A Reader Writes... (Latest School Rankings - Part 5)

In response to the post, "Brezina Writes... (Latest School Rankings - Part 4...", a reader writes:

“At our school, many teachers say that students are put in their classes to cause a teacher to fail. If that is a strategy that is being used, that is unprofessional and can only harm the entire school. It causes dissension among the teachers that have had this done to them to those whom have not had that done and creates an almost hostile environment toward those teachers and then those same teachers use the system to keep their jobs or to cause more harm to others. Then you have an administrator that has not used LYS to cause success and positive interactions. You just have bad management. When this type of system is in place it only causes a school to fail."

SC Response
First, let me say that I have never worked with a campus leader that has scheduled students in a class for the purpose of making a teacher fail. I have yet to meet a principal that is willing to write off a whole class of students just to run off a teacher. In fact, I find the opposite to be true. Almost every principal I have worked with does their best to make sure that student exposure to bad teachers is minimized and exposure to good teachers is maximized. That means that often the best teachers are assigned the toughest kids. What I remind principals is that when they do that, they have to keep the heat on the teachers that don’t have the tough kids, otherwise you are punishing competence and rewarding incompetence.

Now what I have seen is a principal move a teacher she doesn’t like to cover the ISS class. This earns my immediate scorn and displeasure. My belief is that my absolute best teacher (Hello, Coach Boyd) has to be my ISS teacher. After all, that is where my most academically fragile students congregate.

In regard to your campus, what you have to consider is who is doing the complaining. Is it the rookie teacher who has the toughest intro level classes? Or is it the tenured teacher who is asked to teach a tough section along with an advanced or honors section? Some teachers feel that they have “earned” the right to teach senior AP English, and then convince themselves that those classes are successful only due to their “master teacher” status.

If it is the latter, my advice is to do your best to ignore the chatter. They will eventually get happy when their students start to perform, or they won’t and they will leave. It will depend on what they value more, student success or adult comfort. On the student centered campus, in the long run, both options are acceptable.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Submits... LYS

An old school LYS’er submits:

“You know that you are working at a high level when you are in the trenches modeling and demonstrating the tools and practices that will take schools and school leaders to greater levels of success.

Leadership is honed in the field. There is not enough adversity and accountability at a central office desk to push you to the next level. We leave too much untapped leadership potential on the table due to risk avoidance and ego protection

I know of no organization equal to LYS in its focus on student performance and holding school leaders accountable for actually leading. This focus translates into success for all stakeholders in school communities, now across the country (globe?). The LYS Nation has the privilege of reading this blog daily, which means we train and improve ourselves daily. The blog lets us tap into the collective wisdom of present and past great school leaders who have hands on experience in implementing cutting edge practices in instruction and operations.

I’m sick of PLC’s who write a school vision to follow at the beginning of the year and then file it away and continue business as usual. I believe that we, the LYS Nation are becoming the new breed of PLC’s. We team, we have effective dialogue, we act, and we hold ourselves and our teams accountable. We are the new change agents and we will improve student performance not by staying in the comfortable middle but by doing what is right for students, right now.

I’ve worked for and with Sean before, I’ve heard him tell hostile crowds, “You may be smarter then me, but I will out work you.” I’ve watched him re-build schools that everybody else had written off as lost causes. Like him, I’m a risk taker. You have to be when you choose to work in tough settings.

Everyday, I can’t wait to read LYS daily news. It helps me to perform at a high level as a school leader. To be an LYS’er you must be willing to work hard, change on the move, believe all learners can achieve, and hold all stakeholders accountable. That is message you get when you read LYS. I think that some people are intimidated by the blog because it makes them question who they are and what they do. But I welcome those questions. Cain, Brown and Brezina have all coached me and have helped me become the leader I am today. Pay attention to what they say and use their tools and solutions. And don’t be afraid to question them whenever you get a chance.

Thanks for LYS!! Think, Work, Achieve, it is the effective way!!!”

SC Response
Wow. The only thing I want to add is that LYS isn’t about me, Brezina and Brown. It is about the network of school leaders (both formal and informal) that are out there trying to make things better not because they have to, but because they want to. I have learned much more from the LYS Nation than I have been able to share. The blog is the vehicle to keep us connected. Even when we move to different parts of the country knowing that the blog maintains the links between the Boyd’s, Marchel’s and others of their timber, makes it easier to keep pushing forward.

Thanks for the kind thoughts and keep pushing. Each new success that you have paves the way for the rest of us.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn...

A Reader Asks... (Brezina's Rule)

In regards to the Brezina related posts, a reader asks:

“Why is it so hard for school systems to understand the exact quote...'If it is not right for kids, it is wrong.’”

SC Response
This seemingly simple question has a very painful answer. The belief that schools are about students is a myth. Schools are really about adult convenience. Now before you get indignant, I will present three common (and near universal) proof points.

Proof Point #1: The master schedule. Master schedules are built for adults, not students. If master schedules were built for students, we would shuffle the schedule many times a year to address student needs. Instead, schedules are built to reward, punish and/or reduce the workload of adults. Ask anyone who worked for me and they will tell you that the schedule was a fluid instrument that changed at any time there was a compelling student need (this is also why all of my staff had at least two certifications).

Proof Point #2: Annual appraisals. Annual appraisals have next to no correlation to student improvement. Notice, I didn’t write student "performance"? Let me explain. Was the performance of your campus essentially the same as last year? Did you receive any “exceeds expectations” ratings on your annual appraisal? Why? If your system is about students, then the performance of the prior year is the new expectation. To exceed that expectation, you must significantly improve. Otherwise, I appreciate the effort and at best you met my expectation.

Proof Point #3: Teaching assignments. How are teaching assignments doled out on your campus? Let me take a wild guess. The most experienced teachers teach either the highest grade levels, and/or the most motivated (GT, Honors, AP, etc.) students. The rookie teachers teach the weakest students and the weak teachers are shuffled off to non-tested subjects. If your campus is about students, the best teachers teach the weakest students, always. I always put the best teacher I ever worked with (Coach John Boyd) with my most academically fragile students. ALL DAY LONG. And all he produced was successful students, semester after semester.

Being about students is hard work, everyday. Most people don’t want to work that hard. And if leadership does not commit to the concept, our most academically fragile students die a death of 1000 convenient cuts.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…

A Reader Writes... (Health)

In response to the post, “Great Advice – An Unknown High School Principal,” a reader writes:

“I couldn't agree more. I also heard an expert in human resources say that there are hidden disqualifiers for teachers getting into teaching and the biggest one is obesity. Research shows that obese employees are more likely to miss work for illness, have a poor diet on the job, and are less productive than their height/weight proportioned colleagues. Being an out-of-shape leader will cause the masses to rebel out of a lack of respect. There was one non-existent thing in the Marine Corps that I loved and miss: out-of-shape leaders.”

SC Response
Both teaching and leading schools are tough and stressful when you are in shape; an unhealthy lifestyle only make it more difficult. I want to add two more points. First, I had a friend who was an excellent principal who died on the job a couple of years ago. He was very heavy and had a number of health issues. He worked himself to death for his school. Don’t ignore your family, friends and doctor and do what he did - take care of yourself.

Second, Coach John Boyd (an associate of mine) preaches for the need to be in “Teaching” shape. If you refuse to work at getting into teaching shape, he spends less coaching time you. Because his time is limited, he spends the majority of his time with the staff who are committed, mind and body, to improving their classroom effectiveness.

Think. Work. Achieve.

Your turn…