Responsibilities of Leadership

One of the most important aspects of leadership is responsibility. When something goes wrong, a true leader is responsible even if the problem/mistake was someone else's fault. The leader steps up, takes responsibility and makes the necessary apologies and/or changes. This doesn't sit well with some people, but if you really want to be a leader -- you better own this idea. I'm not saying that the leader is the fall person for all mistakes, but the leader needs to be the one who leads. The captain of a ship doesn't ask for a storm, but dealing with storms is part of the job. Does a captain turn to the deckhand and say, "Darn you! You made another storm"? No, the captain accepts the fact of the storm and takes the necessary actions to ride it out. After the storm, the captain may know that a crew member needs to be punished, but that comes after taking responsibility. Pointing fingers is not the path of the leader; responsibility is. In addition to taking responsibility when something goes wrong, the leader should always give credit to others when things go right. Very rarely is the leader the only responsible party for great success; most endeavors are team efforts and the entire team should receive credit when success occurs. Acknowledging the efforts of others is the path of the leader. Taking at least a share of the blame and giving credit to others are not easy tasks, but they are important. If you aren't ready to do these two actions, you aren't ready to be a leader. This is something I have learned growing up thanks to the efforts of my parents, friends, teachers, and mentors. The last six months has only reaffirmed this knowledge.

2014 PSAT Results for SIS

During the first week of December, SIS received an early Christmas present from the College Board, when the PSAT results were returned.

For Juniors, the PSAT results are a gauge to performance on the SAT as well as a qualifier for the National Merit Scholarship program. To qualify for the program, Juniors must score above a 150. In the 2014 PSAT the national average score for Juniors was 141.9. The SIS Junior class average was a 160.3, which means that the average SIS Junior was above the qualifying line for the scholarship. The class high score was a 220. The Sophomore class also showed a strong performance with an average of 149.2 and a high of 198. The Sophomores also beat the average for Juniors, which is simply outstanding. The Freshmen class average was 126.3 with a high of 174. We are proud of our students for their initiative, scholarship, and perseverance they demonstrated while taking the PSAT. The results are further evidence that SIS is the best school on Saipan and one of the top schools in the Pacific region. 

WASC Accreditation Training on Saipan

Saipan International School will be heading into an accreditation cycle in the spring of 2017; but, if you have gone through the process before, you know that the work starts much earlier than that. Especially if you really want your institution to improve, you need to begin the process early to have time to truly include the community in the work. I contacted WASC to find out what training and resources were available to us and they were very helpful. On December 8, they are offering a webinar about the accreditation process for folks in the Pacific. It will be at 12:00pm-2:00pm Saipan time. I will be watching the entire webinar and if people on island would like to view the event with others to facilitate discussion, SIS is open to you. Please contact the office and let us know that you are coming for the webinar. It is an opportunity for us to get the ball rolling early and also have a support base of people to turn to when we have questions and concerns about accreditation.