The Bulletin
Division of School & District Effectiveness
April 2016
"Advancing leadership -- Transforming schools"
Purposes
The SDE Bulletin: to provide regular, timely information to increase the shared understanding of our team of School & District Effectiveness professionals
Our Shared SDE Purpose: to increase collective leadership capacity to understand what effective schools and districts know and do, and to support the leaders to own their improvement processes
Previous Editions of The Bulletin
August 2014- https://www.smore.com/700mx
September 2014- https://www.smore.com/huyyh
October 2014- https://www.smore.com/std20
November 2014- https://www.smore.com/09uva
December 2014/January 2015- https://www.smore.com/09uva
February- https://www.smore.com/hrzfv
March 2015- https://www.smore.com/6wsrq
April 2015- https://www.smore.com/9vbmj
May 2015- https://www.smore.com/gwjuk
June 2015- https://www.smore.com/4suf4
July 2015- https://www.smore.com/kk5zr
August 2015- https://www.smore.com/uek4p
September 2015- https://www.smore.com/puabs
October 2015- https://www.smore.com/thryq
November 2015- https://www.smore.com/72hzp
December 2015/January 2016 - https://www.smore.com/85x7g-the-bulletin
February 2016 - https://www.smore.com/4dygw
March 2016 - https://www.smore.com/jukha
This Month
The Focus of our Work
It's interesting to look through this Bulletin and spot a thread that runs through it: the job of educators (including us) is to empower others to do the right work, and the way to do that is to plan for and build a structure within which they do the right work. Empowering does not mean just letting go, taking a chance that things will all work out. That's an invitation to chaos. Empowering means gradually relinquishing the ownership of the work to those who should be doing it, growing them to work in and on the work systems to improve them. So below you will read about systems-thinking, the balanced leadership framework, SESI, UDL, PLCs, etc.
I recently read an article entitled Accelerating How We Learn to Improve by Anthony Bryk. In this article he states, "Rather than believing that the route to improved outcomes is to continually add new programs..., [we should] focus first on increasing our understanding of the work systems that are creating unsatisfactory results. For it is in this ability to see the system that meaningful progress often depends."
Do we know the work systems in schools and districts (do we see the systems)? Do we look at them from the leadership perspective? Do we know how to work with collaborative teams to improve those work systems? The more we can say yes to these questions, the more our customers will improve.
From Areas/Regions
Phillip Luck, North; Sam Taylor, Metro; Patty Rooks, South
On March 15th we had a great day of learning at our SDE PL in Macon. We received an update on ESSA and the direction for our division. Two of the areas highlighted were Balanced Leadership and Professional Learning Communities (PLCs).
Our study of Balanced Leadership will be based upon the McREL research. McREL identifies the high impact practices of effective leaders. These practices will allow us to have a common lens of understanding of what Balanced Leadership is and looks like as we work with schools and districts. We will have a selected group that will be trained by McREL to serve as Balanced Leadership trainers. These trainers will be available to provide Balanced Leadership training to school and district leaders, as well as new staff members within the regions.
Another highlighted topic was PLCs. Dr. Jasmine Kullar, principal of Pine Mountain Middle School in Cobb County, led us in a great discussion which provided a clear understanding of what PLCs are and how using PLCs has positively impacted her school. We look forward to continuing our study of PLCs as a framework for collaboration for our work within SDE, as well as our work in supporting schools and districts.
Our focus continues to be building the capacity of leaders at the district and school levels. Thus, we are very excited about the upcoming learning opportunities and the direction of our division as we move forward in our continued support of districts and schools.
From the Atlanta Support Office
Professional Learning Support
Christy Jones & Andrea Cruz
Professional Learning Tidbit
At our March SDE PL, we focused on Systems Thinking. Listed below is one of many articles centered around Systems Thinking. Please use the link below to access a variety of articles on Systems Thinking for School System Leaders.
