Friday, January 24, 2014

A Reader Writes... Suspensions - Part 1

In response to the 11/21/2013 post, “A Conversation with a Superintendent – Suspensions,” a LYS Principal writes:

SC,

Amazing insight! I totally agree. I saw the light 4-years ago and stopped handing out Out of School suspensions as a consequence!

SC Response
So much of running a school is a game. Everyday there are winners and losers.  As a Principal, my goal was to maximize as many win/win’s as possible and catch a couple of win/lose’s that were in my favor.

It always seems to me that if I suspended the student, that the student won and I lost.  He got to sleep late, laze around, carouse, and generally do things that I did not approve of.  On the other hand, if I made that student come to school, he lost and I won.  He had to get up early, go to class, follow my rules and generally do things that he did not want to do. So when push came to shove and I had to impose my will, it was MY will that the student be in school, MY school. And in this case, the student short-term loss always had the very real chance of becoming a student long-term win.

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; TASSP State Conference (Multiple Presentations); NEASP National Conference; The Fundamental 5 National Summit 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Thursday, January 23, 2014

A Reader Asks... An Explanation for Recognition and Reinforcement

A teacher new to the LYS Nation asks:

SC,

Would praise for a student while I am in the lecture position count towards Recognition and Reinforcement as described in The Fundamental 5 (Cain and Laird)?

Have to say, I have found your book most helpful.

SC Response
Another great question from the field. When you are trying to determine what is and is not Recognition and Reinforcement, it is not as straightforward as it seems.

The first issue is that most people confuse "Positive Talk" with actual "Recognition and Reinforcement." Though related, they are not the same.  

Positive Talk is the "Good job... Glad you’re here... You're on fire…" type of comments.  The regular use of these comments is often the precursor to increasing the quantity of actual Recognition and Reinforcement in the classroom. But they do not reach the Recognition and Reinforcement strata, as I will explain.

Academic Recognition is the specific recognition of either academic success or academic growth.  Academic Reinforcement is the specific reinforcement of the work required to achieve the academic success or growth.  Here is an example:  

"Brandy, because you showed your work and didn't give up, you were able to find your mistake on problem number 3.  Getting that question correct raised your grade from a 70 to an 80. That's a 20-point improvement from the last test you took. You are really making some phenomenal strides."

I hope my answer provided a little clarification.

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; TASSP State Conference (Multiple Presentations); NEASP National Conference; The Fundamental 5 National Summit 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

A Superintendent Writes... An Attempt at Meaningful Dialogue - Round 2

A LYS Superintendent shares the following:

SC,

A teacher (with a known agenda) sent a mass email to a bunch of superintendents. As you know, I love reasoned and spirited discussions so I responded. And in return, I received a second round of “questions.” See below for the new questions and more of my responses.

Thinly Veiled Questions Mass Emailed to Texas Superintendents:

Questions again... Do schools fear excellence as well as failure?  

If all of your students could be achieving at or above levels similar to those of the students of Jaime Escalante in the movie, Stand and Deliver, would you implement a program that would achieve those levels... above the norm?  

If you knew of a program that produced elevated success and mastery at an exceptional level for any interested student, would you want it (as an administrator) knowing that it would upset the structure of the system?  

Exceptionalism requires flexibility and that would upset the design of “the apple cart.” Mastering material at exceptional levels wouldn't appear to work with CSCOPE because, as you said, the scope and sequence is important and vital to CSCOPE.  “Accelerated mastery” would allow the option to break out of that timeline.   Is it possible to have two programs running side by side?

This Superintendent’s Response:

I don't know if schools fear excellence, but it is certainly true that excellence comes at a price, and it is also true that most schools are not willing to pay that price.  As Jim Collins writes, “Great is the enemy of good.” 

As soon as you start pushing, people start screaming for balance.  The problem is the physics of balance. To get a balance you have to take away from one side to add to another.  In the terms of education, to get a "balance," you have to take away from children.  In essence we are saying, we could do a better job for kids, but that would require that adults give up something else (and this is not pointed at educators: Politicians – All revenue increases aren’t bad; Voters – Infrastructure has to be built, maintained and paid for). So as long as it is someone else’s child, the adults in our state overwhelmingly choose mediocrity instead of sacrifice.

As to programs, I have NEVER seen a school “program” itself to success.  The path to success is perfecting tradecraft, in our case, instruction.  The never-ending hunt for excellence in instruction has to be pursued with vigor should we want to become truly excellent for our children.  Escalante was a legend.  He was also rare. I would guess there is not 1 teacher in a 1,000 like him. This is neither a critique nor an indictment. Consider this, there are a lot of good NBA basketball players.  But a Dr. J, Magic, Jordan and LeBron show up once a generation.

Exceptionalism requires flexibility.  That may be true.  And it may not.  For example, the greatest athletes on the planet have very inflexible training programs.  Certainly I think you can be exceptional AND flexible, but I think it also very possible to be excellent OR flexible, which in a logic statement would also be excellent AND inflexible.  It is also possible, and perhaps most likely, to be neither excellent NOR flexible.  

