Dr' G' Thomas Houlihan

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21st Century Leadership- Using Data to Drive
Decisions

• Dr. G. Thomas Houlihan
• Executive Director
• Council of Chief State School Officers

Dr. G. Thomas Houlihan Exec Dir- Education
Leadership Institute
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A National/International Perspective(what Ive
learned)

• Current Issues
• Lessons Learned

2007
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LESSON 1
The Constant Tension Between State and Federal
Control

• Who pays for what
• Is funding enough?
• Constitutional questions

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LESSON 1
The Constant Tension Between State and Federal
Control

• THE REAL ISSUE IS WHO CONTROLS CREATIVITY OF OUR
  SCHOOLS 21ST CENTURY IMPLICATIONS!

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LESSON 2
Educators have a difficult time believing in
schools they havent seen. (Just cant grasp)

• We are different
• You dont teach our kids
• Our kids have too many problems

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LESSON 3
The Growing Consensus for HS Reform!

• NCLB - The tip of the iceberg
• Bill Gates - NGA Summit
• Global Issues - China, India,
• European Common Market
• Partnership for 21st Century Skills

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LESSON 4
Leadership Matters!

• As the teacher goes, so goes the classroom
• As the principal goes, so goes the school.
• As the superintendent goes, so goes the
  district.
• Single biggest obstacle in education-
  leadership ability to lead change!

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21st CENTURY ISSUES

• Research on attitudes towards high schools

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Alliancefor Excellent Education

• A Presentation of Survey Research on the Publics
  Views on Public High Schools (2005-2006 results)

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Views Toward High School

• For the first time high schools top peoples
  concerns

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The American public feels the most urgency to
improve high schools, but they see room for
improving all levels of education.
Now I am going to ask you some questions about
different types of public schools. For each one
please consider everything you know or have heard
about public education and tell me how urgent you
think it is to improve this kind of school.
Heres the first one ___ __(read item). Is it
extremely urgent, very urgent, somewhat urgent, a
little urgent, or not at all urgent to improve
___item?
Across demographic groups the public sees more
urgency surrounding high schools.
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The public thinks the percentage of students
attending college, followed by drop-out rates and
the percentage of students getting jobs are the
best indicators of how well a public high school
is doing.
For each of the following please tell me how good
an indicator it is of how well a public high
school is doing. Using a scale of 0-5, where zero
means it is not a very good indicator and 5 means
it is the best indicator ?
Mean
3.7
3.3
3.4
3.2
3.4
3.2
3.1
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Defining the Problem

• Preparing for Jobs

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Given the goals they see for high schools-
preparing for jobs and college- Americans do not
see high school living up to their goals.
Do you think a diploma from Americas public high
schools prepares graduates to get a good-paying
job?
Do you think a diploma from Americas public high
schools prepares graduates to succeed in college?
No demographic group thinks schools prepare
graduates for jobs. More educated people also
think schools do not prepare for college.
Split sampled questions
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Solutions for Success

• Americans believe improving reading and writing
  is key

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By increasing and overwhelming margins, Americans
believe that improving reading and writing is the
most important factor to increasing the
graduation rate.
Now I am going to read you some pairs of
statements. As I read each pair, tell me whether
the FIRST statement or the SECOND statement comes
closer to your own views even if neither is
exactly right.
Improving reading comprehension and writing is
not the most important factor to increasing the
graduation rate
Improving reading comprehension and writing is
the most important factor to increasing the
graduation rate
2005
All demographic groups side with this statement.
2004
Split-sampled questions
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Americans are not ready to give up on our high
school students and they strongly feel that
poorly-performing students can still get the help
they need to succeed, rather than thinking it is
too late.
When you think about students who do not do well
in high school, do you think by the time they get
to high school it is too late to turn them around
and help them succeed or do you think students
can still get the help they need to succeed?
There is little difference across racial groups
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When asked which of several factors they would be
most willing to pay more in taxes for, they pick
these top priorities.
Now I am going to read you some strategies that
some people believe are the building blocks to
help every high school student to succeed at
college or in life. For each item please tell me
how willing you would be to pay more in taxes to
make that item happen extremely willing, very
willing, somewhat willing, a little willing, or
not at all willing?
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The public sees the high drop-out rate as having
an impact on the nations economy and ability to
compete in the global economy.
SSA What impact does a high drop out rate have
on the nations economy, does it have a lot of
impact on the economy, somewhat, a little, not at
all or will it make no difference on the economy?
SSB What impact does a high drop out rate have
on Americas ability to compete in the global
economy, does it have a lot of impact on global
competition, somewhat, a little, not at all or
will it make no difference on Americas ability
to compete globally?
Impact of high drop-out rate on nations economy
91
Impact of high drop-out rate on Americas ability
to compete in the global economy
92
Split sampled question
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21st CENTURY ISSUES

