Thursday, July 30, 2009

School Turnaround: Does it take an outsider?

School turnaround experts are becoming ever more popular in certain parts of the country. A recent NPR report on the use of Turnaround for Children in the Bronx provides an interesting overview on the situation creating this need as well as some insight into their approach.

The keys to success are clear (especially when studied in hindsight):
  • Focus on behavior. Don't allow classrooms to be disrupted. Learning does not happen when behavior problems arise. Teach teachers how to deal with these issues quickly and effectively. Ensure that school administrators do their best to support teachers.
  • Separate academic issues from social / emotional issues. Schools must be able to sort through the issues and directly address the most significant issues first. Doctors call this triage. Do not try to do it all at once. Focus on where you will get the best return on your time.
  • Individualize needs of students. This may be the most difficult part especially for large urban schools. Different students, different families have vastly different needs. Some have money problems, others have logistical issues. For some there are large cultural and language barriers. Understand this up front and focus on getting these students and families matched with the resources that can help. Quickly.
  • Do it with existing staff. There are not enough quailified teachers. Period. Most schools and school districts do not have the luxury of replacing staff en masse. And while some may disagree, I content that most teachers are in it for the right reason. Focus on getting rid of the few bad apples if you need to. But work with the staff you've got.

So, if it is so straightforward (and let me assure you, in most cases it is), why do we need outsiders to do it for us? Or do we? There are some reasons for and against and I understand the emotionally charged nature of this topic. But I will offer an opinion: We need outsiders to do the work. Period.

In fact, schools use outsiders (by the classic definition) all the time. A school in need usually gets a new principal. He or she is - for the first two years anyway - effectively an outsider. They come in with few sacred cows or internal political issues. Their agenda is simple: do a good job as measured by student performance. Unfortunately a few things happen along the way that derail these efforts.

First, a new principal may be just that: a new principal. A school in need of turnaround is rarely a great environment for a first year principal. While some new principals are more afraid of following a great principal (perhaps rightly so though for different reasons), entering the treacherous water of a school in need is no place to learn.

Second, the district agenda and biases are still in play. A principal, though new to the school or even the district, is still subjected to many of the same machinations of the school district that the last principal was. This may be good though oftentimes it means business as usually. For turnaround situations, the status quo is rarely a positive.

Third, even experienced principals might lack the experience or the approach of a turnaround expert. Let us be honest. Turning a school around requires a certain stubborness, a thickness of skin, but also a perspective and approach that only comes from experience. Unfortunately most great principals I know end up at the central office never to return to school leadership. And so few principals, even great ones, have a full depth and breadth of experience in turning schools around.

So of course, bringing in a new principal is not the same as bringing in a true outsider. A true outsider would be unfettered from the cultural bonds that restrict his or her ability to make change. They are not worried about the perceptions of staff beyond the immediate term. They have the breadth and depth of experience. But not all of these will play as advantages either.

A lack of connection with the community will be felt by anyone who is clearly there on a temporary basis. And staff and students will feel this as well. As while turnaround organizations clearly have some resources and expertise to leverage, no two situations are exactly alike. These factors need be considered as well.

The best approach may be simply a blend of internal leadership talent supplemented by outside expertise. And regardless of whether an outsider is used or not their lessons can be applied to all: Focus on the areas where you can improve school effectiveness by the largest margin.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

How Will Performance Pay Impact School Climate? It Depends on Leadership.

There is considerable discussion on performance pay for teachers given that it is a cornerstone of the Obama administration's education policy. Arne Duncan has spent considerable time discussing the issue to reporters and in public forums. The NEA has weighed in on its resistance to the notion. But the administration has remained steadfast: performance pay will be part of the renewal of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) regardless of the new name.

Teacher groups have shown tremendous resentment towards these plans. One has only to listen to the NPR interviews and read the news clipping to understand that teachers feel strongly that this is not a good thing. So the question is: how will this impact school climate? Will it adversely impact teacher morale? My guess is that it will impact teacher morale adversely – but maybe just in the near term.

I remember conducting focus groups with teachers six or more years ago. All I heard about (it seemed though I am sure they talked about other things too) was how the accountability components associated with No Child Left Behind were an unfair attempt to discredit public education. Introducing accountability was absurd. Accountability was an unwelcome hardship laid at the feet of teachers. The teachers believed (and perhaps many still do – right or wrong) deep in their hearts that accountability was unjust. They also believed that it would not last. Clearly, however, accountability is here to stay.

Interestingly, as the years progressed I heard a shift each year in my conversations regarding accountability. It started with administrators but trickled down to teachers. They seemed (albeit slowly in some cases) to accept the need to objectively measure student performance. Even more promising, educators were able to figure out how to think about accountability as more than just
teaching to the test
. Positive developments in the thinking about how schools were or were not successful began to emerge. Educators learned to study data in complete new ways. They had a new and healthy appreciation of the challenges that were theirs.

I credit much of the shift in sentiment regarding accountability to district and school administrators. The leaders who were successful recognized the need to measure student performance. But more importantly, they recognized the need to bring teachers along. To convince them that this was important. To challenge their assumptions without challenging their dedication. Effective leadership was key for many schools who undertook the significant cultural transformation towards being data driven. The same type of leadership will be necessary to lead this transformation.

Now let’s be fair and accurate. Many teachers still feel that they are teaching to the test. And perhaps they are. But many educators have embraced the need for measuring progress and have adapted well within the framework of No Child Left Behind. Most senior-level administrators I know firmly support accountability today despite that fact that far fewer supported the legislation when it was first introduced.

Will performance pay for teachers follow a similar pattern? Will teachers and administrators, after several years of protesting, realize that the best in the profession might actually be able to make more than the worst in the profession? Clearly the devil is in the details. Issues remain and details are fuzzy. How will the legislation work for great teachers who work with challenging student populations? How will it ensure that teachers who teach in suburban schools with great test scores aren’t the beneficiaries of higher pay simply because they inherited schools with higher test scores?

As the details of the new administration’s platform emerge, many of these questions will be answered. However, time will tell. We all know that the No Child Left Behind legislation was not perfect. But parts of it did work. It is my hope that we will see further, though different, gains in education through the Obama administration’s plans.

Please share your thoughts and comments. And remember, we can disagree without being disagreeable.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Can Web 2.0 Break School-to-Home Barriers?

Many school and district administrators I speak with spend a significant amount of time figuring out how to connect with parents. The research clearly indicates that parental involvement is critical to student success. And so, educators create elaborate (and often time consuming) ways to increase parent interaction with the school.

Some of the most effective methods are creative in their approach(though decidedly low-tech): serving breakfast before school (parents invited, of course!), newsletters, evening and weekend school events, and parent workshops. Many schools encourage teachers to make a certain number of phone calls to parents each week. These methods, while effective, can be challenging given that they are time-consuming. Even the best school-to-home communication plans have to pick and choose methods because you can’t do it all.

Then consider this: how much true interaction do these forms of communication enable? Newsletters are a one-direction form of communication. Information posted to websites must be changed frequently; most school and district websites don't easily facilitate the exchange of thought but rather just the dissemination of information (this could be changed though!). Also websites require a parent to proactively visit and don't "push" the information out effectively. Email can be great -- no longer do we require the student to bring home a piece of paper -- but can be overdone. I admit that I stopped reading all the emails from my daughter's school when I began to receive 3 to 4 per day! These mediums are fairly static in nature. They don't build on some of the most powerful promises of technology which will enable better sharing and rich interactions.

And so we see an emergence of Web 2.0 technologies particularly in the area of communication. In a recent eSchool News article (click here) the most commonly used Web 2.0 technology is online communication tools for parents and students, as identified in a research study commissioned by Lightspeed Systems and Thinkronize Inc.

In thinking about this, I began to consider the different and interesting uses of technology that I've seen -- specific to the school-home communication area. Here are three of the most interesting and straightforward ideas that I have seen in this area listed from low-cost to high-cost:

1. Extending the website

Your school and your district already has a website. But are you utilizing it fully? This is a great and low-cost way to share information that you already have ready-to-serve!

Status quo: Many schools have static websites. Some post new content semi-frequently.

Best practice: Schools and districts have a constant flow of new information. This can be done easily with out-of-the-box software that will require no technical expertise to publish information. These information posts are supplemented with RSS Feeds that allow parents and students to subscribe to any and relevant feeds which are conveniently served up in their RSS Reader of choice.

Cost: Low. The content is usually already there and the tools to make this possible are readily available, free or low-cost, and easy to deploy.

2. Teacher Generated Content

With a bit more work and investment, schools and school districts can provide their teachers with the ability to easily publish to a class website, attach homework, provide a calendar of events, etc. When teachers have the ability to share this information, on their website, without relying on another person to update the webpage, we see an explosion in content.

Status quo: Teachers send home schedules, handouts, reminders. Sometimes these are sent via email as well. The information is not posted to a teacher-specific website.

Best practice: Teachers have publishing tools that enable them to post their information to a web page which is specific to their class. They can attached documents as well as post announcements and alter a calendar/schedule. RSS feeds and email subscriptions are available so parents can get updates automatically without visiting the web page directly.

Cost: Low to Medium - While you can opt to spend a lot on a sophisticated content management system, there are a number of low cost options that will require minimal set up to implement. Granted with a bit bigger budget you get better functionality but you can do a lot with very little in this category.

3. Parent Portals (w System Access)

Nirvana of home-school communication would include password protected parent access that allows for checking on personal information (grades, attendance) as well as class specific information (homework, test dates, field trip dates, etc.). Furthermore, a parents "calendar" would combine the schedules associated with the classes (and only the classes) specific to their students. And of course these would be enabled through "push" technologies such as RSS feeds and automatic email distribution of new content. There are some systems that allow for pieces of this -- particularly the password protected access to grade and attendance information. We have yet to see all the functionality we'd like.

Status Quo: Wait until progress report and report card times to communicate grades and attendance.

Best Practice: Proactive, automated, real-time access to information for parents at any hour. Provide parents with the ability to receive automated information in a number of ways. Facilitate discussion and networking via internet including teacher-parent and parent-parent.

Cost: High. Feel free to share the costs if you are a school or school district who as implemented a system. When I've asked the typical answer given indicates that it is a hefty sum!

Here are few companies that offer a publishing platform. This list should not be thought of as an endorsement on my part. I know district using each of them though so they are certainly in production. That said, if you have experience with any of these, please comment. Also if you know of other platforms that are effective (or ineffective) please share:

Principle Data Systems

Edline

Infinite Campus

Friday, July 17, 2009

Seeking Participants!


We are conducting, through the National Center for School Leadership, a research study on School Climate and Culture. The Center has conducted such studies on behalf of school districts for years but this year we decided to change things a bit. We're going completely national. And it's FREE to participate.

Why are we doing this? The primary reason is quite simple. We are changing our survey tool significantly and we'd like to quickly gather more normative data. This way, rather than simply saying "Your teachers do/don't feel valued" we can say "Your teachers feel less(or more) valued than teachers in similar school districts." Is there value in that? We think so.

If you are a school district administrator and would like to participate in this research project, visit the Research Calendar for the National Center for School Leadership.