After having just completed his first year as superintendent, Adair County Schools’ Jason Faulkner was one of only 70 superintendents in the country to attend the July National Superintendents Forum in Orlando, Florida.
Held at the Renaissance Orlando at Seaworld from July 14 through July 16, the Forum brought K-12 superintendents in from across America to take part in professional development and networking opportunities.
Superintendents got to interact with others in the same profession and discuss common experiences and gain insight into issues they are facing in public education.
Headlining the event were numerous keynote speakers and roundtable discussions, of which Superintendent Faulkner was a participant. In his portion of a roundtable discussion, Faulkner talked about the need for data-driven analysis as a way to identify and correct problems within the classroom and the school system.
Using this analytic approach (as opposed to a “spine tingle,” as Faulkner said) means that everyone has access to the same data and the same “language.” Teachers can more easily identify student needs as the diagnostic systems have largely already done the work. This will help administrators, teachers, and in turn, students.
“I had people actually sit in my session because they were curious. There’s a stigma around Kentucky, so they were curious to see how the roundtable discussion would go when you’re talking about something as strategic and in-depth as data analytics and you’re from Kentucky. I think we were able to shed that stigma just a little bit.”
Data analysis is how Faulkner has always operated. It’s how his classroom worked when he was a teacher and how his school worked when he was a principal. And now, it is how he hopes Adair County Schools will operate.
“I don’t like (subjectivity),” he said. “I think every decision we make should be based off of something. Not a gut feeling or not intuition, but something tangible. Student data is tangible.”
Other topics of conversation at the convention include the keynote session, “Don’t Flinch – Authentic & Connected Leadership” and a roundtable discussion presented by a company called BloomBoard that offers micro-credentialling for teachers to garner a rank change at a discounted rate and thus a pay increase. Faulkner expressed that he was interested in learning more about this credentialling and potentially implementing in Adair County schools to help streamline the process of teachers getting raises through advanced certification. This, he feels, would be a massive boon for recruitment and retention. A final presentation Faulkner saw was one that explored artificial intelligence as being a helpful tool for teachers instead of simply a way for students to get out of writing their papers.
Reflecting on the forum, Superintendent Faulkner stated, “It was fantastic. It was absolutely fantastic. It was a fantastic experience, it was fantastic to be able to network with superintendents from across the (country). It was fantastic to represent Adair County.”
Faulkner was one of only two Kentuckians out of the seventy superintendents present at the national forum, with Dr. Jeff Hauswald also present to represent Boone County.
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com
