Farewell

“Give, and it shall be given to you. For whatever measure you deal out to others, it will be dealt to you in return.” Matthew 7:2

I would like to inform you that I have been honoured and blessed with a promotion to Acting Assistant Superintendent of Education of Student Success.  My tenure at Christ the King C.S.S. will be coming to an end in the near future.  We do not know who my successor will be at the present time.  I will continue in the role of Principal until otherwise notified by the board.

It has been an honour and privilege to lead such a wonderful Catholic Learning Community for more than four and a half years.  I have been blessed with an outstanding team of educators and students that are simply second to none in our board.

Outside of the wonderful staff that we have been able to recruit during my time at Christ the King, I would hope that I will be remembered for embracing the notion that since we were created in the image of God, every student under our charge is afforded the inalienable right to human dignity; one that guarantees the understanding that every student can learn, progress and achieve.

I hope you have enjoyed my blog over the last three years.  It was intended to share my perspective and to engage the CtK parental community.  I hope that my successor will continue this tradition.

Take care and god bless.

Captain America

At our first staff meeting this year, I shared my reading list with our staff.  Most of the books in some way, shape or form related to education, leadership and theology.  However, for some reason, I did not mention that I have delved back into a childhood hobby of reading comic books again.

My wife and I love to see movies.  If it is "worth its salt", we have probably seen it.  One of these movies was the summer hit, Captain America: The First Avenger.  After watching it, I was inspired to start reading the ultimate collection versions of Captain America by Ed Brubaker.

Why would a patriotic Canadian develop a voracious reading appetite for Captain America comic books?  I am not sure.

Maybe I am struck by Captain America's commitment to a cause and in protecting those that can't protect themselves? Maybe it is his commitment to a moral and ethical manner in which he goes about his role?  Maybe it is his unwavering belief in WHY he does what he does?

Perhaps it is the combination of the above that I relate to as a Catholic Secondary School Administrator?  My role is to lead, mentor, coach and nurture an environment that believes in the dignity of the human person; one which is founded on the belief that everyone has the right to a learning environment in which students can learn, progress and achieve; one that supports the poor and vulnerable; one that is committed to the common good.

The common good....perhaps this is the connection with the shield, red, white and blue.

Thanks for reading.  Looking forward to your comments.

Student Success

Father Ray Modeski's homily at mass rang true for me this past Saturday.  It hit me as a Catholic educator and as a Catholic Principal at Christ the King C.S.S.

He was recounting a mass he had presided over recently for teacher retirees of the Halton Catholic District School Board.  To wit, he reiterated the words of a long-retired Superintendent in our board.  This gentleman stated that "good students earn our reputation; average students earn our salary; and difficult students earn our salvation."
As you take a moment to re-read this statement,  it sums up what our exceptional teachers do on a daily basis; teachers that embrace, understand and appreciate the complexities of their role and of the students they welcome through their classroom doors everyday that class is in session.  We are very blessed to have a Catholic Learning Environment filled with such teachers.

The Catholic Principal's role is to provide the instructional leadership, resources and job-embedded professional learning opportunities for their teaching staff which in turn will benefit all of our students in terms of meeting their diverse needs in the way curriculum is delivered and assessed. 

It is the Catholic Principal's role to communicate a message and put into practice a vision of discipleship for the entire Catholic Learning Community which directly impacts how we engage and support those students that are vulnerable, poor and/or disenfranchised.  Specifically, each learning environment should layer student success, mental health and co-curricular supports over the academic pieces mentioned earlier.

The Ministry of Education launched phase one of the their student success strategy called "Student Success/Learning to 18" in three phases commencing in 2003.  The goals are:

1. Increase the graduation rate and decrease the drop-out rate;
2. Support a good outcome for all students;
3. Provide students with new and relevant learning opportunities;
4. Build on students' strengths and interests; and
5. Provide students with an effective elementary to secondary school transition.

As you can see in the graphic, graduation rates have been increasing.  We are close to the goal of 85% as a province.

It has been through this strategy that students now have more supports from an intervention standpoint, more cooperative education opportunities that would go toward their Ontario Secondary School Diploma, access to a growing list of Specialist High Skills Major Programs (CtK has three: Arts & Culture, Information & Communication Technology, & a Sports Performance Specialist High Skills Major)

In the end, it is the one-on-one bond that a teacher makes with his/her students.  It is their efforts in opening up their hearts and in looking for Christ in the faces of each student they teach.  This approach will only spirit cooperation, a commitment to excellence and in the end....student success.

Thanks for reading.  Looking forward to your comments.

McKinsey and Company Report

I was re-reading the executive summary of the McKinsey Report for reference.  This study was done to find out why some schools succeed where others do not.  Specifically, they studied 20 of the world’s school systems, including ten of the top performers on the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) which tests student’s in math, reading and science aptitudes.

I mentioned some of the findings at our first staff meeting.  I would like to share some of their findings for your digestion.

FINDINGS

The experiences of these top school systems suggests three things that matter most: 1) getting the right people to become teachers, 2) developing them into effective instructors, 3) ensuring that the system is able to deliver the best possible instruction for every child.  This is irrespective of the culture in which they are applied as well.

Ontario and Alberta (Canada) students were in the top 10 with Australia, Belgium, Finland, Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea.

·        Reducing class size from 23 to 15 students improves the performance of an average student by 8 percentile points at best

·        A study in Dallas shows that the performance gap between students assigned three effective teachers in a row, and those assigned three ineffective teachers in a row was 49 percentile points

·        The only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction through professional development

·        High performing school systems help teachers improve instruction, create awareness of weaknesses in their practice, provide them with a precise knowledge of best practice, and motivate them to make the necessary improvements i.e. mentoring, coaching, collaboration, principal’s as instructional leaders  

·        Being a teacher is about helping children to learn; being a principal is about helping adults to learn

·        The PISA scores of the top performing systems show a low correlation between outcomes and the home background of the individual student

·        All of the top-performing and rapidly improving systems have curriculum standards which set clear and high expectations for what students should achieve

·        All of the top-performing systems recognize that they cannot improve what they do not measure

Our school and system are in the intervention stage called great to excellent.

