Leadership in Reading First: A principled team

transcript

Sharon Walpole

University of Delaware

Introductions and Some History

1997-98: Data for Beat the Odds study collected1998-99: Beat the Odds study data analyzed;

dissertation data collected; REA authorized1999-00: Instructional coordinator with experienced

principal; REA federal reviewer; REA staff visits; REA work in Iowa and Georgia

2000-01: Instructional coordinator with inexperienced principal; Reading Rockets documentary filmed

2001-02: REA coordinator at neighboring school2002-03: Move to Delaware2003-04: LC Handbook; Reading First in Delaware2004-05: Reading First in Georgia; ERRFTAC consultant

What’s Happening with Coaching?• Several different models that vary as to their focus

(school or classroom) and their content (reform or improvement)

• IRA is teaming with researchers interested in coaching (e.g., Rita Bean, Cathy Toll, Camille Blachowitz, Sharon Walpole) to survey coaches and produce a descriptive document– General stance: Coaches need ongoing support in a

variety of areas• IRA and NCTE are teaming to draft standards for

coaching (Bean, Walpole, Farstrup)• One sure thing – coordination is essential

What’s Happened in DE?

Year 1: Developed PD plan for coaches and beginning state-level monitoring

Year 2: PD for coaches separated from monitoring

Reapplication: Individualized plans for each district

Year 3: PD for coaches and principals together plus additional PD for coaches

Literacy Coach’s FocusIn Data Analysis

ProgramEvaluation

Regrouping

Form needs-basedgroups for classroom

instruction

Assign children to interventions

To what extent is my program keepingBenchmark children at benchmark?

Choose instructional emphasis

To what extent is small-group workmoving strategic children to benchmark?

To what extent is my program movingIntensive children to benchmark?

To what extent are classroom effectsapparent?

Regrouping

Form needs-basedgroups for classroom

instruction

Assign children to interventions

Choose instructional emphasis

Which DIBELS reportsshould I use?

Do you have curriculum materials to accomplish this?

ProgramEvaluation

To what extent is my program keepingBenchmark children at benchmark?

To what extent is small-group workmoving strategic children to benchmark?

To what extent is my program movingIntensive children to benchmark?

To what extent are classroom effectsapparent?

K 1 2 3

At Risk

Some Risk

Benchmark

State-Level Year-End Data, 2004-05

General Impressions

1. We are increasingly successful in prevention-based instruction in Kindergarten

2. We need to continue to experiment in intervention, particularly for second and third grade

Consider time, focus, and explicitness for needs-based work?Consider additional intervention programs?

Cross-Sectional Analysis

How well are the kindergarten children this year doing compared to last year?– Did they start out stronger or weaker?– Did they make more or less progress between

fall and winter?

And yes, these are different children, but the teachers are the same and the program is the same

For Kindergarten

Beginning of kindergarten status includes weighted combinations of measures

Middle kindergarten directs attention to initial sound fluency

End of kindergarten directs attention to phoneme segmentation fluency

*You have to look at your own data, considering all measures, to really evaluate your program

State K Cross-Section

Fall 2003 Winter 2004 Spring 2004

Fall 2004 Winter 2005

Spring 2005

For first grade

Beginning of first grade status includes weighted combinations of measures

Middle first grade directs attention to nonsense word fluency

End of first grade directs attention to oral reading fluency

*You have to look at your own data, considering all measures, to really evaluate your program

State 1 Cross-Section

Spring 2005

For Second Grade

Beginning of second grade status includes weighted combinations of measures

Middle second grade directs attention to oral reading fluency

End of second grade directs attention to oral reading fluency

*You have to use the cognitive model of assessment to interpret these data

For Third Grade

Third grade data include only oral reading fluency

*You have to use the cognitive model of assessment to interpret these data

Cohort Analysis

Given children’s experience at your school over time, to what extent is your instructional program actually accelerating literacy growth over time?

