“I only have two 3rd grade teachers collaborating about meeting the needs of our students. After this meeting, I can go back and share with my teachers the specific instructional strategies and intervention ideas from four buildings and fourteen teachers that teach 3rd grade! The strength of these meeting is that we learn from each other to help get more kids to learn more across the district.”

“The district-wide data meetings provide me with a context about how my students are doing.  For example, before our last meeting I knew how my 3rd graders were doing, but until we had our district-wide data meeting I did not know how they were doing compared to the 3rd graders at the other schools in the district.”

Submitted by Jean Lane, WSLA Instructor

I admit to being a bit of “bandwagon junkie”!  I look forward to reading the latest and greatest in education research, “how-to” books from some of my favorite authors, and digging into the next great process to lead discussions with groups of education leaders.  In my rush, I  sometimes forget about  the research and accompanying “how to” guides created in our own state.  Specifically, the Nine Characteristics of High-Performing Schools, The School Improvement Planning Guide, and the School System Improvement Resource Guide provide more than enough information to assist a school site or district to continually review and improve student achievement results.

A quick visit to the OSPI Web site will provide effective leaders with all the research to support the good work of Washington State Leadership Academy.  The process tools are thoughtfully developed and fit nicely with all the steps of problem solving, assessment, and planning on which our work focuses during our two-year program.

The second edition of the Nine Characteristics report, completed in 2007, expands on the nine characteristics and provides additional ideas and suggestions for implementation.  The concepts include:

These concepts have been included in most of our WSLA regional meetings and in the individual coaching sessions with districts.

So…looking for a good book study or process to reach consensus with a group?  Take a trip down memory lane! Check out the OSPI Web site!

In their meta-analysis connecting leadership to student achievement, Marzano, Walters and McNulty outlined 21 principal responsibilities. It can be a daunting list. No one person has all the knowledge, skills or tools in their tool kit to do it alone. We must foster a culture where we build leadership capacity across the system. Trained, supported collaborative teams at every grade level and/or every subject area can provide that capacity to directly influence student achievement.

DuFour and Marzano, in their book Leaders of Learning (2011), contend that the professional learning community process provides a vehicle that allows principals to execute a number of the school leadership responsibilities in an integrated and focused fashion.  Nineteen of the 21 responsibilities align well with the collaborative team process. 

A couple examples of how these critical “principal responsibilities” apply directly to collaborative teams:

“We are convinced that the time principals devote to building the capacity of teachers to work in collaborative teams is more effective than time spent attempting to supervise individual teachers into better performance through the traditional classroom observation and evaluation process.” (DuFour & Marzano, 2009)

In our district, as a Leadership Team, we have committed to building the capacity of teachers to work in collaborative teams. We examined the principal responsibilities (21) in relation to those with the highest correlation to improving student learning. We then examined those against their application to integration into professional learning community practices. From there, our principals voted on which responsibilities they wanted to start with as we plan for an exciting summer academy with all of our schools’ leadership teams. It is through this ongoing training and support of our schools’ leadership teams that we believe we build the capacity to find the greatest impact on student achievement.

“Shifting the focus of principals from supervising individual teachers into better performance to helping build the capacity of educators to work as members of results-oriented collaborative teams is perhaps the most powerful strategy for accomplishing this objective.” (DuFour & Marzano, 2011)

In order to maximize our potential and have the greatest impact on student learning, I believe we, as leaders, must commit to promoting, training and supporting collaborative, high performing teams throughout our systems.

As I reviewed some of the blogs that have been posted on the Washington State Leadership Academy Web site, it was interesting to think  how the blog topics connect to our ultimate goal of developing innovative leaders who have the ability to guide the work of increasing student achievement for all students.

The “Supporting Change” blog spoke of the power and value of resisting change.  This was not a “Just Say No” approach, but rather a methodical move through walls of resistance by maintaining a clear focus, embracing the resistance, respecting those who resist, relaxing, joining with the resistance, and most importantly,  the final chapter—ACT!

Beyond the Wall of Resistance:  Unconventional Strategies the Build Support for Change by Rick Mauer

The “Reinventing the RIF:  Relentless Intentional Focus” blog describes the “magic bullet” syndrome and why we miss seeing the results when we try to do too much.  We don’t intentionally select a common focus, relentlessly tie everything that the system does to this focus, and then sustain it.

Every School, Every Team, Every Classroom by Eaker and Keating

The “Why Is Change So Hard” blog describes why old habits are so hard to change because we are very comfortable with what we have been doing, acting, etc.  We are reminded that systems must have leaders who possess the ability to view things from various perspectives.

Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expended Edition:  The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely

I am a great fan of Jim Collins and would highly recommend his latest book, Great By Choice. This book is based on nine years of research about the habits and actions of great leaders in unpredictable, tumultuous, and fast-moving times.  These leaders are described as “10Xers.”  They possessed fanatic discipline, productive paranoia, and empirical creativity.  Collins states

“On the one hand, 10Xers understand that they face continuous uncertainty and that they cannot control, and cannot accurately predict significant aspects of the world around them.  On the other hand, 10Xers reject the idea that forces outside their control or chance events will determine their results; they accept full responsibility for their own fate.”

Does an educational leader have complete control of federal/state/local regulations, staffing, budgets, the students who enter the school, family support?  Why are some schools making significant gains in student achievement and others, with similar conditions, are not?  What is the successful leader consistently doing (fanatic discipline)?  What is the successful leader relying on to determine success (empirical creativity)?  What is the successful leader doing even if things are going well (productive paranoia)?

I don’t believe any leader wants to be mediocre or average.  The behavior of a highly successful leader requires the ability to create a shared vision that translates to highly successful teachers and highly successful students.  The four books referenced in this blog create a framework for leaders who choose to continually foster greatness.

Submitted by WSLA Instructor Tom Marrs

Developing a common language of teaching and learning is a convergence point in research on what leaders need to do in order to improve learning (Marzano & Dufour).  Understanding vocabulary is a building block of good instructional design.  Three terms that we toss about in discussions about improving instruction are 1) practice, 2) process and 3) framework. The term framework has become so common in our jargon that we are all working to adopt one, and then connect it to reinventing the evaluation process aiming to improve instructional practice and student learning.  Taking a moment to reflect on how we define the framework, practice and process, and asking ourselves how they are different and how they relate to one another might contribute to building sustainability into our efforts.

Framework

I think of a framework as a way to describe and define a complex skill. The Encarta Dictionary defines a framework, “as a set of ideas, principles, agreements, or rules that provides the basis or outline for something intended to be more fully developed at a later stage.” Charlotte Danielson’s framework is one example that organizes teaching and learning into four domains that are then made up of components and elements. The concept that any framework is a work in process is important to keep at the forefront of our thinking. The framework helps us identify the parts of teaching and learning so we can decide what needs to be practiced.

“The concept that any framework is a work in process is important to keep at the forefront of our thinking.”

Practice

Remember practicing scales while learning to play the piano or working on bunting as a part of the game of baseball.  Practice is about identifying a domain, component, or element of a complex skill and then doing it “….repeatedly in order to improve performance.”  Deciding what part of a framework needs to be practiced in order to gain the greatest leverage to improve student learning in a system is important work for leaders at all levels in a system. Practice without reflection doesn’t improve our capacity or develop the framework.

Process

Elmore and City describe instructional rounds as both a “process and a practice.” The process of instructional rounds consists of 1) identifying a problem of practice, 2) observing, 3) debriefing and 4) identifying the next level of work.  Encarta defines a process as, “a series of natural occurrences that produce change or development.” In other words, it is a cycle of inquiry that can be followed and replicated to achieve an aim.  Practice on a clearly identified part of a framework, then reflecting on the practice using an established process contributes to further development of the framework. Think of the Washington State Leadership Academy cycle of inquiry as an important improvement process. 

As we work together to improve student learning across our school systems, being clear about the framework we are using is important. It helps us think about and determine which part of the framework needs practice in order to develop our skill and capacity. Having a common process to use that guides reflection about improving both the practice and the framework is important to sustaining and embedding the difficult work of improving student learning into the culture of our school systems.

In this age of reality shows, many people’s lives become transparent to the world. One of those shows is “Hoarders.”  This is a show in which a person’s gathering and keeping “stuff” becomes such an obsession that their normal lives are highly impacted. As they work through the issue of sorting, organizing, and getting rid of all of their possessions, it becomes a traumatic time.

The same is true in our schools. We may not be physical hoarders, but we may be educational hoarders. Continuing to add to the requirements of each staff member without helping them through the process of focusing each activity while letting go of less effective strategies, drives us to be hoarders, and not to be the most efficient for each student.

One of the powerful ideas of PLC is the idea of “what do we STOP doing” in favor of more focus on the learning and the results of that learning. When we help our staffs become an efficient system that focuses on the critical learning of each student, we enable them to look at all of the activities and strategies that are being implemented to evaluate their effectiveness. Taking the staff through the conversations about each activity, program, and tradition that directly meets the learning needs of each student can be time consuming at the onset, but will lead to a stronger staff that enhances the results for each student.

The conversation and commitments regarding what we continue doing, what we let go of and the rationale of each, help the staff feel more empowered to impact, guide, and own the school. These periodic conversations produce the results that are so important for our students. There also ceases to be a “they” did it to us conversation that moves to this is what “we” decided to do together to make a difference conversation. We keep the essential. We let go of the non-essential.  We have time to focus deeply on the learning and the relationships that make a difference.

