I recently came across Michael Lubelfeld’s Social Media column (“Branding Alongside a Communication Pro,” May 2019). I can’t tell you how excited I was to find a superintendent who gets it when it comes to communications and branding!

Lubelfeld hits the nail on the head when he writes: “The communication professional, making deliberate and creative use of social media platforms, can be the eyes, ears and voice of the superintendent.” While this can result in DIFFICULT CONVERSATIONS and expert advice that might be in conflict with one’s gut, superintendents should TRUST THAT COMMUNICATIONS PROFESSIONALS always have their back. Like the football tackle protecting the quarterback’s blindside, the communications professional protects the superintendent (and, by extension, the school district). We may not always get the block, but we’re out there trying our best.

As vice president of professional development for the Georgia School Public Relations Association, I felt it was imperative I bring the author to Georgia for our annual conference, where he will join us as a keynote speaker in a session offered to both the communications association and the Georgia School Superintendents Association. We are excited to learn alongside our district leaders on how we can work as a team and provide the best customer service and communications to our stakeholders.

SUZANNE WOOLEY
VICE PRESIDENT OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT,
GEORGIA SCHOOL PUBLIC RELATIONS ASSOCIATION,
ATLANTA, GA.


A Belated Resource
Wow! Your September 2019 issue on executive coaching was outstanding. I wish I had this copy 62 years ago in 1957 when I became a young 30-year-old superintendent of schools reporting to five school boards in five school districts in Vermont.

KEN SEVERSON
AASA LIFE MEMBER,
SHELBURNE, VT.


Intrigued by Assessment Reform
I connected with Ellen Hume-Howard via phone once my interest in her work was piqued by her article, “Assessing Performance in a Competency System,” in your May 2019 issue.

As a strong advocate for standards-based assessment and the use of data to improve student learning, I reached out to Hume-Howard to learn more about what the Performance Assessment for Competency Education project, or PACE, did to adjust their systems to acquire and measure the desired data and/or data points. Our conversation focused on what the PACE project deemed most useful, including assessment mapping. She also described a teacher judgement survey that had teachers identify achievement level descriptors that they thought best aligned with their assessments to deem if they were on point based on grade-level standards.

Hume-Howard emphasized professional development and techniques that involved teams of teachers assessing work, as well as the use of an additional, external third party to assess student performance to deliver feedback to teachers regarding how they scored and what seemed accurate and where there were flaws. Of note, she referenced the hiring of a psychometrician.

I was intrigued by the level of teacher involvement and reflective practices required by the PACE. As Hume-Howard wrote: "The PACE project usually is described as an initiative about accountability, but at its core, it is about improving learning in the classroom and providing students with opportunities to demonstrate their competency. The PACE project helps teachers acquire a deep understanding of assessment and student learning. As teachers work on assessments, they advance competency learning and learn to better support student agency and personalized learning."

I have frequently questioned myself and my fellow educators about the tools we use to assess students in their competencies. Further, I wonder about how we actually use the data from these assessments. If our assessments do not provide actionable information for students, parents and teachers, how useful is the data? A numeric grade of 0-100 offers great disparity in its scale and does not provide any feedback for growth within the competencies assessed.

In my opinion, the PACE project described by Hume-Howard offers great guidance into how to create a "plan for the design, implementation and scaling of a reciprocal accountability system that ensures all students have opportunities to gain critical knowledge and skills." The article notes that PACE includes “high-quality common performance tasks, locally designed performance tasks with guidelines for ensuring high technical quality, regional scoring sessions and local district peer review audits to ensure sound accountability systems and high inter-rater reliability, a web-based bank of local and common performance tasks, and a regional support network for districts and schools." The article also addressed collaborative relationships and supports that were integral to the success of PACE.

If you missed reading Hume-Howard’s article, I highly recommend you go back and do so and share it with colleagues. What she shares can act as a springboard for conversation, reflection and change in how you assess student competencies and how we educators think of the assessment process.

MELISSA CONLON
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL,
LONGWOOD HIGH SCHOOL,
MIDDLE ISLAND, N.Y.


AASA’s Major Support
In 2017, I became the first North Dakota superintendent to complete my national credential with AASA. Since then, two of my staff members, Lynnae Lies and Amy Cudworth, have joined the personalized learning leadership networks sponsored by AASA.

We are so excited to be reframing the educational landscape in North Dakota through the support of AASA. Our district received our Governor's Innovative Systems Award last year, and we are a nominee for the National Blue Ribbon Award.

I cannot thank AASA enough for the professional development it has provided, which has set the stage for amazing learner gains. We’ve created a video about it.

JILL C. LOUTERS
SUPERINTENDENT,
NEW ROCKFORD-SHEYENNE SCHOOL DISTRICT,
NEW ROCKFORD, N.D.