100 Days of Inspiration

I have been in my role as an Associate Superintendent for about 100 days. It's been a whirlwind and the learning curve has been steep.

But without a doubt, my first 100 days have been marked with profound inspiration and admiration for the incredible work happening within the CISVA schools.

One of the greatest parts of my job, thus far, has been my ability and privilege to visit nearly half of our 46 schools.  Whether meeting with individual principals, entire staffs, Parent Education Committees or visiting individual teachers in their classrooms - I have been completely inspired by the faith, dedication, passion and commitment to "best practice" of men and women working in our schools -  in humble service of our students.

Walking into our schools, not only do they "look" Catholic but the Gospel values permeate the hearts and minds of staff and students .  The daily actions of staff members and students embody the life giving values that honour the "whole child"- with their many and varied blessings, talents and challenges.  I am sensing a genuine and overall happiness from students at school.

I am learning things about schools that I never noticed before or even had access to.  Here is a small collection of noteworthy items happening in a few schools that caught my attention over the past 100 days:

• Learning Supported by Technology: a school's 3:1 iPad initiative, a school using Google Chromebooks, a teacher is awarded the Prime Ministers Award for  her use of technology in the classroom, and how other schools are using BYOD and other resources to empowering learning through technology
• An outdoor Kindergarten program 
• some high-school teachers moving to "grade-less report cards" 
• Schools moving to more holistic grading guidelines - placing the focus on student learning as opposed marks
• a school taking Gr. 7 students to the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre for a week  -where students actually "become marine biologists" 
• a school community (parents, staff and students) coming together to raise funds and  build a new playground
• Schools empowering students, teachers and parents to be agents of change for those less fortunate at the Door is Open and at the Agape Street Ministry
• Students in our schools learning to code and even gaining employment in the field 
• Schools using Social Media to connect with their communities- see the growing use of the #CISVA hashtag   
• Schools being intentional about the spiritual, social and emotional health of students.  Whether through programs like Second Step,  I am a gift from God or high school peer counseling programs
• Early Childhood Intervention Programs and Literacy initiatives that place an intentional focus on meeting the learning needs of individual learners at an early age.

I know that there are many more incredible things happening in our schools that I am sure to encounter in the coming months.

I have come to learn these things because my new role has allowed me to connect with people and schools on a different level.

And yet I think we are missing out on a system wide opportunity.

We need to get to a place where my "privileged" position as an Associate is irrelevant!

With today’s access to social media, we increasingly have an opportunity to tell and share our own story to a broader audience - beyond our local communities.

More importantly, as we look grow in our own faith, improve our own professional practice as Catholic school educators and enrich the teaching and learning in our school’s  we need to look to each other for support, sharing and learning.

The first 100 days have been full of inspiration.  I want others to see what I have seen.  Let's continue to create networks of learning across school communities, in an effort to share and inspire each other to continue to meet the needs of every student entrusted to our care.

The Ethics of Innovation & Reform in Education

I recently read an article about the innovative and creative exploits of Google.

The article attributed many of Google's most innovative and successful projects to the idea of "moonshot thinking" whereby Google takes on "highly experimental projects that will become industry changing success stories or total failures"

Such thinking has been attributed to projects such as Google Glasses, Project Loon , self driving cars and more recently Calico - a health company that "will focus on health and well-being, in particular the challenge of aging and associated diseases"

The creative and innovative energy around these initiatives excites me. I want to create that same energy in schools - for both students and teachers.

As a teacher/administrator I want to inspire students to strive for "moonshot thinking" in their own lives.  After all, which educator wouldn't?

Yet, I'm left wondering.....

Is unfettered, radical innovation and reform in education morally ethical?

Is Google "totally failing" at a project the same as a school reform initiative "totally failing"?

Google losing a couple hundred million dollars (out of a couple billion dollars) is not the same as a school potentially "losing" even one student.

Reform in education is challenging. It involves real people in their most formative and vulnerable years.

I can't help but wonder about the effect on failed reform initiatives for generations of students - from the US polices of "No Child Left Behind" to turning schools into educational call centres



Picture taken from: http://hechingerreport.org/content/education-nation-in-arizona-desert-a-charter-school-competes_9687/

As educators, perhaps, before we look to the corporate world as exemplars, we need to think about who we are serving and the consequences of our actions.

