Steps to Success Training for Coaches

1. Steps to Success Training for Coaches August 27, 2013 PSU- COGS, Concord for NH Title I Priority and Focus Schools

2. Welcome! • Purpose of the training • Intended outcomes • Agenda overview • Introductions: Success indicators Introduce yourself and complete this stem: “This training will be successful for me if . . .”

3. The Essence of the Coach’s Role “An outside school coach, properly prepared and sensitive to individual and whole-school concerns, can provide a balance of pressure and support to initiate and sustain school improvement.” Kostin and Haeger, 2006, Coaching Guide, p. 3

4. What does a coach need to know and be able to do? • What is the knowledge coaches need? • What are the skills a coach needs? • What dispositions or attitudes will enable a coach to serve his/ her clients well? Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their players and motivate. Vince Lombardi

5. Plan Assess Implement Revise Monitor Title I Priority and Focus Schools Activities, Tools and Products • ESEA Turnaround Principles • The planning cycle: where are you now?

6. Doing the work: Collaborative Teams • Recommended members • Responsibilities of members • Special role of “process manager” • Essential role of “district liaison” • Optional: external coach

7. Managing the work: Leading teams • Steps to Success core values: • Distributed responsibility • Best practices in managing teams • Coaching Team Leaders • *VIP* Principal is Team Leader NOT the Coach! Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story. Casey Stengel

8. Coach’s Tasks and Team Tasks

9. Starting the work: Comprehensive Data Review • Recommended protocol: Data Driven Dialogue • Available resources: • SLDS Data Facilitators • PerformancePLUS • Products: • Summary of Local Achievement Data • Optional: classroom profiles of student performance

14. BREAK “If we are interested in effecting change, it is crucial to remember that we are working with these webs of relations, not with machines.” (Margaret Wheatley, 1999, Leadership and the New Science, p. 145.)

15. Steps to Success: The Process

16. Starting the Work (cont’d): Recommended Sequence • Contracting conversation: principal, super, coach • LT Organizing meeting: norms, roles and responsibilities • Comprehensive Data Review - DDD • Critical factors influencing achievement / Achievement Gaps (e.g. fishbone)

17. Leadership Rigorous Aligned Curriculum Use of Data Factors Contributing to Learning Family Engagement Problem Statement: What is the achievement gap that must be remedied? School Climate Indicators = evidence-based instructional practices and organizational structures that influence student learning Professional teaching culture What do we know already? Fishbone graphic organizer Student Supports Differentiated Instruction Continuous improvement

18. ASSESS Current Practices • Connecting Inputs to Outcomes • Recommended Protocol – • YOUR practices compared with “best” practice • Current level – none, partial, full • Priority – influence of practice on outcomes • Opportunity – practical considerations • EVIDENCE – corroborate ratings

19. Mt. Adams Leadership Team • Principal/ team leader • Process manager • ELA lead teacher • Math lead teacher • District Liaison • Parent

20. Debrief ASSESS Protocol • Did the Mt. Adams team do a good job assessing its practices for ID10? • What coaching strategies contributed to a rich conversation? • What did members of the team learn from their assessment? • What do they need to do next?

21. PLAN (or Revise PLAN) Protocol START with the END in MIND • What will look like? • What will teachers/ admin/ students/ others be doing differently? • What evidence (data) will tell you whether actions are having desired impact?

22. PLAN (or Revise PLAN) Example • PLAN protocol • Mt. Adams (or own) example  Is the description of fully implemented clear and complete?  Is the evidence to be collected realistic? appropriate?

23. Questions on the Recommended StS ASSESS or PLAN Process?

24. Coaching Comments: Formative Feedback • (from Grant Wiggins, 7 Keys to Effective Feedback, in Educational Leadership September 2012, Vol. 70, No. 1, ASCD) • Helpful feedback is: • Goal–referenced • Tangible and transparent • Actionable • Specific • Personalized • Timely • Ongoing • Consistent

25. Coaching Comments: Formative Feedback • Sample entry from Spring Lake ES: • Indicator: The Leadership Team reviews the principal’s summary reports of classroom observations and takes them into account in planning professional development. • (school’s description of current practice) ​​Beginning last year, Spring Lake staff agreed to changes in the professional evaluation process that allows administrators to aggregate observation data at mid-year and end of year. These aggregated reports are reviewed by the Leadership Team to inform decisions about the targets/ focus of instructional coaching. This is the first year of this practice and we intend to implement this year and monitor its impact. • What feedback would you give to this school in the form of a “coaching comment”?

