Welcome Back

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Welcome Back

• August 2007
• Dr. Scott L. Crane

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• Superintendents Organizational Philosophy
• Superintendents Educational Philosophy
• Education to meet the Demands of the 21st Century
• Student Academics
• Administrative Curriculum Committee
• Concurrent Enrollment Opportunities at BHS
• Professional Learning Communities
• Superintendents Heartfelt Beliefs

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Superintendents Organizational Philosophy

• The only constant is change.
• Renewal is a better word for change.
• When renewal becomes the status quo, then it is
  the habit, norm, order, or consistency People
  are comfortable with renewal and it becomes a
  stabilizing force of the system.

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• The reality of any organization is that when it
  is young it is by nature flexible and accessible
  to change, but as the organization matures it
  becomes old and rigid. The goal is to create an
  organization that retains its flexibility by
  continuous reform and renewal. (John Gardner)

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• Organizations must retain the components that
  maintain stability, while allowing for renewal.
• Change for change sake is not renewal. Change
  that enhances the systems purpose is renewal.

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• Statements that I do not support or which I
  believe limit creativity and renewal
• If it aint broke, dont fix it.
• We have always done it this way.
• You just dont know how we do things around
  here.
• Its tradition.

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Superintendents Educational Philosophy

• All students can learn and be successful if
  student learning goals are
• Specific
• Measurable with meaningful timelines
• Success breeds success
• Schools control the condition of success
• The fundamental purpose of schools is LEARNING
  not teaching.

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Teaching is a 5 Step Process

• The teacher understands the educational standards
  that the student must master to successfully
  complete the subject or grade level.
• The teacher tells the students exactly what
  education standards they must master to
  successfully complete the subject or grade level.

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Teaching is a 5 Step Process

• The teacher teaches the education standards that
  the students must master to successfully complete
  the subject or grade level.
• The teacher evaluates the students understanding
  (learning) of education standards that students
  must master to successfully complete the subject
  or grade level.

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Teaching is a 5 Step Process

• If the student/students did not learn the
  standards taught, the teacher repeats steps 2-4
  with different modalities.

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Education to meet the Demands of the 21st Century

• Education is changing. We can no longer
• claim that the US educational results are
  unparalleled.
• Innovation and creativity no longer set US
  education apart. Innovators around the world
  rival Americans in breakthroughs that fuel
  economic competitiveness.

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Education to meet the Demands of the 21st Century

• Skills needed for the 21st Century.
• Core subjects (as defined by NCLB)
• 21st Century content global awareness,
  financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial
  literacy, civic literacy and health and wellness
  awareness

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Education to meet the Demands of the 21st Century

• Skills needed for the 21st Century.
• Learning and thinking skills critical thinking
  and problem solving skills, communications
  skills, creativity and innovation skills,
  collaboration skills, contextual learning skills
  and information and media literacy skills

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Education to meet the Demands of the 21st Century

• Skills needed for the 21st Century.
• Information and communications technology
  literacy
• Life skills leadership, ethics, accountability,
  personal productivity, personal responsibility,
  people skills, self-direction and social
  responsibility

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Student Academics

• The District is on the edge of greatness. We
  have been working diligently to become
  knowledgeable and proficient in the following
  communication and teaching techniques.

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Student Academics

• The Sheltered Instructional Observation Protocol
  Model or SIOP
• Administrative Walk-Through
• Response to Intervention (RTI)
• Triangle of Intervention

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Student Academics

• Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills
  (DIBELS) K-6 Internet Based Testing Program
• Smart Goals
• Strategic and Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Results-Oriented
• Time Bound

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Student Academics

• Mission Statement
• The purpose of the Blackfoot School District is
  to prepare students academically to meet the
  demands and be successful in a global economy.
• Create an Administrative Curriculum Committee
• Create concurrent enrollment opportunities at BHS
• Create Professional Learning Communities in our
  schools

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District Administrators Curriculum Committee

• Mission Statement
• The purpose of the District Administrators
  Curriculum Committee is to create a K-12 seamless
  curriculum based on national and state standards,
  current district best practices, and current
  curriculum resources.
• Create a K-12 Curriculum Calendar.
• Simplify and consolidate or eliminate existing
  district instruction programs to meet the
  recommendations of the state Title 1 Curriculum
  Review.
• Analyze existing curriculum (elementary reading
  and math) committees to determine relevance and
  future directions.

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District Administrators Curriculum Committee

• Coordinate all district CIPs, accreditation, and
  professional development to support, facilitate,
  and exceed state and national curriculum
  standards.
• Create an Inservice Schedule to meet the goals
  and objectives of the district curriculum.
• Analyze the benefits of the DIBELS Testing
  Program verses locally created Curriculum Based
  Assessments (CBAs).
• Develop a consistent curriculum language.

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BHS Concurrent Enrollment Opportunities

• Mission Statement
• To provide Blackfoot High School students an
  opportunity to earn up to two (2) years of
  college credits of general college/core credits
  and/or an associate degree with the intent of
  preparing students for a successful
  post-secondary education and/or career and work
  experience.

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Professional Learning Communities

• Mission Statement
• The mission of Blackfoot School District is to
  create functioning successful Professional
  Learning Communities (PLC) in our schools to meet
  the academic needs of our students.

