Testimonials

As the principal of a service-provider school, Ron-Marie Johnson works with students of diverse learning backgrounds. Victory Place @ Coppell offers an accelerated high school program as well as a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program. With a wide variety of needs among students, Ron-Marie and her staff wanted to set a standard of behavioral and academic expectations that would allow all students to grow and take ownership of their education.

Sitting near the base of Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron in Michigan, Bay City Public Schools comprises nine campuses and 8,000 students. One of the two high schools in the area, Bay City Central High School, had an ISD curriculum coordinator named Molly Bruzewski who suggested a professional development training called Great Expectations, which she had used in her previous position in Oklahoma City.   

As a first-year elementary educator at Claremore Public Schools in Oklahoma, Ryan Huff decided to attend a week-long Great Expectations Summer Institute in Tulsa with a few of his colleagues. He absolutely loved it. When Huff brought the research-based practices into his classroom to create a nurturing atmosphere, students began showing respect and modeling the desired attitudes.

Educator implements new practices and outlook, applies Great Expectations principles throughout her career
Feeling Burned-Out
After nine years in the classroom, Montie Koehn, a teacher at Nichol’s Hills Elementary, located within the Oklahoma City Public School District (OKCPS), experienced the feeling educators hope to avoid: burn-out. She was so overwhelmed and unhappy that, at one point, she said she would rather flip burgers or greet at Walmart than teach.
Reigniting the Fire
Seeing her un…

Great Expectations has created a collective sense of thought and purpose throughout our campus. Staff members have been pleased with the consistency of the implementation of instruction and procedures campus wide. The benefits of having the Eight Expectations, as well as the Seventeen Instructional Practices are increased understanding and the unification of goals.

“Great Expectations has been the most rewarding and transformational program I have experienced in my 20-year career.  However, it is so much more than just a “program” as the 8 Expectations for Living and GE Life Principles impact our stakeholders while on campus and extend beyond the walls of our building.

From a teacher to instructor for a whole district, Diana Saylak’s life was changed the first day of Great Expectations training.
First Impression
About 20 miles outside of downtown Dallas, Texas stands Coppell, a landlocked city of 40,000 people. Diana Saylak calls Coppell home and where she began renewing her passion to teach.
During the summer of 2006, Saylak took a position with a new elementary school.

Natalie Griffin of Ardmore, Oklahoma took some time off to stay at home to raise her family. The summer before she returned to teaching full time, her principal asked her to attend a Great Expectations workshop to help her transition back into the classroom and approach teaching in a new way.

National Board Certification is absolutely the most rigorous professional development I have ever gone through. The process mandates a deep level of reflectiveness and analyzing of lesson design. At the heart of everything throughout the process is the question, “How does this impact student learning?” As I attended Great Expectations for the second time in my career, I realized everything about Great Expectations truly IMPACTS student learning.

During Margaret Simpson’s first year as the principal at Johnson Elementary, she gathered a leadership team of educators to sit down and discuss how the school was going to change. The team created a three-year plan that included becoming a Great Expectations Model School. The first step was for staff members to attend a Great Expectations methodology course in order to be trained in the best practices and classroom principals.