Moving as One in the Same Direction
By Mark Keen
Systems thinking requires an analysis of the various parts of an organization and how those parts impact results. Knowing what impacts results is how improvement can occur.
Doug Reeves of the Center for Performance Assessment has developed an excellent Leadership and Learning Matrix that shows a relationship between antecedents of excellence and organizational results. He divides these into four quadrants: Losing (don’t know why you are getting the results you are and don’t know what to do); Learning (know why you are getting the results but don’t know how to get better); Lucky (getting good results but don’t know why); and Leading (getting good results and know why and how to get better).
I’ve found Reeves’ framework to be highly applicable to school system leadership. As my district has progressed along the systems journey, we’ve been fortunate to have begun in the Lucky quadrant and moved more and more into the Leading quadrant. What has that journey been? In 1996, Westfield Washington Schools had four schools and 2,400 students. In 2007, there are eight schools and 5,300 students, with this level of growth projected to continue. As the new superintendent in January 1997, I recognized this marked growth would need to be addressed effectively.
The school district was building schools but was not ready to effectively deal with growth in any other way. Hiring was totally decentralized. Each building principal screened, interviewed and recommended individuals based on his or her own criteria, usually hiring people who had worked as instructional assistants for a year or two. Realizing that with the coming growth, many additional teachers would be needed, we instituted a
structured interview process where everything flowed through the central office. Applications were screened using the same criteria. Those selected were given the same questions at their first interview. Those candidates whose responses most closely mirrored what we wanted in teachers then went through the building interviews.
This was a critical component for the district’s future as we realized we would be hiring the teaching staff for essentially the next 30-35 years. We had to ensure a consistent standard of excellence. The district will spend more on salaries over the life of the building than on the building itself, yet more attention usually is given to the design of the building than to the staff inside.
A Team Approach
Next we looked at curriculum development. Until then, curriculum was designed at each level and then put together with little regard to how well the pieces connected. We changed that to a K-12 team approach so the various levels could align standards within subject matter to ensure continuity, avoid gaps and/or repetition and ensure not too much was expected to be covered in any one grade level or subject. Fortunately at this time, software on the market enabled us to expedite this process. We still use
this software today as it incorporates state and national standards as well as professional association work, such as the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics recommendations, and information from the national standardized testing providers.
For a time, that was all we did.
The 1990s was a time for site-based management and a focus on schools, not school systems. It wasn’t until we went to a meeting with the Schlechty Center for Leadership in School Reform that we really began thinking about systems and how systems and
their interaction affect student learning. The work we did with the Schlechty Center allowed us to think about ourselves as “a school system” rather than “a system of schools.” We had to look at how the systems functioned and how we could increase our effectiveness. We developed a focus on student engagement, a districtwide focus that endures.
Continuous Adjustments
Our indicators of student growth over the past five years have shown an upward trend. However, we knew going from very good to great would require an extra push akin to losing the last five pounds to reach a weight goal. We broadened our understanding by taking a look at the Baldrige criteria and working with consultants from the AASA Center for System Leadership.
Through this work, we’ve maintained our focus on student engagement while transitioning as much as possible from a bureaucracy to a learning organization. We set up data points to measure and adjust along our continuous systems journey. Our supportive board of education members worked with administrators, using the McREL research connecting superintendent leadership to student achievement, to craft what I believe is a manageable process for moving our district to the top echelon of student achievement. The only way this will happen is if all systems within the organization are aligned to the same end.
A leadership design team within the district monitors the systems and analyzes the systems, making adjustments when necessary. We have linked our strategies, objectives and action plans to ensure all are aligned to our vision and our mission. How we do this can be seen on our website (www.wws.k12.in.us).
For a systems approach to have maximum impact on student learning, all key players must work together as a team and look for developmental activities that build the team. There is a greater potential for success when people work together. We don’t need to think alike in development but think together when a direction is established.
