Irving School Principal in Derby named to new administrative position

DERBY - After a competitive search and selection process the Board of Education, on the recommendation of the Selection Committee and superintendent, appointed Irving School Principal Jen Olson to fill the new, grant-funded position of Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment.

Jen Olson

Olson, with the support of Team Irving, has a track record as a transformational leader. She will now have an opportunity to scale, across all classrooms, those successes and support structures that have proved most beneficial to student growth.

This is a critical role in the district to help lead the work which began five years ago to identify, introduce, align, and deliver curriculum and instruction in a meaningful and engaging way in every classroom for every child.
With all the changes in teaching and learning today, from new curriculum, new approaches to learning, new strategies to teaching, new assessments to better understand the learning and growth that is occurring, teachers need more time and support to plan, practice and engage in learning about new methods and strategies to instruction and assessment.
In looking at ways to provide better support for the many new learning initiatives, implemented in response to the changes nationally in education, Derby looked at districts across the state and found 100 percent of the districts who responded to a survey had either a Director of Curriculum, Assistant Superintendent or similar position leading this work. This led to a dialog with the Board and other stakeholders, as well as identification of grant funding to support the position.
Superintendent of Schools Matt Conway said, “While the position is considered a district level position, it is more about the ability of the individual selected and their relentless passion to be working side by side with teachers, coaches, and principals to positively impact learning for every student in every classroom. We had an opportunity, through a combination of both federal and state grants to provide this, much needed, layer of support and largely due to the foresight and support of our Board, we are going to take advantage of every second we have with this funding, to continue to improve learning for every child and adult across all classrooms. We owe it our teachers and kids. As teachers face growing challenges in our classrooms, you can’t keep expecting more and better without providing the right support. This is a step towards that.”
Board Chairman Jim Gildea said, “This is an exciting time for the Derby school system. There are few things more important than ensuring our curriculum is current, aligned, and delivered to our students in a coordinated manner. This is a position that is long overdue. The fact that we are able to implement this position at no cost to the Derby taxpayer is also important and a credit to the school system.”

This is a press release from Derby Public Schools.