GSU Blogger - Dr. J. Kahrs

Our winter benchmark testing window opened this week and many people are feeling worries and overwhelmed. This is an assessment that is given three times a year (August, December, and May) in both ELA and Math to determine growth. Some teachers feel that little growth is shown from August to December and worry that this will have an impact on their TKES score. I have tried to assure them that this is a checkpoint that should be used to determine group placements for the spring semester and should be used as a checkpoint to determine remediation or acceleration strategies. Many feel that theyshould only test the students who are below grade-level at the time of assessment. Shouldn't we look to see for growth in all of our students? What do your schools use as a mid-year checkpoint?

I am wondering how those of you who are administrators deal with staff who are absent for long periods of time due to health issues i.e. birth of child, heart attack, etc. or death of a loved one.  The reason I'm asking is a few years ago I ended the school year early due to a scheduled surgery (Of course I waited until after the CRCT was administered).  During my time off I did not hear from administration.  This was disheartening to me.  How do you not check on your staff?!  A year later (yeah I know) I was able to voice  this concern only after my principal asked me has she ever did anything wrong.  Without reservation I informed my principal "Yes, You did not check on me when I had my surgery."  She admitted she was wrong and I was on her mind but her weakness was follow through.  I recognize not everyone wants individuals in their "business"......my question is along with everything ...

Project Based Learning On November 19th we had a PBL Exhibition day. This day was a day for students to showcase the projects they have been working on all year. Parents, reporters, county officials, community members, teachers, and other students were able to go into classrooms and see first hand students working on PBL. The students whose projects were complete brought their projects into the media center and presented. On each table was a form observers filled out to critique the presentations and offer suggestions to help improve. The students who were looking at the projects loved the fact they could leave feedback. They kept coming up to us and letting us know they needed more forms. The groups that presented all did a good job and it was nice to see the pride showing in their faces. One group presented a service based project dealing with solar panels. These 7th grade students began their project last year by brainstorming what needed to be done and how to do it. This year, t...

As a teacher, I am fully aware of trying to incorporate culturally relevant pedagogical practices from a critical race perspective in my classroom. As an aspiring leader, I want to bring those same culturally acute characteristics to my leadership practice. In my current school we have many teachers who are not aware of the challenges students of other colors bring to the classroom. I want to hear from current school leaders who have embarked on a mission to enlighten others about teaching and leading from a critical race perspective.    

Educators are leaving the profession each year for various reasons. We may soon have a teacher shortage with the new recommendations for performance pay linked to test scores. So how do we fix this problem? Do we back off of the teachers and school leaders about test scores. Do we allow teachers to sit behind the desk most days while they give their students worksheets. With the change in the standards, it not only changed what you teach but how you must teach in order for students to now be proficient. Do we not say anything to a teacher who gives her students low level assignments that don't meet the expectations of the standards to prevent critiquing their work? At the end of the day, who is being held accountable for the achievement of the students? Educators are putting students at risk of not being able to graduate, not to mention college and career ready. What will happen to a child that comes to middle school struggling in math and has a brand new 6th grade math teacher tha...

Thomas Hoerr wrote an interesting article about school restrooms and the images they portray. Restrooms are not considered safe places in some schools. They are the least supervised locations in the building. Additionally, some school restrooms are plagued with rusted pipes, chipped paint, and doors to stalls unhinged. If administrators invested time in edifying bathrooms through fresh paint, student paintings, proper illumination maybe positive changes will occur. Faculty will be more likely to supervise this normally unsupervised area and deter negative student behavior. Just a thought.

Dazed and Confused  I have recently experienced something that really bothers me. Before I began my current position, I was the media specialist. In this role I discovered my unofficial role was what I called the "bar tender" of the school. Every day I had teachers coming to me to talk about their day, their challenges, complaining, crying, etc. Fast forward to this year. I am walking down the hall the other day and a group of teachers are talking. I am in my own little "Traci" world when something they do catches my attention. One of the teachers starts talking a little loud and one of the other teachers (under her breath) goes, "Shh" All of the teachers turn and look at me and then the one talking demeanor changes and she noticeably changes the subject. While I am flattered they think I am so great at my job that I have time to "spy" for my principal, I am also taken aback that people would be be so upset I am now in a leadership position. I...

