Blogs

Making Difficult but Effective Curriculum and Instruction Choices in the Age of COVID

By Drew Thomason posted 08-06-2020
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The above video is a recording of a webinar held on August 5. It describes how to develop equity-informed curriculum strategies of what to cut, what to keep, and what to create for the upcoming school year. Additionally, the presenters discussed how to design streamlined, manageable and purposeful learning experiences with clear language to engage students and parents. The webinar also covers a menu of options to help you draft structural responses to online, hybrid, or onsite learning formats  (see link below for the PDF). Heidi Hayes Jacobs, one of the presenters during the webinar, and Allison Zmuda have created a 4-part series about how to return ...
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Get your membership renewed for 2020-2021 or join MoASSP, NASSP or your Local Region for the 1st Time!

By Doug Mirts posted 05-14-2020
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Why MoASSP Membership - Testimonials

By Doug Mirts posted 05-13-2020
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Update on impact of coronavirus on ELN

By Drew Thomason posted 03-27-2020
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Ed Leaders Network General Update   We have a considerable influx of school districts seeking access to Ed Leaders Network, which is great! ELN is an excellent resource for remote professional learning! Due to the volume of requests, uploading staff and granting them access to the Learning Management System is taking longer than usual. Additionally, because of a larger than normal number of users wanting  to   take  advantage of ELN, responding to support tickets is taking longer than usual. As we work through the queue of both uploading staff and support tickets, we appreciate your patience and understanding.   Illinois Specific Update   ...
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Coronavirus Information for Schools

By Doug Mirts posted 03-18-2020
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**Blog Updated April 30, 2020** OUR PLEDGE As we practice the "art of waiting," we continue our pledge to sustain our vision and mission for every secondary school principal in Missouri. We have opened up our member-only MoASSP Messenger and other services to over 4,300 educators across our great state and throughout the country. As you feel the weight of your school on your shoulders, we are here to help lighten the load the best we can. We have assembled Coronavirus Information for Schools in one location. We will keep updating the blog as new resources become available. We are scheduling both statewide and regional Zoom meetings to help provide ...
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ELN Resources

By Arlin Peebles posted 04-15-2016
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Ed Leaders Network Resources Experience ELN Handout 8 Ways to Use ELN for Personal and Staff Development Handout Content Authoring Training Handou
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New Reporting Feature for Group Managers

By Ed Leaders posted 01-21-2016
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Single or Multi-Select Individuals in Your Group User group managers now have the ability to select one or multiple users in their group when running completion reports. This allows managers to fine tune their reporting needs to target individual group members and quickly download a spreadsheet that contains all completed presentations for that user. Now, when clicking the "Reports" tab in the top navigation, you will see a complete list of all users within your group. Simply click on an individual to add them to the reporting list, set your date range, and click "Download" to receive a spreadsheet with all completed presentations. As seen in ...
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REFLECT 365 - Does your personal schedule and use of time reflect your priorities within the school’s vision and mission?

By Ed Leaders posted 01-12-2016
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REFLECT: 365 Does your personal schedule and use of time reflect your priorities within the school’s vision and mission? Administrators have to prioritize their focus as many things try to steal away the minutes from their day. As the instructional leader of the building it is vital to model for others the expectations to accomplish the vision and mission established. If it is not important to the leader then why would it be important to anyone else? Let’s say you show up 5 minutes late to a meeting. You just demonstrated to the staff that you do not value their time and the meeting wasn’t really important. It is difficult to ...
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REFLECT: 365 - How are you supporting and/or attempting to adjust the fundamental values of your school?

By Ed Leaders posted 11-20-2015
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REFLECT: 365 How are you supporting and/or attempting to adjust the fundamental values of your school? Roland Barth once said “A school’s culture has far more influence on life and learning in the school house than the president of the country, the state department of education, the superintendent, the school board, or even the principal, teachers, and the parents can ever have.” We are constantly creating mission and vision statements, developing strategic plans, restructuring curriculum, and pushing technology integration. Nevertheless, in the midst of that chaos, many stakeholders are losing sight of the most critical component: a school’s ...
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REFLECT: 365 - Why can’t I tell everyone the bitter truth about their performance?

By Ed Leaders posted 11-13-2015
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REFLECT: 365 Why can’t I tell everyone the bitter truth about their performance? Before I answer that question, I must address another – should I tell everyone the bitter truth about their performance and, if I do, will it make things better? I will start by saying there are absolutely times when the direct, bitter truth is necessary. When someone’s performance becomes toxic to their colleagues, when their behavior is not in the best interests of our students, when their actions begin to harm the overall environment, there is nothing to do but confront the behavior and ...
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Ed Leaders Network and Standard for Success Join Forces

By Ed Leaders posted 10-12-2015
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Ed Leaders Network and Standard For Success have announced a strategic partnership to deliver on-demand, targeted professional development (PD) to teachers, building leaders, and district leaders with their education technology platforms. Together, the two organizations will help counter teacher shortages within states and school districts across the nation, by driving engagement through on-demand, customizable professional development planning. Assigning PD based on evaluations is becoming more critical to improving teacher performance and satisfaction as their job demands evolve to meet increasing regulations and 21st century needs. Schools must first ...
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REFLECT: 365 - How do you systematically review, refine, and communicate your school vision and mission to stakeholders?

