The Idea of a School That Learns

The Idea of a School That Learns

-- Schools can become vital by accepting a learning orientation, not by regulations or commands.

-- Everyone in a school system works together and learns from one another.(Learning Organization)

The five Learning disciplines:1. Personal Mastery: The results that you want to create in your life

through your personal vision.

2. Shared Vision: Teachers, administrators, and staff in a school working together towards common goals.

3. Mental Models: Reflection and discussions among all members of the community without feeling uncomfortable or scared.

4. Team Learning: Collective thinking and group interactions which draw forth from all members individual talents.

5. Systems Thinking: People learn to deal with change that leads to growth and stability over time.

-- Schools must continue to meet the current needs of society.

-- Building a school that learns involves a learning classroom, a learning school, and a learning community.

The Learning Classrooma. Teachers: They are continuous and lifelong learners who promote learning in students lives.b. Students: The ones who are co-creators of knowledge and participants in the development of the school.c. Parents: They are crucial to the success of their children by getting involved in the schools. Often, parents see school as an uncomfortable place just as it was when they attended to school.

The Learning School

• A. Superintendents: Possess more formal authority than anyone else in the school system. However, he is the leader who can effectively shape a learning school system.

• B. Principals, School Leaders, and Higher Education Administrators: The people who set the tone for the school. Not just a supervisor, but a lead teacher and lead learner.

• C. School Board Member, Trustees, and University Agents: Policy setters who can model organizational learning through their own practices.

The Learning Community

• Community Members: A community and it’s schools are reflections

of one another.

• Lifelong Learners: Schools and

communities are always learning from

one another.

Core Concepts About Learning in Organizations

• Every organization is a product of how its members think and interact ~ Encourage collegiality and positive staff morale. Learning is connection.

• You are teaching students as well as the subject.

• Good teachers bring students into community with themselves and with each other. Learning is Driven by Vision.

• Most critical to a schools success.

• Vision is more than just improving test scores, increasing graduation rates, or increasing attendance. It is about developing personal and shared goals and relating them to needs of your students, your school, and your community.

ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

• The Strategy of Organizational Change A. Introduce organizational learning in the classroom,school, and community. B. Focus on one or two new priorities.

• C. Involve everyone in learning and change.

Entry points ( for Successful Educators)

• Create a learning classroom• Systems thinking in the classroom• A school’s shared vision• “I want my child in a learning school”• Personal vision• The ethical dimension• From the outside in• Guiding ideas.

Industrial Age System of Education

• Observations, Assumptions, Public Demands (standardized testing), Responses

A. Student Alternatives : Cope or Disengage

Industrial Age Heritage of Schools(product efficiency Vs. quality

learning)A. Scientific Revolution of the 1600/1700s fuels Industrial

Revolution

B. Machine Age and Organizational Management

C. Assembly Line image; Grade levels, Uniform schedule/bell/curricula

D. Problems created included: ~ labeling students

~ uniformity of products ~ teacher-centered learning

~ student self-discipline Vs. teacher discipline

Problems are dealt with by the educational field by speeding up the line to increase output, not necessarily learning, not new

solution presented

Educators feel trapped and disempowered

A. Change because of crisis

B. Change without crisis

C. Change cannot occur

D. Change is seen as the enemy

Education as a product of the age

a. Lack of competition

b. Roots to Industrial age too strong to change

c. Students and teachers follow the game plan and learn behaviors, not material

d. Students develop into “pleasers” and non risk takers

e. Students sense of self and commitment for the future is mostly not developmental

Industrial Age assumptions about learning

• Children are deficient and school fix them• Learning takes place in the head, not the body as a

whole• Everyone learns, or should learn, in the same way• Learning takes place in the classroom, not in the

world• There are smart kids and dumb kids

Industrial Age assumptions about school

• Schools are run by specialist who maintain control

• Knowledge is inherently fragmented

• Schools communicate “the truth”

• Learning is primarily individualistic and competition accelerates learning

Conditions for Innovation

• Radical Change has not been sustainable

• Innovation takes decades, not years

• Signs of breakdown in assembly line school concept:

– Stress

– “Haves and Have Nots” disparity

– Growing inequity

• Conditions that no longer exist

– Women have broader career choices

– Traditional family and community structures

– Monopoly of information

– Number of industrial workers had dropped

An alternative to the Machine Model of Schools

• Revolution is slow in education

• Machines vs. Living systems

• Schools should be organized around appreciation of living systems, not machines

Traits of Educational Process tied to “Active Learning” and “Living

Systems”• Learner-created learning

• Encouraging variety/multiple intelligences

• Analyzing the interdependent and changing the world

• Linking social relationships to friends, families and communities

• Continual research and questioning

CHAPTER IIA PRIMER TO THE FIVE

DISCIPLINES

1. PERSONAL MASTERY

2. MENTAL MODELS

3. SHARED VISION

4. TEAM LEARNING

5. SYSTEMS THINKING

1. PERSONAL MASTERY• Personal mastery is a set of practices that

support people in keeping their dreams whole while cultivating an awareness of current reality around them.

• It is an individual matter through solo reflection which represents a lifelong process.

