The Wallace Foundation releases a new report on education leadership framing the national discussion and calling for more focus on this critical issue. To read the full report and to see Ann Duffy's quotation on leader needs (pg. 9), click here.
Ann Duffy, GLISI's Policy Director was recently published in UGA's 2010 Education Policy Papers. Duffy's paper examines Georgia's high performance principal program and provides policymakers and stakeholders with in-depth analyses on many education issues. To read Duffy's article and see the final project, click here.
Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education and Georgia School Boards Association are sponsoring Education Policy Forums: Sessions for Candidates and Community Leaders. The sessions will inform policymakers about available tools and information to deal with the issues Georgia schools are facing. In addition, community leaders will also learn about the issues in Georgia's education, discover their community's stand, and understand how to work with policy makers. Seven sessions will be held across the state. To find out more and to register, please click here.
The Wallace Foundation releases two reports on education leadership: Central Office Transformation for District-Wide Teaching and Learning Improvement and Education Leadership: An Agenda for School Improvement. To access these reports, click here.
Want to be a part of community conversations around public education? There is an opportunity for you: A Vision for Public Education in Georgia. One of the objectives of the project is to ensure meaningful engagement by citizens across the state to craft a vision for public education. Click here to learn more about the project and see dates and locations of upcoming meetings.
GLISI is in the news for helping Georgia districts apply for million dollar School Improvement Grants from the Georgia Department of Education. Georgia Evans, a GLISI Performance Consultant, was highlighted in a recent article for assisting Carroll County's Temple High School in their grant work. To read the article, click here. For more information on how GLISI can help you, contact Gale Hulme at gale.hulme@glisi.org.
Deb Page, GLISI Senior Practice Leader was recently published in March's Performance Improvement Journal. Page's article on the systemic efforts made in Georgia to improve education leadership highlights the work of GLISI and Georgia partners. To access the article, click here for the publisher's website or click here for ISPI's website.
GLISI is proud to announce that Senior Performance Consultant, Scott Cowart has recently been awarded the Superintendency for Carroll County, Georgia. Cowart, a former Superintendent of Monroe County started his education career in Carroll County in 1985 as a teacher and basketball coach before becoming an assistant principal in 1991 and principal in 1994. Returning to the district that has helped shaped his career as an education leader is an exciting move for Cowart and his family. Cowart will start his three-year contract June 1st, 2010. GLISI will miss Cowart’s guidance and expertise, but we’re also excited to see the work Carroll County will do in the next few years under Cowart’s leadership. To read more about Cowart’s move, please click here.
Congratulations to Dr. Sally Zepeda, University of Georgia professor and a GLISI research partner on her recent award: 2010 College of Education Russel H. Yeany, Jr. Research Award. The Russel H. Yeany, Jr. Award was established in 1998 to recognize outstanding research.
PBS announced an exciting new award for teachers to showcase the ways they are applying innovation to their schools and classrooms. Fifty educators will be chosen to receive a feature on the PBS Teachers web site, PBS gifts, and a free PBS online professional development course. The top 10 most innovative educators receive a behind-the-scenes, all-expenses-paid trip to the 2010 PBS Annual Showcase in Austin, Texas. To learn more about this program and to submit your innovative idea, click here.
The Wallace Foundation releases a new study done by the RAND corporation on the impact of their cohesive leadership system initiative. GLISI is proud to be a part of this initiative and part of this study showing how Georgia has made tremendous improvement in aligning state and district policies. To read the full report, click here.
A new research study published by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education explores the commonalities of Georgia high schools with a graduation rate of at least 85 percent and an increase of 10 percentage points over 6 years. Click here to read the report.
