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Monday 26 November 2012

CGS Assessment Journey (so far)

Embodying Visionary Leadership
Valda Harris - Vice Principal

Our teachers have always been committed to wise practice with the student at the heart of every decision. Working in collaborative teams with subject area expertise built in, our girls are challenged and engaged in their learning through the exploration of questions that lead to interdisciplinary studies of depth, breadth and interest.  Conceptual understanding is the goal.  Throughout our last school year our assessment teacher leaders led an ongoing discussion about our assessment practices.  Three times a year, percentage and grade based report cards overshadowed powerful narratives carefully written to describe each girl as a learner within that reporting term.  We had noticed for years that the weeks leading to report cards were ones in which anxiety in our girls escalated along with all of the behaviours that accompany that anxiety.  Girls worked for the mark rather than the learning. Interdisciplinary learning experiences seemed to freeze as we stopped to ensure that a mark could be assigned to the work, temporarily putting inquiry and interdisciplinary exploration back into the silos of disciplines - and often, that which could be assigned marks in this way was assessing lower level learning.   It was inauthentic and lacked the congruence of the rest of the programming we were providing.  Our marking system was not able to accurately assess that which we truly valued and worked daily to develop:  deeper understanding and the ability to transfer that understanding to new situations and other disciplines.

Thursday 22 November 2012

The Struggle to be an Instructional Leader

by Darrell Lonsberry - Principal

I don’t know that there can be any debate that the primary responsibility of school administrators is to provide sound instructional leadership. Certainly, this aspect of administration is recognized in the Alberta Professional Practice Competencies for School Leaders. Our own superintendent, Dr. Garry McKinnon discussed the importance of this aspect of school leadership in a previous blog postAdditionally, I haven’t yet met a school administrator who doesn’t want to make a positive difference in the quality of teaching and learning in their school through working directly with teachers. With all of the reasons why school administrators must be focusing on providing sound instructional leadership, there continues to be significant restrictions and limitations in place that often prohibit leaders from realizing their potential as instructional leaders. I suffer that same sense of frustration from time to time as the Principal of the Calgary Science School.

Friday 16 November 2012

Why Would Anyone Ever Want to be a School Principal?

by Garry McKinnon, Superintendent

The seven school leadership competencies and accompanying descriptors in the draft Professional Practice Competencies for School Leaders in Alberta document provides a comprehensive overview of the expectations for principals and assistant (vice, associate) principals. Principals are accountable for the demonstration of all of the competencies throughout their careers while assistant, associate, vice principals are accountable for the demonstration of those competencies that are directly related to their assigned role and leadership designation.

Relationships, Relationships, Relationships - The Fundamental Building Block for Learning and Leading

by Garry McKinnon, Superintendent

In a recent conversation with a group of realtors about the challenge of selling a home, a common theme which I have heard many times was reinforced - it's all about location, location, location. If I were to identify one element which is fundamental in all aspects of teaching and leadership I would say that it is all about, relationships, relationships, relationships. In fact, I believe that wherever you see people gathered in work situations, socially and/or their family lives, the ability to establish authentic relationships of mutual respect is the key ingredient. In schools the comment, "you need to reach the child to teach the child" highlights the fundamental importance of relationship building. It is not always easy but you need to find a way to connect with each and every student.
There are two pieces of advice I was given before I began teaching which have impacted me through the years. The first gem of wisdom is to always recognize that "each individual is unique and special and everyone has a story to tell". This has profoundly impacted how I deal with people and has caused me to celebrate opportunities to build positive relationships with everyone I encounter. I found the second gem of wisdom to be equally significant, especially in dealing with difficult people - "the student who is the most difficult to like is the one who needs you the most". Teachers can't give up on any students. Teaching and leading is all about finding ways to connect with people and to have what I describe as, " value-added" relationships in which they are better off because of our interactions with them.

Action Strategies for Fostering Effective Relationships

by Garry McKinnon, Superintendent

In my last blog highlighting the first of the seven school leadership competencies, fostering effective relationships, I presented three scenarios which represented real life experiences I have encountered. It is helpful to consider the school leadership competencies in the context of realities which those in formal school leadership roles (principal, assistant/vice principal) may encounter. In this blog, I will present two more scenarios and will offer what I would describe as action strategies for school leaders to foster effective relationships.

Embodying Visionary Leadership


By Garry McKinnon, Superintendent
It is interesting to reflect on the nature of visionary leadership as a starting point for dialogue on school leadership. Who would you identify as visionary leaders who have had a significant impact on the world in which we live? When Barack Obama was campaigning for election as President of the United States he generated a great deal of enthusiasm through his passionate articulation of a vision of what could be. He caused people to join him in pursuit of a dream and a commitment to the slogan, "yes we can". He was effective in giving people hope and building confidence in their ability to make a difference. President Obama arguably provides an example of embodying visionary leadership although some of the initial enthusiasm has waned as he addresses the complexities of his challenging mandate.

