Scott Ellis is the founder and CEO of Mastery Track, which is a software program to help teachers use mastery-based grading in their schools.

• Applied analytics at Hewlett Packard.
• Teacher mentoring programs.
• Blended and personalized learning for the last 7 or 8 years.
• What contribution could I make?
• Look at scale and what that might look like?
• How to use technology as the core process that everyone can access and use for learning.
• Making lots of progress on certain areas, but still having good access to the data is one area we are still struggling.
• Anything more than individual student data is too much data.
• Data wave is crashing across education.
• We need to be crystal clear about what data we need?
• What does the student know?
• So what might we do next?
• Which ways of learning work best for them?
• Blended learning is combining great teaching with technology.
• There is a new job description for teachers in the 21st Century.
• It used to be that the teacher was the source of information, and now there are lots of ways for students to learn. There are so many more tools in the teacher’s toolkit.
• We all know they know different things and are in different places. It’s extremely difficult to do differentiation in that system.
• Teachers know things that nobody else knows. They know the children in front of them. The role of those teachers is to know how to use the variety of tools at their disposal to help kids learn as much as possible.
• The children are at different places in their learning.
• New tech makes things possible in new ways.
• Station rotation models. Individuals and small groups is where the magic happens.
• Effective educational practices that are happening when the teacher is not imparting instruction.
• Start with a dashboard: Where are they now?
• Second step: What are the next steps?
• Third Step: What is our action plan?
• Run a two-week cycle, where kids are learning certain things.
• How to be a transformative principal? Enable students to move at their own pace: learn about what that means, and genuinely embrace it, or start asking the questions to make that happen.

Schedule a call with Jethro

Are you feeling like you are always behind at school? Do you feel like you need about 2 more hours each day to accomplish everything? Here’s how I help principals work manageable hours: Create your ideal week, so that you can leave work at work and enjoy your life!

Please take a moment to rate this podcast in iTunes or on Stitcher. 

Please follow me on Twitter: @jethrojones for the host and @TrnFrmPrincipal for the show.

Buy Communication Cards

Show notes on TransformativePrincipal.com

Download Paperless Principal.  

Take Control of your email

Web Site

Transformative Principal on Stitcher

Refer A Principal

Best Tools for Busy Administrators Survey

Learn more about today's sponsors, Playworks, IXL, and Renaissance Learning:

As a global leader in education technology operating in more than 110 countries, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. We believe that technology can unlock a more effective learning experience, ensure that students get the personalized teaching they need to thrive, and help educators and administrators to truly, fully, See Every Student. Learn more at renaissance.com.

We’re proud to be sponsored by Playworks, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization with evidence-based practices that help schools improve the health and well-being of children by increasing opportunities for physical activity and safe, meaningful play.

If you’re a school or district leader struggling with the challenge of chronic absenteeism, as so many are across the U.S., you may not realize that structured recess is a research-backed approach to keep kids in school. In fact, a UC Berkeley study of Title I schools found that those partnering with Playworks had significantly lower chronic absenteeism rates. Further, Mathematica research demonstrated that Playworks schools spent 27% less time transitioning from recess back to learning, saving teachers valuable instructional time. 

These results are possible for your students, too. Learn how Playworks can help you improve student-educator relationships, belonging, and attendance by signing up for a quick no-obligation conversation.

We’re also thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.