Leading for Success

1. Leading for Success Session I1 July 2015 Setterlund Consulting LLC

2. Introductions • What percent of your work week do you spend? • Responding to others • Doing paperwork • Attending extracurricular events • Visiting classrooms • Learning • Planning & Reflecting • What do you dislike the most about your job? • What do you like most about your job? • How do you like to spend your time away from work? Setterlund Consulting LLC

3. Why? Highly effective principals raise student achievement by two to seven months. Ineffective principals lower achievement by the same amount. Branch, Hanushek, and Rivkin Strong Leaders = Strong Schools Setterlund Consulting LLC

4. Why? • Leadership significantly effects student learning. Second only to the classroom teacher. • Virtually no instances of school turnaround without effective leadership. • School leadership cited as one, if not the most, important factors in job satisfaction for teachers. • New Leaders for New Schools, 2009 Strong Leaders = Strong Schools Setterlund Consulting LLC

5. Cornerstones Even with the support of an administrative team and expert teacher leaders, the principal’s responsibilities are wide ranging, challenging, stressful, and require long hours on the job. Although there is no getting around the fact that the work facing principals is increasingly demanding, it is also true that it is possible to work smarter, rather than merely harder. The key to working smarter is to work with purpose. Our work must be relevant to the results we aim to achieve. Zoul and Link Setterlund Consulting LLC

6. Marzano’s 21 • Affirmation • Change Agent • Contingent Rewards • Communication • Culture • Discipline • Flexibility • Focus • Ideals/Beliefs • Input • Intellectual Stimulation • Involvement in Instruction • Knowledge of Instruction • Monitoring/Evaluating • Optimizer • Order • Outreach • Relationships • Resources • Situational Awareness • Visibility Setterlund Consulting LLC

7. Zoul & Link - Foundation • Affirmation (.19) • Change Agent • Contingent Rewards • Communication (.23) • Culture (.25) • Discipline • Flexibility • Focus • Ideals/Beliefs (.22) • Input (.25) • Intellectual Stimulation • Involvement in Instruction • Knowledge of Instruction • Monitoring/Evaluating • Optimizer (.20) • Order • Outreach • Relationships (.18) • Resources • Situational Awareness (.33) • Visibility (.20) Setterlund Consulting LLC

8. Leadership Inventory Setterlund Consulting LLC

9. Tally Setterlund Consulting LLC

10. Principal Responsibilities Setterlund Consulting LLC

11. Optimizer Setterlund Consulting LLC

12. Optimizing Leader Provides an optimistic view of what good the school is already doing Provides vision for what the school can accomplish in the future to be great Inspires others Setterlund Consulting LLC

13. How? See others in a positive light Expect the best from people Expect that impending changes are for the best Be a possibility thinker – not a probability thinker Change thinking that past performance probably indicates future performance Setterlund Consulting LLC

14. Coaches adage: Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you are right.

15. Optimism is contagious! Smile Laugh Joke Listen Instill a sense of hope Be enthusiastic

16. What else can you do to optimize? • Build teacher confidence • Affirming best practices • Asking rather than telling • Create a culture of caring • When implementing change: • Inform - why • Energize • Commit • Support • Monitor

17. Review… a optimizing leader: Promotes the positive(s) Delivers open invitations for people to join Is what he/she aspires to be Recognizes and celebrates successes Is rooted (reads and learns in order to propel the work)

18. THE AFFIRMING LEADER RECOGNIZES AND CELEBRATES SCHOOL ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ALSO ACKNOWLEDGES AND ADDRESSES SCHOOL FAILURES

19. TAKE A MINUTE WITH A PARTNER… Why is it important to acknowledge and address failures? Is it a moral imperative? Why is it important to acknowledge and recognize successes?

20. TAKE A MINUTE WITH A PARTNER… Consider teacher recognition. What must we consider when deciding how to recognize and whom to recognize? What are you doing to recognize and celebrate individual and collective success

21. TAKE A MINUTE WITH A PARTNER… Consider student recognition. What do we typically recognize? What can we recognize? What is something your school does to recognize students?

22. What About School-wide Success? What do you celebrate and recognize? How? Setterlund Consulting LLC

23. Systematically and fairly addressing failure – but how? Now the hard part…

24. Need to address underperformance? In student learning? In student or teacher attendance? In number of discipline referrals? In graduation rate? In performance of a subgroup?

