I was speaking with the superintendent of a mid-sized district in the Midwest this week. He is an old friend and we had not had a chance to connect in some time. He was updating me on developments in his districts and we were sharing thoughts on all manner of tangentially related topics.
The conversation turned towards my current research project on School Climate and Culture. He is very familiar with the work we do in this area and has used our services in prior districts. As we discussed the need for and importance of conducting nationally normed school culture studies, he said something rather simple but profound. “We do a pretty good job of talking to teachers but I don’t think we always do a great job of listening,” he said. I assumed at the time that he was speaking about district administrators in general. Not surprisingly, I agree with him.
The lack of two-way communication is prevalent at all levels of education. (In fact, it is prevalent at all levels in many types of organizations not just schools and school districts.) Communication, like water, tends to flow most easily downhill. Yet at the best schools and the best school districts, communication also flows “uphill” nearly as well.
Best practices in communication would fill a book. But with respect to two-way communication, I will attempt to summarize what I’ve seen in a few paragraphs. Here goes:
1. Upward communication takes work. Downstream communication seems to happen naturally in most schools and school districts. It may take some effort but information tends to get dispersed through a variety of means. Yet communication and feedback that moves UP the chain of command does not always happen naturally. Leaders have to be ready to listen and to hear. They need to communicate that willingness to listen to staff. They need to set up structures for staff to be heard. This takes work and requires being intentional about your upward feedback goals.
2. Committees are not enough. Committees are a great way to create formal or in-formal groups to deal with a variety of issues. Oftentimes permanent or ad hoc committees of teachers will work on key issues like discipline, text book adoption, or school improvement. These are great opportunities for teachers to be heard and to exercise their own leadership skills. But they are not enough. The task of committees are limited both by the scope of their charter and the individuals who are assigned. Upward communication should be much broader. It should draw from a wider range of individuals and topics. And, even with a proper structure of committees, school and district leaders must be ready to listen and hear what is said.
3. Create a feedback culture. In some schools, staff members feel a strong sense of empowerment and entitlement to speak their mind. They do so in an appropriate and useful manner. And they benefit from a cultural element that they, very likely, take for granted. Many schools simply do not operate that way. Some school administrators are either unwilling or unable to listen to feedback from teachers. Teachers either feel at-risk for sharing their ideas or feel dismissed when presenting their opinions. The typical results it to drive these idea underground. This is not good. Otherwise good (and sometimes bad) ideas are forced underground and become fodder for the malcontents in the organization. Left unchecked, a principal will have a rapidly “toxifying” culture on his or her hands.
4. Use 360 degree feedback with school leaders. There are fabulous 360 degree feedback tools for school administrators. By using these with principals, assistant principals, department heads, and district administrators, it does a couple of things. First, it provides valuable input to leaders about what their superiors, peers and subordinates think about their leadership style. Second, it sensitizes these leaders to thinking objectively about how their style is being perceived. Done correctly, these types of tools create a better empowered and better educated school leader.
5. Share some decision making – but not all decision making. Despite all of the importance that we place on listening and developing structures to enable faculty members to be heard, the ultimate responsibility for the school lies with the principal. He or she should be prepared to listen and make decisions. Even after carefully weighing input, a principal will still need to make tough decisions. Sometimes those decisions will not be popular. In my experience however, the leaders who take the time to listen and provides the opportunity for all sides to be considered will gain better buy-in from staff regardless of the decision.
Scott Wallace is the Executive Director of the National Center for School Leadership. To learn more about their services and how they work to improve school culture and develop school leaders, visit their website at http://www.ncfsl.org/
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Do we listen to teachers? Five ways to ensure upward communication in your school and school district.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Flawless First Day of School
I took my children to the first day of school yesterday morning. It was a new school for all of us and our proud and excited kindergartner’s first day of school ever. I have to admit that I felt nervous as did my wife and second grader (the kindergartner was too excited to be nervous). We had moved to a new school and knew very little about what to expect. How did drop off occur? How did the little ones get, physically, to the classroom? Where we allowed to go with them? Where did the newly purchased supplies go? Would our second grader have to carry her own backpack, lunch and huge bag of first-day-stuff? The anxiously anticipated first day of school had arrived.
We live in Arizona where we are allowed to send our children, space available, to any school in the state so long as we are able to provide transportation. We moved our children this year to an out-of-district school and we were all feeling the apprehension that comes with a big move like this.
