John Wink shares how you can use the "Excellence in Every Classroom" framework to leverage systems to personalize supports for every teacher. Through this book, Academy of Dallas discovered the components of creating systems of support that incorporate schoolwide professional development and digital supports, teacher team collaboration strategies (PLC's) and protocols, and individualized teacher supports (IAP's).

To ensure learning for all students, AOD has built support systems that guarantee excellence for all teachers. This resource examines the Hierarchy of Instructional Excellence, which prioritizes the order of teacher development for ultimate success.

Dr. Williams attended the Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (AIE) in San Antonio ,TX. AIE is about inspiring growth and reigniting a passion for increasing student outcomes. It is about envisioning extraordinary possibilities, taking courageous actions, and being our best selves to motivate and create expectations for continuous improvement. The call to action is to recommit to leading, teaching, learning, and excelling to create positive change that addresses the needs of all children.

Parent engagement in schools is defined as parents and school staff working together to support and improve the learning, development, and health of children and adolescents. Parent engagement in schools is a shared responsibility in which schools and other community agencies and organizations are committed to reaching out to engage parents in meaningful ways, and parents are committed to actively supporting their children’s and adolescents’ learning and development. This relationship between schools and parents cuts across and reinforces children’s health and learning in multiple settings—at home, in school, in out-of-school programs, and in the community.

Engaging parents in their children’s school life is a promising protective factor. Research shows that parent engagement in schools is closely linked to better student behavior, higher academic achievement, and enhanced social skills. Parent engagement also makes it more likely that children and adolescents will avoid unhealthy behaviors, such as sexual risk behaviors and tobacco, alcohol, and other drug use.

Efforts to improve child and adolescent health have typically addressed specific health risk behaviors, such as tobacco use or violence. However, results from a growing number of studies suggest that greater health impact might be achieved by also enhancing protective factors that help children and adolescents avoid multiple behaviors that place them at risk for adverse health and educational outcomes.