Looking for Landmarks During Times of Change

Open water swimming is a joy for those who regularly swim in pools. No lanes to share. No chlorine or salt to taste. No fluorescent din, and no stale, steamy air. Okay, it’s not quite that bad, but pool swimming can not begin to compare with that of open water. The one significant challenge when swimming out in nature is staying the course–particularly when there is no lifeguard monitoring your safety.  In a pool, lane buoys and painted lines keep you in your lane and prevent swimmers from straying off course. Not so in open water. Swim as you do in the pool with head in water except when taking in a breath and you will end up “who knows where.” In some ways, school reform is analogous to swimming in open water, with vast possibilities as one goes beyond the safe, structured setting of public education into an unknown, and potentially uncomfortable environment of innumerable opportunities.  Getting to a desired destination, the tricky part,  requires faith, knowledge, skills, due diligence, and attention to where you’re headed.

It’s easy to get caught up in the change process and neglect to check one’s position. In open water, the conditioned habits of pool swimming can lead to a circuitous rather than direct path, resulting in greater fatigue and other potential issues. For that reason, experienced open water swimmers regularly lift their heads to sight every 5-9 strokes, looking forward with head out of water to a distant landmark. Each time the head is raised, the landmark is targeted. If off course, subtle changes in stroke direction quickly remedy the swimmer’s path. Failure to sight is analogous to working with blinders on, clueless to changes around us, and inevitably leaving one far off track (Not a good thing whether swimming in a lake or implementing new assessments, curricula, or professional performance review protocols in a school building). For whatever reason, be it fear, perceived or real lack of time, old habits, or other challenges, getting lost in the churn of change is easily done.

Back to the open water swim, it’s relatively easy for the swimmer to monitor and adjust his or her path. Other than occasional chop in the water, keeping track of your landmark is easy. However, for the educator, the process is much, much more complicated and dependent on team work and good leadership. First of all, everyone needs to know what the landmarks are in the action plan process. What are the goals in the reform effort? Secondly, people need the skills, knowledge, and incentives to target those landmarks. Open water swimmers don’t venture beyond shoreline without good technique and aerobic capacity. Unfortunately, the same can’t always be said for educators ill prepared to grapple with complex change required in the reform effort. Last but not least, educators need time. Time to lift their heads and check out their surroundings. Time to perfect their technique and capacity, and time to celebrate the progress being made in their concerted efforts.

As school winds down, summer is the perfect season to create purposeful action plans that clearly identify desired results (landmarks), ensure sustained quality professional development (technique and capacity), and build in regularly scheduled times to monitor and adjust progress (sighting on landmarks). Oh, and it’s also a great time to get out to the water for a refreshing swim.

When It Comes to School Reform, Time is Not on Our Side

In ’64, the Rolling Stones sang, “Time is on my side, yes it is
Time is on my side, yes it is.”  Well, that may have been the case in the 1960s, and it may indeed apply in Mick Jagger’s world, but alas, time is not on the side for present day educators or instructional leaders grappling with school reform. On the contrary, today’s teachers and building principals are on the wrong side of time, working feverishly to fulfill APPR requirements before finals and graduations. Compromised by a system ill-structured to handle evidence-based observations, student learning objectives, data-driven instruction protocols, and significant curricular and assessment reforms, many principals and teachers are gasping for air as they finish up the year overwhelmed, overloaded, and completely spent.

It doesn’t have to be this way. After all, it’s not a precondition for school reform that stakeholders long for the “good old days” while cursing the new conditions and perceived burdens placed on them by outsiders and higher-ups. Rather, it’s simply about making time in the school schedule for matters of importance. Time to empower staff and faculty to do the hard work the Regents Reform Agenda calls for. Time to collaboratively figure things out together to implement new curricula, data-driven instruction, student learning objectives, and evidence-based observations. Time to reflect on what is and is not working, and time to make the necessary changes to streamline the process and reduce perceived complexities. Time is the tonic that cures all.

