Future-Focused Leadership

In my last guest post, I outlined the ways in which the Every Student Succeeds Act, recently signed into law, gives us a unique chance to create the indicators of achievement that will mean and matter to us—indicators catered to the unique DNA of our states, districts, and schools. In my post, I called members of school boards and instructional and school leaders to action: we have the chance—the obligation—to voice our own frustrations and actually have them heard, respected, and applied to the process of overhauling the system and focusing on what matters most: the students. 

What does it mean to overhaul the system in this way? The work of Superintendent Guy Sconzo of Humble Independent School District in Humble, Texas, is a powerful example of creating a future-focused system. Over the past 15 years, Dr. Sconzo has developed and implemented strategies that fulfill the district’s mission of teaching well-rounded students—not to the standardized test. These are his six guiding principles:

1. Commit to the Whole Child: Understand why your priority is the whole child. Communicate this commitment calmly, clearly, and continually to all of your audiences.
2. Create a Culture of Trust: Start with a conversation. Invite ideas and insights from the school board, district, and community members. Remind your teachers that you believe they are far more capable than teaching to a test. Encourage them to find creative ways to teach students to be successful in life. Craft a plan, test out multiple ideas, and be willing to throw out ideas that don’t work and adapt those that do. Overhaul your evaluation system and push it to apply new indicators that measure the development of the whole child.
3. Win Over the Skeptics by Personalizing the Conversation: A test score says very little about a person’s talents and capabilities. Where generalized conversations fail, personal ones can often prevail. Ask the doubters, “Can your own children, nieces and nephews, or other children you know be accurately summed up in a standardized test score?”
4. Be Flexible and Embrace Trial and Error in the Effort to Find New Metrics: How do we measure a student’s interpersonal skills? How do we measure their ability to think creatively? Many fundamental skills are difficult but essential to quantify. But we must also accept—and communicate—that there are characteristics of a person that simply cannot be quantified—and honest messaging on this topic is critical. Where you cannot quantify output, find ways to quantify input. The goal is exposure to creative thinking and its process and fostering a well-rounded child who can connect the dots from one discipline to another. Creative confidence and experience is necessary for success in whatever career or interest a student pursues, whether it be science, business, a technical vocation, or another field.  
5. Stay Calm During Testing Time: Pressure is contagious. Districts and communities can generate a rush of anxiety at testing time. Model a calm demeanor and resolve in keeping testing in perspective. Remind teachers and students that you are evaluating them on much more than a test. Reiterate your belief that everyone—teachers and students alike—is much more dynamic, interesting, intelligent, and capable than what bubbles on a paper might attempt to suggest.
6. Accept Challenges: Creating a new paradigm of instruction and learning is a massive undertaking. Innovating within the confines of the testing system is one thing; this is entirely different. This is breaking out of a narrow system and building something new. Dramatic change elicits fear in many. Acknowledge and respect people’s fears, and continually communicate why such change is needed. In order for this effort to gain traction—in your classrooms, schools, districts, states and throughout the country—laser focus, deliberate effort, and enormous patience must precede it.

(For more on Humble ISD’s approach to 21st-century teaching and learning, read Success Beyond the Test: Preparing Students for Success in Real Life.) 

Disrupting Education in Bold Ways: The Time is Right

For following is a guest post authored by Dr. Bill Daggett, Founder and Chairman of the
International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE).

I believe that this a time when education can change in fundamental ways. The recently passed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) will reverse the decades’ long trend of centralizing decisions about what students need to learn and how they must be assessed and put them back in the hands of local school districts as well as state education departments’ hands. The increase in federal regulations supported with financial incentives we have seen over the past several years will be lessened. Most notable are the provisions around Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) moving back to the state and local districts. Now we will be able to act on our priorities, not simply driven by federal priorities that may not have been a good fit for our districts and schools. 

Of course, any piece of legislation has its merits and its drawbacks, but one hugely positive aspect of the ESSA is that it puts the onus back on the states and local districts to determine how they will monitor and evaluate student learning and progress. I believe that it is our obligation to make the most of the opportunity we have before us. This is our chance to collaboratively create indicators of achievement catered to the unique DNA of our state, district, and school. We have the chance to voice our own opinions and actually have them heard, respected, and applied to the process of overhauling the system and focusing on what matters most: students.

Educators at the local and state levels are now in critical positions of responsibility.  To state education officials:

• Will you seek out the opinion of local school officials and will you empower them to make decisions based upon the community’s needs?

Or

• Will you fall prey to the same strategic errors the feds made and believe you know best and shut out local community’s opinions and authority?