• Rubber band analogy - most natural desired resolution of the tension is for our reality to move closer to what we want.

PERSONAL MASTERY

• Schools should set a context where people have time to reflect on their vision.

• Reflecting on the vision establishes an organizational commitment to the truth wherever possible.

• Schools should avoid taking a position about what other people should want or how they should view the world.

2. MENTAL MODELS

• Our behavior and attitudes are shaped by the images, assumptions, and stories that we carry in our minds of ourselves, other people, and the world.

• Exercise from text

• Differences between mental models explain why two people can observe the same event and describe it differently.

MENTAL MODELS

• They limit people’s ability to change.

• It has a direct relevance for challenges in schools.

• Reflexive loop

• Two types of skills are central to this practice:– Reflection - slowing down our thinking process – Inquiry - holding conversation.

3. SHARED VISION

• It will foster a commitment to a common purpose.

• It is a set of tools and techniques for bringing aspirations into alignment with common goals or purposes.

• In building shared vision, a group of people build a sense of commitment together.

• Visions based on authority are not sustainable.

SHARED VISION

• It requires time, care, and strategy.

• It spreads through personal contact.

• To accomplish the shared vision, members must meet in person to talk about what they really care about.

4. TEAM LEARNING

• It is designed to get the team thinking and acting together.

• They do not need to think alike; but they will learn to be effective together.

• It regularly transforms day-to-day communication skills.

TEAM LEARNING

• It is based on the concept of alignment.

• Group members must function as a whole by having a common awareness of each other, their purpose, and their current reality.

• It starts with the ability to respect each other and to establish some common mental models about reality.

TEAM LEARNING

• The most effective practice we know emerges from dialogue.

• The practice of dialogue is to pay attention, to not only the words, but to the tone and the body language.

TEAM LEARNING

• Dialogue encourages people to suspend assumptions by reflection.

• There are three types:– Surfacing assumptions (making yourself aware

of your own assumptions)– Displaying assumptions (making your

assumptions visible to yourself and others)– Inquiry (taking a new look at all assumptions)

5. SYSTEMS THINKING

• It provides a different way of looking at problems.

• It involves looking at components as a large structure instead of isolated events.

• It is the study of system structure and behavior.

BUILDING BLOCKS OF SYSTEMS THINKING

• Reinforcing processes - when small changes become big

• Balancing processes - pushing stability and resistance

• Causal-loop diagrams - shows influence from one element to another

• Stock-and-flow diagrams - shows interrelationships in a mathematical way

Creating Classrooms That Learn

• “Class” derives from the roman word classis meaning a summons or call.

• “Room” comes from an old English word meaning open space.– Classrooms are environments of continual

openness where people are called together to study the world around them.

Teacher As Designer of the Learning Environment

• The classroom is primarily a product of the ways people think and interact.

• Methods for improving the quality of thinking and interacting can make everything more powerful in the classroom.

Teacher As Designer

• Book presents a variety of teaching techniques and classroom designs from all disciplines and teaching methods.– Representation of ways to develop better

capabilities by redesigning the way teachers, students, and parents think and interact in class.

All Children Can Learn

• Research suggests everyone has potential to achieve something significant if conditions support learning and if each individual’s capabilities are valued.

• Mental models in educators and parents affect ideas about human potential.– Winners vs losers.– Advanced vs disadvantaged / dumb.

All Children Can Learn cont.

• Recognizing that students learn in multiple ways and that abilities are not fixed at birth is imperative.

• Concentration on changing ways people think and interact is a must.

• Hope draws many people to teach in the first place; Remembering that all children can learn helps keep that hope alive.

Designing a Learning Classroom

• The following steps aid in the design of the classroom as a learning environment that makes your presence, your relationships and everyone’s learning process more effective.

Step 1“If I Had a Learning Classroom.”

• Imagine a classroom that learns, don’t worry about the curriculum or arrangement of time.– A series of questions is used to guide the

educator through this visualization process (p.106).

– Be specific and express details.– There is no right or wrong.

Step 2“Enhancing The Definition”

• Broaden your idea by considering statements that other educators and writers have made envisioning the learning classroom.– Page 107 has some useful statements to help

further develop your classroom image.

Step 3“What Would It Bring Me.”

• Once your classroom image has been developed, consider the following questions.– What sort of benefits would happen as a result?– What would it bring to the students?– What would it bring to me personally?– How would it be different from the classroom

where I teach now?

Step 4“Selecting and Refining the Top 5.”

• Choose the five characteristics of a learning classroom that are most compelling to you (whether or not they are plausible).

• Include one or two that you think you may never be able to do.

Step 4 continued

• Refine the abstract into more specific detail:– What conditions are necessary?– What is an example?– How might it address a student’s learning need?

Step 5“How Would We Get There?”

• What would you have to do to achieve each component of your vision?

• What practices would you follow?• What capabilities would you build-in yourself and

in your students?• What policies would be put in place: at classroom,

school, community, and even state levels?

Step 6“What Stands In the Way?”

• Consider opposing forces you might face from students, parents, other teachers, the school, community and state.

• Consider the innate challenges that would arise as a natural consequence of your making the change.

