Vision vs. Action

I know a lot of great school leaders who have an incredible vision of how they want their school to run. However, I believe that the hard part is actually implementing an action plan that allows that vision to be reached. 

I was recently in a Leadership Team Meeting where we discussed upcoming district benchmark tests. My school did not perform well on the benchmarks, and staff agreed that it was because we did not do enough to ensure our students were invested in the test. We decided that the next benchmark will be structured like a mock EOC. That means all testing protocol will be followed including collecting cell-phones and taking the test on the computer.  Administration even made a classroom rubric for teachers to ensure that their room is "test-ready." 

Now, at first, this seems like a great idea. However, I began to ponder. My first thought was "We've been taking test and quizzes all year and now, in February, you want to change up the procedures?" Students (and teachers) are creatures of habit, and this deviation from the norm could potentially even LOWER scores.  Secondly, students know that the district benchmark test is NOT the Milestones so will pretending really make a difference in their motivation? Thirdly, what is the plan for students that choose to not comply with these new testing regulations? Will there be administrators on the hall? Lastly, did we consider that there are not enough laptops for every teacher to administer a benchmark every period in every class?

We have a multitude of issues going on within our building and this focus on a structured testing environment seems like a waste of energy at this point in the school year.  This, is a prime example of having a great vision but not properly devising a plan to get there. This seems to be commonplace within my district.....having the vision but not being clear about how to get there. I will do my best to establish action plans that teachers and students can follow to achieve my goals and vision for my future school.

Utilizing Resources...

Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Metro Instructional Leadership Conference sponsored by the Georgia department of education. The sessions were geared towards improving school performance in a variety of ways. Dr. Paul, an assistant Principal in an APS high school presented a session on how to utilize the very many resources poured into the school (especially if the school is a priority school or a focus school) and swim towards success without drowning. I wondered about the very many resources provided by the state and federal government and the restrictions that come with it. For example the federal government invests a lot of money on the flexible learning program to support students that are in the bottom most 35 % of the school in performance; however, the support can be provided only during times when no other academic activity is happening at the school (this includes regular tutorials as well). There is again title 1 money that can be spent to buy technology that sometimes goes unused, to buy programs for which teachers are never trained enough and hence goes unused, or buy software that goes obsolete in a year or buy more teachers that will help in reducing the class size. I have often heard and seen how the money spent on various programs never benefits students because of various reasons that include lack of sufficient training to teachers, lack of time to implement in the classroom, lack of buy in from teachers etc. The presenter Dr. Paul explained in detail how their school leadership utilized every resource and support provided strategically to their advantage using their school-wide performance data as a guideline. As Dr. Paul pointed out, the school leadership has to effectively use distributive leadership in utilizing resources effectively with a laser focus on current data and goals to attain in order to increase student achievement.

Year-Round School vs. Traditional School Year

I have been working in a traditional school year calendar my entire teaching career. However, I’m very interested in seeing how a year-round school year calendar will compare. When I first heard of year-round school, I was like no way I cannot do that. But, after speaking with other educators and reading, I found out that several year-round models have 180 days just like the traditional school year calendar. The differences between the two are the days off. I feel especially in the field of education, mental breaks every once in a while are vital for how teachers hold up during a school year. I would like to try it. I wouldn’t mind teaching 45 days straight and having a 3 week vacation. The only downfall in my eyes would be the summer break with losing two months off. On the other hand, I feel students don’t retain information over the summer break. I feel that having short breaks will help students stay in the swing of things with learning. Additionally, I feel students will have a better focus during the year knowing that they have scheduled breaks throughout the year.

I feel parents will not be in favor of year-round school. With students being off for three weeks, that will cause parents to make adjustments to their work schedules. Some parents will have to be creative in finding ways to keep their kids. On the other hand, some other parents may not have an issue depending on their work schedules making a way. Although I am in favor of year-round school, I can see why others may not be. I would like to see some research on year-round school vs. traditional school. I’m interested in knowing how they stack up with each other especially with student achievement.

When do we prepare?

As this school year continues to pass by at a blink of an eye, I continue to wonder when the administration begins to think about the coming year. It sounds weird but my school has crazy numbers in certain grades and as the grade levels move up, the proper staff must be ready to receive the students. I ask this because I am on the school council and many of the parents seem preoccupied with changes going on at the high school and not a lot is discussed about the present. Our school is busting at the seams and more children continue to enroll throughout the year. We already have classrooms in trailers, one being mine, and no more room to add trailers. There are currently 143 third grade students posed to move into 4 fourth grade classes. Having 35 students in a small trailer will be a nightmare and I don't really want to move classrooms again. This is my third different classroom I have been in while teaching 4th grade.

