Evaluation – A Floor, But Not a Ceiling

The Transparency Files: How We Grow Our Teachers

When you have been doing this as long as I (somehow) have been doing this, it is natural to wind up with some sayings and “-isms” that help explain your “why” and core beliefs. Here is one of mine: “We should treat our teachers at least as well as we do our students”. There are lots of ways that can apply, but here I want to take a peek behind the curtain and share how we think about the critical work of growing our teachers. There are three OJCS North Stars that we aspire to for our students that apply at least as well to our teachers: 1) We own our learning, 2) We learn better together, and 3) There is a floor, but no ceiling.

Just as we want our students to take responsibility for their own learning as they develop in school, we empower our teachers to take ownership of their professional growth. The administration are not detectives looking to catch our teachers making mistakes, but partners in helping teachers become their best selves. Just as we know that learning is not done best alone, we encourage our teachers to grow themselves in cohorts, in community and in partnerships. And just as no two students are the same, we do not offer our teachers cookie-cutter PD; rather, we work with our teachers to co-create differentiated and personalized growth opportunities that meet them where they are and take them the next steps forward. [This does not mean that the administration never proscribes or requires particular growth experiences if that is what is called for; but we do try to start with the teacher’s passions and preferences.]

If you look up you will see our school’s Learning Target, which I have blogged about in the past. A quick reminder that,

This “Learning Target” is the instrument of alignment – meaning we can now make big and small decisions based on whether they bring our school closer to the target or not. If our “North Stars” represent unchanging aspirational endpoints of our educational journey, our “Learning Target” functions as a map and a compass.

Our teachers measure themselves – and we measure them – against a detailed rubric that describes varying degrees of excellence across these five domains and seventeen sub-domains. Each year we expect our teachers to demonstrate growth in (at least) one category. That season starts now. I am currently meeting with each teacher in our school to decide on a Professional Growth Project (PGP) that is intended to formally move that growth forward. Once I meet with each teacher and determine their PGP, they are shared with the full administration so we can build a calendar of professional growth opportunities aligned with this year’s needs.

If you are an OJCS Parent and not interested in more detail, feel free to skip the next section…

Because this blog does attract a broader audience than current families at OJCS (sorry if that reads like a bit of a humblebrag), I am going to tack on a few more technical pieces of the hows and whats of what we call our Annual Performance Review Process or APReP…

For transparency sake, here is the same graphic we provide our teachers as an overview:

Things to know…

…anyone in the field who would like samples of all the documents that are (not) hyperlinked in the above JPEG, just put your email address in a comment or email me directly ([email protected]) and it will be my pleasure.

…this has been an iterative process over the years. We have added features, taken away features, etc. We currently distinguish between first-year teachers at OJCS, non-tenured teachers at OJCS, and tenured teachers at OJCS. [For my non-union friends, at our school, teachers become tenured if they are asked back for their fourth consecutive year of service.]

…”ELT” is our Educational Leadership Team.

…first-year teachers do not have a PGP as it is enough to acclimate yourself to a new school.

…new this year, veteran teachers may volunteer to sit on committees in lieu of PGPs upon request and agreeance from the administration.

…the APReP process is how we determine who our teachers are each year and which portfolios they are given. It is not intended to be a high-pressure or high-stakes process, but it does lead to meaningful outcomes. It is rigourous and it is serious.

Our teachers are our most important variable in school success. The more skilled, able, prepared and motivated our teachers…the greater the odds for all the outcomes we aspire towards. We are looking forward to great year of learning at OJCS this year…not just for our students, but for our teachers as well!

The Transparency Files: Self-Evaluation

With the theme of this year being “Getting Our Mojo Back,” one thing that you can be sure of as the calendar turns to May and June, is that I will deliver you a series of “Transparency Files” blog posts! OJCS Parents will soon receive their link to our Annual Parent Survey, and so I will again begin with a self-evaluation and will continue with the sharing of results of that survey, the results from our Annual Faculty Survey (which is shared directly with them), and will conclude with a discussion of next year and an introduction of the 2023-2024 OJCS Faculty. [These posts will not follow week-by-week.]

We are in that “evaluation” time of year! As Head of School, I have the responsibility of performing an evaluation of staff and faculty each year. Fittingly, they have an opportunity to do the same of me. Our Annual Faculty Survey presents current teachers and staff with the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback of my performance as Head of School. Our Annual Parent Survey presents current parents with an opportunity to do the same (as part of a much larger survey of school satisfaction). Please know that the full unedited results of both are sent onto the OJCS Board of Trustees Head Support & Evaluation Committee as part of their data collection for the execution of my annual performance review.

You are welcome to review last year’s self-evaluation post before moving onto this year’s. Like last year’s, I am going to skip the cutting-and-pasting from my goal-setting document and simply present to you a few big ideas that come from my “principal’s” bucket, and not as much from my “head of school’s” bucket (i.e. fundraising, marketing, budgeting, etc.).

