A Reader Asks... Why a Choice

A LYS Assistant Principal asks the following:

SC,

Why would a district hire LYS, train staff, allocate resources and then give its campuses the option of not implementing the training. Is this a symptom of leadership failure?

   

SC Response

I’ll answer your question with your own answer to the question.  Yes, it is a symptom of leadership failure. The motivation for the decision in question can be quite varied, from political considerations, lack of confidence, apathy, etc. But to present a plan, and then to provide an out for not implementing the plan is not leadership.  It is managerial CYA optimization, which I will illustrate.

A. The manager gets to take the credit for the campus that uses the plan and is successful (a managerial win).

B. The manager gets to take the credit for the campus that does not uses the plan and is successful (a managerial win).

C. The manager gets to blame the campus that uses the plan and is not successful for not being flexible and making timely adjustments (a managerial win).

D. The manager gets to blame the campus that does not use the plan and is not successful for not using the plan (a managerial win).

Here is my advice if you find yourself working for such a manager. Go proactive, step up and lead. The upside is this is your team’s best chance for success.  The downside is that if your team fails you will shoulder all of the blame for that failure. But, let’s be honest, that was going to happen anyway.

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: NASSP National Conference; The 21^st Century High School Conference  
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Asks... The Alternative Certification

A LYS Assistant Principal asks the following:

SC,

How do you convince prospective employers that an alternative certification as an instructional leader is just as valid as a traditional certification?  Does anyone look beyond the certification and examine objective school improvement and student success?

SC Response

I won’t tell you that alternative certification and traditional certification are viewed equally, because they are not.  At least not by most educators.  Whether or not this fair is of little practical use.  The bottom line is that the alternative certified educator is going to have to cast his/her net further and for a longer period of time, to get the first promotion. 

But after the first job, the playing field does level somewhat. And after the second promotion, experience and results take precedence for employers. Move your campus consistently and your certificate (either kind) becomes an overlooked placeholder in your file.

Overall, think of getting the promotion as tournament.  The positions are fewer the higher you go and the competition gets exponentially tougher.  If you want the promotion, you keep making yourself a better candidate until either you get the job or the effort to get the promotion is no longer worth the time and energy expended.  That tipping point is different for every individual.  Just remember that leadership is a volunteer position.  No one is making you apply for the job.  

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: NASSP National Conference; The 21^st Century High School Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Superintendent Writes... State Testing - Making a Success Out of a Mess - Part 1

In response to the 9/24//2013 post, “State Testing – Making a Success Out of a Mess,” a LYS Superintendent writes:

SC,

Actually, there may be a much larger problem with the state assessment system than you have described. 

Standardized testing can be broken into (if I recall the names correctly) two broad categories: achievement tests and aptitude tests.  Tests such as TAAS and TAKS were designed to be achievement tests.  That is, the TAAS and TAKS tests were intended to determine if a child had mastered grade level material.  There was really no problem with the TAKS test.  In fact I heard Willard Dagget call the TAKS test "pretty good" with my own two ears

Then you have aptitude tests, examples that can include IQ tests, perhaps portions of the SAT/ACT tests, etc.  I say perhaps the SAT/ACT because I suppose it is possible to have a blended achievement/aptitude test. 

Now I am no testing expert, but I have been following the university researcher versus Pearson debate going back and forth.  There are some studies from universities that indicate the STAAR test acts much more like an aptitude test than an achievement test.  The university researchers cited technical psychometric factors that appear in the STAAR testing.  I won't pretend that I understood those factors, but I do understand Pearson's response to those allegations: Pearson indicated those factors had to be accounted for.

Perhaps this explains why the year-to-year state averages on the STAAR test were flat, I don't know.  I do know that I tend to trust university researchers far more than Pearson, for the obvious reason that Pearson has a business interest in the testing.

The point is, if the STAAR is an aptitude test, or is very close to being an aptitude test (blended?), the odds of significantly raising scores is very, very unlikely, particularly in older children.  That is the point the university researchers were trying to make, because when we talk aptitude we introduce another strong variable into the testing equation: genetic disposition.  Some people are born with more horsepower than others.

The debate continues.  I do know that the released 8th grade STAAR math test was harder than the 11th grade TAKS test.  I suspect that when the general public figures that out, we will see another testing backlash in 2015.  I think accountability is a great thing, but corporate greed and the desire of the far right to end public education is now making the broader public suspicious of accountability and high stakes testing.  I personally am beyond suspicious.

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: NASSP National Conference; The 21^st Century High School Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Superintendent Writes... Getting a Principalship - Part 2

In response to the 8/28/2013 post, “Getting a Principalship,” a LYS Superintendent writes:

LYS AP,

Cain nailed this one.  Like Cain, I have taken jobs under Condition 6 (Be the Only One Willing to Take the Job) and they are risky.  There is a reason why the sane and prudent people are running away from particular jobs.  Meaning that if you take a job under Condition 6 know that you probably won't be there long.

I spent 5 years as an AP and was very discouraged that I did not get any of the principal jobs I applied for, although I got interviews.  BUT, I limited myself, which caused the delay.  I limited myself to a particular geography.  If you are not willing to move for a job, your odds of moving up are dramatically reduced.

After 5 years as an AP I got a Condition 6 high school principal job, succeeded and failed at the same time (typical for Condition 6).  That job set up the next job, which then set me on the path to the Superintendency. The Equation of Leadership often is, “What are you willing to risk? Where are you willing to go?”

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: NASSP National Conference; The 21^st Century High School Conference  
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of November 3, 2013

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now Twitter users.  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 November 3, 2013.

1. An underlying belief of the anti-tax faction: The infrastructure built and paid for by our parents is just fine for us to use for free. (By @LYSNation)

2. Do we have a right to not use best practices and strategies that reach all kids, because it is easier for us adults? Or is that malpractice? (By @Snowmanlearning)

3. Ignorance is not a valid opinion. (By @LYSNation)

4. School vouchers in Tennessee do not equate to school choice... They equate to loss of funds for public education. We cannot remain silent! (By @jbriannorton)

5. Note to politicians:

Going to school doesn't make you an education expert anymore than getting a drivers license makes you a NASCAR driver. (By @BluntEducator)

6. On any given day, substitute teachers fill 10% of our nation's classrooms. (By @sjunkins)

7. Just found out that The University of Texas - Dallas is using The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) in a reading instruction methods course! (By @LYSNation)

8. Too many schools are killing themselves by drowning in data collection while neglecting the most important; the response to the data. (By @justintarte)

9. In the absence of leadership everybody tries to fill the void and it is usually the strong, negative personalities who do it. (By @ToddWhitaker)

10. The best-selling education book on Kindle today? Glad you asked. It's The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird). Thank you, LYS Nation! (By @LYSNation)

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: NASSP National Conference; The 21^st Century High School Conference  
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook