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

Building Effective Teams

Let's talk about collaboration. The work involved in turning around a school cannot be done alone. It cannot be done in silos. It requires significant collaboration. What is collaboration exactly? By definition, collaboration is "a working practice whereby individuals work together to a common purpose to achieve business benefit." (http://www.aiim.org/What-is-Collaboration). Teams have to be able to build trust in order to be able to accomplish the significant work that faces them. But at the beginning of the school year, a group of people is thrown together and told that they are a team. They are told they have to make significant gains in student achievement and that they have to work together in order to do that. But, we don't do a lot to help the teams develop the skills necessary to collaborate effectively. In Patrick Lencioni's essential text, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, the author outlines the components of true collaboration.

The foundation of the pyramid is about an absence of trust. It requires that teams share a level of invulnerability. We have to be able to share our insecurities, our imperfections, and even our failures with the people on our team. Without this ability to trust, we cannot become an effective team.

As a leader, we must be aware of the dynamics of building collaborative teams and provide support and guidance for teams who do not develop trust or who struggle with conflict. When teams lack trust, they are unable to move forward. When teams are only friendly and collegial, they may have trust, but they cannot sustain healthy conflict. We need to have vulnerability in order to build trust. We need to have honest discussions in order to build true harmony. As effective teams, we must all commit to common goals and find the ways to see the strengths in each of us. We should be able to set higher standards for one another and hold one another accountable when we let the team down. It is only through our collaboration that we will achieve. Silos of achievement will not turn around our schools. True collaboration and honest dialogue is the only thing that can truly move our teams and our schools. 

Why Year 2 is Harder

I am a school leader who is turning around a failing school. Year one was challenging. We had to start from scratch with new staff, a new vision, an extended school day, and building a culture of academic achievement and consistent expectations where one did not exist. Year one was definitely challenging. Year two is just plain hard.

In the first year of school turnaround, everything felt like growth and improvement. We were coming from pretty much the absolute bottom in terms of student behavior and academic achievement. Providing consistent structures, routines, and expectations was difficult to implement, but not difficult to conceptualize. Establishing targets for grade level achievement required stretching, but we were also honest about where we were starting from, so our targets were ambitious but realistic. We were focused on progress. 

We are now in receivership and year two feels like the stakes are higher. We are no longer able to focus on progress alone - we have to focus on proficiency. We do not have time to waste on figuring it out. We need to have immediate responses that will ensure student progress. Feedback must result in immediate course corrections. New professional learning must be implemented into new practice. Teams must be able to collaborate, share ideas, support one another, and problem solve. As a leader, I must make difficult choices that sometimes make people aggravated because I must prioritize what is needed in my building above other things that may be happening throughout the district. This is lonely work. There is often no one else who can understand the pressures of being a turnaround leader. 

Here are some of my thoughts about keeping your head above water in year two:

• Know your focus areas and be strong about saying no to things that do not support your focus. Our three focus areas for year two are Writing, Culture and Climate, and English as a New Language supports. Even our Receivership Recommendations align with these three focus areas so that all of the work we are engaged in moves our focus areas forward.
• Use data wisely. Sometimes it feels like we are drowning in data. A wise leader will only ask for data collection when it is going to be used to inform instruction. What is the point of collecting data that does not inform your instruction? 
• The other part of using data wisely is expecting that your teachers know their data and their students. That means that you as the leader need to know the data of students in your teachers' classrooms. You should be able to walk the walk and talk the talk. You cannot expect your teachers to know how to use the data if you do not know the data and how it should be informing their instruction.
• Ask for help and be clear about what it is you need help with. Plenty of people will offer to help, but you must stay focused on what you really need. An example of this is how I have shifted my consultant support. In year one, we focused a good amount on leadership and coaching support - and that made sense because I was building a team and an infrastructure. In year two, I have asked for some of that support to shift and I am looking at building and empowering some of the promising practice in my building with video coaching and building a repository of effective practice as well as coaching for my enrichment program in the areas of curriculum development and alignment. 
• Message what you mean. As a turnaround leader, there is no time for inconsistent messaging. That includes every single person in the system - from the front desk to the custodian to the teaching assistant to the parents. This can be particularly frustrating and requires that you "inspect what you expect" in terms of newsletters, conversations, and interactions. 
• Appreciate your team. There is no way that this work is accomplished by a single leader - although the role of the leader cannot be underscored in turning around a school. Your team - your leadership team, your support staff, your teaching staff, and everyone in the system is working tirelessly to move student achievement. It can be very frustrating to feel like you are working so hard and someone (namely you) keeps telling you that it isn't good enough (or that is the message that is heard). Acknowledge how hard your teams are working and find ways to keep their heart and soul in it. I am always working to push myself in this area, but I try to acknowledge personally several people a week for the work that they are doing, I try to write several thank you notes each week to acknowledge contributions, we have random "Our Teachers ROCK" experiences where we do something fun for teachers, we end every meeting with "Appreciations" so that there is public appreciation for others, and I try to let me staff know in multiple ways that I completely have their back (even when I am asking them to grow). 
• Know when to let go. You have to recharge. There is no one who can sustain this pace forever. In year one, I gained a significant amount of weight, I got mono, and I had no balance. In year two, I am just as driven, however, I am having to be much more realistic about what I can humanly sustain. I am eating healthier, walking and running, going to bed earlier, and even going on dates with my husband because I am not a superhero. I couldn't do any of this work without my husband, my sister, and my amazing leadership team supporting me. 