Leading a Learning Community

by Garry McKinnon, Superintendent

The Minister of Learning the Hon. Lyle Oberg, in 2003 following an in-depth process of public consultation accepted a report from the members of Alberta's Commission on Learning entitled, Every Child Learns- Every Child Succeeds which set a new direction for education in Alberta. Most of the 95 recommendations in the report were implemented. Recommendation 13 made reference to requiring every school to operate as a professional learning community dedicated to continued improvement in students' achievement. A Professional Learning Community was described as one in which teachers and school administrators continuously seek and share learning and then act on what they learn.
Almost ten years later, there continues to be a recognition of the efficacy of the learning community ideal. In the Alberta School Leadership Framework school leaders are urged to nurture and sustain a culture that values and supports learning and to: promote the success and development of all students as a shared responsibility; promote and model lifelong learning; foster a culture of high expectations for students, teachers and other staff; foster and sustain an inclusive school environment; promote and facilitate meaningful collaborative professional learning; ensure that parents are informed and have opportunities for meaningful input and foster the use of local community resources and agencies to enhance learning and development.

Thursday 15 November 2012

Providing Instructional Leadership

by Garry McKinnon, Superintendent

If you were to ask anyone involved in education about the importance of instructional leadership, there is no doubt the response will be that it is critical to the success of any school. If you were to enter into a dialogue with school principals, it is very likely they would all describe themselves as being instructional leaders, but, what exactly is instructional leadership and to what extent is it actually taking place in our schools? We have been exploring this question through a series of informal professional development sessions at the Calgary Science School involving the principal, two assistant principals, the Professional Development and Collaboration Coordinator and myself. As well, we have undertaken a two-year research project, which is being facilitated by Dr. Pam Adams from the University of Lethbridge. The focus of the research is on exploring the question - What are the essential conditions and practices in a school culture that support and promote exemplary teaching, student learning, and instructional leadership? Through the study we will be exploring various aspects of instructional leadership with the ultimate goal of developing a frame of reference for exemplary school leadership.

Instructional Leadership - Challenges and Opportunities

by Garry McKinnon, Superintendent

In my first blog on instructional leadership, I described the ultimate goal of positively impacting the quality of teaching and the learning experiences of the students. I also observed that to be effective as an instructional leader one needs to have a clear idea of what it looks like. I suggested that in addition to making reference to the Alberta Teaching Quality Standard knowledge, skills and attributes of effective teaching, it is highly desirable for the members of the school community (teachers, students, parents and school administrators) to engage in a process of articulating descriptors of exemplary teaching.
These descriptors of exemplary learning and teaching could serve as a framework for teacher recruitment, professional development, supervision and evaluation. I must note as I begin this next blog on instructional leadership that it will not be possible in the limited space available through the blog to address all of the challenges and opportunities and to say all that needs to be said about instructional leadership.

Tuesday 13 November 2012

Dialogue with Alberta Education

by Dr. Garry McKinnon, Superintendent

The members of the Calgary Science School leadership team (Superintendent, Garry McKinnon; Principal, Darrell Lonsberry and Assistant Principals, Phil Butterfield and Scott Petronech) were invited to make a presentation to the Deputy Minister, Assistant Deputy Ministers and senior Alberta Education staff in Edmonton on October 15. The purpose of the dialogue session was to share some background information in regard to the Calgary Science School with a specific focus on exemplars in learning, teaching and leading relating to the Inspiring Education agenda. The Calgary Science School leadership team members invited Dr. Pamela Adams, professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Lethbridge to join them for the presentation. Dr. Adams is completing the second year of a two-year Naturalistic Inquiry research dealing with innovative practices to promote learner engagement, instructional leadership and professional learning.

Developing and Facilitating Leadership


by Dr. Garry McKinnon, Superintendent

As I continue my series of blogs on school leadership with reference to the seven competencies outlined in the Alberta Education Professional Practice Competencies for School Leaders framework, I will 
Team Ferbey
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Team_Ferbey.jpg
highlight the fifth dimension-Developing and Facilitating Leadership. In an earlier blog I made reference to the evolving concept of school leadership, which I described as the Ferby model with reference to Randy Ferby and his Edmonton curling team which has been highly successful at the provincial, national and international level. As Skip of the team, Ferby introduced a new approach to team leadership by having his Third throw the last rocks and encouraging his team members to actively and collaboratively participate in considering various strategies in deciding on the preferred course of action. In the past, the Skip would call the shots and the other team members would not question his/her judgment or share in the leadership role. Similarly, the school principal was seen as the individual in charge whose leadership and decision-making role was unquestioned. 

Friday 2 November 2012

The Importance of Collaborating...

by Scott Petronech, Assistant Principal

Our October 25th TAAPCS - Leadership Initiative meeting allowed me to better understand the importance of collaborating with administrators from different Alberta Charter Schools. Although each of our schools may have a different focus, we all have a mandate to improve and enhance the educational experiences of the students within our schools.

I think we would all acknowledge that we need to focus on the social, emotional, physical and cognitive abilities of our students, but I believe that as a Charter school, we also have a larger obligation. We need to share our findings with the larger school community. Charter Schools were initiated to be centres of research and innovation. If we do not share our best practice (and learning opportunities) with others, I would suggest that we are not living up to our intended purpose.

In order to have an impact on education, it is important to make sure that the information we are sharing  with each other and beyond is more than promotional pamphlets. All of our schools have changed and adapted over the years as we have discovered new strategies and approaches for reaching unique learning goals. We need to better communicate these findings with others. We can be a change agent for improving the educational landscape in Alberta (to start). I look forward to working with my leadership group to start the process.