Top LYS Tweets from the Week of December 13, 2015

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of December 13, 2015 when they were first posted.  And if you are on Twitter, you might want to check out the Tweeters who made this week’s list.

1. Congratulations to LYSer, Dr. Darin Jolly!! He is the new Superintendent in Kenedy ISD!! Who will be next? (By @LYSNation)

2. There are really two jobs in education: those who deliver the curriculum and those you support the delivery of curriculum! Which are you? (By @montelongo)

3. Isolation is the enemy of improvement. (By @tra_hall)

4. In the absence of clear leadership, conflicts last longer and create more damage. (By @blitzkrieg607)

5. We need to prepare students for THEIR futures, not our Past. (By @Snowmanlearning)

6. Teacher talk vs. student talk... Monologue vs. dialogue... Impact education, students learn more when they are involved with their learning! (By @montelongo)

7. Moak report states: "If (Texas) independent school districts were funded like Texas charter school, total state support would increase by over $4.7 billion." (By @tra_hall)

8. Most states providing less education funding than before the Great Recession (2008) - Washington Post (By @BruceLesley)

9. "No one in any other industry thinks that going to a training is going to change someone's behavior" (By @Mr_McComb)

10. Surprise: School that is tolerant of anti-vaxxers suffers massive chickenpox outbreak. (By @Slate)

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 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool)
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

 

Don't Disappoint Coach Miller

LYSers are known for spending a lot of time in classrooms observing instruction.  It is a critical part of becoming an exceptional instructional leader. In this pursuit there is a minimum standard.  That standard being 30-minutes a day devoted to observing the most important thing that occurs on a campus... Teaching and Learning.

Those new to LYS often struggle to accomplish this, and LYS does provide processes, training and support to those new to the practice.  Occasionally, a defensive school leader will claim that this is unreasonable / impossible.  Which brings us to LYS Legend, Coach Harry Miller.  After hearing a group of campus leaders run through a litany of reasons why they were not visiting classroom rooms, Coach Miller shared the following:

“As school leaders we work long hours. In fact, I don’t know a school leader worth her salt that doesn’t spend at least ten hours a day on campus.  In those ten hours, how is it not possible to carve out just 30-minutes throughout the day to visit classrooms? Do the math, 30-minutes represents just 1/20^th of the day to ensure that teachers and students are successful. 1/20^th of to day to solve little problems in the halls before they become big problems in the office.  Honestly, if a school leader can’t devote 1/20^th of the day to actually becoming a more effective leader, that is just disappointing.”

Today, get out from behind the desk and go visit 5 classrooms. Don’t disappoint Coach Miller.

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 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Asks... Lesson Framing in Self-Contained Classrooms

A LYS Assistant Superintendent asks the following:

SC,

The training that you provided this past summer was great and our staff has worked all semester implementing the Fundamental 5.  With that implementation, we some have questions.

  

What is the best way to manage “We will” and “I will” statements (Lesson Framing) for grade levels that are self-contained and have several content objectives?

I appreciate any guidance that you may be able to give us.

SC Response

Great question.  I would start with the reminder that the self-contained classroom is inherently unfair for both the teacher and the student.  The teacher is expected to be an expert in all four content areas, plan for all four content areas and deliver, daily, rigorous and engaging instruction in all four content areas.  Yet, Framing the Lesson is where the breakdown occurs?  The better solution is partner pairing, but we can save that concept/practice for a later discussion. 

Start with the understanding that a Lesson Frame frames the big idea or the critical understanding of the lesson.  Which means, especially in elementary classrooms, you don’t frame everything taught during the content time. You frame the most important thing.  So let's say during my Reading/ELA block that my direct teaching addresses reading comprehension, but I will also have a grammar review, centers, individual practice and some pullout groups. Most likely, I will Frame the direct teaching concept. From a practical and observation standpoint, this means that there will be less Lesson Frame / student activity alignment in an elementary classroom than in a secondary classroom. 

Now, the question becomes, "Which content areas should be framed?"  

The answer is (in the self-contained classroom), "The critical content areas." 

Depending on the class and the grade the critical content may be just reading and math. Or the critical content could expand to include reading, writing, math, science and social studies.  But to not frame the critical content is not an option.  On this I cannot be more direct. To not Frame is to not prime the brain to be receptive to the learning and to not set up the brain to retain the content.  Which means to purposefully teach poorly. 

Now, if I have assigned my teachers the nearly impossible task of being self-contained, there are three things that I must do to help my teachers. 

