Elementary Principals Institute

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Elementary Principals Institute

• Looking Forward to the New Year
• August 8, 2005

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• It is strange perhaps to realize that most
  people have a desire to love their organizations.
  They love the purpose of their school...They
  fall in love with the identity that is trying to
  be expressed. They connect to the founding
  vision.
• Margaret Wheatley and Kellner Rogers

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Where have we been?

• Year 1
• Coaches in buildings for onsite professional
  development
• Independent reading and book bags
• Writing Workshop
• Classroom libraries
• New Standards books
• Year 2
• Avenues for English Language Development
• Guided reading
• Writing curriculum materials
• Year 3
• Writing cycles and writing rubrics
• Making Meaning

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Where We Are Now
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Where We Are Now

• Transforming professional practice for teaching
  a culturally diverse population of students
  requires continuous growth in related craft
  knowledge and the application of this knowledge
  in planning and delivering instruction and in
  developing a supportive context for learning.
• Etta R. Hollins, Culture in School Learning

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Where We Are Now

• Increase our intentionality with existing
  curriculum
• Deepen implementation through use of coaching and
  by examining best practices, lesson planning,
  and co-accountability
• Use professional learning communities to talk
  and learn collectively
• Examine assessment data and use tools to support
  learning outcomes

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Where We Are Now Best Practices

• Best practices
• Hold out the vision of effective practice
• Support teacher self-assessment in their own
  implementation
• Provide foundation for coach-teacher agree-ments
  for ongoing coaching-teaching focus
• Provide context for collaborative conversa-tions
  in team and grade-level meetings

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Where We Are Now Professional Learning
Communities
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Where We Are Now Professional Learning
Communities

• Use grade-level and leadership teams to examine
  best practices
• Determine school strengths
• Consider areas of focus
• Problem solve barriers to implementing best
  practices
• Plan staff development
• Use distributed leadership

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Where We Are Now Professional Learning
Communities

• If collective learning is the goal, my authority
  to command you to do something doesnt mean much
  if it is not complemented by some level of
  knowledge and skill which, when joined with
  yours, makes us both more effective. Summarily,
  if we have the same roles, I have little
  incentive to cooperate with you unless we can
  jointly produce something that we could not
  produce individually. In both instances, the
  value of direction, guidance, and cooperation
  stems from acknowledging and making use of the
  differences in expertise.
• Richard Elmore

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Where We Are Now Assessments

• Assessments
• Both summative and formative
• Reading assessment tools
• Status of the Class and CBLA assessments
• Progress monitoring
• Professional dialogue
• Effective instructional decision making

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Where We Are Now Assessments

• Writing assessment tools
• Writing rubricsNCEE and DPS benchmark samples
• Use for both formative and summative assessment
• Calibrate student outcomes and raise
  expectations
• Support teachers in knowing what student outcomes
  tell us about next steps
• Inform instruction

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Our Commitment to Assessmentin DPS
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Assessments

• We are committed to learning to use data
  effectively.
• We are committed to developing a process for
  using data to differentiate instruction.
• Assessment plan
• Current assessments are still the same
• Additional focus for learning to use
  progress-monitoring tools

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Assessments

• Re-authorization of IDEA requires assessments
  for
• Screening
• Diagnostic
• Progress monitoring

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• Positive images of the future are a powerful and
  magnetic force...They draw us on and energize us,
  give us courage and will to take on important
  initiatives.
• William James
• We need leadership that is tough enough to
  demand a great deal from everyone, and
  leadership that is tender enough to encourage
  the heart.
• Thomas Sergiovanni, Leadership for the
  Schoolhouse

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