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OUR MISSIONASCD empowers educators to achieve excellence in learning, teaching, and leading so that each child is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.

WHAT’S INSIDE

P2Family Connections in Special Ed

P4Principals’ COVID-19 Takeaways

Co-Creating Your School’s Core Values

F ew of us were taught to think of core values as a way of understanding our contribution to the whole. Maybe we were taught that core values were individual lights—deeply personal beliefs

that guide the choices we make in life. Or we were taught that our school’s core values were the set of beliefs we aspired to espouse as a collective whole.

Unfortunately, most of the core values schools claim are not alive in the halls and classrooms. In fact, I would be willing to bet that a good many teachers couldn’t tell you what your school’s core values are. Maybe they can recite the core values by heart, but what purpose do those words or statements actually serve in the school? What do these values mean to teachers in their classroom, with their students?

David was a high school principal who had brought his entire leadership team to one of my workshops. He insisted that his school already had a set of three core values and that everyone knew them by heart. When I asked to see a list of these values, he and his team responded by saying them aloud, in unison: “Respect, grit, and pride.”

I started by focusing on their first core value, respect. “What does ‘respect’ mean to you?” I asked. There were a lot of answers. To some members of the team, respect meant that the students were to be respectful to the teachers, but the teachers didn’t have to be respectful of the students. To others, respect was more about respecting oneself. A third faction explained that respect meant that students didn’t yell out during class or roughhouse in the halls. Everyone had their own understanding of that core value.

If your core values are open to interpretation—if everyone gets to define them based on their own per-spective, beliefs, and experiences—what’s the point of having them at all? Just to be able to say, “We have core values!” and post them on the wall?

A school’s core values are terms of practice that clearly define how everyone will work together to achieve the school’s vision and carry out its mission. Core values are not aspirations, and they are not self-congratulatory; they are practical. They tell a school staff, “This is how we need to behave, and this is what we need to do to live out our mission and achieve our vision.”

To generate core values that are powerful and useful, make them non-negotiable and get everyone’s buy-in.

Make Core Values Non-NegotiableWhen I say non-negotiable, I don’t mean issuing them by edict or imposing them by decree. I mean there’s no room for multiple interpretations of what, say,

Robyn Jackson

“respect” means. Writing core values to be non-negotiable terms of prac-tice establishes boundaries for a school. Non-negotiable values define the organizational culture and signal to everyone who works there what their individual role is and how they will be held accountable.

Consider what the amorphous core values shared by David’s team could look like if they were rewritten to be clear, non-negotiable standards of practice:

• Respect might become We treat others the way that we want to be treated. • Grit might become We keep working until we’re successful. • Pride might become We leave everything better than we found it.

These core values clarify for teachers—and for students, too—what they’re expected to do.

Ask Staff to Co-Create Core ValuesThe mistake that most leaders make is that they define the core values for their staff. They tell them what their role should be. In doing so, they’re following the advice provided in most leadership books. However, if the core

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ILLUSTRATION BY DONALD ELY

The goal is to bring your staff together

to define what you as a group will do to achieve your vision for students."

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W hen Juliana Urtubey started at a new elementary school in Las Vegas

this fall, she knew outreach to families and caregivers would

look different. As a special education learning strategist and the newly named 2020–21 Nevada Teacher of the Year, Urtubey has made it her mission to strengthen family connections in the special education space, particularly for students learn-ing English. COVID-19 has radically altered the way educators and families work and live, sending schools like Urtubey’s into full virtual mode and necessitating responsive services for students’ ever-changing and varied needs. For the 4.9 mil-lion English-language learners and the roughly 7.1 million students in special education, challenges related to learning in this altered reality are even

more pronounced. What can help, Urtubey sug-gests, is truly knowing the people in students’ lives and the situations they are in—and she believes the current climate is allowing families and educators to work together in important ways. She spoke with ASCD about how to foster connections and alleviate cultural and linguistic challenges between families, educators, and students.

What has this year been like for you and your students?My school district is fully virtual until further notice and reassessing every 30 days. It’s been really beautiful to get to know the families on a deeper level. I think a lot of teachers didn’t have that opportunity before, but they do now. It’s a spectrum for students. I’m a special education teacher, and how their learning or thinking difference affects their learning is unique—even

Making Family Connections Work in Tough Times

values are not created by and embraced by all, you may get compliance, but you will not get complete commitment.

