“What would you say to teachers, if they are not getting high quality work…could they learn something from this and what could they take back to their classrooms?”

This is the introduction to a timely YouTube video about the power of using critique protocols and specific feedback called Austin’s Butterfly (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqh1MRWZjms). If you haven’t viewed this yet, or even if you have, you might find it useful to review and share with others.

The month of May finds most school administrators in the throes of finalizing staff evaluations. Our new evaluation system is based on a “growth” model. Evaluations and ratings are now linked to specific evidence, observations and described behaviors using frameworks with defined rubrics. This new business of a more accountable evaluation system in our state is complex and potentially a positive game changer for the profession. How might evaluators learn from others who have studied the power of feedback?

Jack Zenger and Joe Folkman, in their book Extraordinary Leadership, discuss the need for frequent feedback from a variety of sources, including 360-degree feedback tools, performance discussions, team-building sessions and coaching. They share that cultures, in which feedback is common, can greatly enhance the development of leaders. Creating a culture of more frequent feedback takes time, relationship and practice.

In her book, Mindset, Carol Dweck shares that feedback connected to the belief that people can grow and improve can lead to expanded potential. She studied use of praise with adolescent students to learn which type of praise encourages people. They found that when students received praise telling them they were “smart”, had the “best score”, etc. , it promoted a fixed, limiting mindset to their learning and tasks—avoiding challenges or anything that might expose their flaws or question their talent. On the other hand, 90% of the students who were praised for their efforts and progress sought challenging new tasks to learn from—driven to a growth or expanding mindset.

How might this assist our colleagues in the middle of writing their evaluations and conducting final evaluation conferences? Sharing the power of giving specific feedback (Austin’s Butterfly), the need for frank and frequent feedback (Extraordinary Leadership) and the power of praising effort over ability (Mindset) might be helpful. With the goal of promoting “growth” in the new evaluation system, one wonders if teachers and principals receive different feedback experiences, how it might encourage them to form new beliefs and practices leading to our common desired result—increasing student achievement for all.

Butterfly image from animatedcliparts.net

Take a moment to reflect on your career as a leader in education.  Who inspired you to take the many risks needed to sustain the hours of joy and frustration?  Was his or her “plate too full” to spend time encouraging, advising, thoughtfully criticizing, and pushing you to a new level of achievement?  Are you inspiring your staff or pointing a finger of blame for change on OSPI, federal government, community—just pick a target and pull the trigger aimed at “they made me do it!”

Kick start your own inspiration with a famous basketball coach who is now facing the biggest challenge of change possible, early onset of Alzheimer’s.  Sum It Up: A Thousand and Ninety-Eight Victories, a Couple of Irrelevant Losses, and a Life in Perspective by Pat Summitt with Sally Jenkins is not a book about basketball strategy. Rather, it is story about a powerful and reflective leader who continually improves her ability to coach others…and now herself!

One of many important points that Pat emphasizes, “I’d always told our players that attitude is a choice.  It is what it is but it will become what you make of it.”  Step back and thoughtfully choose your attitude! What is the staff attitude about continually improving their instructional practice and the implementation of a new framework?  What language are you using to coach them to improvement?

Inspire the principals and staff leaders to expand their capability as you model that in your staff and community presentations.  Pat Summitt was success because she motivated her players beyond their own expectations. “Too many people opt out and never discover their own abilities, because they fear failure.  They don’t understand commitment.  When you learn to keep fighting in the face of potential failure, it gives you a larger skill set to do what you want to do in life.  It gives you vision.  But you can’t acquire it if you’re afraid of keeping score.”  Now you know why she was so passionate on the court.  She clearly set expectation and gave them feedback beyond a quick “good job” or “try your best”.  Her feedback was specific, meaningful, and set a new bar of performance each time.

As leaders in your district, thoughtfully put together the plan for the game!  At the top of the list put inspiration and clear expectation and put in a specific goal of specific feedback to all staff.  Pat clearly points out, “In the absence of feedback, people will fill in the blanks with a negative.  They will assume you don’t care about them or don’t like them.”  Care enough to let your staff know that they are in the most important business in the world….EDUCATION!!!

