A LYS Principal Shares... The Effect of the Fundamental 5

A LYS Principal sent the following:

SC,

I wanted to share a few comments with you. We started the new semester reviewing Fundamental 5 data, both campus and individual. We also discussed our Fundamental 5 coaching initiative for this semester. As we finished the staff development session, my Band Director came up to me with his data and said, "Looks like I need to work on increasing critical writing in my classes".

Yes, my Band Director!!

Then, when I was in a science classroom doing a PowerWalk, I observed the teacher reviewing with students through the use of specific questions. The students were answering all of her questions correctly. The teacher stopped and told the class, "Wow, I am impressed that you remember so much from over the break!"

The same day, I stopped and asked a math teacher how her first day back was and she jokingly replied, "Great, they (students) must have had a great teacher before the break because they were remembering everything about cosine and sine. That stuff is hard, but they remember it."

Several others have shared similar information with us as well. The Fundamental 5 is alive and working here!!!

Thanks for all of your hard work and support.

SC Response

This is fantastic news! It validates what we know about the effect that the Fundamental 5 has on student learning and for the teacher provides anecdotal evidence (which drives perception) that things are improving. Just like we shared with the staff during the training, “You can teach what you always taught, just make these small adjustments and every student will learn more of what you are teaching.”

We will see you and your staff soon. Until then, keep up the hard work because now we are in instructional prime time.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Get the Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; Region 16 ESC Leadership Academy (Keynote Address); NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

An Old School LYSer Submits... The Power of LYS Doctrine

An Old School LYSer submits the following:

SC,

I know that every day there are educators just joining the LYS Nation. Either new to the training and/or new to the blog, they are introduced to the terms Foundation Trinity, Fundamental 5, PowerWalks, and other components of our practice. They will hear and read about our successes (and our failures) and too many will find it easy to dismiss our doctrine as either too simple or too hard (funny how your critics can’t figure out the best way to dismiss you).

As you are well aware, you ran some number for me that showed the performance of my previous district, from pre-LYS practices, through LYS practices, and then (sadly) the abandonment of LYS practice after I, and other key LYSers, left to lead a larger district. Please share those same numbers with the LYS Nation; there is a lesson there for all of us.

SC Response

Below is the data summary you referenced. A brief explanation: 2006 was the year prior to your arrival. 2007 – 2010 are the years that you lead the district. In 2011, the district was under new leadership. Leadership that continues to de-emphasize the implementation of Foundation Trinity practices. It should also be noted that in 2010, your district successfully switched to a new common scope and sequence.

Year	Formula Score: Economic Disadvantaged TAKS - Pass All Sections	Formula Score: Economic Disadvantaged TAKS - Commended All Sections	LYS Performance Over Adversity Scale Score
2006: Pre-Foundation Trinity	60.0	4.18	110.8
2007	65.35	6.81	119.6
2008	70.92	11.24	131.54
2009	75.3	14.88	135.98
2010	81.14	11.46	143.51
2011: Foundation Trinity abandoned	77.22	12.78	143.1

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Get the Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; Region 16 ESC Leadership Academy (Keynote Address); NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

School Closures, Who to Blame

Across Texas, districts are having to close under-capacity schools. As one could guess, this has created staff and community anger. I’m not going to say that the anger is wrong, but where it is present, it is almost always misguided. Let’s look at the situation logically.

If a school is under-capacity, enrollment is declining, and there is room for the students at a nearby campus, closing the school is a rational decision. Why is this rational? Closing a small elementary campus can save between $400,000 and $1,000,000 a year in facility and support costs. So the decision to not close is actually detrimental to students, staff and the community. How, you ask? The saved money could be spent on instructional tools and training, which helps students. The saved money could be spent on staff compensation and benefits, which helps teachers. The saved money could pay off school debt, increase fund balance, or reduce taxes, which helps the community. Or you can fight to continue to spend money inefficiently.

Now let’s look at the situation illogically. Logic be damned. You’re angry and someone needs to know about it. Ok, I can respect that. Let’s just make sure we channel that anger towards the right parties. Should you be mad at the Superintendent? No, the job of the Superintendent is to maximize district resources for the benefit of the greatest number of students. Consolidating schools solve the very real financial problems currently facing individual districts.

Should you be mad at the School Board? No, the job of the school board is to balance the needs of the school system and the needs of the community. Consolidating schools solve the very real financial problems currently facing individual districts.