Step 6 continued

• Opposing forces are a natural consequence when an established practice is threatened. Consider the following:– Where might these forces come from?– How might you accomplish your goals without

provoking the opposition?

Step 7“I’ll Know I’m Making Progress If …”

• Consider each of the five characteristics you chose in step 4 and the obstacles you described in step 6. Name one or more “indicator” (piece of evidence that would signal that you have made some progress) for each set.

Step 8“First Experiments”

• Design an experiment for yourself that might be effective in creating a learning classroom.

• Arrange in a couple of weeks to conduct an evaluation of the experiment.

• Based on the experience, add further design to your framework to work towards the learning classroom.

I. A Five Disciplines

Developmental Journey

Background: Children’s Capabilities

• System thinkers• Iceberg concept

– Memorize the names of arteries, but may not grasp the concept of the blood flow

• Children must have higher order thinking skills • Most of the time schools are asking students to

memorize

II. Teaching Structural Tension

What is the point of education?

• To help young people learn how to create the lives they truly want to create

The key to the creative process is

STRUCTURAL TENSION.

STRUCTURAL TENSION is established through contrast between our desired state (goals, desires, aspirations) and our current reality in relationship to those goals.

Tension is resolved by taking actions that bring the goals and reality closer together.

It takes DISCIPLINE to define the end result you want to create, and to define reality objectively outside of distortions of our assumptions, theories, and concepts.

It takes DISCIPLINE to:

• Confront frustrations, disappointments, and setbacks

• Learn from mistakes and successes

THINKING ABOUT WANTS

What do you want?

Parental and educational protection inadvertently censors young adults not only from trying to create what might matter to them, but also from even thinking about trying.

• Because of this protection, people never develop the discipline for going the extra mile.

• They never learn the lessons so important to developing character or the ongoing learning skills needed to accomplish anything difficult.

IT BEGINS WITH A QUESTION

• What do you want to create?

– Define your goal

The habit of defining goals, visions, and aspirations develops a true skill…a skill young people need to learn if they are to master their life-building process.

Once one knows what he/she wants, then education takes on a focus and purpose.

JUST THE FACTS:

• People distort reality because reality often includes things one doesn’t like.

• Children lie to avoid criticism and punishment.

• Children lie because they see it as socially acceptable.

DON’T lie to children- TELL THE TRUTH!

Learning requires the ability to evaluate our actions.

One must be able to separate who they are from what they do.

THE LESSON OF ACTION

• Action produces results that are evaluated, which leads to adjustments of future actions.

• How well did we move toward our goals ?

Actions are choices:

1) Fundamental: basic values

2) Primary choice: major results in life• Goals, aspirations, ambitions (structural tension)

3) Secondary choice: support primary choice

III. A SHARED VISION PROCESS for the CLASSROOM

• Open discussion on first day of school

• Out of this comes a vision for classroom etiquette and procedure; how one wants to be treated, and how one feels class should run.

VI. ASSESSMENT as LEARNING

• Formal knowledge

• Applicable knowledge

• Longitudinal knowledge

• Assessment should make individuals aware of all three types of knowledge.

• The result should spark reflection and suggest approaches for further development.

We don’t need less judgments, we need more informed judgments.

• We need assessments that are designed for learning, not assessments used for blaming, ranking, and certifying.

How do we make this shift possible?

• Timeliness– The closer students are to the learning

demonstration, the more meaningful the feedback.

– Suggest school schedules so that teachers have regular conference times with students to review and give feedback.

• Honesty– Face the data seriously or there won’t be a need

to change.

• Reflection– Set up a system where students assess

themselves.

-Much of the reflection will take place in a conference with the teacher. The hard part is listening to what the students have to say and letting what the students say design instruction.

-Now grades are an evaluation process. Students manage their own judgments about progress.

-If started early, by the time a student is 17, he or she should be responsible for, and skilled at, presenting evaluations to parents.

This will communicate to everyone that the school believes assessment is a process for learning, not just for accountability.

Teachers should also reflect on their own teaching. It’s important to not just assess teaching, but also to assess the assessment.

VII. Intellectual Behaviors

Intellectual Behaviors

• Persistence

• Decreasing Impulsivity

• Listening to Others (with understanding and empathy)

• Flexibility in Thinking

• Metacognition (Awareness of our own thinking)

Intellectual Behaviors

• Striving for Accuracy and Precision

• Questioning and Problem Posing

• Drawing on Past Knowledge and Experiences

• Creativity

• Precision of Language and Thought

Intellectual Behaviors

• Gathering Data Through All the Senses

• Displaying a Sense of Humor

• Wonderment, Inquisitiveness, and Curiosity

• Cooperative Thinking and Social Intelligence

VIII. A Pedagogy for the Five Disciplines

• Who is stuck in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?

• Generative Knowledge

• Transmitting Knowledge

• Transformative Knowledge

Productive Conversation

Check IN

• Check in provides students time to make a very brief statement and focus their attention on the task at hand.

• Many variations and few rules.

• Some will talk about problems and share experiences. Others may only say “I’m here”.

• Teacher participation is important.

