In a perfect world, school districts would never have money issues. Everyone would value education for what it is and what it makes possible. However, perfection is still a work in progress and funding concerns remain a reality. Dollars spent on professional development move in and out of the ledger's "priority" column. It's the grey category that few are totally sold on. Is it an extravagance, a personal professional responsibility, or just a "gamble" since educators all have memories of bad workshops experiences? Let me take off my rosy red glasses, look you straight in the eye and say, "Parents and other community members will support spending money on staff development if they understand what it is, why it is necessary, what it looks like, why it looks that way, and what difference it will make for their children."

I firmly believe that building community support begins by building their understanding. When teachers are unable to describe what they have learned and how they will use it, parents rightly become very skeptical. In an environment where school budgets are being slashed, that skepticism will easily lead directly to reduced budgets for teacher learning. Parents believe they understand the value of small classes; they do not understand the value of professional development.

On Feb. 1, 140 Ohio educators came together with Dr. Tom Guskey. SDCO invited Dr. Guskey to Ohio for a day-long session on "The Battle Over Report Cards," with two small group follow-up meetings in April and June. Those in attendance said:

• Thanks for an enlightening…and great day.
• Opened my eyes to some ideas I never thought of.
• I'm a parent rep in the district and the session gave me a framework for understanding issues/challenges.
• Really interesting.

And for those of you who like reality checks…
• The room was crowded.
• Great meal!

Included throughout this month's publication are photos from the event.

It's a safe guess that throughout history, society has always categorized earlier generations. We all know about Baby Boomers (because most of us are). Remember when we were certain that the Silent Generation wasn't too cool. And then after the Baby Boomers and their echo came Generation X. Can't help but picture a group of young Neanderthals, with bone implants, totally abusing fire! The older cavemen dreaded a world order lead by the "NEWanderthals" and probably had central cave board meetings on a defined "animal skin" code; no more than a Hairy Mammoth nostril width above the knee…except on "casual" ice ages.

And now here we are in 2006 faced with Generation Y not only driving Generation X a little nuts, but actually teaching in our schools…with flip flops, tattoos and Capri pants! And you, the sage Baby Boomer, have been assigned to create meaningful professional development for them.

Back in January, SDCO was proud to introduce you to Lincoln Heights ES in the Princeton City School District. Recently Lincoln Heights joined NSDC's "12 Under 12" Network. Part of The No Child Left Behind Act is that by 2014, all students must meet or exceed their states' proficient level of academic achievement. The National Staff Development Council (NSDC) believes that twelve years is too long for low-achieving children to wait to perform at the proficient level, and that schools should pursue high quality staff development as a key strategy for eliminating the achievement gap. As a result, NSDC searched for twelve schools committed to raising performance for ALL students in under twelve years In this and our remaining SDCO Newsletter edition, Principal Tyrone Olverson continues his report on Lincoln Heights' "12 Under 12" progress.

Read on for more about the Lincoln Heights' "12 Under 12" effort.

The adrenaline rush that comes with stress can be useful -- it helps us cross busy streets safely and get our reports done on time, for example. But when stress becomes chronic it can take a heavy toll on your health, lowering your sex drive, making you more susceptible to colds and other infections, and even causing hypertension and heart disease. Take our quiz to find out how much you know about dealing with the stress in your life. Don't get stressed out. It's a slower than usual download.

http://healthresources.caremark.com/topic/stressquiz

I know a coach who works for Project GRAD Columbus and supports elementary teachers at a school in the Columbus Public School district. One day this coach observed a fifth grade teacher working with students to create a bar graph. The teacher approached the task very traditionally by showing the students what a good bar graph should look like, asking a barrage of low-level questions and then telling them all about bar graphs (e.g., titles, labels, etc.). By the end of the lesson, the teacher confided to the coach that she did not feel that the students had grasped what they needed about bar graphs.

