Rising with Excellence & Purpose

Could you feel the energy emanating from Benson Polytechnic High School this week? We just wrapped up our annual Leadership Institute, an incredibly productive and valuable event when district, building, and teacher leaders come together to learn from one another and collaborate on all the ways we will be lifting up and centering our students in the new school year.

At the institute, I had the privilege of speaking about excellence and purpose. As educators, we are called on to promote, aspire to, and embrace excellence: excellence in our curriculum, excellence in our instruction, and excellence in student achievement.

By aiming high – and doing so with determination and purpose – we create a compelling vision based on shared strategy, genuine collaboration, and high-quality professional learning. When we make excellence the foundation of what we do, we demonstrate for our students that the sum of us is greater than any one of us. We must be bold enough to dream wildly for them, and be determined enough to build the systems they deserve.

All across our district, our city, and our state, we are constantly being called to action. And too often, we are met with doubt — doubt in our ability not just to educate, but to accelerate; doubt in our ability not just to support, but to uplift; doubt in our ability not just to teach, but to transform lives.

We are transforming lives, and I have proof. Here’s just a small snapshot of some of the amazing strides our schools communities made in the past year:

• Harriet Tubman Middle School: 13% improvement in math and 10% in ELA in OSAS scores

• Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School: 70% growth in MAPS scores

• Evening Scholars: 600 courses completed by over 1,100 students with significant gains in credit recovery

• Markham Elementary School: 23% improvement in fourth-grade OSAS scores

• Rigler Elementary School: 15% improvement in fifth-grade OSAS scores

• Advanced Placement program: 5,608 exams completed (the most in PPS’s history)

• Career Technical Education (CTE): over 12,000 participating with more than 95% graduating on time with their class

• 450 CTE students earned an industry recognition credential

• Dual Credit program: more than 5,000 students enrolled

• District-wide: Overall attendance up for all subgroups

These are just a few examples of the great work happening in our schools every day. We will continue to build on these wins for the good of our students.

I want to close with the inspiring words of one those students. I invited Grant High School sophomore Gio Calandrella to deliver a new original poem at this year’s Leadership Institute after watching his incredible performance at Verselandia in May.

Gio took us all on a funny and moving journey through his first and last Pacer Test and he finished by this posing this important challenge for everyone in the room: “How are you going to keep rising? Wait. Don’t tell me. Teach me. Lead me. Because if together we rise toward the same sky with the same pride, then there is nothing that is out of our reach.”

Together, We Rise.

Dr. Kimberlee Armstrong