Mark Keen is superintendent of the Westfield Washington School District, 322 West Main St., Westfield, IN 46074. E-mail: keenm@wws.k12.in.us
Source: http://www.aasa.org/privateAssets/0/76/380/05888f8b-88aa-4290-b260-5a36b7cc54b1.pdf
Principal-to-Principal Webinar Series
Thank you to everyone for encouraging Principals in your schools to attend the Principal-to-Principal Webinar Series. The recording and supporting documents are located on the right-hand side of the SDE Professional Learning webpage. Please share this with any of your schools and districts who might benefit. The schedule of upcoming dates and topics is below. If you know any principals who would be strong presenters for the June webinar, please email Andrea Cruz at acruz@doe.k12.ga.us.
Date and Time
Topic and Related Georgia School Performance Standard
April 13, 2016
10:00 A.M.
Monitoring implementation of the school improvement plan (Planning and Organization Standard 3)
May 11, 2016
10:00 A.M.
Evaluating and improving school culture (School Culture Standards 1-5)
June 8, 2016
10:00 A.M.
Summer Planning: How do effective principals use their summers to prepare for the upcoming school year?
Operational Support
Cindy Popp, Region Resources
IT Updates Webinar, Friday, April 1, at 9:00.
I would like GaDOE and RESA staff to share their experiences with the IT Academy, the Microsoft Tutorials, and SESI.
GaDOE staff – please try one Microsoft IT Academy course.
GaDOE and RESA staff – please review the Microsoft online tutorials, https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Office-Training-Center-b8f02f81-ec85-4493-a39b-4c48e6bc4bfb.
GaDOE and RESA staff – please go to the SESI webpage and click on the image to access the SESI document, which provides a wealth of tools and resources aligned to the School Improvement Process, http://www.gadoe.org/School-Improvement/School-Improvement-Services/Pages/System-for-Effective-School-Instruction.aspx.
Website Review
I want to give a big thank you to everyone for sending me suggestions on how to improve our webpages and to the Focus Group that worked on our webpages at the SDE PL. Please continue to review the GaDOE website, especially the SDE webpages, and let me know of any changes that need to be made. Your input is highly valued and appreciated.
North Area, Metro Area, and South Area Webpages
- We would like your help with creating these webpages. Please consider what you think would be beneficial from your schools’ or districts’ perspectives and send your suggestions to me. The program managers will review the suggestions. Some ideas from our Focus Group are:
- Area/Region Events and Conferences
- Upcoming events specific to each Area/Region
- Link to the Events and Conferences webpage to access past events’ presentations that are relevant statewide.
- Area/Region Specific Professional Learning Presentations and Handouts
- Thus far this year, our Division has provided 507 professional learning opportunities through events such as the statewide ILC, Area ILCs, and Region Support meetings. The district effectiveness specialists and school effectiveness specialists have provided individualized professional learning opportunities to their school and district leaders. In addition, the RESAs have provided numerous PL opportunities for their school and district leaders. We want to be able to share presentations and handouts from all these PL opportunities.
- District Resources Information
- School Resources Information
- Direct links to the RESAs serving each Area.
- Direct links to the GLRSs serving each Area.
- Direct link to the Principal’s Portal (MyGaDOE Portal)
- Templates and forms
- Principal-to-Principal Webinar Series link
- Priority Schools Monitoring Dates
- Other ideas???
Current Topics Webpages
We would like your help with creating these webpages so that school and district leaders will have a one-stop shop as a starting point to find out about trending issues. Please conduct research regarding the information below and send your suggestions to me. We would like each page to have a similar feel. One suggested layout for the Current Topics webpages and that you may use to guide your work would be:
What is this? What is the background on it?
How does this work? Why are we creating this webpage to address this topic?
What tools and resources would be good for this webpage?
What does research suggest about this topic?
How does a school/district implement strategies to address this topic?
The topics for which we are planning to create webpages are:
- Poverty – How does poverty affect attention, learning, behavior, etc.?