(and you are right when you say it’s not EXACTLY the same children if your population is highly transient)

State Cohort K-1

Spring 2005

F03 W04 S04 F04 W05 S05

K-1 Benchmark %

State Cohort 1-2

Spring 2005

F03 W04 S04 F04 W05 S05

1-2 Benchmark

State Cohort 2-3

F03 W04 S04 F04 W05 S05

2-3 Benchmark

Questions for Leaders

• To what extent have you set and communicated the plan?

• To what extent are teachers understanding and implementing the curriculum?

• How are they using time?• How are they monitoring progress and adjusting

their instruction and groupings?• How well are they using intervention options?

For Coaches

If you’re not getting the results you want, you have to do something different.

Start with yourself

Work more closely with administration.

Spend more time in classrooms.

Focus your pd time on differentiation.

What leadership lessons have been learned at ERRFTAC?

PD on PD – a tall order

1. Respectful of participantsCombination of formal presentation and time for you

to talk and plan

2. Informed by the research on PDContent, process, context

Teacher change, student achievement

Evaluation

3. Concrete example

4. Time for reflection

What do you bring to your team?What do you need from your team?• SBRR knowledge of development?

• SBRR knowledge of instruction?

• Research on adult learning?

• Research on professional development?

• Research on school change? Teacher change?

• Research on leadership?

• Experience in these areas?

Guskey, T. R., & Sparks, D. (1996). Exploring the Relationship between Staff Development and Improvements in Student Learning. Journal of Staff Development, 17(4), 34-38.

Content

Process

Context

Quality of StaffDevelopment

Parent Knowledge/Practice

Connections withFamilies

TeacherKnowledge/Practice

School CultureSupervision/Evaluation

AdministratorKnowledge/Practice

Parent Education

School Policies

ImprovedAchievement

Planning for Quality

Content

Process

Context

Impact of Quality

Connections with Families

Teacher Knowledge/Practice

School Culture Supervision/Evaluation

Administrator Knowledge/Practice

Parent Education

Road to Achievement

School Policies

ImprovedAchievement

From Staff Development to Student Learning

(Guskey & Sparks, 1996)

Content

Process

Context

Connections withFamilies

School CultureSupervision/Evaluation

Parent Education

School Policies

ImprovedAchievement

Successful School Reform is …

Specific The program is sufficiently detailed.

Powerful The program produces results.

Authoritative Leadership is involved and informed.

Consistent The program is uniformly implemented.

Stable The program is not changed without reason.

Desimone, L. (2002). How can comprehensive school reform models be successfully implemented? Review of Educational Research, 72,433–479.

A teacher change process(Guskey, 1986)

Change teachers’ beliefs and attitudes

Study student outcomes

Change teachers’ practices

PD TargetAreas

Bottom Line: Student Achievement

+ Teacher Practice

Organizational Support

Participant Learning

Participant Reactions

Thomas Guskey, Educational Leadership, March 2002.

Ongoing Evaluation of PD efforts

Joseph Murphy, in Leadership for Literacy: Research-Based Practice, PreK-3 (2003, Corwin Press), summarizes key qualities possessed by principals of schools where achievement is strong.

The Effective RF Principal

An effective principal

A Real School story . . .

(how I got into the schoolwide business)

The More-Effective Principal And in real life . . .

The More-Effective Principal The Less-Effective Principal

Setting Goals

The More-Effective Principal My principal

Has a more child-centered vision Knew every child and

every family

Sets manageable, realistic goals Targeted a specific

dimension

Sees student performance as central Collected, analyzed his own

Expresses goals in measurable terms Talked the numbers,

questioned

Uses goals for planning Not the feds, not the

district . . .

Asks parents & staff to help set goals Had a “kitchen cabinet”

Communicating Goals

Periodically reviews & discusses Established the concept

of state of school

Actively clarifies goals Served as a sounding board

Has teachers who know goals Created excitement and shared

Has teachers who see themselves Believed in his staffas good instructors

Promoting Quality Instruction

Insists on certain teaching strategies Established a schoolwide

reading

program

Favors interactive teaching Corrected my modeling

Assigns teachers on the basis of Regularly switched

grade levelsimproving achievement

Supervising Instruction

Relies little on formal observations MBWA

Values informal visits and meetings Every classroom every

Often reads about instruction Sometimes crazy things!

