A Reader Writes... Does the Passing Standard Matter - Part 1

In response to the 1/29/15 post, “Does the Passing Standard Matter,” a LYS Central Office Administrator writes:

SC,

I am a proponent of having a minimum performance expectation of a Checkpoint (common assessment) at 70%. 70% is the passing standard for classroom assignments. We all know the passing standard for the STAAR is different for almost every subject and every grade level. We can find comfort later in knowing the real number of students who will pass the state level passing standard will be higher than our Checkpoint scores reflect. 

However, I never want to lower the classroom expectation that all of our students meet the district’s passing standard.

SC Response

Well stated.  We are almost in complete agreement.  We differ only on the performance expectation.  I set the target at 80%.  I want my campus(es) work to get everyone over the 80% mark.  70% leaves too much to chance.  And no one can argue the fact that 70% is much closer to failing than to mastery. 

Set your internal and short-term standards high.  Work your tail off to meet them. Let the state standards take care of themselves.  Celebrate big at the end of the year when your students make huge performance leaps and outperform the neighboring schools.

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 Legendary Leadership Badge (January 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 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 2014/2015 school year (as of 1/31/15).

  

2 Badges

Lorie Bratcher: January 2015; October 2014

Sean Cain: January 2015; October 2014

Sandra Wilson: January 2015; October 2014

Jim Womack: January 2015; December 2014

1 Badge

Joan Alvey: January 2015

Tracey Bennett: January 2015

Wes Brown: January 2015

Jenn Cooper: January 2015

Ethan Crowell: January 2015

Donny Green: January 2015

Julie Hinson: January 2015

Todd Jones: January 2015

Charles King: January 2015

Lyle Lackey: January 2015

Kim Meador: January 2015

Tim Merki: January 2015

R.J. Rodrigue: January 2015

Patsy Sanchez: January 2015

Michelle Schreiner: January 2015

Melissa Summers: January 2015

Tamika Washington: January 2015

Brenda Blackmon: December 2014

Marianne Buentello: December 2014

Dexter Floyd: December 2014

GayLynn Holt: December 2014

Cara Jolly: December 2014

Brian Lowe: December 2014

Mike Metz: December 2014

Leslie Thomas: December 2014

Pam Williams: December 2014

Mary-Margaret Crandall: November 2014

Charlie Crisp: November 2014

Rita Faulkner: November 2014

Jenny Morris: November 2014

Twyla Thomas: November 2014

Michael Clifton: October 2014

Rankin Hitt: October 2014

Jennifer Phillips: October 2014

Jessica Robert: October 2014

Chris Viator: October 2014

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

PowerWalks Hero Schools (January 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. In January, the Hero Schools met or exceeded the targets below:

The January Hero School Targets

Big Schools – 250 PowerWalks Observations

Medium Sized Schools – 175 PowerWalks Observations

Small Schools – 95 PowerWalks Observations

Very Small Schools – 50 PowerWalks Observations

For February, due to the short month and potential weather days we will leave the targets unchanged:

The February Hero School Targets

Big Schools – 250 PowerWalks Observations

Medium Sized Schools – 175 PowerWalks Observations

Small Schools – 95 PowerWalks Observations

Very Small Schools – 50 PowerWalks Observations.

For the record, the schools in the LYS nation conducted a total of 9,251 PowerWalks observations this past month.  But enough stalling, here are your twenty-five PowerWalks Hero Schools for the month of January 2015.  Congratulations!!!

Elementary Schools	Junior High & Middle Schools	Alternative Schools	Combined Campuses	High Schools
Rennell ES (CFISD – midsized school): 606	Magnolia JH (MISD – midsized school): 302	San Marcos School (JWPCS – very small school): 117		Weatherford HS (WISD – large school): 625
Winona ES / IS (WISD – small school): 510	Big Spring MS (BSISD – midsized school): 235	Afton Oaks School (JWPCS – very small school): 64		Fairdale HS (JCPS – large school): 613
Veterans’ Hill ES (HISD – small school): 267	Winona MS (WISD – small school): 193			Iroquois HS (JCPS – large school): 460
Raymond E. Curtis ES (WISD – small school): 217	Big Spring IS (BSISD - small school): 159			Mayde Creek HS (KISD – large school): 441
Dublin ES (DISD – very small school): 210	Dublin IS (DISD – very small school): 124			Morton Ranch HS (KISD – large school): 367
Mary Martin ES (WISD – small school): 209				Winona HS (WISD – small school): 221
Marlin ES (MISD – very small school): 183				Weatherford 9th Grade Center (WISD – small school): 159
West Avenue ES (NEISD – small school): 123
Hutto ES (HISD – small school): 115
Stephen F. Austin ES (WISD – small school): 106
Cottonwood Creek ES (HISD – small school): 102

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 Tweets From the Week of January 25, 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 25, 2015.

