BCPVPA · Web viewHe reports on a study conducted at DuPont and Colgate-Palmolive where team...

Supervision For LearningSupervision For LearningField GuideField Guide

Professional Relationships: Follow-up Field Guide

The culture of a school is defined by the quality of its professional relationships. Supervision For Learning is facilitated in environments where relationships are authentic, inquiry based, collaborative and engaging. Strong professional relationships are the vessels that can weather honest feedback, questioning, conflict and the forces of change. This quadrant of the Supervision For Learning workshop will examine strategies that will help you build and maintain relationships, as well as provide some research to support the importance of professional relationships within a learning culture.

Table of Contents

A. Introduction

Effective Professional Learning: Using this Package…….3-5

B. Presentation Package

Facilitators Agenda………………………………………………………6-10

Participants’ Agenda……………………………………………………11

C. PowerPoint PowerPoint Slides numbered…………………….PP1-PP31

D. Activities………………………………………………………………………………12-24

E. Follow-up Activities………………………………………………………………25-36

F. Appendices…………………………………………………………………………..37-63

G. Resource List………………………………………………………………………..64-66

1

Copyright © 2011 by BCPVPA

Supervision For LearningSupervision For LearningField GuideField Guide

Professional Relationships: Follow-up Field Guide

The British Columbia Principals’ and Vice-Principals’ Association would like to thank the committee of practicing principals and vice-principals in addition to Dr.

Bruce Beairsto for contributed hours of their time to the research and development of the Supervision For Learning Field Guides.

Supervision For Learning Committee

Chair Person

Don Boyd

Committee Members

Jessica Antosz Beverly Forster

Carmen Barber Jennifer Gardner

Liz Bell Leanna Garner

Cale Birk Read Jorgensen

Daniel Blais Kevin Leach

Woody Bradford Laird Ruehlen

Gaila Erickson

Special recognition and thank you to Dr. Bruce Beairsto

2


Supervision For LearningSupervision For Learning

Field GuideField GuideProfessional Relationships: Follow-up Field Guide

Professional Relationships

Effective Professional LearningSuggestions for How to Use this Package

The purpose of this Field Guide is to provide materials and activities which will encourage dialogue and discussion about Supervision For Learning.

The activities and resources are intended to:

1. Prioritize the learning 2. Foster inquiry3. Facilitate the dissemination and sharing of knowledge4. Inspire engagement in Supervision For Learning 5. Encourage a partnership in learning6. Improve learning, teaching and leading in school systems

In implementing professional improvement, Ron Ferguson of Harvard University shares several strategic actions that will foster sustained success:

1. Select ideas that foster trust not mistrust2. Ensure shared leadership3. Plan, initiate and implement in ways that inspire4. Support ongoing implementation5. Recognize, celebrate and reward accomplishments6. Sustain coherence

The following steps will support the implementation of this professional learning package:

1. The package is divided into four sections, each designed to be about forty minutes long.2. Appoint a member to become the Lead Facilitator and coordinate the session or

sessions.3. You can work alone or with a committee to organize the delivery of the sessions.4. The Lead Facilitator or committee should choose the dates, locations, times and send

out an invitation to your targeted audience.

3



Suggestions for Use of this Package - Continued

Facilitator Resources, Materials and Preparation TimingRead the package and decide how you want to present materials in your community, district and / or schools.

Book your location Email invitation Collect all materials Order AV: laptop, LCD projector, speakers,

screen, lavaliere, flipchart and stand, tape Materials to bring:

o Chart papero Large post-it-noteso 1 deck of cards, cut into halves verticallyo Copies of Field Guide graphic organizers

2 – 3 weeks before

Review materials (dry run) prior to the presentation

Make name tags Order catering Room setup (sessions need tables of 4 – 5 people) Assemble all participant / facilitator materials

(create sample package)

1 week before

Enjoy the day Plan to be ready a half hour prior to your session 15 minutes before the end of the day, have a

discussion on next steps and where this will fit in future sessions

If you are dividing this package into a series, suggest to participants a variety of opportunities to use some of the ideas and one particular piece that can be tried alone or with a partner and reported on at the next session

Give people time to complete the Feedback Form and have a formal closing

Debrief with the planning committee, using the facilitator evaluation form

Day of presentation(s)

4


Mail feedback forms to:Gaila EricksonManager, Professional LearningBCPVPA#200, 525 West 10th AvenueVancouver, BC V5Z 1K9

Thank you for helping to make Supervision For Learning a continued success.

5



Facilitator’s Agenda – 2.5 hour Program

Time Instructions Materials5 minutesIndividual preparation for first session

Overview of Professional Relationships

Introduction of facilitator(s) and participantsThis package is designed to build on and sustain conversations and work related to the theme of Professional Relationships.The key intention is to provide support to principals / vice-principals.

Presenters – Bev Forster, Kevin Leach

Professional Relationships Overview:

The culture of a school is defined by the quality of its professional relationships. Supervision For Learning is facilitated in environments where relationships are authentic, inquiry based, collaborative and engaging. Strong professional relationships are the vessels that can weather honest feedback, questioning, conflict and the forces of change. This quadrant of the Supervision For Learning workshop will examine strategies that will help you build and maintain relationships, as well as provide some research to support the importance of professional relationships within a learning culture.

Slide 1

Displayed on front page of Field Guide

15 minutesYouTube Clip

Ice BreakerSetting up discussion groups for the workshop session

Learning intentions and an overview of SFL components

Activating and Engaging: Preparing for the Session

A few thoughts on relationships (44 second Seinfeld YouTube clip)

Icebreaker - Mixing It Up People find the other individual with the matching half

of their playing card Discussion of what is critical to building professional

relationshipsProfessional Relationships Learning Intentions:

Understand the significant role relationships play within Supervision For Learning

Identify the qualities of strong professional relationships

Engage in activities that can be used with your staff to

Slide 2

Slide 3

Deck of playing cards cut in two verticallyChart paper

Slide 4

6


reflect, define, and change relationships within your school

Develop a ‘What Next’ plan based on your context 4 Quadrants of SFL

Professional Relationships Structures and Support Clarifying Purpose Learner-Focused Dialogue

Overview of packageThis package includes the following sections and may be used in a variety of ways to meet the needs of individuals. Professional Relationships – Overview Embedding SFL in Day to Day Practice Acknowledgement, Authenticity, Common Purpose Conversations, Honest Feedback, Vulnerability Culture of the School What’s Next

Slide 5

Section 1

Defining and Embedding Supervision For Learning

Video Clip One

5 minutes Accessing: DVD Clip #1:

Embedding SFL (approx. 3 minutes) SFL discussed as complex, threatening and novel

Slide 6Computer or DVD player

15 minutesGroup work

Activating and Engaging: Activity #1: Embedding practice at your school Recall influences on supervisory beliefs, and then discuss steps used to embed SFL in school context(s).

Discuss how people enter into these conversations in their schools. Also, how do they ensure conversations are happening in times of change, job action, or other?

Present by group (depending on size) using chart paper or graphic organizer. Post on wall as required.

Slide 7Chart paper or graphic organizer from Field GuideSlide 8

Slides 9 and 10

7


Section 2

Acknowledging, Being Authentic, A Common Purpose

Video Clip Two

6 ½ minutes Accessing: DVD Clip #2Acknowledgement (approximately 6 ½ minutes)

Acknowledging people, being authentic with them, and having a common purpose.

Slide 11

10 minutesRead article

Group work

Share out

10 minutesShare out

Accessing: Read article from Appendix II, “Using Dialogue, Not Feedback as a Motivator.”Group appoints one person to record information for the group and another to report out.Activating and Engaging:Activity #2: Praise and AcknowledgementRead one page article followed by a table discussion about the differences between Praise and Acknowledgement, as well as actions associated with the terms using graphic organizer from Field Guide (or chart paper).Record and share strategies participants use for recognizing staff contributions. Share out with larger group.Reinforce the importance of the principal/vp role.Whip around discussion about the statement on slide 14.Activating and Engaging:Activity #3: My Best Relationship EverIndividually list characteristics of the best professional relationships experienced. Discuss common threads. Record effective relationship-building strategies people have employed in their contexts. Report to large group.Alternate activity. Pair participants and send them on a learning walk to discuss their best professional relationships and strategies used to build them. Report out to table and/or large group afterward. Follow up with next slide for reinforcement.

Slide 12Article

Graphic organizer or chart paper

Slide 13Slide 14

Slide 15

Chart paper, tape

8


Section 3Vulnerability and Feedback

Video Clip Three

5 minutes

15 minutesFraming questionsShare out

Accessing: DVD Clip #3:

Conversations (approximately 5 minutes) Vulnerability and feedback as it applies to SFL.

Activating and Engaging:Table top discussion: How do relationships effect consensus building, vulnerability and feedback?Reference the sample principal/vice-principal survey in the Field Guide (Appendix I) as a way of showing vulnerability and getting meaningful feedback from staff.

Slide 16

Slide 17


Read article

Share out

Activating and Engaging:

Activity #4: Ranking 5 Leadership Dimensions

Using the information from the slide, have participants individually rank the leadership dimensions from highest to lowest (1-5) in their effect size on student learning.

Share hypothesis with a partner, filling in next section of graphic organizer.

