Irreplaceables: The Real Retention Crisis

As a less seasoned school administrator, I had a leadership coach share an article and research from TNTP with me about “Irreplaceables.”  "Irreplaceables" referred to the top teachers in a school and their positive impact on students and their leadership in the school is so valuable that they are nearly impossible to replace, but too often they leave because of inattention or neglect.  On average, each year they help students learn two to three additional months’ worth of math and reading compared with the average teacher, and five to six months more compared to low-performing teachers.  Teachers of this caliber not only get outstanding academic results, but also provide a more engaging learning experience for students. For example, when placed in the classroom of an Irreplaceable secondary math teacher, students are much more likely to say that their teacher cares, does not let them give up when things get difficult and makes learning enjoyable.   "Irreplaceables" influence students for life, and their talents make them invaluable assets to their schools. The problem is, their schools don’t seem to know it. 

A school leader once said “An effective teacher is worth his/her weight in gold.  Too few people really know this.”  As we were reviewing EOC and MAP data last week, I was reminded of the importance of great teachers and how profound their impact is on students.  In a week with very disappointing results from testing, there were a couple of bright spots that made us all smile at how our students performed.  One teacher had every single child in her class to meet or exceed their mid-year MAP goal of 5+ points improvement.  She had almost these same exact results in all of her classes, face-to-face and virtual.  This is despite only having 54 instructional days, with 27 of those being remote, instead of the normal 90 days in a semester.  When you hear from school after school and teacher after teacher about students scoring far below expectations and not meeting targets and some lower than ever before, how does one teacher or a couple of teaches in a school have this type of performance?……because they’re one of the “Irreplaceables!”  It doesn’t matter what challenges they might face or where their students come to them performing or what resources they might not have……they find a way to reach every student they come in contact with, they raise the bar for everyone else, and they’re the exemplar of what teachers should strive to be.  They don’t make excuses, they find a way to get results! 

I knew one of these teachers was “irreplaceable” far before she ever came to our school.  In talking with a middle school student about their favorite teacher of all time, he named her without even having to think about it.  He said she was tough and expected them to work hard every day, but she cared and tried all kinds of stuff to help him learn.  The attitude and way he perked up when he talked about the teacher let us know really quickly how much the student loved and respected the teacher.  I’ve always found it interesting that when asked about a favorite teacher, more times than not, students pick a teacher that held high expectations for them and even higher expectations for themselves in helping the student be successful.  Students don’t work for people they don’t like, but they’ll run through a brick wall for people they think care about them.  

The real retention crisis isn’t just looking at the total number of teachers that choose to leave the building each year, but the loss of truly great teachers.  Truth be told, the school probably improves when some adults choose to leave the building each year.  Statistically, schools have between a 69-73% chance of improving when an ineffective teacher leaves the building. In many cases, a beginning teacher fresh with energy and enthusiasm carries a far more positive impact on student learning than one that is negative or ineffective.  Schools only have a 8-14% chance of attaining a similar positive impact when an "irreplaceable" leaves the building.  

The article discusses ways to retain “Irreplaceables” in the school.  In most cases, simply feeling appreciated or having a principal communicate that they want them to be there is enough to keep them.  Surprisingly, money was one of the factors near the bottom of the list of why great teachers leave their school.  The adage that “people don’t leave places, they leave bosses” holds true.  One of the other top reasons they leave schools is principals not holding the line on good teaching for all and holding people accountable.  Also surprisingly, most schools have similar retention rates for "Irreplaceables" and "ineffective teachers.  Most schools also do more to encourage ineffective teachers to stay than they do to encourage them to leave.  Most schools also do far too little to try to retain their most effective and "irreplaceable" teachers.  How is it possible to improve schools when this is standard practice amongst most schools.

In this pandemic year, it’s more important than ever for principals to find a way to retain their most effective teachers.  One of the best ways I’ve learned to be a good principal is hire, train, support, and retain great teachers.  It’s one of the simplest, but most effective, ways of increasing student achievement and have a great school.  If you can retain your “Irreplaceable” teachers as you help other teachers improve, you are bound to continue to improve as a school.  As a principal, you better let your “Irreplaceables” know how much you care about keeping them in your school and how profound their impact is on students before another principal lets them know how much they’d like to have them in their school.  Hold the line on good teaching for all teachers and high expectations for all students.  It doesn’t cost a dime to do either one of these to keep your “Irreplaceables.”  Listen to your "Irreplaceables" and get their input in decision-making because they always have the students' best interest at heart, not what's easiest for the adults.  One of the best ways for a principal to take care of the students in the school is by taking care of the teachers. This is especially true with your "Irreplaceables", even though they are generally the ones that ask for the least support, make the fewest complaints or requests, and are always willing to do the most to help students....they still need to feel appreciated and respected for all they do.  What great teachers have is both a mindset and skillset for greatness in teaching; an impact on student learning that is so profound that they are impossible to replace! 

   

   

Covid Debunking of the Politics of Distraction: Just Do Your Job & Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

As a former coach, two of my favorite sayings were “Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing” and "Do Your Job!" Very simple but they work.  Our focus was on the mission at hand and controlling the things that were within our control.  So, what’s the main thing in education?   Simply, student safety/well-being and teaching/learning.  If you do those two things well in a school, the probability of success are very high. 

