I was an assistant principal for 10 years. Those were some of the hardest but most rewarding years of my career. It seems fitting that April is the month that has been designated to recognize assistant principals. It can often be the craziest month with standardized testing, extracurricular activities, and elevated energy levels in the school building that often accompany the arrival of warmer weather. And assistant principals are invaluable at helping schools navigate the most challenging times.

Teachers have constant and direct contact with students. They get to experience those lightbulb moments which serve not just as professional validation, but as a reminder of the rewarding career they have chosen. Principals don’t usually get to teach students, but they are often in the spotlight. They get the photo ops. They get to meet with the student leaders. They get recognized when the school is succeeding.

Assistant principals, on the other hand, are often behind the scenes. They are usually tasked with the jobs that nobody really wants. They handle all those discipline referrals. They maintain the inventory of textbooks and fixed assets. They coordinate the logistics for the field trips and the school assemblies. They meet with the parent whose child is being bullied. They figure out how to split rosters or cover classes when the sub doesn’t show up. They listen to teacher complaints with a patient and empathetic ear, even when they may not have the authority to solve the problem. Assistant principals are in the trenches, and they do the hard work that allows schools to run smoothly. The work is not glorious; it is often unnoticed, and it is often taken for granted.

But I notice it. And I appreciate it. I hope they know they make a difference. When they support their teachers who are struggling with challenging student behavior, intervene on behalf of a student who is bullied, and collect assignments for the student who is in the hospital. When they help the teacher find the resources they need for their lesson, make a special trip to the lunchroom to ensure the child that forgot lunch money still gets to eat, or stay with that student who missed the bus. When they cover a teacher’s class because that teacher’s own child got sick, and when they have their teacher’s back in those tense parent conferences. When they walk the halls—their presence being a symbol of support and stability. They make a difference when they work with the teacher who didn’t fill out their paperwork correctly or on time. And they make a difference when they demonstrate solidarity with the principal—even on those times they may not have agreed with the decision. There are times when the principal may feel like their AP is their only friend in the building. As a principal myself, I have experienced what a difference assistant principals make. They are game changers in the building!

The work that assistant principals do is not easy, and it is often a thankless job. But it is an important job. Their work is foundational to the mission of education. They do whatever it takes to ensure that teachers can teach and students can learn. They do whatever it takes to ensure schools run smoothly. They are unsung heroes. I am grateful for their dedication. I respect their commitment to the profession. And I honor their legacy of making a difference.

Danny Steele serves as the principal of Thompson Sixth Grade Center in Alabaster, AL, where his passion is building a school culture that values connections with kids, fosters collaboration among teachers, and focuses on raising student achievement. In 2005 Steele was recognized as Alabama’s Assistant Principal of the Year, and in 2016 he was named Alabama’s Secondary Principal of the Year. He has written two books with Todd Whitaker: Essential Truths for Teachers and Essential Truths for Principals. Follow him on Twitter @SteeleThoughts and check out his blog Steele Thoughts.

During the 2013–14 school year, I was in my third year as assistant principal/registrar at Dubuque Senior High School. Our principal, Dr. Dan Johnson, was in his first year as principal after serving many years as a counselor and assistant principal at the school. Good things were happening at Dubuque Senior, and school culture was positive. However, we needed a push forward to help make everything come together. The 2014 NASSP Ignite Conference provided that push.

Dr. Johnson and I arrived at the conference hoping to see what other schools were implementing that we might utilize at Dubuque Senior. We attended many breakout sessions where high schools shared successful strategies. Many times, we stayed after the session to ask presenters follow-up questions, and our evenings involved conversations focused on how our new learning fit at our school. At the end of the conference, we were excited to get back and start pushing forward.

Our first action steps upon returning involved conversations with our school leadership team. The conversations, combined with the ideas garnered from the conference, led us to a school plan to push us forward. Our plan focused on two areas. While we had a positive school culture, our plan involved developing core values that we could use as a way to enhance that culture amongst all stakeholders in our school community. Our other area of focus involved better use of data to enhance all parts of our school.

The development of our core values was a true school community endeavor. Our school leadership team developed a protocol to use with various groups aimed at determining our core values. The protocol included small group discussions involving students, staff, and parents regarding what is at the core of having and maintaining a positive school culture. Ultimately, these discussions led us to the core values of respect, engagement, and integrity.

Furthermore, a district initiative enhanced our focus on data. Our district collaborated with Research for Better Teaching to provide training for school leadership teams on collaborative inquiry. Data-driven dialogues (DDD) were a key component of this professional learning. These dialogues are a formal process for a collaborative group to focus on a specific set of data. The outcome of DDD is a plan forward, based on what the data reveals. Our school leadership team trained our staff on implementing data-driven dialogues, and these sessions became a focus during our school professional learning. Collaborative groups used DDD to focus on formative and summative assessment data, behavior data, attendance data, or whatever other data was available to help push our school forward.

The push provided by the 2014 Ignite Conference helped get us started down this school improvement path. The willingness of presenters to share their story helped us shape our story. I started a new role this year as the principal at George Washington Middle School. This past summer I attended the 2018 National Principals Conference in Chicago to make new connections and to continue to learn from colleagues. I hope that in a few years I will be able to write about how this conference pushed George Washington Middle School forward to a brighter future!

What could use a push forward at your school? How could the 2019 National Principals Conference help provide that push?

Brian Howes has served as a teacher, instructional coach, curriculum coordinator, and administrator in the Dubuque Community School District for the past 20 years. He received the 2018 Iowa Assistant Principal of the Year award while serving as assistant principal/registrar at Dubuque Senior High School. Currently he serves as the principal of Washington Middle School in Dubuque, IA. Follow him on Twitter @BrianHowes.

In my time as principal of Aztec High School in New Mexico, one of my main goals has been to promote a culture centered on student voice. I’m proud to say that our school values student voice and actively seeks out input from students to shape our academics, extracurricular programming, and building culture. And when a school shooting took the lives of two students in December 2017, our commitment to student voice became a vital component to our school community’s recovery.

How can school leaders create an environment that encourages students to express their ideas and proactively put their voices to work? Here are five ways that have helped me promote student voice and self-advocacy on our campus:

Be Visible on Campus and Open to Hearing Student Opinion.

A visible leader is an approachable leader to young people. Many students don’t often have the opportunity to engage adults in casual conversation about their ideas. Muhammad Khalifa, an assistant professor in the Department of Educational Administration at Michigan State University, shares in the Journal of School Leadership that time a principal spends being approachable to at-risk kids is well worth the investment to promote self-advocacy through “increased trust, participation, and student achievement in the communities they serve.”

In my experience, I’ve seen young people develop better-informed opinions when trusted adults listen to them and give constructive feedback. As a building leader, I have found that some of my best times in connecting with kids have been during lunch duty. Our administrative team splits up the task and assigns ourselves to lunch duty at least one day each week. These times are when I get to seek out friendly conversation with students.

Actively Encourage Participation in Student Government Organizations.

Over the last decade, the National Student Council has successfully reimaged high school student council to be a vehicle for developing student voice on campus, as well as encouraging young people to be engaged in local communities. The Raising Student Voice & Participation program (RSVP) is becoming a driving force on high school campuses to promote collective student voice and effect real change in school. The Student Council at Aztec High has risen to the challenge. They are building coalitions with the other clubs on campus, with talk of forming a council of clubs in order to broaden student participation in campus advocacy and decision making.

Organize and Attend Student Decision-Making Meetings on Campus Issues.

A 2016 report from the Quaglia Institute shows survey data that students who agree with statements related to student voice surveys are seven times more likely to say they are academically motivated than students who do not agree with the student voice statements. This reinforces the point that principals can do a great deal to encourage and develop responsible participation among our students. We can lead by taking an active role in building formal structures for student input on campus. I can say that many insightful and powerful ideas for campus recovery have come out of meetings with students at Aztec High. Over the past year, our student council and other campus clubs joined with me in holding several talking sessions after our tragic school shooting. District officials, some parents, and over 60 kids from various clubs sat together in brainstorming sessions as the school took input from the kids on how we wanted to mark the one-year anniversary of our collective tragedy and loss.

Open Your Calendar to Regular Meetings With Student Club Leaders.

Even for the energetic and driven student who steps into a leadership role, it can be tough to lead one’s peers. Student leaders should feel they have access to regular input on campus decision making. By taking an active mentor role with these young people, the principal can make a lasting impact on a promising future leader. It can also give your student body president and other club officers an insight into how an adult leader does time management in a demanding job.

Encourage New Clubs for Marginalized Student Groups.

That same 2016 Quaglia report also notes that students who agree with statements related to self-worth are six times more likely to say they are academically motivated than students who do not agree with the self-worth statements. When the study looks at engagement, it finds that students are 14 times more likely to say they are academically motivated under those same circumstances. Given the numerous barriers that marginalized student groups face, the school might not have any better tool for supporting academic achievement than establishing clubs to foster and nourish meaningful involvement for at-risk students on campus. In the past year, Aztec High has seen new clubs develop for students around interests such as competitive video gaming and Native American cultural awareness. These clubs become connecting points for students to get involved in school.

