2016 TEPSA May/June News

Serving Texas School Leaders May/June 2016 Vol. 73, No. 3 www.tepsa.org

Texas Elementary Principals & Supervisors AssociationTEPSA News

2016-2017 TEPSA State Officers

InsideBest Practices with Tom W. Manypage 8

Thank you for voting, TEPSANs! Your 2016-2017 Secretary is Annette Sanchez, principal in Beeville ISD. Annette is a long-time TEPSAN and has previously served on the Board of Directors. She joins the following officers on the Executive Committee: Presi-dent Nancy Tovar; President-

Elect Manuel Gonzales; First Vice President, Yolanda Delaney; Second Vice President Stacy Davis; NAESP Representative Vic Eugenio; Past State President Eddie Damian and Executive Director Harley Eckhart. Meet Annette and the other officers at Summer Conference in Austin. Early bird registration ends May 17. Learn more on pages 14-15 or at www.tepsa.org.

Annette Sanchez Incoming Secretary

Goal Setting and Professional Development in T-TESS and T-PESS

► page 5

Meeting with Commissioner Morath

(Left to right): Associate Executive Director for Instruction Kirsten Hund, Deputy Executive Director Mark Terry, Commissioner Mike Morath and Executive Director Harley Eckhart

TEPSA leaders recently met with new TEA Commis-sioner Morath to highlight the work of elementary principals and introduce the association as a resource. Commissioner Morath has been invited to speak at the TEPSA Summer Conference.

“TEPSA leaders have developed a great working relationship with the staff at TEA. We look forward to continuing that collaboration and serving as experts on elementary-level issues as Commissioner Morath leads the agency,” said TEPSA Executive Director Harley Eckhart.

The new appraisal system helps foster growth by encouraging all educators to specifically and deliberately think about their own growth. The process helps principals and teachers:•Reflect on current professional practice,• Identify professional growth goals,•Build a professional development plan to attain

those goals, and•Track progress toward meeting those goals over the

course of the year.

Goals can be based on self-assessments and conversa-tions between appraisers and appraisees. A few notes to consider from the TEA Evaluation Team:• Goals should be tied to descriptors in the

$Tech Lab with Trae Kendrickpage 16

Legal Ease with Kevin Lungwitzpage 12

Mistakes School Leaders Make with Grant Simpsonpage 7

Success Stories

mentoringminds.com

We were named as a Blue Ribbon campus this

year based on our five-year test score history.

And I credit a lot of that to the Mentoring Minds

program and what it did to push our

kids beyond just passing and on

toward excellence.”

Ronny SnowPrincipal, Malakoff Elementary School, Malakoff ISD

75% Economically Disadvantaged28% Mobility Rate12% ELL Population2015 National Blue Ribbon School (Exemplary High Performing)

RONNY SNOW, PRINCIPAL

800.585.5258

MALAKOFF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, MALAKOFF ISD

Learn more at mentoringminds.com/total-motivation-story.

Teach the TEKS with

TE

AC

H E R S’ C H O I C E SM A WA

RD

L E A R N I N G® M A G A Z I NE

F O R T H EC L A S S R O O M

TEPSA News www.tepsa.org 3

TEPSA President/Eddie Damian

Region Presidents Juan Garcia Harlingen (1) Annette Sanchez Beeville (2) Gabe Adamek Yoakum (3) Kathy Jahn Alief (4) Julie Gauthier Port Neches-Groves (5) Leah Russell Navasota (6) Cindy Tierney Lufkin (7) Ella Duren Detroit (8) Blake Enlow Bowie (9) Catherine Bridges Grand Prairie (10) Stacie Meadows Keller (11) Lance Malburg Killeen (12) Martha Werner Round Rock (13) Kim Jones Clyde (14) Cheri Braden San Angelo (15) Mike Word Clarendon (16) Doug Smith Frenship (17) Tanya Bell Midland (18) Michael Mackeben Clint (19) Susan Peery Alamo Heights (20)TEPSA regions coincide with regional education service center boundaries.

Staff Harley Eckhart Executive Director Joni Carlson Director of Meetings Cecilia Cortez de Magallanes Marketing & Communications Manager Ann Hopkins Membership/Standing Committees Coor. Kirsten Hund Associate Executive Director for Instruction Anita Jiles Associate Executive Director for Marketing & Communications Ken Jones Controller Trae Kendrick Chief InformationOfficer Elizabeth Kernan OfficeManager Kristina Mora Student Council & Exhibits Coordinator Lori Sanchez Membership & Communications Assistant Louis Silvas Webmaster Karen Terry Governance Coordinator Mark Terry Deputy Executive Director

TEPSA NewsPublished six times a year by Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors

Association. Subscription is included in TEPSA membership dues. Postage paid at Austin, Texas.

Articles may be reproduced by TEPSA members without written request, providedthatduplicationisforaneducationalpurposeatanonprofit

institution; copies are available without charge; and each copy includes full citation of the source.

Copyright © 2016 by the Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association.

ContactTEPSA 501 East 10th Street Austin, TX 78701

512-478-5268 800-252-3621 Fax: 512-478-1502 www.tepsa.org

Executive Committee Eddie Damian President, Fort Bend Nancy Tovar President-Elect, El Paso Manuel Gonzales First Vice President, Frisco Yolanda Delaney Second Vice President, Canyon Stacy Davis Secretary, Frenship Victorius Eugenio NAESPRepresentative,Mansfield Belinda Neal Past President, Lindale Harley Eckhart TEPSA Executive Director

Standing Committee Chairs and Vice Chairs Lisa McLaughlin Advocacy Chair, Deer Park Lorena Zertuche Advocacy Vice Chair, Katy Nayeli Carriaga Membership, Marketing & PR Chair, Sharyland Stephanie Coronado Membership, Marketing & PR Vice Chair, Humble Jackie Gorena Programs & Services Chair, Irving Robin Macke Programs & Services Vice Chair, Lewisville Amanda Schmitter Special Committee on Elections, Hardin-Jefferson Scot Clayton Nominating Committee Chair, Henrietta Libby Flores Nominating Committee Vice Chair, San Benito

Texas Elementary Principals & Supervisors Association At the age of 7, I recall taking a trip to visit my Uncle Pete who owned a few acres of land with a small pond in one corner of the property. On these rare visits, I remember my attempts at catch-ing the minnows that lined the shore, skipping rocks to the other side, and feeding the ducks that never allowed me to get within a few feet. On one occasion, I recall asking my Uncle Pete if I could have a duck to take home as a pet. His lips stretched widely as he looked down upon me and said, “If it is okay with your dad, you can take one home if you can catch one.” As my dad looked at me, he stammered six words, “Okay, if you can catch one.”