This has been a very busy month. We set a goal to have all of our 30 minute observations completed before Thanksgiving along with Mid year conferences. The Fierce conversations have lasted longer than expected, with so many questions at the same time trying to deliver information for needs improvement in a way that the individuals still have their dignity has been tough. I think we have all learned a lot from this experience. I had the opportunity of modeling lessons and strategies for teachers who need additional support. I will continue to support teachers in every way that I can.

A safe and orderly school is very important. I had the opportunity to review a number of referrals submitted by teachers this past week. Students are chronically skipping classes and going to other teachers' classes without permission. The issue I have with these referrals is that while the students are in an unauthorized area, are they really if they are in another teachers' class unbeknownst to the assigned teacher? Shouldn't the adult in the classroom send the student for a pass so the student should not receive a referral and/or be marked absent?

Our administration just finished up the mid-year TKES evaluations for all certified staff. Talk about starting a WAR! It seems as in years past, 4s were given out like candy on Halloween. Well, this did not happen with our new principal as has caused quite a fuss at work. In truth, many 4s that were handed out in years past were not deserved. This was done because the game of favoritism was played. My new principal's belief: your walk throughs and evaluations are a measurement of growth, therefore, you should receive all 4s on your first formative evaluation. Makes sense to me. Chatter quickly spread throughout the building, evaluations were shared, and emails were sent to leadership demanding their scores be changed. I never was one to share my evaluations with anyone I worked with, because I felt that it was personal and to better my professional skills and growth as an educator. What would you do if you were the new administrator and you were faced with this?

           On November 8-10 th , I had the privilege to attend the Georgia Association of Elementary School Principals 2015 Fall Conference at the Marriott Riverfront in Savannah, Georgia. This year’s theme was The Three R’s: Refocus, Recharge, Reconnect. There were so many great keynote speakers: Richard Hight, Patrick Grady, and Deborah Tyler just to name a few.             In one of the breakout sessions, I was fortunate to attend Andria Bunner’s “Praise, Praise, Praise, With a Word or Phrase! This session was awesome! It fits so well with the Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports initiative that my school will officially implement in January. Mrs. Bunner used the book, If You Don’t Feed the Teachers They Eat the Students! by Neila Connors as a framework for her presentation. She mentioned how this book contains words of wisdom and inspiration to both a...

As schools introduce multiple programs concurrently, it can become confusing for the masses. This school year, we have several programs. We are Title I, Personalized Learning, Professional Development, 4x4 and STEAM. It appears that teachers and kids are everywhere and nothing is accomplished and/or mastered. What does the research say about implementing programs to increase student achievement?

"How can I be an effective teacher in this world of technology?"  "Technology is not going anywhere no time soon."  Comments I made to myself in reflecting on things needed in order to be on my "game" with my students.  It was suggested from a colleague to go on Twitter because in her opinion Twitter caters more to specific middle school content and concerns (Pinterest has great stuff but at times can be a bit elementary school focused).  I bit the bullet and forged ahead and joined Twitter.  I'm happy I stepped outside of my comfort zone.  Twitter provides information that is trending (happening) now.  Believe it or not there are folks who share a plethora of information concerning any and everything dealing with education.  It really is a great resource for educators to explore as well as dialogue with other professionals the latest trends in the profession. By the way, if you decide to set up a Twitter account I suggest having two separate ac...

