DUNDEE-CROWN HIGH SCHOOL

COMMUNITY UNIT SCHOOL DISTRICT 300

Devon LaRosa
Principal
Dan Palombit
Associate Principal
Divisionals

Mary D. Hawley
Associate Principal

Janine Glenn
Assistant Principal

Basilio Salazar
Assistant Principal

Katie Wishowski
Assistant Principal

Steve Gertz
Athletic Director

Gary Glenn
Social Studies

Brett Gobeli
Education Services

J. Ryan Leist
English

Dan Lindahl
Mathematics

Barb Sydnor
Science

Jason Smith
Dean of Students

February 12, 2016

Dear Sir or Madame:

Since joining the administrative team at Dundee-Crown High School Ryan Leist has unquestionably
helped move our building forward, and so writing this letter is bittersweet. Nonetheless, I support him in
his desire to grow professionally, and am honored to recommend him as a candidate for an
administrative position with your school.

Mr. Leist joined the administrative team at Dundee-Crown High School when our previous Division Head
accepted a position at another school in our district. The English Division over which he assumed
leadership includes 27 teachers, 19 of whom are non-tenured. In addition to English, this Division also
encompasses our reading and English as a Second Language programs. As part of his work within our
large unit district, Mr. Leist collaborates with our middle schools, leading many of their PLC and
curriculum development activities, and regularly meets with his counterparts at the other two high
schools in District 300. He has taken on all of these responsibilities and handled them skillfully. Indeed,
he has expanded the scope of his work, adding a spoken word/poetry-writing club to the English
program and organizing our first Writers Week festival.

Mr. Leist leads with a level of sophistication that belies the fact that he is young in his administrative
career. He has a thorough knowledge of the Danielson Frameworks and is effective working with
teachers to connect their practice to this protocol. Additionally, D-CHS ran a pilot PERA evaluation
program this year, as a result of which Mr. Leist is well-versed in how to support teachers navigate the
requirements of this legislation. Yet beyond the demands of our formal evaluation programs, Mr. Leist
works to provide mentorship and support for the teachers with whom he works, engaging them in
effective self-evaluation and reflection, and helping them to set goals for the improvement of their
professional practice. While important in improving the professional practice of teachers at any stage of
their careers, this support is critical at Dundee-Crown where almost half of our faculty have been in the
classroom for fewer than four years.

Dundee-Crowns teachers work in highly collaborative teams, and the PLCs in the English Department
are among the strongest in our school. Mr. Leist has not only sustained but deepened this collaborative
culture, organizing and leading multiple course team retreats that have provided teachers with
extended periods of time to work on data driven curriculum development, assessment design, and the
norming of grading practices. A particular area of expertise that Mr. Leist has brought to his work with
the English Department is his knowledge of Standards Based Grading. While D-CHS had done some
small-scale initial work in this area, he has not only led its widespread implementation, but successfully
advocated for its full scale adoption in all English courses beginning with the coming school year. Mr.
Leist has facilitated this shift in thinking by providing informational sessions for parents, Guidance


1500 Kings Road, Carpentersville, IL 60110
(224) 484-5000 Office (224) 484-5098 Fax dchs.d300.org

Counselors, and administrators. The change in grading practices that he is leading is being celebrated by
teachers as having an immediate, positive impact on the quality of student engagement, and academic
achievement.

Mr. Leist is a strong advocate for the needs of the English Division, yet recognizes that it is one
component within a larger school system. At our weekly Teaching and Learning Team meetings, he
partners effectively with his fellow Division Heads, as well as other building administrators and teacher
leaders. This year has been particularly challenging as Dundee-Crown was identified as a Focus School by
the Illinois State Board of Education, and under this status D-CHS has been required to develop and

implement a data-driven Action Plan, participate in frequent Instructional Reviews, and closely monitor

multiple areas of student achievement. Mr. Leist has been an invaluable participant in this work,
providing professional development for our whole building, assisting with deep analysis of student
achievement data, and guiding the teachers he leads as they address our building initiatives in the areas
of literacy, student engagement, higher order questioning, and differentiation of instruction. Throughout
this work, I have been impressed by Mr. Leists insight and his ability to ask probing questions that
deepen the thinking of our leadership team.

Mr. Leist brings to his work not only a thorough understanding of effective curriculum, instruction, and
assessment, but the ability to build positive connections across the school community. He is highly
reflective about his own professional practice, and has guided the members of the English Division in
developing similar habits of mind. Mr. Leist holds high expectations for the people with whom he leads,
yet recognizes the differences in their individual needs both professional and personal. His educational
expertise and work ethic have earned him the respect of the Dundee-Crown community, and his
optimistic nature, genuine kindness and delightful sense of humor have won him their affection as well.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require further information.

Sincerely,

Mary D. Hawley
Associate Principal for Instruction
Dundee-Crown High School
244-484-5038
mary.hawley@d300.org

1500 Kings Road, Carpentersville, IL

(224) 484-5000 Office (224) 484-5098 Fax

60110
dchs.d300.org