Learning Together

Message from Troy D. Olin, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction

Teacher Leadership

Valuing and Expanding Teacher Leadership at Gates Chili

In Gates Chili, we believe that teacher leadership is fundamental to the success of our district and the advancement of student learning. By embracing a distributive leadership model, we empower our teachers to take an active role in shaping the educational landscape. Together, we foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and shared responsibility that drives both school and district improvement.

Our teacher leaders work closely with district and building leadership, as well as teams and departments, to support effective communication and alignment across the district. This includes fostering connections within and across grade levels and subject areas to ensure a cohesive and united approach to teaching and learning. They are instrumental in:

• Facilitating enhancements in curriculum, instruction, and assessments, including curriculum development, monitoring, and updates.
• Promoting and utilizing assessments and data to drive improvement.
• Supporting the consistent implementation of Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) through meaningful collaboration and reoccurring meetings.
• Leading professional learning.

Through these efforts, teacher leaders play a vital role in fostering shared leadership, collaboration, and innovation. They contribute to the continuous growth of our district and strengthen our broader educational community.

Last year, in collaboration with the GCTA, we created one-year terms for teacher leaders for the 2024-25 school year. This decision allowed us to thoughtfully enhance our teacher leadership structure to better align with district goals and support academic growth and success.

Looking Ahead
We are currently on track to finalize updates to the teacher leadership structure for the 2025-26 school year. Over the coming months, we will share detailed information about these updates and the timeline for implementation.

We are excited about the evolution of teacher leadership in Gates Chili and the positive impact it will have on our students and staff. Your contributions make all the difference, and we thank you for your dedication to this important work.

GC Data Day

As we look ahead to our second Data Day on Wednesday, Feb. 5, I want to acknowledge the incredible work that made our first-ever Data Day such a success. Your engagement, collaboration, and thoughtful feedback laid a strong foundation for the continued use of our district-wide data action protocol.

The upcoming Data Day will build on the momentum from October, providing another opportunity for us to deepen our understanding and application of data to support student growth. During this half-day event, instructional staff will:

• Use the data action protocol to develop actionable next steps.

• Analyze updated student data to identify trends and opportunities for growth.

• Collaborate with colleagues to align strategies that support student achievement.

Your reflections from the first Data Day have been instrumental in shaping the structure and focus of this event. We’ve used your feedback to refine our approach, ensuring that the time is purposeful and aligned to your specific roles.

I’m confident that our continued commitment to leveraging data will have a lasting impact on our instructional practices and help us move closer to achieving our district goal of maximizing academic achievement for every student. Thank you for your continued dedication and focus as we take this next step together.

We are looking forward to another impactful day together!

The 6-12 Literacy Committee has begun meeting regularly and working to strengthen literacy instruction at the secondary level. Our initial focus has been on the essential components of MTSS for literacy at the secondary level. Together, we have identified current practices, highlighted areas of strength, and outlined opportunities for growth within each component.

As we move forward, the committee is turning its attention to our assessment systems, a critical piece of the MTSS framework. This phase will involve learning about effective assessment practices and identifying areas where we can enhance our current systems to better support students and teachers. We are excited about the progress being made and will continue to share updates as we advance this important work.

The K-5 Literacy Team has been hard at work exploring opportunities to integrate content into ELA lessons. In collaboration with instructional coaches, the team has identified pilot groups to test some integrated units this spring. Our goal is to develop one integrated unit per grade level to be implemented during the 2025-2026 school year.

Additionally, the Grades 3-5 literacy team members and teacher leaders have supported the preparation for the implementation of CKLA Knowledge. This group recently participated in a training session with Amplify, which will guide the development of training sessions for all staff this spring.

To ensure our CKLA materials are culturally responsive, elementary librarians, teacher representatives from each building, and reading teachers will participate in a text review of the Grades 3-5 CKLA materials.

We appreciate everyone’s ongoing dedication to strengthening literacy instruction for our students!

As our 6-12 grading task force continues to work toward more equitable and consistent grading practices, one of the things we’ll be focusing on is the design and use of gradebook categories. The way we organize and weight categories in our gradebooks can send powerful messages to students about what we value in their learning and can significantly impact how their progress is communicated.

Research on effective grading practices highlights the importance of aligning gradebook categories with clear learning objectives. Categories that prioritize assessments of mastery—such as summative assessments or major projects—tend to provide a more accurate reflection of student knowledge and understanding. Overemphasizing categories like homework completion, participation, or effort can inadvertently skew grades to reflect behaviors rather than mastery of standards.

We encourage you to review and reflect on the categories in your gradebook and the weights assigned.

• How are you communicating student learning toward standards and skills?
• Talk to colleagues about the categories they are using.
• Think about whether any of your categories may overemphasize compliance or behaviors rather than learning.
• Are your grading categories weighted appropriately? Do any of them need clearer descriptions or criteria? For example, what are we measuring when we use a category like participation?
• Are there opportunities to refine your categories to better communicate student progress and understanding? How might small changes lead to a clearer and more accurate portrayal of learning?

These considerations can help ensure that your gradebook better aligns with your instructional goals.

We value your input as we explore these practices and invite you to share the gradebook categories you currently use by completing the Microsoft Form linked below. Your responses will help the task force better understand existing practices across the district and guide our work.

Beginning next Wednesday, January 22, when you log into Frontline Professional Growth you will now see a new look and have access to some new features. This update called "Blended Learning" is an improvement that will offer a more streamlined and flexible ways to create, sign up for, and manage professional learning activities.

More details will be shared next week to help you in navigate this updated version, but please reach out to Teri Marsh or Joanna Salandy in the Professional Learning office if you have trouble accessing what you need. Thank you in advance for your patience as we navigate this update to Frontline!

It is hard to believe, but our March Superintendent's Conference Day is right around the corner! Please be sure to keep an eye out from an important email from Superintendent Dailey on Monday, January 27th, and look for the conference day brochure in mailboxes Thursday, January 30th!

Congratulations to Kim Cleveland, Beth Larter, and Tricia Snyder who were the first three to respond to last month's riddle correctly.

If you know the answer to this month's riddle, click HERE to submit your answer. The first three (3) people who answer the riddle correctly will receive a special prize in their mailbox next week!

Good luck!

Riddle: I am a mother and a father, but have never given birth. I’m rarely still, but I never wander. What am I?