- English Learners – What are some strategies to help with this? For example:
- Push-in
- Pull-out
- Behavior – PBIS
- PLCs – Collaboration (Solution Tree)
- Shared vision
- Shared practices
- Collaboration
- Shared learning/practices
- Focus on results
- Response to Intervention (RTI)/ Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS)
- Leadership
- Instructional
- School and district level
- Transformational leadership
- 1st and 2nd order change
- Attendance How does attendance affect attention, learning, behavior, etc.?
What's new with the System for Effective School Instruction (SESI)?
SESI will now become part of the monthly IT Updates Webinars. Dawn Ashmore and her team will discuss changes and highlight different tools and resources found in SESI. The goal is to provide an opportunity for all the SDE and RESA staff to become better acquainted with SESI so that you can share the valuable information with your school and district leaders. A heartfelt thanks goes out to the team of SDE specialists who provided feedback on SESI during our recent professional learning day. The team reviewed each strategy and the corresponding resource links for alignment and appropriateness. Suggestions for additional resources were made along with identifying inactive links. The editing process is underway and an updated version will be available in mid-April. Priority and Focus Schools can now access SESI through QCIS! Principals, process managers, district support personnel and SDE/RESA specialists can now find a link to SESI on the school's "My Dashboard" page under the "Docs & Links" tab. Unfortunately, the Leadership Team login does not provide access to these same resources. Please be sure to share the location of this new link with your schools and provide guidance on using the "Self-Assessment Checklist" to assess, develop, implement, and monitor their own written instructional system.
Gary Wenzel, Operations
Award of Grants: The Title I, Part A, Section 1003(a) grants are awarded for the 2015 – 2016 school year. The expectation is that you use all funds awarded this year during this school year and summer 2016. All funds must be expended no later than September 30, 2016. There is no carryover of the FY16 funds.
All 1003 (a) budgets have been developed by the school principal, the school leadership team, and the School Effectiveness Specialist (GaDOE SES with Priority Schools, RESA SES with Focus Schools), and imported by the district Title I Director into the Consolidated Application for approval, with the school Justification of Expenses signed by the principal and SES attached in the Consolidated Application. All FY16 1003 (a) budgets have been approved, and drawdowns are being made as purchasing orders are filled and goods and services are received by the schools.
In order to ensure compliant and timely spending and drawdown of federal funds, the following milestones have been established:
By March 30, 2016, each LEA expends at least 60% of its awarded Title I, Part A, 1003(a) funds
- By May 30, 2016, each LEA expends at least 80% of its awarded Title I, Part A, 1003(a) funds
- By September 30, 2016, each LEA must have expended 100% of its awarded Title I, Part A, 1003(a) funds
Feedback will be provided to LEAs in terms of percentage of drawdowns at each established milestone related to spending.
Federal Support
Karen Suddeth and Melvina Crawl- SIG/1003(g)
Cohort 3 (July 1, 2013-September 30, 2016)
Bibb County
Matilda Hartley Elementary School
Westside High School
Fulton County
Frank McClarin High School
Gwinnett County
Meadowcreek High School
Quitman County
Quitman County High School
Twiggs County
Twiggs County High School
Wilkinson County
Wilkinson County High School
Cohort 4 (July 1, 2014-September 30, 2017)
Atlanta Public Schools
Frederick Douglass High School
Bibb County
Southwest Magnet High School and Law Academy
Dougherty County
Dougherty County Comprehensive High School
Monroe Comprehensive High School
Muscogee County
Fox Elementary School
Jordan Vocational High School
William H. Spencer High School
FISCAL REMINDERS
Drawdowns:
Please be reminded that the monthly deadline for drawdowns is the 20th of each month and the expectation is that drawdowns be taken monthly. The drawdown is to include all SIG expenditures from the previous month. Both the LEA and the SEA monitoring should reflect the level to which these expectations have been met. It is important to note that the timeliness of drawdowns is a critical factor when considering the recommendation for continued funding. The remaining goal for FY16 is to drawdown at least 70% by May 20th.
