principal
Vol. 12, 11, No. Vol. No.3 1
Navigator The magazine of the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators
Back to School Fall 2016
Inside:
An Amazing Start to Each Year • Wall-to-Wall Data • Creating an Effective Parent Advisory Council • 5 Communication Practices for the New School Year • Back-to-School Tips from OAESA Award Winners • Gearing up for a New Year
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for the United States Post Office:
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Executive Director’s Exchange Dear Colleagues, Welcome back to another great school year! I hope you had a chance to refresh and recharge this summer and are ready to have the best year ever! That being said, where do you go to find resources and ideas to help you effectively do your job? One great source is your professional association! OAESA members, staff, and programs all provide access to best practices and policies being used throughout our state and nation. The Principal Navigator team envisioned this current issue to be a collection of the tips and tricks our members are using to have a great start to the school year. We put out the request for articles, and wow, did you deliver! Here’s a highlight of what this issue contains. Read how Principal Nick Neiderhouse and his staff start the year off with the Amazing Race of Maumee! Talk about a fun way to engage folks, all while encouraging them to work together and build new relationships. It is also a wonderful example of collaborating with community members and business partners (Ohio Principal Standard 5!). Back-to-school events often provide increased interaction with parents, and we have two articles that I think will be a great resource for you. OAESA Associate Executive Director Mark Jones provides guidance on how to create an effective parent advisory council, and NAESP and OAESA past president, Dr. Paul Young, follows up on our 2015 Professional Conference theme of grit. This time, Paul delivers a message to parents, providing parenting principles to help develop grit and growth mindsets in their children. Dr. Bobby Moore asks that you reflect on your non-negotiables for 2016–17. Dr. Cassandra Storlie provides practical ideas, backed by current research, about how to genuinely embrace the racial and cultural diversity of each learner. We often say we do, but do we really? Use Cassandra’s article as a guideline for discussion with your faculty as you examine your school’s practices. Also, to hear more from Cassandra, bring a team of teachers to our upcoming professional learning experience, Achievement in Motion (p. 14), designed to address just that topic. Members share some model programs and events that have been successful at setting a positive culture at their sites. Read about Jeffrey Williams’s practical tips and tricks, and then adapt what would work at your own site. Principal Russ Breech provides a template of guiding questions to use with faculty, students, and community as you work to establish or refine your school’s identity and brand. I often hear that you and your teachers are drowning in an overwhelming amount of data. Principal Colleen Longville and two of her staff members share her school’s journey using a data wall. OAESA board of directors member Cathyrn Petticrew gives us five communication practices for the new school year. Read them, and see what will work for you in your setting. And, while thinking of communication, read OAESA past president Steve Zinser’s delightful article reminding us of critical first impressions and how he used the school telephone message to work to his advantage. While reading about doing all these things for others, don’t forget to be mindful of your own professional career and finances. Read up on the latest advice relative to sick leave and severance pay from OAESA’s attorney, Dennis Pergram. And did you begin with STRS prior to 1992 or after? Read Tony Podojil’s article to see why that’s an important date. Don’t forget to check out the latest titles featured in our book review section, including Passionate Learners by Pernille Ripp, who will be speaking at OAESA’s 60th annual professional conference in 2017. I hope you find this issue as helpful as I have. The Principal Navigator team envisioned it being a resource that you could keep on your shelf and refer to when needed. Happy Reading!
Julie Davis, EdD OAESA Executive Director
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FEATURE STORIES 12
Rapid Changes: Embracing the Racial & Cultural Diversity of Each Learner
by Cassandra Storlie, PhD
How can we celebrate racial and cultural differences in the classroom? Read the author’s helpful suggestions to give children of our multicultural society a multicultural education.
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Wall-to-Wall Data
by Karen Gommel, Colleen Longville, & Amy Statz
What do you do when you have more students who need intervention than you can handle? Read how these educators successfully solved their problem.
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by Bobby Moore, EdD
by Jeffrey Williams
Last year, Dr. Moore introduced readers to three things to stop doing immediately. This year, he shares four non-negotiables.
A second-year principal of two elementary schools shares his schools’ plan to set a positive school climate.
What Are Your NonNegotiables in the 2016-17 School Year?
From Star Students to Parent Praisings: Our Character Program
ADDITIONAL ARTICLES 15 Parenting Principles by Paul G. Young, PhD
16 Five Sites to Visit in 2016-17 by Abigail Smith, Editor 17 A New Story for OAESA by Anthony Podojil 26 The Importance of First Impressions by Steve Zinser 53 Positive Climate Change by Russ Breech
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5 Comunication Practices for the New School Year
by Cathryn Petticrew
One connected principal from Xenia Community Schools shares her effective and thoughtful communication tips for starting the year off right.
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An Amazing Start to Each Year
by Nick Neiderhouse, EdD
How would you like to kick off the new year? Reviewing policies and procedures? No? Well, how about sending staff on your school’s own Amazing Race instead?
Call for Articles!
her recruitment Our Winter 2017 theme is teac look for in a you do at Wh and retainment. e a good mak tics eris ract cha at teacher? Wh knowledge t wha educator? What experience and get more we do How e? should job candidates hav career? a as on cati edu into go to quality people e will issu s Thi ? And then, how do we keep them re. mo and ns stio answer those que 2016. The deadline is November 15, and for complete Drop us a line with questions or@oaesa.org. igat nav at es article guidelin
Vol. 12, No. 1
ABOUT THE NAVIGATOR
EDITORIAL SERVICE TEAM Keith Helmlinger, Sidney City Schools Brynn Morgan, Clara E. Westropp Schools, Cleveland Metropolitan Schools Kirk Pavelich, North Royalton City Schools Jeromey Sheets, EdD, Lancaster City Schools Nick Wilker, Marion Local Schools Paul Young, PhD, retired Stephen Zinser, retired
OAESA/SAIL STAFF
Julie Davis, EdD, Executive Director Mark Jones, Associate Executive Director Nancy Abrams, Business Manager Donna Ball, Special Projects Coordinator Melissa Butsko, Director of Operations Rebecca Hornberger, PhD, Department Chair, SAIL/CUC Partnerships KT Hughes Crandall, Communications Specialist Kimberly McNeal, Office Assistant Tony Piehowicz, Corporate Partner Advisor Kacie Sampson, SAIL/University Partnerships Advisor Abigail Smith, Editor, Principal Navigator Zana Vincent, Ohio Ready Schools Project Manager
IN EVERY ISSUE
3 Executive Director’s Exchange Julie Davis, EdD
6 Highlighting a Board Member
Stephanie Klingshirn, 2016–17 OAESA President
8 OAESA Board of Directors 2016–17
10 SAIL for Education
An Interview with New Team Member Rebecca Hornberger, PhD
14 OAESA Featured Event Achievement in Motion Workshop
18 Mission: Possible in Pictures
A visual recap of OAESA’s 59th annual professional conference
30 From OAESA’s Associate Executive Director Creating an Effective Parent Advisory Council by Mark Jones
32 Elementary Essentials
Gearing up for a New Year by Zana Vincent
35 OAESA Chalkboard
The latest news from your association
Unless otherwise noted, all articles published in the Principal Navigator become the property of OAESA and may not be reprinted without permission from OAESA. The articles published in the Principal Navigator represent the ideas and/ or beliefs of the authors and do not necessarily express the views of OAESA unless so stated. Advertising inquiries should be directed to OAESA by phone at 614.547.8087 or by e-mailing info@oaesa.org. The Principal Navigator (ISSN 1088-078X) is published three times per school year by OAESA, 445 Hutchinson Ave., Suite 700, Columbus, Ohio 43235. Subscriptions are available only as part of membership. Periodical postage paid at Columbus, Ohio, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Principal Navigator 445 Hutchinson Ave., Suite 700 Columbus, Ohio 43235 OAESA is affiliated with the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP).
38 Health Issues
Tools for Promoting Positive School Climate and Student Development in Ohio Schools by Jill J. Jackson
40 Legal Report
Sick Leave/Severance Pay by Dennis Pergram
44 OAESA 2016 Awards Program
Check out back-to-school tips from OAESA award winners
50 Tell Us Your Story...
Parents, educators, and students share favorite back-to-school memories
52 Sorry...We’re Booked!
featuring Passionate Learners by Pernille Ripp, keynote at our upcoming professional conference in June 2017
54 Welcome to OAESA’s Newest Members 54 OAESA Fall Zone Meetings
Join us for news and networking in your part of the state!
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Highlighting a Board Member
Stephanie Klingshirn
OAESA 2016–17 President Principal, Mississinawa Valley Schools Tell us a little about your background and current job.
This coming school year will be my 23rd in education. Wow—that is hard to believe! I have taught kindergarten, first, and second grade, as well as other grades for intervention, extracurricular activities, and summer school. For the past 17 years, I have been in administration. I have served as principal at Fort Loramie Elementary, Springcreek Primary in Piqua City, and most recently at Mississinawa Valley Elementary in Union City. Most importantly, I am a wife to Joe and mom to Abigayle and Lydia, ages six and eight respectively. I am also called grandma by Colton, two, and Kaylee, six months who are the children of my stepson Bill and his wife, Bridget.
Who or what inspired you to go into education?
I believe I’ve been in education in some way, shape, or form all of my life. I’m not sure exactly who or what inspired me to go into education. I just somehow knew in second grade this was my path. I have two aunts who were teachers, so I’m sure they were an important influence in my decision. I began playing piano and teaching the music in Sunday school when I was 11. I have always gravitated toward working with children, and what better way to work with them than to learn with and from them?
My biggest motivators are my daughters. I know what I want for them, and I want nothing less for all of the students in my school than I want for my girls.
What motivates you?
There are so many people who motivate and inspire me, but I believe my biggest motivators are my daughters. I know what I want for them, and I want nothing less for all of the students in my school than I want for my girls. Beyond that, great teachers and principals motivate me to be better! There is nothing more exciting to me than talking shop and networking with great thinkers! Attending conferences at OAESA, OILA, and NAESP and hearing educators, such as Dr. Anthony Muhammad, Baruti Kafale, Todd Whitaker, and Dr. Russell Quaglia, also reminds me how I can be—and need to do—better.
What is your biggest challenge as an administrator? How do you deal with it?
I struggle with keeping the focus on the important things, instead of reacting to the urgent things. This is a daily challenge. Physically writing down the three to five most important things to accomplish before I get to school helps. Continuing to learn how to delegate better also helps with this, and this year, I am determined to track my daily goals differently in order to keep the main things the main things.
You’re the 2016–17 president of the OAESA Board of Directors. Tell us about it!
First, I just have to say what an honor and privilege this is! It is incredibly humbling as I am representing hardworking elementary administrators from across the state. Within that, I lead board meetings throughout the year, help lead and participate on service teams, attend zone meetings, give feedback to the OAESA staff, serve on the SAIL board, and represent the organization whenever asked.
You’ve been on the board for over eight years now. What are some favorite memories serving the OAESA?
Gosh! There are many! Quite a few of the people I’ve met—many I now consider friends—are at the top of my highlight reel. Beyond that, having the opportunity to attend the NAESP Leadership Conference and advocate for Ohio principals with national politicians is absolutely one of my favorite moments. Being more involved in OAESA has given me a much clearer understanding of what an organization like this does and how it’s not only working to support principals but, more importantly, kids, which has been awesome!
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What are the board’s goals for 2016–17?
We are a membership organization—it is the lifeblood of what we do. As such, it is critical that we remain member driven and member led. That, and increasing our membership so we have a stronger collective voice, will always be important goals for us. Connecting with our members, and helping them connect and network with each other is a vital goal in sustaining principals, and we are always working on better ways to do that. One of our advocacy goals is focused on streamlining or eliminating the Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) this year; another is to advocate for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to be implemented the way the law intended it to be. The professional learning service team is always looking for ways to support administrators in a more relevant and timely way through the use of technology. Getting more administrators involved and also contributing to our magazine, the Navigator, and continuing to improve how we recognize outstanding administrators are tops on our list as well.
This issue of the magazine centers on heading back to school. How do you get your staff excited about opening day? It’s different every year, but I usually start with a theme of some sort that applies to both students and staff. I sometimes deliver a book to their house (Christmas in July.) We have a staff retreat two to three weeks before school that focuses on our goals for the year and helps set the expectations. This year we are going to have some “forced fun” that includes Twitter, selfies, and a scavenger hunt! Teachers have started a fun tradition of how they welcome new staff to our school as well.
On that note, share with us some back-to-school practices you employ at your school for the students.
Typically, we send personalized letters out to all students from their teachers as well as from me. We try to start the first day of school differently each year. One year, we had a DJ playing and a dance party as students entered. This year, teachers will be visiting as many students’ homes as possible, especially focusing on those in our toughest neighborhoods. They will be delivering juggling balls to the students and our annual letter with instructions to bring [the balls] with them the first week of school. I also visit each classroom and read a book, talk about expectations, and help students create a piece of a school-wide art mural. This year’s book is going to be Beautiful Hands. Finally, PBIS expectations are explicitly taught and interwoven with all of our activities.
Some of Stephanie’s Favorites: Vacation Destination: Books on Education: Stuff to Do for Fun: Teacher:
Anywhere I get to learn! I just like to go; however, fishing in Michigan’s UP, rafting down the Colorado River, and spending a week on the beach in Charleston, SC, are favorites! Teaching with the Brain in Mind by Eric Jensen—an old book but one that really changed my ideas about teaching and learning and got me thinking about, and trying to implement, what research says. Above the Line is a recent read that spoke to me.
Cooking, playing piano, “backyard farming”—chickens, gardening/pickling, cutting firewood, etc.— just about anything outdoors, and being active with my family.
I have four. My parents, of course, were my first and most important teachers. Tom Archer, our county 4-H extension agent, and Nancy Knapke, the first principal who hired me to teach, were instrumental in where I am today. They all taught me so much and saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself.
Place to Dine:
The Hofbräuhaus
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Board of Directors 2016–17 Executive Board President
Stephanie Klingshirn
Mississinawa Valley Elementary 10480 Staudt Rd. Union City, OH 45390 937.968.4464 stephanie_klingshirn@mississinawa.org
President- Elect
Melanie Pearn
Fairfax Elementary 6465 Curtiss Ct. Mentor, OH 44060 440.255.7223 pearn@mentorschools.org
Past President
NAES P Rep
Heidi Kegley
Jeromey Sheets, Ed D
Frank B. Willis Intermediate 74 W. William St. Delaware, OH 43015 740.833.1700 kegleyhe@delawarecityschools.net
Federal Relations Coordinator
Aretha Paydock
Lancaster City Schools 345 E. Mulberry Street Lancaster, OH 43130 740.681.7676 j_sheets@lancaster.k12.oh.us
The Arts Academy at Summit 1100 10th St. NW Canton, OH 44703 330.452.6537 paydock_a@ccsdistrict.org
Zone Four Director
Zone Five Director
Jane Myers
Jonathan Muro
Zone Directors Zone One Director
Zone Two Director
Zone Three Director
Scott Martin
David Winebrenner
Cathryn Petticrew
Northwest Elementary 4738 Henley Deemer Rd. McDermott, OH 45652 740.259.2250 Scott.Martin@nwmohawks.net
South Lebanon Elementary 50 Ridgeview Lane Maineville, OH 45039 513.459.2916 dwinebrenner@kingslocal.net
Tecumseh Elementary 1058 Old Springfield Pike Xenia, OH 45385 937.372.3321 cpettic@gmail.com
Defiance Elementary 400 Carter Rd. Defiance, OH 43512 419.785.2260 jmyers@defcity.org
Zone Six Director
Zone Seven Director
Zone Eight Director
Zone Nine Director
Erin Simpson
Abbey Bolton
Susanne Waltman
Steven Foreman
330.830.8056 sew2jc@jackson.sparcc.org
740.588.5539 foreman@zanesville.k12.oh.us
Overlook Elementary 650 Broad St. Wadsworth, OH 44281
330.335.1420 wadc_simpson@wadsworthschools.org
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Davey Elementary 196 N. Prospect St. Kent, OH 44240 330.676.7400 ke_abolton@kentschools.net
Strausser Elementary 8646 Strausser St. Massillon, OH 44646
Zanesville City Schools 956 Moxahala Ave. Zanesville, OH 43701
Madison Middle School 1419 Grace St. Mansfield, OH 44905 419.522.0471 jmuro@mlsd.net
Zone Ten Director
Timothy Barton
Galloway Ridge Intermediate 122 Galloway Rd. Galloway, OH 43119 614.801.8850 timothy.barton@swcsd.us
Board Representatives Central Office Rep
Assistant Principal Rep
Daniel Graves
Stephanie Morton
Columbus City Schools 270 E. State St. Columbus, OH 43215
614.365.8951 dgraves@columbus.k12.oh.us
Middle School Rep
Jason Fife
Joseph M. Gallagher 6601 Franklin Blvd. Cleveland, OH 44102 216.961.0057 stephanie.morton@ clevelandmetroschools.org
Cleveland District Rep
Gretchen Liggens
Westfall Middle School 19545 Pherson Pike Williamsport, OH 43164
Watterson-Lake K–8 School 1422 W. 74th St. Cleveland, OH 44102
jfife@westfallschools.org
gretchen.liggens@clevelandmetroschools.org
740.986.2941
Get Involved!
216.838.7550
Minority Rep
Asia Armstrong
Worthington Park Elementary 500 Park Rd. Westerville, OH 43081 614.450.5500 aarmstrong@wscloud.org
Columbus District Rep
April Knight
Avondale Elementary 141 Hawkes Columbus, OH 43222
614.365.6511 aknight@columbus.k12.oh.us
Zone Map
OAESA is seeking district liaisons all across the state. We have 142 right now. Is your district represented? Contact your zone director directly or call the office at 614.547.8087 for more info. Sign up online at oaesa.org/membership.asp. 9
SAIL for Education
An Interview with New Team Member
Rebecca Hornberger, PhD by Abigail Smith, OAESA Editor After nearly twenty years with the Pickerington Local School District, Dr. Rebecca Hornberger has stepped out of the building and accepted a position with SAIL for Education and Concordia University Chicago (CUC), where she will impact education at the graduate level, preparing teachers and principals to be the leaders of tomorrow. In her new position, Rebecca will spend most of each month at the OAESA office and will travel to Chicago at CUC as needed. At OAESA/SAIL, we are so excited to have her join our excellent team! Abigail Smith (AS): It’s been a while since we’ve featured information about SAIL for Education in the Navigator. Can you tell us about SAIL and the partnership we have with CUC and what we have to offer Ohio educators? Dr. Hornberger (BH): We are pleased to offer a program that effectively prepares both aspiring and experienced administrators to take on a variety of leadership roles. The program is both rigorous and manageable for practicing educators. Just a few of the many programs we offer include a master’s or doctoral degree in school leadership (principal license embedded); a doctoral degree in experienced leadership (superintendent licensure embedded); a master’s or doctoral degree in teacher leadership. AS: What’s your official title at SAIL/CUC? BH: I am the department chair of SAIL for Education and also an assistant professor at CUC. AS: What does your new role entail? BH: I will oversee all aspects of the SAIL program, which includes internships, coursework, and other administrative functions of a department chair. I will be based in Ohio for three weeks of each month and will be on campus in Chicago one week out of each month. In addition, I am also working with OAESA on various professional learning opportunities for educators throughout Ohio. For example, I will be heading the networking and outreach and professional learning service teams, and I will be working collaboratively with OAESA to facilitate this year’s Ohio Instructional Leadership Academy (OILA). AS: So, CUC has a presence in OAESA’s office in Columbus. What does that mean for prospective students? BH: Our program offers a personal touch by having an office here in Ohio. I will act as a liaison [between students and the university] to ensure we continue to be highly responsive to our students’ needs. AS: I know you loved your previous job at Pickerington. Why did you decide to leave your job as a building principal to accept this position?
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BH: This job gives me the unique opportunity to have a broader impact on the quality of leadership in our schools. By assuring that future and current leaders have enriching opportunities to learn and grow, we are essentially assuring that the educational experiences of teachers, students, and parents are enriched as well. AS: That’s wonderful, Dr. Hornberger! Let’s talk about your personal experience with SAIL/CUC. You recently received your doctorate through CUC. Can you tell our readers about that? BH: For me, this was truly a transformative experience. As I completed SAIL/CUC courses and crafted my dissertation, I was able to really reflect on many aspects of educational practice on a more global level. I feel that the experience enriched me as an educator—perhaps more so than any other experience I’ve had. Of course it also made me more marketable, so other opportunities, such as this position, became options for me! AS: We are so glad to have you as part of our team! To close the interview, how about you tell us about you--your family, hobbies, etc. BH: I am very close to my extended family, and we all live near each other. I have been married for twenty years to my husband, Mike, and we have three children, Noah, fifteen; Molly, eleven; and Wesley, six. They have been so supportive of me as I obtained my PhD. In my spare time, I love to read, vacation at the beach, and spend time with my family.
You can reach Becky by e-mail at rebecca.hornberger@cuchicago.edu or by calling her at our office at 888.964.SAIL. Curious about getting your master’s or doctorate through us? Check out the ad below. Then visit www.sailforeducation.org or contact Tom Richards directly at trichards@graduateprogram.org or by calling 800.946.9608.
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RA P I D
C H A N G E S:
Embracing the Racial & Cultural Diversity of
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by Cassandra Storlie, PhD
EACH LEARNER
s our society continues to rapidly change with the heightened advancement in technology, it is predicted that nearly two-thirds of current elementary students will one day hold a job that has not even been created yet (Hewlett Foundation, 2014). Rapid changes in racial and cultural diversity are also occurring in student populations. For example, only 3.3 percent of Ohio’s population consists of individuals of Latino heritage, yet Ohio’s Latino community has increased 76 percent since 2000 (US Census Bureau, 2012). Nationally, the population of Latinos has increased to approximately 54 million individuals (US Census Bureau, 2012). With these sweeping demographic changes, it is expected that white, non-Latino youth will no longer make up the majority of youth in the United States within the next five years (US Census Bureau, 2012). This tipping point has already been noted in several of the nation’s largest urban school districts. School districts primarily comprised of youth of color and high poverty have been traditionally limited by risk factors driven by inequity that hinders economic and social opportunity (Duncan, et al., 1994). Studies point to several protective factors for reducing academic inequity in diverse student populations, such as embracing ethnic identity (Schwartz, et al., 2007) and making strong school connections (Brown & Evans, 2002). Despite the historical
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barriers, efforts to engage and support impoverished students from diverse backgrounds are essential in order to expand the social and educational access and opportunities (Grant, et al., 2014). Embracing the diversity of each learner means we need to critically identify the strengths and resiliency of diverse students, which can improve opportunities for academic success (Gonzalez & Padilla, 1997). However, it is unclear whether these protective factors operate within schools experiencing a rapid demographic shift and how that may or may not influence academic outcomes. Additionally, research on students within schools in transition—that is, schools that have experienced or currently are experiencing a rapid increase in students from diverse backgrounds, is limited. Cultural shifts in student populations support a dire need for better understanding of the school climate, which directly affects student learning and intervention efforts aimed at increasing the academic success of diverse youth. As elementary and middle school principals and administrators, you have the opportunity to pave the way by embracing the racial and cultural diversity of each learner and ensuring that each student deserves the opportunity to succeed in our rapidly changing world. According to Storlie and Jach (2012), advocacy for diverse students within the school setting comes with targeted systemic
interventions and crafting an environment of readiness (Adelman & Taylor, 2007). Helpful suggestions for professional development and embracing diversity are listed below (Storlie & Jach, 2012):
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Strengthen the multicultural competency of teachers, administrators, and other school personnel by hosting trainings and workshops that educate staff on the multiple dimensions of diversity represented in your school and/or district. This action must be ongoing and not limited to one professional development day. Ensure that documents are translated into the student’s/family’s native language. Invest in translator services and avoid tools that may inadvertently limit the important and valuable communication with students and families (e.g., Google Translate). Debunk the stigma, stereotypes, and biases associated with students of color or students from impoverished backgrounds. Embracing the diversity of each learner also means illuminating and building on student strengths, not solely centering on barriers. Increase and celebrate the diversity within your school/district by having visible representation of the various dimensions of diversity. Communicate the efforts to embrace the diversity of each learner to staff, school boards, and external funders. Provide opportunities for mentoring programs to develop among students of color. This will likely enhance the relationships between home, school, and community.
To adapt to the rapid changes occurring in each school and district across the United States, school administrators can work as change agents to implement culturally responsive interventions to support the academic success of students of color. These multi-tiered and district-wide interventions will need to incorporate how all educators understand risk and resilience factors related to both diversity and student learning. Multicultural education with all school personnel is essential in order to prepare students—at all levels—to work, live, and communicate in our multicultural society. Efforts that embrace the diversity of each learner will help families, teachers, and community members collaboratively support the academic and career futures of this generation of students, and those yet to come.
Want to hear more from Cassie? Join us for the Achievement in Motion workshop in September. Details on the next page! References Adelman, H. S., & Taylor, L. (2007). “Systemic Change for School Improvement.” Journal of Educational and Psychological Consultation, 17, 55–77. Brown, R., & Evans, W. P. (2002). “Extracurricular Activity and Ethnicity: Creating Greater Connection among Diverse Student Populations.” Urban Education, 37(1), 41–58. Duncan, G. J., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Klebanov, P. K. (1994). “Economic Deprivation and Early Childhood Development.” Child Development, 65, 296–318. Gonzalez, R., & Padilla, A. M. (1997). “The Academic Resilience of Mexican-American High School Students.” Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 19(3), 301–317. Grant, K. E., Farahmand, F., Meyerson, D. A., Dubois, D. L., Tolan, P. H., Gaylord-Harden, N. K., & Duffy, S. (2014). “Development of Cities Mentor Project: An Intervention to Improve Academic Outcomes for Low-Income Urban Youth through Instruction in Effective Coping Supported by Mentoring Relationships and Protective Settings.” Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community, 42(3), 221–242. Schwartz, S. J., Zamboanga, B. L., & Jarvis, L. H. (2007). “Ethnic Identity and Acculturation in Hispanic Early Adolescents: Mediated Relationships to Academic Grades, Prosocial Ten Behaviors, and Externalizing Symptoms.” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13, 364–373. Storlie, C. A., & Jach, E. J. (2012). “Social Justice Collaboration in Schools: A Model for Working with Undocumented Latino Students.” Journal for Social Action in Counseling and Psychology, 4, 99–116. US Census Bureau (2012). Ohio—Census. Retrieved from Ohio Development Services Agency: https://development.ohio.gov.
About the Author
Cassandra Storlie, PhD, earned her doctoral degree in counselor education and supervision from the University of Iowa and is licensed in Ohio as a professional clinical counselor with supervisory endorsement (LPCC-S) . Dr. Storlie has held a variety of leadership positions at state, regional, and international levels in the counseling profession. Recently, Dr. Storlie was awarded the National Career Development Association’s Diversity Initiative Award and was recognized as Kent State University’s Scholar of the Month in January 2016. She has published many articles centering on the career development of marginalized populations, specifically Latino and those with disabilities, in addition to salient topics in leadership development and counselor preparation. As a Latina, she is focused on social justice and advocacy efforts to support culturally responsive, evidence-based practices in college and career readiness.
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Parenting Principles
Helping Children Develop Grit and Growth Mindsets
Without a doubt, there are many challenges in raising and educating children. To help kids survive and thrive as young adults, we must look beyond efforts in reading, writing, math, and demonstrating proficiency in other content areas and work together to teach and model important character skills, particularly grit and growth mindset, which a growing body of research says may matter more to overall success in life than native intelligence. What grit skills can be learned from What is a growth mindset? It’s a person’s extracurricular participation? Kids who are general attitude or predisposition about the way coached learn to take constructive criticism in they think about things. A person’s mindset is any form and learn and grow from it. Coachable malleable and will grow and change. Kids with a players want to improve for their own good as growth mindset think they can learn anything. well as the good of their teams. Coaching Those with fixed mindsets tend to shy away from produces self-‐discipline, better physical health, challenges and quit when things get difficult. higher academic achievement, less behavioral problems, perseverance in What is grit? It’s what makes Students who have grit and college, success in high achievers special. It is characteristics of a growth employment, and higher passion and perseverance for lifetime earnings. accomplishing long-‐term goals, mindset are able to put a described as a “protective positive spin on negative Together, what can parents coating” against the negative experiences. They learn from and teachers do? Rethink effects of stress in school and at their mistakes and gain school-‐ and home-‐based home. benefits f rom “ good f ailures.” practices that have led to an undesirable sense of Why are these important skills entitlement among too many children and for kids? An overarching goal of parenting is youth. As children progress through the rearing kids to be able to create their own future. elementary grades, discuss when it is They will use their beliefs, values, and reference appropriate for each child to assume frames to organize their world, establish goals, autonomous responsibility for his or her stick with them, and never give up. homework, grades, social interactions, fighting personal battles, and completing chores. By How can grit and growth mindset be taught? planning, sharing strategies, and developing a Practitioners are developing classroom and close working partnership, children with fixed-‐ parenting strategies, but perhaps the most mindset tendencies will not be able to drive effective method is to model the skills in one-‐to-‐ wedges between parents and teachers. Don’t one or small group mentoring partnerships. Kids micromanage every aspect of children’s lives. need to learn grit and mindset vocabulary, Most importantly, praise effort rather than the identify key people in their lives who achievement of high grades. Ensure that kids demonstrate these skills, and interact with and learn the importance of trying – not crying. be encouraged by gritty adults in school and at home. Multiyear participation in extracurricular activities is an excellent way to learn grit and growth mindset. This article was written by Paul G. Young, PhD, a past president of both the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators and the National Association of Elementary School Principals. He is an adjunct professor at Ohio University-‐Lancaster. He can be reached at paulyoungohio@gmail.com.
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Need a little inspiration to keep you on track this year?
FIVE SITES TO VISIT IN 2016–17 Connected Principals—www.connectedprincipals.com Dozens of administrators share their best practices in this collective blog. Blog founder George Couros is a world-renowned educator and leadership consultant and the author of The Innovator’s Mindset. For more from George, check out his personal blog at www.georgecouros.ca and follow him on Twitter (@gcouros).
Mindshift—www2.kqed.org/mindshift Founded in 2010 by KQED, an NPR station in San Francisco, Mindshift explores the future of education through a variety of modes, including science, technology, sociology, psychology, music, games, and assessments. With sections titled Growth Mindset, Big Ideas, and Teaching Strategies, this site holds plenty of information, innovation, and inspiration for both administrators and staff.
Principal Principles— www.thenewprincipalprinciples.blogspot.com Elementary principal Stephanie McConnell writes about her dayto-day experiences as an educator. She shares lots of information about how to be happy, stay healthy, and keep organized; tips on how to interview; and how to show your staff and students how much you value them. For more great ideas, follow her Pinterest board of the same name at www.pinterest.com/stephaniemcco/principal-principles.
Teachers Pay Teachers—www.teacherspayteachers.com Need inspiration for a certain lesson but feel creatively tapped out? Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) can help! TpT is a community of millions of educators who share their ideas with others. On TpT, teachers share, sell, and buy original educational resources. Some resources are free, and most are quite affordable (many under $5). For administrators—you can purchase gift cards to give your outstanding teachers.
The Five Things I’ve Learned— www.thefivethings.org Got a few minutes to recharge? Need a little inspiration? This site hosts personal reflections by educational leaders—each one sharing five things he or she learned. Themes range from communication and feedback to teaching and the classroom to innovation and change. Reflections are broken down by author, but there’s also a section of quotes pulled from the essays.
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A NEW STORY for OAESA by Anthony Podojil
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n adventure story that allows the reader to choose between alternative endings is a popular style in children’s literature. The excitement generated by having the opportunity to control the direction a story can take is very appealing to young readers, giving them the opportunity to become part of the adventure. Unfortunately, the “story” described in the next two paragraphs, while it takes the reader on two separate paths, doesn’t allow the reader to choose the direction he or she may want to go, and depending on the path, the endings are significantly different. As you are undoubtedly aware by now, this story begins with the recent changes made to the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) of Ohio that have had a major impact on your level of benefits, in terms of qualifications, contributions, and also computing your ultimate benefit amount. What you are probably not aware of, however, is an alteration made prior to these changes that has had a dramatic impact on your future income levels if you become disabled before retirement. Depending on when you started your career—and this is where the story begins—STRS members are now under two separate disability programs: Disability Insurance for those who started before 1992 and Disability Allowance for those who started after 1992. The difference between these two programs is substantial. Did you know that if you started your career in public education in Ohio after 1992, your disability income benefit has been significantly reduced? See the table below.
your date of hire, and therefore, you cannot change the path you are currently on. On one hand, for those who have started their careers prior to 1992, the ending to your story is a happy one! For anyone who started after 1992, while you can’t alter the impact of the change, you can choose to act now and change the ending to the story by protecting yourself and your family. As a member of OAESA, you work hard to provide your students and community with the tools they need to succeed. But, what would happen if you were too sick or hurt to work and you ran out of sick leave? How would you subsidize your income? Would your family’s lifestyle have to change? Now for the good news: We have worked with Principal Life Insurance Company to offer OAESA members individual disability income (DI) insurance coverage at a 20 percent discount.1 If you become too sick or hurt to work, you can use your policy’s monthly benefits as a “paycheck” to help cover everyday living expenses, such as the mortgage, groceries, and other necessities. Plus, it pays on top of any other coverage you may have through STRS. So, what are your chances of becoming disabled? Unfortunately, they are greater than you might think. For example, a 40-year-old has a 45 percent chance of having at least one disability that lasts for three months or longer.2 In addition, the average long-term disability absence lasts 2.5 years3 and, as many people do not realize, the majority of disability claims are related to illnesses—not accidents. Check the most recent mailing from OAESA for more information about this program. Additional information will be provided during zone meetings this fall. If you have any questions or would like further information, please feel free to contact Anthony Podojil at (216) 409–7281 and/or Ted Lorenzen at (440) 683–9217. You can also email questions directly to apodojil@OEdPG.com or to tlorenzen@OEdPG.com.
(*average of members with service credit between 10 and 20 years) Source: STRS
2
Commissioners Individual Disability Tables, CS0.
1
2010 Gen Re Disability Fact Book.
20 percent discount includes 10 percent association discount and a 10 percent Mental/Nervous and Substance Abuse rider discount.
3
Unlike the choose-your-own adventure stories that allow the reader to make a choice about which path to follow, you cannot change
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Highlights from
This past June, we ditched our educator personas, put on our best disguises, and assumed spy names during OAESA’s three-day conference at the Hilton Columbus at Easton. The event kicked off with an unconference about the hottest topics in education, followed by gowns and ties on the red carpet at the Presidents Reception. Later, we were inspired by keynote Principal Kafele’s powerful message, while keynotes Lisa Fenn and Dartanyon Crockett brought us to tears. Mr. Schu got us excited about books, and then the Magic Gives Back magicians made him disappear during their exciting show. Scholastic Books president, Alan Boyko, spoke to us about what becomes possible from a lifelong love of reading. Afterward, we celebrated the 2016 award winners (see photos on p. 44–48). And strategically placed throughout the super-spy schedule was time for networking, fun and games, great clinics, and a trade show highlighting important products for you and your school! Join us next year for E3—ENGAGE. EMPOWER. EDUCATE. (Find out more on the back cover.)
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WALL- to
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DATA BY KAREN GOMMEL, COLLEEN LONGVILLE, & AMY STATZ
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We are Falls-Lenox Primary School, and we have 764 first, second, and third graders in our building. At the end of the 2014–15 school year, our Intervention-Based Assessment Team met to review our year. Here are the results: THE PROBLEM
Our Intervention Assistance Team (IAT) referral process had worked relatively well for years. Teachers would refer a student, and the case manager would meet with the teacher and record current interventions. Additional Tier I interventions would be suggested, and if Tier II interventions were needed, the entire team, including the child’s parent(s), would meet to discuss the child’s needs and plan next steps. By the 2014–15 school year, the system was no longer effective. We had a total of five case managers (two general-education teachers, two special-education teachers, and a school psychologist) to serve a building of over 700 children. Our number of cases was increasing. Case managers felt overloaded and wanted to adequately support the teachers and children who needed additional Tier I help. Worst of all, the list of cases that required a meeting grew so long that there was a wait of at least six weeks from the time an IAT meeting was requested until we could actually convene to discuss the needs of the individual child. Teachers were frustrated by the wait, case managers were feeling ineffective, and children were not getting timely access to the interventions that they needed. We wanted to find a way to help more children—and we needed to expedite the process so that Tier II interventions were available to those who needed them.
OUR SOLUTION
In June of 2015, we discussed our desire to improve the way we provided targeted instruction with our assistant superintendent, Mrs. Kelli Cogan. She connected us with a colleague in Cleveland City Schools, Principal Julie Beers, at Campus International School. Principal Beers invited us to visit her school and talked with us about how they use a data wall to focus attention on all students and their needs, both for intervention and enrichment. We decided to implement this visual strategy with our grade-level teams. Here’s how the process works: Each student has a card with his or her name on the front and his or her achievement data on the back. Cards are color-coded by grade level. (Since 2015–16 was our first year with the process, we decided to concentrate on Language Arts.) Cards are placed under the corresponding Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) and Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) scores. Where there is a discrepancy between the two scores, teachers used their judgement to place cards appropriately. When all the names are on the wall, it is quite amazing to see the range of scores for our whole school! At our monthly grade-level team meetings in September of 2015, we discussed how the idea of data teams for our building came about and shared some background on data teams with information from Results Now by Mike Schmoker. We looked at why we felt we needed to look at data in a new and wider lens. We had been gathering data and analyzing the results. Now it was time to identify students in each grade level for intervention, rather than in each classroom.
Using the student data from the wall, we created a data team record and action plan sheet. This chart proved critical in providing a view of student achievement by grade level. Teachers were interested to see that some students they had concerns about actually were among the neediest in the grade, and this list made it very evident which students to target for intervention. Teachers included areas of need for each student on the chart, and student groups were formed based on this data.
A SECOND GRADER’S INTERVENTION JOURNEY
Jaelyn started the school year reading at DRA level 10, which corresponds to end of first quarter in first grade. Her reading MAP score was 173, which corresponds to the 49th percentile. During October, November, and December, we involved Jaelyn in targeted instruction and small group work, based on her MAP and DRA scores. First, we grouped students according to MAP scores in the area of literature—specifically key ideas and details. We then provided each group with targeted instruction, using the learning continuum for five thirty-minute sessions. Next, we looked at the vocabulary acquisition and use scores. Targeted instruction for this area focused on using root words and context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words. These groups met four times for 30 minutes each session. Finally, we used accuracy and reading-rate scores from the DRA to identify students that needed to work on fluency. At this point, Jaelyn was participating in a small group of three that met twice a week for six weeks. These sessions were 15 minutes in length, and students worked on sight words, Fry phrases, one-minute reads, and Reader’s Theater. Students were retested in January, and Jaelyn’s DRA went up three levels to level 16, which is expected at end of first grade. Her reading MAP score improved from 173 to 194, which corresponds to a jump from the 49th to 77th percentile. As evidenced by Jaelyn’s story, providing very specific instruction, based on data from a clear target, can have positive results. Next, we set up groups and completed a SMART goal sheet for each group. Depending on the skill, we administered a pretest if the MAP or DRA data was not specific enough. As groups reached the six- to eight-week mark, we administered a posttest to see if we had met our goal for that group. Now that we have several groups for each grade up and running, we can start to evaluate their effectiveness.
BUMPS, ROADBLOCKS, AND OBSTACLES
While we have made progress this year, the journey has not always been smooth. We meet in grade-level teams for an hour once a month. After placing the student cards up in September of 2015, we had some professional development in October that focused on using MAP data effectively. We began using bookmarks for students to record their MAP scores and then set goals to improve those scores. On the back of each bookmark, we added checkboxes for students to mark what they could do specifically to increase their scores. While teachers now realize this is working well with students, we did experience some initial resistance. In November and December, we began making student intervention groups. Due continued on the next page...
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...continued from previous page to our specials schedule, planning times for students in different classes was sometimes challenging. Second grade was the first group to start providing interventions based on the data wall. We revised our Title 1 tutor schedule in January of 2016, and scheduling has become a little easier. Our goals are to revamp our specials schedule next year to allow for common Language Arts time for all classes and to revise our gifted resource teacher’s schedule to allow her to participate more in this process. Communication between Title 1 tutors and teachers is also improving. We created a Google Doc where all teachers involved in an intervention or enrichment group can access and add pretest/posttest data and notes on progress. We are aligning this document to our IAT referral forms so student information can be easily used by the IAT team without completing any new forms. Working on communication and schedules and providing more training to our teachers will allow us to help more students with interventions and enrichment. At our February meeting, we shared an article by Richard Dufour, “How PLCs Do Data Right,” with our grade-level teams. This
article provided both information and validation to both the process and our efforts. After reading and discussing the article, we put up the student cards with the new winter data. Seeing student growth was great! The part of the wall with kindergarten and first grade scores was considerably less crowded, and the cards that remained were students whose needs we are aware of and who are currently getting interventions. The team is now working with our gifted resource teacher to meet with these students once a week to provide instruction on project-based learning.
WHAT’S NEXT
We will continue to monitor our current groups to see if additional students need more support. Our assistant superintendent would like us to share our data-wall model with the two other elementary buildings so they can adopt a similar approach to data. As we use this process to analyze our data from both a grade-level and a building-level perspective, we will continue to help even more students make significant gains.
Want to know more? Sign in to our free Brunch & Learn Webinar on Friday, October 21, at 9:30 a.m.
About the Authors
Karen Gommel (kgommel@ofcs.net) and Amy Statz (astatz@ofcs.net) are second grade teachers. Colleen Longville (clongville@ofcs. net) is a principal. All three educators work at Falls-Lenox Primary School in Olmsted Falls, Ohio.
