How We Think About The Impact of What We Do: We Know Quality When We See It

Everything we do in education is about building capacity.  We know that for systemic growth to take place, systemic limitations must be eliminated or restructured to increase efficiency and productivity while constantly increasing the human capital capacity of people within the building.  This is done by either hiring better people or making the ones you have better.  Reflection is one of the most important processes for improving effectiveness and growing our human capital capacity.  Now take all of the educational jargon out of that and what we are really talking about is “Quality”.

 

When we think about it, we all spend about 15,000 hours of our lives in school (not including education past high school) and we are taught by more than 50 different teachers and far more than a dozen administrators.  When asked to remember the best teachers/principals or the ones that had the most positive impact, we normally can only name a select few or remember only a handful of the many we had over our school years.  The vast majority of teachers and principals are erased from our memory or not encoded into long-term memory.  Why is it that some teachers and principals succeed in remaining in our memory for years or even decades, whereas others fade into oblivion or disappear after a very short period of time?  It’s not that they taught a specific subject or were all in a certain grade level.  The memories that last are of the educators that had the most significant impact on our learning and students as individuals. 

 

What is it that makes teachers great?  Todd Whitaker’s research identifies 17 things that great teachers do differently than good teachers, but he actually expanded it to 20 things in subsequent versions.  John Hattie conducted over 1500 meta-analyses that quantified 252 different teacher actions with a corresponding effect size on student learning.  North Carolina New Schools Project and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation identified 5 instructional practices that should be utilized for a Common Instructional Framework that has the most profound impact on student performance.  There’s High Impact Instruction, 10 Strategies, that have been research-based and proven to have the greatest impact on student success in relationship to teaching practices.  Marzano has countless amounts of research on the Art and Science of Teaching.  Atlantic Research Partners did an entire series on the “Power of Teaching: The Science of the Art” and broke down every part of teaching practices into subgroups and distinct factors of each part.  The research that attempts to quantify and qualify teaching practice into what makes teachers great or what the great teachers do differently is endless.

 

What I’ve learned in 20+ years of educational practice is that educators tend to overcomplicate many things.  As a coach, I knew a great player when I saw them play.  Nobody knows or needs to know Michael Jordan's 40 yard dash time or bench press or vertical, but everyone knew who was taking the last shot when the game was on the line.  When I first started as an assistant principal, I remember telling my principal that while I may not be able to completely describe or define what good teaching is, “I know it when I see it.”  This morning, my superintendent shared a book with me by John Guaspari titled “I Know It When I See It: A Modern Fable About Quality.”  Of course I didn’t even make it to lunch duty without the book to read.  The book was about quality and made some great points that we’ve always known, but we often let get cloudy in all of the research and latest educational innovations.    Guaspari (1985) said

 

I’d like to leave you with one piece of advice, he continued.  My hope is that I might be able to spare you some of the pain that we went through.  Above all, listen to what your customers are telling you about Quality.  Your customers are in a perfect position to tell you about Quality, because that's all they’re really buying.  They’re not buying a product.  They’re buying your assurances that their expectations for that product will be met.

 

The boss went on to say “Your customers may not have all the hard business facts.  They may not be aware of your specs and your standards and your inspection reports.  But just because they may not speak with a lot of precision, don’t assume that what they have to say doesn’t have a lot of value.  They may not be able to give you a precise definition of Quality, but one thing is for certain – they know it when they see it! (p. 79-80)

 

As a beginning administrator, I couldn’t give a specific definition of great teaching but I knew it when I saw it.  As a student, I knew it when I saw it.  And as a seasoned principal, I still know it when I see it.  Our teachers can't define what makes a great principal, but they know it when they see it. Don’t overcomplicate education and make things more difficult than they have to be, we all know Quality when we see it!

The Principal as Leader in a Culture of Change: The Importance of Emotional Intelligence

           We all know the role of the principal has shifted over the past two decades.  Principals were considered building level management and trained in the principles of transformational leadership.  The new norm over the past decade has shifted to the principal as the instructional leader of the school.  The past two years have shifted this again to the principal as the instructional leader of the building….in a culture of change, which has a tremendous human capital component of leadership.  Simon Sinek said that “leadership is a choice” and “leadership isn’t about authority, it’s about influence; not being in charge, but taking care of those in our charge.”  More now than ever in leadership, taking care of employees, with the patience of Job, is critical to organizational success. 

          Fullan (2001) says “My point is that the principal of the future has to be much more attuned to the big picture, and much more sophisticated at conceptual thinking, and transforming the organization through people and teams. This, too, was my conclusion when I examined successful leadership for businesses and in school system.”  While I’m always excited and love the instructional leadership component of being a principal, I realize that one of the most important things we can do as principals right now is work on our culture in the school with a focus on taking care of our teachers and staff, and our teachers/staff taking care of our kids, with administration and teachers having patience and compassion for parents/community showing signs of stress.  Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2002) claim that emotionally intelligent leaders and emotionally intelligent organizations are essential in complex times. 

          We took a step back and put some of our instructional plans on hold this year, or adjusted to fit the needs of the situation we are in this school year.  Last year our middle school professional development series was called “High Impact Instruction” and looked at the factors that had the most positive significant impact on student learning.  These included clear learning targets, instructional pacing, explicit teaching/questioning, data motivated instruction, cumulative daily review, classroom discourse, literacy across the curriculum, multiple exposures/differentiation, formative assessment, and reflective practice….with building collective efficacy as the foundation of all we do.  We made the decision to not add new professional development or instructional practices or book studies or anything else that might put more on our staff.  We adjusted out professional development for 2020-21 to “High Impact Instruction: In The Virtual World” to not add anything new but provide support in moving to hybrid and virtual learning this year.  Teaching online and in a hybrid model is stressful for students, teachers, parents, etc.  Our job as administrators should be to make it easier for teachers to do their job well. 

