Introducing Myself

Hello!

I am new to blogging, but I wanted to start blogging about something near and dear to my heart - instructional leadership.  I frequently see and find articles about how to be a great leader or a great principal that have cursory references to instruction, but very little on the actual instructional practices of principals.

Accordingly, I wanted to create a blog, where I could share what I have learned and hear from other principals about the actual work of instructional leadership.  I have spent a lot of my time talking and working with other principals who have questions about specific instructional practices and developing logic for their instructional plan.

I hope that this blog assists those principals who are interested as well as anyone who is interested in transitioning to instructional leadership or principalship.

So, what is my background?  I was an English teacher in both Memphis City Schools and Chicago Public Schools, and I had pretty decent results.  In Memphis, my students demonstrated high levels of proficiency - my classes were 90% proficient during the 2002-2003 school year, and 100% proficient  on a criterion test during the 2003-2004 school year.  After working in Memphis for three years, I moved to Chicago and taught in Chicago Public Schools, where my classes proficiency rates increased 3-4% each year on a standardized test.

The challenges of moving students on two different types of tests taught me a lot about instruction, students, and the organization of schools for student success.  I shared what I learned with others as an area coach.  I worked with principals and their teams to understand data, school metrics, and most importantly - instruction.  I led a pilot of interim exam assessments with 7 schools - 5 of the 7 schools posted growth in the number of students who were proficient on the PSAE - one school moved 12% in one school year.

I then moved on to assistant principalship where I worked with a dynamic group of teachers on the instructional leadership team and in classrooms.  Together, we revamped the curriculum, focused on understanding student data, and improving instructional practice, and we had pretty good results.  My last year at the school, we were the 6th highest school in growth and posted some double digit gains in reading growth.  The school has continued to hold onto their academic momentum since I have left, and I am looking forward to seeing where the school will go.

I'm currently working as a principal at William J. Bogan High School, where, in my first year,  many of the most significant data changes were in climate and culture, but we expect that we will begin to see the fruits of our academic labors.  We had some small victories and are looking to continually seeing more.

Feel free to visit my school website boganhs.org or to follow us on Twitter @BoganBengal79.