• The ability (or inability) of schools to embrace
  change

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Ready or Not . . .The World is Different
Work is different ... Tools are different
... Communication is different ...
Information is different ... Kids are different
... Learning is different Teaching must be
different ... And Leading must be different!
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Expectations have changed
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Who would you hire?
Someone who could master a core subject
Someone who could master a core subject
effectively communicate effectively
collaborate be a self-directed learner be
creative be information/media literate be a
critical thinker be a problem solver be
accountable and adaptable be socially
responsible
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How do educators move forward- 21st Century
skills?DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING SYSTEMS
THINKING!!
2007
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CHARACTERISTICS MODEL SCHOOLS

• Laser-like focus on data- assist classroom
  teachers
• Use of teacher knowledge
• Wide variety of data collected
• Only essential data collected
• ALL LEADING TO

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THE DRIVING FACTOR DATA

• In school after school, the key for all data is
  in making appropriate instructional
• decisionsand to inform students, parents
  and others on an ongoing basis!

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KEY ISSUES- USING DATA

• 1 Issue- Data rich, analysis poor
• WHY- THE EPIDEMIC OF IMMEDIACY IN US
• Questions
• Do we sometimes confuse achievement and
  learning?
• Do we teach skills or develop skills?

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KEY ISSUES (1 cont)

• Do we really know what data is saying?
• Do we really understand the powers and limits of
  data?
• Do we make guesstimates based on data?
• Do we use data to sort and select or to guide
  continuous improvement?

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KEY ISSUES (Cont)

• 2 Issue- Balancing Data
• Hard data- test scores, drop-out rates, ADM, etc.
• Soft data- case studies, student morale, and
  faculty attitudes

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KEY ISSUES (2 cont)

• In many cases, hard data is the total focus at
  the exclusion of soft data.
• This is often a short-term fix but a long-term
  mistake!!!!!

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KEY ISSUES

• Issue 3- The Systems Factor

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SYSTEMS THINKING
Any system is designed to produce exactly what it
produces!
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To change performance we must change the SYSTEM,
and this requires new approaches and a new way of
THINKING and DOING
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KEY ISSUES (3 Cont)

• We often make decisions using data and dont
  factor in the systems perspective.
• Most common examples- Drop-outs, student
  achievement.

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KEY ISSUES (3 Cont)

• Student Achievement Data-
• Do you know if data really means improvement,
  statistically?
• Do you know the trends over time and statistical
  significance?
• Does this data guide long-term planning?

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KEY ISSUES

• Issue 5-
• Doing your best isnt good enough if you dont
  know what your doing.
• -- W. Edwards Deming

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Higher performance at a later time period
NCLB IS NOT BASED ON Traditional Improvement
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A positive trend in performance from year to year
NCLB IS BASED ON Continuous Improvement
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Significant performance improvement of a
systems indicator value over time
THE KEY TO NCLB Breakthrough Improvement
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BREAKTHROUGH IMPROVEMENT

• Based on the use of Statistical Process Control
• BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE

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Performance Over Time
UCL
LCL
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CONCLUDING COMMENTS

• Good data should result in two actions classroom
  action and public action
• 1) Classroom action- appropriate action
  school practitioners take after reviewing data
  that is relevant and meaningful - modify
  instructional practices

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CONCLUDING COMMENTS

• 2) Public Action- social consequences that occur
  after the public reviews the data regarding the
  school