The Power of Student Voice

Our HS principal often says…“There aren't a lot of businesses where your clients become your products.”  We have the opportunity every single day to influence the lives of people who will take care of us as we get older.  They are the group that we will lean on to move society forward, boost an economy, and invent things that will revolutionize markets.  Yet, in Fall Creek, we don’t ask them what they want, how they want to learn, and how we are doing as educators…until now.  We have asked for parent feedback, community feedback, our administrators get feedback from staff, but the voice of our clients often gets lost in the minutia of the day. The following initiatives are extremely exciting to me, as an administrator, moving forward in our school district:

The Change Conversation

At the beginning of the year we implemented a Professional Growth Model plan that asked teachers to find one area of need or interest and set a particular goal to improve or enhance that area.  One of the components to the goal was a student data piece.  Some chose to work on an academic area and some chose to work on a social area, but all chose to work…which made this administrator extremely happy!  Though I am not in the High School, I have had a number of great conversations with HS teachers regarding their plans and the student data component.  One in particular made me smile.  Our teacher was using exit slips for student comprehension as part of his goal.  When looking at the exit slips he cross referenced how the students perceived his delivery with their scores on assessments for that particular week.  The connection of student voice in how they were taught to their ability to relay information was the start of a great conversation with the teacher.  The impetus stayed away from why they didn't learn a particular skill to what he needed to do differently to ensure they learned a particular skill.  The most important variable is the teacher and the delivery…and this instructor recognized that he was the variable in the change for student achievement.

Student Evaluations of Instruction

The second component that made me feel better about integrating student voice was our HS teacher evaluations done by students.  A few things about this process made me smile…first and foremost; the vast majority of teachers in our building completely embraced the idea.  Although they may have been a bit nervous, they were all eager to see the data from their classes.  As with any data points, the numbers don’t mean anything unless you sit down and reflect on what will be done with said data.  The movement from knowledge to action is clearly key to the process.  Our HS principal had a chance to sit down with staff members, and guide the discussion to look at what things were going well…and why.  The conversation was about the positive aspects of what is going on in the classroom, and when the data wasn't as promising, we tried to break the conversation into pieces to coach a solution to make the teacher feel valued in the process.  Clearly teachers were harder on themselves with the data than administrators could be…we all want to do well and addressing a particular need was discussed after some of the positive things were brought to light.  We all have strengths, and we all have areas to improve, the minute we start feeling like we've arrived, we begin losing ground.

Meetings with Students

The final component that is just in the beginning stages of implementation is holding exit meetings with our seniors.  Last week I had the pleasure to sit down and have lunch with 12 seniors.  We discussed their lives at Fall Creek, what they loved about school, what they didn't love about school, what they would have changed, how they would teach, what they wanted to learn, how it prepared them for life after high school, social media, independent learning….all in 30 minutes…it was awesome!  For our students to sit down with a 38 year old, bald headed crazy man as opposed to having the time with their friends was a tribute to them and the conversation was wonderful.  It made me think… “why aren't we doing this all the time?”  So…we will! 

Students need to have a voice in their education.  We cannot be the sole purveyors of knowledge.  Content is simply not scarce…it can be attained anywhere…and when any question can be answered by asking it into a phone, we need to get beyond content.  Our students should have a say in what and how they learn…I truly appreciate the work at the HS to begin a process where that is routine and not a burden on what we do.  Our clients are our products…let’s make sure they are marketable when they leave…instead of preparing people to work in a new world, let’s prepare them to lead it.

The Power of Reflection

I have been an administrator for 8 years…8 years!!!! Time flies and there are times that I want to run back into that bald headed 30 year-old’s office 8 years ago and yell… “Really?!?!  This is how you are going to grow your staff?  Really?”  I think we all do the best we can in the moment and hope that we find growth opportunities for our staff, but I can’t help but believe that groups we started with were not given the same chance.  Reflecting on instructional practice is a clear gateway to the advancement of our staff members, yet we continuously miss the mark on teaching teachers how to reflect.