Opening Day

• Introducing mental models in the first session of a course can open up an atmosphere of trust and inquiry throughout the course.

• Emphasize “We learn together”.

• Listen to each other.

Cue Lines

• Conversational lines to use in impasses and other difficult situations.

Cue Lines

• When• Strong views are

expressed without any reasoning or illustrations….

• You Might Say….• “You might be right,

but I’d like to understand more. What leads you to believe…?”

Cue Lines

• When…• The discussion goes

off on an apparent tangent…..

• You might Say….• “I’m unclear how that

connects to what we’ve been saying. Can you say how you see it as relevant?”

Cue Lines

• When….• You doubt the

relevance of your own thoughts….

• You might say….• “This may not be

relevant now. If so, let me know and I will wait…”

Balancing Advocacy and Inquiry

• Lay out your reasoning:

• “Here’s my view and here’s how I’ve arrived at it. How does it sound to you? What makes sense to you and what doesn’t? Do you see any ways I can improve it?”

• Shared perspectives yield more creative and insightful realizations.

Protocols for Improved Advocacy

• What to do • What to say•State your assumptions, State your assumptions, and describe the data that and describe the data that led to them.led to them.

•““Here’s what I think, and Here’s what I think, and here’s how I got there.”here’s how I got there.”

•Make your reasoning Make your reasoning explicit.explicit.

•I came to this conclusion I came to this conclusion because…...because…...

•Even when advocating: Even when advocating: listen, stay open, and listen, stay open, and encourage others to encourage others to provide different views.provide different views.

•““Do you see it differently?”Do you see it differently?”

• •

Protocols for Improved InquiryProtocols for Improved InquiryAsk others to make their thinking process visibleAsk others to make their thinking process visible

• What to doWhat to do • What to sayWhat to say

•Use unaggressive Use unaggressive language, particularly with language, particularly with people who are unfamiliar people who are unfamiliar with these skills.with these skills.

•Instead of “What do you Instead of “What do you mean?” or “What’s your mean?” or “What’s your proof?” say, “Can you help proof?” say, “Can you help me understand your thinking me understand your thinking here?”here?”

•Explain your reasons for Explain your reasons for inquiring, and how your inquiring, and how your inquiry relates to your inquiry relates to your own concerns, hopes, and own concerns, hopes, and needs.needs.

•““I’m asking about your I’m asking about your assumptions here because..”assumptions here because..”

• •

Protocols for facing a point of Protocols for facing a point of view with which you disagreeview with which you disagree

• What to doWhat to do • What to sayWhat to say

•Make sure you truly Make sure you truly understand the other person’s understand the other person’s view.view.

•Explore, listen and offer Explore, listen and offer your own views in an open your own views in an open way.way.

•““If I follow you correctly, your If I follow you correctly, your saying that…”saying that…”

•Ask, “Have you considered…” Ask, “Have you considered…” and then raise your concerns and and then raise your concerns and state what is leading you to have state what is leading you to have them.them.

• •

Protocols for when your at an Protocols for when your at an ImpasseImpasse

• What to doWhat to do • What to sayWhat to say•Embrace the impasse, Embrace the impasse, and tease apart the and tease apart the current thinking on both current thinking on both sides.sides.

•““What do we both know to be What do we both know to be true? Or, “What do we both true? Or, “What do we both sense is true, but have no data sense is true, but have no data for yet?”for yet?”

•Look for information Look for information that will help people that will help people move forward.move forward.

•““What do we agree on, and What do we agree on, and what do we disagree on?”what do we disagree on?”

•Don’t let the Don’t let the conversation stop with conversation stop with an “agreement to an “agreement to disagree.”disagree.”

•““I don’t understand the I don’t understand the assumptions underlying our assumptions underlying our disagreement.disagreement.

The advocacy/inquiry palette:

The Advocacy/Inquiry PaletteThe Advocacy/Inquiry Palette

Reframing the Parent-Teacher Conference

• Strive to “confer” not conference.

• The conference should be influenced by each person, and each participant’s views, including the student’s.

Reframing the Parent-Teacher Conference

• Educator can ask:

• What strengths do you see in you child?

• What does your child say about school?

• What kinds of activities , at school or elsewhere, seem to frustrate your child most?

• What goals do you have for your child?

Reframing the Parent-Teacher Conference

• Parents can ask:

• How does my child interact with you and other adults?

• How does my child interact with classmates?

• How does my child work in teams?

• Who do you pair my child with and why?

Mapping

• Set goals and monitor them.– Brainstorm everything you can think of that

represents an aspect of the child’s life.– This activity needs to include the parent.

Don’t eat the pizza…Exercises for taking stock of the classroom experience.

• Invite alumni back from the next school level as guest speakers.– Let 9th graders tell 8th graders about high

school, and 6th about 5th, etc.

Don’t eat the pizza...• The Time Capsule

– At the end of the year or semester, students design a “time capsule” of advice and perspectives for the students who come after them.

– Minimal teacher input: Offer constructive critique, but resist making changes in content. This is an exercise for kids by kids.

Check Outs

• Similar to “Check Ins”, provide a sense of closure.

• At the end of a unit allow every individual a chance to speak:– What did you find particularly interesting?– What would you like to know more about?– What are you still confused about?

Retrospective Reflection

• Questions to aid a group in reflection:– Have we been open to other people’s ideas?– Did everyone get a chance to speak?– Did we move toward our common goals?– Did we model the kind of behavior we would like

to produce?– Were we in flow? Did we feel the conversation

move forward with its own creative momentum?

The Classroom Reflective Journal

• A weekly journal kept about:– class discussions,– papers and assignments being worked on– any other reactions to the course.– Turned in weekly and read by the teacher.

Objectives of Systems Dynamics in Education

• To understand the complex nature of the systems in which we work and live

• To Develop Personal Skills in Clarity, Consistency, Courage, and the ability to see interrelatedness of concepts

• To shape an outlook and personality to fit the 21st Century

Systems Thinking in the

Classroom• Applying skills to

predict, examine interactions, and relationships

• Vision and “The Big Picture”

• Causal relationships• BOTG (behavior over

time graphing)

Systems thinking in the classroom

•Causal loop diagrams

•System archetypes

•Stock and flow diagrams

•Simulations and Stella Models– +learner centered grouping– +interdisciplinary bridging– +Concept Mapping

Benefits of Systems Thinking

• Drawing inference skills

• Specialization of knowledge

• Complexity of thinking

• Vision

• Interrelated dimensions of thinking

• Higher order processing

• Depth of knowledge expanded

Disadvantages to SystemsThinking in the Classroom

• Confidence required with basic mathematical skills

• Easily frustrating

• Learning styles vary

• Time consuming

• Loss of discussion and brainstorming

Implications for School Leaders• Systems thinking develops forces students to

become more critical thinkers

• Improved skills for employers of the 21st century

• New concept for learning to break traditional learning patterns

• Teachers create better “thinking” lessons

• Overall impact on school is to create higher standards for thinking and problem solving which can lead to improved test scores

Objectives of Systems Dynamics in Education

• To understand the complex nature of the systems in which we work and live

• To Develop Personal Skills in Clarity, Consistency, Courage, and the ability to see interrelatedness of concepts

• To shape an outlook and personality to fit the 21st Century

Systems Thinking in the

Classroom• Applying skills to

predict, examine interactions, and relationships

• Vision and “The Big Picture”

• Causal relationships• BOTG (behavior over

time graphing)

Systems thinking in the classroom

•Causal loop diagrams

•System archetypes

•Stock and flow diagrams

•Simulations and Stella Models– +learner centered grouping– +interdisciplinary bridging– +Concept Mapping

Benefits of Systems Thinking

• Drawing inference skills

• Specialization of knowledge

• Complexity of thinking

• Vision

• Interrelated dimensions of thinking

• Higher order processing

• Depth of knowledge expanded

Disadvantages to SystemsThinking in the Classroom

• Confidence required with basic mathematical skills

• Easily frustrating

• Learning styles vary

• Time consuming

• Loss of discussion and brainstorming

Implications for School Leaders• Systems thinking develops forces students to

become more critical thinkers

• Improved skills for employers of the 21st century

• New concept for learning to break traditional learning patterns

• Teachers create better “thinking” lessons

• Overall impact on school is to create higher standards for thinking and problem solving which can lead to improved test scores

A SHARED VISION FOR SCHOOLS

A vision is NOT:Developed from a two day retreatDeveloped from a two hour assemblyTaking peoples input, selecting some of it and discarding the rest.

A vision IS:Establishing a series of forumsPeople working togetherDeveloping the future direction of the school

The result:All will get outcomes they respect and can make a commitment to.The relevant choices are better than those that any individual could come up

with on his own.

The Overall Process Design

First: The process addresses tensions over current problems and concerns.

Second: A shared vision is “generative”: People talking about their deepest hopes and desires for their children and community.

Third: Action; re-creating the school teacher.

Components:

The nine-year conversation

Parents and administrators meet at the school or community building

They are not permitted to talk about a specific teacher

No hidden agenda

They meet to listen and learn together

Everyone introduces themselves

Start with concerns?

Components ContinuedMental models

Pre-meeting: ask a group of students, “What would you like to learn in school this year?” Ask a group of teachers “What would you like your class to accomplish this year?”

– Step 1: Parents: What would you like your children to learn this year in school? What would you like your children’s experience to be?

– Step 2: Student

– Step 3: Teachers

– Step 4: Making connections-display all three mental models; check off similarities; talk through the differences

“The truth about kids is…” “Was your life as “scheduled” as your child’s life? If you’re like

me, you used to play more on your own. They’re more used to structure.”

The Ramifications:Parents will form their own networks

They will often go on meeting without us

We can become learners from parents

Parents can learn that we are open to their concerns

The twenty-five year conversation: back at schoolTeachers and staff

Report the major themes

Divide into subgroups: curriculum, resources and money, school climate, technology

Consider key problems

Prioritize the results to set the course of direction

Talk about vision for the school as educators-past and future

Community vision meetings– Groups: parents of older children with parents of younger children…– People introduce themselves– Select the five most critical concepts and record on separate cards– Each idea, answer with two questions:

• What should be the role of the school in addressing this issue?• What should be the role of the parents?