I remember the feeling of joy that overcame me that day. I could actually take one of these ducks home if I caught one! As a result, I spent the next hours trying to catch a duck through various modes of deception. I recall making a crude snare out of string and attempting to force them into one corner of the property, whereby my odds of catching one would increase. Needless to say, these attempts failed. However, the thrill of catching one duck repeatedly ignited my drive after each failed attempt. I do not recall ever being discouraged.

As I tell this story, I am taken back to this memory and realize that it was the possibility of having a duck which fueled my pas-sion. My attempts to outwit these quick thinking creatures made this experience memorable. I had a goal, I was engaged, and I knew success would be mine if given enough time and energy.

As principals, our passion is also ignited by the journeys we take and our attempts to overcome the challenges our data reveals. We think, we plan, and we do. In the end, the destination is sweet but the journey is what fuels our passion. Our attempts to overcome adversity are what we remember, and in essence, this is what motivates us. This is why we wake early and stay late.

As you begin to close one year and prepare for a new school year, dig deep to uncover your spark. Then go out and be passionate in your journey. And, by the way, I did finally catch a duck and it was awesome!

4 www.tepsa.org May/June 2016

News Briefs

ESSA GuidanceTEA has released an overview of the immediate impacts of ESSA on several areas including Title I Assessment and Accountability; Highly Qualified Teacher Requirements/Title II Professional Develop-ment; Title III English Language Learners; and the NCLB Consolidated Grant Appli-cation. Learn more at http://tea.texas.gov/interiorpage_wide.aspx?id=25769825516.

Texas Gateway LaunchedTEA has launched Texas Gateway which delivers TEA-approved classroom-ready instructional resources and PD training opportunities to teachers across the state. Visit http://www.texasgateway.org/ for information and to sign up for updates.

Source: Texas Education Agency

Texas Education Agency Updates

Fifty percent of unmentored principals are not retained beyond their third year.*

Led by two nationally-recognized veteran principals who have men-

tored numerous educators into successful leadership roles, TEPSA’s

Transformational Leadership Community, provides differenti-

ated professional learning tailored to individual needs and the Texas

Principal Standards.

Transformational Leadership CommunityNew Principal Mentoring and Mentor Training

Certified Mentor Trainers, Ongoing Access and Support

*Source: CHURN: The High Cost of Principal Turnover, School Leaders Network, 2014

Learn more at www.tepsa.org.

Texas has partnered with the nonprofit EducationSuperHighway to work collaboratively with several state, education and local agencies including the Texas Education Agency and Education Service Centers, to ensure all school districts in the state access to affordable high-speed broadband. According to EducationSuper-Highway data on school connectivity in Texas:• 67% of school districts are meeting the minimum 100 kbps per

student goal• 85% of schools have the fiber connections needed to meet

bandwidth targets• 58% of school districts accessed their E-rate budget for Wi-Fi

networks• 4% of school districts are meeting the $3/Mbps Internet access

affordability target

Learn more and see how Texas compares to other states at http://stateofthestates.educationsuperhighway.org/

Sources: eSchoolNews. (March 16). “Texas moves to augment classroom internet.” Available at http://www.eschoolnews.com/2016/03/16/texas-moves-to-augment-classroom-internet/.

EducationSuperHighway. http://www.educationsuperhighway.org/.

Expanding High-speed Internet Access


News Briefs

A recent article in NAESP’s Communicator featured some of the best Twitter hashtags for principals to follow for great ideas and resources, and for connecting with other educators and administrators: • #edchat - meeting of educators, thought leaders, and others

built around a discussion topic • #principalsinaction - promotes and shares ways to engage with

your school and colleagues• #kidsdeserveit - started by Adam Welcome and Texas principal

Todd Nesloney, has grown into a whole movement with an accompanying blog, and weekly interview on the streaming meeting app Blab

• #MondayMotivation - helps you start the week motivated and inspired

Don’t forget to follow and use #tepsa16 for a Texas perspective and connection!

Source: National Association of Elementary School Principals. (2016, January). “4 Twitter hashtags every principal should follow.” Communi-cator.Vol. 39. Issue 5. Available at https://www.naesp.org/communicator-january-2016/4-twitter-hashtags-every-principal-should-follow.

Best Twitter Hashtags For School Leaders

Congratulations to the following schools and district for their 2016 designation as State Schools of Character (SSOC): •Denton Creek Elementary, Coppell ISD -

Principal Shannon Edwards•Pinkerton Elementary, Coppell ISD -

Principal Kristi Mikkelsen•G.W. Robinson Elementary, Clear

Creek ISD - Principal Yolanda Jones•Martin Walker Elementary, Copperas

Cove ISD - Principal Amanda Crawley•Coppell ISD - Superintendent Dr. Mike

Waldrip

SSOC recognizes PreK-8 schools and districts that demonstrate outstanding character education initiatives based on the 11 Principles of Character Educa-tion that yield positive results in student behavior, school climate and academic performance. State recipients advance to compete in the National Schools of Character (NSOC).

Special thanks to the reading committee which included leaders of current State and/or National Schools of Character: • Co-Coordinator Pam Mitchell,

Coppell ISD• Co-Coordinator Kimmie Etheredge,

Northwest ISD• Kristi Brown, Spring ISD• Whitney Carlisle, Grand Prairie ISD• Courtney Carpenter, Midlothian ISD• Connie Lott, Aubrey ISD• Andra Penny, Coppell ISD

Learn more about State and National Schools of Character in the TEPSA’s Awards section at www.tepsa.org.