Start by gathering teachers in small groups and have them discuss what they believe their role in pursuing the school’s mission and achieving the school’s vision should be. Often, they won’t be able to articulate this clearly at first, so it helps to give them a few prompts.

One of my favorite prompts is to ask teachers, “Imagine that you are at your retirement ceremony. What is it that you want your students to say about you and their time in your classroom?”

Teachers will say things like this: • “I want my students to feel that I

respected them as individuals.” • “I want them to say that I was

tough but fair.” • “I hope they say that I taught them

how to think for themselves and be their own person.”

Out of these statements will emerge what is truly important to teachers. Write these down. This will give you a sense of what long-term impact they want to have on students through the work they do.

Next, provide teachers with this prompt: “Imagine that your current students return for their 20th reunion. What is that you want them to say about their time at our school?” This will help teachers consider the long-term impact they want the entire school experience to have on students.

Often, teachers will say things like this: • “We want them to say that here

is where they learned to love learning.”

• “We want them to still remember that we were a family.”

• “We hope they will say that here they were truly challenged and loved.”

Throughout the discussion you will start to notice that certain themes emerge. For instance, the idea of “a respectful environment” or “a passion for learning” might come up more than once. Taking time to unpack exactly what teachers mean by those phrases helps you narrow down themes that seem critical for your entire staff to embrace. Use the ensuing discussion to whittle down your core values to three to five that are truly non-negotiable for your staff.

The goal is to bring your staff together to define what you as a group will do— how you must act and how you must behave—to achieve your vision for students and live out your mission for your school. (For a step-by-step breakdown of the process, download my free e-book How to Use Core Values to Establish a Healthy School Culture at www.mindstepsinc.com.) It does take time and the process may feel messy, but trust me, it’s worth it.

This is an adapted excerpt from Robyn R. Jackson’s forthcoming book Stop Leading, Start Building! How to Make a Dramatic Difference in Your School with the Teachers and Resources You Already Have, which will be published in February 2021.

Robyn Jackson (@Robyn_Mindsteps) is the founder and CEO of Mindsteps Inc. and the author of Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching, 2nd Edition (ASCD, 2018).

CORE VALUES CONT. FROM PAGE 1

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more so virtually. For some students, they can get their work done in an hour and a half, so they’re free for the rest of the day to do whatever explo-ration and learning and fun they want. And if they have a solid home life and support, it’s been great. For other students, they need the social interac-tion and the proximity to do their best learning. For students whose families have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, experiencing homeless-ness or shifts in where they live, that has been really difficult. That’s the collective crisis that we’re all experiencing—uncertainty.

What do families need to feel supported, especially now?Right now, just like always, building relation-ships is something we have to do first. It’s about truly knowing not just our students but [also] their families and their communities and con-stantly reassessing needs. If I have the trust and relationship with the family, we can go through struggles together. We need relationships that grow the grace to navigate distance education. It’s also about getting to know each other on a deeper level: What are the goals for your family at this time? What is the most important thing you’re focusing on right now? For some families, it’s getting by. For others, it’s not losing IEP goal success or progress. We have to be humble in knowing that our job is to support families’ goals and hopes.

How are educators making connections happen?The bright spot is seeing family support. We have a student who is in a self-contained autism program. He communicates nonverbally, his range of motion is limited, and to see the way his parents and [caregiver] help him during the classes just moves me. He needs an adult next to him to be able to function and participate in the class, and that’s what so many families on every level are doing. For families who aren’t able to do that, we have technologies like GoGuardian. When a student is using our school portal, a teacher can see their screen during our school session times and copy and paste links into the student’s Chromebook to take them where they

need to be. We have a student in a prekinder-garten classroom who is being supported by his great-grandma, and she was frustrated by the technology because her eyesight and hearing are limited. A tool like that is life changing. Great-Grandma still sits next to him, but we can handle the tech piece on our end.

What about students for whom distance learning isn’t working? There is still a small percentage of students— I’d dare to say nationwide—with whom all the tried methods and strategies aren’t working. I’ve been thinking a lot about the farm worker children and how they get access to education. The USDA ERS Distance Learning program follows them wherever they might be migrat-ing with their family. It’s a flexible schedule in the evening, and there are adults who can support the children. I wonder if we can roll out something like that at the state or district level for families for whom this is not working and where the school has done beyond its due diligence. Once teachers are out of strategies to connect with the families, we do home visits to collaborate with them. It’s a small percentage of students, but each student counts.

