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 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... A Synthesis of Montelongo and Cain

A LYS Superintendent share the following:

LYS Nation,

I had the privilege of working directly with John Montelongo several years ago at an inner-city, 5A high school.  Like most schools, we were struggling with math scores and to combat this Montelongo had developed a warm-up book.  Montelongo had analyzed his school-wide data and determined his school's weakest objectives in math and then developed a series of warm-up lessons to be used in math classes, every day.  I considered it the carpet-bombing approach to the problem, but I didn't see what it would hurt, and I knew better than betting against Montelongo.  At the end of the year that high school jumped from AU, skipped acceptable, and became Recognized.  Granted, we did a lot more than just implement the Montelongo warm-ups.  Both Montelongo and I were very well versed in the LYS practices and we descended on the campus, full-speed, with everything we knew.  It was beautiful, and another chapter in the ever growing book of LYS success stories.

Fast-forward a couple of years.  I was doing LYS training with Cain at another struggling high school.  Cain is one of the first to understand, and then create a process based on that understanding, that you use 3-week common assessment data to find the deepest holes in student understanding.  After each common assessment the teacher analyzes the data for her class, identifies the "deepest hole" (the most missed objective) and then develop a re-teach plan.  When Cain trained us, though I don't recall why, for some reason our database was messed up and we did not have access to our common assessment data for the training.   Cain did not miss a step, we simply used historical TAKS data disaggregated by classroom and analyzed it to find the "deepest hole."

Montelongo was finding the deepest hole, but on a school wide basis, and using historical testing data.  Cain was finding the deepest hole using targeted frequent assessments.  But I had seen the power of Montelongo's strategy, and it was hard to dismiss.  On the other hand Cain's strategies are also very successful and hard to dismiss.  So I began thinking about barriers to learning.  Cain with his Fundamental Five and Foundation Trinity addresses the adult practices are a barrier to learning.  Of course Cain is correct (trust me, you don’t want to argue with his data), but there are other factors.  In short, what learning barrier caused the "deepest hole" effect?

Fast-forward another year and now I’m a superintendent in a district with a struggling high school (detect a trend here?). It occurred to me that when several students have not done well on the same objective there is a learning theory explanation.  It is very likely the learners had no cognitive hooks on which to connect new learning to what the brain already knew.  Gaps in learning can be caused from an unaligned curriculum, poor teaching, or any number of other reasons.  It is also possible to have an aligned curriculum, adequate or better teaching, and to still have "deepest holes" in a classroom due to a lack of cognition. 

So I combined Cain and Montelongo, put in a pinch of learning theory, and came up with a plan.  I used Cain's process of 3-week common assessments and data analysis to drive the RTI and re-teach process. We did this district wide.  We also used historical data, TAKS and other data, to determine the historical deepest hole in every individual classroom in the district.  This deepest hole was addressed with warm-ups and was assessed every nine weeks instead of the quick three-week cycle.  Cain's method added more precision to Montelongo's approach.  Note, I do not worry if the warm-up is not always aligned to the curriculum.  We follow the CSCOPE scope and sequence for three weeks assessments and piggy back what we teach in the warm-up cycle on top of that.  The purpose is to try to make cognitive "hooks" so that when we reached the historical deepest hole SE in the current year's curriculum sequence there will be something for the learning to stick to.

This is working for us. Last year 97% of our students passed Algebra 1 EOC at the Level 2 phase in level.  Not awesome, but not bad.

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: Texas 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 Submits... LYS Followers?

A LYS reader shares this:

I was at an ESC meeting recently when I heard some non-LYS principals discussing “LYS Followers.”

LYS Followers???

I don't know of any LYS “followers.” I go back to the early years of LYS and I don't consider myself, nor have I ever been accused of being, a "follower". With LYS, I found a group of like-minded school leaders who were able to coach me to better put my ideas and philosophies into effective practice.

The reason the LYS concepts are so clear and prevalent now is because trail blazing principals like Owens, Marchel, Laird, Lesa Cain, Montelongo, Gibson and Seabolt implemented the concepts early on. Mistakes were made, lessons were learned. I am sure Sean Cain, Brown, and Brezina, will tell you they learned as much from our feedback as we ever learned from them.