…thanks to a grant from Prizmah we partnered with PJ Library on a variety of events to grow the number of Jewish families in Ottawa who are familiar with our school! Highlights included a Library Storytime, lulav & etrog-shaking in our OJCS Sukkah, and two different “Havdalah in the Park” programs – one in Centrepointe and one in Alta Vista. We are looking forward to building on this relationship in the years to come!

…in order to fully mark the transition from COVID to…now…we thought it was important to revisit three “Critical Conversations” that were so helpful to our growth (in every sense of the word) during our first few years together. We, therefore, held three “Town Halls”: 1) Let’s Talk About the “J” in “OJCS”…Again: The JS Town Hall 2022; 2) Let’s Talk About French…Again. L’assemblée de Français 2022; and 3) Let’s Talk About the Future…Again: The “Sneak Peek” Town Hall 2023. Our hope is that we have successfully put all our families on an even playing field as to how we got from where we were to where we are…and provided clarity as to how we plan to get from where we are to where we are headed.

…we began our three-year journey to full CAIS Accreditation by focusing on getting organized and beginning to think through succession planning both on the lay (board) side and on the professional side. As we complete this journey, we seek to help parents in our community better understand how we fit into the private school landscape, as OJCS will – eventually – join Ashbury and Elmwood as the only CAIS Accredited schools in Ottawa.

…in addition to launching French-language PE this year, we tried to shine a brighter spotlight on all things French at OJCS with La célébration de la semaine de la Francophonie 2023, which culminated in a wonderful Francofête attended by parents. We look forward to building on both as we continue to focus attention on French outcomes for OJCS graduates.

…we piloted a Middle School Information Night for Grade 5 Parents and will follow up in June with a Taste of Middle School for Grade 5 Students. We want to do a better and better job celebrating the value proposition for Middle School at OJCS. Beginning the conversation earlier can only help.

…with the help of a generous grant by the Jewish Federation of Ottawa‘s Fund for Innovative Capacity Building, OJCS Hebrew Faculty worked with Hebrew at the Center over the balance of this school year on a curriculum mapping consultancy. Once complete (in another 1-2 years), we will have a deliverable for both teachers and parents that fully describe our benchmarks and standards for all Jewish Studies topics across all grades.

What did not get done or what still needs work?

A lot!

First order of business will be moving forward on our amazing $1.5 million reimagination (now $2 million) of classrooms at OJCS thanks to an anonymous gift. We have been working with an architect firm – Figurr – and look forward to launching this summer. [Stay tuned for all of what that will and won’t mean for the start of school.] The future of education in Ottawa really will be built right here at OJCS!

Second order of business will be continuing to reconnect with our families and our community. We aspire to be more than a school, but people’s lives are so busy! What can we do differently next year? What should we do differently next year? What should a PTA be and look like? What kinds of friend-raising activities could we or should we be facilitating or encouraging for OJCS parents? What kinds of Jewish experiences could we be promoting or providing for OJCS families?

Third order of business, somewhat related to this year’s theme, is “teachers teaching”. After years of worthwhile complications and interruptions through task forces, consultancies and quasi-administrative portfolios, next year will be about streamlining, simplifying, quieting and calming. We have reached a new stage of our journey as a school and what is required now is refocusing on what our most sacred tasks are – teachers teaching and students learning.

Those are just highlights.

If you have already contributed feedback through our surveys, thank you. [Remember the deadline for your feedback to be included in reporting is May 15th.] Your (additional and/or direct) feedback – whether shared publicly, privately through email or social media, or shared through conversation – is greatly appreciated. As I tell our teachers, I look forward to getting better at my job each year and I am thankful for the feedback I receive that allows me to try.

The Transparency Files: Self-Evaluation

With all the unpredictability of yet another pandemic year, the one thing that you can be sure of as the calendar turns to May and June, is that I will deliver you a series of “Transparency Files” blog posts! OJCS Parents have recently received their link to our Annual Parent Survey, and so I will again begin with a self-evaluation and will continue with the sharing of results of that survey, the results from our Annual Faculty Survey (which is shared directly with them) and will conclude with a discussion of next year and an introduction of the 2022-2023 OJCS Faculty. [If this year is more like last year, these posts will not follow week-by-week.]

You are welcome to review last year’s self-evaluation post before moving onto this year’s. Unlike in prior years, I am going to skip the cutting-and-pasting from my goal-setting document and simply present to you a few big ideas that come from my “principal’s” bucket, and not as much from my “head of school’s” bucket (i.e. fundraising, marketing, budgeting, etc.).

…one of the big highlights of the year has been the successful (re)launch of Junior Kindergarten at OJCS! I wrote a long post in December that I encourage you check out if you want to know what makes JK at OJCS so unique and special. A year ago we had no teacher, no students and a program on paper – we now have a master teacher, a thriving class and a program that is we know is setting up our students for success in SK. We appreciate and respect that Jewish parents in Ottawa have choices, and our focus will be ensuring that we continue to offer a program that is unlike the others, aligned with our OJCS North Stars and best prepares students for elementary school. Want to know more or to secure your spot for 2022-2023? Please contact Jenn Greenberg ([email protected]) for a tour or registration materials.

