September 23

September 23

This past weekend was a life changing experience. When we arrived in Tahoe around 9:00pm our friend’s 6 week baby was having difficulty breathing. Around 10:00pm while his mother drove to the ER I sat in the back holding this precious baby and caressing his back and encouraging him to hang in there. It took us an hour to get the hospital because of construction on the road.  When we arrived a team of medical staff members tried to help him. They felt that they did not have the equipment to help him, so they made the decision to care flight him to UC Davis. Both parents drove to UC Davis and by the time they arrived their beautiful baby boy was gone. Baby Jake was completely healthy, smiling and living a full life up until that night. We are all brokenhearted by their loss. He died of a lung infection. 

No Excuses University – Standards Alignment

Culture of Universal Achievement

Collaboration

Standards Alignment

Assessment Plan

Data Analysis

Interventions

When a school embraces a system of Standards Alignment, there are three attributes that need to be included.  As identified in the No Excuses University Schools Institute, the attributes are:

#1:  Aligning standards is not something that you’ve done, it’s something that you do.

#2:  Collaboration is key.

#3:  It must be practiced!  Skills – assessments – instructional methods – resources.

Now…before you move on, think about it.  Does our staff think of “Standards Alignment” as something that is “done” when the pacing guide is complete?  Or…does our staff think of “Standards Alignment” as an ongoing process and has strategies to measure how well every lesson is aligned to what the students need to learn?

Skills – assessment - instructional methods - resources:  Notice that the third attribute is not “Pacing Guide.”  The pacing guides document the skills, but it is just the first step in alignment.  You have to have systems in place to assess the student learning, a focus on the instructional methods that ensure rigor, and allocate the resources to support the students in achieving proficiency. 

Collaboration is key:  Do you plan for collaboration or does it just happen?  True collaboration includes bringing in data (not perceptions or hearsay) and making decisions based on the collected information.  Such a process has to be planned so that the proper data can be collected and is the foundation for good decisions.

If you don’t collaborate around your students’ academic achievement data, then how do you know if you have alignment?

Observable Fish Moments at SV:

Be There: Thank you Tammy for doing an amazing job with morning greeters

Play: Have fun with your students!!

Choose your attitude: Approach new tasks with a positive attitude

Make Their Day:   THANK you so much for your kind words and gestures to help me through this difficult time.