1. We applaud innovation, and for good reason, but it's important to remember the fundamentals of good teaching are universal and unchanging. (By @DavidGeurin)

2. Hutto Superintendent, Doug Killian: I struggle with the idea that the Party of Lincoln would propose vouchers. I struggle with that idea. (By @edwonkkimmy)

3. Train. Watch. Talk. Adjust. Repeat. (By @CabidaCain)

4. Visioning and transforming an organization cannot be delegated or abdicated. Lead your school! (By @brandyjbaker)

5. Overheard an administrator share the Fundamental 5 (ByCain & Laird) with fellow administrators during a discussion about rigor. Book in hand! (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

6. "Nothing kills problem solving and hope faster than focusing on the things with which we have NO control." (By @BethHouf)

7. School vouchers are a gated community subsidy marketed as a barrio benefit. Bait and switch. (By @LYSNation)

8. Vouchers are public tax dollars used to subsidize private and religious schools. So... Why vouchers? (By @RHYTexas)

9. Quote about Sean Cain: "That guy is a jewel. His book (The Fundamental 5 by Cain & Laird) has made a difference in our school." (By @DrJerryRBurkett)

10. Excited to share that I'm presenting again at the NAESP National Conference this Summer! (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

A Principal Shares... This Is Hard

A first year LYS Principal (and former LYS teacher and Assistant Principal) shares the following:

LYS Nation,

Here is what I have learned in my first nine weeks as a principal: There is nothing more important than a culture of high achievement, respect and professionalism.

And trying to move people towards that can be pure hell.

SC Response:

Bingo! But let’s talk expectations, reasons and actions.

Most first year principals in your situation (taking over a campus that has not been meeting its potential) get their feeling hurt almost immediately.  You got your job because you are an ambitious, conscientious, hard working, reflective, problem solver.  All good qualities individually, exceptional as a package.  As a teacher, you have seen that in many cases, poor leadership and inadequate systems have kept your peers from being as effective as they could be. And you believed that like you, if they had the right leadership and access to better systems and support, they would step up and start performing immediately.  And you were wrong (as were so many of us) and it is crushing, because what you never realized is that you are different.  Not better. Just different, which is why you are in the role you are now in... Leadership.

So you have to modify your expectations.  Not that your staff and your students will be great.  They can be.  It just won’t happen because you arrived.  You see, your staff has ingrained habits and beliefs that evolved to protect their self-esteem.  Otherwise, they would never have been able to survive in an environment where every year, the students are a little harder to teach and the performance just a little worse.

Primarily, your teachers believe that:

1. They are doing everything that can be done.

2. There is no “better” way.

3. Some children just don’t do well in school.

To believe anything else would mean that they are somehow inadequate.

This does not make them bad people or bad teachers. It simply makes them people.  No one wants to hear that things could have been better if they have performed in a different manner.

This means that you are going to have to focus on three things: Communication, coaching and implementation.

You are going to have to communicate your intent and expectations like a broken record. 

You are going to have to train and coach on practices and procedures, like a sports team.  Incrementally and almost daily.

You are going to have to cue and monitor implementation, daily.

Don’t expect immediate belief, acceptance or even competence.  All you need is forward movement in practice.  Keep that going and everything else will follow.

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... Does the Passing Standard Matter

A LYS Central Office Administrator asks the following:

SC,

Quick question. When the state doesn’t require 70% of the EOC (End of Course Exam) questions to be answered correctly to meet the state’s standard - why are requiring 70% proficiency on our checkpoints?

We realize we need to get to this 70% level for the state some day, but that is still a couple of years in the future.

What if we lower our common assessment standard to something closer to the current state requirement? Wouldn’t this be more realistic and even motivating for our staff? 

Your thoughts?

SC Response

Not exactly a quick question.  But that’s OK. I have a not exactly quick answer.

 

1. It doesn’t matter that the passing standard on the state assessment is currently lower than your in district standard.  In fact, it is good thing.  

A. The state standard is a minimum standard.  I have to assume the minimum is not acceptable for the students attending your schools. 

B. You want to “practice” harder than the “game.” It's the best insurance/assurance of success when it actually matters.

2. Hard truth time. In all likelihood your district developed common assessment questions are easier than the STAAR questions, so it is best to err on the side of caution.

3. The common assessment is over what was supposed to be taught and mastered in a specific window of time. If it was a teacher made test covering a specific window of time, the teacher would not accept a grade lower than a 70 as acceptable. We should not expect less from the common assessment.

4. Winners don't lower their standards because the task is hard. Winners work hard to elevate their game to eventually accomplish the task.  Which means that winners don’t always win in the short run, but they always work towards eventual victory.

5. The decision to lower district standards boils down to this: Is the district working towards being "not bad" or is the district working to be exceptional.  Whichever one you choose, your students and staff will work to meet that expectation.  Hence the value and importance of leadership. 

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