Stephen Fink, Executive Director

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Leading the learning work of schools and
districts Supporting and sustaining professional
learningICSEI Conference 2009

• Stephen Fink, Executive Director
• Center for Educational Leadership
• College of Education, University of WA
• www.k-12leadership.org

Michael Copland, Associate Professor Bradley
Portin, Associate Professor Educational
Leadership and Policy Studies College of
Education University of Washington
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• Leading the Learning Work of Schools and
  Districts
• Part I
• Setting the groundwork for supporting and
  sustaining professional learning in schools
• Part II
• An overview of the CELs theory of action for
  improving instruction in systems framing the
  issue of expertise
• Part III
• Improving leaders ability to analyze and
  improve the quality of instruction Five
  Dimensions of Teaching and Learning
• Part IV
• What we are learning and the implications for
  district and school leaders
• To explore in-depth the concept of the
  instructional core specifically
• Defining powerful teaching and learning
• Honing skills for observing and analyzing
  instruction in order to prepare for
  school and classroom visitations
• To explore the extent to which current
  district-wide leadership practices are resulting
  in improved instruction specifically,
• Connecting the instructional core with a
  district-wide strategy for
• improvement

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Leading an Instructional TeamImplications for
Principals

• Leading the Learning Work of Schools and
  Districts Supporting and Sustaining Professional
  Learning
• Symposium at ICSEI 2009
• Vancouver, BC January 4-7, 2009
• Bradley Portin
• Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and
  Policy Studies
• Director of International Partnerships
• University of Washington College of Education

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Outlining the Session

• Central concerns
• Research agenda
• Issues influencing leading the learning agenda
• Framing
• The achievement gap and educational quality
• Assumptions and issues shaping leader practice
• A theory of action for systemic support for
  learning focused leadership
• Emerging analytic targets about learning focused
  leadership in schools
• The work of a cadre of learning leaders
• Leading teams of instructional leaders
• Support and direction from the system level
• Ongoing learning for school leaders

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Three Overlapping Studies

• Research supported by a grant from The Wallace
  Foundation

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Three Research Projects

• Study 1 Reconfiguration and enactment of
  learning focused leadership in schools
• The central interest in this study is in
  learning-focused leadership at the school level.
• Improving learning conditions and outcomes in
  schools implicates the need to re-imagine and
  reconfigure how leadership is exercised in
  schools. All leaders.
• This study explores how school leaders make sense
  of these new expectations in light of their own
  unique school characteristics and how districts
  and the larger policy environment shape and
  support what occurs in learning-focused
  leadership in schools.

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Study sites
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Long-Term NAEP Mathematics Scores Age 17
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Education system theory-of-action for a learning
improvement agenda

• Expectations for teacher practice
• Deprivatized and accountable practice
• Differentiated strategies
• Coherence to standards
• Provisions for instructional leadership
• Cadres of instructional leaders (supervisory and
  non-supervisory) to support teaching and learning
• Deeper data access and skills
• Team-based and distributed instructional
  leadership practice
• From district level
• Involving partners and third-party providers
• Within the school (beyond heroic notions)

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Preliminary hunches from Study 1

• What we think we are learning about learning
  focused leadership in schools

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Emerging Analytic Targets

• Emerging themes from early analysis that address
• How what principals do is unique to their schools
  or an artifact of district direction
• How principals are systemically connected to the
  instructional improvement agenda
  (tightly-coupled), but also distributing much of
  the instructional leadership work to others
  (loosely-coupled)
• How principals bring or gain the expertise to
  lead a cadre of instructional leaders MLL
• How principals marry their supervisory role with
  the development of teaching practice
• How principals practice is shaped by what they
  get from their district that directs and support
  their work as leader of an instructional team
• How principals engage in entrepreneurship in the
  use of resources to support other
  learning-focused leaders

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The complex array of instructional leadership
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The complex array of instructional leadership
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New conceptions of instructional leadership
Beyond the principal

• How are mid-level leader roles different from
  prior conceptions of teacher leadership?
• Previously, leadership roles often based on
  non-instructional goals
• Current leadership roles moving in the direction
  of instructional leadership
• District theory of action Mid-level leaders are
  there to interact with teaching and learning
  (coaching, teacher accountability)