Erase Student Loan Debt Help your employees create a successful financial future. Are student loan payments keeping your employees from participating in your school’s retirement plan? Or worse, are those payments forcing your teachers to leave the profession they love? Do your employees wish their student loans would magically disappear? Learn about student loan forgiveness programs that are available to help reduce or eliminate student loan debt for qualifying education employees. Contact your local agent or go to horacemann.com
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What Are Your Non-Negotiables in the 2016–17 School Year? by Bobby Moore, EdD
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s I wrote in the Principal Navigator last year (“Make an Immediate Impact in Your School: Three Things to Stop Doing Today,” Fall 2015), most great leaders start with a “not-to-do list” (Collins, 2001). My three recommendations were to:
• stop collecting lesson plans; • stop allowing teachers to work in isolation; and • stop building your schedule around beans, balls, and busses.
It is equally as important for school leaders to identify what they will do to help move education forward for students and teachers. Many principals do an outstanding job of working with staff to develop the building’s vision, goals, and action plans, but there is also a need for leaders to communicate their “non-negotiables.” And stick to them. It is a given that we want adults in the building to treat each other and each student with respect and dignity. We also want staff to collaborate and be inclusive. These—and other important practices—are integral to a safe, inviting learning environment. Here are four non-negotiables for school leaders to consider in the 2016-2017 school year: Teachers post the learning targets for the day and share them with students before each class. I was surprised by the number of classrooms I visited last year where I did not see learning targets posted or hear the teacher communicate the targets at the beginning of the lesson. Make this a priority in your building so that students start every day with a preview of the learning and why it is important. This is also a critical step to implementing high-quality formative instructional practices. continued on the next page...
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...continued from the previous page Teachers will develop assessments based on the learning targets for each unit of study before teaching the lesson. How do teachers know what to emphasize if assessments have not been created? Assessments should be the blue print for the lesson. This aligns nicely with my recommendation for school leaders to stop collecting lesson plans. When a principal collects an assessment, he or she can assure it aligns with the curriculum and monitor how well students are learning. Teachers understand and use the RTI process. Every year, I have an opportunity to talk to teachers and principals who are surprised that their students did not perform better on the state assessments. When I dig a little deeper and ask questions, such as, “What percent defines mastery in your building, and how effective is your RTI process,” we usually begin to understand why. There needs to be an understanding that students who are progressing through the curriculum with grades below an 80 percent will most likely not be proficient on the state tests. These students are not failing, but they are not yet mastering the material at a level that will ensure they are proficient on state assessments. Teachers need to focus on Tier 1 instruction and find time to reteach concepts to these students. It’s also important to use all available resources in the school, including reading or math labs, no new instruction periods, intervention time, or applying other Tier 2 strategies in the RTI process. The RTI process is not only for failing students; it’s also for students who are not mastering the material. Intervention and enrichment periods are not study halls. I remember, like it was just yesterday, how I approached this subject with my staff. I told them that I knew it was impossible to bring their A game to the classroom every day, although we strive to. I wasn’t able to bring my best stuff every day when I was a teacher. However, whenever there is intervention or enrichment time, or no new instruction time to reteach material that students may not have mastered, then we must bring our A game 100 percent of the time. Time is our most precious commodity, and when we have time to reteach our students, we must be as effective as possible. This year, I have already had an opportunity to work with several school leaders across Ohio to help them identify what their non-negotiables will be this school year. Have you identified yours? Reference Collins, J. Good to Great. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2001.
About the Author Bobby Moore, EdD, is a senior director at Battelle for Kids, a notfor-profit organization that works with state departments of education, school districts, and education-focused organizations across the country to move education forward for students, by supporting the educators who work with them every day. E-mail Bobby at bmoore@ BFK.org, or connect with him on Twitter at @DrBobbyMoore. Learn more at www.BFK.org.
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Brunch & Learn FREE Webinar Series Join us on the third Friday of each month from 9:30 -10:30 AM for our FREE Brunch & Learn webinar series. It’s a great opportunity to tackle important topics—right from the comfort of your own office. Check out some of the upcoming topics below, and watch your e-mails from OAESA for log-in instructions: September 16
Communication First: How to Build Powerful, Positive Relationships with Parents
October 21
Wall-to-Wall Data
November 18
Communication of the Future
December 16
Operation: Twitter
January 20
Supporting, Encouraging, and Helping Teachers Navigate the Demands of the Job
February 17
Tracking Student Data Using an Assessment Wall
March 17
Integrating Visual Arts into Core Subjects
April 21
WE Grow Together, WE Learn Together, WE Play Together!
May 19
WATCH D.O.G.S.
Can’t make it to a webinar? No worries! Log in to your member account at oaesa.org to view our archive of recorded webinars.
be inspired
Monthly Twitter Chat Looking for a place to network with other principals, learn about how other schools tackle the same issues you do, and renew your passion for the job—all while hanging out at home in your PJs? Our monthly Twitter chat is the answer! Join colleagues from across the state for an informal meeting of the minds on Twitter on the first Tuesday of every month from 8:00-9:00 PM. August 2
Engage, Empower, Educate: Tips for a Smooth Start
September 6
Engage: Parents to Support Students
October 4
Empower: STEM and Student Creativity
November 1
Educate: Successful Student Interventions
December 6
Engage: Students in the Community
January 3
Empower: Hiring the Best and Getting Hired
February 7
Educate: Professional Development
March 7
Engage: Summer Conference Chat
April 4
Empower: Finish Strong — Tips to Wrap up the Year
May 2
Educate: Summer Reads
Missed the chat? Not a problem! Conversations are compiled and posted on the member account page at oaesa.org.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF FIRST IMPRESSIONS (Hint: Use your phone!) by Steve Zinser
One ringy-dingy, two ringy-dingy, “Hello, and thanks for calling the
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greatest school in the state of Ohio This is Mr. Z., your principal, and
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we thank you for calling ”
O
n my list of monthly duties while serving five school districts and six elementary schools during my 30-plus-year career as a principal was the creation of welcoming voicemail messages for our office phones. Many people obtain their first impression of a school when they make a simple telephone call. Most of the calls we received were positive, but others were not. A confident, upbeat, welcoming voice message can be very influential in how callers perceive your school and its staff—and can “ease” a lot of tension of potentially angry parents. Many of those negative calls developed from how children perceived what happened at school. Often, what they went home and told their parents was not exactly the way events had happened. I’m sure you’re familiar with those scenarios! So, during parent gatherings and one-on-one conversations, I always suggested, “Don’t always believe what your child tells you happened at school, because we don’t always believe them when they come to school and tell us what happened at home!”
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In order to set a positive tone, it is important to create a positive impression at that first point of contact—and hopefully diffuse callers’ frustrations. To do that, I developed special messages for our phone system every month. These messages would go something like this: “Good morning and an amazing August to everyone from Heritage Hill Elementary School, where we are on time and ready to learn! This is Mr. Z., your principal, speaking, and we thank you for calling! If you know your party’s extension, you may dial it at any time:
Preparation and recording of messages was a part of my monthly to-do list. It took a few minutes at the end of what were always busy days, but I know that devotion to creating a good first impression calmed some angry parents but, more importantly, created a positive reaction and enhanced the school’s reputation among new families and other callers who may have been contacting us for the first time. My yearly list included:
An Amazing August A Super September An Outstanding October A Nice November A Delightful December A Joyous January A Fabulous February A Marvelous March An Awesome April A Magnificent May
• for your staff directory, dial 1; • for directions and other information about Heritage Hill, dial 2; • to report your child’s absence, dial 3; • to reach Mrs. Jones, our secretary, dial 4; or • to reach me, Mr. Zinser, your principal, dial 5. “Thanks, again for calling the Hill! We are committed to providing the best education and learning environment for your child and we look forward to continuing this great relationship with you throughout the year! Have an amazing August!” Messages were changed on the first day of each month. Each contained alliterations and a play-on-words based on the month.
Of course, any were subject to change based on specific school activities or events that we wanted to highlight. If you adapt this tip into your school’s culture, I can assure you that you will increase positive relationships with all of your parents and stakeholders.
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From Star Students to Parent Praisings:
OUR CHARACTER PROGRAM by Jeffrey Williams
In order to truly set a positive school climate, you must start with total involvement from all stakeholders in our schools. I am fortunate to have two communities, Ragersville and Baltic, that value our schools. We have great tradition and a small-town feel that is conducive to total support of our wonderful buildings. In terms of creating a learning environment that is both positive and involved, it’s important to look at character. Read on to find out about one key success we implemented during my first year as principal— and plan to expand in my second. 28
I have always believed that “character” is an important trait in people. As a coach, a teacher and now, as an administrator, I’ve noticed that character is a cornerstone and foundation for being a good person and a quality individual. Without character and its elements, such as citizenship, caring, and responsibility, I find it hard to believe that a fulfilling life is lived. Last year, I took that idea to my schools with the implementation of our character card initiative. I created character cards that each teacher kept within their rooms. If they saw a student do something above and beyond the normal scope of their day or if they viewed a student doing something nice without being told, they would write up a character card and submit it to the office. We would read it over the announcements each day and place it onto our “Wall of Great Character.” At the end of each nine weeks, we take down the cards, and we pull five lucky names to receive a prize. This program showed kids that doing good things can happen as easily as picking up a friend on the playground. I noticed many kids showing off their cards when they brought their parents in for musicals. I even saw parents taking selfies with their child’s character card. For the 2016–17 school year, due to the success of the character program last year, I am expanding it to include parents and kids. “Parent-praising” cards will be sent home to start the year, and parents and caregivers will then have the ability to send in these cards for any of a number of reasons. Perhaps they enjoyed the fall musical. Perhaps they saw their son’s best friend give away his ice cream to a kid who dropped his or hers during a baseball game. Maybe they just want us to know what’s going on with their own child outside of school. Students will also have the ability in school to write up “student shout-outs,” where they give a nod to a classmate. Teachers cannot
see everything, and it will empower the students to look for character, not just in themselves but in their classmates as well. To go along with our character program, we have held, and will hold, character assemblies with Jim “Basketball” Jones and the GOOD Program with Ron Derry. Our teachers pick “star students” each month who embody our character program. At its core, a positive learning environment has a great character program. With the ability to find positive comments and character from all angles—parents, students, teachers, and administrators—it can only help create a climate filled with good feelings in our hallways and classrooms. A character program is also encouraging communication between families and the school. I hope that it encourages students to become more involved in the wonderful communities in which they live. I also hope that parents look for the good in our schools, and when something may happen that they disagree with, they think about those cards and what they have said in the past. My hope is that the cards, shoutouts, and parent praisings simply encourage positive thinking and for people to look for the good in everything educational. In the 2015–16 school year, Garaway Local Schools and Superintendent Jim Millet adopted the “Love Your People” mantra. I fully believe that our character program sits squarely within this mindset. I feel that if you look to love your people, you will also help them and encourage them to do great things. This program works hand-in-hand with our theme, and I believe that as a whole, our district is much more positive. It is my hope that both of my schools feel the same way.
About the Author Jeffrey Williams is principal at Ragersville and Baltic Elementaries, a pair of K–6 grade buildings in the Garaway Local School District. Jeff taught five years at Welty Middle School in New Philadelphia as a social studies and language arts teacher and had two years of previous experience at Claymont Junior High teaching English. Jeff graduated from Ohio University with a degree in journalism in 1998 and was a newspaper reporter for 10 years prior to teaching. He enjoys coaching, writing, and spending time with his wife, Tennille, a teacher, and twelve-year old daughter, Grace.
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from OAESA’s Associate Executive Director
Creating an Effective Parent Advisory Council by Mark Jones
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our role as a building principal or assistant principal has changed dramatically over the past ten years, and one natural outcome of this fundamental shift in responsibilities and expectations has been a significant emphasis on how to evaluate your performance. Hopefully by now, you have become intimately familiar with the OPES framework, and you are finding success at documenting evidence of your performance on each of the five standards covered by the rubric. Based on conversations we had with our members over the last few years, perhaps the most challenging of the five standards to collect evidence for is Standard 5: PARENTS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Principals engage parents and community members in the educational process and create an environment where community resources support student learning, achievement, and well-being.
This is not surprising as most of us tend to invest time, energy, and effort into our work by focusing on areas like curriculum, instruction, staff development, and managing the daily routines of running a school. For many administrators, significant, direct engagement with parents usually occurs as a reaction to an issue or decision (typically involving discipline), at prescheduled events like parent-teacher conferences or through periodic interaction with support groups like the PTO or PTA. At other times, our indirect contact with parents and the community occurs through monthly newsletters, building Twitter or Facebook posts, or other forms of “mass communication.” But if this is the extent of our dialogue with the parents and community members about what is happening inside our school, we are missing a prime opportunity to truly develop effective relationships with other adults who deserve much more involvement in their children’s education. Additionally, these are the very people who will, to a large extent, determine whether our jobs are made easier—or more difficult—each day. So it only stands to reason that a positive, intentional outreach to parents, if done well, will enhance and improve our chances for a successful school year for all. So, beyond the typical interactions listed above, how does a busy building administrator go about the process of constructively engaging parents and community members who have genuine influence over our school? The ways in which this can be done are limited only by your own creativity and style (although, admittedly, your budget might play a role in this as well). Here’s one simple
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idea that has proven to be both highly successful at actively engaging parents or community members in a positive way, as well as extremely useful to the principal when it comes time to submit evidence of OPES accomplishments to their evaluator. Known by various names, perhaps the most informative moniker is the Parent Advisory Council (PAC). The PAC is a body of parents assembled for the purpose of sharing information about what is happening in the school setting on a regular basis. It can be used as a forum to present ideas, collect meaningful feedback, and disseminate explanations and information to this key group of stakeholders. It is fundamentally different from other support groups, such as booster clubs or the PTA/PTO, as these organizations generally exist to provide financial resources to the school for adding the “extras” to round out a program or menu of student activities. While these are certainly important functions, the PAC has a very different role, in that it serves as a vehicle for sharing information and ideas instead of generating financial support for the building. Below are some important tips for getting started if you are interested in creating a PAC. These are broad ideas that can certainly be modified to fit the unique contexts within your own school, and you are encouraged to proceed thoughtfully, talking with your staff members and supervisors along the way to ensure buy-in and support, as well as understanding, from all stakeholders about the purpose of your new “council.” Begin by having a clearly defined idea about exactly what kind of work this council will engage in. Think of different ways that you can share important information with them and what kinds topics they might enjoy. For example, maybe you are concerned that parents in your school don’t truly understand the significance of the shift to Ohio’s New Learning Standards and the implications for changes in instruction. Perhaps your district is about to adopt a new standards-based grading system. Or maybe you are proud of your building’s Report Card or think it would be helpful to explain how the assessments that your students are taking influence the ratings of your staff and school. These could all be subjects of interest to parents as well as opportunities for you to clarify progress and explain instructional goals on behalf of your teachers. Determine who will be included on the council. You might decide to leave the opportunity of membership open to
parent or community members interested in participating. While this is understandably democratic, don’t be surprised if the response to an open invitation is disappointingly low. Remember, parents are busy too, and if the council is viewed as a come-if-you-want organization, everyone will likely assume that someone else will probably have more time and interest, and participation will suffer. Try for a balanced membership from every possible perspective. Make sure all grades in your school are appropriately represented, and the list includes moms and dads, professionals and laborers, stayat-homes and workers. One great way to ensure an active and engaged membership is to make the experience seem both special and purposeful. This can be easily accomplished by enlisting the help of your teachers. Consider these ideas to see which you might use: •
Ask homeroom teachers to nominate a specific individual parent to represent their group. By October, most classroom teachers have a handle on which parents seem engaged and positive about their child’s learning. Tell the teachers to avoid selecting parents who are already active in your building in other ways, like with the PTO, since you want to grow the number of parents who have a chance for real input and connection. Stress that the PAC should not be viewed as a “subcommittee” of another support group but rather a fully functioning group with its own unique purpose and role.
