Il
Because the superintendents generally deal
with similar issues, no matter the size or setting
of their school communit they’ve discovered
each month’s classroom visit provides them
with mutually beneficial experiences. The
monthly networking serves as a catalyst for
knitting together personal relationships across
school districts, engaging administrators in
conversations about effective instruction with
each other through phone and weekly e-mail.
“New superintendents have unique and
ongoing opportunities to plug into a structure
that helps them get professional development
right away:’ says Kevin Chase, superintendent
of the 3,400-student Grandview School
District.
The superintendents’ network also connects
principals from various districts. As Superin
tendent John Schieche ofYakima’s 2,950-stu
dent East Valley School District notes: “At one
Collaboration Leads to Twin Limelight for One County
WE THINK THE PROFESSIONAL
NETWORKING among superintendents
in south-central Washington’s Educational
Service District 105 isn’t just an exceptional
way to improve instruction across a region;
it’s also bringing historic results in one
sense.
The power of interconnected school
improvement work was validated during
the 2012-13 school year. That’s when some
thing happened that never had occurred
anywhere else across the country: A prin
cipal and a teacher from the same county
and same state were concurrently named
a national principal of the year and the
national teacher of the year.
In the
first
weeks of the school yeat
Trevor Greene, principal of the 700-student
Toppenish High School, was named by the
National Association of Secondary School
Principals as its 2013 National High School
Principal of the Year.
Under his leadership over five years, his
school had arced into a dramatic upswing
in student achievement. Despite challenges
in a high-poverty community with a student
population in which more than 25 percent
are enrolled in transitional bilingual programs,
Toppenish High School left behind its status
as a school that at one time had among
the lowest test scores in the state. Having
expanded the availability of courses with high
rigor and career applications, Greene cred
ited the improvements at Toppenish to the
efforts by the building’s teachers to become
more involved in leaming and preparing
together as unified teams.
Then as the school year approached its
end, science instructor Jeff Charbonneau
of the neighboring ZiIlah High School was
introduced at a White House ceremony as
the 2013 National Teacher of the Year.
Charbonneau, who teaches at a
400-student, rural school, has weaved
collaboration into his teaching by acquiring
and loaning robot kits to other schools in
the state for competitions at his school.
Since the hands-on learning contests
began in 2008, about 900 students and 65
teachers from more than 40 schools have
participated. He also connected with three
colleges and universities to gain adjunct
faculty status and boost the instructional
levels in each of his courses so students at
his high school can earn up to 24 college
credits in STEM subjects.
Jon Quam, who runs the National Teacher
of the Year program at the Council of Chief
State School Officers, confirmed the unique
ness of the overlapping national honors.
The nationally recognized accomplish
ments by these two educators, whose
schools are separated by just nine miles,
are among the carryover effects of the
culture of collaboration that serves as the
core of the superintendent instructional
rounds process in south-central Wash
ington. The regional networks have had an
impact on the practices of more than 20
superintendents, 80 principals, hundreds
of classroom teachers and, ultimately, more
than 60,000 students in the schools within
Educational Service District 105.
—
STEVE MYERS
AND DA”JID
GOEHNER
Trevor Greene, principal of Washington’s Toppenish High School, was named
2013
National High School Principal of the Year.
42
SCHOOL ADMINISTRATOR
JANUARY 2014
