Cain Notes (As Named By Others)

Cain Notes were not named by me, it was an underground name that an AP said out loud one time and it stuck.

I read a lot. Not quite as much as I used to, but still much more than the typical educator. I can’t help myself, if it has words on it and I have 2 seconds, I’ll read it. When I was a teacher and an assistant principal, I assumed that everyone read at least as much as I did and I had no compelling reason to check to see if my assumption was correct.

When I became a Principal, I found out I was wrong. My first response was to suggest, beg, plead and chastise my staff into reading more. That worked a little (or at least they learned that if they nodded their heads “yes,” I would move on to the next topic). But, as I hired new staff I found out that waiting for them to catch up with the specific knowledge base of the existing staff took too long. So, I started typing up my book notes and commentary to use as a training tool. That way they would have an idea about what we were talking about until they had a chance to read the book.

ALWAYS READ THE BOOK.

As my staff got promoted and went to other schools, some of them would ask that I keep them in the Cain Note loop. Not a problem.

When I began working with struggling schools across the State of Texas, I dusted off the Cain Notes. When a particular book was a good fit for the problems that a campus was facing, I’d leave the notes, to prime the pump for a campus-wide book study. Some principals didn’t care, some found the notes useful.

Now I am posting the notes on the Lead Your School consulting website, just in case other school leaders might find the notes useful. I’ll put a 1 to 3 up each month. Here is all that I ask:

READ THE BOOK.

1. The notes are based on what I think is important from the book. They are not a replacement for the book.


2. Let me know what you think. Did you like the book? Were the notes helpful? Was I on the track or did I miss the boat?

Currently, I have notes for the following books posted:

• Corp Business, by David H. Freedman
• Made to Stick, by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
• Environments for Learning, by Eric Jensen
• Who Moved My Cheese, by Spencer Johnson, M.D.

You can get to the notes by clicking on the following link, www.leadyourschool.com/Cain_Notes.html

Or, on the left side of this page, click on “Sean’s Book Notes.”

Did I mention, that you should read the book?

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (Brezina's Rule Commentary)

In response to the post, "Brezina's Rule Commentary," a reader writes:

“I have to agree that master scheduling is a tremendous challenge for administrators to whom the fickle finger of fate points to. Either it ends up being at the mercy of computerized programs that may not be able to facilitate the kind of differentiated groupings needed to focus instruction in a practical and successful manner or it falls to less data-driven decisions and a matter of how can we get through the next school year with the fewest possible complaints.

I believe this points to a lack of vision of "what is in the best interest of the student." I remember my mentor warning me about district policy on this matter, who said, "If it makes sense, we can't do it. If we have enough people who think it will work, it will cost too much."

What is the cost of not doing what is truly in the best interest of the student? If we have a shared vision and keep the data in front of us to best identify learning needs and not just graduation needs, then I believe the process becomes profitable in the eyes of the community who might just support a greater cost for a greater outcome.

As a farmer once told me, "If I plant a kernel of corn, I don't expect to get back only a kernel of corn; I am going to get several ears."

Let those with "ears to hear, hear!"

SC Response
I do not disagree with your points, but the key is to get out of the advisor mode and get into the “do’er” mode. Specifically, I refer to the comments of your mentor and the idea that the community will support greater costs.

When I am in the advisor mode, I come to you with a new idea. I present the idea to you. I hope that you will like it and I hope that you will pay for it. Unfortunately, new ideas are generally scary and expensive, so the easy answer is, “No.” As an advisor, I accept that answer and go on to find the next hurdle that fate throws in my path. Because after all, as an advisor, I am really just a smart, decently compensated, random victim of fate.

We all begin our careers in this manner. Does any first year teacher actually control anything? Did you? The problem is, the system does such a good job of training us to be sheep (who are the consummate victims of fate – “grass good, wolf bad, what’s that”), that when we have the opportunity to break out of that role, we don’t know how.