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Once you have generated a list of potential names and set a date for your first meeting, send a letter of invitation on your school stationary, explaining the purpose of your new council and asking for their participation. Explain that they have been “hand picked” to represent their child’s classroom, and request an RSVP if they are willing to participate. The more that you can present this as a unique, selective responsibility, the more likely you are to have active, positive participation from your invitees. One caution, however. Make sure you strike the right balance between presenting this opportunity as selective without coming off as if it is exclusive. You don’t want to create hard feelings from someone who feels as if they have been left out or snubbed. Decide in advance how you will handle it if another parent approaches you and asks if they can join, too. Usually, a more-the-merrier attitude is best for everyone.
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Be sure to set some ground rules for your meetings, and convey these in advance. For example, since parents have busy lives also, explain that each meeting will last for no more than one hour, regardless of what gets accomplished. Most people appreciate having a definite ending time so they can plan their evening schedule, especially if they are trying to work around dinner or a babysitter. Another idea would be to clearly state that all ideas and perspectives will be respected, and an open dialogue encouraged so that every angle of any issue can be considered. If you include these ground rules in your letter of invitation, it might also improve your response rate!
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Collect e-mail addresses or Twitter handles from those who agree to participate so that you can establish a quick way to communicate with the group. As you move forward, meeting reminders or follow-up meeting minutes can be easily distributed this way. These strategies will help to build a sense of community and commitment within the group, and keep the participation level high all year.
Establish a set schedule for your meetings. Think about the best time of day and week or month to have your council meetings. Since many participants will likely be employed during the day, a weeknight evening will probably be preferred. An ideal time is after the dinner hour but before the kids start getting ready for bed, like from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. In addition, consider establishing a standard schedule, such as the third Tuesday evening of each month, so that participants can put the meeting on their annual calendars and plan accordingly. If this is determined in advance and included in the initial letter of invitation, parents will be able to use this information when deciding whether to participate. Develop a list of possible discussion topics, but be open to new ideas. One effective strategy for building ownership in your group is to begin the year with a member survey that will assist in determining the topics to be covered. Have some ideas already listed as this will help them gain a better perspective on the types of issues they might address, but stress that you are certainly open to other suggestions generated by the group. Then, like a good facilitator, step back and let the group take some lead on what they will tackle. Most likely, the topics they offer will be of interest and importance, so don’t hold the reins too tightly on what business the council takes up. Also, be flexible as the year progresses, because the group’s priorities can shift as various hot-button issues emerge. For each topic that you intend to engage, think about what resources you might have available to assist with the discussion. For example, if the council wants to talk about how the new learning standards are being implemented in your school, consider inviting some building- or district-level “experts” to the meeting. Or, if the group wants to discuss some aspect of staffing, perhaps a member of your district’s HR department would be helpful. The bottom line is that you shouldn’t feel as though you have to be the all-knowing ringmaster of this show. Use it as an opportunity to showcase the talent that your school has at its disposal, especially if you are able to highlight a terrific staff member or program. The idea behind the PAC is to offer a key group of stakeholders an opportunity to engage with your school in a meaningful, productive way that ultimately enhances everyone’s chance for success. To some, it might seem like yet one more way to tie up a perfectly good evening at home that you could be spending with your own family. To others, it might look like a potential landmine of controversial, uncomfortable or unnecessary debates with a group that will clearly have you outnumbered. Without question, it will involve a bit of work on your part, as well as some skill and diplomacy to keep everyone on the same page. But in the end, if done well, it might also be a highly rewarding experience that creates much greater ownership and stewardship from the families you serve.
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Elementary Essentials
Gearing Up for a New Year by Zana Vincent
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new school year—and with it comes multiple opportunities to review the past, strengthen what worked, and rework what didn’t. We might liken it to the Olympic athlete who has trained and refined skills through the years. Now the opportunity has arrived to put those skills in motion. For school personnel, our audience is waiting for us to open the school doors. We are ready for the challenge. It is a new beginning! And so it is for the children. What we know from past experiences is that the initial experience a child has in coming to school has a lasting impact on how the child “sees” school. Is it a warm and friendly place, a place of uncertainty, a fearful place—or is it any okay place, but “Do I have to go every day?” Parents express many of these same feelings as well. We can all recall similar emotions when being faced with new experiences. That is why considering how we approach and prepare for transitions into our schools must be a top priority. Ask a kindergartner what he remembers, and you might hear stories about the scary bus ride. It was bouncy, hot, loud, and very long. He might have been fearful about how he would get home because the bus driver might forget where he or she lives! A fourth grader might have thought she knew all the ropes only to discover that she now has a home room, must change classrooms during the day, and is responsible for taking along supplies—all in addition to meeting new classmates. Or think about the new child who wasn’t sure how to navigate the halls to the restroom and got lost on returning to the classroom. Finally, the experience could be the tale about the new principal who had a booming voice and was described by a student to his parent as a “policeman who walked the halls.” We all have our stories. Upfront preparation can make the transitions easier. For most of us, knowing what to anticipate or experiencing the event with a knowing person results in less stress and a reassuring environment. Smooth transitions into school and from grade to grade are at the heart of the Ohio Ready School Initiative. Transitions, along with family and community relationships, are among the seven components that create the framework of the Ready School Initiative. From Ready School data collected over seven years we have learned the following: 1. Transition activities need to be designed to meet the diverse and individual needs of the entering students as early as possible. 2. Identifying the precise list of expectations for entering students and for those at various grade levels is an essential component of any transition plan. 3. Purposeful collaboration among the wide range of stakeholders in pre-K–3 transitions enriches the process and brings more resources to the table. 4. Several formats need to be used to share transition information due to the range of media on which stakeholders rely. 5. A wide range of activities needs to be used in supporting students’ transitioning. 6. The tone and process of transition activities must be inviting and inclusive for both students and their families. 7. Students’ transition into school and through the grades cannot be addressed by a single event but requires a continuous and deliberate program guided by a dedicated and informed school team.
On the next two pages are a few activities provided by participants in the Ohio Ready School Network. Tear out the page and share with your teachers or pin to your bulletin board! We are hopeful that they will spur your thinking and that you will also share your own great ideas by sending them to me at zvincent@aol.com. Check out additional transition activities by visiting the Ohio Ready School website at ohioreadyschools.oaesa.org.
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OHIO READY SCHOOL
ACTIVITIES for pre-K to Grade 3
to Support School Transitions and Family/Community Engagements
ACTIVITY:
ACTIVITY:
Step-Up Day
Incoming Kindergarteners Camp
Step-Up Day is designed to allow students to become comfortable with their teacher for next year and likewise for the teacher to meet and greet incoming students for the coming school year. Teachers prepare activities that engage students and help them to know something about the upcoming grade. Some of the teachers have their current class write letters to the next class informing them about the life of a __ grader. Students leave with a school supply list and other information for the next school year.
In early August, our kindergarten teachers hold a camp for incoming kindergartners. We invite families to attend during kindergarten registration. At camp, incoming kindergartners experience the routines of a school day, such as how the day starts, riding the bus, and eating in the cafeteria, while parents get information from the occupational and physical therapists and the speech pathologist. The camp introduces families to our schools, sets the tone of a welcoming environment, and provides families with the goals for kindergarten while nurturing partnerships in their child’s education.
Franklin-Monroe Elementary Franklin-Monroe Local Schools
ACTIVITY:
Ashland City Schools
ACTIVITY:
A Twist on Parent-Teacher Conferences
Literacy on the Lawn
To provide parents an opportunity to watch their children in active learning in the classroom, we designed a new model for our spring parent-teacher conferences. Parents are invited to visit the classroom on a designated day and time. They are encouraged to watch and interact with their child and other children. This model gives parents an opportunity to see what is happening in the classroom and their child’s interaction with others. Parents are given a handout with possible areas of focus. Parents with children in special programs can also attend the special therapies in which their child is enrolled.
Throughout the summer, the Canton City Schools elementary buildings partner with the community library to create once-a-week, hour-long Literacy on the Lawn events. Learning stations are set up, and each week the student can select a new book. By the end of the summer, students have their own personal libraries. The goal is to prevent the students’ “summer slide” in reading achievement.
Canton City Schools
Van Wert City Schools Early Childhood Center
ACTIVITY:
ACTIVITY:
Million Words or Less
Playground and Popsicle Night
In the first two weeks of the school year, our teachers send home a survey in which parents are invited to write about their child in a “million words or less.” The goal is to learn from the family the child’s likes, dislikes, and hobbies and then combine that with other data obtained at screening to get a picture of the whole child.
Our kindergarten teachers provide an evening of play for incoming kindergarten students and parents, while teachers also observes developing behavioral and social interactions. The activity also provides time to speak with parents and to provide them support/training on how to help at home before kindergarten starts in August. And of course, popsicles for all!
Laurelville Elementary Logan Elm Local Schools
Western Brown Local Schools
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ACTIVITY:
ACTIVITY:
Community Assessment Map
Home Care Network
A Ready School team spearheaded the creation of an asset map to inform and connect families with needed community services and resources. A community member and social service person helped to collect information from local agencies. The map was designed with needs on the left side and arrows to agencies that might address the needs on the right, including contact information. We displayed the map on the push board in the entry hall of the school for easy access to families.
In an effort to connect with home care providers, our school district, in collaboration with Success by Six partners, searched for those in the area who take care of children in their homes. Then we invited those care providers to meet for information sharing. The events provide a safe, caring, informative, and nonthreatening environment in which parties can be open about their needs. Conversations include ideas for reading to children, book choices, motor skill development, and “talk times,” which provides ideas for topics at future meetings.
Kyle Elementary Troy City Schools
ACTIVITY:
Western Brown Local Schools
ACTIVITY:
Preschool-to-Kindergarten Transition
Constructing Good Readers
Our kindergarten teachers prepare a mini lesson for the students who will be transitioning from preschool. They read a book and do an activity to prepare the students for what kindergarten will look and feel like. The children play on their new playground and have the opportunity to meet new peers. The goal is for the incoming kindergarteners to familiarize themselves with their future kindergarten teacher, classroom, playground, and future peers.
Through a partnership with a local church in the school neighborhood, teachers design and run a summer reading and math program for school children and their families. In two-hour sessions from ten a.m. to noon in the month of June, teachers facilitate activities that children and their families can do together and that require the application of reading and math skills. The activities included a story time, building and painting birdhouses, and a Make-It-Take-It literacy game. Each child receives a book bag and books for summer reading.
Mississinawa Valley Elementary, Mississinawa Valley Local Schools
ACTIVITY:
Belle Stone Elementary, Canton City Schools
ACTIVITY:
Grade-Level Parent Nights
Teacher Transition Day
At the beginning of the school year to help establish a positive relationship among students, teachers, and parents, we implemented a grade-level parent night. At these assigned events, parents are introduced to the math and language arts curriculum and general grade-level expectations and standards at their child’s grade level. We model strategies to support learning to help parents support children at home. We also give parents take-home materials to continue the modeled strategies.
Transition Day is designed for teachers to be as prepared for their next class as possible. The last two days of school, during teacher workday times, vertical grade levels meet to discuss their students. Teachers share insights that will make the transition process for students as smooth as possible. Teachers prepare a transition card with pertinent information about each student, including any intervention he or she is receiving or special techniques that have worked well for the child. Teachers also mail letters to chidren’s homes, welcoming students to their new class.
Franklin Elementary, Massilon City Schools
ACTIVITY:
Franklin-Monroe Elementary, Franklin-Monroe Local Schools
ACTIVITY:
Welcome-Back-to-School Night
Camp Read S’More
To encourage community involvement and get parents, students, and staff together, a welcome-back-to-school night is held in August before school starts. Refreshments, free haircuts, and backpacks with school supplies are available. The local library, fire department, and police department also provide activities.
In the fall of the year, an event called Camp Read S’More is conducted aimed at connecting and collaborating with families. The intent is to share the love of reading and model activities that support early literacy. The event includes activities such as a sing-a long, book walks, read a-louds, face painting, and other camping theme activities.
Tuscarawas Valley Local Schools
Withamsville Tobasco Elementary, West Clermont Schools
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The Professional Conference Service Team is busy planning an amazing 2017 conference experience. Our keynote speakers are set, and we will open up our call for proposals in late fall for presentations that center around ENGAGE. EMPOWER. EDUCATE. #Innovation: Turn It Up! As you plan your Scholastic book fairs this year, remember you can use the Scholastic Dollars you earn to pay for your 2017 OAESA professional conference registration. Visit bookfairs.scholastic.com to schedule your book fair and to find out more about Scholastic Dollars. OAESA is proud to partner with FranklinCovey’s educational division to host the Principal’s Academy, a program designed to support building administrators. In July, 25 principals from Ohio and Kentucky gathered to learn about the roles of great leaders: modeling, alignment, pathfinding and empowerment. This two-day academy will be offered again in October. Don’t be left out...space is limited! For more information, go to our website at www.oaesa.org.