Students who are bilingual, learning two languages, or developing English are at risk of being under- or over-represented for special education services. How do family connections help mitigate this problem? It’s a more holistic, systems-type conversation to ensure students have equitable access to rigorous, explicit, systematic instruction. It’s how to provide teachers the tools and support to make sure all of our students have access to foundational skills consistently. Whether they’re at risk for being identified for a disability or another eligibility or whether they’re learning English as a second lan-guage or concurrently learning English and Spanish together, it works for all students to have explicit, sequential, research-based interventions. A lot of this is being rolled out through a multitier system of supports (MTSS), which I really appreciate, because Response to Intervention (RTI) isn’t enough.

What are your go-to places for support and resources? My go-to for working with families or anything in the special education realm is always Understood and the National Council for Learning Disabilities. My go-to for multilingual education and bilingual education is Colorín Colorado. They’re tied to Reading Rockets, which is a great resource as well. When it comes to teacher leadership, reflection, and professional development, it’s the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. They have been tremendous in terms of finding out what all teachers need and providing support. They’ve probably done close to 100 webinars since March, bringing in experts from the field, and they’ve also extended deadlines for teachers who are candi-dates for National Board certification. In terms of equity, I am a part of the National Board Network of Accomplished Minoritized Educators (NAME). We have been doing virtual mixers with speakers, an affinity space for teachers of color to be open and vulnerable about our specific needs. We’re also rolling out webinars on topics like SEL and inclu-sive book libraries that are open to all teachers, but they are led by and keeping in mind teachers of color in design and implementation. I love any-thing visible learning by John Hattie and visual distance learning by Jill Harrison Berg in ASCD publications. And more than anything, our col-leagues are the best in terms of filling in our needs.

Anything else to add? The most important thing right now is to keep telling teachers and families thank you. We see the amount of dedication, love, work, and grace that is being mutually provided. I am immensely grateful for the mountains that families are moving to make whatever situation work. I hear parents being flexi-ble with teachers [and] understanding when things aren’t working or when mistakes are made. We need to center on the fact that we are all doing the best that we can, but also remember the gratitude part. Collaboration and partnership are going to make education better for everybody.

Juliana Urtubey (@urtublj) was interviewed by Kate Stoltzfus, an editor for ASCD. Responses edited lightly for length and clarity.

Top Reads of 2020How to Be an Antiracist Educator Dena Simmons, October 2019

7 Ways Educators Can Help Students Cope in a Pandemic Phyllis L. Fagell, May 2020

Six Strategies for Challenging Gifted Learners Amy Azzam, April 2016

Why We Need Differentiation Now More Than Ever Lisa Westman, May 2020

What Is the Purpose of Education? Willona M. Sloan, July 2012

Why We Can’t Afford White-Washed Social-Emotional Learning Dena Simmons, April 2019

How to Plan Effective Lessons Ellen Ullman, October 2011

Abolitionist Teaching in Action Q&A with Bettina L. Love, December 2019

What Is Homework's Purpose in a Pandemic? Christina Torres, October 2020

The Two-Minute Relationship Builder Sarah McKibben, July 2014

These Education Update articles were some of the most popular reads throughout the year. Access the following list and hundreds of other issues (also available in print) in our online archives at www.ascd.org/educationupdate.

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/educationupdate

T he closure of school campuses in spring 2020 came with little warning, few resources, and min-imal guidance from federal and

state officials or professional organiza-tions. Yet, principals across the country leaned into this monumental task as health threats and economic dislocation affected staff, community members, and students. As one California princi-pal reported, the transition to remote instruction “will go down as one of public education’s most incredible feats in its entire history.”

My UCLA colleagues and I conducted a nationally representative survey with more than 300 public high school princi-pals in May and June to understand how schools took up this new role and how learning and student well-being have been affected by COVID-19. Our findings highlight public schools’ heroic responses in supporting students and sustaining communities in difficult times, but they also point to the ways that long-standing inequities and challenges to learning have been exacerbated, particularly in schools serving high-poverty communi-ties. We can take away three lessons for school leadership and educational policy as schools move into 2021.