I believe reflection is one of the most important components in teacher growth.  I have not met many people who feel like we should not reflect on our practice.  However, when I ask people what true reflection means, I get as many answers as people asked.  Self-reflection should be about growth, but if we don’t teach people how to reflect I think we end up on a surface level that inhibits the learning of our staff.

For years, I spent time with teachers asking them about the logistics of their practice.  How was the behavior?  How did you feel like the lesson went?  Would you have changed anything?  The most prevalent answer from all of those meetings was… “I think the lesson was pretty good”.  When we ask teachers to reflect on a lesson, and they know that conversation is going to work its way into a year-end evaluation, we are setting them up to be guarded and cater to the administrator.  If self-reflection is about “self”, then why are we setting up our conversations to have teachers appease the audience rather than inform their practice?

The question that surrounds teacher reflection doesn't really start with the reflection process…it starts with trust.  If we are going to see people grow in their craft, there has to be a culture of trust established within the building.  First and foremost, administrators need to trust that teachers are doing the best they can and are willing to grow themselves throughout the year.  We all know that 2 observations of 30 minutes each often end up in viewing lessons that are not typical of the daily routine.  We, as school leaders, are to blame for that concept…not our teachers.  If the evaluation system lends itself to a dog and pony show for 60 of the 70,000 minutes of instruction in a year then the issue is ours.  We must get beyond teachers only reflecting on practice when we ask them to as part of an evaluation system.

The second component is teachers trusting administrators.  I often tell our staff…take a risk, do something outside of your comfort zone, make something happen.  That being said, not all do because they are afraid failure in risk taking will be noted in an evaluation.  One way to shift that paradigm is to model the environment and ensure that the opinion leaders in the building have support in taking risks.  They need to feel validated in their attempt to try something new. Most importantly, if you say risk taking and failure (if those risks don’t bear fruit) will not be looked at negatively on an evaluation…then you have to follow through.  I would much rather have a staff member take a risk and fail, than continue to teach as they have for years, in a way that they were probably taught as a student, which only worked for a small percentage of people who became teachers.  This simply continues a cycle of worksheets and compliance as opposed to engagement and innovation.

Once those pieces are established, the actual teaching of self-reflection can start.  We are taking the process slowly and using the Danielson Model as a medium for reflection in instructional practice.  We are discussing one Domain (3-Instruction) and allowing teachers to start the self-reflection process with specific practice to improve instruction.  Our walkthrough model will hopefully allow staff members to look at their own practice and reflect on specific instructional components of what they do in the classroom.  The important component is that the self-reflection is for them…not me.  They don’t need to turn anything in, answer a ton of questions that won’t help them in the future, or try to justify why something went well or not in the classroom.  They are the owners of their improvement…we help facilitate that improvement.  I am a huge Jim Knight fan (@jimknight99 on Twitter).  His perspective on self-reflection and a look back, look at, look forward practice is fantastic and one we will use with our staff over the course of the next 18 months.  Teaching the process, having the resources, and most importantly, creating a culture of trust will help us reach the goal of instructional improvement at all levels. 

Side note and shameless plug…if anyone is interested in learning more about how we are using self-reflection to teach the Danielson Model join me for a webinar on February 12^th from 4:00-4:30 CST.  Link can be found at http://community.simplek12.com/scripts/student/webinars/view.asp?fb=1&id=734#.URZnUpxSMYk.twitter

The Power of Colleagues-Beyond School Closings

Every superintendent in the state of Wisconsin can appreciate the idea of being up at 4:30…waiting for the news to come on at 5:00 and see what schools are closed around you.  It sounds silly, but the back and forth of “to close or not to close” is an incredibly stressful part of the job.  Getting the information out early enough, making an informed decision and the recurring dream that you close school and the weather turns to a balmy 70 and sunny (that may just be me!).  So school closing becomes an issue that we bounce off other superintendents in the area.  We connect via phone, text, tweet…whatever it takes to make an informed decision.  For about 45 minutes it feels like all the superintendents in the area are working together for the safety of kids…then the day happens and we wait for the next run of bad weather to connect again.