I offer the following suggestions:

1. Ask yourself "why" before you moving forward. What are your school's values? Are your actions in alignment with these values?

2. What will be the possible impacts of your action? Predicting and applying systems thinking to this process is critical. Like Peter Senge writes: "today's problems are a consequence of yesterday's solutions"

3. What does the current research reveal? Research is important, but know the limiting aspects of your research as well..

5. Is this work creating the most good with the least possible negatives (there is always going to be potential "risk")

6. Ask yourself: Would you want your own child to participate in this "innovative program?"

I like the idea of "moonshot thinking". The world has changed. Education needs to change. But education is not the same as Google. The stakes are much higher in education.

Still figuring it out....

Cutting through the Fog of Student Improvement

I recently had the opportunity to spend two days working with  and listening to John Hattie and his team at Visible Learning unpacking his research on what has the greatest impact on student achievement.

Hattie's research on "Visible Learning" has garnered world wide recognition and is being referenced as a vehicle for cutting through the fog of school improvement.

Before going any further, Hattie himself made a point of highlighting some of the "limitations" of his research. For example, Hattie's work strictly deals with student achievement in the academic domain.  His research does not deal with student well-being in the affective domain (social and emotional learning). Nor does it address the spiritual domain of student well-being.  Any educator, school or district looking to implement Hattie's work needs to understand the potential "limiting" context of this work.

So what DOES "work" in improving student achievement?

According to Hattie, the research demonstrates that 95% of what teachers do has some sort of positive impact on achievement. In other words almost everything "works".

Hattie suggests that we shouldn't ask what "works" in improving achievement but rather what is most effective in improving achievement.

The following are some of teacher interventions that have the greatest impact:

Feedback
According to Hattie: "feedback works when a culture of error and mistakes are welcome." Feedback to students is most effective when the learning is appropriately challenging and raises expectations.

Feedback can have both a positive and negative impact on achievement. The best and most effective feedback needs to be "just in time, just for me and delivered when and where it can do most good" and must come from both teacher and student. 

In general, feedback falls into four categories: self praise, task orientated (how is the new task being performed), process orientated (feedback regarding process underlying the task) and self-regulation (feedback that supports learner to regulate and monitoring actions toward achieving goal)

During the workshop, we were given an opportunity to "give feedback" and to examine different types of feedback. My general observations is that as the person giving feedback you need to have a certain degree of expertise in the topic you are giving feedback on - it helps to have some sort experience with the material - for the feedback to be helpful. Also, "task" orientated feedback is usually given when introducing new material. As the learner becomes more familiar the different levels of feedback given do not fall in a linear sequential pattern. The various types of feedback vary according to the situation.

The bottom line? Giving varied feedback takes awareness and deliberate practice. We need to aware of the different types of feedback and more importantly, we need to equip ourselves and our students with capacity to effectively use the appropriate type of feedback for any given situation. Of course, quality feedback is rooted in level of trust in the relationship.

It should be noted that this concepts can also be applied to how we provide feedback to each other as professional educators!

Meta Cognition
Meta-cognition is essentially the skill of thinking about thinking. The research reveals that learners that can take control of learning and self regulate themselves improves achievement.

Teachers need to deploy both cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies with students.  By comparison, cognitive (thinking) interventions are related to the learning process that enable learners to make progress. Meta - cognitive interventions are related to the self management of learning skills - enabling learners to control progress

At the heart of this "impact" is the idea that teachers (and students) need to model meta cognitive strategies in their own learning. It is also clear that meta cognitive strategies can be taught and can be applied across learning areas.

In needs to be noted that these meta-cognitive strategies are not taught as an "add on" but rather within related content/subject areas.
The following is a link to how meta-cognition  can be used in an elementary school language arts class.

Teacher as Evaluator: Capturing Student Voice
An important teacher "mindframe" that Hattie identifies is "teacher as evaluator". 

Teachers must be primary concerned with understanding their impact on student learning on a daily basis.  A teacher needs to answer: How am I doing? Where to next?  How am I going to get there?

To get an accurate picture of their impact,  a teacher must capture authentic student voice.

How many schools actually ask students, teachers and parents "What does learning at our school look like?"

