Readers Ask... Explain the Lists

A number of you wrote or called with questions about the LYS Top Ten Lists. The following, from an assistant superintendent, does a good job of summarizing the gist of those questions:

SC,

Can you please provide information on how the list was determined? What criteria and methodology were used?

Thank you.

SC Response

The list is a by-product of a tool my team and I began to develop when I was the State Director of Innovative School Redesign (Texas). I needed a way to determine the effectiveness to redesign interventions in school across different settings.

The short version of the system is that we look at factors that make school performance more difficult: Size of the campus; type of campus; percentage of economic disadvantaged students; percentage of LEP students; mobility; heterogeniality; number of tested grades served; instructional competence; instructional excellence.

Then we run it all thru the system and essentially get a slope rating (a golf term that measures the difficulty of a particular course) for every campus in the state of Texas.

So what is the practical application of this tool? Based on our numbers, in your district (Acceptable Masked Title I) High School, with an overall score of 153 is outperforming (Recognized Masked Affluent) High School with an overall score of 151.7. Think of it as Moneyball for schools, (Acceptable Masked Title 1) High School is doing more with less.

We don’t make our list public nor do we share access to the tool, because quite honestly, all it does is make the coasting, affluent schools of the world mad.

Hope this helps.

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 Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

Happy Birthday to the LYS Blog

That’s right LYS Nation, our daily conversation is three years old today. It alternately feels like we just started this yesterday and that we have been doing this forever. I have to admit when I started writing three years ago I had no expectations and no idea where this would take us. My biggest fear was that I would have writer's block after the first two weeks. Fortunately, the blog struck a cord with you (the reader and practitioner) and the LYS Nation was born. Writer’s block has yet to be an issue because the LYS Nation quickly stepped up and took over the topics of discussion. And as I regularly remind you, it is much easier and rewarding to participate in a dialogue than support a never-ending monologue.

I thought it would be fun to re-visit the first post I wrote for the blog, and yes, exactly three years later, I’m dashing this off right before I hit the road to visit another school.

Thank you for another great year and who knows where we’ll go in the upcoming year.

Getting Started: An Introduction (February 16, 2009)

Here I am sitting in another airport terminal at 6:00 in the morning. I wish I could say that this was unusual, but it’s not. I’m now a school road warrior. For the past 5 (now 8) years I have lived on the road, 3, 4 and too often 5 nights a week. Going where schools and principals have needs and problems that they need help with.

There are some perks. Because of the travel points I’m a Hilton Diamond member and a Continental (now United) Elite member. This means on a big jet and in a big city, I get upgraded. That happens a couple a times a month, but most of the time I’m on a small plane going to a small town. I also get a lot of free Southwest Airline tickets. Congratulations! You fly a lot. Do you want to fly some more?

I’m not complaining. I’m just making the case that I have seen a lot, worked with a lot of principals and schools, and have fixed a lot of problems. All of that to say, that what I’ve seen, what I’ve learned, and what I do may be useful out there.

I have observed that school leaders for the most part live on islands. Islands that have been built by isolation, misinformation, wishful thinking and/or petty jealousies. Hopefully, I can help get some of you off the island, or at least make the island more hospitable.

So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to write about school leadership and school operations. The focus will mostly be on improvement and what works. But I’ll also write about the tools that I find useful, books that I have read, conversations that I have had and respond to your comments. Who knows where this will go, but I hope that every once in a while, you’ll find something that is useful to you, your school and/or your staff.

Time to board now. Off to another city and another school.

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 Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

A LYS Superintendent Asks... Hot Water?

A LYS Superintendent asks the following:

SC,

Do you think Commissioner Scott will be in hot water for his Mid-Winter testing remarks?

SC Response

Here is my analysis of the situation. It is pure conjecture and opinion.

I don’t think that there is any hot water. In fact, I think that the comments were a calculated move that were designed to help the Governor. Remember, Scott and Perry are tight. Though there is no question that Scott is brilliant and would be a success in almost any arena, he owes his job and stature to Perry. He understands, better than any prior Commissioner, that his job is to further the education agenda of his boss. Which means that I believe that his comments had a political purpose. The question is what purpose?

Perry based his run for the president by embracing the agenda of the far right. In the math of getting the next job, proving your conservative chops by gutting public education is worth it... if you can get elected as either President or Vice President. Obviously, he miscalculated and that ship has sailed. But now, Perry has a problem. His policies and leadership (or lack thereof) has united educators of all ranks (board to teacher) against him. The last Governor to face this was Mark White. And we know that White did not do well in his next (and last) election.

Perry does not need the educator vote to win, but typical educator indifference during the election makes his job easier. So look at the audience at Mid-Winter. It was made up of Superintendents and Assistant Superintendents, overall a politically conservative group. But this group also believes that the pendulum of accountability and belt tightening has gone to far. When Scott throws them a bone, like he did, maybe in the voting booth they hold their nose and pull the lever for Perry again, instead of his opponent.

