Sustaining+Change

Change is mandatory; growth is optional. Michael Fullan Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future. JF Kennedy In times of change, learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists. Eric Hoffer Many schools resist change while others avidly seek it. If we do not want our schools to atrophy and die, we need educational leaders who can bring about progress by daring to be change managers. Jon Andreas Those individuals and organizations that are most effective do not experience fewer problems, less stressful situation, and greater fortune--they just deal with them differently. Michael Fullan Learning to lead is, on one level, learning to manage change...A leader imposes (in the most positive sense of the word) his philosophy on the organization, creating or re-creating its culture. The organization then acts on that philosophy, carries out the mission, and the culture takes on a life of its own, becomes more cause than effect. But, unless the leader continues to evolve, to adapt and adjust to external changes, the organization will sooner or later fall. Warren Bennis

__managing change, determining starting points, changing school culture,__ __//data-driven decision making; building leadership capacity//__

Resources: Developing Teacher Leaders: The Principal's Role (NMSA 2004) Author--Sue Thompson

= Sustaining Change = ==// Many schools resist change while others avidly seek it. If we do not want our schools to atrophy and die, we need educational leaders who can bring about progress by daring to be change managers ////. // ~ Jon Andreas ==

== Middle level schools are littered with the remnants of attempted reforms that didn’t quite achieve the desired results. Teachers work in interdisciplinary teams with a common planning time – but only meet to talk about problem students; an advisory program is in place -- but is generally used as a time for homework; the schedule allows for flexibility -- but is rarely flexed; the school’s vision and mission call for parent involvement -- but parents are rarely seen in the school. Since all of these are recognized as important components of the middle level concept, why didn’t they work? Education speaker and author Phil Schlechty gives us a clue: “Structural change that is not supported by cultural change will eventually be overwhelmed by the culture, for it is in the culture that any organization finds meaning and stability.” (Inventing Better Schools, Wiley and Sons, 1997, pg 136) Too often school leaders have focused on the structural, organizational elements of the middle level concept, and forgot that in order to effect sustained change that positively impacts student personal development and achievement, it’s the cultural elements – the way the school does business and how the people present interact with one another - that need most to be addressed if the change is to take hold for the long-term. ==

== Hayes Mizell, one of the founders of the National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Reform and currently a Distinguished Senior Fellow of the National Staff Development Council, commented on this issue during an interview held in February 2009 ([|**www.principals.org/mlmonth**]): “Function does not necessarily follow form. By that I mean there have been a lot of cases where people installed certain forms of what they considered to be characteristics of the middle level and assumed by merely putting these structures and processes in place that good things would then follow. That has proven not to be the case. For example, many middle level schools have advisories, but when you talk to people, many are not happy with their advisories….the processes associated with middle level take work; they are not self-implementing and only make a difference if they benefit students in demonstrative ways. So one has to pay a lot of attention to how you actually implement and sustain things like teams and advisories. One mistake that has been made in the past is that people have put these things into place, sometimes even successfully in the initial stages, and assume they are going to operate well without care and attention.” ==

== Let’s take this idea into another context. I (Patti) am both proud and embarrassed to admit that I have lost significant amounts of weight at least three times in my life. Proud, because I did it – yet embarrassed because I had to do it more than once. Each time I started out with good intentions. I picked a healthy diet plan and followed it religiously; but the first two times I was unable to sustain the initial loss and within a few years, I had gained it all back. What made the difference the third time? I finally understood that losing weight for the long-term was not a short-term commitment to a way of eating, but rather a change for a life time. Once I came to that understanding, my relationship with food changed and I have been able to sustain the last weight loss for nearly twenty years. ==

== With accountability weighing heavy on the shoulders of school leaders, it becomes somewhat tempting to make changes by picking the low hanging fruit and going for the quick wins, but then to go no further -- thus finding it impossible to sustain the changes for the long-term. // Breaking Ranks: A Field Guide for Leading Change // (pg 11) explains that, “School leaders who wish to move beyond this quick-fix mentality must do two things. First, they must recognize the critical role that a school’s belief system plays in the sustainability of school improvement efforts and, second, they must carefully examine the process they are employing to implement the change.” Additionally, to build and sustain successful middle level schools that are “developmentally responsive, challenging, empowering, and equitable”, school leaders must be “committed to and knowledgeable about (young adolescents), educational research, and best practices.” (// This We Believe 09) // ==