25. Go small, go big, go small again, then go individual Go small – share negative performance with a small group of teachers (leadership team); dissect the problem Go big – Present leadership team’s findings to the entire faculty; all staff should be involved in sharing strategies to address the area of need Go small – after an action plan is made to address the performance, have teachers work in PLCs to do the work Go individual – address unacceptable performance directly (might be a single teacher or a team of teachers)

26. Norms for go small, big, small, then individual: No one is allowed to ignore, explain away, or deny the unpleasant facts before us. We look to accept responsibility rather than assign blame. **Why is it important to set these norms at the beginning of the school year – BEFORE we have to use the go small, big, small, then individual approach?

27. What does it mean to an individual or individual team if you address them respectfully and fairly about negative performance? • What does it mean to the others in the school when they know you address individuals about negative performance? Think for a few minutes…

28. Keys to addressing individuals It should be done with immediacy It should be done with built-in accountability structures It should be done with supportive care

29. Immediacy Do not ignore – whatever it is, it won’t just go away Allowing negative performance to continue merely enables the performance Meet in the teacher or team’s classroom Sit beside the teacher(s)

30. Built-in accountability Document meeting after with specific plans for improvement and specific goals Provide copies of documentation to everyone concerned Follow up with the teacher – informal observations, informal conversations, monitoring of peer collaboration, interviews with students, peer guidance, self-assessments, data review, etc.

31. Supportive care Begin the meeting with the teacher by saying, “How can we better support your efforts to accomplish (the goal of improving in the identified area)?” Then listen (may have to remind teacher of norms?) Clarify, when necessary, that the issue is unacceptable Spend time to problem solve, offer support, develop support plans, and desired outcomes – together!

32. How will we respond when our students do not learn? What about addressing student underperformance?

33. Intervention/Remediation RTI ??? Setterlund Consulting LLC

34. An AFFIRMING leader Actively affirms – successes or failures Shares the stories – regularly talks about accomplishments to encourage imitation! Provides proof – follows through with tangible actions Is courageous Chooses honesty always

35. IDEALS/BELIEFS Perhaps the most foundational responsibility as well as the most difficult to execute. Marzano

36. Ideals/Beliefs • Highly effective principals communicate and operate from strong ideals and beliefs about schooling. • Forge shared agreements around the mission , vision, and purpose of the school. Help turn the adopted beliefs into observable behaviors. • Lead in the writing of instructional philosophies by content area. • Ask strategic questions about times when actions do not reflect agreed-upon purposes, goals and agreements. Marzano, R., Waters, T., & McNulty, B. (2005)

37. Ideals/Beliefs continued… • Cornerstone # 3: The school principal fulfills the responsibility of ideals/beliefs by possessing and sharing beliefs about education and by demonstrating behaviors consistent with those beliefs. Zoul, J. & Link. L. (2007)

38. Statements of Belief Mission: Why do we exist? Vision: What do we hope to become? Values: How will we make our shared vision a reality? Setterlund Consulting LLC

39. Mission, Vision, Values and Beliefs

40. Beliefs • Avoid “We believe…” – focus instead on behaviors/commitments such as: • We will promote and insist upon a safe and orderly learning environment. • We will serve as a model for students by treating all members of our school community with dignity and respect. • We will produce challenging, engaging lessons that are relevant and meaningful.

41. Let’s practice…

42. Change the following belief statement into a “We will” statement: We believe that all students should feel welcome regardless of ability or background.

43. Change the following belief statement into a “We will” statement: We believe that successes should be recognized and celebrated.

44. Consider school mottos… Make them original and compelling – a few important words that are catchy and capture the school in a fresh and positive way!

45. “Wilson Central – A Great Place to Learn” • “Elzie Patton – Striving for Great Education” • “Mount Juliet Middle – Making Learning Irresistible” • “Carroll Oakland – The Possibilities are Endless” Compare these mottos:

46. Now you try… Using only 4 to 5 words, draft a motto that you might actually use. Make it compelling and positive!

47. Process On an index card each member writes on item that must be included in the mission statement. Shuffle and redistribute (provides anonymity). Each reads. Facilitator lists items, combining similar items. Using sticky dots, each member votes for top five. Top ten selected and posted. With group, attempt to narrow to five central themes. Committee uses results to write Mission statement. Repeat process for Vision and Values Setterlund Consulting LLC

48. Promoting Beliefs through Actions • Publicize on a regular basis • How? • Actions? • No zeros allowed • Retesting • Additional time and support for learning • “Whatever it takes” • Community service Setterlund Consulting LLC

49. Positive Classroom Environment See Classroom Management Reflection tool Setterlund Consulting LLC

50. Do your teachers know? Do your teachers know what core beliefs and ideals you possess? How do you know? How do you share them? Setterlund Consulting LLC