I wanted to share an accomplishment and an insight that I had this past week, which I feel should be at the heart and soul of leadership...but I'd like your thoughts. Last Thursday, I presented at a regional conference for the first time ever (Griffin RESA Drive-In STEM Conference), and it was an amazing, but somewhat conflicting experience. On one hand, it was exhilarating to share ideas and resources with other teachers and administrators from other districts (it was a hands-on, experiential, "explore & do" session). We jammed as many lesson/unit ideas as we could into one hour, let them actually create/build/test whichever and as many as they wanted to, and provided one link to all of the materials and handouts. The participants were visibly engaged, extremely complimentary, and asked many specific questions about the individual units and our STEAM program as a whole. However (this is not boasting, it's just my personal observations and perspective), some of th...

SIEP My school just started its annual SIEP. Students who struggle reading and math come one day for each subject they need help with. For example, a student who struggles in both reading and math come on Monday for reading and Wednesday for math. They stay from 4:30 to 5:30. We get them from the cafeteria at 4:30 and by the time they log onto computer and the program they are using they get started around 4:45. They have to be at the front of the school by 5:25 to catch the bus home. SIEP will continue until the Ga. Milestones is administered in April. This year we will be using Study Island for reading and ST Math for math. Study Island will start the Monday after Thanksgiving break (hopefully), so for now we are using either BrainPop or for students who have it, Read180. This is my 4th year teaching reading SIEP. The students who are in my class are very low readers according to the MAP data. As a matter of fact, some of them scored at the beginning reader level. I do not feel th...

When I was growing up, I often frequented the bus mobile, the library on wheels.  I grew up on military bases and the mobile libraries were a wonderful and convenient way to get new books to read.  When I began teaching in 2004, the library was the hub of activity in my school.  I taught a remediation class and my kids loved Accelerated Reader, racing to get to school in the morning to take an AR test, and trying to finish their work so that they could go to the library to trade in their completed book for a new adventure.  The library was also where small groups were held, children completed tutorials online, or students simply went to visit the librarian. The school where I do my practicum has a beautiful state of the art media center with a bank of 20 computers.  The ceiling is high and vaulted, there is a study room for small groups, and comfortable furniture for the students is everywhere.  But the library is not on the block rotation, and often time...

With the 2nd 9 weeks of school quickly approaching, we are creating ways to improve attendance and reduce tardies. We are implementing an incentive program for students. School is a job and will be treated as such with a salary. A salary will be determined for students based on the career they choose. As students come to school each day on time, bonus money will be added. As they miss days and come to school late, money will be deducted. At the end of each month students will be able to buy activities such computer time creating projects, purchasing a leadership position in the school etc. Other incentives will be in place to purchase with money earned. For parents we are creating workshops to have conversations about the importance of attendance and being at school on time, lunch bunch workshops to inform parents on how they can help their children at home and school etc. We started with monitoring 10 students with 10 or more absences and tardies. There is also a check in system in pl...

I am in charge of testing at Hampton High School and this covers all testing besides that SAT.  The SAT pays a stipend so unfortunately I didn't land the once test that pays to administer.  As the first semester ends I and testing is beginning to begin after Thanksgiving break I am struggling to find time to complete my formative assessments.  There is so much work and planning that has to go into setting up the testing matrix, ensuring we are all online, and making sure students requiring accommodations are provided them. Are there any other administrators who are in charge of testing at their schools?  How do you manage the time set in stone of testing and formal evaluations?

I know I may be putting the cart before the horse but i have a question concerning the interview process. As an aspiring principal what should I look forward to concerning the interview process? For example, when interviewing teachers, we often make the aspiring teacher walk us through a lesson from development to completion. Is there anything like this for aspiring assistant principals? More importantly, what should be some of the key points I should focus on?   Lastly, what were some of your best moments in the interview process?  

I also attended GaETC (Georgia Educational Technology Conference) this past week, along with several of you that I saw and probably more that I didn't, and I'm wondering if you all are feeling my thoughts...such amazing ideas, but can we really DO them? I really appreciate my position and perspective as teacher-leader because it helps me see the issues from both angles, school administrators and classroom teachers. But when I'm sitting in a GaETC session hearing the research and suggestions for doing this or that or the other, for example Erin Klein's session on redesigning classrooms to make them brain-friendly and student-centered, I can't help but side and sympathize with the teachers. I would guess that 95% of the time (my own personal guess-timation) school and district administrators would not be supportive of giving teachers the high degree of autonomy that it takes to be creative and innovative in their decision-making, much less encourage them to "take...