When I first took the Superintendent job in FC I was warned that the position (regardless of place) tends to be a bit lonely.  Though there is shared responsibility throughout many administrative positions it seems to me that the superintendency is a bit more isolated.  I am fortunate to live in an area where the superintendents are extremely nice and helpful.  They are always there for me to bounce a question off of them or ask for advice.  The problem I have with the process is that we bounce issues, but when it comes to our own personal growth as leaders we rarely connect.   We expect our staff to go to conferences and bring back the wonderful things they have learned, but when it comes to our development I think we fall short.  It is truly important to find a way to connect with other people in your area…we need to bounce ideas instead of issues.  If we lead a learning organization…then LET’S LEAD A LEARNING ORGANIZATION!!!  If the expectation for our staff is to grow and meet the needs of a new learner, then we need to grow and meet the needs of a new instructor.  I recently had the opportunity to attend the Wisconsin 92^nd State Educational Convention.  The Wisconsin Association of School Boards, Wisconsin Association of District Administrators, and Wisconsin Association of Business Officials put on an outstanding convention.  The keynotes were practical and uplifting, the sessions were beyond informative, and it challenged us as leaders to change the way we look at schools.  Some of us were tweeting our experience throughout the convention.  The tweets can be found through WASB Storify Archive.  My fear is that after having thousands of school leaders in one city for the better part of a week, we will all go back to our districts and reflect on the experience but struggle to implement any change.  If the day to day operations take over the inspiration to grow then we can never move forward as a school, district, and state. I had this conversation with Brad Saron (@bradfordgs), Superintendent in Cashton…we thought it would be a good idea to connect and see where it took us.  We both came up with 1 thing to implement and a plan to connect remotely multiple times in the coming months to check on the progress of our goal.

So…Wisconsin Superintendents and any other leaders reading out there (based on page views that would be 6!)…we offer a challenge to all of you…

1.  Implement 1 thing you learned at the convention into your district…with the idea that it is not an ADD ON to your staff.  Integrate what you are doing and make sure the growth is yours and impacts the district.

2. Find a colleague…instead of discussing budget, facilities, or school closings find time to connect with one other person who will hold you accountable for your plan to implement something new.

3.  Connect with other superintendents who went through the process at the Spring Convention on April 24-26 in Green Bay to share the experience.

The concept is not new…and may not be exciting, but just over a year ago I was struggling to finish a dissertation…after connecting with a colleague and setting up a plan where we held each other accountable, we both graduated in May.  Having someone there to encourage, but also push, is an extraordinary help in moving forward.  Hopefully the opportunity to discuss and grow will benefit all leaders in our schools…

The Power of Implementation

Some say the current QWERTY keyboard is one of the slowest working keyboards in existence.  It was created for typewriters to slow people down so the little arms that typed the letter would not get stuck together.  Yet, we still use the QWERTY keyboard in almost everything we type.  Conversely, Captain James Lancaster unintentionally discovered that lemon juice reduced the risk of scurvy on Naval ships and it took 111 years before it became a prerequisite in the British Navy.  The point is this…some really bad ideas get implemented in organizations and some really good ideas don’t…most of the time it has to do with the way those initiatives are implemented.

All school leaders face the implications of implementing change in an organization.  District, state and national initiatives seem to be brought into the fold on a yearly basis.  It seems as though we finish one initiative just to get ready for the next.  The challenge for leadership is to keep everyone invested in the idea of change while still valuing the work of the past.  All people handle the change process differently.  Some will embrace the process because they like the challenge and things get too stagnant for them.  Some will absolutely refuse the change process as they like the way things are done and essentially will wait for an initiative that they like before they dive in.  Most fall in the middle of the group.  Phil Schlechty’s book, Working on the Work presents an outline, field-tested in schools across the country, for improving student performance by improving the quality of schoolwork designed for students.  He poses the following questions to schools as they approach a new innovation or framework:

1.      What is the new circumstance or system we are trying to create?

2.      Can it be done?

3.      Should we do it?

4.      How do we do it?

These questions serve as the foundation of whether or not change can happen in schools.  He contends that anyone involved in the change process of schools needs to be aware and address the organizational makeup of the school.  Once you have made the decision, or the decision has been made for you, it is important to identify the needs of your staff in relation to the change.  Historically, for financial and logistical reasons, when a change is implemented there tends to be a small group who is trained in the model and that group is asked to help implement the change.  In doing this, the large group has to accept that some will have more knowledge than others and though a group may be more “in the know” it does not mean that they are the sole decision making body in the school.  The trick for leaders is the connection between those in the know and those who seek the knowledge. 

