I would bet that if you look at your calendar, you won’t see much white space. Time is precious, and it can be difficult to pry ourselves away from the urgent to focus on the important.

I am in the midst of an important investment in professional learning with a group of instructional coaches who are my colleagues at Hudson (Wisconsin) School District. This investment – the SMART School Coach Academy – has turned out to be one of the most significant professional learning experiences of which I have been a part.

We all face multiple initiatives, mandates and challenges. The SMART School Coach Academy has helped my team and me realize and conceptualize the connections between these occasionally competing priorities. In Hudson, we have historically looked to the SMART Goal Process to focus our efforts. We have done so in a very public way by sharing our annual goals and results with the Board of Education. Given our relatively deep implementation of SMART Goals, I am amazed at how much new learning I have enjoyed during this Academy!

I’ve had three distinct priorities on my mind (and in my dreams) for the past few years: Educator Effectiveness and SLOs (School and Student Learning Objectives); long-range professional development planning; and district and school level goal setting. It has always been my intention to connect these initiatives, but I did not know how. The Academy has helped our team connect these dots.

It is a two and half hour drive from Hudson to Wausau, where our Academy training days have been held. Our team filled each trip to and from Wausau with meaningful and inspiring conversations based on our anticipation of what was to come, and then reflection regarding our learning. That is a true sign of “SMART” professional learning.

The learning does not end with my team members who attended the Academy. We’ve brought our ideas back to our administrative leadership team and begun formulating our goal-setting process, incorporating our new learning.

The SMART School Coach Academy is not a “sit and get” learning experience. If you are considering sending a team to the Academy, be prepared to roll up your sleeves and learn. You will not be disappointed.

Dave Grambow

System Improvement Director for Hudson School District