Next year is a pivotal year for educators in New York and other Race to the Top states across the nation. With varying degrees of success, schools have received professional development in reform agenda items. Educators and principals have toiled through Common Core Instructional Shifts, Next Generation Assessments, Evidence-based Observations, Student Learning Objectives, Data-Driven Instruction, etc. However, for meaningful change and deep understanding to take place, teachers, principals, and others will need ample time to analyze and reflect on their reform efforts. Early release time, late start times, team planning meetings, full day sessions, and summer work are what is needed for reforms to get traction. The system can not function as it has in the past, and if we hope to carry forth the education reform agenda so vital to our students and country, then we had better be sure time is on our side. (We also need to encourage teacher leadership).

Leadership Voids In An Era of National School Reform

Leadership is not rocket science, but rather the science of knowing, understanding, and appreciating people to help change for the better, “How we do things around here.” Leadership is the science of empathy, creativity, accountability, flexibility, humility, levity, fidelity, and sincerity. On the topic of leaders and change, John Kotter (2002) wrote, “They succeed, regardless of the stage in the overall process, because their most central activity does not center on formal data gathering, analysis, report writing, and presentations—the sorts of actions typically aimed at changing thinking in order to change behavior.  Instead, they compellingly show people what the problems are and how to resolve the problems.  They provoke responses that reduce feelings that slow and stifle needed change, and they enhance feelings that motivate useful action” (p. 8).

Leadership is ofttimes lonely and fatiguing, dogged in its efforts, and always selfless by its nature. Being a leader is a hard job. Period. Ironically, the need for quality leadership within our education system has never been greater. Never is a big word, but the hyper-paced nature of our digital society and the high-stakes competition for knowledgeable, skilled workers in a flattened world is unparalleled in our history. Education demands leaders that understand the change process and the impacts of change on people and systems. We’re talking people who have high EQs. After all, change is an emotional process, and it is the leaders with emotional intelligence who are most able to help others navigate the choppy waters of school reform.  As Bolman and Deal (2003) write, “Many change efforts fail not because managers’ intentions are incorrect or insincere but because the managers are unable to handle the social challenges of changing” (p. 176).

We must have educational leaders capable of filtering out the noise and clutter to get at the heart of critical issues and necessary actions. Individuals who have a keen sense of what matters most, and a self-efficacious mindset to implement the difficult changes in our schools that may run contrary to “How we do things around here.” Hell, the whole notion of “How we do things around here” no longer applies in today’s education. Race to the Top, ESEA, the Great Recession, Sequesters, Stressed Pension Systems, Increased Rigor in Teacher and Principal Certification Exams and Protocols, EdTPA, APPR, Student Testing, Online Courses, Next Generation Science Standards, Common Core Standards, Instructional Shifts, Review Rooms, Dignity for All Students, etc. have changed the proverbial paradigm for good.

Peering across the regional landscape, it is worrisome to find fewer individuals willing and able to take up the once coveted torch of district leadership. Superintendent positions are not easily filled, and the ranks of interested applicants are at historic lows with some boards of education reopening searches in hopes of a better outcome. Meanwhile, the increasing burden on principals and the void of teacher leaders are problems that can and must be addressed through some form of teacher leader certification at the state and or national level. We can not expect one person to do the important work of leadership by themselves, and now is the opportune time to reform how we define leadership at the school level.

As our schools move through the final weeks towards graduation, so ends another year of school reform. Next year will bring with it new expectations for teachers and administrators which include implementing protocols for data driven instruction, embedding Common Core instructional shifts with fidelity, improving the writing of student learning objectives, and preparing students for the next round of assessments. With all that lies ahead, it’s urgent our state and national leaders think out of the box in terms of educational leadership. More rigorous, valid, and reliable certification exams are a good step forward, but so is a more concerted effort to grow leadership within the ranks of educators and to make the job of district CEO more alluring. Let’s offer certifications that recognize the value of teacher leaders, and reward district leaders with salaries commensurate to their roles and responsibilities. We can’t afford to do less if we wish to continue the reform agendas scattered across this great nation.

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2003). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership (3rd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Kotter, J. (2002).  The Heart of Change:  Real-Life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations.  Boston:  Harvard Business School Press.

