Post by title1parent on Aug 19, 2008 6:04:41 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1114517,6_1_NA19_FIRSTDAY_S1.article
Leis focusing on 'three E's' in D203
Superintendent excited as his final year begins
August 19, 2008 SUN
By Tim Waldorf twaldorf@scn1.com
Overshadowed in Naperville School District 203 Superintendent Alan Leis' Aug. 6 retirement announcement was his enthusiasm for the coming school year.
But on the eve of the first day of his last school year, Leis shared that excitement with school board members by explaining the three E's that have become the school year's theme: engagement, excitement and excellence.
Engagement
New faces, new places
Naperville School District 203 has five school administrators taking on new roles this fall.
Karren Currier will go from being Ranch View Elementary School's principal to the principal at Steeple Run Elementary School, replacing Michael Scorzo. District 203 hired Kathleen Duncan, the former assistant superintendent for instructional services for Indian Prairie District 204, to take over as Ranch View's principal.
Ranch View also has a new assistant principal - Candice Aaron, who will also serve as an instructional coordinator at Meadow Glens Elementary School. Last year, Aaron served as an instructional coordinator at both Meadow Glens and Steeple Run.
Aaron isn't the only new assistant principal in the district. Gina Baumgartner will fill that position at Mill Street Elementary School.
Ray Jamiolkowski, the longtime counselor and student personnel services coordinator at Central, stepped out of retirement and into the role of interim assistant principal. That position was held last year by Bill Wiesbrook, who was promoted to the position of interim principal following the reassignment of Jim Caudill.
Engagement
Student engagement is "absolutely a primary key in student learning," Leis said, "but it is a very tricky thing to get a handle on, and it is a very tricky thing to measure."
Nonetheless, the district has worked over the past three years do just that, and its observations indicate that active engagement of District 203 students is on the rise, Leis said.
Building on that, Leis said the district will focus this year on providing students more opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning. A review of the district's practices by the Consortium of Educational Change indicated the district was inconsistent in providing students these opportunities, and concluded that the district needed to take steps to make this happen.
One way to do this is to continue working on differentiation of instruction.
"Making sure that our curriculum, which we think is outstanding, making sure that teachers have ways of teaching it and then reteaching it to make sure that each child in the classroom 'gets it,'" Leis said.
But students aren't the only ones he hopes to engage this year. He said he wants to discuss with staff and parents ways in which the district can increase collaborative time for teachers, especially at the elementary level. Similarly, Leis said he hopes to discuss ways to increase foreign language instruction without sacrificing other studies.
Excitement
"Part of the excitement this year has to be all of the wonderful things we are doing around facilities," Leis said.
Ground is set to be broken on Mill Street Elementary School's expansion and renovation project Sept. 23. At Naperville North High School, the district has found a way to improve the swimming pool beyond the scope of its original plans, but within the confines of its original budget.
And Leis said he's not the only one excited by the district's plans to build an early childhood center. Leis said staff members have ohhed and ahhed at architects' unbelievably realistic renderings of the school to be built along Naper Boulevard, and residents have reacted to them by writing to him to say they've driven past the school site, but can't find the school.
Then, of course, there's the centerpiece of the plan - the $87 million expansion and renovation of Naperville Central High School.
"This is something that is becoming tougher in terms of working through all of the incredible details working through this site and this building," Leis said.
Excellence
Just last week district residents learned that 2008 graduates' composite ACT scores of 25.2 topped the record mark of the prior class by a tenth of a point.
This week they'll learn that 86 percent of the 1,764 high school students who took advanced placement tests last May scored a 3 or higher, which is "absolutely phenomenal," Leis said.
"Another one of our benchmark districts called us and said, 'Ours are about 50 percent scoring 3 or higher. How in the world do you do it?" Leis said.
But he stressed that excellence also can be found outside the district's test scores. For instance, the district is implementing a new elementary level science curriculum, and it is launching its elementary level foreign language program this fall with the creation of dual language Spanish and Chinese classes at Beebe and Maplebrook elementary schools this year. And, added Leis, in the district's third year of offering Chinese courses at the high school level, 26 students are set to study the language for their third year.
