A Reader Writes... Consolidation - Part 4

In response to the 10/4/12 post, “Consolidation – Part 3,” a long time LYS reader writes:

SC,

Did not realize you were partisan. I thought you were politically neutral.

SC Response

I’m not partisan. Each year, I pick the primary I will vote in based on the primary candidates I am most interested in or concerned about.  I vote a split ticket in every election because (quote stolen from someone), “I’m smart and I don’t like being half wrong all the time.” The beauty of being non-partisan (if you vote) is that you can freely criticize and/or comment on the actions of those in the political arena, regardless of party. 

But I am not politically neutral.  As we move closer to a critical national and state election, I will remind educators that we must think before we cast our ballots.  The only thing worse than voting based on habit is... not voting.  I have shared with the LYS Nation that I have modified the criteria that I use in determining who receives my vote.  That revised criteria definitely excludes my voting for some candidates in this election, but it does not exclude a specific party, either now or in the future.  In fact, if we as educators (teachers, campus administrators, central office administrators and board members) begin to speak clearly, with a consistent voice (which we don’t); and vote in mass (which we don’t), based on that voice and those votes, both parties will have to move towards us to remain competitive.       

As you know, I am a public school advocate.  My passion is increasing educator effectiveness, expanding student opportunity and improving schools.  That is what I like to write about and discuss.  But like it or not, public schools are a public (hence political) issue.  To simply ignore that fact, leaves the fate of our schools in the hand of those with significantly less expertise in the matter and increasingly contrary agendas.    

Vote. Vote. Vote.

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/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Upcoming Presentations: Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote), Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (Multiple Presentations), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

A Reader Writes... Consolidation - Part 3

In response to the 8/16/12 post, “Consolidation – Part 2,” a LYS Superintendent writes:

SC,

Great response and I love your answer. But how do we overcome this dilemma and expose the far right's agenda and their hijacking of a political party to the public?  

After witnessing the 15% rule fall this past spring it looks like "Mad Mommas" are the best way to grab the legislature's attention.  How do we get parents to understand how public schools are being dismantled? Like the original reader, I am frustrated. It feels like the continuous effort to fight for public education against this hostile agenda continues to take away from our mission of ensuring that our students learn and that they are prepared for their future. 

SC Response

As the pendulum continues to swing to the far right I think we have three choices.

1. Do nothing, say nothing.  Which is the polite thing to do.  And as a group, educators are polite, to the detriment of the profession.

2. Assist in the push to the right. You would be surprised at the number of educators who complain about the current situation yet continue to vote for those causing the situation. I find this maddening.

3. Purposefully educate and communicate.  Whether we realize it or not, people look to us to explain things.  When we do, “Mad Mommas” get fired up.  When we do, bonds elections are successful. When we do, good things happen for our schools.

Does this take away from the mission to educate students? Dr. Richard Hooker would argue that as Principals and Superintendents, not leading your public allows the mission of public schools to be determined by those who care nothing about the welfare of children. He could not be more correct. If only I listened to him when he first tried to teach me this back in 1992.

It boils down to this. We, as school leaders, must step up and educate the adults in our community if our teachers are going to have a fighting chance to educate the children in our schools.

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/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Upcoming Presentations: Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote), Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (Multiple Presentations), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

The PowerWalks Hero Schools - Why?

First a correction, I inadvertently omitted a PowerWalks Hero School yesterday.  Rennell Elementary conducted 287 PowerWalks in the month of September.  Congratulations on a job well done!

I’ve had some non-LYSers ask why I make such a big deal about campuses that conduct a lot of walk-thru’s.  It’s really quite simple. The PowerWalks Hero Schools represent the campuses that have truly committed to improving the craft of instruction.  Everyone pays lip service to improving from one year to the next. But if lip service were all that it took to guarantee academic success, school performance would be a non-issue. But alas, that is not the case. 

Contrary to what many would like to believe, student performance is driven by adult practice.  And adult practice is driven by habits and routines.  So if I want to improve campus performance, I have to change adult habits and routines.  That is where the PowerWalks Hero School separates itself from its peers.  To change a habit, you have to have three things:

1. A replacement behavior.  Every school has these.

2. A behavioral cue.  The PowerWalks Hero School provides these by the bushel.  Everyone else, not so much or not at all.

3. Reinforcement.  The PowerWalks Hero School provides significantly more authentic, real time recognition and reinforcement to teachers than other schools.  Why? Because at the PowerWalks Hero School leadership and professional support staff are committed to observing and conversing with teachers, multiple times a week.

PowerWalks are such a critical component of system improvement, that the principal who is aware of the necessity and power of frequent, formative classroom observation, yet still refuses to engage in the practice is purposefully squandering student and staff potential.

