Setting SAIL For the Next 100 Days

As the calendar year winds down, SAIL teams wind up for their next 100-day plans! We had the pleasure of being presented with every building's quarterly SAIL presentation over the past week. Principals were asked to place a particular focus for their presentation on the strategic use of student data (L4) as well as how these data are communicated with various stakeholders (L5) over the course of each 100-day plan. Lindholm administration was particularly impressed with our elementary schools ability to articulate the explicit connection between adult practices and the correlation to positive student outcomes (e.g., student achievement and behavior data). We are looking forward to the continued systematic work around school improvement as we SAIL into 2018. Happy Holidays, everyone! 

Data and Results

Happy Holidays to each and every one of you!

We just finished up our Principal quarterly reviews and I am thrilled to see the progress our schools are making!
We have asked SAIL teams to hold tight to monitoring a few adult learning practices that can directly correlate to seeing an increase in student growth and performance.
Focusing in this direction, over time, has shown that this feat is not impossible, but rather IMPACTFUL!





The ongoing performance of our students continues to be a critical indicator of our success as a school district. Leading with a lens of data will continue to guide our work as we deepen collaborative learning across our system.


Have a wonderful winter break! Make sure you spend dedicated time sharpening your saw and nurturing quality time with family and friends as you gear up to continue your positive impact in the 'Sha in 2018.

Supports and not things...

In the day and age in which we live, there is so much information available to us at the click of a button. With all of this access, it is easy for us to get lost in the sea of information and initiatives. Our goal as an organization is to meet the needs of our student sitting in front of us each and every day. High-quality instruction is the core of Teaching and Learning.

As a district, we are committed to exploring, implementing, and providing professional learning around curriculum, resources, and frameworks that support strong instruction. Personalized Learning, Instructional Technology, CLM, ELD, and AVID are just some of the vehicles that we use to provide common language and tools to support and enhance our instructional practices. These are all supports to instruction and not things that replace instruction. We need to remind ourselves that as we infuse scaffolds and frameworks we cannot forget that without strong instructional pedagogy and relational capacity, we will not meet the needs of all students.

Next 100 days for deeper impact

I had the privilege of working with the Horning SAIL team this week and I am thrilled by that team's progress around their 3 priority areas; PLC's, feedback, and cultural proficiency. Every school and their 100 day plans in essence have "expired" and so in the spirit of an approaching new year (2018) and the importance of reflecting back to move forward, have your SAIL teams done just that? Have you done that, as an individual teacher, have you reflected on your growth and your student's growth as we approach the next 100 days?

Principals will be presenting their quarterly reviews to central office administrators next week and we are asking each of them to give us student performance data, adult practice data and organizational health data that communicate results thus far.

Are data and results evident in the culture of your school? I want to commend the Horning SAIL team members for having honest conversations yesterday about what they have to celebrate progress and what their next edges of growth are. This was a powerful group of teacher leaders and with their leadership, I have no doubt that the collective efficacy and the collective capacity building for all is sure to follow.

Thank you to these teacher leaders and administrators and thank you to everyone who is keeping a focused direction on cultivating a collaborative culture upon which we can all do this work better-together! 

Making the Grass Green

Sometimes we allow the outliers to creep in and cloud up our reality.  Whether it be a student's misbehavior, grade book deadlines, struggling through a challenge with new curriculum, etc. We can allow these things to negatively impact our feelings, thoughts and at times even our actions.

At the same time when we deal with things that present us with a challenge, we can shift our mindset to see them as opportunities and reflect on many things that we can be grateful for.  I have personally realized that I do not do well with negativity.  I have had to work on adjusting my mindset.

One way I am doing this is to focus on making the grass green.   I have chosen the School District of Waukesha to be my educational home because I do believe that together we have a lot to celebrate (aka "green grass") and unending opportunities to make the grass green.

Here are a few of the areas of "green grass" from my perspective:

• All SDW schools are using the SAIL process for school improvement and student impact
•  When I am out in buildings or on an ESAIL and I have the opportunity to be in the classrooms to see the joy taking place with teachers and students
• Language Workshop texts and planners were added to the Elementary Curriculum 
• I have teachers who have reached out to meet about problem solving areas of concern or how to increase their leadership within the district
• I learned how to be on Twitter (thanks to Dennis Griffin) and everyday I read/see educators across the district sharing the amazing things happening in their classrooms and schools
• For the second year the Teaching and Learning Department and Students Services Department meet and work together as one team as we strive to better serve the district
• 30 minutes of Play Workshop is back in our Kindergarten framework

Each one of you makes our grass in SDW green.  Please join me in celebrating our "green grass"!