If you are looking for an inspirational and educational book to help get you through the late winter doldrums, or if you're looking for a great resource for a staff book study, I highly recommend The Freedom Writers Diary: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World Around Them, by the Freedom Writers with Erin Gruwell. This book was published in 1999 by Broadway Books and the Tolerance Education Foundation. Erin was the keynote speaker at the October, 2004 Ohio School Boards Conference, and the line at her book signing after her speech stretched throughout the Columbus Convention Center! This was one of the most inspirational books I ever read - I couldn't put it down! It should be required reading for all English/Language Arts teachers and any educators who work with at-risk youngsters on a regular basis.

Read on for a summary of the Freedom Writer's Diary.

As an Ohio educator, when you need reliable and authoritative resources for your student school assignments and research, have you tried INFOhio's Core Collection? All Ohio students, educators and parents have instant FREE access to thousands of resources online including popular magazines, scholarly research journals, newspapers from Ohio and the nation, encyclopedias, dictionaries, speeches, poems, plays, images, maps, satellite images of Ohio and more!

The resources in INFOhio differ from general Internet sites because they are based on long-standing, traditional library print references. You can trust that INFOhio resources are accurate, non-biased, age-appropriate and user-friendly. Want to know more? Then watch What is INFOhio? online, a 4-minute video overview of how INFOhio helps Ohio students, educators and parents with their research needs.

Most professional development sessions have that "down time" early on when people are gradually arriving, socializing, or checking out the snack table. Some will come in and mark off their territory early and others will visit with colleagues as long as you let them. It's always a good idea to have something up on the screen or monitor that welcomes, guarantees they're in the right place…and maybe even entertains. Hope you find this PowerPoint useful to fill that transition time.

                                                                           Go to more of Mizell's report of the survey's findings.

But I have some good news for you (no, it's not about my new Geico insurance); there remains optimism on the professional development front. We do know what works. It's documented daily in classrooms and school buildings just like yours. One of Ohio's most successful professional development initiatives is taking place in West Clermont Ohio and we've asked four of their staff members to describe their personal perspective on effective professional development.

• Describe the BEST professional development experience you’ve ever had
• Of NSDC’s 12 Standards for Staff Development  (http://www.nsdc.org/standards/index.cfm ) identify your top 5 and comment
• NSDC’s current goal is that “All teachers in all schools will experience high-quality professional learning as part of their daily work by 2007.” How do you recommend we accomplish this?
  

Who are the board members?
How can I get a membership brochure?
What professional development opportunities are available?

Parents and other community members will support spending money on staff development if they understand what it is, why it is necessary, what it looks like, why it looks that way, and what difference it will make for their children.

Building their support begins by building their understanding.

When teachers are unable to describe what they have learned and how they will use it, parents rightly become very skeptical about the value of professional development. In an environment where school budgets are being slashed, that skepticism can lead directly to reduced budgets for teacher learning. Parents believe they understand the value of small classes; they do not understand the value of professional development.

Parents are tough customers to win over when it comes to support for staff development - particularly for traditional forms of professional development that are based on released time. Parents become personally inconvenienced by half-days, days off, late starts, or early dismissals for staff development. Few newsletters or web sites provide much detail to parents about why children are being deprived of instruction while teachers are away learning. Calendars typically list vague phrases like "institute day" or "staff development.'' When parents ask what teachers are learning during this time away from students, they frequently hear teachers say that "inservices'' are a waste of time because they never learn anything new.

Teachers are more likely to see value in the time they have during their workday to meet with colleagues to share ideas and examine student work. But parents - and often teachers themselves - are less likely to view that important time as staff development.

This page and the tools provided here are intended to help teachers and principals do a better job of communicating the importance of professional development in all its forms to parents and other community members.