Often provides specific feedback Reading specialist himself

Counsels and assists poor teachers Including out of teaching!

Allocating Instructional Time

Carefully sets time allocations 90 minutes, cross grade

Coordinates time allocations Entire school schedule reframedacross teachers

Schedules more instructional and fewerReading instruction never

cancelled

non-instructional activities

Insists on time for basics DIET of words, fluency,

Protects uninterrupted block Every day, every classroom

Coordinating the Curriculum

Is highly involved in curriculum After reading, writing, then

science and

alignment social studies

Is concerned with the continuity Empowered gifted

education specialistof curriculum from grade to grade

Monitoring Student Progress

Supports testing programs Taught me about progress

monitoring

Provides test results to teachers Regrouping from the office In a timely manner

Discusses results with groups and Constant evaluation of

groupingindividual teachers

Encourages teachers to use test Used student achievement

results toresults to plan instruction discuss instructional quality

Setting Expectations

Holds adults accountable for student Never blamed families or childrenlearning outcomes

Requires mastery of grade-level Retention in first gradeskills for promotion to next grade

Being Visible

Is often out of the office It can wait

Makes an effort to move about Eyes everywherethe campus and in and out ofclassrooms

Providing Incentives

Recognizes teachers with rewards Had favoritessuch as distributing leadership showing personal interest making public acknowledgements giving private praise

Ensures that student rewards are Thought about other

important areasfrequent and they they go to a large percentage of students

Focuses rewards on achievement Grades tied to status on grade level

Promoting PD

Is more likely to be directly involved Took 2 graduate classes

with me!in PD activities

Follows up by ensuring that PD Forced me to have outcomesmethods are implemented

Cobbles temporary coalitions Had realistic expectations; knewof teachers to help implement who would struggle

Encourages professional dialogue Set up grade-level PD

during the day

Helps teachers attend conferences Sent people as a reward

Creating a Safe & OrderlyLearning Environment

Works with teachers to develop If they needed itclassroom management skills

Establishes a clear and consistent Not perfect at thatdisciplinary policy

Enforces discipline fairly and That eitherconsistently

Involves teachers and students Sets rules independentlyIn setting rules

Creating a Safe & OrderlyLearning Environment

Confronts problems quickly and Very personalforcefully

Supports teachers with discipline Is unsympathetic to

teachers withproblems discipline problems

Promoting Collaboration

Encourages teamwork and Reading program forced itcollaborative efforts

Gives faculty a formal role in For those who wanted itdecision making

Informally seeks teachers’ ideas Kitchen cabinetand opinions

Securing Outside Resources

Is skilled at influencing district Renegadedecision making about resources

Actively seeks resources Magic of partnerships

Assertively recruits the best Renegadeteachers (even from other schools)

Allocates money based on goals Always saved some

Linking Home and School

Communicates with parents on a Differentiated strategiesregular basis

Involves parents in school activities Differentiated strategies

Establishes programs that promote Calls home; home visits;

African-parent-teacher interaction American history night

Promotes the school to Churches, university, local

sportscommunity groups

Provides ways parents can learn Families Learning

Togetherabout school and help their children

In RF there are at least three of you . . .

Principal

Literacy Coach

LEA Representative

What do you want to change in your school?

How can you do it together?

Reading First is aboutBuilding Capacity for Leadership

State Reading Team

County Coordinators

Coaches and Principals

Teachers

Taylor, Pearson, Clark, & Walpole, 2000

CIERA’s Beat the Odds Study

The most effective schools had– Strong links to parents– Systematic internal assessment systems– Systems for communication and collaboration– Small-group interventions across the grades– Ongoing professional development

None of these things is possible without strong leadership

I review 3 sources of

guidance for leaders

You reflect with your team

You consider your own

strengths and weaknesses

Principals helpto plan for their

CoachSession

Sources of Guidance

Leadership in SchoolImprovement

Georgia REA Experience

Recent RFGuidance

What does the literature say about the role of the principal in school improvement?

