dynamic_leadership_hampton_handout.docx

7/30/2019 dynamic_leadership_hampton_handout.docx

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Table of Contents

CONCEPTS..................................................................... 2

FORMATIVE LEADERSHIP BASIC ASSUMPTIONS ......................................................... 2

FORMATIVE LEADERSHIP FUNCTIONS.......................................................................... 2

Quality Education Seven Success Elements (QESSE) .................................. 3

FORMATIVE LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLES .......................................................................... 3

PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP SUCCESS ELEMENTS (PLSE) ................................................. 4

BASIC PRINCIPLES OF A LEARNING ORGANIZATION IN EDUCATION........................ 5

TEAM BUILDING:CREATING A CLIMATE FOR EFFECTIVE TEAMING .......................... 5

PRINCIPLES OF THE CUSTOMER-FOCUSED SCHOOL..................................................... 6STRATEGIES .................................................................. 7

FORMATIVE LEADERSHIP IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES ........................................ 7

SCHOOL MANAGEMENTBY WALKING AROUND (SMBWA) ....................................... 7

DATA-BASED DECISION MAKING ................................................................................ 9

Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle ...................................................................................... 9

Data Collection and Utilization Criteria .......................................................... 10

Examples of School Data Elements In a School Profile ............................... 11

STEPS FOR BUILDING TEAM SUCCESS ....................................................................... 12CUSTOMER-FOCUSED PRACTICES................................................................................ 12

RECOGNITION AND CELEBRATION STRATEGIES ....................................................... 14

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENTPLANNING STEPS................................................................. 14

QUALITY EDUCATION ASSESSMENT .................................... 15


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Concepts

Formative Leadership Basic Assumptions

High-performing schools are complex systems and operate as learningorganizations.

The great majority of what goes wrong in a school is due to the fault of the

process, not to the fault of an individual.

Groups of people working in teams usually have more success than

individuals working alone.

Decisions should be based on disaggregated data.

Everyone needs to be involved in the process of continuous improvement.

The critical performance is thinking about better ways to get the job done.

The customer/supplier relationship has just as much merit in education asin business.

Flexibility and change are imperative. By the time the right way is

discovered, a new way is often required.

All students can learn at significantly higher levels.

The people who know the work best are the ones doing it.

Formative Leadership Functions

In the high-performing school, the primary leadership role is to helpteachers design challenging learning opportunities for students and to assist

and support them as they lead students through the learning activities.

More specifically, formative leadership encompasses four essential

leadership functions.

Creating and communicating a shared vision.

Promoting and encouraging innovative practice.

Establishing learning expectations.

Optimizing the talents of everyone within the school.

Successful implementation of Formative Leadership requires that attention

be directed to the Seven Success Elements of the Quality Education

process. Successful teachers and administrators will readily recognize that

these elements are consistent with the best practices of effective


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schools. They also reflect the theories embedded in quality improvement

and strategic planning.

Quality Education Seven Success Elements (QESSE)

Formative Leadership Principles

Team learning, productive thinking, and collaborative problem solving will

replace control mechanisms, top-down decision making, and enforcement

of conformity.

Teachers will be viewed as leaders and administrators as leaders ofleaders. Leadership will be viewed as asking the right kinds of questions

rather than knowing all the answers.

Trust will drive our working relationships. Leaders assume that the

faculty, staff, and students will try to do their best. The leaders job is

to support these efforts by driving out fear in every area of the school.

Leaders will move from demanding conformity and compliance to

encouraging and supporting innovation and creativity.

Leaders will focus on people and processes, not on paper work and

administrative minutia. The major portion of a leaders time will be spent

on value-added activities.Leaders will be customer focused and servant based. Faculty and staff

are the direct customers of the principal, and the most important

function of the principal is to serve his or her customers.

1. Institute Formative Leadership Practices.2. Create a Customer-Centered School3. Engage in Team Learning4. Implement Data-Driven Decision Making5. Institute Measurement Practices6. Create Opportunities for Celebration7. Learn from Experience


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Leaders will create networks that foster two-way communication rather

than channels that direct the flow of information in a certain direction.

Leadership requires proximity, visibility, and being close to the customer.Leaders will wandering about the school and the surrounding community,

listening and learning, asking questions, building relationships, andidentifying possibilities.

Leaders will is empower the people within the school to do the work, and

then protect them from unwarranted outside interference.

Leaders have the ability to operate in an environment of uncertainty,

constantly learning how to exploit systemic change, rather than

maintaining the status quo.

