Cross Curricular Teaming and PLCs with Gregory Leavitt Transformative Principal 064

Mr. Gregory Leavitt is the principal of Draper Park Middle School in Draper, UT. Draper Park has experienced some great success recently as a top-scoring school in the state in Math, ELA, and Science. He was the 2013 Canyons District Administrator of the Year Award Winner.

In this episode we talk about the following:

Cross Curricular Teaming and PLCs.

• Agenda consists of activities, common vocabulary, student problem solving, and team activities and celebrations
• Vocabulary is a powerful way to connect content areas.
• How he reviews all 9 PLC teams’ notes.
• Consistency as key to long-term success.
• How they use a Friday late start collaboration time.

Subject Area Teaming and PLCs

• Large focus on data
• Common Formative Assessments
• Bringing everybody up, instead of comparing for comparison sake.
• Easy to take big end-of-year test when you are assessing for mastery to the standards all throughout the year.
• No need for a big push at the end.
• Nothing fancy, just some Google Docs that are shared between the team.

Standards-Based Grading

• 100% of grades are based on assessments, what the kids can actually demonstrate as mastery.
• Rick Wormeli - “Fair Isn’t Always Equal”
• Objective Tracker, student-reported grades, and success.

How you can be a transformative principal:

Pick one thing that you can sustain for the next 5–7 years and stick with it.

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Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show.

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Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com

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