Top LYS Tweets from the Week of April 1, 2012

According to a recent PEW report more than 75% of all teenagers have a cell phone. Visit any mall on the weekend and you will swear that 75% is a conservative estimate. Add to this fact that each day the number of smart phones over the number of regular cell phones increases. As you are looking at your tech budget for the upcoming year, ease up on the typical computer-buying spree. Instead beef up your Wi-Fi and carve out some time and money to help teachers figure out how to embed the use of bootleg technology in daily instruction. At least 75% of your student body is already in possession hardware that is faster and more relevant than the desktops in your computer labs and the laptops in your charging carts. As it now relates to technology, our job is to catch up with our students and figure out how to let them use their hardware.

A number of you in the LYS Nation are now using your own bootleg technology devices to follow Twitter. 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 April 1, 2012.

1. If you spend the first 5 minutes collecting papers & taking attendance why would any kid care if they were on time to your class? (By @justintarte)

2. Bad practice + a good excuse = bad practice.

3. When your school/district improvement plan primarily focuses on skimming the cream from the top, what exactly is being improved?

4. Here's an idea. Why not send progress reports and report cards to parents via text and/or e-mail?

5. If people take refuge at an elementary school, is that a government handout? (By DrJerryRBurkett)

6. Most DAEP's do a decent job of playing the hand they are dealt. The problem is that the most districts deal them a losing hand.

7. Leadership Malpractice: Moving teachers to less desirable classes, grades or settings with the hope that they will leave.

8. Proactive Leadership: Putting your best people in your toughest settings. Great for kids, great for the organization!

9. A teacher said yesterday when we were discussing The Fundamental 5, “Isn't this what we are supposed to do for PDAS!” :-) (By @fosterbkay)

10. A second grader is showing me tricks on my I-Phone. Every day you keep bootleg technology out of your school you are falling behind.

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
• 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)
• Confirmed 2012 Presentations: NASB Conference; TASSP Conference (multiple sessions); Region 10 ESC Fall Leadership Conference (Keynote)

A Reader Asks... Elementary School Discipline

A reader asks:

SC,

I would like to find out the new statues regarding elementary school discipline (Texas). What sites do you suggest that would be most beneficial?

Thank you.

SC Response

The “go to” source for you is the T.E.A website. Student discipline is addressed in Texas Education Code, Chapter 37. In my opinion, Chapter 37 is required reading for all school administrators. Additionally, you can check with the Texas Association of School Boards for policy recommendations that align with the statute.

I would like to point out two sections of the statute that are of relevance to all elementary schools.

37.001 (8) A Student Code of Conduct provides, as appropriate for students at each grade level, methods, including options, for:

(A) Managing students in the classroom and on school grounds;

(B) Disciplining students; and

(C) Preventing and intervening in student discipline problems, including bullying, harassment, and making hit lists.

37.006 (F)(f) Removal of an elementary student: Subject to Section 37.007(e), a student who is younger than 10 years of age shall be removed from class and placed in a disciplinary alternative education program under Section 37.008 if the student engages in conduct described by Section 37.007. An elementary school student may not be placed in a disciplinary alternative education program with any other student who is not an elementary school student.

Now, for a couple of recommendations:

1. Student discipline is all about pre-teaching expectations and coaching students to be successful. It has nothing to do with punishment.

2. Student discipline is all about maximizing recognition and reinforcement of the behaviors we want to see. And minimizing the recognition and reinforcement of the behaviors we don’t want to see.

3. The elementary brain is hard wired to process positive reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is not processed effectively or efficiently. Meaning that punishment is a waste of time.

4. The longer the student is removed from the classroom the further he or she falls behind. It spite of the convenient lie that we tell the public, and ourselves, there is no academic acceleration in discipline settings. The best that you can hope for is that focused remediation is provided.

5. The best adult revenge is for the student to successfully do his or her work. Any solution that facilitates that result in the shortest amount of time is the definition of win/win.

I hope this helps you.