Principal Leadership Success Elements (PLSE)

Decisions are made on the basis of analysis, interpretation, and

dissemination of disaggregated data.

Data, information, and knowledge are freely shared with personnel,

students, parents, and community members.

Systems are developed to remove the barriers to learning.

Shared vision is created through examining shared beliefs, imagining

future possibilities, and asking the right kinds of questions.

Change and innovation are promoted and encouraged.

Meaningful conversations about teaching and learning take placecontinuously throughout the school.

Action research and competitive benchmarking drive learning within the

school.

High-performance expectations are established for everyone in the

school.

The talents of all personnel are optimized, and leadership at all levels is

promoted.

An appreciation for, and understanding of, complex systems and how

they work (systems thinking) drives the process of strategic thinking.

Learning is the basic building block for change and improvement.The leaders mood is optimistic and authentic.


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Basic Principles of a Learning Organization in Education

Learning always occurs in a context where action is being taken.

Learning requires an environment where educators can continually reflecton what they are doing and learn more about what it takes to work as

teams.

Learning requires that people at multiple levels think together about

significant and enduring solutions and then help those solutions become

reality.

Learning necessitates an understanding of systems thinking as a foundation

for the education of students.

Learning requires that schools focus on thinking skills and learning skills.

Team Building: Creating a Climate for Effective Teaming

Total involvement. Every person in the school, professional and support

staff alike, must be involved and must view the team structure as the best

way to solve problems, increase learning, and bring about continuous

improvement.

Customer focus. Teams perform the important work of serving customers

by identifying and breaking down barriers to successful performance.

Appreciation of the value of diversity. The school values creativity andunderstands that people with different skills, ways of thinking, and views

toward solving problems add to the richness of the team's learning and

ultimately to the efficiency of the problem solving.

Sharing information. An atmosphere of openness, candor, and trust is

exhibited through the sharing of information with the team. Effective

decisions are rarely made in the absence of relevant information.

Listening. Leaders who have accepted the new paradigm of organizational

behaviors that revolve around listening, facilitating dialogue and discussion,

collaborative decision making, and knowledge transfer are creating the kind

of climate that allows teams to arrive at more creative solutions.Scorekeeping. Measuring the team's success, as demonstrated by

collecting disaggregated data and developing and using key performance

indicators, helps keep the team focused, provides a higher level of

individual satisfaction, and improves the overall performance of the team.


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Continuous improvement. The quality mindset does not recognize an end

to improvement. The concept requires the school to support data-based

decision making and embrace a never-ending quest for improving service tothe customer.

Empowerment. The quality school recognizes the value of people andtrusts the staff to make good decisions if given the right information and

the authority to make changes.

Adding value. In the school environment, this means working to improve

the teaching and learning process. It involves identifying and removing

barriers to learning, and improving opportunities for everyone, including

students, faculty, and staff, to increase their success levels.

Recognition. Recognizing and rewarding behaviors that are valued

throughout the school and community serve to motivate the team to

better performance.

Principles of the Customer-Focused School

Everyone must have a clear understanding about who the customers are.

Everyone must recognize that the organization of the school is not for the

convenience and benefit of the faculty and staff. It is, instead, for the

purpose of producing learning and providing opportunities for students to

experience academic success.

Everyone must be involved in collecting, analyzing, and learning from thedisaggregated data collected from the school's customers.

Everyone must be involved in learning as much as possible about thecustomers, especially the students. The more faculty and staff learn

about their customers, the better they will be able to understand and

serve their individual and collective needs.

Everyone should view complaints as opportunities to learn.

Everyone should view parents as partners in the teaching and learning

process.

Everyone should accommodate students, parents, and each other by

making appropriate exceptions to bureaucratic rules and regulations.


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Strategies

Formative Leadership Implementation Strategies

The actual implementation of the Formative Leadership process is grounded in

effective school practices, inviting school success principles, strategic

thinking, and common sense. Educators will readily recognize the validity of

the following implementation strategies, which are imbedded in the Seven

Success Elements outlined at the beginning of this chapter.

Faculty and staff are engaged in site-based decision-making through the

utilization of problem-solving teams.

The concept of a "customer-centered school" is promoted by identifyingand eliminating barriers to success and by focusing on the total school

environment.

Clear processes are established for gathering data and converting it into

information and knowledge to make school-wide decisions about how to

better serve students.

Opportunities are created for free and open exchange among personnel

and with other schools regarding ideas and actions for improvement.