I was lucky enough to look at multiple schools and the implementation of the PBIS process.  The fidelity measures of the framework allowed me to look at what factors truly impacted the implementation process.  The following factors contributed to the successful implementation of PBIS at multiple schools in Wisconsin.  The understanding of these concepts can prepare leaders for the change process and identify needs of the group prior to implementation.

·         Knowledge.  Knowledge incorporated a number of different aspects from how the program was running to how they could increase their “tool box” of good things happening in the school

·         The importance of a Connector.  This turned out to be the number one factor in the positive implementation process.  A go to person who was able to communicate and be knowledgeable about the process, where it had been, and where it was going.

·         School Environment.  Addressing the current school environment is important when deciding how to roll out an initiative.  Some school environments are welcoming and ready for change.  Some need a small push.  Some need a big push.  All need to be valued.

·         Communication.  An open and honest level of communication between everyone involved was absolutely essential for the positive implementation of any program.  A common understanding of when and how things are communicated will help the process take form in schools.

Change is inevitable.  In Wisconsin we have seen and will continue to see a number of changes throughout the state as education changes in the coming years.  The process that leaders use to implement change can determine whether or not that change will be sustainable.  Identifying the factors that lead to a successful implementation will certainly be key to success.  Good luck everyone!

Administrative Review of Clark W. Griswold

Warner Bros

Administrator Summative Evaluation 1989

Clark W. Griswold Jr.

This concludes a successful year from Mr. Griswold as leader of the Griswold family.  After a very rocky start to your leadership career that included a trip to an amusement park that was not open and a vacation to Europe that ended in your family being part of international espionage, I was hoping the evaluation would trend in an upward direction as you remained closer to home.  The evaluation process takes into account activities surrounding an 8 day vacation including informal meetings with CEOs, sledding, hanging of Christmas lights, teambuilding, rodent extermination, and relations with local law enforcement. The summative evaluation is divided into Achievement, Goal Attainment, and Future Development. 

Achievement

Achievement is detailed in data.  During the 8 day stay at the house located next to Sergeant Roger Murtaugh of Lethal Weapon fame, the following data was evident:

13-10 visitors and 3 family members.  Though Snots the dog was not in the house for the entire visit, he did add stress to the family situation and that is noted in the data.  The acquisition of available spaces to house those individuals was an outstanding use of resource.  I commend the risk taking of bringing that many people in to the house for holiday festivities.

62 seconds-The amount of time it took you to get down the hill, and subsequently across town, with a sled using a new silicon based kitchen lubricant that created a surface 500 times more slippery than the average spray.  Your zest for life and the danger it can incur leads me to believe that you will do anything to impress others…including trying to set a new land speed record.

2-Most families only have to deal with the burden of one Christmas tree that dries out.  Due to the inadvertent fire created by Uncle Louis, you were forced to think on your feet and develop a plan to acquire another tree.  Though I believe that taking a chainsaw to your neighbor’s yard is illegal, I appreciate the gumption you showed to ensure that your family had a tree for the holiday season.

25,000- Two hundred and fifty strands of lights each containing 100 individual bulbs per strand for a grand total of 25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights…and you checked every one.  Well done, Clark…though the city had to use an auxiliary generator to balance the power loss, the house looked fantastic.

Goal Attainment

As we began our discussions regarding your intentions for the coming year, you made it apparent to me that the acquisition of a swimming pool for the family was your ultimate goal.  I cautioned you that though the company was doing well, counting on a Christmas bonus from CEO Frank Shirley was not the proverbial slam dunk.  We all knew that Mr. Shirley’s history did not lend itself to a giving nature dating back to his running the Caddyshack at Bushwood Country Club in 1980.  Your SMART goal read as follows… “Through completion of the Non Nutritive cereal varnish project I will allocate enough funding to install an outdoor swimming pool in a city that only has 2 months of hot weather”.  