…one of the biggest initiatives that we were able to “unpause” from COVID was the [soft] launch of our “Mitzvah Trips” for Middle School. Please follow this link for the details of this initiative. For this year, our students have collaborated on projects with Tamir and JFS and will be engaging with Hillel Lodge in the weeks to come. More important than what I believe about this work, here is what our students believe about this work:

“It feels good to help those in need.”

“We want to continue to make others feel happy.”

“It’s nice to know that we are actually using what we learn in Jewish Studies.”

Yes, it is. This is poised to be a game-changer for Middle School at OJCS.

…speaking of big initiatives that got “un-paused” this year? We finally were able to move forward with the (re)launch of our OJCS Makerspace [built with a gift from the Congregation Beth Shalom Legacy Fund]. Thanks to a generous grant by the Jewish Federation of Ottawa‘s Fund for Innovative Capacity Building, OJCS worked with Future Design School over the balance of this school year on a strategic makerspace consultancy. I shared the result of this work and its next steps in a blog post. The relaunch of the OJCS Makerspace will help move our school that much closer to our North Stars and make learning that much more motivating and engaging for our students. We can’t wait to see what our students invent and create!

…we held our CAIS (Canadian Association of Independent Schools) Accreditation Site Visit on May 11th! This was the first exciting step (although I guess doing all the preliminary paperwork was pretty “exciting”!) on our journey towards accreditation – both satisfying a longstanding strategic goal and, hopefully, helping parents in our community better understand how we fit into the private school landscape, as OJCS will – eventually – join Ashbury and Elmwood as the only CAIS Accredited schools in Ottawa. The accreditation team consisted of the Head of School and CFO from Ashbury and the Head of School of the Solomon Schechter Academy of Montreal. We held a full schedule of activities and look forward to their feedback.

What did not get done or what still needs work?

A lot!

First order of business will be carving out a new normal that prioritizes health and safety, resuming paused activities and deciding what from COVID-functioning (like continuing to make virtual options for Parent-Teacher Conferences or Generations Day available) should carry forward. We have learned so much as a school during these last three years and we are determined to come out stronger, wiser and better on the other side.

Second order of business will be reconnecting with our families and our community. We aspire to be more than a school, but we have had to restrict our access and our bandwidth during these years of scarcity due to COVID. What can we do differently next year? What should we do differently next year? What should PTA be and look like? What kinds of friend-raising activities could we or should we be facilitating or encouraging for OJCS parents? What kinds of Jewish experiences could we be promoting or providing for OJCS families?

Third order of business will be moving forward on our amazing $1.5 million reimagination of classrooms at OJCS thanks to an anonymous gift we received this year! We are pleased to share that we have now selected an architect firm – Figurr – and look forward to the exciting work ahead. The future of education in Ottawa really will be built right here at OJCS!

Those are just highlights.

If you have already contributed feedback through our surveys, thank you. [Remember the deadline for your feedback to be included in reporting is May 13th.] Your (additional and/or direct) feedback – whether shared publicly, privately through email or social media, or shared through conversation – is greatly appreciated. As I tell our teachers, I look forward to getting better at my job each year and I am thankful for the feedback I receive that allows me to try.

Please stay tuned for a MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT that will surely warm the hearts of those who place high value on French language and a MAJOR UPDATE on the future of Jewish Studies. There is A LOT to be excited about as we prepare to take the next big steps forward at OJCS!

The Transparency Files: Self-Evaluation

With all the unpredictability of a pandemic year, the one thing that you can be sure of as the calendar turns to May and June, is that I will deliver you a series of “Transparency Files” blog posts. OJCS Parents have just received their link to our Annual Parent Survey, so I will again begin with a self-evaluation and will continue with the sharing of results of that survey, the results from our Annual Faculty Survey (which is shared directly with them) and will conclude with a discussion of next year and an introduction of the 2021-2022 OJCS Faculty. [The world being what it is, these posts may not follow week-by-week.]

You are welcome to review last year’s self-evaluation post before moving onto this year’s…

This year’s self-evaluation is based on goals created for this year (which was done at the beginning of the year in consultation with that same Head Support & Evaluation Committee). You will not find a complete laundry list of my day-to-day responsibilities. [I typically focus in this blog post on more of my “principal’s” responsibilities, and not as much on my “head of school’s” (i.e. fundraising, marketing, budgeting, etc.)] This means that you are only going to see selected components [this represents about 50% of my annual goals; there are both more overall goals, and more goals in each area than I am highlighting here] for the 2020-2021 OJCS academic year:

Establish steady and measurable growth of the student population

Reimagine recruitment and retention events in a COVID context.
1. Develop a strategy and a calendar of virtual and/or socially distanced recruitment and retention calendar for the school year.
2. Refine success criteria (i.e. will virtual tours yield the same rates of admissions as in-person tours?).
3. Identify at least one new target audience (ex. Israelis) for recruitment and plan accordingly.
4. Build upon successful marketing of hyflex learning during this year of pandemic.
Introduce data-driven metrics for Admissions work in 2020-2021.
1. Create templates for all required metrics (i.e. inquiries, tours, applications, enrollment, etc.) and back-fill three years of data.
2. Introduce three-year rolling averages into all recruitment and retention predictions.

OJCS is a school of excellence

Build capacity (in students, teachers and parents) in hyflex learning.
1. Beginning in Pre-Planning, provide teachers with external resources (webinars, direct PD, links, etc.) to ensure teachers are capable of delivering a hyflex program.
2. Prioritize self-directed learning skills in students at the beginning of the year.
3. Partner with PTA to deliver parent education sessions to help parents be better (and feel better about being) partners when students have to learn from home.
Prepare to launch OJCS JK for 2021-2022.
1. Building upon work done with a consultant in 2018-2019, clarify a vision (and a curriculum) for JK at OJCS.
2. Recruit and hire an excellent JK team, and prepare them for success.
Facilitate CAIS Accreditation application
1. Meet with CAIS leadership to better understand application requirements.
2. Collect and create all reports needed for a successful application.

For a second consecutive year, it would neither be fair nor true to blame any unfinished business or any unaccomplished goals on COVID-19; in fact in some cases it may have actually accelerated our path. But it is both fair and true to name that it surely was and is a complicated factor. Nonetheless, I am pleased to say that we managed to hit many of the above goals and are on our way to hitting the rest!

Here are some things to focus in on…

…again (see last year) we identified unaffiliated Israeli families as a desired target audience. And again, other than recruiting and leveraging current Israeli families as allies and using “Israeli Facebook” our programs were paused. But there is always next year! When it comes to admissions, it should be noted that we have had the fastest and most successful re-enrollment in recent memory. So whatever roadblocks COVID threw our way in terms limiting our recruitment and retention planning, something really positive is happening. We thank Jennifer Greenberg, our Admissions Director, for her work (especially for becoming so data-driven!) and we thank all of our alumni and current parents who provide us with the most important admissions work – positive word of mouth.

…hyflex learning has been the main focus of professional growth this year at OJCS and I am very pleased with what we have been able to accomplish. I encourage a review of relevant blog posts as evidence of this work, and I want to name the extraordinary work that our Coordinator of Teaching & Learning, Melissa Thompson, has done in this area. The next exciting conversation is about what from hyflex learning ought to be carried forward post-COVID.

…when it comes to self-directed learning skills, we essentially treated the first few months of school as a boot camp for hyflex/distance learning (particularly in the youngest grades) to prepare for the inevitable pivots. We even went so far in SK and Grade 1 to role play distance learning from school so that teachers could problem solve and prepare. Feedback from parents (so far!) indicates that this was successful. Enhanced self-directedness bodes well for future student success!

…we are so excited to be launching JK next year at OJCS! Led by our Vice Principal, Keren Gordon, and the current SK team, we have already created a vision statement, sample schedules and curricular broad strokes to set up JK for success. And although we cannot share with you yet, we do believe we have identified the team for next year (stay tuned!) and believe strongly that they will be well-positioned to hit the ground running.

…we are pleased to be in process for CAIS accreditation. We will have a lot more to say about this in the months ahead as CAIS accreditation is the gold standard for private school accreditation in Canada and a very small number of Ottawa schools qualify. We began meeting with CAIS in the Fall and the work began. However, we were informed by CAIS that they are experiencing a serious COVID delay and, thus, we have paused our activities until next Fall where we believe we’ll be able to resume the process and start to really move towards accreditation.

Those are just highlights.

If you have already contributed feedback through our surveys, thank you. Your (additional and/or direct) feedback – whether shared publicly, privately through email or social media, or shared through conversation – is greatly appreciated. As I tell our teachers, I look forward to getting better at my job each year and I am thankful for the feedback I receive that allows me to try.

The Transparency Files: Self-Evaluation

Although it feels like COVID-19 is the only thing we experienced this year, it will -at most – constitute a third of our school year. So even though we continue along with our Distance Learning Program, even though things continue to be unpredictable, it is still true that when the calendar turns to May and June, you can count on me to deliver a series of “Transparency Files” blog posts! This year, I am beginning with a self-evaluation, and will continue with the sharing out of results from this year’s Annual Parent Survey, results from this year’s Annual Faculty Survey (which is shared directly with them), and will conclude with a discussion of next year’s new initiatives and an introduction of the 2020-2021 OJCS Faculty. [Things being what they are, these posts may not follow weekly.]

So let’s lean in…

We are in that “evaluation” time of year! As Head of School, I have the responsibility for performing an evaluation of staff and faculty each year. Fittingly, they have an opportunity to do the same of me. Our Annual Faculty Survey presents current teachers and staff with the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback of my performance as Head of School. Our Annual Parent Survey presents current parents with an opportunity to do the same (as part of a much larger survey of school satisfaction). Please know that the full unedited results of both are sent onto the OJCS Board of Trustees Head Support & Evaluation Committee as part of their data collection for the execution of my annual performance review.