NSDC Articles and Tools (in PDF format)
• Break the inservice habit, by Joan Richardson, Tools for Schools, December/January 2005
• What does your community know and believe about teacher learning?, a survey created by NSDC to use with parent groups to stimulate conversation about teacher learning.
• If not a workshop, then what?, a useful list to help parents understand that teacher learning can be so much more than workshops.
• Professional development IQ test, 20 questions about the role of professional learning in student improvement.
• Professional development IQ test answers, 20 questions and answers, with references to original sources.
• Round robin interviewing, a group strategy to encourage in-depth discussion.
• Thinking ahead, a worksheet to prompt planning and reflection to help learners get the most out of meetings or conferences.
• Sharing what you've learned, a template for teachers to use in capturing discussions, decisions, and goals from meetings.
• Structured response, a template for recording information and reflection from conferences and meetings; another means of keeping track of learnings.
• JSD Forum: Another teacher professional development day? Lose another day of class time? Can we afford this?, by Peter Negroni, JSD, Winter 2005. Reprinted with permission of the American Association of School Administrators from The School Administrator, October 2003.
• JSD Forum: Parents and teachers need to know, by Moira K. Smith, JSD, Fall 1999

All of this can be found at: http://www.nsdc.org/library and go to the "Talking To Parents" link.

And now here we are in 2006 faced with Generation Y not only driving Generation X a little nuts, but actually teaching in our schools…with flip flops, tattoos and Capri pants! And you, the sage Baby Boomer, have been assigned to create meaningful professional development for them.

Perhaps a short FAQ for starters.

So who's who (USA Today, Nov. 2005)?

Silent Generation born before 1946 7.5% of workforce
Baby Boomers born 1946-1964 42% of work force
Generation X born 1965-1976 29.5% of work force
Generation Y born 1977-1989 21% of workforce

Don't forget now, the Silent Generation is grinning because Baby Boomers are getting exactly what they deserve. "It's your turn now. You thought you knew it all…so deal with it!" All 78 million of those Boomers; so brash and bold at one time, are gradually becoming the elders of society. Wealthier and more numerous than any generation before or since; and in positions of leadership in businesses and schools employing Generation X/Y.

What's the difference between Generation X and Generation Y?

Generation X:
probably has been called a "slacker"
first favorite movie was Star Wars or E.T.
at least once wore parachute pants
George W. Bush or Bill Clinton was the first President voted for (if they voted)
Kurt Cobain's suicide was a big deal to them and their friends
listened to Madonna, Duran Duran and The Cure
liked the sound of "40 is the new 30"

Generation Y:
remote control TVs, microwaves, and telephones with keypads are a given
vividly remember the World Trade Center attacks, but barely recall the fall of the Berlin Wall
consider 80s music to be oldies
their Starbucks habit started while in college
thinks it's silly to buy music on CDs
has a cell phone, but no land line
school loans and credit card debt total far more than first year's salary
logs into their computer 24/7

Some say that Generation Y is nothing more than generation X on steroids. However, the fact remains that they're working next to you…yes some of you are even working for them. They are YOUR children and you played a pretty substantial roll in their development. All those years you actually believed you were modeling good old fashion Baby Boomer values; giving them everything that YOU never had. Sound familiar? Out of the womb they were pampered, enrolled in, and nurtured like any good aging hippie would want for their special little bundle of joy. Surprise of surprises, what we got perplexes us. Yet, when looked at objectively, really ain't so bad. It's just different. Here's a snapshot of your Generation Y teachers:

Immediate Responsibility…want to make an important impact on day 1
Goal-Oriented…want small goals with tight deadlines so they can build up ownership of tasks
High Expectations of Self…believe in themselves and work faster and sometimes better than other workers
High Expectations of Employers…want fair and direct managers who are highly engaged in their professional development, they are accustomed to direct feedback
Ongoing Learning…seek out creative challenges and view colleagues as resources from whom to gain knowledge