As the educational landscape continues to move toward more accountability—and, as a result, more pressure is put on the building instructional staff to ensure all students grow academically—a natural movement for differentiated instruction has surfaced. This appears to be similar to when the educational environment moved to what then was called individualized instruction. Both terms focus on what each student needs in the way of support in order to be a successful learner. Both require or required the instructional staff to understand the individual needs of each student and adjust and modify the educational environment in the classroom to meet these identified needs. In order for both to be successful, the system needs to support such a strategy. The past individualized instruction movement failed under its own weight and if we don’t provide the needed support from the current system the present differentiated instruction movement will fail, too.

One such supportive system strategy is to piggyback the differentiated instruction efforts with those of differentiated leadership. This means to look at building instructional staff in the system, assess their strengths and differentiate the support needed for them to  implement successfully their differentiated instruction efforts in the classroom. If students can benefit from such a strategy, why shouldn’t we do the same for our instructional staff? The following questions used by Rick Wormeli in his work on differentiated instruction can and should apply to differentiated leadership. Each building administrator should ask themselves:

1. Am I willing to lead in whatever way is necessary for instructional staff to be successful, even if that approach doesn’t match my own preferences?
2. Do I have the courage to do what works, not just what’s easiest?
3. Do I actively seek to understand my instructional staff knowledge, skills, and talents so I can provide an appropriate support for their instructional needs? And once I discover their strengths and weaknesses, do I actually adapt my leadership style and building work environment to respond to their needs?
4. Do I continually build a large and diverse repertoire of leadership strategies so I have more than one way to lead?
5. Do I organize my school for staff success or for my leadership style?
6. Do I keep up to date on the latest research about adult learning strategies?
7. Do I ceaselessly self-analyze and reflect on my own leadership — including my style — searching for ways to improve?
8. Am I open to critique?
9. Do I push instructional staff to become their own education advocates and give them the tools to do so?
10. Do I regularly close the gap between knowing what to do and really doing it?

These questions, if honestly answered, could be the cornerstone of moving a building or system to the level of support needed to make sure differentiated instruction—this time around—really works for all our students.

The Washington State Leadership Academy is designed to help School and School District Leaders grow professionally as they work to develop and implement a Theory of Action to improve learning for all students served.

District teams in the Leadership Academy endure the first two to three sessions, struggling to come together on a focus that will bring them the greatest results for their efforts. Some teams find that focus quickly, but more often than not, teams need time to research, reflect and debate before they are ready to begin the implementation phase.

I have had the opportunity over the past few years to watch many teams across the state, and have observed a similar developmental process in action with each of them. Recently, I heard a member of a team report how frustrated he felt in the beginning and how rewarded he felt when the team’s Problem of Practice and Theory of Action became clear—not just clear for him and the members of his team—but understandable to other district staff with the responsibility of taking the actions laid out in their plan.

The work of leaders in public education requires reflection before action—a difficult task in the fast-paced world we experience every day. If we truly want improvement in our schools and in the professional practice of all working daily to help children learn, we must examine our current work against what we believe to be the effective work, and we have to be willing to slow down long enough to ensure we are focused on what really matters.

Often education leaders feel we cannot wait, thinking our students need the change now; but unless we systematically compare what is against what should be, how do we know that the change will be better for our students? How do we know that the implementers of the change are ready, willing and able to make that change effectively? How will we measure whether or not the change matters for the students in our system? How can the leaders in the system help other staff members feel secure enough to give up old practices to try something that may make their performance measure move from distinguished to proficient or even proficient to basic?

Perhaps we, as leaders, should continue to remember (and help others remember) that we sought a learning profession as our work—we are all learners and we must grow professionally every day. We will feel frustrated and insecure when change is needed; however, our work as leaders is NOT to feel secure. Rather, it is in the struggle of measuring what is and what is not working against what we hope we can achieve—and then taking the necessary steps—whatever they may be—to lead the change.

