Hello, LYS Nation. This is the 900th post to the column, so as has become a tradition, we will review our progress. First, the review: The 1st post was on Monday, February 16, 2009. The 100th post was on April 14, 2009. The 200th post was on June 10, 2009 The 300th post was on September 2, 2009 The 400th post was on December 16, 2009 The 500th post was on April 7, 2010 The 600th post was on August 2, 2010 The 700th post was on December 17, 2010 The 800th post was on, May 17, 2011 The 900th post is on today, October 5, 2011 The 900 posts represent more than 840 pages of single spaced text. This is the equivalent of about a 3,300-page book. The top 8 key words have been: Leadership (271); Teachers (186); Principals (185); Robert “Bob” Brezina (111); LYS Nation (108); E. Don Brown (107); Instruction (105); Campus / School Improvement (89) The top 10 posts, in terms of distribution, have been: 1 – A Reader Asks… Modeling Examples (8/25/11) 2 – Crunch Time Common Assessments (2/11/2011)3 – A TAKS Reminder From the LYS Elementary Coaching Team (4/19/2011)4 – A Reader Asks… Grading Policy (1/12/2011)5 – Readers Ask… More Assessment Questions (11/5/2010)6 – Student vs. Teacher Data (8/17/2011)7 – Top LYS Tweets from the Week of March 20, 2011 (3/28/2011)8 – It’s Finally Here! The Fundamental Five (5/11/2011)9 – Assessment vs. Benchmark (9/21/11)10 – A Reader Submits… Instructional Strategies (10/19/2010) There have been over 157,300 page hits. There are 946 e-mail subscribers. Thank you! There are now international readers and e-mail subscribers, with the following 12 countries represented: Australia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Egypt, Latvia, Mexico, New Zealand, Taiwan, Thailand; United Kingdom, United States, U.S. Virgin Islands All of this is incredibly exciting; especially when you consider that not too long ago ago, every number was 0. A Little Blatant Self Promotion: First, if you like the blog and you haven’t signed up for the e-mail subscription, please do so. I find that it’s easier to write to people than it is to write to web hits. Second, if you like the blog and find it useful, tell three other people. This blog is a much more powerful resource for school improvement when it is a dialogue. Third, if you have not sent in a comment yet, please do so. Education research points out that the act of critical writing actually makes the learner smarter. Let the blog assist you in sharpening your saw. Finally: Thank you so much for reading and responding. This network which started out as a way for just a handful of principals to stay connected has turned into a small nation of board members, central office administrators, campus leaders, and teachers who are focused on redefining what students are capable of. Who knows what we will discuss in the next 100 posts. Think. Work. Achieve. Your turn… Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation Attend the LYS presentations at the Texas School Improvement Conference on 10/26/11 and 10/27/11