The isolation of teachers is reduced, and they are encouraged to assume

the role of learners.Innovative practices are encouraged by promoting risk taking, reducing the

fear of failure, and developing and implementing participant-driven

professional development programs, which are grounded in inquiry,

reflection, and research.

Strategies are developed for building partnerships with public and privateagencies, businesses, and other organizations.

School Management By Walking Around (SMBWA)

Engage in face-to-face contact with your customers. The principals

direct customer is the faculty. Instructional leadership begins with

spending time--lots of it--with teachers, in and out of classrooms,

engaged in conversation about teaching and learning.


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Create opportunities to solicit undistorted opinions. Tom Peters refers

to naive listening, that is listening with an open mind rather than entering

a conversation with a predetermined position.Act quickly on what you hear. Quick responses and prompt action will

encourage trust and provide broader opportunities for future listeningand learning.

Probe under the surface by asking penetrating questions. To really

understand, you must penetrate the natural reluctance of people to

really level with you. This is the only way to bring the unmentionables

found in every organization to the surface. What kinds of questions

should the instructional leader ask? How do you lead conversations with

faculty that focus on creating better learning opportunities for

students? The following suggestions offer a point of departure.

What do we really believe about how students learn? How well are we providing challenging, interesting work for students? How many of our students are actively engaged on a regular basis? What evidence, other than standardized test data, do we have about

how well our students are learning what we want them to learn?

What are the major barriers to learning that are most difficult for usto deal with?

What do we need, that we do not currently have, to be more effectiveteachers?

What do students need to know and be able to do when they leave ourschool?

How can we better integrate existing technology into the curriculum? How can we better protect teaching and learning time? How can we

reduce non-teaching duties?

What additional data do we need in order to more effectivelyunderstand our students?

Asking these, and similar questions, should lead to broader conversations

with individuals and small groups, as well as with the entire faculty. Theultimate objective is to improve the level and degree of productive thinking

in the school. The effective instructional leader must get out of the office,

mix and mingle with staff, students, parents, and other community members;


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and lead or participate in conversations about improving the learning

opportunities provided students.

School improvement efforts are most successful when they are based on

research and when the decision-making process is data driven. The qualityeducation process is only effective when teams identify and solve the root

causes of problems. It is the responsibility of the instructional leader to

guide and support teams as they collect and analyze data in order to identify

trends. This trend data should then be used to assist with the identification

of problems and support the need for improvement.

Data-Based Decision Making

Often, schools that are responding to pressure to increase achievement test

scores focus their efforts on raising the scores of a particular grade level

or the entire school. This may lead to the appearance of improvement, but

the achievement of the lowest-performing students or another subgroup of

students may remain unchanged. Unless we continuously work with

disaggregated data, we will never know whether all groups of students are

learning what we mean for them to learn and what they need to know.

Teachers and administrators need to collect, disaggregate, and analyze, andusedata to improve teaching and learning. Multiple measures, in addition to

standardized tests, should be used. Disaggregating data requires us to

explore results more deeply in order to examine individual subsets of results

(gender, ethnic, socio-economic group, etc.)

The Providence School System analyzed disaggregated mathematics test

scores and enrollment data to focus on poor performance in math. They

found that fewer students of color were in high-level mathematics courses.

When they learned that minority students who do not take algebra orgeometry in high school are 40 to 60 percent less likely to complete college,

they began offering the same algebra instruction to all students. After six

years, failure rates of minority students have decreased significantly and

higher-level mathematics enrollment has increased.


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Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle

Plan

Understand and describe the history of the problem.Quality tools: Brainstorming, dialogue

Collect customer data in order to understand customer needs.

Quality tools: Surveys, Focus groups

Analyze the current process.

Quality tools: Flow Chart, Affinity Diagram

Collect and disaggregate data.

Quality tools: Check sheet, Pareto diagram, Histogram, Run

Chart, Pie Graph, Tree Diagram, Benchmarking

Determine the root cause of the problem.Quality tools: Cause and Effect (Fishbone) diagram

Do

Generate possible solutions and implement pilot projects.

Study

Collect and analyze data and measure against baseline to determine if

pilot project has been successful.

Act

Adopt or abandon the change. Begin the process again.

Data Collection and Utilization Criteria

The data must be timely and useful. Avoid collecting information that

has little or no bearing on the problem. Focus on the critical success

elements that are measurable, such as the key performance indicators.

Disaggregate and summarize data in a form that converts it into

information.

Plan

DoStudy

Act


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Share information with everyone in the school.

Use data only to improve school processes. Information should never be

used to threaten or blame.Establish data collection and utilization ground rules before undertaking

the task of data collection.Collect and use data that answer questions that are important to the

team.

