When was the last time you celebrated in your school or district? This morning? Last semester? February 2020? Hopefully, your answer is some form of “recently.” To be clear, we don’t mean falling into the traps of toxic positivity or ignoring any elephants in the room. If times are tough, we must acknowledge our challenges’ realities. If student outcomes are not what they could or should be, we must keep discussing them, creating and acting on plans to fix them, and measuring our impact. But, while we are doing all of that, we also need to proactively look for the good, name it, and celebrate it shamelessly.
- Did five classrooms have perfect attendance today?
- Did the principal observe 95% of classrooms implementing one of the school’s evidence-based practices during a learning walk?
- Did all students follow norms and expectations in the lunchroom for the whole week?
- Were more family members in attendance at this month’s community event than last month?
- Did the most recent data cycle suggest that a new strategy for grouping students during literacy instruction leads to student gains?
Any of these scenarios are worth celebrating! Shout your successes from the rooftops using data walls and displays (physical or electronic), posters or whiteboard messages in high-traffic areas, social media posts, intercom announcements, newsletters, etc.
Your teams are working tirelessly to provide each student in your classroom, school, or district with the educational opportunities they deserve. It is hard work, and there can be much noise outside classroom walls, threatening to derail or distract your efforts. It is mission-critical that school and district teams use data to set goals, create and implement plans to attain them, and measure and celebrate progress. At Focused Schools, we call this “utilizing an internal accountability system.” We cannot lose sight of our “why,” nor can we overlook the gains we are making. We must consistently collect, discuss, share, act on, and celebrate data.
Here are a few of our partners’ celebrations.
Does your team have a favorite strategy for sharing and celebrating your successes? Let us know–we want to celebrate your team, too! Together, we can #IgniteTransformativeChange.
