Maintaining a Clear Focus

I had a professor in grad school who told us that principals were little more than middle managers. That bothered me.  I have worked for principals who were unable to make any decisions without "getting permission" from central office and everything that happened in the building was because of some directive from central office. I don't want to feel like my vision is at the whim of what someone else believes to be the priority for my school. I am fortunate to work in a system where the superintendent believes that building principals are powerful leaders and that the work of moving the district and the students forward cannot happen if we are simply "middle managers." So, as we prepare to return to the challenging work of being change agents in schools, we must be clear in our focus - in our vision - for what we want to see in our children, in our staffs, and in our families during 2016 so that we can own the changes and not simply manage them.

Education is always a politically charged topic and everyone involved seems to have the answers that will fix struggling schools. 2015 certainly saw a great deal of political staging regarding the future of education and 2016 will be no different. While the pendulum seems to be shifting away from federal control of school reform and back toward individual states' control, it is important for us as leaders to be clear about where our own beliefs regarding higher standards fits within our vision. Without clearly understanding your own core beliefs as a leader, you may be quick to implement fad based policies, rather than deeply engaging with what you know will work to move student achievement in your school.

Visioning is key to effective leadership. I practice visioning activities with my teams in order to make sure that we are aligned in what we see at the end of this school year and out three years. When we know where we want to be in three years, we can plan backwards to make sure that we have the right supports in place to get there. As we move away from No Child Left Behind, it is essential for leaders to identify what information you need, how you will get it, and what you will expect teachers to do with that information in order to have a clear focus about assessment data and its role in tracking student achievement.

Whatever 2016 has in store for you, take time to clarify your focus and reaffirm your vision as you re-engage in the work of managing change, standards, and increasing student achievement. As leaders, there is so much for us to manage - having a clear focus helps keep the priority on our students and allows us to keep the changes we face - manageable.

My Role in Fighting Poverty

During the holidays, I was able to connect with family members and enjoy time together in laughter, joy, and of course, political dialogue. As the conversation shifted toward urban education, and the challenges facing urban centers in general, the conversation drifted toward the challenges of poverty. This is a topic that I spend a great deal of time thinking about and wondering how I, as a white, middle-class woman, can truly make a difference in the fight against poverty.

While opinions regarding how people can move out of poverty vary significantly, many of those opinions are based more in political rhetoric than a true understanding of poverty. Misconceptions about poverty are everywhere from political debate to dining room table conversation. Some popular misconceptions regarding poverty include that people in poverty are lazy or lack a work ethic, that people in poverty choose to live off of public assistance, or that if people living in poverty wanted to, they could just "get out."

The research about poverty is clear - children growing up in poverty face challenges that are significant. Children who live in poverty are less likely to have their basic needs met, have limited language development and a limited vocabulary, and even develop different neural pathways and cognitive functioning. Denying this reality is akin to denying global warming (it was over 60 degrees on Christmas Eve where I live, so I don't think that seems likely at this juncture). Education is essential for challenging the effects of poverty - but educating children who live in poverty requires a unique skill set in order to empower and elevate children and families to their true potential. read more here

Schools with high poverty require the very best teachers in order to begin to level the playing field. Too often, there is a perception that suburban schools or more affluent districts are easier places to teach in or have better teachers. The reality is that high poverty schools need the best teachers and should not only work collaboratively with teacher training programs to develop the skills of great teachers, but need to work actively to recruit and keep the very best teachers in the classrooms that need them most. Shifting the perception in teacher training programs is necessary in order to encourage better preparation for teachers and achievement for our most needy students. Research supports the need for effective teacher training programs and genuine political debate that no longer blames people in poverty for their circumstances. In order for us to make a legitimate difference in the lives of our children, it is important for us to remember that our children are the future, and investing in that future needs to involve more than just talk - it takes time, commitment, and resources in order to empower and elevate people struggling with the challenges of poverty.

The 12 Days of Christmas (Turnaround Edition)

It's the holiday season and that brings with it joy, family, traditions, and a feeling of being incredibly overwhelmed by the many commitments and obligations that we face as turnaround leaders. I think that the best way to approach feeling overwhelmed is often with humor, and, of course, singing. So, in honor of the season, here is The 12 Days of Christmas (Turnaround Edition).

(to the tune of The 12 Days of Christmas, in case you feel it necessary to sing out loud)

On the first day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - assessments that have to be complete.

On the second day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

On the third day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - three pending deadlines, two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - four parents calling, three pending deadlines, two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - five more consultants! four parents calling, three pending deadlines, two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - six urgent emails, five more consultants! four parents calling, three pending deadlines, two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - seven kids with headlice, six urgent emails, five more consultants! four parents calling, three pending deadlines, two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - eight more observations, seven kids with headlice, six urgent emails, five more consultants! four parents calling, three pending deadlines, two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - nine children running, eight more observations, seven kids with headlice, six urgent emails, five more consultants! four parents calling, three pending deadlines, two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - ten more meetings, nine children running, eight more observations, seven kids with headlice, six urgent emails, five more consultants! four parents calling, three pending deadlines, two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - eleven teachers absent, ten more meetings, nine children running, eight more observations, seven kids with headlice, six urgent emails, five more consultants! four parents calling, three pending deadlines, two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my dear school gave to me - twelve hour workdays, eleven teachers absent, ten more meetings, nine children running, eight more observations, seven kids with headlice, six urgent emails, five more consultants! four parents calling, three pending deadlines, two subs not showing, and assessments that have to be complete.

Happy holidays! Take a much deserved break and rest up for the work ahead!

The Joy of Leadership

You read that correctly.

I don't hear many people talking about the joy of leadership. The challenges, certainly. The frustrations, yes. The demands, most definitely. The work load, for sure. But, not the joy.

I believe that there is joy in leadership and that choosing joy actually improves achievement. I am not denying that challenges, frustrations, demands, and an overwhelming work load exist - just that seeing the joy in every day allows for us to see the wins amidst the challenge.

It's really a matter of mindset. Carol Dweck, in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, explains how having a growth mindset, as opposed to a fixed mindset, can actually improve success and achievement. This applies to education, to learning, to a new skill, or to how you approach your role as a leader. Choosing a positive, optimistic attitude in your daily work and in your daily life can have a significant impact on the outcomes (find more info here).

Do you want to test your mindset? Check out this quick online quiz to see if you have more of a growth mindset or more of a fixed mindset.

And so, I choose to see the joy in the challenge, in the faces of the children, in the classrooms that are in love with learning, and in the promise of making a difference in a community. What is your joy?

Do we really value achievement?

We, as Americans, say that we value achievement. We profess to be the best - at virtually everything - and that plays throughout our culture as important. We revere professional athletes who excel at their sport and pay them exorbitant salaries. We need to have the best military, the best economy, and the best political structures. But what happens when we apply that same thinking to education?

It has been reported for many years that the United States lags behind other countries in education (read more here). We are well aware that even with higher standards, on 38% of American children are ready for college according to the NAEP National Report Card. While we could propose reasons for this that range from the numbers of mothers who have to work to the number of single parent families to the degree of poverty many families live in to the increase in refugee populations, I propose that many people are intimidated by achievement.

When my oldest son started Kindergarten, he was already reading fluently. I had a friend of mine assess him and he was reading on a 2nd grade level. When I told his Kindergarten teacher, she nodded disapprovingly at me and said "We'll see." When I went for parent teacher conferences in October, she exclaimed to me "Your son can read!" I asked for enrichment to keep him moving forward and he was assigned to a teacher for two hours a week who worked on his pencil grip. Teachers make decisions like this all of the time - we pair the "high student" with the "lower student" to help the lower student stay on track. We let our higher students be "self-directed," which too often means that we let them teach themselves. We often hear high performers being called "teacher's pet" or "brown nose" by other students. Our classrooms often teach to the middle - which leaves high performing students on the fringes, bored, or even acting out to find some level of engagement.

We, unfortunately, do this with our teachers as well. We ostracize high performing teachers and call them "Principal's Favorite" or make comments like "well, you wouldn't know what we are dealing with since everything is perfect in your classroom." We might include the high performer in our group, but assume that he or she will carry the majority of the load because it is "easy for them." We tell our high performing teachers that they should be careful about sounding "too smart" so that they don't intimidate those around them or we caution them to "slow down" or "lower their expectations" because not everyone wants to work with people who expect so much from those around them.


What is the impact of this duality on our schools? As we well know with our own families, "do as I say not as I do" is a very ineffective technique for raising children. Likewise, for creating vibrant school cultures. If you are creating a culture of achievement, high performance and achievement must be valued, honored, pushed, and grown throughout the system. For high performance to become the norm, all stakeholders must be able to find ways to nurture, appreciate, and challenge high performance.