Two of GLISI's staff: Scott Cowart, Senior Performance Consultant and Maggie Glennon, Performance Consultant provide clarity and insight on the Balanced Scorecard in the February publication of AASA's "The School Administrator" magazine. Cowart and Glennon have extensive experience and success using the Balanced Scorecard in their former district, Monroe County, GA. We are excited that their efforts have led to this publication. To read the articles, click here for AASA's website (note: you will need to be a member or purchase the issue). To learn more about GLISI's knowledge of the Balanced Scorecard and how GLISI can help your district properly implement this work, please click here for our Executive Development program website.
GLISI celebrated with and learned from four outstanding turnaround principals in its January 14th Coordinating Board meeting. Tim Dixon of Waycross Middle School in Ware County, Linda Ramsey of Oak Hill Middle School in Baldwin County, Rodney Bullard of Mitchell County Middle School in Mitchell County, and Jay Homan of Henderson Middle School in Butts County presented the work their leadership, leadership teams, students, and communities were able to achieve in their formerly low-performing schools. Within a few short years, these four schools increased student achievement and three schools came off the Needs Improvement list. These principals were a great motivation for the Board and provided a glimpse into what it takes to turnaround schools in GA and across the nation. To read more information about turnaround schools, click here for a brief one-page overview and here for an article outlining key issues.
GLISI was asked to present at the Georgia Department of Education's State Board of Education meeting January 13, 2010 as part of the State Superintendent's Report. Part of the presentation was a brief overview of GLISI and the work we do in the state followed by questions from the Board. We shared our 2009 Stewardship Report and our Success Case Booklet. It was a great honor and we thank Superintendent Kathy Cox for inviting us to present.
GLISI congratulates Dr. Paul Shaw, superintendent of the White County, as Georgia's 2010 Superintendent of the Year. Dr. Shaw has been a superintendent in South Carolina and Georgia and has achieved considerable gains in White County. To read more about Dr. Shaw and his accomplishments, click here.
The Wallace Foundation releases two new studies highlighting great strategies and solutions around education leadership, teacher leaders, resource allocation, and student success. To read these reports and more from The Wallace Foundation, click here.
Do you have an opinion about statewide education reform? Do you have an idea about how to improve student achievement? Georgia is applying for a Race to the Top (RT3) grant from the USDOE and your input is needed! RT3 is a $4 billion Federal fund that provides competitive grants to States to implement ambitious plans in four education reform areas:
a. great teachers and leaders
b. turning around the lowest-achieving schools
c. common standards and assessments
d. data systems to support instruction
Georgia’s RT3 planning process, led by the
Governor’s Office, is an ongoing dialogue with all those invested in
education. Please take time to complete the stakeholder surveys to
provide input to the final proposal. The K-12 educator survey
can be accessed
here; the stakeholder
survey, for all others, can be accessed
here. Both surveys will
be available until December 8, 2009.
For complete information, please visit Georgia’s RT3 website, hosted by the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement, here, or the USDOE website, here. Georgia’s application is due January 19, 2010 and awards will be announced in April 2010.
GLISI recognizes the GLISI school named a 2009 Georgia School of Excellence: Jasper County Primary. GLISI districts with 2009 Georgia Schools of Excellence are Appling, Atlanta Public Schools, Decatur City, Dougherty, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Houston, Jasper, Lowndes, Oconee, Oglethorpe, Pike, Rockdale, and Ware. To read more, click here.
Congrats to this year's Title I Distinguished Districts: Henry County, Marietta City, Brooks County, and Chattahoochee County. This award is for districts that have closed the achievement gaps the most between economically disadvantaged students and those who are not in each category. The districts receive $50,000 each from federal funds. All four have participated with GLISI and GLISI is proud of the work its districts achieve. To read more, click here.
