Founded in innovation, we are committed to being educators’ most trusted partner in creating successful student outcomes everywhere learning occurs.
n Accelerate unfinished learning
n Benchmark learner needs and boost mastery
n Integrate robust digital curriculum and remote learning options
n Support the whole learner with SEL
There is an easier way to tell your school stories, manage communications and strengthen your online presence — helping your district to attract, engage, and retain students—and thrive.
WEBSITE DESIGN AWARDS
200+ 40+ SSO & DATA INTEGRATIONS
99% CUSTOMER SUPPORT RATING
Mr. Kyle Reynolds
Superintendent, Woodward CCOSA Chairperson
OASA Past-President
Mrs. Janalyn Taylor
Principal, Nance ES
CCOSA Vice Chairperson OAESP President
Dr. Matt Posey
Superintendent, Bethel OASA President
Mr. Kevin Hime
Superintendent, Lawton OASA President-elect
Mr. Randy Biggs
Principal, Frederick HS OASSP President
Mrs. Melissa Barlow
Principal, Yukon HS OASSP President-elect
Ms. Kate Creekmore
Executive Dir. Athletics, Bixby OMLEA President
Mrs. Jennifer Patterson
Asst. Principal, Dewitt Waller MS OMLEA President-elect
Mrs. Traci Newell
Principal, Elgin ES OAESP President-elect
Ms. Rachelle English
Director Special Services, Stilwell ODSS President
Ms. Kimberly Elkington-Baxter
Director Special Services, McAlester ODSS President-elect
Dr. Gregg Garn
Higher Education Liaison
8 Words From the Director
By Dr. Pam Deering, CCOSA/OASA Executive Director21 The Leap from Uncertified to Standard Certification: The Role of District Leaders
By Dr. Jason Brunk, Assistant Superintendent of Human Yukon Public Schools24 Onboarding New Special Education Teachers
Resources,
By Andrea Kunkel, CCOSA General Counsel & ODSS Executive Director
31 Executive Coaching: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
By Tami Chapek, PCC, CEO and Founder | Executive Leadership Coach By Jen Schwanke, Ed.D., Author, The Teacher’s Principal By Janalyn Taylor, Nance ES Principal, Clinton Public Schools and OAESP President By Brad Johnson, Author, Speaker and Education Consultant By Jennifer Abrams, Author and Communications Consultant10
Looking Inward to Find Tomorrow's Teachers: A Grow Your Own Process
By Bradley Eddy, HR Director for Muskogee Schools, Muskogee, OK14
Oklahoma School Report Card
A-F Restart: Considerations, Adjustments, and Bold Next Steps
26
The Rules: Personnel in Schoolwide Title I Programs
By Kathy Dunn, CCOSA Director of28
Paraprofessionals in Title I Schools: Tiers for Success in Hiring Paras
By Kathy Dunn,
Learning
34
Be Relentless in Building Bridges
By Dr. Don Parker, Author of Building Bridges: Engaging Students Through the Power of RelationshipsHR and Leadership serve as our focus topics for this edition of Better Schools. As schools complete evaluations, review finances for mid-year, and begin to think about staffing and budgeting for the next year, it is our goal to introduce some new ideas that might help you in your planning around executive coaching, teacher certification, and a teacher cadet program to help schools build a “grow your own” program. I know you will enjoy the articles, many written by CCOSA members.
Personnel costs represent the largest percentage of a district’s budget. School leaders must recognize the complexity of human resources and that every personnel decision impacts the district—the costs, the culture and climate in the district and school sites, and importantly, the success of our students.
Good leadership builds that support for student success. CCOSA has focused on John Maxwell’s 5 Levels of Leadership this year to help our school leaders understand how their influence impacts their effectiveness. As a reminder, here are the levels of leadership:
5. Pinnacle
4. People Development
3. Production
2. Permission
1. Position
When we take a look at where we are in this leadership model and begin to “grow” our own leadership skills, our perspectives will broaden, how we lead will be more thoughtful, resources will be created, collaboration will improve, and leaders will be trained to train leaders.
With the upcoming legislative session, as school leaders, you must engage your leadership skills to influence what is best for public education. At stake are resources that would help our public schools implement new and innovative programs, fund teacher and support staff salaries, reduce mandates, and build pathways for new teachers and administrators into the future.
Next steps:
1. Assess where you are in the leadership model.
2. Build from that level to broaden your influence.
3. Use that influence to make a difference for your district and for the state as a whole.
4. Help others to build their leadership skills. Back to the original question: “Are you the leader you would follow?” Or, maybe the question should be a statement: “Be the leader you would follow.”
School leaders — Let’s work together to protect public education for the greater good of educating all students. That’s what we are all about!
Respectfully,
Pam Deering, Ph.D.
CCOSA Executive Director ■
Those who lived through the 1980’s likely recall a song by Bonnie Tyler in which she claims, “Where are all the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds?” Much like Tyler, in the last half century, those of us in education have been singing a similar refrain, louder with each subsequent year. We no longer have the luxury of “Holding out for a Hero.” We need teachers, and we need them now!
In the early 1990’s, I graduated from my master’s program with the distinct fear that I might not find a teaching role. Indeed, at that time, teachers tended to remain in their roles, and many new teachers were unemployed. I saw this firsthand, a few years later, while helping my principal find a new English teacher to replace our recently resigned career teacher. I was sent to the central office to pore over literally hundreds of handwritten applications in an attempt to find a replacement. However, this abundance of teacher candidates was nearing its end.
After the dawn of the 21st century, I watched as the number of teacher applications slowly began to
diminish. By 2010, it was painstakingly clear: a major problem was on the horizon. Indeed, the Oklahoma State Department of Education began to look into the growing issue by putting together a Teacher Workforce Shortage Taskforce to examine the issues surrounding a dangerous drop in teacher applicants. As a member of the task force, I was concerned about the multitude of reasons for the loss of applicants, but I was equally encouraged by many of the ideas championed by the committee, not the least of which was looking inward to “grow our own” batch of teachers, right in our community.
Over the course of the next few years, my team began to look for ways to remind people that teaching is a viable and respectful career. Alongside The New Teacher Project (TNTP), we conducted our own workforce shortage study and learned that, indeed, Oklahoma does not graduate the numbers of teachers we need to replace those outgoing. We learned that students are choosing education as a field of study in college at an increasingly diminishing rate. In fact, we estimated that, while the two largest schools in Oklahoma were reporting the need for 20 English Language Learner (ELL) teachers in the coming year, the state was only producing nine – for the entire state! With this reality, we realized that we needed a multifaceted approach which would include “growing our own.”
Like most public-school systems, faced with the challenges of COVID, we did not have a lot of time in the last year to begin a large number of initiatives, so we needed something we could implement quickly, easily, and with nominal cost. After hours of research and committee scrutiny, my team selected the Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention & Advancement (CERRA) program to help us locate, motivate, and train future teachers. Through the design of this South Carolinabased program, we currently have an entire class of high school students who are learning about teaching, in addition to observing and practicing through multiple culminating projects.
Our first-year class is now in its second semester. We began implementing this Teacher Cadet program in the winter of 2021, which means a school district could have this initiative up and running by the start of the 20232024 school year. To do so, simply reach out to Dr. Wine Snyder at winesnyderm@cerra.org or tollfree at 800-476-2387. You will also want to talk to your curriculum and guidance teams as soon as possible to make sure the class can be offered to students, and to ensure the class “makes”; you should also do everything within your means to advertise the class. In our case, we sent messages home, spoke to students in forums, and
The Teacher Cadet program gave me a look into education and helped me feel confident in my choice to become a teacher. Our Teacher Cadet instructor guided us through the curriculum and provided a model of the kind of teacher we wanted to become. I have such wonderful memories of the Teacher Cadet program and would highly recommend it to any student interested in becoming an education advocate. I have been blessed to work with a few Teacher Cadets in my own classroom. I love this program and the things it is doing to grow future teachers.
I am so thankful for the opportunity I had to be a part of the Teacher Cadet program in High School. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a teacher but this was the first opportunity I had to get in a classroom and see just how big of an impact a teacher can make. It helped me see that I wanted to work with younger students and helped me pick a major as I prepared for college.
A Teacher Cadet must be able to empathize with his/her students. Cadets must truly care about the students they teach.
A Teacher Cadet must know how to use the latest tools to maximize student learning and prepare students for the future.
Teacher Cadets must have sharp minds. They must be able to understand cognitive development and the latest in brain-based research.
