Ailene Baxter

Principal, Ferrucci Junior High School and Success at the Core Fellow | Ailene Baxter is the principal of Ferrucci Junior High School in the Puyallup School District, Puyallup, Washington. Recognized by the Association of Washington School Principals as a regional distinguished middle level principal, Ailene recently completed her EdD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, through the University of Washington in Seattle. She has presented at local, state and national conferences on strategies for transforming professional learning. Ailene uses the Success at the Core Leadership and Teacher Development modules for fostering teamwork, building capacity, and distributing leadership and learning throughout her school. Ailene is a Success at the Core Fellow.

Posts by Ailene Baxter:

• Teaching: When Collaboration Simplifies a Highly Complex Profession

  
  May 14 2013 | collaboration | data analysis | development | formative assessment | improvement

  Teaching is highly complex, sophisticated, and rewarding work ...We are very proud of the effort and energy our teachers devote to serving our students well. These words, from the University of Washington’s Center for Educational Leadership, greet students, teachers, parents, and guests upon entry to our school. I never want anyone …

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• Friday Forum – Any Helpful Resources for Diverse Learners and ELL Students?

  May 10 2013

  Friday Forum is a bi-weekly advice column for educators seeking guidance on educations issues. Please join the discussion – we want to hear your stories and suggestions, too! Q: Can you provide a few examples of resources to help me meet the needs of my diverse learners and ELL students? - …

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• Teacher and Principal Evaluation: Professional Growth through a Common Language

  May 8 2013

  Teachers and principals must work together to find ways to authentically support and implement fresh ideas about teaching and learning in the classroom. The required implementation of Washington State’s new teacher and principal evaluation law (E2SSB 6696) is rapidly approaching in the fall of 2013.  Several of my fellow Core …

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• Learning Data Walls: The Formative Use of Summative Assessments

  
  January 15 2013 | data walls | formative assessment | middle school | summative assessment

  As my Success at the Core colleague Wendy Sauer stated in her recent blog post, Great Formative Assessment Resources for Educators, the new year brings the opportunity to take stock of and assess our progress toward desired goals.  At the middle school where I am principal, January marks …

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• Getting to How: Leading for Long-Term Implementation of the Common Core State Standards

  
  October 19 2012 | analyzing data | building content vocabulary | Common Core State Standards | facilitating student-centered discussion | implementing new programs | making inferences

  ...Your most important resource is your own willingness to experiment, your courage to take risks and your commitment to continual learning for yourself and your students.                                                                                                                 -Laura Lipton and Bruce Wellman After a record eighty days of sunshine, the rain finally returned to the Seattle area.  By chance, this day happened …

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• New Beginnings

  
  August 23 2012 | collaboration | Data | leadership teams | Learning Forward | SaC Fellows | using data effectively

  Schooling systems move forward by building the capacity of the individuals within the system to do the work. - Michael Fullan, 2011 Like many of my colleagues across the educational spectrum, summer provides the time and opportunity to learn and to grow, reflecting on and re-imagining possibilities for ourselves, our …

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