articles

April 2009

Elma's Story

For Washington State Leadership Academy participants, student learning takes main stage in principal/ superintendent relationships

“The opportunity to participate in the Washington State Leadership Academy comes at the right time for Elma,” reflects Principal Mark Keating, Elma Elementary. “We have built strong relationships. The Academy is focusing us on student learning and sound instructional strategies. It also brings a different set of eyes to the system through the academy coaching and facilitation.”

Intent on developing an authentic focus on student learning, the three principals and the superintendent of Elma School District elected to take part in the first cohort of the Washington State Leadership Academy (WSLA)'s two-year program. The mission of the Leadership Academy is to develop and support school leaders to create educational systems where powerful instruction helps all students succeed.

Elma High Principal Kevin Acuff concurs with Keating, and adds that key results for the team are time and facilitation. “I believe the time set aside to focus on instructional issues and the help of the facilitator are the most powerful contribution of academy involvement. At a time when resources are diminishing, our academy work will help keep our priorities on student learning.” Since August 2008, Elma's administrative team has utilized WSLA processes to establish and maintain their focus on student learning. The processes—which include establishing operating norms, skill and strategy identification, consensus on a problem of practice, developing a theory of action, and role clarification—have, in turn, built upon and strengthened existing positive relationships between the principals and their superintendent.

Establishing Norms and Skill Identification

The simple norm-setting process of each administrator listing the behaviors they believe are important to effectively working together, sharing them, identifying and grouping common ideas, and then ranking them in importance has established the foundation for working relationships in the group. The team divided their norms into categories related to people, process, and product. The importance of keeping information confidential until it is ready to be shared emerged as the key to building trust among the team. These norms have been the starting discussion point as the academy work is shared and expanded teams are designed.

Time spent identifying, processing, and celebrating the strengths and skills of each team member also has contributed to the increasing goodwill among team members. Individually reflecting upon and listing the strengths that each person brings to the team and then the strengths that their coworkers contribute provides a rich avenue for dialogue. Acuff is a voracious reader who has vast resources at his fingertips on school improvement. A district historian who applies his rich knowledge of people and events to inform his work with people, Keating is recognized for his skill at fostering strong relations between people. Dave Demiglio, middle school principal, is new to the system and possesses strong data analysis skills. He brings a fresh look to system problems and the willingness to confront issues. King brings to the team valuable experience from large and small school districts, the ability to see the big picture, and strong people skills.

Identifying a Problem of Practice and Developing the Theory of Action

Reaching consensus on a problem of practice and theory of action has guided learning improvement and helped establish the rationale for action. The Elma team spent time individually and as a group listing topics that they felt demanded attention and would impact learning gaps the most. Next, they examined district data related to the identified topics and narrowed the list to items connected to reading and math. Finally, they listed and evaluated existing and proposed improvement strategies and clarified the reasons for putting them in place or considering their use.

Clarifying Role Distinctions

Increasing knowledge about the role distinctions between principals and the superintendent as system change is initiated is leading to expanded involvement and commitment to improvement strategies beyond the administrative team. These processes combined with facilitation by WSLA Coach Tom Marrs focus administrative time on the core issues of student learning, instruction, and professional development.

Utilizing the “Change Conversation” work of Judy Ness and Judy Heinrich, the superintendent role is established as sponsor and the principal roles as cosponsor and implementers when initiating system change. The work makes explicit system leader expectations, emphasizes the responsibility of implementers to actively participate and influence ongoing work, and validates the contributions of those carrying out change. This role clarity is expediting progress toward involving an expanded district improvement team, with representation from each site, and, ultimately, to all instructional staff.

Growing the Focus on Student Improvement

Throughout the fall, the team worked on identifying its “problem of practice” statement, which focuses on ensuring that all students reach grade level expectations in reading and math. In developing plans to achieve this, the four-member team brought in representatives from every district school, thereby scaling up the original team to 16 members.

This larger district instructional team met during the winter and resolved to initiate K–12 reading and math teams to create stronger connectivity among grades and schools. The team also decided to initiate summer institutes in the district in an effort to develop meaningful standards and assessments at all grade levels. These plans are now being discussed in schools, and interested staff members will be involved in the institutes, which will occur throughout the summer. It is anticipated that these institutes will be the first in a series occurring for the next few years, and will engage staff in refining Elma's standards, assessments, interventions, and instructional strategies.

Though much work remains in using data to focus instructional strategies and professional development including teacher involvement, Elma Superintendent Howard King identifies the key strength of his team and his hope for the district. “We are fortunate to have a strong team of administrators who like each other,” states King. “The Leadership Academy is taking us to the next level by focusing us on student learning through a 'problem of practice.'”

"In addition to working with an outside facilitator who provides objective feedback," King adds, "the core, four-member principal/superintendent team values the opportunity to interact with other districts in ESD 113 who are involved in the Leadership Academy. The Elma team feels these experiences contribute to the improvement of their personal leadership skills." Regarding the impact of the Leadership Academy, Demiglio, says, "It sends the message to every district employee that the superintendent is in tune with classroom instruction. It involves him in the core work of the system as an instructional leader."

“The same could be said about the impact on principal roles,” states Marrs. Referring to a quote by Stephen Covey about “keeping the main the main thing,” he says, “Elma's leadership team is spending its time focused on the 'main thing'—improving student learning.”

The principals and superintendent of the Elma School District believe that improving student learning is at the heart of their work together. “It is the main thing.”

Prepared by:
Kevin Acuff, Elma High School Principal, kacuff@eagles.edu
Dave Demiglio, Elma Middle School Principal, ddemiglio@eagles.edu
Mark Keating, Elma Elementary Principal, mkeating@eagles.edu
Howard King, Elma School District Superintendent, hking@eagles.edu
Tom Marrs, Washington State Leadership Academy Team Coach, tpat1@msn.com
Amy Riggs, Communications & Technology Specialist, ariggs@waleadershipacademy.org