Accessing: Viviane Robinson article (in Appendix III) entitled, “The Impact of Leadership on Student Outcomes: Making Sense of the Evidence.”

Read Viviane Robinson article from Field Guide. Can be jig-sawed into 5 sections, using one page per section.

Report back to table groups on each jig-sawed section, and then follow up with the larger group using the actual results. Fill in remaining section of graphic organizer.

Slide for humor.

Transition slides for next video segment.

Slide 18Graphic organizer for Activity #5 in Field Guide

V. Robinson article from Appendix II in Field Guide

Slide 19

Slide 20

Slides 21 and 22

Section 4School CultureVideo Clip Four

1 ½ minutes Accessing: DVD Clip #4: Slide 23

9


School Culture (approximately 1 ½ minutes) Advocating for a particular school culture, participating

in its development, and modeling its qualities and characteristics.

Slide 24


Share out

Activating and Engaging:

Activity #5: Advocating for School Culture

Discussion following video clip. What do you use (with intent) to ignite the fires of innovation that contribute to a positive tone and school culture focused on student learning?

Carousel or gallery walk activity as an option.

Note information on graphic organizer(s). One recorder and one person reports back to the larger group.

Follow up and discussion slides relating to the video clip.

Slide 25Graphic organizer on Advocating for School Culture from Field Guide

Slide 26 Slide 27

15 minutes

Individual reflection

What’s Next:

Activity #6: Learning Partners and a What’s Next Plan

Participants to consider what they have learned during the workshop and how it applies to their context.

Use graphic organizer as a guide for their thoughts and a place to record a What’s Next Plan.

Circulate to determine when most have completed the activity.

Slide 28Graphic organizer from Field Guide

10 minutesShare out

Activating and Engaging:Activity #7: The Parking LotThroughout the session, participants may have placed questions on the Parking Lot chart (in a designated area) to address topics not covered, or points of clarification.

Slide 29

Summary and Contact Information Slides 30 and 31


Participants’ Agenda

Instructions

10


Introductions

Section 1: Defining and Embedding Supervision For Learning

Section 2: Acknowledging, Being Authentic, A Common Purpose

Section 3: Vulnerability and Feedback

Section 4: School Culture

Closure


11


Activities

12


Ice Breaker - Mix’n it up Activity!

I

1. Have each person at your table choose half a playing card from the envelope located on your table.

2. Move about the room until you find the person holding the matching half of your card.

3. Once you have located your partner, tell them one thing that you believe is critical to building professional relationships.

4. Summarize what your partner has said by writing it up on one of the pieces of chart paper located around the room.

13


Activity #1 – Embedding Supervision for Learning at Your School

14


Activity #2 - Praise vs. Acknowledgement

1. Appoint one person to report out, and another to record information for the discussion.

2. Read the article entitled, Using Dialogue Not Feedback as a Motivator found in Appendix II of the Field Guide.

3. Have a table talk conversation about the differences between praise and acknowledgement.

4. Identify actions typically associated with these two terms.

5. Share strategies you use to recognize people’s contributions in your schools. Record on the paper provided.

6. Be prepared to share at least two ideas out to the larger group.

15


Praise vs. AcknowledgmentIn preparation for completing this chart, first read the article entitled, Using Dialogue Not Feedback as a Motivator found in Appendix I of the Field Guide.

Category Praise Acknowledgement

Differences

Actions Associated with

Successful Strategies for Recognizing Peoples’ Contributions in Your School(s)

16


Activity #3 – Best Relationship Ever

1. Individually, list characteristics of the best professional relationship you ever had.

2. Report out to your table group.

3. Discuss common threads.

4. On the chart paper provided, list the most effective relationship-building strategies people at your table have used.

5. After reporting out, tape your chart paper on the walls around the room for later use.

17


Activity #4 – Ranking 5 Leadership Dimensions

Pair/quad share, Viviane Robinson Article (in Appendix III)

Leadership dimensions (Slide #18):

Establishing goals and expectations

Resourcing strategically

Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and the curriculum

Promoting and participating in teacher learning and development

Ensuring an orderly environment

Process:

1. Individually reflect and rank leadership dimensions listed

2. With a partner discuss and negotiate a ranking between the two partners

3. Once consensus has been reached negotiate with another pair

4. Once you have consensus and re-rank the dimensions between the group of four record ranking

5. Report out and share actual results (slide #19)

18


Viviane Robinson’s 5 Leadership DimensionsRankings According to Largest Effect on Student Learning

Ranking: 1= Highest, 5=Lowest

Leadership Dimension My Ranking Paired Ranking Group Ranking Actual RankingEstablishing goals and expectations

Resourcing strategically

Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and the curriculumPromoting and participating in teacher learning and development

Ensuring an orderly environment

Notes:

19


Activity #5 – Advocating for School Culture

Consider the information presented in video clip #4 on addressing and advocating for a particular school culture and climate.

Bruce Beairsto states that, “We cannot be in on all of the relationships in our building, but we can be a part of those that contribute to a school culture around the common purpose of improving life opportunities for students.” That considered, in your group discuss:

1. What do you use (with intent) to ignite the fires of innovation that contribute to a positive tone and school culture focused on student learning?

2. Appoint one person to take notes on chart paper and another to report out to the larger group.

20


Advocating for School CultureQuestion: What do you use (with intent) to ignite the fires of innovation that contribute to a positive tone and school culture focused on student learning?

21


Activity #6 – Learning PartnersAnd a What’s Next Plan

Here’s What…Now What?

Reflect on what you have learned and how it applies to your context

Develop a plan of “things to try out”

Find a learning partner to work with in the coming months

Wellman and Lipton, (2004). Data driven dialogue: A facilitator’s guide to collaborative inquiry. Miravia Inc.

22


Here’s What, Now What?In the following chart, reflect on what you have heard today and your current context. Pick two goal areas pertaining to professional relationships in your context and fill out the chart as a plan of action. Share with a learning partner (phone/email) who will support you in reaching these goals.

23


Here’s what I learned about professional relationships in my school or context.

Now, here’s my plan for the road ahead

Activity #7 – Parking Lot Follow Up

1. Title large pieces of chart paper ‘Parking Lot’ and place strategically around the room

2. Each learning participant is given a number of ‘sticky’ notes

3. At any time throughout the meeting or when participants have questions, they write their thoughts on a sticky note

4. Place the sticky note in the ‘Parking Lot’ Chart

5. At the end of the meeting read the notes and invite the group to respond or address the comment. Ask for two or three responses for each note and move onto the next one.

24



Follow-up Activities

25


Activity #8 – The Fork DebateArticle Discussion – Appendix IV

1. Read the article individually.

2. Take a moment to record what the “tines” or ongoing, unresolved issues are at your school.

3. Share the “tines” with your table group.

4. Alternatively, go on a learning walk with a partner and discuss what the ‘tines’ or ongoing, unresolved issues are at your school

5. Commit to addressing at least one before your next administrators’ meeting.

26


Activity #9 – Case Study #1Mario Tommasi has just completed his masters in curriculum and instruction and landed a position as principal at a middle school. A teacher for 10 years, Mario has extensive and varied teaching experiences, as well as keen insight into instructional improvement.

The school to which he is assigned is William Heard Kilpatrick Middle School, which has a population of 500 students in grades 6 through 8. The school is located in an urban section of the Pacific Northwest, and the ethnic makeup of the student body is 35% Aboriginal, 30% European origin, 20% Punjabi, 10% Cantonese and 5% Vietnamese.

Mario discovers that teacher morale is quite low, in large measure due to the autocratic practices of the former vice principal, who used traditional methods of teacher evaluation and frequently observed teachers using “drive-bys” followed by well-written reports criticizing their teaching methods and urging them to comply with his recommendations.

Mario is sympathetic toward their resentment of the supervisory practices they have experienced. Initially, he decides to focus on establishing rapport with his teachers. Once trust is established, he believes that instructional matters will follow naturally.

Six months pass, and Mario feels proud of the rapport and mutual respect he has developed with his teachers. Teachers, too, are happy that the former vice principal is gone and they consider Mario to be congenial, articulate, and trustworthy. At a recent middle school conference, Mario presented an overview of his supervisory approach: “Student achievement can be enhanced only when we, as colleagues, discuss matters of instruction in an open, forthright manner.” Mario continued,

“The first step toward instructional improvement is for us to describe what is happening in the classroom when we teach. I’d like to present several observation tools and techniques that can help us begin to dialogue about instruction in a non-judgmental, cooperative way. I’d like to introduce some of these tools to you and then conduct a demonstration lesson in which you will have the opportunity to observe me. You can use any of these techniques you want. “

At the conference, teachers, principals and vice principals enthusiastically listened to Mario, and several of them welcomed him into their schools and classrooms.

REFLECTION PIECE

What do you think Mario did within the first six months to demonstrate his “congeniality and trustworthiness?” Consider the ways in which he built trust and confidence in teachers during the middle school conference. What would your reaction have been to Mario’s approach to supervision?

27


From: Sullivan, S. and Glanz, J. (2005). Supervision That Improves Teaching: Strategies and Techniques. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press. Pp.76-77.

Activity #10 – Case Study #2Judy Zimmerman had been in one high school for a year and was concerned that the teachers were split into two camps. Half the teachers had been on staff with the previous administrator, and the other half were new to the school.