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Necessary characteristics of MLLs

• Content knowledge
• Connecting to the accountability system and
  curricular reform
• Knowledge of powerful pedagogy
• Coaching and mentoring, not evaluation
• Ability to build relational trust
• Transcending privatized culture
• Provide systemic glue
• Bridging functions
• Data expertise

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How what principals do is unique to their schools
or an artifact of district direction

• Link to a district theory-of action
• Springfield Public Schools, MA
• CULTURE OF ACHIEVEMENT Creating a system-wide
  focus on achievement in which behaviors reflect
  belief. The system-wide goal is to maximize
  opportunities to learn so that all students can
  achieve the standards. In a Culture of
  Achievement, everyone believes and acts in
  accordance with the belief that all learners can
  achieve. All actions with students and parents
  illustrate and confirm commitment to the belief
  that all learners can achieve. All resources
  focus on actualizing this belief. Students learn
  continually and are surrounded by
  othersteachers, administrators, and other
  adults who are also learning all the time.
  Creating a community of learners in the
  Springfield Public Schools will require a
  dedication to continuous improvement in learning
  on the part of all students, staff, and parents.
• Atlanta Public Schools, GA
• APS 2007100 percent of schools meeting or
  exceeding 70 percent of their achievement
  targets, while closing the gap.

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Principals Leading Instructional Teams

• Using the resource and decision making
  environment to contribute to increased team
  capacity
• Using Title I funding and FTE lines for local
  purposes
• Negotiating the district context and its way of
  doing business that supports or guides a
  team-based approach
• Empowerment model in NYC
• The SRT structure of Atlanta and direction for
  design teams
• Leveraging their preparation to do this work
• Project LEAD in Springfield, MA
• License aspiring Principals/Assistant
  Principals ? Support aspiring Principals/Assistan
  t Principals in approved programs ? Support
  existing Principals/Assistant Principals ?
  Recruit a pool of highly qualified candidates for
  Principals/ Assistant Principals
• SABLE - Superintendent's Academy for Building
  Leaders in Education a two-year leadership
  development experience designed to prepare
  aspiring leaders within the Atlanta Public School
  system

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Direction and support
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Ongoing learning for school leaders

• New areas of skill growth and expertise
• Data expertise
• Atlanta-data support
• Resourcefulness, entrepreneurial capacity
  (cross-arena work)
• Community partnerships (CIS), business partners,
  deliberate use of Title I Funds
• Knowledge of instruction and how to assess it
• NWLM-role of a third-party provider in
  professional for leaders identification of
  evaluating powerful instructional practice
• Expertise in leading teams

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Our initial framing ideas and informing concepts

• Publications available at
• The UW Center for Teaching and Policy
  www.ctpweb.org
• and, The Wallace Foundation Knowledge Center
  www.wallacefoundation.org

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More information on this study

• Bradley Portin, Associate Professor
• bportin_at_u.washington.edu

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Mission

• The Center for Educational Leadership (CEL)
  is dedicated to eliminating the achievement gap
  that continues to divide our nations children
  along the lines of race, class and language. CEL
  believes the nexus for eliminating the gap lies
  in the development of leadership
  capacity?specifically nurturing the will to act
  on behalf of the most underserved students while
  increasing leadership knowledge and skill to
  dramatically improve the quality of instruction.

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ELIMINATING THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP A Theory of Action
P E D A G O G Y
ACHIEVEMENT
OPPORTUNITY TO LEARN
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Big ideas behind our theory of action

• If kids are not learning, they are not being
  afforded powerful
• learning opportunities

• If teachers are not affording students powerful
  learning opportunities,
• principals and district leaders are not doing
  what they need to in order to
• equip and support teachers with the requisite
  knowledge and skills

• Teaching is a very sophisticated process, and
  teachers are capable of
• making important instructional decisions with
  effective professional
• development

• In order to facilitate powerful instruction,
  teaching practice must move
• from private to public

• Reciprocal accountability must be in place to
  ensure high learning at
• all levels

• You cannot lead what you dont know

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CEL District Partnerships and Customized
Leadership Programs

• One end in mind Improving the quality of
  instruction
• Theory of action Deepening leaders knowledge
  of what constitutes high quality instruction AND
  developing specific leadership practices designed
  to improve teaching quality in every school,
  every classroom

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Partnership Prospectus
LEADERSHIP AS LEARNING Closing the achievement
gap by improving instruction through
content-focused leadership www.
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Our work starts from the premise

• That there is not a widely shared view of what
  constitutes quality teaching
• That the wide variation of opinions is a problem
  of expertise
• In order to improve instruction at scale requires
  first developing leaders expertise to observe
  and analyze teaching

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• What do we know about how effective
  instructional leaders develop the expertise to
  lead for improvement in teaching and learning?

