Superintendent Search - Louise Independent School District

Exciting news for the LYS Nation! Louise Independent School District is searching for its next Superintendent. Located between Houston and Victoria, Louise provides excellent schools, hard working staff, a proud community and great place to live and raise a family. Best of all, Louise ISD wants a LYS school leader to shepherd them in their pursuit of excellence. Specifically, the next Louise ISD Superintendent will have:

· A record of successful school leadership.

· Exceptional communication skills.

· Expertise in implementing the Foundation Trinity and the Fundamental Five.

· A working knowledge of school finance.

Interested candidates should submit a cover letter, resume, superintendent certificate, and two letters of reference to superintendent@LeadYourSchool.com

The application deadline is June 30, 2011.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Now apply...

Pulling out the Rug that was TPM

If you are a regular reader you know that I have never been a fan of TPM. I believed that it was cheap political stunt that was bad for students and bad for schools (but it did help to get the Governor re-elected). A lot of grief that people are experiencing at this time would seem to confirm this. However, good or bad, here is how the state screwed this up this time.

TPM was the rule that everybody had been playing by for the past two years. Decisions, actions, plans, interventions, pacing and careers were all impacted by the understanding that TPM has a measurable effect on student performance scores and campus accountability. Due to this, if the rule is in place at the beginning of the year, you keep it in place until the end of the year. But this was not the case. The state said, “Here are the rules, go to work. Oops, here are some harder rules, good luck.”

It is like the referees of a football game walked into the locker room at halftime and told the coaches, “I know you are 11 points behind, but for the rest of the game touchdowns are only worth 4 points. Thanks for understanding.”

It is becoming more obvious by the day that the people making school policy decisions have no understanding of school operations.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t

Upcoming Event / Presentation Schedule

June 11 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!

June 15 (TASSP) - Improve Now!

June 16 (TASSP) - Conference Breakfast, hosted by E. Don Brown (LYS travel tumblers for the first 1000 attendees, last year we ran out)

June 16 (TASSP) – Book Release Event, “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction”

June 16 (TASSP) - Fundamental Five; Tech Tools for the 2.0 Principal

June 17 (TASSP) - PowerWalks

June 18 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!

A Look in the Mirror

TAKS scores have been released to districts. And the reality of a world without TPM has cast a pall over schools and districts. And that’s OK. Remember that TAKS is just a program review. It tells us how well we taught the material this year and how many students mastered the material this year. TPM masked that reality and it allowed us to take our eye off the ball. Yet we all know that there is always room to improve. So here is what we do.

1. That “punch to the gut” feeling you have right now, hold on to it. We’re going to use it in a couple of steps.

2. Take your butt chewing from Central Office. They can’t beat you up any worse than you are currently doing to yourself.

3. Compare real 2010 numbers to the 2011 numbers. What improved? Build on that success. What fell? Quit looking for who to blame and start problem solving.

4. That punch to the gut feeling from step number 1... Use that feeling to drive your planning over the summer. Use it to identify the things that you can no longer afford to do. Use it to identify the areas where you deviated from what was right and necessary. Use it to start the first day of school next year at full speed, instead of half speed. Use it to help you grind through the tough times when others want to slow down or stop. Use it so you never have to feel it again.

True character reveals itself in times of adversity. This is where you get to look in the mirror and see what kind of leader you really are. Are you going to re-commit, rally your troops and find the better solution or are you going to yell, threaten, point fingers and blame others?

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t

Upcoming Event / Presentation Schedule

June 11 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!

June 15 (TASSP) - Improve Now!

June 16 (TASSP) - Conference Breakfast, hosted by E. Don Brown (LYS travel tumblers for the first 1000 attendees, last year we ran out)

June 16 (TASSP) – Book Release Event, “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction”

June 16 (TASSP) - Fundamental Five; Tech Tools for the 2.0 Principal

June 17 (TASSP) - PowerWalks

June 18 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!

Quick Hitters from the LYS Nation - Part 1

It’s time for a little house cleaning. A number of you have sent in quick comments after reading recent posts. I want to share those comments with the rest of the LYS Nation and if you happened to miss the original post, go back and check it out.

