JCPS Leadership 2026

This session positions grading as a leadership lever that connects instruction, assessment, and student experience. Participants will engage in a structured protocol to examine grading from the perspectives of teachers, students, and families, uncovering barriers, inconsistencies, and opportunities for greater coherence.
Leaders will explore how grading practices are directly influenced by instructional design — including rubric development, standards alignment, and text-centered instruction — and how these elements must be addressed within PLCs to ensure consistency across classrooms. Through interactive analysis and planning, participants will identify leadership moves that align grading, instruction, and collaborative practices to improve student outcomes.
Participants will leave with a clear action plan and practical tools to strengthen grading coherence, support PLC conversations, and ensure grades accurately reflect student learning across their school.

Administrators will receive resources that outline what they should see when conducting EC Classroom observations. There will be a focus on instructional best practices that are unique to instruction within EC Classrooms (methodology, instructional resources, co-teaching, etc)

This session is designed to empower administrators and school improvement teams to more intentionally connect professional learning, school improvement plans, and available resources—ensuring that every effort is aligned, purposeful, and impactful. Participants will also explore the professional development cycle and how each phase—data analysis and goal alignment, focused learning, implementation and practice, and ongoing monitoring and reflection—directly supports the alignment and execution of school improvement strategies, creating a cohesive and continuous process for improving outcomes.