          Fullan says “sustained improvement of schools is not possible unless the whole system is moving forward”. This commitment to the social environment is precisely what the best principals will do in 2020-21 in realizing this supports and enables instructional capacity throughout the school.  People operate within systems and do what systems allow them to do.  While we will continue to build instructional capacity, it requires the right culture and mechanisms of support from both an instructional and emotional standpoint.  Many instructional leaders are heavily focused on numbers and data, instructional practices, and moving test scores…….but for significant learning to take place at a high level this school year we must focus on our teachers and students' emotional health to ensure we are taking as many things off of them as possible, providing as much support as possible, and doing everything we can to help them be able to do their jobs well!  If there's one things principals must do this school year to be successful.....it's take care of your people!  

It Doesn't Take Any Ability to Put Forth Great Effort

 

        One of the things I've always thought in any type of leadership is that it's our job to bring out the best in everyone we work with and every school/team we are blessed to be a part of.  As we were riding the other night, I was talking with my wife about the what I hoped people would say about me when I'm not on the face of this earth anymore and what I hoped I would be able to tell the Lord when it's my time.  I was reminded of Chadwick Boseman's acceptance speech when he received his most prestigious award  when he said "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."  What a profound mindset and attitude!  Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to be able to honestly say that?  

        I've had the blessing to work in multiple states, at multiple schools, with several teaching staffs, to teach and coach for over a decade, and so many opportunities to have a positive impact on student's and teacher's lives.  I remember at my first school as a principal when one of the teachers asked when was going to take a break because I worked late everyday, weekends, nights, and then would do paperwork late into the night so that I could devote more time to trying to improve instruction all day at school.....my response was that I'd rest when we reach our goal and we were a school of excellence that reached ALL students and made a positive impact on the lives of ALL students.  I've always thought that people that I worked with should do the same, but I know that burned them out....to which I said they didn't have the heart and drive to be able to push past weakness and endure to the end to be successful.  When your "why" is big enough, it'll get you to a level you didn't know you could reach and drive you to be successful.  The biggest part of our job is working with people and helping them to be their best.  One of the great things about being in education is that most people come to work and want to be successful and be effective at what they do.  It's our job as leaders to help them get there and be successful.  Daniel Pink said “Management isn’t about walking around and seeing if people are in their offices,” he told me. It’s about creating conditions for people to do their best work" (Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us).

        I've always thought we were doing teachers and students an injustice if we didn't have high expectations, if we didn't believe in them and that they could do more than they every thought they could, and if we didn't believe that we could help them get there and be successful.  Our "why" is what drives our motivation.  n Simon Sinek's "Start With Why", he says “A leader's job is not to do the work for others, it's to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.” My "why" has always been simply to help people, for students and athletes to be better off because I was part of their life, and for schools that I was able to be a part of to improve and to continue to improve, I want to be able to look in the mirror each day of my life and know I gave each opportunity all that I had and the best that I had to offer, that every situation was left better than I found if, and that people were better off for me having been there.  I got into education to make a difference, not just a living.  If money and pay is what you're chasing, you'll never have enough of it. No matter how much you make, you're not taking any with you.  The impact you have on the lives of others carries on long past our last breath and heartbeat.  Some of us have will be able to look back and see the positive influence and impact we've had on generations to come. One of the lessons I can remember that my dad taught me was that it didn't take any ability to put forth great effort.  He always believed in giving 110% to anything you were part of work, team, family, church, etc.   In his book "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us", Daniel Pink said:  “Effort is one of the things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it. It would be an impoverished existence if you were not willing to value things and commit yourself to working toward them.” 

        We have to ask ourselves certain questions as leaders:  Are we truly committed to the cause?  Did we really give everything we had to see the team be successful?  Are people better off because of our leadership?  If we left today, did we leave it better than we found it?   Did we give every single thing, there wasn't one more single thing we could've done, to see the team be successful.  If we took days off when we didn't desperately have to, if we didn't do everything to learn how to be effective at our job, if we didn't commit every bit of time needed to be successful, if we didn't improve the performance of those around us.....did we do a disservice to our opportunity for leadership?  One point Daniel Pink made was that sometimes the things we didn't do matter even more than the things we did.  As much as some leaders try to convince people of their commitment and work ethic, everyone knows a leader's commitment and impact.  In the end, we have to look ourselves in the mirror everyday and know deep down inside if we did everything we could for the students, families, communities, teachers, and staff that were depending on us for leadership.  It doesn't take any effort to put forth great effort, only internal drive and motivation!  

Quit Making Excuses, The Results are What We Will Be Judged By!