You are welcome to review last year’s self-evaluation post before moving onto this year’s…

This year’s self-evaluation is based on goals created for this year (which was done at the beginning of the year in consultation with that same Head Support & Evaluation Committee). You will not find a complete laundry list of my day-to-day responsibilities. [I typically focus in this blog post on more of my “principal’s” responsibilities, and not as much on my “head of school’s” (i.e. fundraising, marketing, budgeting, etc.)] This means that you are only going to see selected components [there are more goals in each area than I am highlighting here] for the 2019-2020 OJCS academic year:

Establish steady and measurable growth of the student population

Leverage parlour meeting(s) w/host families.
1. Meet ahead of scheduled parlour meetings with host families to discuss an invitation strategy as well as salient points that better target the invited families.
2. Meet after with host families to discuss follow-up strategy with a goal of converting 95% of attendees into scheduled tours.
Work with Admissions Director to introduce a more data-driven approach to the entire admissions cycle.
1. Explore data management programs (analogous to development) to better collect and sort relevant data for the entire admissions cycle (inquiries, tours, applications, follow-ups, admissions, etc.).
2. Introduce metrics (i.e. “touches”) into the regular moves management process.

OJCS is a school of excellence

Working with French Faculty to integrate TACLEF training (year one of two).
1. Assign a veteran teacher to shepherd the process and calendar all relevant training sessions.
2. Meet with French Faculty after each round of training to see how teachers are faring.
3. Encourage use of diagnostic tools as part of the process of preparing for both report cards and parent-teacher conferences.
4. Share out with families (whether in a meeting and/or blog) updates of the work and its impact on the schools.
Prototyping student blogfolios in Grades 5 & 6.
1. Work with IT to establish the blogfolios.
2. Work with the Educational Leadership Team (ELT) (Mrs. Thompson in particular) to help the Middle School Team understand the value of student blogfolios and how to best utilize them.
3. Engage in proactive parent education with the families in Grade 5 (Grade 6 families began this last year) to best prepare them to be active partners.
4. Aim for Grade 5 to prototype Student-Led Conferences for the Spring (b/c/ they tie naturally to student blogfolios).
Actualize new HW Philosophy across K-8.
1. Prepare and present new HW Philosophy (focusing on implementation strategies) to faculty during Pre-Planning Week.
2. Facilitate a session on “Homework” at Parent Night.
3. Work with the ELT to address ongoing issues through the implementation phase.
4. Solicit feedback from parents, students and teachers as to how the new philosophy and policies are working.
Launch new behavior management program anchored in 7 Habits / North Stars.
1. Prepare and present new behavior management program (focusing on implementation strategies) to faculty during Pre-Planning Week
2. Facilitate a session on “Behavior Management” at Parent Night.
3. Work with the ELT to address ongoing issues through the implementation phase.
4. Solicit feedback from parents, students and teachers as to how the new philosophy and policies are working.

Public & Community Relations

Introduce “Parent Workshops” (instead of “Town Halls”) around areas of intent interest (i.e. use of technology).
1. Solicit feedback from parents as to what kinds of workshops would be meaningful to invest parental energy in participating in.
2. Launch 1-3 Parent Workshops (either scheduled at multiple times and/or w/virtual options to accommodate busy schedules).
Prototype family educational experiences.
1. Gather feedback from parents and teachers as to what kinds of family experiences (whether in school like a “Family Kabbalat Shabbat” or outside of school like a “Family Retreat” would be meaningful.
2. Launch 1-2 Parent Family Experiences.

So. It would neither be fair nor true to blame any unfinished business or any unaccomplished goals on COVID-19, in fact in some cases it may have actually accelerated our path. But it is both fair and true to name that it surely was and is a complicated factor. Nonetheless, I am pleased to say that we managed to hit many of the above goals and are on our way to hitting the rest!

Here are some things to focus in on…

…we regard to Admissions, we were in the middle of a new outreach initiative to the Israeli community (championed by current OJCS Israeli parents) and had an event scheduled to bring new Israeli families to OJCS for a Lego Robotics activity, but it got canceled due to COVID-19.

…with regard to TACLEF, in addition to what I posted right before we had to pivot towards distance learning, with the (small) sample of (strategically selected) students who were used to train the teachers on the diagnostic tools, data was used not only for report cards and parent-teacher conferences, but also to navigate questions about French level placement. If not for COVID-19, there should have / would have / will be a French Town Hall with more concrete findings and next steps. Our last in-person training session for this year has been postponed into the already planned second year of this consultancy.

…with regard to Student Blogfolios, work was done with the ELT, but we did not get as far with the full Middle School Team as we would have liked. Use of blogfolios in Grade 6 was pretty scattershot until we were forced into our Distance Learning Program. Use increased out of necessity and we look forward to a carryover effect when we return to normal schooling. Working with the Grade 5 Team, we successfully onboarded Grade 5 Parents – at least more successfully than the last cohort. We were headed towards a prototype of a Student-Led Conference, although it is possible we may not have gotten all the way there, before COVID-19, but now this too must wait until next year.