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/Fundamental5 
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote), Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (Multiple Presentations), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

PowerWalks Hero Schools (September 2012)

In furtherance of a LYS Nation tradition, we will take this time to tip our caps to the campuses that have embraced the most important step in creating and maintaining an action oriented professional learning community.  These are the campuses that have conducted an extraordinary number of formative classroom observations in a given month.  There were a total of 10,194 PowerWalks conducted during the past month and the September targets for Hero School designation were:

• Big Schools – 350 PowerWalks Observations
• Medium Sized Schools – 250 PowerWalks Observations
• Small Schools – 150 PowerWalks Observations
• Very Small Schools – 75 PowerWalks Observations

For the month of October, we’ll keep the targets at the same level.

Now without further adieu, here are your twenty-four PowerWalks Hero Schools for the month of September 2012.  Congratulations!!!

Elementary Schools	Junior High and Middle Schools	Alternative Schools	Combined Campuses	High Schools
McFee ES - 534 (CFISD)	Chavez MS – 504 (WISD)	Afton Oaks – 149 (JWJPCS)	Louise Schools – 334 (LISD)	University HS – 1,057 (WISD)
JH Hines ES – 325 (WISD)	Tennyson MS - 424 (WISD)	Hays County – 78 (JWJPCS)		Hutto HS – 506 (HISD)
Kendrick ES – 306 (WISD)	Indian Spring MS -354 (WISD)			Tidehaven HS – 159 (TISD)
Dean-Highland ES – 257 (WISD)	Tom Bean MS - 95 (TBISD)
Provident Heights ES – 211 (WISD)	Marlin MS – 83 (MISD)
Bell’s Hill ES – 202 (WISD)	Tidehaven IS – 80 (TISD)
Mountainview ES – 195 (WISD)
South Waco ES - 185 (WISD)
West Ave ES – 182 (WISD)
Alta Vista ES – 160 (WISD)
Markham ES – 99 (TISD)
Marlin ES – 83 (MISD)	Rennell ES - 287 (CFISD)

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/Fundamental5
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Upcoming Presentations: Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote), Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (Multiple Presentations), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of September 23, 2012

As if you needed another reason to speed up the embedded use of bootleg technology in your classroom(s), consider this: Bootleg technology provides an opportunity for students to have some “skin in the game.”  Our smart phones, tablets and other bootleg technology devices are quickly becoming an extension of our person.  Especially for the generation that doesn’t know of a world without cellular phones and laptop computers. Our students own their connection to the broader world, more so than we ever did as children. 

So what does that mean for us, the educator?  It means that with a little common sense, purposeful action and the genius of Tom Sawyer, we can bootleg the bootleg technology. If we embed the habit of using the personal tech tool for educational purposes, we can extend learning into every waking moment of the student’s life.  We know that the average teenager interacts with 3,000 texts a month. Many teenagers now report that they find it easier to text someone than to actually talk to them.  That is powerful information about a powerful tool. The question I have for you is, “What are you going to do about 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 September 23, 2012.

1. Dr McNeil: Last Texas legislative session we cut our education budget but did not cut our Pearson testing contract. (By @TroyMooney)

2. Ethical dilemma: Is it wrong to speed if you are trying to get to church on time? (By @mike_metz)

3. Meeting today with NYU professors to discuss the use of the Foundation Trinity & the Fundamental 5 for continuous school improvement.

4. HHS CBA Process: If you are not getting movement from your common assessments, challenge your system, not your students. (By @brandyjbaker)

5. The tardy "warning" bell only serves to encourage students to meander for most of the passing period.

6. We would have less need for security on campus if administration and staff all monitored hallways during every passing period.

7. On a HS campus that by policy doesn't allow the use of bootleg technology in classes. Should we bring back the slide rule?

8. Never confuse the fact that you know to do something is the same thing as doing it.

9. Gave a shout out to Fundamental Five as a great resource for leaders today at TASA with Alan November! Great Day! (By @jenniferzsch)

10. The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) just shot past 20,000 copies sold! Thank you, LYS Nation!!!

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/Fundamental5
• Call Jo at (832) 477-LEAD to order your campus set of “Look at Me: A Cautionary School Leadership Tale” Individual copies available on Amazon.com!  http://tinyurl.com/lookatmebook
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Plans (Fundamental 5 Lesson Plan Tool); PW Lite (Basic PowerWalks Tool); PW Pro (Mid-level PowerWalks Tool)
• Upcoming Presentations: Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote), Advancing Improvement in Education Conference (Multiple Presentations), TASSP Assistant Principals’ Workshop (Featured Speaker), North Dakota Association of Secondary School Principals (Keynote), American Association of School Administrators Conference (Multiple Presentations), National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation