Interview+Profiles


Randy Jensen is principal at William Thomas Middle School in American Falls, Idaho. Randy’s school has been featured in several national publications and has received the Idaho Exemplary School Award ten times over the past fifteen years. Randy has served on the NMSA Board of Trustees and was the 2005 MetLife/NASSP National Middle Level Principal of the Year. __ Leading for Personalization: __ // I think one of the most important programs in our school is our advisory program. I expect all my advisory teachers to build relationships with their students so they really get to know them. I take time each year to sit down with every advisory teacher and ask them to tell me about each of their advisory students; that also helps me get to know each of the students in my school a little better. // // Each week, I interview four students and ask them a variety of questions: what’s your favorite food, favorite movie, tell me about your family, etc. I put the answers on a display board along with their pictures so everyone in the school can get to know them. I then take these four featured students out to lunch and that hour I spend with them is by far the best hour of my week. // To listen to the entire interview with Randy, go to XXX.XXX

Ned Kirsch is the principal of Essex Middle School in Essex, VT. Since 2005, the school has been designated a Spotlight School by the New England League of Middle Schools and in 2003 was a Blue Ribbon Lighthouse School. Ned was the Vermont Middle Level Principal of the year in 2003. He has served on the NASSP Board of Directors and on their middle level task force. __ Leading for Change: __ // At Essex, we continually update what we are doing, looking at our practices, and moving forward. As a staff we’ve learned that when we work together and take on a project, anything is possible. This “anything is possible” theme keeps us going, whether it’s redesigning our math curriculum or looking at how we work with our students every day and individualizing for them. We look at how we can work as an entire grade level to help individual students, how we can cross-team to help them achieve. // // We’ve built a collaborative culture and have lots of opportunities for people to take the lead on making changes. People see that if they want change in the school, the opportunity is there and open. For example, math teachers came to ask about completely revamping what we were doing with algebra and 8th grade math. We redesigned the entire program and I had minimal involvement and now we have this fantastic new program going on that was completely teacher led. // To listen to the entire interview with Ned, go to XXX.XXX

Terry Wolfson is principal of Hopkins West Jr. High in Saint Paul, MN. (have an email into Terry to get more info about her and her school)

__ Leading for Literacy: __ // We are titled a junior high school with a grade configuration of 7, 8, 9 but we have had a middle level program since 1975. We have been on the literacy pathway for 9 years. It started with myself and our reading chair talking about our disaggregated data. And even though we were in the high range of scores for our state, we realized we were failing our students of color and our students on free and reduced lunches. // // We took a small interdisciplinary team to a literacy conference that summer and the following year they were able to pilot some of the literacy strategies across the curriculum. The next year we were ready to bring a literacy component into our school improvement plan and that’s when it became all school-wide. Our mantra became “we’re going to go a mile deep rather than a mile wide” so as a leader, I focused our vision and professional development in that area. // To listen to the entire interview with Terry, go to XXX.XXX

Doug Lowery is the principal at Hilliard Memorial Middle School in Hilliard, Ohio. In 2008, his school received Ohio’s highest rating of schools: Excellent with Distinction. Doug was the 2004 MetLife/NASSP National Middle Level Principal of the Year and has served on NASSP’s Board of Directors. __ Leading for Community Support __ // One of the most important things we’ve done is to develop a sense of trust with our community. If you don’t have the trust of your community, your students, your staff, your parents, then it’s very difficult for them to value what you do with the students you serve. We work very hard to provide many venues for families to provide us their voice and for students to do the same. We have town meetings with our parents and not just the “honor society” variety. We invite parents that you don’t normally hear from on any front to share their opinions on what we do and how we do it. // // That gives us perspective and one of the most important things we’ve committed ourselves to do is constantly look at our own practice. We firmly believe that you either move forward or backward, you never stay the same. We reflect consistently on how we can do what we do better and provide a personal education to students – where they’re known and feel valued and have advocates for them in the building. // To listen to the entire interview with Doug, go to XXX.XXX