Conflicts had developed because of different expectations of the principal regarding discipline. The old staff members were frustrated because Judy didn’t instill fear when they sent disruptive students to her office. They preferred the authoritative style of the previous principal; however, Judy incorporated counseling strategies before taking a hard line with students. She believed the problems were not simply behavioral problems, but a reflection of family and community challenges.

To address the escalating disenchantment, Judy planned a group discussion for the next staff meeting. In preparation, she created small discussion groups with old and new staff members. Each group was asked to designate a group leader and recorder. Each group was asked to discuss the following:

“What is happening in your classes and in your school that you want to continue to have happen? Think about small, daily things. What are teachers doing? Parents doing? Administration doing? Students doing?

REFLECTION PIECE

Based on Judy’s experience with her staff, what do you speculate she was trying to achieve with this exercise? What else could she have done to address staff concerns and strengthen professional relationships in the school?

McConkey, N. (2002). Solving School Problems: Solution-Focused Strategies for Principals, Teachers and Counsellors. Bragg Creek, Alberta: Solution Talk Press. Pp. 178-179.

28


Activity #11 – Case Study #3Jill Schmidt is a newly-appointed principal of an elementary school located in a small ‘bedroom’ community. Most students are bused in and come from diverse households.

The majority of the staff at the school has been there for between ten and twenty-five years. There is a negative school culture that has prevented collaboration in any form for the last half a decade. Feelings of animosity are pervasive between many staff members, most of whom have retreated into their rooms and closed the doors.

To further exacerbate matters, there is a small group of teachers with strong personalities who have allegedly been ‘running’ the school for a number of years.

The school is not considered a ‘community’ school and many community members avoid coming into the building.

REFLECTION PIECE

What would the starting point be to address concerns around the negative school culture? What transitional tools could be employed to address staff concerns/feelings/emotions in the short term? How would you re-build a relationship with the community?

29


Activity #12 – What Do Teachers Bring to Leadership?Article Discussion – Appendix V

1. Jigsaw the article in these 5 sections: Introduction to Teacher Asset: Building

Relationships Teacher Asset: Building Relationships to

Maintaining a Sense of Purpose Maintaining a Sense of Purpose to Improving

Instructional Practice Improving Instructional Practice to A

Complimentary Mix of Leaders A Complimentary Mix of Leaders to end of article

2. Summarize the main points from your section(s).

3. Three points of discussion: Identify the types of teacher-leaders in your

school. How do you support/encourage them? In what other ways can their leadership skills be

employed to improve student learning?4. Share out with the larger group

30


Activity #13 – Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for School Reform, Article Discussion – Appendix VI

1. Jigsaw the article in these 5 sections: Introduction to What is Relational Trust What is Relational Trust to Competence in Core

Role Responsibilities Competence in Core Role Responsibilities to

Conditions that Foster Relational Trust Conditions that Foster Relational Trust to Other

Key Factors Other Key Factors to end of article

2. Summarize the main points from your section(s).

3. Share out with the larger group

31


Activity #14 – Burlap/Corduroy/Satin

1. Using the analogy of Burlap (rough), Corduroy (a few bumps), and Satin (smoothest material), reflect individually on where your school would fit in each of these areas.

2. Place your school on the rubric in these three categories: Relationships, Culture/Climate, and Supervision for Learning.

3. Note why you rated each area as you did.

4. Discuss your ratings with a shoulder partner.

5. Retain the rubric for reflection later on in this session.

Wellman and Lipton (2004)

32


Burlap, Corduroy or SatinPlace your school on the rubric using the categories listed below.

CATEGORY BURLAP CORDUROY SATIN

RELATIONSHIPS

CULTURE/CLIMATE

SUPERVISION FOR LEARNING

33


Activity #15 – What’s on Your Mind?

34


Professional RelationshipSelf-Reflection

Directions: Place a √ (check mark) in the box which best describes where your school is at regarding the following elements. Underneath, write down any thoughts or ideas you have about that element.

1. Formative Feedback for Principal/Vice-Principal

At our school the principal/vice principal engages in authentic, formative feedback about their leadership.

Not Yet Getting Started Steady Progress Established Practice

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Professional Relationships

At our school trust is embedded in a structure that supports in-depth professional conversations about teaching, learning and assessment.


__________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________

3. School Development

At our school teachers are encouraged to pursue initiatives or take risks that have positive impacts on student achievement.


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

35


4. Promoting a Positive Environment

At our school we promote positive interactions about colleagues, students and parents.


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. Building Capacity/Distributed Leadership

At our school teachers are acknowledged leaders in mentoring colleagues through the sharing of ideas, inquiries and strategies.


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. School Climate

At our school collegiality and professional behavior enhance the school climate and culture.


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Marzano, R.J., Frontier, T., and Livingston, D. (2011). Effective supervision: Supporting the art and science of teaching. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development: Alexandria, Virginia.

36



Appendices

37


(Your Name) Survey Background – Appendix I

As stated, participation in this survey is purely voluntary – no names, please.

Should you decide to complete it, I thank you for taking the time to provide me with feedback.

A copy of this survey will be emailed to all teachers. You will also find a paper copy in your mailboxes. This gives the options to:

(1) type responses directly onto a digital copy, print it, and put it in my mailbox, or,

(2) write directly on a paper copy and leave that in my mailbox.

The information from numbers 1 to 6 is for my information only. Responses will be kept confidential.

Responses from numbers 7 to 9 may be used as part of a project on school relationships I am working on and may be quoted. The more specific your comments, the better.

Thanks.

38


Vice Principal Leadership SurveyYour Name Principal/Vice Principal, Your School

Please rate the vice principal’s effectiveness in each area by placing an “X” along the continuum of development from Developing to Accomplished. Your specific comments and suggestions will be particularly helpful.

#1

#2

#3

39


Developing Accomplished

Ensures safe, efficient, and effective management of the school: Sustains a safe, orderly, well-maintained learning environment for students and staff Effectively manages student discipline policies and procedures Provides the necessary resources to support the learning of all students and staff Uses emerging technologies to enhance operations and learning

Give an example or suggestion as to how the above skills are demonstrated:


Facilitates the development of a vision of learning that is shared and supported by the school community: Promotes a vision of student achievement based on data from multiple measures of learning Shapes and coordinates school programs to ensure they are well communicated and consistent

with the vision Effectively builds buy-in within the entire school community Models and supports continuous inquiry and professional learning


#3

#4

#4

#5

40



Builds and sustains a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth:

Promotes equity, fairness and respect among all members of the school community Shapes a culture of high expectations, built upon a system of standards-based accountability Provides opportunities for all members of the school community to collaborate, share

responsibility, and exercise leadership



Collaborates with families and community members and responds to diverse interests and needs: Establishes community, business, institutional and civic partnerships Communicates information about the school to the community Works effectively with diverse families and community groups


#5

#6

41



Models effective professional leadership, interpersonal skills, ethics and integrity: Demonstrates skills in decision-making, problem-solving, change management, conflict resolution,

planning and evaluation Encourages and inspires others to higher levels of performance and motivation Demonstrates knowledge of curriculum and ability to be an instructional leader Models personal and professional ethics, integrity and fairness



Builds and supports positive, effective working relationships within the school and community: Models positive attitude, enthusiasm and humor Anticipates and manages individual and systemic conflict Encourages in others the attitudes and skills necessary to build positive relationships Protects the rights and confidentiality of students and staff


#7

#8

#9

42


In general, what actions of mine, or others you encountered in the past, have promoted positive relationships on staff?

In general, what actions of mine, or others you encountered in the past, have hindered or served as barriers to positive relationships on staff?

Thank you for participating in this survey.

43


Please feel free to comment on any topics that may not have been covered in this survey that you deem relevant.

Using Dialogue Not Feedback as a MotivatorAppendix II – Carolyn J. Downey

Garmston (2000) states that “when mentors, coaches, and supervisors report their observations to teachers, they build the teacher’s dependence on that input and that actually robs the teacher of working the internal muscles necessary to improve their ability to self-reflect.” He defines feedback as “observations from others about one’s performance, particularly when the information is judgmental (‘You made a good synthesis when…’) or comes with advice (‘Next time you might…’)” (p. 2).

Garmston (2000) has further identified two myths about feedback, for both students and teachers:

Myth 1: Feedback causes people to see themselves more accurately. Myth 2: Feedback improves team effectiveness.

He reports on a study conducted at DuPont and Colgate-Palmolive where team members listened to feedback about how to be better workers. The feedback came from peers, supervisors, subordinates, or both. The goals were to understand one’s impact on others and to improve one’s ability to work with others. However, what occurred was that the feedback undermined those goals and was negative in some cases. The feedback model was not found to effect the desired changes in employee growth.

Sanford (1995, as cited in Garmston, 2000) has indicated that feedback reduces the capacity for accurate self-reflection. “External feedback actually reduces the capacity for accurate self-reflection,” says Sanford. “Continuing feedback reinforces the expectation that others will and should tell us how we are doing and reduces our capacity to be self-reflective and self-accountable” (p.2).

How we choose to motivate staff members to grow in their work needs to be very clear in our minds, as it affects what we say and what we do in the supervisor coaching process. Are your approaches getting the desired results? We believe that the reflective conversations and questions, when used after several informal walk-throughs, have one of the highest probabilities of impacting and creating self-reflective and self-directed teachers. It is a meaningful way to help teachers think about their practices and grow professionally.

