Departments at Work

I hope everyone had a nice Labor Day, we certainly had beautiful weather.

It was very busy in the assessment office last week, and this week looks to be more of the same. Teachers are gearing up for the first round of assessments that will be placed into our Pearson Benchmark system. The system allows the teachers to work within their departments or grade level to analyze student, class and grade level performance. Results can be analyzed to determine weaknesses in curriculum, instruction or weaknesses of the assessment. Much of this work is accomplished during early dismissals on the first Wednesday of each month. On those days teachers work together to sift through the results to determine ways to improve learning for our students. This process is instrumental in our efforts to improve as an organization and as individual educators.

While I am currently reading several books for my ISU class, my "fun" read this week is The Homework Myth by Alfie Kohn and while I haven't finished the book, the first three chapters have given me a lot to think about. Kohn like many educational writers are asking us to question the common assumptions that we often perpetuate in education. Those items that we have kept in practice without testing the effectiveness or benefits of them. This specific book is about the practice of homework and whether homework is giving us the results that we expect. It's good to read authors that push us to think about change in our organization, however uncomfortable it might make us feel. I'm looking forward to finishing his book. If anyone has read it and has any comments about it, please post them, I would love to hear what others think about this book.

To continue with my theme from my first post, my "thanks" this week goes out to Carrie, Jessica, Tammy and Ronnie. I met with these four exceptional educators last week during department meetings. Starting a comprehensive Spanish program K-8 in the 2008-2009 school year was an enormous task. Not only did they get the program up and running last year, they have it flourishing. They work very hard to share best practices to help all of their students learn the language. The second year is going to present different types of challenges, which we discussed at the meeting. The difference is the attitude they take toward those challenges. Many people see challenges as something to sit around and complain about and people like Carrie, Jessica, Ronnie and Tammy see challenges as something that professional educators face, so they dialogue about ways to overcome the challenges. They know that complaining isn't going to help their students learn Spanish, brainstorming and coming up with solutions to fix the problems will. They are a great group of positive individuals, and we are privileged that they are a part of the CCUD#1 team, our students are certainly reaping the benefits.

Thanks for reading.
Tammy

New School Year - New Challenges

I attended the first SSCC meeting last Friday. It's a group of curriculum directors and/or assistance superintendents from many area schools that get together once a month to discuss issues and concerns. We had a representative from ACT that met with us. We discussed the focus of ACT and how it had changed from merely being a college entrance examination to being an indicator of success in the workplace as well. As educators and parents we have often lowered our expectations for the students that weren't going to college but the research is telling us there really isn't a difference anymore. In 2006 ACT published a report that showed that the skills to be ready for college weren't different than those necessary to be successful in the workforce (Ready for College and Ready for Work: Same or Different?). Our focus on standards for the students of CCUSD#1 isn't just for the state test or college admission, it's helping to prepare them for success in life.


The senior consultant from ACT also shared a new research study on middle school students. The report is called The Forgotten Middle and the data shows that "fewer than two in ten eighth graders are on target to be ready for college-level (career) work by the time they graduate from high school." We have spent a lot of time focusing on our high school students to help them meet the standards presented to them on the PSAE, but this report points out that it might be too late to try and make substantial changes by the 9th grade. The report is something we'll be looking at to make sure that we are doing everything we can to prepare our students so we aren't leaving 8 of 10 eighth graders behind before they even start high school.

In my continuing effort to be part of the solution and not the problem, my "thanks" this week goes out to Giana. Giana is a dynamic new teacher that is always looking for ways to engage her students. She not only wants to teach her students about health and fitness, she wants to change their lifestyle so that healthy living becomes a part of them. She spent countless hours over the summer meeting with her "FFL Girls" to help them stay on track during the break. She gives of her time without monetary reward because she really cares about the students. She not only talks the talk, she walks the walk. She is a constant reminder to me of why we become educators, it really is all about the students. Thanks Giana!

Thanks for reading
Tammy

Launching into Cyberspace (tiptoe actually)

Well this is my first official blog. I've "written" several in my mind while riding on my bike or walking on my treadmill but this is the first one to actually hit cyberspace.

I'm currently in the doctoral program at Illinois State University. It's been difficult but it's also been an amazing experience. This past year I've spent a great deal of time learning about leadership, and I've read many theorists on the subject. I'll probably share a lot of the things that I've learned as I continue to blog this year.

My current ISU class is focused on community relations. This subject is something very important to all of us within the CCUD#1 organization. I'm excited to spend time with colleagues in various educational institutions from all around Illinois as we learn how to better communicate with the communities that we serve. It is especially timely as it seems the old ways of communicating are quickly being replaced by various Web 2.0 tools.

One of the first books that we read this semester was a book called Leaders as Communicators and Diplomats and it has various contributing authors. One piece of information that has stayed with me all week was some information from a national study which found that "nearly half of all public messages about schools that come from school staff are negative." Which means the research found that the "most potent and unfavorable influence on the public's perception of schools are not newspapers, television, or even talk radio .... it's the school employees!" Ouch

So in an effort to be a part of the solution and not part of the problem, I'm going to use the end of my blog on each posting this year to give "thanks" for someone within the CCUD#1 organization. There are many fabulous people that work in the CCUD#1 organization so my most difficult task will be to narrow it down to only one on each posting. My first "thanks" go out to Lisa. I don't know Lisa very well except I know she's a bigger Cub fan than I am (and that's saying quite a bit). Lisa takes care of our unit office several days a week and she does a marvelous job. When I come in in the morning and she's finishing up she's always got a smile on her face, a pleasant greeting and that in turn starts my day off right. She's the kind of person that you're just better for knowing. Thanks Lisa for being a positive influence to those around you, especially those of us at CCUD#1.

Thanks for reading.

Tammy