A Superpower? Hmmm?

Recently I was asked which superhero I would like to be.

Hmmmmm....?

A superhero with superpowers...?

Flight, super-strength, super-speed, invisibility....?  The list is endless, and  I'm sure you've thought about the same question at least once in your life.

Regardless of your answer, I'm fortunate to get real inspiration each day because I work with superheroes.  In fact this year we've had about 480 superheroes walk the halls of our building each day.

• Superheroes take risks and don't always know the outcome before it will happen.  Our students do this each day.  Our teachers challenge them to solve math problems in new ways or demonstrate new writing techniques.  This is a good lesson for all adults.  Everyone should see learning as an opportunity and not a checklist.
• Superheroes stare down and overcome obstacles.  We have students with special learning needs, yet they persevere each day...with a smile.  Unfortunately, some of our students also manage emotional concerns.  Perhaps their families are in turmoil?  Financial distress, health issues, or emotionally-charged decisions made by adults impact our youth in ways we might not always see, but students prove to me again and again how resilient they are.  
• Superheroes reach farther than expected.  When was the last time you learned a new language?  Over 30% of our students are learning English.  Their growth over a year is remarkable.  What's even better is our students who are not "officially" learning English grow because they've helped their friends.
• Superheroes forgive.  Mistakes happen.  Sometimes a friend or a teacher has a tough day.  Everyone is human, but the students I work with forgive with great prowess in order to focus on learning.
• Superheroes laugh at and grow from adversity.  The diversity in our building and district is remarkable.  Of course, our community sees this as a strength, but our students live it.  Our students could teach the United Nations a few lessons about peace, empathy, and how to build positive relationships.
• Superheroes inspire others.  Our students...my students...inspire me each day, and it is a privilege to be their principal.  They make me want to:
• take risks
• overcome obstacles
• reach farther
• forgive
• laugh
• grow
• inspire others

For all of the students at Novi Woods this year, thank you for being superheroes.  You make the world a better place.  You make my world brighter, and I am grateful.

For all of the superheores who will be at Novi Woods next year, get ready.  The best is yet to come!

Have a great summer!

Finally, there must be something about this time of year because I wrote a blog entry about other  superheroes in our school almost a year ago.  It's still fitting, and you can read it here.  Many thanks, however, to Mrs. Marroni, Mrs. Carroll, and Mrs. Long who are retiring this year.  Novi Woods is better because of you, and you will be missed by students, staff, and our community.

And..my Dad is still a hero to me.  I love you.

What's the Target?

Do you want to be held accountable in your job?

That's a loaded question, isn't it?  Let's be honest.  There are days when all I'd really like to do is read a book, lounge by a pool, and listen to music.  I suppose that makes me 100% human.

In any career, however, I've found that most adults really do want to be held accountable.  We want the satisfaction of a job well done.  We want the recognition that we have made a difference for another person or for the organization.  We want to know that we matter.  And...if we've not been successful, we want to understand a clear target so we know where best to improve.

Teaching, as you can imagine, is no different.  Teachers, administrators, and all staff in a school or across a school district want to be held accountable.  We want our students to be successful.  We expect our students to reach farther, and we work with them to accomplish more than they ever thought was possible.

Success, when working with young people, is measured by more than academic progress, but our state is at a critical crossroads in how we measure our academic progress that will have far-reaching implications.

Let's think about assessment.  Does one assessment equal a measure of success or progress?  Of course not.  People have good days and bad days.  Some tests are not as good as others.  Many factors impact how well an assessment (or test) measures what a student knows.  Our students are not robots on an assembly line.  They are living and breathing individuals.  An administrative colleague in our district explains quality assessment is not one photograph but rather a collection of photographs--over time.  In fact, we should have an "album" of assessments that gives us a better indication of progress.  In other words, I'm sure you have pictures in your family albums that show a person blinking at the wrong time.  Does that photo mean that person always blinks during a photograph?  No.  We take many photos over the course of our lives.  One photo does not measure a person, and one assessment should not measure a student's knowledge.

Our school district uses multiple assessments to measure progress for our students.  The most useful assessments I recognize are the anecdotal observations our teachers use to measure how well a student can demonstrate his/her knowledge.  Our teachers regularly conference with students in one on one situations.  They discuss the student's progress, strengths, and challenges with the student.  This contextual, real-time assessment is powerful.  Yet, we also have an obligation to administer local, state, and national tests to help measure our progress against other indicators.  Our teachers then use all of this data to better inform their instruction for the class and for each student.

Those local, state, and national assessments are how others hold us accountable.  Our country's Constitution does not specifically claim responsibility for education which means states are responsible.  In Michigan, therefore, education is the responsibility of the state.  Michigan even goes so far as to rank schools and label them as priority, focus, or reward schools based on one test.

Here's where it gets tricky.  In fact, it's probably best if you read the following article about the recent history in how our state legislature wants to holds schools in our state accountable.  Please read this article.

Did you catch the part that our state keeps shifting the target for success?  First we had the MEAP.  Now we are piloting the Smarter Balanced.  Now we're possibly going back to the MEAP.  Really?

I'll be honest.  I'm not a real fan of the MEAP.  We administered it in October, and we didn't get any scores back until March.  Is that useful data for educators to make any real changes in instruction?  At least the Smarter Balanced test would give us instant scores that would be useful for the students in front of us.  Regardless of the test, however, I just want a clear, non-moving target.  Our students will hit it.  Our teachers will move mountains to help our students.  Our community will and does collaborate to help our students.  A moving target, however, is just not fair.  In fact, it feels like a political game to make our schools and students look bad.

You might be asking yourself what the big deal is.  Just reinstate the MEAP.  Remember, we've been aligning to the Common Core (Smarter Balanced) for three years, and no funding has been kept in place by our state to maintain the MEAP process.  I don't have hard numbers, but maintaining the MEAP for our state is an expensive and time-consuming task.  You can see this link to better understand what our district has been doing to align our curriculum to the Common Core.  This work has transformed our district into an even better system, and now it is in jeopardy of needing to be reworked.

So what are we going to do?  The sun is going to come up tomorrow.  Our students will come to school.  Our teachers will teach.  Our students will learn...

Our assistant superintendent for academics regularly reminds us we must build a "robust internal accountability system" so we are not at the whim of the state.  I'm grateful I work in a district that understands this.  We understand assessment is more than one test from the state.  At my school we have a data wall near our front door where we post our scores in relation to other schools in our county, our state, and even our country.  I recently shared this information at a PTO meeting.  We choose to hold ourselves accountable, and we are proud of our work.

Our state, however, needs to do better.  Our students deserve that non-moving target.