Dr. Hall listening to 2017 graduates at the AHS commencement that year.

As school principals we have a unique influence on society’s future leaders. How have you used your influence to develop your students into leaders with strong voice?

Warman Hall is the principal of Aztec High School in Aztec, NM, serving an average of 900 ninth- through 12-grade students each year. Warman has 21 years in education, the last 11 at AHS. Warman is the 2018 New Mexico Principal of the Year. Follow him on Twitter @warman_hall.

Middle level students are at a crucial age, consciously developing their identities while trying to understand how they fit in with their peers. Teachers, administrators, and staff have the opportunity to provide a compass for students navigating these difficult times. As middle level students develop their sense of self, they often begin looking for ways to make an impact in their community. This materializes in a desire to pursue a cause, do fundraising, and participate in charities.

At Downington Middle School and Lionville Middle School, we leveraged this knowledge to create a special event that encouraged students to pursue a cause. And in doing so, we built positive school culture centered around the students’ desire to be of service to others.

Several years ago, our district opened a sixth-grade center which brought students together from both sides of the community into one singular building. Right after the sixth-grade year, students would return to the typical feeding pattern for middle school and high school. Both middle schools wanted to create a culminating event giving students a chance to reunite with their friends. We struggled to think of an idea that could safely and effectively bring together 2,500 students.

At an impasse, we began consulting other principals and school districts in an effort to find inspiration. We found it in a neighboring county. In Delaware County, PA, an awesome event known as the Potter Cup takes place where rival middle schools in two different districts compete against each other in sports throughout the year. Fundraising occurred during each of their sporting events to support one singular charity, Alex’s Lemonade Stand, which has raised over $150 million for children’s cancer research and was started by a 4-year old cancer patient.

We loved the idea and brought it to our two middle schools’ student council organizations to get their thoughts. The students were very familiar with Alex’s Lemonade Stand and immediately decided that they, too, wanted our event to contribute to that charity. We knew that we were on the road to success because the students had quickly identified a worthy cause. Over the next several months, our best students and teachers worked on the idea.

Instead of a yearlong event, we consolidated everything into one massive “field day” that we call Unity Cup held at the end of May in our all-weather stadium. With four rotations including a carnival midway (with cotton candy, dunk tanks, water ice, and face painting), small group games (Gaga, Ladder Ball, Washers, Cornhole, Horseshoes, Bocce, and more), giant inflatables, and large group games (where students between schools competed in fun activities like ‘Sling the Chicken’ and Tug of War), all 2,500 students from both schools could hang out for a fun afternoon together with friends from both sides of the district.

Prior to the event, both schools hold separate fundraisers to boost the total for Alex’s Lemonade Stand. While the kids look forward to being together, the glue that holds the event together is the fundraising and service aspect. And that goes for our staff as well as our students. Over the past four years, we’ve raised close to $100,000 for Alex’s Lemonade Stand. We hope to break that mark this coming year. While the event has always faced large logistical challenges from an organizational perspective, we’ve succeeded each year because the event is intended to serve others and benefit a special cause. The spirit of the event is best captured by Ellie Paparone, who was the Community Engagement Coordinator for Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation:

Unity Cup is one of my favorite days of the year and today was absolutely incredible! I was so blown away by how well-organized and extravagant everything was; all the time and energy you all put into the Unity Cup was very clear and appreciated. I was even more impressed by how into it all the staff was … that is truly special! What I was most impressed with, however, were the students. Their enthusiasm was absolutely palpable, and it was clear that they genuinely cared about raising money for our Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation. While manning the lemonade stand, so many of the students stopped to say thank you, even when we were working behind the stand. They would interrupt their own conversations with friends to stop and thank us, even though we should be the ones thanking them.

By tapping into their desire to serve, we have helped to guide students as the find their way through the often turbulent waters of middle school. What better than to instill in students the importance of serving others as they figure out who they are and how they fit into the world.

How does your school build positive culture through service activities?

Nicholas Indeglio, EdD, is the principal of Downingtown Middle School in Downingtown, PA. He is the 2017 Digital Principal of the Year. Follow him on Twitter @DrIndeglio. 

In my six years as principal of Martinsburg High School, I have realized that it does not matter what my plan is when I walk in the door at 7:00 a.m., it is always going to change based on the myriad situations I am faced with throughout the day.  If you ever find a professional development session for administrators that starts out with a heading like “time management for administrators in order to get everything done,” you should be very skeptical as to whether this leader has ever worked in a school as an administrator. What normally happens is I spend 80 percent of my day putting out fires and prioritizing which of those fires need my attention and which of those fires can I delegate to an assistant. Which bring me to my question for all of you: How should school leaders manage their time to make the most of their day?

In the beginning of my career as an assistant principal and as a principal I found it very hard to leave the office and go home when there were still tasks to be accomplished.  It would often leave me stressed to the point that my time at home with my family could not be enjoyed.

I attribute a lot of this to my father, who was a carpenter by trade. He was a stickler for making sure the job was done right. One of the things that I did not understand was that my father always cleaned up the job site before leaving for the evening.  Now that would not have been as hard to comprehend if we were working in a house that was lived in on a daily basis, but most of the houses he worked in were second homes or weekend places.  So why do we clean up a place that we are going to come back to tomorrow and dirty up again?  One day I got up the nerve to ask him that question, and he responded, “Chances are these people will not be here tonight, but what if they did show up unannounced? They would judge my work based off the way this place looks, and I don’t want them judging me based on a dirty worksite.”

Well, early in my career that was my attitude.  I did not want to leave any messes that I could be judged by till the morning.  It has only been in the last year that I have realized being an administrator is a little different when it comes to those messes. It was probably the loss of my mom in April that helped me to realize that leaving some things unfinished until the morning is probably not an issue that is going to bring about the end of the world.  I still need to be the instructional leader of my building, but the relationship piece of this profession is so much more important.  I still try to make instruction important through some of the schedules that I make for myself to ensure that I get into classrooms and give teachers feedback

Here is the takeaway, though. When you get to the end of your career—or even deeper, the end of this ride we call life—you are not going look back and think about that year your school had those great test scores or the year your teams won the state championship. You are going to reflect on the relationships you built with students, staff, and colleagues. Don’t feel bad about putting off dealing with that fire if you have an opportunity to build a relationship. In the end, relationship-building is going to bring more dividends than putting out the fire, and chances are the fire will still be burning in the morning.

Trent Sherman is the principal of Martinsburg High School in Martinsburg, WV.  He is married to Melissa, and they have one son, Trenton, who is a junior at MHS. Like most West Virginians, he enjoys anything outdoors and spending time with family. He is the 2018 West Virginia Principal of the Year.

One of the most difficult things to navigate as a school administrator is discipline. How do you help students understand that their behavior is not appropriate? How do you respond so that the teacher who refers a student feels supported?

Giving consequences to students for their behavior is not always easy, and it is most certainly not black or white. A few years ago, I delved into research on restorative discipline, feeling that consequences should ultimately change student behavior. When I arrived at Longfellow Middle School, one of my first priorities was doing some deep thinking about whether or not we were moving in that direction.

The reality was that we had systems within our building that were more punitive in nature than restorative, which led to repetitive behaviors. Our approach to discipline did little to correct and prevent the unwanted behaviors and left us with frustrated students and teachers. Our leadership team decided to adopt a new way to address student behavior problems by creating restorative structures within our building and focusing on multitiered systems of support. Making key changes transformed our discipline approach from punishments and penalties to reflection and restoration.

Here’s what you can do to move your school toward restorative and multitiered systems of support:

Create a Common Discipline Matrix

Start by creating a common system for all school personnel to use regarding how to handle discipline. It is important to have conversations about the different types of behaviors and what does or does not warrant an office referral. This involves getting input from your staff and really deciding what behaviors should be handled at the classroom level and which may warrant immediate office action. This helps to create consistency within your building so that students are clear on what the expectations are and what happens when those are not followed.

Create Opportunities for Students to Reflect on Their Behavior

Having students talk about their behavior and discuss what they can do differently the next time is powerful. We implemented this component using restorative questions in our lunch detentions and also our in-school placement programs so that students are able to reflect on their behavior. Administrators also have exit conferences with students to discuss what support they may need to help improve their behavior. It is also a great way to communicate to students that they always get a clean slate. We all make bad choices; it’s how you learn from those choices that’s most important!

Include Community Service Components

One of the best things we can teach students is how to give back to their community. When students have done something within their school community, it is very effective to have them restore or give back to their community. We implement this piece within our in-school placement program and students do some type of school improvement project during their stay in ISP.