…with regard to the new Homework Philosophy, I think, as expected, that implementation has been the trickiest part. We will need to continue to spend meaningful time with faculty to ensure a shared understanding of how the philosophy ought to live across grades and subjects. It is also going to be hard to know how the shift towards Distance Learning for the last third of the school will color feedback on this (and the next one below). We will get some sense from Faculty and Parent Surveys, but not as targeted as it otherwise might have been.

…with regard to the new behavior management program, as with the new homework philosophy, implementation is the trickiest part. We had greater success in the Lower School than in the Middle School, but good progress was being made right up until COVID-19. More work will need to be done into next year. Hereto, it is going to be hard to know how the shift towards Distance Learning for the last third of the school will color feedback. As above, we will get some sense from Faculty and Parent Surveys, but not as targeted as it otherwise might have been.

…and, finally, with regard to parent and community relations, this still feels like an area for growth. We held one workshop on “Technology” and then the move towards Distance Learning led to additional workshops specific to the pandemic. Our virtual Family Kabbalat Shabbats and PTA virtual experiences have played a meaningful role during this time of distancing.

Those are just highlights.

If you have already contributed feedback through our surveys, thank you. Your (additional and/or direct) feedback – whether publicly commented here, privately shared with me through email or social media, or shared through conversation – is greatly appreciated. As I tell our teachers, I look forward to getting better at my job each year and I am thankful for the feedback I receive that allows me to try.

The Transparency Files: Evaluation of Self

Although the weather outside is only finally warming up, it is actually June and we have reached our final month of this amazing 2019-2020 school year! It is hard to believe how much has happened this year and how much we still have on tap for the final weeks! Circumstances led me to switch up the order of my annual series of closing “Transparency Files” blog posts. This year, I began with the results of the Annual Parent Survey and the results of the Annual Faculty Survey (shared directly with Faculty), am now moving here to my self-evaluation, and will finish with a discussion of next year’s new initiatives and conclude with an introduction of the 2019-2020 OJCS Faculty.

So let’s lean in…

We are in that “evaluation” time of year! As Head of School, I have the responsibility for performing the evaluation of staff and faculty each year. Fittingly, they have an opportunity to do the same of me. Our Annual Faculty Survey presents current teachers and staff with the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback of my performance as Head of School. Please know that I have already shared the results and analysis with the faculty and have sent the full unedited results to our Board’s Head Support & Evaluation Committee as part of their data collection for my evaluation.

You are welcome to review last year’s self-evaluation post before moving onto this year’s…

This year’s self-evaluation is based on goals created for this year (which was done at the beginning of the year in consultation with that same Head Support & Evaluation Committee). You will not find a complete laundry list of my day-to-day responsibilities. [I am focusing here on more of my “principal’s” responsibilities, not as much on my “head of school’s” (i.e. fundraising, marketing, budgeting, etc.)] You will find selected components [there are more goals in each area than I am highlighting here] for the 2018-2019 OJCS academic year:

Establish steady and measurable growth of the student population

Establish and drive a recruitment plan to promote the school and attract new students.
1. Develop a recruitment strategy with the Admissions Director by December 1st.
2. Review and track recruitment effectiveness and make adjustments as required (ongoing, but December – April is the key period).
Design and execute a retention strategy and plan.
1. Develop a “moves management” database for all current families and launch weekly retention meetings with Admissions Director by first week in December.
2. Annual Parent Survey is taken each May, shared with families and utilized in plans for the following years (when appropriate).
3. Complete exit interviews/surveys with students and parents to better understand reasons for leaving are done as decisions become final in the Spring.
4. Parent Ambassador for all new OJCS families to launch the first week of school.
Strengthen pipeline with Ganon & Early Beginnings.
1. Meet with directors to share updates and solicit feedback twice-yearly (December & May).
2. Schedule engagement opportunities for Ganon and Early Beginnings JKs w/OJCS K for November.
3. Develop a plan for the ongoing transition of Ganon’s JK to OJCS by February.
Deepen relationships with synagogues.
1. Re-launch the Rabbinic Advisory Committee in November with a goal of identifying concrete engagement opportunities for OJCS and each synagogue.
2. Meet with each Rabbi by January to identify a specific engagement opportunity for Jon (speaking, Shabbat dinner, etc) and a select group of prospective parents.