Instructional

Leader

Collaborative

Leader

Transformational

Leader

Managing, guiding

curriculum and instruction

directly

Creating a system for

shared decision-making

Both leading directly and

sharing decision-making

Or Maybe a Systems Thinker?

Michael Fullan, 2005

A person capable of participating in the reform of a system (a school nested in a district nested in a state) by interacting with and supporting the development of other leaders

Or Maybe a Systems Thinker

A person capable of participating in the reform of a system (a school nested in a district nested in a state) by interacting with and supporting the development of other leaders

District

School

Principals: What is the leadership model that guides you?

Please take 10 minutes to discuss your leadership training or philosophy with your LC.

The main mark of an effective principal

is not just his or her impact on

the bottom line of student achievement, but also on how many leaders he or she

leaves behind who can go even

further (Fullan, 2005, p. 31).

In DERF

We need RF principals to be systems thinkers, training and empowering their literacy coaches to be leaders. Not generic leaders, but leaders in that particular RF principal’s school doing work that is consistent with the principal’s vision for RF in the building.

Fullan argues that effective leaders

create positive energy

Energy Creators

Act enthusiastic, positive

Think critically, creatively, and imaginatively

Help others to think and do

Are leaders at all levels

Are reflective and honest about their own work

Always strive to do better

Energy Neutrals Energy Consumers

Are competent

Are task-oriented

Are good at keeping things working

Don’t like others to reflect on their work

Can improve on their own

Are negative

Don’t like change, block change

Take up other people’s time

Don’t feel good about their work

Won’t, can’t reflect on their own practice

Don’t seem to want to improve

Think a minute

In your own RF leadership role, what’s one way you can move from either a neutral or a consumer to a producer of energy?

When it comes to sustainability, each level above you helps or hinders (it is rarely neutral) (Fullan, 2005, p.65).

District

Principal

Literacy Coach

Teacher

Think a minute

Given your own place in our system, to what extent are you helping individuals in the level below you? What is one way that you can improve?

I have learned as a principal the importance of backing my LC up. Last year as a first year principal I was just trying to keep my head above water. To be perfectly honest, at the very beginning of this project I just thought, “That’s your department. You handle that,” and then I discovered that I couldn’t do that.

Task #1

LEA Reps Principals Literacy Coaches

How can you increase your support to principals?

How can you increase your support to your Literacy Coach?

How can you increase your support to your teachers?

Sources of Guidance

Recent RFGuidance

Enter the Literacy Coach

Perhaps an inexperienced leader?

Perhaps leading a fairly complex set of

changes in curriculum and assessment?

Perhaps constantly negotiating his or her role at school?

I know what she has contributed to our language arts program just through the assistance she has provided teachers. I know that my assistant principal and I could not do that. We have 55 teachers in our school and 35 classrooms, 750 students. There’s no way that the two of us could provide the instructional support that the teachers need.

Let’s learn from that first cohort

• How did principals define the role of the literacy coach in building-level change?

• How did partnership with an LC influence these principals’ own role?

What is a Literacy Coach?

Mentor (n=6) Director (n=8)

Classroom-level focus–Relationships–Modeling–Observing–Differentiated support

School-level focus–Vision–Scheduling–Managing–Differentiated support

•Modeling•Observing

What should your LC be?

In your building, are procedures for addressing these particular school-level RF issues already firmly in place?

Support your Empower your

LC as mentor LC as director

Yes? No?

How does partnership with an LC change a principal’s role?

Changes school schedule, for instruction and for professional development

Provides a professional development “loop” from outside the classroom to inside

Sharpens the focus of administrative observation

Changes the school climate

Allows the principal to focus on instruction

Getting the information, having the coach, being in the classrooms, doing the observations, doing the modeling, and then coming back and watching teachers and letting them share ideas—that’s the only way to perpetuate change.