During the workshop we were presented with a few examples where entire school communities engaged in a school wide goal of determining student attitudes toward feedback and learning.

It was fascinating to observe examples of  how school communities went through the process of creating a common language around learning, teaching and feedback - a worthwhile and powerful process for sure!

Assessment Capable Learners & Teacher Expectations
The research reveals that students are very good at predicting their achievement level - which affirms the use of self assessments in the classroom. Furthermore students in classes where teachers raise expectations, beyond what the students believe they can do, and provide necessary supports to reach those expectations, do better.

The bottom line is that in any given class, students (& teachers) should be able to answer "where am I going? How am I doing? Where to next?

Collective teacher efficacy
Student achievement improves when when teachers work together to make each other better. From planning for instruction and assessment -  to teachers should NOT be working alone

Learning Criteria & Teacher Clarity
Teacher clarity of instruction and clear and transparent criteria improves student achievement.  Achievement improves when students are clear of the learning intentions and success criteria. (Learning intentions are the learning goals of the lesson. Success criteria are related to the what the learner must demonstrated at the end of the lesson.)  The clearer and transparent the learning intentions and success criteria, the greater the achievement. In the same way, the use of "exemplars" are extremely effective in this capacity.

Response to Intervention
This is a model of instruction where specific and varied interventions by teachers have a positive impact on student achievement. Watch this video  for a quick reference to RTI

Teacher Knowing Student prior knowledge
The research reveals that 60-70% of what teachers teach the students already know. Teachers must be very diligent in getting an accurate read of students prior knowledge or they run the risk of disengaging most of their students.

Other Interesting Revelations:

Homework
The research reveals that homework has little positive impact on achievement at the elementary level.  It does have a relatively greater positive impact at the high school level.   When combined, homework does have some benefit in improving achievement but not a significant one.

Leadership
The overall effect of school leadership on achievement, is not huge.  Further exploration reveals that leaders who mostly focus their energies towards being instructional leaders does have a positive impact on achievement.

Class Size:
The research reveals the class size is not a significant indicator of student achievement.  This topic elicited some conversation and questioning.  On a personal level, I believe that effective teachers are those that can establish strong relationships with their students.  It is far more challenging to establish relationships and respond to the individual needs of your students in a class of 35 than a class of 25.

The salient point of the research, however,  is that teachers in smaller classes DID NOT change their teaching practices  to reflect the smaller sizes!  Teachers in classes of 20 taught the same as when they had classes of 35!

Boys & Girls
Hattie suggested that schools that spend time exploring how boys learn different from girls are spending time answering the wrong question!  The research reveals that difference in achievement levels is minimal and not worth the energy. 

Learning Styles

Hattie was clear on this topic. Teaching to different  learning styles is "nonsense".  There is no evidence to support that it increases achievement. 

Problem Based Learning
Problem based learning has a positive effect on student achievement provided students have a have a solid base of subject knowledge

Technology
Technology itself does not improve achievement.  Technology used to enhance meta-cognition, feedback,  problem solve and think critically has greater capacity to improve achievement.  In other words, technology needs to be seen as more than a tool for accessing information (the 21st century textbook)

Implications Moving forward:

A couple of quotes that resonate with me:

Visible learning and teaching occurs when teachers see learning through the eyes of students and when teachers help student become their own teachers

and 

When observing classes, do not watch teachers teach, but rather watch students learning, through the eyes of students...

As I continue to absorb Hattie's work and it's implications for our school system, I am left thinking about how this research can inform our school, teacher and principal growth planning/ evaluation systems.

Lots to think about and still figuring it out....

Parents: To Inform or Consult?

I recently attended a seminar dealing with how schools should interact with parents.  The seminar, hosted by lawyers, highlighted some recent examples of case law where interactions between schools and parents broke down in relation to children with special needs. 

The salient point of the seminar was that schools and parents should enter into "meaningful consultation" with each other and how that consultation should look like.  

It was noted that consultation is not the same as merely informing.  Giving options, both parties willing to listen to each other, "give and take", getting to a "win-win" and "having an open mind" were some the terms used to describe "meaningful consultation".  

It was also noted that schools should not develop a plan of action in isolation and merely ask for parental support.  Schools should, for example,  include parents in developing a plan of action.