When I am in the “do’er” mode, I am looking for new ideas and I am looking for ways to implement those ideas that do not require a district patron. Self discovery and self reliance becomes my mantra. So you ask, “how do I do that?”

I won’t bore you with the self discovery aspect of the equation. If you read this blog it means that you are already asking questions and looking for answers in multiple venues. It is the self reliance aspect, which as educators, trips us up. I’ll give you four quick examples on how to become more self-reliant, there are many more.

1. Sweat equity. As a teacher, you have your own labor and the labor of your students. As a department chair, you have the labor of your department. As an AP, you have the labor of your team. As a Principal, you have the labor of your campus. With sweat equity, you can stretch out dollars (materials are generally cheaper than labor) and/or put the people in charge of the money in a position to want to help you (either through generosity of guilt).

2. Find a rich patron. I have a friend who was the principal at a tough urban high school. He had one person on his fund raising list. Fortunately, this person was the head of a very old, very famous and very rich family trust. You don’t need central office, when your patron calls you and asks, “How do you want to spend this semester’s $50,000?"

3. Work your PTA and community. Give them projects to fund and revenue targets to hit. Make sure your campus fundraising for all your teams and organizations are coordinated. New elf hats for the drill team may need to take a back seat to new computers in the library.

4. Know your budget and aggressively manage it. Shift money, stash dollars where you know they will be approved but where you can later move it to your pet project. Scream every time the bean counters tell you, “you can’t do something.” Here is the truth, 95% of budget rules are local policy. Policies that are designed to give central office control over campus dollars. In the long run, those policies can be changed. As a principal, I controlled my entire budget, every penny. And, I could move it to any function. The principal in the district next to me only controlled a $15,000 discretionary fund.

You get the idea. So this leads me to this final thought, I often have principals and superintendents quietly ask me the following question, “What do you really do?”

To which I respond, “I teach teachers how to win, in terms of student performance. And, I give school leaders permission to act, in terms of creating an organization that optimizes student opportunity.”

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (Brown Wisdom)

In response to the post the discussed E. Don Brown’s advice that from a system standpoint, “the Principal’s role is to be the pure advocate for students,” a reader writes:

“It makes sense that the principle of student advocacy should be led by the principal leader of students. It reminds me of a principle I have shared with colleagues, that our duty as instructional leaders seeking exemplary schools is to develop instruction leaders in exemplary classrooms. They, in turn, are developing instructional leaders in exemplary students who are then instructional leaders of students and learning. The most powerful learning happens in peer teaching, coaching and mentoring. Who says we can't have a school filled with powerful instruction leaders who are sold out to life-long learning for all constituents?”

SC Response
Your distilling of the concepts parallels two conversations I have had that have stayed with me and impact my professional actions. The first conversation was when Dr. Jim Davis and I were struggling with the poor academic performance of very “street smart” students. The product of the conversation was an instructional format built on the belief that the only way a student could cheat, would be not to help his buddy. In other words, build a classroom that operated with a teacher and 20 full-time peer tutors. Two words: IT WORKS.

The second conversation was with Dr. Mike Laird, as we were discussing the effect of teachers implementing the Fundamental Five at high frequency has on students. What we have observed is that as students become more actively engaged in the learning, they begin to “own” their learning. As this sense of “ownership” matures, the intrinsic need to learn more, increases. The result - a classroom full willing volunteers, instead of a waiting room of bored clock watchers – the dream of every teacher and school leader.

Your last sentence is what drives the Lead Your School team and network. We must have schools filled with engaged leaders who will not rest until every constituent is a life-long learner.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (The Recent Posts)

In response to the recent posts, a reader writes:

“Sean, I have been reading, enjoying, and learning from your blog a for few months now. I had the opportunity to hear you at the Rigor, Relevance and Relationship conference as well, and fortunately for me, I have a mentor that is philosophically in tune with the things that you write and say.

I have to humbly admit that I've never felt like jumping out of my seat before and yelling ‘YAH BABY,’ before today's posting. You hit the nail on the head with your points made, and it's that exact leadership philosophy that 'young' (in terms of years of leadership experience) leaders crave to lead them and the rapidly changing schools we serve.