The best motivation for growth comes from self-generated information. This is why we pose our reflective question for the teacher, not for ourselves. They are the ones intended to benefit from the answer to that question. This is also why we refrain from providing the research supporting a given teaching practice on our own initiative; rather, it is better to wait until the teacher is interested and then, upon his or her request or initiative, engage in further conversation or share the research in written form.

Advancing the Three-Minute Walk-Through, Corwin, 2010, Pages 10, 11

44


The Impact of Leadership on Student Outcomes: Making Sense of the Evidence

Appendix III – Viviane RobinsonAbstract

Published empirical research was used to synthesize the evidence about the impact of different types of leadership on students’ academic and non-academic outcomes. The first analysis involved a comparison of the effects of transformational and instructional leadership on student outcomes. The second involved the inductive development of five sets of leadership practices and the estimation of the magnitude of their effects. The comparison of the effects of instructional and transformational leadership indicated that the effect of the former is consistently and notably larger than the effect of the latter type of leadership. The second analysis revealed five leadership dimensions that have moderate to large effects on outcomes: establishing goals and expectations; strategic resourcing; planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and the curriculum; promoting and participating in teacher learning and development; and ensuring an orderly and supportive environment. The more leaders focus their professional relationships, their work and their learning on the core business of teaching and learning, the greater their influence on student outcomes. It is suggested that leadership theory, research and practice needs to be more closely linked to research on effective teaching, so that there is greater focus on what leaders need to know and do to support teachers in using the pedagogical practices that raise achievement and reduce disparity.

This paper was completed with the financial support of the Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis program of the New Zealand Ministry of Education http://educationcounts.edcentre.govt.nz/goto/BES?). The assistance of Dr. Ken Rowe of the Australian Council for Educational Research and Dr. Claire Lloyd of the University of Auckland in the preparation of this paper is gratefully acknowledged.

Introduction

There is unprecedented international interest in the question of how educational leaders influence a range of student outcomes (Bell, Bolam, & Cubillo, 2003; Leithwood, Day,Sammons, Harris, & Hopkins, 2006; Leithwood, Seashore Louis, Anderson, & Wahlstrom, 2004; Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005; Witziers, Bosker, & Krüger, 2003). This interest reflects the conviction of the public and politicians that school leaders make a substantial difference to the quality of teaching, and hence the quality of learning, in their school. While this belief is supported by the qualitative research on the impact of leadership on school effectiveness and improvement (Edmonds, 1979; Maden, 2001; Scheurich, 1998), quantitative research suggests that public confidence in the capacity of school leaders to make a difference to student outcomes outstrips the available evidence (Hallinger & Heck, 1998; Marzano et al., 2005; Witziers et al., 2003). The purpose of this paper is to address the paradoxical differences between the qualitative and quantitative evidence on leadership impacts by taking a fresh approach to the analysis of the quantitative evidence. Rather than conduct a further meta-analysis of the overall impact of leadership on student outcomes, we focused on identifying the relative impact of different types of leadership. Two quite different strategies were used to identify types of leadership and their impact. The first involved a comparison between the impact of transformational and instructional leadership (Hallinger, 2005; Hallinger & Heck, 1998; Leithwood, Tomlinson, & Genge, 1996; Leithwood & Jantzi, 2005). The second strategy for determining leadership type was grounded in particular leadership

45


http://educationcounts.edcentre.govt/

practices, as described by the survey items used in the relevant research, rather than in abstract leadership theory.

Research Methods

A search of the international literature yielded 24 studies, published between 1985 and 2006, that provided evidence about the links between leadership and student outcomes. The majority of studies (15 of 24) were conducted in schools in the United States of America. Two studies were conducted in Canada and one only in each of Australia, England, Hong Kong, Israel, the Netherlands, New Zealand andSingapore. Fourteen studies examined leadership in elementary school contexts, three in high schools, and seven studies included a mix of elementary, middle and high schools. Thirteen of the 24 studies confined their analysis of school leadership to the principal only, while eleven took a broader, more distributed view of leadership. Twenty studies examined academic outcomes, three examined non-academic outcomes, and one included both.

Analytic strategies

Relevant information from the 24 studies identified was entered into a spreadsheet under headings concerning the context, sample, leadership theory and measure, research design, and main findings. It was possible to identify and estimate the magnitude of effects for 19 of the 24 studies. A decision was made not to calculate an overall leadership effect size, as the wide variety of leadership constructs, measures and research designs employed across the 24 studies, makes such a calculation problematic in terms of both comparability and precision. Average effect size estimates were calculated, however, for more homogenous subsets of the studies. The relative impact of transformational and instructional leadership was determined by computing three different average effect sizes – one for the transformational leadership studies and two for the instructional leadership studies. The latter was necessary in order to ensure that transformational leadership studies were compared with instructional leadership studies that employed similar research designs. The first step in determining the relative impact of different types of leadership practice (henceforth called ‘leadership dimensions’) involved inductively deriving the relevant dimensions. This was done by inspecting the author’s descriptions of the components of their composite leadership variables, and of the wording of their leadership indicators (survey items). Five dimensions captured the common meaning of the components and indicators. Each study was then coded against the five leadership dimensions and, where the data were available, effect sizes were calculated for each leadership indicator or component. The result was an average effect size for each of the five leadership dimensions, thus providing a second answer to the question of the impact of different types of leadership on student outcomes.

Findings

The results of our comparison of transformational leadership and instructional leadership are presentedfirst, followed by the analysis of the impact of particular leadership dimensions.

Impact of transformational and instructional leadership

Transformational leadership has weak (<.2 ES) indirect effects on student outcomes. While it has moderate effects on teacher attitudes and perceptions of the school climate and organisation, these effects do not, on the whole, flow through to students. Those instructional leadership studies that used

46


similar designs to those used in the transformational leadership group, showed effect sizes that were, on average, three times larger than those found in transformational leadership studies. The second group of instructional leadership studies (i.e., those that sampled schools where students were achieving above and below expected levels, rather than from the full range of outcomes) showed even larger effects of instructional leadership. These latter studies suggest that the leadership of otherwise similar high- and low-performing schools is very different and that those differences matter for student academic outcomes. In summary, two different analyses suggest that the impact of instructional leadership on student outcomes is considerably greater than that of transformational leadership. Admittedly, these findings are based on a small number of studies and effect size statistics.

Impact of particular leadership dimensions

As a result of a detailed analysis of the published research, we identified five leadership dimensions that had a particularly powerful impact on students. The five, along with brief descriptions, are listed in Table 1. The list of dimensions is unusual in that it does not include the typical distinction between leading tasks and leading people or relationships.

Table 1: Leadership practices derived from studies of effects of leadership on students

Leadership Practice Meaning of DimensionEstablishing goals and expectations Includes the setting, communicating and

monitoring of learning goals, standards and expectations, and the involvement of staff and others in the process so that there is clarity and consensus about goals

Strategic Resourcing Involves aligning resource selection and allocation to priority and teaching goals. Includes provision of appropriate expertise through staff recruitment.

Planning, coordinating and Evaluating teaching and the curriculum

Direct involvement in the support and evaluation of teaching through regular classroom visits and provision of formative and summative feedback to teachers. Direct oversight of curriculum through school-wide coordination across classes and year levels and alignment to school goals.

Promoting and participating in teacher learning and development

Leadership that not only promotes but directly participates with teachers in formal or informal professional learning.

Ensuring an orderly and supportive environment Protecting time for teaching and learning by reducing external pressures and interruptions and establishing an orderly and supportive environment both inside and outside classrooms.

This distinction has been eschewed here because close examination of the leadership indicators used in these studies shows that relationship skills are embedded in every dimension.

47


Dimension one: Establishing goals and expectations

Leadership makes a difference to students through its emphasis on clear academic and learning goals. In a work environment where multiple conflicting demands can make everything seem equally important, goals establish what is relatively more or less important and focus staff and student attention and effort accordingly. The importance of relationships in this leadership dimension is apparent from the fact that leaders who give more emphasis to communicating goals and expectations (Heck, Larsen, & Marcoulides, 1990; Heck, Marcoulides, & Lang, 1991), informing the community of academic accomplishments and recognizing academic achievement (Heck et al., 1991) are found in higher performing schools. There is also some evidence that the degree of staff consensus about school goals is a significant discriminator between otherwise similar high- and low-performing schools (Goldring & Pasternak, 1994). In schools with high achievement or high achievement gains, the goal focus is not only articulated by leaders but embedded in school and classroom routines and procedures. Successful leadership influences both interpersonally and by structuring the way that teachers do their work(Ogawa & Bossert, 1995).

Dimension two: Strategic resourcing.

The word ‘strategic’ in the description of this dimension signals that this leadership dimension is about securing and allocating material and staffing resources that are aligned to pedagogical purposes, rather than leadership skill in securing resources per se. Thus, this measure should not be interpreted as an indicator of skill in fundraising, grant writing or partnering with business, as those skills may or may not be applied in ways that serve key pedagogical purposes. There is some evidence that this type of leadership has a moderate indirect effect on students and that it may be particularly important in regions where there is a chronic resource shortage.

