111 Honors Students

We had our annual honors celebration for our students that achieved at 3.5 GPA over at least 9 quarters of their academic career. It was a really nice evening with some great kids, but I've reached a sticking point on the fact that 111 of 205 students achieved at this level. As an optimist, I want to say that we are getting a wonderful number of students to a very high level of knowing and understanding, but reality keeps hitting me over the head.

Two things have changed to drive our numbers from 85-90 students to 100+ students. The first is our leap forward into standards-based grading. Our whole understanding of how to grade and when to grade has been thrown on its head. (I ultimately think that this is a good thing, but the factors haven't caught up with each other.) It is harder to get an A grade, but it may be easier to reach a meeting level (B) because of the clear expectations that are on the table. The second piece of the honors inflation is that we changed the criteria for receiving the award from your final nine quarters GPA to your best nine quarters GPA. Many students were receiving B and C grades during Q2 and Q3 of their eighth grade year which pulled them below the line. Many of these quarters are now being thrown out with more reliance on sixth grade quarters. This isn't a shot at the rigor of sixth grade, but much of our philosophical shift when we were learning standards-based grading was about judging students closer to the end of the learning, and this new criteria breaks from this.

In the end, it doesn't hurt anything to have 111 Honors Students, but a serious conversation about grade inflation is so overdue. Congratulations to the students last night, now let's get back to fixing the system so it is accurate and fair for the future.

One and a Half Years (1.5)

I've been reading a lot of information lately about reinventing schools that can be responsive to societal demands while maximizing relevant experiences for kids that they can be passionate about. This juggling act is under way at my new school, and I truly believe that they hold the keys to something that could truly be transformative for many other places. Certainly, there are rough edges to polish and debris to clear from the messy work of getting to this point, but the types of learning and understanding that kids truly need are sitting in front of us. There is one piece of information that I can't seem to run away from though, and this is the idea that the best teachers, the truly great ones are able to grow kids by 1.5 years in 1 year of schooling. These are the teachers that are closing the learning and knowing gap of students below proficiency and stretching the top learners to new places that they didn't think that they could go. This 1.5 years statement is a confusing one that I am trying to figure out how to discuss. What does it mean to grow a student's technology literacy by 1.5 years or have a student grow 1.5 years in social studies or science? It is easier in literacy and numeracy to measure this, but if we truly want to be a school that defines its success beyond test scores, then we really need to figure out what 1.5 years of growth means for the things that we deem as important. I want to be the leader of a place that has each teacher growing his or her students at this rate. This would be a measure of having an excellent place of learning, one that cares about kids so much that we aren't happy until we are growing minds, hearts and souls at this rate.

The Road to Obscurity

As I work through the last five weeks of my role as assistant principal, I am starting to work myself into a place of being unneeded. I have known for a long-time that it would be hard to leave the great people that I work with. They are some of the most dedicated, loving individuals that I know, but I didn't realize how much my service to the school meant to me. The work that I have done for kids, teachers, and parents means a lot to me, and though I will be able to more of this work in another place, I am starting to have some odd emotions about being irrelevant here. There are probably ten events and ten things really left on my checklist, and I simultaneously crave finishing them and putting them off. It is a sure sign that my rhythm is off. I avoid summer camp syndrome, where you promise people that you will stay in touch or that you will visit for lunch. These things happen for a short time, and then they too fade into obscurity. I wonder what the final 25 days of a jail sentence feels like, new freedom, new fears.

Life as An Event Manager

I haven't been behind the blogging desk for a while as the volume of two jobs has kept me from doing much reflecting. This time of the year I feel like an event manager. I bounce from planning one activity to the next. It is talking to people about set-ups, making programs, checking on busses, and making sure that all of the little things are right. It is an important part of the job. After many years, it is the easy part of the job, but it takes time, lots of time which leaves little time for vision, learning, and keeping my Google reader at zero. I try to live day-to-day in late April and May, but keep perspective that June allows for some breathing room. I long for more time to write, reflect, and grow, but none of this will top the beauty of seeing a kid win an event for the first time in their life at the middle school track meet. Off to the next event.

Principal as Event Manager

I haven't been behind the blogging desk for a while as the volume of two jobs has kept me from doing much reflecting. This time of the year I feel like an event manager. I bounce from planning one activity to the next. It is talking to people about set-ups, making programs, checking on busses, and making sure that all of the little things are right. It is an important part of the job. After many years, it is the easy part of the job, but it takes time, lots of time which leaves little time for vision, learning, and keeping my Google reader at zero. I try to live day-to-day in late April and May, but keep perspective that June allows for some breathing room. I long for more time to write, reflect, and grow, but none of this will top the beauty of seeing a kid win an event for the first time in their life at the middle school track meet. Off to the next event.