""We're turning foreign language departments into world language departments, and that's just the way it should be," he said.
Leis focusing on 'three E's' in D203
Superintendent excited as his final year begins
August 19, 2008 SUN
By Tim Waldorf twaldorf@scn1.com
Overshadowed in Naperville School District 203 Superintendent Alan Leis' Aug. 6 retirement announcement was his enthusiasm for the coming school year.
But on the eve of the first day of his last school year, Leis shared that excitement with school board members by explaining the three E's that have become the school year's theme: engagement, excitement and excellence.
Engagement
New faces, new places
Naperville School District 203 has five school administrators taking on new roles this fall.
Karren Currier will go from being Ranch View Elementary School's principal to the principal at Steeple Run Elementary School, replacing Michael Scorzo. District 203 hired Kathleen Duncan, the former assistant superintendent for instructional services for Indian Prairie District 204, to take over as Ranch View's principal.
Ranch View also has a new assistant principal - Candice Aaron, who will also serve as an instructional coordinator at Meadow Glens Elementary School. Last year, Aaron served as an instructional coordinator at both Meadow Glens and Steeple Run.
Aaron isn't the only new assistant principal in the district. Gina Baumgartner will fill that position at Mill Street Elementary School.
Ray Jamiolkowski, the longtime counselor and student personnel services coordinator at Central, stepped out of retirement and into the role of interim assistant principal. That position was held last year by Bill Wiesbrook, who was promoted to the position of interim principal following the reassignment of Jim Caudill.
Engagement
Student engagement is "absolutely a primary key in student learning," Leis said, "but it is a very tricky thing to get a handle on, and it is a very tricky thing to measure."
Nonetheless, the district has worked over the past three years do just that, and its observations indicate that active engagement of District 203 students is on the rise, Leis said.
Building on that, Leis said the district will focus this year on providing students more opportunities to take responsibility for their own learning. A review of the district's practices by the Consortium of Educational Change indicated the district was inconsistent in providing students these opportunities, and concluded that the district needed to take steps to make this happen.
One way to do this is to continue working on differentiation of instruction.
"Making sure that our curriculum, which we think is outstanding, making sure that teachers have ways of teaching it and then reteaching it to make sure that each child in the classroom 'gets it,'" Leis said.
But students aren't the only ones he hopes to engage this year. He said he wants to discuss with staff and parents ways in which the district can increase collaborative time for teachers, especially at the elementary level. Similarly, Leis said he hopes to discuss ways to increase foreign language instruction without sacrificing other studies.
Excitement
"Part of the excitement this year has to be all of the wonderful things we are doing around facilities," Leis said.
Ground is set to be broken on Mill Street Elementary School's expansion and renovation project Sept. 23. At Naperville North High School, the district has found a way to improve the swimming pool beyond the scope of its original plans, but within the confines of its original budget.
And Leis said he's not the only one excited by the district's plans to build an early childhood center. Leis said staff members have ohhed and ahhed at architects' unbelievably realistic renderings of the school to be built along Naper Boulevard, and residents have reacted to them by writing to him to say they've driven past the school site, but can't find the school.
Then, of course, there's the centerpiece of the plan - the $87 million expansion and renovation of Naperville Central High School.
"This is something that is becoming tougher in terms of working through all of the incredible details working through this site and this building," Leis said.
Excellence
Just last week district residents learned that 2008 graduates' composite ACT scores of 25.2 topped the record mark of the prior class by a tenth of a point.
This week they'll learn that 86 percent of the 1,764 high school students who took advanced placement tests last May scored a 3 or higher, which is "absolutely phenomenal," Leis said.
"Another one of our benchmark districts called us and said, 'Ours are about 50 percent scoring 3 or higher. How in the world do you do it?" Leis said.
But he stressed that excellence also can be found outside the district's test scores. For instance, the district is implementing a new elementary level science curriculum, and it is launching its elementary level foreign language program this fall with the creation of dual language Spanish and Chinese classes at Beebe and Maplebrook elementary schools this year. And, added Leis, in the district's third year of offering Chinese courses at the high school level, 26 students are set to study the language for their third year.
""We're turning foreign language departments into world language departments, and that's just the way it should be," he said.