The "ED"ies Committee Visit

On Tuesday, the "ED"ies committee made their much anticipated visit to CMS.  From my seat, I can say that the CMS community should be very proud of the work done by all CMS educators in preparation for the visit.  Additionally, parents and other community members should be beaming about the work and behavior of their children.  In addition to each committee member "shadowing" one student for a portion of the day, they were given a tour of the building by student representatives and several times during the day, the members of the committee were found having "side" conversations with students.   The committee was very impressed with maturity, poise and behavior of CMS students.  My favorite comment heard from a committee member regarding her time shadowing her student?  "You can't fake that type of engagement."

I can't say enough about how pleasant and complimentary the committee members were. While we were charged with showcasing CMS, in very short order, our presentations turned into conversations, as we all candidly discussed  middle-level education.  In some ways, it was reaffirming for me to hear from my peers from around the state that many of the challenges we face hear at CMS are being faced elsewhere.  We shared stories, examples and ideas.  In short, their visit was as reflective and informative for us as we hope it was for them.

Regardless of whether we win the award or not, the process of reflection, self-assessment and preparation for their visit was invaluable.  It gave us an opportunity to celebrate our successes and rededicate ourselves to those areas of need.  Further, with "company" coming, it gave us an opportunity to showcase some of our students' work in our classrooms and hallways.  As a result, the school looks incredible.  Some might be critical, saying that we just beautified the school for the visit, and yes, perhaps we spent more time than usual on displaying student work, posting pictures of students, and creating our 2008 NECAP data wall, but when it comes right down to it, these are all ingredients of great schools and if this "ED"ies visit gave us the opportunity to redirect our efforts, then it was worthwhile.  It allowed us to reflect upon "best practice" and that is always good for our students.

CMS will be informed of the the "ED"ies decision sometime in May.  This blog, of course, will announce the results as soon as possible.