Merry Christmas

Here's hoping everyone is able to spend time with family and/or friends and enjoy the holiday. As I listened to a sermon this morning, I am reminded that all life is precious and each person we meet is worthy of dignity and love. Let's extend that thought to action today and into the new year.

Merry Christmas.

Resolutions

Do you make New Year's resolutions? As I read through writers and bloggers discussing this annual event, I've found a way to make some of those tricky resolutions stick. It's called a 30-day trial. Although there are critics of this, it can be an effective method to get started on a new habit and on the way to kicking a bad one.

The idea is to attempt something for 30 days. Give your utmost attention and effort to whatever it is you choose to do and see what comes of it 30 days later. What that does is give you a predetermined deadline - you know that in 30 days if your resolution is not working, you can quit or try something different. And 30 days is enough time to get a new habit ingrained into your lifestyle.

It can be difficult to gather the momentum to make a new habit stick. The 30-day trial gives you an opportunity to try something and make changes if necessary. If you have had goals/resolutions that have not worked in the past, try this method. Write down the goal, try it for 30 days and see the success.

Holiday cheer

As the time nears, if it's not already here, for schools to take some time off for the holidays, I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and excellent start to the new year. For those that travel, do so safely. Enjoy the season and take time to reflect on all the gifts that you have received this past year. Even in times of trial and tribulation, those of us in education are blessed to have the opportunity to be a part of children's success and growth.

As the new year nears, I look forward to the work that Guernsey-Sunrise schools are beginning. The staff has been working on a vision and the means to determine what that vision means when applied. The district will be asking for input from all stakeholders and making a concerted effort to gather that input and develop a plan to advance the education of our students. If you would like to see the progress, we have developed a wiki that lists the progress so far.

Have a great holiday season.

Technology use

How has technology made your life easier or better? I recently read an article about the use of technology in delivering packages. The driver was using a camera in the cab to see behind him so he could back up closer to surrounding objects. In this case, the increased technology would seem to have provided a safer method of driving. I'd like to hear some thoughts on how technology could be used to enhance education.

Ranking schools

A recent article on the National Association of Secondary School Principals website about ranking schools had an interesting thought embedded discretely within the text. The article itself was about how the ranking of schools by various publications was not something that was necessarily fair for all schools.

The argument was that magnet or charter schools that have an application process and do not take everyone that comes in their doors had an unfair advantage in the rankings since they could gear their acceptance to students with higher academic ability and background. Another index seemed to focus on larger schools that had the ability to offer Advanced Placement courses or International Baccalaureate courses.

Toward the end of the article, however, the executive director of NASSP mentioned something about developing "a national barometer" to rank schools on a national level. Now, I'm not sure about the national level, but at Guernsey-Sunrise, we are developing indicators to help us determine where we are at in relation to helping our students be successful.

It is easy to look at test scores from a one-time test and make a judgment as to whether a school is successful. But student success goes beyond one test on one particular day. I agree that test scores are a big component, but looking at multiple indicators provides a more well-rounded picture of the school and helps to determine a direction for school improvement. If you have some thoughts on what indicators the district might use, drop us a note or a comment.