I had the pleasure and opportunity to attend the GASSP conference in Savannah on Monday, November 2, 2015.  It was truly very enlightening. As I walked in the room I was a little nervous...fear of the unknown seeing that I am not in an administrator role.  There were lap tops, computers, and i-pads EVERYWHERE.  I sat and I listened to what was being presented.  There were presenters about every 20 minutes plugging there school and strategies on why their school is currently being successful and what strategies brought the change.  Being a little confused on the rushed presentations I finally womaned up and asked my neighbor what was going on.  He informed me the venue was being set up like TED Talks. TED Talks!  Ohhhhhh and Duuhhhh! No wonder presenters were straight to the point. Here are a few comments from different presentations (in no particular order) I want to share: 1) If we take care of relationships, data will follow. 2) Lesson plans ar...

Ruby Payne My school had Ruby Payne come and speak about the 10 Actions to Understand and Educate Students Application of a Framework for Understanding Poverty.  It was the most amazing PD I have ever received and really hit home on so many points. She helped us understand why our students act the way they do. She spoke about how school norms are built around the dominate culture. Usually the dominate culture within a school building is middle class. This makes it hard for students of poverty to understand what is being asked of them. She touched on the differences between generational and situational poverty. She gave us 5 areas that students of generational poverty are not understood. As for difficult students, she said to ask them 2 questions. Who cares the most about you? and Who do you care the most about? If students do not mention an adult they are at risk. School staff need to ensure they find someone on staff who will spend 4-5 minutes a day with this student. S...

What is your idea of collaborative planning? I always enjoyed planning with my grade level, sharing ideas, and discussing data to drive instruction. This idea (collaborative planning) is new to my school and has many teachers on edge. Just last week, I heard a teacher say that she doesn't like posting her lesson plans or sharing her ideas because fellow teachers "steal" her ideas and thoughts. Um, shouldn't we be working together towards the common goal of student achievement and success? Starting in the spring, thanks to recent Milestone Data, the coaches (me) will be meeting every Tuesday with each grade level to collaboratively plant for the following week. We are there to serve as a resource, help provide materials, plan, and co-teach with teachers. I am hoping for positive feedback and participation on this new idea, and would welcome any support, ideas, or recent encounters with this!

It has been very interesting. I know with this program, we are supposed to be more involved than ever. Yet, I have really stepped back this year. I have always been on the go and the first to spearhead and volunteer. I have let go of the reigns to help push others into stepping up. I have been amazing and excited to see the little acts that are happening all over the school. Teachers are fundraising for the first time. We have a few working on a community event. The first in over a year. I had to listen to my own words: if you always let the alphas run the show, you will only get their results. This experience has let me see things from a different perspective, and not all of it I have liked. I feel like I am more in pulse with the school versus banging the drum. Yet the politics that I notice make me very nervous and apprehensive.

November is Parent Engagement month in the state of Georgia! What are you doing to honor and highlight the contributions parents provide at school and home to support student success?   The traditional African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” is so very true! It is important to engage parents in their children’s education. As educators, we all know that children benefit academically, socially, and emotionally when parents and educators work together. November 19th has been declared National Parent Involvement Day. Many schools across Georgia will reflect on the vital partnership needed between schools and parents. Recognition such as this goes a long way! Do not let November slip away without acknowledging your PARENTS and getting them involve. Please share ways your school gets parents involved in their children’s education.