In the everyday working school environment, the reality is that the principal HAS to step up to the plate and at least take a whole hearted swing. And when they don't; whether they can’t or won’t lead in the style that is necessary; the Superintendent needs to do his or her part in recognizing this underachievement and do ‘the right thing for kids.’ In other words, they have to make sure that their principals lead or leave.

This whole business about ‘finding the right fit,’ and ‘making the right match,’ for personalities of the adults on campuses is bogus when 100’s of days of instruction are at stake. Finding leaders who have the guts, courage, skills, and stamina to look the pitcher in the eye and say, ‘bring it on - all the heat- because I'm ready to swing and I'm pointed to center field,’ will be the pivotal point for our true success.”

SC Response
First of all, YAH BABY!!! The fact that there are educators like you out there who are fired up about school leadership and student success, makes hosting the Lead Your School network exciting and worth doing.

Second, you are spot on. If school leaders do not fully engage, then they are effectively limiting the success of the students, the staff and the school. When I was responsible for a team of principals, they knew that not fully engaging was the unforgivable sin. It was OK to aim too high and miss. But hedge your bet, or take the path of least resistance and diminished productivity and your position with the district was tenuous at best.

Third, I completely agree with your stance on "finding the right fit" for the school. This is district code for maintaining the status quo. Unless, the campus in question is significantly outperforming its peers, the status quo needs to be replaced, not maintained.

A quick aside:
High SES campuses, outperforming your peers means significantly outperforming similar high SES campuses. It does not mean outperforming the low SES campus on the other side of the district. And before you say that you do both of those things, double check your data. The interesting thing about high SES schools is that they all perform about the same. If necessity is the mother of invention, it seems that academically fragile students are the mother of pedagogy improvement.

Another somewhat related aside:
I was working with a mid-to-high SES district three years ago. The Superintendent (philosophically in tune with, and a friend of Brezina) had me assess his secondary campuses and address his principals. Here is the summary of my report and presentation:

Assessment
1. All six HS campuses were operating well below their potential, even though they were significantly outperforming the much poorer, surrounding schools.
2. Five of the campuses had the opportunity to be great.
3. One of the campuses had the opportunity to be World Class.

Presentation
1. The one campus, identify the best high schools in the country. Beat them soundly.
2. The other five campuses, catch the one campus.

The immediate response
1. Three of the six principals resigned within one week (one of them resigned five minutes after I finished speaking).

The on-going result
1. The one is making significant progress at becoming World Class.
2. The other five are giving chase at full speed.

All of this to say, if you are going to work, sweat, stress and bleed for the job, why not be great?

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (Brezina's Rule Commentary)

In response to answer for the question concerning Brezina’s Rule, a reader writes:

“This was a brilliant analysis and spot on. I just did my first master schedule and all we (me, the other AP, and the Principal) talked about was how to strategically place the weak teachers where they would not do the most damage and how to give them the worst conference. At the end of the day we were still not satisfied because some of our lazy teachers got to "piggy-back" on lunch for their conference period and that burned our butts.

You are exactly right. We spew rhetoric about what is good for kids and we never live up to it. If we ever truly put kids first, oh what a day that will be. Our hypocrisy knows no bounds apparently.”

SC Response
The first step in solving a problem is being aware of a problem. The easiest thing for any of us to do is to fall into habits and routines. As a species, we are hard wired to do just that, for survival. So our problem is two-fold. 1 - We naturally fall into habits (to which we become blind). 2 - We have the innate need to promote our own self-interest.

Just to reach this level of understanding is difficult, It requires us to face some uncomfortable truths about who we really are and the real motivation for the things we do. Most people aren’t willing to do this. Fortunately, these same people generally do not become school leaders. School leadership does require an above average capacity for empathy and self-reflection. As the reader writes, “Our hypocrisy knows no bounds.” This is not the realization of someone who is unaware and does not care.