Year two is definitely harder. In year one, I didn't even know what I didn't know. Now, I am painfully aware of how far we are from where we need to be. But, I believe in backwards planning and I see clearly where we need to be at the end of this school year. I am diligent in ensuring that we will get there and I have a dedicated team who shares the vision. Wishing for a magic wand will not make it happen, so we must focus on where we can make the most progress and eliminate things that are not helping in order to arrive where we need to be. Destination: Achievement!

Instructional Rounds

Developing a culture that is open to feedback and reflection is essential to a turnaround school. One of the key strategies that I implemented when I began as a Turnaround Principal was Instructional Rounds. There are different names - Teacher Rounds, Rounds, teachers observing teachers, or classroom walk-throughs. Whatever you call them, the idea is similar to how doctors observe practice and use those observations to reflect and grow on their own practice.

In the book, Instructional Rounds in Education by City, Elmore, Fiarman, and Teitel, the author's outline the importance of peers observing other instructional practices, sharing feedback, and reflecting on their own instruction. This practice is powerful - and provides both observers and practitioners the opportunity to reflect on instructional practices and next steps.

I knew that I wanted to embed the concepts of rounds into the vision at Dr. Weeks, but I needed to accommodate the time that we had available, the size of our staff, and the desire to involve everyone instead of just a few teachers. I ended up creating a model within our collaborative team planning time (50 minutes daily) where teachers would meet for a pre-brief on an identified topic, observe in a classroom for 10-15 minutes, and then de-brief with the practitioner using a "warm feedback/cool feedback" protocol. We tweaked the routine as we moved forward, but the commitment to the rounds remained consistent. The teachers express regularly how powerful this tool has become for them - they have been able to increase their collaboration across grade level teams, they have become more comfortable asking for support with practice, and they have become more reflective about what they see in their own rooms and in the rooms of their peers. It never fails that I have an experience where I get goosebumps when I am facilitating rounds because there is some moment where that "a-ha" happens and you can watch the impact of this process in action.

This week, we did instructional rounds around writing - which is our instructional focus area. We spent two days observing writing practice across all content areas and in every grade level. One of the most powerful experiences was in a 5th grade mathematics classroom. In this classroom, students were working (and they were working hard!) on complex tasks by using the read, write, and draw strategies. The teacher was using over the shoulder conferencing with students as they worked independently. When a student expressed that they were stuck, the teacher asked questions to try and help the student become "unstuck" without giving the answers, and even shared exemplar student work with comments to encourage student thinking. The teacher took a picture of one student's work (not the student with the most complete response or the best writing) and put it immediately on the smart board. The student explained her thinking and then the other students coached her and asked her questions to move the exemplar student forward in her thinking. I was so excited that other teachers were able to experience this high level instruction. It is usually just administrators that get to observe this kind of excellence of both teacher practice and student achievement, but by using the rounds process, we had many teachers now able to participate in the process of observing and reflecting on how we define effective teaching.