Of course all consultation should be conducted from a student centered perspective and should vary in form and type according to the specific needs of the child.

One of questions that came was "who has the final decision making authority"?  Legalistically speaking, it was stated that schools have authority over the final decision related to the school based educational program  but only after "meaningful consultation".

That last question unsettled me a little only because I realized situations where we rely on "the authority to make the final decision" are precipitated, usually, by a breakdown in trust and healthy dialogue.

Interestingly enough, shortly after attending this seminars, I came across a blog post where one educator states, in relation to curriculum and testing: 

Parents do not have a right to tell the school what their children will and will not be taught and as public school administrators and teachers we cannot follow parent directives.

I can appreciate this comment, perhaps from a legalistic perspective  - but it does unsettle me as an educator.

One of the values we espouse in our Catholic school system is that parents are the "primary educators of their children".  I hold that value close to my heart and mind whenever I speak with parents.

I am always struck by the inherent (and required) trust parents place in me.  This trust is one of the foundations that make our schools safe and caring communities of learning. 

I am, for example, still asking myself about my own approach to communicating with parents - Do I tend to inform or consult?  I suppose that best answer I can offer is that "it depends" on the matter at hand.  

But what comes up for me over and over again is that whether informing or consulting with parents - regardless of the subject matter - I always see parents as the primary educators who are doing there best, often sacrificing so much to provide for and raise their child.

In my interactions with parents, this mindset has allowed me to sort through challenging issues in a respectful way.  It has helped me deliver good news in a joyful manner and, perhaps most importantly, it has allowed me to apologize in a vulnerable way when I've made mistakes.

Still figuring it out....

My Latest Teaching Assignment

This year, like last, I am teaching a course (hybrid - on-line and face to face) at St. Mark's College on the campus of the University of British Columbia in the Masters of Educational Leadership Program.

I am two weeks into teaching my latest course: Curriculum and Instructional Leadership.  Here is a summary of the course taken from the syllabus I developed:

Learners will examine the rationale and context for the current trends in curriculum transformation both globally and within the British Columbia K-12 education sector. Learners will explore the potential pedagogical implications of these shifts on student achievement and school leadership. Learners will also review the latest research related to curriculum and pedagogy and how both impact student achievement. It is within this context that learners will be asked to develop their own vision, skills and working knowledge to serve as instructional leaders.

To further develop their skills related to instructional leadership, learners will to explore problem-solving opportunities related to curriculum, pedagogy, student achievement and overall school growth.

Learners will critically examine the rationale and themes for current trends in curriculum reform initiatives globally and within in BC. Learners will be asked to examine and refine their own “pedagogical creed” (Dewey) in light of both curricular trends and the latest research on teacher pedagogy.

Students will be asked to examine and reflect on such questions as:

• What are the ideas, themes and values ideas behind “21st Century Education”?
• What is the purpose of schools and the curriculum taught within them? 
• In an information “rich” world, brought on by the proliferation of the web-enabled and mobile technologies, what is worth “knowing”?
• What are some the implications for Catholic Education in light of some the current trends in curriculum reform? 

Learners will also be asked to examine the impact the current curricular trends are having on teacher pedagogy. Learners will also examine the latest research on the impact various pedagogical approaches have on student achievement. Within this context, learners will develop a better understanding of the impact instructional leadership has on student learning.

Learners will be asked to examine and reflect issues such as:

• Role and impact of technology on student learning (blended learning, flipped classroom, etc.)
• The impact of assessment and grading practices in the learning process and further explore such ideas as. Assessment For Learning, standards based grading, the growth mindset versus the fixed mindset (Dweck)
• Understand the constructivist versus didactic approach to pedagogy and the possible limitations to each approach 

Finally, learners will have an opportunity to develop their own vision for what it means to be an instructional leader in today’s schools. Learners will be asked to examine and reflect on such questions and ideas such as:

• How can school leaders be supervisors of instruction for learning?
• How can instructional leaders create positive and effective learning conditions for both students and teachers? (e.g. professional learning, teacher isolation, collaboration, learning communities)
• What are the conditions for “learning for all” in a school (for students and teachers)
• What is school culture and climate? How can leaders shape school culture and climate to enhance student learning?
• How can/does a leader motivate learning for all? 