Let’s All Celebrate College Graduations

Three graduation ceremonies in 48 hours! SUNY Plattsburgh at Queensbury Branch Campus students graduated with SUNY Adirondack students on Thursday evening in the Glens Falls Civic Center, and on Saturday, SUNY Plattsburgh Main Campus students graduated in either a morning or afternoon ceremony. This was one of the last “firsts” for me as I close in on beginning my second year as Branch Campus Dean, and I must say it was one of the most satisfying and celebratory two days I’ve ever had in my professional career. The energy and excitement within the graduation chambers were palpable. Students were beaming, families and friends were hooting and hollering, professors were decked out in robes and medallion, and through it all, our next generation of college graduates walked across the stage, diploma in hand, to officially conclude a major milestone in their lives. What a wonderful thing for them and for us. In fact, we all should be celebrating their success!

Saturday’s eloquent student speaker, a young woman from Port Washington, Long Island spoke about both the extrinsic and intrinsic values of a college education to her classmates. Being a business major, she included in her talk the ROI, or Return on Investment, for dollars spent earning a Bachelor’s Degree. She shared that 30.98 is the ROI one can expect from one’s invested dollars. In other words, for each dollar you spend on your college degree, you will receive 30.98 dollars in return. As an example, if I invested $50,000 to earn my degree, I can expect $1,549,000 as a return on my investment (You won’t get that kind of return in your IRA account). That sounds like a real good investment. I didn’t check the math, but the Bureau of Labor Statistics provides all the data demonstrating how valuable education is to one’s employment and earnings (See The Costs of Education Versus Ignorance). In any case, a college education pays off handsomely.

On my drive home from Plattsburgh following the afternoon ceremony, I reflected on the scope of change the graduates had experienced in such a short period of time.  From their very first day at college, they had to orient themselves to new surroundings, expectations, rules, and protocols while learning course content and skills that stretched them beyond their comfort zones. The stakes were high.  Thousands of dollars and hours were being invested on a hope and a dream, and in the end, their success hinged largely on their individual efforts and the collective support they received from SUNY Plattsburgh college professors, support staff, administrators, and classmates. I felt a sense of pride for being a small part of such a critical milestone in our students’ lives, and I know I return to my Branch Campus office on Monday with a keen sense of appreciation for the services and supports we offer students in the field of education.

Congratulations graduates!

 

Why We Need the Common Core Literacy Standards

Scenario: You stopped at the supermarket on your way home from school to pick up a few items for dinner. Unfortunately, you forgot to bring your reusable cloth shopping bags.  When you get to the checkout line, the clerk asks you, “Paper or plastic?”.  Task: Write a 300-word essay defending the type of bag you would choose. Be sure to use at least two credible references in your defense of paper or plastic bags. A simple problem with two to three positions and a myriad of possible explanations. As a science teacher in the late 80s and 90s, I had my students write such position papers at least once each quarter. Topics were relevant to the units we covered, and required students to use text-based evidence from various sources in their writings. In the process, they read more, wrote more, and learned and used more complex vocabulary.  Sounds a lot like today’s Common Core Instructional Shifts.

The Common Core Learning Standards call for significant shifts in teaching, particularly for teachers in subjects other than English Language Arts. And that’s a wonderful thing.

Frankly,  it’s been a long time coming for the few but vocal, “I am not an English teacher. It’s not my job to teach them how to read and write.” types. We all have a responsibility for developing student communication skills, whether they be in the form of reading, writing, listening or speaking. Ironically, it is through literacy that our students excel in their understanding and application of subject matter content. With such rich diversity for writing and speaking tasks in the non-ELA content areas,  the opportunities for students to persuade and inform are endless. As a science teacher, my student position paper topics ranged from Antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the poultry industry to Reintroduction of the Gray Wolf into the Adirondacks and biodiversity. We also explored and debated climate change topics, including comparison of Bill McKibben’s, The End of Nature with Dixie Lee Ray’s, Trashing the Planet.