 “John Hattie (2015) has added further confirmation to our conclusions in his report What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise. His conclusion represents a powerful endorsement of our findings: “the greatest influence on student progression in learning is having highly expert, inspired and passionate teachers and school leaders working together to maximize the effect of their teaching on all students in their care” (p. 2).”  ― Michael Fullan, Coherence: The Right Drivers in Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems

For systemic change to take place and schools to improve significantly, there must be instructional coherence across the entire organization.  People operate within systems and do what systems allow.  If we permit and allows excuses, we'll get more of them.  If we focus on results and performance with laser-like focus, we will have a far greater potential for success.  Too many schools and leaders simply make excuses for failure, but the fact remains that they failed.  Their focus should be on doing everything in their power to be successful and not letting the things they don’t control impact their performance on the things they control.  One of the first excuses for failure is far too often to blame the kids.  We don’t control which students walk through our doors each day, it’s our job to educate them to the best of our ability.  While some people in the school may not believe it, every parent sends us the best kid they have.  They don’t have a better kid locked up at home that will make straight A’s and never misbehaves, the one we get in our classrooms is the best they have to send.  We don’t control the level of proficiency or performance level they come to us on.  It’s our job to find a way to reach them and teach them, to make at least a year’s growth in a year’s time and even more if students are coming to us below grade level proficiency to help close the achievement gap.  There’s always the excuse of more resources to which we have to ask “is it truly a lack of resources or a lack of resourcefulness?”  The truth is that the best leaders and teachers find a way to be successful.  In Hattie’s Visible Learning, the top factors that impact student learning to a positive degree the very most have nothing to do with resources and everything to do with the actions and attitudes of the adults to influence student learning significantly in a positive manner. After blaming the students, the parents are often the next to be blamed.  “If we had more parent involvement?  If our parents made the kids do their work? If they produced and raised smarter kids?”  Parents generally do the best they know how to do, we must help them be able to do more to support.  In many cases, this isn’t a factor within our control without going to great lengths or exhausting extensive resources.  Wouldn’t that extensive amount of time and resources generate far greater results if they were spent on students?  You only have a limited amount of time and resources, it’s part of instructional coherence to make sure they are spent where they can yield the most positive impacts on student learning.  Principals too often place blame on the teachers.  The truth is that most teachers are doing the very best they can and it’s the job of the principal, instructional leader, to ensure all teaching and learning is effective and help to support/build capacity when needed.  Great principals hire, train, motivate and retain great teachers.  There’s the excuse of the curriculum and standards being too tough.  It seems logical and makes sense for the instruction to be rigorous if it’s supposed to prepare graduating students to be globally competitive.  Why would you want the curriculum or standards to be easy?  There’s the excuse of needing to add more technology and/or the latest instructional ideas, but the data doesn’t support this either as having a significantly positive impact on student learning.  So we’ve tried to fix the students, the parents, the teachers, the principals, the finances and resources, and the infrastructure?  After all of this blame about what needs to be fixed, we’ve yet to solve the problem and fix what we can control.  The fact remains that assigning blame never fixed a problem.  We will all be held accountable by our results; we need to spend our time and resources of doing things that will have the most significant positive impacts on student learning.  Find a way to be successful, we all have that capacity if we want it bad enough.  The research is already out there that tells us what to do and how to do it, the doing is up to us though!  It's time to stop making excuses and find a way to get results.  In the end, the results are what we will be judged by!  

  

A Hole in the Boat is a Hole in the Whole Boat

             As we embark on the 2020-21 school year, we are facing challenges we’ve never experienced before in terms of cleaning and disinfecting schools differently, social distancing, masks, and many safety precautions.  Some of the challenges, while exacerbated, aren’t so far removed from our daily educational challenges.  Instructionally there are things we need to consider in our planning and preparation.  Assigning blame never fixed a problem and facing reality is a mindset we must accept to be able to find solutions for performance.   Our reality is that students have a gap in curriculum and standards-based instruction from last school year, probably several months at the least.  When core curriculum is broken down into a scope and sequence, then a pacing guide, to unit plans, aligned with formative assessment pieces, and then to daily lesson plan units of instruction it’s done for a reason and with a given sequencing and timing that’s designed to provide every child with a year’s worth of instruction in a calendar year’s time.  When schools were closed last spring, we know our students lost instructional units.  It’s our job as educators to fill in these gaps and try to reach students where they are and move them forward.  Neglecting to fill in these missing pieces would be an instructional injustice for children.  We also know that there’s a negative impact on student achievement with summer break, which is more than double for students from poverty.  Unfortunately, this break for students was more than double the normal amount of time.  Assuming a student was at grade level proficiency, and we know more than half our students weren’t at grade level when we closed, this still means this normal summer gap increased in magnitude and negative impact on student learning.  This gap even widens for students from poverty, which are normally the students that need the most differentiation with scaffolded instruction and multiple additional levels of intervention and support. The reality that students from poverty and student of diversity experienced the most significant negative outcomes from schools shutting down, both instructionally and mentally/physiologically, is a sad and disheartening truth that we must address.  We know the achievement gap was widened even further for students that need school, and all the supports that schools provide, the most of all subgroups of the student population.  

            The pandemic has expedited our entry into integrating technology and increased the need for remote learning.  Many schools have rushed into this school year and tried to fill the instructional and technological gap with scripted programs, online and virtual scripted platforms, and boxed products in an effort to provide instruction to students virtually.  Many educational product companies should have record profits this school year as federal money and state allocations are poured into technological resources for virtual instruction.  Wouldn't it have been great to have stock in Zoom, Google, Canvas, Apple, Apex, iReady, or any of the educational technology based companies?  However, the impact on learning could actually be negative, in terms of actual versus projected growth,  without building capacity, human instructional capacity.  How do we 100% know these programs are aligned to the standards that our students will be assessed on?  How do these programs take into account rigor and relevance?  Is there a component of differentiation and personalized learning or are these a one-size-fits-all programs  for every student?  Are we using these programs as resources or stand-alone instruction?  On the surface these types of programs seem like a quick fix solution that will appease our students and parents.  Don’t misunderstand, I believe 1:1, virtual, and/or blended learning is a great thing and something that every school should do or have already done…..but as a resource for instructional facilitation to be integrated into best practice strategies that foster high student engagement.  It can also be a resource that makes classroom discourse more efficient and communication more effective with all stakeholders…..as long as it’s utilized effectively. 

