Let's Get Serious! Together, we can ALL profit from our diversity Stevan J. Kukic, PhD VP,...

Let's Get Serious! Together, we can ALL

profit from our diversity

Stevan J. Kukic, PhDVP, Strategic Sales Initiatives

Cambium Learning/Voyagerstevan.kukic@voyagerlearning.com

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We talk and talk and commiserate and talk and, often,

take no sustainable action to solve our diversity problems.

The Problem

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Beyond his worries about intervention, Seward had little faith in the efficacy of proclamations that he considered nothing more than paper without the muscle of the advancing Union Army to enforce them.

“The public mind seizes quickly upon theoretical schemes for relief,” he pointedly told Frances, who had long yearned for a presidential proclamation against slavery, “but is slow in the adoption of the practical means necessary to give them effect.”

Goodwin, 2005

As Albert Einstein said:

“The significant problems we face

cannot be solved by the same level of

thinking that created them.”

Circle of Concern

Circle of Influence

We are all caught up in an

inescapable web of

mutuality.Martin Luther King, Jr.

And now for something completely different!

A major economic “reset”Barely civil politicsStimulus money from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

A new preK – 12 Comprehensive Literacy Act – The LEARN Act

Reauthorizations of ESEA and IDEA

Pres. Obama’s Five Pillars of Educational ReformMarch 10, 2009

Investing in early childhood initiativesAdopting world class standards in

every stateRecruiting, preparing, and rewarding

outstanding teachers while getting rid of teachers who do not get results

Promoting innovation and excellence Providing quality higher education for

every American

Stimulus Money

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The stimulus money, in the absence of an appropriate whole system reform conception, will fail.

There is already evidence that states will find ways to use stimulus money to alleviate budget cuts in other areas, and even if the money is spent on intended strategies, these strategies themselves are incomplete, partial remedies.

Fullan, 2010

The Comprehensive Literacy Bill: The LEARN Act

Maintaining the research based principles of Reading First

Literacy basis of ESEA Reauthorization

Using RtI (Multi Tier System of Supports – MTSS)

Defining Evidence Based Practice

From a coalition led by the Alliance for Excellent Education to Rep. Polis (D-CO) to the Congress

MTSS in the LEARN Act

MULTI-TIER SYSTEM OF SUPPORTSThe term ‘‘multi-tier system of supports’’ means a comprehensive system of differentiated supports that includes evidence-based instruction, universal screening, progress monitoring, formative assessment, and research-based interventions matched to student needs, and educational decision making using student outcome data.

Evidence Based Practice Definition

The term “evidence based” means those practices,

instruction, interventions that have independent validation that they will produce gains in student outcomes when

used with fidelity.

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The Reauthorizations are coming! Soon!ESEA

Change name (to Every Child a Graduate)RtI

Growth model

Inclusion of ALL (NAEP limits on exclusion of EL & SWD)

Sub group to student group

Eliminate 2% rule (Harkin, 5/5/09)

Common standards

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US Department of Ed on ESEA:A Blueprint for Reform-Priorities

College and Career Ready Students-raising standards for all students, better assessments, a complete education

Great Teachers and Leaders in Every School-effective teachers and principals, our best teachers and leaders where they are needed most, strengthening teacher and leader preparation and recruitment

Equity and Opportunity for All Students-rigorous and fair accountability for all levels, meeting the needs of diverse learners, greater equity

Raise the Bar and Reward Excellence-fostering a race to the top, supporting effective public school choice, promoting a culture of college readiness and success

Promote Innovation and Continuous Improvement-fostering innovation and accelerating success, supporting, recognizing, and rewarding local innovations, supporting student success

The Reauthorizations are coming! Soon!

IDEA

One law?

MTSS (RtI) for all

LD in the law

Students with Disabilities in accountability

Maintain stimulus level of funding (Harkin, 5/5/09)

It’s much easier to ride the horse in the direction it’s going.

Gabie Frazier 2009

Improving Education in the United States

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In 1980, the United States had one of the most accomplished public education systems in the world. Over the past 30 years, it has slipped while other countries have steadily passed it. All this while quadrupling its education expenditure.

How fascinating!

Fullan, 2010

NAEP Reading & Math (age 9) scores and cumulative textbook spending

200

210

220

230

240

250

260

270

280

290

300

1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 1999 2000 2002

$40 Bn

$16 Bn

$24 Bn

$32 BnCumulative Textbook Sales

NAEP Math

NAEP Reading

How U.S. Schools Stack Up

1. FINLAND 1872. SOUTH KOREA 2043. NEW ZEALAND 1944. AUSTRALIA 1985. JAPAN 2106. GERMANY 1937. CZECH REPUBLIC 1948. U.S. 180

Rank Country Days in School

Rank based on reading, science, and math scores Intelligence Report, Parade.com, 2009

On a national basis, 68% of 4th grade students are below proficient in reading performance. The problem is more acute with English Learners, Special Education and economically disadvantaged students – where between 8 to 9 out of 10 students perform below grade level. These three important sub-groups account for over 40% of all students

A one-standard deviation increase in educational achievement is estimated to increase GDP by two percent 1

Nationally, only 7 in 10 students are successfully graduating from high school 2

As You Know….

1 Education Quality and Economic Growth, The World Bank

2 EPE Research Center, 2008

The Early CatastropheExtrapolated to the first four years of life, the average child in a professional family would have accumulated 560,000 more instances of encouraging feedback than discouraging feedback, and an average child in a working-class family would have accumulated 100,000 more encouragements than discouragements. But an average child in a welfare family would have accumulated 125,000 more instances of prohibitions than encouragements. By the age of 4, the average child in a welfare family might have had 144,000 fewer  encouragements and 84,000 more  discouragements of his or her behavior than the average child in a working-class family. Hart & Risley, 2003

The Racial Achievement Gap

On average, black and Latino students are roughly two to three years of learning behind white students of the same age. The racial gap exists regardless of how it is measured, including both achievement (e.g., test score) and attainment (e.g., graduation rate) measures.

McKinsey & Co., 2009

All things being equal, a low-income student in the United States is far less likely to do well in school than a low-income student in Finland.

McKinsey & Co., 2009

The educational achievement gaps in the United States have created the equivalent of a permanent, deep recession in terms of the gap between actual and potential output in the economy.

McKinsey & Co., 2009

What can we do?

Let’s get serious!

Pausch, 2008

It’s about how you live your life.

Trustworthiness

Be Do

Character

•Integrity

•Maturity

•Abundance Mentality

Competence

•Technical

•Conceptual

•Interdependency

1993 Covey Leadership Center, Inc.

The Heart, Art, and Science of Teaching

One must first have the heart for teaching. One can then learn the science and the art of teaching.

Confidential

Dea Allan, 2010

We can, whenever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.

Ron Edmonds, 1982 in DuFour et al., 2004

THE Conundrum of American Public Education

Science without Passion is uninspiring.

Passion without Science is self centered.

Science with passion is THE key to student success!

Kukic, 2008

Conquering the Conundrum

Rosa Parks

Change is good.

You go first!Judy Elliott, 2004

The only person who likes

change is a wet baby.

Always do right (things right).

This will gratify some people

and astonish the rest.

Mark Twain and Stephen Covey

Mindset

Fixedv.

GrowthDweck, 2007

The fixed mindset limits achievement. It fills people’s minds with interfering thoughts, it makes effort disagreeable, and it leads to inferior learning strategies. What’s more, it makes other people into judges instead of allies.

Dweck, 2006

On the first day of class, she approached Freddie, a left-back second grader, who wanted no part of school. “Come on, peach,” she said to him, cupping his face in her hands, “we have work to do. You can’t just sit in a seat and grow smart…I promise, you are going to do, and you are going to produce. I am not going to let you fail.”

Dweck, 2006

Marva Collins: She defined the growth mindset!

My success and..education can be companions that no misfortune can

depress, no crime can destroy, and no enemy can alienate. Without education, (one) is a slave…Time and chance come

to us all. I can be either hesitant or courageous. I can...stand up and shout:

School CreedWest Side Prep

Marva Collins, Founder 1987

“This is my time and my place. I will accept the challenge.”