We live in a system of standardization - a "one size fits all" approach to testing and achieving. Daniel Pink, in his new publication To Sell is Human, talks about how teachers have amazing opportunities to sell learning to children each and every day. In order to do that, we, as educators, must let go of our fear of achievement and performance and embrace the ways that our students and our teachers are changing the way we teach and learn each and every day. We have to train our brains to accept challenge as a way to grow our brains, accept that ongoing reading and learning is the way that we can and should be engaging in dialogue and discourse with our peers, and accept that we are all stronger when we push one another to higher levels.

Supporting Social Emotional Learning

This week, I have been thinking a lot about mental health supports. Schools can provide supports and instruction in social emotional learning - and that is a big component of what we need to be doing - but I need to call attention to the serious lack of mental health supports available to our students and our families in our communities. This is really quite a travesty and it really needs to be a call to arms for political leaders, community leaders, and school leaders everywhere. 

At my school, we have daily morning meeting and closing circles in all of our classrooms. Our staff is being trained over time in restorative circles. We have a "Peace Place" in every classroom where students can practice cool down strategies if they are upset. But there are deeper, more significant issues in every one of my classrooms that cannot be supported by this type of tier one instruction. We are fortunate to have a number of supports for our school of 800 students - two social workers, two on-site school-based counselors, three agency based supports, and two Teaching Assistants to support student behavior - and we have a top notch team, however, the need far outweighs the amount and type of supports available. Our school based supports are largely for tier 2 kinds of issues. And if parents are not on board, then the services are discontinued. If families or children are in crisis, the support becomes more difficult to access and there are far fewer options. 

The wait for a child psychiatrist is anywhere from 3-6 months. The waiting list for skill streaming can be up to 6 months. Insurance, or lack of insurance, prevents many families from accessing the kind of care that they need. Often, families have to choose between their own care or care for their child which means that the family unit still may be in crisis. There are very limited options for whole family supports. The systems that are in place to support our children and our families are difficult to navigate and require a level of persistence and determination that is really unlikely. 

Emergency services for children having mental health crises regularly recommend that a child needs an IEP from the school in order to get the supports that they need. Special Education services do not address mental health concerns. So, families are often stuck in a ridiculous cycle and then feel like there is no support for them, for their children, or for their needs. 

We have to do better. Mental health issues are significant in urban education, but they exist in every community. Rural and suburban schools are dealing with a lack of support for mental health, as well. Mental health needs may look very different in rural and suburban children. There may be more anxiety or depression, but the signs may be much less extroverted. This is an issue that must be taken up at the highest levels in order to provide adequate supports and to allow our students to access the goal of "college and career ready." Without significant improvements to the mental health systems for children and families, we run the risk of continued generational struggles with mental health and under-performance in education. More services is a starting point, but the service providers themselves must do better to rid themselves of apathy and work diligently to make change for children and families. 

There are advocacy groups who are hard at work every day trying to provide adequate mental health care and supports for our children and families. The Citizens' Committee for Children in New York City recently published a report advocating for mental health services in all New York City Schools (download report here). Mental Health America is an advocacy group who is trying to impact change through legislation and awareness (see what they are working on here). Get involved. Speak out. It's time for all of us to become a part of the solution for providing adequate mental health care for our students and their families. 

Letting Go

We often say that if something isn't working, we should stop doing it. This is easier said than done in education. The ways we learned and the ways we learned to teach are deeply embedded in who we are as educators. Despite belief systems that have grown and changed, we often revert back to our comfort zone in our classrooms - and particularly if we are under stress - it can be difficult to implement lasting change.

Enter blended learning. As individuals, we have embraced technology for the multiple ways that it can help make our lives faster and more efficient. We text instead of calling. We post on social media to stay connected with family and friends. We use computers where we used to hand write. We have smart phones, smart TVs, smart watches, and even smart homes. But our classrooms still look like traditional, dare I say "old school," classrooms. We have smart boards that have replaced black boards, but we are using them in much the same way we used black boards (or white boards depending on your age and teaching experience). We make just as many worksheets (if not more) as teachers cranked out of mimeograph machines when I was in school (truth be told, in my first teaching job there was a mimeograph machine in the teacher's room!).

Going blended is a little scary. It's kind of like jumping in to an abyss and you are not sure where you will end up. We don't know how the use of digital content will improve state assessment scores or if it will help us get off the dreaded "list" of failing schools. But, we do know this: the world has changed. We must change our classrooms in order to provide relevance to student learning.

CLICK HERE for some great resources to support your journey into blended learning.

CLICK HERE to learn more about blended learning.

For even more information and support, visit:
www.highlanderinstitute.org
www.edelements.com
www.christenseninstitute.org