A Cadet must have strong arms to carry home books to study and papers to grade each night. Strong arms also come in handy when a student or fellow teacher need to be picked up.
Cadets will often be on their feet delivering instruction, assisting student learning, and being alert on duty.
Cadets must have fast hands able to grade a paper, make a call, create a bulletin board, or pat a student on the back.
Teacher Cadet facilitated my love for teaching and learning through hands-on experience. It gave me reassurance in my calling to the profession.
reached out to individuals, all in an effort to identify our best and brightest for the full-year class. Next, you will need to select the teacher or teachers to lead the class. CERRA recommends a teacher with a master’s degree to teach the class, and you will definitely want someone who is excited about teaching as a career. Students are already hearing plenty of negative messages about teaching; you do not want a mentor teacher adding to that negativity. Once selected, the teacher or teachers will need to travel to Rock Hill, South Carolina, where they will study and train for three days and return with a hard copy and access to digital curriculum resources. The entire program follows a school year, and lesson plans are included.
Importantly, the costs for the training are reasonable for a program with the potential to erase decades-long declines in new teachers. The three-day course is currently available for $750.00 for out-of-state participants. In addition to these costs, you will need to cover the cost of travel, lodging, and per diem for the teacher or teachers who will teach your class. Nearly one year later, these are the only incurred costs. Although we are just finishing our first year with the program, we can say with certainty that simply offering this class has signaled to the community that teaching is a viable profession and that we find it important enough to make it a focus in our district. This knowledge impacts both the community and our students.
I challenge you to visit https:// www.teachercadets.com, review what you find, and contact those who have implemented it to determine if the CERRA program is right for your school or district. One thing is certain, teachers are not returning to the profession simply because we want and need them to. They have been told by countless others that teaching is a profession not worth pursuing. However, we know that education is the profession that creates all other professions. We need to remind the community that teaching is a calling, a viable career, and can provide a respectable living while fulfilling needs far beyond financial. We need to remind them that we still need heroes. ■
When my son was in eighth grade, he brought home his final report card and it was evident that his math grade had been altered. As you can imagine, this alteration stimulated much conversation and provided an opportunity for us to assess where my son was at a pivotal time in his education. A report card tells us what happened, but it cannot tell us why something happened. In my son’s case, his grade (the unaltered version) reflected his lack of responsibility to complete assignments—which may have been related to his engagement with the curriculum, methods of instruction, and/or configuration of classes. The report card itself led to deeper conversations.
Likewise, the Oklahoma School Report Cards found at oklaschools.com can provide important information across a variety of measures to stimulate conversations about school successes and areas in need of improvement.
The A-F indicators, last published in SY 2018–2019, are getting a restart for SY 2021–2022. School sites have had access to aggregate Report Card-related data through the Accountability Reporting application in Single Sign-On since November to assess where they are at this pivotal time.
It will take time to fully understand the extent and impact of COVID disruptions on school performance. Data from a national survey found that, “When compared to 2018–2019, 35% of states reported lower statewide attendance rates in 2019–2020, and 44% reported lower rates in 2020–2021” as shown in the graphs (Pinsonneault, 2022). Additionally, researchers from Attendance Works suggest that rates of students who are chronically absent may have doubled nationwide (Chang, 2022). When students have regular attendance, positive conditions for learning are more likely to occur. For several years, real-time attendance data have been available in Oklahoma’s Accountability Reporting application in Single Sign-On. These data have assisted school leaders in identifying students who are at risk of becoming chronically absent—and losing vital instructional time—as such data allows for timely and targeted supports.
Aside from being required by state and federal law, data from SY 2021–2022 will play a critical role in understanding the pandemic’s impact as we restart accountability. However, caution will be needed because context matters: students have had different learning experiences. Because of this, local data (e.g., levels of
engagement, opportunity to learn, mode of learning, access to gradelevel content, teacher professional development) should be connected when using report card data to support continuous improvement efforts. The OSDE regularly uses data to engage in self-reflective cycles of continuous improvement.
In response to pandemic related disruptions, most states reported that they are making changes to their accountability systems for 2021-22 (Pinsonnault, 2022). Prior to the pandemic, the OSDE was already engaging in cycles of selfreflected continuous improvement. Through an examination of threeyear of data, conversations with stakeholders, and consultation with our State Technical Advisory Committee, OSDE has made minor adjustments to its school accountability system in three areas:
1. the calculation of the Academic Achievement indicator
2. the minimum n-size
3. the definition for Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) school identification
The goal of these minor adjustments is to provide a clearer and more sensitive signal of student performance and school improvement. These minor adjustments are in effect for the SY 2021–2022 Oklahoma School Report Cards.
To better reward schools who show improvement in supporting students in being ready for the next grade, course, or level, the Academic Achievement indicator is being equally weighted across two components: Improvement Toward Expectations (ITE) and Performance Level Snapshot (PLS) as shown in the figure.
School sites will continue to earn credit for students that meet or exceed their interim achievement targets by priority student group through the ITE component. The PLS component awards credit when students score at the basic, proficient, or advanced level on state summative tests in ELA, math, and science. Students scoring basic have foundational knowledge and skills while students scoring proficient or advanced are meeting the grade-level expectations outlined in our Oklahoma Academic Standards (OAS).
Expanding the PLS component to include basic and equally weighting the ITE and PLS components will provide a clearer understanding
of how schools are accelerating the improvement of Priority Student Groups and will more clearly recognize the observed performance of schools on state summative assessments. In addition, because of COVID-related disruptions in SY 2019–2020 and 2020–2021, interim targets for each priority student group were reset using a baseline from available
and appropriate data from spring 2018, 2019, and 2021 assessment administrations. Approved interim targets are published in Appendix B of our consolidated plan starting on page 8, which can be found at https://sde.ok.gov/essa.
The OSDE is increasing the minimum number of students (n-size) necessary for a school’s indicator calculations from 10 to 25 students. Doing so will eliminate the volatility of differentiating schools with small student populations from year-to-year. Because the OSDE is also committed to including as many schools as possible in accountability calculations, we will continue to utilize the multiple-year model. The multi-year model pools data across the last three years for schools that do not meet the minimum n-size threshold (≥ 25 FAY students) in a single year as shown in the example below.
Lastly, to ensure that schools designated for Targeted Support and Improvement (TSI) have the support and time they need, the OSDE adjusted its definition to, “Those schools where any student subgroup within the school falls below the 10th percentile for that group, across three consecutive years.” This designation will serve as an “early warning” signal to schools. Every three years, the OSDE will then utilize this list of TSI schools to identify schools for “Additional Targeted Support and Improvement” (ATSI) status. A school is ATSI status when any student subgroup at the school scores at the 5th percentile or lower, among all schools in the state. Designations for TSI occur annually, and designations for ATSI occur every three years.
Across the country, the COVID pandemic has caused disruptions to student learning. To better understand the impact and maintain the integrity of our accountability system, OSDE has made some minor adjustments to our accountability system. Therefore, a school’s overall grade and that for Academic Achievement for SY 2021–2022 should not be compared with those from prior years. However, SY 2021–2022 data can serve as a baseline to help us understand where we are so that we can plan bold next steps. As you review your data, consider your local context; ask questions about what is working, celebrate successes, identify where improvement can be made, and take those bold next steps. ■
If you have questions, please reach out to lesa.rohrer@sde.ok.gov
Chang, H. (2022, September 27). Pandemic causes alarming increase in chronic absence and reveals need for better data. Attendance Works. https://www.attendanceworks.org/pandemic-causes-alarming-increase-in-chronic-absence-and-reveals-need-for-better-data/ Chang, H, Osher, D., Schanfield, M., , Sundius, J., Bauer, L. (2019). Using chronic absence data to improve conditions for learning, Attendance Works and American Institutes for Research (AIR). https://www.attendanceworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Attendance_Works_Using_ Chronic_Absence__091619.pdf
Pinsonneault, L. (2022, November 23). The pandemic has changed the accountability landscape. The center newsletter. https://www.nciea.org/ blog/the-pandemic-has-changed-the-accountability-landscape/
Pinsonneault, L. & Domaleski, C. (2022). School Accountability in Flux: Results from a National Survey [PowerPoint slides]. National Center https://www.nciea.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Pinsonneault_Acct_Landscape_2022.pdf
By Dr. Jason Brunk, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, Yukon Public Schools
Seemingly overnight, teacher certification has transformed from a foregone conclusion to a complex web of options. Teachers completing four year programs including classroom observations, student teaching, and beginning their teaching career as a fully certified teacher were more the norm than the exception. There was a time when the District leader’s only responsibility related to certification was to ensure teachers renewed their expired certificates at the end of five years. While traditional educator preparation programs remain the gold standard for preparing effective teachers, district leaders must become more active role players in the certification process. Our focus should be twofold. First, we want to minimize the “process” of certification as a potential barrier to teacher retention. Second, we must insist our teachers entering the profession through nontraditional pathways are on a fast track to gain increased knowledge and skills to best meet the needs of students in their classrooms today.