Four critical questions to prove you are a PLC

1. What is it we want all students to learn—by grade level, by course, and by unit of instruction?

2. How will we know when each student has acquired the intended knowledge and skills?

3. How will we respond when students experience initial difficulty so that we can improve upon current levels of learning?

4. How will we respond when students learn quickly so we can improve their current levels of learning?

DuFour, et al., 2004

Important achievements require a clear focus, all-out effort, and a bottomless trunk full of strategies. Plus allies in learning. This is what the growth mindset gives people, and that’s why it helps their abilities grow and bear fruit.

Dweck, 2006

It is the language of the educated, the language of the ruling and decision-making class. Those who master this language can influence others and are the least susceptible to being manipulated by those who wield language for unwholesome purposes.

Delpit, 1995

Dominant Discourse

I Have a Dream

…We have come to this hallowed spot to remind America

of the fierce urgency of NOW…

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.August 28, 1963

I Have a Dream

…We have no time for the

tranquilizing drug of gradualism…

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.August 28, 1963

Desegregation will break down the legal Desegregation will break down the legal barriers and bring men together physically, barriers and bring men together physically, but something must touch the hearts and souls but something must touch the hearts and souls of men so that they will come together of men so that they will come together spiritually because it is natural and right…spiritually because it is natural and right…True integration will be achieved by true True integration will be achieved by true neighbors who are willingly obedient to neighbors who are willingly obedient to unenforceable obligations.unenforceable obligations.

Dr. Martin Luther King

The Standard

All policies, programs, and practices are considered through the lens of “How does this impact student learning?” Those that encourage learning are embraced.Those that interfere with learning are discarded.

DuFour, et al., 2004

If it works, don’t break it.

If it doesn’t work, break the sucker!

Kukic, 1993

Covey, 2004

We can, whenever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.

Ron Edmonds, 1982 in DuFour et al., 2004

The Truth

Every organization is perfectly aligned for the results it gets.

SEE

DOGET

What can we do?

Let’s get serious!

A successful school, like successful business is a cohesive community of shared values, beliefs, rituals and ceremonies.

The community celebrates it’s saga by telling the stories of heroes and heroines who embody the core values of the community.

Human bonds are forged to release a powerful synergy of shared responsibility.

All members are involved as the adversarial mentality is supplanted by a spirit of cooperation and mutual commitment.

Brendtro, et al, 1990

Brendtro, et al, 1990

What we need to develop is aSustainable and Coherent

System of Services that results in improved student achievement

That’s all…

In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice.

In practice, there is. Yogi Berra

The problem:

Building the plane while it’s flying.

We must tackle all aspects of

reform at the same time.

Alberto CarvalhoSuperintendent-Miami Dade, 2010

Systems trump programs.

McCarthy, 2002

Fullan has shown that real change is possible but only by taking a truly systematic

approach.

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Senge in Fullan, 2010

Five PromisesThe America’s Promise Alliance

1. Caring adults who are actively involved as parents, teachers, mentors, coaches, and neighbors

2. Safe places that offer constructive use of time

3. A healthy start and healthy development

4. Effective education that builds marketable skills5. Opportunities to help others by making a

difference through service

Balfanz, et al., 2009

Components of a Comprehensive System to Ensure Success

School Achievement Academic skills (developing core reading, writing, and

mathematics skills) Course performance (doing quality course work, competing

assignments, doing well on tests, etc.)

School Engagement Attendance (coming every day) Behavior (conforming to the expected norms of behavior) Effort (trying hard, participating in learning, not giving up)

Life outside of school Health supports for students and their families Child Care Homelessness Foster care

Balfanz, et al., 2009

Cultural Shifts for Developing the Culture of a Professional Learning Community

1. From a focus on teaching to a focus on learning2. From working in isolation to working collaboratively3. From focusing on activities to focusing on results4. From fixed time to flexible time5. From average learning to individual learning6. From punitive to positive7. From “teacher tell/student listen” to “teacher

coaching/student practice”8. From recognizing the elite to creating opportunity

for many winners

DuFour, et al., 2004

Marzano and Waters, 2009

Nonnegotiable Goals

For Achievement

Nonnegotiable Goals

For Instruction

Collaborative Goal Setting

Board Alignment

Allocation of Resources

Relationship between collaborative goal setting, board alignment, allocation of resources, and nonnegotiable goals for achievement and instruction

The culture of PLC is embraced, expected, and supported at the school and district level as operationalized by the MTSS innovation

configuration MATRIX.  

District level standard protocols; in the areas of academic and behavior assessment, curriculum, intervention, instruction, and operations; are

established, implemented and supported with fidelity.  

The focus of Professional Development is expecting and supporting fidelity of implementation.

Results-driven leadership is expected and supported.

Wichita Public SchoolsDistrict-Level Non-Negotiables

The System

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Big Ideas for Whole-System Reform

1.All children can learn2.A small number of key priorities3.Resolute leadership/stay on message4.Collective capacity5.Strategies with precision6.Intelligent accountability7.All means all

Fullan, 2010

Elements of a Successful Reform

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1. A small number of ambitious goals2. A guiding coalition at the top3. High standards and expectations4. Collective capacity building with a focus on

instruction5. Individual capacity building linked to instruction6. Mobilizing the data as a strategy for improvement7. Intervention in a nonpunitive manner8. Being vigilant about “distractors”9. Being transparent, relentless, and increasingly

challengingFullan, 2010

An Example!

Long Beach Unified School

District, CA

(LBUSD)

Carl Cohn became superintendent in 1992.

Cohn worked on bringing things together centrally with respect to vision, high expectations, and standards.

Cohn made instruction the main focus.

In LBUSD, building the district’s capacity for data driven decision making was a key component in designing interventions and support systems that achieved results.

Between 1999 and 2002, the number of fifth graders reading at grade level increased from 6.7% to 53.5%.

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Fullan, 2010

Factors That Seem to Influence Sustainability of High-quality Implementation

Teachers’ acceptance and commitment to the program; the presence of a strong school site facilitator to support them as the teachers acquired proficiency in its execution

Unambiguous buy-in on the part of all staff at the school; empower teachers to take ownership and responsibility for the process of school change; schools or districts must agree to follow procedures designed to ensure high-fidelity implementation and agree to collect data on implementation and student outcomes.

Feelings of professionalism and self-determination among teachers; teachers are provided with professional development (training, in-class coaching, and prompt feedback) that leads to proficiency.

Programs are perceived by teachers as practical, useful, and beneficial to students.

Administrative support and leadership; instructional practice is valued by the school leaders; administration provides long-term support for professional development to teachers and assessment of implementation and student performance.

Denton, Vaughn & Fletcher, 2003

PLC Essential Characteristics

Focus on Learning & Collaborative Culture

Focus on Results

Action Experimentation

Collective Inquiry

RTI Fundamental Elements

Collective Responsibility

Universal Screening & Progress Monitoring

Systematic Intervention & Decision Protocols

Research-Based Core Program & Interventions

Buffum, et al., 2009

• More intense supplemental targeted skill interventions• Customized interventions• Frequent progress monitoring to guide intervention design

Kansas Multi-Tier System of Support: MTSS

• Student centered planning

• Customized function-based interventions• Frequent progress monitoring to guide intervention design

AcademicsAcademicsBehaviorBehavior

KSDE, 2007

• All students• Evidence-based core curriculum & instruction• Assessment system and data-based decision making

• All students, All settings

• Positive behavioral expectations explicitly taught and reinforced• Consistent approach to discipline• Assessment system and data-based decision making

• Supplemental targeted function-based interventions• Small groups or individual support• Frequent progress monitoring to guide intervention design

• Supplemental targeted skill interventions • Small groups• Frequent progress monitoring to guide intervention

design

Kansas MTSS Service Delivery Model;

www.kansasmtss.org

Tier I

Access to the general education (standards-based) curriculum for All studentsHigh-quality, differentiated instruction

School-wide and classroom positive behavior supports and expectations to include effective classroom management

Universal screening/Benchmarking and progress monitoring

Tier II

Access to general education curriculumAdditional individualize/small-group interventionTargeted behavior supports for students at risk

Progress monitoring

Tier IIIAccess

To general education curriculum

Additional intensive, focused Interventions

Intensive behavior intervention for individual studentsProgress monitoring

Collaborative problem-solving

Data based decision making

Ongoing professional developmentParent communication

Clark County Response to Instruction Framework (Academic

and Behavior)