Great to excellent: the interventions of this stage move the locus of improvement from the center to the schools themselves; the focus is on introducing peer-based learning through schoolbased and system-wide interaction, as well as supporting system-sponsored innovation and experimentation

The McKinsey Report has been downloaded below for your reference.

http://ssomckinsey.darbyfilms.com/reports/schools/How-the-Worlds-Most-Improved-School-Systems-Keep-Getting-Better_Download-version_Final.pdf

Thank you for reading.  I am looking forward to your comments.

9/11 - 10th Anniversary

"Fear is the cheapest room in the house.  I would like to see you living in better living conditions."

Words from a 14th Century, Sufi Teacher that I reiterated at our Grade Assemblies last week.  My theme revolved around how fear disables our efforts in walking as a disciple of Jesus and staying true to a course of discipline that would precipitate a commitment to excellence.

I challenged our students to take that step to freedom by staying true to themselves and to be courageous when confronting such obstacles.

Using the American monuments and rebuilding efforts in response to the unspeakable horror that befell New York City, I reminded our students in the Friday morning announcements to pray for the souls of the departed; in particular the first responders who risked and in many cases lost their lives attempting to help those who needed it desperately in conditions replete with fear and gloom.

Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Welcome back!

I hope that your family had a wonderful summer full of rest, relaxation and enjoyment!

Another dynamic year of education is slated to take place at CtK for the 2011-2012 school year. One that is holistic in fashion, with our faith woven into everything that we do in our Catholic Learning Community.

Our Grade 9 Kick Start and Orientation the last week of August was a great success. Our Prefects did a great job acclimatizing our incoming Grade 9 students into the culture of our school.

Grade Assemblies will follow this upcoming week. We will review our eight governing values which are adorned on the beautiful banners in our atrium.

They are as follows:

Sincerity

Integrity

Honesty

Commitment to Excellence

Continuous Improvement

Passion for Learning

Compassion for Life &

Equity/Dignity/Respect.

Our staff selected these values over four years ago as a testament to what they would model and expect from our students.

Our school priorities of Discipline, Discipleship and Discernment will be the fulcrum point for our 2011-2012 School Improvement Plan.

Our CtK family is inclusive, embraces the poor, helps those with mental, social and/or emotional issues and truly endeavours to treat everyone with equity, dignity and respect.

In the end, the message that students will clearly receive from our administration is that they will be loved and cared for. However, expectations will be high in terms of their commitment to excellence in the classroom and co-curriculars. They will also be expected to work on their resiliency in solving problems with our staff and students in a ethical and faith-oriented fashion.

Please remember to visit our website at http://www.ctk.ca/ for school updates. You will also receive updates through our phone and email systems. If you have not submitted your email address to us and wish to receive notifications from our school through this medium, please come to the main office to express your interest.

New blogs will be posted at the beginning of every week until the end of the 2011-2012 school year. My blogs will range from commentary to school news regarding our academic and co-curricular pursuits. Please feel free to post your own comments/questions about this topic or anything else concerning our Catholic Learning Community at CtK.

Thank you for being a part of our family.

Graduation 2011

Below is an excerpt of my address to our 2011 Graduating Class.  There are three themes that have been implicitly and explicitly woven into it.  My explanation alluded to DeSantis' "3 Ds" of Discipline, Discernment and Discipleship.

"How will the value of our days be measured?
What will matter is not what we have, but what we give.
What will matter is not what we have achieved, but your significance.
What will matter is how long we will be remembered, by whom, and for what."
A life of meaning, discipleship, happiness and purpose.

After four or more years of walking with our Catholic Learning Community,
we are comforted by the fact that it has espoused discipleship,
added meaning, purpose, and happiness to all of our lives.

Jesus stated "follow me" 15 times in the Gospels.
We are all followers, learners or Disciples of Christ.
The question is how will we continue to live our faith
as a disciple of Christ in the 21st Century?

It may mean that we will have to look for Christ being present in our world.

It may mean visiting, noticing and listening
to the kinds of people with which Jesus spent time.

Jesus became friends with the nameless,
disenfranchised, poor and the downtrodden.
Jesus stopped to listen to people
and asked questions like
"What can I do for you?"
"What do you want from me?"

Who gets our attention
and who is easily overlooked
in your everyday life?

How often do we recognize Christ in the flesh?
Disciples in the 21st Century
have their eyes wide open.

They notice the Christ standing
in front of them at the bus stop,
in their workplace,
college or university classroom.

And so to the class of 2011,
disciples of the 21st Century,
in the presence of Ms. MacDonald
& Ms. Doyle our Chaplaincy Leader,
our teaching and support staff,
Father Dave,  Father Bob,
Mrs. Alice Anne Lemay – Chair of the Board,
Mr. Mark Rowe - Halton Hills Trustee,
Mrs. Jacqueline Herman, Superintendent of Education,
Mrs. Val Slater, Our Chair of Catholic School Council,
& Award Donors.

I urge you to continue to follow Jesus
by experiencing life in many destinations.

I urge you to practice being a disciple
by noticing Christ in the people you encounter.

I urge you to become a friend by listening,
asking how you can help
and reaching out to those who need you.

May God bless you on your journey in providing hope for tomorrow.

Thank you.


This will be my last blog for the school year.  Thank you for reading and for the occasional comments.  I hope my blog has provided some insight, information and perspective into our Catholic Learning Community.