EnVision Greece 2017

Leadership AcademyBarbara Deane-Williams,

Superintendent

One Vision One Team One Greece

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

What information and thinking is beneath the Envision Greece 2017 Strategic Plan?

• The Superintendent’s Entry Plan Analysis (2011)– Resulted in quantitative and qualitative

analysis of 100’s of interviews, focus groups, community conversations, document reviews and meetings resulting in recommended strategic actions.

• So what did we need to do?

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Moving Forward

“Culture is the underground stream of norms, values, beliefs, traditions, and rituals that build up over time as people work together, solve problems, and confront challenges. This set of informal expectations and values shapes how people think, feel and act in schools.”

Deal and Patterson

“Culture is the underground stream of norms, values, beliefs, traditions, and rituals that build up over time as people work together, solve problems, and confront challenges. This set of informal expectations and values shapes how people think, feel and act in schools.”

Deal and Patterson

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Core Values: The Heart of the matter

• The Choice is Ours. The Time is Now: We must accelerate cultural change by creating a culture of effectiveness, by setting and meeting high standards for our Board, Superintendent, and employees and high expectations for our students. The choice is ours. The time is now.

• Excellence: Improving achievement for ALL students through a strategic focus on teaching and learning with an emphasis on results.

• Equity: Distributing resources equitably based on needs to schools and students.

• Accountability: Using data to hold ourselves accountable for student results and applying evidence-based practice to foster high achievement for all students.

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”

Nelson Mandela

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.”

Nelson Mandela

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Building Trust and Capacity

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Gaining Speed

• Professional Learning to Develop Capacity 1. In 2012, Greece Central received a $1.47 million

Strengthening Teacher and Leader Effectiveness Grant .

2. Greece partnered with NYC Leadership Academy with over a dozen school leaders to design the Greece Leadership Academy.

3. 27 Teacher Leaders hired – Learning Forward and National Teacher Leader Standards informed our PD.

4. July/August 2013, Greece administrators partner in learning with teacher leaders during the inaugural year of the Greece Leadership Academy.

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Leadership MattersChanging Leadership for Changing Times…

• Board of Education Leadership• District Leadership• Principal Leadership• Teacher Leadership

Leadership Academy Guiding Principles

• School leaders are a crucial lever in school improvement and teacher effectiveness.

• All school leadership development work must be standards-based and aimed at accelerating student learning and closing the achievement gap.

• Program results must be evaluated regularly to inform continuous program improvement.

– The work of school improvement requires systematic and strategic development and support of the school leader, outside of the supervisory structure.

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Leadership Academy Guiding Principles

• Leadership preparation and school leadership coaching/mentoring must be standards-based and coaches/mentors require ongoing training and tools to be effective.

• The training, coaching and support of school leaders must be responsive to state and local improvement efforts.

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Leadership MattersChanging Leadership for Changing Times…

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Continuous improvement is expected

“Just doing a job in an average way will not return an average lifestyle any longer. Average is officially over” Thomas Friedman

High Performing Schools Have a Framework for Action

The Work of School Improvement

• Collaboratively defined focus or mission• Collaboratively agreed-upon set of core beliefs

– including the belief that all children can learn– an allegiance to teamwork and decisions based on data– concentrated attention toward sharing responsibility and

student learning• Shared leadership• Emphasis on literacy • Initiatives that provide extra learning time for students

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

The Work of School Improvement

• Teams become the source for planning, analyzing student learning, aligning curricula, and implementing interventions

• Data used in all decision making• Focused staff development• Frequent review of instructional content and assessment• Reformed efforts to engage parents and community

members

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Vision and Ownership

• “Shared vision and ownership is more an outcome of a quality process than it is a precondition. This is important to know because it causes one to act differently in order to create ownership.”

- Michael Fullan

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Access to Success: Every Student, Every Day

Climbing the Staircase

• Theory of Change– Represents beliefs about how x will lead to y– Identifies the ultimate goal and the primary process to reach the

goal…what are the core factors– Specific and measurable description of a social change initiative

that forms the basis for strategic planning, on-going decision-making and evaluation

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Climbing the Staircase

Theory of Action

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Providing the road map for how we get from here to there…All Students College and Career

Ready!!

Graduates of the GCSD will be prepared for the challenges of

college & careers in the 21st century

Theory of Action: The Basics (“What”)

Theory of Action: The Basics (“What”)•If then statements •Testable•Identifies where to focus energy

and effort-THE GOAL•All theories of action are works in progress•Turn-around Competencies: The focus is on the Improvement of Student and Teacher Learning

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Task

Content

Teacher Student

PELP Coherence Framework

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Strategic Map

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Strategic Map

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

Research

Argyris, M. and Schön, D. (1974) Theory in Practice. Increasing professional effectiveness, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Landmark statement of ‘double-loop’ learning’ and distinction between espoused theory and theory-in-action.

Argyris, C., and Schön, D. (1978) Organizational learning: A theory of action perspective, Reading, Mass: Addison Wesley.

Copeland, G. and Neeley, A. (Sept, 2012) Identifying Competencies and Actions of Effective Turnaround Principals, Southeast Comprehensive Center: SEDL Advanced Research Improving Education.

City, E.A., Elmore, R, Fiarman S.E., and Teitel, L. (2000) Chapter 2. “Theory of Action.” Instructional rounds in education: A network approach to improving teaching and learning. Cambridge: Harvard Education.

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

One Vision ● One Team ● One Greece

College and Career Readiness is the Goal