•High Quality Instruction•Differentiated Instruction

•Universal Screener•Progress Monitoring•State and District Assessments provide global indicators of instructional efficacy

•Research-based Intervention•Progress Monitoring

Adapted from Deshler & Johnson (2009)

Clark County Integrated Model of RTI

for Continuous School Improvement

•Access to general curriculum•Progress monitoring

Assessment and

Accountability

Continuous School Improvement

TIER 1 STANDARDS BASED CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION/LEARNING

All students participate in instruction that is:-In the general education classroom

-Standards-based -Differentiated

- Evidenced-based •Guided by progress monitoring & balanced assessment

-Planned to address all developmental domains (academic, communication/language, social etc.)

TIER 2: NEEDS BASED INSTRUCTION/LEARNING:STANDARD INTERVENTION PROTOCOLS

Targeted students participate in instruction that:-Is different from Tier 1

-Uses established intervention protocols -Provides enhanced opportunities for extended learning

-Uses flexible, small groups-Includes more frequent progress monitoring

-Addresses needs in all developmental domains (academic,communication/language, social etc.)

TIER 3: SST DRIVEN INSTRUCTION/LEARNINGTargeted students participate in:

-Individual assessment-Tailored interventions to

respond to their needs-Frequent formative assessments

-Consideration for specially designed instruction only when data indicates a need (e.g. gifted or

special education services)

TIER 4SPECIALLY DESIGNED

INSTRUCTION/LEARNINGTargeted students participate in:

-Specialized programs -Adapted content, methodology,

or instructional delivery-GPS access/extension

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT PYRAMID OF INTERVENTIONS

Georgia Department of Education

Offices of Curriculum and Instruction and Teacher/Student Support

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Tiers I and II  Interventions are facilitated in the general education environment by grade level and department teams.  Documentation from each tier is utilized to make decisions regarding interventions and movement between tiers.

Tier III  Interventions and services are facilitated by the Student Support Team (SST). The SST Chairperson ensures the process is followed and team decisions are made according to the outcome of data, indicating student progress.

Tier IV  Interventions and services are facilitated through specialized programs or instructional delivery models such as the Program for Exceptional Children, English Language Learners, or Gifted Instruction.

Atlanta Public SchoolsResponse to Intervention Model

In effect, large-scale status-oriented summative assessments appear to be relatively ineffective in providing information that can be used to make instructional decisions regarding individual students.

We agree that a value-added or growth model should be the primary type of data used by districts and states to analyze their effectiveness.

Marzano and Waters, 2009

The research reported here [analyzing 250 studies] shows conclusively that formative assessment does improve learning.

Black and Wiliam, 1998

Four PhasesTo set and monitor nonnegotiable goals for achievement using a

formatively based, value-added system of assessment

Phase 1: Reconstitute state standards as measurement topics or reporting topics

Phase 2: Track student progress on measurement topics using teacher-designed and district-designed formative assessment

Phase 3: Provide support for individual students

Phase 4: Redesign report card

Marzano and Waters, 2009

Early Intervention Changes Reading Outcomes

Grade level corresponding to age 1 2 3 4

Rea

ding

gra

de le

vel (

GE

)

4

3

2

1

5

With research-based core but without extra instructional intervention

3.2

4.9 With research-based core but with extra instructional intervention

5.2Low risk on early screening

2.5High risk on early screening

Reading First Assessment Committee 2000, based on Torgesen data

Generic Models Another Reality

A few learn easily

Some need more support

Most will benefit from Intensive Instruction

What is your reality?

A FEW need

Intensiveinstruction

SOME need more support

NEARLY ALL work in core curriculum

Decide what is importantDecide what is important for students to know

Teach what is importantTeach what is important for students to know

Keep trackKeep track of how students are doing

Make changesMake changes according to the results you collect

The Big “BIG” Idea of RtI

Dave Tilly, Heartland AEA; 2005

The single greatest determinant of learning is not socioeconomic factors or funding levels.

It is instruction.

A bone-deep, institutional acknowledgement of this fact continues to elude us.

Schmoker, 2006

Instructional Design Questions

1.What will I do to establish and communicate learning goals, track student progress, and celebrate success?