OJCS is a school of excellence (through our work with NoTosh we aspire to be “the best school in Ottawa”)

Translating our “North Stars” (“The OJCS Way”) into a strategy document.
1. Work with NoTosh to revise final strategy document by December 1st.
2. Translate the strategy document into a slide-deck for presentation to teachers/board/parents by January.
3. Create parent collateral to help drive external identification of “The OJCS Way” with “excellence”.
Connecting the dots between our work with NoTosh and our work with Silvia Tolisano.
1. Meet with members of the NoTosh Design Team and the Silvia Cohort to keep everyone on the same page (ongoing).
2. Encourage at least 10-15 prototypes through the prototype protocol.
Clarify what role the CAT-4 plays in evaluating academic “excellence”.
1. Analyze CAT-4 results with teachers to evaluate how useful they are in shaping instruction.
2. Based on data and “The OJCS Way” blog out results while holding individual parent meetings (as needed).
Create a technology plan for teachers, students and school.
1. Work with Technology Director to develop plans for current and desire technology in the school.
2. Work with teachers – and then parents – to decide which devices students will need to have (both in school and at home) in which grades.
Develop a comprehensive Professional Development (PD) plan.
1. Ensure that each teacher has a signed Professional Growth Plan (PGP) by November.
2. Work with new Coordinators to see what common themes arise from PGPs and decide where and how to address over the course of the year (PD days, faculty meetings, conferences, resources, etc.).
(Constantly) improve faculty morale.
1. Launched “Positive Notes” prototype in January
2. Results from the Annual Faculty Survey indicate success.

OJCS inspires Jewish journeys in its students, families and community.

Deepen and develop personal relationships with holiday and Shabbat experiences.
1. Invite children’s classes to house for Sukkot (September).
2. Begin rotating families through for Shabbat dinners.
3. Prototype at least one holiday workshop with PTA.
Expand holiday family experiences.
1. Make sure each grade has at least two Kabbalat Shabbat experiences at school.
2. Grow our annual Chanukah and Passover celebrations to deepen family engagement.
3. Coach a few teachers who have family engagement as part of their PGP to maximize their prototypes.
Thought-leadership.
1. Make sure blog has appropriate balance, including connections between the way Judaism is lived in school and how it could be lived at home.
2. Work with local synagogues on Shabbat and holiday programming.

I am pleased to say that we managed to hit many of the above goals and are on our way to hitting the rest! Here are some things to focus in on…

…we just recently met with our friends at the SJCC and Ganon Preschool to deliver preliminary plans for the next two years of transition of JK from Ganon to OJCS and we are holding meetings this month between JK and SK teachers to launch new initiatives in 2019-2020.

…we are pleased to be cosponsoring a Shavuot program this week with Congregation Beit Tikvah and co-facilitating a Shavuot program with Kehillat Beth Israel.

…we are meeting with PTA leadership this week to pass along feedback from the Annual Parent Survey and to explore ways to engage more parents in holiday workshops or other parent education opportunities. This is an area we are desperate to improve in next year.

…we have drafted a BYOD (bring your own device) policy for Grades 4-8, which will be sent to parents later on this month.

…the schedule kinda got away from us, but we do have a final K-5 Kabbalat Shabbat on June 21st at 3:00 PM!

Those are just some highlights! As always, your feedback – whether publicly commented here, privately shared with me through email or social media, or directly shared through conversation – is greatly appreciated. As I told our teachers, I look forward to getting better at my job and I am thankful for the feedback I receive that allows me to try.

The Transparency Files: Evaluation of Self

Even though I am adjusting to a more traditional “Northeast” calendar, with later beginnings and endings, it is still startling that we are down to the last eight weeks of this remarkable year! There are still so many signature events still to come and so much amazing work to do, and yet here we are…the home stretch has officially begun.

And so, I would like to begin my annual series of “Transparency Files” blog posts which begins with my own evaluation, soon moves to reveal the results of this year’s Parent Survey, continues with a discussion on next year’s new initiatives and concludes with a conversation about next year’s faculty and schedule.

We are in that “evaluation” time of year! As head of school, I have the responsibility for performing the evaluation of staff and faculty each year. Fittingly, they have an opportunity to do the same of me. Our Annual Faculty Survey presents current teachers and staff with the opportunity to provide anonymous feedback of my performance as head of school. Please know that I have already shared the results and analysis with the faculty and have sent the full unedited results to our Board’s Head Support & Evaluation Committee as part of their data collection for my evaluation.

In future years, I will invite you to begin by reviewing last year’s post. This year’s self-evaluation is based on goals created for this year (which was done months ago in consultation with the Head Support & Evaluation Committee). You will not find a complete laundry list of my day-to-day responsibilities. You will find selected [there are more goals in each area than I am highlighting here] components for the 2017-2018 OJCS academic year:

Executive Leadership & Organizational Management

Jon’s 2017-2018 Goals

Identify appropriate benchmarks and standards across the curriculum.
Create and disseminate survey instruments to measure OJCS graduates’ transitions and successes (or failures),
Launch planning process to re-imagine teaching and learning at OJCS / innovation process.
- Develop prototype of a light Makerspace with Jewish content integrated.
- Purchase and experiment with 3D printer.
- Amplify use of Google Classroom.
Develop collaboratively additional evaluative tools (outside of CAT-4 and curriculum-driven assessments) for measuring academic success and instituting a process for tracking and sharing information over time.
- Revise exams for Grades 7 & 8 to incorporate all of Jewish Studies.
Ensure all in-house professional growth is embedded, ongoing and meaningful.
- Provide frequent and varied professional development opportunities for all teachers (conferences, workshops, classroom exchanges, etc.).
- Connect Jewish Studies Faculty to Prizmah.
Each teacher will have a Professional Growth Plan with artifacts, deliverables and accountability.
Explore the possibility of accreditation through OFIS, CIS and CAIS. (Likely CIS).
Work with SJCC, Ganon, Federation, etc. to lay the groundwork for OJCS to initiate JK transition beginning in 2018-2019.