The commitment to rounds is part of the vision that I have for our turnaround school - one with a truly collaborative teacher culture and where students are are academically challenged and supported. The time that we give to instructional rounds is scheduled in the calendar and maintained as a priority. If you can implement instructional rounds in any capacity, I strongly believe that it could be a gamechanger for you in terms of turning around your school culture and raising the level of instruction in classrooms.

Here are some great inspirations from our instructional rounds that might inspire you to take that first step.

Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners

I began my teaching career in a rural district in Upstate NY. To say that there was very little diversity might actually be an understatement. Although there were many challenges that faced rural schools - including servicing rural poverty, providing for a wide range of needs with limited resources, and designing instruction that would move students and the community towards a new future - everyone basically looked the same, had similar backgrounds, and had similar experiences.

I chose to become an urban educator because I wanted to experience diversity. I knew that there was more that I could do as an educator to learn and grow if there were different challenges in my classroom and in my school. Boy, was I right! My first teaching position in an urban district was in a school with a population that was 95% African American. It was the opposite of my previous teaching experience, which was rural and predominantly white, but it was still not diverse. Everyone in my first urban school was predominantly from the same neighborhood, similar backgrounds, and very little racial diversity.

My first experience with a significantly diverse population - where there are students and families from a variety of backgrounds, religions, with different languages, and from different countries all over the world was extremely eye opening for me. I was able to be an administrative intern at the school where I am now a principal, and that was my first true experience with significant diversity. We have 25% of our student population receiving ENL instruction. There are 20 languages spoken by students and families who attend my school. While 53% of our population is black or African-American, 47% is a rainbow of colors, backgrounds, languages, and belief structures. Teaching in such a diverse population has significant challenges. Leading such a diverse school community through school turnaround and receivership is unbelievably challenging.

I have classrooms with a wide range of learners in their classrooms. As I reviewed data from our initial running records administration, I saw classrooms with ranges from levels PA to V at 5th Grade. I have 1st and 2nd grade classrooms with 16, 17, 18, or 19 students receiving ENL services. So, differentiation is a hot topic in our feedback and planning discussions. We have been talking about defining differentiation as the place where our deep content knowledge and our understanding the needs of our students comes together. When we understand our content and our students' needs, we can make decisions about how we can individualize the way we will deliver the instruction to our students. Even in whole group instruction, we must be aware of the ways we deliver our instruction and provide opportunities for individual students to access the curriculum.

The Teaching Channel has partnered with the Oakland Unified School District to provide important video resources of key practices for differentiation - particularly for ENL students.  This overview is a key resource for teachers in diverse learning communities to gain insight into the ways that we can provide all of our children with access to proficiency with the new learning standards. In this video, supports for ENL students within the English Language Arts include a "talking rock" or a talking piece, which empowers students by providing them with the complete focus of the other students when it is their turn to talk. We have to remember that the curriculum does not tell us how to teach - it is not a script - it outlines what we need to teach in order for our students to be college and career ready. In our hectic and busy lives as educators (who are also trying to be spouses, parents, sons, daughters, friends, volunteers, and many other roles), we must keep learning as the focus. If we only think about teaching, we miss such an important opportunity to see our students in the driver's seat. Their learning, combined with our high expectations, is the key component. That is where the connection between our deep content knowledge and our knowledge of our individual students is the most vibrant: where our lessons reflect the kinds of differentiation that will ensure that all of our students succeed.

Here are some other resources that you might find helpful in your supports of diverse learners in your classroom:
http://www.casenex.com/casenet/pages/readings/differentiation/diffisisnot.htm

http://www.cdl.org/articles/differentiating-instruction-and-practice/

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner/6776

Creating a Culture of Achievement

I haven't written in a couple of weeks. I have been really engaged in the delicate balance of managing the immediate needs of where we currently are (which, by the way, is light years ahead of where we were this time last year!!) and planning for our future. We are part of a new legislation in New York that places struggling or persistently struggling schools in a status called "Receivership." To summarize receivership, it is the last chance that the lowest 5% of achieving schools in New York have to improve before someone else (an "independent receiver") steps in to take over. Although we have not made the kind of growth that we wanted or expected in terms of state assessments, we have plenty of evidence to support that we are really on the right track (for example, we are light years ahead of where we were at this time last year!!), so we have embraced receivership as a great opportunity to add more details to our plan and really think through what we envision from our school in 2-3 years. This kind of backwards planning is critical to the process of turnaround. If you can clearly see where you want to be at the end, and then you can articulate exactly what you need to do in order to get there, and you can allow for assessment and adjustments along the way, then how can you fail? Vision + planning + follow through = success.