My students loved the tasks. Well, maybe loved is too strong a word, but they certainly liked/valued the challenge of taking a position and supporting it with researched details. We would even hold mock town board events and debates on some of our more controversial themes. It was fun, and the learning was deep and meaningful. Sometimes the projects took on a life of their own, with extended searches on particularly controversial topics. With the quantity of content required to get through prior to the state test, these extended activities took place outside the classroom, earning students extra points for their efforts. The key message in all tasks was, “Your opinion carries weight when you can back it up with data and text from credible sources.”

We need the Common Core Literacy Standards to ensure we graduate students who can read, write, speak and listen well, and who use evidence from varied, credible sources when making important decisions. They need to be comfortable with the syntax and language of primary documents, and be able to confidently voice and defend their opinions with others. In a time of information (and misinformation) overload, we need to ensure our students are critical thinkers who have the literacy skills necessary to make logical decisions. Students who are well read, well-informed, and who can speak or write with conviction on substantive topics. In the words of Aristotle, “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” 

My Hippocampus and Frontal Lobes Say, “Happy Mother’s Day”

Where would we be without our moms who raised us, nurtured us, fed us, and loved us unconditionally? Mothers who set up humidifiers in our rooms when we were congested with colds. Mothers who tucked us in at night and read to us. Mothers who held us in their arms singing, “Clap hands, clap hands, till daddy comes home. Daddy has money but mommy has none. Boom, boom.” Where would we be without a mother’s unconditional love?  Odds are, we’d be in a lesser place than we are now.

A mother’s love sustains us, enculturates us, and prepares us for life’s challenges by literally shaping our brains. This is particularly so for the developing brain which is extremely plastic and malleable, yielding to the stimuli it receives from the environment.  Deep below the surface in the brain’s limbic system is where the magical effects of a mother’s love are revealed.  Scientists know this thanks to the advent of scanning technologies that have allowed us to peer in on the brain as it grows and matures. The results are stunning and exciting. For example, recent research by Luby and others (2012) suggests maternal support leads to larger hippocampi–the seahorse shaped structures within the primitive brain responsible for long-term memory and stress control. In other words, a mother’s nurturance of her young child changes the child’s brain for the better, allowing the child to learn and recall information more readily, and to manage stress more efficiently. Without such support, a child is disadvantaged relative to other children.

Brain development in children is fascinating and portends many thing later in life. For example, the effects of parental neglect express themselves in adults who struggle with impulsivity, maintaining attention, cultivating social relationships, and cognition (Chugani, Behen, Muzik, Juhuaz, Nagy, and Chugani, 2001). A chilling image of two brains, one of a normal infant and the other of a neglected infant raised in an orphanage, demonstrates just how critical a loving environment is to the developing child.

The oldest of six, I was lucky to grow up in a loving household. In spite of the challenges, my mother somehow maintained her patience and composure to love us all. Honestly, I don’t know how she did it. How she made time to play with us, teach us manners, encourage us, expect great things from us, and allow us to make mistakes boggles my mind. At one point, I remember there were three kids in diapers–and they were the cloth type (I swear we got our money’s worth out of the Kenmore washer machine in the basement). In any case, we all grew up in a loving home, and I like to think we all ended up in a pretty good place.

On this Mother’s Day weekend, I hope every child and adult with a living mother takes time to thank their mother for helping them grow into the person they’ve become. I hope each of us recognizes that our first and most important teacher was our mother, and that as parents, we too are our children’s best hope for success and happiness. And for those less fortunate to have the nurturing home environment many of us had, I hope they have a charismatic, loving teacher or significant adult to confide and trust in. Someone who will nourish their growth and provide a stable foundation from which to blossom into adulthood.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!!!

• Luby, J. L., Barch, D. M., Belden, A., Gaffrey, M. S., Tillman, R., Babb, C., Nishino, T., Suzuki, H., & Botteron, K. N. (2012). Maternal support in early childhood predicts larger hippocampal volumes at school age. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(8), 2854. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/923605082?accountid=13215
• Chugani, H. T., Behen, M. E., Muzik, O., Juhasz, C., Nagy, Ferenc, & Nagy, D. C. (2001). Local brain functional activity following early deprivation: A study of postinstitutionalized Romanian orphans. Neuroimage, 14(6), 1290-11301.

