Part 2: A Conversation with Anderson-Livsey Elementary Leaders

(Editor's Note: This article was originally published September 2011.)

Snellville Patch recently sat down with the three administrators at Anderson-Livsey Elementary School: principal Janice Ward Warren and assistant principals Kristy Hendricks and Lesline Moore.

We talked about a lot of things, from why they became educators to what they like to do when they are being normal folk.

Here is Part 2 of our interview with the school leaders:

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1. Patch: The school is doing some "creative groupings" to help children excell, in particular working with special needs children. What's important to remember about that?

Hendricks: "I think it's important to remember that we're not just grouping children because of the special education. All children have different needs. And, good teaching involves differentiation, quality-plus strategies, flexible groupings. And, we're grouping them based on their strengths and weaknesses in a particular area. It's far from the ancient tracking, years of the Blue Bird, the Black Bird, or whatever you are. No, it's based on individual need in a particular time in a particular subject...It's an enrichment piece, as well as an enrichment piece."

Warren: "Along that line, we're doing some creative grouping with our gifted kids, as well. Where we have some special ed kids who are pushing in there. They're pushed into gifted grouping. Because the child, they actually fit. Their behavior is the factor, so if you take away and do challenging and enriching opportune activities, you eliminate that behavior piece because the child is no longer going to act out. She then is being challenged, and she's like, 'Ooh, I like this. I really am enjoying this.'"

2. Patch: With the data-driven aspect of education now, how do you make sure you're supporting teachers who may be frustrated about meeting standards?

Moore: "They have input, and they enjoy having that input in what's going on. So, they are a part of the decision making in the building. And, we have the leadership team, and they go back to their grade levels and they talk about ideas, and they come up with ideas and we meet and we talk about great ideas because you're talking about seven, eight, nine, 10 people meeting to come up with a common goal of supporting the kids, which is better than just three minds (the administrators). So, I mean, they come up with some awesome ideas and things to do with the kids...So, they don't feel that pressure.

"Because we're instructing kids and we're teaching kids for the next level. We don't teach just for a test. The test is just showing that, oh, we can do this. And, they've been teaching, and they feel that confidence that their kids are going to have it."

Hendricks: "And, the data piece really should not be a stressor, it should be a tool that's used to drive instruction. And, that's what it's intended to be, and that's what it is. And, through training and development and empowering the teachers to understand what the data means, and how they can take that data apart and look at it to drive their instruction. What's working, and what's not. Not just an overall, well, here's your school. No, we try to look at every child individually."

Moore: "It's a wonderful feeling to see how they are working together and their sharing ideas. Just to see the planning that's going on. It's just so awesome, and they have just taken off with it."

Warren: "We have such a sense of team. That' something that I discovered. In coming on board, that's something we've been trying to stress -- team work. You know, together everyone achieves more. You know, respect. It just takes us coming together, talking it through, figuring out what's best for our children. Because what's best here may not be what's best at ."

3. Patch: What other things are you all doing to help students? Explain the Continuous Quality Improvement time, the 30 minutes when attention is focused on the skill that needs the most attention?

Warren: "We look at our . We had a team of teachers come in in the summer, and they looked at our CRCT scores and saw or found our weakest strands, and then we developed an instructional calendar based on the county's to work on -- during that 30 minutes -- the lowest skills where our children scored per grade level.

"So, every grade level is working on a different skill based on what their set of children... We're able to meet the children where they are...The whole school shuts down for 30 minutes to do just this, so art is teaching math, music teachers teaching reading. Everybody has to have that buy-in because it affects all of us."

4. Patch: What about after-school activities, are there any?

Warren: "Not right now, but we are starting one in January." The program will be for children that have been identified as perhaps needing an extra push. In the fall, she added, the school planned to start a Saturday program that moves children at various levels to exceed beyond their current academic positions.

Hendricks: "The children (are) becoming accountable, as well. Through goal-setting, through charts and things where they keep up with their own data  ... They need to be aware of their progress, as well, and what areas they need to work on, so that they have some accountable with that, as well. So, I think it's getting the students, the parents, the teachers, the administrators -- everybody's on the same page. We all know what needs to happen for that child, and we're all working towards the common goal."

5. Patch: How do you go about leading your crew, or being a leader?

Warren: "For me, personally, I really think it's all about relationship building. For me, I feel like I need to know my staff. I need to know their families. When I came on June 1, that was the first thing I did, is met with as many staff members as possible they could sign up..."

"I just believe that if you know people and they know you, they build that trust, and then that trust and that conversation, pretty much people want to work with you...You can't mandate people. I don't believe you can make people want to do something. You can say all day long this is what I like, this is what I like. But, when they see that you don't mind modeling it and you're living it.

"You know, in the cafeteria, we came and we made some changes in the cafeteria here. And, they watched. Just watching the dynamics of us being in there, correcting the kids and picking trash off of the floor ... We don't mind doing it, so therefore the teachers are on board...I can't ask someone to do something that I'm not willing to do."

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Check out Part 1 by clicking here.