           I’m a proponent of virtual and blended learning, but not stand-alone without a great teacher guiding instruction.  Technology, if  used alone without building instructional capacity with teachers to use this as an instructional resource, won’t transform education but technology in the hands of great teachers can be truly transformational.  Scripted programs of any type, that don’t address the need to truly differentiate and fill in gaps in learning like a great teacher can, do an instructional injustice for children and negate the instructional capacity of our most effective teachers to extend student growth to exponential limits.  There are some cases, at the high school level, where the differentiation is by content and can stand alone.  The K-8 standards in Reading and Math build on each other and are sequenced specifically to lead to the next level of instruction.  There’s also a transitional gap leading into high school, especially in Math instruction that is highly involved in school composite scores in most states, although the results don’t sometimes show up for years until a cohort graduates.  At the high school level, students need some of the foundational skills from an Algebra II course, that lost months of instruction, to be able to be successful in Algebra III and this leaves them with a deficit this year that would put them in a dire disadvantage if they were put into a Calculus course. Long story short, it's our job (principals and teachers) to fill these gaps and meet every student's needs.  

            In his book “Coherence: The Right Drivers in Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems” , Fullan says “John Hattie (2015) has added further confirmation to our conclusions in his report What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise. His conclusion represents a powerful endorsement of our findings: “the greatest influence on student progression in learning is having highly expert, inspired and passionate teachers and school leaders working together to maximize the effect of their teaching on all students in their care” (p. 2).”  This is completely true and exemplifies the importance of learning in organizations.  The greatest resource any school or system has is the employees (teachers, administrators, support staff, etc.) that make the most significant impact on organizational success and student achievement.  To learning organizations, building instructional capacity is a key to our success and follows a continuous cycle of improvement through human capital development.  Instructional leaders need to make the decisions of what is best for students, while ensuring that we continually build instructional capacity with our teachers to ensure we continue to grow and improve.  To attain systemic instructional coherence, leadership must “always do what’s best for the team.” This means making improving student learning a top priority and mission for the school.  Decisions must be made around what is best for students and their learning, not what's easiest for the adults in the building.  This means connecting the dots in every facet of the school so that each part complements the next part and there is a synergistic effect where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  The key to effective implementation of technology or use of online resources comes down to the people using them.  No matter what online resource, instructional program, textbook, technology, or other resources or programs are utilized, the most effective teachers will still be the most effective teachers.  If we know there are learning gaps from school closure last year, it’s our job to meet those needs.  If there is a lack of differentiation in a scripted program, it’s our job to differentiate instruction and provide what our students need to be successful.  When teachers need support and guidance in effectively implementing technology it’s the job of the principal, as the instructional leader, to help guide this process and provide the necessary support.  When part of our students are learning virtually and other are learning face-to-face, it’s our job to meet their needs and ensure our students learn at a high level.  Regardless of how we facilitate instruction, what platform is used, what programs are implemented, what mandates may come that seem to take autonomy away from great teachers……it’s our job to find a way to be successful, our students are counting on us and our future generations are counting on us to meet the learning needs of ALL students. 

            The two best ways principals can improve schools are (1) hire great teachers and (2) make the ones they have better, great principals do both.  Principals, as instructional leaders, need to remember that the most important part of continued school improvement and sustained gains in student achievement requires improving the instructional capacities of our teachers.  This is done both individually and collectively as we create a professional learning community where teachers collaboratively support each other and create a culture of collective efficacy where they believe they will positively impact learning for ALL students in the school.  We need to embrace the opportunities that we have as educators to work with children and impact future generations and create a safe, supportive, engaging, and fun learning environment.  We are lucky that students and parents choose us for their education.  Without students, they wouldn’t need teachers, principals, or schools.  It should’ve always been about students and their learning, never about what’s easiest for the adults in the building!  Let’s remember who our customers are and focus on service with gratitude in creating an engaging and fun learning environment for ALL students!  As we build instructional capacity and instructional coherence, we are all in this together and we increase the potential to increase student achievement and improve our schools as we develop human capital and improve instructional capacity.  

Prioritizing Instructional Leadership: Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing!

"Many principals say their priority is instructional leadership, but everyone in the building knows your priorities by where you spend your time and how effective you are by the impact you have on improving student learning." - McLaurin (2020) The Principal's Playbook on Instructional Leadership: 23 Things that Matter Most for Improving Student Achievement  

As we end the 2^nd week of the 2020-21 school year and enjoy a long Labor Day weekend, we are releasing a series of videos and posts on FB and the school website to help our student, parents, and community understand the shift in the way we facilitate education.  To me, this has been a fun and exciting opportunity to make a fundamental shift in instructional facilitation.  This is the fun and enjoyable part of the job in seeing everyone in the school grow professionally and work together for the singular purpose of providing the best possible education in the safest possible learning environment.  School should be somewhere teachers and students want to come; it should be where learning is both fun and engaging.  For many people, this has been a scary and stressful process, but it all depends on your mindset and perception of our reality.  I have truly enjoyed this part of the process so far and am extremely proud of how well teachers have adapted to teach students through blended and virtual learning.  We’ve called it “The Digital Era of Instructional Innovation.” This is a time where people look to instructional leadership for both innovation and support/guidance. It’s our job, as principals, to provide that instructional leadership for our schools. 