Dimension three: Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching and the curriculum

There was considerable evidence that this leadership dimension makes a strong impact on student outcomes. It involves four types of leadership practice: 1 Involving staff in discussions of teaching, including its impact on students; 2 Working with staff to coordinate and review the curriculum, e.g.,developing progressions of objectives for the teaching of writing across year levels; 3 Providing feedback to teachers, based on classroom observations that they report as useful in improving their teaching; 4 Systematic monitoring of student progress for the purpose of improvement at school department and class level. Even though the measures of leadership in these studies included more than the principal, the effect of these leadership practices appears to be smaller in high schools than in primary schools. Clearly we need to know much more about the pathways through which leadership makes a difference to students in high schools.

Dimension four: Promoting and participating in teacher learning and development

This leadership dimension is described as both promoting and participating, because more is involved here than just supporting or sponsoring other staff in their learning. The leader participates in the learning as leader, learner or both. The contexts for such learning are both formal (staff meetings and professional development) and informal (discussions about specific teaching problems). This leadership dimension had a strong impact on school performance. In high achieving and high-gain schools, teachers

48


report their school leaders (usually the principal) to be more active participants in teacher learning and development than in otherwise similar low-achieving or low-gain schools (Andrews & Soder, 1987; Bamburg & Andrews, 1991). Leaders are more likely to promote and participate in staff discussion ofteaching and teaching problems than principals in low gain/low achievement schools (Heck et al., 1990; Heck et al., 1991). The principal is also more likely to be seen by staff as a source of instructional advice, which suggests that they are both more accessible and more knowledgeable about instructional matters than their counterparts in otherwise similar lower achieving schools (Friedkin & Slater, 1994).

Dimension five: Ensuring an orderly and supportive environment

This dimension describes those leadership practices that ensure that teachers can focus on teaching andstudents can focus on learning. The findings for this dimension suggest that the leadership of high-performing schools is distinguished by its emphasis on and success in establishing a safe and supportive environment through clear and consistently enforced social expectations and discipline codes (Heck et al., 1991). The leadership of high-performing schools is also judged by teachers to be significantly more successful than the leadership of low-performing schools in protecting teachers from undue pressure from education officials and from parents (Heck et al., 1990; Heck et al., 1991). An orderly and supportive environment is also one in which staff conflict is quickly and effectively addressed (Eberts& Stone, 1986).

Discussion

The main conclusion to be drawn from the present analyses is that particular types of school leadershiphave substantial impacts on student outcomes. The more leaders focus their influence, their learning, and their relationships with teachers on the core business of teaching and learning, the greater their likely influence on student outcomes. Instructional leadership, as described by the five dimensions of Table 1, makes an impact on students because it has a strong focus on the quality of teachers and teaching, and these variables explain more of the within school residual variance in student achievement than any other school variable (Darling-Hammond, 2000). The more generic nature of transformational leadership theory, with its focus on leader–follower relations rather than on the work of improving learning and teaching, may be responsible for its weaker effect on student outcomes. Transformational leadership theory predicts teacher attitudes and satisfaction, but, on the whole, its positive impacts on staff do not flow through to students. These findings hold important challenges for both policy makers and educational leadership researchers. For the former, the challenge is to understand more about why school leaders, and principals in particular, do not spend more time on instructional leadership activities (Mullis, Martin, Gonzalez, & Kennedy, 2003). The even bigger policy challenge is how to create the conditions in schools that enable school leaders to do this important work. For educational leadership researchers, the challenge is to focus more closely on how leaders influence the teaching practices that matter. There is much to be gained from a closer integration of leadership theory and research with demonstrably effective pedagogical practices and teacher learning.

Source: http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=research_conference_2007

49


http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=research_conference_2007

http://research.acer.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1006&context=research_conference_2007

The Fork DebateAppendix IV – Laura Thomas

My husband and I argue over forks. Specifically, we argue over the direction the forks should point in the dishwasher. Tines up, I assert, results in an assured poke in the hand when one (usually me) reaches into the dishwasher to unload. Tines down, he responds, leads to dirty forks, food poisoning and, ultimately, death. After thirteen years of this argument, one would assume that we would have worked it out by now. Come to some kind of compromise. Agreed to disagree and moved on.

Nope. The fork debate rages on, re-surfacing in times of stress, de-escalating when things are running smoothly.

In my work as a school coach, I spend much of my time mediating conflicts between teachers, administrators, parents and students. We discuss food in the classrooms, hats in the building, and students without pencils. In the midst of powerful conversations about teaching and learning, we suddenly find ourselves hijacked by a discussion of this issue in its latest incarnation.

“Why do we have this rule if we’re just going to ignore it?”

“It’s just a matter of common courtesy.”

“I don’t care what the rule is, I’m not going to waste time on a hat.”

“I’m going to fail him if he shows up without a pencil again.”

“The administration needs to clamp down on this.”

“If a kid is hungry, how can he learn?”

Sometimes I must admit to wanting to scream. To make proclamations like, “From now on, hats can be left on in the building and food is welcome in all classrooms. Now, can we just move on for Pete’s sake?” But I don’t. Partially because it isn’t my place to make these decisions- I’m not a part of this community- and partially because this kind of unilateral decision-making is completely contrary to the democratic practice I’m attempting to model. Mostly, though, because I keep reminding myself that we’re not arguing over forks. Or food. Or hats.

We’re arguing about power. About consistency. About priorities. We’re trying to discuss the Big Issues but we’re afraid to name them so we bicker about minutiae. We fall into the safe arguments that no one will ever win but which will surely fill the time allotted, ensuring that we can return to our classrooms, our departments and our homes. We’ll talk it over in the hallways and in the bathrooms and the parking lots- with our friends, our allies. We’ll say things like “you know, the real problem is…” and “I just wish someone would realize that...” but we’ll only say them to the people with whom we feel safe, never questioning why we don’t feel safe with our colleagues.

50


We know, deep down, that we’ll never resolve the hat issue because we’re not talking about hats. We’re really talking about respect- about modeling it, about expecting it from our students- and we’re caught in a chicken-and-egg battle over whose respect (student or teacher) needs to come first. We won’t resolve the food issue because we’re really talking about rules that exist on the books but which don’t serve the higher purpose of the school. We’re really talking about that lack of a higher purpose, or a mission rather than a mission statement.

But, the problem is, we’re not. We’re talking about hats. Over and over and over again. We blame hats- or food, or pencils- for the problems we face. And we don’t talk about the real issues because, if we identify the Big Issues, if we acknowledge them and discuss them, then we can’t go back to pretending that the problem is really kids who wear hats in the hallways. We can’t “un-know” that which we have named. If we’re really going to talk about why kids need to eat in class, then we have to break the silence around the issue of poverty and inequity. We have to open the Pandora’s Box that is “our kids don’t have enough to eat,” and “our school breakfasts and lunches don’t offer any real nutrition,” and “we’ve sold our pedagogical souls to the soda companies in exchange for our cut of the take.” We don’t want to open up that box. We prefer to stay safely ensconced in our ignorance, putting mountains of energy into talking about nothing at all. We appear busy- we are busy. But what are we busy at? Nothing of substance, that’s for certain.

What will it take for us to engage in the real discussions of the Big Issues? What are we waiting for? Whose permission do we need? What, exactly, are we afraid of?

I think we’re afraid because, as Marianne Williamson writes, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” We’re safe if our conversations stay small. We hide in the notion of powerlessness. We spend our time and energy on things that are seemingly simple (to eat or not to eat?), leaving the bigger issues for later. We assume that our circles of influence, our energies, are most appropriately focused on these small issues- that they are the purview of Someone Else. “What if?” is a scary question to ask ourselves. What if as Nancy Mohr used to say, “The wisdom is in this room?” What if we have the answers in us and are just too afraid to look for them? What if we really are powerful beyond measure? What if we’re letting our fear keep us from doing that which we absolutely must do- should have done years ago?

The short answer is that kids stay hungry. They lack basic supplies. And, more importantly, they lack a sense of what it is to recognize and use their power as citizens. They don’t learn what it is to be wisely powerful because we refuse to show them. They learn to pour their energies into petty battles rather than into real civic engagement.

We are missing out on that educational equivalent of lightning in a bottle- the teachable moment. We have all of the components for powerful learning communities, now we must build them through real, meaningful work. We must dig into these real issues with all of the energy we currently invest in the “fork” issues in our schools. We must recognize that we hold more power than we recognize. We must ask the difficult questions over and over again. We must begin to build learning communities marked by

51


democracy, respectful disagreement and assumption of positive intent. We must model for our students what it is to be a member of a community, what it is to be a citizen. We must shine a light in the corners of the box, pull all of the messy issues out, sort them, discuss them, wrangle with them, and ultimately, find a way around, over or through them.

In these times of increasing political partisanship, isn’t it time for us to teach our students that to look deeply into the well of our own shortcomings is the only solution to those shortcomings? How long will we maintain our charade of infallibility, our blameless collective personae? The greatest gift we can give our students- and ourselves- is the acknowledgement that things aren’t okay- and won’t be okay even if we build a school in which no one wears a hat, everyone has a pencil, and nary a snickers bar or apple is to be found outside of the cafeteria.

