SamTastic Weekly Tip: 8/4/25 - Show What You Value
- Jim Mercer
- Aug 4
- 3 min read
This week’s tip: Show What You Value
Most SAM teams are back at school getting ready for the arrival of students. Some SAM teams had their first day with students in July. Others will not see students until September.
Last week I shared ten things effective SAM teams are doing now for a great new school year. Ten SAM Team Resolutions: CLICK HERE
This week, I encourage you to consider this question: Does your TimeTrack schedule for today align with what you value? Do you have any events for today that are intentionally set to improve a teacher’s practice? A session with a new teacher? A celebratory session with a group or individual? Maybe a planning session to examine how to better support a teacher who had difficulty last year?
Some leaders say: “I’ll do the instructional work after the school is running smoothly in a few weeks.” How would you respond to a teacher with lesson plans where academic work was absent for the first few weeks of school so the students can settle in first?
Your staff, students, and school community are watching you. They believe what they see, not necessarily what you say. When you look at what you’ve scheduled today, are you pleased with the look? Does your schedule align with what you value?
Enjoy the new school year. Schedule events you believe will help teachers improve their practice and enjoy the mission.
Finally, enjoy the comments about your work from NSIP Board Vice President Paul Katnik, below. Nice!
Hello!
My name is Paul Katnik, and I am an Assistant Commissioner for the Missouri Department of Education. I also serve on the NSIP Board for SAMs.
The NSIP Board met back in July and one of our tasks that day was to review the annual data from the Rubric Assessment. The first exciting finding I noticed was that it had a 100% completion rate, which is amazing! Thank you for your hard work on this! With a submission from nearly 800 school leaders from twenty-two states, this data set literally represents the best assessment of school leader practice anywhere in the entire country.
It was also very exciting to see the large increase in the amount of time spent by school leaders “seeing instruction” in the classrooms of their schools. Research is very clear that when school leaders see instruction, student learning improves! Congratulations!
Also exciting was the big gains in feedback that teachers are receiving from their school leaders. What was especially nice to see is that the longer you are involved in the SAMs process, the more feedback your teachers are receiving from you. As research confirms, when teachers receive more feedback from school leaders, they improve their instruction and students learn more!
You should be very proud of the amazing work you are doing! As NSIP Board members, we certainly are!! Thank you for your life-changing work and being a part of the SAMs process!
Paul Katnik
Assistant Commissioner
Office of Educator Quality
Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
Office: 573-751-2931
To access the 2025 SAM Team Performance Report: http://bit.ly/44MbQ8t
To access the Executive Summary, 2025 SAM Team Performance Assessment: https://bit.ly/4fh2V2k
Registration for the 19th Annual National SAM Conference opens Labor Day. Go to www,SamProcess.com to register or use the direct link you will receive the day before.
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