Teacher quality is the single most influential school-based factor in improving student achievement. To that end, GLISI is offering the Teacher Quality Project (TQP), formerly called the BellSouth Quality Learning and Teaching Environments (QLTE) pilot, as a survey of workplace conditions in Power of 100™ schools. The purpose of the survey is to reduce teacher attrition in Georgia’s public schools and to improve the conditions for teaching and learning in order to raise student achievement. Schools will identify what is working and what is not. They will develop action plans around “hot spots” of concern and engage teachers and administrators in team-based improvement of workplace concerns. GLISI thanks the following sponsors for their generous support in making the Teacher Quality Project survey available for participating schools in Power of 100™ districts - Baldwin, Bibb, Clayton, Hancock, Greene, Pike, and Washington counties: Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, The Coca-Cola Foundation, and The Georgia Chamber of Commerce.
Nine GLISI districts honored as top-ranking digital districts nationwide. The Digital School Districts Survey recognizes schools and districts that use digital technology to interface with students, parents, and communities, to govern, and to better operations. Congrats to Clayton, Forsyth, Richmond, Fayette, Jones, Jefferson City, Marietta City, Chickamauga City, and Charlton for their top-ten rankings in their size categories. To read the full story, click here.
Watch GLISI & H-ELPS leader, Scott Cowart being interviewed on the importance of strategic improvement planning and aligning stakeholders. The interview is part of eSchoolNews and their Video of the Day program and conducted by Mark Willis, COO of eBoard Solutions. The conversation also focuses on existing Web 2.0 technologies that can assist in this work. To see the video, click here.
An Annual Report On The University System’s Contributions To Georgia is now available online by clicking here. This report highlights some of the University System’s key actions and accomplishments of the past fiscal year, as well as continued progress in all six goals of the Board’s Strategic Plan. GLISI's contributions are highlighted throughout the report.
The Georgia Appalachian Center for Higher Education (GACHE) awards $150,000 to GA High Schools. "GACHE, housed at North Georgia College and State University, is funded by the Appalachian Regional Commission. This is the fourth year GACHE has presented awards to area high schools and the results are clear – school communities that focus on building relationships with students and providing a rigorous curriculum make a difference in whether or not students continue their education beyond high school." Several GLISI districts and schools were impacted by the awards. For more information, visit GACHE's website.
GLISI's Executive Director, Gale Hulme was quoted in a
recent Business to Business article about teaching the nation's
children well and the connection to leadership. The
article focuses on recent research that shows a strong connection
between teacher retention and student performance to the quality of
school leadership. Gale Hulme agrees with the research stating
"Most teachers stay in a school because of the leadership. They work
for people. They don't work for schools." Kathy O'Neill of
Southern Regional Education Board is also quoted in the article.
To read the full article, click here.
Shirley Davis, a GLISI team member dedicated to Rising Stars has been accepted as a member of Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education’s Education Policy Fellowship Program. To learn more about this program, visit their website at www.gpee.org.
GLISI congratulates Walker County for ensuring a strong focus on graduation starting Day 1 of the new school year. To read this story and see how Walker County is “living their mission” click here. To watch a video of their first day, click here.
GLISI highlights 16 districts that have improved student achievement or organizational effectiveness through its Success Case Methodology. A book featuring 6 of these stories can be found here along with the other cases. To read the cases click here.
THE PRINCIPAL STORY Documentary: The Wallace Foundation and GPB have put together a documentary film on school leadership. THE PRINCIPAL STORY is a media outreach project shown in this national broadcast film to highlight leadership’s role in school improvement. Click here to watch a short promo of the film following two dedicated principals and see Georgia leaders' panel discussion.
GLISI’s Completes Executive COLA on Talent
Management
The Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement just completed
an Executive Learning Community around the topic of talent management in
public education. This Executive COLA worked together for over three
months to learn, review, discuss and brainstorm around the topic of
talent management and how it might be used to improve the growth and
development of our educational workforce and its leaders. The Talent
Management COLA was made of K-12 educators, university professors,
educational support partners and business leaders.
The COLA started with the premise that one of the biggest challenges
facing Georgia Educators is the development of a high quality workforce
to help all students succeed. A critical issue in meeting this challenge
is assuring that we have the right people, in the right jobs at the
right time to produce the sustained results our stakeholders are looking
for.