In summary, it is my belief that Scott did not go off the reservation. His comments simply confuse those that would be tempted to support Perry’s opponent, which for Perry, equals a win. But overall, nothing has changed. STAAR is still coming and funding is still going away. That, like Scott’s comment, is by design.

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 Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

LYSers Write... Sustained Excellence

In response to the recent posts listing top ten schools the following comments were sent in. First up:

SC,

I love to see this. As a graduate of Ed White Elementary School, I am glad to know that great education is still taking place in spite of urban challenges. As a matter of fact, my PE teacher, Mr. "D" is still at Ed White 32 years after I left. That is amazing. I am also glad to see Sutton on the list. Setting a good foundation for future Sharpstown Apollos! If they can do it, no one has an excuse. Light a fire and get it done.

And from the LYS Office:

The principal at Plains HS called today. They were fired up at their staff meeting this morning! He called to say thanks for doing the list and also to let you know they were actually Recognized rather than Acceptable (SC Note: My bad!). I mentioned that you are presenting at Region 16 next week (SC Note: It’s today!) and he asked me to send him the link for registration (SC Note: Hope you show up!)

Then a LYS Superintendent asked:

SC,

We're any of 2011 top schools repeaters in the Top Ten from years before?

SC Response

Great question, I won’t breakdown all the categories but for the overall Top Ten’s, there were repeaters and three-peaters. The schools are listed alphabetically.

Elementary “Overall” Top Ten Repeats (2011 & 2010)

• Aoy Elementary (El Paso ISD)
• Kennedy Elementary (Houston ISD)
• Park Place Elementary (Houston ISD)

Elementary “Overall” Top Ten Three-peats (2011, 2010 & 2009)

• J. Henderson Elementary (Houston ISD)
• Lyons Elementary (Houston ISD)
• White Elementary (Houston ISD)

Middle School “Overall” Top Ten Three-peats (2011, 2010 & 2009)

In the middle school ranks, the 5 repeaters were also the three-peaters. How is that for sustained excellence?

• Briarmeadow Middle School (Houston ISD)
• Burbank Middle School (Houston ISD)
• Natalia Junior High School (Natalia ISD)
• Ringgold Middle School (Rio Grande City ISD)
• Veterans Middle School (Rio Grande City ISD)

High School “Overall” Top Ten Repeats (2011 & 2010)

• Hastings High School (Alief ISD)
• Valley View High School (Valley View ISD)

High School “Overall” Top Ten Three-peats (2011, 2010 & 2009)

• Hanna High School (Brownsville ISD)
• North Shore Senior High School (Galena Park ISD)
• Mumford High School (Mumford ISD)
• Rio Grande City High School (Rio Grande City ISD)
• Skyline High School (Dallas ISD)

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: Region 16 ESC Leadership Academy (Keynote Address); Oklahoma Association of Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference

Top LYS Tweets from the Week of February 5, 2012

I was recently talking to an assistant superintendent about the issues facing her district (which were many). During our conversation, she said something that I had to quickly address. In her assessment of the district, she felt that if there were more technology in the classroom the academic performance issues in the district would quickly be solved. She believed that the root of the district's ills could be found in the lack of student engagement and motivation. The cure - more computers. Instead of concurring (surprising from a Bootleg Technology advocate), I instead reminded her of the reality of the situation. The roots of the problem in the district are a haphazard use of a common scope and sequence, a weak common assessment program, unreliable classroom observation data, poor to non-existent leadership coaching, and low quality classroom instruction. In short - adult practice. Technology, bootleg or otherwise, is merely a tool that leverages adult practice to enhance student learning. I didn’t want to rain on the assistant superintendent’s parade, but the stakes are too high to lose focus on what is critical to student success.

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 February 5, 2012, as tabulated by the accountants at Price Waterhouse.

1. Working on helping my faculty understand any change in teacher behavior must occur before any meaningful change in student outcomes is seen. (By @blitzkrieg607)

2. If after reviewing your data you don't quit something, add something or do something different, why would you believe things will improve?

3. Game On! is Moneyball for schools! (By @CabidaCain)

4. The reason why you post a closing product is so when you close the lesson you have proof of learning. But first you have to close the lesson!

5. Practicing research-based instruction provides us a moral high ground that establishes teachers as respected professionals in the community. (By @tlonganecker)

6. Either improve front line instruction or find a program to replace it. But doing nothing as students fail is darn near negligence.

7. I'm always a little skeptical of the successful school model that has entrance requirements for students.

8. Texas School Funding Formula Inequity: Districts rated Exemplary $6,580 per WADA; Recognized $5,751; Acceptable $5,662; Unacceptable $5,538 (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

9. Teach to the depth and complexity of the SE not to the test. The one constant is that the curriculum has not changed. (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

10. Simple Rigor Gauge: If students are not deconstructing, building, talking academically or writing critically - Rigor is low.

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: Region 16 ESC Leadership Academy (Keynote Address); Oklahoma Association of Middle School Principal’s Mid-Winter Conference; NASSP Conference; NASB Conference