A New Look!

The Curriculum and Instruction blog has a new title and a new look!  Additionally, the blog is changing from one author to six!  The six authors are members of our newly formed district Leadership Team:

• Beth Bruno
• Jennifer Cardwell
• April Chamberlain
• Phyllis Faust
• Jim Kirkland
• Mandi Logan

Numerous studies have affirmed that an effective central office can play a major role in improving schools throughout the system.  As a leadership team, we will maintain a commitment to and focus on building the individual and collective capacity of teachers and administrators throughout the district.  We will provide ongoing clarity and support to help our educators succeed at what they are being asked to do.  We will provide this clarity and support by focusing on learning, capacity building, wise and thorough use of data, and identifying and spreading good practice.  

Our team will model the Professional Learning Community process by learning together.  Together, this team will study curriculum frameworks and pacing and instructional strategies, and examine effective ways of assessing student learning, analyze the evidence of student learning, and search for ways to improve teaching and learning.  

No one leader has all the energy and expertise to reform a district.  A strong leadership team with shared objectives is essential.  We recognize that our main lever for change is to create ever-expanding circles of leaders focused on whole-system reform.  According to Dufour and Fullan in Cultures Built to Last, "People must be willing to look in the mirror for solutions, rather than out of the window while waiting for others in the system to save them."  WE (all the educators in TCS) are the system!  Your new district Leadership Team looks forward to working and learning together and serving the leaders and learners in our district.