Creating Sustainable Systematic School Change

Wafa Hozien, Ph.D.Virginia State Universitywhozien@vsu.edu

Based on the Book: Why Failure Is Not An Option

Principle Two: Ensuring Achievement for All StudentsSystems for Prevention and Intervention

CHAPTER 6

What Does the School Community Believe?

• Three Major aspects of ensuring success for all students

• Through comprehensive systems for prevention and intervention

1. The school community’s belief system regarding low-performing students

2. The overarching philosophy that unifies staff behavior

3. Comprehensive systems for assuring success, including Response to Intervention (RtI)

Introspection

• What is your school systems belief for low achieving students? Where can you find this written?

• What is the philosophy of your school that unifies staff?

• What systems are in place to ensuring student success?

Key Terms:

• Staff compliance

• Staff commitment

• Core beliefs

• Behaviors

• Language

Why Many School Communities do not take Direct Responsibility for the Learning of Each of Their Students

• 1. The teachers may not believe that a school can succeed with all students

• 2. The teachers may not feel personally competent to succeed with all students

• The teachers may believe that new reforms aren’t worth pursuing

• Past failures of new reforms may have been due to:

1. Premature change of leadership

2. A lack of political, financial, or other capital necessary to ride out the storms involved with the change effort

3. A superficial attempt to get teachers to simply “buy in” when committed engagement is actually required.

Building Affinity

Com

mun

icat

ion

Shared experience

Affinity

Affinity

• Why is building affinity in your organization important?

• What steps can you take to build affinity?

The Basic Needs That Drive Behavior

Source Basic Needs

William Glassner, MDControl Theory in the Classroom (1986)

1. Survival and reproduction 2. Belonging and love 3. Power 4. Freedom 5. Fun

Stanley Coopersmith The Anetecedents of Self-Esteem (1987)

1. Significance to others 2. Competence 3. Power to Control one’s own behavior and gain

respect 4. Virtue of worthiness in the eyes of others

The Basic Needs That Drive Behavior

Source Basic Needs

Larry Brendtro, Martin Brokenleg & Steve Van Bockern Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the Future (1990) Based on Sioux tradition

1. Belonging 2. Mastery 3. Independence 4. Generosity

Boys and Girls Club of America Youth Development Strategy

1. Belonging2. Usefulness 3. Competence 4. Influence

Source Basic Needs

Allen N. Mendler What Do I Do When…? (1992)

1. Success and being capable 2. Acceptance, belonging 3. Influence over people, events 4. Generosity and helping others 5. Stimulation and fun

Alan M. Blankstein Failure is Not an Option (2004, 2010)

1. Contribution 2. Connection 3. Competence 4. Self-control

The Basic Needs That Drive Behavior

Community Circle of Caring

Contribution

Self-control

Connection

Competence

You in the Mirror

• When looking at the Community Circle of Caring where do you see yourself most?

• In what area do you need most improvement?

• What steps will you take to ensure improvement?

• Who will help you make those improvements?

Four Cs: Practices That Promote Connection Vs. Disconnection

Connection Occurs Disconnection Occurs

Welcoming students even when they are late

Sending students to the principal’s office, regardless of circumstances of late arrival

Greeting students warmly at classroom door

Working on paper at desk until all students are seated and the start bell rings

Systematically assuring every student is positively connected to an adult

Leaving personal connections to chance

Using extracurricular engagement data of all students as a measure of school success

Assuming most students are involved in extracurricular activities

Four Cs: Practices That Promote Connection Vs. Disconnection

Competence Develops Incompetence Builds

Allowing make-up work Having “one-chance” policies

Demanding mastery of material Averaging zeros into semester grade

Testing what is taught “Surprise” tests and pop quizzes

Finding and emphasizing strengths Focusing on weaknesses

Four Cs: Practices That Promote Connection Vs. Disconnection

Self-Control is Encouraged Compliance and Obedience are Demanded

Allowing students to help create class rules

Telling students what the rules are

Eliciting input on class projects and readings

Recycling prior year’s projects

Teaching empathy, self-awareness, and other emotional intelligences

Keeping emotional learning apart from academics

Four Cs: Practices That Promote Connection Vs. Disconnection

Contribution Results Self-centeredness Results

Allowing older students to teach younger ones

No student-led mentoring

Creating community service and project-based learning opportunities

Holding learning within the school

Encouraging cooperative learning Teacher directs all learning

What is the Comprehensive System for Ensuring Success?

• 1. Ensuring That Pedagogy is Engaging and Relevant

• 2. Having an Improvement Plan for All Students

• 3. Having Systems for Quickly Identifying Students in Need

• 4. Providing a Continuum of Support and Targeted Strategies for Low Achievers

• 5. Publishing Results

Implementation Guidelines

• A successful approach includes:

1. Rooting the work in the school’s mission

2. Getting engagement from the leadership team and ultimately the entire faculty around defining the goals of the intervention

3. Putting emphasis on instruction

4. Slotting students into programs like special education should be a last resort

Successful Approach

5. Agreeing on criteria for identifying students in needs of assistance

6. Surfacing objections and address resistance

7. Piloting aspects of the new program

8. Building a culture of success

9. Refining and adding to interventions

Questions

• Name the best practices of providing for students who do not initially meet standards.

• What are the values and collective commitment of your school?

• What intervention programs are there already in place in your school for these students?

• How can they be improved or modified?

References

• Blankstein, Alan M. (2004). Failure Is Not an Option: Six Principles That Advance Student Achievement in Highly Effective Schools. Thousand Oaks, Calif. : Corwin.