– Discuss and present to the whole group– Group now sees one another’s priorities and problems– They now know that their critical concerns have been raised– The are ready to talk about a shared vision for the school system– New session, same groups, teamed differently– Imagine that they have created, three years from now, the school they most want– Consider the questions on p. 298– Prioritize results (select 5-10)– Bring vision process to the school teams and committees to incorporate the new visions into the work

they’re already doing

Implementing and refining the vision

The central vision team (administrators, teachers, parents and sometimes students) develop key strategic priorities for the school.

Checklist:Vision: school vision, goals, and curriculum:

– What are the critical aspects of a school vision called for by the schools?

– How do they fit together?

– Create a description as a starting point for further dialogue.

– If these components were in place, what would that get you?

– If these components were in place, what would that get you?

– You may never reach the goals you set here, but you need them to help you, and others, chart your direction.

Checklist ContinuedCurrent reality:

– What processes and programs work best for your school?– How have these assessments changed over time?– How has student performance changed, year by year?– How has the quality of instruction changed over time?– Compare demographics.– Look closely at teacher training, school goals, educational philosophy, and school

climate.

Strategic priorities:– How can staff and curriculum development be improved?– How can the school environment be improved?– Consider security, community relationships, facilities, student needs, parking,

and traffic.– Where can parents drop off and pick up their children with less fear of traffic?– What resources are available?

Accountable teams– Set up accountable teams to develop the points into new projects.

– They should develop a vision for one particular area of the school, establish a few critical first goals, and experiment with reaching those goals.

– Teams: school climate, assessment committee, technology

– The teams should develop two measurable goals, create pilot programs, evaluate the pilots, and report the results at the end of the year

Find a Partner

Teaching is a lonely profession. Find a partner to share new ideas with. An innovator needs someone to talk with for encouragement and perspective-and someone to grow with as an innovator.

EDUCATING ALL THE CITY’S CHILDREN

Gerry House, Superintendent. Moving from Chapel Hill to Memphis City Schools

Plan:

-Apply the same principles of leadership that had worked in Chapel Hill.

-Arrived two months early to get to know school board.

-Visited churches and schools to get to know community leaders and the

people in the community.

Developing the mission statement

What do we want our school district to be?

Memphis City Schools will educate all children to become successful citizens and productive workers in the twenty-first century.

Goals adopted by school system and community:

– Higher achievement for all students.– Community support for the schools.(Site-based management)– Greater investment in staff.– A new kind of accountability for student achievement.

Promise Street School-A vision of what can be

– Same demographics as system– One percent dropout rate– All students would learn through discovery and pursuing answers to questions– Attendance rate and student achievement improvement– Children learn to read from 6-8 years in order to master other subjects– Technology and staff development to allow all administrators to evaluate their own

schools

A Bridge to the Next Century

CROSSING THE BRIDGE TO THE NEXT CENTURY: 1. A new belief system

• Academic performance• Responsibility and accountability

2. Higher standards(community developed and owned)• Capabilities-reading, math, writing, technology, and citizenship• Content standards(set by teachers)-courses required for graduation Algebra I, & II,

geometry, chemistry, physics, biology, foreign language, and the arts.

3. School reform• Redesign schools to achieve goals

– New American Schools (NAS) design– Partnership with outside organization

• Must meet all aspects of school– Heavy investment in staff development and self accountability for student

performance

Crossing the bridge continued

Thirty-two schools (of 162) adopted a new design

Increased state test scores

The following year all 162 schools adopted reforms

Scores improved during the first five years

Parents were more interested in schools

Open enrollment

Superintendent works closely with principals

Principal’s Academy every August and seminars

4. Support for families and children (years 6-8)• Provided children with high-quality pre school experiences from birth to age

five.

• Work with teenage mothers to develop parenting skills and reading skills.

• Helped adults in the community to earn GED.

What is Our Core Purpose?

MIAMI UNIVERSITY AT OHIO MODEL

Organization must know the importance of having a clear understanding of their fundamental purpose.

Why do we exist? What do we want to accomplish? What do we believe about teaching and learning?

GUIDING IDEAS-SHARED VISIONS THAT SHAPE AND RESHAPE THE ORGANIZATION.

What do we stand for? What do we desire to create? What pushes our thinking? How can school leaders transform schools?

REFLECTIVE/TRANSFORMATIVE LEADERSHIP-The Process

Valued dialogue and skillful discussion-team learning on small basis.

Deliberated on the definition of leadership. Talked about the cultural, political, and moral contexts of schools. Discussed school leadership as a moral and craft practice. Utilized outside facilitators. Resolved mental models and articulated deeply held beliefs.

*PROCESS EXEMPLIFIES THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SHARED VISION THROUGH TEAM LEARNING.

END RESULT OF MIAMI OF OHIO PROJECT

• Two year lengthy process.

• Only doctoral program in Ed. Administration in Ohio to receive exemplary rating.

• Teaching is more powerful and transformative.• Teaching practices considered within context of the community.