There are countless pathways to certification, many of which can be interchanged. Pathways include: traditional; career development pathway; emergency certification; adjunct certification; alternative certification; alternative certification for elementary; boot camp; and even long term substitute. Navigating these pathways can be overwhelming not only to teachers but also to district leaders. An increased understanding of some of the key components consistent within most of the pathways along with a few supportive tools can help improve
our effectiveness as district leaders as we support teachers on their journey to certification through non-traditional pathways.
The process should begin by developing a written plan with any teacher hired who is not fully certified in their subject area. Prior to Fall Break, create an individual learning plan with each teacher. This plan should include a mutual agreement to accomplish one task per semester, including the summer semester. Tasks may include the subject matter test, the PPAT, college hours, and various other requirements. This should be a plan of both accountability and support.
A sample two year plan for a teacher hired in August to teach 4th grade, using the career development pathway, could be developed as follows: Fall- emergency certification in elementary education and focus on learning how to teach;
Fall — Register and Begin PPAT; Spring — Complete PPAT; Summer — Reading Instruction Course and one additional 3 hour course; Fall — eligible to apply for standard certification. The length of the plan is flexible, and can certainly be extended for the special education boot camp path that requires 18 additional college hours or for cost considerations for teachers. The important step is to develop a plan. When developing a plan, there are a number of considerations.
The cost of certification ranges from approximately $2,500 to $6,700, depending on the pathway.
PPAT- The Praxis Performance Assessment for Teachers has taken the place of the OPTE exam. The PPAT is a more authentic assessment, but seems to have been originally designed to be completed within colleges of education. The challenge is for
by the District, rather than as a part of their student teaching experience. Create a mentor network; provide training for both the mentor and the candidates and establish timelines for completion of each of the four tasks associated with the PPAT. Reach out to your university partners for possible trainers and/or consultants.
Traditionally, the required exam has been known as the Oklahoma Subject Area Test (OSAT). Within the past year or so, two other options now exist. The PRAXIS exam is used in approximately 20 other states and it does not have a constructed response segment. This may be beneficial for some teachers having difficulty with the OSAT exam. In addition to the PRAXIS, teachers with master’s degrees in their subject area may request through OEQA to have the OSAT requirement waived.
For the various pathways, assuming the teacher has a bachelor’s degree, a requirement of 6-18 hours is all but standard to reach standard certification. Using $350 per credit hour as a median price, this creates a cost burden of $1,050 to $6,300. The most comprehensive solution is to partner with a university to substantially discount tuition rates. Other possibilities include using Title funds, creating scholarships through educational foundations, or providing tuition reimbursement programs for teachers.
For additional resources to support developing written plans, please email hr@yukonps.com ■
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Jason Brunk is the President of the Oklahoma Association of School Personnel Administrators and the Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources for Yukon Public Schools.
When it comes to internet service providers, you want an ISP who can keep pace with your growing technology needs. Ensuring your students can participate in the digital learning age requires an ISP designed to support your mission.
As a division of the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education, OneNet is uniquely designed for education at all levels. From K-12 schools to higher education, OneNet understands your mission-critical needs and provides the connectivity required to fulfill them.
OneNet powers more than 250 K-12 schools, 50 technology center campuses and every public higher education institution in Oklahoma.
Learn more about how OneNet can provide your school affordable connectivity options through Oklahoma’s research and education network.
888-5-OneNet | www.OneNet.net
To attract, retain and grow new special education teachers, schools must surround them with meaningful ongoing support. Of course, they need the opportunity to participate in all appropriate professional development provided to new general education teachers, including instruction geared to improving student literacy. But because required PD days are typically packed with information for new teachers, special education directors may need to schedule additional summer days before teachers are required to report to cover critical special education issues. Schools cannot require teachers to attend these extra days, but a stipend or just the opportunity to meet and collaborate with colleagues may be sufficient incentive.
CCOSA members are well aware that Oklahoma has a huge shortage of traditionally-prepared special education teachers. Few of the dwindling number of special education teacher candidates graduating from Oklahoma colleges and universities are staying in the state to teach. Many of those taking special education teaching positions are general education teachers who have passed the mild-moderate certification test, provisionally certified teachers who have completed the initial boot camp and are pursuing additional graduate hours, or former paraprofessionals pursuing the
para-to-teacher route to standard certification and serving as special education teachers while they, too, complete additional graduate hours. No matter what path brings them to special education, all of these teachers need high-quality instruction to help them learn to complete special education paperwork, especially the allimportant student IEP.
Some readers may wonder why special instruction is needed to complete forms, especially when nearly all schools use the state’s online EdPlan system of developing and maintaining student special
education paperwork. Don’t teacher candidates learn to use EdPlan and develop IEPs and other forms in their college coursework or in boot camp training? In fact, little time is spent in those programs developing IEPs and forms, and even less is spent learning to use EdPlan. Developing an IEP isn’t a process of selecting the most appropriate generic computerbanked sentences to describe a student’s needs and what they should learn. Schools should provide teachers with training that enables them to create IEPs that include individually appropriate descriptions of student needs,
unique SMART goals and relevant progress measures, using the EdPlan (or other) system. Schools that fail to support new teachers in learning how to complete essential special education paperwork and effectively navigate EdPlan will likely be looking for new teachers before long.
Summer meetings with special education teachers also provide directors the chance to cover the specific ways that school carries out its responsibilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). As just one example, most school administrators and teachers are aware that the IDEA identifies certain school personnel – typically, an administrative representative, general education teacher and special education teacher — as required IEP team members. However, no law or regulation identifies how the teacher scheduling an IEP team meeting decides which teacher(s) and administrators to invite, how much input the school participants have in the date and time the meeting is set, or how and how far in advance they should be notified of meetings. Some schools have developed written procedures explaining how meetings are scheduled, while others have established practices over time. Either way, new teachers, who will likely be scheduling many IEP team meetings, some within a few days of school beginning, need a forum to discuss not just the big issues, but the many, many small ones they will face daily.
In late July 2022 the Oklahoma State Board of Education approved a new Policies and Procedures Manual (P&P) for special education, which took effect immediately, just a few days before school was beginning in many parts of the state. Many special education directors have since participated in OSDE training that identifies new state policies and other big changes reflected in the P&P, and they have shared that information with their teachers. However, there are numerous small yet significant changes in the P&P about which directors and teachers still need more time to determine practical implications. Ongoing opportunities for discussion with both new and more experienced
special education teachers will help the teachers understand what the P&P means in practice and help directors determine what district policies and procedures need to be changed or added. The most important support to attract, retain and grow new special education teachers is likely an approachable and experienced mentor special education teacher. Schools can find plentiful resources encouraging the use of mentors to support new teachers and explaining best practices to develop such a program. In this time of open positions and heavy caseloads, special education directors may frequently be fulfilling the mentor role. Oklahoma also has many small schools with just one or two special education teachers under ordinary conditions, and the teacher or teachers may be new or have limited experience. Some schools may choose to reach out to neighboring schools for mentor support. In addition, the Council for Exceptional Children’s (CEC) JumpStart Program for New and Early-Career Special Educators may be helpful. According to recent OSDE news releases, “This completely online
program is designed to equip new special educators with the critical information, resources, peer network, and expert guidance needed for success in the 20222023 school year. Some of the most renowned subject matter experts in the field will deliver live, dynamic workshops and Q&A sessions on what you need to know to start your special education career successfully.”
Registration for the spring cohort is available at a reasonable charge at https://exceptionalchildren.org/ jumpstart/registration, and the courses began in January.
