3.2.1
3-2-1: Thoughts on greatness, enjoying the journey, and raising the aspirations of others
TALAS Secretary is spotlighted
How Superintendent Michelle Cavazos encourages her staff at a top rural school district to be disruptive and innovative for students.
Gregory-Portland ISD and Superintendent Michelle Cavazos have been racking up accolades lately and “strategic alignment” is one of the keys to their success. That means the Texas district’s central office and each of its schools are pursuing the same four priorities: exceptional student performance, employee satisfaction, community engagement and effective operations.
“We equate it to rowing a boat—when you have all the rowers in alignment and in sync with their rowing, you go a lot further faster,” Cavazos explains. “When a system has a rower out of sync, they may be turning in circles or there may be extra paddling in there.”
Academic Gains after the Pandemic
Some Bright Spots in Students’ Learning Recovery, But Still a Long Way to Go
There are “small signs” of improvement in students’ academic recovery, but still a long way to go to return to pre-pandemic levels of achievement, concludes a report from Curriculum Associates, a company that provides curriculum and classroom-based testing programs.
Based on an analysis of more than 10 million students in reading and 12 million in math who took the organization’s i-Ready Diagonistic, the proportions of students now performing at grade level are very similar from spring 2023 to spring 2024 across grades and subjects.
Helping Teachers Set Goals
Instead of trying to do everything, focus on what will help you and your students feel a sense of competence in the classroom.
One of the reasons I was burning out as a teacher was a growing sense of incompetence. I couldn’t figure out why I was always so far behind with work. I felt like my students and I worked diligently, yet every April, I was having to cut whole units that I didn’t have time to teach. (I guess we’re not getting to Rocks and Minerals this year!) Where did all the time go? Was I really so incompetent that I couldn’t get to all I was supposed to teach?
Projected accountability scores
Dallas school leaders braced for a C rating for the district, down from the B it earned in 2021-22, but Texas’ official academic accountability grades are on hold once more because of a lawsuit.
Garland ISD, meanwhile, is projected to score a B, as it did two years ago.
The two districts had dozens more campuses earn Ds or Fs this year, compared to those that were not rated the last time grades were released, according to estimates.
Officials from the two districts released their projected grades on Thursday despite the ongoing legal battle against the Texas Education Agency that blocked the state from releasing A-F school accountability grades this week. The local school leaders said they are doing so in an effort to be transparent with families.
Where did this come from?
Almost three months after Texas sparked a firestorm of criticism for a new curriculum heavily infused with Bible lessons, state education officials still won’t say who authored the material or how much they were paid.
And because of the pandemic, they say they don’t have to.