Maria Bradley was the Georgia Middle Level Principal of the Year in 2007. Her school, Gladden Middle School in Chatsworth, Georgia is a Georgia School to Watch and was designated as a Blue Ribbon Lighthouse School in 2006. She has served as president of the Georgia Association of Middle Level Principals and has been a member of NASSP’s middle level task force. __ Leading for Technology Integration __ //Gladden// //Middle School is in a very rural area of Georgia with about 73% of the students on free and reduced lunch. A technology conference was coming to Atlanta and several of my teachers approached me about going. I decided to go with them and we were so excited to see what was available for teachers. When we came back, I said “let’s don’t think about money, tell me what you would like to have, what would be your dream classroom…” They put together a list and I said I’d work on the money part. Looking at the remaining budget, I decided we could fund about 4 rooms with a smart board, laptop, software and LCD.// // We created a “grant” application with questions about how they would use it, share it, etc. Out of about 60 teachers, 8-10 were applied the first year. I asked staff at a nearby technology center to read the applications and choose the best four. This created an excitement and a stir in the school and community and teachers began asking when the next round of applications would come out. We discovered federal money was available through a comprehensive school reform grant so I put a team together, we did the research, applied for the money…and received $574,000 over three years. Even with the money available, we continued to use the application process…eventually every classroom in the building had cutting edge technology being used to the fullest degree. //

Ed Vittardi was recently named superintendent of the North Royalton City School District in Ohio. Prior to that, he was the principal of North Royalton Middle School as well as several other nationally recognized middle level schools in Ohio. In 2002 he was a finalist for the MetLife/NASSP National Middle Level Principal of the Year and in 2005 received NMSA’s Distinguished Educator Award. He currently serves on the NMSA Board of Trustees.

__ Leading for Improvement: __ // I think you have to take time to understand all the people. When you come in as a new leader, there are people waiting for you – and they are not always reflective of the entire staff, or even a portion of the staff. We need to give professional voice to all the stakeholders in the building, including students, staff, and parents. I start by asking three questions – What do you really like about the school as it is? What would you like to see changed? And what do you expect from me as the principal? I find you get a lot more than just the answers, you find out what’s working in the building, what’s not, and you hear it from every staff member in the building, not just the vocal ones. // // That gives me a picture of where I go from there and is a great lead-in to the vision and direction of the building. I believe teachers want to be inspired and believe in a direction and a mission because that allows them to make the decisions they need to make on a daily basis then they know where the school is headed. // To listen to the entire interview with Ed, go to XXX.XXX

Nancy Poliseno is an 8th grade teacher at Orange Middle School in Lewis Center, Ohio. She has been a classroom teacher for over 25 years and has been recognized as Ohio Middle Level Educator of the Year and as an American Legion State Teacher of the Year. She has also served as president of the Ohio Middle Level Association and as a member of NMSA’s Board of Trustees.

__ Leading as a teacher __ // I never felt I started out as a teacher leader…I was the one in the shower in the morning trying to come up with the newest things I could be doing with my kids that day. I think my role as a teacher leader evolved with my experience and that my involvement with professional organizations probably saved my career. With all the new trends and things piled on teachers, I found the professional organizations I became involved with fed my hunger and the need that I felt inside. So for me, being a teacher leader is being a role model within a professional organization, letting people know that the passion you have for doing what’s outside the classroom is also important for inside the classroom. // // I think as a teacher leader you become that bird, that incessant chirping on everyone’s shoulder reminding them “is this what we believe in? is this what we know is best for our kids?” I’ve also come to realize that middle level education is about building relationships and that doesn’t stop with the students. It’s also building them with our colleagues, within professional learning communities. // To listen to the entire interview with Nancy, go to XXX.XXX

Annette Fante…..(getting info) Leading from the District Level // As the central office level middle school director, I rely on the same foundations I used as a principal. I work with multiple middle level principals and we made agreements as middle level leaders that regardless of our various grade configurations, the basic principles of middle level education applied to all (ie: exploration was different from electives, what was purpose of advisement) – it may look different in the different buildings, but when you get to the end, we’re all on the same page. And that took a while to bring the different grade levels and philosophies together around these defining principles, but that’s what defines our middle level program. // // We all agreed to the same basics and would come back to these grounding principles. This gives each building leader the opportunity to respond differently to their community and their staff – and I found that much more effective than saying, “Everyone is doing advisement at the first of the day for 20 minutes and every teacher on staff will have a group.” We instead focus on what uniquely defines good middle level education and then give as much autonomy as possible to the local school leader, their staff, and their parent community to make it look uniquely theirs. // To listen to the entire interview with Annette, go to XXX.XXX

We had also talked about doing interviews with: Theresa Hinkle – teacher leader Jim Dierke (ML POY – urban setting in San Francisco) Hilca Thomas (Asst POY – now a principal) Miami – good at data use Juan Rodriquez – ELL, community involvement Mark Springer -- teacher leader

What are your thoughts? Do we have enough? Too many? Should we do them and then decide?