References to the responsibilities of the school’s special education director are found throughout this article. Especially for those schools with a director who is also a full-time special education teacher, providing additional compensated extra duty time and/or adequate release time during the school day to work with new special education teachers may also support your efforts to attract, retain and grow these critical members of your team. ■
Based on a schoolwide needs assessment, Title I funds are used in many districts to hire staff to meet the needs identified in a school. These employees should be hired as supplemental, above and beyond the faculty and staff hired by general school funding sources. Some examples of personnel hired using federal funds are:
■ Reading Specialists and other Intervention Specialists
■ Additional Counselors
■ Graduation Coaches
■ Instructional Coaches
■ Bilingual Teachers
■ Teachers to Reduce Class Size
■ Social Workers
■ Parent Liaisons
■ Teachers and Paras for extended learning time, tutoring, summer school
■ Coordinators and Secretaries who administer the federal programs
■ And others based on schoolwide needs assessment. Work with your OSDE Program Specialist for allowability.
The roles of federally funded school personnel are critical to fulfilling the schools’ goals for increasing student achievement, student health and well-being, and staff professional growth.
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), P.L. 114-95, specifies certain requirements of all teachers who work within a Title I school site regardless of how they are paid.
■ Parents Right to Know Letter – For ALL students in a Title I school annually. Teachers who work in a Title I School are required to be certified in the grade level and subject area in which they teach. Title I schools are required to send a letter to all parents in the school informing them of their right to request information about a teacher’s certification. This is called the Parent’s Right to Know letter.
■ Parents Notification Letter Regarding Certification Status – Only for students taught by someone who is not certified in the grade level and subject area of the course for more than 30 consecutive days. If a class is taught for more than 30 days by someone who is not certified in the subject area and grade level of the particular course, the Title I school is required to send a letter to every student who is in that class informing parents that their student’s teacher for the last 30 days has not met State qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction. This letter is called the Parents Notification Letter Regarding Teacher Certification Status
Some examples of teachers who would require the Parents Notification Letter are any of the following who do not hold certification in the subject area and grade level of the class they are teaching for more than 30 consecutive days:
■ Long-term substitute teachers
■ Adjunct teachers
■ Certified teachers who are teaching one or more classes outside of their areas of certification
Sample Parents Right to Know and Parent Notification letters are located here: https://bit. ly/3Jdgbr1
When sending a letter to notify parents that their student is being taught by someone who is not certified in the grade level or subject area of the class, it is recommended that you use the template that cites the law and also add a personal note about the teacher if appropriate. For example, “Our band director at XXHS this year is a retired Army officer with 20 years of experience in the United States Army band. She is working on completing her teaching certification in instrumental music. We welcome Mrs. Band Director to our XXHS school family!” Most parents would join you in welcoming this teacher to your school.
If you have questions about compliance issues regarding personnel in federal programs, you can reach out to Kathy Dunn, CCOSA Director of Professional Learning for State and Federal Programs at dunn@ccosa.org or 405-615-0844. ■
ESSA Section 3201 (11) states, “The term paraprofessional means an individual who is employed in a preschool, elementary school, or secondary school under the supervision of a certified or licensed teacher, including individuals employed in language instruction educational programs, special education, and migrant education. Paraprofessionals who provide instructional support include those who:
■ provide one-on-one tutoring if such tutoring (under the supervision of a certified or licensed teacher) is scheduled at a time when a student would not otherwise receive instruction from a teacher
■ assist with classroom management, such as by organizing instructional materials
■ provide instructional assistance in a computer laboratory
■ conduct parental involvement activities
■ provide instructional support in a library or media center
■ act as a translator
■ provide instructional support services under the direct supervision of a certified teacher
What qualifications are required of Paraprofessionals working in a Title I school for Tier I credentials?
Dating back to the enactment of No Child Left Behind legislation in 2002, paraprofessionals working in a Title I school have been required to have a high school diploma or equivalent, and meet one of the following qualifications:
■ Complete 48 hours of credit or more at an institution of higher education; or
■ Have an associate degree from an institution of higher education: or
■ Meet a rigorous standard of quality and be able to demonstrate, through a formal academic assessment, knowledge of and the ability to assist in instructing reading, writing, and mathematics;
■ in Oklahoma the qualifying tests are:
■ the OGET (qualifying score from past assessments, no longer given); or
■ the ETS ParaPro (score of 455+); or
■ the ACT WorkKeys (score of Bronze or better).
What is the difference between Tier I and Tier II Credentials for Paraprofessionals in Oklahoma?
All paraprofessionals working in a Title I school must meet the qualifications listed above to have the Tier I credential that is required for working in a Title I school. All paraprofessionals working in Special Education programs must meet these additional training requirements for Tier II credentials:
■ OSDE special education paraprofessional training through Pepper, career technology centers or other state-approved training providers
■ Cardiovascular Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)/First Aid, maintaining current certification
■ Universal Precautions/Bloodborne Pathogens yearly training
■ Six hours of professional development each year
According to Oklahoma law, all paraprofessionals must hold Tier I credentials before they are hired. For paraprofessionals working in a special education program, they may be hired with Tier I credentials, and then meet the Tier II requirements within 120 days of being hired.
Beginning July 1, 2022, any newly hired Paraprofessional must hold the official Paraprofessional Credential issued by the state of Oklahoma.
The official Oklahoma Paraprofessional Credential is initiated by a school district making the request within the Oklahoma Educator Credentialing System (OECS) located in the Single Sign-On system. Once inside the OECS, the Superintendent clicks the tab Manage Your District Requests. Once the Superintendent has initiated the process, then the Paraprofessional will complete the application for the credential which is good for lifetime certification and accepted in any district in Oklahoma. At this time, the OSDE is not sending printed copies of the credential; however, providing copies of the official credential for any Tier I or Tier II Paraprofessional will become a part of the school district’s Accreditation process during the FY23 school year. It is the district’s responsibility to print the official certificate from the same portal in the Oklahoma Educator Credentialing System. While all paras who are hired July 1, 2022 and after are required to have the official credential, any paras are encouraged to complete the credentialing process in order for their certificate to be kept in the state database and printed for personal keeping.
To celebrate your paraprofessionals’ accomplishment in meeting the qualifications, districts can print the certificates and place them in a frame or document folder to make the presentation to the paraprofessional! Recent studies* have shown that “symbolic awards — interventions such as congratulatory cards, public recognition, and certificates — can significantly increase intrinsic motivation, performance, and retention rates” of school staff members. Celebrations matter! ■
*https://hbr.org/2021/03/research-a-littlerecognition-can-provide-a-big-morale-boost
OSAG awards NINE scholarships every year, and applications are currently open! Visit www.ccosa.org to complete your application before the March 1, 2023 deadline.
Mark your calendars to attend one of the upcoming OSAG training seminars scheduled for Tuesday, April 4, 2023 at Metro Technology Center, and Wednesday, April 5, 2023 at Consolidated Benefits Resources. Watch for notifications in March 2023.
The OSAG online safety video library contains over 1,000 titles to choose from. All members have been assigned login credentials to access videos at NO CHARGE
This customized report has been created for OSAG membership to cover the January 1 - December 31, 2022 claim period. This report is a helpful tool for completion of your Oklahoma 300A form requirement. OSAG mailed this report to all members in January 2023 Please notify our office if you did not receive this information.
Your district's payroll information plays a vital role in the calculation of your workers' compensation premium. The Beckman Company, OSAG marketing firm, has provided payroll request forms to all members. Please expedite your response quickly. Our staff is available to answer questions, and assist with completion of this form. Please call our office at 800-699-5905.
OSAG provides important communication to our membership electronically. If your district has an update to superintendent or claims personnel contact information, please emai l twamsley@okschoolassurancegroup.org to update our records.
As a member of OSAG, your district can receive onsite safety consultations and training at NO CHARGE. OSAG contracts with the safety department of CompSource Mutual Insurance Company to provide this member benefit. Contact 800-699-5905 to schedule this service at no charge.
The OSAG motto is “to provide the most efficient & economical workers’ compensation services to Oklahoma public schools”. OSAG is the largest provider of workers’ compensation services to Oklahoma schools, proudly serving 497 members in 2022-2023.
Picture this: you are planning your next big career move or a new project initiative on the horizon — or better yet, just got a new job in that bigger role or those added project responsibilities. You are excited for the opportunity in front of you but quickly become paralyzed with fear about the “what if’s” that might come your way. You start to doubt yourself and your abilities, you second guess yourself, and you hold back from sharing your perspective, missing the opportunity to make things better for the district.
Sound familiar?
Now picture this, the same situation: you are excited for the opportunity in front of you AND feel confident about the steps you are taking to move yourself and others forward. You believe in your abilities, you make smart decisions quickly, and you offer perspective optimizing the situation for you and for the district.
