Week provides invaluable lessons for senior team

This past week members of my senior team and I participated in the Harvard Institute for School Leadership and Large-Scale Improvement. It was an intense week of study and a great investment of time to strengthen our capacity for the work here in Springfield to transform our schools. Other participants in the institute included educators from South Africa, Australia, Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware and Kentucky.

The week was filled with learning experiences to help improve instructional practice, our understanding of the instructional core (i.e., teachers, students and content) through alignment and implementation efforts for maximum impact, and ensuring equity for “All” students through an emphasis on better student outcomes. There was also dedicated time for us to work as a team on a problem of practice specific to our work in Springfield.

In addition to the readings, case studies and rich discussions with some of Harvard’s outstanding faculty, we also had the opportunity to learn new insights from high performing school districts like Baltimore, Montgomery County, MD and Bellevue, WA. The week was also affirming with respect to our plans for system-wide improvement across the district. We recognize we have a long way to go but it is reassuring to know we are on the right track.

My hope was that we would come away from this experience with a greater understanding of the right work to transform our schools and be stronger as a team. We certainly got that and so much more!