Master Scheduling

I'm in the process of learning a new master schedule. I'm glad that I like scheduling, and I can recognize the power that the schedule has in driving the things that are important in a building, but the shift is a difficult one. Over the last six years, I have been completely immersed in my current schedule making tweats that have impacted achievement and students' learning. I am excited to do the same in the future, but I realize that surface knowledge of how a schedule works is a dangerous place to be. You want to twist some lever, but you aren't completely sure what will come out in the end, so I am leaving well enough alone for now. I do know that my philosophy will always be that student needs drive the schedule, not scheduling tradition, so it is essential that my depth of the master schedule grows so I am ready to respond the needs of our kids quickly.

Democracy and Winning

There was a lot of tension in the air last night. Our school district had two ballot issues for the voters. One was an operating levy and the other a bond issue. In the end, we won both, and the victory will allow the positive momentum that the district has built for the last decade to continue without interruption. It was a victory for kids.

Digging into the victory brings a number of thoughts to the surface. First, it is hard to explain democracy to a five-year old. My daughter wanted to know why our neighbor had a sign opposing her school. I simply went with it is great to live in a place where all voices can be heard before the final decisions are made, but I have to admit that there were times when I wanted to tear down the sign myself.

Next, the outcome of the election rested on 60 votes out of 3000. The committee probably registered 60 new voters. The canvassers probably knocked on 60 more doors. Those that donated probably paid for 60 more fliers, and the leadership of the committee probably motivated their army of volunteers to find 60 more yes votes. The simple takeaway is individual votes do matter especially on a local level.

Finally, running these issues on the ballot during a time when the national rhetoric about what roles our government should play and how our tax dollars should be spent was very tricky. The idea that all politics are local is so often true, but the national dialogue really pushed on local elections during this cycle, and I would imagine the same will hold true in November.

P.S. Winning always feels good. The vibe for excellence can now go to the core.

Believing That All Can Learn

I finished reading this moving post by a dedicated teacher this afternoon, and it has spurred me to reflect and react. Please read the post before continuing as it is the context for the rest of my comments. http://tinyurl.com/ydpmfbx

In the next few months, I begin my journey in earnest at a school that has a poverty rate well above the school with 30% free and reduced lunch that the other blogger described in his school, but I am very optimistic that all can and will learn.

I recognize the barriers that the Mr. Ferriter describes, but I am proud of my school district for realizing the need to keep class sizes down, provide door-opening technology to all students, and focus on bringing background knowledge and new vocabulary to all in a healthy dose on a daily basis.

Nothing about teaching in a school with high poverty is easy, and it is true that the realities of life are in our face each and every day as our families try to satisfy their basic needs or have an incident that makes bankruptcy a reality. These schools do require individuals that find their work a "calling" and not a "career". A calling requires sacrifice, incredible work ethic, and a sense that the smallest steps forward for our most difficult students are the first steps on the road to success. I applaud the blogger for realizing that this working wasn't his calling, but I know that I must see this work as a calling and support my staff in this mission.

One of the most important tasks that we have in front of us to start the new school year will be to answer the question, "What will it mean to have a successful year?" I hope much of this conversation will drift into realms that lie beyond data and test scores, and we remain dedicated to the whole child and the calling that we wake up for each morning.

Professional Social Network

Lots of quality conversation has being occurring around the importance of each educator building a professional learning network, a group of people that can feed an educators need for knowledge and learning. It is clear that we shouldn't be limiting our learning to only the colleagues with which we share kids. This has led me to the challenge for myself and my teachers to build a network of at least 10 people beyond the metro area that we learn from at least once a week. This is growing easier and easier with the use of tools like: Twitter, Google Reader, and Nings.

Beyond this challenge though, I believe that there is also a need to build a professional social network, a group of people whom you share common work experiences that you can enjoy life with. For me, this has included my friends from the St. Louis Principals' Academy. Last night, 15 of us found time to gather, break bread, have drinks, and enjoy the beautiful weather outside. The night was filled with laughter, empathy for the difficulty of our work, and just plain silliness. Though it brought me less minutes to sleep, the energy from the evening has recharged my battery for the end of the year. My Professional Social Network is key to me loving what I do and remaining balance, focused, and passionate about the community of education.