But I digress. The real topic today is about achievement. The kind of achievement that permeates the entire of a school and of a community. The kind of achievement that hast parents invested and asking questions; the kind of achievement that makes it more cool for kids to be spending their time talking about reading or writing than it is for them to goof off; the kind of achievement that has teachers talking about best practices and ways to reach and teach kids - even over lunch or in the copy room. How does that shift happen? We worked so hard in year one to develop data protocols, make goal setting and achievement a living part of our culture, and shared data with our parents and families. Our students made progress - the growth was evident - but we really didn't achieve mastery. As we got deep into our data over the summer we knew exactly what we were missing. Our students were progressing and we were so proud of that growth, but they were not achieving the standards because we did not invest in sharing the standards with our students - we did not show them enough exemplar work, have them assess their own work against the standards using student friendly rubrics, and we did not inform parents and families about what grade level work is supposed to look like. In other words, we created a strong culture of learning, but we did not go far enough to fully develop as a culture of achievement.

 So, we are getting smarter. Our data meetings include more exemplars of grade level writing. Our discussions surround how we can align our expectations to standards, rather than letting our students define our expectations. That brings a real issue to the table - our students have been performing below level, and that has been a part of the culture at my school for many years (hence, the receivership status). So, making sure that we have the right strategies in place to move our students toward the standards becomes the work. In this video, a teacher prepares her students to dig deep into the work around theme in a novel and shares with her students the different levels of proficiency that they may be at in terms of this concept. There is real power in helping students to understand their own level of proficiency and be able to identify levels of proficiency in their peers. This is how we become more of a culture of achievement.

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With all of this talk about standards, achievement, and classroom culture, it is so important to remember that creating a culture of achievement in classrooms is purposefully built. Teachers who are able to move their students toward this do not have a magic wand and they are not simply "better teachers." The same kind of backwards planning that I am using to move our school forward as a school in turnaround is the same kind of purposeful and backwards planning that teachers must utilize in creating a culture of achievement in their classrooms. Debbie Miller (in her book Teaching with Intention) talks about the importance of purposeful planning to achieve what you believe that students can achieve. If you believe that students can, and should, be engaged in discourse around standards, exemplars, and levels of quality work (and I certainly believe this!), then you must implement structures that build the capacity of students to do this. It will not happen overnight. And it is so important to persevere and make sure that you don't give up and let the student's performance define your expectations. If it isn't working, reflect on what skill students are missing and back track to teach that skill. Involve students in assessing their own progress. Allow them to reflect on how they can do it better. But do not give up and lower your expectations. Our students must have the same high expectations in their classrooms that we expect from our own children. This is the work - and it is so important.

Creating a Vibrant Classroom Culture

As we return to our classrooms, there is energy, enthusiasm, and excitement in both teachers and students. It is not by accident that some classrooms seem to come together almost immediately - with students who are ready to learn and following the teacher's expectations from the first day of school. These classrooms, and these teachers, are not magical and they do not simply have better behaved students. On the contrary, these classrooms are purposefully built on clear expectations, practiced routines, and explicit procedures.


The time and effort that it takes to purposefully build a classroom community that will succeed in both academic and social emotional learning is well worth it. It is an investment early on that will result in increased self-management on the part of the students and more effective teaching for the teacher.