What changed? Fear is no longer the authority in your life — you are. You are more confident, more focused, and a stronger leader because you spent time developing your skills, perspective, and approach with an Executive Coach. What is Executive Coaching?
Coaching is a term that is often used and rarely understood. We talk about coaching most often as a way to lead a sports team to a successful season; sometimes we correlate coaching to fixing a problem employee or to solve a situation; or often we don’t really know what coaching is.
The International Coach Federation defines coaching as, “Partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential. The process of coaching often unlocks previously untapped sources of imagination, productivity and leadership.” What that really means is that coaching is:
■ Unbiased and 100% focused support
■ A series of conversations focused on YOU
■ Dedicated time to increase your self-awareness
■ Identification of aspirations and/ or obstacles
■ Goal-setting and action planning
■ Ongoing accountability and support
■ Exercises, tools, or strategies to achieve your goals or remove barriers
■ Safe space for growth and development
Simply put, coaching is a relationship that is dedicated to you and your needs alone. It is a safe space to uncover what it is that you really want, what might be holding you back, and time to work through strategies and skills to get you to where you aspire to be.
Coaching provides significant benefits. There is power in being listened to, taking time to reflect and connect with what you want,
being challenged to consider alternative options, and in receiving accountability to support your progress.
Statistics show that individuals who receive coaching are more likely to:
■ Establish and take action toward achieving goals
■ Become more self-reliant and confident
■ Gain more job and life satisfaction
■ Contribute more effectively to teams and companies
■ Take greater responsibility and accountability
■ Work more easily and productively with others (boss, direct reports, peers)
■ Communicate more effectively
Coaching in organizational and leadership settings is an invaluable tool for developing people across a wide range of needs. Over 80% of individuals who receive coaching
report increased selfconfidence, over 70% report improved work performance, relationships, and more effective communication skills and 86% of organizations report that they recouped their investment on coaching. And the list goes on and on.
■ Coaching is a gift. Not a punishment.
■ Coaching is powerful. Not punitive.
■ Coaching is empowering. Not limiting.
■ Career path planning
■ Leadership development
■ Leadership and personal brand development
■ Confidence building
■ Gaining specific skills (emotional intelligence, communication, time management and prioritization, etc.)
■ Situational support (e.g. how to navigate specific challenges)
■ Change management
■ Team performance optimization
■ And more…
Coaching is becoming a more and more utilized resource for leaders and individuals looking for support to achieve their goals. When seeking coaching, it is important to understand what training and credentials that the coach has, so you can ensure you are truly getting coaching — not mentorship or consulting. It is also important to find a coach that you personally connect with and can establish a strong working relationship with. ■
WeInspireWe is a woman-owned, international Executive Leadership and Career Coaching Firm that offers a unique approach to growth for leaders, regardless of title or tenure, in their desires to improve themselves, their teams, and the district as a whole. With a team of certified coaches, we believe that every person, situation, and school deserves the chance to put their best foot forward — and we would love to support you in that mission.
We offer 1:1 Executive Leadership and Career Coaching — as well as group leadership coaching and training sessions, and keynote motivational presentations. Our commitment is to create powerhouse leaders who step into their fullest selves and we believe that by inspiring one, we exponentially inspire many. We have a passion for supporting great leaders at work and in their own personal lives. We know that optimized leadership works to enable collaboration, innovation, and ultimately results in greater success for school districts and individuals involved.
If you have any areas in your personal or professional life where you are feeling stuck, or know you could be doing more, or are having difficulty gaining clarity, then coaching is a great gift for you.
www.weinspirewe.com
The BuyBoard Purchasing Cooperative, a free CCOSA service, provides reduced pricing on bulk cleaning supplies, personal protection equipment (PPE), desks, oral interpretation needs, and more. Make a plan, coordinate with your neighboring school districts or local governmental entity, and save more.
Have you ever found it difficult to connect with a student?
Have you ever wanted to “throw in the towel” when times get rough?
In the first chapter of my book, Building Bridges: Engaging Students Through the Power of Relationships, I describe how to adopt a relationship-building mindset. Educators that have a relationship-building mindset make a commitment to persevere, be relentless in showing their students that they care about them, and go above-and-beyond to build trusting relationships with them. The greater the number of teachers committing to this style of growth-fostering education, the greater are students’ chances for success.
When examining the causes for unruly student behavior that hinders academic success, several factors deserve scrutiny. A majority of the research on school discipline suggests that poverty, lack of social skills, lack of parental involvement, disintegration of family structure, television and media, and students’ home environments contribute to disruptive behavior (Atkins et al., 2002; Bear, 1998; Skiba & Peterson, 2003). These are powerful—and sometimes impossible—factors for educators to overcome.
Because these factors are beyond educators’ control, it is easy to point to them whenever disruption festers in classroom settings and when a negative school climate persists after failed attempts to repair it. I have been guilty of this myself. When I was a dean of students working in a Chicago suburban high school, I took it personally when students misbehaved or when the negative school climate did not improve. I viewed my successes and failures on the job as reflections of who I was as a person. On days when student behavior was good in the building and there were no fights, I felt proud. On days when I had to process numerous discipline referrals for disrespect and insubordination or constantly break up fights, I carried a negative attitude around with me. Unfortunately, for quite some time, I had far more bad days than good.
To be more effective at helping students at risk behave appropriately, I wanted to learn the best methods for doing so and become skilled in their use. As part of earning my
doctorate in educational leadership, I studied research, conducted a study of my own, and wrote a dissertation on the most effective methods to use with students at risk to decrease behavior referrals. My experience and educational research has revealed that the most effective methods involve authoritative counseling and building relationships with students (Baker, Grant, & Morlock, 2008; Wang & Maureen, 2013).
During my workshop “Building Trusting Relationships with At-Risk Students,” attendees share how they struggle to build relationships with some of their more challenging students, sometimes falling into the trap of indifference. They describe the backgrounds of the students and some of their behaviors. They share stories of enduring disrespect, insubordination, and contempt and how they are cursed at, ignored, and even threatened. Some state that they do not receive any help from their students’ parents and lament the many factors giving rise to poor behavior and low academic performance. At times, some even state they lack interest in building relationships with some of their students. Many teachers tell me that they feel themselves going into survival mode within the first quarter of the school year, followed by a period of selfreflection to decide whether they want to continue to teach.
I tell them, “I’ve been there and done that! Now let’s do something about it.”
Educators and teachers are some of the most resilient people you will meet, possessing qualities of strength and determination. Does this describe you? Here are some ideas to keep in mind:
■ Know this: even when the task is difficult—perhaps especially when the task is difficult—the potential for amazing outcomes is worth it.
■ Maintain optimism and frame the challenge as an opportunity for life-changing success.
■ No matter how adamantly these students attempt to push teachers away, they will so greatly appreciate knowing that their teachers care for them that they may develop an unwavering loyalty in return.
Now picture the students you have difficulty with, and use this same mindset of determination to forge positive and trusting relationships with them. Parallel the goal of establishing a relationship with them to the goal you have already brought to fruition through your hard work and willpower. Tell yourself that since you were capable of investing the necessary amount of time, energy, physical effort, and mental effort into that goal, you are also capable of investing what is necessary to build a positive and trusting relationship with your students who may be at risk. This is how you develop a RELENTLESS relationship-building mindset. ■
Dr. Parker is an education speaker and the author of Building Bridges: Engaging Students Through the Power of Relationships (Solution Tree Press, 2019). He is the former principal of Posen School, Posen, Illinois, which experienced marked improvements in school climate, staff collaboration, parent engagement, and student achievement. Learn more about his resources at www.drdonparker.com.
By Jen Schwanke, Ed.D., Author, The Teacher’s Principal
When I first started working as an administrator, I vowed to always support teachers, unconditionally and without question. I’ll never forget the first time I was accused of non-support. I’d made a decision about disciplining a student that was outside the teacher’s wishes. No problem, I thought; I’ll just explain my reasoning, my perspective, and my rationale. Of course, the teacher wanted nothing to do with my explanation. He hadn’t gotten what he wanted, so he told anyone who would listen that I wasn’t supportive. I was crushed.
Since then, my understanding of the word “support” has expanded considerably. The word is used all the time in education, and has grown to mean very different things to anyone who uses it. Teachers often say they want an administrator who supports them. What does that mean, though? Does it mean that administrators should always back the decisions of teachers? Always agree? Does it mean we should advocate for them, even if they want something that isn’t reasonable, fair, or helpful to students?
