The "This Too Shall Pass"...Stall in Education Reform"

I recently attended  a Canadian Education Association regional workshop (facilitated by Stephen Hurley and Ron Canuel) at the University of British Columbia.  It was a gathering of passionate and talented people tasked with answering one question:

What's standing in the way of change in education?

This was one of a series of events, held across Canada, to study and explore answers to the aforementioned question (for more information on this exciting research click here).

The day began by exploring some of the barriers to change in education.  Participants shared many insights and ideas - identifying barriers such as:  funding models, policy decisions (school, organizational and government) , institutional memory (by all stakeholders), societal expectations, assessment models (and many more).

As we shared the many barriers to change I couldn't help but think about the long history of (failed?) education reform in Canada and British Columbia.

On a personal level, I can think of the many conversations I've had regarding BC's latest education transformation initiative (The BC Education Plan, Curriculum Transformation) and the inevitable "conversation stopping" sentiment:

This too shall pass.

The proverbial “we tried that back in..(insert year)" can be a little demoralizing when in comes to school improvement and change in education.

And yet these sentiments do cause me to pause and think about some "recent" failed reform initiatives here in BC.  For example:

• In 1987 the government of BC commissioned Barry Sullivan to review the BC education system and make recommendations for improvement.  The Commission came down with sweeping recommendations for BC's education system including such things as: cross curricular integration of content, a shift in focus from content to "learning to learn", child centered instruction, multi-age grouping of students, emphasis on school within community, more authentic performance based assessment of students and anecdotal reporting of student learning.  I came across this pdf version of the report here: It is both a fascinating and sobering read. 

• Open Classrooms.  Talk to a teacher who was around in the late 1970’s early 1980’s. They will tell you this was a good idea gone bad. The walls went up shortly after they were taken down.

• School Portfolio’s. In 2005 the government initiated a mandatory graduation portfolio for every student in British Columbia.  By 2007 the program was scrapped. More fodder for the "been there done that" camp.

These examples can teach us a tremendous amount about reform and change in education. Bottom line – it is not easy.

And yet I am hopeful that we can we learn from the past.  This is why I am excited to hear about the work that the CEA is undertaking in understanding the barriers in education reform and change.

Despite any "mistakes" made in the education reform past,  I will suggest that there may be different forces at play today that are providing a different type of momentum to the school reform movement:

This election of Pope Benedict (2005) vs Pope Francis (2013)

Mobile, Web-Based, Social Technology
The proliferation of mobile, web based, social technology is giving us access to an abundance of diverse information and people. Accessing the information is not solely dependent on "school" or the educators that work in them.


Neuroscience
There is a growing amount of brain research that is dispelling myths about how the human brain learns best. This article does a nice job summarizing some of the recent research: Neuroscience: Brain Based Learning Myth Busting

Shrinking, Shifting, Connected World
Many have written about how world has changed -economically, strategically and socially.  In a compelling and informative TED talk, Paddy Ashdown talks about the Global Power Shift. One of his more compelling arguments is that:

In the modern age where everything is connected to everything, the most important thing you can do....is what you can do with others.  

Ashdown emphatically states that the paradigm structure of our time is the network.  If we buy Ashdown's argument, then as educators we need to ask ourselves how equipped our students are to navigate this shifting world.

Some enduring constants....
Yet, despite these momentum generating forces, I would argue that there are some enduring constants in education and school that will continue to positively serve our students.

Namely that teachers, working in relationships (with students and colleagues) matter immensely and that learning is personal (individual) and social and it needs to be shared and made visible.

So moving forward I have a few questions for reflection:

• What will be the compelling reason for school as a place, moving forward?
• Will, what many see as “extra” in schools, actually become the compelling "core" of what will make school relevant?
• Will we look back twenty years from now and see this time as yet another failed attempt at change in education?

I am still figuring it out.  Your thoughts and comments are welcome......

Earthquakes, Technology & School Safety

An engineer sets up the shake table at the UBC facility 

Yesterday (April 23, 2014) a 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit the west coast of Vancouver Island here in British Columbia.

As chance would have it, the previous day I had the opportunity to visit, along with a number of administrators and teachers from the Catholic Independent Schools of Vancouver Archdiocese, the UBC Earthquake Research Facility to begin the implementation and training process for the installation of an earthquake early warning system for the 49 Catholic schools located the greater Vancouver area.

News of the Vancouver area Catholic schools early warning system has been previously written about by various media outlets.

The following diagram helps explain how the Earthquake Early Warning system works:

In short, the technology being used, detects P-waves (prior to the earth shaking) and leverages a connected communication network to notify all our schools immediately.

