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 Welcome to the September edition of our Executive Leader Alert newsletter! Also, welcome back to another school year. Each year starts off with new work, new challenges, and new changes. GLISI is experiencing all of these things and is welcoming the new opportunities. As noted last year, GLISI made changes to its service structure by offering both pro-bono and for-fee services and solutions. For-fee services are designed to sustain GLISI's pro-bono work. In order to do this, a new non-profit organization is being created to support the GLISI work and mission now under the leadership of Gale Hulme, GLISI Executive Director. This new organization, H-ELPS (Human Capital Development & Education Leader Performance Support) is a non-profit devoted to sustaining GLISI. Deb Page, the H-ELPS President, further explains this transition and exciting new time in her attached letter.
GLISI and H-ELPS are committed to helping leaders improve education. |
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| GLISI Power of 100™ Conducts its 2nd Successful Session |
 GLISI launched a performance-based principal and district representative development pilot program, The Power of 100™, on June 17-19 at Callaway Gardens. On September 16, the groups met again for their second training to continue their collaborative inquiry begun in June. The districts met at Clayton County's Professional Learning Center
GLISI is collaborating with seven districts to help them strategically and deliberately strengthen their "bench" of qualified leaders and to leverage learning communities to improve student achievement. The districts are Baldwin, Bibb, Clayton, Greene, Hancock, Pike, and Washington County. Participants include principals, district leaders, and superintendents, with performance coaches who will support each participant's development.
The September drive-in focused on achieving results through learning communities, creating a culture for performance, and leading standards-based teaching and learning. These sessions accompanied other in-depth sessions around the participants' action research projects as well as special interest sessions for each district level role to ensure commitment, ownership, and understanding. The next drive-in session will take place February 18, 2010. |
| GLISI's Policy Director, Ann Duffy on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards |
 Ann Duffy was selected from a pool of 775 exemplary applicants to serve on this committee as part of NBPTS's ground-breaking national certification program for accomplished educational leaders. These standards will reflect the nine core propositions for educational leaders and identify specific knowledge, understandings and skills that support accomplished practice. The standards will serve as the foundation for a highly accomplished principal certification program.
For more information, visit NBPTS's Web site at http://www.nbpts.org.
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| Synopsis of GLISI and the University of Georgia's Research Findings |
GLISI and the University of Georgia through the Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy have worked together for two years on different research agendas. Year 1 featured reviews of the literature. Year 2 focused on "Distilling Next Generation Practices in Leadership Development" and "A Call to Action for Research in Educational Leadership that Matters to the State of Georgia." Led by Dr. Sally J. Zepeda the two studies were conducted through in-depth quantitative and qualitative research with the help of several UGA Research Assistants. The Executive Summaries of the two studies are linked below. To find out more information, please contact Gale Hulme at gale.hulme@glisi.org.
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| GLISI Success Case: School Reform Teams and Flipping the Script in the Atlanta Public Schools |
 With the help of GLISI's breakthrough processes, programs, and consulting, districts all over the state are improving student achievement and organizational effectiveness. GLISI Performance Consultants are documenting these results through the Success Case Methodology. Here is one of the GLISI Success Cases that demonstrates the results of one district's hard work and alignment:
How can districts create conditions for school success? How can districts break the cycle of top-down decision-making? This Success Case chronicles both the initial structural reform and the subsequent transformation of the Atlanta Public Schools' (APS) central office to improve service delivery to the schools in support of student achievement. The first step was to reorganize the school system into five School Reform Teams (SRTs) to bring leadership, services, and support closer to the schools. The result? "One-stop shopping" for principals to access needed services. Read more about the APS story here.Read more GLISI Success Cases on our Web site on the "Results" page. |
| GLISI's Involvement in GPB and the Wallace Foundation's Principal Story |
 THE PRINCIPAL STORY is a national broadcast film which tells the stories of two principals, painting a dramatic portrait of the challenges facing America's public schools - and of the great difference a dedicated principal can make. GLISI partnered with GPB, GPEE and SREB to film a response to the documentary and highlight the successes and challenges facing education leaders in Georgia. This project, sponsored by The Wallace Foundation, raises the visibility of leadership as a key lever for school improvement. To see the taped GA panel discussions, click here and scroll down to the bottom of the page.
For the videos and for more information, visit the Principal Story website at GPB. |
| Performance Tip: Senior Leaders make sure there is clarity around expectations |
 Many school and school districts are data rich and information poor. Assessments, surveys and every day operations produce so much information that teachers and leaders often have a hard time synthesizing and drawing meaning from it all. Reporting data visually is one way to allow staff the time to assimilate the data, to understand it more deeply and to identify patterns and trends. Some schools and districts have turned to data rooms to help with their visual reporting needs. Data rooms are essentially public places where information on all aspects of school life is continually accessible to all school stakeholders. Effective leaders learn how to use the data room for planning sessions, meetings, and formal and informal data walks in ways that direct teacher attention to critical issues.
To assist schools and districts looking to fully leverage their visual reporting efforts GLISI has created a new performance based module, Leading a Team to Implement Visual Reporting as a part of its Balanced Performance Improvement Series. This module assists school leaders to use data rooms to make a positive impact on all areas of school and district performance. The module leads participants through three activities: establishing a data room, leading a data walk and leveraging the data room to make a positive impact on the school improvement process. For more information on visual reporting and using this performance based module contact Dr. Maggie Glennon at maggie.glennon@glisi.org. |
| Questions? Contact us. |
 Gale HulmeGLISI
Executive Director
 Scott Cowart
H-ELPS
Feel free to contact Gale Hulme, Scott Cowart, or your GLISI Performance Consultant if we can help you shape your 2009-2010 professional development plans. |
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Georgia Leadership Institute for School Improvement
760 Spring Street, Room 217
Atlanta, Georgia 30308
Phone: (404) 385-4090
Fax: (404) 385-4151
Human Capital Development and Education Leader Performance Support
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