To all of the educators who teach children

to aspire to become great.

The Child

Thank you for teaching me

that one day, I will become all that I could undoubtedly be.

Thank you for guiding my steps through the valleys of disbelief.

For now, my heart is at peace with constant relief.

Thank you for being who you are.

The one who indeed elevates my thoughts as I travel so far.

Thank you for less paper, pencil, chalkboard, ink

and understanding that's not the way I think.

Thank you for being creative in your delivery.

and for teaching me, I'm responsible for my productivity.

Thank you for teaching me!

Signed the child

By: Dana Darden

Once upon a time, there was an educator of 30 years who desired to become an SSO. She dreamed of an entry plan that would represent how she would inspire, energize, track changes in teachers, and leadership practice, and gather low inference evidence around the effectiveness of the work to improve student learning.

She understood the concept of the SSO role and the need to plan strategically. She imagined it was June 15, 2020, and the dream is now becoming a realty.

She thought, and she thought, "Where is the best place for me to start?" and after a few moments, she stood up and said with a loud voice, "the data!" With that thought, she knew the first step in creating an entry plan should be to become knowledgeable about each campus.

Over the past fourteen years as a principal at Benbrook Elementary, she had embraced the importance of utilizing data to drive the work. Now, she would have the opportunity to take her experiences and generate probing questions around the data of the campuses assigned to her.

While she sat at her dining room table, she spoke these words," As I encounter the various campuses assigned to me, it is vital that before meeting the principal or even stepping foot on campus, I must do my homework. I must analyze the current state of each school and ask and find answers to these probing questions...

What campus support is available? Which domain needs the greatest focus? How are the campuses performing on district and state assessments? What is the make-up of the student and teacher population? Which sub-groups affect the overall campus rating? Does the school have a specialty program?

After jotting down the various questions, she pondered, "I realize it's impossible to coach someone if you lack pertinent information that will bring about the desired change in an organization, but how do I organize everything? "

Before taking another sip of water, a familiar word came to her mind, "mentor." She began to reflect on the support she received from her mentor and the various resources he shared. One such item she recalled was a document to track trend data. By implementing this form she realized she would be able to compile and study the areas of concern for each campus and place them into three Categories: Caterory A "Urgent Intervention", B "On Watch", and C "At/Above Benchmark."