Learning about P-Waves from Dr. Ventura

If a P-wave, triggered by an earthquake, is detected in any one of our schools (we have 49 schools from Powell River to Chilliwack - 300 km apart) the networked technology will trigger an alarm in all our schools simultaneously.

This alarm will give teachers and students precious time to duck, cover and hold before the shaking actually begins.

There are also plans to develop a smart phone app that will be synced to the system - giving individuals earthquake notification directly to their phones.

The roll out of this warning system has already begun and is scheduled to be functional some time this fall.  As we prepare for its implementation I am left with a couple of thoughts:

1. I am grateful for individuals who leverage technology to make a positive difference in our lives
2. Mobile, networked technology can unite a system.
3. I am hopefully that the work being done by our schools can lead to greater cooperation with other schools (public and independent) to help all students and teachers - like I've said before - they are ALL our children
4. I can see how one broad early warning system across British Colombia can benefit all of us. 

Still figuring it out......

From Teacher to Learner

As we march ahead in education, navigating a changing landscape - imposed by a variety of forces (e.g mobile, web based and social technology, economic shifts, globalization, etc) - I am sometimes asked for my opinion on what will make (or has made) the biggest impact on our ability to re-image (or re-imagine) education and school.

My answer has been somewhat consistent:

A teacher's disposition as learner first, is the greatest factor in our ability to re-image school.

Which got me thinking about the power of words.  What if the word "teacher" was replaced by the word "learner"?

I believe that words are powerful:

“A picture can tell a thousand words, but a few words can change it’s story.” Sebastyne Young

This video, on the power of words, magnifies this message beautifully : So, what if we replaced the word "teacher" with "learner" in all its contexts?  Would it assist teachers in coping with some the changes occurring in education? Would it impact learning in schools and classrooms? Would it impact pedagogy? What impact would this have on students?

In an effort to have a little fun, here are a few common expression with the word "teacher" and an amended version with the word "learner":

Common expression with the word "Teacher"

1. Teacher
2. I teach.
3. I am a teacher.
4. I teach students
5. Those who can, do.  Those who can't teach.
6. I don't teach curriculum. I teach students.
7. I am a (insert grade level or curricular area) teacher.

Amended version - replacing "Teacher" with "Learner"

1. Learner
2. I activate learning for my students.
3. I am an agent of learning for my students.  Ultimately I want them to be free agents with their learning
4. I am a learner who learns with and about my students...
5. Those who can, do.  Those who can't learn.
6. I learn about how students learn.  I am an activator of learning for my students.
7. As a passionate learner of (insert curricular/content area) myself, I activate learning for my students in...(insert curricular/content area)

Is this a small, silly or superficial thing?

Maybe.

However, I would contend that, when we see ourselves as learners first we can more easily  live and embody a growth mindset for our students.  When we see ourselves as learners first, we don't see change as a threat but rather as a way of being.  When we see ourselves as learners first, we are passionate about learning and want to share that passion with our students and colleagues.

By being learners first,we can more readily allow our students to be free agents with their learning - something our children and students will require throughout their life.

Still figuring it out......

A Chance Encounter with Eric & Loneliness

The door is open at the Door Is Open

A few weeks ago I attended a two day retreat at the Door Is Open:

a drop in centre located at 373 East Cordova Street, in the heart of East Vancouver. The Centre supports the needs of hundreds of less fortunate people in the downtown east side. Many of our guests have compounding difficulties such as drug and alcohol addiction, physical and mental handicaps as well as maturing life stages and many other impairments.

The two days were designed to provide spiritual reflection and education while working in the service of those less fortunate. It also provided an opportunity to witness some of the realities of day to day life in Vancouver's Downtown East-side - Canada's poorest jurisdiction.

While I participated in preparing and serving food, walked the neighborhood and listened to various people talk about their day to day realities - it was my experience with a lunch guest named Eric that continues to leave a lasting impact.

It was during the first day - while welcoming some of the guests for lunch that I happened to meet and strike up a conversation with Eric.  Eric was a clean cut "normal" looking guy. I asked Eric if I could sit beside him. He agreed. And we talked.

I learned a lot about Eric in the 30 minutes we spent together.

I learned that Eric attended a Catholic elementary school until certain circumstances, outside of his control, forced him out of his home and to live with his grandma. He spoke fondly of his grandma. While she has long since passed away, Eric still misses his grandma.

We spoke about his high school experience. He explained how he never really had any good friends and "kept to himself". He regrets this.  He talked about feeling alone from an early age.

I asked Eric how life was treating him at the moment.

