Expectations

We all think that we have high expectations. But how do we know? How do we know if our expectations are too high, or if they are not high enough? Can our expectations define the success or failure of our students?

There is plenty of research to support just that - that our expectations actually define the success or failure of our students. From as early as 1968, research has told us that there is a direct connection between teacher expectations and student achievement. The Pygmalian Effect (Douglas, 1964; Mackler, 1969) outlines the connection between teacher expectations and student performance. It is possible for teachers to limit student performance based on their expectations of what they think students can do. That is pretty powerful to consider. If we can limit student performance with our expectations, then we can also improve it.

As we come to the end of our first year in turnaround, expectations are very much on my mind. What if we are where we are because adults let students define our expectations instead of having high expectations for student performance that we were intent to see achieved? It is essential for us to have high expectations for our students and to put scaffolds and supports in place that will ensure our students' success. If we, as practitioners, do not know how to get our students to the level of achievement that they must reach, then we need to continue reading, learning, reflecting, and practicing to develop our skill set and push them forward.

Before this year, the students set the expectations based on what they were able to achieve. It wasn't that the teachers didn't have expectations, it was that there was no consistent expectations and no accountability for those expectations. We set purposeful targets - like 85% of Kindergarten students will be on instructional D by the end of the school year - and continually reviewed our data to make sure that we were going to hit the mark. We listed the students by their data and reviewed their individual progress according to the targets. This approach forced our teachers to re-think their expectations and push our students to higher levels of achievement than had been defined before. Having these clearly defined expectations was necessary in order to ensure high expectations for student achievement. 

We must believe in our students and what they can achieve and we must do absolutely everything we can to ensure their success. For our students, that means that we have to do whatever it takes to ensure that they read on grade level. High expectations - for both ourselves and our students. It is what must deliver each and every day in order to make sure that we provide our children with the future they deserve. 

Enriching collaboration

Collaboration. What does it look like in schools and how can you measure the results of that collaboration? This has been an underlying theme for us during year one of our turnaround plan. I believe that collaboration, much like creativity, needs some structure in order to thrive. All voices must be given the opportunity to contribute, to lead, to question, to push, and even to disagree in order for collaboration to be truly impactful and effective. I said to my colleague this week, "Politeness is poison to collaboration," and suggested that we might have t-shirts made with that phrase. What does that phrase mean to me as a leader and as a developer of teacher leaders? It means that everyone must feel that they are engaged in the direction of the dialogue, the development of ideas, and the evaluation of effective implementation in order for collaboration to work. If teachers feel that they can only share their true thoughts when they leave the room, it is not true collaboration.

Our enrichment partner (part of our extended learning time aspect of our turnaround plan) has been provided STEAM based instruction for our students daily while our classroom teachers leave the classroom for Collaborative Team Planning. In the beginning of the year, we operated without connectivity between enrichment and classroom curricula,even though we saw some beautiful products of the enrichment programming early on, we were missing the collaboration between our two systems. Throughout the year, we have engaged differently and more purposefully around planning collaborative units and projects. Our enrichment staff has willingly worked with teachers, instructional coaches, and administrators to see connections between the curriculum areas and develop lessons and units that build on and expand upon concepts taught in classrooms. As we have gotten better at collaboration, the work has become more meaningful to our students and to our teachers. As teachers have seen the multiple ways that creative thinking can enhance their content and curriculum, they have been encouraged to collaborate more with their enrichment partners and have found even more connections and ways to engage our students. 

We just finished a three day Celebration of the Arts this past week. It was amazing. Over three days, our students worked with a composer on a commissioned piece and presented the world-premiere of a work composed for our students, performed musical selections that aligned to the theme "I am the future," presented dance and instrumental performances, and hosted an Open House Living Museum for parents and families that included students reading stories they had written, dramatizing stories of kings, queens, fairy tales, pirate ships, and lost treasure, and created space ships, solar systems, and geodomes. This was the result of collaboration - between enrichment and classroom teachers, between school and community, and between students and teachers. This collaboration allowed our students to engage with the arts in ways that showed them who they are and who they can be. The arts can bring out the best in us and collaboration in the arts can unite a school community. Enjoy the images of our collaboration and the amazing things that our students created. It was so powerful to be a part of this collaboration (that's me - sitting at the piano). I am in awe of the things that great teachers can do with students when they are given the autonomy, mastery, and purpose to make great things happen.

Determining Priorities

Do you ever feel like everything is a priority? I know when I make a to-do list, it seems like everything has the same level of panic attached to it. In our first year as a turnaround school, it felt like everything needed to be fixed, so our plate was really full. Our "official" focus areas were climate and culture and writing, but as we began the school year, we realized that there was no culture of learning - students did not know what the habits of good readers were, what their reading levels were, or how to set goals for improvement. We also had to focus on using data to drive our instruction, which took a considerable amount of time and attention. There was other work that needed to be done to support collaboration, writing, effective strategies to align to the teaching and learning rubric, analyzing student work, and unpacking standards. Despite our best efforts, everything felt like a priority.

So, it's June and my staff has done everything that has been asked of them, but they are tired. Lesson learned. Reign it in! Yes, it all needs to be done, but no, it doesn't all need to be done in a matter of months. So for year two, our focus areas are, well, more focused. We will continue with an instructional focus area on writing - with a more refined and defined goal of short response (first half of the year) and extended responses (second half of the year) - which will better align with the growth areas necessary for us to hit our targets. Our climate and culture goal will continue with a refined focus on individual behavior plans and protocols for individual student supports. Our school-wide priority, which will impact everyone in the building, is on English as a New Language. We have a high percentage of ENL (English as a New Language) students (22%) and we will not come anywhere near our target of 85% proficiency if we do not change the way we teach. We all have to become ENL teachers in order for us make the growth that we need to reach our targets. That one priority will require shifting our practice, our service delivery model, our beliefs, and our instructional delivery. It will require us asking questions of everything that we plan and honestly reflecting on whether or not what we are teaching is getting us the results we are looking for.

Backing off from feeling like everything is equally important is difficult because the pressure to achieve the goals is very real and the time is short in which to change our trajectory. It can also be difficult because there are district expectations in addition to our own building goals and targets. Here are some of the ways that we are going to hone in our focus for year two:

• Map out what we did during each month of year one and identify what aligns with our priority areas (Climate and Culture, Writing, and ENL) for year two. Those are the activities and things that will continue to have time, attention, and resources for year two.
• Just say no - when initiatives, ideas, pilots, or proposals do not align to our priorities, we have to say no. My instructional coaches know that if something doesn't align to our priorities, we will not spend our time, attention, or resources on it.
• Ask ourselves how everything aligns. If it doesn't support the priority areas, we won't invest our time, attention, or resources. 
• Continually reflect - always ask ourselves "so what?" in terms of how the work we are doing is moving us forward in our priority areas. 
• Assess. We have to assess student progress, parent understanding and engagement with our priority areas, staff, and achievement based on the work we are doing in our priority areas. We must have regular assessment in order to make mid-course corrections and ensure progress in our priority areas.