Smooth Operators

Recently I was talking to some aspiring campus administrators when one of them asked, “How do effective leaders monitor the learning environment to ensure smooth operations?”

This is a good question with a multifaceted answer.  Here is the short version of my response.

1. The leader needs to possess and maintain a good dashboard of critical leading and lagging indicators.  The leading indicators help you prioritize your actions, allowing you to just eyeball what is working and devote time to potential pitfalls. The lagging indicators serve as a wake-up call to the fact that something is out of whack.

2. The leader needs to ensure the campus has an effective common assessment process.  The common assessment process is the best way to ensure appropriate content pacing and to determine which instructional practices work and which instructional practices do not work.

3. The leader needs to live in the classroom and in the student common areas.  The work of schools is teaching and learning.  To lead a school effectively you must have intimate, first-hand knowledge of the work.  Otherwise, you are just guessing, or leading by approximation.

4. You have to constantly talk to your people, and more importantly, listen to your people. This allows you and the organization to pivot with ease and speed when the need arises.

5. Finally, regularly confer with your custodians.  They know more about what is really happening on your campus that any other staff member.  And once they know that you have their back, they will always have yours. 

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 
• Upcoming Conference Presentations: TASSP Assistant Principal Workshop (Keynote) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Common Bad Practice - Finals Exemptions

Though I find it mind boggling, exempting students from finals is now more common, than not. If you are doing this, STOP. It is bad practice.  And don’t give me the “It’s a student motivator or it gets kids to come to school” excuses. That is lazy and weak.  You are better than that.

So why is this bad practice? Because at the end of the Fall Semester, you need the data and you need to disguise your mid-year benchmark test.  The Fall Semester Final should be common (for the content area) and cumulative. When all students take the final, the performance data will inform the instructional staff on pacing issues and will aid in the identification of successful and unsuccessful instructional practices.  Additionally, if the campus/district embeds Spring Semester content questions in the Fall Final (do not count these questions towards the student’s grade) then there is no need to administer an early Spring benchmark test. This simple act will recapture 2 to 4 instructional days in the January.

There is a little leeway for the Spring Semester Final.  For state tested and /or AP courses that provide performance data reports, we suggest not having a final. Simply have an end of unit test. For all other courses there needs to be a common and cumulative (for the Spring Semester) Final. As is the case for the Fall, the performance data will inform the instructional staff on pacing issues and will aid in the identification of successful and unsuccessful instructional practices. Additionally, the teachers in the receiving grade are able to use the Spring Final data to make better intervention and re-teaching decisions. This will also negate the need to administer an early Fall benchmark test. This simple act will recapture 2 to 4 instructional days in September.

Exemptions only made sense in the pre-data era. That era is getting smaller and smaller in our rear-view mirror.

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

Smooth Operators

Recently I was talking to some aspiring campus administrators when one of them asked me, “How do effective leaders monitor the learning environment to ensure smooth operations?”

This is a good question with a multifaceted answer.  And here is the short version of my response.

1. The leader needs to possess and maintain a good dashboard of critical leading and lagging indicators.  The leading indicators help you prioritize your actions, allowing you to just eyeball what is working and devote time to potential pitfalls. The lagging indicators serve as a wake-up call to the fact that something is out of whack.

2. The leader needs to ensure the campus has an effective common assessment process.  The common assessment process is the best way to ensure appropriate content pacing and to determine which instructional practices work and which instructional practices do not work.

3. The leader needs to live in the classroom and in the student common areas.  The work of schools is teaching and learning.  To lead a school effectively you must have intimate, firsthand knowledge of the work.  Otherwise, you are just guessing, or leading by approximation.

4. You have to constantly talk to your people, and more importantly, listen to your people. This allows you and the organization to pivot with ease and speed when the need arises.

5. Finally, regularly confer with your custodians.  They know more about what is really happening on your campus that any other staff member.  And once they know that you have their back, they will always have yours. 

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