LEADERS OF LEARNING ' ' '

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LEADERS OF LEARNING . . .

• Roger Breed
• Elkhorn Public Schools
• September 2006

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MENTOR LESSONS . . .

• There are no children that cant learn, but
  there are some that need a little more time and a
  different approach.
• Every teacher can bring about high achievement
  if properly supported, involved and valued.

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The Agenda

• Good to Great by Jim Collins
• The Framework of Ideas
• Changing Public Schools Perceptions
• Moving to Greatness Through Professional Learning
  Communities

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Good to Great Companies

• Five years of research
• Good to great results
• Sustained for at least 15 years
• Attained extraordinary results
• We believe that almost any organization can . .
  . become great if it conscientiously applies the
  framework of ideas weve uncovered. - J. Collins

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Good to GreatLevel 5 Leadership

• Ambitious not for themselves but for their
  institution and its success
• Professional will
• Personal Humility
• Lincoln, for example

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Good to GreatFirst Who, then What

• Get the right people on the bus
• Five basic characteristics
• Then decide where the bus should go
• Be Rigorous
• When in doubt, dont hire, keep looking.
• When you need to make a people change, act.
• Put your best people on your biggest
  opportunities, not your biggest problems.

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Good to GreatFirst Who, then What

• In just one academic year, the top third of
  teachers produced as much as six times the
  learning growth of the bottom third
• -D. Sparks 2004

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Good to GreatConfront the Brutal Facts

• An honest diligent effort to determine the truth
  of the institutions situation
• Create a culture where the truth can be heard
  within the institution
• Lead with questions, not answers
• Engage in dialogue and debate, not coercion
• Conduct autopsies, without blame
• Build red flag mechanisms that turn data into
  data that cannot be ignored

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Good to GreatThe Hedgehog Concept

• The one thing
• An understanding of what you can be best at (not
  a goal, not a strategy)
• We should only do those things that we can get
  passionate about?
• Intersection of three circles
• What you can be the best in the world at
• What drives your achievement (economic) engine
• What you are deeply passionate about

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Good to GreatThe Hedgehog Concept

• Our hedgehog concept in Elkhorn
• We accept high levels of learning for all
  students as the fundamental purpose of our school
  and therefore we are willing to examine all
  practices in light of their impact on learning.
• Elkhorn schools will
• Clarify what each student is expected to learn
• Monitor each students learning on a timely basis
• Create systems to ensure students receive
  additional time and support if they are not
  learning.

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Good to GreatA Culture of Discipline

• Built around the idea of freedom and
  responsibility within a framework
• Filled with self-disciplined people
• No tyrannical disciplinarian
• All adhere to the hedgehog concept, focused on
  the intersection of the three circles (BHAGs)
• Create a stop doing list and unplug anything
  extraneous
• Cultivate a collaborative culture

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Good to GreatTechnology Accelerators

• A crawl, walk, run effort
• When used right, technology becomes an
  accelerator of momentum, not a creator of it
• Disciplined action adhering to the hedgehog
  concept - make the software, the data warehouse,
  etc. work for your purpose - improving student
  learning.

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Good to GreatThe Flywheel and Doom Loop

• Transformation to great never is a
  dramatic/revolutionary event
• Pattern of organic, cumulative processes with
  lengthy buildup
• Avoids the doom loop which involves an attempt to
  skip the buildup
• Alignment principally follows from results and
  momentum
• Preserve the core and stimulate progress
• Persist, persist, persist

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Changing Perceptions

• Can Public Schools go from
• Good to Great?

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Changing Perceptions. . . Effective Schools . .
.

• McREL Effective leadership (Level 5?) can
  substantially boost student achievement
• Organizes to improve student learning (the Right
  People in the Right Seats on the Bus?)
• Must be a commitment to student learning
  (Hedgehog Concept?)
• Must have a collegial culture that confronts the
  brutal realities (Disciplined Culture?)
• Must be sustainable (A PLC?)

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McRels Leader Learner Connection

• There is a through line from leadership to
  improved student learning - Leadership Matters!
• Quantitative Analysis of 30 years of research
• 21 Key Leadership Behaviors Correlated with
  Student Achievement
• Effective Leadership is Situational

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Three Leadership Responsibilities and Practices

• Knowledge of CIA
• -Is knowledgeable about instructional and
  assessment practices
• -Provides conceptual guidance for teachers
  regarding effective classroom practice

• Monitors/evaluates
• -Monitors evaluates the effectiveness of
  school practices and their impact on student
  learning

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Three Leadership Responsibilities and Practices

• Culture - Fosters shared beliefs and a sense of
  community and cooperation
• -Promotes cooperation among staff
• -Promotes a sense of well-being
• -Promotes cohesion among staff
• -Develops an understanding of purpose
• -Develops a shared vision of what the school
  could be like

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Leading the Change in Culture

• Much change is structural and superficial.
  Transforming culture -- Changing what people in
  the organization value and how they work together
  to accomplish it-- leads to deep, lasting
  change.
• -Michael Fullan

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Instruction Leadership Using Assessment Data

• Waverly High School Principal
• Dr. Phil Warrick

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The task of the leaders.

• To unify all educators in the SIP process
• To address data driven needs
• To practice collaboration school wide
• To focus on teaching and learning
• To access or create expertise on our staff

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How we do this at Waverly High

• May curriculum area meetings.
• Assessment data reviewed by curriculum area
  teams
• Data indications written up..
• Data form handout.

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Data retreat, early June

• Building leadership team dives deeper into data.
• Team consists of Principal, Asst. principal,
  Counselors, Curriculum area Chairpersons, Special
  Education Chairperson
• Data from curriculum meetings drives our
  search.Layering tells the story

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How do we layer data ?

• Divide and Conquerdifferent groups take
  different pieces of data
• Sample Writing Databoys lower than girlswhat
  is the story?
• Layers of data included State Writing Score/
  Grades in 11th English/ Previous Writing Scores/
  Attendance/ Special Education Identification/
  Free and Reduced info.

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What did we find ??

• For the class of 2007
• -in 8th grade 74.76 of the students made the
  cut-score
• -in 11th grade 87 of the students made the
  cut-score
• 21 students did not make state-wide writing
  cut-score 13 of those students were sped and 2
  were from the developmental handicap program.
• (LOOK FURTHER INTO SPED DATA)
• NON SPED STUDENTS
• 5 non-sped students were male. 1 male was
  free/reduced lunch
• 6 students had D/F semester grades
• 6 students missed over 8 days each semester

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SIP Plan developed or modified from this data.

• 1. Research based interventions..
• 2. Assessments that will be used to monitor
  effectiveness..
• 3. Funding sources that will be used to implement
  the interventions.
• 4. Training and staff development necessary for
  these interventions..
• 5. Identification of people responsible for these
  activities..

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Some success stories.

• Art teacher uses reading.
• Social Studies teachers are exceeding
  expectations
• Choir director has students do weekly journaling
• Band students write critiques of their concerts
  and practice sessions
• Building wide vocabulary practices are much
  better
• Reading and writing is becoming a constant in all
  classrooms