Summer Institute 2007 Reminder:

As indicated in the stories from practitioners in this issue, the Summer Institute can have a tremendous impact on your learning system. Time is running out to get in your registrations. The closing registration dates are as follows:

June Institute: Registration closed

Early bird registration by: April 24, 2007 - Deadline Passed  

Registration deadline: May 24, 2007 - Deadline Passed

July  Institute:

Early bird registration by: May 22, 2007 - Deadline Passed 

Registration deadline: June 22, 2007

For more information on the institute click here.

Sandy Trujillo, principal of Leander Middle School, recently received great news. After the 2006 school year, her school was identified as a "Needs Improvement" school based on their Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills results. She gathered her staff together and brainstormed what they would need to do to improve. They discovered they needed classroom level training on how to use data to know where they are, where they are going and celebrate improvement. We conducted workshops in all 3 disciplines of GATEWAY TO MASTERY^® last August and October and they decided to implement Knowledge Mastery™ school wide. The results on this years state test were phenomenal!. Even though they only implemented Knowledge Mastery™ throughout the whole school, they moved up to the "Recognized" level of school achievement. "Recognized" is the highest level achieved by any Title 1 school in Texas and they did it with a student population that is 50% economically disadvantaged. Kudos go Sandy and her staff for all of their hard work.

Lynnette Sinders, lead mentor at Leander Middle School in Texas, has   worked with us to develop a template for planning the implementation of GATEWAY TO MASTERY^®. Working together, we have come up with a summary of training and a planning template that can aid in single or multi-stage implementation. These tools are accessed on-line and are only available to those schools who have had GATEWAY TO MASTERY^® training. E-mail, or call us at 866-630-6995, for details on how to access the downloads web-page and for instructions on how to use the tools.

Approximately six to eight months after a training, participants receive a link to a web-based follow-up survey to analyze the effectiveness of the training. Joe Ciccarelli, Coordinator for Secondary Social Studies & Professional Training Programs at Leander Independent School District in Texas, has worked with us to improve the survey. It now provides more insightful information to help administrators evaluate the implementation and data to drive your future staff development. The survey is composed of  three sections:

1. How do you view the training received?

2. To what extent have you implemented the training?

3. To what extent are campus leaders supporting the training?

We believe this new version will be more helpful. Call us to view a sample.

Nebraska

Summer Institute 2006 participant Nancy Wolf has done some tremendous work with her High School French classes in Omaha, Nebraska. One of the purposes of GATEWAY TO MASTERY^®  is to continually improve the system, so that the maximum amount of learning may occur. Sometimes the traditional way of approaching the classroom actually impedes learning. The idea is to experiment and find out what will work best. Here is what Nancy has done:

"(This year's classes)...are very challenging groups because they lack motivation and are not very interested in learning. This semester we have had an on-going experiment, thanks to feedback on plus/deltas. We are trying "no homework" with only extra credit and projects as written work outside of class. Each quiz or test (quest-bigger than a quiz/smaller than a test) I make a chart of their grades and figure a class average. At the beginning of the quarter we had failing class averages and now they are usually all passing and on one quiz, one class actually had a 2 class average. We were very happy.

They also love plus/deltas and as the year has progressed and I have talked to them about their comments and made changes based on them, they have really come to bond more closely with me and to respect me as their teacher. Even when they don't do well, they quickly acknowledge that I have worked hard to help them be successful."

Way to go Nancy! By implementing the  Culture Mastery™ processes and internalizing a managers role - "to remove fear and barriers" - you have made a difference in your students learning and enthusiasm.
 

Ohio

We co-presented with Summer Institute 2006 participants Jean Richardson and John Paydo from Mayfield Middle School recently at the Ohio Middle School Conference. The session went wonderfully and they had some great insights into how GATEWAY TO MASTERY^®  has changed the way they evaluate themselves as professionals.

They were to evaluating themselves this way:

1. How many students got A's or B's on the last test

2. Are my students well behaved

3. Do my students like me

4. Are my lessons are fun

Now the evaluate themselves in this way:

1. Do we have good relationships within the class

2. Are my students asking questions

3. Are my students learning

4. How can I improve the culture

5. Am I creating the optimal learning environment

GATEWAY TO MASTERY^® goes way beyond surface evidence of grades behavior and fun and looks deeply into the learning, culture and engagement. As John and Jean have said, "If you desire to be a higher level professional, this is the way to go."

Keep up the great work everyone!

If you are currently practicing any discipline of GATEWAY TO MASTERY^®, please send your success stories, so we may share them in upcoming editions.          Click here to send us your story

The following locations are booked for this summer, but this time of year many are penciled in and more are added. Contact us to see what other dates and locations have been added since this newsletter was posted to see when we will be near you.

1. June - RAMSP - Rochester, Minnesota 

2. June -  Summer Institute - Incline Village, Nevada

3. July - Summer Institute - Incline Village,  Nevada

4. August - Marquardt School District - Glendale Heights Illinois

To add your organization to our schedule, call us at 1-866-630-6995.

Thank you for your interest,

Jacquie and Jeff Burgard

Improvement Facilitators

J.J. Burgard & Associates

You have received this informational, quarterly, newsletter because you have requested information about GATEWAY TO MASTERY^®, J.J. Burgard & Associates products and professional development, or we have already worked within your district.

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