Eric explained how he recently finished course work and training related to the food industry. He likes to work with people and food.

He explained that for the past year, his housing has been stable. He is worried about the coming months and the uncertainty that is looming.

In a moment of vulnerability, Eric explained that he has goals but they tend to get derailed by this reoccurring cycle of sabotage (my word).  In frustration, he explained how he knows what he needs to do but, for a variety of reasons, he can't get there sometimes. He spoke at some length about how he frequently talks himself out of completing his goals.

Eric told me that he doesn't blame "the system" for his situation.

Eric admitted that he is lonely. Eric has been lonely for most of his life. Eric told me that he : "feels like an alien in my own city"

As he finished lunch, I told Eric that I would be back the next day and that we could chat again if he liked.

We said our "goodbyes"- hoping I could talk to Eric again the next day.

Eric returned the next day. I saw him and sat beside him.  I told him it was great to so see him again.

He told me that my conversation with him the previous day was the best thing that happened to him in a long time.  His honest compliment came as a surprise to me.

He explained how good he felt about recently receiving his "food safe certificate".

Eric explained that his goal for that day was finding a way to register for his "serving it right" certificate. He had two problems - he did't have access to the internet to register for the course and he didn't have the $40 for the course fee.

We brainstormed different ideas to solve his two problems. Ultimately he solved one problem- he could walk a few miles to register in person. His lack of money for the registration fee was another issue.

Eric told me that one of his favorite pastimes was writing poetry. I asked him if he has ever shared his poetry with others. Despite his openness to the idea, he didn't really know how or with whom to share it.

I talked to Eric about how, one day perhaps, he could share his poetry via a blog. I told him how it was free and a great way to share his passion with others. As I was talking I remembered that he didn't have regular access to the internet or a device- what an idiot I am....

We talked more about random stuff.

Lunch was over.

I didn't know what to do next. A simple "goodbye" didn't seem like enough.

I told Eric how privileged I was to have met him. I told him I didn't know if I would ever see him again but hoped that I did.

I wanted to offer Eric a few dollars to help him with his day. Maybe even to pay for his course. I wasn't sure how he would receive it. Would he be offended? Was I offering to make myself feel better? Would he see this as a platitude? Was it a platitude?  Was I disrespecting him? Would the money be used appropriately?

I decided to ask him. "Eric can I offer you a little money to help you with your day?" He immediately resisted. I told him he could use the money to pay for his "serving it right course". He paused. He let me put the money in his hand.

I walked Eric to the door and watched him as he hit the streets of the downtown east side. As I watched, I felt a little embarrassed and inadequate.

I felt inadequate because the best I could offer Eric, as he walked away, was money. What he really needed was more of my time.

My two days in the downtown east side of Vancouver taught me one valuable lesson. Despite all the poverty, health and addiction problems that exist in that part of my city- there is one more rampant epidemic that is ravaging the lives so many........loneliness.

Eric brought me face to face with the tragic impact of perpetual loneliness.

I think I owe it to Eric and all those suffering from loneliness, to do all that I can in my role as a Catholic educator and parent to prevent and ease the pain of loneliness.

Dear Eric:
I am sorry for your loneliness. I am embarrassed that I didn't offer you anything more to take away your loneliness.

I will return to the Door Is Open in the hope of meet up with you again... 

Some Leadership Attitude(s)

I have a style issue.  No, I'm not walking around wearing my 1980's acid washed jeans or rugby pants...(oh the good old days...)

The "style" issue I am referring to has to do with leadership.

To be blunt - I don't think I have a leadership style.  

Instead, what I have come to see are some personal attitudes that have sustained me throughout my time in school administration.

Upon reflection, here are a few of the attitudes that have helped me along the way:

I trust therefore I lead. 
Trust has been the currency that has allowed me to be effective as an administrator.  The more trust I give away - the more I seem to get in return.  More than simply waiting to trust, I have often sought out opportunities to trust - whether it be with colleagues or students.  The results?  I have been blessed in my career to work with people who have responded to my trust with support, integrity and an inspiring ethic of care. Coincidentally, as parent I am realizing that one of the important gifts I can give my children is my trust!

Ripple Effect of Respect
In the context of school leadership, I realize that how I behave is more important than what I say.  Modelling respectful interactions, a calm demeanor, and genuine ethic of care have been, and will continue to be a "non-negotiable".   The idea is to send a ripple effect of respect throughout the school community.

I'm am...sorry, unsure, wrong, scared, concerned

Being vulnerable and naming my own feelings has been a game changer.  For example, if we say that we learn from our mistakes, we must also own our mistakes in a real and transparent way.