As I waited in the line with the other second graders and their parents, I was reminded of a dialogue I had had regarding the first day of school. Several years ago I had a conversation with a friend of mine about the importance of the first day of school. We were coming up on the beginning of the school year at the time and he had good cause for concern. He was the new superintendent of a large school district of over 160 schools with a total of about 140,000 students.
Historically, his district’s first day was a chaotic swirl of activities and misadventures as everything that could go wrong did. One of the glaring bits of data he received in his first six months was that parents were almost universal in their feedback regarding the first day of school. It was, to be blunt, bad. Buses ran routes at the wrong time. Schools were not well provisioned with the necessary supplies. Classrooms were not set up in advance of students arriving. A surprising number of staff members would actually call in sick for the first day. Staff and volunteers were not in place at many schools to assist with directions and the questions that accompany the first day of school. Schools were reportedly disorganized and there were more “kinks” to work out that there were things that went well. Or so it seemed.
All of us who work in schools (or work with schools) know that opening a school at the beginning of the year can pose some problems. And most schools work hard to be prepared in advance. But this superintendent, based on both prior experience and feedback he had received about his new district, drove home a program he created that explicitly stressed this need. He called it the Flawless First Day of School.
To hear him talk about it, their entire school year would be based on the results of their first day. He discussed, district-wide, his expectations for the first day at length on many occasions. And he reiterated his expectations over and over again to drive these points home. Buses on-time. Teachers on-time and present. Classrooms prepared ahead of time complete with student names posted on desks. All logistics at each school carefully planned, documented, and communicated to the regional assistant superintendent for approval. The list went on.
In fairness I thought it overkill at the time. His held seemingly unending discussions on the topic; the Flawless First Day required loads of extra work for principals and teachers. He was not satisfied with assurances that activities would run efficiently; he wanted to see written plans. He was still relatively new in his role (he had started in January of the prior year) and felt as though he had unlimited influence. I warned him to invest his goodwill wisely and be careful of using it all on this one subject; he had many initiatives to push and he would need to converse his political capital. He would not be deterred.
The results were, of course, not flawless. But it was the best school year beginning in many years for the district. The school administrators and teachers alike were very pleased. Buses did run the correct routes at the correct times. These routes and times were well communicated. Classrooms were decked out and ready to receive students. Teachers had actual lesson plans ready for the first day and were prepared to jump right into the challenging curriculum. Parent nights had be held prior where they received information about what to expect the first day / week / year. Staff and volunteers were carefully briefed and deployed to help direct students and parents to the appropriate place. Central office staff were, largely, deployed to schools to assist.
The superintendent later explained to my why the first day was so important to him. He had a large organization that, over time, became more focused on the internal workings of their jobs than on students and parents. In a huge cultural shift he needed to get the organization focused on caring for students, focus on their learning, on their experience. He used the first day exercise as an important reminder of two things: 1) students are the most important thing to us and are the reason we are here, and 2) by being intentional we can perform tasks exceedingly well. But we have to be diligent in how we go about executing those tasks.
It was an interesting activity to observe for me at the time and I think benefited him well. The first day of school marked a small but significant turning point in the culture of the schools and in their ideas about what was most important. To be sure, shaping and moving the culture of an organization that large is no small task. But influencing culture in a school district is not about one big task. It is about many small tasks and initiatives. It is about communicating a consistent message and consistent expectations regarding how we teach our students and how we operate our schools. This initiative was one small but important step in that direction.
I thought about this experience as I worked through my morning at my children’s new school. There were adults with orange vests at every turn to help. We ask one of the orange vests where second graders were supposed to go. She told us. Another explained the daily drop off procedure that made more sense with her pointing rather than referring to the map on the website. There were signs posted everywhere.
My kindergartner’s class was well prepared. Parents were welcomed (encouraged) to stay for the entire first day. My daughter’s name was on a desk which she quickly found. The teacher began a well prepared introduction to the class for the kids. As if on queue, she finished and the (new) principal came on the loudspeaker for the days announcements. We all did the pledge of allegiance. And the principal ended her announcement with the simple statement “Welcome again to the first day of school. We have no substitutes in the building.”