No matter when in the process each school has the conversation, it is critical to have the STOP doing conversation. Becoming a non-hoarder of educational ideas, strategies, and processes gives us the freedom to focus on what is critical, brings a deeper calm, and is worth the trauma of the whole process. The positives of the STOP doing conversation outweigh the trauma. We must be strong, focused, and kind. But we must face the hindrances to student achievement. We must help our staff be an efficient system that is focused on the results of each and every child. We must be non-hoarders.

I, and most of the folks I know, seem to start each year thinking positively about the future and determined to change bad habits, lose weight, exercise more, eat right, learn a new skill and/or read all those journals and books stacked up on the night stand.

Because I love my friends and hope to keep them, I have not asked how they progressed on their 2011 Resolutions, but I am sorry to report that history would show I usually start the year strong, maintain some momentum for awhile, and then move back to old habits or change to some totally different project to convince myself I am doing something of worth and making positive change. If I truly examined my behaviors, I fear I would be forced to admit I am fooling myself and no one else!

Why is change so hard?

Last year, the WSLA Coaches and Instructors studied an excellent book, Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. The authors related change to an attempt to move an elephant that does not want to be moved. (Which sounds a lot like my 2011 Resolutions!) Switch gave the WSLA coaches and instructors helpful, practical strategies. If you have not read the book, I highly recommend you resolve to read it in 2012—for professional as well as personal growth.

Because one of my 2012 Resolutions involves reading those books stacked on my shelves and tables–and as mentioned earlier, I usually start strong–I dove into a book given to me by a colleague: Predictably Irrational, Revised and Expanded Edition: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions by Dan Ariely. 

Although initially concerned that my friend viewed me as someone who makes irrational decisions; I began to feel a little better about why she had chosen this book for me as I read the author’s conclusions from numerous studies examining human behavior. I found myself reflecting on my own work, and realized the book offered a resource to share with WSLA team members leading change in their districts.

There are many insights to be gained from the book—too many to mention, but because WSLA is about learning, and change happens when we learn, I am focusing this writing on his thinking about why change seems to be hard for most of us, most of the time.

Mr. Ariely conducted several short, interesting studies using various stimuli to provoke change in human behavior, and concluded it is very hard for humans to change because we are all relatively satisfied. As such, we often “…fall in love with what we already have—what we own,” so when asked to change, we are much more likely to focus on what we will lose if we make the change rather than what we can gain.

As teachers and administrators are asked to reflect on their current practice, and seek to discover ways do the work differently in order to help each student achieve, we need to consider which skills leaders will need in order to help everyone in the system “own” and therefore “love” the new work. What can leaders do to convince others there will be gain rather than loss with the needed/expected change?

Categorizing resistance to change as “irrational quirks in our human nature,” Mr. Ariely found that one strong resistance to change occurs because most of us are likely to wrongly assume others see the transaction (the request to change) from the same perspective as we.

As I reflect on these simply written but complex constructs, I am reminded that one characteristic of effective leaders is having the ability to view things from various perspectives—being able to move away from what the leader personally sees/feels/thinks/believes to “seeing” the work through the eyes of others. If leaders refocus their own view, will leaders be better at “seeing” ways of helping others focus on what can be gained rather than what will be lost? Can leaders get a better view to see what is needed to help others own and love the change?

With the goal of helping others own and love new ways of doing the important work to help all students learn, perhaps you will join me in resolving in 2012 to improve our skills at “ seeing” and understanding different perspectives. Let’s start the year strong!

Happy New Year!

Since the beginning of time, our educational institutions have had an annoying habit of getting on the latest bandwagon or movement with the hope of seeking the magic bullet that will solve our learning problems. Trends come and go. The words, titles and acronyms change, but the one thing that seems to not change is finding the program that will ensure learning for all students. Educators have a tendency to burn a lot of time, energy, and resources each time we jump on the bandwagon, and then move on when the movement doesn’t produce what we thought it would, or we can’t sustain it or the political pressure to be current prevails.

I believe we miss out in discovering the magic bullet because we don’t practice RIFing. No, I am not talking about the process for laying off staff.  I’m talking about “Relentless  Intentional  Focus” (RIF).  There are few districts that have intentionally selected a particular focus, placed all of their resources, time and energy to make it happen and relentlessly tied everything that the system does to this focus and sustain it over time. Once this happens, it is amazing the results that occur.