2.What will I do to help students effectively interact with new knowledge?

3.What will I do to help students practice and deepen their understanding of new knowledge?

4.What will I do to help students generate and test hypotheses about new knowledge?

5.What will I do to engage students?

6.What will I do to establish or maintain classroom rules and procedures?

7.What will I do to recognize and acknowledge adherence and lack of adherence to classroom rules and procedures?

8.What will I do to establish and maintain effective relationships with students?

9.What will I do to communicate high expectations for all students?

10.What will I do to develop effective lessons organized into a cohesive unit?Marzano, 2007

Recommendations for ELLs

1. Screen for reading problems and monitor progress

2. Provide intensive small-group interventions

3. Provide extensive and varied vocabulary instruction

4. Develop academic English

5. Schedule regular peer-assisted learning opportunities

Gersten, et al., 2007

SWPBS is about….

http://www.pbis.org

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team

Inattention to

Results

Avoidance of Accountability

Lack of Commitment

Fear of Conflict

Absence of Trust

Lencioni, 2002

Members of Truly Cohesive Teams:

Trust one anotherEngage in unfiltered conflict around ideasCommit to decisions and plans of actionHold one another accountable for delivering

against those plansFocus on the achievement of collective

results

Lencioni, 2002

Bonding

Bonding depends upon everyone being bound to a set of shared purposes, ideas, and ideals that reflect their needs, interests, and beliefs.

Sergiovanni, 2000

We do not really see through our eyes or hear through our ears, but through our beliefs. To put our beliefs on hold is to cease to exist as ourselves for a moment—and that is not easy. It is painful as well, because it means turning yourself inside out, giving up your own sense of who you are, and being willing to see yourself in the unflattering light of another’s angry gaze. It is not easy, but it is the only way to learn what it might feel like to be someone else and the only way to start the dialogue.

Delpit, 1995

Courageous ConversationsSingleton & Linton, 2006

The fact that schools are geared primarily to serve monolingual, White, middle class and Anglo clients is never questioned. Arciniega, 1977

We must re-create the present system so that it, in turn, reshapes the possibilities for the great majority of schools. Darling-Hammond, 1997

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Three Critical Factors to Close the Achievement Gap

Passion: The level of connectedness educators to anti-racism and school transformation work

Practice: The essential and institutional actions taken to effectively educate every student to his or her full potential

Persistence: The willingness of the school system to “stick with it” despite slow results, political pressure, new ideas, and systemic inertia, or resistance to change Singleton & Linton, 2006

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Passion with Practice and Persistence

Passion is the cornerstone of anti-racist leadership. Emboldened with passion, enabled with practice, and strengthened by persistence, we can create schools in which all students achieve at higher levels, achievement gaps are narrowed, and the racial predictability and disproportionality of high and low student achievement are eliminated.

Singleton & Linton, 2006

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Four Agreements of Courageous Conversations

Stay engagedSpeak your truthExperience discomfortExpect and accept non-closure

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102

The Courageous Conversation Compass

Singleton & Linton, 2006

Moral: Believing

Emotional: Feeling

Intellectual: Thinking

Social: Doing

After a few decades of research on training, teachers, Joyce & Showers (2002) began to think of training and coaching as one continuous set of operations designed to produce actual changes in the classroom behavior of teachers. One without the other is insufficient.

Fixsen, et al., 2005

It ought to be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.

Because the innovator has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions, and lukewarm defenders among those who may do well under the new.

Machiavelli

Covey’s Four Imperatives of Great Leaders

Focus on Results+

Interpersonal Skills =

Effective Leadership

Jones, Burns, and Pirri, 2010

Roles and Skills of a Literacy Leader

There is not a single documented case of a school successfully turning around its pupil achievement trajectory in the absence of talented leadership. Similarly, we did not find a single school system which had been turned around that did not possess sustained, committed, and talented leadership.

McKinsey and Company Report, 2007

In comparing levels of decentralization in thirty-nine countries that were involved in Trends in International mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) they note that “decentralization comes at a cost of less curricular consistency among a nation’s classrooms.”

Of the thirty-nine countries they compared, the United States was the most decentralized.