So, if you agree that there is a problem, the question becomes, "now what?" Here is the three step process for breaking the cycles that cause the problem.

1. Get an external coach to work with you and your system. Why an external coach? The external coach isn’t subject to your habits, routines, and biases. The external coach asks why you do things (you will be surprised how many times you answer, “I don’t know, that just what we do”). The external coach speeds up your learning curve. And the external coach stands in your blind spot, helping you address the things you can’t see.

2. Build a system that removes choice. There is an entire book I will one day write on this concept, because what you need is a flexible, adapting system that removes choice. But today you just get the short version. As humans, when we are given the choice between doing what is easy, vs. what is right, over time the majority of our picks are “easy.” We cannot help ourselves, it is basic human nature. So you have to build a system that removes the “easy” choice. The system has to present us with only one option, do what is right.

3. Focus on the most academically fragile students in the system. Most systems make victims on the most academically fragile students. Don’t believe me? Who teaches your weakest ninth grade math class? Is it your best math teacher? Who staffs your ISS classroom? Is it your best motivator? When you put the success of your most fragile students first, it forces you to make decisions that improve the overall system, whether you want to or not. Consider the scheduling example that the reader used. If you put your weakest English teacher in the 12th grade AP English class, you would quickly get parent complaints and central office heat. You would have to do something and do it quick. You would have to coach that teacher to success or you would need to fire the teacher. Welcome to system based, student centered leadership.

Think. Work. Achieve

Your turn...

Brezina Writes... (A Response to His Rule)

In response to the reader who asked about Brezina’s Rule, “If it is not right for kids, it is wrong,” Brezina writes:

“Whoever brought this up is starting to really dig into the issue. For you know that as you keep asking pointed questions, you start getting to the real causes of issue. Do know that when you take this course of action, the results are often not easy or pretty.

I support Sean's statement 100%, but he forgot to address the upper levels of district leadership and the Board. They have to be aware of the purposeful shift to becoming student centered and the must publicly support this move.

The harder the Principal and/or Superintendent pushes to turn this belief into reality, the more the staff hollers and seeks out a “savior.” If the Board and central office isn’t ready to address this with conviction and firmness, the malcontents will gain a toehold and the risk is that everything will stop dead in its tracks.”

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (Brezina's Middle Ground Answer)

In response to Bob Brezina’s post on finding middle ground, a reader writes:

“One of my mentors has taught me that school focuses are, in this order:

1. Politics
2. Finance
3. Kids

Most schools have very little time or effort left for #3. My rough guess is that somewhere near 80% of what schools do has very little to do with kids and has much more to do with adults.”

SC Response:
I’ll start with a line from my June 25, 2009 post, “the belief that schools are about students is a myth. Schools are really about adult convenience.”

Like it our not, from the perspective of who holds power, the reader’s mentor is not far off. Boards and superintendents are worried more about politics and finance than students. That is the world they live in, the world they crave, and the world that they understand. That does not mean that they don’t care for students. It means that their decisions are made through the lens of political and financial considerations. It means that the big picture is more important that the small picture. This reality is what made Brezina darn near the perfect superintendent to work for and why Brezina and Brown are so philosophically in tune.

Brezina as Superintendent: Brezina was a no-nonsense, intimidating, imposing, hard case. Rules of surviving to work again tomorrow were: Don’t spend a dime when a nickel will do. Don’t just spend a nickel, if you need to spend 7 cents to be successful. Don’t talk to the Board without letting Mr. Brezina know (they are not your Board, they are Brezina's Board). “Yes,” means start running at full speed right now. “No,” means stop now. But most importantly, if you were a principal, your instructions were,

“If it is right for students, come up with the effective and efficient solution, and implement it. If it is wrong for students, quit doing it. Don’t worry about the politics and lawyers, that is my job.”

So yes, Brezina focused on politics and finance. That was his job. But he also used his power, influence, and reputation to protect and provide for his staff who’s job it was to focus on the students.