So while the fork battle may continue in perpetuity in my kitchen, my husband and I recognize it for what it is- an indicator of our stress levels during tough times. We do not, however, really believe that we’ll get anywhere with the battle itself. On our 50th wedding anniversary, I’m sure we’ll still be debating the relative merits of tines up vs. tines down. We also know, however, that we have to discuss the real issues that emerge in every family, that we have to name them and make plans to deal with them.

Let’s hope our colleagues throughout the educational community can do the same.

Laura Thomas is Director of The Antioch Center for School Renewal. She is also Core Faculty in the Education Department of Antioch New England Graduate School in Keene, New Hampshire and can be reached at [email protected].

Source: http://www.antiochne.edu/directory/docs/lthomas.pdf

52


http://www.antiochne.edu/directory/docs/lthomas.pdf

What Do Teachers Bring to Leadership?Appendix V – Gordon A. Donaldson Jr.

Teacher leaders do not necessarily fit the leader-as-hero stereotype. Instead, they offer unique assets that come from the power of relationships.

Teacher leadership means different things to different people. Team leaders, department chairs, and respected teachers live it every day: They experience the pushes and pulls of their complex roles, located somewhere between administrative leadership and almost invisible leadership. Yet many administrators, school board members, citizens, and even teachers don't recognize or understand teacher leadership (Ackerman & Mackenzie, 2006). And this lack of understanding adds to the obstacles many teacher leaders face.

At issue is our understanding of leadership itself. Most of us hold the deep-seated assumption that leaders must have appointments and titles that formalize their leadership and officially confirm their knowledge, traits, and competencies. Our analogy of leader as hero tends to package superior judgment and knowledge with superior authority and power.

Many teacher leaders, however, cannot find a comfortable niche in this analogy. Although schools may be formally structured to support hierarchical leadership, the culture within the education profession supports a rich egalitarian ethic. Within this culture, relationships determine who communicates with whom, who shares professional wisdom with whom, and who ultimately influences the quality of teaching and learning (Darling-Hammond, 2001).

Relational Leadership

An alternative to the hierarchical model of school leadership is the relational model, which views leadership as residing not in individuals, but in the spaces among individuals. This model starts by recognizing that relationships already exist among teachers, principals, specialists, counselors, and support staff. The question to ask is, how do these relationships influence the adults in this school to do good things for students? Leadership is a particular type of relationship—one that mobilizes other people to improve practice.

Relational leadership runs through the daily life of every school as educators attend to the quality of relationships, insist on commitment to the school's purposes and goals, and examine and improve instruction (Donaldson, 2006). Leadership is about how individuals together influence these three streams of school life to make learning better for all students. Although school administrators play a vital role in these efforts, teachers are uniquely positioned to contribute special assets to the school leadership mix in each of the three areas.

Teacher Asset: Building Relationships

Sylvia, an elementary school teacher, recruited colleagues from each grade level to pilot alternative assessments in math. She began by inviting colleagues with whom she had worked

53


closely and then asking each of them to reach out to others in their working networks. Sylvia's strong relational skills pulled colleagues together, a marked contrast to her principal's style of pushing teachers to collaborate. Sylvia's reputation as an excellent teacher attracted others, and her inclusive style sent the message that every team member's opinions counted. Because of her knowledge of her colleagues' working styles, she was also wise enough to let the group's energy and time govern the speed and course of the initiative.

Teacher leaders like Sylvia have earned the trust and respect of other teachers (Bryk & Schneider, 2002). They are in the trenches with colleagues. They struggle with the same instructional issues, and they have demonstrated their success in the eyes of their peers. They are motivated by a desire to help students and support their fellow teachers, not to enforce a new policy or to evaluate others' competencies. Other teachers can go to teacher leaders without fear of judgment or dismissal. Their conversations can be frank, authentic, and caring.

Teacher leaders also have the benefit of working with others in small, intimate, adaptable groups or in one-on-one relationships. They aren't burdened, as administrators are, with setting policy for the whole school. Some of these small units are formal work groups, such as grade-level teams or departments. But many are naturally occurring and informal—clusters of teachers who get into the habit of dropping by one another's rooms, sharing materials, ideas, and challenges or generating a proposal to the principal for a new science initiative. In these less formal clusters, it's often difficult to say who's leading whom. But few would say that leadership doesn't exist among these energetic and closely connected professionals.

Teacher culture based on relationships is hugely influential in schools, often trumping administrative and legislative influence (Spillane, 2006). Although some administrators and policymakers might see this as a problem, strong relationships are teachers' most powerful leadership asset (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002).

Teacher Asset: Maintaining a Sense of Purpose

Patrick, a high school English teacher, became a champion of detracking. His reputation for integrity and commitment among his colleagues enabled him to voice deep—and at first unpopular—concerns that the school was failing its non-college-bound students. His willingness to examine his own teaching and to continue speaking up in conversations and meetings eventually persuaded other teachers to explore ability grouping practices in their own classrooms and to implement more equitable grouping practices school wide. His belief in the school's goal of equity drew others, including school administrators, into the effort.

To build on their sense of purpose, teacher leaders like Patrick need to listen astutely to their colleagues and help them sort through many issues, keeping basic goals as the top priority. They need to know how to facilitate professional dialogue, learning, and group process—the keys to mobilizing others to action.

These teacher leaders use their relational base to help their colleagues keep their eyes on the prize. Because they are teaching every day, facing the same challenges and reaping the same

54


rewards as their peers, their singular focus on their own instructional work and their commitment to reaching every student act as beacons to those around them. When the going gets tough and colleagues lose sight of their purpose or begin to question their commitment, teacher leaders' clarity, optimism, and dedication are a powerful antidote.

Teacher Asset: Improving Instructional Practice

Clarissa, a middle school teacher, has always pushed herself to improve. She has also freely shared her struggles with colleagues, often discussing them in weekly team meetings. Her influence has been different from Patrick's; instead of seeking a broad program change, Clarissa informally shares ideas, techniques, and problems from her classroom that cover the spectrum of daily teacher practice—for example, goal setting, assessment, instructional delivery, student management, and use of technology. Over time, she has helped cultivate in her teaching team a spirit of openness and a focus on developing more effective instructional practices.

Clarissa has influenced her colleagues to improve their practice in part through her instructional expertise: her capacity to understand students and their learning needs, to analyze her own instructional choices, and to continually monitor effectiveness. But her leadership assets also grow from her capacity to share professional inquiry with colleagues. She is comfortable revealing her failures and worries, soliciting these in others, and facilitating professional sharing and learning. It takes both a strong cognitive foundation and skilled interpersonal capacities to exercise leadership in improving practice.

Traditionally, we have viewed school improvement and reform as a matter of wholesale replacement of dysfunctional practices with new, “proven” practices. The current reform era, however, has taught us that permanent improvements happen in a much more piecemeal manner (Darling-Hammond, 2001; Elmore, 2004). Teachers have an extraordinary opportunity to exercise leadership because they are the most powerful influence, next to students, on other teachers' practice (Darling-Hammond, 2003). Whereas principals can shape teachers' beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors, other teachers do shape them. Teacher leaders understand this and are deliberate about shaping their environment in a positive, responsible way. They draw on their relationships and their strong sense of purpose to help colleagues explore, share, and improve the practices they use daily with students.

Teacher leaders like Clarissa both model and cultivate professional improvement. They take pains to share what they do with others and to be accessible to colleagues concerning their own issues of improved practice. The power of their leadership stems from the fact that colleagues find these teacher leaders helpful. They are leaders because their own capacity to teach and to improve is infectious and helps others learn more effective ways of working with their own students.

A Complementary Mix of Leaders

The relational model of leadership obligates us to look first at leadership relationships and second at the individuals who are leaders. The leadership litmus test is, are the relationships in

55


this school mobilizing people to improve the learning of all students? If that test comes up positive, then we can ask, who’s contributing to that leadership—to strong working relationships, to a robust commitment to good purposes, and to relentless improvement of practice?

We must start by disposing of our old assumptions about leadership and about who can lead. We have placed too much responsibility and too much power with the few individuals whom we label “leaders” in our school systems. Superintendents, curriculum directors, and principals cannot on their own generate leadership that improves education.

Principals need teacher leaders of all kinds. Although principals are better positioned than teacher leaders are to influence the goal-directed areas of school life, they often have more difficulty leading through positive relationships. Their position and authority give them a platform for promoting vision and mission and focusing on improvement. But their power over reappointments, assignments, resources, and policies can undercut their working relationships; and their management responsibilities, can distance them from teaching and learning. In this respect, the assets that teacher leaders bring to schools are an essential complement to principal leadership.

We can strengthen school leadership and performance by acknowledging and supporting the vital roles of teacher leaders. Administrators, school boards, and state and federal policymakers should

Identify and support those clusters of teachers in which professional relationships and commitments are fostering instructional innovation.

Respect the judgment of these professional clusters and be willing to adjust their own strategies and initiatives to complement such teacher-led innovations.

Put resources behind the efforts of teacher leaders by supporting shared practice, planning, and professional learning focused on their purposeful improvement of practice.

Acknowledge that their own goals and initiatives can best be addressed by treating teacher leaders as vital and powerful partners.