Scott Wallace is the Executive Director of the National Center for School Leadership. To learn more about their services and how they can help you improve school leadership and assess school culture, visit their website at http://www.ncfsl.org
We live in Arizona where we are allowed to send our children, space available, to any school in the state so long as we are able to provide transportation. We moved our children this year to an out-of-district school and we were all feeling the apprehension that comes with a big move like this.
As I waited in the line with the other second graders and their parents, I was reminded of a dialogue I had had regarding the first day of school. Several years ago I had a conversation with a friend of mine about the importance of the first day of school. We were coming up on the beginning of the school year at the time and he had good cause for concern. He was the new superintendent of a large school district of over 160 schools with a total of about 140,000 students.
Historically, his district’s first day was a chaotic swirl of activities and misadventures as everything that could go wrong did. One of the glaring bits of data he received in his first six months was that parents were almost universal in their feedback regarding the first day of school. It was, to be blunt, bad. Buses ran routes at the wrong time. Schools were not well provisioned with the necessary supplies. Classrooms were not set up in advance of students arriving. A surprising number of staff members would actually call in sick for the first day. Staff and volunteers were not in place at many schools to assist with directions and the questions that accompany the first day of school. Schools were reportedly disorganized and there were more “kinks” to work out that there were things that went well. Or so it seemed.
All of us who work in schools (or work with schools) know that opening a school at the beginning of the year can pose some problems. And most schools work hard to be prepared in advance. But this superintendent, based on both prior experience and feedback he had received about his new district, drove home a program he created that explicitly stressed this need. He called it the Flawless First Day of School.
To hear him talk about it, their entire school year would be based on the results of their first day. He discussed, district-wide, his expectations for the first day at length on many occasions. And he reiterated his expectations over and over again to drive these points home. Buses on-time. Teachers on-time and present. Classrooms prepared ahead of time complete with student names posted on desks. All logistics at each school carefully planned, documented, and communicated to the regional assistant superintendent for approval. The list went on.
In fairness I thought it overkill at the time. His held seemingly unending discussions on the topic; the Flawless First Day required loads of extra work for principals and teachers. He was not satisfied with assurances that activities would run efficiently; he wanted to see written plans. He was still relatively new in his role (he had started in January of the prior year) and felt as though he had unlimited influence. I warned him to invest his goodwill wisely and be careful of using it all on this one subject; he had many initiatives to push and he would need to converse his political capital. He would not be deterred.
The results were, of course, not flawless. But it was the best school year beginning in many years for the district. The school administrators and teachers alike were very pleased. Buses did run the correct routes at the correct times. These routes and times were well communicated. Classrooms were decked out and ready to receive students. Teachers had actual lesson plans ready for the first day and were prepared to jump right into the challenging curriculum. Parent nights had be held prior where they received information about what to expect the first day / week / year. Staff and volunteers were carefully briefed and deployed to help direct students and parents to the appropriate place. Central office staff were, largely, deployed to schools to assist.
The superintendent later explained to my why the first day was so important to him. He had a large organization that, over time, became more focused on the internal workings of their jobs than on students and parents. In a huge cultural shift he needed to get the organization focused on caring for students, focus on their learning, on their experience. He used the first day exercise as an important reminder of two things: 1) students are the most important thing to us and are the reason we are here, and 2) by being intentional we can perform tasks exceedingly well. But we have to be diligent in how we go about executing those tasks.
It was an interesting activity to observe for me at the time and I think benefited him well. The first day of school marked a small but significant turning point in the culture of the schools and in their ideas about what was most important. To be sure, shaping and moving the culture of an organization that large is no small task. But influencing culture in a school district is not about one big task. It is about many small tasks and initiatives. It is about communicating a consistent message and consistent expectations regarding how we teach our students and how we operate our schools. This initiative was one small but important step in that direction.
I thought about this experience as I worked through my morning at my children’s new school. There were adults with orange vests at every turn to help. We ask one of the orange vests where second graders were supposed to go. She told us. Another explained the daily drop off procedure that made more sense with her pointing rather than referring to the map on the website. There were signs posted everywhere.
My kindergartner’s class was well prepared. Parents were welcomed (encouraged) to stay for the entire first day. My daughter’s name was on a desk which she quickly found. The teacher began a well prepared introduction to the class for the kids. As if on queue, she finished and the (new) principal came on the loudspeaker for the days announcements. We all did the pledge of allegiance. And the principal ended her announcement with the simple statement “Welcome again to the first day of school. We have no substitutes in the building.”