Did you know? You can now deduct OAESA dues from payroll in Cincinnati Public Schools. And just a reminder: Dayton City will do payroll deduct as well. Pass it on! The Ohio Ready School Initiative just completed its eighth year. The theme for the 2015-16 school year concentrated on embedding Ohio’s New Learning Standards K-3, with the focus on the social, emotional, and physical well-being of students, into the overall curriculum. To support implementation, an alignment document is being compiled through activities submitted by RS participants showing how the 7 Ohio Ready School components, the New Learning K-3 Standards, and the 7 Ohio Teaching Standards (OTES) interrelate. The document will be piloted this school year. Do you follow OAESA on Twitter? If not, give it a try! Those 140 characters pack a powerful punch for professional development, especially during our #ohprinchat Twitter Chats on the first Tuesday of every month from 8-9 p.m. It’s a great way to connect with colleagues across the state, without even leaving your couch! For the schedule, check out the ad on p. 25.
Are you looking for a 100% online, convenient way to further your education? SAIL for Education, in partnership with Concordia University Chicago, is currently accepting new students for the October 2016 start date. Please visit the ad on p. 11 for details. The OAESA Membership Service Team met in early August and set a goal of a 3% increase in professional membership during the upcoming year. We are also seeking contact information about new administrators. If you have new colleagues in your building or district, please let us know by calling the office at 614.547.8087 or by e-mailing membership@oaesa.org.
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5 PRACTICES Communication
for the New School Year by Cathryn Petticrew
The topic for this issue of the Navigator inspired me to share what I have learned about communication practices through personal experience as well as observations of my colleagues from around the state! The five tips I share below are not an exhaustive list, nor are they original ideas, but they are practices that I fully embrace—and they have allowed me to experience success. May these ideas inspire you to try something new or something different to begin this new school year!
NEW HIRES OR NEW STAFF MEMBER LUNCHEON
Early in my career, I learned how important it was to meet with new hires to the building. This is in addition to any formal orientation your district may provide to those new to your district. What new staff members want to know most are the ins/outs of the building. Most importantly, at the elementary level, new hires want to know when they can start working on their classrooms! There is no better time—nor a better person—to do this informal introduction to the building than the principal. While many districts employ formal mentors through the Resident Educator process, I believe it is vital the building principal be the first to welcome and introduce the newest staff members to the building. This should be an informal event, and new hires should be encouraged to bring their questions along with them! Provide lunch, and invite the rest of the staff to also informally meet their new colleagues. The time spent with each new hire lays the foundation of a strong partnership and allows the teacher to see the building principal as a resource. Over the years, this was the most appreciated aspect of starting off the school year for both my veteran teachers and the new hires!
LETTERS TO STAFF
When I was a teacher, my building principal always wrote her staff a letter. In her letter, she included snippets of her summer break and what she was looking forward to in the upcoming school year. She also added important events and dates we needed to know about, such as Back-to-School Night, teacher meetings, and the first home football game. This personal touch is something I “borrowed” from her when I became her assistant principal and, later, a building principal. Why was this so meaningful? For one, it reminded all of us that our principal was more than just our boss. She was also a mother, a daughter, a woman, and a friend to many. We often hear how important relationships are in the workplace, and my principal did this better than any boss I have ever had! She really knew her staff, and we really knew her! Secondly, it allows the principal to be the chief communicator of his or her building. Finally, it reminds the staff of what they need to know, so they can plan accordingly.
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LETTERS TO STUDENTS
As a teacher, I always wrote letters or sent postcards to my next group of students. In my letter to families, I would share a little about myself personally and professionally, and I would provide families with what my students needed in terms of school supplies, important dates, and a few things they could expect to learn in my classroom during the upcoming year. I implemented this same practice when I became an administrator. Again, I wanted to make sure that I opened the lines of communication and laid the foundation for the families’ first impression and experiences in my building. I would include the supply lists for all of our grade levels (which is something my grade level teams developed prior to ending the previous year), a calendar of events (more on that later), and information about other ways parents could contact me. The letter’s purpose was to welcome our families, to be encouraging and positive, and to provide necessary information. Parents do not often access this information on district websites, and we cannot assume that they do this. Plus, a letter to the families makes it personable, and that’s what we, as building principals, should be for our families—personable.
SETTING UP SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS (OR REVISING ESTABLISHED ONES)
Communicating with our stakeholders and our communities is a major priority for building principals. Being able to provide multiple avenues to communicate about your school is vital. Utilizing only paper communication—or assuming parents are regularly accessing the school website—is grossly underestimating the impact your communication is having on families and communities. This is why, in addition to the paper version of your communications (which I encourage you to save as PDFs), I think principals should use social media accounts, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and the Remind app. Parents can access these social media tools on their smartphones to receive real-time information about your school. If you are hesitant about Facebook, encourage your PTO to operate a page, and ask to be added with the ability to post updates. If you are worried about “managing” one more thing, I can tell you from experience these tools take less time to utilize than printing hard copies and distributing them to classrooms! This is why saving your work product as a PDF is so important. You can easily upload PDFs into these social media tools. In the end, the power of using social media for your building ensures that you are the chief communicator about what is happening in your school. Our schools are positive places where great things are happening! Share the good news!
THE POWER OF A BUILDING CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Perhaps it is because I love being organized, but creating a master building calendar is just as important as building a master schedule. Working with your parent organizations and school staff, identify, month by month, the different events and activities that will take place within your school building—and place them on a calendar! Share this calendar with your staff, post it on a separate link on your building’s webpage, upload the calendar to your social media accounts, and send home a copy of the upcoming month with your newsletters. I liked keeping my calendar of events as a Google Doc, because it allowed me to edit in one place, and, as it was a shared link on the web page, any changes uploaded automatically. When it was time to send home my monthly newsletter, I did a simple copy and paste to make sure I was sending home the most up-to-date information. Parents and teachers, alike, prefer to know what is happening in advance. There is nothing worse for a teacher than having to readjust a week’s worth of lesson plans because suddenly he or she has to take the class to an assembly! For a parent, there is nothing worse than having a child come home and ask why he or she didn’t come to a special event. For a child, the whole world can fall apart if a parent doesn’t attend an event. While not all parents are able to attend all events, they should at the very least be informed of when the event is occurring. To me, a calendar is an effective communication tool. For some students, knowing in advance that a change in schedule will occur is important for their emotional and social well-being. The positives outcomes for creating and sharing a building calendar of events far outweigh the negatives. If this is not a current practice, I hope it is one you will begin this school year!
These five simple strategies are worthy of your time and effort. Three of these only occur at the very beginning of the school year, while the other two are efforts that will continue throughout the school year. I firmly believe these strategies will enhance your communication efforts with your staff, parents, colleagues, and communities! Wishing all of you a wonderful start to the new school year!
About the Author Cathryn Petticrew is a connected educational leader and the Zone 3 Director for OAESA. She is currently an elementary principal for Xenia Community Schools. Cathryn was previously the director of student achievement for ten school districts at the Midwest Regional ESC. She also served as a building principal in Mechanicsburg Exempted Village Schools and an assistant principal at Northwestern Local Schools in Clark County. This is her first article for the Navigator. You can connect with Cathryn via Twitter @PetticrewC.
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Health Issues TOOLS FOR PROMOTING
Positive School Climate and Student Development
IN OHIO SCHOOLS by Jill J. Jackson
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tudents come to school with a constellation of personal, social, and familial issues that they cannot “check at the door” of the school. Their experiences at school and at home affect both their interactions with others and, ultimately, how they are able to perform in the classroom. Anticipating student challenges as well as being prepared adequately to address those challenges is vitally important in an educator’s quest to help all students learn (Ohio Department of Education [ODE], 2007a). While it is critical for educators to understand and empathize with how a child feels upon arriving at school, it is equally important to know the way that a school “feels” has a direct effect on learning. In schools where students feel safe, cared about, and respected, learning and safety increases measurably. In schools with safe, supportive learning environments where youth become connected to school, students are less likely to engage in disruptive and destructive behavior and more likely to graduate from high school (Ladson-Billings, 2009, p.4). Since the primary mission of schools is to educate and graduate students, school leaders and school staff members need to work closely with youth, parents, and community organizations to provide services that address issues and behaviors that could interfere with learning and graduating (ODE, 2004). Challenges in meeting students’ social-emotional needs has prompted a statewide conversation about ways that schools could and should become involved in helping students address these nonacademic barriers to learning. Driven by a system of care concept and philosophy, schools should participate in a coordinated network of community-based services and supports for children with or at risk for mental health, physical health, or other challenges. The network builds meaningful partnerships with families to help them function better at home, in school, in the community, and throughout life (ODE, 2007b). How a school is valued and operates effectively within the context of community increases or decreases students’ chances of academic success (Marzano and Waters, 2005). Since the 2013–2014 school year, public schools in Ohio have been required to adopt policies and procedures regarding Ohio’s Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). PBIS is a decision-making framework that guides selection, integration, and implementation of the best evidence-based academic and behavioral practices for improving outcomes for all students (ODE, 2016a). Many educators are finding that the most effective way to address
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disruptive behaviors is to identify them before they happen. Thus, the solution is a proactive, consistent approach to school-wide supports provided by the Ohio PBIS model, local partners, and effective prevention strategies. Using the PBIS framework, schools have seen reductions in disciplinary actions and increases in academic achievement. When PBIS is implemented, educators have more time to teach, and students have more time to learn (ODE, 2016a). Additionally, ODE’s safety and violence prevention curriculum is designed to heighten educators’ awareness of student mental illness, alcohol and drug abuse, depression and suicide, and violence against children, including bullying, teen dating violence, child abuse, and human trafficking. While it is not designed to provide an in-depth and comprehensive training on mental health for educators, this curriculum will allow staff to identify and refer students with unmet youth developmental needs to the designee in the building to connect with existing resources used by the school including PBIS activities (ODE, 2007a). According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services, schools that promote mental health report higher academic achievement, lower absenteeism, and fewer behavior problems. As schools begin building positive behavioral intervention strategies, inventories of community and family resources will assist in aligning all service providers to support students (ODE, 2007a). Moving from policy to practice, the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SSHS) initiative has been implemented by the Bureau for Children and Families at the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) and ODE, and the Center for P-20 Safety and Security. The SSHS initiative is funded for four years by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. Since 2014, these agencies have engaged local school districts, youth, families, and community stakeholders in building the local and statewide capacity to mitigate behavioral health problems in youth from preschool through twelfth grade. The SSHS initiative strengthens partnerships between behavioral health, educational, criminal/juvenile justice, health and job and family service systems professionals and agencies to ensure safe and supportive schools and communities in Ohio based on the five elements advanced in the SSHS grant (OMHAS, 2016). During the life of the SSHS grant, OhioMHAS will work with ODE
and three of Ohio’s local education agencies: Greene County Educational Service Center (ESC), Williams County ESC, and the Harrison Hills City School District. Implementing the SSHS framework, much like the system of care concept and PBIS, state and community management teams in Ohio have learned to develop and implement integrated, comprehensive, data-driven strategic plans to prevent, delay the onset, or mitigate the seriousness of behavioral health problems locally and across the state. Through this opportunity, Ohio intends to strengthen partnerships at the state and local levels, enhance system capacity, and provide documented effective community-based models and mentors for communities wishing to adopt plans to prevent youth risk behaviors and provide effective behavioral health services (OMHAS, 2016).
Resources:
Ladson-Billings, G. The Dreamkeepers: Successful Teachers of African American children. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009. Marzano, R. J., and Waters, T. School Leadership That Works: From Research to Results. Aurora, CO: Midcontinent Research for Education and Learning, 2005. Ohio Department of Education (ODE) (2007a), Safety and Violence Prevention Training. Retrieved July 11, 2016, from https://saferschools.ohio.gov/content/k_12_schools_training. ODE (2004). Ohio Department of Education, School Climate Guidelines. Retrieved July 11, 2016, from https://saferschools.ohio.gov/content/ohio_school_climate_guidelines. ODE (2016a). Ohio Department of Education, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. Retrieved July 11, 2016, from http://education.ohio.gov/Topics/Other-Resources/School-Safety/Building-Better-Learning-Environments/PBIS-Resources. ODE (2016a). Ohio Department of Education, Center for School Based Mental Health Programs. Retrieved July 11, 2016, from: https://saferschools.ohio.gov/content/school_mental_health. OMHAS (2016). Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Safe Schools Healthy Students. Retrieved July 11, 2016, from http://mha.ohio.gov/Default.aspx?tabid=843.
About the Author Jill J. Jackson earned a bachelor’s degree in interpersonal and public communication with a minor in marketing from Bowling Green State University. She holds a master’s degree in higher education and student affairs from The Ohio State University and is currently working on a doctorate in organizational psychology at Capella University. Since her career began 20 years ago, Jill has worked to improve conditions for student learning in Ohio schools and to involve families and communities in removing non-academic barriers to student achievement. In addition, she has managed prevention and intervention services provided by juvenile court, community-based agencies, faith-based organizations and local school districts. Currently, Jill is a consultant for ODE’s Center for P-20 Safety and Security.
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Legal Report
SICK LEAVE SEVERANCE PAY by Dennis Pergram
Sick Leave Entitlement
Ohio Revised Code (ORC) §3319.141 provides for 15 days of sick leave with pay each year, accumulated at the rate of 1.25 days per month. The statute also provides that, upon approval of the responsible administrative officer of the school district, sick leave may be used for “absence due to personal illness, pregnancy, injury, exposure to contagious disease that could be communicated to others, and for absence due to illness, injury, or death in the employee’s immediate family.” Furthermore, under the statute, sick leave may be accumulated up to 120 work days; however, the employing board of education may, by contract or policy, allow for more than 120 days to be accumulated. If an administrator transfers from one public employer to another, and provided the reemployment occurs within ten years of the date of the last public service, the administrator’s accumulated sick leave shall be credited to the account with the new employer. However, the number of days to be transferred may not exceed the maximum accumulation permitted by the new employer.
