Hello!
This week’s SAMtastic tip is: use the rubric. Your Time Change Coach will be asking you to self-assess your progress as a SAM team with the performance rubric. This is done formally at the end of every school year and can be very useful in celebrating wins and setting new goals. You will find the rubric in your TimeTrack calendar. Click the INFO tab at the top and select either:
Self-assess and then talk with your team members about your progress. Once your team and coach agree on your current performance level, and new goals, your profile sheet will be updated. You can, of course, ask your Time Change Coach to revise the performance level on the profile sheet at any time during the year.
As you discuss your work consider your three “target” descriptors. Are you meeting these goal? Do you want to change your target descriptors? You can do this by clicking the SETTINGS tab and selecting General Options. Be sure to click SAVE is you make any changes.
Finally, congratulations to the SAM Team at Parker Varney Elementary School, Principal Amy Allen and SAMs Ginger Drechsel and Maureen Stone. Last year their Manchester, New Hampshire school was tagged as “failing”. Last week it was named the state’s best. This SAM team gained the equivalent of 70 days of instructional leadership time this year and the results are amazing. Take a look at the news stories, below. Congratulations!
New Hampshire Union Leader
MANCHESTER — A Manchester elementary school that only last year suffered from failing test scores has won a statewide excellence award — an award that usually goes to well-funded suburban and rural schools.
Parker-Varney Elementary School received the Elementary School of Excellence award — or EDie — from the New Hampshire Excellence in Education committee. The award was announced at a school assembly Monday.
“It’s a big deal for us, to go from being designated a priority school and making these improvements,” said Amy Allen, who took over Parker-Varney as principal in January 2013. No Manchester school has ever won the EDie award, Allen said.
She said the 620-student school takes a student-centered approach to education, which involves getting students actively involved in their learning. It also has students go online every day for instruction. And it has quadrupled the number of parent volunteers in the school.
MANCHESTER, NH - Spirits were high at Parker-Varney Elementary School Monday following the surprise announcement that they had been named the best school in the state, as Elementary School of Excellence, an annual determination by the New Hampshire Excellence in Education committee.
Other schools honored Monday included Ashland Elementary School, which won the K-8 award, and Bow High school, which earned honors in the high school division
The “ED”ie Awards recognize New Hampshire public schools that meet high standards of excellence and can serve as representatives of the many excellent schools throughout the state. Students, faculty, and community members were surprised by the award announcement during a school assembly at Parker-Varney.
The selection process is rigorous. It began last December, when Manchester School District submitted an application that described various aspects of Parker-Varney’s culture and successes, including how the school personalizes learning, specific innovations that have made an impact, key strengths of the school, and how the Parker-Varney school could serve to inspire others.
“We know we must transform the way we educate beyond the traditional methods,” said Parker Varney principal Amy Allen. “So much of our success is a result of our dedicated teachers who embrace innovation and evolve to meet the learning needs of our students.”
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