Now I know you are thinking, “Sean, if not the Superintendent and the School Board, who should I direct my anger towards?”

If you are in Texas, the answer is rather straightforward. Texas school districts are facing significant declines in funding, but this decline has nothing to do with the economy. The Texas economy is doing quite well. In Texas, the school funding crisis was created, either by design or incompetence. I’ll explain. Texas was doing a slightly less than adequate job of funding schools. Then Governor Rick Perry, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst and the Republican members of the State House decided to revise the tax code. The stated plan was to reduce personal property tax rates and increase business tax rates. However, instead of increasing the business tax rate first and then reducing the personal property tax rate, in a stoke of political genius or incompetence, they attempted the reverse. They reduced the personal property tax rate, reducing education funding by billions. Then they tried to increase business taxes, but surprisingly, that attempt was derailed.

So you want to be angry, call the Governor, the Lt. Governor and your Republican State Senator and Representative. Let them know that your anger is based on emotion and sense of betrayal and you won’t forget when it comes time to write campaign donation checks and step into the voting booth.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Get the Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; Region 16 ESC Leadership Academy (Keynote Address); NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

A Reader Asks... STAAR, EOC, Finals and Grades

A LYS Assistant Principal asks:

SC,

With the new EOC format and state-required 15% of final grade weighted into averages, we are unsure on how to address the awarding of credits at mid-term in the core classes when no score is yet available.

If students fail enough in the Fall where they are not able to make up ground in the Spring (especially depending on the EOC which would have to be weighted differently than 15% to compensate) then the chances are they will just give up and thus make dropout rates even a bigger issue.

How are LYS schools addressing these issues and what strategies are they employing in managing this dilemma with the current Freshman class?

SC Response

Those are some great questions. Instead of weighing in with my opinion, let’s toss this to the LYS Nation. Steve, Mike, John, Mike, Brandy, Trig, Jill, Bobby and all the rest of the LYS Texas High School crew, what are your answers?

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Get the Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; Region 16 ESC Leadership Academy (Keynote Address); NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

Top LYS Tweets from the Week of January 1, 2012

I believe that we expect our schools to do too much. If an organization is to be successful it must focus on its primary mission and continuously increase its staff's expertise in the core competencies of its business. In 21^st century education, I believe that this boils down to three areas. The Foundation Trinity, which is the intellectual infrastructure of a high performing instructional machine. The Fundamental 5, which is the “blocking and tackling” of expert instruction. And the purposeful integration of bootleg technology in our classrooms. Bootleg technology will change education. As teachers, we can either provide the blueprint for its effective use, or we can be replaced by it. I for one would prefer to rule the tool, instead of being ruled by it.

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now using your own bootleg technology devices to follow Twitter. If you haven’t done so yet, we want you to join us. To let you see what you are missing, here are the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of January 1, 2012, as tabulated by the accountants at Price Waterhouse.

1. Second semester begins. Time to do challenging work. (By @blitzkrieg607)

2. Working to communicate that rigor can exist without high failure rates. Embrace the Fundamental 5. It is not paint by numbers instruction. (By @blitzkrieg607)

3. Great start to 2012 - did a radio interview today. The Fundamental 5 is the real deal!

4. BRILLIANT: College students listen to a lot of lectures—but research shows there are better ways to learn. (By @anniemurphypaul)

5. MFMS is better thanks to the LYS training. RT @LYSNation Great start to 2012 - worked with 90 new LYSers at Marble Falls MS today! (By @principalschu)

6. Great start to 2012 - did 2 newspaper interviews today. Inquiring minds want to know about the LYS Nation!

7. Love the Fundamental Five Book!! A must read and recipe for success! Happy 2012 to all of you and see you soon. (By @janet_wright)

8. @LYSNation I especially love the explanation of "knowing/doing gap"!! All schools need to share with educators!! (By @janet_wright)

9. BRILLIANT: IQ, long thought to be largely unchangeable after early childhood, can in fact be raised. (By @anniemurphypaul)

10. Unemployment rate with college degree, 4.1%; without a high school diploma,13.8%. (By @FareedZakaria)

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “The Fundamental 5: The Formula for Quality Instruction.” Individual copies available on Amazon.com! http://tinyurl.com/4ydqd4t
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation
• Get the Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan App at the App Store – Fun 5 Plans
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: Oklahoma Association of Elementary School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; Region 16 ESC Leadership Academy (Keynote Address); NASSP Conference; NASB Conference