I am pleased to say that we have achieved many of the above (and more)! Without going through each one individually, as many of my blog posts this year have been about them, let me share some general thoughts…

…the conversation around “benchmarks and standards” has shifted as we, instead, began with work clarifying our core values. When that work is complete (see the ad below), we can then drill down. We want to begin asking ourselves questions like, “Do these benchmarks bring us closer to what we believe to be true about teaching and learning or not?” Please remember (or know) that we are never talking about discarding or ignoring the Ministry of Ontario standards – we are talking about ensuring that they are simply the beginning of the conversation; that they are the floor and not the ceiling of our expectations.

…we are so grateful to our teachers and parents for their willingness to dive deeper into Google Classroom…we believe that open and frequent communication between school and home is the key to a successful school experience. We also are not sure that Google Classroom is the best platform for what we ultimately wish to do educationally. Stay tuned.

…we made the decision, but may not have adequately explained, to move our standardized testing window to the fall to come into line with when other private schools in our community take them. We will have a conversation next year about which tests we take, which grades, why we take them, how the data will be used, etc.

Advancement

Jon’s 2017-2018 Goals

Launch annual campaign
Steward major donors
Hit the match through MATCH
Build capacity with the Development Committee through Prizmah coaching

It is the work we do in this area that determines how much we are able to achieve in all the others. There is no private school in North America who subsists solely on tuition revenue. That is why there is no private school in North America who does not have some kind of annual campaign, asking those who can, to do. And in a Jewish day school where we aspire to ensure that finances not be the reason a child is unable to attend, we need to raise that much more. And we do. Our lay leaders worked this year and last with a Prizmah Coach to launch this year’s annual campaign. And I am proud to announce that we raised enough to qualify for matching funds from the AVI CHAI Foundation! Thanks to all who gave what they could this year!

Next year we hope to increase the percentage of families who participate because we want to show all our donors and supporters that no one cares more about the school than its families. Even the smallest contribution matters…we look forward to more conversation on this topic next year.

Public and Community Relations

Jon’s 2017-2018 Goals

Teach a “Parent University” course to all interested parents/caregivers.
Develop a “Parent Ambassador” program which can serve as a way of disseminating information, mentoring new parents, guiding tours, etc.
Blog weekly, Carpool line daily, twice-yearly meetings with all parents, meeting/phone calling as needed and as proactively as possible.
Be a presence at all our local synagogues/form a Rabbinic Advisory Committee.

I think this has been an area with some big successes and big fails. I am pleased with how the blogging is going and people’s responses to it – especially as it is new for our parent community. I am outside each and every morning as part of carpool and glad to be there. It is the best way to start each day and a critical engagement point. I have worked hard to be a presence at all our community’s synagogues and enjoyed speaking at most of them at some point during the year. It is new (for me) working in this kind of communal context and I have stretched myself religiously in order to be present. It has been worth it in ways big and small. We have also succeeded in creating a Rabbinic Advisory Committee that is playing a vital role in helping us enhance the “J” in “OJCS”.

The biggest fail in this area has been with “Parent University”. Normally it takes a few years to get sick of me, not a few weeks! After launching with a robust number of attendees, it began to dwindle down to a number too small to work meaningfully with. Feedback was much more about timing than content, and figuring out how to engage working parents is a huge issue. Similarly, although some constructive work was done in further developing our PTA, we were not yet ready to launch a formal “Parent Ambassador” program. Finally, although I think we have had an opportunity to meet with many, if not most, families many times throughout the year, I do think we need to at least formally invite each family in a couple of times each year to really be sure we are meeting needs and hearing concerns.

Finance and Operations

Jon’s 2017-2018 Goals

Revise budgeting process to be more proactive, less reactive.
- Work with Committee to initiate the process earlier.
- Develop a budget for the school we want to be as a strategic first step.

The paradigm shift – which we are actively in now – is budgeting for the school we dream of being, at least as a first draft, instead of the one we currently are. We have actively engaged our full administrative team, relevant staff, and board to dream the high dream. Of course there are fiscal realities we must attend to, but without knowing what we are aiming towards, there can be no plan to get there. As mentioned above, I’m encouraged by resources being marshaled to deliver on the OJCS promise.

Those are just some highlights; you will also get an additionally honest look at my shortcomings when I share back results from the Annual Parent Survey. As always, your feedback – whether publicly commented here, privately shared with me through email or social media, or directly shared through conversation – is greatly appreciated. As I told our teachers, I look forward to getting better at my job and I am thankful for the feedback I receive that allows me to try.