That is the system I was “raised” in. Then I meet E. Don Brown who lives by the creed,

“The campus principal is the only pure advocate for students.”

This was a concept that I had never articulated or consciously considered, but one that I instantly understood, because that concept encapsulated my formative professional experience.

So the idea is not to be naive about the ways of the world or holier than thou. The world is about money, power, and adult convenience. The idea is to recognize that when we are in the position of pure student advocacy, we have a moral obligation to engage. If we don’t, who will? We also have to recognize that when the student advocate calls our hand, we have a moral obligation to check ourselves.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (Brown's Middle Ground Answer)

In response to E. Don Brown’s post on finding middle ground, a reader writes:

“As a leader, I realize I have made a mistake (actually, many). I am passionate about my beliefs and philosophy. I am 100% about kids all the time. However, I have allowed those to become part of my identity as a person. Therefore, any attack or resistance to systems and plans are by definition an attack on my image, style and strategy. By allowing this to occur, I have set myself up for failure. My intent is to apply these new lessons learned in the upcoming school year:

1. When I deal with an insubordinate teacher, I will take the time to reinterpret the situation. “Followers” will do what you say, because you say so. People with innate leadership characteristics will question you. It’s not personal, so I can’t take it that way.

2. People are generally not against you, they are merely for themselves. If you mess up in point #1 above, however, they will likely be against you.

3. I must out-communicate the dissenting voices.”

SC Response
Failure is not a bad thing if you learn from it. When you meet educators that have never failed, either they are not very self-aware, they have never purposely put themselves in a difficult situation, or they work in a setting with low expectations. I know when I meet with new school leaders and I quickly provide them with a solution they have been searching for, I have to explain the following truth (even though it hurts a little). I tell them, “Don’t be too impressed. You get the solution that was 15 years in the making. You don’t have to deal with the string of failures that led to this answer.”

Remember the 3 F Rule: Fail forward faster!

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (Happy Birthday, Don)

A reader writes:

"Happy birthday, Don!

E. Don shared the 'principal as a student advocate' idea with me a long time ago.

At first, I was sure he was wrong and I thought the statement to be harsh. Then I learned. E. Don has shared with me many, many other thoughts concerning all types of issues.

At first, I would hear these and think, 'E. Don is overstating that issue.'

Then I learned, the hard way, that virtually everything E. Don shares with me is true, it just takes me time to realize it. So, last week when E. Don hit me with a couple of jewels, I took them as facts without question."

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Great Advice - Brown Wisdom

In honor of E. Don Brown’s birthday yesterday, today’s advice is something he pointed out to me soon after we first met. He stated,

“You do understand that the campus principal is the only pure advocate for students in the system.”

He went on to explain that everyone else in the system, at some point, will have a vested interest greater than that of a student. And that is OK.

I am a hard case when it comes to student advocacy, and from personal experience, I know that this is statement is true. I now see this statement as a critical turning point in my career. I have always been a principal advocate, and still consider myself a principal first (even though I haven't been a principal in a quite a while). But it is still the “Principal” frame of reference that guides my work.

First, I constantly work with principals to embrace the role of student advocate (for if they do not, no one else has the capacity).

Second, I work to build systems that support all other levels of staff (from board member to paraprofessional) when they are working for students and to mitigate the effects of their self-interest when it is contrary to the needs of students.

Finally, I no longer take it (as) personally when I face the anger of self-interest denied. We are all human and we all face moments of being blinded from the overriding mission by our own needs. And when that is pointed out to us, it hurts (been there, felt that, often). I also know that "who" points it out, makes a difference (attack the new guy, he doesn’t know us). On the other hand, if no one ever points out this blind spot, then we never become aware to the point where we can regulate ourselves (imperfectly), coach our peers, and build systems that support our students at those rare time when we can not.

Think. Work. Achieve.

LYS readers, just a reminder and an invitation: Send me your favorite piece of advice and why, along with your mailing address. If I post it, I’ll send you a world famous Lead Your School can koozie.

Your turn…