International Center for Leadership in Education

Sue Szachowicz

Dr. Susan Szachowicz has been at Brockton High School, a large (4,300 student) comprehensive urban high school for her entire career and describes herself as Brockton High’s greatest cheerleader. Originally a history teacher, she was the Social Science Department Head for many years, and then became a Housemaster. In 1999 she was appointed the Associate Principal for Curriculum and Instruction and in that capacity directed the school’s literacy initiatives to improve student achievement. She became Brockton High’s principal in 2004 and continues to be committed to educational reform at the school and in the state. She has served on numerous state commissions on education reform particularly regarding the Massachusetts assessment program. Her leadership at Brockton High has been committed to “high expectations, high standards – no excuses.”
She received both her BA in History and Sociology and MA in History from Bridgewater State College and earned her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Administration from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She has also taught graduate courses in history and education at Bridgewater State College and the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Presentation Topics Include:

Infusing Literacy Across the Curriculum – A Key to Increasing Student Achievement
By defining what literacy means, developing a literacy initiative which integrates specific literacy skills into every content area, training teachers in how to teach these skills, and monitoring the lessons through student work, the school community can unite around a common goal – success for all students in the classroom, on state and national assessments, and in preparation for careers. A critical component is helping teachers, who identify with the teaching of a specific content area, commit to teaching literacy skills within their content. This presentation will offer specific strategies for implementing a literacy initiative which helped transform an underperforming high school into a national model.
Expect More, Achieve More – Creating a Culture of Success for ALL Students
Every school has a culture, and the culture and learning environment of the school can determine a student’s success or failure. Is every student being challenged to set high expectations and achieve high standards? What is the school community’s beliefs regarding low performing students? This presentation will provide strategies to unite a school around a common mission and to ensure a faculty and administration with a tenacious focus on improving student academic achievement. The results are a school culture with a faculty unwilling to give up on any student, significant gains for the students, and impressive results for the school.
Leading for Change – Enabling Others To Do What They Think They Can’t Do
The leader is often viewed by others as the person with the answers; however, often the leader is plagued by questions. Where do I begin? What are the most important steps to take? How do I get the faculty to buy in to the change? What do I do about the resistant group? Do I have the courage to take an unpopular action when it’s the right thing to do? How can we sustain the improvement? A roadmap for leading a school improvement effort which includes building a leadership team, using data to guide the process, keeping the student at the center of all decision-making, planning for and monitoring the implementation, assessing the results, and institutionalizing the changes so that they are the heart and soul of the school will be the focus of this presentation.
Success for Struggling Learners – Everyone Is Responsible for Every Child
Facing the demands of No Child Left Behind, high stakes exams, and meeting AYP, schools must ensure that all students, including English language learners, students with disabilities, students living in poverty, and other struggling learners achieve at high levels. Creating a culture in which everyone is responsible for every student and in which students and faculty believe that every student CAN and MUST succeed is essential. This presentation will offer school wide initiatives, targeted interventions, and specific strategies that have helped students in a large urban high school defy the demographics and receive state and national recognition for student academic achievement.

"Medieval Feudal System"

"Implementation"

“Sue Szachowicz’s willingness to share information warmed our hearts and renewed our spirits. I have to say with all honesty that I learned more in three days than 25 years of boring inservices. We are energized by your ideas and how we might adapt them to meet our needs.”

Kyle Kelman, CTE Literacy Coach/Academic Integration Coordinator
Paradise Valley High School, AZ

State Standards Loom Large in Mass. Classrooms
Published January 14, 2010
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/14/17states.h29.html