►Goal Setting continued from page 1 2016 Texas District and Schools of Character• rubric. They should be about a practice and should be specific.

If there are multiple goals in T-PESS, at least one should be about the principal’s practice.

• The activity plans should specifically spell out the steps an edu-cator will take to accomplish the goal and determine what suc-cess looks like. How do we know if the goal has been reached?

• The goal setting and professional development plan is rated at the end of the year. For T-TESS, dimensions 4.2 and 4.3 cover goals and professional development respectively. For T-PESS, there is an End-of-Year Goal Attainment form (and a Mid-Year Goal Progress form). Review the rubric and forms to ensure appraisers understand how the goal setting and profes-sional development portions of the systems interact with the end-of-year conferences and ratings.

A Goal Setting and PD Plan Training Module is available in the re-sources section at https://tepsa.site-ym.com/?principalteachereval. Join us at TEPSA Summer Conference for more information.

Special Thanks to


Current ResearchThree of Every Four ELLs in U.S. Public Schools are Spanish SpeakersDuring the 2013-2014 school year, nearly 5 million English-learners (10% of K-12 students) attended public elementary and secondary schools according to recent data from the federal education department. The top three languages spoken at home by English-learners are Spanish, Arabic and Chinese. Additional findings:• 17% of kindergarten and first-grade students are

identified as ELLs• 8% of sixth-graders and less than 5% of high school

juniors and seniors.

Source: Mitchell, C. (2016, February 22). “Spanish, Ara-bic, Chinese are the top home languages for ELLs in U.S. schools.” Education Week: Learning the Language Blog. Available at http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/learning-the-language/2016/02/spanish_arabic_chinese_top_lis.html.

Register by September 15 and save! Early bird rate:■ Member - $217 ■ Nonmember - $277Registration includes snacks on Sunday, Mon-day’s breakfast and lunch, and Tuesday’s breakfast.

UNLEASH YOUR LEADERSHIP POTENTIALAssistant Principals Conference ■ October 16-18 ■ Austin Omni Southpark Hotel

Improve Instruction and

Campus Culture

Manage Time and Stress

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Learn Important Legal Updates

Visit www.tepsa.org for updates and hotel information.

Report Finds Inclusion on the RiseAccording to new federal statistics, more students with disabilities are spending a majority of the school day in regular classrooms. Statistics show that as of 2013, more than six in 10 school-age students served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act spent at least 80 percent of their day in regular classrooms. In 2004, about half of students with dis-abilities met that threshold.

Sources: Heasley, S. (2016, February 2). “Report: Inclusion On Rise In Nation’s Schools.” Disability Scoop. Available at https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2016/02/02/report-inclusion-rise/21862/.

U.S. Department of Education. (1015, December). “37th Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 2015.” Available at http://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/osep/2015/parts-b-c/37th-arc-for-idea.pdf.


Mistakes School Leaders Make/Grant Simpson, PhD

► page 10

on Thoreau in which groups identified and discussed passages from Walden Pond they really liked, hated or confounded them. Then when groups reported out, what one hated, another liked. What was confus-ing to one group got clarified by another. I thought, where was this teacher when I was 16 and loathing the same material? Next door the elements of American romantic poetry were on the board, reviewed by the teacher, and used to analyze Oliver Wendell Holmes’ Chambered Nautilus in a dry as dust, perfunctory manner. The smattering of questions went unan-swered with negative comments from the teacher, e.g., “Weren’t you listening yesterday?” He then passed out a worksheet and said, “You can do this in pairs or alone. I don’t care. Get to work.” Disengaged and unmotivated, students pooled ignorance for the next 30 minutes, ensuring a failure experience.

I rushed home, called a high school English teacher friend, and gained a host of ideas on how to get inner city, low socioeconomic, largely Hispanic/Latino youth interested in poetry of white guys who’d been dead over a century. At the post conference, I was excited to reveal the fun activities that would have brought rel-evance to difficult material, connecting it to students’ lives today. The teacher listened and said, “I have no interest in putting that kind of time and energy into THESE KIDS.” As an external appraiser, all I could do was report this to his principal. Mesmerized and horri-fied on the same day with the same population!

At a recent national conference, the inspirational speaker made several provocative statements and asked hard questions like, “We can’t fire our way to better teaching!” and “What does it take to educate the students we serve?” These got me thinking. Did I or do I indulge in the blame game with my own facul-ty? If yes, what would that look like? Did I expect less from some based on talent and experience? Or did I challenge all to find inventive ways to engage stu-dents? Did I establish a culture of belief in students’ ability to learn? Or did I inadvertently support the insidious ways that allow the blame game to grow?

We all know the demography of our faculty and ad-ministrators does not even approach that

The Blame GameThe Blame Game is about the litany of excuses we hear and make about why students or schools cannot perform. Frequently cited are: generational poverty, lack of parent involvement, short attention span of millenials, insufficient budgets, run down facilities, inexperienced teachers, and unsafe environments. Earlier in my career, I was challenged by doing hundreds of teacher observations in both urban and rural settings. I went into some with low expectations because of the limitations of the environment, e.g., poor leadership, dreadful buildings, difficult student populations. What I learned early and often was that no matter what the conditions, I would find pockets of excellence with wonderful instruction. I used to wake up wondering, “What magic will I see today?” I was rarely disappointed.

However, the magic happening in one room could be right next door to someone who was losing ground against the obstacles or worse, going through the mo-tions. Indeed, I can recall two inner city, high school English classrooms with that very juxtaposition on the same day. In the first, I was dazzled by the lesson


Best Practices/Tom Many, EdD and Jeremy Koselak

Schools functioning as Professional Learning Com-munities—those that create schoolwide and systematic pyramids of intervention to support students both academically and behaviorally—are best equipped to eliminate the “barriers that create opportunity gaps for students on the basis of their socioeconomic level, race, ethnicity, and gender” (ASCD, 2016). PLCs effectively disrupt inequity (Mahiri, 2008) by ensuring all students have universal access to the kinds of rigorous systems of support they need to achieve at high levels.