By Ed Leaders posted 09-17-2015
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REFLECT: 365 How do you systematically review, refine, and communicate your school vision and mission to stakeholders? Engage, Inspire, Empower, and Grow! In preparation for the 2014-15 school year, Caruso Middle School, in Deerfield, embarked upon the process of creating our own mission and vision statement, to complement our district mission and vision. This was done in order to: guide decisions we make at the building level. replace an old mission and vision that no longer existed. further focus our future school improvement plans. ...
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REFLECT: 365 - How have you helped your teachers understand the importance of teaching skills and not simply content?

By Ed Leaders posted 09-17-2015
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REFLECT: 365 How have you helped your teachers understand the importance of teaching skills and not simply content? 7 tips for helping teachers prioritize skills over just content: Collaborative Teams: Answer “why do we do what we do?” Value Everyone and Explore Diverse Cognition! Share Best Practices: The answer is often “in the room!” Active Engagement: Make sure learners are “in”volved! Be the Model: A Principal is the lead learner in the school! Build a Positive and Productive Culture! Create a Community where Stakeholders, of all ...
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REFLECT: 365 - How do you create a growth mindset within yourself, your staff, and your students?

By Ed Leaders posted 08-27-2015
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REFLECT: 365 How do you create a growth mindset within yourself, your staff, and your students? Growth implies change and change is difficult for most of us to accept. Years ago, I picked up a simple formula that has helped me remember the necessary balance of ingredients for change to occur. Simply put: N+V+A > or = C + P. In short, the Need + Vision + Ability has to be greater than or equal to the Cost and Pain of the Change or it isn’t going to happen. Let’s take this formula for change apart. It starts with a deep understanding and acknowledgement of what NEEDS to change. It’s perhaps easy to point the finger at ...
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REFLECT 365: How do you determine "significance" for student achievement data?

By Ed Leaders posted 08-20-2015
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REFLECT: 365 When you look at your student achievement data and development data, how do you determine “significance” and how do you develop a plan of action to address deficiencies? Student achievement data can be the single most powerful indicator of instructional success. However, what does that achievement data tell us? The process of data analysis and developing plans to address what it points out is the power of the continuous improvement cycle within a classroom, a building and a district. Determining which data to use for this cycle is critical. Digging into the RIGHT data We talk about “student data” ...
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REFLECT: 365 - Does your personal schedule and use of time reflect your priorities within the school's vision and mission?

By Ed Leaders posted 08-07-2015
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REFLECT: 365 Does your personal schedule and use of time reflect your priorities within the school’s vision and mission? As a new administrator the sky is the limit. There is so many possibilities and each situation is a learning opportunity. In leadership training, we are taught to follow the mission and vision of the school and district. With that vision and mission looming overhead the question often becomes, what exactly does that look like for an administrator or teacher? Often times I believe leaders miss the opportunity to follow the mission and vision in daily decision making. It is not always the big decisions that can transform and ...
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REFLECT 365: How have you helped to move your school forward to ensure that you are serving those students who are traditionally underserved?

By Ed Leaders posted 07-30-2015
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REFLECT: 365 How have you helped to move your school forward to ensure that you are serving those students who are traditionally underserved? What dramatic results have other principals experienced as they have led successful efforts to support traditionally underserved students? In 2013, I conducted a study of 21 expert principals in three states and inquired about some of the most difficult decisions that these principals had made. About half of the principals I met with shared about leading changes in the performance of their traditionally underserved students, primarily African American and Latino students. Principals relayed how their ...
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REFLECT 365: Why have you not told everyone in your organization the bitter truth about their performance this year?

By Ed Leaders posted 07-17-2015
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REFLECT: 365 Before beginning this blog, I would first like to say how humbled and thankful I am to be working with the Illinois Principal’s Association (IPA) on this endeavor. Nearly a year ago Jason Leahy, Executive Director of IPA, and I began a dialogue about the power of reflection and brainstormed ways to bring this topic to the forefront of people’s minds in an engaging manner that could truly impact the practices of our leaders. Months later, here we sit, starting a year-long blog series in which we have sought ( and are still seeking ) contributors from throughout the nation to lead weekly blogs on thought-provoking ...
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NGSS Q&A with Dave Beedy

By Arlin Peebles posted 04-27-2015
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We were very fortunate to have Dave Beedy (STEM Coord., Elmhurst D205) present on April 16, 2015 on the topic " NGSS: Planning the Transformation in Your District ." Below are the questions that he was unable to get to during the LIVE event. For any additional questions please contact Dave Beedy at dbeedy@elmhurst205.org Do you think backward design is the best model to support NGSS? I think the idea of being backwards designed is exactly what we want in any standards-based curriculum development. Developing the summative assessment, aligned with the core ideas, science and engineering practices, and cross cutting concepts in the performance expectation, ...
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7 Ways to Use ELN for Personal and Staff Development

By Arlin Peebles posted 04-06-2015
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7 Ways to Use ELN for Personal and Staff Development Click here to watch the webinar! #1 Filling in the Gaps - Use the Search, Sort, and Filter functions to identify content in your area of need. - Use “MY PD” tab to add favorites and save content for later viewing #2 Staying Current on Trending Topics - Use weekly email to see the latest ELN content and stay up-to-date on new topics and ideas - Use ELN community to follow discussions topics and ask questions of peers and experts #3 Starting Staff Meetings - Use ELN content to introduce topics and include video at your staff meetings - Use ...
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