So where's the downside? Perhaps it's in the eyes of the Boomer?
• less likely to respond to traditional command and control type of management (they questioned their parents, why not the boss?)
• they're tech savvy…email, BlackBerry, Internet, iPod, etc. (Your B/W transparencies and old PowerPoint clip art communicate "more" than you hope for. What, you still don't use e-mail?)
• the .com bust, Enron, and earlier generation layoffs taught them the importance of being financially smart (401(k) and Roth IRA are an expected part of the job interview)
• looking for job descriptions with flexibility…jobs that accommodate their personal life (hmmmm, why didn't we think of that?)
• change is not frightening, it's expected (comfortably handle multitasking, prefer not to stay on one task too long, and don't anticipate a lifetime in one job)

If your own historical IPDP includes workshops from the likes of Myers-Briggs, Dunn & Dunn, Howard Gardner, or Bernice McCarthy then this should all make good sense to you. A different style, a different intelligence, a different paradigm? Whatever, if you learned anything form those sessions, that a previous generation created for you, maybe these younger teachers don't need fixed…maybe they can't be fixed. If Maslow was right then there are some core personal needs that professional development needs to get to first…and they're not those of the presenter!

Somehow the NEWanderthals didn't muck it all up too bad. And all us Boomers better now appreciate today both the tolerance and work done for us by the Silent Generation. Generation Y will be reminiscing like this someday. For heaven sakes, don't sit back so you can grin at them while they struggle with Generation Google III.

In my last report to you I overviewed "12 Under 12" and the commitment that Lincoln Heights was required to make in order to participate. As you well understand, this was no easy decision for me or the staff. Understanding and accepting the challenges and realizing I needed to do more to lead my school toward being more effective, I had been in search of a reform effort that would specifically fit the nature and needs of Lincoln Heights; an African American low socioeconomic school. In my search I didn't find the reform program I was searching for. However, I did find the mechanism and support I needed to develop our own reform effort… NCSD and the "12 Under 12" Program. According to NSDC, "12 Under 12" is not a grant program, a technical assistance project, or a school reform project. Rather, it is a network in which the participating schools will learn from each other, and tap into NSDC's considerable knowledge about results-based professional development and school reform.

My purpose in this month's report is to share some of our experiences to date, which may help you in not reinventing the wheel in your search for methods and means of accelerating student achievement.

During the 2003-04 school year Dennis Sparks representing NCSD and "12 Under 12" visited Lincoln Heights Elementary School and met with school staff and administrators to attempt to assess the current educational conditions at LH. After the meetings, mostly with small groups of staff members, the following list of reoccurring thematic issues seem to surface in each small group. Whether reality or perceptions, the following group of concerns needed to be addressed in our school based effort to increase student achievement at Lincoln Heights.

Concerns Identified:
A. Reform is from the top down
B. Lack of shared mission
C. Lack of staff buy in
D. Lack of support from principal and CO
E. Teachers views receive little consideration
F. Offended by thought that outsiders know what will work at Lincoln Heights
G. Lack of sustained focus
H. Always a new band wagon
I. Looks good on paper
J. Decline in resources
K. Lack of systems by administrators
L. Challenges of student behavior
M. Teachers not acknowledged for efforts
N. Lack of meaningful teacher training activities
O. Lack of school leadership team

Recommendations made by Dennis Sparks:
A. Form a leadership team with clear defined goals
B. Use leadership team to establish data driven school improvement plan
C. Use short term assessment to guide instructional modifications
D. Establish a commitment and relationship that engages all staff in reform efforts
E. Devise process for orienting staff new to LH
F. Empower teachers to make decisions regarding instructional and behavioral challenges
G. Provide individualized support for principal (mentor/results coach)
H. Provide principal with support in becoming the educational leader of the school
I. Use creative means to attain services of instructional coach to work with teachers in their classrooms