Lesson 1The best public schools connect families to health and social wel-fare services and foster social trust and understanding. Most principals reported that their school helped stu-dents and families access and navigate health services. More than two-thirds said their school or district provided meals to family members of students who were not enrolled in the school. Half provided support to students experienc-ing housing insecurity or homelessness.

Sadly, 43 percent of principals reported providing support for students who expe-rienced death in their families.

In the months ahead, public schools should double down on strategies that support student well-being and strengthen relationships with various segments of the community. As one prin-cipal told us, “The connection between schools, students, and communities will be the key to not only getting back to ‘normal’ but also coming back better than ever.” Principals should conduct inventories of community needs, initiate conversations with community partners, and encourage teachers to engage stu-dents in curriculum that examines issues and concerns in their local communities.

Lesson 2Providing learning opportunities for all students requires that we address pre-existing and pervasive inequities. Even as the global pandemic created a set of shared educational challenges, learn-ing in some schools was more adversely affected than in others. Schools in mid-dle-class communities were more than three times as likely as schools serving high-poverty communities to have all staff equipped for remote instruction when they closed their doors. Principals also reported great variability in student access to the technology hardware and connectivity needed to participate from home. High-poverty schools were more than eight times as likely as schools in more affluent communities to experi-ence a severe shortage of technology at the time of transition—their principals reported that at least half of their stu-dents lacked the necessary technology.

The pandemic has clarified what already was an emerging insight: Univer-sal access to personal computing devices and broadband has become an essential precondition for learning in the 21st century, and access should be considered a fundamental right for all students.

In addition, COVID-19 has brought into stark relief the effects of economic distress on young people and on their

learning. A principal in a high poverty urban school noted, “My students’ lives and well-being have become more and more precarious. There are some social safety nets, but not nearly enough, and the disparity is palpable.” Students’ abil-ity to participate consistently in school is contingent on social policies that ensure secure food, stable housing, and ready access to healthcare.

Lesson 3Educators are anxious to get back to in-person learning, but many do not want to return to schools as they were. A Texas principal spoke for many of her colleagues when she said: “It is hard to go out into the hallways and not see any kids.” Yet, numerous principals told us that the COVID-19 crisis is an opportunity to “reset,” “reflect on our values and beliefs,” “shift the way stu-dents are taught,” or “dismantle broken systems.” Explained one California principal, “Public education has not only changed during this pandemic, but [also] caused us to prepare to see a new way of teaching our students forever.”

As we move forward, it will be import-ant to nurture educators’ desire to reimagine schooling and to do so in ways that center trusting relationships. Many states and districts have established elaborate rules about social distancing to ensure the safety of students and staff who return to school. In addition to providing sufficient physical space, educators need to foster creative space in which teachers, students, and community members can develop a shared vision for what schools should become.

Finally, principals and education policymakers are not the only ones learning lessons during this crisis. The most important educational lessons from COVID-19 are those that our students are learning every day as they observe their schooling and our political life—lessons about equity, social trust, and the value we place on young people’s lives. The lessons students learn today will stay with them. What do we want these lessons to be?

To read the full report Learning Lessons: U.S. Public High Schools and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Spring 2020, co-authored with Michael Ishimoto, go to idea.gseis.ucla.edu/publications/learning-lessons-us-public-high-schools-and-the-covid-19-pandemic.

John Rogers is a professor of education at UCLA. He serves as the faculty director of Cen-ter X, which houses UCLA’s Teacher Education Program, Principal Leadership Institute, and professional development programs.

3 Leadership Lessons from COVID-19

John Rogers

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Coming Soon: A New Newsletter ASCD is making some important changes to its member newsletters to improve offerings and better meet your needs in an ever-changing environment. Starting in January, we will be merging our print newsletter Education Update with our digital newsletter ASCD Delivers. While you will no longer receive a print newsletter, we will be increasing the frequency of ASCD Delivers to twice a month. ASCD Delivers will be curated to highlight key stories and features, new departments, and expanded content to help you address the challenges of your work and to provide a timely overview of issues and ideas in the field. We hope the new ASCD Delivers will become a central tool for you to increase your professional knowledge and build connections in the ASCD community.

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