Teachers working within a PLC represent our best hope to challenge the notion that demographics are destiny. They leave nothing to chance and truly believe it is their responsibility to ensure a high level of learn-ing for all students. These schools are guided by leaders who create a sense of urgency, set a clear purpose, and ensure everyone understands the need to achieve the mission of learning for all. Teachers in such schools examine personal and societal beliefs about gaps in achievement, discipline, attendance, engagement, and ultimately income, happiness and freedom. Educators driven by this understanding are aware of opportunity gaps in their own building and work together, as a learning community, to address them.

Mike Mattos insists that schools must be better pre-pared to respond to inequity if we have any hope of closing the opportunity gap. He argues it is inevitable that, “some students will enter each school year lacking essential skills that should have been mastered in prior years—skills such as foundational reading, writing, number sense, and English language proficiency. These students will require intensive interventions in these areas to succeed” (Mattos, 2016). Our best schools help

students overcome such obstacles and ensure that stu-dents receive extra time and support during the regular school day, without missing classroom instruction. The schools operating as true PLCs also raise the bar for marginalized students, encouraging them to take more rigorous courses—with accompanying help embedded in the school day.

“There is a harsh reality that we, as educators, must address if we ever hope to reach our mis-sion of learning for all: most schools have been inaccurately and unfairly judging student aca-demic potential, to the detriment of our most at-risk youth.”-Mike Mattos (2016)

Given how schools are empowered with plenty of data to predict the majority of learning difficulties, we are ideally positioned to raise expectations and prevent (or at least mitigate) many of those struggles. Reflect on how schools functioning as PLCs address the impact that poverty (one of the most persistent and predictable drivers of inequity) has on certain aspects of academics and behavior.

Academics: Poverty impacts a student’s vocabulary which impacts their readiness to learn. Bracey reported that toddlers from middle and upper-income families actually use more words in talking to their parents than low-SES mothers used in talking to their children (Bracey, 2006). Jensen points to a study by Hart and Risley which found that, “by three years old, children of professional parents were adding words to their vo-cabularies at about twice the rate of children in welfare families.” (Jensen, 2013). In contrast to their colleagues in traditional schools, teachers in a PLCs seek to estab-

“Schools should serve as the great equalizer of the conditions of men [and] the balance wheel of the social machinery.” –Horace Mann

The Power of Professional Learning

Communities to Disrupt Inequity and Ensure

Learning for All


Dr. Tom Many is an author and consultant. His career in education spans more than 30 years.

Jeremy Koselak is a consultant, author, and the RtI & PLC Coordinator for a large urban school district in Colorado. After many years of working directly with dis-advantaged students, he now guides teams of educators in responding to inequity.

Read more from Dr. Many in the Resources section at www.tepsa.org.

lish whether all students can understand and access the academic vocabulary necessary for success in the up-coming unit of instruction. They purposely design pre-assessments that check a student’s prior knowledge and prerequisites skills—including key vocabulary—and choose their instructional strategies very intentionally based on data from common assessments. These teach-ers recognize and consciously respond to the impact poverty has on learning.

Behavior: Poverty influences behavior in ways that are not always understood. Children raised in poverty are more likely than their affluent peers to experience both acute and chronic stress (Almeida, Nuepert, Banks, and Serido, 2005; Evans and Schamberg, 2009). Those in poverty are five times more likely to be evicted and live in conditions that generate symptoms indistin-guishable from PTSD (Childhood Trauma Recovery, 2015). School behaviors (for students living in poverty) often include failure to respond to questions or re-quests, passivity, slumped posture, and disconnection from peers or academics. According to Jensen, “These behaviors are often interpreted as being signs of ‘at-titude’ or laziness, but they are actually symptoms of stress” (Jensen, 2013). Teachers in PLCs reject the tra-ditional disciplinary responses focused on punishment and accountability and instead, embrace behavioral interventions based on responsibility and engagement. In these schools, pyramids of intervention address both academic and behavior needs of students.

The purposeful attention to the PLC question—how will we respond when students do not learn—of-ten requires a creative use of time and talent. For instance, the most successful schools schedule an access/enrichment/intervention period into every school day, sharing students and expertise, with a fo-cus on both academic and behavior needs. This type of flexibility provides more opportunity for the best and brightest teachers to spend focused, substantial time with our most disadvantaged students.

Another approach to disrupting inequity is a modern-ized tutoring center (Koselak & Lyall, 2016). Adapt-able to a variety of settings, a successful tutoring center is embedded in the school day, open to all but directive to some, and powered by collective capacity of teachers, community volunteers, and trained peer tutors. The support is directive, timely, and can target academic and behavior needs. By using existing re-sources intentionally, schools can ensure all students receive the extra time and support needed to meet rigorous standards. Schools centralizing resources in this manner are eliminating gaps, raising the bar and ensuring learning for all students—without breaking the backs of budgets or educators.

ReferencesAlmeida, D.M., Neupert, S.D., Banks S.R. & Serido, J. (2005). Do daily stress

processes account for socioeconomic health disparities? The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. 2005 Oct; 60 Spec No 2:34-9.

ASCD. (2016, November). Call for Manuscripts. Retrieved on February 14, 2016 from: http://www.ascd.org/Publications/Educational-Leadership/Upcoming-Themes/Upcoming-Educational-Leadership-Themes.aspx.

Bracey, G. W. (2006). Poverty’s infernal mechanism. Principal Leadership. Vol. 6(6), 60.

Destin, M. & Kosko, M. (2016, February). Motivating disadvantaged students toward the possibility of college. Kappan. Vol. 97 (5).

Evans, E. & Schamberg, M. (2009). Childhood poverty, chronic stress, and adult working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. Vol. 106, no. 16. p. 6545–6549.

Hosier, D. (2014). Harmful Effects of Poverty on Early Brain Development. Childhood trauma recovery. Retrieved on March 13, 2016 from: http://childhoodtraumarecovery.com/2014/04/16/harmful-effects-of-poverty-on-early-brain-development/.

Jensen, E. (2013). Engaging Students with Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does and What Schools Can Do about It. ASCD, Alexandria, VA.

