A Principal Submits... Observations From the Perfect Dysfunctional Storm - Point #5

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

SC,

The principal who wants the most for her students must realize that no one else is as motivated as she is, once the school is perceived as being successful and the minimum requirements of accountability are met. 

Most of the world, including central office, only becomes concerned with instruction and learning if the school makes the paper by missing accountability standards. I have observed that in far too many schools and school districts, once minimum standards are met, most educators just want to be left alone.

SC Response

You are more correct than you could ever imagine.  For many, the status quo has the same effect as a narcotic, and they will attack anyone who they perceive as a threat to the “known and accepted.” This understanding lends credence to the E. Don Brown postulate that, “... the principal is the one actor in the system that can best combat the urge to coast on past and/or false performance.” 

The shorter version of this understanding is that the rate and level of continuous campus improvement is directly correlated to the drive and intellectual honesty of the principal. 

The critical factor remains... 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: 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 #4

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

SC,

Once a school is acceptable, most of the support a principal receives for improving instruction and learning vanishes.  Very little pushback from staff will be allowed from central office administrators.  The amount of tolerable pushback varies from district to district, but invariably the level is small.

SC Response

Again you are correct.  Improvement always includes a level of gritching and discomfort.  It’s a natural by-product of the movement away from the status quo.  In systems that understand and accept this, the gritching is viewed as an indication that people are engaged in the process of improvement (an obvious good thing).  Unfortunately, though Boards, Superintendents and Central Office personnel may understand this at a theoretical level, many miss the boat at the real world application level of this concept. 

Instead, they evaluate campus leadership based on the lack of complaints that are brought to their attention.  This ensures that the informal (and in many cases the formal) principal evaluation system is based on maintaining the status quo.  This is a doom loop accelerator.  

In fact, with every struggling campus I have ever worked with (now in the 100’s), almost every employee on those campuses exceeded expectations on their last evaluation.  Or as one LYS Principal so eloquently put it, “I’ve inherited a staff of happy superstars that by any objective data haven’t done anything of merit in the last four years.”

The critical factor remains... 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: 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 #3

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

SC,

Reality: Academically Unacceptable + 1 extra student per sub-pop = Acceptable.  This is a simple formula that will keep you out of the news.  As long as there is a good perception and no bad press due to accountability scores, the school is considered good and leadership has little to worry about in most districts.

SC Response

The formula works, if you use it to buy time to improve performance, for all students.  The formula fails when the campus loses the +1, and then blames that group of students. 

The critical factor remains... 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: 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 12, 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 July 12, 2015.

1. If somebody doesn't disagree with you about something, then you aren't focusing on work that matters to others. Don't fear disagreement. (By @justintarte)

2. No church would formulate a budget without the pastor's approval. But we routinely form state education budgets without educators' approval. (By @pastors4txkids)

3. Reflecting on trainings from past two weeks. A statement that stands out, "the person doing the talking is doing the learning." (By @jonCampbell47)

4. A student has to receive thirteen 100’s before recovering from one single 0. Zeroes are DEVASTATING to kids. (By @justintarte)

5. The notion that we can make adequate and equitable education policy that is not designed and endorsed by educators closest to our kids is nuts. (By @pastors4txkids)

6. “In the new economy, information, education, and motivation are everything.” (By @DrRichAllen)

7. If you are a public servant and you object to fulfilling your public obligation, the solution is simple. Quit and go work in the private sector. (By @LYSNation)

8. School administrators should always be in the classrooms walking the walk with teachers everyday. (By @DanFowler05)

9. Leadership has a multiplying effect. (By @SteveGutzler)

10. Your legacy depends not on what you accomplish in your current role, but on what continues to happen after you leave. (By @eduleadership)

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 a Perfect Dysfunctional Storm - Point #2

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

SC,

A school’s quality is largely determined by perception.  A school that has decent law and order, clear hallways, and is reasonably clean, is further along the path towards being considered good.  After those issues are addressed, the only way leadership mistakes become visible is if the accountability data makes the news.

SC Response

Amen.  As I explain to teachers and education leaders, time and time again, the community really does not understand curriculum, instruction, accountability, etc.  They do understand how the school looks, how the students look, and how the staff looks.  The community’s perception of these packaging issues dictates whether your school is considered “good” or “bad,” regardless of rating. So by cleaning up and presenting well, you can buy time to work on the things that really matter (teaching and learning).

However, school after school ignores this, either due to laziness, apathy, or a focus on adult comfort.  But here’s the kicker, from a district, state and business perspective, if a campus won’t engage in the simple things (clean, sharp, professional appearance), there is little confidence in its ability to tackle the hard things (curriculum, instruction, assessment, expanding the knowledge base). 

And again, the critical factor remains... 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: 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 #1

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

SC,

The difficulties attributed to urban schools are largely a myth.  I find the little difference between the students in poor urban settings, poor suburban settings and poor rural settings. For the record, I have worked in all three setting.  What I have observed is that the obstacles to success in all districts are largely created by adults.  Urban districts get the spotlight because thousands of students are affected at once.  Adults use the “tough urban school” legend to explain why the kids fail, when in reality the problem is that leadership has failed.

SC Response

In general, I do not disagree with you on this point.  A critical difference that I have observed between the large, poor school and the small, poor school is based on (not surprisingly) scale.  In the smaller schools, the staff know their students better so they are less afraid and/or intimidated by them.  In the larger school, where staff / student relationships are more diffused, the staff allow themselves to be fooled by the 1/8 inch thick shell of hardness that some students attempt to cultivate.  The longer this is allowed to fester, the more it becomes a reality.  The answer is to engage with every student, everyday. This of course requires on-going training (rare), on-going support (rarer), on-going monitoring (rarest) and meaningful intervention (nearly mythical). 

But you are correct, the critical factor remains... 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: 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