Public School Educators and Administrators: You Did It!

There’s a poster of fire-throwing pitcher, Nolan Ryan in an old 1991 Nike ad with Ryan’s impressive stats at the bottom and a motivational bucket list on the left side running top to bottom.

• 99-year-old marathoners.
• 94-year-old swimmers
• The back of SI is full of them. People who forgot to retire. And never got old.
• People who realized:
• It’s easier to keep going
• If you never stop.
• JUST DO IT.
• Get up. Get out.
• Build up the muscle.
• Get rid of the flab.
• Go back to school.
• Sell the TV.
• JUST DO IT.
• Master the curveball.
• Pound the bag.
• Rebuild an engine.
• Jump-start a career.
• JUST DO IT.
• Bench press four big plates.
• Dig for fossils.
• Bicycle across Canada.
• Save an endangered species – yourself.
• JUST DO IT.
• The only one who can tell you you can’t, is you.
• And you don’t have to listen.

(photo of Nolan Ryan) Nolan Ryan, 7 no-hitter, 5,453 career strikeouts, 44 years of age.

I love the ad. Its simplicity and brevity speak loudly of personal conviction, responsibility, and ownership for what one accomplishes or fails to accomplish in life. The message implores the reader to just get up and do it.

In the Nike ad, the target is the recreational athlete in all of us. But what might such a list look like for educators, particularly those in Race to the Top states? Here’s what I came up with.

• 41-year old school reformers.
• 67-year old Common Core Curriculum Writers.
• 23-year old early adopters.
• Public school halls are full of them.
• Professionals who realized:
• It’s easier to implement than resist,
• If you stay sharp and persist.
• JUST DO IT!
• Go to EngageNY.org, and get out to workshops.
• Enhance your cerebral networks,
• And those of your students.
• Get rid of the textbooks.
• Go back to school.
• Sell the TV.
• JUST DO IT!
• Master the Common Core Instructional Shifts.
• Pound the fluency drills.
• Rebuild your curriculum.
• Re-energize your career.
• JUST DO IT!
• Create interdisciplinary units of instruction.
• Probe student understanding.
• Write tight Student Learning Objectives
• Conduct data-driven instruction.
• JUST DO IT.
• The only one who can tell you you can’t, is you.
• And you don’t have to listen.

And so it goes. With testing and the school year rapidly coming to a close, it’s fair to say, “We did it!” Congratulations to the many teachers and school/district leaders who persevered through a challenging and at times frustrating year of school reform. You did it! Yes, we don’t know our student scores yet. And yes, teacher and principals’ results based on the HEDI scale (highly effective, effective, developing, and ineffective) depend on those student scores, among other things. Regardless, through adversity comes strength. Congratulate yourself on managing the challenges to do the very best you could for your students and colleagues. After all, isn’t that why we entered this profession in the first place: to do what’s best for our students and communities? You did it!

Regarding Preschool Funding, Pay A Little Now or A Lot More Later

It’s disconcerting to read the headlines. State’s Pre-K Program Wins Praise, but Lost Funding and Slots Last Year, Per-student Pre-K Spending Lowest in Decade, Report: Nevada Slipping in Pre-K Program Funding,….. We could go on, but the point has been made. Much of the news stems from the National Institute for Early Education Research’s The State of Preschool 2012 which highlights among other things that nationwide funding for Preschool dropped by $500 million over the past year with enrollments unchanged at 28% (Barnett, Carolan, Fitzgerald, & Squires, 2012). That’s disturbing, particularly against the backdrop of Sean Reardon’s NY Times blog, No Rich Child Left Behind, which paints a worrisome picture of the growing academic gap between children from rich families versus those of poor families.