Provide Social-Emotional Supports

Creating opportunities for your students to receive social-emotional support is key. We have done this by having our school counselors rotate through our in-school placement program. They teach social-emotional lessons to students based on why they may be in there. It creates another opportunity for student to reflect on behaviors, but also offers opportunities to teach them replacement behaviors so that it increases the chances they won’t return to in-school placement for the same behaviors.

Implement Restorative Conversations

Restorative questions help us have a productive, nonconfrontational conversation with students. It changes the language in conversations we are having with kids in order to shape positive behaviors. This is a critical component. Instead of it being punitive and focused on guilt, you focus more on the needs and responsibilities of all who were affected.

As school leaders, we are the driving force behind what kind of systems we have in our building for handling discipline. What restorative based practices have you implemented within your school? How are you and your staff focusing more on restoration rather than punitive consequences?

Stephanie Williams is principal at Longfellow Middle School in Norman, OK, serving an average of 750 sixth, seventh, and eighth graders each school year. Stephanie has 16 years in education, the last nine in administration. Stephanie is the 2018 Oklahoma Assistant Principal of the Year.

After 34 years in the education profession and 15 years at the same junior high school, I continue to be amazed at the fact the staff members still enjoy getting positive notes in their mailboxes about what they do at our school and for the students. Over the course of several years, I have altered or changed the process I have used for this positive messaging and modified how I did these messages to fit the personality or needs of each staff member. When you walk around our school you will see these notes attached or posted in each staff member’s room, by their desk, on the side of their computer monitor, or posted on a board behind their desk.

Positive Notes Set the Tone

As a teacher, I always used personal comments and sometimes stickers on student work to recognize their efforts, but as a school leader, the notes had to be on something other than work, as the staff work was always their behavior and actions and not on a paper or turned in to me to grade.

Finding the Right Fit for Staff and Me!

Some of the first things I gave were long formal letters that went into personnel files as well as given to the staff member. I’m sure they were appreciated, but they were never seen by anyone else. In our district, personnel folders are housed at the school main office and looked at once a year by the administration and staff member. So I then went to traditional boxed thank-you notes with a personal message specific to the teacher. These also ended up never being seen by anyone.

Finally, I found a couple different things that were easy to write quick, short, but specific messages on that had a quote or some positive message on one side. The cards were small, about the size or a business card; however, even simple index cards could be used as well. These have been a huge hit with the staff and can be seen all over the school as staff members post them near their computers or desks. I have used Pop-Up cards as well. These are small cards with a positive thought on the front, and a space on the back to write a short message. Once the recipient gets the card, they open it up and a quote or message is inside as well. These have been fun to give, and teachers have even asked to order some to give to students as well. You know things are a great idea when others want to use them to help send positive messages to students too!

Sample Comments to Improve Morale

More important are the messages written on each note. The messages must be personal, specific, positive, and relevant for each individual staff member. The messages can’t be just “good job” or “thanks for all you do”. You need to send a message just as you would personally say it, and you want the written message to be direct as well.

Messages can be a simple as:

• “Love the questioning strategies you used with the students today.”
• “Your opening objectives were detailed and in student-centered language.”
• “Thank you for the extra time as you chaperoned the dance on Friday.”
• “Love your contributions to the leadership team.”

It takes time to write them by hand, but they are always more appreciated when handwritten. Staff members often say how much they appreciate the gesture and recognize the time spent to write them.

You Need to Make Time

We all know the amount of time we have in a day is never enough to get everything done. To help me make time for this necessary activity, I have these small notecards on my desk at work and also have some on the end table next to my sofa at home. This allows me to write a few each week before I go home on Friday, and I also can write some while I relax watching TV at home any day. The short time it takes to put a few positive, thankful words on a card and then give it to someone is worth all the time it takes. Staff members are then grateful for the recognition, kind words, and praise and will do mostly anything asked of them because they know they are appreciated. I even keep a list of staff members handy so I can keep track of who I have given notes to so I can include everyone on staff. This helps me look for the great things all people do, no matter how big or small.

Personal Birthday Cards Sent Home Help Too!

One additional thing I do is to send personal birthday cards to each staff member’s home. This is also well-received and appreciated. Every staff member personally thanks me for the card, and they know that someone noticed their special day and made a point of taking time to send the card. I have always done this out of my own personal funds and feel it has paid me back in spades.

Remember, it only takes a few minutes each week to recognize and write a positive note of thanks to someone or send a personal birthday card. These small messages will pay off later as teachers and staff members feel appreciated and part of the school team or family. Building relationships in this way will help get everyone on board and hopefully help them stay positive when working with students in our buildings.

Jamey Hood is a 34-year educator who has spent her entire career working with junior high school students. She is principal at Garrett Junior High school in Boulder City, NV, serving a population of 485 students. She is the 2018 Nevada Principal of the Year. Follow her on Twitter @msjameyhood.

Many principals these days use blogging to reflect, share, and highlight the great things going on in their schools. Blogging is an innovative way to give families and the community even greater insight into a principal’s mindset, priorities, and personality. It helps build even deeper connections.

However, blogging can be so much more than just extended thoughts in writing. Consider the following three creative ways to use the principal’s blog:

The Online Faculty Meeting is an idea I have shared before. On my blog, I have leveraged video and other media to connect with our staff at a time and in a location that is convenient for them. We still have in-person faculty meetings most months, but this year we have designated a handful of months for online-only meetings. All of the professional learning content is housed in a blog post that I publish and share with the staff. Every staff member is accountable to view/read the content; then they mark their “attendance” by commenting on the blog.

The benefits of the online faculty meeting are as follows:

• Every staff member has a voice in the meeting. At in-person meetings, few people speak up.
• The content and conversation are publicly visible. This means students, families, and communities can see what we are learning and what we value.
• Staff members continue to praise the benefit of accessing the content at their convenience.

A Community Book Study is another great way to use the principal’s blog. At my previous school, we did a communitywide reading with Dr. Michele Borba’s Unselfie. I assigned the reading to our staff and community in advance, and then we used Dr. Borba’s discussion questions (provided in the book) to engage in discussion via the blog.

In today’s fast-paced world, it is difficult to get families in the building consistently for a book discussion; however, if we meet our busy families where they are and afford them opportunities to interact on their own time, we stand a better chance of consistent participation.

Article Talks/Video Talks for Professional Learning Credit are an easy way to help teachers and staff obtain required professional learning hours (or engage them in professional learning tied to their self-articulated goals) in a way that is meaningful to them and tied to campus priorities.

I have been known to post an article, a TED Talk, or something else compelling and allow staff to comment on it for optional professional development credit. Sometimes teachers comment just because they are interested, even if they do not need the hours. However, if we can give teachers time or credit for working on something that is of interest to them and tied to campus goals, isn’t that a win-win?

I would love to know some creative ways YOU are using your principal’s blog. Please comment here and share your great ideas. We are better when we learn together!

Carrie Jackson is the principal of Northwest High School in Northwest ISD—Justin, TX. Carrie was named an NASSP Digital Principal of the Year in 2013 and has been actively involved in leadership with NASSP and TASSP for many years. She currently serves as the Texas Association’s immediate past president. Follow her on Twitter @jackson_carrie.

When I transitioned from the classroom to administration in January of 2000, I realized that one of the things I was giving up was the direct daily impact on students that I had as a teacher. Sure, I would still have a large impact on students, but not in the same manner that a teacher does. This helped influence how I wanted to treat the teachers who did have that daily direct influence on students. Basically, I was determined to provide my teachers with the support and materials they needed to go out and do their jobs to the best of their ability. That also included making sure that they knew I appreciated their efforts.

At Tomahawk Creek Middle School, the administrative team shows our appreciation for our staff in a variety of ways. During our summer retreat, we spent some significant time determining ways that we could demonstrate how much we admire the hard work our teachers do on a daily basis. Here’s what we came up with:

Monthly Coffee Cart Days

Once a month, the administrative team will brew a large urn of coffee, put it on a cart and walk to every classroom. We have hot water for tea, some light snacks, and all the accoutrements. We watch their classes while they step into the hallway, pour a fresh cup of coffee, and get a snack.

Monthly Specialty Days

In addition to the coffee cart, we wanted to do something special for our staff once a month to show our appreciation. We looked at the calendar and found a variety of days that would suit our needs. March 12 is National Pancake Day, so we cooked a pancake breakfast for staff that day. We did Valentine’s Day treats on February 14, and on November 19—National Soda Day—we did ice cream floats.

Birthday Recognitions

Each week, I send out a staff e-mail newsletter. One of the sections in each newsletter is for staff birthdays. I list all the birthdays that are coming up the following week. I also have every staff member’s birthday on my school Google calendar as a repeating event. I check it each morning and send a Happy Birthday email to anyone who has a birthday that day.