To members of school boards:

• Will you involve your community in the process? 
• Will you include educators and parents—those on the ground—who possess the valuable insights that can inform wise choices? 
• Will you compile and analyze local data to drive evidence-based decisions? Engage your local communities in respectful, honest dialogue to hear concerns, gather knowledge and ideas, and synthesize insights into your vision?

To all of you in leadership and instructional positions:

• Will you focus on students’ specific needs and your school’s unique DNA when making plans? 
• Will you use current data to drive decisions that fit future-focused goals?  
• Will you determine new metrics necessary to monitor successful realization and impact of your fresh and systematic strategies and initiatives? 
• Will you identify multiple new and cutting-edge indicators of student learning and growth that speak to the development of the whole child, not just a test-taker? 

Let’s toss out the existing rules and write new ones.  Let’s tear down the outdated system and rebuild on a foundation that looks to the future— not the past— for ideas and inspiration. The 2016 Model Schools Conference is the place for exploring ways to innovate out of the old model and construct a system that’s set up strategically to prepare our students with the skills they need to excel in a complex world. We will share inspiring stories from disruptors in our own field who have reclaimed the mantle of student-centered learning and are building a progressive system around it. Using the experience of those who have had success creating new structures as well as the inspiration and motivation of those who are just beginning, we will provide practical, exciting tools to create a culture of innovation.

For information on the Model Schools Conference and to register click HERE.

Inspired Learning to Get Results Now at #ModelSchools

Rigorous and Relevant Adult Learning Fuels Rigorous and Relevant Schools

Solving ill-structured problems. Collaborating with peers. Integrating concepts across disciplines. Adapting to unpredictable scenarios. These experiences are hallmarks of what Willard R. Daggett calls “Quadrant D” learning – learning experiences that are both rigorous and relevant. Quadrant D tasks push students to their intellectual edges while engaging them in authentic and meaningful work.

Image credit: https://khspd12.wikispaces.com/

Most teachers and education leaders today agree that our schools need a nudge in the direction of rigor and relevance. However, even as they talk about the need for a shift in teaching and learning, educational conferences often model a very familiar learning experience—what Daggett refers to as “Quadrant A” (or what many teachers call less kindly: “sit n’ git”). It can be easy to leave a conference with a tote bag full of materials and new jargon, but very little else.

This year’s Model Schools Conference is going to be worlds apart from the traditional education conference. The organizers understand that in order to support students in engaging and challenging learning experiences, teachers and leaders need to be engaged and challenged. Rather than just listening to people talk about Quadrant D, participants will have the opportunity to engage in a range of Quadrant D learning experiences from the student perspective. Quadrant D opportunities at the Model Schools Conference include:

• A focus on “makerspaces,” including a real makerspace provided as part of a conference partnership with Table Top Inventions. Makerspaces—collaborative, creative spaces chock full of tools and materials for informal creation, invention, and learning—are becoming increasingly popular at forward-thinking schools and libraries. Students are using the Model Schools Conference Makerspace as its venue to engage in a shared design challenge, working together to invent solutions to complex tasks. Participants will also have the opportunity to attend a variety of makerspace-focused sessions, and learn from colleagues at schools that have successfully implemented makerspaces on their campuses, including Clark Burnett, a 4th grade teacher from Lang Ranch Elementary School in Thousand Oaks, CA.
• An opportunity for all participants to share, collaborate, teach, and learn in unpredictable ways through the DIY Design-Your-Own-Session strand of the program. Inspired by the popular EdCamp movement, and facilitated by Jimmy Casas, Principal of Bettendorf High School in Iowa and Jim Warford, of the International Center for Leadership in Education, this strand makes it possible for any participant to take the stage and present on an education-related passion.
• Proven effective for the past three years, these sessions provide teachers and instructional leaders with two options for immersing themselves into practical strategies ready to be implemented including:
• Engaging in simulated classrooms that allow conference participants to experience Quadrant D learning. Instead of just hearing about Quadrant D work, teachers and leaders will be able to see, hear, feel, and learn from real Quadrant D activities and lessons.
• Realizing that decision-making goes way beyond just giving a “yes” or “no” answer; for each decision made, factors must be weighed and looked at from every angle and a game plan for dealing with pushback must be devised. Ideal for both current and aspiring leaders, this high-energy, interactive session will challenge and inspire you with thought-provoking, real-life leadership dilemmas and real-time feedback and discussion among peers.

This type of professional learning—immersive, creative, engaging, and challenging—is focused more on transformation than information. Providing teachers and leaders with Quadrant D experiences for their own learning is one of the most critical ways to shift the learning we ultimately provide to students. I’m excited to see the paradigm of professional conferences changing, and look forward to more rigorous and relevant learning for all members of our school communities. Register now to attend this years Model Schools Conference.

P.S. I will be there as well leading sessions on digital leadership and learning. Hope to see you there!