We know the brain is plastic and malleable, responding to the environment through the growth and expansion of neural networks. And we know the plasticity is especially vigorous during the early years of life. We also know how critical the first few years of life are to vocabulary acquisition and literacy. Hart and Risleys’ Meaningful Differences was a game changer and a must-read for any educator or policy maker. My first read of the seminal study led me to call both researchers pleading for answers on how to make a difference I and my like-minded colleagues so desperately sought when it seemed much of a child’s script for future success was being written before he or she ever entered a school setting. Both researchers gently walked me off the ledge by assuring me we can and must make a difference, particularly through increasing family connections with schools.

Pay a little now, or a lot later. From the 2005 HighScope Perry Preschool Lifetime Effects Through Age 40 study, the costs of not having preschool are alarming (See figures below). Compared with the program group, those students that did not participate in a preschool program were more apt to be arrested, more likely to earn less money at age 40, less likely to do their homework at age 15, more likely to have a higher IQ score at age 5, and so on. Preschool program graduates ultimately save society nearly $200,000 per child through reduced public service costs. There are many, many more studies that demonstrate the cost savings and social-emotional benefits of quality preschool programs on children and society.

Experiential deficits the majority of poor students bring to school are extensive, particularly when we wait till they reach kindergarten age to start them in school. Unfortunately, the costs of waiting till kindergarten to remedy the deficits are far greater than those of universal pre-k funding. From Albert Wat (2007), author of Dollars and Sense: A Review of Economic Analyses of Pre-K, “Ultimately, behind the numbers about costs and benefits….., the studies…illustrate what educators and parents have known for years, that children who participate in pre-k do better academically, physically, and socially throughout their lives….In the end, we all live in a safer, more productive, and more educated society.”

It makes no sense to not invest in our future. We know the savings preschool programs offer, and we know the costs when such programs are unavailable. The math is quite simple. Spend a little now to remedy the gaps between the privileged and unprivileged students, or spend a lot more years from now trying to fix the consequences. All children deserve no less than to enter our schools on a level playing field, and to be equally prepared for college and career after graduating high school. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Barnett, W.S., Carolan, M.E., Fitzgerald, J., & Squires, J.H. (2012). The state of preschool 2012: State preschool yearbook. New Brunswick, NJ: National Institute for Early Education Research.

Data-Driven Instruction and The Stories Data Tell

There is a wonderful video by Hans Rosling that tells a richly informative and entertaining story about global health growth over the past 200 years. The video is so good that I use it as a hook whenever I do a session on data-driven instruction. In his video, Rosling used 100,000 data points to show how lifespans in various countries have changed over time in response to improving economies, industrialization, world wars, pandemics, and other global events. It’s a fascinating four-minute presentation that vividly shows how data can be used to tell a story. That’s right, the data told a story. In Rosling’s case, the story was about global health. But what about the data stories within school systems? Are we using our district, school, or classroom data to tell stories people need to hear?

Data-Driven Instruction is one of Race to the Top’s “Big Three” deliverables in New York State, combining with Teacher and Principal Effectiveness and Common Core State Standards to shape students’ College and Career Readiness. Data-Driven Instruction (DDI) could easily be reworded, Data-Driven Action, for that is what DDI calls us to do: take action based on the data. It seems so simple. Gather data from the district, school or classroom level. Study the data. Talk with others about the data. Ask “Why” and “How” questions from the analyses. Look deeper at the data. Make action plans to address what the data tells us. Have smart and skilled people monitor the action plans. Go back and look at more data after a set amount of time. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Of the three deliverables, DDI has yet to gain traction in New York schools. As one Race to the Top Network Team member told me recently regarding DDI, “Most schools are assessing. Some schools are analyzing. Few schools are acting.” Given the breakneck speed of the Regents Reform Agenda and its concomitant pressures on school districts, educators and administrators have had to prioritize their efforts. Teacher and principal observation protocols, Common Core Standards, creation of Annual Professional Performance Review Plans, and development of Student Learning Objectives have all but consumed people’s time and energy, leaving DDI as the little white elephant in the room waiting for its turn.

