Last Wednesday morning, I welcomed students back into my high school library. Perhaps they were trying to escape the sweltering August heat, but regardless of why they walked in, the first-day-of-school energy in Abilene was contagious. I was sleep deprived from the to-do list running through my head the previous evening, but I felt energized seeing the floor of my library once again full of students.
Part of this excitement was because our whole staff was celebrating an impressive spike in our school’s accountability rating. After several years of hovering in the C-school range, a designation that never reflected what I saw happening on the ground, we had finally achieved a B, and it was an 84, no less. A solid, respectable B grade.