"Walk a mile in their shoes"
As teacher, to be most effective, I need to be deeply empathetic to individual students.  As an administrator, I feel like I need to maintain this attitude towards students AND teachers.   For example, I need to be mindful that I don't keep on "adding" to teachers "must do" without considering what needs to be taken away.  One simple and important way to do this, is to "walk a mile in their shoes".  Being an "Embedded Principal" has been helpful in this regard.

"You" before the "it"
This is closely related to the attitude above.  This is about putting people before policies or systems.  I have learned that I need to be present to the person I am interacting with.  I need to see and respect the person before I see the policy.  In the end, the person may disagree with my decision, but they will  youalways know that they are respected and will fully understand the "why" behind the decision.

Restless Learner
It is probably not a healthy thing, but I am one of those people who feels a perpetual sense of anxiousness about "missing" learning opportunities that will make me, students or teachers better.  I feel a certain restlessness when it comes to learning, schools and education.  Interestingly enough, John Hattie's research  compares the impact that instructional leadership and transformational leadership has on student learning. Surprisingly (or not), Hattie's research tips the scales towards the idea of instructional leadership.  My experience not only confirms this, but also tells me that I have a better chance of becoming a transformational leader if I am a restless learner in my community. 

"Just Let Go" 
This is all about me letting go.  Give up control and gain  personal engagement and ownership .  Of course this is the antithesis of micromanaging - which invariably leads to apathy,  boredom and risk aversion.  Said another way - I have found that I need to trust, let go and empower others to do what they need to do.

This attitude reminds me of a scene in the movie Finding Nemo when Marlin is clinging on to Dory, inside the mouth of a whale - about to be swallowed.  Dory is demanding to be "let go".  Marlin yells: "but how do you know that something bad isn't going to happen?"  To which Dory replies "I DON'T"

"It's not about me"
Some may call this -  being rooted in the "why".  It's not "my" school or "my" school system.  I need to remind myself that my job is to bring the community to an agreed upon destination - rooted in values, mission and vision. This is where I constantly remind myself to check my personal agenda, desires and ego at the door.

It's not my issue

The job demands that I make decisions using my best judgement.  Certain issues demand that I skate into the puck.  I've also come to understand that some of my best decisions are the ones I don't make.  Not all issues are my issues.  Knowing the difference has been critical to my leadership.  Despite my sincerest desire to intervene in any and all situations that arise in a school, sometimes I need to step back and let others step up.

"It's only school"
This may sound like I am trivializing or demeaning my work - but that is not my intent.   I love and am passionate about my job.

Sometimes, however, we do take ourselves too seriously.  For example when dealing with students we need to remember that they are- well - kids.  They are growing up.  They're supposed to make mistakes.  All they really want is to be accepted for who they are, to find personal fulfillment, to be trusted and to have some fun and excitement while figuring it out.

When we consistently take ourselves too seriously we lose perspective of who we are actually serving - which ultimately leads to decisions, policies and systems that don't respect kids for who they are and where they are at any given moment.

I'm still figuring it out and invite you to share your thoughts and reactions.

Go Study! Strategies with Impact

As an administrator, teacher and parent I have caught myself preaching about the need to study.

Certainly my own children have heard me talk about the importance of preparation, being organized and work habits.

But I must confess that while preaching about the importance of studying and preparation, I probably could be a little more specific about what effective study strategies look like.

For this I turn to John Hattie - who has compiled  a list of meta cognitive study strategies that, the research shows, are most effective in preparing students.

Here are the TOP 5 study strategies (Visible Learning, John Hattie):

1. Organizing and Transforming
This is about being organized in your thinking and making it your own.   It includes such things as making an outline before you compose or mapping your thinking.

2. Self Consequences
Students need to get to a place where they prioritize what is important - preferably on their own. In my house it might look and sound like this: "I know you want play on your rainbow loom, but is there any business you need to take care of first?" This reminds me of the now famous Stanford University Marshmallow Experiment on delayed gratification where:

the researchers found that children who were able to wait longer for the preferred rewards tended to have better life outcomes, as measured by test scores and educational attainment.....However, recent work calls into question whether self-control, as opposed to strategic reasoning, determines children's behavior

3. Self Evaluation
Creating opportunities for students to do structured self evaluations of their own work.  Peer reviews of work are also effective in this regard.

4. Self-Instruction
Verbalizing the steps and thinking involved in a task.  In other words - "talking it through"

5. Help Seeking
Find a study partner and talk it out it with each other.  Don't be afraid to ask for help.  Ask important important questions.  Receive quality feedback.