== Here’s a common middle level scenario. Principal Y and the leadership team at Middle School X have decided to put interdisciplinary teams in place. A flexible block schedule is organized and a language arts, social studies, math, and science teacher are placed on a team and given a group of 100 students to teach. Their rooms are in close proximity and the teachers have both an individual and a team planning period. Sounds pretty ideal, right? But upon observing the classes, Principal Y discovered that there did not appear to be any coordination of the curriculum, instruction in all classes was delivered primarily by lecture, team meeting time consisted of teachers correcting papers while talking about their “problem” students, and the schedule remained the same day after day after day. While all the structural pieces were in place, this in and of itself was not sufficient to make a significant difference in the way the school operated and how the teachers interacted with each other. ==

== For that type of change to take place, Principal Y and his leadership team needed to have built a foundation based on a common set of beliefs and values, provided the professional development necessary for effective teaming practices to occur, and built the supportive climate necessary for teams to engage students in high-quality instruction. Too many times, the assumption is made that if teachers are put together on a team, they will automatically know how to work together as a team. As a 6th grade elementary teacher, I was involved in my district’s transition from a 7-9 junior high to a 6-8 middle school and was fortunate that my district understood the importance of developing the skills and mind set necessary for effective teaming to occur. Those of us who would be working at the newly formed middle school received specific professional development regarding teaming, were sent to observe other middle schools that had effective teams in place, and were given release time to develop a team philosophy and group agreements on how our team would operate. ==

== To bring about long lasting change, school leaders must first have a deep understanding of the school’s culture. This can be gained by analyzing student performance data from a variety of sources (not just state assessment data), examining attendance and behavioral records, and by talking and/or surveying staff, parents, students, and community members to gather their perceptions of the school. Through a collaborative process, the school leadership team can then analyze this data to determine how best to develop a school culture that simultaneously challenges and supports the learning of young adolescents. Schools that discover a culture more focused on adult needs than student needs might decide that the staff requires a better understanding of young adolescent development or those that see low attendance rates and high behavioral referrals might choose to expand the teachers’ repertoire of instructional skills that engage all learners. ==

== But it’s not an easy task to accomplish; every school has its own identity and rarely does a “one size fit all” plan for school improvement do the job. However, if a school leader wants to address both the structural and cultural components of the school, there are common elements in any change process that must be considered. // Breaking Ranks in the Middle // (NASSP) provides a framework for school improvement by encouraging middle level schools to examine their practices in three core areas: Collaborative Leadership and Professional Learning Communities; Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment; and Personalizing the School Environment. These core areas correspond beautifully with the characteristic areas found in // This We Believe //: Leadership and Organization; Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment; and Culture and Community. // BRIM //’s companion guide, // Breaking Ranks: A Field Guide for Leading Change, //// takes the task of school improvement from the “what” to the “how” as it guides school leadership teams through a process circle that helps them gather data; explore possible solutions; assess readiness and build capacity; create, communicate and implement a plan; and then monitor and adjust it on a regular basis. // == == Leaders wanting to create lasting change should remember the old adage “what gets monitored gets done”. It’s very easy to fall into the trap of initiating a program and assuming it will run on auto-pilot, but if we want the change to become part of the school’s way of doing business, then it has to be tended to. I remember attending a conference and hearing what I thought was a good idea about including some consistent, specific comments on report cards. When I returned to the school, I shared it with the staff, saw some head nodding, asked everyone to be sure and to use them with each grade they gave, and added them as choices on the computerized lists of comments. Big mistake. First, I didn’t do as much as I should have to get buy in from the staff and second, it was just too unwieldy to monitor every grade and every comment. While most people started off with good intentions to follow the plan, it died a rather quick death and never became part of how we did business at the school. ==