This year my school has fully implemented Personalized Learning. One component of our Personalized Learning plan is Advisory. Advisory is designed to create a smaller community within our larger community. There is one teacher to approximately 16 students and teachers will loop with their students. This gives students a chance to have a “champion” and someone who they feel comfortable going to with anything they might need help or advice with. It will also give students a chance to bond with their peers. All certified personnel in the school participate in Advisory. Since my school is a Title One school, we are able to provide laptops for most students. While we are not 1 to 1, we are very close and students are allowed to bring their own devices. As project manager, one of my jobs is to coordinate the implementation of Advisory. For uniformity, I have been tasked with creating all the lessons. I work closely with our graduation coach, instructional coaches, teachers, professional l...

"Managing a classroom where children are actively engaged in learning,  participating in lively dialogues, and developing higher-order thinking is vastly different from managing a classroom  where children are expected to be completers of worksheets"  This is a quote that captured my attention as I read an article entitled The Responsive classroom Approach:  Good Teaching changes the Future, and they were describing the 21st century classroom. I am part of the Discipline/Responsive Schools Committee at my school and we are seeking to change the climate and culture of our school through the Responsive Schools model.  The statistics are impressive in terms of increased academic success among the students and falling discipline referrals.  In the videos that I have watched teachers give The Responsive Classroom Approach glowing reviews, and one video even uses a student mentor to describe the changes that have taken place in his urban school since t...

My principal wants to talk to me about our school culture. I am somewhat apprehensive because I know the principal in any school is one of the major determinants of a school's culture. I am not one to "sugarcoat" anything and I have decided to answer all of my principal's questions honestly. I figure if he has asked me to discuss our school culture he understands he is going to get the truth from my perspective. Is it really in my best interest to answer his questions honestly? Should I be wary of this meeting in general? As an aspiring principal, what might ne the best way to navigate this meeting?

I had the opportunity to meet Principle Kafele at the Georgia Math Conference recently. His words were empowering. He definitely has the ability to get people fired up! He always asks the question "Do you see yourself as the number one determinant of the success or failure of your students"? I did when I was in the classroom. Making sure I did whatever it took to get the kids to be successful. I don't see that same passion in some educators today. I recently heard a teacher say that they are not here to save the world and they are not going to do all of this work for other people's kids. Why did they get into education in the first place? If this is the mentality of some of the teachers in the classroom's today, the one's who impact kids education the most, who is going to see themselves at the number one determinant of the success or failure of the students? And if we are having a teacher shortage and have to keep ineffective teachers, who is going to be resp...

Okay, I've been hearing JoAnn (Dr. Brown) talking about the value and importance of leaders being very selective in the jobs/positions they take, and I intuitively understand and agree with her. However, that presents somewhat of a dilemma for me, because as an aspiring AP, I feel like I should not look a gift horse in the mouth, so to speak, and should graciously accept the first position that's offered to me.  If it so happened that I was offered two or more AP positions at the same time, then I could see where it'd be okay to be selective, but otherwise I would be reluctant to turn down any AP job.  So I'd like to ask some of you 2nd or 3rd year APs, and even veteran APs with many years, what your perspective is on this.  Here's a couple more of my thoughts about it, so you understand where I'm coming from and you can advise accordingly: I think, "It would be smart to take any AP job just to get a foot in the administrative door."  On the other hand...

How does your administration boost faculty morale? I work in a school where the climate among many teachers is very tense. It seems like no matter what my administration does, most of the teachers are never pleased. To them, participating in a team building activity after school keeps them from doing their work and puts them behind. Instead of looking at the positive and the importance of fostering relationships, many see it as doing something that is not part of their job. This is wrong on so many levels. The team building activity we had last week was meant to bring out the fun in the teachers. The PTO catered food, we were not looking at data, talking about new "best practices", or discussing the deadline for end of term grades. It was rather frustrating to listen to all of the negative comments while some of us were trying to soak up the moment of happiness. I sat back and watched my boss as he calmly overlooked and ignored the remarks made by the negative commentat...

