Quit Doing Things That Don't Matter

I just met with the leadership team of a campus I am coaching.  The campus trails its peers when it comes to student performance and is working to catch up.  Today was a process check-up meeting.  I asked how things were going and the report was:

1. Common assessment scores are a significant concern, with a number of deficits due to the fact that content pacing is lagging.

2. Student discipline is sloppy, most noticeably in the hallways during passing periods.

As we began to discuss proactive interventions for these issue, a roar rumbled thru the hallways during the middle of the class period.  I stopped the discussion and asked the principal if they needed to go investigate.  The answer was “No. It’s just the school-wide door decorating contest.”

“Why,” I asked.

“For school spirit,” was the answer.

I then asked, “If we’re not on pace with the curriculum and student behavior in the hallway is not under control, wouldn’t it seem that a second period door decorating contest might be counter-productive?”

Sound of crickets in the conference room. Sounds of a hurricane in the hallway.

The lesson is that the schools that out-perform their peers reduce the stuff, things, and activities that do not directly align with their critical goals and targets. The schools that do not out-perform their peers do a lot of high energy meandering.

Bottom line: If your students are behind, don’t stop teaching and learning to decorate the door.

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; TASSP Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); TEPSA Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); NAESP National Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Stressed Out Staff

I recently met with a first year assistant principal for a coaching session and the first thing she said was, “I don’t know what to do.  Teachers are coming to me crying.  Telling me that there is just too much to do. That there’s not enough time. That our students are too far behind to actually teach what should be taught now. These teachers are not faking, there are real tears.”

I told her that before I’d answer her question that we needed to go visit some classrooms.  So we went and spent about 45 minutes observing instruction.  During that time, teachers were not closing their lessons.  Classrooms were shutting down 5 minutes early.  Students were entering classrooms and waiting for teachers because warm-up activities were not posted.  Substitute teachers were babysitting classrooms because sub plans weren’t updated, ready and available.  Bottom line: It was not good and the teachers knew it.

I told the AP the tell the staff that she recognized that teaching is stressful and for the teachers that were implementing training, using provided instructional tools, and teaching bell to bell, she would help them problem solve and improve.  And for those who were not doing those things, that a large part of their problems were self-inflicted.

Don’t confuse the stress of focused purpose with the stress of lazy practice.  One is addressed with empathy and support.  The other is addressed with honest communication and monitored expectations.

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; TASSP Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); TEPSA Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); NAESP National 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 18, 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 18, 2015.

1. Fighting for public education isn’t about what party you belong to, it's about children. (By @8Amber8)

2. Vouchers are bad for Texas, bad for Texas schools, and bad for most Texas students. (By @RYHTexas)

3. When you can communicate and live the WHY of what you do, the likelihood of success increases greatly. (By @CabidaCain)

4. "Writing is the best intervention for reading. You can't write above your reading level." Alana Morris (By @donalynbooks)

5. You never see U.S. citizens that hate to pay taxes, long to live in places with lower rates, like Hong Kong, Pakistan, or Russia. (By @neiltyson)

6. Today's Quote:  “Education, in it's most elegant form, is simply the movement from darkness to light.” (By @DrRichAllen)

7. One teacher performs more of a public service than one hundred politicians. (By @NicholasFerroni)

8. Use data to determine the practices that are working and those that are not.... Don't use just to sort students. (By @dbrewsterdasd)

9. (Fundamental 5) Framing the Lesson keeps students from having to guess what the lesson is about. (By @MidwayMS)

10. How come the political answer for 1/2 of our students living in poverty is to punish those children for having poor parents? (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; TASSP Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); TEPSA Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); NAESP National Conference 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

The Money Follows the Student... A Really Bad Idea For Taxpayers - Part 1

In response to the 10/21/14 post, “The Money Follows the Student... A Really Bad Idea for Taxpayers,” an Old School LYS Assistant Superintendent writes:

SC,

You didn't even scratch the surface with your post. Every educator needs to send the post to 10 people they know outside of the profession and to their elected representatives. Send that out to everyone. Let the “School Choice” movement be exposed for what it truly is, another subsidy for the affluent.

SC Response

For those who doubt what a bad idea vouchers and “School Choice” is for taxpayers, I’ll share a snippet of an editorial written by Republican State Board of Education Member, Thomas Ratliff.

In the current education debate over private school vouchers, we often hear the statement, “Let the money follow the child” but we never hear about WHOSE money is following that child.

Today, when a parent takes their child to a private school, the parents pay the school’s tuition. The parents’ money follows the child. Also, many public schools allow students from other districts to “transfer” and attend their school, so the state’s money (and tests, accountability, transparency, Common Core prohibition, etc.) follows the child based on the state’s funding formulas. Under a voucher, or a “taxpayer savings grant” proposal, the money following the child is not quite as simple.

The average cost of educating a child in a Texas public school is $8,500 per year, So, the question is, which taxpayers in Texas pay enough local property or state sales tax, or a combination thereof, to fully fund their child’s education without the aid of their fellow Texans or Texas businesses?

A Texas family must either own a home valued between $800,000 and $850,000 or spend between $100,000 and $150,000 in sales taxable transactions every year, or some combination of the two, to pay enough local property taxes to their school district and/or enough sales taxes to the State of Texas to fully fund their child’s education at a public school. These amounts are PER CHILD. For a family that has more than one child in public school we need to multiply these figures times the number of children.