The COLA found that talent management is a strategic and holistic
approach to HR and strategic improvement planning. It integrates all
aspects of the HR cycle to create a powerful connected approach that
helps organizations tear down the silos that can create barriers to
improving performance. Organizations that focus on talent management as
a strategic priority maximize the processes of attracting highly skilled
workers, developing and integrating new workers, developing and
expanding the capabilities of existing workers, and retaining workers
who increase the value of the organization.
School districts can use the integrated and strategic approach of talent
management to ensure that the performance of its individual workers and
the organization is properly planned, managed and leveraged to achieve
its mission and strategic intent. Using a talent management approach can
ensure that a district properly assesses the positions that are critical
to its success and carefully matches its talent to those critical
positions.
From the Talent Management COLA, GLISI will develop a framework to help
school districts analyze the current state of Talent Management
strategies in their district and plan for changes that might be needed
and implement those changes as a part of their strategic improvement
planning process.
For more information on how GLISI can help your district in the area of
Talent Management, contact Scott Cowart at
scott.cowart@glisi.org or
call at 678-292-8777.
GLISI congratulates Gwinnett County Public Schools for being one of five district finalists for The 2009 Broad Prize for Urban Education. The winner of the Broad Prize receives $1,000,000 in scholarships for high school seniors graduating in 2010. Gwinnett was not named the winner, but received $250,000 for being a finalist. Congratulations Gwinnett! For more: click here.
GLISI Announces Changes in Fee Structure for Fiscal Year 2010. For important information on changes to GLISI’s fee structure for FY 2010, click here.
GPEE Quarterly Board meeting features GLISI District Success Cases. GLISI's sponsor, Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education, held its first Quarterly Board Meeting for 2009 on February 10. The program highlighted one of GLISI's evaluation strategies - Success Case Methodology. After an introduction by GLISI Senior Executive Director Deb Page, UGA professor and GLISI evaluation consultant Dr. Wendy Ruona explained the foundations of the strategy, adapted from Robert Brinkerhoff's book The Success Case Method. Three GLISI school superintendents - from Dade County, Hancock County, and Jones County - presented their Success Cases. GLISI Performance Consultants moderated the presentations and lively question-and-answer sessions. To read the inspiring Success Cases (and others), visit our RESULTS page.
Thanks to GA Public Broadcasting for filming, producing, and hosting videos of the meeting:
Video link to introduction and Success Case Methodology review. Link to closing and panel discussion.
Video links to Success Case presentations:
Jones County;
Hancock County;
Dade County.
GLISI Commissions UGA to conduct Literature Review on the
Supervision, Evaluation, Recruitment, Selection, and Professional
Development of Principals:
In fall 2007, GLISI commissioned Dr. Sally J. Zepeda at the University of Georgia (Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy) to study and examine the research and supporting literature about the supervision, evaluation, recruitment and selection, and professional development of principals and the work of the superintendent and other central office personnel. Succession planning and management were also examined in light of the local context in Georgia and national trends. Click here to review the Executive Summary of "PreK-12 Principals: Issues in Evaluation, Professional Development, and Succession."
GLISI Knowledge, Impact, and Marketing Manager, Becky Shaver, has been published in the October 2008 edition of Performance Improvement magazine, the journal of the International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). Her article, "An Intervention to Improve School and Student Performance," describes how ISPI's 10 Standards of Performance Technology were used to design GLISI Promising Practices, a tool for schools and districts to use to share their GLISI process, work, and results. Read the article here.
Questions about changes in Georgia's Educational Leadership
Certification Rule?
Read
"Changes in Georgia Educational Leadership Preparation and
Certification: The Legal and Practical Issues" Prepared for the
Georgia School Superintendents Association by Phil Hartley of Harben,
Hartley & Hawkins, LLP, with assistance from Marvene Brooks, Education
Consultant, this article gives an overview of the new Rule and its
implications for central offices and schools.