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

A Reader Writes... (What Are You In Charge Of - Part 2)

In response to the 2/7/2011 post, “What are You in Charge of,” a LYS Principal writes:

I saw Dr. Jenkins operation frequently last year, as I used to work in that district. It is a smooth operation. John gets a lot of criticism for his unapologetic use of the LYS discipline approach, but after viewing it first hand, I adopted most of the same strategies.

A little history, I was a turnaround principal (as I am still) in the early days of the Texas High School Restructuring Project (which was run by Cain). I learned first hand that AU schools also have PBMAS data problems involving discretionary placements to ISS and DAEP. Here’s a rock solid correlation: Take the kids out of the instructional setting, and they don't learn. Amazing.

Here are a few things to consider, and I know some of this is crazy talk:

1. We are not in the punishment business, we are in the learning business. Discipline should be a learning tool, not a punishment tool. Don't worry, after school there will be plenty of people standing in line to punish your kids.

2. I very seldom use a discipline technique that removes a kid from the instructional setting. I will discuss the exceptions below. Yes, you too can have a school with virtually no kids in ISS. If you need to see one, come to my school. Use detentions and time outs for redirection.

3. Most behavioral problems are due to parental dis-engagement. Re-engage the parents. If they don't want to re-engage, push on the parent. Call the parent and ask to see them in person, right away. If right away is not possible, the next morning will do. For first time minor offenders a phone call may be in order, but for any repeat offender, a phone conference simply won't do. Inconvenience the parent. After all, it is the parent's job to raise the child, not yours. Don't let the parent dodge their responsibility.

Parent won't come for a conference? Try these options: suspend the child pending a parent conference (I don't like this one, but I have used it), take the child to the parent's work place and let the parent deal with the child (I did this once; it was highly effective), use your SRO for leverage: "do you prefer a ticket or a conference, because we are out of options?"

Re-engaging parents is time consuming. You are looking at 30 minutes for each conference. It only takes 5 seconds to place the child in ISS, and the problem is out of sight, out of mind.

Using these techniques I found that less than 1% of parents were unwilling to re-engage with their child. Some of these parents got tired of our calls and demands and moved their children to other schools, which suits me just fine.

I should mention that most parents love this approach. Parents don't want their child in ISS and most are willing to take off work to re-engage their child.

I should also mention that many teachers initially don't like the approach. As administrators we have conditioned our teachers that referrals will result in a multiple day break from the child in question. I mean, running a school without ISS? That is truly crazy talk.

SC Response

At one time, four of the top ten young Texas urban school leaders (FT, JJ, JM and MS) were in this district. Unfortunately, the district didn’t know what to do with them, so all but Dr. Jenkins scattered with the wind. Oh, what could have been.

Some more history, LYS discipline programs and philosophy were born in the research and work that Dr. Jim Davis and I led in Harris County in the late 1990’s early 2000’s. Here is what we learned:

1. The more a student gets in trouble, the more he suffers academically.

2. The more the student is removed from class, the less chance he has to pass the state accountability test.

3. Remove the student from the campus, and he is all but a guaranteed drop out.

The answer:

1. Create systems that prevent students from getting in trouble.

2. Minimize the time students are away from the classroom.

3. Work every day to put the Off Campus Discipline Program out of business (by chocking off the supply of students).

E. Don Brown in Dallas and Robert Brezina in Houston understood this way before the rest of us did (who’s surprised). Brown never had an ISS program on his large high school campus (Brown quote: ISS is a self-fulfilling prophesy). Brezina put his best staff at his DAEP’s (that’s where you find the greatest need).

Finally, no matter what, you have to eliminate out of school suspensions. This is the dumbest discipline intervention ever created. When I send you home, I have ceded control of the situation to a parent who by all objective data (child exhibiting anti-social behavior) has no control over the situation. I have to assume that I am the only one who has the will and the tools to teach the student how to be successful in social interactions (notice, the absence of the word punishment). So if the child gets in trouble, I’m working with him. The more serious the trouble, the more time he gets and the more focused the intervention.