1. I must provide them with a common scope and sequence.  I must give them "the What and the When” of instruction if they are to plan for quality delivery in four different content areas.

2. I must carve out time for my teachers to plan and collaborate together.  And I must make sure that they use the time appropriately and effectively.

3. I must visit classrooms to observe instruction and check the Lesson Frames.  If the Frames are not posted, cue the teacher to get them up.  If the Frames are of poor quality, help the teacher revise them. If the Frames are up and of good quality, give the teacher a “Thumbs up.”

I hope this gets you and your team past this little hiccup.  Let me know if you need any more assistance.

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 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Rev. Charles Foster Johnson on the New Texas Education Commissioner

The following is a statement from public education advocate, Reverend Charles Foster Johnson:

We wish Mike Morath all the best as he assumes the position of Commissioner of the Texas Education Agency.  We look forward to working closely with him to ensure quality public education for all 5.2 million school children entrusted to our social responsibility, and to oppose any attempt to privatize this essential public trust.

We stand with our highly qualified, well-trained, and thoroughly experienced educators in Texas and trust their judgment on what is best for our schoolchildren.  Education is a sacred servant-calling before God.  We are privileged to submit to the authority and expert testimony of our proven educational leaders.  We exhort our policymakers to do the same.

It is somewhat puzzling that Gov. Abbott would choose as our state educational leader someone from outside the field of public education, who has no formal training as an educator, no classroom experience as an educator, and no direct administrative experience in stewarding and shepherding the education of students.  We hardly believe that such an individual could not be found among the 1,200 active superintendents of our great state alone, not to mention the thousands more Texans who possess sterling educational credentials. Therefore, as we congratulate our new Commissioner, we invite him to join us in full cooperation with our established educational leaders.

We are eager to join Mr. Morath in empowering school teachers and school administrators in our 8,500 community and neighborhood schools, in advocating for the proper funding of those schools, and in opposing any measure to privatize this public and communal trust. To take a center of learning overseen by the public interest and turn it into a center of profit controlled by private entities is a violation of God’s common good.  We have every full expectation that Mr. Morath will join us in the protection of the fundamental provision of universal education for all Texas children by the public and at the public expense.

Reverend Johnson is the Executive Director of Pastors for Texas Children.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Checkpoints and the Un-informed Leader

Sometimes I’m in a district and I witness leadership making a huge mistake. Today was one of those days.

Today, I heard a Superintendent tell his Principals that if their checkpoint scores didn’t improve then their jobs would be at risk.

Definitely a case of backwards thinking.

Checkpoint scores are about providing the following information:

First: Are we on pace?

Second: What works, instructionally?

Third: What doesn’t work, instructionally?

A Distant Fourth: What have students mastered?

Items 1 through 3 require an honest assessment environment and time to adjust practices. These are some of the prerequisites for improved student performance.

Item 4 can be masked by manipulating the assessment environment, which provides invalid data, which impacts adjustments to practice, which impedes student performance.

Trust me, based on his threat, this Superintendent will get better common assessment scores. And he is going to be red faced and tongue-tied as he tries to explain to his Board why his STAAR scores remain flat.  Odds are he will end up blaming his teachers, his principals or the test. 

Again, “Lose the Battle, Win the War.”

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 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• 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 6, 2015

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of December 6, 2015 when they were first posted.  And if you are on Twitter, you might want to check out the Tweeters who made this week’s list.

1. Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better. (By @CoachKWisdom)

2. “The very roots of honesty and virtue lie in good education.” (By @DrRichAllen)

3. Leaders hold themselves accountable. (By @Leadershipfreak)

4. The purpose of education is not to make you smart; it is to make you useful. (By @josephgrenny)

5. "Champions aren't born. They're made." (By @UHouston)

6. The belief that all taxes are wrong is a function of being shortsighted, selfish and greedy. The public funds the public good. (By @LYSNation)

7. Kids who took AP math in high school were 4X more likely to persist in higher education over those that took up to Algebra II only. (By @edwonkkimmy)

8. There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that protects you from being offended by the truth. (By @neiltyson)

9. Going to school, work, or the movies without being shot must be covered somewhere in the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit happiness. (By @TheXclass)

10. 79,000 is a good number. It is also the number of copies of, The Fundamental 5 (Cain & Laird) that have 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
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool)
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)

Effective Budgeting

Many principals find the budgeting process to be confusing and overwhelming.  And it can be so if one is completely focused on the little things.

