During our PD day Monday we will take a look at our School Improvement Plan and Action Plan to address our Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) designation as a Targeted School. We will also take a closer look at how we will address this designation through our instruction, assessment and our grading practices.
It is very easy to get overwhelmed by the gimmicks in education and the strategies that people throw at us thinking those strategies are "the magic bullet"; my email inbox is inundated daily with gimmicks. At one point in the development of our Action Plan last year, I interjected and reminded both our Building Leadership Team and AEA staff that as leaders one of our key jobs is to protect and cushion our teachers and staff from those gimmicks and remind them of what actually works instructionally. This edition is dedicated to that exact thing - remember the SWEET SPOT and knowing what works- ignore the gimmicks.
The image at the bottom, the modified Venn which we've seen several times now, explains the connections between several high leverage practices to help visualize the "sweet spot" that CAN and WILL be achieved over time.
We are doing so many things well - Iowa Instructional Framework/GRR, Interventions/CIM and WIDE READING, Collaborative PLC Teams & Smart Goals, the Teacher Leadership positions/shared leadership etc. = this is all the right work for growing students. Now we have to monitor as teams "how do we know our efforts are working?" and "what did we do so well to make it work?" (see attachment in the image below on "lucky to leading") = KNOW OUR IMPACT as John Hattie says.
Thanks for your collective commitments to our building climate, our collaborative team culture and belief in all students; I've been in many classrooms and I see the passion and I see the high engagement level by our staff and students.
Thank you for your professionalism, your leadership, and your team work.
#DCPRIDE