Just because a principal has heard the message but doesn’t do anything different, doesn’t make them an independent thinker. It simply means that they value the status quo more than student performance (now, who is the follower – because that is not leading). There is a difference between simply attending church and being a true believer. The core of the LYS Nation are not simply believers, we are zealots, bent on improving our schools for our kids.

SC Response

Nothing I can add to this one except for, “Amen.”

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/4ydqd4t

Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation

Come visit us at the LYS Booth at the TASA/TASB Fall Conference

It's Never as Bad as It Could Be

Summer time is construction and remodel time. I know a lot of you are dealing with this right now and are concerned about what will happen if the construction crews don’t finish on time. Having dealt with this numerous times in my career I feel very confident in sharing the following.

1. Assume that project will not be completed on time. Plan as if that is the reality.

2. The only absolute is that the students are returning on the first day of school.

3. No matter what happens, act as if it is the way it is supposed to be. Fake it and the kids won’t miss a beat.

4. Keep reminding the adults to stay flexible.

5. Know that no matter how bad it is, it could be worse and below I submit photographic evidence of this.

Here is a picture from last week of me and John Montelongo (one of the original LYS principals) standing in the construction site that is his 5A high school. This project will last for the next 18 months. As is to be expected in the LYS Nation, John and his staff are embracing this project. They recognize that in this chaotic setting is the rare opportunity to recast everything and make it better. The construction years are the most memorable because they are the most novel. It’s up to you to make a good or bad memory.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Quick Book Reviews and Recommendations

I been so busy lately and the LYS Nation has had so many things to talk about that I have gotten behind on my book reviews. Since my last post on this subject, I have finished four books. Here are my short reviews, presented in order from least useful to most useful (from a school leadership perspective).

Free: The Future of a Radical Price, by Chris Anderson
A primer on the economics and profits of “free” services in the digital age. From a school leadership perspective, there is not a reason to recommend this book. But it is an interesting read if you follow business trends.

The Power of Small: Why Little Things Make All the Difference, By Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval
The authors celebrate the little things and the attention to details that have led to huge successes in the business and social sectors. I’m a fan of the concept, but not this particular book. The book is long on anecdotes and short on substance. Don’t waste your time reading this one. Read anything by Collins, Gladwell, Schmoker, or Fullan instead.

Classroom Walkthroughs to Improve Teaching and Learning, by Donald S. Kachur, Judith A. Stout and Claudia L. Edwards
The authors attempt to provide an overview of classroom observation tools and how to best use them. Don’t waste your time or money on this one. Use Powerwalks and just talk to E. Don Brown (or Montelongo, or Seabolt, or Laird, or McDonald, or Davis, or the other Cain) for 10 minutes and you will be light years ahead of the information in this book.

Revolutionary Strategies of the Founding Fathers: Leadership Lessons from America’s Most Successful Patriots, by Scott Thorpe
Revisiting familiar territory, the author takes the practices of our Revolutionary Era Leaders and provides examples of how the same practices have been successfully implemented in modern situations. If you are not a student of early American leadership practices, then this book provides a decent introduction. If on the other hand you are well read on the subject, this book will not cover any new ground. Overall, the book is an interesting, quick read.

Revolutionary Management: John Adams on Leadership, by Alan Axelrod, Ph.D.
Similar in theme to Scott Thorpe’s book, this book is a more difficult read, but much more useful and rewarding. Using Adams’ actual writings as the subject for each short chapter, the author then provides commentary on the advice and then outlines some practical considerations. If you are in the business of leading people, John Adams is a great historical touchstone. His advice on overcoming the frailties of the individual to achieve organizational success was ahead of his time and is still relevant today. Read this book.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... Spoke Too Soon

A reader/contributor writes:

“I see that Commissioner Robert Scott shut down Pearce Middle School! I have to eat my words now! Too bad it took five years of kids getting the short end of the stick to make this happen.”

SC Response
Yet the story hasn’t ended yet, local political leaders are still trying to save the school. They are using the same old excuses.

Excuse #1: “We need more time.” So evidently after 5+ years of horrific results, they almost have it figured out.

