Principal Arent goes to Washington

Sidney High School Principal Steve Arent attended ASCD—formally known as the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development—teaching conference in Washington DC on June 27.

“After the second day I was there, there was some different things I was hearing in every session,” he said.

The program emphasized excellence in the classroom. Sessions dealt with developing a core focus on classroom instruction. As Arent put it, panels taught the value of “teachers not only having good content skills, but also solid instructional practices in how you teach.”

An emerging set of national standards, called Common Core and adopted now by 46 states, was covered in some depth at the conference. Nebraska is one of four states still on the sidelines.

“Nebraska wants to continue to be a local control state, to not attach themselves to national standards,” Arent indicated. He added that most states adopting the Common Core have not implemented the program.

The conference did confirm what Arent sees as the principal's changing role in education. In the past the principal was generally never seen by teachers and students on a day to day basis. The assistant principal dealt with most classroom or student problems. Today, the main office plays a more direct part.

“That is not the way it is today,” he pointed out. “They really stressed principal’s being in classrooms, being out with the teachers, talking to the teachers about their craft—a lot of things we’re doing already.”

With the school year approaching, Arent believes the conference and its sessions proves Sidney is on the right track.

“I feel petty reassured we are doing a lot of good things,” he said. “The board has given us direction in terms of technology and focusing on an instructional model. These are things that came up at the conference repeatedly in terms of creating a culture and atmosphere that will help the student become successful.”

The district offers wireless in schools and considers technology an integral part of instruction.

“I think we do a great job here and I echo that for all of Nebraska with the other districts I have been in,” Arent observed.