“If you want to feel secure, do what you already know how to do. If you want to be a true professional and continue to grow… go to the cutting edge of your competence which means a temporary loss of security.” Madeline Hunter

For many, a new year is like a blank canvas, ready for life’s picture. Stretched before us on January 1st are 365 days to create anew. The irony for us in education is that January is mid-school year. Yet, returning from the holiday break rejuvenated and hopeful, skilled instructional leaders continue the focus on our students’ canvas. So what does that picture look like?

That answer lies in the art of instructional leadership. Support for that answer is found in the work of the Washington State Leadership Academy. Administrators who can vision, articulate and implement that picture for our students are leaders of dynamic teams of adults. Simply said, they lead the right people at the right time in the right direction. The complexity of that leadership throughout the system is seen each day of the year in each classroom of each building in the district.

Strong instructional leaders keep the message of the work clear, concise and focused. They anchor the adult work in best practices research of past years as evidenced in the Nine Characteristics of High Performing Schools, second edition 2007, with best practices research of the new year as evidenced in the 2012 publication of The AWSP Leadership Framework for principal evaluation. In the 2007 document, leaders learned of effective processes for improving schools, for quality instruction grading practices, for professional learning communities, and for need-based allocation of resources. Doesn’t what leaders learned then complement what we are learning now in the 2012-13 school year? The work of this new type of leadership—explicitly detailed in The AWSP Leadership Framework and supported by the work of the Washington State Leadership Academy—is the catalyst for dynamic school performance.

True instructional leaders have already shifted their work practices from a focus of management to a focus upon instruction. They lead by learning side by side with their team. They lead by being a part of learning walks in every building. They use data to have the open, honest and deep conversations. Visibly day after day they do their work differently than they have before. They do not panic when hearing of yet another expectation or requirement. They persevere carefully and steadfastly to keep the message of the work clear, concise and focused on the student picture. They know they can be better in their own instructional leadership this year than they were last year.
In our leadership journey in this new year, we must see the big picture for our students, and it is beautiful.

I struggled this month deciding what I should BLOG about for our WSLA community—there are so many topics to discuss these days. Perhaps there are simply “too many” topics and tasks we are all juggling at one time. One might choose to blog about…

• Focus and Priority Schools
• Student and School Success Principles
• Problems of Practice and Theory of Action
• Washington State TPEP
• Teacher Evaluation: Instructional Frameworks
• Principal Evaluation: Leadership Frameworks
• The eVAL System
• Common Core State Standards
• Inquiry Based Learning
• Standards Based Grade
• Smarter Balance Assessments
• Benchmark Assessments for Reading and Math with Data Director Reports
• Online Learning
• The McCleary Decision
• Charter Schools

The list goes on and on, right?

However…December marks the celebration of the holidays, a well-deserved break, the end of 2012 in which we have served well and the beginning of a new year yet to unfold.

So I asked myself, what could a WSLA BLOG communicate to help moderate the juggling acts, to help us just breathe and at the same time remind us of curiosity, joys and dreams? I am simply going to recommend you take a “brain breather.”

Entertain yourself with some well-formed thinking of others who do not do what we do. I suggest you watch at least one 18-minute TED* talk. They are painless, mind expanding and thought provoking and hopefully, you’ll find something that will make you smile. That’s the gift (or blog), take it or leave it.

Consider these TED Talk links—or filter and search for something else that makes you curious.

• Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action http://blog.ted.com/2010/05/04/how_great_leade/
• Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution! http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html
• Daphne Koller: What we’re learning from online education http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_koller_what_we_re_learning_from_online_education.html

Happy Holidays!

May 2013 arrive finding us refreshed and energized for continuing this worthy work with WSLA!

*TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. http://www.ted.com/pages/about)

Submitted by Merrilou Harrison, WSLA Instructor, Coach, and Leadership Criteria and Framework Feedback Specialist

Say for a moment that you are a smaller district in the state of Washington. You have applied for and been accepted in RIG 1 or RIG 2, you were notified that you have one school in your district that qualified for Priority status and another school that qualified for Focus status…your principals have started the training on the Instructional Framework that your district decided they will use as the basis for your teacher evaluations…your superintendent and one of your principals has begun training on the Leadership Framework that will guide your administrator evaluations, and your district had signed up to be a part of the Washington State Leadership Academy. Now, all of this is in addition to your Title 1, Migrant/Bilingual, Special Education, ESL, Common Core, etc. work that is already going on. Your mind is already adding other mandates, trainings, adoptions, and goals that are also a reality in your district. Remember that I said you were a smaller district in the state (of which there are a majority). That means that there are only so many resources to go around and only so many people to accomplish this task.

Good News! With the majority of the initiatives listed above there are extra trainings AND coaches for your district. You might have gotten a content area or instructional coach from the ESD (for RIG) AND a Student & School Success coach for Priority/Focus schools AND a leadership framework specialist coach for the Leadership Framework AND a coach for WSLA. So you have more trainings and upwards to 4 or 5 coaches. It has just become a 2 edged sword. You are thankful for the extra resources but what in the world are you going to do with all of these people, time out of district for trainings, and how do you fit the requirements together?

Read the full article

Reflections on a recent WSLA coaches’ training…

Recently, while in a WSLA Coaches’ Training, I was struck with the LEADERSHIP gathered in the room. The coaches represent such a wide and deep repertoire of professional leadership expertise. Being in their presence alone is an experience spurring excitement in the anticipation of “the work”. Their knowledge, skills, and dispositions are extraordinary. It is an incredibly impressive group demonstrating the traits and characteristics identified over and over in research as those of successful leaders.

During this time, Dr. Carol Whitehead, WSLA Director, personifies leadership by providing direction and intentional professional development. Connie Hoffman, Consultant, engages the coaches in extremely well designed and productive curriculum as well as processes to promote the WSLA mission and theory of action.

As the meeting progressed, the primary goal was apparent to all present: to work toward the best guidance, support, and assistance in coaching district WSLA teams. Coaches are highly cognizant of the multiple requirements and initiatives currently faced by districts. They always keep in the forefront the need to create systems that facilitate the learning for all students as the central work. By infusing, implementing, and interfacing the WSLA curriculum content and best practices of leadership, district leadership teams will be able to meet those challenging needs and move the system to address each and every student’s learning.

As I reflect on this experience at the WSLA Coach Meeting, the chapter, “The Leader’s Greatest Joy: Coaching A Dream Team Of Leaders” from John C. Maxwell’s Developing the Leaders Around You comes to mind. WSLA coaches are stellar! The district teams are leaders in their field, and are to be the coaches’ dream team. The coach figures out how to harness the collective genius of the team, earning their respect and loyalty while developing the motivation and empowerment to work like a dream team.

The dream teach coach, as Maxwell writes:

• Chooses Players Well;
• Constantly Communicates the Game Plan;
• Takes the Time to Huddle;
• Knows What the Team Members Prefer;
• Excels in Problem Solving;
• Provides Support Needed for Success;
• Commands Respect;
• Does Not Treat Everyone the Same;
• Continues to Win;
• Understands the Levels of the Team Members; and
• Delegates.

The dream team coach’s most powerful tool is delegation as noted by Maxwell. While the terminology and lists from the various writers and researchers differ, the concepts and practices of successful leaders appear similar. WSLA designed a curriculum with all research and best practices considered. WSLA provides the ongoing support to actually develop, implement, and be successful in creating systems. So, whether it is Covey, Marzano, DuFour, Eaker, Collins, Reeves, etc. you read; the WSLA comprehensive curriculum and coaching system enables this monumental success.

The coaches as leaders can truly experience their greatest joy in “Coaching a Dream Team of Leaders” with the outcome being districts experiencing improved educational systems where powerful instruction helps all students succeed. This is inspiring and exciting!

Reflections on:
Teaching With Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids’ Brains and What Schools Can Do About It, by Eric Jensen, 2009, published by ASCD.