Actions taken by Tyrone Olverson:
A. Employed a results coach
B. Developed a real mission as to what LH should be
C. Agreed with staff to make decisions on data not rhetoric
D. Encouraged all staff to participate in developing school improvement plan
E. Placed all issues on the table for staff discussion
F. Determined existing conditions at LH
G. Determined desired conditions at LH
H. Determined areas with discrepancies
I. Empowered teachers to make decisions
J. Came to agreement as to what the CIP will address
K .Gained commitment and ownership to CIP from staff
L. Adopted CIP
M. From that time forward made decisions congruent with CIP
N. Stayed the course
O. Gained CO support for bottom up reform plan
P. Requested, based on building needs, that reduced staff be replaced i.e. Dean of Students, .5 Guidance, .5 Psychologist
Q. Requested additional staff based on impact on achievement
R. Implemented Plan
S. Employed Instructional Coach
T. Created achievement model

Other Issues besides instruction to be considered:
A. Understanding Poverty (Ruby Payne)
B. Understanding how children from poverty act
C. Researching and defining the tenets of effective discipline
D. Designing programs that teach self-discipline (Seminar)
E. Designing programs that teach behaviors that are appropriate in different environments
F. Designing Discipline and Counseling Center based of making good choices and self-discipline
G. Training teachers to create and implement a culture based instructional and classroom management system
H. Providing college credit for classes
I. Replacing punitive approach with teaching self-discipline approach
J. Issuing all discipline consequences incorporating the tenets of effective discipline as developed by staff.

From all of this evolved the "muscle car" analogy presented in my earlier report. As we went through this process we found ourselves saying we are not hitting on all cylinders.

To a muscle car enthusiast there is nothing quiet like the sound and power of a well tuned high performance V-8 engine hitting on all cylinders. Conversely to the professional educator there is nothing quiet like the aurora of an educational program hitting on all cylinders, a program where all children are leaning. This concept was the original analogy behind The Eight Cylinder Reform, a school improvement program based on eight tenets that when working efficiently in tandem produces accelerated achievement especially in schools with a high percentage of at-risk students. Our eight tenets were presented to you back in January.

I'm pleased to offer you a positive first progress report. It appears that all arrows are starting to point in the same direction. This is due to the collaborative efforts of staff and administration.

To begin we must look at our student attendance. Last year our student attendance was at 93%. Currently our attendance is over 95%! Much of this improvement can be attributed to a plan developed by staff and administration that has built stronger teacher-student-parent relationships (self-contained classrooms PK-5). During parent conferences in February, it was felt by many parents that their son/daughter had a good/better relationship with their teachers compared to prior years. Also with the increase in attendance, students have been rewarded with incentives such as, "Free Dress", pizza parties, skate parties and after-school dances.

Secondly, student discipline issues have been greatly reduced through a valuable professional development strategy. The Positive Behavioral Supports (PBS) staff development process provided the foundation for our school's success on improving school/classroom behaviors. During the 2004-2005 school year we had 209 suspensions compared to 59 this year (one month after the 1st semester). This reduction can be credited back to our culturally based, school-wide discipline program that was developed with staff and administration input. Out of the staff development process came:

A. Separation of boys and girls at recess, which has led to a drastic reduction of aggressive behavior, demonstrated (less than 10 infractions for the year!). During breakfast we have had less than five infractions for the year. We attribute this success to us allowing students to enter breakfast right away from outdoors compared to having the students wait another five minutes with limited supervision;

B. Implementation of a morning "Seminar" where students review the schools procedures and expectations daily with administration before transitioning to their homerooms where they work on morning work. Morning work lasts anywhere from 10-30 minutes daily. During this time, students work on writing assignments, silent sustained reading or some other quiet activity. This process allows the teacher to take attendance, provide individual counseling/instruction and most currently progress monitoring of students using the DIBEL's (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) assessment. The same routine is followed after recess as a way to engage students back into the learning environment from the students play environment. As a building we are explaining to our students the differences between school, home and community rules and expectations, which have provided open and honest student, staff and parent dialogue.