While most principals know there is a priority on instructional leadership, it is often overshadowed by school managerial demands. It is essential that school leaders learn to manage prioritizing instructional leadership as well as the managerial facets of the job. The heart of the role of the principal is student safety and teaching/learning. The main thing in every school should be student learning and instructional leaders at all levels keep that as the focus.  Instructional leadership takes a commitment, in terms of time and focus, from the principal.  Effective principals know how to ensure the managerial and operational facets of the school support the teaching and learning process and protect instructional time. Principals, as instructional leaders, should spend a minimum of 50% and target of 75% of their time devoted to improving student achievement through improving and supporting effective teaching and learning practices.  This means not just spending time on instruction, but spending time that improves instruction.  True instructional leaders put learning in the forefront and emphasize the need to prioritize learning for all.

Principals must be able to shift gears quickly and complete tasks in a compartmentalized way throughout the day, always keeping teaching and learning at the forefront. Principals need to make distinctions about what is more important and what is less important to prioritize the things that matter most to improving student achievement. Oftentimes, it is difficult to prioritize or filter through all of the fragmented situations that arise daily in making the school run effectively.  The role of the principal, as the instructional leader, is to make sure that the ship gets to the right destination, not just manage the ship to make sure it runs effectively.  Every school principal operates within the same time constraints. The most effective principals, in terms of improving student academic achievement, are instructional leaders and place instructional leadership as their top priority.

 Instructional leaders understand which practices yield the highest gains in student achievement and work for fidelity of best practice instruction across the entire school. Many principals give lip service in calling themselves instructional leaders, but everyone in the building knows what your priorities are by where you spend your time, more importantly the impact that time and effort has on improving student learning. 

“Leadership and management must coincide; leadership makes sure that the ship gets to the right place; management makes sure that the ship (crew and cargo) is well run” (Day, Harris, Hadfield, Tolley, & Beresford, 2000, pp. 38-39).

Courageous Serenity: The Digital Era of Instructional Innovation

 The first week of reopening school went really well.  It seemed like a long, short week.  It was a first in my 20+ years in education in the fact that we had two 1^st days of school.  Students and staff complied with mask requirements and we worked through all hiccups as a team.  The night before we opened school, we sent a video out to staff that we made entitled “What It’s About!”.  The video gave the answer from administration as to the “why” of all the changes we had last school year and what we are about to face.  In all that we do in education, we serve a purpose much larger than we could ever fathom.  The music in the video was from the “Courageous” soundtrack, which was fitting in what our staff and students were about to do in reopening school.  Courageous not only referred to the potential safety concerns, but also courageous in changing the way we do instruction and finding a way to reach all children. Moving into the digital age of instructional innovation is scary to many teachers and principals.  While we know technology will never replace a great teacher, technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational and almost magical in engaging students regardless of location.  One of the things we reminded everyone of plenty is patience and support.  Teachers don’t fear change, but everyone fears change without support.  It’s important that administration supports teachers, teachers support each other, and we all support parents and students. 

  In the weeks leading up to reopening school, we focused on the things we could control in our preparation.  The Bible talks about serenity in multiple verses.  One of the first ones that come to mind is Proverbs 3:5-6 that says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”  Many times, people want to make excuses or come up with reasons for failure. Serenity tells us to focus on the things we control.  Hattie’s Visible Learning calls this often disruption in focus “The Politics of Distraction”.  We can’t lose focus of the task at hand and make excuses because failure is not an option, students and parents are counting on us to keep students safe and provide the best possible learning outcomes.  As we focus on what we control, we realize that we have the power to win in keeping students safe in school and transforming teaching and learning. 

            “The Digital Era of Instructional Innovation” began this week and I was very impressed by the work of our staff and how they’ve embraced virtual, blended, and digital learning.   This fundamental shift in how we facilitate instruction and take accountability for results is a strategic mindset.   Principals, who should be the instructional leaders of the school, should embrace this mindset and model the way for the rest of the staff.  Several years ago, as part of the NCDPI School Turnaround program, I was blessed to have worked with Eric Sheninger and get a million ideas about digital learning and especially digital leadership.  Sheninger says digital leadership and learning “takes into account recent changes such as ubiquitous connectivity, open-source technology, mobile devices, and personalization to dramatically shift how schools have been run and structured for over a century.  Leading in education becomes exponentially powerful when using technology to your advantage.”  Eric Sheninger, aka"Principal Twitter” shared his Pillars of Digital Leadership for principals that  includes the following: 

 

·         Transform school culture by initiating sustainable change

·         Use free social media tools to improve communication, enhance public relations, and create a positive brand presence 

·         Integrate digital tools into the classroom to increase student engagement and achievement

·         Facilitate professional learning and access new opportunities and resources

 

One the great things about this shift we are currently experiencing is that we determine how successful we are and determine our learning outcomes.  We know this isn’t going to be perfect on Day #1, but a school should be a learning organization that continuously grows and improves.  
            Whether you are a district office administrator, building level administrator, or teacher, the time is now to boldly move schools forward in the digital age.  We are in the middle of the storm of instructional innovation and this is a fun process in reinventing teaching and learning through virtual and blended learning, technology integration, and being connected educators.  This requires us to be courageous in being willing to embrace change and also requires serenity in focusing on the factors within our locus of control. 

