From the desk of
the Superintendent:
We can all agree that every minute of the
school day is valuable to Warwick teachers and school
leaders. As early adopters of the Rhode Island Model
Educator Evaluation System, we are proactively preparing
for changes that will soon take effect across the state,
but that doesn’t lessen the amount of work involved in
making this transformation. Next time you see a Warwick
educator, take a moment to say thank you. They are
working harder than ever to serve their students’
educational needs and to improve their professional
practice every day.
I have found that the vast majority of
Warwick parents think very highly of their sons’ and
daughters’ teachers, and well they should. WPS teachers
and school leaders want their students to succeed
because they feel a sense of responsibility toward our
community. Many of our teachers and staff are Warwick
Public Schools graduates who are proud to return to work
in their home school district. That sense of school
community is an important strength – worth preserving –
and it’s one of the reasons why Warwick can count on its
schools to provide an exemplary education for students.
In Thomas Sergiovanni’s excellent book
Leadership for the Schoolhouse, he describes how
vital it is for schools to create communities of
learners, organized around relationships and ideas, and
bound to a set of shared values. Sergiovanni writes
that “most promising school improvement strategies place
their emphasis on the teacher, the classroom and the
patterns of interaction that exist among teachers and
between administrators and teachers in the school” (Sergiovanni,
p.148). In recent months, I’ve been proud to see so
many Warwick school leaders and teachers banding
together around a shared vision for quality instruction,
exchanging ideas, offering constructive feedback, and
striving to provide the best for our children. Here in
Warwick, I believe we are bound by our sense of
responsibility toward our students and our community.
According to Sergiovanni, schools can
enable and empower teachers by increasing their skills,
and by increasing their commitment to professional
values (Sergiovanni, P. 140). The new Rhode Island
Model Educator Evaluation System is intended to do just
that by helping teachers and school leaders strengthen
their relationships. It will prove to be
system-changing only if two-way discussions and an
exchange of ideas flow between principals and teachers.
The real virtue of this system comes from the power of
teachers and leadership working together to provide the
best educational experience for our students.
Thankfully, as early adopters of the
Rhode Island Model, we have partners at the Department
of Education who are actively listening and willing to
respond to constructive advice from those of us who work
with the model every day. We became early adopters to
take advantage of the opportunity for a full dress
rehearsal, and to play a leadership role in the
development of the system for all Rhode Island
educators. As superintendent, I intend to ensure that
our voices are heard, and that we take a direction that
is best for our district and our community.
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