This has been an on-going problem. Each year something crazy happens and teachers get shuffled around during pre-planning. As a leader, I believe these situations should be worked on throughout the year with the help of the regional superintendents. Principals can't wait until students return to make these decisions. I understand crazy things happen in education. Having a plan before school lets out for summer will be beneficial for teachers and the students. I brought this to the attention of my principal just the other day. She mentioned that the construction going on at the school, new roof, is her main focus right now. I then reached out to the lead parent on the council and she said she will put it on the agenda for our next meeting.

As I continue my journey to leadership, looking and working ahead of schedule is something I will need to find clarity in. When is the right time to plan ahead so my staff and students will not be affected by late decision making?  

Beliefs About School Leaders (previously posted 1/23/17)

As part of our readings for this module, we were asked to develop our leadership platform. As I was writing my beliefs, I found myself thinking about the things I believe leaders should do in order to be effective.  Most of these beliefs stem from my personal experiences with 3 different principals in 5 years of teaching. 

1. I believe that small, quick tasks should be completed IMMEDIATELY. 

2. I believe that leaders must treat ALL staff in a consistent manner. For example, if lesson plans are to be turned in biweekly, they should be turned in biweekly by all staff. No exceptions.

3. I believe that students have to be somewhat afraid of you or afraid of letting you down. This helps manage behavior.

4. I believe that all teachers should have a voice at the table. If a decision is made that affects your teachers, you should have their input.

5. I believe that actions speak louder than words. If you talk a big game but don't back it up, people will notice and start to buck the system.

6. I believe that leaders should be visible and active in the school building on a daily basis.

In my short career, I have experienced many different management styles by many different leaders. Each one has taught me something different about how I plan to lead in the future. Though we all have strengths and weaknesses, there are certain things that, as a principal or AP, you MUST do if you want your school to run smoothly.  I aspire to stick to these beliefs and build off of them as I move upward within my career.

What other beliefs should our school leaders hold?

Self Contained Emotional Behavior Disorder Classrooms....are they the solution?

   Last Friday two of our three administrators were out of the building so it was up to an assistant principal, me and our counselor to hold down the fort, so to speak. Thank goodness it was Friday and we were able to wear tennis shoes because I needed them! From the time the bell rang until the buses pulled out we were consumed with discipline issues, mostly from our self contained EBD children. After reflecting on the day and assessing the student's behaviors as well as our reactions, I was left to question if a self contained classroom for children with emotional and behavioral disorders is the most effective setting. Because many of the children are significantly below grade level due to their behavior impacting their learning and possibly other learning disabilities or difficulty with attention and focus, they are not able to mainstream into the general education setting for academic subjects which means they may all be together throughout the day with the exception of specials and possibly recess or lunch. Throughout this time they feed off of one another's behaviors. There is not a model for them to use who displays appropriate social skills nor classroom behavior and when a child escalates, the reaction of the other students is often escalatory which causes a downward spiral of the classroom. While I understand that this is the very nature of the disability, I am perplexed as to what we can do to create a more constructive, conducive learning environment. There has to be a better model out there than the self contained classroom for these children.
I am open to any ideas, models you have seen as successful, strategies you have seen implemented that maximize student potential for achievement, articles you have read that may provide insight....anything that can help our children would be fabulous!

Mind Shift

   As our department chair it has been my goal to ensure that our special education teachers and staff have a student centered approach when developing IEPs and discussing services, as it should be. Under our past school administration this was not our focus, and instead we were very aware of teacher schedules which may have impacted student placement. For example, this year alone I have worked with 2 children from the self contained setting, who were mainstreamed with me for reading. Both of these students were well above their general education peers academically and in my opinion, should have been mainstreamed much sooner. This threw up huge red flags for me and drove me to assess our self contained classroom's data on student achievement. I found that there were, in fact, several students who had the potential to be mainstreamed. When we met as a grade level to discuss this, I realized that the school climate prior to our new administration was still impacting our self contained teachers. They were afraid to recommend their children be mainstreamed due to lack of support from administration and acceptance of their children. To me this just further illustrates how administrators set the tone for the school and directly impact student's education. Even after said administration is gone, some teachers continue to make decisions based on the fears that were faced  prior. It has been a challenge to break through these fear-based decisions and ask teachers to trust the new climate and do what is best for children, every time.

I wonder.....have others experienced a similar situation of trying to re-teach or re-train teachers thought processes when there has been an administrative shift? I know that trust is of the utmost importance, but has anyone experienced specific techniques which can help expedite the process?

One strategy I'm trying is to vertically observe one another. For example, our self contained K-1 teacher will go into a classroom where there is general education support for our K or 1st grade children so she can see what a day in general education looks like and get a better handle on if any of her kiddos could benefit from that environment. I've also asked them to assess data from each grade level to see how their children compare. They were surprised to see that some of their students perform well in comparison to their general education peers. Granted, their performance is measured through the support of a self contained setting, but if their performance is at that level, then we should definitely discuss looking at different services.

Any other ideas out there would be much appreciated as we try to ensure that our goal is to be advocates for our students, and develop IEP's which reflect the least restrictive environment for each student's success.