Great schools grow when educators understand that the power of their leadership lies in the strength of their relationships. Strong leadership in schools results from the participation of many people, each leading in his or her own way. Whether we call it distributed leadership, collaborative leadership, or shared leadership, the ideal arrangement encourages every adult in the school to be a leader. Administrators, formal teacher leaders, and informal teacher leaders all contribute to the leadership mix. They hold the power to improve student learning in the hands they extend to one another.

Source: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept07/vol65/num01/What-Do-Teachers-Bring-to-Leadership%C2%A2.aspx

Educational Leadership September 2007 | Volume 65 | Number 1 Teachers as Leaders Pages 26-29

56


http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept07/vol65/num01/What-Do-Teachers-Bring-to-Leadership%C2%A2.aspx

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/sept07/vol65/num01/What-Do-Teachers-Bring-to-Leadership%C2%A2.aspx

Trust in Schools: A Core Resource for School ReformAppendix VI – Anthony S. Bryk and Barbara Schneider

A longitudinal study of 400 Chicago elementary schools shows the central role of relational trust in building effective education communities.

Important consequences play out in the day-to-day social exchanges within a school community. Recent research shows that social trust among teachers, parents, and school leaders improves much of the routine work of schools and is a key resource for reform.

For example, Comer's School Development Project demonstrates that strengthening the connections between urban school professionals and parents of low socioeconomic status can improve their children's academic achievement (Comer, Haynes, Joyner, & Ben-Avie, 1996). Meier (1995) argues persuasively that building trust among teachers, school leaders, students, and parents was a key component of the success of the middle school that she created in Harlem. The efforts of Alvarado and his colleagues to build learning communities in Community School District 2 in Manhattan also support the importance of the social dimension of school change (Malloy, 1998). And a longitudinal analysis of successfully restructuring schools concluded that human resources—such as openness to improvement, trust and respect, teachers having knowledge and skills, supportive leadership, and socialization—are more critical to the development of professional community than structural conditions. . . . The need to improve the culture, climate, and interpersonal relationships in schools has received too little attention. (Kruse, Louis, & Bryk, 1994, p. 8; see also Louis & Kruse, 1995; Newmann & Associates, 1996)

In short, a growing body of case studies and clinical narratives directs our attention to the engaging but elusive idea of social trust as essential for meaningful school improvement. But what is social trust? What factors help to shape it? And what benefits does it produce?

To answer these and related questions, we conducted almost a decade of intensive case study research and longitudinal statistical analyses from more than 400 Chicago elementary schools. We spent approximately four years in 12 different school communities observing school meetings and events; conducting interviews and focus groups with principals, teachers, parents, and community leaders; observing classroom instruction; and talking to teachers about the progress and problems in their reform efforts. Differences between two of these cases, Holiday and Ridgeway Elementary Schools,1 help illustrate how the dynamics of relational trust across a school community influence its reform efforts.

Combined with this field study, we analyzed periodic surveys of teachers, principals, and students collected by the Consortium on Chicago School Research to examine the changing quality of relational dynamics in all Chicago elementary schools over a six-year period. We also analyzed trends in individual student reading and mathematics achievement during this same time period to assess the value that each school was adding to student learning and the extent to which this “value-added” measure was

57


http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar03/vol60/num06/[email protected]#fn1

improving over time. This improvement in a school's contribution to student learning is a direct measure of its changing academic productivity. By linking evidence on the schools' changing academic productivity with survey results on school trust over a long period of time, we were able to document the powerful influence that such trust plays as a resource for reform.

What Is Relational Trust?

Distinct role relationships characterize the social exchanges of schooling: teachers with students, teachers with other teachers, teachers with parents, and all groups with the school principal. Each party in a relationship maintains an understanding of his or her role's obligations and holds some expectations about the obligations of the other parties. For a school community to work well, it must achieve agreement in each role relationship in terms of the understandings held about these personal obligations and expectations of others.

An interrelated set of mutual dependencies are embedded within the social exchanges in any school community. Regardless of how much formal power any given role has in a school community, all participants remain dependent on others to achieve desired outcomes and feel empowered by their efforts.

The principal, for example, needs faculty support to maintain a cohesive professional community that productively engages parents and students. Teachers' work, in turn, depends on decisions that the principal makes about the allocation of resources to their classrooms. Parents depend on both teachers and the principal to create an environment that keeps their children safe and helps them learn. Such dependencies create a sense of mutual vulnerability for all individuals involved. Consequently, deliberate action taken by any party to reduce this sense of vulnerability in others—to make them feel safe and secure—builds trust across the community.

As individuals interact with one another around the work of schooling, they are constantly discerning the intentions embedded in the actions of others. They consider how others' efforts advance their own interests or impinge on their own self-esteem. They ask whether others' behavior reflects appropriately on their moral obligations to educate children well. These discernments take into account the history of previous interactions. In the absence of prior contact, participants may rely on the general reputation of the other and also on commonalities of race, gender, age, religion, or upbringing. These discernments tend to organize around four specific considerations: respect, personal regard, competence in core role responsibilities, and personal integrity.

Respect

Relational trust is grounded in the social respect that comes from the kinds of social discourse that take place across the school community. Respectful exchanges are marked by genuinely listening to what each person has to say and by taking these views into account in subsequent actions. Even when people disagree, individuals can still feel valued if others respect their opinions.

58


Without interpersonal respect, social exchanges may cease. People typically avoid demeaning situations if they can. When they don't have this option, sustained conflict may erupt. Such a situation existed at Ridgeway Elementary School, where interactions among parent leaders and professional staff got in the way of needed reforms. For example, parent and community leaders pressed school staff to implement a “respect program toward students,” which included written standards for how adults should talk to students, guidelines to encourage increased sensitivity on the part of school professionals to the ethnic and cultural backgrounds of students, and procedures for handling student misconduct that refrained from punitive and demeaning adult behavior. But little of this same respect was evident in the social interactions among the adults. Parent and community leaders offered rude personal criticism of school staff with little recognition that their behavior was the exact opposite of the behavior that they desired to foster in the students.

Personal Regard

Personal regard represents another important criterion in determining how individuals discern trust. Such regard springs from the willingness of participants to extend themselves beyond the formal requirements of a job definition or a union contract. The actions of the principal at another of our case study sites, Holiday Elementary School, offer strong testimony. Almost every parent and teacher we spoke with at this school commented effusively about the principal's personal style, his openness to others, and his willingness to reach out to parents, teachers, and students. His efforts helped cultivate a climate in which such regard became the norm across the school community. This climate, in turn, was a major factor in the high level of relational trust found in this most unexpected place—a 100 percent low-income, African American population in a school serving a public housing project, with a white, male principal.

Competence in Core Role Responsibilities

School community members also want their interactions with others to produce desired outcomes. This attainment depends, in large measure, on others' role competence. For example, parents depend on the professional ethics and skills of school staff for their children's welfare and learning. Teachers want supportive work conditions for their practice, which depends on the capacity of the school principal to fairly, effectively, and efficiently manage basic school operations. School administrators value good community relations, but achieving this objective requires concerted effort from all school staff. Instances of negligence or incompetence, if allowed to persist, undermine trust. This was a major factor in the negative parent-school relations at Ridgeway, where some clearly incompetent and uncaring teachers were nonetheless allowed to continue to practice.

Personal Integrity

Perceptions about personal integrity also shape individuals' discernment that trust exists. The first question that we ask is whether we can trust others to keep their word. Integrity also demands that a

59


moral-ethical perspective guides one's work. Although conflicts frequently arise among competing individual interests within a school community, a commitment to the education and welfare of children must remain the primary concern.

The principal's actions at Ridgeway offer a compelling example of how a perceived lack of commitment to students' welfare can undermine trust. Although members of the school community viewed this principal as a caring person, no one was sure where he stood on a number of internal school conflicts. When concerns surfaced about problematic teachers, he chose an approach sensitive to the particular adults involved. He visited their classrooms and demonstrated lessons, hoping that the teachers would adopt new techniques. When the teachers did not improve, however, he dropped the initiative and did not change the situation. In the end, no one interpreted his action as directed toward the best interests of the students, and these events further exacerbated the distrust across the school community.

Benefits of Trust

The myriad social exchanges that make up daily life in a school community fuse into distinct social patterns that can generate organization-wide resources. Collective decision making with broad teacher buy-in, a crucial ingredient for reform, occurs more readily in schools with strong relational trust. In contrast, the absence of trust, as witnessed at Ridgeway School, provoked sustained controversy around resolving even such relatively simple problems as the arrangements for a kindergarten graduation ceremony.

Strong relational trust also makes it more likely that reform initiatives will diffuse broadly across the school because trust reduces the sense of risk associated with change. When school professionals trust one another and sense support from parents, they feel safe to experiment with new practices. Similarly, relational trust fosters the necessary social exchanges among school professionals as they learn from one another. Talking honestly with colleagues about what's working and what's not means exposing your own ignorance and making yourself vulnerable. Without trust, genuine conversations of this sort remain unlikely.

Further, relational trust supports a moral imperative to take on the difficult work of school improvement. Most teachers work hard at their teaching. When implementing “reform,” they must assume risks, deal with organizational conflict, attempt new practices, and take on extra work, such as engaging with colleagues in planning, implementing, and evaluating improvement initiatives. Teachers quite reasonably ask, “Why should we do this?” A context characterized by high relational trust provides an answer: In the end, reform is the right thing to do.

