Supportive Leadership Getting Behind Your Teachers to Lead Rantoul Township High School District...
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Transcript of Supportive Leadership Getting Behind Your Teachers to Lead Rantoul Township High School District...
Collective Wisdom Model
“Groups are inclined toward stupidity the more they believe an answer lies outside themselves, including a belief that an answer lies with the leader.”
“Inversely, when a leader brings attention to the challenges and complexity that are inherent to the circumstances a group faces together, group members can begin to bring their own unique talents and special qualities. “
Alan Briskin, blog at http://heartlandcircle.blogs.com/circle/2007/03/collective_wisd.html
Instead of teacher buy-in….
We asked the question:
What would happen if we require the administration and board to buy in to an
idea?
Where did we start?
We had a problem:
Graduation rate had fallen to 65%
We had an AYP problem and more importantly, a problem with not enough students graduating in our community.
It was a big problem.
Our options:
We could have gathered the board and community to think of what we can do.
We could have gathered out Administrative Leadership Team to find a program to institute to respond to the program.
We could have asked the teachers and then done what the board wanted to anyway.
We could have just ignored the problem.
We could ask the teachers to exercise collective wisdom to find a solution.
What did we do?
Went to the teachers as a group and began a dialogue within the faculty.
Started by stating the problem and then we asked the teachers….
“What will you be telling a reporter about how we turned our graduation rate problem around 5 years from now?”
We asked them to brainstorm…
No matter the cost
No thought of practicality
No argument
No commentary on other ideas…
or people
Just ideas…
With that mountain of ideas…
We stopped for a deep breath….
Not permanently but we waited to let those begin to soak in for a while.
We did not take over the process.
We waited for it to develop within.
We set up a re-visitation of the issue for the faculty to begin to refine the ideas.
We gathered our wisdom again…
We presented the 224 ideas for the teachers to combine, categorize, reduce duplication and prioritize.
This was done as a whole with facilitation.
Categories were suggested by the faculty as we wrestled with the problem of reducing the ideas.
They reduced to three big areas we could pursue in further study and analysis.
Then the tough part…..
Everybody signs up to study one of the three ideas…Creates cross-disciplinary teams to work toward a common goal including collaboration between regular ed and special ed
The existing collective wisdom is increased by study to gather more information
The Alternative Ed Study Group
Carefully evaluated the needs to address the right problem
Gathered research on alternative programs
Studied existing programs in other districts
Avoided repeating a previous model but took elements that seemed useful for the current needs
Analyzed costs with directions to plan the best program for the students to see if the district could afford the best
The Alternative Ed Study Group
Studied staffing needs, facility needs, resource and equipment needs
Prepared a report including all elements and requirements
Set out the full outline of how the program would operate
Reviewed the proposal with the administration
Invited teachers to attend the board meeting where the proposal was presented…33% of the faculty attended
Meanwhile, back at the board…
Board was not directly involved in study or planning
Board was informed of the ongoing process and upcoming result by administration
Board checked resource availability with administration before presentation
Meanwhile, back at the board…
Board listened to a professional presentation of the plan
Board supported its teachers in the improvement effort
Leadership came through support and encouragement of teacher ideas, creativity and planning with resources
What is the big idea?
A school board can provide leadership by giving the teachers an opportunity to develop
solutions to school improvement and supporting that effort. Together the board and teachers
made a difference.
By using the collective wisdom of the teachers and supporting their efforts, the district has a
successful program.
How successful?
Eagle AcademyStudents who were not graduating earned full diplomas and the AYP requirement for graduation was met in one year.
Thank you for attending.
You can contact us at:
Eagle AcademyRantoul Township High School
Sandy Davis, Principal [email protected] Moberg, Lead Teacher [email protected] Deem, Board President [email protected]
This presentation will be on our web site on Monday for you to copy if you wish.
www.rths.k12.il.us