Here are some tips to creating a strong classroom culture with clear expectations:

• Know your students. Greet them at the door. Provide opportunities for them to share and develop trust with you and with one another. Morning Meeting can be a great tool for this.
• Start as you intend to go on. Build your classroom culture based on the picture that you see of how your classroom will function in May. Plan backwards to break apart skills that will be necessary to teach explicitly at the beginning.
• Maintain high expectations. Provide opportunities to rehearse skills and practice procedures. When students require additional practice in order to meet your expectations - stop, provide supportive feedback, and encouragement when they make improvements.
• Explicitly teach routines and procedures that will support the culture of learning in your classroom. How do you expect students to sharpen pencils? To get just right for me books? To get materials out of their cubbies? If you do not teach it, students cannot master it. 
• Celebrate achievement. Take every opportunity to celebrate early wins and daily accomplishments. You will get much mileage out of positively reinforcing both individual students and classroom behaviors and academic accomplishments.

Welcome Back!

Back to school. It's an exciting time - and sometimes filled with some anxiety or trepidation. As we begin year two of turnaround - and year one of Receivership - I am filled with a combination of intense pride and apprehension about this upcoming school year.

My intense pride really focuses on my staff. I have shared before that my staff is absolutely amazing. As I look at them, talk with them, and listen to them - I am inspired by the level of commitment and the sheer skill they bring to the table. And this work isn't easy - there is so little reward for the amount of investment. My staff is working tirelessly and we are still seeing single digit student performance. Although we know that there are things we must adjust instructionally, it is not because they are not effective and amazing teachers. During these opening days with staff, my teacher leaders have led presentations and discussions on morning meetings, closing circles, restorative conferences and circles, ready to learn, and best practices about student de-escalation (we use something called a "Peace Place"). I have been filled with pride as I have watched our teacher leaders teach about the` best practices that we know will turn our school around. I have laughed, I have been moved, I have been inspired by the power that my teachers possess. I think about how amazing they will be when they have ten, fifteen, or twenty years of experience in making a difference - and I am overcome by the power and impact that they will have.

I hope that you have a wonderful back to school season and you see the power and potential that your team possesses in everything you do as a leader!

Here are pictures of teacher leaders modeling morning meeting, restorative circles, ready to learn, closing circles, and the Peace Place during our opening days with staff. I am one proud leader!

What should I do first?

If you are a new leader, you might be feeling overwhelmed about all of the things that are on your plate. If you are a turnaround leader, you may be feeling pulled in many directions and feeling like you have many "cooks in the kitchen." I was in your position a year ago. It is exciting, but also very nerve wracking!

As a new leader, you may wonder where to begin because the task is so monumental. There are many resources that can help you - including a very helpful book called The Principal's Guide to the First 100 Days of School by Dr. Shawn Joseph. Here are some important reflections on first steps to take as a school building leader.

1. Have a clear vision and find a way to communicate it clearly. I made an "elevator speech" to help me articulate my thoughts and ideas in a clear and concise way. 
2. Establish with your team what you expect to see at the end of year one and use that to set targets for what you would expect to see and how you will get there. For example with culture and climate, if you expected to see a percentage decrease in office discipline referrals and improved student behavior in classrooms based on walk-throughs and observations, plan backwards for what you will need to implement in September to ensure that you will get what you expect. 
3. Start as you intend to go on - establish regular meetings with your leadership team and follow through on meeting. I meet with my leadership team weekly and we combine leadership development with necessary business.
4. Set goals for your first 90 days and publish them to your leadership team and teaching staff. We have to hold ourselves accountable and we should expect others to hold us accountable as well. 
5. Review your data and then meet with children and families to put faces to the numbers. Data is only ever one piece of the puzzle - don't forget to humanize the numbers. 
6. Inspect what you expect - if you expect all adults to greet children at the door, you will need to walk the building daily and provide feedback when things are not what you expect. 
7. Celebrate the little things. There will be challenges, but there will also be things to celebrate. No matter how small, remember to appreciate your team and the work that they are doing.
8. Ask for help. Find a colleague that you trust to ask questions that you have. We established a new principal group text using an app called Group Me. It allowed us to ask and answer questions within the group and it also built relationships between our group.

If you are working with several consultants, you will find it important to organize what you need and expect from your consultants or coaches. It seems like this may be articulated for you, but I found that it was necessary for me to identify what each of my consultants and coaches brought to the table in terms of strengths and align them with the work that we needed to accomplish. When I did that, I stopped feeling like I was being pulled in so many directions by so many outside support systems. When I was able to actually get my consultants to start working together on common goals - we really were able to make some significant gains. 

