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.

What are the next steps?

June. It's an incredibly busy time of the school year. Trying to wrap up at the same time you are trying to envision the next steps is challenging. Where is the balance between leadership and management when there are so many details that seem to need your attention? As we hear district priorities and next steps, are we able to go deeper in our understanding of new initiatives so that we can own them in our messaging? We must, as school leaders, force ourselves to step back to our original vision for our school and not get swept up in the the daily responses and minutiae. What was your vision for this school year last July?

My vision for my school as I began as the turnaround leader, was to create a culture of learning based on high expectations and effective instructional practices - no easy task since we were coming from 2% achievement and a culture of apathy. To make the kind of gains in achievement that I envisioned, I had to map out what we needed to see in terms of administrative actions and evidence of impact, teacher actions and evidence of impact, and student actions and evidence of impact at opening, October, January, and by the end of the year. Now that we are at the end of the year, I have to analyze our progress while visioning for next year. Not an easy task. It becomes something like solving a complicated puzzle.

So, what are the next steps to get us from a culture of learning to a culture of achievement? We have to reach 85% proficiency on state assessments within three years - no easy task - so what are the priorities that will get us there? How do we determine what is most important? What if there is a disconnect between district and building initiatives? These are the questions that have driven the work that we have been doing for the past several months. We have gotten feedback from our staff, from our consultants, from the district, and from our data as we looked closely at our progress and our goals. 

Jim Collins, author of From Good to Great, talks about the Flywheel Effect and the Doom Loop. As turnaround leaders, we must ensure that we are focused on the flywheel and not allow competing or fleeting initiatives to blur our vision. We must remain singularly focused on our vision of good to great so the Doom Loop does not overtake our work. For me, in June, that means building time into my schedule where there seems like there is no time to get back to visioning. I have to be able to pull myself out of the daily details and see things from 10,000 feet in order to see what the next steps and ultimate goals are. I have to make sure I have some protected time to be proactive in my thinking rather than reactive in my responses. (http://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/good-to-great.html)

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Our priority for year two of our turnaround plan is ENL (English as a New Language). We have a high population of ENL students (approximately 22%) and our disaggregated data shows that 90% of our ENL students cannot score above a level 1 on state assessments. Simply put, we cannot reach our target of 85% proficiency without moving our ENL population. For year two, we must all become ENL teachers. Our flywheel is turning. We have made gains in year one. As a leader, it is my responsibility to make sure that the flywheel keeps turning as we add in an additional priority - that new information or new learning does not cause our momentum to stop. That's why we need to spend time visioning and mapping out what we see at important check points during the process. Without that, we are too susceptible to whatever someone else believes is the priority. Even as we are finishing one school year and reflecting on the progress we have made, can you see where you want to be at the end of next school year? What will you need to do to keep that flywheel turning and move from good to great in your school? 

How do your beliefs reflect your actions?

Last year when I was interviewing for my position as a turnaround principal, I was asked if there was anything that I was willing to be fired for (I am paraphrasing). My answer surprised me - although I certainly wouldn't want to be fired for my beliefs and I would certainly hope that we could come to an agreement about what was right for children, the bottom line for me is what I believe is right for children and I would not compromise for that. I would actually be okay if that meant I got fired for what was right for kids. I had colleagues who were shocked when I shared this with them. They had more of a "step in line and do what you are told" philosophy. Please do not get from this that I am a rebel or that I am disrespectful, but I am outspoken about what I believe in and I will work very hard to try and come to a place where we can connect all sides in order to move forward. I think that a turnaround leader has to go against the grain - you are often swimming upstream and quite often alone. You cannot have a pack mentality. But at the same time, you must clearly be able to connect to the vision and the work of the larger system. I call that "touching the box." I don't live inside "the box" where people wait to be told what to do, but I am not so far outside of "the box" that I cannot relate - I "touch the box." I think creatively, but I apply that creativity to the concepts that we are all working on.

This past week, we started a book talk using Debbie Miller's book Teaching with Intention. The first section focuses on defining beliefs and aligning practices. I loved this, because it gave us an opportunity to really think about what we believe in and give some reflection to the question of "why isn't it in place?" For me as a leader, I have to really think about what I need to do, in messaging, in scheduling, in resources, or in training to be able to give my talented teachers what they need to build the classrooms that support their beliefs. I have built a team of teachers who all have the belief structures and talent to move our students to the 85% proficiency that we are charged with achieving. They believe in the work and the students. As I came away from session one of our book talk, I was inspired again to hear them talk about how they want to create classroom structures that will support literacy and learning in a warm and inviting community. They are already thinking ahead to next year and what they will need to adjust in their thinking to make their beliefs match their learning environment. They inspire me. They push me. They challenge me to be a better leader. I have 800 students and 100 adults that need me to have my actions matching my beliefs every single day.

Debbie Miller challenges us to take stock of our classroom (in my case, my school) and write or draw about what we like or what's working and what bothers you most. She says it is powerful to ask a friend or a colleague to look at your space and give you feedback about "What do you know I value (based on what you see)?" "What do you know about my beliefs in teaching and learning based on what you see? What is the evidence? What do you know I believe about kids based on what you see?" (Miller, Debbie, Teaching with Intention, 2008, p. 30). What feedback do you think you would get? Would it align with your beliefs? If not, what is stopping you from changing it? If your actions or your learning environment do not match your beliefs, then change it. It's hard work, absolutely. But so is putting out the daily fires of having a system that doesn't connect.

Keeping the Momentum

It's May. For my school, that has meant a push to "gear up," rather than "gear down" toward the end of the school year. Gearing up means that we have two month to make a difference and push our students in a targeted area. Each team selected an area that they wanted to put extra time and effort into leveraging - knowing that the work that we do now will pay off for next year as well. One example of an area that we knew needed focus was writing. Our students have made progress (as evidenced by writing benchmark scores), but only about 25% of our students are proficient on writing benchmarks, and even fewer reflect proficiency on extended response questions on interim assessments (we use Achievement Network). As teams thought about this progress vs. proficiency issue, they made decisions about how they could "gear up" their efforts in writing and use more extended response prompts for their students, explicitly teach student friendly rubrics, and coach students through examining their work and the work of their peers against those rubrics. Even though those practices would have benefit our students more if used consistently throughout the school year, incorporating them now provides teachers with an opportunity to practice and refine a skill that they will need for the next school year. It also helps to shift students now to the expectations that they will live with in the fall.

This model, based on the work and the book, Rapid Results, by Robert Schaffer and Ron Ashkenas, and is used in business, non-profit, and education to identify a targeted area for improvement, determine effective strategies to impact change, implement the strategies in a short timeline, and analyze the data collected to determine if changes are required.

For a turnaround school, this format is key to success because it allows teachers to take ownership of an improvement area and puts the solutions and accountability in their lap. Feeling energized, even about the idea of challenging work, is essential to keeping the momentum going. We want - actually, we need - to see results from our work. Spinning our wheels will not get us where we need to be. We are encouraged by progress, but we are aiming for achievement. Freddie Mercury, the incredible lead singer of the band Queen, sang, "Don't stop me now!" That's the message for our turnaround school - we are just getting started and we are not going to stop!

Enriching Learning

There is ever-increasing pressure for us to provide children with greater mastery of skills at a younger age. Parents expose their children to lessons and activities; we send our children to camps to provide them with experiences that make them "well-rounded;" and schools feel more and more pressure to increase the amount of content and levels of proficiency for children.

In urban schools, this can present a significant challenge - according to the NAEP reading test data, an average of 85% of urban students do not perform at the "proficient" level in reading  http://www.aecf.org/m/resourcedoc/AECF-Early_Warning_Full_Report-2010.pdf . My school is actually above that average - our baseline data for our turnaround is a 2% proficiency in ELA and Math. You read that correctly - 98% of our students are NOT proficient. The data shows that this puts them at a higher drop-out risk and an increased risk of living a life in poverty. And that does not even address the concerns that impact our community or our overall society and economy.

If our students are so far behind in reading and math, it may seem counter-intuitive to invest significant time and financial commitment to providing enrichment opportunities in the arts. We have, however, made a commitment to providing daily enrichment activities for the 800 students in our turnaround school. Our students are involved in 50 minutes daily of enrichment activities in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics). That includes 2D and 3D arts, design and architecture, poetry, dance, leadership development and social skills, photography, drama, and creative thinking.  According to multiple longitudinal studies by the National Endowment for the Arts, students who are considered "at-risk" are more likely to finish high school if they are engaged in arts education. Involvement in the arts and STEM fields increases background knowledge, builds a greater understanding of how our world works, develops vocabulary, and leads to greater curiosity and questioning. In Daniel Pink's book, A Whole New Mind: Why right-brainers will rule the future, he speaks about the importance of creative thinking in moving the future of American society and the economy. To summarize, we need to make sure that the next generations of Americans are curious, can think outside of the box, and can see the endless possibilities of the imagination. Enriching the curriculum with the arts provides that for our children.

This week in enrichment, our Kindergarten students did sink/float experiments with boats that they made out of a variety of materials in the pool (integration between PE, Science, arts, and engineering); our 4th grade students experienced ink rolling with a steam roller at a local university (arts, college and career readiness); and 3rd and 5th grade students worked in collaborative groups to build the tallest structure (engineering, design, architecture, cooperative learning); and 5th grade students planned to begin a Community Garden project that will involve work with a neighborhood community center and the construction of benches and a mosaic. While we are assessed on our growth in state assessments, particularly in ELA and Math, enrichment adds soul and dimension to the lives of our children every day.

It is said that when Winston Churchill was asked to cut funding for the arts during WWII, he refused and replied, "then what are we fighting for?" The arts are often the first thing to be eliminated from schools. In a turnaround school, it would be easy to increase time only for academics. We are fortunate to be able to enrich the lives of our children while we are working to improve their academic achievement. Adding enrichment to our day increases the value of the lives of our children - and that is what ultimately matters.

Teaching the Future

What do you see when you dream about the future? When you see your children or your grandchildren as happy, successful, and capable adults - what do you see? What are the skills that our children, our grandchildren, and beyond will need in order to keep up with the speed with which our world is changing?

These can be frightening questions because the answers point out the many ways that we are failing the future by continuing to "do school" in the ways we always have. School has always been my thing. I am a good reader, a good writer, and I was always able to use my creativity to my advantage. I liked the social interactions in school and I loved being one of the better students. When I think about the future, I realize that the skill set that I possessed that allowed me to do well in school would no longer be enough. I can manage technology, but I wouldn't consider myself confident about new technologies. I am lost with newer fluencies such as coding. I have to have correct grammar and spelling in my text messages. I keep up with many things just so I don't seem old to my kids. So, I am not the world's most techno-teacher. I am still using PowerPoint and I cannot figure out how to use LiveBinder or even upload music to my IPhone without my husband's help.  But to admit this about myself, means that I am aware that we are not teaching the future - that I know the classrooms in my school are not giving our students what they need to be 21st Century Thinkers, Learners, or Doers.

 In this video by 2Revolutions, they look to the future and ask if you are a dreamer or a dreader when thinking about the future. The dreamers look to the future and see how they can make anything possible, but it doesn't always turn out the way they planned. The dreaders look to the future and see how nothing is going to work anyway. They propose that what we actually need is a new category - designers - people who plan for and create the future.

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I see the future for the students at my school. I see our responsibility in providing our students with every advantage so that they can have the skills that they see to manage the future. They must be literate, problem-solvers; they must be creative thinkers; they must see how to use technology to connect these skills and take them to the next level. Our children are the future and they must see technology as more than video games, Minecraft videos, social media, and "Googling." Our classrooms should be rich in digital access - digital portfolios, blogs, video presentations, adaptive and path-based software, and online checks for understanding are ways that we need to engage the future today. If we do not know or understand how to use technology in our classrooms, then we need to learn today because we are teaching the future. We cannot teach the future using the technology or approaches of yesterday.

Here are additional sources for blended learning and digital technologies:
http://www.knewton.com/blended-learning/

http://www.blendedlearningnow.com/

http://www.highlanderinstitute.org/

The Floor and The Ceiling

I was working with some brilliant people this week from The Highlander Institute who really challenged my thinking (which I totally love!). We were discussing standards and the way that teachers approach the standards and I was expressing that I felt that we were not pushing our higher students enough to really achieve at high levels. The response was eye opening. Are we looking at the standards as a floor or a ceiling? Wow! That was it! That summed up what I have been thinking about our approach to our higher students. When we look at the standards as a ceiling, our high students reach that ceiling and we, as practitioners, do not know necessarily what to do next or if we will have permission to do something that is outside of the standards, so we don't push too hard. If we shift our thinking and those standards become the floor - the baseline that we reach from - the possibilities are endless for us in terms of the ways we extend our students in their thinking and understanding.

What does it take for me as a practitioner to shift from the ceiling to the floor approach? I have to be able to go much deeper in my understanding of the standards and what they represent. I also have to have the autonomy (and the courage) to be able to pull away from "the script" and become more creative in my approach to the competencies in the standards. So, it goes back to having autonomy, mastery, and purpose in my work in order to feel confident enough to come "out of the box" and meet the needs of all of my students - including my higher students (Thanks, Daniel Pink!).

I am challenging myself and my teachers to re-think the way that we educate for the future. We are looking into blended approaches and more digital entry points for our students. It is scary to think about teaching reaching to children in a different way than we are used to. Blended classrooms do not look like traditional classrooms. But if we are standing on the floor and reaching up, rather than always hitting the ceiling, we have to take the risk. Our students have unlimited access to technology outside of school and the options are changing daily. When we think about the skills that our students will need in their futures - collaboration skills, the ability to access information quickly, being able to adapt to change, and communication skills - these are all embedded in a blended learning approach. Are we actually holding our students back because we are not comfortable with different approaches as adults?

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As we move forward and change the way we think about what school should look like, we are in brand new territory. This takes courage, vision, and confidence - it may not work on our first attempt. But aren't we trying to teach our children those same things? Ralph Waldo Emerson said that a mind, once stretched by a new idea, can never return to its original dimensions. This is exactly what a turnaround school needs more of.