Sometimes I’m in a district and I witness leadership making a huge mistake. Today was one of those days.

Today, I heard a Superintendent tell his Principals that if their checkpoint scores didn’t improve then their jobs would be at risk.

Definitely a case of backwards thinking.

Checkpoint scores are about providing the following information:

First: Are we on pace?

Second: What works, instructionally?

Third: What doesn’t work, instructionally?

A Distant Fourth: What have students mastered?

Items 1 through 3 require an honest assessment environment and time to adjust practices. These are some of the prerequisites for improved student performance.

Item 4 can be masked by manipulating the assessment environment, which provides invalid data, which impacts adjustments to practice, which impedes student performance.

Trust me, based on his threat, this Superintendent will get better common assessment scores. And he is going to be red faced and tongue-tied as he tries to explain to his Board why his STAAR scores remain flat.  Odds are he will end up blaming his teachers, his principals or the test. 

Again, “Lose the Battle, Win the War.”

Think. Work. Achieve. Your turn…

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