Just Some ThoughtsRaymond J. McNulty, Senior Fellow, ICLE
Chief Learning Officer, Penn [email protected]
Do You Really Believe…
• We just need to be a little bit better?
• New Standards and assessments are all the change we need?
• All students are getting what they need to be successful in the 21st Century?
Systems are challenged today like never before and the key challenge that we face is results.
So what will has changed in your school or district, that is different from years past? In terms of…
• Behavior of adults
• Lesson design, assessment
• Other items……
Are those changes making a difference?
• How do you know?
Theme
Strategy
Transforming Schools???
What’s your change strategy?
Having a theory
Staying the course is a lot easier when the course is something people
understand and you implement the theory with fidelity.
What is your theory for the change?
AYP
Research Based Successful Practices
Tight Tight
Critical PointRemain Tight TightEmpowerTight Loose
AYP
AYP
AYP
Questions often asked…1. How long does it take?
2. We are not moving at all. What should we do?
3. We were moving, but now we seem to be stuck. What should we do?
Patterns emerge in school improvement.
• There are no simple breakthroughs
• There are no dramatic turnarounds
• There are periods of significant improvement, followed by flat growth – and even decline.
x
Surviving during periods of flat performance
• Staff expects flat periods and persists through them
• Staff has a theory about what they are doing and focuses on student performance
• Staff develops focused measures for detecting improvement
• Staff makes adjustments when their efforts aren’t working
Expecting flat periods and persisting
• School improvement is a process of uncovering and solving progressively more difficult challenges around student learning (low-hanging fruit theory)
• This requires new learning from the adults.
Focused measures for detecting improvement
Changes in student performance lag behind changes in the quality of instructional
practices.
Changes in the classrooms are visible before you see them in external measures.
From Cooperation to Collaboration• Collaboration is essential for success today
• Cooperation won’t get the results you need
• Collaboration is mutual engagement to solve the challenge (21st Century)
• Cooperation is a division of labor approach (20th Century)
Emotions in the work place don’t just appear.
They arise from within the culture.
There’s a need to understand
1. Strategy
2. Emotions and Culture
3. Successful systems today need to be grounded in “whole-ism” first. From there, order will emerge.
Theme
VALUES
Do not underestimate the importance of MISSION AND
VALUES!!!
They help bring COHERENCE to the work.
Why we exist
Mission:
What we believe in and how we
will behave
Values:
Whenever something doesn’t work, revisit the
mission and values of the system. Are they correct?
Are we focused on the right things?
Core Elements of Transformation
– Vision / Mission – clear and powerful
– Core Values – lived everyday
– Employee Characteristics – enablers of greatness
How do you answer the following:• I bring a commitment to a quality experience
as an employee
• I am intently curious about how education is being transformed
• I have a passion for serving the student who needs me to succeed
• Success for me is creating great outcomes – not just showing up at work
The CORE VALUES of an organization are the SHARED BELIEFS that form its foundation. They guide all of an
organization's internal execution as well as its relationships to the internal and external world.
In an ever-changing world, core values are CONSTANT. They are ABSOLUTES. They are the practices we use every day, in
everything we do.
At Penn Foster, our core values establish that we are entirely vested in the winning OUTCOMES of our students,
and those of each other.
Because we prize LEARNING and GROWTH,
we possess an unyielding commitment to the FUTURES of our students,
whether they seek job skills, career path enhancements, personal enrichment or academic knowledge.
For us, LEARN MORE, DO MORE, BE MORE
are more than words.
They epitomize the values we share, define our Penn Foster system and
enable our MISSION…
BE A STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT CHAMPION
As champions for student achievement we passionately
advocate, mentor, and fight for every person who so desires to
access the knowledge and skills they need in order to fulfill their goals
and change their lives.
We create successful outcomes for our students through innovation,
creativity and problem-solving that fuels the outcomes our students
want and deserve.Helping students unlock their
potential is our shared responsibility and privilege.
Is This You?
PROVIDE SERVICE INFUSED WITH UNDERSTANDING,
RESPECT & EMPATHY
Be a partner; listen and care, and in doing so, create lasting and meaningful
relationships.
Is This You?
BE RESPONSIBLE ANDACT WITH INTEGRITY
We promptly acknowledge the needs of our students and colleagues and
respond appropriately and effectively.
WE FOLLOW-UP AND FOLLOW-THROUGH.