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• Research shows that experts
• recognize features and patterns that are not
  noticed by novices
• have increased their ability to segment the
  perceptual field (learning how to see)
• have acquired extensive knowledge that
  affects what they notice and how they organize,
  represent, and interpret information in their
  environment. This, in turn affects their
  abilities to remember, reason, and solve problems
• -from How People Learn Brain, Mind,
  Experience, and School. (2000). Bransford,
  J.D., Brown, A.L., Cocking, R.R., Eds.
  Washington, D.C. National Academy Press, p. 31.

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The big picture of teaching and learning the
instructional core
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The 5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning

• Purpose
• Student Engagement
• Curriculum and Pedagogy
• Assessment of Student Learning
• Classroom Environment and Culture

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The 5 Dimensions Framework

• Grounded in what we know about how people learn
  
• (National Research Council Executive Summary of
  How People Learn http//www.nap.edu/html/howpeople
  1/es.html)
• Grounded in what we know about best teaching
  practices
• (Beers, Probst, Rief, 2007 Marzano,
  Pickering, Pollock, 2001 Danielson Bizar,
  2004 Resnick Zurawsky, 2007, Resnick
  Zurawsky, 2006 Newman, King Carmichael, 2007)
• Supports coherence in various instructional
  improvement initiatives across a school and
  district

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5D Framework grew out of research studying
CEL-District partnerships

• Qualitative case study results show significant
  changes in leadership and teacher behavior
• However we attempted to quantify leaders
  learning
• Specifically we wondered Are leaders developing
  greater expertise with observing instruction and
  planning feedback to teachers?

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CEL Lesson Analysis Rubric

• Empirical and experiential research effort led to
  development of rubric framework
• Rubric captures 13 dimensions of what expert
  observers of teaching and learning pay attention
  to
• Rubric differentiates novice from expert practice
  along each of the 13 dimensions

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Lesson Analysis Study

• Assessing growth in leaders ability to observe
  for powerful teaching and learning and plan
  feedback to teachers
• Three data collection points baseline, Year 1,
  Year 2.
• Study design Watch lesson video, script
  responses to three questions, narrative analysis
  using lesson observation rubric

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Developing leaders ability to analyze
instruction and plan feedback

• What do you notice about teaching and learning in
  this classroom?
• Based on your response to the first question,
  describe the follow-up conversation you would
  have with this teacher.
• Imagine that the teacher you just observed is a
  member of your current school staff. What
  implications for professional development, if
  any, does this observation suggest?

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Dimensions of Instruction
Norwalk Means Time 1 2
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Year 1 Results
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Year 1 Results
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Year 1 Results
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System Overview

• 5D Instructional Leadership Video Assessment

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System Overview

• The 5D assessment supports CELs mission by
  assessing leaders expertise within 5 dimensions
  of instructional practice in an effort to promote
  professional development for improving student
  learning.
• Assessment simulates the experience of a
  classroom walkthrough.
• Can be used for a variety of purposes
• Screen potential administrative candidates
• Identify collective strengths and needs for
  professional development (by cohorts)
• Assess the change in leaders expertise over time
• Reports provide information about a leaders
  proficiency within the 5 core
• Dimensions of Teaching and Learning and can be
  customized for a district
• Online capability enables the impact of CELs
  work to reach a greater audience

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Rubric

• 5D Instructional Leadership Video Assessment

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5 Dimensions of Teaching Learning
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Purpose
An instructional leader considers How lesson
connects to grade-level standards (e.g. GLE, ELD,
NCTM, NCTE) whether stated or not stated, to
ensure equity of outcomes for all students How
purpose of lesson connects to transferable
knowledge/skill How teaching decisions align with
purpose Whether lesson purpose is appropriate for
students based on evidence of student
learning How lesson links to broader purpose
(social justice, problem-solving, citizenship,
independence, quality of life) How the purpose of
this lesson connected to other lessons (previous
and future)
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Student Engagement