Excuse #2: “We’ve made progress.” They can't face the reality that in the 5+ years that it has taken the campus to go from failing miserably, to just failing, means that they are harming students at a wholesale level.

Here is what we (both the LYS company and the LYS network) know: In terms of adding value and performance growth – Some schools outperform most schools; and some teachers out perform most teachers. To be the “one of the some” requires the right tools, a singular focus on students, the discipline of an extra-ordinary work ethic, and the willingness to engage in the fight against aggressive ignorance.

If you haven’t done it in five years, you aren’t going to do it at all. And it is being done, right now. Here are a few examples:

• John Montelongo (a Brezina and Brown Guy) just took Fox Tech High School from “unacceptable” to “recognized,” in two years.

• Mike Seabolt (a Brezina and Brown Guy) took Blue Ridge High School from “unacceptable” to “recognized’” in less than two years.

• And at a district level, Tommy Price and Mike Laird (both Brezina and Brown Guys) now have the following results: When they took over the district two years ago, they inherited 4 “acceptable” campuses and 1 “unacceptable” campus. Now, they have 1 “exemplary” campus, 3 “recognized” campuses and 1 “acceptable” campus. And, pay attention to this, the “EXEMPLARY” campus is the one that started out as “UNACCPETABLE.”

Time is not the critical factor for improving schools, but time does doom students.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (Brown Wisdom)

In response to the comments relating to, “Brown’s Wisdom,” a reader writes:

“Let's not fool ourselves; most principals are NOT the main advocates for students even though they should be. In most cases they are caught up in political mumbo jumbo, employee issues, and district office garbage that consumes most of their advocacy time. I am sure glad Sean can say it like it is and refocus the leaders who really want to be advocates.”

SC Response
I do agree that most principals are not the main advocate for students, which is why the system is generally designed for adult comfort. If the person who occupies the advocate’s role does not engage, that is the logical result. However, I think the reasons for not embracing the role are varied. Here are just a couple (feel free to share others):

1. There are bad principals that shouldn’t have received their job. Just like there are bad teachers, bad superintendents and so on. Some people just aren’t cut out for the job, even though they interviewed well. These principals are the "Unwilling and Unable."

2. There are some principals have been beaten down to the point that all they know to do is hunker down and go with the flow. These principals are the "Injured."

3. There are some principals that just don’t know that they should put students in front of adults. These principals are the "Uninformed."

4. There are some principals that haven’t had the right mix of mentors to help them develop their ideas and professional character. These principals are the "Unlucky."

I may be the luckiest school leader ever, my personal list of mentors includes: Dr. Richard Hooker (the early godfather of Texas school finance); Bob Brezina (who LYS readers know); Wayne Schaper Sr. (the godfather of Spring Branch ISD, TASSP and UIL); Fred Richardson (TASSP president); Harlan Yetter (Principal); E. Don Brown (who LYS Readers know) and Dr. Shirley Neeley (Commissioner, Texas Education Agency). If I don’t do right, there is a long line of people who are still more than willing to remind me why we really do this job.

5. There are some principals who are working on a figurative island, who have no one to bounce ideas off of and shore themselves up with. These principals are the "Isolated."

Again, I can not be any luckier. The following are just a few of the active Principals that I get to have serious conversations with, more than once each month: John Montelongo (HS Principal); Justin Marchel (MS Principal); Leslie Thomas (ES Principal); Barbara Fine (ES Principal); Jerry Gibson (HS Principal); Mike Seabolt (HS Principal); and Lesa Cain (ES Principal). That’s a network of a lot of powerful brains that are linked for one purpose, their students outperforming your students.

I was taught early in my career (and didn’t understand until much later) that the two most important people in the system are the Superintendent and the building Principal. The organization focuses on the Superintendent (and central office) because he or she is the source of power. The organization overlooks the Principal (and the campus), even though he or she is the source of service.

My goal (or agenda) is to shift the focus of the organization from the Superintendent and central office to the Principal and the campus. This means that the Unwilling and Unable Principal will no longer have a place to hide. And that every other Principal and campus leader will have at least one external source of support as they fight the good fight. One person is a lonely voice, two people are the genesis of a team.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...