Accountability for Students

Students also share accountability for their own learning. They should be actively involved in their own learning, make decisions about their learning and be held responsible for asking questions, being clear about the expectations for their work, and for completing assignments.

Sounds simple but it is much more complex. Many schools provide students with the support they need to be successful. Here are some strategies that support students and help them to be accountable for their work.

• Provide exemplars for all work and rubrics that students can use to assess their success on assignments.
• Adopt a grading policy of A, B or Not Yet.
• Provide opportunities for students to revise and resubmit work.
• Include support and scaffolding in classroom instruction.
• Include engaging instructional activities connected to real life
• Provide quality and timely feedback on student work.
• Act consistently on the belief that each student can learn, will learn, and your power to help them do so.

Increasing accountability for students is important. But it requires that teachers and principals look closely at their instructional practices to assure that they provide students with the support they need to be successful.

Dealing with Stable or Declining Resources

No issue impacts schools more intensely than the current economic malaise. Every school I visit is being impacted by stable or declining resources. At the same time they are more accountable than every before for a high quality educational experience for all students.

Almost universally the issue becomes one of how to be both more efficient and more effective. You are expected to sustain your efforts at improvement while being even more efficient with your resources.

Generally there are three responses. You can identify areas where you might reduce expenditures. You can also consider an alternative way of doing some of the things you are already doing.

Or you can prioritize what you are doing. This is almost always difficult because in the process you are seen as valuing one program more than others. When you prioritize you must anchor your decision in your school's vision and mission. For example, you would not want to eliminate programs that provide additional support to students if your vision is one where every student is expected to achieve at higher levels.

You do not need to set aside your vision during tough economic times. But you might need to reconsider how you provide essential supports. You may want to work with other schools or districts to share professional development. You might want to ask a local business leader to support your advocacy efforts with families or community. You might want to increase your efforts to identify volunteers, such as senior citizens, to work with students.

These challenging decisions are almost always better when teachers, families, and other stakeholder groups are included. I'd enjoy hearing from you about how you reconcile the need for greater efficiency and greater effectiveness.

Details of Upcoming GEAR UP Success Conference

Plan to attend the GEAR UP Success Conference at the Inn of the Seventh Mountain Resort in Bend April 29 - May 1. This year's theme will be "Transitions" and the conference will provide opportunity to learn about effective practices that support the successful transition of students between middle school and high school as well as between high school and college.

The conference will be keynoted by Dr. Dudley Flood, a former middle and high school teacher and principal. Noted for his work in the area of improving the achievement of minority and under-performing students, Dr. Flood worked for many years in the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and serves as a consultant to schools throughout the United States. Breakout sessions will be provided on successful drop-out prevention and retention practices and a panel will engage in a lively discussion on successful transition practices between middle and high school as well as between high school and college. During the conference school teams will work together to develop a plan that they can implement when they return to their school.

The Success Conference provides a valuable opportunity to reflect on the success of this year and use that success as a springboard to even greater success in the coming year. We look forward to working with each of you and your teams during the conference.

Ten Skills for Successful School Leaders

NASSP recently released an important new book, 10 Skills for Successful School Leaders. It combines the knowledge from NASSP's principal assessment centers with the school improvement framework developed in their Breaking Ranks series. The book describes each skill and provides a set of behavioral indicators. Perhaps most helpful, the book suggests activities that principals can sue to reflect on their own skill and build capacity in each area.

The ten skills are organized into four themes---educational leadership, resolving complex problems, communication and developing self and others. The complete list includes the following:

Educational Leadership

• setting instructional direction;

• teamwork;

• sensitivity;

Resolving Complex Problems

• judgement;

• results orientation;

• organizational ability;

Communication

• oral communication;

• written communication;

Developing Self and Others

• developing others;

• understanding your own strengths and weaknesses.

Finally, the book provides a protocol for developing your own personal learning plan. It supports your continued professional growth in a user friendly, non-threatening format. I think you will enjoy 10 Skills for Successful School Leaders.

Instruction from a Student's Perspective

It is important to honor the student voice. One way to do so is to conduct a Student Shadow Study. A shadow study is a way to gather data about the experience of students with curriculum and instruction in your school. They involve selecting students at random and following them throughout the school day.

The shadow study protocol was originally developed by NASSP and suggests charting the experience of students a five to seven minute intervals. The allows the observer to see the ebb and flow of activities during the day. Spending the entire day with a student and documenting his or her experience provides interesting insights into how students experience your school. Of course students quickly figure out that something is going on so the best approach is to talk with them and assure him or her that you are not gathering information about them to report to the office.

Shadow studies are best done by a team of people. After gathering the information you can use it as a springboard to launch conversations with the faculty or departmental level about the student experience. The patterns that emerge across students and across classrooms can provide helpful guidance to improve the quality of instruction in your school.

Conducting a School Culture Audit

Every school has a culture that reflects underlying values that shape patterns of behavior among the people who are part of the school community. Over time every school develops its own personality. It is shaped by the people who work in the school, the community the school serves, the students who attend the school and the way these groups respond to the successes, tragedies and daily events at the school.

Successful school leaders recognize the power of culture to shape their school. They regularly audit their school's culture and work with their staff and community to make the culture more positive and supportive of student success. Here are some ways to assess the culture in your school.

• At a staff meeting, ask each person to list five adjectives that describe the school's culture. Organize the words into common themes and discuss their meaning.

• Walk the halls of your school. What do you see? What artifacts are visible that convey messages about student success? About the value of rigorous work? About a commitment to not accepting failure?

• Talk with a cross-section of teachers or students. What gets them excited about their work? About their learning? What do they find joy in?

• Consider the last three months. What have you done to show your enthusiasm for learning? For student success? How have you recognized and rewarded students and staff?

We hope you will consider these strategies about ways to audit the culture of your school. We'd love to hear others ideas that you find successful to nurture and sustain a positive school culture.

Changing Your School's Schedule

Creating and managing the school schedule can be one of the most time-consuming tasks faced by a principal. It's easy to focus on the logistics of the schedule, but the schedule is just a tool to accomplish other things. There are four basic principles for building an effective schedule.

• The schedule reflects your school's values and priorities. Talk with key stakeholders to identify goals. Clarify of goals builds support for a new schedule and narrows the alternatives.

• The most effective schedules are anchored in a shared vision. Do you want to provide more collaborative time, extended instructional time or additional support for students? The options you will consider vary depending on your vision.

• A quality schedule emerges with teachers and administrators work together. Because the schedule is always reflects your priorities, it is important to engage others in the process of thinking about and considering the options.

• Without clear goals, the schedule is merely a plan for organizing teachers and students; when guided by clear goals, the schedule becomes a powerful tool to positively affect teaching and learning.

Before you begin to design a new schedule you will want to be clear about any district or local requirements about the use of time. And other things also affect the schedule like transportation schedules, employee contracts and facility constraints. But, learning about the alternatives and working with others to clarify priorities can really accelerate your thinking about how to use time differently.

There are several good resources including the Research Briefs on scheduling available at The Principals' Partnership website and the book Scheduling to Improve Student Learning (2009).