| After Restoring Democracy in District 227, We Must now Improve Student Performance Levels The battle to restore democracy and democratic public participation in our school district has been won. But the most difficult and arduous journey is still to be fought: improving student achievement levels. To do this requires courageous leadership. Our success rises or falls based upon our leadership. Today, with over seventy percent of our children not at grade level and not ready for college and careers, we have a moral responsibility to improve our schools and in the process re-attract our brightest students to district 227 who have left to obtain a quality education, to do the work of the modern world, to take their place as equal citizens with others. Today, more of our children graduate from failing schools, unqualified for college and careers, unemployed and unemployable but with high tech prisons within driving distance. This is not a formula for success. This is not a video game. Real lives are at stake in District 227. Today, our more than a decade of struggle to improve our schools is now riding on the second phase in our efforts to move forward: improving student performance levels. Today, Dr. Doris Langon, our highly effective interim superintendent, has for the first time in many years revealed our school improvement FIVE ESSENTIALS RESEARCH GUIDELINES for success that was withheld from us by previous administrations in the past. Being denied the data in the past to improve our schools does not absolve us of our responsibility today. This annual school improvement report, framed by the University of Chicago's research based upon The Illinois State Board of Education's FIVE ESSENTIAL SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTS surveys the 5 essential learning conditions in District 227's three high schools. Our District 227 2013 high school report results in our FIVE ESSENTIAL DISTRICT 227 PERFORMANCE CATEGORIES, BEING RANKED FROM NEUTRAL TO WEAK, DESCRIBES OUR DISTRICT AS "NOT YET ORGANIZED ACADEMICALLY." Today, the district will maintain ECRA's continuous improvement data base on what it is doing, while moving forward in a nationwide search to select a transformative, visionary, proactive, responsive, and accountable superintendent with a record of high student performance levels and scholarly achievement. The UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SURVEY, sponsored by the Illinois State Board of Education, highlights five concrete steps District 227's board and administration must take to improve student outcomes. This 60 Day Report provides Transition Phase Activities and NEXT STEPS needed to improve our District's performance levels on these FIVE KEY ESSENTIALS that must be changed from WEAK/NEUTRAL TO STRONG AND EFFECTIVE framed by our priorities as follows if we are to move forward as a successful school district. This data is as clear as it is compelling. IF WE ARE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AS A SCHOOL DISTRICT, THESE FIVE EFFECTIVE ESSENTIALS THAT MUST BE CHANGED FROM WEAK AND UNORGANIZED IN DISTRICT 227 TO STRONG AND EFFECTIVE ARE: (1) AMBITIOUS INSTRUCTION SUPPORTED BY (2) EFFECTIVE, HIGHLY SKILLED, AND COLLABORATIVE LEADERS, (3) COLLABORATIVE AND EFFECTIVE TEACHERS, (4) INVOLVED FAMILIES, AND (5) A SUPPORTIVE ENVIRONMENT. Everything rises or falls based upon our accountability in choosing effective leadership, beginning with the school board. To be truly effective requires effective leadership at the top. Ineffective leaders will not choose effective leaders. We do not see the world as it is, we see the world as we are. We can't teach what we don't know and we can't lead where we don't go. As a school board, today we are endeavoring to put in place the proper keystones for students to learn and achieve at the highest possible levels. To do so, as a school board and district, we are attempting to follow a regular monthly and bimonthly process to review student achievement data to ensure continuous improvement including use of data and customer focus to drive instruction and to insure that both the school board and district take part in training on principles of continuous improvement. The school board must adopt policies that support continuous improvement, provide funding for continuous improvement, and then support publicly and communicate the value of continuous improvement to our community. These are our highest priorities in putting first things first. David E. Morgan, Ph.D., Educational Leadership School Board Member Rich Township High School District 227 Olympia Fields, Illinois 60461 |
No comments:
Post a Comment