Lastly, according to DIBEL's data we are closing the achievement gap of our students. Many of our students have some ground (literacy) to cover in order to become benchmark. With this in mind the staff have started to progress monitor our students weekly. Students are involved from the standpoint that they are taking home DIBEL prompts weekly and are to get the prompt initialized by a parent/guardian/adult after reading the prompt to them. Students are charting their progress. It goes to show that if given multiple opportunities to improve, students will practice their oral readings daily. This process will increase reading fluency over time.

Students are also using diagnostic and prescriptive teach to mastery computer based software programs as a means of filling in individual academic gaps. In the primary grades teachers have implemented a phonics program. At the 3rd grade we have raised our October Ohio reading Achievement Test scores to 40% compared to 22% and 23% in prior years. Our goal at the 3rd grade is to be 75% (state benchmark) on the March Ohio Reading Achievement Test. Thus starting us on our journey of having 100% of all grades being proficient on state achievement test by June 2011 and meeting our "12 under 12" goal. This is three years before the NCLB goal. If DIBEL's is predictive (and we think it is) we are well on our way with 85% of our kindergarten students being identified as either benchmark or strategic. Our challenge is to accelerate learning at all levels (benchmark, strategic and intensive) within the regular education classroom.

Lincoln Heights ES eagerly awaits our April 28, 2006 "Critical Friend" visit by Dr. Dennis Sparks. We look forward to sharing data with Dr. Sparks, and each of you, regarding our successes and challenges.

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The teacher had another mathematics class later that day, so the coach suggested that the teacher try a different approach and offered to stick around to assist. The teacher reluctantly agreed, so the two planned a very different lesson. The plan consisted of the teacher giving each child a bag of Skittles and graph paper, then provide the whole class with brief verbal directions to create graphs that describe their bag of skittles. During the actual lesson, the teacher indicated that the students should create a graph with all of the parts like a title and labels.

Prior to the lesson the teacher feared that her students did not know enough to be able to independently create good graphs. During the lesson after receiving the directions, the children simply sat doing nothing for what seemed an eternity. The teacher and coach waited and did nothing too, and that was hard. Then finally, one student opened their bag of Skittles and began sorting them and soon others followed. Before long, the entire class was engaged in the task of creating a graph that described their bag of Skittles. The teacher and the coach circulated the room in the midst of the students working looking for opportunities to support the work.

The coach noticed a child trying to create a graph, but clearly lacking understanding. So, the coach invited the student to go on a field trip to see what others were doing. After visiting one or two other students and observing their work, the coach asked the student if she noticed any differences between her approach and those of others. The student did notice differences and she was very excited to get back to her work. Another student was observed trying to create a double bar graph, but quickly realized that his data (the Skittles) did not provide enough information for that type of representation.

Looking back on the lesson, the teacher was surprised to learn how much her students knew about graphing. The different types of graphs students created also impressed her. There were bar graphs, pictographs, line plots, and circle graphs. Most of the student's graphs had titles, labels, and an appropriate scale. During the lesson, students answered questions for one another and provided encouragement and support as they worked. The students were engaged and demonstrated understanding about graphing.

What can we take away from this story? Never underestimate your students' abilities. If students are not given the opportunity to think for themselves they never will.

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As an idealistic twenty-three-year-old English teacher at Wilson High School in Long beach, California, Erin Gruwell confronted a room of "unteachable, at-risk" students. One day she intercepted a note with an ugly racial caricature, and angrily declared that this was precisely the sort of thing that led to the Holocaust-only to be met by uncomprehending looks. So she and her students, using the treasured books Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl and Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Sarajevo as their guides, undertook a life-changing, eye-opening, spirit-raising odyssey against intolerance and misunderstanding. They learned to see the parallels in these books to their own lives, recording their thoughts and feelings in diaries and dubbing themselves the "Freedom Writers" in homage to the civil rights activists "The Freedom Riders."