But if one is focused on the big things, budgeting becomes a manageable and useful tool.  So here are the big things to wrap your mind around.

1. Effective budgeting is not about incrementally starving programs. For example: cut Program A by 10%; cut Program B by 20%; cut Program C by 15%. 

Effective budgeting is about fully funding the programs that are critical to the organization accomplishing its mission, and not funding the programs that are not critical to the organization accomplishing its mission.  Which would look like this:  Program A and Program C are critical to the success of the organization, they receive full funding. Program B is not critical to the success of the organization, it gets no funding and is discontinued. 

Some may argue that this way of thinking is inappropriate in a school setting.  Those people would be wrong.  Then there are those would argue that this way of thinking is hard in a school setting. Those people would be right. But if leadership were easy, anyone could do it, and that is not the case.

2. Money represents time, tools, training and staff. The equation looks like this: $ = Time, Tools, Training, Staff

The job of the leader (and budgeter) is to find the optimal mix of time, tools, training and staff that maximizes student results for a given budget amount.

What I have found is that the campus that goes lean in staffing, invests heavily in training and modestly in tools is the most nimble in the short run and remains competitive in the long run.

The campus that is staff heavy and tool heavy (which is easier to get approved by central office) ends up skimping on training which makes for a lumbering school in the short-run that becomes decreasingly competitive in the long-run. 

So to tie this up, when working on your budget, don’t get enamored with head count and programs. Instead...

A. Have fewer people and train them better, continuously.

B. Quit doing the things that don’t make your campus better. Just do the things that do make your campus better.

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 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Lose the Battle, Win the War

With 3-week checkpoints, if they are administered correctly, the assumption should be that performance will be lacking.  After all we are asking high rigor questions almost immediately after students have been first exposed to the content.  As long as the poor performance is not due to being off pace, everything else can (and generally will) be corrected over the course of the school year. 

There are of course ways to “cheat” at checkpoints.  Most prevalent are to review for the checkpoint, extend time on the checkpoint, or not count the questions that were missed due to pacing setbacks. This gives the illusion of success when the reality is not as rosy.

Our advice to schools is “Lose the Battle. Win the War.” The battle being the checkpoint, the war being the state accountability test.

When we don’t “cheat” the checkpoint, we are able to determine if we are on pace, what is working, and what is not. With this information, we problem solve and adjust, putting us in a better position to meet the requirements of the state accountability tests.

When we “cheat” the checkpoint, we believe that everything is working as it should.  We don’t adjust and then we are sandbagged by the state tests.  So play it honest. Lose the Battle, Win the War. And if you doubt the strategy, it worked for both Sam Houston and George Washington.

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 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• 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 29, 2015

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of November 29, 2015 when they were first posted.  And if you are on Twitter, you might want to check out the Tweeters who made this week’s list.

1. As a leader, if you are not sitting at the table, then you are probably on the menu! (By @S_Snell)

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

3. All things are difficult before they are easy. - Thomas Fuller (By @JReynaldHebert)

4. Intentional planning with an instructional framework is Vital to create an Exemplary School. (By @tra_hall)

5. Getting specific about exactly what needs to be achieved, even in the face of uncertainty, is one mark of a healthy organization. (By @DrKing_BBJH)

6. Why a lack of belonging matters: Mental resources are expended on monitoring the environment instead of on learning. (By @anniemurphypaul)

7. When kids feel they "belong" in their schools or colleges, they're more likely to engage, and succeed. – Thomas Toch (By @tra_hall)

8. “Education is the best economic policy available on the planet.” (By @DrRichAllen)

9. The worst danger of mediocre leaders is they bring out mediocrity in others. (By @Leadershipfreak)

10. Lose the battle. Win the war! (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 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)

Quantity v. Quality Improvement Cycle

Whenever we train staff the intent is to increase both the quantity and quality of targeted practice.  That is a realistic expectation.  To expect both to occur at the same time is to either expect the impossible or to be boarder line delusional.

Quantity and quality can both improve over time, just not at the same time.  In recognition of this, with any training, there must be a planned for, monitored and supported Quantity / Quality Cycle.

It works like this.  The staff is trained, initially.  The expectation is that staff attempts to implement the training, with next to no expectation of quality. Just start doing something that resembles the desired practice. Jerky, mechanical, rough, and/or imperfect at the new thing are all better than not doing the new thing. The primary goal is simply to increase quantity.