No, it doesn’t. To dig deeper into these questions, I wrote an entire book about how principals can support and motivate their teachers. By writing the book, I hoped to help principals lift the spirits of teachers who are positively motivated and provide ideas for enhancing the contributions of negatively motivated teachers. Teachers are the backbone of our schools, and I hoped to help principals improve their school culture and effectiveness by empowering all teachers.
The span of a teaching career is long. Times change; methods change; children change; technology changes. A teacher today could have started their career in the mid-1980s, and they have completely different job requirements today than they did on their first day of teaching. Outside of work, they may have raised children, changed homes, managed sickness or divorce, or experienced financial changes. But still there they are, working with children, teaching foundational skills and creating learning for their students. Principals are wise to consider three potential reasons teachers are motivated to get up every morning and to find joy in what they do. I liken these three motivators to the roots, trunk, and leaves of a tree. The roots are a teacher’s purpose for teaching; the trunk is the priorities that drive their decisions, and the leaves are
the patterns and habits that lead to daily routines.
Purpose is a teacher’s root system. Most teachers have a strong, student-centered purpose. Supporting and motivating purpose-driven teachers can be done through positive reinforcement, feedback, and with opportunities for professional growth. They bloom when given professional respect and autonomy. Of course, some teachers have a weak purpose that manifests itself in chronic absences, negativity, and toxic influence on others. Intervening toward positive change requires time, patience, and judgment-free guidance toward professional requirements and expectations.
A teacher’s priorities are the trunk and core of a teacher’s motivation. They shift, change, grow, and adjust with time. Priorities guide a teacher’s daily decisions, including how they plan their instruction and how they implement curriculum. Throughout a teacher’s career, these priorities may ebb and flow. They will have more to give, then less to give, then more again. We needn’t expect teachers to prioritize their work above all else; it is better to offer grace when teachers struggle with priorities to help them get back on track through constant and collaborative conversation.
Habits, routines, rhythms—these are the leaves of the “motivation tree,” and they are the most susceptible to outside influences. Patterns motivate a teacher’s day-to-day behaviors. Teachers that are always on time, communicate consistently with parents, and invest in thoughtful instructional planning have developed positive patterns. Principals can help teachers by setting and communicating clear and reasonable norms and by giving teachers immediate feedback when patterns have a positive impact on students and the school community. Similarly, negative routines and habits can be addressed through clarity and manageable expectations.
Understanding purpose, priorities, and patterns is simply a foundational framework to help administrators recognize what motivates teachers. We can improve or enhance a teacher’s work by making sure they are all seen, valued, and heard, and we can provide a multitude of positive reinforcers to lift high-performing teachers to be their best.
Conversely, when teachers underperform or create a negative culture in a school, intervening quickly and with empathetic honesty will not only help the underperformer, it will also garner respect from other teachers in the building who are eager to see signs of fair, consistent, and applicable responses to problems. And that, I believe, is what it means to be a supportive leader. ■
Jen Schwanke, Ed.D., has been an educator for 24 years, teaching or leading at all levels. She is the author of three ASCD books, including the just-released, The Teacher’s Principal: How School Leaders Can Support and Motivate Their Teachers She has written and presented for multiple state and local education organizations, and has provided professional development to various districts in the areas of school climate, personnel, and instructional leadership. She is an instructor in educational administration at Miami University. Dr. Schwanke currently serves as a Deputy Superintendent in Ohio.
Most mornings I ask the secretary, “How’s it looking, Mabel? The secretary, who takes care of finding substitutes daily, is really not Mabel, but is named Virginia. A few years ago in an effort to add a little levity, Virginia said, “Mabel, we have a problem.” The Mabel thing just stuck. Now, after adjusting our mindset, if either one mentions Mabel, we know we are going to look for a solution rather than focusing on a problem.
As leaders we come across problems or questions all day long. It doesn’t stop with school days. The calls, texts, and social media messages can feel nonstop. Weekend naps are often interrupted. Holiday meals aren’t even a time that we can be sure someone won’t feel the need to contact us. Making decisions and addressing problems will wear out even a seasoned pro. Staying in the professional realm of not reaching out to just anyone can also make us feel isolated as we think through best options.
Perhaps we should think back to Mabel (or maybe Malcolm). Instead of looking at each situation as a problem, we reframe it as finding a solution. Taking that proactive approach can lead to an important change in mindset. Once Virginia and I began thinking positively and knowing the solution was a possibility, our attitudes changed. Rather than being frustrated with teachers who called last minute or angry with substitute challenges, we began to focus on the process as a doable task and tackled it quickly. Our morning was brighter and we felt less resentment that really wasn’t necessary.
In my office and in the staff newsletter I posted the quote by Joan Borysenko, “Every day brings a choice to practice stress or to practice peace.” Staff members mentioned the quote as valuable and when it was erased from the board in the office a teacher asked, “Where is our quote?” As leaders we are meant to inspire others. We are meant to lead staff in knowing we are not just what we do but who we are as a staff. From a leadership perspective I focused on three things to lead in that direction.
First, we looked for staff members who were experts in solutions for specific problems. Mrs. Davis, Mrs. Littke, and Ms. Barnes knew arrival and dismissal procedures like the back of their hands. When we began a new car line system, these were the ones we called on. Mrs. Ray, Mrs. Bridges, and Mrs. Adkinson excelled at supporting teachers when behavior issues arose. Of course you understand, we all have staff members who can find the solutions. They don’t get bogged down by the challenges, but rather puzzle through to find what will work best for all.
As leaders we also feel the immediacy of finding solutions. There are times when we have to answer quickly, and many times we sense a pressure from others that makes us doubt our abilities to lead. Unless a decision has to be made right on the spot, begin
taking the time to breathe and think through solutions. After changing this philosophy, the staff is now accustomed to hearing that I will think about the solution and get back with them soon if not the next day. Parents are very open to having me listen to their concerns and then get back to them the next day if some investigating needs to be done. Many times a solution becomes much more clear after a good night’s sleep. The key is to always get back to the person with the question.
Lastly, we need to build networks. Relationships with other leaders give us an opportunity to ask questions and seek advice. It reminds us that like ourselves, other school leaders deal with the same issues we do. Either way, focus on solutions. Share problems, be vulnerable, but always seek solutions. By sharing this mindset with other principals we all grow in the way we handle daily activities within our own sites.
In the future, when you hear a problem, think of Mabel/Malcolm. Rather than focusing on the long list of things that are preventing action, look at it as an opportunity to lead and find a solution. Breathe and choose peace. Gather up your experts and celebrate their ability to find answers you might never have visualized. Don’t rush…take time to evaluate the best solution not the quickest one. Phone a friend in your network for extra support. Finding solutions is the perfect opportunity to lead by example.
And remember, whether it is Mabel or Malcolm, you’ve got this! ■
Every day brings a choice to practice stress or to practice peace.
Available now for Oklahoma schools and districts!
Empower Oklahoma educators to become certified in utilizing reading and math data! Istation’s new Educator Academy helps teachers differentiate instruction, communicate effectively with parents and peers, and improve student learning.
With Istation’s Educator Academy, teachers can
• lead the way in delivering data-driven instruction,
• use Lexile and Quantile measures in the classroom,
• leverage award-winning tools with Lexile and Quantile data, and
• immediately link data to students’ learning needs for differentiated instruction.
Get a deeper understanding of what it takes to become a certified Lexile and Quantile educator with Istation today!
info.istation.com/lexile-quantile-academy
WE WILL GUIDE YOU THROUGH THE EMPLOYMENT PROCESS FROM START TO FINISH!
Let OSSBA help your district with unemployment issues, plus save money and time by letting our attorneys handle your claims, follow ups, appeals and more. We also offer additional employment services to support school districts, including an online library of information and documents, training opportunities and legal information on employment issues.
While we all may dream of days, or maybe even weeks, where we could just be alone, the reality is that every aspect of our lives is based upon relationships. Whether it is with a spouse, family, friends, colleagues, or even students, everything is based upon relationships.
Since so much of our existence is based upon these relationships it is important to make sure we have healthy relationships. I like to joke that I had a former principal who said we were going to be like family. But what he didn’t tell us was that it was a dysfunctional family! You may have experienced a similar situation as a teacher or even as an administrator as well.
I get countless messages and emails from teachers all around the world who wish their administrators spent more time developing positive relationships with the staff. I think part of the disconnect is that people are often promoted to leadership roles based upon past competencies. I think, for the most part, IQ also plays a role in being promoted. However, as I have shared for many years, it is our EQ (Emotional Intelligence) which best translates to success as a leader. As a teacher you may not have needed that type of interaction and affirmation from your administration. However, most teachers do need that affirmation and most people do like to be noticed and appreciated for the work they do.
Most relationships are formed based upon a level of respect or love and every healthy relationship needs trust. So, whether it is your students, staff or administrator colleagues, make sure you create a relationship based upon respect and trust. If you think about it, during the school year you may spend as much of your waking
hours at school as you do at home. Don’t underestimate the importance of building those relationships. It is similar to the time a coach spends with athletes. I often use a picture of a young Kareem Abdul Jabbar at UCLA with his coach John Wooden juxtaposed to a picture of them decades later when they are much older, with Jabbar holding on to an aging Wooden as they walk onto a basketball court. It is a powerful example of how important relationships are to the learning/ coaching process and that the relationships can impact the rest of our lives.
Finally, I remember my own principal from high school, Mr. Kent. He would greet students and teachers as they entered the school each morning. He would take time to talk and listen in the hallways and the cafeteria. He would stop into classes just to see what was going on without a teacher evaluation in sight. Not
that I would have recognized a teacher evaluation form, but he usually just had the two-way radio (yes, this was before cell phones) in his hand. He seemed to know every student, every parent, and connected with his teachers in a very caring way. Even though I was just a high school student, I picked up on the importance of developing relationships with those you lead from him. I tried to emulate that when I became I an administrator myself.
So, focus on those relationships, and see what a difference it makes in your staff and the culture of your school. ■
We imagine a world where learning is more equitable, more collaborative, more personalized, and more innovative, with students always at the center
That is why the education products and solutions you count on are now part of a comprehensive portfolio designed to better empower educators and improve student achievement.
Imagine with us at imaginethefutureoflearning.com
By Jennifer Abrams, Author and Communications Consultant
I encourage all of you to check out the East Brother Light Station in the California Bay Area. The lighthouse inn is, “a beautifully restored California Victorian Lighthouse Dinner, Bed & Breakfast Inn perched atop an island in the strait that separates San Francisco and San Pablo Bays.” It was the spot at which I realized (yet again) that I had ‘tipped my seesaw.’
Similar to the cobbler whose children have no shoes, I spent the last several months talking about polarity management and hadn’t yet discerned I wasn’t living it out in my life. I had tipped the seesaw (yet again).
Polarity management is the work of not just solving problems but actually managing polarities. Polarities such as work and rest, individual and community, and personal and professional. Polarity management is about not ‘tipping a see saw’ too much one way or the other. It is recognizing the importance of valuing both sides of a polarity. I have been talking about polarity management for the last several months, but not living it. Now I was in the middle of the Bay. And I needed to nap. After
breakfast. And then again after I returned home from the Inn for another several hours that same afternoon.
I realized then that I hadn’t worked out for 5 weeks. Then I started to also notice the dead leaves in my plants. And I finally took into
account that the light bulb in my bedside lamp had been out, not just for days but for weeks
Tipped seesaw alert.
I love to live in my head. It works for me. Until it doesn’t. Now, nothing drastic happened to me. I didn’t have an MS relapse, thank goodness. Yet it shouldn’t take something that dramatic to wake me up. Remember, I teach about polarity management. And yet I became the cobbler whose children have no shoes. Sigh. Ugh. Boo.
I am beginning to adjust my seesaw. I hope that if you are in a similar space that you consider doing the same. I hope you enjoyed your winter break. Join me as we continue to rebalance our seesaws. ■
OASA has always been the go to organization for school superintendents and central office administrators. FY23 is proving how important our professional organization is to our members.
OASA BY THE NUMBERS:
The total active OASA Superintendents membership is at 486 and the total active OASA Cental Office Staff membership is 333 as of January 12, 2023 for a total of 819.
Advocacy for CCOSA and our public education allies will be vitally important as always, but we know that we will likely face the most challenging year in the history of public education with the continued push for vouchers from many Senate members, the Governor, and State Superintendent. We must be ready to address this issue “head-on” with positive
Of the OASA membership, 136 members joined for the first time in 2022-2023.
messaging about your work in schools AND by your presence at the Capitol this year. With the OASA Legislative Conference in January, our members learned how to tell their district’s positive story, heard about introduced legislation and the state budget, and listened to John Tanner who talked about a new accountability approach. Our members also had the opportunity
The total membership is 47 for OASA Associates.
The total membership is 158 for OARSA and 174 for AASA.
to meet with their legislators at a first OASA Legislative Reception. Our goal is to build relationships with new legislators and to be at the Capitol as often as possible this coming session. It is our goal to have a Google document with sign-ups for district personnel attendance.
We continue the OASA weekly zoom “Touch Bases” meetings that have consistently averaged 180+ attendees and will continue as long as there is a need to share information. These meetings focus on timely topics and are driven by members who submit topics for discussion.
In order to maintain its strength, OASA is seeking 100% membership from its school superintendents As of mid-year, over 90% of our school superintendents were members and more are joining. By adding networking consortiums for central office staff who work with federal programs, student information, tribal, virtual, and facilities, OASA has helped add membership and provide much needed information sharing. Besides advocacy, membership, and network communications, OASA has continued its effort to build “Quality School Frameworks” using both research and our own members’ expertise. OASA believes
that if school leaders don’t define “quality” in public schools, we will allow others to define it for us. The original Blended Framework for virtual education is getting a refresh from the Virtual Education Network that OASA put together. Blended Framework 3.0 will be released in the next month. Schools that are utilizing the Professional Budget Framework are reporting tremendous responses from their school boards. Our Energy Efficiency Framework has six schools participating and have their own energy manager trained. Two schools who began last year have shown over $50,000 in energy savings already. The latest Quality Framework is the Winning Strategies Playbook. This Framework is designed to provide schools with a research-based approach to improve teaching and learning. As with all the Frameworks, the Winning Strategies Playbook is built upon a combination of research and best practices by our own OASA members.
With the retirement of Vernon Florence this year, OASA is honored to continue Vernon’s monthly State Revenue Report. This report is provided to our District Level Services members and subscribers each month and is a comprehensive analysis of the state’s financial position.
OASA is your professional organization, and our strength is through engaged members. We will continue to fight on behalf of public-school administrators by advocating on your behalf at the State Capitol. Through our Quality School Frameworks, our communications network, and our advocacy, we continue to show that schools are being led by true professionals. We hope you will continue to be an active part of this amazing organization and continue to ride with the OASA brand! ■
Will Parker, OASSP/OMLEA Executive Director
OASSP membership grew to 890 at the end of 2021-22 with an increase of 79 members from the previous school year. For the 2022-2023 membership year, we currently have 798 members with 127 new members who have joined so far this year.
NASSP Celebrates Principals and Assistant Principals of the Year
Thursday, November 10 — Saturday, November 12, 2022, the National Association of Secondary School Principals hosted an event for state Secondary Principals of the Year and state Assistant Principals of the Year. An evening gala included awards presented to Terry Adams (2021-22 Oklahoma High School POY) and Fielding Elseman (2021-22 Oklahoma APOY). Congratulations to them and all state winners for representing excellence in service to school communities!
Terry Adams won recognition as Oklahoma High School Principal of the Year while serving as principal of Bixby High School last school year; he now serves as the Director for the Oklahoma Aviation Academy at Norman Public Schools. Fielding Elseman won recognition as Oklahoma APOY last school year while assistant principal at Jenks High School. He is now Principal of Pryor High School. State Secondary POY's and APOY's were also invited to attend professional development at the Crystal City Hyatt Regency, Arlington, Virginia. This event included round table discussions and meetings on school advocacy. Award winners also enjoyed tours of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. and an evening gala where guests heard from NASSP President Ronn Nozoe and a keynote message from speaker and author Jimmy Casas.
Assistant Principal of the Year
Mr. Timothy Ray, Assistant Principal at Charles Page High School, Sand Springs Public Schools, has been named the 2022-23 Oklahoma Assistant Principal of the Year by OASSP.
Ray will be recognized as the Oklahoma Assistant Principal of the Year by the Cooperative Council for Oklahoma School Administrators (CCOSA) and the Oklahoma Association of Secondary School Principals (OASSP) at the CCOSA Summer Leadership Conference in June 2023. He will also be recognized by the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) as a State Assistant Principal of the Year. He is eligible to become one of three finalists to be named as contenders for the National Assistant Principal of the Year award.
On Monday, November 7, 2022, OASSP Region 11 Representative Crystal Syzmanski, Stillwater Junior High Principal, hosted a region dinner in Stillwater. She invited OASSP/OMLEA Executive Director Will Parker to bring greetings and updates from the association. Education leaders discussed issues including challenges with instruction, teacher shortage, special education, state testing, accreditation, and advocacy. Ms. Sysmanki also invited comments from State Representatives Trish Ranson and John Talley who voiced their collective concerns and supports for Oklahoma public schools. Also, in attendance were Don Amon, Cushing; Bob Coates, Cushing; Kane Mach, Stillwater; Walter Howell, Stillwater HS; Jackie Jackson, Stillwater MS; Jason Riggs, Stillwater JH; Uwe Gordon, Stillwater PS; George Horton, Stillwater HS, and Carissa Wilkinson, Stillwater JH.
On Tuesday, November 8, OASSP Region 9 Representative Bret Stone, Guthrie High School Assistant Principal, hosted a luncheon for area principals in Guthrie. Special guests included Jill Zimmer and Justin Selman, from the Guthrie Job Corps, who explained benefits of their residency programs for students seeking alternative education options that also involve career certifications. NASSP State Coordinator Chris LeGrande, Guthrie High School Principal, also introduced Tanner Roberts, Field Rep from the office of U.S. Senator James Lankford. Mr. Tanner's visit to Guthrie also included a tour of Guthrie High School with Mr. Bret Stone and Mr. Dusty Throckmorton. Principals shared celebrations from their schools as well as collaborated around issues like teacher shortage, mental health, attendance/truancy policy, issues from families whose children are affected by medical marijuana, as well as the benefits of school support specialists. Attendees included OASSP/OMLEA Executive Director, Will Parker, Ricardo Tarango, Hennessey MS; John Harris, Kingfisher HS; Todd Overstreet, Watonga HS; Cory Wilson, Lomega HS; Joshua Faulkner, Hennessey HS; OASSP Region 9 Representative Bret Stone, Guthrie HS; Chris LeGrande, Guthrie HS; Ryan Schenk, Cashion, HS; G.W. Parham; OKarche; Dusty Throckmorton, Guthrie HS; Justin Selman, Guthrie Job Corps; Tanner Roberts, Field Representative, U.S. Senator James Lankford; (Seated in photo): Totsy Manning, Cashion HS; Lauren Coleman, OKeene; Juana Benson, Guthrie HS; Jill Zimmer, Guthrie Job Corps. ■
OMLEA membership is based on members of CCOSA’s associations who also elect to become members of the Oklahoma Middle Level Association. At the end of 2021-22, OMLEA membership represented 652 educators. For 202223, we currently have 594 members. These represent 175 Assistant Principals, 372 Principals, and 47 coordinators, directors or other central office administrators.
On Thursday, November 3 — Saturday, November 5, 2022, OMLEA officers and award-winning middle-level leaders attended the Association of Middle Level Education National Conference, in Kissimmee, Florida — it's first inperson national conference since before the pandemic. Attendees enjoyed learning from middle-level educators, keynote speakers and breakout session presenters from across the U.S., including Houston Craft, Jack Berckemeyer, Phyllis Fagell, Andrew McPeak, LaVonna Roth — and many others! It was an honor for OMLEA to host our Oklahoma middle-level officers and award winners from the past three years at this national conference. Members attending included Will Parker, OASSP/OMLEA Executive Director; Kyle Hilterbran, Supt. Watonga PS, Middle-Level POY 202021; Laura Bullock, Idabel Middle School, Middle-Level POY 2021-22; Robb Mills, Waller Middle School, OASSP PastPresident; Michelle Middleton, Chouteau Middle School,
Join Oklahoma educators from across the state for this year's "Thrive" Leadership & Learning Conference, which will be held at the Hilton Garden Inn Conference Center, Edmond, Oklahoma, February 8-9, 2023. Keynote speakers include Dr. Don Parker, author of Building Bridges: Engaging Students at Risk through the Power of Relationships (Solution Tree Press); and Dr. Jen Schwanke, author of The Teacher's Principal: How School Leaders Can Support and Motivate Their Teachers (ASCD). Both days are committed to strands on secondary leadership and middle-level practice and subject-area expertise. Requests for Presentation are open for teachers, administrators, and educators who want to share classroom and leadership best practices in breakout sessions. Also at the conference, OMLEA will recognize the Middle-Level Educator of the Year. Teachers whose principals are OASSP/OMLEA
OAESP membership is currently at 794. Last year, OAESP had 841 members. Our goal this year is to become 3,000+ member strong for all of CCOSA. Encourage your colleagues and administrator friends to join CCOSA today!
The OAESP Leadership Conference, formally known as the OAESP Mid-Winter Conference, was held November 9-10, 2022 at the Embassy Suites OKC Downtown/ Medical Center.
Tami Evans gave the opening keynote on November 9th. Her keynote was titled “Lighten Up and Lead.” It was exactly what our members needed to hear. Dr. Brad Johnson provided the closing keynote on November 10th. His message was on “Leading through Serving.”
This year’s conference offered 10 breakout sessions as well as some leadership roundtable discussions. The conference survey was very positive. Your OAESP Executive Committee has already started planning for next year’s conference. Stay tuned for some announcements coming soon.
The OAESP Presidential candidates for this year are Tara Burnett, Woodward Public Schools and Angela Wade, Fairland Public Schools. Both candidates spoke at the OAESP Leadership Conference. The election took place in MidJanuary. The results of the election will be announced soon.
The OAESP Principal of the Year/ NAESP National Distinguished Principal (NDP) program honors outstanding elementary and middlelevel principals across the nation who ensures that America's children acquire a solid foundation for lifelong learning and achievement. This year, we had 11 principals nominated for Principal of the Year. We have received their application packets. At the January 31, 2023 OAESP Executive Committee meeting, the NDP committee members were chosen. The committee will review all packets and score them based on the OAESP approved rubric. The committee will narrow the candidates to the top three by the end of March. The top three candidates will be selected for a site visit. The committee will conduct interviews with the principal, a teacher committee, and a parent/ community committee in order to make a decision on the OAESP Principal of the Year/NAESP National Distinguished Principal. The final decision is expected to be made by the end of April.
The Annual NAESP National Leaders Conference will be held March 26-29 in Washington, D.C. OAESP President Janalyn Taylor, OAESP President-Elect Traci Newell, NAESP State Representative Julie Bloss, and Executive Director Glen Abshere will attend the conference and visit with the Oklahoma delegation at the U.S. Capitol.
The NAESP National Conference will be held this summer in National Harbor, Maryland. The conference is July 10-12, 2023. Some of the speakers include Houston Kraft, Joanne McEachen and Freeman A Hrabowksi, III. Registration is now open on the NAESP website. ■
ODSS held its fall 2022 Best Practices Conference on October 26 and 27 at Moore-Norman Technology Center’s South Penn Campus. On Day 1, general session speaker Karen Haase, a school attorney from Nebraska who presents frequently at national conferences, blended big issues in education law with important issues in special education law, and our attendees loved that approach. We’d heartily recommend Karen not only to special education administrators, but also to a mixed group including general and special education administrators.
The 2022-23 First-Year Directors Project completed the last of its four half-day fall training sessions on December 2. ODSS will present two webinars in winter/spring of 2023 for the 77 new-director participants. The mentoring part of the Project is ongoing, with all firstyear participants paired with an experienced director mentor. ODSS completed the fall semester sessions of TeleSPED ECHO on December 12, with presentations focused on legal issues, paraprofessional issues and what to expect from OSDE as it implements new legislation concerning dysgraphia. TeleSPED participation for FY2023 has averaged 70+ attendees so far. Spring semester sessions are scheduled from noon to 1:00 p.m.
on January 9 and 23, February 13 and 27, March 27, and April 10 and 24. Register to attend Project ECHO sessions at https://okstate. forms-db.com/view.
php?id=268015
For the first time, ODSS members will be participating with OAESP, OMLEA and OASSP members in their annual Day at the Capitol Scheduled for March 22, the group will attend a legislative update at the CCOSA office, followed by advocacy training and meetings with legislators at the Capitol building.
Watch your email in February for nomination and application forms for the awards ODSS presents annually, including 2023 Director of the Year. ■
