| On Behalf of Mrs. Woods and the Entire Rich Central Faculty: Thanks for a great beginning in Educational Excellence and Leadership on August 13, 2013 Dr. Morgan,
Thank you on behalf of the entire Rich Central faculty. Your presence at our think-tank was regarded as one of respect and regard for the District's goals.
We are looking forward to more visits and are hopeful of your participation. Principal Woods
From: Woods, Venesa
Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2013 6:08 PM
To: Central Staff; Henderson, Hope S
Subject: Cornell Notes and Binder organization PowerPoints, plus two slides from Dr. Norrell's presentation Hello Team,
I have attached the visuals from Monday's and Tuesday's PD. We covered a lot, but all is not expected to be implemented over night! The objective was to give an overview of the strategies for school-wide success upfront and WE will implement on an incremental, transformative scale.
Example: Quarter one goals: Culture and Climate "Focus on Five" and Teaching and Learning "PLC and using data to inform instruction and Bloom's on paper".
Several mentioned we always work on the "Big Rocks", I agree, but I believe we see the big rocks; it is the pebbles we stumble over and the grains of sand that put a halt to the most refined plans we have to work on as we plan for the present and create our future.
Together, We Can Do This Work because: It is important; we have the individual and collective knowledge and skill sets to do it; we will not give up on our students, selves, or the holistic community of Rich District 227.
Living the Vision
Principal Woods ******************************************************************* On Tuesday, August 13, 2013, I visited Rich Central High School and the Institute Day Program which addressed the case for leading change and continuous improvement in our school district beginning in the 2013-2014 school year. It was an inspiring occasion, a courageous deed. Mrs. Woods demonstrated the values, proactive habits, visionary and effective leadership in motion summoning a Rich Central High School Faculty into motion. As the audience of teachers and administrators sat, listened, observed, and participated, I also wondered if the other two campuses, Rich East and Rich South, were also on board with our new vision and our new direction in continuous improvement from the tragedy and defeat of the past toward a new culture and climate in educational excellence and accountability. What was observed on August 13, 2013 too was the creation of a culture of values and of open and honest discussion. That's why in-service and life long learning must be the goal of all in the school learning community. It begins with a board of education leading the charge in educational excellence. Our new renaissance in learning must then continue in the superintendent and all three of our high school principals to move each school forward in continuous improvement with teachers, parents, students, with Board, ECRA, and other consultants working as a team. The team will be supportive with the entire school community being on board with our continuous accountability/ improvement process, working as a team toward one common vision. In our goal toward continuous improvement, and armed with new information, the board can take steps to provide the resources and authority to address the identified impediments to school progress. But the process does not stop there. Let us hope that the next time the board receives test results, significant progress is evident. The board must use that moment to celebrate the forward progress and commend those responsible. At the same time, Board 227 must continue to hone in on the 5 Essential Continuous Improvement Questions posed by the University of Chicago Researchers and the question: "What can we do now to get even better results in the next go-round? " When the first action is coupled with the second action, the board is practicing continuous improvement. Keep in mind that as a school board, we must approach issues from a problem solving perspective. It is school Board 227's role to model what it expects and to create a culture in the school system that values open, honest discussion and focuses on how much better a program could be. We cannot teach what we don't know and we can't lead where we don't go. We commend Mrs. Woods for her role in continuous improvement in the 2013-2014 school year. A school board that is committed to continuous improvement must create a climate in the school system that values continuous improvement and to reward those who practice it. That's why school board members, superintendent, principals, teachers, and other stakeholders who are on the front lines of public education also need in-service in continuous improvement to be better trained, more prepared, and deeply engaged in the work to be done if we are to turn our school district around. The board is responsible for supporting superintendent, principals, teachers, students, and the entire school community in this process. Effective school boards are responsible for putting in place the proper keystones for students to learn and achieve at the highest possible levels. The primary agenda of school boards is raising student achievement levels and democratically engaging the school district community to achieve this goal. Everyone needs training in school improvement beginning with the school board, superintendent, principals, teachers and the wider community of parents and tax payers who are about creating equity and excellence in public education and leading schools and the community in achieving our goal. Mrs. Woods, Rich Central's Principal, also demonstrated Cornell University's note-taking as a way of reinforcing study skills, test preparation, and critical thinking skills as found in Bloom's Taxonomy. The Cornell system reinforces review skills, asks open questions to monitor students understanding and refine higher order thinking skills. She emphasized the practice of every teacher having an organized binder. Discussed, also, were the skills involved in Tier I Learning that addresses what all students must know and be able to do. This cycle involved principal and teacher developing a common formative assessment process aligned with the district's goals, reteaching when necessary, and monitoring progress through formative student assessments. Students and parents are our customers. Having a customer focus applies to school board, superintendent, principals, and staff members. In the situation that we face, it is also about MANAGEMENT BY WALKING AROUND TO ADDRESS CHALLENGES AND SITUATIONS AS THEY OCCUR and collecting data to build new in-service and staff development meetings addressing our academic and instructional challenges. Continuous improvement is a habit that must become a climate and culture in educational excellence in District 227 if we are going to move our school district forward into the twenty-first century. As a former Chicago Public Schools Principal, who more than doubled the percentage of students performing at grade level in less than three years, I have also stressed and provided resources for every teacher to have an organized binder. I was reminded of this need on Tuesday as Mrs. Woods also stressed that every teacher at Rich Central High School will have an organized binder. A teacher binder could include school district goals, the teacher's individual goals for the school year, a calendar of in-service and training events, data assessment dates, schedules, lesson plans, important data on staff development, student progress data, meeting notes and the year at a glance. A Teacher binder could also include progress notes toward the goal, emergency sub plans, classroom organization ideas, etc. Most effective teachers could not imagine surviving without an organized teacher binder. In addition to each teacher having an organized binder, discussed also were the skills involved in Tier I that addresses what all students must know and be able to do. Also discussed were the reading and math initiatives with high hopes and expectations for improving students' reading and math skills. Effective school systems promote continuous improvement. Other questions school board 227 could ask itself include: What strategies and processes can boards use to promote continuous improvement throughout district 227's school system? What strategies have other highly effective school boards used to model continuous improvement? Where is this work being done well? What have been the results? Continuous improvement begins at home. We look forward to your continued valued added input and support at this evening's Continuous Improvement Planning Committee Meeting (Today, August 14, 2013 at 6:00 p.m.) at the District 227 Administrative Office, 20550 South Cicero Avenue in Matteson, Illinois 60443. Thanks for your continuing support. Other online teacher resources. www.literacydesigncollaborative.org, www.isbe.state.il.us/common_core/pdf/ela-teach-strat-read-lit-6-12.pdf David E. Morgan, Ph.D, Educational Leadership Rich Township High School District 227 Olympia Fields, Illinois 60461 |