Once quantity targets are being met, retrain the staff (yes, on what they were trained on initially).  Now the focus is to improve the quality of the delivered practice. What leadership must recognize is with a focus on quality, quantity will drop (but will still be higher than baseline practice). Once a realistic quality target is met (not your final goal), retrain again. This time, once more, targeting quantity.

By running through multiple Quantity / Quality cycles the staff will become exceedingly proficient in the better practice. Especially in comparison to the typical campus that does one-shot trainings, always expecting the Moon, and always ending up frustrated. 

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
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations)
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Legendary Leadership Badge (November 2015)

There are those that don’t understand the power of reflective observation.  They mistakenly believe that there is nothing to learn after a few cursory visits to a classroom.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, the most important key to building insight and deeper understanding about teaching and learning is to engage in a steady volume of daily classroom observation.  What we have learned over the past ten years is that after about every 300 classroom observations, the observer will notice, discern, and/or learn something new... something that was previously hidden. It is the “Eureka” moment, and there is nothing else like it in instructional leadership.

In this pursuit, there is the PowerWalks Legendary Leadership Badge that is earned every 300^th PowerWalks Observation. The following instructional leaders have already earned the Legendary Leadership Badge for the 2015/2016 school year (as of 11/30/15).

Glenn Barnes:  November 2015

Esther Boateng: November 2015

Karen Ivy: November 2015

Shirley Jenkins: November 2015

Ana Lopez: November 2015

Erica Moody: November 2015

Jeffrey Smith: November 2015

Janie Snyder: November 2015

Sheila Stephens: November 2015

Sandra Wilson: November 2015

Wes Brown: October 2015

Todd Durham: October 2015

Edward Husk: October 2015

Van LeJeune: October 2015

Pattie Myers: October 2015

Steve Sherrouse: October 2015

Nassrin Spencer: October 2015

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
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

PowerWalks Hero Schools (November 2015)

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.  For the month of November, the PowerWalks Hero School Targets were as follows:

November Hero School Targets

High Schools – 150 PowerWalks Observations

Middle Schools / Junior High Schools – 120 PowerWalks Observations

Elementary / Intermediate / Combined Campuses – 100 PowerWalks Observations

Alternative Schools – 50 PowerWalks Observations

With both the end of the Fall Semester and Christmas Holidays in December, we will adjust the targets to the following levels:

December Hero School Targets

High Schools – 120 PowerWalks Observations

Middle Schools / Junior High Schools – 90 PowerWalks Observations

Elementary / Intermediate / Combined Campuses – 80 PowerWalks Observations

Alternative Schools – 40 PowerWalks Observations

In November, all of the schools using the PowerWalks Instructional Observation System conducted a total of 11,047 classroom observations. A commendable job, LYS Nation! But now, without further ado, here are your thirty-three PowerWalks Hero Schools for the month of November 2015.  Congratulations!!!

Elementary Schools & Combined Campuses	Middle Schools & Junior High Schools	Alternative Schools	High Schools
Southside PS (CISD) - 502	Cleveland MS (CISD) - 412	Frederick Douglas Learning Center (CISD) - 53	Kermit HS (KISD) - 615
Eastside ES (CISD) - 470	Marlin MS (MISD) - 320		Cleveland HS (CISD) - 524
Colonial Hills ES (NEISD) - 422	Kermit JH (KISD) - 292		Fairdale HS (JCPS) - 301
Kermit ES (KISD) - 399	Rockport-Fulton MS (ACISD) - 130		Morton Ranch HS (KISD) - 279
McFee ES (CFISD) - 360			Borger HS (BISD) - 235
Ault ES (CFISD) - 322			Marlin HS (MISD) - 212
Northside ES (CISD) - 273			Saginaw HS (EMSISD) - 174
Marlin ES (MISD) - 237			Vernon HS (VISD) - 164
Live Oak Learning Center (ACISD) - 205			Mayde Creek HS (KISD) - 152
Veterans Hill ES (HISD) - 203
Dublin ES (DISD) - 173
Gleason ES (CFISD) - 171
Rennell ES (CFISD) - 158
Fulton Learning Center (ACISD) - 144
Borger IS (BISD) - 130
Gateway ES (BISD) - 130
Hutto ES (HISD) - 119
Cottonwood Creek ES (HISD) - 104
Raymond E. Curtis ES (WISD) - 104

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 
• Now at the Apple App Store: Fun 5 Timer (Fundamental 5 Delivery Tool); PowerWalks CLC (Networked Formative Observation Tool) 
• Upcoming Presentations: American Association of School Administrators Conference; National Association of Secondary School Principals Conference (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook