Coaches provide individualized support as needed,
and help principals identify and support struggling
teachers at the schools.
Dr. Lynch strongly believes in providing coaching
through familiarity with the research on effective
schools. Over the past few years, district and school
leaders have read From Good to Great Schools:
What Their Principals Do Well by Susan Gray and
William Streshly; Focus: Elevating the Essentials
to Radically Improve Student Learning by Michael
Schmoker; The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born,
It’s Grown, Here’s How by Daniel Coyle; Qualities
of Effective Teachers by James H. Stronge; and
Pathways to the Common Core: Accelerating
Achievement by Lucy Calkins, Mary Ehrenworth,
and Christopher Lehman. Dr. Lynch also shares
articles about leadership and current educational
issues with principals and central office staff several
times a week.
Collaboration. Principals collaborate with each
other during monthly principal meetings. In these
meetings, they discuss pertinent leadership issues,
such as recruiting and hiring teachers, school
safety, teacher evaluation, and retention of effective
teachers. In addition, each fall, the district hosts
Camp ABC, which is an administration and board
collaborative meeting where participants discuss
data and district plans for the upcoming year. Last
year, leaders also attended a P-20 Apple Education
Mobilization Summit where they learned about the
role of new technologies in mobilizing learning as
well as apps related to helping students master
Common Core standards.
Targeted professional development. Leaders are
also provided targeted training and professional
development, with an emphasis on the Common
Core, media and technology, student acquisition
of academic vocabulary, and instructional skills,
with a special focus on rigor. The district also offers
three Southern Regional Education Board modules:
Building Instructional Leadership Teams that Make
a Difference; Using Root Cause Analysis to Reduce
Student Failure, and Assessing Academic Rigor to
Ensure Grade-Level Proficiency. “You can’t implement things well unless the principal is part of that
learning,” Dr. Lynch said. “You can’t lead what you
don’t know.”
“Curriculum Modules: Engaging Leaders
in Solving Real World Problems”
http:/
/tnscore.org/scoreprize/downloads/2012/SREB_
Leadership_Curriculum_Modules.pdf
Ensuring excellent teaching
Hamblen County recognizes that excellent results are associated with excellent teaching. Thus
leaders emphasize that every class should have a
highly effective, engaging teacher who is prepared
to teach to new standards and expectations. District
Coaches provide individualized support as
needed, and help principals identify and
support struggling teachers at the schools.
Pathways to the Prize
Lessons from the 2012 SCORE Prize District Winner
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