• An instructional leader considers
• Who is doing the work (reading, thinking,
  writing, meaning making) and what is the
  intellectual substance of that work
• Strategies that facilitate participation and
  meaning making by all students (e.g., small group
  work, partner talk, writing, questioning, etc.)
• Level of student talk in light of understanding
  the role of talk in meaning making, language
  development and as a tool for assessment

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1 A novice instructional leader
Levels of Expertise

• does not notice or think about key concepts when
  observing classroom practice
• conveys obvious misconceptions about or misuses
  key concepts
• makes gross judgments without any supporting
  evidence whatsoever

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2 An emerging instructional leader
Levels of Expertise

• recounts what transpired in the lesson
• identifies, mentions, or names something related
  to key concepts without any elaboration
• uses relevant and appropriate terminology without
  clear evidence of understanding
• may ask questions without elaboration as to why
  (mimicking questions, perhaps, memorized from
  previous professional development)
• may offer directives for improvement without
  justification or elaboration

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3 A developing instructional leader
Levels of Expertise

• discusses and/or considers key concepts with
  enough specificity to demonstrate basic
  understanding
• elaborates responses with specific
  examples/evidence from the observed lesson
• expresses wonder or questions about observations
  (e.g., what is behind teaching decisions)
• offers alternatives to teaching decisions or
  suggests ways to improve with some specificity
  and/or elaboration
• demonstrates basic understanding that teaching
  decisions impact student learning and how this
  occurs

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4 An expert instructional leader
Levels of Expertise

• demonstrates all the markers of category 3 plus
• identifies and critically analyzes more layers of
  complexity in the observed lesson
• conveys clear ideas/vision for powerful and
  equitable teaching and learning
• communicates and supports ideas with richer
  detail to illustrate evidence/examples from the
  observed lesson
• demonstrates pedagogical content knowledge
  relevant to the specific content area of lesson
• models an inquiry stance
• analytically unpacks teaching decisions and
  offers possible theories
• links questions and analysis directly to evidence
  of student learning

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Assessment

• 5D Instructional Leadership Video Assessment

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The Assessment
Can be taken from any computer with a high-speed
Internet connection. Users begin by completing
a brief demographic survey.
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The Assessment
Once the survey is complete, users are redirected
to the assessment video
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The Assessment
The Assessment video is roughly 15-20 minutes
long, and is an example of real classroom
instruction.
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The Assessment
The User is automatically redirected to a
response section where they answer three
questions regarding the instruction just seen.
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The Assessment
The response is saved to the database
automatically, preserving the text in the case of
technical difficulties.
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The Assessment
Once the response is submitted, the user is
automatically logged out of the system.
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Rating

• 5D Instructional Leadership Video Assessment

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Rating
Each response is scored independently by two
raters.
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Rating
Each rater scores each exam on the 13
sub-dimensions of the assessment.
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Reporting

• 5D Instructional Leadership Video Assessment

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Reporting
The system automatically generates reports based
on district cohorts.
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Reporting

• Rater scores are automatically averaged.

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Reporting

• Rater scores can be easily checked.

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District Aggregate Dimension Scores
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District Aggregate Sub-Dimension Scores
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District Aggregate Student Engagement Scores
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District Aggregate Curriculum Pedagogy Scores
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District Comparison New Veteran Principals
Across 5 Dimensions
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District Comparison Coaches, Principals Central
Office Across The 5 Dimensions
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What we are learning

• The purpose of leadership is the improvement of
  instruction, regardless of role
• Leadership for instructional improvement cannot
  be outsourced solely to principals and/or
  teachers
• Leadership for instructional improvement begins
  with everyone making their practice and learning
  public
• The development of an adult learning community is
  essential, however that community must develop
  through a continuous focus on instruction rather
  than an end in itself
• You cannot lead what you dont know
• The improvement of instructional leadership rests
  on deepening ones content knowledge. Leaders
  deepened content knowledge is the foundation from
  which they support teachers with more powerful
  professional development