On Thursday, we conducted a quarterly roundtable with our school leaders in Milwaukee. 12 of our 15 network schools were in attendance (2 district schools, 5 charter, 5 choice). The 3 schools not in attendance were absent due to weather issues related to the blizzard of last week. We also had several invited guests – including the new principal of Lighthouse Academy, a charter school from a high-performing national CMO which will likely open in 2012. In total, we had 25 participants. We have great momentum among all of the network schools, which was clear as they stated their short term and long term goals during the school update portion of the agenda. There was tremendous energy in the room eager for collaboration.
During our breakout sessions, which occurred for the second half of the roundtable, the high schools discussed a collaboration around interim assessments/curricular pacing/regular subject area teacher meetings to share best practices. This discussion was led by Carmen High School – Patricia Hoben and others. There was great enthusiasm for this potential collaboration, which would include Carmen HS of Science and Technology (charter), Reagan HS (district), CEO Leadership Academy (charter), HOPE HS (choice), St. Anthony (choice), and one additional school unofficially. We are discussing this idea in detail and will have more thoughts to share soon.
We are also getting great feedback from our joint trainings and plan to do more of them as we head into the summer. All of the participants are extremely motivated, and we’re excited to see what new developments will come of these collaborations.