School Leader

Innovation is the answer

We do a lot of discussion in my education administration classes.  The discussions are often animated and cover the widest possible range of topics related to improving schools.  We usually work over the problems pretty thoroughly, but often come up short in identifying good solutions.  Inevitably, students like to know what I think the "answer" is.

As you know if you've been in my classes, I usually have a whole host of ideas, and while I am pretty confident about a handful of strategies that I think are must-do's for schools, in general I'm fairly skeptical of most mega-policy approaches to solving big educational problems.  Which isn't to say there aren't some great ideas out there.  I just don't think you can simply graft new initiatives onto what schools are currently doing and duplicate someone else's good results.  I especially think this is true when the federal government - and to a lesser extent, state governments - try to foist good strategies onto classroom level instructional practice by policy mandate.

In a recent piece for the Atlantic, Rick Hess of the American Enterprise Institute provides an excellent explanation why this is so.  Hess challenges the notion that America has so much to learn from schools in Finland and other high performing countries, not because America is doing just fine or because those countries aren't actually doing well, but because whatever good is happening there couldn't be universally and effectively implemented for a nation of 300 million people:

America is a really big country. By population, it's the third largest in the world, and it boasts the most racially and culturally diverse society in history. This is a huge impediment for those who dream of mimicking national policies suited to tiny islands of homogeneity, like Finland. However, this makes the U.S. capable of embracing and supporting many models of teaching and schooling, with each still able to reach critical mass.

In fact, Hess sees in the American system of federalism and the vibrant entreprenuerial sector countless opportunities to innovate and learn new strategies of education, but only if we celebrate and embrace the fact that 50 different states can do their own thing and that educational choices bring a host of exciting new ideas.  In these respects, Hess argues, America enjoys a "unique competitive advantage:"

American K-12 schooling is a hotbed of dynamic problem-solving on this front. Non-profits like Teach For America, Florida Virtual School, The New Teacher Project, Carpe Diem, and Citizen Schools are showing new ways to recruit and utilize educators. For-profits like Wireless Generation, Tutor.com, Pearson, Discovery, and Rosetta Stone are offering up a range of ways to harness new tools and technology to support teaching and learning. Figuring out how to leverage these new problem-solvers is a place where our state systems, districts, and schools have fumbled badly. This is an area where would-be reformers have devoted far too little attention. Meanwhile, not only have the "best" performing nations not done any better on this count, but the schemes promoted by those covetously eyeing Finland inevitably entail oodles of regulations and rule-writing calculated to stifle such providers.

I don't want to suggest that I don't believe there are absolute best bets when it comes to teaching and instructional leadership.  But I've witnessed firsthand the fruitlessness of simply mandating such practices from the top down.  This is enough to convince me that Hess is largely right about educational policy.  We need to promote more innovation in education, and innovation is only born in environments of maximum choice and freedom.  And that's an environment that America knows well - or should.

The Trouble with (and Promise for) Assistant Principals

I've come to believe that the role of the assistant principal is an oft-neglected aspect of educational administration preparation.  I don't know the statistics on the number of people who pass through the assistant principalship before assuming the role of principal, but I suspect the percentage is quite high, especially for people at the secondary level.  Assistant principals play a key role in shaping the day-to-day operations and culture of schools, and the function of the AP plays an even bigger role in shaping the leadership philosophy of aspiring principals.  For this reason, as a discipline we ought to spend more time studying what assistant principals do, helping aspiring administrators prepare for this role, and supporting principals and district leaders do a better job shepherding AP's who want to eventually become principals.

A 2010 research study in Teachers College Record by Denise E. Armstrong sheds light on how assistant principals experience the transition from teaching to administration.  Her findings are troubling.  Using a conceptual framework of "rites of passage" from anthropology, Armstrong found that assistant principals in her study faced ostracism from teachers, high-pressure duties and responsibilities with minimal direction and oversight from principals, and an inability to share their fears and concerns as they learned their new roles.

Poor induction practices, a lack of training and explicit working terms, and downloading from the school district left the new vice-principals open to multiple demands and contributed to a Sisyphean workload. During their first year, the vice-principals were also tested with serious issues such as violent conflicts, bomb threats, drugs, and suicidal students. The unpredictability of these events, the responsibility to make decisions in high-risk situations, and the pervasive fear that they would fail to protect others exacerbated the feelings of vulnerability that normally accompany transitions...However, in spite of these physical dangers, both male and female vice-principals felt inhibited in expressing their fears because administrative rites of passage prohibited demonstrations of “weakness.”