I’m extremely hopeful for next year as we draw the 2012/2013 school year to a close. We’ve had many bumps along the road. Tears have been shed, and fear mongering and politicking have at times exacerbated the legitimate struggles of school reform. However, next year will be different. We now know how to (and how not to) write Student Learning Objectives. We’ve learned how to conduct more objective, evidence-based observations. We understand better what the common core instructional shifts look like, and we’re rewriting assessments to better measure student progress in our brave new world. Next year will be better. Best of all, we will have the time and skills to look deeply at our data and tell the stories we all need to hear for the longterm success of our children and communities. People do better when they know better, and so it goes with Data-Driven Instruction.

Success Means Knowing Who is Responsible for What and Owning the Outcomes

About ten years ago, the men at my church were put in charge of a Mother’s Day Brunch scheduled to follow Sunday morning mass. Okay, “put in charge” is a stretch. Basically, each guy got a “Things to do” list from Phyllis, the church school director, when they arrived at church. Phyllis was really the boss, and we were given the tasks to carry forth the event. The list wasn’t long, maybe ten tasks in all. My list had Set butter dishes on tables highlighted in yellow. There were other tasks on the list such as Prepare pancake batter, Pour cups of orange juice and set on tables, Make coffee, Cook sausages and bacon, and more. No problem.  We had 15 minutes to get things ready–not much time, but I could easily set butter dishes on tables in that period of time.

Immediately after mass, the men left for the hall to begin prepping. When I got in, I found all the butter dishes on the tables. Hmmm. “Interesting,” I thought. Well, since my task was completed, I decided to sit down. As other guys entered, they too scanned the room before joining me at the table. In short order there were ten of us talking baseball, weather, and golf. After a few minutes of light banter, I started wondering what are these guys doing sitting? Don’t they have tasks to do? I noticed some of the other guys were also thinking the same thing, at which point we compared lists. It was comical to find we all had the same item highlighted: Set butter dishes on tables. Oh, oh. At that very moment, Phyllis walked in to find all of us sitting and the only thing done being the butter dishes SHE HAD SET ON THE TABLE earlier in the morning!  With a look of disbelief, she asked, “What are you guys doing??? Don’t you know the mothers will be here in two minutes!” We tried to explain that we all thought our task was to Set butter dishes on tables, but she just shook her head and laughed.

Truly that is one of the funniest things I can remember about life and ownership for outcomes. Reflecting back, none of the men took on any responsibility other than the task each thought was his alone. We each had assumed that the highlighted item on the list was our sole responsibility, and since we found the task completed when we entered the church hall, we contributed no more to the effort other than light conversation about sports and weather. Hilarious! Funny thing is, that’s how reform efforts stall. When people in organizations leave the hard work for others, fail to ask for clarity of tasks, or do little more than the minimum, nothing substantial gets done. Fortunately, effective leaders and educators know better.

Clarity of vision and mission, robust action plans, accountability, and shared ownership are essential to successful organizations. In terms of quality professional development, Graczewski, Knudson, & Holtzman (2009), state, “When a principal was able to articulate clear goals and strategies for the improvement of instruction, when the goals were understood and supported by the majority of teachers, and when the strategies for professional learning were consistent with each other, there was more likely to be coherent and relevant professional development” (p. 91).  In the Wallace Foundation’s Report, Education Leadership: A bridge to school reform, Devita, Colvin, Darling-Hammond, and Haycock (2007) write, “The leaders in high performing schools or districts don’t leave much of anything about teaching and learning to chance” (p. 30). Lastly, Tupa and McFadden (2009) found that in the highly successful Brownsville Independent School District, staff accept personal responsibility for the learning of all students. There are many, many examples of success when a vision is clearly laid out and all stakeholders own and assume responsibility for specific task outcomes. Whether it’s setting butter dishes on tables or disaggregating interim assessment data and action planning, people do better when they share in leadership and own the results of their efforts.

Graczewski, C., Knudson, J., & Holtzman, D. J. (2009, January/February 1). Instructional leadership in practice: What does it look like, and what influence does it have? Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 14(1), 72-96. doi:10.1080/ 10824660802715460

Tupa, M., & McFadden, L. (2009). ‘Excellence is never an accident’. Phi Delta Kappan, 90(8), 554-556. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/218516289?accountid=13645