As we started to get EOC scores back this week, many were very disheartening and exponentially lower than what we are used to.  This seems to be the consensus in almost every school I’ve talked with and especially with virtual/remote learning.  No matter the situation, it’s interesting to see the mission of the USDE hasn’t changed or varied with Covid.  The mission statement of the United States Department of Education is “Our mission is to promote student achievement and preparation for global competitiveness by fostering educational excellence and ensuring equal access.”  It’s great that public schools are doing everything they can to stay open safely and everything possible to meet the needs of students' safety and well-being, but at our core of what we do is “teaching and learning.”  Teaching requires learning, if a student doesn’t learn then we haven’t really taught. 

It’s interesting to hear the “Politics of Distractions” used as excuses or reasons for the lack of academic performance: Distraction 1: Appease the parents, Distraction 2: Fix the infrastructure, Distraction 3: Fix the students, Distraction 4: Fix the schools, Distraction 5: Fix the teachers.  These have been used interchangeably across the years.  It’s important to note that none of these have anything to do with Covid but have been used repeatedly, many times when results weren’t what was desired….ever since the inception of our educational system and especially since the increased accountability measures since NCLB and RttT.  Let's debunk the myths.  Distraction #1….we had smaller class sizes and more individualized instruction than every before.  Distraction #2….with many programs used, like SC Virtual, curricula was supposedly laid out and aligned.  Distraction #3….students aren’t the variable, the adults in the building are….and we knew our students were behind from last Spring, the question is “what were we going to do about it?”  Distraction #4….there was more federal and state money poured into education this year than probably every before in history.  Distraction #5….teachers have had professional development since before they reported to work this school year and it’s been ongoing ever since.  We really don’t have any legitimate “Politics of Distractions” when you analyze each one.  In some ways, we got each of these answered that we’ve always asked for over the years but rarely gotten....and the results were not what a supporter of these politics of distractions would've thought.   

 

The final question becomes “Where do we go from here?  How to we adjust and modify?  The final scores from this semester, the autopsy in many cases, are done and in the books.  At this point, we aren’t able to change them.  However, we do have the opportunity and responsibility to adapt and adjust going forward.  We have an obligation to adjust because what we did this past semester, in terms of teaching and learning, simply isn’t good enough and we left more kids behind than ever before.  One of the most alarming statistics is that the kids hurt the most by school shutdowns and time out of school were primarily students that were already performing significantly below grade level, minority students, and students from high-poverty/low socioeconomic situations.  For as disappointed as we were with test scores in some areas this week, there were some high achievers and some grades/subjects that did fairly well.  One of the best things was that I didn’t hear our staff make many excuses.  Instead, when we met with most teachers they had already analyzed what went well and what didn’t as well as were working on a plan to increase student achievement in the Spring.  Even thought he results weren't what we wanted, the mentality and attitude to start working immediately on a solution and as a team to improve is what I was glad to see.  That's one of the things that we control in this pandemic situation.  Tony Dungy said “You can’t always control circumstances.  However, you can always control your attitude, approach, and response.”  The great John Wooden said “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”  The positive in this is that our staff is focused on what “we” can do to get better and improve instead of lingering with excuses or wallowing in our frustration.  It all goes back to "just do your job" and “keep the main thing the main thing!”  Don’t let Covid, time restraints, schedules, learning platforms or anything else distract or take away from our focus on student achievement as we move forward this Spring.  

The Will to Win - Rediscovery of Excellence in Teaching and Learning

Many people use the cliché “The Will to Win”, where the more applicable phrase is probably “The Will to Prepare to Win”.  Preparation is key in anything you do successful in life.  Winning is often the by-product of preparation, organization, and hard work.  We know that when people have to persevere and endure, they are more vested and dedicated to doing whatever it takes to be successful.  However, sometimes it's necessary to make adjustments on the fly.  I don’t give a lot of credit or validity to some of the things I often read on Facebook or social media, but a post from a colleague on a Principals Facebook group said a lot and really hits home about what educators are doing during the pandemic to make sure their students are successful.  Below is the post: 

I’m truly blessed to see this with teachers every single day, working diligently and reinventing the way they educate to try to meet the needs of ALL students.  Education is truly a noble profession and one where professionals make a difference, not just a living.  In the pandemic and all of the changes that have had to take place in 2020, the commitment of teachers and principals to make sure their students are safe and get a quality education has never waivered.  While the K-12 educational world was primarily brick and mortar prior to the pandemic, we've rediscovered excellence in teaching and learning through virtual, online, hybrid, and other models to do whatever it takes to give ALL children the best education we possibly can.  No matter the challenges we may face, we'll reinvent or rediscover ways to reach students.  That's "The Will to Win", that's the heart of an educator!  

A Cause Beyond One's Self

While it’s been a busy couple of weeks, it’s also been an important couple of weeks.  We have been diligent at trying to make contacts with all students, both virtual and hybrid on their “remote learning” days.  We are reminded that while we put a high priority on instructional leadership and student learning, we also serve “A Cause Beyond One’s Self” in making sure that all students are “okay” and safe.  The pandemic has been stressful for everyone and we know that stress affects human behavior in ways that a non-stressful situation wouldn't.  We also know that everyone has a different capacity for handling stress and different coping mechanisms.  We’ve seen child abuse numbers plummet during the pandemic, but we know child abuse or maltreatment has not ceased.  Unfortunately, this decrease is most likely a function of reporting without schools being able to “watch out for” our students total safety and well-being on the same level as we normally would with the contact time reduction with students. 

 

Some statistics about the pandemic and it’s impact on families and children that are alarming.  Unemployment rates in the United States accelerated from 3.5% (5.7 million individuals) in the months preceding the pandemic to 4.4% (7.1 million), 14.7% (23.1 million), and 13.1% (21.0 million) in March, April, and May, respectively (Department of Labor, 2020a, 2020b, 2020c). The April 2020 unemployment rate represents the largest 1-month increase and highest rate of unemployment in the United States since 1948, when official records were first maintained (Department of Labor, 2020a).  In 2018, approximately 3.5 million children were involved in child maltreatment investigations in the United States, with nearly 700,000 children determined to be substantiated victims of maltreatment (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2020). As the majority of maltreated children are victimized by a parent (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2020), child maltreatment represents a pathological relationship occurring within the family that significantly deviates from expected and accepted child rearing standards (Cicchetti & Toth, 2005).  The numbers since March 2020 have drastically dropped from previous years. 

 

What does history tell us about child abuse and maltreatment during times of crisis in our county?  Although not equivalent with the COVID-19 global pandemic, indicators of poor economic health during prior economic crises such as the Great Depression (Elder, Nguyen, & Caspi, 1985) and the Great Recession have been associated with increased child abuse (Schneider, Waldfogel, & Brooks-Gunn, 2017; Brooks-Gunn, Schneider, & Waldfogel, 2013; Schenck-Fontaine & Gassman-Pines, 2020; Schenck-Fontaine, Gassman-Pines, Gibson-Davis, & Ananat, 2017), but this association can be complex (Millett, Lanier, & Drake, 2011). These historical data support concerns of increased child abuse during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Associations between unemployment and increased child abuse have been reported even when the national economy is relatively healthy. In a recent systematic review of prospective longitudinal studies, Conrad-Hiebner and Byram (2020) identified parental job loss as a primary factor contributing to future psychological maltreatment and physical abuse. Prenatal unemployment has additionally been linked with later child welfare involvement during the elementary school years (Baldwin, Biehal, Allgar, Cusworth, & Pickett, 2020). In a 2010 report to the U.S. Congress based on the Fourth National Incident Study of Child Abuse and Neglect, children of unemployed parents were reported to be twice as likely to experience abuse compared with children of employed parents (Sedlak et al., 2010).

 

In times like these, the well-being of children is paramount, critical, and should be a calling or passion for anyone in the educational field.  Child maltreatment is a significant public health concern associated with impairments in psychological, behavioral, and physiological functioning across the lifespan.  Every single adult employee that works in a school, in any capacity, should be dedicated to the well-being of our children.  If we are ever going to err, it should be on the side of helping students.  In every decision we make, it should be based on what’s best for students.  Without students, you wouldn’t need principals, teachers, support staff, coaches, etc.  In everything we do in education, there’s a calling and “A Cause Beyond One’s Self” that we are responsible for and privileged to be able to make. 

How We Think About The Impact of What We Do: We Know Quality When We See It

Everything we do in education is about building capacity.  We know that for systemic growth to take place, systemic limitations must be eliminated or restructured to increase efficiency and productivity while constantly increasing the human capital capacity of people within the building.  This is done by either hiring better people or making the ones you have better.  Reflection is one of the most important processes for improving effectiveness and growing our human capital capacity.  Now take all of the educational jargon out of that and what we are really talking about is “Quality”.

 

When we think about it, we all spend about 15,000 hours of our lives in school (not including education past high school) and we are taught by more than 50 different teachers and far more than a dozen administrators.  When asked to remember the best teachers/principals or the ones that had the most positive impact, we normally can only name a select few or remember only a handful of the many we had over our school years.  The vast majority of teachers and principals are erased from our memory or not encoded into long-term memory.  Why is it that some teachers and principals succeed in remaining in our memory for years or even decades, whereas others fade into oblivion or disappear after a very short period of time?  It’s not that they taught a specific subject or were all in a certain grade level.  The memories that last are of the educators that had the most significant impact on our learning and students as individuals. 

 

What is it that makes teachers great?  Todd Whitaker’s research identifies 17 things that great teachers do differently than good teachers, but he actually expanded it to 20 things in subsequent versions.  John Hattie conducted over 1500 meta-analyses that quantified 252 different teacher actions with a corresponding effect size on student learning.  North Carolina New Schools Project and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation identified 5 instructional practices that should be utilized for a Common Instructional Framework that has the most profound impact on student performance.  There’s High Impact Instruction, 10 Strategies, that have been research-based and proven to have the greatest impact on student success in relationship to teaching practices.  Marzano has countless amounts of research on the Art and Science of Teaching.  Atlantic Research Partners did an entire series on the “Power of Teaching: The Science of the Art” and broke down every part of teaching practices into subgroups and distinct factors of each part.  The research that attempts to quantify and qualify teaching practice into what makes teachers great or what the great teachers do differently is endless.