As you can see, very few families fully fund their child’s public education. So, when we talk about the “money following the child” in this debate, we are really talking about money from taxpayers across the state following somebody else’s child or children. This is really no different for a “taxpayer savings grant” which allows a business to defer taxes it must pay to the State of Texas if that business contributes money for the purpose of funding scholarships for private school vouchers. These are tax dollars that are owed to the state and should be treated with the same accountability and transparency as every tax dollar given to and spent by the government.

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; TASSP Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); TEPSA Summer Conference (Multiple Presentations); NAESP National Conference
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Asks... Really, Moses is a Founding Father?

A LYS Teacher asks the following:

SC,

I know you stay current with the politics that effect education, but I want to share a snippet of the debate surrounding the teaching of U.S. History in Texas.

“...There is a complex and interesting story to tell about the ways religion influenced American history. But creating a caricature of Moses and inserting him into America's founding is... well, bearing false witness...”

What the heck is going on in our elected bodies? I am very interested in your analysis.

SC Response

First, the usual disclaimers:

1. This following is my opinion and personal analysis. 

2. I am an independent voter, voting a split ticket in every election, including the election last November.

It is no secret that over the last 10 years, The Tea Party and Far Right have essentially taken over the Republican Party in Texas. In fact, politicians that would have been considered ultra-conservative just a short 15 years ago are now branded as RINO (Republican In Name Only) and rarely survive primary battles.   And because Texas is a Red State, the Legislature, State Board of Education, Lt. Governor and Governor all tilt as far to the right and the most extreme liberal is skewed to left. 

Many of these politicians in word and deed are seemingly anti-science, anti-rational discourse, anti-poor, anti-non Christian, anti-tax, anti-public school, and anti-diversity.  They see textbooks and public schools as a battleground for the hearts and minds for their particular version of the ‘American Way.’  

Throw in the fact that their most ardent supporters are bullies, running effective “troll campaigns” on social media against those who espouse differing views and many of those in the middle simply stay quiet.  Because of my small influence in education and the fact that I will discuss facts and reality contrary to their ideology, even I, a self-professed school operations/leadership wonk, have been a target of the all too common, “He’s an evil liberal” campaigns.

As long as moderates (Independent, Republican and Democrat) stay away from primary voting, and those few who do vote in the general elections continue in large numbers to vote a straight ticket, things won’t change for a long time.

And in the short-run, the legislation concerning public education will become even more polarized.

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

Fundamental 5 and Teacher Evaluation Alignment (PDAS)

Yesterday, I wrote that implementation of The Fundamental 5 should not be used for a teacher’s summative evaluation.  Instead, administrators should use the observed implementation of The Fundamental 5 for teacher formative assessment, feedback and coaching.  Essentially supporting a teacher in the honing of daily craft to make summative evaluations less stressful and more rewarding for the teacher. 

To illustrate how this works in practice I will use the PDAS as an example.  The PDAS is the current teacher formative evaluation tool in use in Texas.

When I Frame the Lesson, I make a positive impact on the following PDAS Domains:

Domain I (Student Participation)

Domain II (Learner-Centered Instruction)

Domain III (Evaluation and Feedback)

Domain IV (Management)

Domain V (Professional Communication)

Domain VIII (Improvement of Academic Performance of All Students)

When I Work in the Power Zone, I make a positive impact on the following PDAS Domains:

Domain I (Student Participation)

Domain II (Learner-Centered Instruction)

Domain III (Evaluation and Feedback)

Domain IV (Management)

Domain V (Professional Communication)

Domain VIII (Improvement of Academic Performance of All Students)

When I use Frequent Small Group Purposeful Talk, I make a positive impact on the following PDAS Domains:

Domain I (Student Participation)

Domain II (Learner-Centered Instruction)

Domain III (Evaluation and Feedback)

Domain IV (Management)

Domain VIII (Improvement of Academic Performance of All Students)

When I Recognize & Reinforce, I make a positive impact on the following PDAS Domains:

Domain I (Student Participation)

Domain II (Learner-Centered Instruction)

Domain III (Evaluation and Feedback)

Domain IV (Management)

Domain V (Professional Communication)

Domain VIII (Improvement of Academic Performance of All Students)

When I have my students Write Critically, I make a positive impact on the following PDAS Domains:

Domain I (Student Participation)

Domain II (Learner-Centered Instruction)

Domain III (Evaluation and Feedback)

Domain VIII (Improvement of Academic Performance of All Students)

As the teacher is observed implementing The Fundamental 5 at high frequency and high quality during a Summative Observation, the administrator should find it easy to evaluate that teacher as Exceeding Expectations in the following PDAS Domains:

Domain I (Student Participation)

Domain II (Learner-Centered Instruction)

Domain III (Evaluation and Feedback)

Domain IV (Management)

Domain V (Professional Communication)

Domain VIII (Improvement of Academic Performance of All Students)

The Bottom Line: When administrators use the Fundamental 5 for formative teacher support, as those practices are then implemented with increased frequency and quality, teachers can’t help but to met and exceed expectations on their PDAS summative evaluation.

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