Assault Leave Instead of Sick Leave
ORC §3319.143 allows for a board of education to adopt a policy of assault leave for an employee who is absent due to physical disability resulting from an assault that occurs in the course of employment. Assault leave granted under ORC §3319.143 is not to be charged against the sick leave accumulation under ORC §3319.141.
Use of Sick Leave Before Effective Date of Disability Retirement
A situation may arise where an administrator has been approved for disability retirement but has unused accumulated sick leave and the effective date of the disability retirement has not been established. Due to the fact that the monthly benefit from disability retirement will not equal the administrator’s monthly pay, it is beneficial for the administrator to use his or her sick leave prior to officially going on disability retirement. In a lawsuit handled by my law firm—State ex rel. Runyon v. Henry, 34 Ohio App.3d 23 (1986)—the board of education challenged the employee’s right to use sick leave prior to officially beginning his disability retirement. In that case, it was determined that the employee had a right to use the sick leave prior to beginning the disability retirement if the employee’s condition warranted the same, which, of course, will normally be the case as the employee has qualified for disability retirement. An administrator may, but is not required to, use all of his or her accumulated sick leave prior to officially going on disability retirement and may not want to do so if there are only a few sick-leave days left in the last month. This is merely a mathematical calculation to be done to determine whether the sick-leave days used will result in monthly pay that is greater than the monthly disability retirement benefit.
Severance Pay
Severance pay, or the cashing out of accumulated sick leave, is provided for in ORC §124.39, which states, in relevant part, as follows: “An employee of a political subdivision covered by section 124.38 or 3319.141 of the Revised Code may elect, at the time of retirement from active service with the political subdivision, and with ten or more years of service with the state, any political subdivisions, or any combination thereof, be paid in cash for one-fourth the value of the employee’s accrued but unused sick leave credit. The payment shall be based on the employee’s rate of pay at the time of retirement and eliminates all sick leave credit accrued but unused by the employee at the time payment is made. An employee may receive one or more payments under this division, but the aggregate value of accrued but unused sick leave credit that is paid shall not exceed, for all payments, the value of thirty days of accrued but unused sick leave.” ORC §124.39 is limited to a resignation followed by service retirement from the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), and a resignation for purposes other than service retirement does not trigger the operation of ORC §124.39. There is case law and an
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Attorney General opinion that there is no right to severance pay where one year has lapsed between the separation from employment and the service retirement. Some districts have adopted severance pay policies that are more generous than ORC §124.39 and may allow for the cashing out of sick leave for events other than service retirement from the STRS. In other words, boards of education may enact policies or enter into a contract with an administrator that allows cashing out sick leave upon service retirement, disability retirement, or the mere separation from employment. Further, the contract or policy may allow for the payment of severance pay for less than ten years of service with the district and/or for more than 30 days. Sometimes, an administrator employed by a board of education with a more generous policy, or one with a more generous contract, may not meet the qualifications for the more generous treatment. For example, a principal may enter into employment with a board of education that has a policy allowing the principal, upon ten years of service in the district, to cash out 33 percent of his or her accrued/unused sick leave; however, the principal decides to retire prior to obtaining ten years of service in the district. Notwithstanding the fact that the principal does not meet the requirements for the more generous severance-pay policy of the district, the principal does not forfeit, and is still entitled to, his or her rights under ORC §124.39 if he or she has at least a total of ten years of “public service,” even if the ten years are not all with the last employer.
Retires/Rehires
An issue that has arisen but has not been definitively resolved by the courts is whether an administrator who service retires and cashes out his or her accumulated sick leave may, upon reemployment, cash out the new sick leave that is accumulated when he or she separates from the reemployment. The retire/rehire should first look to his or her contract and to board policy to determine whether the issue is addressed in either or both places because ORC §124.39 would seem to no longer be applicable. The rights under ORC §124.39 (as opposed to those rights under an employment contract or a board policy) appear to contemplate a resignation for purposes of “service retirement” with STRS. A person can only “service retire” one time with STRS. Therefore, it is my opinion that ORC §124.39 is of no avail to a retire/rehire who has previously cashed out sick leave. The most prudent thing for a retire/rehire to do is, upon subsequent reemployment, negotiate for a provision in his or her contract that provides for cashing out of newly accumulated sick leave upon “separation” from reemployment. It should be noted, however, that boards of education that hire retire/rehires attempt, in some circumstances, to limit rather than enlarge the rights of the retire/rehires.
About the Author
Dennis Pergram, legal counsel to OAESA, is a partner in the law firm Manos, Martin, and Pergram, LPA. He is a former chairperson for the Ohio State Bar Association Committee and has practiced school law for over thirty years.
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An Amazing Start to Each Year
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by Nick Neiderhouse, EdD
hen you were a student, did you like starting the first day of school, reviewing the syllabus and classroom rules and procedures? Me neither. I believe the same mentality applies to working adults as well. Instead of the Wayne Trail Elementary staff reporting back to work the day before students, where they are handed their overwhelming packet of new guidelines, they participate in a race! This competitive but relationship-building race is called the Amazing Race of Maumee. Going on its third year, all staff members (teachers, secretaries, classroom assistants, playground and cafeteria monitors, etc.) are invited to engage in a district-wide search for clues to find the finish line.
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Using the actual Amazing Race show as a guide, I start planning the clue locations a few weeks in advance each August. I reach out to local businesses to see if they are willing to participate by either offering the staff a coupon or treat and a clue card when they find the race sites. If the businesses are willing, the teams (with whom they teach or work closest throughout the school year) receive a clue card to lead them to the next location. The teams travel in one vehicle (they like to choose the fastest) to navigate their surroundings. These cards may suggest a popular landmark or artifact, or staff might have to research something on their phones to find an answer. There are even spots where a selfie is required for proof of their visits. Within the confines of the school district, the teams travel to approximately six to eight different locations, following all traffic laws. There are, however, railroad crossings where teams might encounter an unanticipated train that interrupts their journey or a principal-planned roadblock that causes a team to detour off course. Last year, we had eight new teachers as well as new district office staff, including the assistant superintendent, and I wanted them to become familiar with key locations and personnel in the district. The first stop was at our high school that houses the 1951 Heisman Trophy, won by Maumee’s Dick Kazmaier (seen above). Teams had to take a selfie picture in front of the trophy and send it to me before they could proceed further. Along with the local business stops, the teams traveled to all of the school buildings in the district, where they were given supplies at each stop to create something. For instance, on their way to the district office, they had to create a welcome card and give it to the new assistant superintendent when they met him.
Inset: Taking a selfie with the 1951 Heisman Trophy. Opposite: 2015-2016 Amazing Race of Maumee Champions!
The event has taken place on hot summer days, so it is no surprise that the last location is one of the two popular ice cream shops, where they are rewarded with a cool treat. The team who arrives first gets bragging rights and the coveted Wayne Trail Trophy. The race is a fun and collaborative event that helps my staff come to work ready to run, rather than having them sit and listen to me read pages of procedures. It teaches them how to work together to achieve their goals and sets the tone for a successful year. The race supports the new staff in becoming more acquainted with colleagues as well as locations in the district. The local businesses benefit by establishing brief, but memorable, relationships during the contest, and it gives them the opportunity to get their names out to others about their goods and services. The race has become so engaging that my staff now provides me with tips on what to include for the upcoming year to make it even more challenging. In that last statement lies what I aim to accomplish as a principal, with this event and beyond: empower employees to think creatively, be innovative as they challenge themselves, and work together within that process.
About the Author Nick Neiderhouse, EdD, has been an administrator for more than five years and is currently principal of Wayne Trail Elementary in Maumee City Schools. He was formerly a dean of students and social studies teacher at Anthony Wayne Locals for six years. He earned his doctorate from Bowling Green State University in leadership and policy studies in 2013 with his dissertation focusing on character development and service learning in K–12 education.
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AWARDS PROGRAM
2016
On June 17, 2016, OAESA recognized outstanding educators and schools from across the state of Ohio at our annual awards program. Check out the photos and the wonderful back-to-school advice many winners shared with us.
OHIO NATIONAL DISTINGUISHED PRINCIPALS
“As you transition back from summer break, review your and get organized. Be positive, optimistic, and creative. Look for
strategic plan
areas of growth and view them as opportunity.
Schedule priorities, delegate, supervise, and just
KATHERINE NOWAK
Grades 2-5 Principal, New Albany Plain Local Schools formerly of Hayes Intermediate, South-Western City Schools
KATHERINE’S
breathe!”
Back-to-School
ALEXANDRA NANNICOLA Champion Central Elementary Champion Local Schools
SECRETARY of the YEAR Sheri says: Encourage teamwork.
and families.
• Greet the students off the bus, be present in classrooms, play at recess, and eat lunch in the cafeteria.
• Refine, revise, and redefine expectations, goals, and a clear vision!
Be kind to ALL.
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• Be visible and approachable to students, staff,
• Host informal and fun gatherings for staff and students to kick off the year such as popscicles on the playground or an elementary staff and family cookout.
Stay organized.
Always wear a SMILE!
TIPS:
SHERI FITZ
Granby Elementary Worthington City Schools
• Create a sense of community and positive culture through collaboration, celebration of success, and involving critical stakeholders in key decisions. • Have fun, smile, and support one another—we have the most rewarding profession!
OAESA HALL of FAME SCHOOLS “From Norwood Middle School,we wish you the most amazing start that results in smiles and confident learners!”
NORWOOD MIDDLE Kathy Sabo, Principal Norwood City Schools
KATHY’S TIPS for a SUCCESSFUL START to a NEW YEAR: Beginnings are precious and as educators we treasure the opportunity to begin again. Each day, each week, each month, and each year are all opportunities to begin again, and yet nothing beats the thrill of the start of a new school year. The opportunity to have a positive influence on many beginnings over the course of a career is special to me. Let none of us forget that our work is professional with intention and carried out in a very personal manner. With all of our experience, we continue to work to make the beginning of the school year better than all the years previous. At Norwood Middle School, we begin preparing for a great start near the end of the previous year. Since our school receives students from three elementaries, the transition is something we give special attention. With each passing beginning, we are thoughtful to make adjustments and enhancements. Perhaps these efforts will help you in your journey to make the 2016–2017 start amazing. •
In May, incoming seventh graders visit the building. Incoming students get to hear from students who experienced the transition the year before. Students also get to meet the principal, dean, counselor, athletic director, after school club coordinator, and other support staff. Students learn about all the ways they will be involved at school, scheduling opportunities, traditions, and upcoming events. They get to hear the orchestra and take a tour of the building.
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Communicate to your families by sharing the suggested summer reading list, supply list and important upcoming dates. Sharing new terminology to parents is so important. For instance, our elementaries host Open House, but at the middle school we host Walk Thru, and the two experiences are very different.
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We host two opportunities for incoming seventh graders to attend Transition Camp. This is a three-day camp held a few hours each day on two occasions in June. Existing middle school student leaders lead the camp. Parents and students report this is very helpful to their transition.
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We reach out again to parents in August with an automated voicemail reminder of upcoming events, such as schedule pick-up, Walk Thru, and Parent Orientation.
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The night before school starts we host Walk Thru to allow students one more time to walk through their schedule and to ask questions. We purposefully host this during the day to encourage middle schoolers to attend independently or with their friends. Parents are always welcome.
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After a few days of school, we welcome parents to Parent Orientation. On this evening, parents follow their child’s schedule with their child and meet each teacher to learn about building- and grade-level expectations and experiences. This is an evening meeting. We all know parents are very busy with work, child care, and transportation to and from various practices so, we provide dinner to be helpful. Parent Orientation is one of the most important events of the year. When families are in the school building, they make the experience special.
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from OAESA’s Awards Service Team:
At Beacon Elementary, “ flexibility is evident, from scheduling to staffing. Building decisions are made according to what is best for students.” BEACON ELEMENTARY Betsy Long, Principal Hilliard City Schools
KORI TELLS US: At Ottawa Hills Elementary School, our path to greatness is fueled by several things that work concurrently to create an incredible learning environment and a culture of supported high expectations for our administration, faculty, staff, and students. First, we believe in who we are. We know we have the power to do great things and feel a sense of responsibility to our students, our community and our peers to do the best that we can every minute of every day. Our faculty and staff take on every challenge, every district and school initiative, and every task, big or small, with a no-fail attitude. They collaborate with peers, community members and administration to find the most effective OTTAWA HILLS ELEMENTARY methods of reaching each goal together. They support each other, sharing their Kori Kawczynski, Principal strengths and interests to make sure every student receives the best educaOttawa Hills Local Schools tion available to K–6 students. Second, we encourage and invite parents to be deeply involved in the educational process, through volunteering, extracurricular activities, and sharing their gifts with students in the classroom. Parents are in our building every day, giving back to education and helping us provide memorable experiences for our students. Third, we set high expectations for student achievement and character development and provide social-emotional support for students to help them achieve those expectations. Our students believe that mistakes are learning opportunities and that there is no limit to their learning potential. Students are given opportunities to be on the stage and on the athletic court and to excel in academics. We also encourage them to engage in everything in order to develop lifelong interests, hobbies, and habits. Our students leave our school with the skills they need to be lifelong learners, active, and responsible citizens, and each student leaves inspired to realize his or her unique potential.
KORI’S TIPS FOR SUCCESS: 1. Be a team—a real team—where everyone has a voice. Work together to set goals for your school and your students that everyone believes in, then work together to bring those goals to realization. 2. Include your community. Involve parents in decisions when possible and when appropriate. Remember that their children are in your hands, and they know their children best. Listen to your parents and community members. Be able to speak to them about your school. If you can’t answer their questions, work to find the answers, and if the answers don’t make sense, reevaluate until you have a new answer that does make sense. 3. Make sure your students know what you expect of them. Remember that your students are capable of amazing things, but they may need additional supports to reach their highest potential. Encourage your students and help them see their potential. You may see it much sooner than they do! 4. Love your school! Love your staff, your administrators, your teachers, your students, and your parents. Remember your mission and vision and reflect on it often with all of your employees and stakeholders. If you are all working toward the same goal, how can you fail?