 

What I’ve learned in 20+ years of educational practice is that educators tend to overcomplicate many things.  As a coach, I knew a great player when I saw them play.  Nobody knows or needs to know Michael Jordan's 40 yard dash time or bench press or vertical, but everyone knew who was taking the last shot when the game was on the line.  When I first started as an assistant principal, I remember telling my principal that while I may not be able to completely describe or define what good teaching is, “I know it when I see it.”  This morning, my superintendent shared a book with me by John Guaspari titled “I Know It When I See It: A Modern Fable About Quality.”  Of course I didn’t even make it to lunch duty without the book to read.  The book was about quality and made some great points that we’ve always known, but we often let get cloudy in all of the research and latest educational innovations.    Guaspari (1985) said

 

I’d like to leave you with one piece of advice, he continued.  My hope is that I might be able to spare you some of the pain that we went through.  Above all, listen to what your customers are telling you about Quality.  Your customers are in a perfect position to tell you about Quality, because that's all they’re really buying.  They’re not buying a product.  They’re buying your assurances that their expectations for that product will be met.

 

The boss went on to say “Your customers may not have all the hard business facts.  They may not be aware of your specs and your standards and your inspection reports.  But just because they may not speak with a lot of precision, don’t assume that what they have to say doesn’t have a lot of value.  They may not be able to give you a precise definition of Quality, but one thing is for certain – they know it when they see it! (p. 79-80)

 

As a beginning administrator, I couldn’t give a specific definition of great teaching but I knew it when I saw it.  As a student, I knew it when I saw it.  And as a seasoned principal, I still know it when I see it.  Our teachers can't define what makes a great principal, but they know it when they see it. Don’t overcomplicate education and make things more difficult than they have to be, we all know Quality when we see it!

The Principal as Leader in a Culture of Change: The Importance of Emotional Intelligence

           We all know the role of the principal has shifted over the past two decades.  Principals were considered building level management and trained in the principles of transformational leadership.  The new norm over the past decade has shifted to the principal as the instructional leader of the school.  The past two years have shifted this again to the principal as the instructional leader of the building….in a culture of change, which has a tremendous human capital component of leadership.  Simon Sinek said that “leadership is a choice” and “leadership isn’t about authority, it’s about influence; not being in charge, but taking care of those in our charge.”  More now than ever in leadership, taking care of employees, with the patience of Job, is critical to organizational success. 

          Fullan (2001) says “My point is that the principal of the future has to be much more attuned to the big picture, and much more sophisticated at conceptual thinking, and transforming the organization through people and teams. This, too, was my conclusion when I examined successful leadership for businesses and in school system.”  While I’m always excited and love the instructional leadership component of being a principal, I realize that one of the most important things we can do as principals right now is work on our culture in the school with a focus on taking care of our teachers and staff, and our teachers/staff taking care of our kids, with administration and teachers having patience and compassion for parents/community showing signs of stress.  Goleman, Boyatzis and McKee (2002) claim that emotionally intelligent leaders and emotionally intelligent organizations are essential in complex times. 

          We took a step back and put some of our instructional plans on hold this year, or adjusted to fit the needs of the situation we are in this school year.  Last year our middle school professional development series was called “High Impact Instruction” and looked at the factors that had the most positive significant impact on student learning.  These included clear learning targets, instructional pacing, explicit teaching/questioning, data motivated instruction, cumulative daily review, classroom discourse, literacy across the curriculum, multiple exposures/differentiation, formative assessment, and reflective practice….with building collective efficacy as the foundation of all we do.  We made the decision to not add new professional development or instructional practices or book studies or anything else that might put more on our staff.  We adjusted out professional development for 2020-21 to “High Impact Instruction: In The Virtual World” to not add anything new but provide support in moving to hybrid and virtual learning this year.  Teaching online and in a hybrid model is stressful for students, teachers, parents, etc.  Our job as administrators should be to make it easier for teachers to do their job well. 

          Fullan says “sustained improvement of schools is not possible unless the whole system is moving forward”. This commitment to the social environment is precisely what the best principals will do in 2020-21 in realizing this supports and enables instructional capacity throughout the school.  People operate within systems and do what systems allow them to do.  While we will continue to build instructional capacity, it requires the right culture and mechanisms of support from both an instructional and emotional standpoint.  Many instructional leaders are heavily focused on numbers and data, instructional practices, and moving test scores…….but for significant learning to take place at a high level this school year we must focus on our teachers and students' emotional health to ensure we are taking as many things off of them as possible, providing as much support as possible, and doing everything we can to help them be able to do their jobs well!  If there's one things principals must do this school year to be successful.....it's take care of your people!  

It Doesn't Take Any Ability to Put Forth Great Effort

 

        One of the things I've always thought in any type of leadership is that it's our job to bring out the best in everyone we work with and every school/team we are blessed to be a part of.  As we were riding the other night, I was talking with my wife about the what I hoped people would say about me when I'm not on the face of this earth anymore and what I hoped I would be able to tell the Lord when it's my time.  I was reminded of Chadwick Boseman's acceptance speech when he received his most prestigious award  when he said "When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, "I used everything you gave me."  What a profound mindset and attitude!  Wouldn't it be awesome to be able to be able to honestly say that?  

        I've had the blessing to work in multiple states, at multiple schools, with several teaching staffs, to teach and coach for over a decade, and so many opportunities to have a positive impact on student's and teacher's lives.  I remember at my first school as a principal when one of the teachers asked when was going to take a break because I worked late everyday, weekends, nights, and then would do paperwork late into the night so that I could devote more time to trying to improve instruction all day at school.....my response was that I'd rest when we reach our goal and we were a school of excellence that reached ALL students and made a positive impact on the lives of ALL students.  I've always thought that people that I worked with should do the same, but I know that burned them out....to which I said they didn't have the heart and drive to be able to push past weakness and endure to the end to be successful.  When your "why" is big enough, it'll get you to a level you didn't know you could reach and drive you to be successful.  The biggest part of our job is working with people and helping them to be their best.  One of the great things about being in education is that most people come to work and want to be successful and be effective at what they do.  It's our job as leaders to help them get there and be successful.  Daniel Pink said “Management isn’t about walking around and seeing if people are in their offices,” he told me. It’s about creating conditions for people to do their best work" (Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us).

        I've always thought we were doing teachers and students an injustice if we didn't have high expectations, if we didn't believe in them and that they could do more than they every thought they could, and if we didn't believe that we could help them get there and be successful.  Our "why" is what drives our motivation.  n Simon Sinek's "Start With Why", he says “A leader's job is not to do the work for others, it's to help others figure out how to do it themselves, to get things done, and to succeed beyond what they thought possible.” My "why" has always been simply to help people, for students and athletes to be better off because I was part of their life, and for schools that I was able to be a part of to improve and to continue to improve, I want to be able to look in the mirror each day of my life and know I gave each opportunity all that I had and the best that I had to offer, that every situation was left better than I found if, and that people were better off for me having been there.  I got into education to make a difference, not just a living.  If money and pay is what you're chasing, you'll never have enough of it. No matter how much you make, you're not taking any with you.  The impact you have on the lives of others carries on long past our last breath and heartbeat.  Some of us have will be able to look back and see the positive influence and impact we've had on generations to come. One of the lessons I can remember that my dad taught me was that it didn't take any ability to put forth great effort.  He always believed in giving 110% to anything you were part of work, team, family, church, etc.   In his book "Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us", Daniel Pink said:  “Effort is one of the things that gives meaning to life. Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it. It would be an impoverished existence if you were not willing to value things and commit yourself to working toward them.” 

        We have to ask ourselves certain questions as leaders:  Are we truly committed to the cause?  Did we really give everything we had to see the team be successful?  Are people better off because of our leadership?  If we left today, did we leave it better than we found it?   Did we give every single thing, there wasn't one more single thing we could've done, to see the team be successful.  If we took days off when we didn't desperately have to, if we didn't do everything to learn how to be effective at our job, if we didn't commit every bit of time needed to be successful, if we didn't improve the performance of those around us.....did we do a disservice to our opportunity for leadership?  One point Daniel Pink made was that sometimes the things we didn't do matter even more than the things we did.  As much as some leaders try to convince people of their commitment and work ethic, everyone knows a leader's commitment and impact.  In the end, we have to look ourselves in the mirror everyday and know deep down inside if we did everything we could for the students, families, communities, teachers, and staff that were depending on us for leadership.  It doesn't take any effort to put forth great effort, only internal drive and motivation!  

Quit Making Excuses, The Results are What We Will Be Judged By!

 “John Hattie (2015) has added further confirmation to our conclusions in his report What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise. His conclusion represents a powerful endorsement of our findings: “the greatest influence on student progression in learning is having highly expert, inspired and passionate teachers and school leaders working together to maximize the effect of their teaching on all students in their care” (p. 2).”  ― Michael Fullan, Coherence: The Right Drivers in Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems

For systemic change to take place and schools to improve significantly, there must be instructional coherence across the entire organization.  People operate within systems and do what systems allow.  If we permit and allows excuses, we'll get more of them.  If we focus on results and performance with laser-like focus, we will have a far greater potential for success.  Too many schools and leaders simply make excuses for failure, but the fact remains that they failed.  Their focus should be on doing everything in their power to be successful and not letting the things they don’t control impact their performance on the things they control.  One of the first excuses for failure is far too often to blame the kids.  We don’t control which students walk through our doors each day, it’s our job to educate them to the best of our ability.  While some people in the school may not believe it, every parent sends us the best kid they have.  They don’t have a better kid locked up at home that will make straight A’s and never misbehaves, the one we get in our classrooms is the best they have to send.  We don’t control the level of proficiency or performance level they come to us on.  It’s our job to find a way to reach them and teach them, to make at least a year’s growth in a year’s time and even more if students are coming to us below grade level proficiency to help close the achievement gap.  There’s always the excuse of more resources to which we have to ask “is it truly a lack of resources or a lack of resourcefulness?”  The truth is that the best leaders and teachers find a way to be successful.  In Hattie’s Visible Learning, the top factors that impact student learning to a positive degree the very most have nothing to do with resources and everything to do with the actions and attitudes of the adults to influence student learning significantly in a positive manner. After blaming the students, the parents are often the next to be blamed.  “If we had more parent involvement?  If our parents made the kids do their work? If they produced and raised smarter kids?”  Parents generally do the best they know how to do, we must help them be able to do more to support.  In many cases, this isn’t a factor within our control without going to great lengths or exhausting extensive resources.  Wouldn’t that extensive amount of time and resources generate far greater results if they were spent on students?  You only have a limited amount of time and resources, it’s part of instructional coherence to make sure they are spent where they can yield the most positive impacts on student learning.  Principals too often place blame on the teachers.  The truth is that most teachers are doing the very best they can and it’s the job of the principal, instructional leader, to ensure all teaching and learning is effective and help to support/build capacity when needed.  Great principals hire, train, motivate and retain great teachers.  There’s the excuse of the curriculum and standards being too tough.  It seems logical and makes sense for the instruction to be rigorous if it’s supposed to prepare graduating students to be globally competitive.  Why would you want the curriculum or standards to be easy?  There’s the excuse of needing to add more technology and/or the latest instructional ideas, but the data doesn’t support this either as having a significantly positive impact on student learning.  So we’ve tried to fix the students, the parents, the teachers, the principals, the finances and resources, and the infrastructure?  After all of this blame about what needs to be fixed, we’ve yet to solve the problem and fix what we can control.  The fact remains that assigning blame never fixed a problem.  We will all be held accountable by our results; we need to spend our time and resources of doing things that will have the most significant positive impacts on student learning.  Find a way to be successful, we all have that capacity if we want it bad enough.  The research is already out there that tells us what to do and how to do it, the doing is up to us though!  It's time to stop making excuses and find a way to get results.  In the end, the results are what we will be judged by!  

  

A Hole in the Boat is a Hole in the Whole Boat

             As we embark on the 2020-21 school year, we are facing challenges we’ve never experienced before in terms of cleaning and disinfecting schools differently, social distancing, masks, and many safety precautions.  Some of the challenges, while exacerbated, aren’t so far removed from our daily educational challenges.  Instructionally there are things we need to consider in our planning and preparation.  Assigning blame never fixed a problem and facing reality is a mindset we must accept to be able to find solutions for performance.   Our reality is that students have a gap in curriculum and standards-based instruction from last school year, probably several months at the least.  When core curriculum is broken down into a scope and sequence, then a pacing guide, to unit plans, aligned with formative assessment pieces, and then to daily lesson plan units of instruction it’s done for a reason and with a given sequencing and timing that’s designed to provide every child with a year’s worth of instruction in a calendar year’s time.  When schools were closed last spring, we know our students lost instructional units.  It’s our job as educators to fill in these gaps and try to reach students where they are and move them forward.  Neglecting to fill in these missing pieces would be an instructional injustice for children.  We also know that there’s a negative impact on student achievement with summer break, which is more than double for students from poverty.  Unfortunately, this break for students was more than double the normal amount of time.  Assuming a student was at grade level proficiency, and we know more than half our students weren’t at grade level when we closed, this still means this normal summer gap increased in magnitude and negative impact on student learning.  This gap even widens for students from poverty, which are normally the students that need the most differentiation with scaffolded instruction and multiple additional levels of intervention and support. The reality that students from poverty and student of diversity experienced the most significant negative outcomes from schools shutting down, both instructionally and mentally/physiologically, is a sad and disheartening truth that we must address.  We know the achievement gap was widened even further for students that need school, and all the supports that schools provide, the most of all subgroups of the student population.  

            The pandemic has expedited our entry into integrating technology and increased the need for remote learning.  Many schools have rushed into this school year and tried to fill the instructional and technological gap with scripted programs, online and virtual scripted platforms, and boxed products in an effort to provide instruction to students virtually.  Many educational product companies should have record profits this school year as federal money and state allocations are poured into technological resources for virtual instruction.  Wouldn't it have been great to have stock in Zoom, Google, Canvas, Apple, Apex, iReady, or any of the educational technology based companies?  However, the impact on learning could actually be negative, in terms of actual versus projected growth,  without building capacity, human instructional capacity.  How do we 100% know these programs are aligned to the standards that our students will be assessed on?  How do these programs take into account rigor and relevance?  Is there a component of differentiation and personalized learning or are these a one-size-fits-all programs  for every student?  Are we using these programs as resources or stand-alone instruction?  On the surface these types of programs seem like a quick fix solution that will appease our students and parents.  Don’t misunderstand, I believe 1:1, virtual, and/or blended learning is a great thing and something that every school should do or have already done…..but as a resource for instructional facilitation to be integrated into best practice strategies that foster high student engagement.  It can also be a resource that makes classroom discourse more efficient and communication more effective with all stakeholders…..as long as it’s utilized effectively. 