Certainly CSCOPE is not perfect, but you are targeting the result and not the cause.  CSCOPE is a school response to the state's push for rapidly and constantly changing accountability, as I have discussed before.  As long as high stakes testing and accountability exist in their current forms, there is no choice but to have something like CSCOPE.  So the driving force that destroys creativity, flexibility, and exceptionalism is accountability and high stakes testing.  CSCOPE is merely a tool.  

Is it possible to have two programs running side by side? Certainly.  But most schools can't even get the basics down, much less run two systems. It would be nice if schools could walk and chew bubble gum, but most can't.  The sad reality is accountability does indeed destroy some excellence; no doubt about it.  BUT, it is easy to get into a circular argument on the issue.  You see, if the Escalante's of the World were 900 out of a 1,000 instead of 1 in a 1,000, there would have never been an outcry for accountability and high stakes testing.  It is enticing and satisfying to believe that the vast majority are chasing down excellence for all of their students, but the reality and the data don't support that argument.  Indeed adults seek a "balance," and in most cases the adult balance that is found is an unfavorable imbalance for children. There are many people who have the strong belief that if you take care of teachers they will take care of kids. I wish that was a 100% truism, because it would make my job much, much easier. 

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; TASSP State Conference (Multiple Presentations); NEASP National Conference; The Fundamental 5 National Summit 
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

A Reader Writes... Getting Rid of ISS - Part 6

In response to the 10/22/2013 post, Getting Rid of ISS – Part 4,” a reader writes”

“Academic issues are not our primary goal, but, developing good citizens is.” 

Where is the line drawn? 

Our young people are still young enough to be influenced, and they need to be taught boundaries, so dress codes are needed.  They are not college students, and many still need developmental skills in college, because they are not college material.  Conduct, appearance, behavior, manners are MORE important than academics.  The reason we have so many UN-developed students showing up at college is because we have continuously dropped our standards of what is required from students, so anything goes. 

Many unshaven students in middle and high school have facial hair growth that outdoes the male teachers.  No matter how we have "given in" to student-parent demands for "whatever goes," it has NOT upgraded student educational growth. 

ISS, at least, sends SOME message.

SC Response
Each campus has to define its line.  On my campuses (inner city, high poverty student populations) the line was delineated as, “Preparation for higher education and successfully navigating the middle class dynamic.” 

Meaning my staff understood that our students needed as much education they could get AND middle class social skill competence if they were to have a fighting chance to improve their station.  We knew to the core of our being that we were the nexus to the middle class and that it was our calling to change lives.

What (and who) exactly is college material?  And who are you (and me) to decide that someone is or is not? 

Our job in PK-12 is not to sort students, which so many in our profession want to do.  Our job is to elevate every student to expand his or her opportunity set.  One of my favorite stories is of John Montelongo’s first year as a principal.  The year prior to his arrival at his campus, 12% of the graduates enrolled in post high school education programs (military, trade school, community college, 4-yr college).  The very next year, over 80% of the graduates enrolled in post high school education programs.  The student body didn’t change. It was adult attitude, practice, and expectation that changed.  And the students responded in a positive manner.  

Academics and the behaviors that support academic success are paramount, but you do not build this in the student body thru intimidation and punishment.  I remind everyone, if punishment worked, recidivism would evaporate.  But I have yet to observe that phenomena in a punishment environment.  You build positive behaviors and outcomes by modeling the expected behaviors, coaching the expected behaviors, rewarding the expected behaviors and remediating deviations from the expectations. Is this more difficult than covering content and blaming students? Yes.  Does it work? Absolutely!

If I’m reduced to sending my message thru ISS, then most likely the only message I’m communicating is, “Do as I say, not as I do.”

Trust me, too many of our students get that message all day, every day.   

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 21st Century High School Conference  
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Monday, January 20, 2014

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of January 12, 2014

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 January 12, 2014.

1. A great lesson begins by planning how you will Frame the Lesson. (By @fosterbkay)

2. A story being told over, and over, and over, makes people believe it is the ONLY story, and that is what is shaping education. (By RYHTexas)

3. A scope and sequence that is not aligned to standards of accountability is of no use to teachers. (By @LYSNation)

4. If you lead by cutting corners, you will eventually find yourself going in a circle or trapped in the last corner. NO WAY OUT.  Do it right! (By @txschoolsupe)

5. I believe strongly in The Fundamental 5; I practiced it as a successful teacher for 10 years before I read the book. (By @NSeyah)

6. We spend four times the money to keep someone in prison than we do to keep them in school! (By @Dr_Chap_JISD)

7. Anyone could be a leader if there was no cost. True leaders willingly pay a price, to sacrifice self-interest, to have the honor to lead. (By @simonsinek)

8. I love the grit and fearlessness of the good inner-city teacher. (By @LYSNation)

9. Inspired after reading The Fundamental 5, by Cain and Laird, join the LYS Nation. (By CathyHollings7)

10. The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) just blew past 50,000 copies sold! 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 21st Century High School Conference  
  • Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook