Last fall, eight Portland Stand for Children members interviewed about one-third of Portland Public Schools’ principals. Their goal? Gain insight to the current state of the district and determine where the chapter, as a community organization, could focus its efforts to help improve Portland schools and increase student achievement and engagement.

Now, this team wants to share what they’ve learned with you.

Join the Portland team for a one hour meeting or webinar this week or next week. This is a great opportunity to learn what principals think is working, find out how you can take action right now and give feedback that will be used to guide the Portland Chapter’s efforts going forward. 

Here are a few themes from the Principal Interview Project:

• Portland Public Schools need a clear and consistent plan for developing strong principals. Many school leaders say they don’t receive clear feedback and have limited access to professional development, quality goal-setting and evaluations.
• There is an important increased focus districtwide on student achievement and looking at each student individually. At the same time, many principals say they need effective strategies to compensate for lost instructional time as teachers try to move through the curriculum at the pace required by the district’s new high school schedule and meet the needs of individual students.
• Some changes are needed to the substitute teacher contract. Principals say the rules associated with the substitute teacher contract make it difficult for them to find the high quality educators they desire and exclude those they find ineffective.  The issue disproportionately affects schools that are serving large numbers of students who qualify for free and reduced-price lunch as those schools are receiving additional money for teachers to participate in professional development outside the school building.

Want to know more? Simply email Portland Organizer Emily Nazarov at enazarov@stand.org to RSVP for a session, either in person or online:

          Wednesday, February 22, 7:00 - 8:00 pm         

          Friday, February 24, 12:00 - 1:00 pm         

          Wednesday, February 29, 5:30 - 6:30 pm         

          Thursday, March 1, 12:00 - 1:00 pm

Learn more about the values and goals of Portland Stand for Children.