Last week my principal asked at the one quarter mark of the year to gauge the culture and climate of our school in comparison with last year.  Being a new school in first year last year our school's administration scored very poorly on our LKES survey administered to teachers in the building in April. In the area of assistant principal's HHS only had two assistant principals last year, myself and one other.  I was able to see my results last April and the school's results so it was simple for me to see what administrator was bringing down the school results. Over the summer the other assistant principal changed positions and HHS was able to replace that position and also add another AP due to the addition of a senior class.  Now we are running with three AP's and a principal. In order to gauge the culture and climate of the school I used the same questions from the LKES survey and administered the survey to teachers returning from year one, we lost a large amount of ...

In an effort to increase student leadership at our school we have implemented a Tie Tuesday initiative where the boys come to school with ties on Tuesdays and the girls in pearls on Wednesdays. On these days the students will participate in leadership opportunities where they will do the morning announcements, be a role model for students in the lower grades and those in the lower grades take pictures with our principal and practice appropriate behaviors for their peers. So far the initiative is off to a great start. There is a sense of pride in the students when they come to school well dressed on these days. As leaders we are stellar examples of what good citizenship, respect and responsibility looks like as we visit classrooms during instruction time, as we collaborate with their teachers and parents and the community. We have the ability to influence our young leaders in many ways!

Do you agree with the Teacher of the Year nomination and selection process at your school? I am sure it varies at each school or district. Each year teachers across Georgia nominate and then vote on a teacher who should represent their school as Teacher of the Year and if selected, the teacher would become the District Teacher of the Year. This teacher would also have an opportunity to possibly serve as Georgia Teacher of the Year. At our school, the teachers can nominate up to three teachers. The top three teachers with the most votes will make it to the second round. These teachers are given a set of questions to answer in regards to their educational experiences, philosophy of teaching, results of students’ academic growth, etc. and the rest of the teachers have an opportunity to read their profile. This is where the problem lies. Some teachers are not reading the teachers’ profiles. Instead, they just vote for which teacher they “like” the most. I am curious to know what pr...

Equity and High Quality Education for Urban (All) Students was another conversation that took place pool side with my sister this past summer.  This conversation started due to our discussion about students who were not rising to the occasion and what I "thought" could possibly be the reason why.  My sister being in true administrator form gave me the third degree on what was I doing to assure success was being achieved in my classroom.  She also asked how administration felt about the situation.  I told her I didn't know their thoughts.  BIG MISTAKE.  She began drilling me that it was unacceptable not having a healthy dialogue with my administration about any weaknesses that was being demonstrated by my students as well as by myself.  (Amazing on how we allow friends to talk to us.)     Later in the discussion my sister shared she participated in a discussion with Dr. Pedro A. Noguera in Chicago....

One of the articles I read this week was on the use of a fairly new concept - the School Administrative Manager or SAM. A SAM is newly hired or reassigned from other duties within the school to manage the daily business of school for and with the principal to relieve the principal of duties that could be done by others. The ultimate goal of the process is to allow the principal the time necessary to be a true instructional leader, working closely with teachers and in classrooms on a daily basis. The SAM triages questions and problems that would normally be presented to the principal, and there is an assigned list of "first responders" who are contacted when the need arises. This practice originated in a school district in Kentucky and is partially funded and supported by the Wallace Foundation. Does anyone have a SAM at their school? What has your experience been? How long have you had this in place? Do you recommend it for other schools? http://www.samsconnect.com/

At the school where I am located, the school's leadership is preparing to roll out the responsive classroom approach as a part of our school-wide discipline plan. Currently we are studying The Power of Our Words and The Morning Meeting Book, as well as reading several articles on the importance of addressing the social and emotional learning needs of the students.  Though the reading has been interesting, the authors have addressed some challenges that educators face when instituting Morning Meeting.  I was wondering.... 1) Does anyone use Morning meeting at their school? 2) Any suggestions about the best way to roll it out to the staff?  Any lessons learned? 3) How has it affected the school climate and the academic success of the students? Thanks you for any comments and or suggestions.