26. Coaching Comments: Task and Process Feedback (Hattie and Timberly (2007). The power of feedback. Review of Educational Research 77 (1), 81-112.) ​Levels of Feedback: Task or product level; process level, self-regulation level; self-level Examples: ** Hi, Wendy and John -- Looks like you've recruited a representative team to work on the process for your restructuring plan. Call or email and I can help you get started. ** Hi, Michael, . . . .For the 'fully implemented' or not a priority instructional practice indicators, do you have evidence that they are actually happening in every classroom? For instance, are resource teachers following the same curriculum pacing guides, etc. as regular ed teachers? ** Matthew: . . .. Overall, you rate yourself as fully implemented on a lot of indicators -- look at student outcome data to see if that rating is true across all student groups and classrooms. Are you coming to some discoveries about areas needing change?

27. Lunchtime Pause and Reflect “Effective coaching focuses on changing performance. Therefore, the first requirement of any coaching relationship is that the person receiving the coaching must agree that a change in performance will be useful. Throwing coaches at teachers and principals who have not first agreed that improved student performance is essential will be a waste of time and money.” (Reeves, D. 2009. Leading change in your school: How to conquer myths, build commitment, and get results. Arlington, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD). p. 75)

28. The Indistar Tool: TOUR • Navigate to www.indistar.org • Practice sites – • nhsample/nhsample = includes sample entries for fictitious Mt. Adams School; full access to retrieve, but not editable • nhschool/ nhschool = access to materials, can post ‘practice’ entries; PUBLIC – no restrictions; caution on entering real information • 3. Passwords – Access Levels • School – full editing access for process managers, principals • District Liaison – read-only for schools assigned, enter coaching comments • School Consultant/ Coach – same as DL • District – read-only for schools; full access for District workspace • Guest – read only; team members, staff WITH CAUTIONS

29. Indistar Tour: The DASHBOARD DASHBOARD for Mt Adams School My Online Tools -- Support for School Improvement, “Steps to Success” – School Indicators -- Transformation Implementation Indicators (for SIG schools ONLY) -- NH Turnaround Indicators Document Upload (aka File Cabinet) -- Location to post completed Summary of Local Data -- Four folders set up for you; option to create new folders

30. The Indistar DASHBOARD (cont’d.) TABS: Home – My Online Tool(s) Forms to Complete September (Oct, Nov) Monthly Reports NH SINI Goals and Objectives SIG – Leading Indicators Annual Form SIG – Lagging Indicators Annual Form SIG – Interventions Annual Form Required Reports Same list as FORMS, with SUBMIT button Docs and Links Document Upload guidance Summary of Local Achievement Data Assess, Plan Protocol ASSESS Worksheet

31. Reading Minds: Indistar Exploration Purpose : to explore the features of Indistar and anticipate questions from teams Procedure: 1. Navigate to the assigned area of the Indistar workspace. 2. Explore that area to learn what’s there. 3. Develop at least TWO (2) questions that can be answered by your section of the site. Example 1: Assignment: nhsample/ nhsample Question: Where can I see some examples of indicator assessments or plans that might be posted by a school team?

32. Indistar Tour: Main Menu Page • ID Banner – editing options • Above the banner: • Resources and Reports • Resources -- how to export • Reports – *Indicator Checklist Report • Plan Your Meeting • Meeting Agenda Setup • Worksheets • Wise Ways

33. Indistar Tour: Main Menu PageSidebar • Coaching Comments • Where Are We Now? • Help – description of items on Main Menu page • School Team • Demographics- post school profile in File Cabinet • Assessment - post Assessment Summary in File Cabinet

34. Questions on Indistar DASHBOARD and MAIN MENU

35. Indistar Tour: Main Menu PageCycle Links What: Document the team’s work Who: Process Manager, Principal When: After team meetings

