Quality Standard III: Principals Demonstrate School Culture and Equity Leadership

ELEMENT A: Intentional and Collaborative School Culture Principals articulate, model and positively reinforce a clear vision and values of the school’s culture, and involve students, families and staff in creating an inclusive and welcoming climate that supports it.	As part of my weekly routine, each Friday I send out a schedule for the upcoming week with a short reflection.  As I look back over the course of this school year, many of those reflections have been about the culture we are constantly striving to create and maintain. News and Notes_9.16.13 News and Notes_10.21.13
ELEMENT B: Commitment to the Whole Child Principals promote the cognitive, physical, social and emotional health, growth and skill development of every student.	I am proud to be a part of a school that encourages and promotes success in all realms of development.  Our music, art, and physical education instruction is outstanding, and the staff fully supports these efforts. News and Notes_10.28.13 News and Notes_12.16.13
ELEMENT C: Equity Pedagogy Principals demonstrate a commitment to a diverse population of students by creating an inclusive and positive school culture, and provide instruction in meeting the needs of diverse students, talents, experiences and challenges in support of student achievement.	ELL instruction has been a priority at MES for several years.  With 50% of our students classified as English Language Learners, much of our focus is on instructional strategies that will help students learning English be successful in our school. ELL Training News and Notes_2.3.14
ELEMENT D: Efficacy, Empowerment, and a Culture of Continuous Improvement Principals and their leadership team foster a school culture that encourages continual improvement through reliance on research, innovation, prudent risk-taking, high expectations for all students and teachers, and a valid assessment of outcomes.	This year we completed the difficult process of choosing a new reading curriculum.  It's a difficult task, primarily because, if teachers knew what to do differently to improve students' reading ability, they would already be doing it.  The process involved many honest discussions about what's working well and what we could improve.  In the end, we reached consensus, and the staff is excited to begin using this new program next year. News and Notes_11.18.13 News and Notes_12.9.13