Creating a School Culture that Enables Personalized Learning

Alan Blankstein

2015 K12 Personalized Learning Symposium

How Do YOU Get Their Attention?

1.Congratulations!

2.Framing the Challenge Ahead

3. Building Culture4. Scaling Capacity

to Meet the Challenges

Agenda

2. The Challenge ofRising Job Frustrations

A new national survey finds that three out of four K-12 public school principals, regardless of the

types of schools they work in, believe the job has become

“too complex,”

1/3 say they are likely to go into a different occupation within next five years.

83% percent of school leaders rate “addressing individual student needs” as

“challenging” or “very challenging.”

78%rate managing the budget and resources as challenging or very

challenging

53% Evaluating Teacher Effectiveness

Rising Job Frustrations

EdWeek Superintendent Survey

Professionals Feeling Stretched

1. Do what is urgent v. what is meaningful2. “Chronic inconsistent search for great

programs” v. developing people’s capacity to continually solve problems

--Jim Collins, AASA, 20133. One size fits all approach

Common Response

What is Creating These Challenges?

1. Expanding Underclass 2. Disparity of Wealth 3.Growing Student

Diversity 4. Increasing Disorder

1,258,182

1,258,182 homeless students in

public schools in 2012-2013 – up 8%

Top 1% has more of US wealth than

bottom 95%

1995 2014 Projected 2023

2 or More Races American Indian Asian/Pacific Islander HispanciBlack White

45.149.864.8

16.8

15.415.1

25.829.9

5.23.72.8

13.5

1.1

5.53.5

The Majority of Students in U.S. Public Schools are Now “Minority”

Could We Educate all These Children?

Places with bigger elderly populations now spend less on

public education, especially when youth are of different

races. --James Poterba, MIT

We Need a New Paradigm, Supportive Culture and …

… Courageous Leadership to Advance

“the Movement”

Building Sustainable

Relationships

Assuring Constancy and

Consistency of Purpose

Facing the Facts and Your Fears

Making Organizational Meaning

Getting to Your Core

5 Principles of Courageous Leadership

Adapted from Reclaiming Youth at Risk: Our Hope for the Future

(Bloomington, IN: National Educational Service, 1990)

Perspective Problem Label Typical Responses

Primitive Deviant blame, attack, ostracize

Folk Religion Demonic chastise, exorcise, banish

Biophysical Diseased diagnose, drug, hospitalize

Psychoanalytic Disturbed analyze, treat, seclude

Behavioral Disordered assess, condition, time out

Correctional Delinquent adjudicate, punish, incarcerate

Sociological Deprived study, re-socialize, assimilate

Social Work Dysfunctional intake, case manager, discharge

Educational Disobedient reprimand, correct, expel

Special Education Disabled label, remediate, segregate

The 10 D’s of Deviance in Approaches to Difficult Youth

3. Build Culture: Six Principles of Failure is Not An Option ® Cogs

21

Common Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals

Ensuring Achievement for ALL Students:

Systems for Prevention and Intervention

Collaborative Teaming Focused on Teaching and Learning

Using Data to Guide Decision Making and

Continuous Improvement

Gaining Active Engagement from Family to Community

Building Sustainable Leadership Capacity

1

3

5

6Sustaining

ProfessionalLearning

Communities

PLC

4

2

The staff of Jackson Middle School has worked for several months to develop a new mission statement for their school. Ultimately

they voted to endorse the following:

It is the mission of our school to help each and every child realize his or her full potential and become a

responsible and productive citizen and life-long learner who uses technology effectively and appreciates the

multi-cultural society in which we live as they prepare for the global challenges of the 21st century.

Classic Mission Statement

1. If all students can learn, what should they be learning?

a. Is equity at the core?b. Is there a school wide agreement about the answer to

this question? How about district wide?c. Is there alignment between what is taught and what is

tested?d. Are the scope and sequence of lessons consistent

across subjects or grade levels?

Four Questions of a Mission Statementto Shift School Cultures

2. How will we ensure engaging and relevant pedagogy?

a. Is professional development for the adults in the school engaging and relevant?

b. Is the instruction relevant to student needs?c. Is the pedagogy state-of-the-art and continually

improving?

Four Questions of a Mission Statementto Shift School Cultures

What’s the Solution

3. How will you know if they are learning it?a. How often are assessments given?

b. Do the formative assessments align with the summative ones?

c. Are assessments consistent across grade/subject areas?

d. Are tests a “surprise”?e. Do you use multi-source data?

Four Questions of a Mission Statementto Shift School Cultures

4. What will you do if they don’t learn?a. Do all teachers and staff agree?

b. Are supports working? How do you know?c. Are supports comprehensive, or are

there holes?d. Are all staff aware of all supports?

Four Questions of a Mission Statementto Shift School Cultures

4. Scaling Capacity via Collective Teacher Efficacy

First, who is teaching?

Meet…

Five Practices of Effective Leaders

4. Theory of Adoption –CREATE

Commit to “it”Resource allocationExcellence definedAction plans determinedTransference occursEmbed the process

3. Mastery-Collective Teacher Efficacy

First, who is teaching?

Meet…

See no evil Sam

Who is Teaching?

Karate Kate

Who is Teaching?

Who is Teaching?

Smooth Stewart

De-brief:

1. Which of these teaching approaches is

underway in schools you serve?2. Which is most prevalent in these schools?

Random Acts of Excellence?

Case study of Worley Middle School, Mansfield, Texas

• In 2008 – 2009, in- and out-of-school suspensions and detentions were approximately 2,000 per year.

• By 2010 this number was reduced by half to 1,000• At present the number for 2010 – 2011 is 100

Case Study of Building CTE Mansfield, Texas

In Synch or Lost in the Translation?

Steps of Instructional Learning Walks

Step 1: Brainstorm a list of observable Indicators of Quality Instruction.

1. Think of a lesson you have taught or observed that was highly successful in terms of student participation and outcomes.

2. How did you know it was successful?

3. What actions were the students engaging in that contributed to their successful outcomes?

4. What actions or role did the teacher take to garner the success?

5. What were some of the key attributes of the lesson that contributed to its success in each category?

6. Think of these categories: teacher behaviors and student behaviors.

7. Individually, list teacher behaviors and actions and student behaviors and actions that you expect to see when Quality Instruction is present.

Steps of Instructional Learning Walks

Step 2: Norm the Indicators of Quality Instruction as a group

1. In teams or small groups, share your individual lists.

2. Combine and refine the lists to form one comprehensive list.

3. Continue combining and refining until you have a list of three to five indicators in each category (teacher behaviors, student behaviors).

Steps of Instructional Learning Walks

Step 3: Check Indicators of Quality Instruction

Be sure you have distinguished between Indicators of Quality

Instruction and Lesson Design/Instructional Strategies. For example,

an indicator might be “focused student discussion” while one

strategy the teacher is using to incorporate focused student

discussion might be cooperative learning. We are looking to identify

the “indicator of quality” such as “focused discussions” not the

specific instructional strategy or program.

Conversation shifts To Support and Scale Excellence

Changing the conversations…

From To

What’s wrong What’s right

WHO did it WHAT was done?

We already do this! What is new to learn here? (treasure hunt)

Construct for developing common language and priorities across the district/network

Where There Is HOPE, Failure Is Not an Option®

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

To Host an Excellence Through Equity Summit: Alan@Hopefoundation.org

Attend an Excellence Through Equity Summit:ETESummit.org

Obtain ETE Book:www.Corwin.Com

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