The DoDEA Student Information System (DSIS) Family Portal will be unavailable from Wednesday, June 25 at 2:00 pm ET until Thursday, July 10 at 2:00 pm ET. Parents and students will not be able to access the system or register students during this time. Registration will resume when the system is reopened on July 10.
It is my absolute honor to serve as the new Europe Director for Student Excellence. I am humbled to work with you to accomplish a mission as important as ours. From the time I can remember, I wanted to be a teacher and at heart will always be one. Like many teachers, as a child, I spent hours playing school and dreaming of having my own classroom. After college my first teaching position was with middle school students who had emotional and learning disabilities. I learned so much from them and carry much of what they taught me still today. Education is a gift, and we are all so fortunate to have a role in it.
Since joining DoDEA in 2018, I have been in awe at the dedication and commitment of our administrators, teachers, and staff. I appreciate the caring approach you take with our students and families, it’s what encourages them to continue to soar! Even if you’ve only been with DoDEA a short time, you know how special our students are. As a group, they are bright, resilient, and adventurous souls. They are what drives us.
The pandemic has created significant challenges for our schools and communities, however, with the support of our parents and military command partners, we continue to provide a world-class education. We have learned so much about what it means to work together, to provide grace, and to persevere through difficulties. I am very proud to be part of this special organization and to work with each and every one of you.
Enclosed is my 100 day “plus” entry plan. I designed it to communicate my commitment to engage with you to create a shared vision of how we will achieve student excellence. In the coming months, I hope to visit every school in Europe. I am excited to listen to teachers, students, parents, administrators, staff and union partners to understand our strengths and opportunities. In my entry plan I also prioritized meeting with our military leaders to strengthen partnerships and hear first-hand from our commanders.
Thank you for all that you do in support of our students, families and Nation. I hope to see each of you soon, so that I can personally thank you for your tremendous efforts. Keep up the great work!
Sincerely,
Dr. Michelle Howard-Brahaney
DoDEA-Europe Director for Student Excellence
DoDEA Europe operates 64 schools in 3 Districts located in 8 countries across 4 time zones.
There are nearly 900,000 military connected children of all ages worldwide, of which nearly 25,000 are enrolled in DoDEA Europe schools and served by thousands of teachers and educational aides.
All schools within DoDEA are fully accredited by U.S. accreditation agencies.
It is my absolute honor to serve as the new Europe Director for Student Excellence. I am humbled to work with you to accomplish a mission as important as ours. From the time I can remember, I wanted to be a teacher and at heart will always be one. Like many teachers, as a child, I spent hours playing school and dreaming of having my own classroom. After college my first teaching position was with middle school students who had emotional and learning disabilities. I learned so much from them and carry much of what they taught me still today. Education is a gift, and we are all so fortunate to have a role in it.
This plan communicates my commitment to engage with DoDEA Europe school and military leaders, teachers, staff, students, and parents to create a shared vision of how we will achieve student excellence.
