August 11th EditionIn the Arena, Daring to Lead with a Whole Heart, Joe SchroederHas it ever been harder to lead than now? Hard-line rhetoric and “us-them” positioning seems to rule the day, as if that is what advanced living and thinking is. Our world—even our little corner of it—seems unceasingly and increasingly locked in the sort of conflict that revels in problem-finding more than in solution-seeking, putting people in boxes that magnify division more than inform a dialogue. And contributing to all this is an environment that far too often lacks even the most basic level of human civility and common decency. Yes, it’s very difficult to lead now in ways that can find a reasonable resolution for all the challenges and people within our charge. So let’s consider a leadership mindset and stance that can calm the soul and offer a pathway forward. Updated COVID-19 Communication Templates for SchoolsAs we approach the beginning of the school year, there are a number of unknowns in front of us. These include the degree to which COVID-19 and new variants of the virus will impact the school year. At the same time, we know effective communication will be as important as ever. To assist with your start of the year and ongoing COVID-19 related communications, the Donovan Group, a communications firm that has long been retained by AWSA to provide crisis communication and other services to members, is providing free communications templates. Read more and access the templates. 2021-22 Associate Principal of the Year AwardThe 2021-22 Associate Principal of the Year award is now accepting nominations! The Wisconsin Associate Principal of the Year program recognizes Associate Principals whose leadership has resulted in improved student learning, instructional collaboration, and a safe and positive school environment. Nominations are accepted from teachers, parents, principals, and others across Wisconsin. To nominate an associate principal please fill out the nomination form that can be found in the link above by September 30, 2021. Upcoming WebinarsCommunicating in a Time of Change: Connecting to Stakeholders, Responding to Crisis Effective communications and management are always important for school leaders, but getting communications right is even more critical as we emerge from the pandemic. Join Jerry Gallagher and Joe Donovan from the Donovan Group in discussing the principles of communication and crisis management that will promote clarity while preventing or minimizing the damage a crisis can inflict on the organization, its stakeholders, and its reputation. School leaders in large districts and small and from every corner of the state can attend this webinar for practical school communication tips for the 2021-22 school year. Free to attend. Using Assessment as an Improvement Lever Webinar Teachers make many instructional and assessment decisions in a day. As a leader, what role do you play in ensuring that the assessments teachers are choosing to inform instruction and are used to communicate progress are valid and reliable and reflect student understanding? What does monitoring for assessment quality look like in your school? In this webinar, participants will learn some tools for conducting an assessment audit, understand the role of the team/department and identify the various entry points for this important improvement work. Essential Standards Webinar Series The pandemic illuminated a lot of improvement areas --in positive ways-- and one of those is the need for staff to truly refine curriculum, focusing on Essential Learnings or Power Standards/Clearer standards for each grade and subject, and vertical articulation. AWSA will be providing a series of webinars to equip school leaders and leadership teams with the knowledge and skills to facilitate this work back at the school/district level. Participants may choose all four webinars or pick and choose the specific topic of need. Upcoming Academies Beginning in August or SeptemberNew Building Administrators Academy School leadership is essential to high-performing schools. It is the mission of the New Building Administrators Program to provide the support necessary for early career principals and associate principals to succeed. Data Leadership Academy The Data Leadership Academy develops the capacity to lead continuous improvement efforts that focus on high-quality evidence-informed teaching, learning, and systems improvement. The academy is designed for leaders along with their leadership teams, to engage in a process that embraces an inquiry mindset through a collaborative learning culture.
Meeting the rising mental health needs of school communities is an increasing challenge for education leaders. The Comprehensive School Mental Health Academy is designed to grow capacity in Wisconsin’s School Mental Health Framework and related efforts. The overall goal is to equip leaders with easy-to-access resources, tools, and application examples so that relevant, local action can be thoughtfully implemented and monitored. Impactful Coaching Academy The educator effectiveness model provides growth opportunities for teachers, principals and other valued staff in our school districts today. This model requires principals to be highly effective coaches. Whether your school has instructional coaches or you’re trying to build teacher leadership capacity, all staff desire and deserve coaching and feedback aligned to high expectations, standards, and research-based effective instructional practices. In this professional learning opportunity, participants will further develop the capacity to provide coaching and feedback that is aligned to high expectations, standards, and research-based effective instructional practices.
August 25th EditionHaving Hard Conversations - Tips for School Principals A Conversation with Jennifer AbramsThe ability to effectively engage stakeholders in difficult conversations is critical to school leaders’ success. We asked Jennifer Abrams, communications consultant and author of several books including Having Hard Conversations (Corwin, 2009) and Hard Conversations Unpacked (Corwin, 2016), to share her perspective and some strategies for having hard conversations with teachers, colleagues and supervisors. Back to School, Edward Snow and Dr. Annette SmithAs staff and students head back to school DPI wants to remind you about some best practices and provide resources to help students, parents, teachers, and administrators remain safe from cyber threats. To help get your back-to-school cyber security readiness here are some resources you may find useful. 2022 Principal Leadership Awards: Nominate a Principal You Know Today!AWSA and the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation is celebrating its sixth year of providing fellowships for principals and their schools. The purpose of the Herb Kohl Wisconsin Principal Leadership Award is to recognize and support excellence in Wisconsin school administration. The Herb Kohl Educational Foundation's goal is to support Wisconsin principals in pursuit of their unrealized goals for their schools or professional development. The 12 public school Kohl Leadership Award recipients and the 12 schools of those principals will each receive $6,000 grants from the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation and will be recognized at a spring banquet. The Wisconsin elementary and secondary Principal of the Year will be selected from the Leadership award recipients. Specific information regarding the Principal Leadership award is available here. Nominations are due October 12, 2021. If you know a principal who has positively influenced their community, please consider nominating them today! If you have any questions please contact Jena Sebald at [email protected]. 2021-22 Associate Principal of the Year AwardThe 2021-22 Associate Principal of the Year award is now accepting nominations! The Wisconsin Associate Principal of the Year program recognizes Associate Principals whose leadership has resulted in improved student learning, instructional collaboration, and a safe and positive school environment. Nominations are accepted from teachers, parents, principals, and others across Wisconsin. To nominate an associate principal please fill out the nomination form that can be found in the link above by September 30, 2021. 2021 SLATE Convention
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