If you are interested in reading about a district who is living this process called RIFing, I strongly encourage you to read a new book titled Every School, Every Team, Every Classroom by Eaker and Keating. I can already hear your comment, “Oh, it’s another book about Professional Learning Communities.  We already do PLC work so what’s new?” My response is that you’ve missed the whole point of the book. Sure, it uses the concepts and practices of PLCs as the focus. What is compelling is that the overpowering  factor in the success of this school district is its relentless commitment and tireless energy to implement a system wide focus and make it connect to everything they do. It is not one of many initiatives to improve learning. It is the initiative that will impact student achievement.

Every School, Every Team, Every Classroom is chock full of practical ideas, examples and resources on how a district accomplished this single focus from the school board, to the administrative team, to each and every school and team onto the classroom and community. Have they totally succeeded? The answer is not yet, but they’ve made tremendous gains. I do, though, believe they will improve learning for every child because they have relentlessly pursued this process with a razor sharp focus that is permeating their entire system.

As you settle in for the holidays, perhaps a good book is just the right thing for relaxing. One of my favorites is Beyond the Wall of Resistance: Unconventional strategies that build support for change by Rick Maurer. The author is a consultant specializing in helping organizations recognizing the power and value in resisting to change. Yes…the power and value of resistance!

In preparation for our last regional WSLA workshop in Spokane, I was reminded of this favorite book that my past district had used as a book study. The focus of our workshop was reviewing the “Theory of Action” concept using Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning by City, Elmore, Fiarman, and Leitel. In chapter two, the authors explain why change is so difficult in the organization:

“Organizations resist ‘vision’ not because of some perverse instinct on the part of people to resist change but because the existing structures and practices provide a story line that people understand and the vision often fails to provide an alternative that they find equally persuasive and understandable. A theory of action can be thought of as the story line that makes a vision and a strategy concrete .” (pg. 40)

So as leaders of school systems in the midst of constant change, just how you positively move through walls of resistance as your theory of action becomes the new story line to meet the vision.

Mauer uses five touchstones or reference points: 

1. Maintain Clear Focus
2. Embrace Resistance
3. Respect Those Who Resist
4. Relax
5. Join With the Resistance

Each touchstone is clearly described with specific strategies for your consideration. There is an emphasis on staying positive during even the most difficult discussions with challenging individuals.

In the final chapter entitled, “ACT!,” the importance of critical mass is outlined. Signs of critical mass are: 

1. People take initiative on the change without direct leadership.
2. People speak well of the change.
3. Leadership for the project shifts from us to them.

Enjoy your time with family and friends in the coming weeks. As you gear up for returning to work, think about the five touchstones and how they might help guide the challenges ahead.

In Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools, authors Glenn Singleton and Curtis Linton challenge educators to a personal and systemic examination of a primary and essential question: “To what degree do you and your system have the will, skill, knowledge, and capacity to understand and address issues of race as they relate to existing racial achievement disparities?”

Citing the persistence of the racial achievement gap even within the same socioeconomic levels, Singleton and Linton reject the notion that poverty alone explains why students of color—with the exception of some Asian students—consistently achieve at levels lower than their white peers.  They invite educators to “break the silence” and begin actively to focus on understanding and addressing the historical impact of racism on our students.

In Washington, the Achievement Gap Oversight and Accountability Committee Reports from 2010 and 2011 recommend that we expand our focus beyond the “achievement gaps” evidenced in student test scores to more complex and systemic “opportunity and access gaps.” 

Writing in the January 2010 report, Closing Opportunity Gaps in Washington’s Public Education System, committee member Wanda Brown argues: “The term ‘achievement gap’ puts the blame on students of color—that they are to blame for not achieving at the same rates as their white peers. The achievement gap is evidence of the inadequacies of our education system, not our student’s ability to learn. All students can learn – the question is whether we give all students equitable opportunities or access to the tools they need to learn. In this context, the most appropriate term is ‘opportunity gap’ or ‘access gap.’  The Committee’s 2011 Report encourages Washington’s school districts to “focus on opportunity gaps, both obvious and hidden,” as a means of looking systemically at the educational opportunities and experiences for young people without placing blame on groups of students, teachers or families.

The Committee’s formal recommendations ask the Quality Education Council to recognize the importance of “all educators (classified staff, classroom teachers, counselors, building, and district administrators) developing cultural competence skills.”

That will be no easy task.  Developing cultural competence requires systems and individuals to go beyond the pro forma diversity training that has become part of standard professional development for most school district employees.  It requires time specifically devoted to a deep exploration of topics that many Americans—particularly white Americans—have difficulty discussing: the connections among race, racism, privilege, and denial of opportunity and access to the persistent underachievement of students of color. 

As we devote energy and resources to the improvement of instruction and student learning, all students can be equally well-served by a parallel investment in the courageous conversation Singleton and Linton suggest is the first step toward developing cultural competence within our educators and education system.