Fostering Improvement in High Achieving but Static Schools

1. Fostering Improvement in High Achieving but Static Schools by Dr. Kimberley I. Redmond Associate Director, AdvancED Texas For Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD

2. Fostering Improvement in High Achieving but Static Schools Embracing a “spirit” of rapid prototyping of strategies used by the highest performing school systems in the world Improving Organizational Culture Increased Student Learning By Dr. Kimberley I. RedmondFor Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD

3. Fostering Improvement in High Achieving but Static Schools From a longitudinal case study of a school with high but static student achievement scores, Collinson (2010) found that by maintaining the status quo the school did not develop the organizational learning culture needed to make the changes needed to further increase achievement and fully meet the learning demands of the 21st century. Having been successful, Collinson found that static schools often continue using existing strategies even when student achievement is no longer improving. Static schools often do not build teacher capacity; teachers are often not challenged to identify the shortcomings in their instruction or share knowledge with their colleagues. Educational research has linked increased student learning with the existence of an organizational culture focused on learning for all. Just as classroom teachers must create a learning environment for students, leaders must create an environment that supports organizational struggle and learning. Collinson, V. (2010). To learn or not to learn: A potential organizational learning gap among school systems. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 9(2), 190-219. doi:10.1080/15700760903342368 By Dr. Kimberley I. RedmondFor Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD

4. Characteristics ofEffective Organizational Cultures Moving Schools Stuck Schools On handout one, highlight the bulleted characteristics that apply to your school. How do these characteristics impact organizational culture? Organizational Culture--“Patterns of espoused values and shared assumptions developed over time and producing behavioral norms that are adopted in day to day operations and when solving problems.” (Nel, 2009, p. 12) By Dr. Kimberley I. RedmondFor Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD

5. Key conditions that promote an organizational culture focused on learning for all! • Meeting teachers’ needs, • Fostering inquiry, • Facilitating the dissemination of shared learning, • Distributing leadership, • Attending to relationships. By Dr. Kimberley I. RedmondFor Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD

6. Strategies used by the highest performing school systems in the world: From McKinsey Center for Government and Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) By Dr. Kimberley I. RedmondFor Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD

7. Sometimes people defend the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status. —Laurence J. Peter What are some obvious options you might choose? Brainstorm three. Brainstorm “hidden” options – Piggyback on the other ideas Combine the other ideas Imagine yourself in different roles and suggest an idea from that perspective What have you learned from considering options? Write your two favorite options in the Driver Diagram as your two initial improvement aims. By Dr. Kimberley I. RedmondFor Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD

8. Develop your improvement-related targets/aims. What are the issues related to _____________________? (Identify one possible problem based on one of your two chosen options.) What are ideas related to _______________________ ? (Same as above.) The most important issues/ideas are the “key drivers” for change (to be filled in on Driver Diagram). By Dr. Kimberley I. RedmondFor Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD

9. Identify your improvement-related interventions. “All improvement requires change but not all change will result in improvement. So, how do we balance the need to do something with the desire to be sure we know what we are doing before we take action?” (Langley et. al, 2009, p. 43) Reflect on this statement and share. What are your predictions? What intervention(s) do you think should be implemented? Why do you think your hypothesized solution(s) would work? By Dr. Kimberley I. RedmondFor Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD

10. Plan-Do-Study-Act “Embrace a spirit of rapid prototyping—try it quickly, learn from it cheaply, revise and retry.” (Bryk et al., 2011, p. 29) Bryk, A.S., Gomez, L.M., & Gruno, A. (2011). Getting ideas into action: Building networked improvement communities in education. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.carnegiefoundation.org “You can learn more and improve more from trying and testing than from diagnosis and planning. The success of a test lies in what is learned from it, no matter how it turns out.” (Langley et al., 2009, p.142) Langley, G.J., Moen, R.D., Nolan, K.M., Nolan, T.W., Norman, C.L., & Provost, L.P. (2009). The improvement guide: A practical approach to enhancing organizational performance. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching views 90-Day Cycles as a critical component of improvement work. New ideas and innovations generated through this process go through continued testing and refinement and result in long-lasting positive change. Park, S., & Takahasi, S. (2013). 90 day cycle handbook. Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Retrieved from http://www.carnegiefoundation.org By Dr. Kimberley I. RedmondFor Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD

11. Find Us! By Dr. Kimberley I. RedmondFor Science Academy of South Texas, South Texas ISD