Another Friday Night at School

This Friday was a long day for SIS. We had our 20th annual Healthy Heart Walk and our Parents' Night Out for Valentine's Day. So once again, I find myself at school on a Friday night at 9:00pm. I really don't mind much; partly because we are having a three-day weekend due to Presidents' Day and because I love my job. Plus, this particular event is for the Student Council to raise money for our Prance. You are probably wondering, "What is the Prance?" The Prance is like prom, only better. It was named by a former SIS teacher. Anyway, the late nights don't really bother me; especially when I know it is for the students.

Mid-Year Review from Faculty

I feel as an educational leader it is important to seek feedback from your faculty. It is important to demonstrate that you are willing to go through a continual process of reflection and growth in order to model that behavior for faculty. This anonymous survey went out to my faculty two weeks ago. The results in general were quite positive, but there are areas for improvement. I felt that part of the process should also be displaying results publicly for comment. I appreciate and respect the time and energy the faculty put into providing me feedback. There was also a comment section and the most common statement was that our ESL program still needs more work before it will serve our needs as a community of educators. The second most common topic was about our Chinese language program; faculty felt that students needed a target or goal at the end of the program, like taking the SAT Chinese subject test or an AP Chinese exam. I look forward to working with the faculty on these two issues in the next semester and coming school year.

92% positive

69% more positive

61% more positive

84% positive

69% more positive

92% positive

77% positive

92% positive

61% positive

92% positive

Achieve 3000 Data Reviewed

Achieve 3000 website

We have been in the process of implementing Achieve 3000 this year at Saipan International School. At first some of the teachers were a little reluctant to adopt the program; but, as usual, there were a few teachers who jumped right in and started using it. The results they were seeing were so astounding that the use of the program spread quickly. Now, at the start of the second semester, we have complete implementation in grades 3-10. Basically reaching our target for the end of the year, by the end of the first semester -- you have to like those results!

But the implementation being ahead of schedule is a small item compared to the results the students are showing. Every grade level using the program has seen improvement of at least an average of 50 lexile points. The main feature that students like is the fact that the program is dynamic and meets them at their reading level. Every students has access to the same content, but at the correct reading level. Everyone becomes part of the discussion and interaction in class.

Furthermore, some of our students are ridiculously good at reading with scores beyond the college ready level of 1350. In G5, we have two students ready at the G10 level; not bad, right? In G8, we have one student at the high end of the G10 level, one students at the low end of the G10 level, and one student with a 1575. Yes, you read that correctly -- a 1575! 1575 is well into college level reading. This particular student is ready to tackle university level material as a G7 student. AMAZING! Four of our G9 students are at least one grade level above their age group and one is at 1590. Yes, a 1590! Eight students in G10 are at least one grade level above their age group and three of them are into college level reading scores. The scores are 1400, 1490, and 1535! With our use of Accelerated Reader in the elementary and middle school and now the addition of Achieve 3000, our students will be leaving high school more than ready to take on college level work.  These results are beyond outstanding and provide more evidence that SIS is the best school on Saipan and one of the best in the Pacific region. With the cost of our tuition factored into the picture -- we are the best school in the Pacific.

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.