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REDWOOD’S BACK-TO-SCHOOL TRADITIONS: “Our goal at Redwood is to get students thinking and excited about returning to school. The first week of August we post our class lists, and the PTA hosts a back-to-school party with a DJ and ice cream. Throughout summer, we schedule play dates at our school for our new kindergarten students, so they are able to meet some of their classmates, parents can get to know one another, and our PTA can promote the wonderful programs it offers. We also run a summer reading contest, where students keep track of how many minutes they read over the summer. The top-minute reader at each grade level and one random student at each grade level get a ‘lunch of a lifetime.’ They get picked up from school in a limo, and we go out to lunch and for ice cream. This is all donated by local businesses in Avon Lake.”
REDWOOD ELEMENTARY T. J. Ebert, Principal Avon Lake City Schools
VALLEY VISTA ELEMENTARY Jeffrey Hill, Principal North Royalton City Schools
JEFFREY SHARES HIS SCHOOL’S BACK-TO-SCHOOL IDEAS: “At Valley Vista, I work to start each school year by generating excitement with both staff and students. North Royalton starts the school year with a morning convocation followed with building staff meetings in the afternoon. The first day can tend to be lengthy, so my goal is to start our building staff meeting with a fun icebreaker. My icebreaker activities vary each year, but my goal is to generate movement, positive and enthusiastic conversations, and, most importantly, teamwork. One example would be to have each table (groups of 4–5 teachers) assemble a small puzzle. Each group has to establish roles, so each person is actively involved. Another part may be to have groups communicate the procedure in how they assembled the final product. The activity does not need to last long because teachers are anxious to get through the meeting and back into their classrooms. I pass out small prizes (gift certificates) to the top 2–3 teams. On the students’ first day, I bring all students down to the gym close to the end of the day. I recognize each grade level by having students stand up and announce their year of graduation. Next, our building PBIS/Bullying Committee follows with information in regards to our school-wide program. P.A.W.S. is our theme for the upcoming year which stands for Positive Attitude, Act Responsibly, Work Together, and Show Kindness. The committee includes a video of former students and each staff member communicating a positive comment about our wonderful building. We conclude the program with all students singing the Valley Vista Cheer!”
HERITAGE ELEMENTARY Jennifer Russell, Principal Pickerington Local Schools
from the Service Team:
“As [Heritage is a] Leader in Me school, staff and community recognize the need to teach leadership and life skills to students and create a culture of student empowerment...”
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BOB SHARES THESE GREAT IDEAS FROM WILSON: Do all your parents “meet” their child’s teacher? How does a new parent or family entering your school in October receive the “meet-the-teacher” information?
WILSON ELEMENTARY Bob Buck, Principal Forest Hills Local Schools
At Wilson, we “flip” our meet-the-teacher meetings. Each team/teacher is responsible for making a video presentation of information about themselves for parents and for their class for the upcoming school year. These presentations can be viewed at home, at whatever time is best for parents/families. They can watch them as many times as they like, and best of all, new families coming into Wilson midyear can get the same information, just as they would have if they were at school in the fall. We will post examples on our webpage in the near future (www.foresthills.edu/wilson). Don’t worry, we also have a “Welcome Back,Wildcats” night for families and students before school starts. At this time they can meet their teachers again, from Step-Up Day in the spring (students meet their teachers for the next school year on the last day of school), drop off all their school supplies, walk the school, check out the classrooms, and meet up with friends.
D. RICHARD MURRAY AWARD DR. PAMELA CROSS YOUNG
for Outstanding Service to OAESA and the Field of Education from DR. PAUL YOUNG, FORMER OAESA PRESIDENT: “Many of Ohio’s...teachers and administrators have benefitted from Pam Young’s experience. Fortunately, that inspiration continues as she actively pursues interests in learning assessments, closing achievement gaps, and studying the theory and practice of preparing administrative candidates to work in diverse settings.”
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UNDERGRAD & GRADUATE
EDUCATION DEGREES
Enrrl Today!
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Tell us your story... PARENTS, EDUCATORS, & STUDENTS SHARE “Hello, I am Julia. My school has two back to school traditions. One is if you get a gold sticker in your school supply kit, you get an ipad mini! The second one is when you meet your teacher, you get a popcicle!” ~ Julia, age 8
"Our school hosts a student orientation for seventh graders—students only, no adults. They get to ride the bus, try their lockers, pick up their schedules, and get their picture taken. It’s a great chance for kids to visit the school before school starts.”
~ Melissa, parent
“We always tried to make the first day of school a special event like the grand opening of their favorite store. One year, the PTA rented one of the giant, inflatable hot-air balloons that said ‘GRAND OPENING’ and put it on the front lawn of the school for the first day. Each year as a staff, we would identify a year-long theme that would tie into all curricular areas. For example, one year our theme was ‘Honor the Past and Imagine the Future.’ We had a covered wagon next to a new Lamborghini sitting out front for the grand opening. This transferred to the excitement of a new school year. We would also use the parents of last year’s fifth graders as greeters and guides for students arriving at school. They would wear colored T-shirts to identify themselves.This type of community involvement tied the school community together in so many ways.” ~ Tony, retired principal "On my very first day, I was terrified. I remember the sound of children’s laugher echoing down the halls, the smell of the “One of my favorite back-to-school cafeteria preparing lunch, and all the brightmemories was when our school had a ly colored bulletin boards, full of ABCs. I band on the playground on the first day. didn’t want my mom to leave me, but then It was really cool!” my teacher smiled her beautiful smile at me. ~ Molly, class of 2020 And I knew everything would be okay.” ~ Rose, class of 1985 “At our old school, we went to school with our students for parent-student orientation on the first day of school. We got to meet the teachers, drop off supplies, and be there to support our kids while they got acquainted (or reacquainted) with their school and classmates they didn’t get to see over summer.” ~ Abigail, parent 50
"Every year I miss school a lot in summer. I really like moving to harder things and getting a new teacher. My favorite thing is math and to be able to move from division to decimals. Well, that’s what I love about school!” ~ Julia, age 8
FAVORITE BACK-TO-SCHOOL MEMORIES “This isn’t exactly a favorite memory from my childhood, but it’s something good about my daugther’s school. This year, her school mailed all the necessary paperwork we need to complete to us in July. That way my wife and I didn’t have to fill them all out that first week back at school.” ~ Tom, parent "I don’t have any favorite stories, but I am excited to go back this year because finally my class has a rabbit!” ~ Emily, age 10 “I like music and seeing my friends, but I am really excited to see my teacher again. I get her for a second year!” ~ Maddy, age 9 “Riding the bus and sleeping on the way to school!” ~ Will, age 12
“On the first day of school, we held a pep rally to kick off the new year. This was an opportunity to build excitement about the coming year and was also a way to reintroduce the positive school culture to the student body.” ~ Becky, former principal
“I don’t like that summer ends, but I love the mini band camp we have just before school starts. It gives me lots of energy, and then I start thinking about math and history and science and kind of want to go back to school.” ~ Henry, age 11
“What I loved best about going back to school was getting all dressed up and taking my new trapper keeper and book bag to school. My mom would take pictures of us kids each year on the first day, and, to this day, I love looking through them. I also loved meeting my teachers each year and finding out whether or not my sister told me the truth about whether they were hard or easy (she was a grade ahead of me).” ~ Ellen, class of 1993
“My favorite teacher wrote me a letter over the summer and sent it to me in the mail. When I received it and read about all of the faith she had in my abilities, I felt excited to start another school year!” ~ Becky, class of 1994
“My favorite teacher met each student at the door on day one. She said, ‘Hello, I’m Mrs. Johnson. What’s your name?’ By doing this, she learned correct pronunciation of our names as well as what each student liked to be called!” ~ Kim, class of 1990
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Sorry...We’re Booked! THE THIRD WAVE
by Steve Case Reviewed by MATTHEW BRADLEY Principal, Highland Middle Hilghland Local Schools In his book The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future, America Online founder and former CEO Steve Case describes what he believes is the next wave of the Internet. Case explains that the “First Wave of the Internet was all about building the infrastructure and foundation for an online world. These were companies—Cisco Systems, Sprint, HP, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, AOL—that were working on the hardware, software, and networks that would make it possible to connect people to the Internet” (p. 2). The “Second Wave was about building on top of the Internet” with companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook, and beginning of a “mobile movement” (p. 3). The Third Wave then, the next wave of the Internet, will be defined by “the Internet of Everything…a place where the Internet will be fully integrated into every part of our lives” (p. 43). So how does this affect us as educators? Case describes education being transformed through more personal, more individualized, and more data-driven ineractions (p. 46). “Already, there are tools that teachers can use to interact with parents in ways that would have been inconceivable twenty years ago,” such as virtual dashboards with homework assignments, test scores, and videos of lessons (p. 47). The term “Internetenabled” in the Third Wave will become as outdated as the term “electricity-enabled” is today. The majority of the book is written as a guide to current or future entrepreneurs. However, a few points stand out for educational leaders. The succes—or failure—of an organization comes down to “people, relationships, and culture” (p. 155). As he described the failed merger of AOL and Time Warner, Case “didn’t fully appreciate how much of a role personal emotions could play in professional decisions” (p. 140). As we all know, our challenge as educators is preparing students for an uncertain future. However, Case believes the opportunities are tremendous for entrepreneurs in the Third Wave and poses the following question at the conclusion of the book: “Take action. Be fearless…the world is waiting. Are you?” (p. 199).
PASSIONATE LEARNERS by Pernille Ripp Reviewed by PAUL G. YOUNG, PHD Adjunct Professor Ohio University-Lancaster
Aimed at new, early career, and experienced teachers alike, this book challenges readers to explore, read, and experiment with a variety of topics, such as classroom management, culture, studentcentered learning, lesson planning, homework, and grading. The author weaves a personal narrative about her transformation as a teacher related to each topic. The description of her very heartfelt attempts to keep up with the pace of change, the reexamination of common classroom habits, and recommended adjustments reflecting new tools and resources makes for a compelling read. Early on in the book, Ripp, asks readers to consider a question every teacher and principal should ask themselves: Would you or your own children like being a student in your own classroom? As she shares the outcomes of her own self-reflective answer to that question, as well as others in the book, her honesty and willingness to change in order to benefit kids’ needs is refreshing. To create passionate learners, Ripp reviews how her change from total control in the classroom as a beginning teacher—with students seated in rows listening to the teacher lead discussion— evolved to students having a more prominent voice. In each chapter, a topic is presented through a self-reflective lens in sections entitled “Then, Now, and What’s Next?” The book is very user friendly and can be read all at once or focused only on the chapter topics that appeal most to the reader. The author’s intent is that individual readers, and perhaps an entire staff, will be inspired to discover personal methods for change that will work for them and ultimately benefit their students. The book includes a list of valuable tools with templates in an eResources appendix, which can also be accessed from the publisher’s website. The author is a middle school teacher in south-central Wisconsin and the creator of the Global Read Aloud (www.globalreadaloud.com), a literacy initiative that has connected more than 600,000 students since 2010 through the use of technology.
Listen to Pernille Ripp at our Professional Conference in June 2017. Details on back cover.
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the word of the week, staff members were encouraged to give students a ticket. These tickets are placed by students into a box and entered into a drawing at week’s end. Those drawn are given an opportunity to get something out of a treasure box in the principal’s office.
Positive Climate Change by Russ Breech
What is your school’s identity?
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hat would happen if students were asked: “What does it mean to be part of this school?” What answers would students give? What if you genuinely asked students specifically to help you define what it means to be a part of the school? What if you asked staff members to help and engaged your entire school in the process? What would happen? At Clay Local School District, we asked these questions in the form of “What does it mean to be a Clay Panther?” We then engaged our students and staff by assigning each grade level a letter from “Clay Panthers” to form an acrostic for our school district. Each grade level was challenged to select one word to represent what it means to be a Clay Panther. Since our school district comprises preschool through twelfth graders at a single site, we incorporated K–12 in this process. With assistance from our K–2 homeroom teachers, our 3–5 grade reading educators, and our middle school and high school language arts teachers, our students came up with the following exceptional definitive answer:
Why not give this a try at your school? Student and staff engagement will improve. A weekly character-based focus will emerge. Decorate hallway walls with encouraging quotes, pictures, and suggested deeds. Use the terminology to instill positivity into your young students. This common terminology places an emphasis on what to do instead of what not to do. That commonality among staff assists greatly in dealing with students. Another positive aspect of this program has been student involvement with each weekly word. Many of our students have creatively presented their class’s word of the week. My favorite part has been conversations with students about what a word means. What a great opportunity to teach work habits, positive character, and the whole child! When you ask students at Clay Elementary this question: “What does it mean to be a Clay Panther?” One child may say, “We are caring.” Another may respond, “We are leaders!” The next may say, “I’m a positive Panther!” We now know what it means for us to be Clay Panthers. If your school is in need of an identity or could use a pick-me-up, then try this idea.
About the Author Russ Breech serves as assistant principal for the Clay Local School District, located near Portsmouth. He prides himself in providing encouragement, hope, and positivity to the many students he serves every day. Currently his vision is to share this enthusiastic message of hope and encouragement to those in need. Mr. Breech is the proud husband of Katie and father of Titan and Koen. He may be reached via e-mail at breechr@claylocalschools.org.
K and 1st—C (Caring)
2nd grade—L (Leaders)
3rd grade—A (Ambitious)
4th grade—Y (Youthful)
5th grade—P (Positive)
6th grade—A (Accepting) 7th grade—N(Noble)
8th grade—T (Tenacious)
9th grade—H (Honorable)
10th grade—E (Empowered)
11th grade—R (Resilient)
12th grade— S (Selfless)
This acrostic has given students and staff a clear definition of what Clay Panthers are. After defining ourselves, we began placing a weekly emphasis on each word. Our tremendous art teachers worked hard to complete artwork to decorate our halls with the “word of the week.” Staff members looked for students demonstrating the trait of the week. When students were found exemplifying
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WELCOME ZONE ONE Michael Barlow Eric Holmes Miranda Smith ZONE TWO Debra Bernhardt Christa Buchholzer Robert Calhoun Leslie Combs Chad Drinnen Nina Ginocchio David Grathwohl Beth Hendricks Monya Jones Linda Overbeck Thomas Snyder Marilee Tanner Ragina Taylor Melinda Zellner ZONE THREE Courtney Downs Michael Etzler
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Sept. 29, 5–7:00 pm Brew Garden 16555 Southpark Center Strongsville, OH 44136 440.234.1002
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ZONE TWO
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