AWSP Blog

Not too long ago, our Executive Director Dr. Scott Seaman wrote his "I Am More Than a Test Score" blog. Along those same lines, AWSL Director James Layman has a couple of quotes in this piece from Knowable Magazine.

There’s nothing like more than a year of pandemic learning to make us examine past practices and consider better and healthier ways! One change your school might consider is making a purposeful effort to take learning outside. In the report “Back to School: Back Outside” (Kevin J. Coyle, National Wildlife Federation, 2010), research shows how a “green hour” built into classroom routines has a positive impact on students’ focus, attitude toward work, behavior, connections with others, and even standardized test scores.

Some dream about winning an Emmy, Grammy or Golden Globe Award. Others fantasize about walking to the stage to accept an Academy Award. Some dream of ticker tape, fireworks, and packed stadiums while being crowned a Super Bowl, Stanley Cup, WNBA or World Series Champ. Others dream about stepping up on the Olympic podium as a new world record holder gold medalist. While others place their life’s work into winning a Nobel Peace Prize. And, finally, of course, above all recognition, the world waits with bated breath for the annual AWSP President’s Award.

Come join us free, end-of-year celebration and annual luncheon. Well, not totally free...you do have to supply your own lunch. Connect with us and principals and assistant principals across the state, find out who we interviewed for our "who's your favorite principal" celebrity surprise, and see if you win any prizes. We can’t wait to see you there!

Weekly special education and Section 504 resources from Abby Bowers, Capital Region ESD 113's Director of Special Programs.

In this final episode of AWSP News for this year, we discuss sharing any updates to guide how we might be opening our schools in the fall, this year’s virtual Summer Conference and the annual AWSP Summer Conference lunch program, the incredible programs and networks that your AWSP ProLearning Team has put together, making outdoor education accessible to all kids and an Outdoor School survey, programs and opportunities for developing your student leaders, how an AWSL “School” Membership supports your school, and our annual reminder to reach out to us as you head into your final evaluation with your supervisor.

AWSP will close this Friday June 18th, in recognition of Juneteenth (June 19th). Starting in 2022, Washington state will recognize June 19th as an official state holiday. Although this recognition as a state holiday is over 150 years overdue, AWSP is going to start this year.

When you’re ready to jump into some professional reading, check out this list of books that Jack Arend and I created based on some of the books that we are reading or that we hear others mention. We also provide some tips for engaging your staff in a book study, if that is something that you are considering.

Weekly special education and Section 504 resources from Abby Bowers, Capital Region ESD 113's Director of Special Programs.

Ready for some good news? There’s state money to help send your fifth- and sixth-graders to Outdoor School next year. We are working with a team of learning centers and camps to get money allocated in this year’s state budget.  To help us plan and budget, we need to find out who is planning to host an outdoor school for their students. You can help with this process now by completing this Outdoor Schools survey. This information will helps us to plan for the 2021-22 school year as well as give us information to seek further funding for the 2022-23 school year and beyond.