AWSP Blog

Many have heard the quote, “if you aren’t at the table, you are on the menu” from the business community. This month, I have been acutely aware of the people at my table and the lack of diversity they represent. In an attempt at continuing our conversation this month to include ALL voices, I am highlighting the 8 Most Powerful Ted Talks on Disability.

Ready Washington is a coalition of state education agencies, associations, and advocacy organizations that believe every Washington student should graduate prepared for a successful future. They have created many great resources to help your students, including this poster, which was co-created by four Washington young people, to encourage your students to use available resources to plan for their futures after high school graduation. We hope this poster engages students in accessing resources that will help them achieve their dreams.

At the beginning of the 2021–22 school year, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) released revised Student Growth Rubrics for schools and districts for their optional use this year. The revised rubrics capture key learnings from the past ten years of student growth goals as part of the evaluation process and are informed by feedback from schools that elected to pilot the revised rubrics this year.

Working with challenging adult behaviors has similarities to working with behaviors we see in our students. Digging in, getting better at navigating the function of behavior, and hypothesizing what is behind the behaviors can help you support students and staff more calmly and insightfully. I ran across this “All Behavior is Communication” blog post from Lauren Pace (host of the Rising Lava Parenting Podcast) as I was looking for resources to help a new school leader navigate some tricky adult behaviors in her school. Although this blog refers to parenting strategies and young children, I think reading, listening, and pondering the basics about behavior as communication has some transferable skills and strategies pertinent to school leadership!

Still worried about clock hours and your certification renewal? Many districts are issuing clock hours for teachers and administrators' work each week in PLCs. Work centered around district initiatives, school improvement planning, and instruction can be considered for clock hours. Check with your district’s clock hour committee to see if the work already being done in your schools might be eligible for clock hours.