Examples of School Data Elements In a School Profile

All of the data elements should be disaggregated if

possible.

Standardized test scores

Attendance and tardiesDiscipline referrals

Percentage of failing grades

Percentage of students on A/B honor roll

Percentage of students in extra-curricular activities

Number of students receiving awards

Library circulation rate

Number in advanced diploma and advanced placement classes

Number and percent retained

Number and percent in remediation classes/summer schoolNumber and percent suspended

Counselor contactsGraduation rate

Percent of graduates with specific post high school plans

Graduate follow-ups

Dropout rate

Percent involved in academic competitions

The school profile should be used to identify the schools strengths,

weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Input from stakeholders should be

used extensively throughout this process.


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Steps for Building Team Success

Charge the team with a challenging assignment, one that clearly requirescooperation and teamwork.

Allow the team to assume ownership of the work by establishing theirgoals, timelines, and performance evaluations.

Provide all available information to every team member.

Provide the team with the knowledge and skills to complete the

assignment.

Provide the team with time, some during the normal school day, to

complete the assignment.

Provide opportunity for recognition and rewards for the team.

Customer-Focused Practices

Narrow the focus on learning. Schools exist to produce learning, not to

just provide instruction.

Each student is unique. Design opportunities for every student to

experience success.

Collect information about your students. Schools need to learn about

their students just as businesses learn about their customers (data must

be disaggregated in order to understand individuals as well as groups).

Listen to your customers. Focus on those things that create value--teaching and learning.

Measure customer satisfaction. Survey student satisfaction with teaching

methods, course content, and extra-curricular activities. Ask such

questions as, Were you pleased or displeased with how you were treated in

this school?

Establish advisory committees and focus groups, and use them

productively--pay attention to their advice.

Establish teams of professionals charged with the responsibility of

reacting to individual and group needs of students.

Form alliances/partnerships with other organizations/agencies. Meetregularly to discuss needs/problems and performance expectations.

Collect follow-up data on students. Solicit feedback from students who

drop out or transfer and from staff who resign or retire.


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Good customer service begins with positive personal relationships.

Implement the invitational education principles and processes.

Provide extraordinary response to the concerns/complaints of yourcustomers. Solving peoples problems is quintessential customer service.

View every complaint as an opportunity to learn and to improve.Provide fair, honest, and consistent service to all stakeholders.

Provide for faculty/staff involvement and ownership in decision-making and

problem solving. Faculty and staff, from top to bottom, know best what

students and parents value and what they need for success.

Link performance measures to goals and strategies. Administer customer-

focused measurements on a regular basis.

Accommodate appropriate exceptions to school rules and regulations. Deal

with individuals on a personal basis. Remember, one size does not fit all.

Facilitate teams of teachers working together to evaluate and reviselessons they provide for students. A suggested template for teams to use

in Looking at Student Work meetings is shown below.Step Description Time Participant

Presentation of

student work

Assignment Relationship to goals Initial observations Expectations Scoring rubrics

20 min. Presenting teacher

Clarifying questions Questions for understanding 5 min. Team members

Discussion Context of work Ideas for teacher Student performance Teaching strategies No input from presenting

teacher

10 min. Team members

Reflection Thoughts about commentsand questions

No input from team members5 min. Presenting teacher

Debriefing Implications for teaching and

learning

Process Content

20 min. Entire team


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Recognition and Celebration Strategies

Involvement in the decision-making process: A central tenet of the qualityprocess, total involvement, is both respectful of the person and useful to

the organization. The people who know the work best are the ones closestto it; this includes students as well as faculty and staff.

Sharing information and providing feedback: All stakeholders in the school

want and need information. Timely information provides for more effective

performance, measurement of progress toward goals, and a continuous

learning culture.

Interesting work: Teaching and learning need not and should not be dull

and boring for students or teachers. An organizational culture that

focuses on and rewards learning provides for a high level of excitement for

students and a deep sense of reward for teachers.Giving credit where credit is due: Providing visibility with colleagues,

opportunity for leadership, as well as public recognition for a job well done

is a motivating factor and will most often result in positive consequences.

Designing recognition to encourage excellence: Rewards should be personal

and given frequently. Teacher and student recognition need not be

elaborate or expensive. It should, however, be regular, sincere, and

creative.

School Improvement Planning Steps

1. Define the belief system.2. Develop the vision and mission.3. Anticipate and plan for the future.

Phase 1 Develop the school profile, includes disaggregated data . Phase 2 Conduct a curriculum and instructional audit. Phase 3 - Identify core competencies Phase 4 - Conduct a SWOT analysis.