== The work of improving schools for the long run can be messy; it takes school leaders that “demonstrate courage and collaboration” (// TWB // 09) to challenge elements of the culture that are detrimental to students or to deal with matters that are out of alignment with the school’s direction. In // Leadership that Makes a Difference: Revitalizing Middle Schools // (NMSA 2008), long time middle level educators Don and Sally Clark describe this type of a school leader: “Leaders who are successful at sharing leadership and building leadership capacity in their schools are comfortable with sharing power and leadership responsibilities with others. They have confronted their own attitudes and belief systems about leadership, addressed issues of school culture, supported leadership skill development, empowered others, and provided motivation and incentives.” (pg 82). These are the type of leaders that not only lead change, they sustain it – and are the caliber of leaders that we asked to share their best advice about creating a culture that sustains change: ==

Building a culture that supports change:
== P  As a leader I have to truly believe in and practice collaborative leadership. The collaboration process is not a group or a meeting, but the culture of the school that is set by the principal. ==

== P  To sustain change – develop a collaborative culture, have a clear vision of where you are headed, develop a strong middle school master schedule, and reorganize teams when necessary. ==

== P  What I most contribute to the success of our schools was extending the ideas and practice of collaboration of the teachers, staff, parents and community members in all aspects of the school. From the forming of the vision, to the actual development of the instructional plan, the operation of the building, and development and implementation of the School Improvement Plan, all were accomplished through the combined collaborated efforts of all stake holders, and where appropriate, students. ==

== P  Leaders must model collaborative leadership at all times. In order to be able to model collaborative leadership, there must be an inherent belief that collective is more effective and beneficial than the individual. It is recognition that when members of the organization are empowered, they are invested and successful. ==

== P  Establish a culture of accountability for all and by all. ==

Initiating Change:
== P  When I arrived at this school I asked three questions of all staff: What do you like about this middle school? What do you believe needs attention? What do you expect from me as principal? After that, consistent dialogue, visibility, regular communication with all -- but most importantly with the “superstars” as to how decisions will impact them. ==

== P  To make changes, the principal needs to create a sense of urgency that change is needed. This may be done through using soft and/or hard data. Get your key players ion board and make sure that the rest of the staff buys in and gives input on the change process. ==

== P  The entry point is that which will bring about the greatest impact in promoting change. Let me give an example. We knew our students did not have enough passing time between classes so rather than tweak the schedule to increase passing time, we looked at the schedule as a whole to determine what structure would promote greater student learning and maintain student choice and exploration. As a result we implemented an alternating day block schedule with longer class periods that allowed teachers to have more time to use engaging literacy strategies. ==

== P  Collect and analyze data, observe, use assessment data and surveys from the community to steer you, look for items to improve. ==

Moving Forward:
== P  One of the most important actions to ensure continual progress has been to align our building initiatives so that staff does not feel overwhelmed with a lack of focus. We do “deep” professional development in two areas (literacy and equity) and that’s allowed a critical mass of teachers to become equipped in culturally relevant learning strategies that have become systemic. ==

== P  We knew we had to deepen our collective understanding and implementation of creating a culture of thinking over a multi-year time frame rather than focusing on something for a year or two and then moving on to something new. ==

== P  Build a strong leadership team that represents all groups in the school. This team needs to meet weekly at a set time with an agenda focused on school improvement. The leadership team meetings provide a vehicle for horizontal flow of information to and among all stakeholders. ==

== P  Never settle for how your school is performing. Always strive to make it better. If the principal is happy with the status quo, then the school will only decline from that position. Continue to build leadership capacity in every facet of the school from the custodian to the teacher. This creates a culture of leaders in the school that are constantly striving to improve every area of the school. A principal wants the school to run smoothly when he or she is not there and that cannot happen if there are not leaders in the building. ==

== P  It’s important for teachers to take control of the school improvement process. After the staff decides the goals to focus on, we create a teacher-led committee for each goal. No one is excluded from a committee and everyone is expected to participate. ==

== P  Develop the teachers and parents that have natural leadership abilities and a positive attitude. ==

== P  To ensure the continual progress of our school I believe in consistent goal setting and on-going professional development. Having staff members attend state and national middle school conferences renews their vision and focus. ==

== P <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> In place of an assistant principal we utilize our team leaders. They are paid a stipend and given an extended contract and this has provided great preparation for those who want to become administrators. Almost every administrator in our district (and neighboring districts) has come through our middle school. ==

== P <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 7pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"> Restructuring team leadership opens the doors to others while restructuring all teams puts staff members in the “right” situations to exhibit leadership. ==

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