           I’m a proponent of virtual and blended learning, but not stand-alone without a great teacher guiding instruction.  Technology, if  used alone without building instructional capacity with teachers to use this as an instructional resource, won’t transform education but technology in the hands of great teachers can be truly transformational.  Scripted programs of any type, that don’t address the need to truly differentiate and fill in gaps in learning like a great teacher can, do an instructional injustice for children and negate the instructional capacity of our most effective teachers to extend student growth to exponential limits.  There are some cases, at the high school level, where the differentiation is by content and can stand alone.  The K-8 standards in Reading and Math build on each other and are sequenced specifically to lead to the next level of instruction.  There’s also a transitional gap leading into high school, especially in Math instruction that is highly involved in school composite scores in most states, although the results don’t sometimes show up for years until a cohort graduates.  At the high school level, students need some of the foundational skills from an Algebra II course, that lost months of instruction, to be able to be successful in Algebra III and this leaves them with a deficit this year that would put them in a dire disadvantage if they were put into a Calculus course. Long story short, it's our job (principals and teachers) to fill these gaps and meet every student's needs.  

            In his book “Coherence: The Right Drivers in Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems” , Fullan says “John Hattie (2015) has added further confirmation to our conclusions in his report What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise. His conclusion represents a powerful endorsement of our findings: “the greatest influence on student progression in learning is having highly expert, inspired and passionate teachers and school leaders working together to maximize the effect of their teaching on all students in their care” (p. 2).”  This is completely true and exemplifies the importance of learning in organizations.  The greatest resource any school or system has is the employees (teachers, administrators, support staff, etc.) that make the most significant impact on organizational success and student achievement.  To learning organizations, building instructional capacity is a key to our success and follows a continuous cycle of improvement through human capital development.  Instructional leaders need to make the decisions of what is best for students, while ensuring that we continually build instructional capacity with our teachers to ensure we continue to grow and improve.  To attain systemic instructional coherence, leadership must “always do what’s best for the team.” This means making improving student learning a top priority and mission for the school.  Decisions must be made around what is best for students and their learning, not what's easiest for the adults in the building.  This means connecting the dots in every facet of the school so that each part complements the next part and there is a synergistic effect where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  The key to effective implementation of technology or use of online resources comes down to the people using them.  No matter what online resource, instructional program, textbook, technology, or other resources or programs are utilized, the most effective teachers will still be the most effective teachers.  If we know there are learning gaps from school closure last year, it’s our job to meet those needs.  If there is a lack of differentiation in a scripted program, it’s our job to differentiate instruction and provide what our students need to be successful.  When teachers need support and guidance in effectively implementing technology it’s the job of the principal, as the instructional leader, to help guide this process and provide the necessary support.  When part of our students are learning virtually and other are learning face-to-face, it’s our job to meet their needs and ensure our students learn at a high level.  Regardless of how we facilitate instruction, what platform is used, what programs are implemented, what mandates may come that seem to take autonomy away from great teachers……it’s our job to find a way to be successful, our students are counting on us and our future generations are counting on us to meet the learning needs of ALL students. 

            The two best ways principals can improve schools are (1) hire great teachers and (2) make the ones they have better, great principals do both.  Principals, as instructional leaders, need to remember that the most important part of continued school improvement and sustained gains in student achievement requires improving the instructional capacities of our teachers.  This is done both individually and collectively as we create a professional learning community where teachers collaboratively support each other and create a culture of collective efficacy where they believe they will positively impact learning for ALL students in the school.  We need to embrace the opportunities that we have as educators to work with children and impact future generations and create a safe, supportive, engaging, and fun learning environment.  We are lucky that students and parents choose us for their education.  Without students, they wouldn’t need teachers, principals, or schools.  It should’ve always been about students and their learning, never about what’s easiest for the adults in the building!  Let’s remember who our customers are and focus on service with gratitude in creating an engaging and fun learning environment for ALL students!  As we build instructional capacity and instructional coherence, we are all in this together and we increase the potential to increase student achievement and improve our schools as we develop human capital and improve instructional capacity.  

Prioritizing Instructional Leadership: Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing!

"Many principals say their priority is instructional leadership, but everyone in the building knows your priorities by where you spend your time and how effective you are by the impact you have on improving student learning." - McLaurin (2020) The Principal's Playbook on Instructional Leadership: 23 Things that Matter Most for Improving Student Achievement  

As we end the 2^nd week of the 2020-21 school year and enjoy a long Labor Day weekend, we are releasing a series of videos and posts on FB and the school website to help our student, parents, and community understand the shift in the way we facilitate education.  To me, this has been a fun and exciting opportunity to make a fundamental shift in instructional facilitation.  This is the fun and enjoyable part of the job in seeing everyone in the school grow professionally and work together for the singular purpose of providing the best possible education in the safest possible learning environment.  School should be somewhere teachers and students want to come; it should be where learning is both fun and engaging.  For many people, this has been a scary and stressful process, but it all depends on your mindset and perception of our reality.  I have truly enjoyed this part of the process so far and am extremely proud of how well teachers have adapted to teach students through blended and virtual learning.  We’ve called it “The Digital Era of Instructional Innovation.” This is a time where people look to instructional leadership for both innovation and support/guidance. It’s our job, as principals, to provide that instructional leadership for our schools. 

