Pros and Cons of Eliminating the SIP "Due Date" - SSI Directors by Natasha Bolden https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks Principals need to have their loads lightened, but they also have a need and desire to move forward with the work of school improvement. Should we eliminate the due date? Why or why not? Please provide your best thinking. en-us 2021-09-22 17:26:17 UTC 2025-10-05 21:32:54 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1858922182 In times when so much for principals has been unpredictable, they desire to have some level of predictability. They also are aware of ESSA accountability surfacing and desire to have a structured format to help them benchmark why, when, and how to support students. The main supports to this work come from LAS Teams who have been prioritizing the coaching support and it's been well received by principals. Effective support must happen by design, not by accident. At the minimum a window to submit allows for teams of support to strategize needs. Principals have prioritized their time with ILT's to move through this work and to minimize their efforts would not be well received. ]]> 2021-11-01 14:28:05 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1858922182 Schools truly are struggling to relearn what it means to be "back". There are many unanticipated challenges particularly in secondary schools associated with student wellbeing and peer to peer engagement. The right now demands have superseded, for many, the strategic teaching and learning focus. Grace is an ask of many of our schools and this might be a step in the right directions relative to this topic. https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1859480582 2021-11-01 17:50:49 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1859480582 We must take great care in moving too far from one direction or the other. For those who have been actively working on this, it could be misperceived. The echo of this being "ongoing work" could be important as we maintain the timeline and expectations associated with the school SIP submission. https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1859484162 2021-11-01 17:52:13 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1859484162 Pros https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1859622356 The following are pros' for eliminating the SIP due date:
- It provides leadership teams with additional time to design and develop the best version of their SIP
- It signals a willingness to receive and act on principal feedback around deliverables and timelines.
- It provides leadership teams with a longer window of time to carefully analyze student achievement patterns throughout the first quarter of the school year to inform the design and implementation of the SIP]]> 2021-11-01 18:52:19 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1859622356 Cons https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1859659736 The following are cons' for eliminating the SIP due date:
- It delays the design and implementation of a plan (i.e SIP) to drive school improvement work that is intentional to each school's contextual needs. The absence of a clear and concise plan can create the possibility that schools are "building the plane as they fly". 
- Considering the unintended consequences of eliminating a deadline if the SIP is a non-negotiable for school improvement work. What message is sent to school leaders who met the deadline and expectation?
- The removal of a timeline can compromise a consistent, and robust, process for SIP feedback to support school leaders in adjusting/evolving plans where needed. ]]> 2021-11-01 19:10:38 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1859659736 https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864581931 We need to be considerate of the work that schools have already put into their SIP development. We should be cautious about how we message this so that it does not take away from this work while also encouraging schools to continue to away from operations/mgmt.]]> 2021-11-03 13:17:18 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864581931 School improvement plans have long been the cornerstone of the work of instructional leadership, building staff capacity, and focusing on monitoring results. They have to do these plans to stay focused, and most have, so I am less clear on the intent of not having them submitted. We have already removed any supervisory feedback on the plans; if anything we could further refine or reduce our mid-year SIP reviews to reduce the anxiety around the monitoring from our team. sarah_e_sirgo https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864679771 2021-11-03 13:46:04 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864679771 Hindsight is 20/20, but where we may have missed an opportunity is to refine and simplify the plan overall. The priority work is to stabilize the instructional experience, know where students are, and have plans to respond to the student learning data. The other things on the plan are important, but perhaps we can identify the "must dos" versus the "can dos" so that they can prioritize the pieces of the SIP that are time sensitive. sarah_e_sirgo https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864689248 2021-11-03 13:48:46 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864689248 Continue to attend leadership, admin team, core team, and other meetings to see the direct connections between the strategic plan and their local school work. sarah_e_sirgo https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864692398 2021-11-03 13:49:36 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864692398 Focus informal and formal observations on data monitoring, classroom observations, PD, and planning sarah_e_sirgo https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864763952 2021-11-03 14:09:58 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864763952 Continue to embed SIP work conversations into scheduled check-ins with principals. Continue to observe SIP work in action during ILT/admin meetings. https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864775587 2021-11-03 14:13:13 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864775587 Need some kind of accountability or evidence of implementing a plan is important to verify that the school is responding to the learning disruption data. sarah_e_sirgo https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864784401 2021-11-03 14:15:37 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864784401 Schools have already put considerable work into the SIP and we already said that what is "due" is their best thinking, wherever they are. If we eliminate any opportunity for them to share their best thinking, we are moving away from the heart of our work & signaling to schools that school improvement and strategizing are not a priority. https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864878167 2021-11-03 14:41:57 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864878167 Look at what modeling can be done for principals in working with their teams, as well as what modeling can be done for teachers in their classrooms - plug in directly to provide support. https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864898449 2021-11-03 14:48:02 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864898449 When we think of "taking something off the plates" of schools, that something should not be school improvement. While operations are a heavy lift at this time, continuously monitoring our actions / data around equitable practices, academic progress, student / staff well-being...is the core of our work. I would rather take a close look at the operations side of our organization to see what can be done to make operations more efficient for our schools. https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864911083 2021-11-03 14:51:48 UTC https://padlet.com/natashabolden/Bookmarks/wish/1864911083