The action plan was as follows:

Creation of Crunch Enhancer-a semi permeable, non-osmotic substance that coats and seals the flake, preventing the milk from penetrating it

Present findings to Frank Shirley to enhance probability of Christmas Bonus

Leverage all family funds to ensure ground breaking of swimming pool could happen as soon as the ground thaws.

Though the creation of the crunch enhancer was solid and the information led to windfalls of financial gain to the company, the bonus of a year-long jelly of the month subscription did not help your financial situation. 

Summative and Future Development

As a leader you need to curb the enthusiasm of the project to meet the financial and emotional needs of your clients…in this case, your family.  Setting your family up for financial success is essential in a leadership role.  I think we both know that your son Rusty won’t go on to be a big TV star in a show that follows the hilarious antics of physicists in California and your daughter Audrey certainly won’t be an Oscar nominated actress in an Oscar nominated movie.  Leadership in helping them to be successful in the future should be at the forefront of your growth moving forward.  I commend your ability to handle crisis throughout the evaluation process.  In a short amount of time you were able to keep everyone dancing and singing Christmas carols (or the star spangled banner) through the loss of pets, rodent intruders, uninvited guests, your current financial situation, and a kidnapping.  Please take the suggestions from this evaluation and use them to develop and implement a goal that improves your ability to lead in an ever changing time. 

Thank you for a solid year, Clark.  I look forward to what the future will hold for you…maybe a trip to Vegas!

The Power of Parent Engagement

My parents used to make 2 appointments for me at the dentist...one for the cleaning and one to get the inevitable cavities filled. It was easier to schedule both at the same time knowing they would happen. Needless to say, every time I have walked into a dentist's office since I was a kid is fraught with reminiscent feelings of early morning appointments that ended in 1 side of my face being numb and food tasting like metal for a day. This is not a Seinfeld "Anti-Dentite" rant (I’ll save that for a down month in the summer), but there is a parallel here. Though the work done on my teeth covered the cost of annual Country Club membership dues, and perhaps the purchase of a small island, I would rather focus on the connection to schools.

My guess is that people who worked in that dentist's office don't have the same recollection of my visits. The hope for me is that walking into our school does not feel like a long walk to the dentist chair.  The reality is that everyone had a different experience in school and, like it or not, those experiences shape the attitude that our public has when it walks through the hallways.  I love walking into our school every day, but I have to understand that a number of people do not have that same sense of comfort. Administrators, think about the makeup of your staff.  Likely, the majority of teachers in your building had a relatively good experience in school.  People don’t choose to spend their careers in a place where they had a bad experience. This is why dental school and miniature pony ranch hand were never an option for me!  The experiences that our staff members had in school are not always the same as those of the parents who send their most prized possessions to us every day. 

First Contact

There are feelings in schools…we have all had them.  When visiting other schools I think you can get a pretty good indication of the environment upon entering the building.  The first contact…from secretarial help, to seeing a teacher in the hallway, to a custodian in the entrance can shape the relationships we have with parents.  We need to trust our staff to engage the public when they enter our building.  As leaders in the building it is imperative that we relay the importance of the first contact with parents to our staff members.  When parents enter the building the default feeling can be how they felt as a kid.  If our first contact is welcoming, we can make them feel like they are a part of something bigger than dropping off in the morning and picking up at the end of the day.

There are a number of resources out there for schools looking to engage parents in more inviting manner.  Joe Mazza (https://twitter.com/Joe_Mazza) moderates a weekly chat tagged #ptchat on Wednesdays at 9 PM EST.  This has been an outstanding resource for finding a number of ideas to help your staff engage parents.  The questions posed are challenging and stretch the thinking of those involved.  Dr. Marilyn Price-Mitchell (https://twitter.com/DrPriceMitchell) seems to have unlimited parenting suggestions and #Parenting News Daily has been an amazing resource that I share with our staff often.  Jerry Blumengarten (https://twitter.com/cybraryman1) has a fantastic Parent Resource page on his website that can be found at http://cybraryman.com/0_parents1.htm.  Larry Ferlazzo (https://twitter.com/Larryferlazzo) just posted his best parent educational blog posts from 2012…wonderful perspectives from a number of people across the world.  Part 1 found at http://engagingparentsinschool.edublogs.org/2012/06/22/my-best-posts-on-building-parent-engagement-in-schools-2012-so-far/ and Part 2 at http://engagingparentsinschool.edublogs.org/2012/11/22/my-best-posts-on-building-parent-engagement-in-schools-2012-part-two/. 