Good Wolf Shout Outs

Another section in the weekly newsletter is our Good Wolf Shout Outs. We use a Google form and ask teachers and staff to give a shout out to someone that week who went above and beyond in some manner to make the school a better place or did something to assist another staff member. This provides staff with an easy way to say “thank you” to other staff members.

Brag Book

I found this idea through one of my Twitter PLN members. The idea is for staff members to take some time and really write something nice about another staff member. We have a journal book with a staff roster glued on the inside cover. The instructions are opposite the cover. You receive the Brag Book when a staff member writes something nice about you in the book and puts it in your mailbox. You then look the staff roster, find a staff member who has not received the book, and write something nice about that staff member. It is a nice surprise to find in your mailbox!

Cooperating With Our PTA

We are fortunate that we have an outstanding, and very active, PTA. They are always coming up with great ideas to celebrate our staff. They do several luncheons and breakfasts throughout the year. They also purchased a Keurig coffee machine for each of our teacher workrooms. Several times during the year, they conduct Keurig drives, and parents donate boxes of the coffee cups for the machines so our teachers always have a fresh supply of coffee. Also, each year they donate a holiday gift that we give to the staff during the last week before winter break

What it really comes down to for us, as an administrative team, is doing anything we can to show our appreciation for our teachers and staff. We want our school to be a place where our staff is happy and a place they want to be at. Work with the resources you have, be creative, and think outside the box when planning your appreciation. With a little bit of effort and planning, you can always find ways to show your staff how much you appreciate them.

How do you show appreciation for your teachers and staff?

David S. Ellena is the principal of Tomahawk Creek Middle School in Chesterfield, VA, and has been in education for 33 years. He has served on the Board of Directors for the National Association of Secondary School Principals and the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals. He is the 2018 Virginia Principal of the Year. Follow him on Twitter @TCMSPrincipal.

Why do you think companies like Apple and Nike have such a cult following? If you compare their products to their competitors, they are very similar—but these two companies are getting consumers to pay more for their product than their competitors are. Why? I believe the No. 1 reason is communication. These companies know how to communicate the “greatness” of their products. From iPhones to Air Jordans, we have been told we can “Think Different” and “Be like Mike” just by powering on their devices and lacing up their sneakers. In the world of education, we can learn a thing or two from these companies on how we communicate with our stakeholders.

School leaders are the go-to people when students, parents, staff, and community members want to know what is going on inside the walls of a school. It is our job as school leaders to show our communities firsthand how our school is set apart from other schools. At the end of the day, we know more about our school than anyone else, so who better to tell your school’s story? To help you tell your school’s story, here are three simple and practical ways that school leaders can communicate effectively with the masses:

Create a Positive Social Media Presence

More than likely, all of your stakeholders are on one or more social media sites, scrolling on their phones and looking to engage. This is a great opportunity to meet your stakeholders right where they are and bring your school to the screen in the palm of your communities’ hands. Create a school page on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and keep it current. Post the routine daily happenings as well as pictures and videos of awesome lessons or activities your staff and students are doing. It is an easy and powerful way to ensure you are telling your school’s story.

Send a Weekly Email for More Directed Communications

Administrators need an effective way to let staff know of school activities and how they can get plugged in. Every week, I send my staff a “Weekly Warrior” document that provides important info such as school activities, drills, and even my personal calendar. I also share a teaching piece called “From My Desk” about the current book I am reading and how its lessons could be applied in the classroom. By doing this, I am modeling the need of ongoing learning to my staff. There is also a section “Highlight of My Week” where I share something that I witnessed that made me proud to be a leader in the building. From great things teachers are doing in and out of the classroom, to positive interactions I see between students, this is a great section to brag to and about our stakeholders.

I take this communication one step further to reach the masses. I BCC the email with this document and a video “blog” that I record each week and publish on YouTube. (Subscribe to our Youtube channel: BMSWARRIORS67) to all the central office and every administrator in the district. I do this so everyone can see firsthand the great things we are doing and how amazing our staff is. Adding those extra people to an email that I am already sending makes this communication even greater and more powerful without any extra effort.

This year, we have also asked our staff members to send a weekly email communication to their students and parents. We have seen huge growth in our effort to bridge the gap between the classroom and home, and because of that our culture continues to move in a positive direction.

Connect Face to Face With Stakeholders

School leaders can’t always speak from the comfort of our MacBook. There are times you have to lace up your Nike sneakers and connect with your students and parents face to face. Two ways that have made the most impact for communicating with our students are after-school clubs and principal chats. After-school clubs meet every day of the week except Fridays. The clubs run for an hour to two hours after school. During this time, our administrative team gets to have real conversations with students, who open up more because of the informal nature of the clubs. Principal chats occur every other week and have provided students a more structured outlet to express their voice and unique perspectives about what is happening in the school.  We’ve discussed everything from the code of conduct to ideas on how to improve the food in the cafeteria, which has helped me relate to my students and connect with them on a new and much-needed level.

With parents we try to be transparent and have multiple “experiences” (PTO, Donuts with Principals, orientation)where they can come in and hear our story. You would be surprised how great communication can be with a jelly donut in one hand and the other greeting parents and welcoming their input. These interactions are worth more than the cost of a few dozen donuts.

Communication is key if you want everyone to see your story. The alternative of not telling your own story is that others will tell it for you, and let’s be honest, do you really want someone else telling your story? So “just do it” and start taking your communication to the next level and reach the masses.

If you would like to see examples of how we engage parents at our school check us out on Facebook and on Twitter @BMSWARRIORS67.

Who is telling your school story? How can you start implementing new forms of communication to reach the masses?

Roger Gurganus is an Assistant Principal at Brownstown Middle School, a 6–7 building in Brownstown, MI. He has a passion for children and education and strives to ensure that every student is connected and feels part of the positive communities he creates. Along with creating a culture of hope and love in his own middle school, Roger also is committed to bringing hope, love and education to the children of Uganda, Africa where each summer he travels in hope of making a bigger difference in the lives of students who need it the most. Roger believes that teaching is not a job but rather a calling and hopes that through his work lives can be changed, dreams can become reality, and mountains can be moved.

Follow Roger Gurganus’ educational and leadership journey:
Twitter:@RogerGurganusII
Instagram:@RogerGurganusII
Youtube:@BMSWARRIORS67

At the high school level, many schools see a decrease in attendance for parent-teacher conferences. Parents are busy, and with the many digital ways that parents can connect with teachers and schools, fewer parents feel the need for a face-to-face conversation with their child’s teacher. But parent-teacher conferences are important. While any family involvement in education can lead to positive benefits for students and teachers alike, sitting down for a personal conversation has other benefits that cannot be replicated in our digital communications.

At Antilles High School in Puerto Rico, we set a goal of improving parent-teacher conferences both in attendance and in quality. We use this time as an opportunity for teachers to become more aware of the aspirations that parents have for their children academically and for parents to help teachers gain perspective of their own teaching practices. Here are eight ways your school can use to prepare for, conduct, and follow-up with parent conferences.

PRIOR TO THE CONFERENCE

1. Communicate with parents and stress the importance of attending this meeting. In addition to receiving district information, our teachers send individual reminder emails or call parents to ensure the date and time of the conference.
2. Prepare for the conference. While these things take time, your teachers will have the information and confidence they need to demonstrate their knowledge of a child’s academic progress. We ask our teachers to gather the following items prior to conference day:

• • Copy of the student’s schedule
  • Current grades from all classes
  • Student behavior reports from all classes and the attendance clerk
  • Statement of the student’s behavior from all teachers
  • IEP or 504 plan
  • Examples of student work (both strong academic work and work that needs improvement)

Our teachers then spend time organizing the materials and data into an explainable format. They prepare notes for each student, starting with a positive note or statement, in order to paint a picture of each student’s academic progress. In addition, they reread IEPs or 504 plans to ensure they are meeting accommodations. Being well organized demonstrates to parents that a teacher knows the child as an individual.

3. Conduct a conference rehearsal. If our teachers expect difficult parents, they rehearse the conference with a colleague until they feel comfortable. A good rehearsal builds confidence.

DURING THE CONFERENCE

4. Discuss progress and growth. To help our teachers conduct a strong conference, they follow a similar conference structure. After greeting parents, our teachers start with a positive statement to provide a warm welcome. Next begins the discussion of the child’s progress. We ask our teachers to:

• • Help parents understand academic or behavior data.
  • Demonstrate student progress against learning goals and identify goals that need to be addressed.
  • Compare the child’s ability in the content area in relation to the student’s peers.
  • Show examples of the child’s best work that demonstrate learning strengths.
  • Walk parents through an assignment and/or assessment where the student did not demonstrate mastery to illustrate areas to improve.

