Important Dates
December
- Dec. 3 - ACIP Check-In...J.F. Shields...9:00 am (virtual)
- Dec. 3 - ACIP Check-In...Martin Luther King Jr....10:00 am (virtual)
- Dec. 10 - Turnaround Academy - District Leaders...9:00 am (virtual)
- Collaborative Walkthrough Schedule
- OSI Principal Calendar (make a copy and personalize your calendar)
January
- Jan. 28 - Turnaround Academy - Principals...Highland Gardens Elementary, Montgomery
- Collaborative Walkthrough Schedule
- OSI Principal Calendar (make a copy and personalize your calendar)
Principal Turnaround Academy - November 19 (virtual)
Thank you to all the school leaders who joined us for Turnaround Academy Session 3 this week. Your engagement and dedication to improving outcomes for our students are truly inspiring!
We’re excited to share the presentation slides from the session to help you implement the strategies we discussed. Remember, our collective goal is to ensure that the activities outlined are completed before the holiday break. This will allow us to make bold, data-driven decisions that positively impact our students when they return in January.
Key Action Steps:
- Mid-Year Data Analysis Protocol: Collaborate with faculty in November and December to analyze student performance and identify necessary adjustments to schedules, supports, and professional development.
- State Report Card Analysis: Review and discuss findings with your teams to guide next steps.
- Attendance Tracker: Update attendance data through January, identifying students with 12 or more absences and planning targeted interventions.
If your district has an existing protocol for mid-year data meetings, please align with that format while incorporating these steps.
As always, our team is here to support you. Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or for assistance!
Leading with VITALity: Key Strategies for Sustained School Success
In one of our recent Turnaround Academy meetings, the question was asked, "How do we sustain these practices once the Turnaround initiative ends?". Obviously, leadership is VITAL to sustained improvement. More specifically, leadership in these five VITAL areas based on research from the Center on School Turnaround (CST).
1. Vision
A clear, inspiring vision is central to sustaining progress. Goals are created to help staff see movement toward the vision they aspire to become. This process helps build enthusiasm and collective commitment to ongoing excellence in teaching and learning.
2. Inspiring Teachers
Teachers are pivotal to a school’s success. Principals must identify and leverage individual strengths, foster a professional culture of growth, and manage talent proactively. This includes providing recognition, addressing performance issues, and creating leadership opportunities for teachers to share expertise and drive organizational improvement.
3. Teacher Development
High-quality instruction requires leaders to set ambitious standards while supporting teacher growth. Leaders design professional learning opportunities tailored to teachers’ needs, facilitate collaboration, and encourage data-driven decision-making to improve student outcomes. Recognizing and celebrating progress further reinforces a culture of excellence.
4. Achievement for ALL
Equity in education underpins sustained success. Leaders ensure all students receive high-quality, personalized instruction, leveraging rigorous curricula and evidence-based teaching strategies. They also address non-academic barriers, such as student safety and well-being, to create an environment where learning thrives.
5. Linking Key Stakeholders
Schools benefit from strong connections with districts, families, and communities. Leaders advocate for district support in areas like hiring, professional development, and data systems, while engaging families and communities as active partners in the school’s success. These relationships amplify resources and foster a shared vision of achievement.
By focusing on these areas, school leaders can sustain the momentum of turnaround efforts, creating vibrant learning environments that benefit students and educators alike. These practices offer a road map for achieving and maintaining transformative change.
For additional information on these five areas, I encourage you to read the document linked below.
Make Attendance a Priority in December
Now that December is here—a month when school attendance tends to drop—it's more important than ever to focus on the value of being present every day. In their September blog, Smore.com shared some practical strategies to boost attendance, and these tips couldn't come at a better time. I encourage you to explore these ideas to ensure students continue to thrive during this crucial period.
- Implement an Attendance Leaderboard: Create a friendly competition by showcasing classes with the highest attendance rates each day or week. This not only celebrates success but also motivates improvement.
- Personalized Attendance Trackers: Include personalized attendance trackers for each student. Use data visualization tools to create simple, colorful charts showing individual attendance trends.
- “Attendance Spotlight” Feature: Highlight students who have shown significant improvement in attendance. Share their stories and the positive impacts of regular attendance on their academic and social growth.
- Gamify Attendance Goals: Create a school-wide attendance game with milestones and rewards. Use your newsletter to update on progress and announce winners. Gamification can boost engagement rates by up to 48%.
- “Did You Know?” Attendance Facts: Include bite-sized, surprising facts about the impact of attendance on student success. Use infographics to make these facts more shareable – infographics are liked and shared on social media 3x more than any other type of content.
- Family Feedback Loop: Implement a quick, one-question survey in each newsletter asking for family input on attendance challenges. This two-way communication can increase engagement by showing families their voices matter.
Virtual Literacy Labs
Join our OSI Literacy Specialists on Wednesday afternoons this year for quick, informative, and FUN Literacy Labs! Each session will focus on enhancing literacy instruction across all grade levels by helping teachers deepen their understanding of literacy strategies. These sessions are virtual and open to EVERYONE! You don't want to miss out on this fun!
Click HERE to register.
These scales have been created and revised in order to provide LEAs and teachers with a guide to implementing proficiency scales into their instruction. As such, in order to most effectively embed them into individual classroom discussion and/or building-specific goals, they might need to be adapted. These scales are intended as a starting point for integration.
PREP (Preparing Relief Educators Program)
The PREP Program is designed to provide high-quality resources to emergency-certificate teachers, long-term substitutes, and early service teachers, empowering them to excel in their roles and make a positive, long-lasting difference in the lives of their students.
If you have any teachers that fall in one of these categories I encourage you to make this resource available to them. A list of topics and supporting resources can be found HERE.
OSI - Leadership Coach
Email: tim.solley@alsde.edu
Website: https://sway.office.com/x6GMkvnr5n1z2O6F
Twitter: @Tim_Solley