Beyond First Contact, I offer 2 other suggestions…Call and Listen.  Call…I ask our staff to call parents within three days of the start of the year.  The first call to parents can be short, but has to be positive.  I also ask our administrators to make positive calls (we set the goal at 4 per week) to parents regarding ANYTHING a student is doing well at school.  The power of these calls has been fantastic.  The 4 calls take an hour every week…at the most.  The idea of first contact doesn’t need to be relegated to the physical school building.  If our first contact is positive, regardless of venue, we will be in a better spot. Listen…behind the volume and vigor of parent complaints is a message.  Sometimes we can’t find the message through the tone, but it is there and is always an opportunity to get better.  I am not advocating that we put all suggestions or complaints into action…but we do need to hear where they are coming from and honestly reflect on what we are doing.

Parents come in with a wide range of feelings regarding schools.  Some good, some great, some terrible…and we have to embrace all of those.  I don’t know if a dentist calling me or making me feel welcome when I got to the office would have offset the drilling, needles, and inevitable numbing of the face…but it couldn't hurt!  Sometimes thinking that “it couldn't hurt” is the start we need.

The Power of Vision

Add Indianapolis Colt  head coach Chuck Pagano to the list of those who inspire.  All it took for me was 102 seconds.  In that time I was able to see what others have probably known for years…the guy just gets it.  Chuck Pagano is currently undergoing treatment for Leukemia.  A few weeks ago he exited the hospital and headed to the stadium.  He got a chance to see a group he has never coached in a regular season game live up to how he will always lead.  After a big win against the Miami Dolphins, Coach Pagano addressed his team:

Live in Circumstance or Live in Vision

It’s easy to get caught up in circumstance.  The budget doesn’t look like you want it to, you have an angry parent in your office (that happens to be right), and work piles up but you know that getting into classrooms is the right thing to do.  Letting circumstance drive your day never allows for vision to take hold.  There are often times when I feel like I don’t know what my day will look like until I enter the doors.  The road to success is muddled with noses to wipe, shoes to tie, calls to make, courageous conversations to have with staff, and a nap between evening and morning that some like to call “a good night’s sleep”.  As administrators we try to tell our groups to be proactive vs. reactive.  We want to get out in front of a group or a student who may need help down the road.  We offer suggestions and set our environments up for student success.  However, sometimes I feel like I’m just trying to catch up.

Living in circumstance tends to take all of your power away.  Emotionally, it is easy to get lost in the everyday happenings of a school. I have asked all staff members to sit down and identify 3 targets that when done will make them feel like they can walk out the door and be successful at the end of the day. 

Sanfelippo’s 3 Essential Targets

1.       Every Staff Member…Every Day

2.       Follow Through on All Issues

3.       Make a New Kid Connection

If we can look at these three targets at the end of the day and say we fulfilled them we should hold our heads high and feel like the days has been successful.  The crazy thing about education and educators is we don’t have the opportunity to see the fruit of the labor on a daily basis.  The impact we can have on kids may not show up for weeks, months, or years. It may only come up in a conversation once they have moved on.  I can recall countless conversations with kids who I have coached or taught that start with… “Remember when we…”

Living in a vision, both individually and from a team perspective helps us all to stay on track and stay true to what we all believe.  When we live in a vision we are able to deal with circumstance, but not be consumed in it. That vision can lead to a feeling of accomplishment as opposed to being overwhelmed.  Set your essential targets, post them by your desk, and look at them on your way out the door…and never forget that the circumstance you deal with on a daily basis won’t  define you if you let the vision of where you want to go drive your perspective.