"Building a Culture of Achievement"

     Building a culture of high achievement at the St. Mary's Middle School is like building a team that strives for excellence.  The high achievement of each member of the team should be measured in terms of whether they have individually contributed to the goal of the team based on their role and on their strengths.  Success should not be measured on winning or on losing but rather on whether individuals and whether the team as a whole have maximized their potential.  This is what we all have control over and whether or not the other team has more talent, more resources, and more luck is something we can't and shouldn't worry about.

     Consequently, I am not one who believes that the quality of the St. Mary's Middle School should be measured in terms of test scores, grades, percentage of English language learners, or other factors over which we have little control.  We need to examine whether each individual student is maximizing their potential and whether the school is challenging each of these students at the level and with what they are interested in as students.  I would like to find more ways to figure out how we add value to each kid's life and to look at indicators of success that go beyond the quantitative measures we try to hang on to as "the truth."

     Like building a team, it is easy to deal with the highly talented and motivated students who get the glory with high grades and high test scores.  However, I believe it is the excellent coach and the excellent teacher who can make the last guy on the bench feel as much a  valued member of the team as the leading scorer and to instill a passion for the game that goes beyond individual glory.  It is my belief that the strength of any culture is not defined by how we deal with the top 10% of it but rather how we deal with the most vulnerable within the culture.  If we can figure out how to deal with this group within our school the strength of the school will be clear.

     As I listen to Virginia Rojas, one of my essential question regarding EAL or about Gifted and Talented Student or about resource students or about any students in between is whether good teaching is good teaching for all students?  Isn't differentiation, cooperative learning, authentic assessments, building on strengths, understanding your theoretical basis for learning, interdisciplinary teaching or all of the rest doesn't cross artificial categories of student learning?  Doesn't it all come down to highly motivated and skilled teachers who are passionately interested in doing what is right for each student?  All the rest are details from my view of the world.
     And.......Together Everyone Achieves More (along the way.)

John Wooden on Success