Koselak, J. & Lyall, B. (2016). The Revitalized Tutoring Center: A Guide to Transforming School Culture. New York, NY: Routledge.

Marzano, R. (2003). What Works in Schools: Translating Research into Action. ASCD, Alexandria, VA.

Mattos, M., DuFour, R., DuFour R., Eaker, R. & Many, T. (2016) Concise An-swers to Frequently Asked Questions About Professional Learning Communi-ties at Work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Mihiri, J. (2008). Teachers of Color and Allies Summit (TOCAS), University of Colorado. https://gse.berkeley.edu/people/jabari-mahiri.

“An analysis of research conducted over a 35-year period demonstrates that schools that are highly effective produce results that almost entirely overcome the effects of stu-dent backgrounds.”- Bob Marzano, (2003)

Educators are generally aware of the impact inequity has on student learning but despite this awareness, too many schools lack a sense of urgency, work in isolation, point to students as the problem or dwell on circumstances beyond their control. In other words, these schools struggle to turn knowledge into action and operate without the intentionality, purpose and systemwide re-sponse needed to ensure all students learn to high levels. If we hope to fulfill Horace Mann’s vision for becoming the great equalizer of opportunity, schools must do as Anthony Muhammad suggests and adopt, “an unwaver-ing set of collective beliefs and actions rooted in the goal of achieving high levels of academic and social success despite internal and external barriers” (Anthony Mu-hammad, Personal Communication, February 5, 2016, Phoenix, Arizona).


Read more from Dr. Simpson in the Resources section at www.tepsa.org.

Dr. Grant W. Simpson is Dean of the School of Educa-tion at St. Edward’s University. He also serves on the State Board for Educator Certification with a term expiring February 2017.

► The Blame Game continued from page 7

of our student population, and student diversity will continue to grow. More often than not, we neither look like our students nor share their life experi-ences. Some will always find this an intriguing puzzle or welcome challenge. Others will only see barriers and wallow in the down side. The gauntlet for school leaders is how to grow pockets of excellence, while keeping the gnashing teeth of negativity at bay. Shar-ing small steps of success with others helps. If you don’t have a support group that does this, enlist one or two colleagues and make it happen! It’s a key to both survival and revival.

Spread the word! Know a new administrator?Encourage them to join TEPSA

and grow their career.

Special spring promo for first-time members ends May 31!

Learn more at www.tepsa.org.


TEPSA members enjoy year-round discounts and free access to select content. 2016-2017 membership renewal available June 1 at www.tepsa.org.

Leading Learning WebinarsOne campus fee; 24/7 access to recordings! Available for purchase:•ConsciousDisciplineWebinarSeries:Three-part

series presented by Dr. Becky Bailey, internation-ally recognized expert in childhood education and developmental psychology

•STAARWriting:SomethingNewtoWriteHomeAbout: Two-part webinar series with lead4ward’s Ervin Knezek and Gayla Wiggins

Legal Ease WebinarsFree to members! Kevin Lungwitz, TEPSA’s GeneralCounsel shares current legal information. Sampletopics include protecting yourself during testingseason, handling parent complaints, and dealing withemployee/human resource issues.

Lunch & Learn WebinarsFree to members! The first Wednesday of everymonth, September-May. Explore timely professional topics including classroom rigor, accountability, discipline, teacher performance and evaluation, and much more!

Assistant Principals ConferenceOctober 16-18 | Austin Omni Southpark HotelGain new skills and tools to maximize your leader-ship potential. Engage in targeted hands-on learning.

Student Council WorkshopsFall dates and locations vary. Students and advisors learn to create a dynamic student leadership team. Schedule a Student Council Workshop this fall in your area. Email [email protected].

TEPSA Regional MeetingsFall dates and locations vary. Learn the latest educa-tion news and state updates. Tap into local resources.

TX Evaluation SummitNovember 9 | Irving Convention CenterGain ideas and strategies to support the ongoing implementation of the new evaluation system in-cluding time management, effective feedback and coaching, application of the rubric and how TTESS integrates with HR decisions. Learn from education experts and experience pilot district leaders how to use the evaluation system to enhance growth for your staff and impact student learning.

Summer ConferenceJune 14-16, 2017 | Austin Renaissance HotelLearning designed just for you! The gathering of the year for Texas PreK-8 principals!

Get off campus, learn from state and national education experts, and share best practices with peers face-to-face!

Stay on campus, tune in to live webinars or access recordings at your convenience, and train your staff!

2016-2017

Learning CalendarNew! Transformational Learning CommunityMove beyond the status quo to transformational leadership! Two opportunities:• New Principal Mentoring - Support and guidance

for new principals to face the unique challenges of leading a campus.

• Mentor Training - Build a deep understanding of effective mentoring protocols and skills to support new principals.

New! Advancing Classrooms thru Evaluation (ACE) NetworkThe Advancing Classrooms thru Evaluation (ACE) Network is designed to support administrators with suc-cessful implementation of the new evaluation system.

School leaders face the challenge of implementing T-TESS while maximizing opportunities to improve learning for staff and students. The yearlong webinar series will focus on each new phase of implementation. The network will gather at the November 9th TX Evalu-ation Summit in Irving. Collaborate and connect with experienced leaders from pilot districts throughout the year in the private online community and utilize devel-oped resources from the evaluator’s toolkit.


Legal Ease/Kevin Lungwitz

The Texas Commissioner of Education is charged with, among other tasks, considering appeals

from school district grievances and board hearings in matters involving issues of Texas school law and employee contracts. This process includes the Commissioner issuing written decisions in these matters, relied upon by school districts and employees. These decisions may be appealed into the Texas court system, with some being considered by intermediate Courts of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court. Here are a few decisions that may affect your daily duties.

Nonrenewal Hearings: HearsayLos Fresnos Cons. Indep. Sch. Dist. v. Vazquez, No. 03-14-00629-CV (3rd Court of Appeals - Austin, Dec. 30, 2015): The teacher received several write-ups over the course of two years involving classroom management. The third complaint in 2012-13 alleged that the teacher humiliated a student in front of his peers. The school interviewed and gathered statements from student witnesses. The principal and superintendent recommended the teacher’s contract nonrenewal.