Our analysis of Holiday School provides strong testimony here, too. Both professionals and parents at Holiday shared a commitment “to go the extra mile for the children.” Almost every person we interviewed spoke about the school community in these terms. Our longitudinal survey analyses provide strong evidence on this point as well. In schools in which relational trust was improving over time, teachers increasingly characterized their colleagues as committed and loyal to the school and more eager to engage in new practices that might help students learn better.

60


Not surprisingly, then, we found that elementary schools with high relational trust were much more likely to demonstrate marked improvements in student learning. Our overall measure of school trust, on the basis of approximately two dozen survey items addressing teachers' attitudes toward their colleagues, principals, and parents, proved a powerful discriminator between improving and non-improving schools. A school with a low score on relational trust at the end of our study had only a one-in-seven chance of demonstrating improved academic productivity. In contrast, half of the schools that scored high on relational trust were in the improved group. On average, these improving schools recorded increases in student learning of 8 percent in reading and 20 percent in mathematics in a five-year period. The schools in the non-improving group lost ground in reading and stayed about the same in mathematics. Most significant was the finding that schools with chronically weak trust reports throughout the period of the study had virtually no chance of improving in either reading or mathematics.

Conditions That Foster Relational Trust

Relational trust entails much more than just making school staff feel good about their work environment and colleagues. A school cannot achieve relational trust simply through some workshop, retreat, or form of sensitivity training, although all of these activities can help. Rather, schools build relational trust in day-to-day social exchanges.

Through their words and actions, school participants show their sense of their obligations toward others, and others discern these intentions. Trust grows through exchanges in which actions validate these expectations. Even simple interactions, if successful, can enhance collective capacities for more complex subsequent actions. In this respect, increasing trust and deepening organizational change support each other.

Centrality of Principal Leadership

Principals' actions play a key role in developing and sustaining relational trust. Principals establish both respect and personal regard when they acknowledge the vulnerabilities of others, actively listen to their concerns, and eschew arbitrary actions. Effective principals couple these behaviors with a compelling school vision and behavior that clearly seeks to advance the vision. This consistency between words and actions affirms their personal integrity. Then, if the principal competently manages basic day-to-day school affairs, an overall ethos conducive to the formation of trust will emerge.

In a troubled school community, attaining relational trust may require the principal to jump-start change. Typically, the principal may need to reshape the composition of the school staff by hiring strong people into staff vacancies and, where necessary, counseling out those whose practice remains inconsistent with the school's mission and values.

The principal at Holiday, for example, skillfully used his expanded authority under Chicago's school reform to hire new teachers of his own choosing without regard to seniority or bumping rights. This reshaping of his faculty was a key element in building relational trust. In contrast, the inability of

61


Ridgeway's principal to remove a few problematic teachers undermined trust. Although other teachers were reluctant to directly confront their offending colleagues, the faculty generally did not participate in collaborative activities. Similarly, parents and community leaders became more distrustful because they could not understand how the professional staff could tolerate such behavior. The end result was a school community that was unlikely to garner the adult effort required to initiate and sustain reform.

Supporting Teachers to Reach Out to Parents

Parents in most urban school communities remain highly dependent on the good intentions of teachers. To promote relational trust, teachers need to recognize these parents' vulnerabilities and reach out actively to moderate them. Unfortunately, many schools do not acknowledge this responsibility as a crucial aspect of teachers' roles.

Elementary school teachers spend most of their time engaged with students. Little in their professional training prepares them for working with parents and other adults in the community. Moreover, because of the class and race differences between school professionals and parents in most urban areas, conditions can be ripe for misunderstanding and distrust. Effective urban schools need teachers who not only know their students well but also have an empathetic understanding of their parents' situations and the interpersonal skills needed to engage adults effectively.

Other Key Factors

A number of structural conditions facilitate the creation of relational trust in a school community. Although their existence does not ensure relational trust, the presence of these conditions makes it easier for school leaders to build and sustain trust.

Small school size. We found that relational trust is more likely to flourish in small elementary schools with 350 or fewer students. Larger schools tend to have more limited face-to-face interactions and more bureaucratic relations across the organization. Individuals often define their affiliations in terms of some subgroup and have weaker ties to the larger organization. In contrast, the work structures of a small school are less complex and its social networks are typically fewer in number. As a result, relational trust is likely to be sustained more easily.

A stable school community. The stability of the student body directly affects teacher-parent trust. Building and maintaining trust depends on repeated social exchanges. Teachers find it hard to develop and sustain direct positive engagement with all parents when the student population changes frequently. Moreover, in transient neighborhoods, parents find it difficult to share reassuring information with one another about their good experiences with teachers; lacking such personal communication, parents who are new to a school community may fall back on predispositions to distrust, especially if many of their social encounters outside of the school tend to reinforce this worldview.

62


Voluntary association. Relational trust is also more likely to arise in schools where at least a modicum of choice exists for both staff and students. Because participants have deliberately chosen to affiliate with the school, relations among all parties are pre-conditioned toward trust. If subsequent actions reinforce the wisdom of this choice, relational trust will deepen. In contrast, the forced assignment of individuals to schools fosters uncertainty and suspicion about the motivations and commitments of others and may create a formidable barrier to promoting trust.

Keeping the Connective Tissue Healthy

Good schools depend heavily on cooperative endeavors. Relational trust is the connective tissue that binds individuals together to advance the education and welfare of students. Improving schools requires us to think harder about how best to organize the work of adults and students so that this connective tissue remains healthy and strong.

March 2003 | Volume 60 | Number 6 Creating Caring Schools Pages 40-45

Source: http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar03/vol60/num06/[email protected]

63


http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar03/vol60/num06/[email protected]

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar03/vol60/num06/[email protected]


Resources

64


Field Guide Resource List

Arredondo, D.E., et al. (1995, November). Pushing the envelope in supervision. Educational Leadership, 53, 74-78.

Blase, J. and Kirby, P. (2009). Bringing out the best in teachers: what effective principals do, 3rd Ed. Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks, California.

Blase, J. and Blase, J. (2004). Handbook of instructional leadership: how successful principals promote teaching and learning, 2nd Ed. Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks, California.

Bryk, A and Schnedier, B. (March 2003). Trust in schools: A core resource for school reform. Educational Leadership. 60, 40-45.

Buffum, A., et al. (2008). The collaborative administrator: Working together as a professional learning community. Solution Tree Press: Bloomington, Indiana.

Carr, J.F., Herman, N., Harris, D.E. (2005). Creating dynamic schools through mentoring, coaching and collaboration. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development: Alexandria, Virginia.

Donaldson, G.A. (2006). Cultivating Leadership in Schools: connecting people, purpose and practice, 2nd Ed. Teachers College Press: New York.

Donaldson, G.A. (2007, September). What do teachers bring to leadership? Educational Leadership, 65, 26-29.

Downey, C., et al. (2010). Advancing the three minute walk-through: Mastering reflective practice. Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks, California.

Gregory, G. H. and Kuzmich, L. (2007). Teacher teams that get results: 61 strategies for sustaining and renewing professional learning communities. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Hargreaves, A. and Fink, D. (2006). Sustainable Leadership. John Wiley and Sons: San Francisco, California.

Honigsfeld, A. and Dove, M. (2010). Collaboration and co-teaching: strategies for English learners. Corwin Press: Thousand Oaks, California.

Kaagan, Stephen S. (2009). 30 reflective staff development exercises for educators. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

65


Killion, J. and Roy, P. (2009). Becoming a learning school. National Staff Development Council: Oxford, Ohio.

Leadbeater, C. (2008). What’s next: 21 ideas for the 21st Century. The Innovation Unit: London, England.

Lipton, L. and Wellman, B. (2007, September). How to talk so teachers listen. Educational Leadership, 65, 30-34.

Lipton, L. and Wellman, B. (2003). Mentoring matters: A practical guide to learning-focused relationships, 2nd edition. Sherman, Connecticut: Mira Via, LLC.

Marzano, R.J., Frontier, T., and Livingston, D. (2011). Effective supervision: Supporting the art and science of teaching. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development: Alexandria, Virginia.

McConkey, N. (2002). Solving School Problems: Solution-Focused Strategies for Principals, Teachers and Counsellors. Bragg Creek, Alberta: Solution Talk Press. Pp. 178-179.

Wellman, B. and Lipton, L. (2004), Data-Driven Dialogue: A facilitator’s guide to collaborative inquiry. MiraVia: Sherman, Connecticut.

Stephenson, Susan. (2009). Leading with trust: How to build strong school teams. Bloomington, Indiana: Solution Tree Press.

Stronge, J.H., Richard, H.B., Cantano, N. (2008). Qualities of effective principals. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development: Alexandria, Virginia.

Sullivan, S. and Glanz, J. (2005). Supervision that improves teaching: Strategies and techniques, 2nd Ed. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.

Thomas, L. (2005, August 10). The Fork Debate. Education Week. 24, 39.

Toch, T. (2008, October). Fixing Teacher Evaluation. Educational Leadership, 66, 32-37.

66


BCPVPA · Web viewHe reports on a study conducted at DuPont and Colgate-Palmolive where team...

Documents

Transcript of BCPVPA · Web viewHe reports on a study conducted at DuPont and Colgate-Palmolive where team...