Principals and the Common Core

Every principal of a GEAR UP school has talked with us about the Common Core and how they're working with their teachers to be ready for the implementation. As many of you know implementing Common Core standards will change the way many schools and classrooms are organized. An emphasis on greater rigor, higher-level thinking and authentic assessments may challenge some of your teachers and may not be well understood by families.

This week I read a thoughtful eduptopia blog by Erin Powers How Will the Common Core Change What We Do. It's a really helpful summary of the anticipated changes and how to plan for their arrival.

I'd enjoy hearing from you about how your planning for implementation of the Common Core.

Climate or Culture

I often hear the terms "climate" and "culture" used interchangeably but they are not the same thing. The culture of your school reflects those long-standing shared beliefs, those patterns of behavior that reflect those beliefs and the things that uniquely characterize your school. A culture is often evident in things like rituals and ceremonies in a school, the stories people tell about the school and the people in the school community, the way people are recognized and rewarded and the people who are held in high esteem.

A school's climate is far more immediate and current. The climate may be impacted by recent events like achieving high test scores, the arrival of a new principal, recent contract negotiations, changes in school funding or adoption of a new evaluation system.

Over time your school's climate impacts it's culture. The way you respond to events like those mentioned earlier signals something about the prevailing culture. So, when unexpected, or planned, events occur it is important to think about how your immediate response can, over time, shape your school's culture.

The way principals spend their time, the things they talk about, the way they build relationships with students, families and staff, and the way they recognize people are all an indicator of underlying values and beliefs, the very beliefs reflected in your school's culture. The most successful leaders recognize the connection and look for opportunities to positively shape their school's culture by being very attentive to the routine activities that contribute to their school's climate.

I'd enjoy hearing from you about how you work to shape your school's culture.

The Homework Debate

The debate about homework never seems to stop. It's one of those perennial issues faced by school leaders. Proponents of homework suggest that a reduction would reduce academic rigor. Those questioning homework challenge it's link to student learning. What's interesting is that there's evidence to support both sides of the debate. A recent study by a University of Virginia professor found no significant relationship between time spent on homework and grades but did find a relationship between homework and performance on standardized tests.

What we do know is that a survey conducted by the University of Michigan found that the amount of time spent on homework increased 51% since 1981. So, what do we know about homework? First, busy work turns students away from learning and does not impact overall student learning. Second, when homework exceeds more than 60 minutes a day in grades 3-6, 90 minutes a day in middle level and 120 minutes a night in high school, the benefits decline quickly.

One of the best sources of information about homework and how to support effective homework practices is an ASCD publication Rethinking Homework: Best Practices That Support Diverse Needs. The author, Cathy Vatterott, is a former teacher and school administrator. She provides teachers and principals with an explicit set of strategies for thoughtfully examining homework expectations and supporting homework completion. Cathy's website, www.homeworklady.com, shares many of her presentation materials and tools. 

Teaching Values

I found a recent article in Education Week to be more than a little provocative, but provocative in a good way. It made me think a lot about teaching, values and ethics. I teach ethics to both Master's and Doctoral students and am fascinated by how each of us develops our own unique ethical code.

Too often schools choose not to talk about morals, beliefs and values because it smacks of trying to teach students our own values. Children grow up in families but they spend significant time in schools. These experiences in school help to shape their own development, and with it, their own identity.

I'm not a proponent of prescribing a set of values. But I do recognize that through our actions we model certain values and beliefs. The way we organize our classrooms, the way we build relationships, the way we respond it times of crisis all reveal our beliefs and values. Schools are not void of values. They're just not discussed.

The article suggests three things educators can do to embrace the role of developing ethical and civic identities in students.

• First, leverage the Common Core State Standards. Use their implementation as a time to work with your community to talk about how to become engaged in their schools and support the study of global issues.
• Second, evaluate your school climate to see if it provides an environment where students feel safe, and are supported and valued.
• Finally, when designing culminating projects base them in both academic and community-service based activities. They can help nurture values like civic responsibility.

I'm really interested in how others respond to this article and to the idea of explicitly helping students develop values and beliefs in our students.

Get Organized! Time Management Tools for School Leaders

Principals are always looking for useful strategies to deal with the many tasks they manage. One of the leading experts on time management for school leaders is Frank Buck, author of Get Organized! As a former school principal Frank's advice is anchored in a realistic view of the responsibilities of a principal. One of the strengths of the book is the practical ideas that he presents, ideas that can immediately be implemented to strengthen your time management skills.

Frank maintains a blog that provides the most recent ideas about time management strategies. You can also find Frank's tips on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest. His book is available from Eye on Education. 

Reducing the Risk, Increasing the Promise

I'm always looking for great ideas to share with teachers and principals. Last week I read Reducing the Risk, Increasing the Promise by Sherrel Bergmann and Judith Brough. I was touched by the stories they shared of students with such promise who were at risk of failing in school. The authors identify six essential social skills that contribute to student success---resilience, resourcefulness, responsibility, relationships, respect and the ability to read.

But the most important feature of this book is the useful set of strategies and tools to help students reduce risk and increase promise. Every chapter provides ideas that teachers and families can immediately use to help students develop each of the six essential skills.

Reducing the Risk, Increasing the Promise is the latest in a useful series of books by Bergmann and Brough. Others include Teach Me--I Dare You!, Lead Me--I Dare You! and Teach My Kid--I Dare You!  All are available from Eye on Education.

When Values Collide: Beliefs Shape Decision-Making

In several of my courses we talk about personal belief systems and how they shape the way we do our work and make decisions. The challenge is that in any school people often hold different beliefs, grounded in their own unique experiences. This leads to some pretty intense discussions about beliefs, about ethics, and about "right and wrong." I'm always looking for ways to extend the discussion and provide school leaders with tools they can use to think about the different beliefs present among their teachers, staff and community.

This week I saw an article on edutopia that was especially helpful in thinking about this issue. The article, Teacher Collaboration: When Belief Systems Collide, by Elena Aguilar, is built on Garmston & Costa's work in Cognitive Coaching where they discussed the ideologies that shape educators' decision-making. I want to share the article and hope you find it useful to think about your own personal "ideology" and how it shapes what you do and how you see the work, and motives, of others in your school and community.

As always, I'd welcome your thoughts about this topic.