September 24, 2012
The School year has begun and now it is time to brush the summer dust off my weekly blog to you, staff and partners of our proud Alternative Programs. It is a best leadership practice to share some weekly thoughts on our work week ahead, every week, in our schools and programs. As you have already experienced we have an exciting year ahead for 2012-13. I am proud to report that all programs launched with a smooth start and record enrollment. Our new Superintendent, Dr. Susan Enfield, has already been out to visit you all, bringing her positive message of our shared district commitment, to know every student by name strength and need.
Thank you for your feedback on my weekly letter which I asked for last spring. I will incorporate some of the changes readers have suggested and keep firm with some of the standby elements of this blog. The blog format was appreciated by most of you. So it is, for another year my words will live at my blog spot at http://altedweek.blogspot.com. I promise you no less than 30 posts this year, each coming out early in the week so you can digest some information about the good happening in our programs for our students. This year, I will call my weekly “Monday Points”, and as suggested from your feedback, I will try my best to keep my message, short, sweet and to the point. So away we go…
Celebration Points:
We have had a great kick off to the year and I am sure you have realized a number of new faces amongst our staff. I want to celebrate and express my amazement at how quickly our new team members have settled and got right to business with our students. The new crew this year has brought a palatable sense of fresh enthusiasm and excitement to our schools. From our new Executive Director (my boss), into classrooms, and across office support, new faces and smiles have reflected a most positive energy unto us all. John, Lorri, Tamara, Kelsie, Sharon, Laura T and Laura M, welcome to the team! We are so excited you are here.
Instructional Point:
Charlotte Danielson will be the topic of choice in this section every week. I will breathe some of my thinking into points on our newly adopted Instructional Frame, one of the five priorities of our district. The beauty of having a common framework for instructional practice is that we will have an agreed vernacular with which to speak about the core of our work, great teaching. You all have been exposed to Charlotte Danielson’s (“CD” hereto fore in this blog) work in an over arching way. You may recall the Framework is made up of four (4) Domains, twenty two (22) components spread throughout the domains, and seventy six (76) elements. Each of which will give me a place to start our collegial conversation about teaching. We begin next week with Instructional Points!
Data Points:
In order to keep us focused on the importance of data throughout the year (beyond the usual fall rush of state assessments), I will share some data that you may find interesting. As we begin meeting in our new data teams this year in content areas, I look forward to seeing a lot of useful information coming across my notes. This is a new section to my weekly, so I look forward to your feedback on how it’s going. It is important we keep the data conversation on the table, and nearly all meetings. This week, I am proud to share some data straight out of our HIPP program at Woodside. In their weekly report to me, it was shared that 93% of students served in HIPP last year have successfully re-enrolled and are back at their home school this fall. That is up 7 points from 86% last fall at this time. Incredible work and congratulations to Bruce, Nancy and Dave. HIPP is doing what it was designed to do for our long termed kids, and I have no doubt it is a contributing factor in closing the Achievement Gap for our district. Go HIPP!
PCT Point
This Friday Sept. 27 is a Team Time and District Job Alike day. You pick where to collaborate! If you do not have a District Job Alike PLC, then I recommend you get together with your nearest content Data Team at your building. I will be sitting in on Data teams during PCT.
And now a hands down crowd favorite for years!
My Schedule:
Monday
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Tuesday
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Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Sept 24
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Sept 25
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Sept 26
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Sept 27
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Sept 28
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NS/CH/HP
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ERAC/NS
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NS/CH
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NS/ERAC
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NS/ERAC/CH
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M/ New Registrar Sharon
In Classrooms
Staff Goals Meetings
CHOICE Data Team
HIPP Data Team
M/Sped
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Goals Meetings
M/John ERAC
College and Career Workshop
In Classrooms
PBIS Meeting
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Goals Meetings
In Classrooms
Talk to Advisories
In Classrooms
Leadership Team
CHOICE PSO Meeting
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Goals Meetings
M/Jeanine King re: Literacy Support
Conference Call
Talk to Advisories
In Classrooms
District ALE Meeting
R&D Eval Meeting
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Goals Meetings
District Principal Steering Meeting
In Classrooms
Goals Meetings
PCT Data Teams
Goals Meetings
Monday Points
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Thank you all, for all you do. Have a great week!
Mike
