Every 10 years a group of teachers and administrators from nearby schools form a committee to assess our school based on 7 indicators of success. The indicators are complex, and don't bear summary. Suffice it to say, these 7 indicators break down every aspect of a school, and set standards for success or failure. We have been working on our evaluation report for the last 3 years, and as co-chair of the steering committee, I have been partly responsible (without any power) for herding our staff into evaluating ourselves.
In the past month, my co-chair and I have spent all of our free time fielding questions from everyone from the janitors to the Assistant Superintendent of schools. In the past three weeks, every broken ceiling tile and every water stain has been covered up. Bushes that have never been trimmed in all the time that we been in this building, were cut down and replaced. There are literally posters placed over holes in the wall. On a personal note I have had no fewer than 30 conversations in which someone above my pay grade tells me "We take this very seriously." when they haven't even thought about the success or failure of our school since our last visit 10 years ago.
Amidst all of this craziness, with a whole district worth of administration (and that's a lot of administration) putting up tiles to cover leaky pipes, and dragging out tablecloths to cover beat up tables, I am very proud. I am proud of my colleagues. While everyone above us is trying to spruce up a C+ school, my colleagues are trying to actually improve our score. I have been impressed on a daily basis by all of the little ways that our teachers have sought to improve their practice, all of the paperwork they have completed and all of the meetings they have attended above and beyond their contract to ensure that our school comes out of this visit having earned high marks.
More to come...
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