With funds raised by a "Read-a-thon for Tolerance," they arranged for Miep Gies, the courageous Dutch woman who sheltered the Frank family, to visit them in California, where she declared that Erin Gruwell's students were "the real heroes." Their efforts have paid off spectacularly, both in terms of recognition-appearances on "Prime Time Live" and "All Things Considered," coverage in People magazine, a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Richard Riley-and educationally. All 150 Freedom Writers have graduated from high school and are now attending college.

SDCO Showcase Article
Professional Development…Perspectives Across the Profession

Michelle Kennedy is Assistant Principal at Glen Este High School in the West Clermont Local School District. Sue was interviewed in October, 2005 concerning her personal views on effective professional development. As described in the introductory section of our showcase article, Michelle had not seen the reactions to these identical questions…given to her colleagues (Dr. Gary Brooks/Superintendent, Sue Showers/Director of Small Schools and Jim Beshalske/Classroom Teacher). Comments from Dr. Brooks and Sue Showers are summarized at the conclusion of this article, and were published in detail in our two earlier professional newsletters. In the upcoming May edition you will read classroom teacher Jim Beshalske's responses.

"The BEST professional development experience I have had was a two day conference on school reform. Many people were asking, "What should we do?" "Are we doing the right thing?" "What should we do next?" Some of the best, well known presenters engaged people in conversations and activities to brainstorm ideas and solutions to problems that were discovered through the process of change….district teams were given the opportunity to collaborate with each other to develop a plan. Between the networking, collaboration, and debriefing, the room was full of enthusiastic people ready to lead their teams through the next phase."

From the NSDC Standards, my role as building administrator is one that requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement. Being an instructional leader is critical to both student and adult learning. Whether I am observing student learning or setting an example in a professional development activity, I must be a role model. Without the instructional leadership of the building administrator, teachers will not see the value of staff development to improve student learning.

Secondly, I must provide opportunities that deepens educators' content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately. As building administrator, it is crucial to observe the staff and be able to make valuable suggestions for improvement as well as continue to encourage successful strategies. As difficult as it may be, time must be blocked into your calendar for the important task of observing the staff.

Thirdly, it is important to prepare educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement. As building administrator, I must demonstrate that building relationships with and obtaining background knowledge on each student is crucial to bringing out their potential.

Fourth, I must use multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact in order to increase academic success for all students. Learners are similar at all levels - they must see proof to believe it can be done. Therefore, it is important to provide to the staff student data, educational articles, opportunities to observe other teachers, etc. along with the conversations of making inferences, suggestions, or reflecting on the information in order to develop an understanding of the impact they have on student learning.

Lastly, it is important to organize adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district. Whether it is a grade level team, content team, or interdisciplinary/common focus team, time is a key component (and your worst nightmare) for each learning community to collaborate on common goals, students, and instructional strategies that benefit the academic success of all students.

NSDC's goal that "All teachers in all schools will experience high-quality professional learning as part of their daily work by 2007" must become a reality for educators to impact academic success for all learners. As the instructional leaders in the building, I must be a continuous learner in order to create a professional development plan that is aligned with the district goals. It is important to build consensus among the staff and staff leaders in the design of the plan and to set aside a portion of the budget to follow through with the plan.

As a building administrator, I feel responsible in providing opportunities and feedback to my staff in helping them understand the importance of being a continuous learner. It is my role to provide the staff with the best professional development available to ensure all our students can obtain their academic potential. I want the important concept of "Lifelong Learners" embedded into both staff and students.

Let's "Keep Score"

Our Showcase Article is entitled "Perspectives Across the Profession." So how similar/different are these perspectives? Is effective professional development from a superintendent's perspective identical to how other central office directors, building level principals and classroom teachers see it?

As we progress through West Clermont's staff responses, it should be interesting to compare. Listed below are NSDC's 12 Standards for Professional Development and how each West Clermont staff member views them…when asked to pick their TOP 5? Might be interesting for you to participate too. The last column is available for your own ranking of your TOP 5!