4. Identify goals.5. Identify key performance indicators.6. Develop and implement an action plan.


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Quality Education Assessment

Quality Education AssessmentPlease respond to the following statements by indicating to what extent each of these

conditions applies to your school. Then, on the score sheet, circle the score you identifiedfor each item, total the scores for each success element, and compare your results with the

ranges of desirable performance.

STRONGLY

DISAGREE

1

MILDLY

DISAGREE

2

MILDLY

AGREE

3

STRONGLY

AGREE

4

1. The school's strengths have beenidentified and shared with personnel,

students, and parents.

2. Action teams are often convened toaddress specific issues or problems.

3. Innovative practice is promoted andencouraged.

4. Instructional practices are consistentwith the latest research.

5. Students receive extra help when needed.6. Formal evaluation and follow-up

characterize team problem solving.

7. Teams are provided with adequatetraining.

8. Data is collected, disaggregated, andanalyzed before decisions are made.

9. Team meetings are used to promotecollective learning and growth.

10.Teachers feel free to try innovativepractices in their classroom.

11.Survey data is collected from students ona regular basis.

12.Student achievement data, other thanstandardized test results, are analyzed,

disseminated, and explained to allfaculty.


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STRONGLY

DISAGREE

1

MILDLY

DISAGREE

2

MILDLY

AGREE

3

STRONGLY

AGREE

4

13.Teacher input is widely solicited andcarefully considered in the decisionmaking process.

14.Survey data is collected from parents andother stakeholders on a regular basis.

15.There are certain instructional methodsso widely accepted that they have

become standard practice.

16.New teams are formed as new issues andconcerns are identified.

17.Evaluation and assessment of programsand processes are conducted on a regular

basis.

18.Opportunity to benchmark "bestpractices" is possible. (Benchmarking

involves visiting other schools to observe

what works in that particular setting.)

19.Most teachers involve their students insetting goals and in determining theevaluation process.

20.Some time is provided for teams to meetduring the school day.

21.Certain school wide indicators of progress(i.e., attendance, grades, discipline

referrals, etc.) are tracked and reported

to staff, students, and parents.

22.Teachers adjust their teachingtechniques based on student feedback.

23.Faculty members discuss issues relatedto teaching and learning in grade level/

departmental meetings on a regular

basis.


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STRONGLY

DISAGREE

1

MILDLY

DISAGREE

2

MILDLY

AGREE

3

STRONGLY

AGREE

4

24.In-service training is geared toneeds identified by the staff.

25.Student academic success isappropriately recognized and

celebrated.

26.Standardized test data aredisaggregated, examined,

disseminated, and explained to all

faculty.

27.All aspects of the school's operationare open to evaluation.

28.Teams are provided sufficientsupport to successfully complete

their task.

29.The school's weaknesses have beenidentified and shared with the

school staff.

30.Teachers collect feedback fromstudents about their classes.

31. The school's faculty is involved indeveloping annual goals.32.Most teachers provide ample

opportunity for students toexperience success.

33.Faculty and staff successes arerewarded.

34.Regular celebrations are held.


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SUCCESS ELEMENT ITEMS SCORE TOTAL

RANGE OF

DESIRABLE

PERFORMANCE

1. Leadership 1310

15

20

24

29

31

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 41 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

21-32

2. Customer Focus 511

14

19

22

25

30

32

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

21-32

3. Team Learning and ProblemSolving

2

7

9

16

23

28

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

18-24

4. Data Driven Decision- Making 48

13

18

26

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

15-20


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SUCCESS ELEMENT ITEMS SCORE TOTAL

RANGE OF

DESIRABLE

PERFORMANCE

5. Measurement 61112

17

21

27

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 41 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

20-24

6. Opportunities for Celebration 321

33

34

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

12-16

7. Learning from Experience 913

18

23

1 2 3 41 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

1 2 3 4

12-16

Areas in Need of Attention ChartSuccess Element Needs

Attention

(Check)

Handbook Module Notes

Leadership Modules 1, 5, 6

Customer Focus Module 4

Team Learning and

Problem Solving

Module 2

Data Driven

Decision-Making

Module 2

Module 3

Measurement Module 1, pp. 19-20

Module 2

Opportunities forCelebration

Module 1, pp. 15-16Module 5, pp. 113-123

Learning from

Experience

Module 2

2000 Ruth Ash, Maurice Persall

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