36. Indistar Tour: Main Menu PageASSESS • Use ASSESS Worksheet during team meetings; Process Manager posts summaries (tabs) 1. Select Indicator 2. Indicators to Assess 3. Indicators Assessed 4. Assess Indicator • *NEW* FILTERS • KEY Turnaround Indicators • CORE Turnaround Indicators • CHOICE Turnaround Indicators

37. Indistar Tour: Main Menu PageCREATE PLAN • Select Indicators to PLAN based on (a) data review for gaps; (b) crosswalk with Turnaround Principles • Use PLAN Protocol during team meetings; Process Manager posts results • *Enhanced focus = #2: “ . . . Describe the information you will need to provide evidence that this objective is fully met” • *New* Feature: 5c – Is this a recurring task?

38. Indistar Tour: Main Menu PageMONITOR PLAN • “In the Plan” caution • Sortable headers • *NEW* Progress updates • When? Monthly • Where? Update or Complete Task Status • Comments: (example) “September 25 LT Mtg – LT contracted with SLDS Data Coach Nancy Numerical to facilitate our “deep data dive”. We completed our first review on 09/25 and will continue our data analysis on our next LT meeting, October 5.” • Delete This Task -- with care!

39. Questions on the Indistar Tool

40. BREAK

41. Defining the Coach’s Responsibilities: Contracting Conversation “A solid coaching relationship begins with a clear working agreement or contract and follows the same guidelines and principles as contracting for any other facilitative role. . . Including clarifying the expectations of both parties and emphasizing mutual design and joint accountability.” Davidson, Anne and Dale Schwarz. The facilitative coach. (2005). In Roger Schwarz et al, The skilled facilitator fieldbook, pp. 457- 477. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

42. Next Steps: Crosswalk Purpose: Work with plans already in place – “do not reinvent the wheel” • Some Process Options: • -Recent Steps to Success Users • - Retrieve List of Objectives included in Plan • - Identify which Turnaround Indicators already assessed, planned • -Review existing content; update; post in Turnaround Indicators workspace • -- Recent Focused Monitoring Participants • - Review action plan produced by FM process • - Identify Turnaround Indicators most closely aligned with FM plan • - Post ASSESS and PLAN in Turnaround Indicators workspace • -- SIG Schools • - Examine 2013-2014 Action Plans • -Post aligned plan in online workspace

43. Homework Checklist (for Schools)  Consult with District leaders, respected advisors and appropriate DOE state lead to decide whether to contract with an external coach.  Check login access; wander and explore  Recruit or reconvene leadership team (LT); create schedule; agree on norms; distribute roles  Designate a “process manager”  Complete comprehensive data review  Complete and post Summary of Local Achievement Data  Complete CROSSWALK; identify priority indicators to be assessed; draft work plan  FOCUS Schools: ASSESS or RE-ASSESS and PLAN (or revise current PLAN) KEY Indicator ID10  Complete and Submit September Monthly Report  Register to attend first StS web meeting: Sept 19

44. Who ya’ gonna call?

45. Coaching Resources Laba, K. 2010. Coaching for School Improvement; A Guide for Coaches and their Supervisors. Lincoln, IL: Center on Innovation and Improvement www.centerii.org) Garmston, Robert J. and Bruce M. Wellman. 1999. The adaptive school: A sourcebook for developing collaborative groups. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon. Lipton, Laura and Bruce Wellman. 2011. Groups at work: Strategies and structures for professional learning. Sherman, CT: MiraVia. National School Reform Faculty. http://www.nsrfharmony.org/ School Reform Initiative http://schoolreforminitiative.org/ Schwarz, Roger. 2002. The skilled facilitator: A comprehensive resource for consultants, facilitators, managers, trainers, and coaches. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Wheatley, Margaret J. 1999. Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler.

46. Thanks for your participation “We change only if we decide that the change is meaningful to who we are. . . If the work of change is at the level of an entire organization or community, then the search for new meaning must be done as a collective inquiry.” Wheatley, Margaret J. 1999. Leadership and the new science: Discovering order in a chaotic world. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, p148.