Expenditure of FY16 Funds
For those SIG schools that fail to meet the May 20th deadline for 70% drawdown of the budget, an Expenditure Plan for the remainder of the FY16 funds will be required. The plan must include a narrative for expending the remaining funds, as well as a budget and financial timeline. In addition, a back-up plan should also be prepared for incentives/rewards and unspent funds. The plan will be due to Melvina Crawl and Karen Suddeth no later than June 3, 2016. All FY16 grant expenditures must be encumbered by September 30, 2016 and paid by October 31, 2016.
An email will be sent to the districts explaining the Expenditure Plan requirements. The district must obtain signatures from the Superintendent (not a designee), Principal and SIG Coordinator/Administrator attesting to the plan for expending the remaining FY16 SIG funds.
SIG Program/Budget Amendments
Changes to the SIG budget and/or program require an approved SIG program/budget amendment. Please note, the final date for the submission of amendments for the FY16 budget is August 5, 2016.
Cross-Functional Monitoring
With the exception of Fulton County and Wilkinson County, all Cohort 3 and Cohort 4 SIG districts will receive a Cross-Functional monitoring this year, which will include fiscal monitoring for 1003(g) SIG. The remaining dates for the Cross-Functional Monitoring are as follows:
Twiggs County (SIG only) – April 7, 2016
Dougherty County – April 12-14, 2016
LEA Monitoring of SIG Schools
This year LEAs with SIG Cohort 3 and/or Cohort 4 schools will be responsible for submitting three (3) LEA Monitoring Reports in QCIS/Indistar for each of their SIG schools. The format and content of the monitoring report allows the SIG Coordinator, in collaboration with key leaders at the district level, to assess the level of progress of the LEA/school in implementing the SIG indicators.
The electronic LEA Monitoring Report forms can be accessed from the District Dashboard and are to be completed and submitted within QCIS/Indistar. The third LEA Monitoring Report is due April 30th.
In the event that an indicator is either not progressing at an expected rate or not evident, an interim or “follow-up” LEA monitoring of those indicators is required and submitted in QCIS/Indistar utilizing the appropriate LEA “follow-up” Monitoring Report form. If all indicators are either progressing at an expected rate or fully implemented, completion and submission of the “follow-up” Monitoring Report form is not required.
2015-2016 Reward Incentives Plan
The approved 2015-2016 Reward Incentives Plan is to be uploaded as a document in Indistar. Please be certain your school has uploaded their 2015-2016 Reward Incentives Plan in the Reward Incentives Plans folder in their “file cabinet,” removing any notations such as “Pending” or “Draft” from the document. Additionally, ensure that funding for the Plan is included in the school’s budget.
Please be reminded that the process by which the 2014-2015 Reward Incentives Plan was determined, as well as the calculations using the equipercentiles, must be submitted to the leads and forwarded to Karen Suddeth and Melvina Crawl for final approval prior to payment of rewards or incentives attached to academic achievement for SY2015.
Sustainability
Cohort 3 SIG schools and districts worked with Dr. Sheryl Turner (RMC) who delivered the second institute of sustainability training on February 4th and 5th. The plans developed by Cohort 3 schools and districts should assist in driving the school improvement efforts beyond the final year of the grant.
An announcement regarding an application process for sustainability funding for Cohort 3 was made in early March and is still pending approval from the U.S. Department of Education. Once approval is provided, the Sustainability Applications will be distributed to schools and districts.
ESSA Spotlights Strategy to Reach Diverse Learners
Christina A. Samuels
Sprinkled throughout the newly reauthorized version of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act are references to an instructional strategy that supporters think has enormous potential for reaching learners with diverse needs.
The next thing to do, those proponents say, is getting more educators to understand just what it means.