Here are the three LEAST effective study strategies (Visible Learning, Hattie):

1. Environmental Restructuring
 Selecting or arranging the physical setting to making learning easier.  This one surprises me given that I have given this bit of advice before.  I suppose this one needs to be taken in context.  If you only provide the space without the effective strategies (see above) results are limited.

2. Time Management
Scheduling daily study and homework time.  Again, one that I have recommended in the past!  Nonetheless, scheduling time without purpose is ineffective.  Reminds me of a few meetings I have attended or even facilitated!

3. Imagery
Creating or recalling vivid mental images to assist learning.

An observation
As I think about the "least effective" study strategies listed above, I can't help but wonder if they tend to prepare students for a certain type of demonstration of learning - i.e. memorizing for the test and/or recalling of information.

On the other hand, the top 5 strategies, from what I can see, lend themselves to preparing students for learning that is multifaceted - from recalling of information to project based, inquiry driven learning.

As usual, I'm still figuring it out....

When SMART Goals become Dumb

Our schools have embraced SMART Goals (Conzemius and O’Neal, 2002) as a vehicle for allowing focused conversations around school growth in the area of curriculum, instruction and learning.

SMART Goals as a definition (and an acronym) are:

Specific: focus on specific learning needs of students
Measurable: can progress be monitored and adjustments can me be made along the way
Attainable: Goals are realistic and team members are given time and resources
Results Orientated: outcomes are observable specific
Time Bound: all done within a time frame

With this in mind I would like to throw out some personal questions and concerns about SMART Goals as I have come to see them in action.

To be clear, I'm not against goal setting.  After all, if everything is a priority then nothing is a priority.

Having strategic goals, based on evidenced need, that can be monitored, is important for any school and teacher.

However, when it comes to SMART Goals in schools, I wonder if we, at times, miss the mark.

Process over results

Recently I watched a video entitled "What Drives Winning?"  The speaker, Brett Ledbetter, shares his insights on what some of the most successful coaches in college and professional basketball say about winning and goal setting.

The most telling message from all these successful and respected coaches is that they don't set goals based on results - instead they focus on "process and character".

For example, Brad Stevens of the Boston Celtics is quoted as saying:

I don't even talk about goals.  As a team we never talk about it.  The only thing we talk about is process.

You can watch the video here - it is worth your 6 minutes:

Most of the SMART goals that I have encountered usually reference student achievement results based on some sort of standardized test.  One of my discomforts is that an over reliance on test results can drive pedagogy - usually at the expense of empowered, personalized learning for students.  Teach to the test anyone?

To be clear - I am not against standards nor am I against students demonstrating success in their learning through standards. As a society we need to be sure that student learning and understanding is measured against accepted and agreed upon standards.

However shouldn't the fact that we want students to learn and improve be the default position for every educator in the world?  Do we need SMART Goals to remind us that we want students to improve?

I would surmise that the basketball coaches interviewed in the video take "winning" as the default.  Coaches and players want to win.  That is a given.

Teachers want to students to learn and be successful in their learning.  Students are naturally born to learn and want to be successful in their learning.  That is a given.

What isn't a given is the process of empowering students (and teachers) in their learning.  Perhaps SMART Goals should seek to strike a better balance between pedagogy and student results.

Am I making sense?

School Wide Fake

As a high school principal I have always felt that it would be extremely difficult to have one or two school wide SMART Goals that would be valued and meaningful for an entire school community.

Instead, we developed school wide priorities, based on legitimate evidence - that specific departments and teachers could plug into - in a way that was most meaningful for them and their students.

Take for example......Literacy.  I would suspect that most schools, at one point or another, have had some sort of literacy related goal.

Rather than have one very specific SMART goal for our school, we named Literacy, across all curricular areas as an important priority.

As an offshoot of that school wide priority, different departments and teachers were empowered to make some important decisions as to how that literacy goal could have the most impact for individual students.

Science teachers, as an example, spent a lot of time working with students on how to unpack vocabulary rich scientific text.  Some Humanities teachers discovered that they needed to spend  time assisting students with the skill of summarizing text.

Over time we identified similar priorities related to Digital Citizenship, Assessment and Grading Practices and Technology Integration (to name a few).

It was important that our school wide priorities allowed for teachers to be nimble and respond to the learning needs of each student in any given class or course.

We measure that which is easy

Sometimes I worry that an over-reliance and simplistic view of measurement causes us to measure that which is easy.

In a previous post I ask: What are we measuring in education?

Like Dean Shareski writes in this post: "I'm not anti-measurement.  I'm anti-simple"

As usual, I'm figuring things out.  Any feedback is welcome....