In response to the 4/15/2011 post, “My Property Tax Appraisal – Part 1,” the Ol’ Ball Coach writes, “Yes, Yes and Yes!”

In response to the 4/19/2011 post, “A TAKS Reminder from the LYS Elementary Coaching Team,” Jannay writes, “Excellent information.”

In response to the 4/27/2011 post, “Can School Turn-around Survive Changes in Leadership,” a reader writes, “Amen, brother!”

In response to the 5/11/2011 post, “Madoff School Finance,” a reader writes, “Love it!”

In response to the 4/26/2011 post, “A Reader Asks... The Sorry Employee,” a reader writes, “Interesting. I need to think about this. I don’t always agree with you but you do keep it fresh and challenging.”

SC Response

That’s definitely the intent. And I’m glad you don’t always agree. Even I can point out some posts where I have changed my position since writing it. And whenever you don’t agree, send in a post and make your case. Tomorrow, will clear out another set of quick hitters.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t

Upcoming Event / Presentation Schedule

June 11 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!

June 15 (TASSP) - Improve Now!

June 16 (TASSP) - Conference Breakfast, hosted by E. Don Brown (LYS travel tumblers for the first 1000 attendees, last year we ran out)

June 16 (TASSP) – Book Release Event, “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction”

June 16 (TASSP) - Fundamental Five; Tech Tools for the 2.0 Principal

June 17 (TASSP) - PowerWalks

June 18 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!

Top LYS Tweets from the Week of May 15, 2011

I’ve had a number of people ask me what I mean when I use the term “Bootleg Technology.” When I use the term, I am talking about hardware (usually portable) that increases connectivity to others and/or the internet. These devices include, but are not limited to, cell phones and smart phones, laptop computers, tablets (Ex: I-PAD), e-readers (Ex: Kindle) and many gaming devices. The beauty of these devices is that ownership of one or more of these items is now more common than not having one. And from a school standpoint, student ownership and/or availability is increasing daily. Whether we want them to or not, students across the economic spectrum use bootleg technology like adults use electricity. We can either embrace and leverage this, or we can ignore it and become less relevant with each passing day. You know which side I’m on.

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now using bootleg technology devices to follow Twitter. If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us. To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of May 15, 2011, as tabulated by the accountants at Price Waterhouse.

1. Congratulations to LYS district Splendora ISD - Winner of this year's HEB Excellence in Education Award!!!

2. Tonite's Run Thought: The leadership skills of resourcefulness & resiliency are only honed in the face of adversity.

3. Resist the temptation to look at your budget only in terms of jobs. Cutting support to the bone simply kills the staff that remain.

4. Tonite's Run Thought: How is this for sad? I spent more on Doggy Day Care last year than I did on school taxes.

5. The problem with using test scores as part of teacher evaluation is that the more at risk the student being taught, the more the teacher is at risk.

6. My summary on class size: With poor instruction, more students in a class equals more discipline problems. With good instruction, more students in a class equals less meaningful interaction.

7. Interesting field data: At one LYS campus, the ten teachers with the highest failure rates spent less time in the Power Zone and used more worksheets than their peers.

8. Reason number 589 why the LYS Nation is different. "Fact that schools are safer when teachers are visible surprises districts." Unbelievable.

9. Tonite's run thought: Frequent observation and conversation are the currency of the instructional leader. If you don't, then you aren't.

10. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, what is outright theft?

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Now Available on Amazon.com! "The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction" http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t

Follow Sean Cain on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Upcoming Event / Presentation Schedule

June 11 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!

June 15 (TASSP) - Improve Now!

June 16 (TASSP) - Conference Breakfast, hosted by E. Don Brown (LYS travel tumblers for the first 1000 attendees, last year we ran out)

June 16 (TASSP) – Book Release Event, “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction”

June 16 (TASSP) - Fundamental Five; Tech Tools for the 2.0 Principal

June 17 (TASSP) - PowerWalks

June 18 (TASB) - The Fundamental Five; Improve Now!