A Reader Asks... The Fundamental 5 and Teacher Evaluation

A LYS Teacher asks the following:

SC,

What do you think about administrators using the Fundamental 5 as basis for teacher evaluation?

SC Response

Good in theory... Horrible in practice. Here’s why.  

The Fundamental 5 represents a cadre of high-yield instructional practices that when used with increasing frequency and quality improve teacher effectiveness and student performance.  Which means that it behooves teachers to work to use these practices as often as possible and it behooves administrators to support teachers in this endeavor.  This support is best implemented through an on-going cycle of training, planning, cueing; training, planning, cueing; training, planning, cueing...

But these practices do not represent the whole of teacher craft.  And there are teachers who are successful without using the practices (though they are working inefficiently).

Our recommendation is that administrators use individual teacher Fundamental 5 implementation for formative purposes only.  As teachers get better at Fundamental 5 implementation throughout the year, their end of the year evaluations cannot help but to get better.

And for those administrators who disagree with this, I don’t do this often, but I’m going to have to pull rank.  I did write the book.

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: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer 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 January 11, 2015

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 11, 2015.

1. “Leadership in education doesn't start with how to improve others, it starts with how you improve yourself.  Model what you seek.” (By @DrRichAllen)

2. How can a teacher know if students are learning if he/she is the one doing all the talking? (By @DavidGeurin)

3. The more I observe Kindergarten classrooms; the more I am fascinated by Kindergarten classrooms. (By @LYSNation)

4. The Texas Legislature should focus on making up the difference in public school funding and less on vouchers. (By @RYHTexas)

5. The difference between "reply" and "reply all" can be the difference between "employed" and "in a transition phase." (By @BluntEducator)

6. Define what training you want for each job type in your school and then set up a process to ensure it happens. (By @TroyMooney)

7. The price of greatness is responsibility.  Own your mistakes and grow from the knowledge it provides you. (By @blitzkrieg607)

8. Racism. Classism. It still exists. In low expectation. In refusal to support schools now that they "don't have any kids in the system." (By @Snowmanlearning)

9. Day by day, week by week, month by month I am working to provide the leadership I want to see in others.  Be the change you wish to see. (By @blitzkrieg607)

10. Don't treat kids without a pen/pencil like outcasts from society. Give them something to write with for cryin' out loud. (By @BluntEducator)

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: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Asks... Common Assessment Reflection

A LYSer asks the following:

SC,

I have attended a number of your conference sessions over the past several years and always feel that your information is very pertinent and valuable.  Our campus will be conducting 3-week common assessments this year and I am curious about your thoughts on the reflective process following these assessments. 

What are your recommendations on what to include: weak TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills); plans for re-teaching; etc.; to help drive future instruction and fill gaps from previous teaching?

Thank you for your time and advice.

SC Response

Thank you for your kind words and great question!

Short-term data analysis and reflection is a quick process.  Think halftime adjustments in football.

A. What’s working? Let’s take advantage of that.

B. What’s not working? What will we do different to slow down the damage?

Most schools get hung up spending all their time either hating the assessment and/or sorting students into “can do/can’t do” groups.  Both of these actions are counter-productive.

In terms of immediate adjustments and actions, what the instructional team should do is identify the two deepest holes (the SE’s the students as a whole did the worst on) and re-teach those two elements as they continue to stay on pace with the curriculum.  Those identified deepest hole concepts should be added to the next checkpoint and then after the students take that checkpoint, the new deepest holes are identified and the process continues.

Do what works, quit doing what doesn’t work and re-teach the deepest holes as you continue teaching forward. That’s it in a nutshell. 

For more direct support, just call.

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: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Not Bad and Not Great are the Same Thing

It was a busy day yesterday.  I was working with a Principal and a Superintendent confounded with the same problem – average student performance.

Here are the facts.  After observing 27 teachers (all of the teachers on the campus), only one teacher was observed doing things wrong. That represents 4% of the teaching staff.  Which means that 96% of the teaching staff was doing nothing wrong. Most people would consider this to be good news. 96% of the teachers were not engaged in bad instructional practices.

However, only 3 of the teachers were observed doing things significantly right.  This means that only 11% of the teachers were using identified best instructional practices in their classroom.

The reality on this campus was that 4% of the staff were delivering poor instruction, 85% of the staff were delivering average instruction, and 11% of the staff were delivering superior instruction. And the quality of instruction was not driven by content or student ability. This simply was the quality of observed adult practice.

What this means is that on the observed campus a primary driver of average student performance was overwhelmingly average adult practice.

Not bad and not great are the same thing... average.

What I reminded the Principal and the Superintendent is that as a school leader, your staff is comfortable if you accept, “Not bad.”  Your students are short changed if you accept, “Not great.”

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: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Only Interview If You Are Serious

Last week, I wrote about the need for Superintendents to be serious and committed if they are pursuing a tried, tested, rock star principal.  Now principals, it’s your turn for the uncomfortable conversation.  This past summer too many principals were simply playing at being candidates for new jobs.

Do not interview for a job you are not willing to take.  Districts are too busy providing for students and operating schools to serve as your personal ego enhancer.  Nothing will damage your reputation faster (and that of your references) than being known as someone who is willing to waste someone else’s time just so you can feel loved. 

If you don’t like the offer, provide a counter offer.  If the district can’t match or get close, then it’s just business.  But to sit for multiple interviews and then deciding that the grass just isn’t green enough is bush league.

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: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer 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 January 4, 2015

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 4, 2015.

1. If I had to choose between taking a punch or listening to someone complain about "unmotivated" students, then I'd fill up my own ice pack. (BY @BluntEducator)

2. Young children growing up in poverty often hear 30 million fewer words than their more affluent counterparts. (By @tgrierhisd)

3. Excellence requires clarity of purpose. (By @blitzkrieg607)

4. If you evaluate a 1st year teacher the same as a 20-year veteran, you're not embracing a system of growth and progress. (By @millerg6)

5. Despite the rhetoric, voucher programs will likely subsidize private school for those who can already afford it. (By @RYHTexas)

6. If being retained increases the risk of dropping out of school, why do so many state plans base promotion on a single test and favor it? (By @Snowmanlearning)

7. Suffer the pain of discipline or suffer the pain of regret. (By @CoachKWisdom)

8. Ones leadership skills are strengthened when quiet reflection is followed by effective action. (By @blitzkrieg607)

9. Texas school start date debate pits educators against tourism industry. (By @JWalshtxlawdawg)

10. Consider this: If schools started earlier in August, they would have more days to teach content before the STAAR test. Good for teachers and kids. (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: TMSA Winter Conference; ASCD Annual Conference; TEPSA Summer Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook