Principals and School Improvement

Schools are being held to higher levels of accountability for student learning. That's not a bad thing. We should accept responsibility for the learning of our students. But what's emerged is a trend to micromanage teachers and their work. That's not such a good thing. One example is the nationwide trend toward more intense supervision and more complex evaluation systems. Again, evaluation is not bad, but it should be part of a system that promotes growth and engages teachers in thoughtful analysis of their work and implementation of strategies to continue strengthening their performance.

There's lot of evidence that simply telling people what to do doesn't get the required results. You may get short-term compliance. But rarely do you get long-term change. While many of the mandates may be well-intentioned, they are often imposed on educators without engaging those affected in a discussion of the problem and possible solutions.

A recent article by Rick DeFour and Mike Mattos discussed this paradox. They suggest some common-sense strategies that principals can use to positively impact student learning in their school. They also share the results from a comprehensive study of school reform that found an increase in student learning when teachers participated in professional learning communities (Vescio, Ross, & Adams, 2008).

I'd enjoy hearing from you about your experience with PLC's and their impact on student learning.

Trust - An Essential Leadership Skill

I just finished a new book, The Trust Factor: Strategies for School Leaders, available from Eye on Education. It discusses perhaps the single most important factor in the success of any leader---trust. Trust can accelerate your work improving your school or the lack of trust can be a real impediment to your success. The authors, Julie Combs, Stacey Edmonson and Sandra Harris provide real-world strageiges that leaders can use to creating a trusting and respectful school.

One skill the authors identify is developing good listening habits. They describe eight listening habits to avoid if you want to create trust.

• Do not say how you handled similar situations or how you would feel in their shoes.
• Do not change the focus back to you. Avoid telling them about the time you had the same problem. Remember, this is not about you.
• Don't try to start giving them resoruces or solutions unless they ask you for ideas. Active listenign does not mean you are there to solve their problems.
• Don't judge them. Statements such as "What were you thinking?" or "That's awful!" imply they did something wrong. Avoid saying whether they are right or wrong. Judgment can increase their fears about sharing and cause them to withdraw.
• Let them finish. It is easy to interrup or jump in, but these behaviors disrupt the conversation and change the focus of the conversatkion as well as your role as a listener.
• Be comfortable with silence and pauses. These gaps are healtny; you do not have to fill all of the spaces with words.
• Give them your undivided attention. If your mind wanders, grab it and bring it bac.
• Do not think about your reply before they have finished talking and had a chance to say what they want to say. This action is ingterrupting without opening your mouth. Again, your role as the listender has been disrupted, and you are no longer focused on what they are saying or on their need to be heard.

I'd enjoy hearing from you about trust and the strategies you use to build and promote trust in your school.

Seeking Volunteers to Fix Up Schools

Almost every school faces the need to reduce expenditures and deal with shrinking resources. In order to maintain a strong instructional program fewer resources may be available to maintain the building and school grounds.

Howard Johnston recently prepared a Research Brief for an Oregon GEAR UP principal about how to seek volunteers to help fix up his school. Here's a summary of the brief.

"There isn't much research on how to secure volunteers to participate in school clean-ups and fix-ups, but some key ideas can be found in anecdotal examples from many communities around the nation. The first recommendation is that securing volunteers is easier when the school has a solid, active community relations program in place. If people are familiar with the school and its mission, they are more likely to volunteer when the call goes out for help. Secondly, people are more likely to volunteer if asked to do something specific. Finally, communicating with key groups is likely to build support within the group (e.g., alumni, churches, local businesses, service clubs) to help out. That makes the school an integral part of their public service agenda, and usually puts their volunteer efforts at the school's disposal."

You can read the entire Research Brief here. We'd be interested in hearing from you about ways you work with your community to maintain your school campus.

Using Instructional Rounds to Improve Instruction

Instructional Rounds is a process based on the work of Dr. Richard Elmore. Rounds is adapted from the medical rounds process used in the medical schools to diagnose and identify treatment and is based on a belief that by working together educators can solve common instructional practices.

Rounds is a multi-step process. First is identification of a "problem of practice," or an area of inquiry. Then a team "makes the rounds" by visiting classrooms throughout the school. The observers then debrief their observation and the data is used to identify appropriate next steps.

The South Lane School District in Cottage Grove, OR, an Oregon GEAR UP district, implemented an Instructional Rounds model. In South Lane each school selects a "problem of practice" or an area of inquiry that is their focus for the year. Visits by teams of district administrators makes the "rounds," visiting classrooms to gather information. Following the "rounds" the team meets, debriefs and provides the school's principal with advice about next steps.

The emphasis is on identifying factual patterns from the observations, not personal opinion or personal judgment. The debriefing does not identify specific teachers or classrooms but rather looks for trends across the school's classrooms.

A brief PowerPoint from the Oregon Leadership Network describes the South Lane Instructional Rounds model.