NO EXCUSES....

I just returned from San Diego from attending a conference by No Excuses University which is a network of schools who are promoting college readiness for all students through the development of six exceptional systems within the school.  That sounds very dry and boring - FAR from it!  The founder, Damen Lopez, was a principal who turned around his school from an underperforming to an exceptional school. He's been spreading the word across the country to help other schools to do the same thing.

Dodge became a No Excuses University affiliate three years ago after hearing a brief introduction about the program.  Having Damen come to our school and present the NEU training to our

staff was an inspirational professional development opportunity.

This trip to San Diego was no exception!

Every presenter, every aspect of this conference was top notch and a pleasure, filled with practical strategies, presented by people who are doing the work and not just theorizing about it from their ivory tower.  I can't say enough about the quality of the experience. There are NEU books to read but you really MUST go in person to get your educator battery re-charged and inspired to do great things.

My take-aways from this conference were several:
- we need to set our sights higher for ourselves and for our students (BHAG - big, hairy, audacious goals)
- we are doing a lot of things well at our school
- we need to revisit some of our systems in our school and TRANSFORM them. Tradition sometimes means RUT!

How does your school (K-12) transmit the culture of college to your students? Do your students really think that college is possible for them? Do they understand the difference that a college education makes in the quality of their life in the long-term? Do they know college vocabulary and about the college culture?  Are they charged up about setting academic goals and achieving them?

NEU - it's for YOU!

P.S. ALL of Tucson is mighty proud of our U of A Wildcats - perfect record this season!