Wellesley Public Schools
Learning • Caring • Innovating
Superintendent’s Bulletin
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Dear Colleagues,I had the privilege of visiting Singapore this month with a group of educators and policy makers from Massachusetts. Ranked as one of the top performing countries in the world on benchmarks such as the Programme for International Assessment (PISA), I was eager to learn more about how this system developed its teachers and principals as well as implemented a system-wide strategy for improvement. I must admit that I anticipated seeing a top-down, command and control structure of district administration. What I found was very different. In Singapore, only top-college graduates are selected to be teachers and then are given heavy professional development that is seamless between pre-service and in-service experiences. (An area that is often lacking in the U.S.) The very best teachers have numerous teacher-leadership pathways they can follow, with master teachers serving in multiple capacities both within and across their schools. Only the top teachers are then groomed to become principals, in a lengthy process in which they study their own country’s education system, travel abroad to study other systems, and then begin service under the tutelage of veteran principals on the job. Principals are rotated between schools every 5-7 years and it is not uncommon for these educators to move from elementary to secondary and vice versa. This robust human capital strategy, dependent on an incredible amount of training and investment, coupled with a profound sense of nationalism (“teachers are nation builders”), provide the means to have a system with an extraordinary level of coherence. While there are certainly some high stakes tests in Singapore, particularly for 12-year olds, the country does not use these results for school or individual accountability. In fact, it’s ironic that Finland and Singapore—consistently ranked among the top performing countries in the world—share this approach, which of course is very different from the approach most often seen in the United States. Leaving Singapore, it was hard not to be impressed with their system and their general understanding that no activity deserves greater investment than education. Find great people, provide them with ongoing, high-quality training, and then give them the flexibility to be innovative. I believe that would be a recipe for success in any country.Thanks for the great work you do every day in Wellesley for our students and have a great weekend! DavidCalendar
11/2/15 am – Deadline for PD Day Proposals – Deadline extended (see below)
11/1/15 – Deadline for Submission of Salary Lane Change Letters of Intent (see below)
11/9/15 – School Committee Meeting – 7 pm, Town Hall
11/11/15 – Veterans’ Day – Schools Closed
11/12/15 – The Forum: A conversation on Girls and Stress – 7 pm – Dana Hall School
11/17/15 – School Committee Meeting – 7 pm Town Hall
11/25/15 – Early Dismissal – Thanksgiving Break
11/30/15 – Professional Development Day – No Classes
 We are seeking proposals for 10 minute presentations that will provide a glimpse of your practice related to one of the following areas: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving; Communication; Collaboration; Creativity and Innovation; Social and Emotional Learning; Differentiated Instruction. Presenters will repeat their presentation twice during the day, for audiences of no more than 20 colleagues at a time. Ten minutes of Q&A/discussion will follow each presentation.
Collaboration is encouraged! Present with a colleague. Presenters receive 10 PDPs.Submit a Proposal
Proposals will be accepted through Monday morning.
The Forum: A Conversation on Girls and Stress
Thursday, November 12, 7 – 8:30 pm
Dana Hall School, WellesleyThe Forum at Dana Hall School is a symposium series designed to examine a topic of particular relevance to girls and girls education. The first symposium will focus on adolescent girls and stress. Click here for additional information and the list of participating panelists.
Letters of Intent to Change Lanes Due by November 1st
All professional staff who expect to receive a Master’s degree, M+30, or M+60/Doctorate during the 2016-17 School Year, must send formal notification of intent to change salary lanes to Addie Doherty dohertya@wellesleyps.org, no later than November 1, 2015. The notification should include: current lane, proposed lane, and the school year (2016-17) in which you hope to change lanes. This early notification deadline is required so that provisions for anticipated salary lane changes may be included within the new fiscal year budget. Please note: The list does not carry forward. You must provide written notice each year until you have achieved the desired lane change. Professional Development OpportunitiesUpcoming Primary Source WebinarsWorld War I as a Global PhenomenonNov. 9, 2015 7:00 – 8:15 p.m. ET For teachers of grades 6-12 Webinar – online
Our webinar series for teachers of world history continues this fall with a timely session that seeks to re-center our view of the war in this centennial moment. World War I was a global phenomenon, the zenith of centuries of imperial endeavor. Whether in a World History, US, or European History course, the war and its aftermath cannot be understood without reference to the relationships between competing metropoles, colonies, and other entities. Professor Heather Streets-Salter, Department Chair and Director of World History Programs at Northeastern University, will examine events beyond the master narrative and explore the truly global impact of the war, particularly as it affected East Africa and South, East, and Southeast Asia. Classroom resources and teacher perspectives will be shared.
To register: https://www.primarysource.org/professional-development/courses/online-seminars
Explaining the Refugee Crisis in the Mediterranean
Nov. 12, 2015
7:00 – 8:15 p.m.
For K-12 teachers
Webinar – online
The refugee crisis in the Mediterranean is one of the most significant humanitarian crises in a generation. What is causing the mass migration of hundreds of thousands of people in the region, and how is the international community responding? Join us as Professor Noora Lori of Boston University, an expert on migration in the Middle East, and Barbara Petzen of Middle East Connections discuss the roots and significance of the crisis, as well as strategies for talking about it in your classrooms.
To register: https://www.primarysource.org/professional-development/courses/online-seminars
Global Read Africa: Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria
Dec. 2, 2015
4:00 – 5:15 p.m.
For K-12 teachers
Webinar – online
Join Primary Source and readers from around the U.S. for a live, online discussion with author Noo Saro-Wiwa and Nigeria scholar Darren Kew of UMass Boston.
Looking for Transwonderland takes us on an adventure-and irony-filled tour of modern Nigeria through the observant eyes of Noo Saro-Wiwa. Her journey is not only geographical and cultural, but also personal: it tracks her coming to terms, after 15 years, with the country that executed her father, activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. As Noo travels to different regions, she reflects with wit and feeling on subjects ranging from history to holidays, religion to roads, and the environment to ethnicity – all while sharing the perspectives of people she meets along the way. The book is appropriate for high-school students and anyone interested in life today in Africa’s most populous country.
To register: https://www.primarysource.org/professional-development/courses/online-seminars
WellesleyPD
- Your username for WellesleyPD now matches the format of your WPS gmail address (lastnamefirstinitial).
- Fall course offerings may be viewed by selecting “Offerings” from the menu on the left side of the screen.
WPS Internal Job Postings on District Website
Please be aware that we added a new feature called “ Internal Job Postings” under the Faculty tab of the District’s website. We will post all of our internal jobs under this website tab. Therefore, you will no longer see internal job postings in the bulletin. This new way of posting will allow us to post internal positions any day of the week. |
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Wellesley Public Schools • Wellesley, Massachusetts www.wellesley.k12.ma.us/district/superintendent David Lussier, Superintendent
The Superintendent’s Bulletin is posted weekly on Fridays on our website. It provides timely, relevant information about meetings, professional development opportunities, curriculum and program development, grant awards, and School Committee news. The bulletin is also the official vehicle for job postings. Please read the bulletin regularly and use it to inform colleagues of meetings and other school news. 
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