5. Gain a better understanding of the child from the parents’ perspective. Our teachers spend time asking questions and listening to the parents. They solicit input from parents about the child’s previous learning environments and discover successful instructional approaches and others that had negative outcomes. Our teachers also ask parents about their hopes and dreams for their child and how they can help them reach those goals.
6. Seek solutions collaboratively with parents. When discussing an academic or behavioral problem, we coach our teachers to avoid judgment calls, such as “your child needs to study more” or that the student “needs to do homework.” Instead, a better way to approach parents is to make a statement like, “How can we work together to ensure that your child is successful? How can we work together to resolve this problem?” These questions help communicate that this a collaborative approach and that all of us are on the same team to help the child.
7. Make an action plan. Our teachers spend the last few minutes of their time discussing how they and the family can work together to support the student and establish lines of communication. It is helpful to be specific about the kinds of things a teacher will do, how long they will do them, and how often they will check with the family concerning the student’s progress. This is also the time when teachers suggest ideas and strategies that parents can use at home to support their child. We close the conference by making parents aware of other opportunities for them to be involved in the school by providing them with a school monthly calendar.

AFTER THE CONFERENCE

8. Follow up with a thank-you note. It important that both teachers and parents understand that the conference it not the end of the conversation. Have teachers follow up with the family with a thank-you note. In the note, ask if parents have any questions concerning the conference and agree to keep in contact on a regular basis.

While this is certainly not an all-inclusive list, it serves as a beginning point. Remember, this meeting is about telling the story of the school and how the faculty, staff, and administration plan to help students meet their academic goals.

Parent-teacher conferences are excellent opportunities to involve family members in local schools. How do you make the most of parent-teacher conferences?

Dr. Thomas Whittle is the principal of Antilles High School in Puerto Rico. He is a Vietnam veteran and a retired sergeant major. His awards include a Silver Star, four Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. This is Whittle’s 22nd year as a secondary school principal. He is the 2018 DODEA Principal of the Year.

Schools often have very defined leadership structures, most likely a principal and assistant principal, that make decisions and ensure the good order of the school. But each teacher is also a leader within their own classroom, and many teachers often display leadership qualities that can and should extend outside of the classroom. How can school leaders cultivate leadership and inspire others to use those qualities to push the whole school toward continual improvement?

Start Small

Every day we are inspired by the amazing work our teachers and students are doing, and we can spot leadership potential even in the smallest spark. Some teachers obviously have leadership qualities and have the desire to pursue them. But true cultivation of leadership comes from finding a spark in an unlikely teacher or an unlikely way. Find a small action or idea that you recognize as potential leadership and go talk to that teacher. Tell them what inspired you and encourage them to pursue a leadership role in their department or grade level to extend it beyond their classroom. Leadership can mistakenly be associated with large or grandiose ideas or actions, but encourage teachers to take a step toward leadership in a small way—just one idea or action—and with your support.

Ask Questions

It is easy for teachers and students to assume that school leaders have all of the answers, when really, we should be asking questions throughout our day. We should be acknowledging that the teacher is the leader in their own classroom and asking questions about why and how lesson activities were designed to push learning forward. Asking questions encourages teachers to reflect on their actions and challenge their own thinking, one great quality of leadership. Questioning also demonstrates a curiosity and respect in the teacher’s instruction when phrased in a positive and inquisitive manner. Demonstrating respect can provide support and confidence for a teacher to be more comfortable pursuing leadership.

Encourage Risk-Taking

One of the most dangerous phrases in our language is “we have always done it this way.” Classroom and school routines provide consistency that students need, but leaders encourage and embrace risk-taking. We should be pushing our teachers to try something new, even in small ways and even if it makes them feel uncomfortable. The most important part of encouraging risk-taking is reassurance that failure is okay. Push the teacher to try! Tell the teacher that it is okay to fail, and mean it. The failure may lead the teacher in another direction that they never would have pursued before. And as a leader, it is important for us to model this by taking risks ourselves, trying something new, and acknowledging successes and failures.

Collaborate

Push the teachers with leadership potential to share their victories—small and large—with other teachers. The best teacher is the best thief who steals ideas from others and makes them work in their own classroom. Sharing positive and negative outcomes of risk-taking opens dialogue and pushes teacher leaders to inspire others. One activity we have done at my school is to have one teacher share out a best practice at faculty meetings. This involves the school leader recognizing one teacher’s classroom victory and pushing them to share it with others at the meeting. Also encourage teachers to observe others in action to collect and inspire ideas. One practice I would like to try is to consistently invite teachers whom I see as having leadership potential to accompany me on classroom visits during one period each week. This practice gets me into classrooms and shows teachers that I see collaborative leadership qualities in them.

Don’t put all of the pressures of leadership on your own shoulders! As school leaders, we should be recognizing tiny sparks of leadership in our teachers and encouraging them to pursue leadership in a variety of ways. This vision of collaborative leadership helps all of us to push for continual improvement in our school and in ourselves.

What are your best practices in cultivating teacher leadership?

Lauren Carreiro is in her fifth year as a Dean of Students at Ashland High School in Ashland, MA. Prior to becoming an assistant principal, she taught math at Braintree High School in Braintree, MA. She was the 2018 Assistant Principal of the Year for Massachusetts. Follow her on Twitter @clockerdean.

Reading professionally has so much value for educators. But, how can professional reading not become “one more thing” for teachers and administrators? Last year, I wanted to engage our staff with positive professional literature. I picked a good book that was easy to read, engaging, and not overwhelming. Although our small group read independently, our culminating activity was a Twitter chat to discuss the high points from the book. The purpose of the Twitter chat was twofold: 1) create a forum in which we could discuss the themes of the book and how they applied to our school and professional lives; and 2) introduce our staff to professional learning on Twitter.

Professional learning on Twitter can be powerful. Although our teachers have a large presence on social media, we had not ventured into professional learning opportunities on Twitter. When eight of our teachers finished reading How Full Is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton, I asked them if they would be willing to try something new and participate in a Twitter chat instead of a traditional face-to-face group discussion.

Once we had decided to proceed with a Twitter chat, I wanted to empower our teachers and encourage them to be part of the decision-making process while supporting their willingness to take a risk. We worked on all of the logistics. We used Doodle to coordinate a date and time that was convenient for everyone’s schedules. Then we worked on the details: Did everyone have a Twitter account? Was everyone comfortable with how to tweet? Did anyone want a lesson in how to use TweetDeck? We also took some time to be creative and have fun when deciding which hashtag to use for the chat.

As the night of the chat got closer, I checked in with all of our participants making sure that they were ready for the evening. I distributed each of them the names and Twitter handles of the other participants—along with our agreed upon hashtag (#CCMSChat) with a few reminders about a Twitter chat. I modeled our timeline after the one we use for NASSP’s #PrinLeaderChat and scheduled four questions on TweetDeck to post every six to seven minutes during a 30-minute chat.

Immediately prior to the chat, I tweeted a few times with our hashtag and included reminders about the chat format and tagged all of the participants in each tweet. As a back-up plan, I created a group text message for everyone in the chat—just in case anyone was having technical difficulties or could not see what was happening in the chat. I ran the chat from TweetDeck and used my phone as a secondary way to reply to everyone.

Because the goal was to introduce our staff to professional learning on Twitter, the focus of the chat was the overarching themes from our shared book club read. This book club and subsequent Twitter chat was meant to build culture. There were no high-risk or divisive questions but thoughtful and reflective ones. The idea was to bring people together to talk about filling each other’s buckets—and the buckets of others in our school—in a positive and creative way. The Twitter chat itself was the innovative and risk-taking component of this professional learning opportunity.

The feedback on taking a traditional book club and adding an innovative twist was so positive! The staff felt that they were all able to share ideas, comment back to each other, and build from each other’s reflections in a constructive and creative way. Many of the teachers in this chat thought of ways to apply our chat and each other’s ideas to their classrooms, teams, and our school! This year, we have two book clubs that will end with a culminating Twitter chat, and our participation has increased from eight to 30 teachers! Our staff is excited to participate in the chats and have even decided to participate as a team so that everyone is engaging in the same professional learning opportunity.

Click here to see our curated chat (via Wakelet) from How Full is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton.

Click here to see our curated Twitter chat (via Wakelet) from Culturize by Jimmy Casas.

Click here and here to see our curated Twitter chat (via Wakelet) from Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess. (Burgess even joined in on the recent staff book discussion.)

(Read my blog post about using Wakelet to curate social media content.)

Finding a way to engage our staff in professional learning can be a challenge. Twitter chats offer an innovative twist on traditional book clubs that blend the best of all worlds—good reading, professional learning, critical thinking, communicating, and collaborating in a safe environment! It opens doors to other professional learning opportunities—book clubs on Instagram, Twitter chats, etc.—through social media.

What are your experiences with providing professional learning for teachers through social media?

Mariah Rackley was named one of the Digital Principals of the Year for 2018 by the National Association of Secondary School Principals. Mariah is completing her 18th year at Cedar Crest Middle School and her 10th as the building principal. Mariah’s professional interests include leadership, student agency, personalized learning, innovation, creativity, and motivation theory. Follow her on Twitter @MrsRackleyCCMS.