Scott Wallace is the Executive Director of the National Center for School Leadership. To learn more about their services and how they can help you improve school leadership and assess school culture, visit their website at http://www.ncfsl.org
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
In the Mind of Teachers: Measuring Commitment
Many of my clients are anxious to learn about how their teachers really feel. Principals typically feel as if they know whether teachers are generally pleased or not with their current lot. But, if their teachers are unhappy, just how unhappy are they? If their teachers are highly committed, how highly committed are they? And most importantly, if school leadership is focused on a massive school improvement initiative, how successful can they be if their teachers are marginally committed to the school?
The methodology for conducting this sort of research is not as easy as it may seem.
First, designing appropriate ways to ask the question is important. You can’t just ask “How committed to our school are you on a scale of 1 to 10”. The way individuals assess this questions is so variable that you see wild swings in the numbers because, frankly, this is poorly structured questions. But the fact remains, the only way to know for sure is to ask; we just need to be sure the questions are structured properly.
Second, one question won’t usually suffice – particularly with one broad, straightforward topic like “Commitment”. We use a survey design tool that we like to call “question layering”. By layering multiple, related questions on the respondent, we get a better sense of the strength of his/her feelings on a larger spectrum.
Lastly, we rely heavily on measuring results using norm data. Knowing how happy or unhappy a group of teachers is becomes relevant only when we know that measure in relation to a similar but different group of individuals.
If school leadership is focused on a massive school improvement initiative, how successful can they be if their teachers are marginally committed to the school?
In our research, when asked the question “I am committed to seeing my school succeed” very few teachers disagree with that statement. We use a 5-point Likert scale from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree” for questions like this. If teachers, en masse, disagree with this statement then we have a big problem. But the truth is, once in a while you will get a teacher who will mark the questions “Neutral” or “Disagree” which is spurious, outlying data that we can typically discount. We almost always (98% of the time) see teachers rate this item favorably “Agree” or “Strongly Agree” with this questions.
This makes perfect sense. Why wouldn’t you be committed to seeing your school succeed? What kind of teacher would you have to be to “Disagree” with this statement? Probably an unhappy one who we all hope will find more luck in another field of work. The problem with this item is that it is of little use to us unless the results are different between our study group and our norm data. So we keep asking questions.
The next question in this series we will sometimes ask is “I am proud to be a member of my school”. This also a question that most teachers have a difficult time rating as anything besides “Agree” or “Strongly Agree”. Again, this makes sense given how closely teachers identify with their peers and students. Furthermore, the question doesn’t delve into particular hot spots that may be top of mind for teachers (pay, accountability, etc.) and, in avoiding these topics, makes in fairly easy to agree in schools where the culture is strong.
However, in schools with toxic cultures, this is where we begin to see the cracks. In a typical school it will be rare to see more that 2 to 5 percent rate this item anything other than “Agree” or “Strongly Agree”. But in schools with a toxic culture the level of agreement begins to deteriorate and it shows up loud-and-clear in survey data.
Individuals think little of dedicating themselves to a flawed organization but they will stop well short of recommending that organization to others.
The next “layer” in a well-devised commitment series of questions will be the deciding factor of whether the school has a positive culture or a toxic culture: “I would recommend my school to a friend seeking employment.” The psychology behind this question is interesting: individuals think little of dedicating themselves to a flawed organization but they will stop well short of recommending that organization to others. Thus, the results on this item are much less positive even in schools with a strong, positive culture. This illustrates the concept of “layering” question quite well. Agreeing with each question becomes, even in a positive environment, progressively more difficult. Average schools may have 15% to 20% of respondents “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree” with this statement. This is much higher than the first two layers but still within the realm of acceptable.
The real difference comes when we look at the results of the school with the toxic culture. On the first two questions, even schools with a fairly negative climate and culture will still rate favorable. No so with item #3. Teacher will stop short here. They will not recommend their school (with its negative environment) to their friends. It is not unusually to see 30+% of teachers “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree” with this statement. This is strongly indictment on the culture of that school. While 30% might not seem like a lot on an absolute basis (Hey, it’s less than a third), we only see negatives responses of this magnitude on this item in schools with some significant climate and culture issues.
If you are in a school leadership role at one of those schools, you are no doubt asking yourself what you should do to change. What might be cause your cultural problems? How might you improve school climate? However, the results of even the best survey remain murky. More research is needed to determine the cause of the organizational distress -- ideally with formal and informal discussions with teachers. We recommend facilitated focus groups in extreme circumstances.
