Managing the vision

When took over as leader in a turnaround school, I worked with the staff to develop our vision. We set check points for what we expected to see by October, by January, and by the end of year one as evidence of impact based on successful shifts in practice to align with our new vision ("Every child. Every day. College and career ready."). Our first year of turnaround has seen growth - in culture and climate, data driven instructional practices, and strategies to support more rigorous, common core aligned instruction. But our targets require more than just incremental change. We are charged with making dramatic gains in student achievement - so we need to make decisions moving forward about how much change can we effectively implement in order to get our students where they need to be.

One of the criticisms of education is that we change to new programs before we have been able to master the current program. For turnaround teachers, the amount of change can be overwhelming and difficult to manage. Supporting the changes means supporting the teachers and engaging the school community in understanding the purpose of the changes that are being implemented. Without a sense of mastery, we become easily frustrated and can lose sight of the vision that we are working so hard to achieve. Developing a community where teachers support one another and are able to share feedback to their peers about instruction is an important part of managing the change and the vision of a turnaround school.

We initiated a practice called "Instructional Rounds" where we visit classrooms in teams to provide warm and cool feedback to a practitioner on a focus area (Problem of Practice) that we establish ahead of time. This practice has been pivotal in building our team collaboration, reflection, and support of our vision. Moving in to year two of our turnaround plan, we will need to leverage every ounce of of that collaborative power in order to move us toward substantial growth in student achievement.

The amount of change facing education now can be overwhelming. Being a turnaround teacher, or a turnaround leader, can feel like you have weight of the world on your shoulders. The power of instructional rounds is where observing practice, networking, and planning for improvement meet. As we are managing our vision moving forward, our team makes all of the difference. Without a team of people who are deeply dedicated to the children we serve and the work that we do, we cannot achieve our vision. Being a turnaround teacher means being open to change. As we move closer to our vision, we must stay rooted in our purpose and embrace the changes. We cannot achieve our goals by staying where we are. Change is the only option.