GUIDING PRINCIPALS IN SUMMATION

• Educational leadership must be reconstructed so that transformation of schools becomes its central focus.

• The primary goal of public schools is to educate children for the responsibilities of citizenship.

• School leadership is an intellectual, moral, and craft practice.

Guiding Principles Continued

• Educational practice must be informed by critical reflection.

• Leadership is not equated with positions in a bureaucracy.

• Diversity is a necessary element of education.

• There must be a commitment to community.

MAKING A DANGEROUS SUBJECT SAFE

The Goshen Central High School-”Learning Activism”

How do students foster a shared vision for a school and galvanize a school community?

Current Reality

Triangle Of Design, Circle of CulturePredetermined Uncertainty

The $19,000 QuestionSuccess to the Successful

Shifting the BurdenA System Diagnoses Itself

The Great Game of High School

1. Triangle of Design, Circle of Culture

• Culture is rooted deeply in people. It is embodied in their attitudes, values, and skills which stem from personal backgrounds, life experiences, and communities in which they belong.

How can culture be changed?Change the structure!

Policies Practices Rules By-laws Channels of authority

*The relationship between culture and structure produces change in people.

School Culture

A ttitu d es V a lu es S k ills

S ch oo l C u ltu re

High Performing Schools

Teachers feel:

Invigorated Challenged Professionally engaged Empowered

School Communities are marked by:

Reflective dialogue Unity of purpose Collective focus on student learning Collaboration and norms of sharing Openness to improvement Deprivation of practice and critical

review Trust and respect Renewal of community Supportive and knowledge leadership

Domain of ActionEfforts you can make to create a culture of learning.

Focus your action by:

• Guiding Ideas

• New Organizational Arrangements

• New Methods and Tools

Guiding Ideas

Statements of principles and values that an organization stands for.

• Purpose• Direction

Articulate in an understandable language. Talking evokes change.

Organizational Arrangements

Means in which resources are made available.

• Decision making structures

• Allocation of space and time

• Feedback and communication mechanisms

• Planning processes

Builders of Learning

The following arrangements have been found to facilitate the development of professional community and collective accountability for student success:

Scheduling time and space for teachers to talk Interdependent teaching structure Physical proximity Communication structures Teacher empowerment and school autonomy Rotating roles

Methods and Tools

• Learning classrooms, schools, and communities can be built.

Tools help to:• Foster aspirations• Promote reflective

conversations• Develop capability for

conceptualizing complex issues

Valuable tools for building learning communities:

Collaborative assessment conferences

School quality review Visual dialogue

Collaborative Tools

• Triangle will collapse without the three domains working together.

2. Pre-Determined Uncertainty

• Looking into the future and predicting various outcomes through scenario planning helps organizations develop strategies to handle any situation that may arise in the future.

• The scenario planning process is time consuming.

Cultural Capital

• The prevailing curriculum and the processes by which it is taught is geared to an upper-middle-class, white, male, Anglo-Saxon, and verbal/analytical pattern of thinking.

Strategies for escaping the “vicious spiral”

Do everything possible to join the “virtuous

spiral” groupBreak the rulesRaise awareness of the dynamic as a whole

Shifting the Burden

Begins with an urgent problem Two calls to action

Variation1: Addiction (Losing our Capability)

• A system becomes addicted to solutions that don’t really work.

• They become addicted to the quick fix and unable to escape it.

• Ex. Limiting services and programs in order to help students pass the test

Variation 2: Shifting the burden to the Intervenor (The

Professionals)• The people with the problem become

dependent on the intervention and never learn to solve problems.

• The insiders or the people are the only ones that can sustain the changes needed to solve the problem.

• Ex.Classroom teachers that depend on special area teachers to solve the problem.

Variation 3: Eroding Goals (Isolating the Poor Performers)

• When the gap between desired performance and poor performance grows so great, that instead of trying to improve performance people settle for a lower level of achievement.

• Ex. Schools that prohibit students from extracurricular activities because of poor grades.

Communities of Practice Theory

• Organizations tend to conduct their work less through a hierarchical chain of command and more through informal networks of people who pass on messages and values in thousands of subtle small ways throughout the day.

Measures That Make a Difference in “Burnout”

Dialogue about the “great game” of high school Offer a variety of extracurricular activities Recruit burnout faculty Set up representative elections for student council Consider multi-grade classrooms Link the shared vision process to shared vision efforts Involve everyone

Toward A New Model of Educational LeadershipToward A New Model of Educational Leadership

Four components to leading without control:Four components to leading without control:EngagementEngagement

- Diagnosing- Diagnosing- Reflecting- Reflecting- Identifying- Identifying

Systems ThinkingSystems Thinking

Leading LearningLeading Learning

Self-AwarenessSelf-Awareness

2. Peer Partners2. Peer Partners

BenefitsBenefitsSet agenda.Set agenda.Cultivate relationships.Cultivate relationships.Bring insights and resources home.Bring insights and resources home.Encourage bold initiatives.Encourage bold initiatives.Set examples.Set examples.Give change time.Give change time.Create a safe place.Create a safe place.