At the nonrenrewal hearing the principal and superintendent testified, as did the executive director for support services. The district did not call any student witnesses, opting instead to use the student statements. Vazquez’s lawyer objected on hearsay grounds. The board nonrenewed the contract and Vazquez appealed. Demonstrating the life of a school law case on appeal, the Commissioner affirmed the school board, the Travis County district court reversed the Commissioner, and the Third Court of Appeals in Austin reversed the district court, ultimately affirming the nonrenewal. (This took

about 2.5 years from the date of the nonrenewal hearing.) In doing so, the Third Court of Appeals answered an age-old question in the affirmative: May a school board rely on hearsay to nonrenew a Chapter 21 contract? In other words, may a district use second-hand testimony or written statements where the maker is not subject to cross-examination? In support, the Court held that due process does not apply to nonrenewals, and the Texas Rules of Evidence used in Texas courts does not apply to school board nonrenewal hearings.

Practice Pointer: School districts abhor using student witnesses. This case says the district can avoid using student witnesses in a nonrenewal hearing. The administration has to be able to persuade the school board, but if it can do so with hearsay—over the employee’s objection—the nonrenewal is not likely to be reversed on these grounds.

Odd Administrator ContractsFields v. Alief Indep. Sch. Dist., TEA Docket No. 006-R10-2014 (June 4, 2015): The employee held the position of “Special Education Instructional Coordinator” with an “Administrator Contract.” The contract made no mention of Chapter 21 so the district merely let the contract expire. What’s so great about Chapter 21? Chapter 21 is a reference to the Texas Education Code chapter that gives contract employees certain rights (timely notice and an opportunity for a hearing) when the contract is proposed for nonrenewal. If Chapter 21 does not apply, nor do nonrenewal rights. A non-Chapter 21 contract may expire by its own terms with no additional burden on the district. Here, the administrator argued she had a Chapter 21 contract and that the district improperly nonrenewed her. Score one for the administrator. Citing the Texas Education Code, the Commissioner said that Chapter 21 applies to superintendents, principals, assistant principals, teachers, counselors and nurses, but also to a “full-time professional who is required to hold [an SBEC] certificate.” The district listed as a qualification for the job, a principal or mid-management certificate. But the district said the qualification was desired, not required. The Commissioner was not persuaded, holding that it was indeed a Chapter 21 contract that was wrongfully nonrenewed.

School Law Court Case Update


legal easeWebinars with Kevin Lungwitz }

Kevin Lungwitz is TEPSA’s Outside General Counsel.

Note: Information from Legal Ease is believed to be correct upon publica-tion, but is not warranted and should not be considered legal advice. Please contact TEPSA or your school district attorney before taking any legal action, as specific facts or circumstances may cause a different legal outcome. Archives of past columns are available to members in Legal Resources at www.tepsa.org.

Free for members! Join Kevin Lungwitz for current education law updates and information on legal hot topics. New season coming this fall. Archived recordings are available 24/7 to all TEPSA members. Visit www.tepsa.org.

Practice Pointer: For the administrator, nonrenewal rights—even with hearsay—are better than no nonrenewal rights at all. If the district says that an SBEC certificate is a qualification for an administrator job, a Chapter 21 contract is required. But he who giveth also taketh away. The Commissioner cut a path for the district to replace the Chapter 21 contract with a non-Chapter 21 contract by simply clarifying its desired versus required argument in the job description.

Pay Cuts For Middle School Assistant PrincipalsThe year 2015 was not the year for middle school assistant principals. In three separate cases, the Commissioner reviewed administrator demotions to middle school AP. We’ve discussed administrator reassignments aplenty in this column, so we will bypass that for now. These cases have to do with the subsequent pay cuts that normally follow this type of reassignment. We know that pay should not be cut during the school year, and notifications of pay cuts for the following school year should occur before the 45th day before the first day of instruction. So, if the district notifies you in the spring that your pay will be cut in the fall, the legal remedies are problematic - even if this is in the middle of a multi-year contract.1 The notice of a salary cut for the following year should be “formal and specific.”2

In these three cases, the districts honored the pre-reassignment higher salary for the first full year as middle school AP, but then lowered the salary for the following year. The question in these cases was whether the notice of salary reduction was formal and specific.

In one case, the notice in April said next year the salary will be “commensurate with the position” but never said how much—or how little the salary would be. Similarly, in another case, the notice in September said the AP would make the higher salary this school year, but next school year it would be reduced “to be reflective of the assignment.” In the third case, the notice in February said next school year the middle school AP would make between $53,957 and $75,283.

Practice Pointer: These cases make between-school-year salary cuts even more difficult to challenge. The middle

school APs in these cases were called out on three straight pitches: strike one, two and three. Apparently the district has a pretty big strike zone when providing salary reduction notices that must be “formal and specific.” Cooksy v. Dallas Indep. Sch. Dist., TEA Docket No. 027-R10-03-2015 (Dec. 7, 2015); James v. Dallas Indep. Sch. Dist., TEA Docket No. 028-R10-03-2015 (Oct. 15, 2015); Worthy v. Port Arthur Indep. Sch. Dist., TEA Docket No. 016-R10-12-2014 (Sep. 29, 2015).

Teacher AppraisalsCamara v. Dallas Indep. Sch. Dist., TEA Docket No. 003-R10-09-2012 (Apr. 1, 2015): “Any documentation that will influence the teacher’s summative annual appraisal report must be shared in writing with the teacher within ten working days of the certified appraiser’s knowledge of the occurrence.” 19 Tex. Admin. Code Sec. 150.1003(f). This case asks the question: What is the documentation that must be shared? A parent and some students complained about the teacher. The principal converted the complaints into a reprimand that was shared with the teacher. Did the complaints have to be shared? Or just the reprimand? The Commissioner said the administrative code provision above did not entitle the teacher to the underlying complaints, just the reprimand.

