Derek L. McCoy

I’ve just completed my second full week as the new principal of Spring Lake Middle in Cumberland County Schools [my new district]. There...

North Carolina’s Summer Leadership Conference was June 18 th – 20 th in Asheville NC. The conference is a great opportunity for NC scho...

I look forward to starting my new school, Spring Lake Middle, with great anticipation. This new journey is exhilarating and humbling and ...

This is my last blog as the principal of West Middle School. I’ve been away from my blog for a while but the last several months ha...

   This has been a great week! March 4-6 has been the 2012 NC Middle School Conference in Greensboro. It has always been a great event m...

This is a great best practice implemented in a 7th grade reading class. As a former reading teacher, I was always cognizant of my rea...

Last week, our school made the decision to 'relaunch' our committees. From the beginning, we've recognized the vital role our ...

   Our @edfocus group wrapped up our book share on John Gatto's Weapons of Mass Instruction   Wednesday night. I always enjoy our discu...

   West Middle School is a special place. We are working hard at making our new vision statement, 'West Middle School will prepare globa...

We are always for the best ways we can serve our kids. This week we had our first Parent/Teacher conference night of the year and it gener...

 I always mention in my call outs that ‘West Middle School is a special place’. I want the community [and the world] to know that we are a...

   West Middle School is committed to preparing our students for their world. It's exciting to be part of a staff that is committed to e...

I recently took this video of one of our first year math teachers. This is a great lesson that epitomizes the talks and planning going on in...

   Our school district is requiring every teacher to write a mission statement for his/her classroom. This is a great opportunity for teache...

Friday August 26th, 2011 was the 2nd day of school for us at West Middle School and we are off to a great start! Students are in the school...

   As we were reflecting on our first year of implementing PLC's my assistant principal [@mcvaughanpf] and I had a great discussion on t...

This year I have participated in the Sandhills Regional Educational Consortium [SREC] Principal's Institute. The Principal's Insti...

This picture really captures the effort our school, and many others, is making in transitioning towards 21st century resourcing: We are ...

This  blog from @JonathanEMartin really hit home . This is a great summation and response to what leaders in Google regard as key lea...

Embedding data driven decision making into our school culture is a 360 degree, 24/7 process. It involves creating opportunities for data co...