Baker and LeTendre, 2005

Site-Based Management

While there are different definitions of the term, school-based management can be viewed conceptually as a formal alteration of governance structures, as a form of decentralization that identifies the individual school as the primary unit of improvement and relies on redistribution of decision making authority as the primary means through which improvements might be stimulated and sustained.

Malen, Ogawa, and Kranz, 1990

Summary of Findings Regarding Site-Based Management

There is little evidence that school-based management produces substantial of sustainable improvements in either the attitudes of administrators and teachers or the instructional components of schools…There is little evidence that school-based management improves student achievement.

Malen, Ogawa, and Kranz, 1990

Based on the McKinsey and Company Study, we believe that the ten best-performing school districts in the world, as measured by the PISA, are exemplars of the leadership responsibilities and practices reported here and in our book School Leadership That Works (Marzano et al., 2005)

Marzano and Waters, 2009

A highly effective school leader can have a dramatic influence on the overall academic achievement of

students.

Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005

Our findings clearly point to the efficacy of tight coupling regarding achievement and instruction at the district level.

Tight coupling clearly appears to hold great promise as the necessary ingredient for a district-level effect on student achievement.

Marzano and Waters, 2009

Beyond Islands of ExcellenceThe Findings

1. Districts had the courage to acknowledge poor performance and the will to seek solutions.

2. Districts put in place a systemwide approach to improving instruction—one that articulated curricular content and provided instructional supports.

3. Districts instilled visions that focused on student learning and guided instructional improvement.

4. Districts made decisions based on data, not instinct.

5. Districts adopted new approaches to professional development that involved a coherent and district-organized set of strategies to improve instruction.

6. Districts redefined leadership roles.

7. Districts committed to sustaining reform over the long haul.

Learning First Alliance, 2003

1. Ensuring collaborative goal setting

2. Establishing nonnegotiable goals for achievement and instruction

3. Creating board alignment with an support of district goals

4. Monitoring achievement and instruction goals

5. Allocating resources to support the goals for achievement and instruction

Marzano and Waters, 2009

Five District-Level Leadership Responsibilities

Our findings regarding nonnegotiable goals for achievement and nonnegotiable goals for instruction are defining features of effective district leadership in that they should be the centerpiece of a comprehensive district reform effort. Marzano and Waters, 2009

While it is true that schools are unique and must operate in such a way as to address their unique needs, it is also true that each school must operate as a functional component of a larger system. It is the larger system – the district – that establishes the common work of schools within the district, and it is that common work that becomes the “glue” holding the district together.

Marzano and Waters, 2009

Based on our findings, we assert that in a high reliability district, the right work in every school is defined (at least in part) by the district—every student will demonstrate high achievement as a result of access to high-quality instruction.

Marzano and Waters, 2009

“Ready, fire , aim” is a more fruitful sequence if we want to take a linear snapshot of an organization undergoing major reform. Ready is important; there has to be some notion of direction, but it is killing to bog down the process with vision, mission, and strategic planning before you know enough about dynamic reality. Fire is action and inquiry where skills, clarity, and learning are fostered. Aim is crystallizing new beliefs, formulating mission and vision statements, and focusing strategic planning. Vision and strategic planning come later.

Fullan, 1993

Advice for District Leaders

1. Know the Implications of Your Initiatives2. Maintain a Unified Front3. Keep the Big Ideas in the Forefront4. Use What is Known About Acceptance of

New Ideas5. Communicate With “Sticky Messages”6. Manage Personnel Transitions

Marzano and Waters, 2009

Final Recommendations to District and School-Level Leaders

Take stock of your current practices and approaches.

Benchmark your use of these practices against implementation in the best-performing school districts in the world.

Use your findings and recommendations as the foundation for your own professional development.

Marzano and Waters, 2009

Striking the right balance between district direction and school support, and superior execution of the responsibilities and practices we have presented, may be the difference between a failed system and one that delivers on the promise of opportunity and hope for all children through high-reliability education.

Marzano and Waters, 2009

Nine Key Characteristics to Develop Effective Sustainability Plans

1. Adopt a systems perspective when approaching the challenge of sustaining change.

2. Identify, early on, the critical elements of the literacy initiative that need to be sustained.

3. Begin planning for sustainability at the outset of the initiative and ensure that the implementation includes monitoring of all the critical elements.

