Focus, foster, fulfill has been the motto applied at my school to be strategic in our school reform efforts. Since becoming principal here three years ago, we've gone from a school that was planning for restructuring under NCLB to a school in unconditional good standing. In each of the successive years, our achievement levels have risen. Applying the use of existing data sources and in some cases creating measures that would give us "real-time" data as opposed to "autopsy" data really helped us. Providing time for our staff members to meet weekly and analyze our data in relationship to where we wanted to see our students performing, helped to provide the necessary action steps that led us to our school's turnaround. We started with a clear vision for success, and utilized a continuum of data sources to actualize our effort. WE wanted to move beyond, "I think I feel" to "I think, I feel, because this is what the data is saying."
Implementing the systems of analyzing data, collaborating in teams to share effective teaching approaches, and conducting strategic professional development to build capacity for our school provided a process that fostered collective professional effort. Our results came from a lot of hard work, but it was by design. Working hard was not an option, for many people work hard, but having our efforts result into improved student achievement was a conscious choice. In doing so, we've learned and feel passionate about applying our framework of the 5R's of Rigor, Relevance, Relationships, Results, and Reflection. This balance of predicating our actions in systemic ways that aligned to our school's needs and professional goals has made a positive difference for our school.