If you are new to the principalship, congratulations! Being a school leader is the best job in the world, but it certainly comes with a mountain of responsibility and pressure. A colleague of mine from years ago always reminded me that administration is about service. I try to remember that when I start to feel overwhelmed. My role is to serve the teachers, students, and families that are in my school. My vision is for them - not for me. Being a principal is inspirational, stressful, challenging, and fun. Welcome to this amazing journey. 

Effective Enrichment Programming

Arts. Music. STEAM. Writing. Academics. Project Based Learning. Martial Arts. There are many ideas about what makes an effective enrichment experience for children. How does exposure to the arts or science or music impact student achievement? Some may argue that students who are already academically below level need more academic time, rather than time spent involved in such "extra" activities. I have personally heard the comments like "these kids can't read, they don't need to go to band," or "why are we encouraging them to draw if they can't write?" With so much pressure on kids, teachers, and school leaders to see results in terms of academic achievement, it is understandable that enrichment programming can be seen as "extra" or "unnecessary."

I fully believe in the power of enrichment. There is magic in what happens in classrooms where the arts, hands-on learning experiences, and problem solving experiences are happening. There is a power in understanding how the arts and sciences can compliment one another and can enhance a certain symbiosis of understanding. While I definitely feel the pressure of academic performance, enrichment provides students with what we need more of in our society - the ability to develop soul, creativity, and collaboration.

Gretchen Morgan, in her book Innovative Educators, states that our factory school approach has taught children, and teachers, to be passive (2015). Have we stopped to think about what the skills are that our students will need in order to be college and career ready? Where are those skills in our schools? We must encourage creativity, collaboration, flexibility, problem-solving, and perseverance in our schools if those are the skills that we know our children need to master in order to be successful in their future. Enrichment often provides opportunities to engage in this type of thinking.

But creativity does not flourish without structure. You cannot simply hand children a paintbrush and expect that their state test scores will improve. Creating a culture where creative thinking flourishes, where it is safe to explore ideas, and where failure leads to growth and learning sounds great, but tends to make most educators feel slightly nervous when pushed toward implementation. How do I grade that? How do I assess that? What about the curriculum? These are valid questions, and certainly must be considered by enrichment teachers as well. Enrichment teachers who fail to consider the structured side of teaching end up missing out on powerful connections that exist between creative thinking and critical thinking. We have to teach our students to connect the dots between these ways of thinking - it doesn't just happen magically. Likewise, we have to develop relationships with our colleagues where we can see what will help our students master the skills they will need for their future and not just doing a project for the sake of the project.

So, what does it take to be an effective enrichment program? Here are my beliefs.

• Collaboration - there simply must be communication and everyone must be on the same page. If someone, at any level, is trying to do their own thing and it doesn't align with what is needed for the kids - it will impact the whole program.
• Connections - there must be someone in the program who can see the big picture - who "gets it." Without someone who understands both sides of the equation, the program will fee disjointed. There must be someone who can connect the dots between the school curriculum and enrichment curriculum. They have to see the possibilities in both sides as well as the possibilities within the children.
• Communication - this must happen at all levels. Sometimes outside organizations do not understand the intricacies of schools and sometimes schools just don't get how the organizations can really assist and support them. Teachers can easily become annoyed with enrichment programming that seems unstructured or without purpose. Enrichment staff can feel like they don't belong. Honest communication at all levels has to keep it moving forward.
• Classroom Management - this is so important because it is that structure piece and it is how teachers live, breathe, and find success. Without classroom management, the greatest ideas will not work. A friend of mine referred to teaching as a "series of episodes" and I have always kept that with me. Like a good television show, your lesson must have a structure in order for the children to stay engaged and involved.
• Curiosity - isn't this what it is about? Enrichment should not be about "make and take" activities that just keep kids quiet and in their seats. It should be about questioning, creating, developing ideas, having more ideas, trying things, and learning about the way things work. Enrichment of any kind should be about exploring who we are and not about following strict instructions to create a carbon copy of the exemplar. Children should be full of new ideas and ways of thinking as a result of enrichment - not bored, checked out, or disengaged. If the kids don't love it - rethink it. Is it about you or the kids?

We have such an opportunity to change the future with everyday that we teach our children. We need to ensure that we are teaching them the skills that they will need for their future and not for a factory based future that no longer exists. Enrichment is a powerful opportunity for our children. Let's make every moment count. 

#DETOUR

I have shared a lot about the challenge of managing change in order to keep commitment and momentum high. How do you do that when the rules of the game change mid-stream? How do you make sure that the integrity of the work and direction you are going is not lost in the latest politics or other initiative?

If your work is based in data and research-based approaches that are proven to move students, then you are on the right track. The key, as a leader, is to find how your work aligns with the new initiative or political strategy du jour. When you take the time to see where the connections are, you will be able to make connections for someone else.

Leadership does not always mean compliance. It means taking a stand for what you know is right - but that takes more than having a squeaky wheel. You really have to have a solid alternative plan that supports the underlying objectives in order to be heard with alternatives. I like the way that Pam Moran ("Edutopia") refers to "Rule Challengers." http://www.edutopia.org/blog/insight-outsight-catalyze-district-wide-learning-pam-moran Being a rule challenger is not being disrespectful - it is asking thoughtful questions and posing realistic alternatives that align to the goals being presented and the goals you are trying to achieve. Frederick Hess refers to this as "cage-busting leadership." Do you have what it takes to think outside the box and push on the expected or status quo to get where you need to go? Or are you merely implementing the initiatives that someone else has presented to you because it is what is expected?

It can be hard as a new principal to stand up to leadership initiatives or political pressure. But you were chosen to be a leader and if you want to lead, you must lead. You are not in your role to follow, but to lead. Sometimes you must find a compromise between the work you believe is right and the initiative of the day. Whatever you decide to do as a leader, know your staff and your students, know the data that supports your decision, and always do what is right for the students in your building and you will be able to make a case for your solution. Don't get caught in the trap of blaming someone else for the initiatives in your building. If you go with them, they are your own - because you are the leader.

Musings of a Turnaround Leader

It's August 1. The countdown to a new school year begins. There are so many theories about what makes a successful turnaround school. Is it a longer school day? Is it magnet schools? Is it charter schools? Is it eliminating unions? Is it technology? Is it investing in early childhood education? How do we replicate the work that has been done in other schools successfully? What is the magic bullet that we can say, "do this, and you will improve teaching and learning in your school?"

There isn't a magic bullet. There isn't a "one size fits all answer." If we knew the answer, we wouldn't be where we are in the first place. I do not believe that any teacher actually sets out to do harm to children - to rob them of their future through apathy and low expectations. That happens through a series of complex decisions over time. And as hard as it is to hear, we have been holding children back from reaching their full potential.

I am not an expert in turnaround schools. I just happen to be extremely passionate about turning around the school where I live, and as such, I have a few ideas about what makes a turnaround school actually turn around. The degree to which we experience success - we will save defining that for another post - but let's look at the indicators of culture/climate (this includes safety), academic achievement (both local and state assessment measures), and teacher turnover. My thoughts are not research-based and I didn't have a consultant track data for me. My thoughts on what makes a school turn around are based on my experiences in my building. Yours may be different. That's what makes this work so challenging.