Just know that every student you quit on, from a statistical standpoint, is a guaranteed failure. Things do not get better down the discipline continuum. Stop the slide before it starts.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

Follow Sean Cain at www.Twitter.com/LYS Nation

Coming Soon! - "The Fundamental Five: The Formula for Quality Instruction" www.TheFundamentalFive.com

Plan to attend the LYS presentations the summer at TASSP, TASB and TEPSA.

A Reader's Comment and a Contest

A reader's comment:

“Sean, I wanted to let you know we are using the Fundamental 5 at our campus this year. Our curriculum coaches and Instructional Specialist were so impressed with your presentation at the conference that they got the ball rolling before we even got back to school, including the Fundamental 5 in the long range planning they did with our grade level teams this summer. Attached is the poster used in each classroom.

The issues you cover in the blog always make me think. Thanks for your dedication to kids and teachers.”

SC Response
Thank you for the kind comments. I’m going to address your points in reverse order.

First, I love my job for any number of reasons, but one of the big ones is that I get to pay forward the incredible gift that my teachers and principals gave to me. I wasn’t the easiest student to deal with, easily spending as much time in the office as I did in class (I’m lucky there were no DAEP’s then). But each year at least one teacher found a way to ignore my considerable faults and keep me somewhat on track. By the time I got to high school, if it was not for one of my coaches and my principal, I would have dropped out numerous times. Schools and teachers change futures. We see proof of this everyday. I am driven to ensure that this occurs less by luck and more by design.

Second, the issues that I cover in the blog are the issues of the LYS Nation. I ceded control of the topics a couple of months ago. Now, I write about what we are discussing in the field and follow up to comments. Which is what I envisioned. I recognized that I was having conversations that no one else was having, solely due to the fact that I was mobile, a luxury not afforded to those on a campus. So the blog is the tool for expanding the conversation. As the conversation expands, not only does it get more interesting, but learning curves are accelerated, especially mine.

Third, I’m glad that you and your staff are as excited as we are about the Fundamental 5. When theory, data and practice align to maximize effort and performance, it makes going to work fun.

Fourth, the poster is awesome! There is another campus that also has made posters which leads me to believe that there may be other ones out there. So here is the contest, send me a copy of your Fundamental 5 poster by September 18th, 2009. The winning school will have their poster displayed on the blog and have pizzas delivered for the staff. So for rest of the LYS Nation, get to work, two schools have already entered their submissions.

Contest Rules:
1. E-mail an electronic version of your Fundamental Five poster to the blog (if you don't have a poster yet, make one).
2. Deadline for entries, September 18, 2009.
3. Submissions become the property of Lead Your School.
4. Prize – Pizza lunch for staff
5. Winner announced by September 25, 2009

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (Conference - Part 4)

“It is exciting to hear this type of feedback from the conference. I did not have the privilege of attending, but I have had the privilege of not only seeing Cain in action, but I have witnessed some of his work in person.

I took an assistant principal with me on one occasion to a DAEP that Cain was doing extensive work with. The AP left feeling inspired and wondering why our faculty did not put that much effort into kids. In fact, the AP said he did not want to go back to such a kid-negative environment after witnessing first hand what was happening at this model DAEP.

I am skeptical of most people who deliver professional development, but I will say this about Cain and E. Don Brown - they walk it like they talk it, and I have seen that with my own eyes.”

SC Response
Thank you for the kind words. It has always been my belief that if people are going to listen to you and put their careers on the line to implement your ideas, then you must be willing to do whatever it takes to make them successful. Brezina, Brown and I never forget that and do our best to live that every day. If you are coachable, we won't quit.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Writes... (DAEP's - Part 2)

In response to the post, “And Your Point Is,” a reader writes:

“I live and work in a boarding environment at a private school, so our program is quite a bit different. However, we sometimes remove students from the classroom to do something similar to DAEP. It is all about remediation and behavioral change, rather than academic instruction. As one who's worked in that DAEP environment from time to time, though, I have to say that teaching remediation is not like working with a positive and interested class at first. It's very much about resetting long-standing behaviors, and engaging disengaged kids. They lose a lot of time in that kind of environment, and I mourn the loss of focus and direction that those kids have during that window they're away from a functional classroom.”

SC Response:
A voice of reason, a teacher who understands that the longer a student is out of his class the further behind that student is getting, every day!

In the early 2000’s, I was working with a district that decided to track student performance on the state accountability tests vs. discipline interventions. I don’t have the data anymore so don’t hold me to specific numbers, but the trend is accurate.

What the district found is that students who had two or fewer office referrals had about a 98% passing rate on the TAAS test (an older Texas accountability test).

Student who were referred to In School Suspension once had about an 88% passing rate.

Students who were referred to In School Suspension more than once had about a 68% passing rate.

Students who were referred to the DAEP had about a 48% passing rate.

The deeper we push kids into the hole, the less chance they have of getting out. And yes, we push kids. Until, we can get the majority of staff to understand that our job is to coach kids to success, not sort them into "easy to work with," and "easy to get rid of columns," we are systematically destroying futures.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (DAEP - Part 1)

In response to the post, “And Your Point Is,” a reader, and DAEP principal, writes:

“Amen! We want our students to be successful when they return to the home campus. We hear over and over that they are not welcomed when they go back. We believe in the saying that kids won’t care unless they know you care! Those that are successful when they return are welcomed back and encouraged to be successful. Isn’t that what it is all about?”

SC Response
I know that your rhetorical finish is really an indictment. E. Don Brown preaches, "that the only person who can be a pure advocate for students is the principal. Everyone else in education, at some point in time, has a vested interest greater than the needs of kids."

The truth of that statement becomes readily apparent when the student in question has either been delinquent or has gotten on every adult’s last nerve. At that point, the human need for revenge and to punish, easily overcomes common sense and professional duty.

Principals have to do two things. First, they have to make sure that adults follow the discipline continuum to the letter. If an adult cuts a corner or makes an error, the student has to get the benefit of the doubt. Second, the principal has to make sure that angry adults aren’t making decisions that will impact a student’s future. Even if they are the angry adult in question.

If a principal can do that, they can go a long way in protecting what I often refer to as “the last legal victim class,” the delinquent student.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

And Your Point Is...

One of the schools that I work with is a Discipline Alternative Education Program (the expulsion campus) in a large urban district. The changes this year have been nothing short of miraculous. Attendance is up over 10%, recidivism has decreased dramatically, and students are completing the program in less than half the time it took last year. Almost everyone is happy. Except for a vocal group of bitter teachers at the regular campuses. Their complaints center around three themes: students come back to soon; kids aren’t punished enough in the program; and the quality of academic work is sub-par. I’m going to address all three.

The first complaint is that the students return to the home campus too soon. And by too soon, they mean that they were not removed from the classroom for enough calendar days. The problem with this complaint is that it is based on a need for revenge. You irritated me in some way so now you must pay a price, until I am satisfied. Unfortunately, for the adults who demand revenge, this DAEP program is based on providing just enough intervention to prepare the student to be successful back at the regular campus. Once that criteria is met, they are returned. My advice to teachers with a need for retribution and revenge is to keep their problem students in their classroom where they can punish students to their heart’s content.

The second complaint is that students are not punished enough. Actually, the students are not punished at all. Punishment is counter-productive. The purpose of the RISE DAEP is to change behaviors, not remove behaviors. Punishment can lead to the absence to negative behaviors, but only while the threat of punishment is maintained. However, coaching and rewards do lead to the increased use of positive behaviors, even after the promise of extrinsic rewards is stopped. If the threat and use of punishment was truly effective with DAEP students, then they never would have committed the offense that caused their placement in the first place.

The final complaint is that the quality of academic work is sub-par. To which the response is, “yes, how could it not be?” To purpose of the DAEP is to take the students who are disrupting the educational process in regular classrooms and remediate their behavior so they can successfully transition back into the regular classroom. If this task could be accomplished along with providing the same level of instruction as the regular teacher, then why keep the regular teacher? The day that any DAEP can match the quality of instruction of the regular classroom is the day that you can start making a list of replaceable staff.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…