4. Ensure that the critical elements are completely in place before the school attempts to sustain them.

Jones, Burns, and Pirri, 2010

5. Understand the obstacles to sustainability and recognize strategies that can help to overcome them.

6. Establish distributed leadership throughout the school.

7. Ensure that there is a strong organizational culture.

8. Realize the funding roles that emerge during different cycles of the change process and understand how they apply tot the literacy change initiative.

9. Inaugurate ways that the organization can maintain, extend, and adopt the changes over time.

Jones, Burns, and Pirri, 2010

Nine Key Characteristics to Develop Effective Sustainability Plans (cont.)

129

The real question is , Are we serious enough to work together in favor of the schools our future is asking for?

I have no doubt that the young people are.

Senge in Fullan, 2010

To know and not do is really not to know.

Covey, 2002

Making All Systems Go

131

1. Resolute Leadership2. Intelligent Accountability3. Collective Capacity4. Individual Capacity5. Moral purpose/High Expectations

These five components represent a complex resource, one that compounds and multiplies its effect through interrelated use.

Fullan, 2010

132

Stop doing the wrong things: They are wasteful

distractors.

Limit the number of core initiatives.

Fullan, 2010

What we know v. What we do

The five basic components of early reading v. constructivist ideology for all students

Making decisions based on data v. making decisions based on tradition

Evidence based and responsive teacher certification v. academic freedom

Diagnosing for special education using Response to Intervention v. IQ/Achievement discrepancy

Confidential

The student achievement gap can be solved only when the adult gap between

what we know and what we do is reduced to zero.

We can do this.

It is a matter of will, not skill.

Kukic, 2009

Bold Action to Get Serious Results

Commit together to data based decision making 100% of the time. No more ideologically based decisions.

Establish district level nonnegotiables related to assessment, curriculum, intervention, instruction, & positive behavior supports.

Commit to using curriculum, interventions, technology, services that have external validation that they work with target students.

Never purchase materials primarily because of the amount of free stuff your system gets.

Implement all curricula and interventions with fidelity.

Implement a replacement core for students who continue to achieve below the 30th percentile.

Build and sustain a Multi Tier System of Support focused on improved performance for all.

What can we do?

Let’s get serious!

The culture of PLC is embraced, expected, and supported at the school and district level as operationalized by the MTSS innovation

configuration MATRIX.  

District level standard protocols; in the areas of academic and behavior assessment, curriculum, intervention, instruction, and operations; are

established, implemented and supported with fidelity.  

The focus of Professional Development is expecting and supporting fidelity of implementation.

Results-driven leadership is expected and supported.

Wichita Public SchoolsDistrict-Level Non-Negotiables

What are your non negotiables?

Live with intention.Walk to the edge.Listen hard.Practice wellness.Play with abandon.Laugh.Choose with no regret.Appreciate your friends.Continue to learn.Do what you love.Live as if this is all there is.Mary Anne Radmacher, 2008

WONDERBy Natalie Merchant 

 Doctors have come from distant cities just to see me. Stand over my bed, disbelieving what

they’re seeing.

They say I must be one of the wonders, God’s own creation. And as far as they see, they can offer no

explanation. 

Newspapers ask intimate questions, my confessions. Reach into my head to steal the

glory of my story. They say I must be one of the wonders, God’s own creation. And as far as they see, they can offer no

explanation.

 I believe fate smiled and destiny laughed as she came to my cradle, “Know this child will be able.”

Laughed, as my body she lifted, “Know this child will be gifted.

“With love, and patience, and with faith, she’ll make her way. She’ll make her way.”

 People see me, I’m a challenge to your balance. I’m over your heads. I…I confound you and astound you to know I must be one of

the wonders, God’s own creation. And as far as you see, you can offer me no explanation.

I believe fate smiled and destiny laughed, as she came to my cradle, “Know this child will be able.”

Laughed, as she came to my mother, “Know this child will not suffer.”

Laughed, as my body she lifted, “Know this child will be gifted.”

“With love, with patience, and with faith, she’ll make her way. She’ll make her way. She’ll make

her way.”

Go for it!