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October 11, 2024
GLPS Families,
It was another outstanding week here at GLPS! October is the time when we hit our stride academically, as we have had the opportunity to work with students for a few weeks, gather assessment data, and truly understand what our students know and need to learn. To those ends, for my message today, I wanted to share some of the elements of our instructional system that impact student learning.
Last Friday, while students were off, our staff was here, engaged in their own learning. We had a session in the morning with all teachers, TA’s, and paraeducators to discuss strategies for creating calm classroom environments, and discussed it through the lens of our own life experiences and how those interact with the life experiences of our students. We then moved to a variety of learning sessions for all staff, specific to grade levels. Our elementary, intermediate, and middle school teams discussed effective ways of assessing what students are learning, while our high school staff engaged in activities that will help them define and communicate exactly what students are learning in each course. We then wrapped up the day in facilitated collaboration sessions, in which our staff was able to engage in work centered around their learning from the morning and district level goals.
All of this work is rooted in our academic and instructional frameworks and tied to our strategic plan. Our academic and instructional frameworks can be found here, and if you would like a deeper explanation of those frameworks, it can be found here, on our academic services webpage. I have shared this with you before, but as a reminder, information about our strategic plan can be found here. In short, it is important to understand that as a district, GLPS values a cohesive, aligned, educational system, because that creates a cohesive, aligned, learning experience for kids. This results in higher achievement, and better learning opportunities for our students, which means more support to ensure that all students learn and have the skills they need to achieve their goals while they are in school and after they graduate. All of this requires collective learning with our staff, and purposeful time set aside to engage in growth and collaboration.
As I wrap up today, I want to remind you about the two forms I sent in my email last week: the first is information about the Caregiver School Improvement Team, and the second is a survey to find out what areas interest you so that I can tailor my messages and surveys to your needs. If you have not done so, please take a minute to fill them both out. Thank you, as always, for your support and for giving us the opportunity to work with you and your students. Have a wonderful weekend; as always, I am #proudtobeacomet!
Dr. Bill Barnes
Superintendent of Schools