The drivers of these culture problems are vastly complex. Too often, principals either refuse to acknowledge culture and climate problems within their schools, or they jump to conclusion as to its cause. Take time. Figure it out. Talk it though. React slowly and positively. If the problems stem from fatigue related to your change initiative, perhaps you can reevaluate your timeline. Or you can rack up culture as a price worth paying for you change initiative. No one can tell you the answer. But by asking questions, correctly, school leaders can gain some valuable insight into the minds of their teachers.
Scott Wallace is the Executive Director of the National Center for School Leadership. To learn more about their services and how they can help you assess school culture, visit their website at http://www.ncfsl.org
The methodology for conducting this sort of research is not as easy as it may seem.
First, designing appropriate ways to ask the question is important. You can’t just ask “How committed to our school are you on a scale of 1 to 10”. The way individuals assess this questions is so variable that you see wild swings in the numbers because, frankly, this is poorly structured questions. But the fact remains, the only way to know for sure is to ask; we just need to be sure the questions are structured properly.
Second, one question won’t usually suffice – particularly with one broad, straightforward topic like “Commitment”. We use a survey design tool that we like to call “question layering”. By layering multiple, related questions on the respondent, we get a better sense of the strength of his/her feelings on a larger spectrum.
Lastly, we rely heavily on measuring results using norm data. Knowing how happy or unhappy a group of teachers is becomes relevant only when we know that measure in relation to a similar but different group of individuals.
If school leadership is focused on a massive school improvement initiative, how successful can they be if their teachers are marginally committed to the school?
In our research, when asked the question “I am committed to seeing my school succeed” very few teachers disagree with that statement. We use a 5-point Likert scale from “Strongly Agree” to “Strongly Disagree” for questions like this. If teachers, en masse, disagree with this statement then we have a big problem. But the truth is, once in a while you will get a teacher who will mark the questions “Neutral” or “Disagree” which is spurious, outlying data that we can typically discount. We almost always (98% of the time) see teachers rate this item favorably “Agree” or “Strongly Agree” with this questions.
This makes perfect sense. Why wouldn’t you be committed to seeing your school succeed? What kind of teacher would you have to be to “Disagree” with this statement? Probably an unhappy one who we all hope will find more luck in another field of work. The problem with this item is that it is of little use to us unless the results are different between our study group and our norm data. So we keep asking questions.
The next question in this series we will sometimes ask is “I am proud to be a member of my school”. This also a question that most teachers have a difficult time rating as anything besides “Agree” or “Strongly Agree”. Again, this makes sense given how closely teachers identify with their peers and students. Furthermore, the question doesn’t delve into particular hot spots that may be top of mind for teachers (pay, accountability, etc.) and, in avoiding these topics, makes in fairly easy to agree in schools where the culture is strong.
However, in schools with toxic cultures, this is where we begin to see the cracks. In a typical school it will be rare to see more that 2 to 5 percent rate this item anything other than “Agree” or “Strongly Agree”. But in schools with a toxic culture the level of agreement begins to deteriorate and it shows up loud-and-clear in survey data.
Individuals think little of dedicating themselves to a flawed organization but they will stop well short of recommending that organization to others.
The next “layer” in a well-devised commitment series of questions will be the deciding factor of whether the school has a positive culture or a toxic culture: “I would recommend my school to a friend seeking employment.” The psychology behind this question is interesting: individuals think little of dedicating themselves to a flawed organization but they will stop well short of recommending that organization to others. Thus, the results on this item are much less positive even in schools with a strong, positive culture. This illustrates the concept of “layering” question quite well. Agreeing with each question becomes, even in a positive environment, progressively more difficult. Average schools may have 15% to 20% of respondents “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree” with this statement. This is much higher than the first two layers but still within the realm of acceptable.
The real difference comes when we look at the results of the school with the toxic culture. On the first two questions, even schools with a fairly negative climate and culture will still rate favorable. No so with item #3. Teacher will stop short here. They will not recommend their school (with its negative environment) to their friends. It is not unusually to see 30+% of teachers “Disagree” or “Strongly Disagree” with this statement. This is strongly indictment on the culture of that school. While 30% might not seem like a lot on an absolute basis (Hey, it’s less than a third), we only see negatives responses of this magnitude on this item in schools with some significant climate and culture issues.
If you are in a school leadership role at one of those schools, you are no doubt asking yourself what you should do to change. What might be cause your cultural problems? How might you improve school climate? However, the results of even the best survey remain murky. More research is needed to determine the cause of the organizational distress -- ideally with formal and informal discussions with teachers. We recommend facilitated focus groups in extreme circumstances.
The drivers of these culture problems are vastly complex. Too often, principals either refuse to acknowledge culture and climate problems within their schools, or they jump to conclusion as to its cause. Take time. Figure it out. Talk it though. React slowly and positively. If the problems stem from fatigue related to your change initiative, perhaps you can reevaluate your timeline. Or you can rack up culture as a price worth paying for you change initiative. No one can tell you the answer. But by asking questions, correctly, school leaders can gain some valuable insight into the minds of their teachers.
Scott Wallace is the Executive Director of the National Center for School Leadership. To learn more about their services and how they can help you assess school culture, visit their website at http://www.ncfsl.org
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Transforming School Culture
In my work with schools I have seen all forms of resistance to change. In some groups of educators their focus on the status quo is difficult to spot. The untrained ear hears rational, logical arguments for current methodologies and current approaches. We can be quickly lulled into tranquility ... and loss of action. In other groups, the overt resistance to new initiatives is so obvious that it can be identified immediately. While we are not lulled into inaction, the hard-edged, purposeful resistance of an entire school of teachers is nearly impossible for even experienced school administrators to overcome.
In Anthony Muhammad's book, Transforming School Culture he does an excellent job of discussing these challenges. He also provides us a framework for understanding the different levels of resistance we may encounter. In doing so, he codifies the participants in resistance to better enable us to understand who they are, what they believe and how we can have an impact on them. Good stuff and very relevant.
However, I found something even more interesting. If you have not listened in on the Voicethread conversation regarding this book, please do it now. Hosted and moderated by Bill Ferriter of the Tempered Radical, this conversation is amazing. Anthony Muhammad contributed to the discussion throughout.
Here are a few of the interesting questions posed by the book and the discussion:
- How do we avoid exacerbating an us-vs-them mentality in public education in an age of accountability?
- How are we passing cultural expectation on to new teachers? Are we intentional about passing information on to new teachers through our actions or are we letting the "bad apples" pass on their own cultural expectations?
- How do we enable teachers (in an age of increased reliance on each other with collaboration, PLCs, etc.) to confront their peers? How can principals and other school leaders teach the skills to teachers which enable them to address their peers appropriately? How can we provide them with the courage and moral authority to do so?
- Are we overlooking a valuable group of people in our schools -- technology coordinators and media specialists -- who are best positioned to help enable cultural shifts in our schools? Does their school-wide (but non-administrative) role provide a communication point with all teachers that is critical in transforming the cultural norms of a school?
These are all topics of ongoing thought and discussions. Listen, enjoy and think.
In Anthony Muhammad's book, Transforming School Culture he does an excellent job of discussing these challenges. He also provides us a framework for understanding the different levels of resistance we may encounter. In doing so, he codifies the participants in resistance to better enable us to understand who they are, what they believe and how we can have an impact on them. Good stuff and very relevant.
However, I found something even more interesting. If you have not listened in on the Voicethread conversation regarding this book, please do it now. Hosted and moderated by Bill Ferriter of the Tempered Radical, this conversation is amazing. Anthony Muhammad contributed to the discussion throughout.
Here are a few of the interesting questions posed by the book and the discussion:
- How do we avoid exacerbating an us-vs-them mentality in public education in an age of accountability?
- How are we passing cultural expectation on to new teachers? Are we intentional about passing information on to new teachers through our actions or are we letting the "bad apples" pass on their own cultural expectations?
- How do we enable teachers (in an age of increased reliance on each other with collaboration, PLCs, etc.) to confront their peers? How can principals and other school leaders teach the skills to teachers which enable them to address their peers appropriately? How can we provide them with the courage and moral authority to do so?
- Are we overlooking a valuable group of people in our schools -- technology coordinators and media specialists -- who are best positioned to help enable cultural shifts in our schools? Does their school-wide (but non-administrative) role provide a communication point with all teachers that is critical in transforming the cultural norms of a school?
These are all topics of ongoing thought and discussions. Listen, enjoy and think.
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