A powerful tool exists that principals can access as a knowledge stream to improve school culture: student voice. Students are our prime customers and having their input on the important decisions on academics and programming should be standard operating procedure for school leaders. How can school leaders gain this critical student perspective?

With everything on our plates, it may seem hard to make the time to speak to students on a regular basis and gain this feedback. I’m here to tell you that listening to student voice should be one of your most important priorities as a school leader. If you put specific programs in place for students to share their ideas, you too can have a school where students are central to decision making.

When James Clemens High School opened in August of 2012, we built our school culture with continuous input from students. I remember distinctly in the beginnings of James Clemens, we had many opportunities to confer with our seniors about how we wanted the school to develop. We had just 87 students in our first senior class. This number lent itself to communication with ease. These students felt comfortable walking to an administrator and saying: “Have you all thought about doing this in a different way? Here is a suggestion.” This was very fulfilling as a leader to hear what the students in our community thought about education.

While we were fortunate to have many confident students who held strong beliefs and cared deeply about their education in those early years of James Clemens, we wanted to be intentional and cultivate a school culture where students would always feel this comfortable sharing their ideas and providing us valuable feedback. To accomplish this, our administrative team built several vehicles for students to provide their much-needed perspectives. Here are two of our best:

Jet PAC (Principal Advisory Committee)

This group is selected by our faculty with input from our feeder middle school. The student group meets quarterly to advise me and our team of administrators on aspects of the school day.

Student Council

Our student council meets every day in a zero period from 7:15–8:00 a.m. to provide support for various leadership activities in our school. I meet with the council on weekly basis in order for them to provide input into the everyday culture of the school.

Any time our administrative team considers changes to any aspect of school programming, we consult our students in these groups to gain their perspectives. One of the biggest changes we made with the help of our students has been to our lunch. Instead of our traditional lunch schedule, we worked with students to create “Refuel,” a power hour lunch concept that offers flexible time for clubs, intervention, tutoring, teacher office hours, and teacher content meetings. Our administrative team met with our Jet PAC and asked them their thoughts on this new endeavor. They were very honest and developed many great ideas that we used. For example, student input led to us to make a critical change of moving our advisory period to earlier in the day; originally, we wanted to include the advisory period with the Refuel time, but students thought it would be too much and would inadvertently take away from each program. Separating the two was absolutely the right decision and has given students more buy-in to both endeavors.

Having input from students has been vital in building a positive school culture at James Clemens High School. Empowering students to share their voices is one of the most important school leadership tools I have at my disposal. I encourage you to make student voice the central focus of your school culture and decision making.

How do you envision student voice in your school? How has student voice impacted the success of your school culture?

Brian Clayton serves as principal of James Clemens High School in Madison, AL. He has served in this capacity since the inception of James Clemens High in August of 2012. He is the 2018 State Principal of the Year in Alabama. Follow him on Twitter @dcjchsSc.

Each day, millions of students arrive at school carrying the burdens of trauma. The statistics regarding childhood trauma in our country are staggering: data from the 2016 National Survey of Children’s Health indicate that over half of U.S. children between the ages of 12 and 17 have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) and nearly 30 percent have experienced two or more. ACEs such as abuse, neglect, loss of a parent, and exposure to violence have been linked to a range of negative outcomes relating to health, behavior, and life potential.

At school, we witness the aftermath of childhood trauma daily, manifested in student conduct, cognition, and achievement. Many states, like Missouri, have models in place to support trauma-informed school efforts. But, as the Missouri model states, “A ‘trauma-informed approach’ is not a program model that can be implemented and then simply monitored by a fidelity checklist. Rather, it is a profound paradigm shift in knowledge, perspective, attitudes and skills that continues to deepen and unfold over time.” So, where do we begin this shift? What organizational changes need to occur to move our schools from being trauma aware to becoming trauma responsive?

Shared Understanding and Commitment

Schools are full of caring adults, but some of them do not realize just how many students are impacted by trauma, and may not recognize the link between trauma and learning. As we become more trauma informed, we must educate ourselves and our staff members about trauma’s signs, symptoms, and effects. In our district, the school counselors have taken the lead in this endeavor. In addition to training at the beginning of the school year, they send weekly emails that not only inform and educate, but serve as reminders to see the whole child in our daily interactions.

School-Based Mental Health Support

Access to mental health support is vital to supporting students who have experienced trauma. Our school nurses and counselors were doing an incredible job recognizing student needs, intervening during crises, and connecting families with resources for ongoing counseling services, but barriers to access still existed. They advocated for additional support, and our district responded. We now have an on-site mental health center that provides services to both students and staff. Licensed counselors provide services in the office, and case workers visit students in their respective school buildings. The center has increased access and removed barriers relating to stigma, compliance, time, transportation, and attendance.

Evaluating and Revising School Discipline Policies and Practices

We know that trauma impacts the behavior of students in a variety of ways, but regardless of the manifestation, the result of disruptive behavior is the same: lost learning and damaged relationships. Schools need to invest time and energy into evaluating their current practices to determine whether they align with evidence-based best practices relating to trauma.

Administrators in our district regularly discuss discipline policies and interventions to ensure appropriate consistency between grade levels. At one such meeting last spring, an administrator shared her success with Behavior Intervention Support Teams (BIST). BIST is one of many evidence-based models that focuses not just on decreasing disruptive behavior in the classroom, but on teaching skills for life. Teachers in our district will all participate in BIST training prior to the start of next school year. Regardless of the discipline policies or programs your school utilizes, consider whether they are proactive or reactive, and whether or not they address resilience, hope, and skills needed to function both in and out of the classroom.

Staff Self-Care

When students carry the burdens of trauma to school, teachers feel the effects, too. Vicarious trauma is not a new concept in caregiving professions, but its impact on educators has only recently become widely discussed. This “cost of caring” can result in loss of concentration, difficulty sleeping, and can negatively impact relationships in and out of school. Over a year ago, our school nurses noticed an increase in what they believed were stress-related ailments among our teachers and approached administration with their concerns. As a result, our board of education recently approved an employee assistance program to make mental health services more readily available to staff. This program provides three free visits to our school-based mental health center for intake, assessment, and initiation of services. In addition to this responsive care, our district wellness coordinator provides regular education for staff on preventive stress management skills, like exercise and mindfulness.

It will be a journey

These are some first steps, but we know the journey toward becoming trauma responsive will be a long one. Along the way, we will monitor, evaluate, adjust, and adapt.

What is your school doing to move from trauma aware to trauma responsive? What has worked for you?

Theresa Wilson serves as an assistant principal at Carl Junction High School in southwest Missouri. She was the 2018 Missouri Assistant Principal of the Year. Follow her on Twitter @twils64.

While serving as principal at a middle school with over 1,200 students, I lead a team of dedicated staff members who embraced a simple vision. We believed, at our core, that all students could achieve and that failure was not an option.

To accomplish this noble goal, our staff forged connections with students to help them navigate the social-emotional maze of the middle level experience. We worked collaboratively to share best practices, analyze data, and create programs to meet the instructional needs of all learners. Grade-level teams identified students who were struggling academically, socially, and/or emotionally so that we could quickly enroll them in our schoolwide intervention programs. Myriad programs before school, during lunch, after school, and even on Saturday mornings provided opportunities for additional instruction and targeted remediation.

Still, something was missing. Kids were falling through the cracks, despite out best efforts. Our leadership team, after a great deal of analysis and discussion, proposed another schoolwide intervention at a staff meeting—the Teacher Advocate Program. We soon learned that this was the missing piece we were looking for.

The Goal

Teachers were asked to volunteer to become an advocate. The goal was to make a connection with at least four struggling students, offering academic help and social-emotional support. The manner in which they did this was entirely up to them. Suggestions included checking student’s daily planners, organizing three-ring binders and backpacks, helping with homework completion, connecting with all teachers to track progress, making positive phone calls to parents, etc.

The Support

Members of the leadership team met with interested staff members in an afternoon training session. Advocates were paid $33 per hour to meet with a minimum of four or more students for one hour per week. If they met with their small group more than once per week they would be paid for the additional time. How was this funded? Our superintendent provided the funding through state intervention monies.

Teachers submitted the names of the students they wanted to work with and contacted the parents to explain the purpose of the program. Once parents were in the loop, a second meeting was held to discuss the “nuts and bolts” of the program.

Nuts and Bolts

Teachers were given sample letters for students and parents, a student information sheet including parent contact info, student schedules, and current grades. In addition, they were given an attendance sheet and time card. Time cards and attendance sheets were turned in monthly.

The Payoff

Because teachers were given the flexibility to design how they advocated for students, intervention was clearly targeted based upon individual needs. Teachers and students made personal and lasting connections. Parents and teachers worked as partners, supporting the efforts of the student. The personal connections developed within the program created an atmosphere in which struggling students believed that they could achieve, and they did.

