthroughs that will take place in Del Norte. Friday will be spent conducing he Skoglund Middle School-Center High School mid-year building site review.
Extra Points
As I stated above, it is once again superintendent evaluation season and as the Center School Board conducts my annual review I would like to share with you what has been their stated expectations of me during the past year. I think a big reason why the Center Schools Board of Education became the Colorado All State School Board is because it clearly defines my role, supports me in conducting my duties, and seeks feedback from the entire education community regarding how I am doing.
Here are the job responsibilities I have been charged with by our governing board:
You will note the board did not dictate which football team I have to too for. Unfortunately I'll be eating Rocky Mountain Oysters instead of New England Clam Chowder this February 2nd. Go Broncos!
Thanks for listening once again!
George
Here are the job responsibilities I have been charged with by our governing board:
- The superintendent should support the board of education in its governance of the school district.
- The superintendent should establish and operate a district level collaborative leadership system to guide the district’s vision and academic improvement processes.
- The superintendent should guide the establishment of a district vision, mission and set of core beliefs, then communicate and promote these purposes to the entire educational community.
- The superintendent should ensure every teacher in every subject at every grade level has access to a quality curriculum aligned to current Colorado standards.
- The superintendent should ensure every teacher in every subject at every grade level has access the resources they need to teach the curriculum.
- The superintendent should ensure that student learning of the curriculum is measured summatively on a periodic basis and these learning results are used to drive future instructional improvement.
- The superintendent should ensure that all teachers are guided by a building administrator who supports their professional growth and instructional improvement.
- The superintendent should support building administrators in their efforts to lead school improvement processes through the provision of quality building leadership development and effective evaluative feedback.
- The Superintendent should support building administrators in requiring teachers to teach the curriculum in a way that continually measures student learning and engages all students.
- The superintendent should establish processes to effectively allocate district resources and align their use to support the district’s academic improvement processes.
- The superintendent should ensure there is effective supervision and operation of business, facilities, transportation, food service and technology departments.
- The superintendent should advocate for the greater political interests of the school district at the county, state and national level.
- The superintendent should develop a trusting collaborative relationship with local, state and national teacher associations.
You will note the board did not dictate which football team I have to too for. Unfortunately I'll be eating Rocky Mountain Oysters instead of New England Clam Chowder this February 2nd. Go Broncos!
Thanks for listening once again!
George