Called universal design for learning, or UDL for short, the strategy encompasses a wide set of teaching techniques, allowing multiple ways for teachers to present information and for students to engage in lessons and demonstrate what they know.
A universally designed lesson, for example, might include audiovisual components, illustrations, traditional lectures, enlarged print, or glossaries so that students can have easy access to unfamiliar terms. Universal design for learning also encourages students to use a variety of techniques, such as group projects, multimedia presentations, drawings, or music.
Within the Every Student Succeeds Act, the latest update of the ESEA, Congress said that states should adhere to principles of universal design for learning as they develop student assessments. The law also calls for states to create plans for comprehensive literacy instruction and to incorporate universal design for learning principles in those plans.
ESSA also says that federal money can be used for technology that supports the strategy.
Universal design for learning is for any student. But it is seen as particularly important for students with disabilities, English-language learners, and others who might struggle with more traditional methods of teaching and testing. It also makes an appearance in the Higher Education Act of 2008, which defines the term and provides guidelines for how its principles can be incorporated into teacher training.
Wide Application
The recognition of the approach in the new law is spotty, said Nancy Reder, the co-chairwoman of the National UDL Task Force, a coalition of some 50 organizations that are promoting more widespread adoption of universal design for learning methods.
But the group will take it, she said.
"What we had hoped for is that UDL would be something that could be mentioned, not just on the assessment portion [of the law], but on things you can do with the money. We didn't get that," she said.
But the organization sees the mentions as an acknowledgment of how important it is to embrace strategies to reach all learners, said Reder, who is also the deputy executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Special Education.
Sean J. Smith, a professor of special education at the University of Kansas and an expert in technology and universal design for learning, also supports the attention if it leads to a greater understanding of the practice. Though UDL has been a defined practice since the 1990s, Smith says that many people still don't have a deep understanding of the approach and how it can work in their classrooms.
What's important for educators to understand, Smith said, is that UDL is not a piece of technology, even though technology can support the practice. Universal design for learning is also not a pre-packaged curriculum, though curriculum developers are embracing new ways of presenting information. Rather, it is an educational process that weaves itself throughout a school, he said.
"The places who are doing it well, they're looking at their textbooks, how to design their classrooms, how to design their day. You could go into a room and think, 'Ah, this looks different,' " Smith said.
Drawing on Architecture
Universal design for learning intentionally harks back to the architectural concept of universal design, which proposes that products and the built environment should be accessible to the largest number of people, without the need for adaptation. Universally designed products and architecture include items such as automatic doors that are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs, lamps that can be operated without switches, or automatic teller machines that provide audio as well as visual cues.
UDL operates under the same philosophy that lessons should be created so that they can reach the most children.
What Is Universal Design for Learning?
Universal design for learning, or UDL, is an instructional framework that supports flexible ways for educators to teach lessons, as well as multiple ways for students to demonstrate what they know. The goal: to reach all learners, including students with disabilities and English-language learners. And it’s making big inroads in regular education classrooms as well. Some examples:
Lesson Components
Instructional videos accompanied by scripts and closed-captioning for students who need those supports.
Illustrations, simulations, images, or interactive graphics to support or replace information normally provided by plain text.
Outlines and graphic organizers to help students organize key ideas and relationships.
Key information presented in a student’s primary language, such as Spanish or American Sign Language.
What Students Can Do
Develop their own goals for learning, broken down with teacher support into short-term objectives.
Complete assignments that are alternatives to traditional essays and tests, such as illustrations, songs, or PowerPoint presentations.
Use assistive technology such as spellcheckers, text-to-speech software, or calculators.
Take part in self-assessment strategies such as role-playing, video reviews, and peer feedback.
Source: National Center on Universal Design for Learning
Often, teachers may be using elements of universal design for learning without recognizing it, said Michael Hodnicki, the instructional coordinator for secondary language arts for the Cecil County, Md., school district. But central office support is essential to making it a systematic practice, he said.
