October 5th EditionGovernor Tony Evers Declares October Principals MonthThis October AWSA staff joins Governor Tony Evers in thanking Wisconsin school principals and associate principals for all that they do. Preparing Communications for the Release of School and District Report CardsThe Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has released the secure preliminary versions of 2020-21 School and District Report Cards. Here are some things to keep in mind in advance of the public release of the data. October is National Principals Month: The Impact of a Principal is Even Greater Than We ThoughtA report released earlier this year from the Wallace Foundation leverages two decades of research to demonstrate that principals are even more important to students and schools than previously thought. In the report,How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research, researchers concluded the following: “Principal impact on student achievement has likely been understated, with impacts being both greater and broader in affecting other important outcomes, including teacher satisfaction and retention, student attendance, and reductions in exclusionary discipline.” Inventory and Control of Software Assets to Prevent Data BreachesU.S. schools leaked 24.5 million records in more than 1,300 data breaches since 2005. One of the best preventative measures to protect your students’ and school’s data is taking regular inventory and control of your school’s software assets. While many school district budgets are tight, the cost of using free software or not controlling the software used may be catastrophic. 2021 Elementary Principals ConventionThe 2021 Elementary Principals Convention will take place from October 13-15, 2021 at the KI Center in Green Bay. Brad Gustafson and Jennifer Abrams will present our keynote sessions and the convention will feature over twenty sessions focused on Elementary Leadership. October 20th EditionLeading for Equity: Our Mission Continues Despite CRT Turmoil, Joe SchroederIn a state where educational outcome gaps between Black and White students have been persistently among the worst in the country (and where educational outcomes for Brown students, students experiencing poverty, students receiving special education services, multilingual students, etc. can be equally concerning), many Wisconsin districts have been focusing on eliminating existing inequities recently and been met with strident community uproar. Given the importance of such work to our collective educational mission and the growing trend of heated political division from national to local arenas on such issues, the AWSA Board of Directors chose Leading for Equity as its learning focus for the current school year. This article will highlight some of the early learning of this effort. Confidentiality of Pupil Information: Unique Issues Presented by the Continuing Pandemic, Malina PiontekOver the past 18 months, the Covid-19 pandemic presented a host of new issues for school principals to grapple with in real time as schools closed and reopened, masks were required and then not, and viable vaccines became widely available. This Update Article is designed to remind school leaders about pupil confidentiality in the context of the latest issues relating to Covid 19. Online Learning: Here To Stay or Gone Tomorrow? (Part 1 of 4), John JacobsSome say the initial distance learning efforts began back in the 1970s as pioneers in the higher education space began to push the boundary related to the time and place of learning. Fast forward to the early 2000s and disruptive innovators began to offer online learning at the primary and secondary levels across our K-12 education sector with minimal mainstream adoption. Fast forward another 15 years and steady adoption of online learning slowly started to become a staple of many district offerings. Fast forward to 2020 and our entire education system was flipped upside down with a global pandemic. Here we are today as educational leaders asking the question, “Is online learning here to stay or will it be gone tomorrow?” The pandemic forced our educational system to rethink how online learning will or will not be part of our system in the future. 2022 Conventions Open for Registration2021 School Leaders Advancing Technology in Education Taking place December 6-8, 2021 at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells, SLATE is a comprehensive educational technology convention designed to meet the needs of all schools and districts. This convention is designed for a wide variety of educators including Teachers, Principals, Associate Principals, District Administrators, Library Media Specialists, IT Coordinators, Directors of Curriculum and Instruction, and other school leaders. More information / Register Today! 2022 Associate Principals Conference The 2022 Associate Principal Conference will take place January 26-28, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency in Green Bay. Jim Sporleder and Jimmy Casas will present our keynote sessions and the convention will feature over twenty sessions. More information / Register Today! 2022 Middle and High School Principals Convention The 2022 Middle and High School Principals Convention will take place February 9-11, 2022 at the Hyatt Regency in Green Bay. JC Pohl, Dr. Niraj Nijhawan, and Dr. Anthony Muhammad will present our keynote sessions and the convention will feature over twenty sessions. |