On a recent consultant assignment to a school district, the superintendent stated, “Before you come into my district I want you to read the Eric Jensen book on poverty to fully understand the focus of our work.” I must say that I was a little taken aback! After all, I have been working in education since the early 1970s, and considered myself well read on the latest instructional frameworks and coaching techniques. A copy of the book was handed to me on the way out the door.

If you pick up just one book for study with your staff this year, please make it Teaching With Poverty in Mind: What Being Poor Does to Kids’ Brains and What Schools Can Do About It by Eric Jensen. This is a book of action and purpose! Each chapter includes themes from research linked to practical applications for your school. The author then sites examples of schools with high poverty rates where those practical steps are implemented, and are resulting in significant positive differences in student achievement. Action steps are included to move the staff into a different mindset of expectation for their students.

You will find inspirational thoughts to share with staff as you read through every chapter. As you and your staff review your school program and systems to better align with the information from this great book, it will energize the skeptics and focus the leadership team.

I close with one of my many favorites from the book:

“Hopefulness must be pervasive, and every single student should be able to feel it, see it, and hear it daily.” (pg 113)

Don’t we all need a little hopefulness in our work today and every day?

This summer, a friend suggested that I read Lee Cockerell’s new book, Creating Magic (2008). Lee was the executive vice president of operations for the Walt Disney Resort. In Lee’s day-to-day work at Disney, he led a team of 40,000 cast members whose challenge was to create “magic” for the millions of people that visited Disney Parks and Resorts. Now, that’s an incredible challenge to say the least! I found Lee’s leadership story remarkable, in large part because it was essentially filled with common sense lessons. He highlighted a number of important messages that resonated with me personally, as well with our efforts to improve student learning in every school. Throughout his book, Lee describes how at Disney they validated the axiom that great leadership leads to employee excellence, which leads to customer satisfaction, and ultimately strong business results. Disney found the customer doesn’t come first; leadership comes first.

As an educator, I found it interesting how closely the conclusions Cockerell reached as a result of his work at Disney mirrors what is known about leadership and school improvement. For example, after approximately 35 years of research related to effective schools, we know that effective principals are an essential element to successful school improvement. Most people would say that this is just common sense. We know that much of what highly effective principals actually do simply reflects a common sense way of doing things.

For example, we know that effective principals establish and communicate a clear and specific focus around the improvement of student learning. Effective principals create a collaborative culture in their schools by organizing their teachers into collaborative teams. It just makes sense that a team of teachers will be more effective than the individual teacher who is left on their own to deal with all the issues related to the complex world of the twenty-first century classroom—and ensuring that all of their students learn at high levels. But again, common sense would tell us that it is the quality of the work that teacher teams actually do that makes the difference. So, doesn’t it just make sense that effective principals would be expected to direct, support, enhance, and monitor the work of each team—task-by-task?

Even the work of teams is based on common sense. Again, doesn’t it just make sense that collaborative teams of teachers should study national, state, and district standards in order to identify the most important standards, and collaboratively clarify and gain a clear understanding of what these standards mean and their relative importance? Would it make sense for teacher teams to collaboratively plan units of instruction together? How about collaborating to develop daily learning targets, create common pacing guides, define proficiency standards, develop and analyze the results from collaboratively developed common formative assessments, and analyze the learning of each student—kid by kid, skill by skill? And, isn’t it just common sense to recognize that unless students who are struggling with particular skills receive additional time and support, their chance of success is slim? What about the students who demonstrate proficiency? Shouldn’t teacher teams plan for ways to extend and enrich the learning of these students?

As I was reading and reflecting on the ideas in Creating Magic, I couldn’t help but think that the leadership lessons Cockerell learned at Disney are the same common sense way of thinking that should drive what we should be doing in Washington state. We should be focusing like a laser on what principals should do in order to enhance the effectiveness of each team in their buildings in order to make sure students learn, rather than being merely taught. In short, we should make sure that every principal in Washington has the expectation, training, resources, and the support to create a school culture that reflects the concepts and practices of a high-performing professional learning community. We should expect nothing less of our principal leaders. As Lee Cockerell would say, “It’s just common sense and we need to make it common practice!”