Practice Pointer: Even though PDAS is on its way out, it would behoove administrators to follow the teacher evaluation rules to the bitter end. This case makes it even easier to do so.

Endnotes1Perales v. Robstown Indep. Sch. Dist., Docket No. 052-R10-104 (Comm’r Educ. 2006) $7,000 pay cut between school years approved.

2Brajenovich v. Alief Indep. Sch. Dist, Docket No. 021-R10-1106 (Comm’r Educ. 2009).


We’re looking forward to seeing you at Summer

Conference! Prepare to change the way you learn,

lead and succeed!

• 100+ learning sessions featuring innovative state

and national experts and practicing principals

sharing relevant topics for beginning and veteran

school leaders.

• 100+ vendors offering hands-on experience and

information on the newest educational tools and

products.

• Tons of opportunities to share ideas, connect, cel-

ebrate and recharge!

Plus: Scholastic Book Store featuring professional and

children’s titles, Updates from TEA and the Capitol,

Awards Reception, Annual Golf Tournament and

much more!

Vision, Mindset, GritScott BurrowsThe true mea-sure of success is how well you adapt to change, doubt,

uncertainty and fear—and the belief system you employ must be powerful enough to conquer those challenges. Scott’s riveting story of overcoming incredible chal-lenges through sheer determina-tion, will power and goal setting will encourage you to stand up to your own challenges regardless of circumstances.Sponsored by Mentoring Minds.

The Power of OneManny ScottThrough hard work and with the help of others, Manny went

from being an “unreachable” and “unteachable” student to becom-ing a successful student, husband, father, entrepreneur, and public servant. As one of the original Freedom Writers, he will inspire you to become a change agent— a Page Turner—who helps others write new, more fulfilling chapters in their lives.

The Innovator’s MindsetGeorge CourosLearning is not only consump-tion, but more importantly, it is what we

create with the knowledge we have. Discover the idea and characteris-tics of the “Innovator’s Mindset”, and how these can make a signifi-cant impact on learning for you, and ultimately your students.

Harness Your Inner Power to Achieve Maximum Impact: Keynote Presenters

Hello, You!

YouYouThe Power of

Summer Conference

June 15-17, 2016

Austin Renaissance Hotel

www.tepsa.org

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Power Up New Ideas With InDepth Learning + Free Book: Master ClassesSeparate fee applies. Fee includes a book which you will receive at the conference. Descriptions available in the Summer Conference section at www.tepsa.org.

A. A Leader’s Guide to Excellence in Every Classroom with John WinkBook: Excellence in Every Classroom by John Wink B. Follow Me with Steve GillilandBook: Making a Difference by Steve Gilliland C. Implementing Genius: A Leader’s Guide to Genius Hour with Angela MaiersBook: The Passion-Driven Classroom: A Framework for Teaching & Learning by Angela Maiers and Amy Sandovold D. Beyond Difficult: Dealing with Truly Toxic People with Adam SáenzBook: Relationships That Work: Four Ways to Con-nect (and Set Boundaries) with Colleagues, Students, and Parents by Dr. Adam Sáenz and Jeremy Dew

E. Voice and Choice: Fostering Reading Ownership with Donalyn MillerBook: Independent Reading Toolkit including Reading in the Wild with campus facilitation guide by Donalyn Miller F. Instructional Strategies that Impact Student Achieve-ment with Barbara BlackburnBook: Classroom Instruction from A to Z (2nd edition) by Barbara Blackburn G. From Evaluation to Empowerment with Bobby MooreBook: Evaluators Toolkit H. [re]imagining special education with Ervin KnezekBook: [re]imagining special education – a campus leader’s field guide by Ervin Knezek

Celebrate Your ProfessionTuesday, June 14, 1:30pm

Forest Creek Golf Club, www.forestcreek.comTee off with fellow educators at the Annual Golf Tournament:• $46 - Includes green fee, shared cart rental, range balls,

two drinks of your choice and tournament services• Four-person scramble, register a team (or if a single

we will assign you to a team)Contact: Keith Smith, 936-348-0778Sponsored by Lifetouch

Wednesday, June 15, 5:30pm

Awards ReceptionSteve Gilliland will emcee this casual celebration honoring outstanding school leaders in our state!

Register By May 17 and Save!Fee includes:•Accessto50hoursofrecordedsessionsperfectfor

staff development! •AdmissiontotheAwardsReception

Member - $394 (Register by May 17- $344)Nonmember - $633 (Register by May 17 - $583)

Hotel Block InformationReserve your room. Space fills fast! Visit www.tepsa.org for hotels in the TEPSA block.

Parking at the Renaissance is limited. Complimentary round-trip shuttle service is provided from all hotels in the TEPSA block to the Renaissance Hotel.

Register online at www.tepsa.org.

YouHorace Mann finds another way to partner with you

No one loves to form partnerships with educators more than Horace Mann. It’s why so many school districts welcome our agents into their buildings and why so many teachers take advantage of our insurance and retirement planning expertise.

A new partnership with DonorsChoose.org helps donors find teachers who need financial assistance for classroom projects big and small. Teachers post their projects, donors choose projects to support, and teachers and kids benefit with materials

delivered right to their schools. Now that’s a partnership that can help everyone.

Contact your local agent today or visit horacemann.com

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Learn From and Connect with Some of Your Favorite PresentersFeatured speakers include Amelia Van Name Larson, Michelle Borba, Kevin Tutt, Jim Walsh, Ervin Knezek, and many more!


Tech Lab/Trae Kendrick, EdD

Dr. Trae Kendrick is TEPSA’s Chief Information Officer.

Read more tech tips in the Resources section at www.tepsa.org.

andLearnLunch

Grab your lunch and join us for online learning on timely topics. Free for cur-rent members! All webinars will be held from 11-11:45am Central. No registration required. Visit www.tepsa.org.

Upcoming Webinars: May 4 - You Choose2MatterYou Matter. We take these two words seriously. When people know they matter and understand their actions count, lives, learning and worlds change. Join Angela Maiers in her profound movement, the mission IS mattering.

A new season of Lunch & Learn returns in the fall. Log in to your member profile for on-demand access to 2015-2016 webinar recordings!

