Good Morning and Happy Friday!
Good luck to the Lady Blues and Graham Steers competing in basketball tournaments in Albany and Santo.
Kudos to Crestview Principal Amanda Townley for being a good sport. The second grade students earned the right to tape her to the wall for bringing the most items for the food drive.
Marzano High Reliability Schools (HRS)- I shared this several weeks back. The principals will begin discussing this with the staff following the holidays. We will be creating three teams- Pioneer/Crestview (need 4 teachers from each campus; Woodland/GJHS (need 4 teachers from each campus; GHS (need 9 teachers).
This past year I submitted a request to ESC 9 for our district to be included in the HRS professional development program. I recently learned that we will be afforded this opportunity. The HRS framework is not about adding a new initiative… It is about discovering best practices and providing indicators that will allow us to measure progress and increase levels of reliability related to:
- Safe and Collaborative Culture
- Effective Teaching in Every Classroom
- Guaranteed and Viable Curriculum
- Standards-Referenced Reporting
- Competency-Based Education
Based on Marzano's research districts and schools, using the framework and indicators, can drive permanent, positive, and significant impacts on student achievement by synthesizing multiple complex initiatives into one harmonious system.
Funding (approximately $75K per team) for the training is being provided by the Priddy Foundation. I am thinking that we will be establishing three ten member teams (Pioneer/Crestview, Woodland/GJHS & GHS) to participate in the 17-18 school year. If you are interested in participating in this opportunity please email me and your campus principal.
A-F Accountability System for 2017 - 18 and Beyond- Sometime over the Christmas break, the district will receive our “mock” A-F Rating. This rating will be made public sometime in January. This coming week, I will be sharing information related to this with the campus principals and they will share it with you following the break. I have created a shared folder on Google Drive that is available to all that contains information related to the A-F Rating System.
Commission of Education to Set a Permanent Scale Score Passing Standard for the minimum passing score on each 3-8 STAAR and EOC STAAR assessments.-
- The Commissioner is also proposing new names for each performance level. The proposed changes include having 4 performance levels. These levels will no longer be referred to as "Satisfactory, Final Level II and Advanced Level III". The new proposed terms are:
- Did Not Meet Grade Level: This performance category applies to students scoring below Approaches Grade Level. This performance level indicates that students are unlikely to succeed in the next grade or course without significant, ongoing academic intervention. Students in this category do not demonstrate a sufficient understanding of the assessed knowledge and skills.
- Approaches Grade Level: Performance at this level indicates that students are likely to succeed in the next grade or course with targeted academic intervention. Students in this category generally demonstrate the ability to apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar contexts.
- Meets Grade Level: Performance in this category indicates that students have a high likelihood of success in the next grade or course but may still need some short-term, targeted academic intervention. Students in this category generally demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar contexts. For Algebra II and English III, this performance level indicates students are sufficiently prepared for postsecondary success.
- Masters Grade Level: Performance at this level indicates that students are expected to succeed in the next grade or course with little or no academic intervention. Students in this category demonstrate the ability to think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in varied contexts, both familiar and unfamiliar. For Algebra II and English III, this level of performance indicates students are well prepared for postsecondary success.
- The amendment would establish the 2015-2016 STAAR® passing standard as the minimum passing requirement (Approaches Grade Level) and set the current panel-recommended standard as the benchmark indicating a higher level of satisfactory achievement (Meets Grade Level). The Level III performance standard would be renamed "Masters Grade Level" to clearly indicate advanced grade-level performance on a STAAR® assessment and articulate the relationship between each of the performance levels.
- The proposed rule change is open for public comment from December 9 - January 9, 2017. To view these proposed changes, please click here.
Raise the Praise
Raise the Praise and Minimize the Criticize is a growth mindset. Taking the positive approach is key to enhancing the morale of others. Active acknowledgement of the many positive things occurring within an organization and with individuals may be the critical factor in growing a positive culture within one's team.
One of the challenges that all educators face is learning how to praise. Often teachers have spent their entire careers looking for what is wrong, pointing out errors and focusing on mistakes. Although this is part of being a teacher, the exceptional educator looks for opportunities to find people doing things right.
Ben Bissell (1992) described five areas that help praise work.
- Authentic- Praise others for something genuine; recognize them for something that is true.
- Specific- Praise should be clearly defined or identified. The behavior we acknowledge often becomes the behavior that will continue.
- Immediate- It is vital to recognize positive efforts and contributions in a timely manner.
- Clean- For praise to be “clean” it is offered without an expectation of change and it can’t include the word “but.”
- Private- The majority of time, praise needs to be private. Many students prefer private recognition to avoid peer resentment, not being “cool”, etc.
I encourage you to find a way to praise that works for you… postcards, phone calls, emails, etc.!
Take care of yourself, have fun and raise the praise!
Corny Joke of the Day
What do reindeer hang on their Christmas trees?
(Scroll down for the answer)
Horn-aments!
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