A Reader Shares... Measuring "Doing What is Right"

A LYS Assistant Superintendent shares the following:

LYS Nation,

I want to brag on a campus “in need of improvement” in our district.  In a true effort to help save our children we created a dropout prevention academy. Students who have already left high school (were a couple of years behind; had to work due to family circumstances; and/or had a child), who are already considered a dropout, or admitted they were about to dropout of school are the student body of this campus.  We have about 20 students who attend.  

We set the hours for the first part of the day and it is self-paced with close guidance and tutoring.  We have graduated 25 students in the three semesters since we opened the doors.  These students passed all of their state tests (some after multiple attempts) and have a real high school diploma.  We have 18-20 that will graduate this school year.  Each one of these students would not have finished high school.  

Now, Texas, has labeled this campus “in need of improvement.”  Our school board and our administration say that this campus should be emulated and that the state is in need of improvement.   We are extremely proud of the commitment from everyone involved with this campus.  Square pegs do not necessarily fit into round holes!

SC Response

First, congratulations.  Your story reminds me of principal I knew that believed her superintendent when he said, “Go get your drop-outs and drag them back to school.” 

The other principals in her district did nothing, she on the other hand went and found her kids and dragged them back to school.  Her reward? Her campus rating fell as almost all of those recovered dropouts failed the TAKS on their first attempt.  Her staff was at first crushed, but as she pointed out, the lost rating was really a badge of honor.  It represented the adversity that those kids had to overcome just to come back to school.  It really was a “Finest Hour” moment. 

Second, as is the case with your recovery campus, multiple pathways for both graduation and accountability make sense.  But right now accountability is not about common sense; it is about politics and agenda.

The short-term solution: Serve your students.

The long-term solution: Serve your students and vote.

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 Writes... State Testing - Making a Success Out of a Mess - Part 2

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

SC

I would agree with accountability for all, but I do not and never will agree with high stakes testing.  As you know, I occupy a seat of significant responsibility/authority in my district, my wife is an educator, and my daughter consistently has her name among the A - honor roll list. In my family, we all value education.

When the time for state testing rolls around my daughter becomes very emotional and starts to cry from the pressure.  She always performs at or near the "commended level" and we, as a family, have never added any pressure above what is coming from the state through our schools.  When THE TEST affects a student in such a negative way it makes me want to opt my child out of state testing.  Remember that she is one of the higher scoring students in the school.  

I have been reading about other states and the rights of parents to opt out.  It is only a matter of time before the state has a court ruling that blows the whole system apart.  Parents have a right to decide if their child takes part in such testing.  Unfortunately, in my position, it would probably do my family more harm than good for me to be a test case.  

Your thoughts?

SC Response

My thought on the “Parent Opt-out” of high stakes testing... There’s a minefield to dance through.

Let me state up front that I do not have children who are subject to the current accountability testing program, so an emotional component is not part of my opinion of the matter.  I get that it is hard to be rational when it is your own child.

What I can say is that the testing program we currently have in Texas has been “Agendaized” and “Politicized” to a point that the unintended consequences wreck at least as much havoc as the intended consequences produce the desired result.  As such, if I had a parent who did not want their child to take a test that did not impact promotion or graduation, I would have a difficult time arguing that their decision was misguided. And keep in mind, I am a first generation, pro-accountability guy. 

Your problem, as you point out, is that you can’t be the test case when your child attends school in your district.  And enrolling your child in another district really should not be an option either.  As you well know, as a Leader you have to work to make the system better, even if sometimes that makes it difficult to be a father. 

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 Writes... Common Assessment Review - Part 1

In response to the 10/23/2013 post, "Common Assessment Review," a teacher writes:

SC,

We recently had our 9-week assessment. Up to this point my students have concentrated on a novel and the elements therein; expository writing based on the novel; and argumentative writing. The assessment had a poem and an expository piece about a poem. How does this help me assess what my students know about what we have learned?

SC Response

Great question.  And the answer is either “Everything,” or “Nothing.”  Let me explain...

I am going to assume that your district provides you with a common scope and sequence.  If your district does not, then honestly, the assessment was a waste of instructional time and the results really tell you little of value.

So if the district provides a common scope and sequence and the assessment was aligned to the scope and sequence, then what you taught was either out of sequence, off pace or not required.  If this is the case, then the assessment tells you everything you need to know, “You have to get your instruction aligned and on pace, now.”

Now if the district provides a common scope and sequence and the assessment was NOT aligned to the scope and sequence, then the assessment tells you nothing. Performance data on what you haven’t taught does little to inform our next instructional decisions.  In this case, what I would suggest is notifying the person who built the assessment and let them know that there seems to be an alignment issue at play.  It happens, especially with campuses and districts that are early in the common assessment implementation process.

I hope this gives you some direction. If not send me some details and a new set of questions. 

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 December 8, 2103

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 December 8, 2013.

1. It's not the grade, it's the thinking! McFee ES recognizes those who think and stick with it! (By @CabidaCain)

2. Congratulations to LYSer, John Schumacher! He is the new Assistant Superintendent in Johnson City ISD. Who will be next? (By @LYSNation)

3. A Lesson Frame is a powerful instructional tool when properly used. They are just words on a board and extra work when not used in the lesson. (By @blitzkrieg607)

4. Visited 4th Grade math class with 16% jump on common assessment!  Principal, teacher, and student excitement about data made my day! (By @RandyMBrown)

5. Just passed 1,000 PowerWalks for semester. Good data collected.  Great teacher conversations follow.  On our way to our goals. (By @blitzkrieg607)

6. It was nice to be at McDonald Middle School today. Implementing Lesson Framing, Power Zone, and Small Group Purposeful Talk. Keep up the good work. (By @LindaHenrie1)

7. Outstanding visit at Snyder Intermediate School. All teachers in the Power Zone and all Lessons Framed.  Also saw Critical Writing, Recognition, and Purposeful Talk! ! (By @RandyMBrown)

8. I love that the kids are learning to form and justify their own opinions, then use great descriptive language to analyze it! (By @tjadams105) 

9. Disturb the status quo. (By @THS_Mr_Metz)

10. For 2013, The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) is currently the 4th best selling Education Leadership book on Kindle! Thanks, 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

Campus Security Checklist (Repost)

The following is a post that I wrote over a year ago, hoping that I would only have to publish it once.   This is now the third time I have shared it.  Hopefully, this time will be the last.

Over the upcoming days, weeks and months there will be considerable hand wringing, finger pointing and second guessing when it comes to analyzing the tragedy of last week. There is little positive to come from this.  An irrational actor, with a mission and no exit strategy, attacked the school.  A perfect storm of unmitigated evil.

In my education leadership career, I do have some unique experience and expertise in school security.  Here are some things that I recommend you should do to review your campus security procedures and practices, today.  This checklist is quick, practical, reasonable and actionable.

1. Keep your exterior doors and windows secured at all times. This may mean that locks need to be replaced and keys need to be inventoried and redistributed.  This should have been done before, do it now.  Stop the practice of people propping doors open when they go outside.  Remind staff and students constantly the seriousness of exterior door safety. Be diligent in modeling and monitoring this practice and dealing with those that forget and break protocol. 

2. Review and practice alert, evacuation, and shelter-in-place procedures, regularly (and not just on the last day of the month). Immediately stop the practice of warning staff when there is going to be a drill.  It defeats the purpose of the drill and creates the learned behavior of “checking to see if it is a real emergency.” Also, there should be drills conducted on days when campus leadership is not available.  Emergencies can occur at any time.  Practice accordingly.

3. Keep your head on a swivel.  Stay alert.  When it comes to their surroundings, most adults operate in a fog throughout the day. This is where you can actually use students to help with security.  They are much more alert than we give them credit for.  Teach them to monitor our shared surroundings (visitor badges, unlocked doors, open windows, damaged equipment, unsafe conditions, etc.) and quietly report to their teacher. Make it a game.

4. When something seems off, listen to your gut.  If you gut is wrong, all you did was take an extra precaution.  If your gut is right, you prevented or reduced the severity of a difficult situation.

5. Plan for the worst. Pray for the best. We should not turn our campuses into armed camps and we cannot live in fear.  But we should be prudent and take reasonable precautions. 

This is a sad time to be an educator.  But this is also a proud time.  Without a moments hesitation our peers paid the ultimate price to protect our children. We will not forget that. And in the face of fear and uncertainty, the rest of us manned our posts yesterday because the job is important and it is what we do.  We Are Teachers.    

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