In short, many assistant principals face a transition into administration that is often grueling and lonely.

 

If there is any good news in Armstrong's study, it is that by their third year most of the assistant principals had settled into their new jobs, becoming more confident of their abilities, mastering many new skills and experiencing higher levels of job satisfication.  But there was also a price: many of the assistant principals reported that their expectations of what leadership would be like had been significantly lowered, especially their hope that they would be better able to serve students by entering an administrative role.

 

 This is a sad commentary on school leadership from multiple perspectives.

 

Armstrong's study stresses that education administration programs don't adequately prepare aspiring leaders for the role of assistant principal.  This is undoubtedly true, and something we should take steps to address.  But the bigger failing seems to be on the part of principals (and their superintendents) who allow their assistants to experience such a disappointing transition to leadership. 

 

Perhaps it's viewed as a kind of necessary hazing ritual.  A kind of defacto philosophy of, "We all had to go through it, so you have to do it too," on the part of experienced administrators seems to be partly to blame.  But the bigger issue is the decision to dump highly-challenging tasks on underprepared assistant principals with minimal direction or support.  Bus supervision, scheduling, facilities issues, and above all student discipline are the traditional bailiwicks of assistant principals, and while these are necessary managerial functions of school administration, principals would do well to give their assistants clearer expectations, feedback, and support.

 

Principals should also work on developing the full leadership capacities of their assistants, especially those who aspire to become principals themselves.  This means giving them some duties related to instructional leadership, change management, strategic planning, and personnel, along with providing rich feedback and emotional support.

 

There should also be better recognition of the important role assistant principals play as conduits of information between the faculty and principal.  Far too often, AP's find themselves in difficult situations trying to represent administration in decisions they may have had limited participation in making, or conveying ideas and perspectives from teachers that principals don't want to hear.  The in-between nature of the assistant principal is probably inevitable, but building open, trusting lines of communication between and among teachers and administrators could go a long way making the AP an effective conduit of information.

 

Some ambitious doctoral student should initiate a research study to examine those structures of support for assistant principals that do prepare them for visionary leadership as principals without crushing their aspirations for making a real difference in the lives of students.  Let's start building this database now: If you are currently an assistant principal or have been one in the past, email me your thoughts about this (or post in the comments section below).  What worked to help you manage your transition to leadership?  What inspired and motivated you as you learned the challenging new tasks of administration?  What structures of support do you recommend for assistant principals based on your own experiences?

 

The role of assistant principal holds great promise for helping recruit and nurture a future cadre of highly effective school leaders.  Let's work harder to support the men and women in this role and use it to build more humane work structures for administrators and more learning-centered environments for students.

 

A Mysterious Factor in Student Achievement: Hope

A 2010 study from the Journal of Research in Personality suggests that a student's level of hope may predict her academic achievement, irrespective of her general intelligence, personality traits, or previous academic success.

The study by Liz Day, Katie Hanson, John Maltby, Carmel Proctor, and Alex Wood defined hope as both an individual's determination to achieve his goals, and his belief that he can come up with successful strategies that will help him achieve the goal.  Previous research has demonstrated that a student's intelligence, various personality factors like conscientiousness, and previous academic success are reliable predictors of a student's achievement. In their study of undergraduate students in the United Kingdom, the authors were able to control for all these variables and discovered that a student's hope was a positive predictor regardless of these other traits.

It was beyond the scope of the study or its literature review to describe where hope comes from and whether it can be nurtured in students, but the findings raise serious questions for educators about our potential capacity to influence students' hopefulness and harness it to promote learning. 

Is hope an innate trait?  Do children of poverty, as one might reasonbly guess, suffer from a lack of hope?  Can hope be taught?  If so, how?  Can it be recognized and nurtered by teachers?  Future studies should explore these questions, and educators should ponder the implications for practice. 

Legislator reintroduces charter school bill; KEA president misses the point

According to a superficially-reported story from WKYT television, Representative Brad Montell of Shelbyville has pre-filed a bill (BR 117) for the 2012 Kentucky General Assembly authorizing local communities to establish public charter schools.  Democrat leaders of the House have already suggested such proposals are dead on arrival, but Rep. Montell is to be commended for his efforts at expanding school choice for more Kentucky families.

The WKYT story incorrectly reports that "charter schools are alternatives to public schools."  In fact, charter schools are public schools, but they operate with far greater autonomy than a normal public school.  Principals and teachers in charter schools typically have a lot more leeway in hiring, managing teacher labor arrangements, and overseeing budgets and curriculum.  The local school board, central office, and state department of education have far less authority in these respects than over typical public schools.

In the story, Kentucky Education Association president Sharron Oxendine says she opposes the bill:

"A similar bill proposed a couple of years ago would have allowed less qualified teachers to teach in charter schools, and those schools often close because of lack of fundng," KEA President Sharron Oxendine said. "We feel we need to fully fund public schools, and we haven't gotten conclusive evidence that charter schools would improve education in Kentucky. Why can't we find what's good in charter schools and apply it to every public school?"

Oxendine seems to miss several key points about charter schools.  She is right that many charter schools are allowed to employ teachers without regard to their particular certification areas.  This is one of the features that maximizes charter schools' flexibility.  An outstanding elementary reading teacher might be employed to work with middle school students who are struggling to meet literacy standards - an option not always available in normal public schools - for example.  Or a particularly talented chemistry teacher with some background - but no certification -  in physics might be employed to teach this hard-to-fill subject area.  Obviously, having people highly trained in their subject areas is a plus, but sometimes there are more important characteristics in a teacher than the papers in her personnel file.

And Oxendine is also right that sometimes charter schools are closed down because of lack of funding, or lack of enrollment, or otherwise poor performance.  But this also distinguishes an important point about charter schools.  Few charter school advocates suggest that just having a charter school will guarantee student success or improved performance from the public schools with which they compete.  They are not silver bullets that solve all our educational problems, and data on student achievement in charter schools is decidedly mixed.

Charter schools are just a tool to expand educational options available to parents, especially in impoverished urban and rural areas where few such options currently exist or where many parents can't afford them.  Just like public schools, charter schools will have to offer excellent curricula and outstanding instruction to get good results.  But charter schools that fail to deliver a high-quality education that satisfies parents and students will go out of business, unlike failing public schools that will just continue to suck up taxpayer money and carry on business as usual.

Which brings us to the last missed point in Oxendine's comments.  Despite the budget cuts of recent years, public funding for education has skyrocketed (as much as 30 percent) over the last three decades, while student achievement has remained mostly flat.  There is no reason to believe that throwing more money at schools as they are currently structured will make a remarkable difference in learning outcomes.

One thing Oxendine gets partly right, though, is her suggestion that we should apply what's good about charter schools to [regular] public schools.  I'm all for giving teachers and principals maximum autonomy, but also maximum accountability.  That means that when schools fail to deliver the goods, they are shut down and replaced.  And that can only happen if there are meaningful educational options available for all parents and students.

Using videotape to enhance professional practice

Learning Forward recently offered several excellent tools and articles on the practice of "video clubs," professional learning communities in which teachers share videotapes of themselves at work, and engage in reflective discussion about strengths, areas of improvement, and next steps.

The November issue of The Leading Teacher (completely online) features a story about teachers at the June Jordan School for Equity in San Francisco.  After several years of using powerful processes like peer observation, critical friends protocols, and professional learning communities, teachers at June Jordan were looking for the next step.  The article details how they started with a simple process of just sharing videos of lessons they felt were especially effective, but then developed protocols for more carefully scrutinizing their practice for growth areas and strategies for improvement.  The issue also provides some tools for teachers who may want to experiment with video clubs themselves and insights about the critical role of school leaders in fostering an environment of professional trust necessary for meaningful sharing.

An excellent complement to the resources in The Leading Teacher appears in the October issue of Learning Forward's JSD [Journal of Staff Development].  In "Pause, Rewind, Reflect," two teachers who have experienced video clubs themselves share their insights and lessons learned.  The article is available only to subscribers, but may be purchased from Learning Forward for $3 (or, if you are one of my students, just let me know and I'll share a copy).