What are your experiences with schoolwide interventions? I encourage all of you to evaluate the intervention programs you have in place, and to add the Teacher Advocate Program as part of your schoolwide program.

Annie Allen worked as a middle level educator for 35 years and was selected as the Principal of the Year for California in 2018. Recently retired, she lives in the state of Maine and works as an educational consultant.

Thanks to our incredible staff and administrative team, I am fortunate to work at a school that has very few discipline problems. Because of this, I am able to focus on classroom instruction, assessments, and professional development. I pride myself on being a strong instructional leader, and one of my main goals is to help all students, regardless of their background, experience academic success. How can school leaders ensure academic success for all of their students? At Sixth Ward Middle School in Thibodaux, LA, we have made great strides in reaching this goal through a laser focus on three important factors:

A Vision of Literacy, Curriculum, and Instruction

Emphasizing literacy in instruction is essential to our students’ success. Our school’s vision is centered on the idea that students who can read, write, and speak about the most important content in their subjects have the best chance of being college and career ready. This vision is where every discussion of curriculum and instruction begins. Our goal is that all of our instruction is student-centered. Each and every day, our students read, write, and speak with a variety of rigorous activities. Our teachers help students by designing learning experiences that make them read to gather information and then actively involve them through analysis and manipulation of that information. To support our teachers, we encourage them to seek out a variety of materials that support the curriculum, instead of blindly following textbooks.

Consistency

Our vision of literacy, curriculum, and instruction drives all of our decisions, which we strive to implement with consistency during classroom instruction. To ensure this implementation takes place, our administrators conduct essential learning walk-throughs to check for alignment and rigor. These walk-throughs are the centerpiece of accountability and monitoring. We look to make sure that teachers engage their classes in reading, writing, and meaningful student-led discussions every single day. Another way we maintain consistency in our school is by ensuring all of our teachers’ lessons are aligned to standards. We analyze grades in core classes and proficiency on state tests to determine if classroom lessons and assessments are aligned to student performance. If there are errors in alignment, teachers adjust, revise, and align to meet the standards and assessment.

Supportive Interventions

In order to support students’ success with literacy and understanding of essential curriculum, we provide flexible interventions based on each student’s individual needs. Our school provides two types of intervention.

The first intervention is through our RITE (Reteaching Intervening Tutoring and Enriching) Program. A core teacher provides intervention five days a week for 25 minutes. Students are assigned to intervention groups based on need in six-week intervals. Teachers are allowed to bring students into intervention groups day by day for reteaching as needed. Every six weeks, administration re-evaluates student progress and adjusts intervention groups accordingly. Parents and students may also request a certain RITE class if they feel the need for further intervention. Core teachers reteach, provide additional instructional materials, or allow for peer tutors in needed areas. This helps our teachers meet the individual needs of our students and gives us a level of intervention that provides for rapid response by the classroom teacher.

An intervention teacher provides the second intervention five days a week for 50 minutes for students who have shown a greater need for intervention. Students are identified based on previous standardized test scores, grades, teacher recommendation, and Lexile (reading ability) level. The intervention teacher meets with core teachers to collaborate weekly lessons, address individual student needs, and discuss adjustments needed to the program. Students are monitored daily and weekly to ensure if interventions are appropriate based on essential curriculum.

Culture of Academic Success

Through these three commitments of literacy, consistency, and interventions, Sixth Ward Middle School has cultivated a persistent culture of academic success. We have earned an “A” on our Louisiana state report card for multiple years. Our students consistently perform higher on state assessments than other students in the district and state. We owe our achievements to our dedicated staff and enthusiastic students who work hard each and every day to advance our vision of academic success for all.

What do you do to ensure your students’ academic success?

Alyce Callahan is the principal of Sixth Ward Middle School, the highest performing middle school in the district, in Thibodaux, LA. She served as the school’s assistant principal for 10 years. She is the 2018 Louisiana Assistant Principal of the Year. Follow her on Twitter @alyce_callahan6. ‏

When I became principal at Downingtown Middle School, it surprised me to find a heavy emphasis on end-of-year academic awards. At the end of the year, a student could win eight different awards simply for making honor roll. Over 80 percent of the student body qualified for honor roll. Each of those awards were a large engraved wooden plaque. I stared in amazement as many eighth graders walked out of the auditorium carrying eight heavy plaques. And an overabundance of special education students and economically disadvantaged students fell into the 20 percent that walked away empty-handed.

I thought to myself, Is an award that eight out of every 10 students receive really an award? What bothered me more was that these awards were all solely based on grades. Middle level education isn’t just an academic journey. The social, emotional, and behavioral components of a middle level education is as equally important as academics. Parents challenged every single grade that their child received that wasn’t an A. Why? Because you could only win the “distinguished” plaques with straight A’s. Not a week went by where I didn’t engage in a debate over a B on a clay art project or a C on a soufflé in family and consumer sciences. It was exhausting. One thing was for sure: we had to make changes.

Gradual Changes

We waited two years to change anything, and our first adjustment was simply ordering smaller plaques. We also moved the award ceremonies from the evening hours to the school day and stopped having all students attend the assemblies, which prevented the 20 percent of students who weren’t receiving awards from alienation.

In my fourth year as principal, we converted the marking period awards to paper certificates and eliminated the plaques. During my fifth year, we created new awards called “The Love of Learning Awards.” Each core and elective department chose students who embodied a deep passion and commitment to their subject area. It was not tied to grades or test scores. It was an anecdotal award where teachers voted for students based on qualitative factors.

Around this time, our entire sixth grade was moved from the middle school into a separate new Sixth-Grade Center. We used that opportunity to entirely phase out the award for three straight years of making honor roll. Every remaining award was converted to paper certificates, and we eliminated the distinction between regular honor roll and distinguished honor roll. The only plaques that remained were for the “Love of Learning” awards. Further, we adopted a schoolwide Positive Behavioral System centered on the motto: “Be Respectful. Be Responsible. Be Resourceful.” Through this lens, we developed ways to recognize students each day for being good citizens and helping one another.

Final Transformation

Over seven long years, our gradual changes set the stage for a final transformation. Our administrative team and teaching staff knew we were ready to morph completely during year eight. We opened the year by sending the following letter to our entire school community:

I gritted my teeth and waited for the inevitable backlash. But alas, none came. As I reflected on this, I realized that I need not have worried. With every subsequent change, the complaints decreased. Our community embraced our vision and the direction we were moving because we prepared and eased them into the changes.

Our excitement was palpable as we prepared for the first recognition ceremony. The administrative team sent out a Google Form and had each grade level department nominate a student for the three categories of Respect, Responsibility, and Resourcefulness.  The department teachers also had to share the “why” for each student they nominated.

During our first recognition ceremony, I delivered a short opening address that discussed how we are using this night as an opportunity to recognize and reward students’ social, emotional, and behavioral accomplishments. From there, our keynote speaker spoke about respect. Then, we introduced each student. Teachers and guidance counselors shared the “why” behind each student’s selection. It was small, intimate, and meaningful. Here’s a sample of some descriptions about our students:

• “Riley is new to DMS this year and has made a very positive addition to our homeroom. She greets me and her peers each morning with a smile, and she always says ‘thank you’ and wishes me a nice day before leaving. She approaches all activities with a level of enthusiasm that really stands out among her peers!”

• “Dalip has proven to be hardworking and resourceful while here at DMS. Dalip has earned the role of Lumiere in our musical and has asked our French teacher to work with him to improve his pronunciation. Dalip puts forth effort in order to grow and improve personally while also providing an excellent role model for those around him.”

As the event ended, just about every parent came over to tell us how meaningful and special this recognition was for their student. The students walking back to class beamed with pride. By all measures, it was a success. Later that day, a teacher emailed me a short clip of footage from the camera that videotaped the event. The video showed a mom and dad talking to their student after the program had just ended. The mom had tears in her eyes and the dad had his arm around his son’s shoulders. While rubbing his cheek, the student’s mom said, “We are so proud of you. Your character is what matters in life. Your teachers and your school know how special you are. I hope you appreciate this as much as we do.”

I can’t be 100 percent sure that the eighth grade boy understood what his mom was saying fully. But I certainly appreciated every word. And I knew that by choosing to recognize students for their social, emotional, and behavioral accomplishments, we were building a new culture in our school community based on what was important to us.

What are your experiences with student awards and recognitions?

Nicholas Indeglio, EdD, is the principal of Downingtown Middle School in Downingtown, PA. He is the 2017 NASSP Digital Principal of the Year. Follow him on Twitter @DrIndeglio. 

If there is one thing many of us can agree upon, it is that being evaluated is a stressful and anxiety-filled experience. Knowing the person observing you is watching your every move, listening to your every word, and seeing how the students respond to your teaching can make even the most distinguished teacher tense up with nervousness. It is hard not to respond with anxiety and stress when the process for teacher evaluations is set up in a way that makes teachers feel like they are being judged more than supported.