While most principals know there is a priority on instructional leadership, it is often overshadowed by school managerial demands. It is essential that school leaders learn to manage prioritizing instructional leadership as well as the managerial facets of the job. The heart of the role of the principal is student safety and teaching/learning. The main thing in every school should be student learning and instructional leaders at all levels keep that as the focus.  Instructional leadership takes a commitment, in terms of time and focus, from the principal.  Effective principals know how to ensure the managerial and operational facets of the school support the teaching and learning process and protect instructional time. Principals, as instructional leaders, should spend a minimum of 50% and target of 75% of their time devoted to improving student achievement through improving and supporting effective teaching and learning practices.  This means not just spending time on instruction, but spending time that improves instruction.  True instructional leaders put learning in the forefront and emphasize the need to prioritize learning for all.

Principals must be able to shift gears quickly and complete tasks in a compartmentalized way throughout the day, always keeping teaching and learning at the forefront. Principals need to make distinctions about what is more important and what is less important to prioritize the things that matter most to improving student achievement. Oftentimes, it is difficult to prioritize or filter through all of the fragmented situations that arise daily in making the school run effectively.  The role of the principal, as the instructional leader, is to make sure that the ship gets to the right destination, not just manage the ship to make sure it runs effectively.  Every school principal operates within the same time constraints. The most effective principals, in terms of improving student academic achievement, are instructional leaders and place instructional leadership as their top priority.

 Instructional leaders understand which practices yield the highest gains in student achievement and work for fidelity of best practice instruction across the entire school. Many principals give lip service in calling themselves instructional leaders, but everyone in the building knows what your priorities are by where you spend your time, more importantly the impact that time and effort has on improving student learning. 

“Leadership and management must coincide; leadership makes sure that the ship gets to the right place; management makes sure that the ship (crew and cargo) is well run” (Day, Harris, Hadfield, Tolley, & Beresford, 2000, pp. 38-39).

Courageous Serenity: The Digital Era of Instructional Innovation

 The first week of reopening school went really well.  It seemed like a long, short week.  It was a first in my 20+ years in education in the fact that we had two 1^st days of school.  Students and staff complied with mask requirements and we worked through all hiccups as a team.  The night before we opened school, we sent a video out to staff that we made entitled “What It’s About!”.  The video gave the answer from administration as to the “why” of all the changes we had last school year and what we are about to face.  In all that we do in education, we serve a purpose much larger than we could ever fathom.  The music in the video was from the “Courageous” soundtrack, which was fitting in what our staff and students were about to do in reopening school.  Courageous not only referred to the potential safety concerns, but also courageous in changing the way we do instruction and finding a way to reach all children. Moving into the digital age of instructional innovation is scary to many teachers and principals.  While we know technology will never replace a great teacher, technology in the hands of great teachers can be transformational and almost magical in engaging students regardless of location.  One of the things we reminded everyone of plenty is patience and support.  Teachers don’t fear change, but everyone fears change without support.  It’s important that administration supports teachers, teachers support each other, and we all support parents and students. 

  In the weeks leading up to reopening school, we focused on the things we could control in our preparation.  The Bible talks about serenity in multiple verses.  One of the first ones that come to mind is Proverbs 3:5-6 that says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”  Many times, people want to make excuses or come up with reasons for failure. Serenity tells us to focus on the things we control.  Hattie’s Visible Learning calls this often disruption in focus “The Politics of Distraction”.  We can’t lose focus of the task at hand and make excuses because failure is not an option, students and parents are counting on us to keep students safe and provide the best possible learning outcomes.  As we focus on what we control, we realize that we have the power to win in keeping students safe in school and transforming teaching and learning. 

            “The Digital Era of Instructional Innovation” began this week and I was very impressed by the work of our staff and how they’ve embraced virtual, blended, and digital learning.   This fundamental shift in how we facilitate instruction and take accountability for results is a strategic mindset.   Principals, who should be the instructional leaders of the school, should embrace this mindset and model the way for the rest of the staff.  Several years ago, as part of the NCDPI School Turnaround program, I was blessed to have worked with Eric Sheninger and get a million ideas about digital learning and especially digital leadership.  Sheninger says digital leadership and learning “takes into account recent changes such as ubiquitous connectivity, open-source technology, mobile devices, and personalization to dramatically shift how schools have been run and structured for over a century.  Leading in education becomes exponentially powerful when using technology to your advantage.”  Eric Sheninger, aka"Principal Twitter” shared his Pillars of Digital Leadership for principals that  includes the following: 

 

·         Transform school culture by initiating sustainable change

·         Use free social media tools to improve communication, enhance public relations, and create a positive brand presence 

·         Integrate digital tools into the classroom to increase student engagement and achievement

·         Facilitate professional learning and access new opportunities and resources

 

One the great things about this shift we are currently experiencing is that we determine how successful we are and determine our learning outcomes.  We know this isn’t going to be perfect on Day #1, but a school should be a learning organization that continuously grows and improves.  
            Whether you are a district office administrator, building level administrator, or teacher, the time is now to boldly move schools forward in the digital age.  We are in the middle of the storm of instructional innovation and this is a fun process in reinventing teaching and learning through virtual and blended learning, technology integration, and being connected educators.  This requires us to be courageous in being willing to embrace change and also requires serenity in focusing on the factors within our locus of control.