Top LYS Tweets From the Week of August 7, 2015

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of August 7, 2015 when they were first posted.  And if you are on Twitter, you might want to check out the Tweeters who made this week’s list.

1. Congratulations to LYSer, Rite Pintavalle! She is the new principal at Brazosport HS!! Who will be next? (By @LYSNation)

2. Challenge to all Teachers for the first day of school: skip reviewing rules and classroom procedures and teach the best lesson of your life. (By @benking24)

3. Knowing what you are going to learn immediately increases what you learn. Sounds like The Fundamental 5. (By @8Amber8)

4. If a campus doesn't do the simple things (neat, clean, etc), there's no confidence in its ability to do the hard things (quality teaching). (By @LYSNation)

5. Brad Weston (A LYS Principal): “We are constantly looking for ways to improve by leveraging high-yield strategies that we know work!” (By @amyphdennes)

6. There’s plenty of school choice within the public school system. Any plan that locates school choice outside the public trust violates that trust. (By @pastors4txkids)

7. Picture books are 2-3 times as likely as parent-child conversations to include a word that isn’t among the 5,000 most common English words. (By @tgrierhisd)

8. If a PLC has spent 20-minutes on any topic, it's time for the PLC to take action. PLCs must be action-oriented. (By @stevebarkley)

9. Most of the obstacles to success in school districts are largely created by adults. (By @LYSNation)

10. The jury is in and the bi-partisan consensus is strong: Vouchers and privatization make awful public policy. (By @pastors4txkids)

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Be Better Than Busy

There is always work to do on a campus.  We can stay occupied with “stuff and things” nearly every day.  But consider the work your team is doing. 

If you are not working on the right stuff, you and your team are not getting better... You are just staying busy.

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Reader Doesn't Like... Observations From the Perfect Dysfunctional Storm

In response to the series of posts, “Observations From the Perfect Storm,” a reader writes the following:

SC,

I am offended by many of your views of central office. In large districts, I have seen this as being an issue, but in the majority of districts, many in upper administration are there because we want to make the greatest impact on all students. We are not the lazy, teacher hating, student ignoring, money grubbing people you make us out to be. We work tirelessly to ensure that EVERY student has access to the best education our district can give him or her.

SC Response

First, thank you for your response. 

I will start my rebuttal with the following fact. I was a central office administrator for more years than I was a principal.

I’ve re-read the posts in question, looking for your specific critiques.  I don’t see them. We (neither the principal nor I) DID NOT cast central office administrators as:

A. Lazy – We both know this is not the case.

B. Teacher Hating – If anything we point out that central office will often side with complaining teachers over campus administration. That is not teacher hating. If I were to say the central office administrator hates anything, it would be conflict.

C. Money Grubbing – You are reading someone else’s material, not mine. I argue that all educators are underpaid, from classroom aide to assistant superintendent. And in most cases, I argue that most Superintendents are also underpaid. 

D. Student Ignoring – We didn’t argue this one way or the other. But if you believe that Central Office is as student centric as the campus, I would disagree.  Just the nature of the position forces the central office administrator to, at times, compromise student needs for the needs of the entire organization. This is not an indictment, just a fact.

I do see in Point #1, I point out that most schools fail due to failed leadership.  That is not a secret.  And I will add that Central Office leaders share in that blame, though they rarely share in the consequences of that failure.

In Point #4, the Principal and I agree that Central Office has little stomach for teacher complaints. And on top of that, most principals are evaluated by how “happy” their staff reports themselves to be.  I’ll stand by this truism and readily (in private) point out the districts where this practice is the law of the land.

In Point #5, the Principal and I agree that Central Office is motivated to intervene when campuses are rated unacceptable. And once a campus is acceptable the attention of Central Office wanes.   Again, I’ll stand by this truism and readily (in private) point out the districts where this is standard practice.

