Category Archives: Schools and Assessment

Using video to improve instruction

By Steve Atwater | Published: January 27, 2013
For the past couple of days I have been attending the Response to Intervention Conference in Anchorage.  Because much of my job involves work with finances and legislative issues, I found my time at the conference focusing on instruction and interacting with teachers from around the state to be refreshing.  I am pleased to learn […]
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Independent Learning

By Steve Atwater | Published: January 20, 2013
This week’s headline announcing the Anchorage School District’s plans to cut 100s of jobs formally kicked off our annual school funding conversation. Our preliminary budget, while not as dire, will likely also lead to the elimination of some positions.  Much of our conversation on how to curb expenses will center on our pupil to teacher […]
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Measuring teacher effectiveness through student surveys

By Steve Atwater | Published: January 12, 2013
During the fall of my first year of teaching I learned that our superintendent Mr. Evans would be visiting my classroom the next day.  On the assumption that a quiet, orderly classroom was an indication of good teaching, I advised my 7th grade students to be on their best behavior when Mr. Evans was in […]
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Teaching Writing

By Steve Atwater | Published: December 28, 2012
While our son is home from college for the Christmas Holiday, I am reminded of the role that texting plays in his life.  If I had a dollar for every time his phone buzzed announcing a new text, I would be rich.  The text exchanges are predictably short and from what I can see when I […]
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Collaboration at Mountain View

By Steve Atwater | Published: December 21, 2012
For the past four years the district has been promoting the benefits of teacher collaboration.  It is widely recognized that when teachers collectively work to solve problems that are immediate to their assignment, the resulting solutions will be more effective than when solved alone.  This morning I was at the Mountain View Elementary for the […]
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Responding to tragedy

By Steve Atwater | Published: December 15, 2012
Yesterday’s tragedy in Connecticut is one that will remain with us for a long time. As I learned the specifics of the horror, I found my emotions shifting from despair to anger. While each of us processes grief in different ways, I am struggling to find a way to reach an emotional equilibrium with what […]
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Opportunity to learn and universal competence

By Steve Atwater | Published: December 8, 2012
A significant change to education in Alaska was made yesterday when the state board approved regulations that will guide the evaluation of teachers and principals.  Included in these regulations is the requirement that evidence of student learning will be a component of the evaluations.  That is, a student’s performance on assessments will be one of […]
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Project Search

By Steve Atwater | Published: December 1, 2012
In the past 10 years there has been an increasing amount of pressure placed on educators to show that their students are having success.  The simplest way to show success is to highlight students who have scored well on a test, been accepted at a top college or earned a scholarship or award.   We have […]
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Site identity, the counterbalance to standardization

By Steve Atwater | Published: November 24, 2012
The recent release of the film Lincoln unleashed a plethora of interest in our 16th president.  I’ve read several reviews of the movie and learned that one of Lincoln’s lesser known acts was to standardize the width of railroad tracks.  This relatively obscure action made transportation of goods more efficient, and in turn, led to […]
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Moving beyond the status quo

By Steve Atwater | Published: November 18, 2012
Earlier this week I spoke to our principals about the need for them to think in terms of being transformational leaders.  I shared that the more predictable and safer leadership style is transactional.  Briefly, a principal who has a transactional leadership style will maintain the status quo through give and take relationships.  Unfortunately, transformational leadership […]
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