| Guiding Questions: What are the key priorities of the region, districts, CIL, and regional FIST? How do these priorities align with the DoDEA Blueprint? What are the unique challenges and/ or attributes in each of the three districts? What themes emerge from talking with administrators, military leaders, students, teachers, staff, parents, and union partners? | ||
| OBJECTIVE | ACTION | INDICATORS OF SUCCESS |
| Understand priorities and commitments of each of the districts and the CIL |
Facilitate monthly one-on one meetings with each of the superintendents, community superintendents, & CIL Chief. “Commitment and Collaboration” Review each of the district and CIL action plans with respective leadership teams |
Understand individual leader needs and strengths. Understand team dynamics and identify specific steps to support achievement of agency aligned district and region objectives. |
| Understand priorities and commitments of the region team and Europe FIST. | Request briefing documents from division chiefs, providing information regarding major initiatives with projected timelines. |
Understand significant or potential issues in each of the divisions. Understand regional budget and alignment to priorities. |
| Develop relationships and understand perspectives of building administrators, teachers, staff, students, and parents. | Visit schools with a focus on the East and West Districts. |
School communities will get to know me and understand my commitment to prioritize positive, rigorous, and inclusive learning environments for students and staff. After action reports to describe key findings, impressions, and questions. |
| Develop relationships by understanding perspectives and priorities of key military leaders. | Schedule office calls with military leaders. | Military leaders will know they have access to me and that they can count on me as a collaborative partner. |
| Fill key vacancies. | Work with CHRA to recruit and hire for key vacancies (Europe West Superintendent and Community Superintendent). | Key positions will be in place. |
| Guiding Questions: Continue to explore questions outlined in the first 30 days. In addition, what leadership actions can the Europe team take to support school and student needs? What data do we need to begin to develop regional priority metrics? Are the actions in schools/ districts aligned with the Blueprint and regional priorities? What innovative practices can we apply across the region? | ||
| OBJECTIVE | ACTION | INDICATORS OF SUCCESS |
| Ensure coherence of effort across the region. |
Facilitate monthly one-on-one meetings with each of the superintendents, community superintendents, & CIL chief. “Collective Efficacy” Establish an effective leadership meeting schedule and process. Engage in professional learning with leadership team to identify and leverage individual strengths. |
Understand individual leader needs and strengths. Meetings will be evaluated with a plus/ delta review, as appropriate adjustments will be made to improve structure. Team will value meetings, outcomes are accomplished. Team norms will be established, and team effectiveness protocols will be used to assess our progress as a team. |
| Develop relationships and understand perspectives of building administrators, teachers, staff, students, and parents. |
Visit schools throughout the region. Attend school IPRs. Establish opportunities for town halls, open office hours, focus discussions, social media presence. Meet with union leadership. Meet with key parent groups. |
School communities will get to know me and understand my commitment to prioritize positive, rigorous, and inclusive learning environments for students and staff. After action reports to describe key findings, impressions, and questions. |
| Develop relationships by understanding perspectives and priorities of key military leaders. |
Schedule office calls with military leaders. Establish a rhythm of written communication to military leaders. |
Military leaders will know they have access to me and that they can count on me as a collaborative partner |
| Prepare for agency Analyze & Adjust Summit | With the leadership team, review student data for all student populations, including data by student group, subjects, and schools to evaluate current course of action as outlined in the region and district action plans. | All students’ needs are being address within action plans and monitored at in-progress reviews. |
| Support new key leaders. | Develop a process to orient and support new key leaders (EU South Superintendent, EU South Community Superintendent, EU West Superintendent, EU West Community Superintendent). | New leaders will feel welcome and part of the Europe Leadership Team. |
| Guiding Questions: What actions are individual schools, districts, region teams taking that we should apply across the region to drive at established goals? How will we know if we are meeting our goals? What opportunities do we have for improvement? | ||
| OBJECTIVE | ACTION | INDICATORS OF SUCCESS |
| Ensure coherence of effort across the region. |
Facilitate monthly one-on-one meetings with each of the superintendents, community superintendents, & CIL chief. “Planning for the Future” |
Understand individual leader needs and strengths. |
| Develop relationships and understand perspectives of building administrators, teachers, staff, students, and parents. |
Continue to visit schools. Establish opportunities for town halls, open office hours, focus discussions, social media presence. |
School communities will get to know me and understand my commitment to prioritize positive, rigorous, and inclusive learning environments for students and staff. After action reports to describe key findings, impressions, and questions. |
| Integrate work between region and districts |
Create a cross-district task force for special education to address opportunities and actions for improvement. Create a cross-district task force to evaluate promising practices of social emotional learning support in a COVID environment. |
Task forces will convene and set initial priorities. |
| Guiding Questions: What commitments will we have as a region to support student excellence? How will the leadership team work together to support every school and student to excel? | ||
| OBJECTIVE | ACTION | INDICATORS OF SUCCESS |
| Communicate Regional Improvement Plan. | Develop regional action plan, showing coherence of effort between the district and CIL plans. | Present regional action plan to stakeholders. |
| Share what I learned during the initial months as the Director for Student Excellence. | Develop presentation describing what I learned while visiting schools, communities, and military leaders. | Present celebrations and opportunities to stakeholders. |