Cecil County, a district of 16,000 students northeast of Baltimore, was one of four school districts around the country that participated in a Gates Foundation-funded project funded to support UDL.
For Cecil County, that project came around the time that the district was embarking on a curriculum rewrite.
"It enhanced our philosophy on how we address learning variability," Hodnicki said. "It gave us a mechanism and a set collection of principles and tenets of how teachers need to think about the learners in their classroom, all needing different pathways for learning."
The Cecil County district uses the strategy to give teachers a "performance task" framework that offers students several different ways that they can demonstrate that they grasp a particular topic.
"Teachers are excited about those kinds of things because they are different. They're not reading 100 essays," Hodnicki said. "One thing I have heard is that submission of assignments has increased as an result. Some of this is going to be a novelty, but we know that we can't assess a kid ... if they're not submitting their demonstration of understanding."
Plus, teachers are learning more about their students this way, Hodnicki said. "They get to see where students would prefer to put their energy."
The Bartholomew Consolidated school system in Indiana is another district that participated in the grant to enhance UDL practices. George Van Horn, the director of special education for the 11,500-student system, said an essential element of universal design for learning is understanding what every lesson is supposed to be about.
Take, for example, a lesson on the causes of the Civil War. If a teacher requires a student to write an essay on the topic, then two outcomes are being mixed—demonstrating knowledge of the Civil War, and demonstrating an ability to write an essay. A student who struggles to write an essay, for example, could still have a deep understanding of the Civil War, but just needs another way to show that.
Thinking Differently
But it's not always easy to talk educators out of believing that there are only a few best ways to teach a lesson and or deliver an assignment, Van Horn said.
"We're still having those conversations," Van Horn said. Teachers still wonder "if I don't do a test or if I don't assign an essay, am I really assessing?"
However, the district is not eliminating more traditional forms of teaching, he said. For example, one school has created a rotation where students get large group instruction. "We have to keep that built in, because that's part of the real world," he said.
Courtney Rushton, a 1st grade teacher in the Bartholomew district, said that universal design principles extend to the way her classroom is set up. Children can sit at regular desks, a standing desk, or on yoga balls.
"My high-energy kids may not want to sit all day," she said.
Once, an administrator visited her classroom when a student was sprawled on Rushton's desk. During the lesson she asked the student a question. He nailed it, Rushton said.
"The key part is letting go and knowing that it's okay and they're still going to learn," she said. "I have found over the past three years that I've been here that the more that I let go and give control to my students, the more success that I see in the classroom."
Upcoming Meetings & Events
Principal-to-Principal Webinar Series
Wednesday, Apr 13, 2016, 10:00 AM
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Your GaDOE SDE State Leadership Team
North Area
Area Program Manager- Phillip Luck
Area Program Assessment Specialist- Wendell Christian
Northwest Region:
District Effectiveness Specialist- Terri Gaspierik
Lead School Effectiveness Specialist- Amy Alderman
Northeast Region:
District Effectiveness Specialist-
Lead School Effectiveness Specialist- Kali Raju
Metro Area
Area Program Manager- Sam Taylor
Area Program Assessment Specialist- Mike O'Neal
Metro West Region:
District Effectiveness Specialist- Diana Forbes
Lead School Effectiveness Specialist- Lyn Wenzel
Metro East Region:
District Effectiveness Specialist- Iris Moran
Lead School Effectiveness Specialist- Paula Herrema
South Area
Area Program Manager- Patty Rooks
Area Program Assessment Specialist- Keith Barnett
Southwest Region:
District Effectiveness Specialist- Deborah McLendon
Lead School Effectiveness Specialist- Steve Olive
Southeast Region:
District Effectiveness Specialist- Darrel May
Lead School Effectiveness Specialist- Paula Cleckler
Atlanta Support Office
Program Manager- Joann Hooper
Director- Will Rumbaugh