Cityview Community School

3350 N. 4th St. Renee Montague

Minneapolis, Minnesota 55412 Principal
Phone: 612.668.2270

March 2017

To Whom It May Concern:

It is with great confidence that I submit this letter of highest recommendation in support of Michael Miller.
Michael spent the 2016 17 school year serving as part of my administrative team in the role of Principal Intern.
As a leader at Cityview Community School, Michael has shown outstanding skills and proven knowledgeable in
the areas of instructional leadership, data, equity and building relationships.

Since Michael was new to elementary education when he arrived at Cityview, he dedicated his time to visiting
classrooms, talking to teachers and engaging in instructional conversations. This experience helped Michael
become a strong instructional leader and provided him the opportunity to have critical coaching conversations
with teachers. Michael has also shown instructional leadership by facilitating conversations on the Instructional
Leadership Team (ILT), providing professional development and coaching on Culturally Responsive teaching
strategies and academic feedback and by organizing and leading Learning Walks.

Michael has also shown his knowledge of data by analyzing and presenting academic and behavioral data in a
way that is easily understood and useable by staff. For example, Michael analyzed the FAST testing data for every
student in order to identify the level of proficiency for students and to determine if students made the expected
amount of grade level growth. Michael was able to use the data to hold all staff members to high expectations for
student growth and to meet with and plan interventions for students who did not meet the grade level growth
expectation.

As the leader of Cityviews equity team, Michael holds all staff members to high expectations by pushing staff
members to consider how word choice impacts and conveys expectations, by helping the equity team explore their
unconscious bias and by providing professional development on Culturally Responsive teaching strategies. He has
also pushed issues of equity in administrative and an Instructional Leadership Team meeting, which has helped
keep these teams focused on ensure educational equity for all of our students.

Finally, Michael is highly respected by students, families and staff because of his ability to effectively
communicate and because of the intentionality he puts into building relationships with all stakeholders. Michael
has a natural ability to actively listen, empathize with concerns and a willingness to put in the time and effort
necessary to build strong relationship.

I am very confident that Michael is prepared to be a school leader and give him my highest recommendation.
Please reach out to me if you would like to further discuss Michaels leadership qualities and experiences.

Sincerely,

Renee Montague