I very much like the instructional part of my job and this has made me go back to what it was I wanted to do when I started being a principal. It has, really, it has. I mean it’s true. I’m in the classrooms every day.

Task #2

LEA Reps Principals Literacy Coaches

How can you provide additional support to your principals and coaches in defining their roles?

Do you want your LC to be mentor or director? How can you help?

To what extent have you been defining your role as mentor or director?

Sources of Guidance

Recent RFGuidance

North Central

Regional Educational Laboratory

(NCREL)

http://www.ncrel.org/rf/leadership/leaderguide.htm

What can Principals do in RF?

Build RF in your building!

• Provide a vision

• Set priorities

• Create ownership

• Remove barriers

• Foster peer support

• Model the behavior you want

Right now to me we have the best reading program that any school could have. And that comes from here, from my heart.

Set up the system for classroom instruction

• Continue to monitor and direct the use of commercial materials

• Set and protect your reading block

• Make sure that every teacher has what he/she needs to teach

• Make goals for the building

• Monitor through analyzing assessments and through observing instruction

Task #3

What are the strengths and weaknesses of your system for classroom instruction?

What is one thing that each of you can do to improve it?

I’ve noticed that the dialogue, the interaction, the level of discussion is much more insightful and that’s very promising to me because we keep pulling ourselves back to the research—what’s worked? what’s going to work with our kids?

Set up the system for support

• Maintain an “every classroom” focus

• Walk through or observe every day

• Direct the coach to give extra support to teachers you notice are struggling

• Make time and provide resources for training in new programs

• Meet regularly with your Coach

Task #4

What are the strengths and weaknesses of your system for support?

Education is based on what you expect anyway, and if you expect children to do well, they’re going to do well for you. If you just say, well these kids can’t do this, they’re never going to do it. So it’s all a matter of what you expect, and I expect my teachers to continue [teaching our reading program]. I will be in those rooms. Where’s your whole group? Where is your read-aloud? Where are these small groups?

Be active in the professional development process in your building

• Keep non-aligned pd out!

• Participate in as many pd sessions as possible

• Help teachers network with one another and with teachers from other schools

• Be specific about expectations for implementation

Task #5

What are the strengths and weaknesses of your system for professional development?

Even this week it’s really impressed me that we really cannot observe that which we don’t understand. You really need to know what you’re looking for and you need to have a deeper appreciation of it. So my role has changed in that I feel I need to be better educated in the research. My key role is to verify. Check on fidelity. You got a plan. You got some people to help you to implement that plan. I see my chief job as ensuring fidelity to whomever is working in the plan. I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing, coach is doing what she’s supposed to be doing, teachers are doing what they’re supposed to be doing. I call that fidelity.

Be active in assessing progress

• Use school-level assessment data to identify problems in your curriculum

• Use classroom-level data to identify teachers who are struggling and to provide them extra support

• Use individual data to establish and reestablish your intervention groups

Task #6

What are the strengths and weaknesses of your system for assessing progress?

It’s basically an informed school now, where they know what they’re doing.

One of our parents said this school is a Reading School. I think that’s what we want, if a parent can say our school is a Reading School.

Think a minute

You are the leader of this change effort. Do you want to survive it or sustain it?

After the funding . . .

The way we teach reading will not change, and we’ll continue. We’ve learned that there is so much out there to learn, and so we’ll continue to learn. I think that we’ve become -- you’ve heard the phrase -- life-long learners. And so we’ll continue to search the research and not just go by what textbook companies tell us, which is what we’ve always done in the past. I think the reading program will continue to grow in the direction of SBRR.

You are a district representative, a principal, and a coach working together. What are your goals for next year?

And how can I help you?

Please write me a note about something specific that you’d like me to address in next year’s professional development.

Leadership in Reading First: A principled team

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