Authors of both articles note that a key strength of using video to discuss practice is that you don't need to rely on your memory, notes, or subjective personal perceptions to establish what is really happening in your teaching.  It's right there on tape.  Of course, this also means that teachers have to be especially courageous and trusting to share this kind of evidence with others and reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of their own practices.

This approach to professional learning is closely aligned to video protocols used by teachers participating in the prestigious National Board Certified Teacher program.  The school featured in the Leading Teacher based their own approach on the NBCT practice, in fact.  Video clubs also represent a great example of the "reflective practice spiral," discussed in Reflective Practice to Improve Schools: An Action Guide for Educators, which we've talked about recently in EDAD 683.

NCLB reauthorization inches along

After U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) insisted on more public discussion, the Senate held a hearing yesterday to discussed its proposed reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (more commonly known as NCLB).  The Obama administration is unhappy that the bill softens accountability measures and linking teacher performance with student outcomes.  Republicans, including Senator Paul, are unhappy that the bill maintains such a prominent role for the federal government in education policy:

"The farther we get away from the local school board, the worse it gets," said the Kentucky senator. And he said he is "concerned that we still have a testing mandate. I don't think we fixed that."

Paul has specifically called for repealing provisions of NCLB demanding special education teachers be "highly-qualified" for the subjects they teach.  To the lay person this might sound counter-intuitive.  Shouldn't we especially want highly-qualified teachers working with our special needs students? 

The problem is the somewhat arbitrary and unrealistic way the law defines "highly-qualified" and the burdensom paperwork processes required of schools to document teachers' highly qualified status.  All of this was a well-intentioned effort to deal with the prevalance of teachers working outside their certification areas in urban and (sometimes) rural districts, but rather than create policies that address those specific districts, the law imposes a blanket regulatory mandate on all schools, even those without teacher certification problems.

It is far too soon to predict whether Paul's proposed reforms will prevail.  The U.S. House hasn't even taken up the topic of NCLB reauthorization, so the debate is likely to continue into the future.

GRREC offers SLLA preparation course

The School Leaders Licensure Assessment (SLLA), required of all aspiring school principals, will be offered in late January 2012.  To assist aspiring administrators successfully pass the SLLA, the Green River Regional Education Cooperative will offer a preparation course the weekend of January 20-21, 2012.  Dr. Michael Putnam, associate professor in WKU's Department of Educational Administration, Leadership, & Research, will co-facilitate, bringing a tested SLLA-prep program he has previously delivered in Mississippi.  Cost is $120.  The program will include the following components:

• Examination of all ISLLC Standards - 1 thru 6
• Participation in both Multiple Choice and Constructed Response Question Training
• Engagement in interactive discussions, sample questions, feedback, and reflection.
• In-depth review session of key administratiive and leadership concepts.

Click here for more information and to register.

News and Resource Roundup: Kentucky posts NCLB waiver for review; NAEP scores are in; upcoming speakers and events; spring registration now available

A roundup of recent education news and resources:

• The Kentucky Department of Education has posted its NCLB waiver application online and invites comment before November 8.  News story here.  Waiver here (scroll to bottom of page).  E-mail comments to [email protected].
• Results on the latest National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) are in.  National scores mark a very modest trend of improvement in math, mixed results in reading at 4th and 8th grades.  Gaps remain level.  Kentucky's scores remain fairly stable, with a tiny bump for 8th grade reading.  Overall, the Commonwealth scored above the national average.
• Space is still available at Eric Twadell's upcoming workshop on formative assessment and standards-based grading, which he will host in Lexington November 30-December 1.  Click here for more details.  Speaking of standards-based grading, the November issue of Educational Leadership focuses on effective grading practices.
• WKU's Mary Hensley Lecture Series will host Rafe Esquith, National Teacher of the Year and author of Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire, next Tuesday evening, November 8, at 7 p.m. in Van Meter Auditorium.  More details here.

On a final note, registration for spring courses in WKU's Educational Administration program is now open.  I'll be teaching EDAD 590, Administration of School Personnel, on the weekends in Bowling Green; EDAD 684, Instructional Leadership, Monday nights in Elizabethtown; and EDAD 696, Advanced Organizational Theory, on the web.  EDAD 590 and 696 are Level II courses.  Hope to see many of you in class next semester.