User Story: Jessica Quindel
Former Principal, Doerfler Elementary School, Milwaukee Public Schools, WI
“In our second year using CALL, we analyzed which areas made growth from Year 1 to Year 2, and which areas continued to be Focus Areas in order to align our work on our School Improvement Plan.”
Who Is This District Leader?
Jessica Quindel has been the principal at Anna F. Doerfler Elementary School in Milwaukee Public Schools since 2015. Starting in 2016, Jessica began using the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) as part of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction’s (DPI) Leadership for Learning Title I Project. Jessica implemented the CALL System over two consecutive years and was able to measure year-to-year progress.
How They Used Call
In the first year of CALL implementation, Jessica referred to the CALL Data Feedback System to identify Areas of Strength and Focus Areas. And while the CALL survey is comprehensive in nature, the feedback system identified specific key areas on which Jessica’s school should focus. Jessica focused her leadership work on “Eliminating Disruptive Behavior,” which was something on which she was aware needed improvement, and the CALL data confirmed those beliefs. In the second year of implementing CALL, Jessica was able to compare data from year-to-year. As Jessica discovered, the CALL data “confirmed our focus area while showing growth since we began focusing on that area over a year ago.” By utilizing the year-to-year comparison function, Jessica was able to able to recognize growth in target areas, even if those areas were still in need of improvement.
How CALL Helped
Jessica was also able to apply the resulting data to other initiatives in her school and district. “In our second year using CALL,” Jessica said, “we analyzed which areas made growth from Year 1 to Year 2, and which areas continued to be Focus Areas in order to align our work on our School Improvement Plan.” Using CALL data to inform an action-based School Improvement Plan is an effective use of the CALL system. However, for Jessica and her school, not only did CALL inform the School Improvement Plan, it also informed her principal Professional Practice Goal as part of the WI Educator Effectiveness System as well as her school’s Professional Development plan. Moving forward, Jessica plans to “continue to analyze the CALL data and use the feedback for ongoing improvement.”