Model the Way: Like We Have Ice Water in Our Veins

     As this week comes to a close, we are within 48 hours of teachers and staff being back on campus to open schools for the 2020-21 school year.  As I reflect on the preparation for opening and the upcoming uncertainties we face in education, I’m reminded of Kouzes and Posner’s “The Leadership Challenge” and the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership.  The first exemplary practice is to “Model the Way”, which includes clarifying and setting the example for the rest of the organization.  As we go back next week, it’s important that staff and students see leadership as confident, competent, and calm.  Staff follow the example of leadership, which is basic Social Learning Theory from Bandura.  If leadership goes back and seems anxious or on-edge or quick to react to small things, it will create an unsettledness and possible panic, which will filter down to the students.  This could actually exacerbate the situation and intensify the stress people are feeling and the fear that they have in returning.  If staff see us as calm, competent, confident, and collected there’s a much higher probably of reducing anxiety, which will already be high.  I’m reminded of Tom Osborne, head football coach at Nebraska, and his demeanor on the sidelines in the most stressful situations.  Players and coaches believed in him and had confidence he would lead them in the right direction partly because of how calm and collected he was under pressure. He was described as having the demeanor of an old farmer, who never gets rattled because they’ve weathered plenty of storms and are confident they can weather the next one as well.  

     Next week and the weeks to come will be stressful, staff and students coming back will have much anxiety and stress in returning, parents will be worried and stressed about their children returning, administrators will be worried and probably even fearful to a point.  All these are givens in the uncertainty of the situation we are about to face.  We also need to remember that administrators are both tired and stressed at this point from all the work they’ve done the past few weeks to prepare, which often makes our tempers a little shorter and our reactions a little quicker or sharper.  Patience and seeking understanding will be critical to our success.  Sometimes when we know we are about to say or do something that is uncharacteristic of our leadership or evidences the stress we are under, it’s a great time to take a pause and catch our breath before we speak or act.  The reactions of leadership that succumb to stress or pressure can damage or destroy relationships and/or confidence/trust, can disempower people,  weaken instead of strengthening others, create divides or friction, and hinder our progress.   

      When it’s 4^th down and 1 yard to go with no time left on the clock and you’re going for the win on the last play of the game, players and coaches want a quarterback that steps into the huddle and leads with ice water in his veins because he’s so cool and collected and confident in the most stressful situations .  The last thing the team needs is a quarterback or coach that’s rattled or shows signs of cracking under pressure or creates more fear and anxiety because this will spread to the rest of the team.  I think about Franklin Roosevelt’s “fireside chats” of the 1930s and Winston Churchill’s speeches in World War II and how they brought calm, collectedness, and resolve to a tremendously stressful and challenging situation.  It’s also important to realize the impact of leadership around you and their influence on you.  Do they create a calm confidence, exude competence, deliver with honesty that builds trust, and treat others like they would want to be treated?  Do they handle things that take stress off of you or do they shift the monkey to create more stress and pressure on you?  Depending on the things they do and their attitudes/actions, you might not have the right people on the bus with you that can help you win.  Stress and pressure isn't necessarily a bad thing, they're often required to help us find the weak link in the chain or magnify a weakness or crack in the armor.  Even in the medical field of cardiology, stress tests are required to show where there's a blockage or weakness.  We need to be that quarterback and coach that steps in and gives the play call with confidence and tells our team we are going to find a way to win.  Whether you like it or not, modeling the way is part of leadership and you are the person the rest of the team will look to and follow.  Remember that while stress and pressure can break some people, they can also create a diamond that shines bright!

“Sit and Get” Don’t Grow Dendrites: It’s Time for a Fundamental Shift From Focusing on Teaching to Focusing on Student Learning

Students in today's classrooms learn very differently than the way most of the people teaching them were taught.  Students today need and want to be actively engaged for effective learning to take place.  The fundamental shift has to be from a focus on teaching and what is the teacher doing to a focus on student learning and the impact each activity and action in the classroom has on student learning. 

For many decades, observations and the assessment of school classrooms were on the actions of the teacher: “The Sage on The Stage” with long lectures and possibly note taking.  Brain research contradicts this approach as being the most effective.  Research tells us that the person doing the work is the one doing the learning.  In many classrooms that person doing all of the work is the teacher, it shouldn’t be. If we are still doing lecture and having students take copious notes, which muscles are we really exercising?  and what’s the impact on student learning?  Contrary to what people think, the brain can’t really multi-task either, so we can’t 100% concentrate on listening to a lecture and taking notes at the same time.  A more effective way to do this activity would be to listen intently for short periods (1-2 mins.) and then do a quick write to process and review what was just said. Then the student and/or teacher needs to review or use that content one more time before the brain will comprehend and retain because three is the minimum number of times something must be taught before brain research tells us the brain will retain.  Doing those things and in those ways are grounded in brain research and the way that all brains learn more efficiently.  21^st Century Learners’ greatest retention rates come from reciprocal teaching, collaboration and classroom talk, creation and project-based tasks, inquiry and problem-based approaches, learning by doing….activities where they are actively engaged. 

One of the best solutions to classroom management problems is to have a classroom where students are engaged, one of the best ways to reduce tardies and students skipping class is to have a classroom where students want to come to learn, and one of the best ways to increase student achievement and reduce discipline is to have a classroom that’s fun.  Wouldn’t everyone learn more if instruction was both rigorous and relevant, including an element of fun and enjoyment with learning?  Everyday students and teachers should be greeted, should hear something positive, and laugh and/or smile.  Research tells us that it takes 47 facial muscles to frown and only 13 to smile, laughing reduces endorphins and chemicals in the body that reduce stress, your body can’t tell the difference in genuine laughter and fake laughter so either way it helps reduce stress, and reducing stress not only helps you to live longer but also makes a learning environment more effective.

