Great New Resources for Principals

I'm always looking for new tools and resources for principals and as the school year ends I would like to share a few with you.

Blogs for Principals - There are some incredible resources available at several blogs designed just for principals. Here are some of my favorites.

Get Organized! http://frankbuck.blogspot.com. This site is devoted to making life easier through organization and time management and is written by Frank Buck author of Get Organized! Time Management for School Leaders.

Leader Talk http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/LeaderTalk/. This Education Week blog is written by school leaders for school leaders and provides interesting commentary and useful ideas for leading your school.

Effective Principals, Effective Schools http://effectiveprincipals.blogspot.com. This blog shares strategies used by principals to positively impact their school. The author of The Principalship from A to Z maintains the blog.

I hope you find these resources helpful and would enjoy hearing from you about other great sites for ideas to improve our schools.

Evidence Linking Small Schools and Student Achievement

For the past decade there's been a growing movement to create small learning communities and small schools with the belief that they will positively impact student achievement and school climate. Most Oregon GEAR UP schools are relatively small and will be interested in the findings of an Oregon initiative funded by The Gates Foundation and the Meyer Memorial Trust.

The Oregon Small Schools Initiative (OSSI) reported in their initial evaluation that small schools have a positive impact on student success and that "despite high rates of poverty and other barriers to success, . . . small school students generally perform as well as or better than non [small school] students." The report also said that "students enrolled at a small school for multiple grades will, on average, have better outcomes" than those there for fewer years. The complete report is available at http://www.e3smallschools.org/documents/Statewideoverviewreport_FINAL4_8_10.pdf.

The Oregon Small Schools Initiative provides many resources to support improvement and work with your community to improve student learning. Check our the things that they offer. I'd like to hear from you about your experience with small schools.