CULTIVATING STRONG LEADERS
Teachers at John Sevier widely praise their strong
principal and assistant principal, describing them
as knowledgeable, fun, and focused on all the
right things. Principal Wilson and Assistant Principal Boles have an efficient division of labor, with
Wilson overseeing operations, school management,
attendance, and behavior management and Boles
supporting curriculum, instruction, use of data, and
work with parents. Even though they each have
specific responsibilities, they collaborate and contribute to each other’s work at any time as needed. The two try to complete their administrative
work before or after bells ring so they can attend
to students and teachers during the day. Wilson
and Boles are also supported by a school leadership team, composed of teachers and other staff
members, who aid in the school’s decision-making
processes.
“John Sevier Promising Practice:
School Leadership Team”
http://www.tnscore.org/scoreprize/
downloads/2012/John_Sevier_Elementary_
Promising_Practice.pdf
Student-centered decision making. John Sevier
Elementary weighs every practice and every decision to determine its impact on children. The school
has several non-negotiable practices:
The choice of topics for collaborative sessions also
depends on what students need. For example,
leaders asked teachers to select a focus topic for
the summer and fall, with each teacher reading a
book and sharing information in his or her professional learning community (PLC) based on student
challenges that surfaced from the previous year’s
data. The objective is to help teachers improve in
areas in which they may not feel strong. Last year,
the teachers researched 10 areas: 1) phonemic
awareness, 2) phonics, 3) vocabulary, 4) fluency,
5) comprehension, 6) boys and literacy, 7) raising
rigor/Common Core, 8) integrating reading instruction into all content areas, 9) literacy in the early
years, and 10) student academic engagement. The
effort to dig deeper into these topics was reflected
in new activities. For example, from August through
October, the teachers discussed the research and
how it affected their teaching. In October, the school
sponsored Literacy Share Days during which members of each PLC trained others in best practices
during 30-45 minute sessions. “The intent is to build
the toolbox of all teachers with strategies that tend
to come with time, training, and experience,” Boles
said. “The topics selected address a key area of
concern in our building and will serve to increase
student performance across all grade levels and for
all teachers.”
• All teachers teach the Common Core State
Standards at the level of rigor expressed in the
standards.
• All teachers use the Quantum Keys of Excellence.
• All teachers enforce “zone zero” in the hallways.
• All teachers use common assessments and
follow the testing schedule, and all engage in
continuous improvement efforts.
Above all, school leaders make their decisions
within the context of what is best for students. For
example, the leadership team often makes decisions about resource allocation—after consulting
with teachers and staff—in terms of student success
and well-being. They frequently discuss the relative
benefits of spending money on different needs,
such as technology, the playground, celebration, or
books for the library.
Pathways to the Prize
Lessons from the 2012 SCORE Prize School Winners
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