If I had to rank my job requirements from most enjoyable to least, evaluating teachers would be close to the bottom. It is not because of the paperwork, the observations, or the discussions. The reason it is not enjoyable is the ingrained mindset that the teacher evaluation is just an opinion of how well someone feels another person is doing at their job.

How can we as school leaders improve the evaluation process so that we can change the mindset of those we evaluate and make evaluations more meaningful for all of us?

In my quest to make teacher evaluations more meaningful, I read the book Lead Like a Pirate by Shelley Burgess and Beth Houf. The book as a whole is a great reference guide for leaders, but the area of the book that impacted my leadership the most was how to act as a coach instead of an evaluator. As leaders, we need to flip the mindset of our role in teacher evaluations. We need to look at the process from a different lens and start to understand that our role should move from being an evaluator to being a coach.

Coaching gets greater results than evaluation because the approach and avenue to reach your goals and dreams look completely different. Look at the famous coaches in professional sports history: Phil Jackson (NBA), Vince Lombardi (NFL), and John Wooden (NCAA Basketball). Each of them every day “evaluated” their players: ability, strengths, weaknesses, and work ethic. They knew how to push their players and how each player needed to be individually motivated and encouraged.

The differences between the processes of coaching and evaluating are when you coach, you don’t just watch as a spectator and give your opinion on how things are and how they should be. Instead you take your observations, show someone what they can be and how their skills can continue to grow, and encourage them with avenues to get there. That is what school leaders (myself included) need to focus on: helping teachers realize where they are and where they can go if they continue to grow in their abilities as a teacher, colleague, and leader.

With that said, leaders beware! With guidance comes great responsibility. If you truly want to be a coach there is much you need to do behind the scenes. Just as coaches watch game footage, study playbooks, and plan strategies, evaluators who want to be coaches have to put in the same work. We need to do our own homework on how to help our teachers grow. We need to create a playbook of resources that we have collected from books, websites, conferences, and experts in the field of education. We need to be able to show the way not just through our own opinion but through best practices that have been proven over and over by research and inquiry. Our teachers need to knowthat we knowwhat we are doing and that we have the knowledge and the tools to help them reach their true potential and are not just shooting from the hip with our own opinions. When teachers believe in you and your message, they trust you as their coach and their leader.

Last year, I started to flip the evaluation process, and I have seen some great changes in the relationships I have with many of the teachers. This change is an ongoing process, and even though mindsets won’t change in a flash, with time and effort on our part, we can show teachers we are not here to judge them but to coach them to their fullest potential. We can start to tear down the walls of judgement that the evaluation process has mortared together between us and trust between both sides can start to grow. This may seem like a daunting task, just like the answer to the age-old question, “How do you eat an elephant?” You do it one bite at a time. Take your first bite in changing your evaluation process.

Have I hit some bumps in the road? Sure I have. Are there still mindsets and relationships that I need to work harder at? Of course there are. Every day, every conversation, every action, everything I do will either build up that wall or continue to rip it down. This is why every day I choose to put my judgments aside and work alongside my teachers so they know we are in this together. My teachers are worth it, and I know yours are worth it, too.

What changes do you need to make today so that your teachers can reach their fullest potential tomorrow? What articles, books, conferences and professionals are you connecting with so your teachers know that you know how to take them to the next level?

Roger Gurganus is an assistant principal at Brownstown Middle School, a 6–7 building in Brownstown, MI. He has a passion for children and education and strives to ensure that every student is connected and feels part of the positive communities he creates. Along with creating a culture of hope and love in his own middle school, Roger also is committed to bringing hope, love and education to the children of Uganda, Africa, where each summer he travels in hope of making a bigger difference in the lives of students who need it the most. Roger believes that teaching is not a job, but rather a calling and hopes that through his work lives can be changed, dreams can become reality, and mountains can be moved.

Follow Roger Gurganus’ educational and leadership journey:
Twitter: @RogerGurganusII
Instagram: @RogerGurganusII
Youtube: @BMSWARRIORS67

Blog: https://raiseyouranchor.blogspot.com/

More than 1 in 6 principals leave their school each year. This kind of disruption in school leadership impedes school improvement, leads to an increase in teacher turnover, and has a negative effect on student achievement. The problem is worse in high-poverty schools, where 1 in 5 principals leave each year. This inequity exacerbates racial and socioeconomic disparities in education.

Understanding why principals leave is central to developing and implementing strategies to reduce or even reverse turnover and advance educational equity. That is the goal of a new joint research initiative by the Learning Policy Institute (LPI) and NASSP. In March, LPI published the first study in that initiative, Understanding and Addressing Principal Turnover: A Review of the Research, which identifies the causes and impact of principal turnover nationwide.

According to the study, in 2016–17, the national average tenure of principals in schools was only four years. However, this number masks considerable variation, with 35 percent of principals staying at their school for less than two years, and only 11 percent of principals staying at their school for 10 years or more.

The study identifies several strategies state and district policymakers can adopt to address the root causes of leadership turnover:

• Provide High-Quality Professional Learning Opportunities: Research shows that access to high-quality preparation programs, principal internships, and mentoring significantly reduces the likelihood that principals will leave their schools. As principals are better prepared and more able to handle the complex job, they see stronger results, feel more efficacious, and hence are more likely to stay.
• Improve Working Conditions: Working conditions, including heavy workloads and multiple responsibilities without adequate district or in-school support, can contribute to a principal’s decision to exit the position. Improving working conditions can reduce the turnover rate.
• Ensure Adequate and Stable Compensation: Some principals consider salary when deciding to stay at a school. Studies have shown that principals often move to a different school with a higher salary. Moreover, inadequate differentials between teachers’ and principals’ pay may cause credentialed, promising leaders to avoid the principalship.
• Support Decision-Making Authority in School Leadership: Lack of decision-making authority on topics related to personnel and budgets can leave many principals feeling constrained and ineffective. Policies that enable principals to have greater decision-making input on policies that impact their school community can lead to greater retention.
• Eliminate Punitive Accountability Systems: Reforming high-stakes accountability systems for principals is another promising strategy for reducing turnover. Some accountability systems include harsh consequences like reduction in pay or school closure based on student test scores. Policies that impose such consequences make it difficult to hire and retain qualified leaders, especially in high-need, under-resourced schools.

There is federal support for this important work. The Every Student Succeeds Act provides federal funding that states can use to support principal retention. Under Title II, Part A, states may designate up to 5 percent of their Title II, Part A allocation for leadership development, and an additional 3 percent exclusively for leadership investments. Additionally, Title I, Part A School Improvement requires that states set aside 7 percent of Title I, Part A funds for evidence-based strategies to improve low-performing schools; these improvement efforts can include interventions to strengthen school leadership. States can also apply for competitive federal grants like the School Leader Recruitment and Support Program to recruit, support, and develop high-quality leaders, and the Teacher and School Leader Incentive Program to support human capital management systems.

NASSP and LPI will release the second study in this initiative in July 2019 at NASSP’s National Principals’ Conference. It will include analysis of Department of Education principal survey data to identify principal attributes (like years of experience) and school characterstics (like urbanicity) that contribute to turnover. The initiative will produce a total of four studies, with two more to be released in fall 2019.

Read more about the causes and impact of principal turnover in the first brief from LPI and NASSP.

About LPI

LPI is a nonprofit organization that conducts and communicates high-quality research to improve education practice and policy. Working with policymakers, researchers, educators, community groups, and others, the institute seeks to advance evidence-based policies that support empowering and equitable learning for each and every child.

Kathryn Bradley is a research and policy associate on LPI’s Deeper Learning team. Prior to joining LPI, Bradley worked as a researcher for Communities In Schools, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students as they aim to achieve their academic, career, and personal goals. There, she utilized mixed methods to examine the supports, services, and outcomes associated with college and career readiness. Before embarking on her research career, Bradley taught fourth grade in her hometown of New Haven, CT, where she also designed and taught a social justice issues course for high school students.

Bradley holds a master’s and bachelor’s degree in history and Africana studies from The George Washington University. She also holds a master’s degree in teaching from Sacred Heart University.

Stephanie Levin is a member of LPI’s Equitable Resources and Access team, where she is working to translate research on school finance and resource allocation to inform practice and policy. She also conducts research to better understand inequities across schools and identify remedies to redress these inequities.

Levin has over 10 years of experience as a mixed-methods researcher and project manager focusing on educational equity; school finance and budgeting; the impact of federal, state, and district policies on teacher effectiveness and student outcomes; and teacher and school leader professional learning opportunities. Most recently, she designed and led studies evaluating the implementation and impact of teacher professional learning opportunities. Prior to her work in education research, Levin was a consultant, policy analyst, and budget analyst addressing issues that shape the experiences of children and families in urban settings.

Stephanie received a doctorate in education policy from the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education, a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.