In this series of posts, specific to a real (but identity masked) dysfunctional campus in a dysfunctional district, every adult in the system is culpable, from the Board to the Teacher. The fact that this principal wanted to share lessons learned is commendable.  The fact that the posts were uncomfortable to read is a good thing.  We should never be comfortable when adults fail children.

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Readers Like... Observations From the Perfect Dysfunctional Storm

In response to the recent series of posts, “Observations From the Perfect Storm,” the following LYSers wrote:

A Retired LYS Superintendent: Once again, you are on target!

A LYS Assistant Superintendent: These posts have been excellent.  Both the principal’s observations and your added comments.

An Old School LYS Superintendent: This is why the LYS Blog is part of my daily reading.  The LYS Nation talks the truth, even when it isn’t comfortable.  As I tell my team, “If you can’t deal with real, then you’re part of the problem.”  

An Old School LYS Assistant Superintendent: I could have written this myself.  I lived this during my second principalship.  The good news for the writer is that you learn 10 times as much in the difficult postings than you do in the easy postings.

An Old School LYS Principal: I don’t know who this principal is, but he/she is definitely one of us.

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

Top LYS Tweets From the Week of July 26, 2015

If you are not following @LYSNation on Twitter, then you missed the Top 10 LYS Tweets from the week of July 26, 2015 when they were first posted.  And if you are on Twitter, you might want to check out the Tweeters who made this week’s list.

1. Transformational leaders have effect size of .11. Instructional leaders have effect size of .42. Start with The Foundation Trinity and stay there! (By @brandyjbaker)

2. “Next in importance to freedom and justice is education – without which neither of the first two can be maintained.” (By @DrRichAllen)

3. Never let your staff complain about students. Behavior, effort, attitude, capacity are ALL teachable! (By @brandyjbaker)

4. No student should fail a class due to homework—it's not an accurate enough measure of learning on which to base such an important decision. (By @danielmccabe)

5. Is it just me, or do freshly waxed halls bring new life and hit some kind of internal reset button in a school? (By @BluntEducator)

6. The reputation of a school is based, to a large degree, by what the faculty says about the school! (By @tgrierhisd)

7. "The main part of intellectual education is not the acquisition of facts, but learning how to make those facts come alive." (By @DrRichAllen)

8. We ignore law enforcement in gun policy, educators in school policy, and hospital administrators in health policy. Who are we listening to? (By @pastors4txkids)

9. If you're out of ideas about how to blast a presidential candidate, why not attack him for supporting the Common Core, as if it means they support socialism. (By @harvinmoore)

10. A society that won't pay to educate poor student is a society that's going to pay to incarcerate poor dropouts. (By @JohnFugelsang)

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook

A Principal Submits... Observations from the Perfect Dysfunctional Storm - Point #7

The following is the last of a multi-point field report from a LYS Principal.

SC,

A truly, student-centered principal who wants to improve instruction and learning must manage the following truth. 

Removing bad teachers in an acceptable school is a matter of constant visibility and broken record communication.  This will likely wear out the weak teachers who will either improve or leave.  Use growth plans and directives to address severe issues, such as no instruction.  I have yet to find a teacher who will defend another teacher who refuses to teach at all.  Teachers engaging in no instruction are easy targets with little repercussion for the principal.  Removing them builds confidence and support among the teachers who do their jobs.

SC Response

I learned early in my career that if you want to improve staff morale, remove the slackers on the campus (and yes, everyone knows who they are at every school).  To not do so, makes a fool out of every teacher who is shouldering more than their fair share of the load.  Your staff may not publically support you, but behind closed doors, everyone wants leadership to do their job and remove the people that make their jobs more difficult. 

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: Illinois ASCD Fall Conference (Multiple Presentations), Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association Fall AP Conference, The Fundamental 5 National Summit (Multiple Presentations) 
• Follow Sean Cain and LYS on www.Twitter.com/LYSNation  and like Lead Your School on Facebook