The pandemic and reopening of schools is an excellent opportunity to reinvent and redesign learning through shifting our focus to student learning instead of teacher actions.  The most important part of teacher actions are the impacts they have on student learning.  The transition to virtual or blended learning shifts the focus to the teacher as a content creator and facilitator of learning.  By nature, assessments will be more authentic and both scaffolded and differentiated.  This will change the focus to a priority towards learning and mastery of standards with multiple methods of students being able to demonstrate their learning and have a self-reported grading or assessment approach.  The title I chose for this post was “Sit & Get” Don’t Grow Dendrites, based on Dr. Marcia’s Tate’s research on student engagement and brain-based learning.  It’s fact that worksheets and lower order activities aren’t the answer to increasing student achievement.  If students can do the worksheets they don’t need them, they need to accelerate and move forward.  If students can’t do the worksheets it won’t help them anyway.  Yet, many teachers think students filling in worksheets qualifies as learning.  If you look at student achievement rates nation-wide and especially in classrooms driven by worksheets and “sit and get” instruction, you’d have to borrow a line from Dr. Phil and ask “How’s that working for you?  Has it every really worked for you?”  

Research demonstrates that schools with high levels of music and arts are also the most academically successful.  Why?....Because those schools engage both hemispheres of the brain in learning, decades of brain research and data on student performance fully supports this approach. The pressing questions is….why don’t all classrooms in all schools do that?  Learning isn’t complicated, but it’s both an art and a science.  Great teachers know how to use both the art and science of teaching and learning to make learning rigorous, relevant, and most importantly FUN!  It’s not a revolutionary concept, but it works!

         Obstacles or opportunities.....it's up to us! As we enter the 2020-21 school year, we need to embrace the opportunities that we have as educators to work with children and impact future generations.  We need to create a safe, supportive, engaging, and fun learning environment.  With all of the school choice options, we are lucky that students and parents choose us for their education.  Without students, they wouldn’t need teachers, principals, or schools.  It should’ve always been about students and their learning, never about adults and what’s easiest for the adults in the building!  Let’s remember who our customers are and focus on service with gratitude in creating an engaging and fun learning environment for ALL students! 

Do Your Job - Make Decisions Based on Your Best

          This sounds like the simplest advice for everyone in a school or any organization.  To some teachers and/or staff this sounds offensive.  We sometimes get too complex and education is no different with all of our educational jargon and sophisticated lingo.  But the process of winning, as an organization, is so simple if everyone will just do their job.  When someone doesn't do their job, what they are really doing is making it harder on their co-worker or colleague.  A teacher that wants to be "cool" by letting kids come in class late, or leave early, or not work from bell to bell, or not have high expectations consistently and constantly......is simply making it tougher for the teacher next to them and the teacher down the hall to do their job in upholding expectations.  We have simple "Non-Negotiable" expectations like teaching from bell to bell, the 10-min rule, have a lesson plan everyday for instruction, etc. that are actually designed to prioritize instructional time and make life better for everyone.  What most people fail to realize are that these expectations are the minimum requirements for everyone and designed to make it more effective for everyone by providing continuity and consistency.  

          One of the things you learn in educational leadership is to treat every teacher like they're your best teacher and to make decisions around your best teachers.  The one thing that frustrates your best teachers is someone next to them not doing their job or not pulling their weight, and being allowed to do that by administration or peers.  This is part of the culture of a successful school in high expectations from and for all in the building so that everyone in the school is actually working on the school's goals.  High achievers don't like mediocre people and mediocre people can't stand high achievers.  Do your expectations promote high achievers or allow mediocrity?  Does the culture of the school have high expectations or is being "okay" acceptable?  Good has always been the enemy of great.  An example for a principal is when a teacher comes to complain about a student and your response shows if you really treat ALL teachers like your best.  When the teacher talks about a student not turning something in or not working in class, do you allow them to shift the monkey by handling it for them or do you say "you ought to call a parent"? Or do you treat them like your best teachers in asking "what did the parent say when you called them" because we all know the best teachers would've always called parents first and taken every step possible before a referral to administration? When a student is out of class during an unauthorized time, do you take them back to the class and ask the teacher for a discipline referral for skipping because the best teachers wouldn't allow students to leave their class during unauthorized time, especially without a note?  Have you ever noticed, as an administrator, that the teachers in a staff meeting that are the most vocal and complain the most are usually the ones doing the least to reach the school's goals or the most ineffective?  This is because the best teachers have all of these things under control and they wouldn't complain anyway because their goal isn't to try to make it easy for them but always doing what is best for kids.  Why should administrators always get input from their best teachers prior to decisions, or at least as much as possible?  Because your best teachers always make their decisions around what's best for kids, kids are always the top priority to them. 

         It's amazing what schools and organizations can achieve if everyone simply does their job!  It's really not rocket science, an organization can be great if everyone will "just do your job"!

The Power of Belief - Collective Efficacy

Belief is a powerful factor in achieving any goal, in an situation, and in any organization. Collective efficacy in a school is the perception of teachers that the faculty as a whole can execute courses of action required to positively impact student achievement....in short, the school sees itself as an effective agent of change. Every great outcome starts with a belief. Research demonstrates collective efficacy in a school has the highest effect size in increasing student achievement. As an educational leader, do you believe in yourself and your team? Do you truly believe that you and your team can positively impact every child every day in your school? Doesn't every child that walks through our doors deserve to have teachers, staff, and administrators that believe in them and believe in themselves to achieve greatness? Does your school (people in the school) believe they are truly effective agents of change for every child every day?

What It's About!

We've spent a good deal of time this summer, as principals, examining our mission and vision with looking at what, how, and why.  I know a good number of staff always wondered "What's this about?" with requiring lesson plans a week in  advance, instructional feedback, Monday morning staff meetings before school, instructional PLCs, increasing the level of structure in school to protect instructional times, strict finance policies and guidelines, and always seeming to want to raise expectations.  In reflecting and reviewing material for the upcoming school year, I ran across something my brother Toby, who is a far better principal and leader than me, did with his staff several years ago.  I couldn't echo his sentiments any better in answering the question of "What It's About", but did add a couple of things to it that would resonate with staff.  This is what I plan to share with our staff at the close of our opening staff meeting for 2020-21 that gives them my reply to the question I'm sure they often had last year and explains the "why" of our expectations for the upcoming school year!

You Can't Cheat the Process

For several weeks there has been a great deal of debate and speculation about returning to school and the end-of-course standardized testing and assessment protocols for this school year.  The AccelerateEd committee for opening schools recommended that we waive the standardized testing requirements for this school year and yesterday the South Carolina Senate voted to forego standardized testing for this school year.  Many people have asked what we will do without testing and how this will change our work, like we won the lottery or a free pass for the school year.  My reply to this type of question is simple...we are going to not only do what we always do, but we will work harder than ever because our focus is on the process and not the outcome because we believe the outcome takes care of itself when we focus on mastering each part of the process  in providing students the best possible education in a safe environment. 

The things we’ve done that have raised test data tremendously is simply effective best practices and personalizing learning to help each child grow and perform at their best.  Our focus is on the process each day.  Coming from a coaching background, I’ve always been a believer in focusing on the things we control and giving our all to each part of the process of preparation.  In his book, “They Call Me Coach”, John Wooden said that he never talked about winning with his players.  He always focused on proper technique, effort, conditioning, and teamwork.  He believed if you prepared properly, winning would take care of itself.  In his book “Faith in the Game”, Tom Osborne said his Nebraska football teams focused on the process in making sure they did everything they could to give them the best chance to be successful and each player playing to their maximum ability and as a team.  Osborne saw winning as a by-product of sound preparation.  Vince Lombardi conducted an entire coaching clinic around one play, for an entire day, over eight straight hours on the Packer Sweep.  Every detail down to each step every player took, where their eyes should be focused, the angles of every movement, what they should anticipate, where the play should be run and the sill to run to daylight. In his book “Finding the Winning Edge”, Bill Walsh says that confidence is found in preparation.  Some of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time, Joe Montana and Steve Young, describe Bill Walsh’s West Coast Offense like a choreographed dance or ballet where every intricate detail of every step and movement is calculated and taught for every player on the field to have perfect timing and placement.  The focus is on the process and not the outcome, the results take care of themselves when we focus on doing the process to the best of our ability.    

As a coach, we wanted to emphasize with our players is how they play the game – the process of preparation, the effort they display during the game, the attitude they carry on the field.  These are all things that we can control and that reflect on the process of athletics and also in the process of education.  Many times the end result – the win or the loss – we cannot control.  It may hinge on the bounce of the football, it may depend on who has the better athletes, it may depend on an official’s call or could depend on how a child feels on the morning of testing. .    As we move into the new school year and the much anticipated return to school from the coronavirus pandemic, not only should we do all of the best practice instruction strategies and a multi-tiered system of supports, but we should be even more intricate and detailed in our planning…..both instructionally and for the safety of our students!  We will ensure our curriculum is aligned and blend standards for multiple exposures more than ever.  We will integrate technology and have a more detailed plan for remote learning than ever.  We are going to prepare for social distancing and cleanliness procedures more than ever.  In classrooms, our focus will be on our high impact instructional strategies that are best practice in every classroom to include: Clear Learning Goals, Instructional Pacing, Explicit Teaching/Questioning, Data Motivated Instruction, Cumulative Daily Review, Classroom Discourse, Literacy Across the Curriculum, Formative Assessments, and Reflective Practice.  As a team, we are going to create a system of peer feedback and a culture of collaborative support in becoming masters of our profession.  These are all parts of the process of effective and high-performing schools.  This is our focus, the outcome will take care of itself with our without a standardized test.  Providing our students with the best possible instructional experience is what we must be committed to....regardless of the format when we return to school.    

Ultimately, we have to look in the mirror and answer to ourselves about our dedication to mastering each part of the process.  Is our curriculum aligned and integrated, blended, and differentiated to reach each student?  Do we implement a common instructional framework of best practice instructional strategies in every classroom every day?  Do we focus on the most highly impactful instructional strategies for students’ success?  Do we have a plan in place and utilize this plan to make sure our classroom assessments are planned, predictive, and have a plan to remediate with students as needed?  Are our instructional practices equitable and not just equal so that it fits each child?  Do principals, as instructional leaders, practice what they preach with high instructional expectations and does their practice reflect this priority?  Do we integrate technology effectively and have a detailed plan in place for remote learning if needed?  Have we embraced the transition to technology based instruction to give our students the opportunity to learn during a pandemic?  Do was have a community of instructional learning to support teacher growth in a safe setting? Does our professional development align to instructional expectations and follow up with support and guidance for continued growth and improvement?   Does the culture of our school support teachers?  Is the best interest of students prioritized over what’s easiest for the adults in school?  We must be committed in our culture and leadership actions that “You Can’t Cheat the Process” to be successful and outcomes will take care of themselves, no matter whether we test or not, as we focus on mastery, personalizing education, and creating a safe environment for learning.