How Do We Measure Success?

“If students from Leyden are going to be our leaders in the next 20 years, then I feel pretty good about that…”

A few days ago, I was chatting with one of our incredible teachers, Mr. Bill Krypel, about how great our students are at Leyden and he looked right at me before saying the above quote. I smiled, and instantly, it got me thinking. He was right. We really do have an incredible group of students and if they are going to be the one’s running our businesses, towns and organizations, then we are going to be okay. But, what I also began thinking about was how often society and the media looks at young people and schools, not just at Leyden but everywhere, and quickly measure “success” based on any amount of different quantitative figures.

Test scores. Attendance rates. Graduation rates. Disciplinary referrals. The list continues. People will even push it; performance on the sports field, at dance competitions or on stage. Somehow, this “data” is used to show just how successful, or unsuccessful for that matter, a school can be. Does this truly measure success though? I believe that most people would agree with me when I have trouble agreeing with that. Instead, I began thinking about what “success” means. Success that can’t necessarily be measured with a number.

No, I thought about our student who, in a conversation with our Principal, Jason Markey, simply mentioned that he notices things are different around school. “People are holding doors for each other, and just being nice.”

Or our Boys Soccer team, who were playing the #2 team in state last month and took them to double overtime, losing only in the last 20 seconds of the match.  

I think about the countless times our Leyden family has come together to support a member of our community in need. Just this year alone, we have raised over $5,000 to support these causes.

I think about our Kindness campaign, where more and more people are joining in to spread a simple message; kindness matters.

Or I reflect on our Make a Difference Day that just took place. Simply because they wanted to do good, 360 students joined 40 adults as we took part in 15 community service projects at the same time throughout our communities. 360 students on a Saturday morning, just because they wanted to help. Nothing more.

It’s always incredibly interesting to me that when people measure how “successful” a school is, all of these would be left out. Yet, in all honesty, this is what truly makes for a successful school. As I left our Make a Difference Day event last weekend, I was in awe of what was accomplished by our students; as I tweeted that afternoon, there is not a greater group of students around. Anywhere. So proud of what everyone accomplished that day. Yet, this won’t show up on any state report cards.

Someone once told me that a true measure of a successful school is whether or not you would send your own children there. This has resonated with me, and it is more real now than it ever could have been since we are expecting our first little one in just over three months (we couldn’t be more excited!)

Without an ounce of hesitation, I know that I would be proud to send my child to Leyden High School.

Why Lead? Simple; Let's Give Students Opportunities to Be Who They Want to Be

I must admit, I have been hoping to write my “official” first blog post all summer long. See, when school let out last May, I made a commitment to myself that I would make a conscious effort to grow my online PLN through Twitter and blogging while connecting with, and more importantly, learning from, many great educators and resources. As far as using Twitter to grow my PLN? Well, to reiterate what many people stress, Twitter has become a form of professional development and growth that I have to pull myself away from at night. There are so many #EdChats that I follow, so many amazing educators that there really is not enough time to take it all in.

But, as you can see, being that this is my first blog post, I wasn’t as successful when it came to getting my thoughts and reflections down on paper. However, I am extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to take part in George Couros’ incredible new School Administrator Virtual Mentoring Program, or #SAVMP where I will continue connecting with some new and amazing educators from around the world. Literally. I am connecting with Ann as my mentor, who is currently in Norway, and will be connecting closely with Prue from Australia and Anthony from Texas. How can you beat that? And with that program, I am finally charged with the task of getting my first blog post out there.

So, why do I lead and why do I teach?

The short answer is this; I lead to give students opportunities to find themselves.

Six years ago, you could quote me saying “I will never leave the classroom.” And, like many young and excited educators, I truly believed this. The impact and changes I can make with my students is what teaching is all about. As more and more students came and went each year, I fell deeper in love with what education can do. But, then something happened; I had the opportunity to become the Director of Student Activities (At Leyden, this position comes with release periods, so I still teach while working with Activities).

It wasn’t long though before I started to realize that what Student Activities was about was so much more than clubs and events. What I realized was that Student Activities was about the culture, the spirit and the opportunities for students and it was at that point that I found a new passion in education; providing students with as many opportunities to be who they wanted to be and do what they wanted to do. It was also at that point when I realized that although I love teaching and I can reach students in the classroom, by working with Activities and taking a leadership role, we can provide opportunities for students in ways far beyond the classroom walls. By working towards creating a culture of involvement, spirit and respect, the impact that we could have on our student body can be tremendous.

That passion kept growing and over the past three years, our students and teachers often had more ideas than time to get them up and running. Now, in addition to my roles as teacher and Director of Activities, I am so fortunate to begin in a new role as Director of Outreach, where our goal is quite simple; let’s create as many opportunities as possible for our students using the connections and support of our community. What new ways can our students get involved in the community? What new ways can the Leyden community get involved in our schools?

That, right there, is why I lead and why I teach. Certainly, economics, global studies, math and science are extremely important. However, I lead because of the bigger picture, because there is an incredible impact that school leaders can have on a school culture, belief system and opportunities for students. I lead because I believe that building relationships and treating everyone with respect are foundations for strong schools and students. I lead because I want to give our students as many opportunities as I can to become who they want to become. Isn’t that what education and teaching is all about?