3. The Superintendent’s Progress (PM, SV)3. The Superintendent’s Progress (PM, SV)

Phase I. “Lone Ranger”Phase I. “Lone Ranger”Phase II. Relationship BuilderPhase II. Relationship BuilderPhase III. Emerging LearnerPhase III. Emerging LearnerPhase IV. LeaderPhase IV. Leader

The most critical role of the central office is The most critical role of the central office is supporting learning about learning.supporting learning about learning.

4. A School Board That Learns (SV, TL)4. A School Board That Learns (SV, TL)

The school board in Alameda, CAThe school board in Alameda, CA

Developed a vision statement of what the district should lookDeveloped a vision statement of what the district should looklike in 2004.like in 2004.

The Barriers Built Into The SystemThe Barriers Built Into The System

““Command-and-control” budgetingCommand-and-control” budgetingBoard members influenced by the constituencies.Board members influenced by the constituencies.Parents want things the way it’s always been.Parents want things the way it’s always been.Constant turnover.Constant turnover.Limited team learning.Limited team learning.

Media critical of mental modes discipline.Media critical of mental modes discipline.Physical setup of the meeting room not conducive.Physical setup of the meeting room not conducive.

Toward a Learning School BoardToward a Learning School Board

Create a public record of private conversations.Create a public record of private conversations.Resist the temptation to invoke business examples.Resist the temptation to invoke business examples.Keep returning to the observable data.Keep returning to the observable data.Set up alternative meeting formats.Set up alternative meeting formats.Practice talking about values.Practice talking about values.Model the behavior you want from the schools.Model the behavior you want from the schools.

5. Feet to the Fire (SV, TL)5. Feet to the Fire (SV, TL)

NAU revamped its liberal studies program.NAU revamped its liberal studies program.All courses had to beAll courses had to be

- coherent- coherent- relevant- relevant- sustainable- sustainable

Plans were shared and modified.Plans were shared and modified.Faculty members were slow to embrace a new program.Faculty members were slow to embrace a new program.

Under the GunUnder the Gun

ImplementationImplementationCommitment and mutual respect Commitment and mutual respect Building a shared commitmentBuilding a shared commitmentKey to building commitment:Key to building commitment:

- setting some ground rules- setting some ground rules- establishing a set of group guidelines.- establishing a set of group guidelines.

Establishing Ground RulesEstablishing Ground Rules

Utilize the “ladder of influence” (p. 68).Utilize the “ladder of influence” (p. 68).Balance advocacy and inquiry (p. 222).Balance advocacy and inquiry (p. 222).Honor confidentiality.Honor confidentiality.

Overcoming ResistanceOvercoming Resistance

Met with departments. Met with departments. Assumed conflict presents opportunities.Assumed conflict presents opportunities.

Teaching As An Intellectual And Community ActivityTeaching As An Intellectual And Community Activity

Involved conversations among students and teachers.Involved conversations among students and teachers.

Focused on teaching as opposed to learning.Focused on teaching as opposed to learning.

Shift from being teaching organizations to learning organizations.Shift from being teaching organizations to learning organizations.

6. Learning as Governing and Governing 6. Learning as Governing and Governing as Learning (PM, SV, TL, MM, ST)as Learning (PM, SV, TL, MM, ST)The Chelmsford Public Charter School storyThe Chelmsford Public Charter School story

In 1995 a group of parents in a middle class Boston suburbIn 1995 a group of parents in a middle class Boston suburbused the five learning disciplines to design a public schoolused the five learning disciplines to design a public schoolthat all the constituents - administrators, parents, teachers,that all the constituents - administrators, parents, teachers,and students - could cocreate together.and students - could cocreate together.

Co-creating A Vision For The SchoolCo-creating A Vision For The School

School BoardSchool BoardSet up a school where all were continual learners.Set up a school where all were continual learners.

Teachers Teachers Attended conferences and were trained.Attended conferences and were trained.

PrincipalPrincipalModeled the learning disciplines.Modeled the learning disciplines.

StudentsStudentsLearned by practicing in real-life situations.Learned by practicing in real-life situations.

Sharing The GovernanceSharing The Governance

The school board and staff met and reached a consensus.The school board and staff met and reached a consensus.

The students present ideas to the school board/staff members.The students present ideas to the school board/staff members.

The students help solve problems.The students help solve problems.

““You Don’t Get Letter Grades, Do You?”You Don’t Get Letter Grades, Do You?”

Graded as “novice, apprentice, proficient, or distinguished.”Graded as “novice, apprentice, proficient, or distinguished.”Marked “not yet successful, successful, highly successful, andMarked “not yet successful, successful, highly successful, and

very highly successful.”very highly successful.”Given a set of objectives for projects.Given a set of objectives for projects.Do real-life skill work.Do real-life skill work.Do quality work.Do quality work.Make up work.Make up work.Assessed with rubrics.Assessed with rubrics.Given pop quizzes.Given pop quizzes.Check in homework.Check in homework.

Sustaining The EffortSustaining The Effort

Every year the school examines what’s been done.Every year the school examines what’s been done.

It asks the question: What can we improve on and where doIt asks the question: What can we improve on and where dowe need to go now?we need to go now?