At the beginning of the school year, a Texas middle school decided to forgo the traditional fundraisers of Christmas wrapping paper and cookie dough sales and instead went with a more straightforward scheme: They asked for cash. A mom at the school posted a photo of the fundraiser to Facebook, and it quickly went viral and garnered several headlines in the media (see photo at right, visit http://www.cnn. com/2015/08/27/living/pta-fundraiser-bake- sale-alternative-feat/).

It appears the PTA moms at this school have it figured out. Many parents would much rather just give money than have to deal with begging their coworkers to buy stuff from their kid or traipsing their kids around the neighborhood selling stuff the neighbors don’t really want to buy anyway.While this particular school’s strategy garnered them Facebook fame, it appears other schools have figured out that cash donations work well, too. A variety of online fundraising solutions are helping schools raise money without all the hassle for parents.

Online opportunities you may want to investigate:• GoFundMe (www.gofundme.com/Fundraising-

Ideas-for-Schools)• School-Fundraisers.com (http://www.school-fund-

raisers.com/online-fundraiser.html)• YouCaring (https://www.youcaring.com/school-

fundraising)• Fuel My School (http://www.fuelmyschool.com)• Fundly (https://fundly.com)

• SmartFunded (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/smartfunded-online-fundraising-for-public-schools#/)

If you tackle an online fundraising campaign, be sure to:• Take advantage of all social media channels

to spread the word to your parents and school community.

• Carefully investigate any upfront costs, as well as any percentages paid on money donated. Watch for credit card fees and other fees that may decrease the actual amount of money you raise.

Take Your Fundraising Online For Less Hassle, Potentially More $


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on Wednesday, June 15, at 10:15 a.m. in the Guadalupe Room! Bring this page (or ad) to Booth 318 for samples and more!


TEPSA Region MeetingsLucrecia Laureano, Copperfield Elementary secretary, embraces Sherri Wrather, who was named TEPSA Region 20 Assistant Principal of the Year, as student Madison Kessel looks on. Photo courtesy of Steve Linscomb, Judson ISD Director of Communications.

We’re looking forward to honor-ing 2016 award recipients at the Awards Reception during Summer Conference, June 15 in Austin!

TEPSA region meetings return in the fall. Thanks to 2015-2016 region officers for all their work organizing and bringing members together throughout the state. View complete TEPSA Calendar of Events at www.tepsa.org.

T H A N K Y o u !Horace Mann finds another way to partner with youNo one loves to form partnerships with educators more than Horace Mann. It’s why so many school districts welcome our agents into their buildings and why so many teachers take advantage of our insurance and retirement planning expertise.

A new partnership with DonorsChoose.org helps donors find teachers who need financial assistance for classroom projects big and small. Teachers post their projects, donors choose projects to support, and teachers and kids benefit with materials

delivered right to their schools. Now that’s a partnership that can help everyone.

Contact your local agent today or visit horacemann.comSpecial thanks to TEPSA Partners for all the ways they support Texas educators and students!

Great pairs stick togetherJust like educators and Horace Mann

Stick with Horace Mann, and we’ll work together to make sure your insurance and retirement plan continues to provide everything you need.

To learn more contact your local agent or visit horacemann.com

501 East 10th StAustin, TX 78701800-252-3621www.tepsa.org

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Combating Effects of Poverty with a Holistic ApproachTEPSA Highlights

K-12 Initiatives Aim to Improve Educational Outcomes

Please recycle your TEPSA News copy.

Watch your mail in June for the first

membership renewal form or visit

www.tepsa to renew online.

With low income students now a majority of the population in U.S. public schools, there is a new urgency to address the challenges schools face in educating this population, as well as to work collectively to increase students’ academic success though a more comprehensive approach. Two recent K-12 initiatives aimed at improving the educational outcomes for poor students are bringing together a variety of agencies focused on children’s services to ad-dress factors in-school and out-of-school that affect student learning:• Six cities are participating in Harvard University’s Education Redesign Lab

which is focused on four areas including personalized learning; integration of social, emotional, and health services; ensuring all students have access to en-richment activities when they are not in school; and governance. Mayors in the six cities will set up children’s cabinets to coordinate the cross-agency efforts.

• The Broader, Bolder Approach to Education has relaunched its campaign to advance a comprehensive, research-based policy agenda to mitigate the impacts of poverty and ensure all children have the opportunity to thrive in school and life. The group will release case studies of communities that have taken a collaborative, comprehensive approach to educating children, including Vancouver, Washintgon, and East Durham, N.C.

Sources: Superville, D. R. (2016, February 23). “Ed. Groups Urge ‘Whole-Child’ Ap-proach to Counteract Poverty.” Education Week. Vol. 35. Issue 22. p. 9. Available at http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/02/24/ed-groups-urge-whole-child-approach-to-counteract.html.

Broader, Bolder Approach to Education. (2016, February 22). “A Broader, Bolder Education Policy Framework Executive Summary.” Broader, Bolder Approach to Education: Washington, D.C. Available at http://www.boldapproach.org/app/up-loads/2016/02/bba_statement_bulletpoints_final.pdf.

Additional information available at www.tepsa.org or 800-252-3621.

Calendar/Deadlines• RegisterforSummer Conference by May 17 and save!

• Summer Conference Hotel Block fillsfast-reserveyourroomearly!Visit the Summer Conference page at www.tepsa.org for a list of hotels.

• Recognizeoutstandingschoolleaders in your TEPSA Region. Don’t miss the Awards Reception, Wednesday, June 15. Admission included with Summer Conference registration.

• Schedule a Student Council Work-shop this fall in your area. Email [email protected].

• Assistant Principals Conference is October 16-18 at the Austin Omni Southpark Hotel.

• TX Evaluation Summit is November 9 at the Irving Convention Center.

• Logintoyourmemberprofiletoaccess Lunch & Learn and Legal Ease recording archives at www.tepsa.org. VisittheOnlineLearningsectionforadditional webinars available for purchase and perfect for staff training!

Documents

2016 TEPSA May/June News