• The leader has a clear vision and everyone - from the secretaries to the parents to the teachers to the children themselves - knows what the vision is and what it means. (Ours is "Every child. Every day. College and career ready. We connect what we are doing to that vision. If we are doing what every child needs, each and every day, then we are making sure that they will have the skills they need for college or career).
• The vision connects to targeted goals and those goals are rooted in data. I asked everyone what they wanted to see by the end of year one and then we backwards planned to make sure we had what was necessary to get there. So, if the number one thing was improved behavior and school culture throughout the building (and it was), what did we need to do in September, in October, in January, to make sure that we got there? We did a similar exercise for year two. Culture and climate is still number one - even though it is definitely better, we know that we have work to do to really provide what every child needs every day in terms of behavioral support and intervention.
• School-wide systems are clear, modeled, practiced, and reinforced. Everyone in the system has agency in holding the expectation high on no more than 5 do's and don'ts. (For us, we had to take a firm stance on being in the hallway without a pass based on the previous culture within the building. Everyone has to uphold that simple expectation and if someone forgets, we must all agree to remind them).
• The right people have to be on the bus. While a leader cannot hire the way to achievement, having key staff members who can move the vision forward is essential. There is no more important work for a leader than hiring and retaining the right people. That being said, if you don't have the right people, you need to take steps to fix it as soon as possible. Your staff is your classroom as a turnaround leader. They are everything. Develop, support, encourage, and build capacity - but if that doesn't get you where you need to be - do not be afraid of making necessary change.
• Acknowledge that your team is amazing regularly and in a variety of ways. Build their capacity for leadership. Show off their skills. Brag on them. Know them - like really know them - and what they are able to bring out of kids. My teachers are absolutely amazing. I am in awe of the way they push, challenge, love, question, and give so much each and every day. When I hear a kindergarten teacher asking a student to support a claim with evidence from the text or hear 2nd grade students conferring about their work with depth and understanding or watch a veteran teacher give up lunch or planning to conference with a student - I know that I have something very special. 
• Celebrate your successes. We challenged our students to read 10,000 hours to support our shift to a culture of readers. We actually thought that they would be able to do that easily - 800 kids - we thought the hours would really add up quickly! By March, we were only at 5,000 hours. Rather than continuing to say "come on and read!," we celebrated the 5,000 hours that they had accomplished by letting students with the most hours throw pie in my face. The kids loved it and it really motivated them to keep working hard. There is always more we can do - celebrate the growth and be specific about what we need to do next to get to the next level.
• Turning around a school is a bit like starting a business and it is better to know that going in. This school will become your family and the children are your children. My own family, and the families of my team, are regularly at school and they know the children and their successes. It's exhausting. It's draining. And it's so rewarding to know that you are making a difference in the lives of so many.
  
  

Expectations, Part 2

In my previous blog post, I wrote about the power that expectations have on students and student achievement. This post should, perhaps, come with a warning label because it focuses on the expectations that we, as leaders, have on our teachers and what that means for the future of education. If you are not 100% committed to building successful teams, implementing the instructional practices necessary to ensure student achievement, and doing whatever it takes to turn your school around, then you should move from this post to something that is a little more warm and fuzzy.

I was discussing the implementation of interim assessments with some colleagues and one principal asked me how I got my teachers to go along with the data analysis and development of re-teaching plans based on the data. I was perplexed by the question and I explained that my teachers were excited about the work because it provided them with clear data about student progress and mastery of standards. I had told my team (have I told you lately how amazing they are?) that we were using interim assessments and that it was part of the work we were doing and they were on board. My colleagues responded by saying that they could not do that. I was perplexed - shocked, even. Even though I understand that not every building is in turnaround and has the same level of panic regarding moving students toward achievement, I still believe that leaders set the expectations for great teachers to do great things with students.

So, who sets the expectations? Do we, as leaders, set the expectations for our teachers and give them the appropriate supports and training to rise to the occasion? Or do we let our teachers set the expectations based on what they are comfortable bringing to the table? If we continue thinking about the power of teachers in setting high expectations for student achievement and we take that to the next level, it falls to leaders to set high expectations for teachers and follow through with making sure that teachers rise to those expectations. To quote Linda Cliatt-Wayman, turnaround leader and passionate change agent, "If you're going to lead, lead." Leaders cannot make excuses about having high expectations. Leaders must make hard choices, give difficult feedback, and build enough trust with their teams that they can believe in their own power to change. We must be the voices of belief, assurance, and vision - we cannot allow for doubt, complacency, or habit to prevent us from insisting on the work that must be implemented for the success of our students.

What kind of leader are you? Are you that cage-busting leader who doesn't say no to what needs to be done and empowers the same thing from your teachers? Or are you playing it safe - letting the fears of those you're leading stop you from making the necessary changes that will ensure student success? Being a turnaround leader means that you do not have the luxury of time in making the necessary changes that will ensure student achievement. It means that you must be brave - each and every day. Turnaround leader Linda Cliatt-Wayman is inspirational as she talks about the power of a leader to impact change. In her words, "If you're going to lead, lead." What are you going to do?

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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.