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Administrators report takeaways from Innovative Schools Summit; emphasis on culture, math instruction and MTSS
Summary
Four building administrators who attended the Innovative Schools Summit described key takeaways — building intentional school culture, instructional strategies for math, MTSS improvements and truancy interventions — and said they will share learnings with teacher PLCs and building teams.
Janice Lear and three building administrators reported to the board on professional learning they attended at an Innovative Schools Summit in July. Leaders said the conference included tactical workshops aligned with building goals and provided time to debrief and plan collaborative follow‑up.
Why it matters: Professional learning for principals and building leaders can translate into changes in classroom practice and districtwide initiatives identified in the comprehensive plan.
Key takeaways reported to the board
Culture and shared leadership: Administrators highlighted a keynote by Dr. Joe Sanfilippo that focused on building intention, connection and shared leadership in schools. Presenters said the keynote emphasized that no one in a school should identify as “just” a particular role and that distributed leadership strengthens school culture.
Instructional practice and assessment in math: One administrator who attended math workshops said sessions addressed collaborative grouping, classroom layout, scope and sequence, pacing and ways to design unit assessments that better reflect the format students will see on the PSSA state assessments. The administrator said math teachers have two PLC meetings per week and that takeaways will be shared with PLCs in the next one to two weeks.
MTSS and counseling interventions: An administrator working at the intermediate school said she attended multiple workshops on improving MTSS and trauma‑informed Tier‑2 interventions for counselors and planned to bring those practices back to her team.
Attendance, truancy and legal topics: Administrators who work at other levels attended sessions on reducing habitual truancy and on legal topics such as search and seizure relevant to high‑school operations.
Follow-up and dissemination: Presenters said principals have opportunities to debrief monthly and will share workshop learnings with building staff. The board thanked the administrators for attending and suggested administrators provide brief written summaries when principals cannot attend a board meeting in person.
What was not decided: No personnel changes or districtwide program adoptions were made as a result of the conference report; the presentation was informational only.