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Professional Learning Communities

• Dr. Richard DuFour (2001)
• Distinguished Alumni Award of Illinois State
  University
• Distinguished Scholar Practitioner Award of the
  University of Illinois
• Superintendent of Adlai Stevenson High School
  District 125 (During his tenure Adlai Stevenson
  was one of the most recognized and celebrated
  high schools in America)
• One of the leading international consultants of
  implementing the Principals of Professional
  Learning Communities in Schools

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Professional Learning Communities

• DuFour research demonstrates that the school
  organization best able to meet the increasing
  demands of the current educational environment
  are Professional Learning Communities that are
  characterized by the following six elements
• Shared Mission, Vision, Values and Goals
• Collective Inquiry
• Collaborative Teams
• Action Orientation/Experimentation
• Continuous Improvement
• Results Orientation

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Professional Learning Communities

• Shared Mission, Vision, Values and Goals
• An understanding and deep heartfelt conviction of
  school organization members that
• The fundamental purpose of school is learning not
  teaching
• All students can learn and be successful if
  student-learning goals are
• Specific and
• Measurable with meaningful timelines

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Professional Learning Communities

• Collective Inquiry
• Freedom to cooperatively question the
  instructional processes, methods and practices.
• This creative process of searching for new and
  better learning strategies is more important than
  the actual product, because it is by
  cooperatively experiencing the process that team
  members grow and create significant changes to
  the organization.

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Professional Learning Communities

• Collaborative Teams
• Student progress and achievement is best
  attained when the school is organized into
  collaborative teams which share a common purpose,
  mission, or vision.
• Organizational improvement is not an individual
  process.

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Professional Learning Communities

• Action Orientation/Experimentation
• An environment rich in acceptance of
  experimentation.
• The ability of the team to continually value
  engagement of new ideas and practices in an
  atmosphere that views experimental failure as an
  integral part of improvement.

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Professional Learning Communities

• Continuous Improvement is the systematic
  progression of organizational self-evaluation.
• What is our fundamental purpose?
• What do we hope to become?
• What are our strategies for getting better?
• By what criteria will we assess our improvement?

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Professional Learning Communities

• Professional Learning Communities simply answer
  three questions.
• What do we expect students to learn?
• How will we know what students have learned?
• How will we respond to students who arent
  learning?

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My Heartfelt Beliefs

• Finally I want you to know that I have three
  heartfelt beliefs concerning our mission to
  educate the children of Blackfoot.
• Invitational Education
• The self fulfilling prophecy or Pygmalion effect
• Optimism

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Invitational Education

• Mission Statement
• Invitational Education is a theory of practice
  designed to create a total school environment
  that intentionally summons people in schools to
  realize their relatively boundless potential. Its
  purpose is to make schooling a more exciting,
  satisfying, and enriching experience for everyone
  involved in the education process.
• Invitational Education is based on four
  assumptions.

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Invitational Education

• People are able, valuable, and responsible and
  should be treated accordingly.
• Education should be a collaborative, cooperative
  activity.
• People possess untapped potential in all areas of
  human endeavor.
• Human potential can best be realized by places,
  policies and processes that are specifically
  designed to invite development, and by people who
  are intentionally inviting with themselves and
  others, personally and professionally.

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The Self-fulfilling Prophecy and Pygmalion Effect

• We form certain expectations of people and
  events.
• We communicate those expectations with various
  cues.
• People tend to respond to these cues by adjusting
  their behavior to match them.
• The result is that the original expectation
  becomes true.

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Optimism vs. Pessimism

• Pessimism The tendency to expect the worst
  or to stress the worst aspect of things.

Optimism The inclination to take a hopeful view
the tendency to think that all will be for the
best.
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Optimism vs. Pessimism

• William James said, The greatest discovery of my
  generation is that human beings can alter their
  lives by altering their attitudes of mind.

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Optimism vs. Pessimism

• Every morning we have the ability to choose to be

Pessimistic Optimistic
Negative Positive
Sad Happy
Grumpy Cheerful
Unprofessional Professional
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Optimism vs. Pessimism

• Every morning we have the ability to choose to be

Pessimistic Optimistic
Negative Positive
Sad Happy
Grumpy Cheerful
Unprofessional Professional
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Optimism vs. Pessimism

• The problem or solution with pessimism or
  optimism is that they are both contagious.

Pessimism spreads hate and discontent. It is a
cancerous disease that can ruin a school or
district.
Optimism spreads happiness and confidence which
can cure school or district negativism.
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We need to choose to be Optimists.
Instead of the light at the end of the tunnel
is an oncoming train.
Choose to see the light at the end of the tunnel
is a bright new day.
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We need to choose to be Optimists.
Instead of praying for rain and then complaining
about the lightening.
Choose to pray for the rain and then dance in
the puddles.
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We need to choose to be Optimists.
Instead of beginning the first day of school with
the comment only 179 more days until summer
vacation.
Choose to begin the year with the comment Every
day is an adventure.
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Mark Twain

• Twenty years from now you will be more
  disappointed by the things you didnt do than by
  the ones you did do. So throw off the
  bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.
  Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
  Dream. Discover.

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The River

• Garth Brooks

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