Already the learners are pushing my own thinking on many of these issues.  

Of course, any insights or suggestions are most welcome....

Undermining Student Improvement

Have I missed the mark re: student improvement?

I am beginning to wonder if, in my earnest desire to to do what what's best for kids and their learning, I have inadvertently enabled complacency and undermined improvement.

Let me explain.

Recently I have immersed myself in John Hattie's book Visible Learning Visible Learning - a book, I believe, every educator, at all levels, must read.

The book is a culmination of years of research and analysis of what has the greatest positive impact on student achievement.

So let's cut to the chase. Hattie identifies a number influences on student performance and ranks them in order of positive impact.

In summary, the most positive  influences on student achievement put the individual teacher at the centre of the improvement. Whether it's providing quality feedback, understanding how different students think (meta cognition), how open a teacher is to the evidence of their impact on student learning and how they respond to this evidence or how a teacher enables students to become their own teachers - all of these "impacts" place the teacher and their actions at the centre of improvement.

On the flip side, some of the lesser "impacts" on achievement include those that I would label as "external" (to the teacher) changes and  include such things as: ability grouping, class size, problem based learning, inquiry learning, homework, school scheduling, web based learning and various other school based "programs" (Hattie, 2012).

So getting back to my point....

As a teacher and administrator I feel passionate about doing what best for students and their learning. I often talk about changing the system . As a school administrator I often meet other team members to solve various problems. I've looked at change timetables and calendars, lower class sizes, change teacher schedules etc.

As administrators we talk about the importance of school growth plans, literacy and numeracy programs, we develop assessment and grading protocols and implement technology based programs in schools.  

I am the first one to speak about the need for curriculum reform in our post industrial, Internet driven world.  

I like system improvements.  They make me feel good.  They give me a sense of satisfaction.  They give me something to report out - "look at what we are doing now",  "look at how innovative we are"!

But what is the true impact of these system and "external" reforms on student learning and engagement?

I surmise that Hattie would argue that these "external" reforms and interventions are needed and they do assist many students both in achievement and engagement. 

BUT, by placing the focus on various "externally" driven initiatives, have I inadvertently, caused teachers to shift their focus away from their own practice?

In so doing, have I unwittingly undermined student improvement by not explicitly placing enough focusing on teacher level improvements related to formative assessment, the teacher as learner and the meta-cognition of each student?

Moving forward, in my desire to help students and as I consider school wide or system wide improvements, I need to ask myself this these important questions:

• How is this initiative (school goal, program, initiative, intervention, etc.) empowering teachers to be at the centre of their own learning?  

AND

• How is this learning requiring teachers to be reflective and critically open about their own students' performance? 

AND

• How is this learning related to providing quality feedback to students and  knowing and understanding students as thinkers?

Still figuring it out.....

What do I Amplify?

As a principal I spent a fair bit of time reflecting on ways I could support and empower teachers at the school. By supporting and empowering teachers, I felt, would go a long way in creating a culture of support and empowerment in the classroom - a sort of "trickle down effect" - ultimately benefiting the students.

As a principal, I always felt a tension in deciding on WHAT to amplify.  There was no shortage of information.  

As a school level administrator, I sometimes felt the crush of the "management" side of the job. Finances, funding, budgets, fundraising, government mandates, policies, daily schedules, etc.

It could, at times, consume me.

Yet I made the conscious decision, on most occasions, to deal with those issues "quietly". I rarely made those management issues staff wide agenda items. Instead choosing to amplify and make a lot noise about teaching and learning.

In many ways I saw my role as principal as mitigating the impact of "administrivia" on teacher so that they could focus on the teaching and learning. 

This is one significant way I supported teachers.

Two weeks into my new role, I realize that perhaps I need to support and empower principals in the same way.

I am not dismissing the "management" side of school administration. If not done well and efficiently, it could undermine a principalship and/or a school.

With principals, like with teachers, I need to find that sweet spot in communicating some of important management details of the job, while consistently and "loudly" finding time to amplify the instructional leadership part of the job.

If we empower and support principals in this way it might create more a than "trickle" down effect but rather a "tidal wave" of support and learning for teachers and students.