As many of you have read already, some Henry County schools are looking to make the jump to personalized 1 to 1 learning. The 1 to 1 learning aspect will be used through technology and it appears to be gaining support in the county and in my school. When we were presented with this movement I had one question for my administrator: How does 1 to 1 technology based learning work with our current TKES evaluations? My administrator could not answer the question. Therefore, if any of you (administrators) are already doing 1 to 1 technology based learning initiatives, how is TKES affected by this activity?  

For my slightly belated post, I wanted to share a major project that I've been working on at my school and see what some of your perspectives are from a leadership standpoint (since I'm working it from both angles, as a teacher-leader). I'm currently spearheading a STEAM Initiative at my school, working with two other teachers to implement a STEAM program, which we will eventually seek state certification for. It's been a ton of work so far, with several mini-projects embedded within the initiative. For instance, I've suggested transforming our school courtyard, which suffers from disuse and disrepair, into an outdoor classroom and gardening center. That's required me to work with PTO to gear the school's major fundraiser towards that project, so then I had to present at PTO meetings and create a video explaining the vision. Another major part of the initiative is establishing a STEAM Week, which occurs once per month, during which time every grade level rot...

With Hampton High School entering is second year of existence the expectation now exists that we are up and running as the lead high school in the county in regards to Personalized Learning.  Our first year allowed for many teachers to take part in training and PD related to Personalized Learning but there was a great degree of turnover of staff.  With that being said many of our teachers are essentially in their first year of Personalized Learning. Our school was afforded the opportunity because of a grant to hire a Personalized Learning Manager and a Personalized Learning Coach.  The two people serving in these roles are very different when it relates to experience in education.  The Project Manager spent many years in the corporate world working for AT&T then entering the classroom last year as a teacher while the Project Coach has taught science for over 15 years and has been very successful in areas of student growth and achievement. At this point in the s...

When delivering formative assessment PD, one of the slides that was created say, students do not learn what you teach. The presentation focuses on what are formative assessments, how do we create and administer them, and why are they important. How do we know if students learn what they are taught? Formative assessments are the bridge between teaching and learning. Teachers are able to catch struggling learners and use the data from formative assessments to remediate or enrich.  Research says that formative assessments benefit low-achieving students the most. There are misconceptions in our county about formative assessments. How do we track evidence of students learning and monitor the progress over time? One of the FIP Modules in SLDS says that data should be stored for evidence. Although there are many was to do a formative assessment for learning, data should be recorded when using the data to group, progress monitor, provide accurate feedback, and plan for differentiated instr...

The new buzz (or old buzz depending on where you are located) is all about FLIPPED classrooms.  A flipped classroom is where students are able to watch lessons/instruction via video at their own pace in the comfort of their home.  Because instruction was "homework", the lecture is considered complete and teachers are able to use class time to provide practice on a concept, create activity opportunities, and answer specific questions from students.  There are many ways flipped classrooms may be utilized.  For example, my co-worker has chose to allow her students to self pace their instruction during a unit.  She pre-records videos or use a few videos from other resources.  Students have assignments and quizzes to complete.  What's neat in her class is students complete work pencil and paper, google classroom, and one on one conferencing with teacher.  Like everything else flipped classrooms has its pros and cons.  Listed ...

Are you dealing with low morale in your school or have you dealt with it before? There are many causes to low morale such as the pressure of standardized tests, very little support from administration, disrespect from students, escalating state/district expectations, and etc.   This emotional issue can lead to many problems within a school causing the school climate to plummet. Research shows that morale influences the development and success of a school. Therefore, one of the primary jobs of a school administrator is to cultivate a positive, productive school climate. Currently, there is a huge focus on school climate in Georgia. In fact, Georgia is the first state in the nation to include school climate as an early indicator in its academic accountability system, the College and Career Ready Performance Index (CCRPI).  All schools in Georgia receive a    1-5 star ratings, with five stars representing an excellent school climate, and one star representing a...