Great Things Going On
Center Schools had the pleasure of a campus visit by Colorado State Board of Education member Angelika Schroeder on Wednesday. Angelika has been hearing about the many positive things going on in the Center School District and just wanted to stop by to take a look for herself. Since I was out of town Center Schools Board of Education president Michael Lobato guided her around the campus and on a tour of our classrooms.
Congratulations to Kate and Daniel Newmyer for being included in the Teach Plus Fellowship. This is a highly selective program for teachers interested in having a voice in decisions that affect the future of their profession. As participants Kate and Daniel will soon be taking a series of weekend trips to Washington D.C. to participate in sessions.
I am excited to say Center Schools has once again received an invitation to the Colorado Department of Education State Awards Ceremony. This will take place the first week of December. Unfortunately, we don’t yet know what schools will be honored with which awards. My suspicion is both Center High School and Skoglund Middle School will be honored as Centers of Educational Excellence because of sustained growth and improvement in state test performance. We’ll know for sure in the next few weeks.
Congratulations to Kate and Daniel Newmyer for being included in the Teach Plus Fellowship. This is a highly selective program for teachers interested in having a voice in decisions that affect the future of their profession. As participants Kate and Daniel will soon be taking a series of weekend trips to Washington D.C. to participate in sessions.
I am excited to say Center Schools has once again received an invitation to the Colorado Department of Education State Awards Ceremony. This will take place the first week of December. Unfortunately, we don’t yet know what schools will be honored with which awards. My suspicion is both Center High School and Skoglund Middle School will be honored as Centers of Educational Excellence because of sustained growth and improvement in state test performance. We’ll know for sure in the next few weeks.
Big Things We Are Working On
As we continue with the implementation of our K-12 one to one technology device program I would like to remind parents just how important they are in making sure their children make proper use of technology when they are off campus. When devices are logged on to the Center Schools network, we have the capability to filter all the Internet content students can access. When these devices are out in the community and logged on home networks, it is the responsibility of each parent or guardian to monitor the websites their children are accessing. Parents, please don’t be afraid to be intrusive when supervising how your kids are using their devices. Such behavior is the best way to ensure your child’s their safety.
The Past Week
Last week was extremely busy as on Monday we offered more Lindamood-Bell training to Valley teachers on our campus. On Monday evening I attended the Center Kiwanis meeting to present information on the effects Amendment 66 would have if passed. On Tuesday we had state health inspectors on campus. At that time I travelled to Denver to chair the Colorado Safe Schools Resource Center board meeting. I stayed in Denver on Wednesday to attend the annual Great Education Colorado luncheon where I had the pleasure of speaking about the wonderful turnaround results achieved at Haskin Elementary School. Later that day I attended a CDE informational meeting about the Global Education Leadership Partnership project I will soon be participating in. In Center on Wednesday, Colorado State Board of Education member Angelika Shroeder conducted a campus visit. On Thursday I proceeded to Colorado Springs where the San Luis Valley Superintendent Advisory Council conducted PLC work on Senate Bill 191 style teacher and administrator evaluations and our Extended Learning Opportunities grant, just ahead of the annual CASE Superintendent Conference that took place on Thursday and Friday.
The Week Ahead
We’ll have another busy week ahead of us as it kicks off with a visit on Monday from the Ellicott Schools administrative team for a knowledge sharing PLC session. Later on Monday there will be a “Get Moving” program training available for all teachers after school. Tuesday is my monthly marathon day of meetings and this month it will kick off with a visit to a Healthy Schools/Healthy Students event in Alamosa, followed by our monthly superintendent advisory council meeting, our monthly district accountability committee meeting, and our monthly board of education meeting. On Wednesday I will be conducting a slew of instructional walks, guiding our teachers on classroom visits where they can offer advice to their coworkers on how to improve instruction. On Friday I will be conducting Race to the top of the Valley duties.
Extra Points
Earlier in this communication I mentioned I attended a CDE meeting about the Global Education Leadership Partnership. The GELP program is a partnership of thought leaders and consultants from world-class organizations, collaborating in a global community with teams of key education leaders who are seriously committed both to transforming education in practice and to developing the personal skills they need to lead the changes required.
This summer I was invited by Colorado Commissioner of Education Robert Hammond to join Colorado’s GELP team. My first participation in GELP will be in the form of a week-long visit to New Delhi, India by representatives from 12 nations including Australia, Canada, China, Brazil, the United States, England, Finland, India, New Zealand, and South Korea. All costs related to our participation is paid for by the Gates Foundation.
At the heart of GELP’s vision is the fostering of “Education 3.0.” In other words, if we had the ability to completely reinvent our education system what new pedagogies, curricula, and assessment methods would we use to enable every student to develop higher order capabilities.
The four key objectives of the GELP Program are to:
Each jurisdiction team is supported through six-monthly collaborative events, extended workshops, on-site and remote consultancy support, and cross-country working groups and webinars. At the biannual Global Events, the whole GELP community meets in one of the participating countries to share leading-edge thinking and ideas. Teams work together to solve mutual challenges and offer critical support to one another.
I am excited to have been given the opportunity to participate in this program and will do all I can to learn what I can, to share what I learn, and to take advantage of new knowledge gained for the benefit of our students here in Center and all across Colorado.
George
This summer I was invited by Colorado Commissioner of Education Robert Hammond to join Colorado’s GELP team. My first participation in GELP will be in the form of a week-long visit to New Delhi, India by representatives from 12 nations including Australia, Canada, China, Brazil, the United States, England, Finland, India, New Zealand, and South Korea. All costs related to our participation is paid for by the Gates Foundation.
At the heart of GELP’s vision is the fostering of “Education 3.0.” In other words, if we had the ability to completely reinvent our education system what new pedagogies, curricula, and assessment methods would we use to enable every student to develop higher order capabilities.
The four key objectives of the GELP Program are to:
- Accelerate and sustain transformation efforts within members' local and national systems for the benefit of all learners.
- Develop transformational capacity and personal efficacy in education system leaders.
- Advocate and refine the vision of 21st century teaching and learning and to disseminate widely the knowledge and learning generated through GELP.
- Facilitate a global community of education leaders and change agents.
Each jurisdiction team is supported through six-monthly collaborative events, extended workshops, on-site and remote consultancy support, and cross-country working groups and webinars. At the biannual Global Events, the whole GELP community meets in one of the participating countries to share leading-edge thinking and ideas. Teams work together to solve mutual challenges and offer critical support to one another.
I am excited to have been given the opportunity to participate in this program and will do all I can to learn what I can, to share what I learn, and to take advantage of new knowledge gained for the benefit of our students here in Center and all across Colorado.
George