Strong Districts & Their Leadership

1. Strong Districts & Their Leadership Student Well-being Presented By: Catherine McCullough catherine.mccullough@cmcleadership.ca .

2. What you will learn today? • Strong Districts and Leadership project • The current research on an approach to practices that contribute to student well being • What have we learned from this work and recommendations

3. Improving students’ achievement and well-being is the fundamental role of Educational Leaders

4. Commissioned By Directors of Education (CODE) Uses evidence from many sources on the nine characteristics of high performing school districts

5. Characteristics Provide Coherent Instructional Guidance Mission, Vision and Goals Align budgets, personnel/polices and uses of time with district mission, vision and goals Establish, broadly shared mission, vision and goals founded on ambitious images of the educated person. Build district and school capacity - Seek out and use multiple sources Create learning oriented improvement processes Advocate for and support a policy-governance approach to Board of evidence Provide Job Embedded Professional Development Nurture productive working relationships with staff and stakeholders Use a comprehensive performance management system for school and district leadership development

6. Two Phases &Two Strands Professional Development Research

7. Professional Development The intent of the modules is to de-privatize practice and to better understand implications of relevant research

8. Research Strand Student outcomes including… 45 District’s Math and Language achievement Twosurveys Intensiveinterviews with 48 leaders Well-being Approximately 1,400 & 1,200 respondents Engagement

9. schools Research Goals classrooms What is the extent the (9) characteristics influence? IMPACT families student success

10. District effects on students classrooms families schools A central goal of the study was to identify those features that should be the most productive focus of intervention by school leaders. students

11. What we anticipated students GROWTH & STREAMLINE PROVIDE leaders efforts study results The study results will provide leaders with greater leverage over the elements of their school systems that matter to student growth and streamline their efforts.

12. Study framework District Characteristic (9) District Leadership Achievement Well-being Engagement School Conditions (12)

13. How do you define: student well-being? Student well-being is like a HUGE bucket.

14. Student well-being That positive sense of self and spirit and belonging we feel when our cognitive, emotional, and physical needs are being met Ontario Well Being Strategy

15. Achievement, mission of school The degree to which a student is functioning effectively in the curriculum offered in the school community

16. What are the twelve school conditions? • Leadership is an exercise of influence and recognition • The following 12 conditions can be influenced by leadership practices that have direct effects on students

17. Classroom instruction Focused instruction Academic Emphasis Disciplinary Climate School-wide Experience The Emotions Path Collective Teacher Efficacy Teacher Trust Teacher Commitment Leadership practices Student Learning Organizational Path Safe and Orderly Environment Organization of Planning and Instructional Time Collaborative Cultures and Structures. Classroom Experience Family Path Parent Expectations Forms of Communication at Home Parents social capital around schooling

18. What we found • Academic emphasis and school leadership are the most influential of the 12 conditions on student well-being • Teacher trust and collective teacher efficacy had a significant relationship to student well-being

19. Academic emphasis • A combination of teachers setting high, but reasonable goals, students responding positively to the challenge of these goals, and the principal supplying the resources and exerting influence to attain these goals • Academic emphasis has been found to be positively related to achievement in all types of schools including schools serving poor and minority students • Goddard, Hoy, Tarter and Hoy (2006)

20. What will be effective for improving achievement will also be effective for improving well-being

21. Discussion • What do you do to promote academic emphasis in your district? • How can you further leverage Academic emphasis in your schools?

22. School leadership – what successful leaders do • Setting directions • Building relationships and developing people • Developing the organization to support desired practices • Improving the instructional program • Securing accountability • Ontario Leadership Framework

23. Setting directions • Build a shared vision • Identify specific, shared, short term goals • Create high performance expectations • Communicate the vision and goals

24. Build relationships and develop people • Stimulate growth in the professional capacities of staff • Provide support and demonstrate consideration for individual staff members • Model the schools values and practices • Build trusting relationships with staff students and parents • Productive working relationships with teacher federation representatives

25. Develop the organization to support desired practices • Build collaborative cultures and distribute leadership • Structure the organization to facilitate collaboration • Build productive relationships with families and communities • Connect the school to it’s wider environment • Maintain a safe and healthy school environment • Allocate resources to support the schools vision and goals

26. Improve the instructional program • Staff the instructional program • Provide instructional support • Monitor student learning and school improvement progress • Buffer staff from distractions to their work

27. Secure accountability • Build staff members’ sense of internal accountability • Meet the demands for external accountability

28. Recommendations from Strong Districts Districts should reassess what they are doing to nurture the development of their school leaders consistent with research based practices. There is likely no single improvement focus for a district that will make as large a difference to it’s performance as focus on leadership development.

29. Leadership development • The 12 school conditions have significant effects on student learning • Evidence demonstrates that they are workable by school leaders

30. What do you focus on in your leadership development programs?

31. Leadership for learning It is important to make tacit knowledge about leadership and leadership development explicit, at all opportunities and with all audiences throughout the system

32. Collective teacher efficacy The level of confidence a group exudes in its capacity to organize and execute whatever educational initiatives are required for students to reach high standards of achievement

33. What does collective efficacy look like? • Challenging goals for themselves • High levels of planning and organization • Testing new methods • Classroom time dedicated to learning. • Helping Students succeed with persistence and resiliency • Setting high goals for students • Demonstrate a passion for teaching

34. How can leaders foster collective teacher efficacy?

35. Good leadership practices • Promoting cooperation and collaboration among staff towards common goals • Encourage staff to form networks and join other networks • Sponsor meaningful and professional development • Inspire others with a vision of the future

36. Teacher trust Transparency, competence, benevolence and reliability are trustworthy teachers qualities Teacher trust is critical to the success of schools, and nurturing trusting relationships with students, and parents is a key elements in improving student learning

37. Outline the ways to foster teacher trust?

38. Trust is earned when… • Behave towards teachers in a supportive, friendly open manner • Listen to the needs and assist in supporting those needs • Articulating a clear vision of expectations • Buffer teachers from unreasonable demands • Set high standards for students then follow through with supports for teachers • Be reliable, open, honest in all interactions

39. Student well-being recommendation Schools and districts aiming to improve conceptions of student well being should include as part of their improvement efforts, increase the status in their schools of Academic Emphasis School Leadership Collective Teacher Efficacy Teacher Trust

40. Recommendations from Strong Districts research Districts should set as a priority supporting the work of their schools in learning more on how to improve the status of the 12 conditions and develop resource material that schools can use to improve these efforts. Include specific training for school leaders on how to diagnose and improve the status of these conditions. Districts should avoid an exclusive focus on just one of the conditions as a “silver bullet” All 12 Conditions have the potential to help improve student success. The choice of which one or several to focus on at a given time should depend on the judgment of what would be most helpful in individual school contexts.

41. Shouldn’t the status of improving conditions be a focus on a leadership development program?

42. References School Leaders’ Influences’ on Student Learning: The Four Paths How School Districts Influence Student Achievement

43. For more information Catherine.mccullough@cmcleadership.ca Catherine McCullough CMC Leadership www.cmcleadership.ca www.strongdistrictleaders.com .