Is This You?
COLLABORATE TO CREATE BETTER
OUTCOMESWe know there is strength in
numbers.
We value the ability, perspective and unique talent of others; and we
embrace our differences.
A TEAM IS STRONGER THAN ANY ONE PERSON
Is This You?
SURPRISE AND DELIGHTWe go beyond the transaction.
We strive to exceed expectations and create emotionally fulfilling
experiences that result in consistently remarkable
HOSPITALITY.
Is This You?
TAKE CARE OF THE EARTH AND GIVE BACK TO THE COMMUNITY IN WHICH
WE LIVE AND WORKWe support our students and
community through contribution and by adopting causes that matter.
We are charitable, and possess the spirit of giving.
WE ARE HOSPITABLE
Is This You?
Sustainability is about the relationship between
people, their purpose and their place.
Why do humans and or systems fail?• Ignorance, we do not have all the
knowledge.
• The knowledge exists but we do not use it correctly.
How do you get good at what you do?• The great seem to have the ability to work
through their weaknesses.
• Being just a slight bit better makes all the difference in the world.– Diligence– Doing it right
Carrot and stick vs. Coaching
• You can’t be successful today by being alone, autonomy does not get you to be great!
• Its about discipline
• Its about collaboration
Cowboys to Pit Crews
“Whole-ism”
Independent Interdependent
CollaborationTurf Protector
Active w/ focusLittle Buy In
ExtraordinaryOrdinary
SUCCESS BY DESIGN NOT BY CHANCE
Simply said, we get what we design for!
The one size fits all school that took its present shape in the 1930’s was a poor fit with the reality even then. In the twenty first century, it belongs in our romantic memories of once upon a time. John I. Goodlad
•The Emergence of•Multiple e-Dentity Disorder
•Find All of “Me” Online
•Photo credit : Amber Mayhem
"The concept of an 'average American' is
gone, forever. The average American
has been replaced by a complex,
multidimensional society that defies
simplistic labeling.”- demographics expert Peter Francese
“Ideals not Norms”
Theme
Being On Top
• Being on top of your game today requires a balance of traditional skills mixed with innovation skills
• Stability, control, and standardization mixed with uncertainty, ambiguity, innovation, and disruptive thinking
The skill set to do this is:
Current Leadership works hard to efficiently deliver the next thing that should be done given the existing system. Current leadership shines at converting a goal into actions to achieve that goal.
Delivery Skills
• Analyzing
• Planning
• Detailed Oriented Implementing
• Disciplined Executing
The transformative person incorporates skills from a far different dimension.
• Why accept the status quo?
• Look for new and better ways!
• Steve Jobs: “I want to put a ding in the universe!”
Discovery Skills• Questioning
• Observing
• Networking
• Experimenting
• Associational Thinking
• Delivery Skills
• Analyzing• Planning• Detailed Oriented
Implementing• Disciplined Executing
• Discovery Skills
• Questioning• Observing• Networking• Experimenting• Associational
Thinking
Question Storming
• What is…
• What caused….
• Why… Why not….
• What if…
Why do we breakup content into disciplines and structure learning that way?
Highly Innovative Systems
• In your system is innovation everyone’s job?
• Is disruption part of your system’s innovation portfolio?
• Are small project teams central to taking innovative ideas to scale?
• Does your system take smart risks in the pursuit of innovation?
Important Message
•The threat to your system is not choice, charters, other privates or funding.
•It is the “Status Quo.”
Theme
Best Practices and NEXT PRACTICES
Best practices allow you to do what you are
currently doing a little better.
Best practices allow you to do what you are
currently doing a little better.
Next practices increase your organization’s capability
to do things it has never done before.
System Innovation
Sustaining Innovation
Next Practice
Disruptive Innovation
-Shurnyu Suzuki
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the
expert’s mind there are few.”
First practice must change, then results,
then policy.
COREOptimizing existing systems
TRANSFORMATIONAL
ADJACENTExpanding from existing to new ways of working
Developing breakthroughs and inventing things that do not exist right now
TR
AD
ITIO
NA
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Y S
UC
CE
SS
FU
L L
EA
RN
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O M
OS
T D
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AN
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TRADITIONAL SYSTEM TO INNOVATIVE SYSTEM TO TRANSFORMATIVE SYSTEM
Best
Practices
Next
Practices
Some Straightforward Advice
Ignore the real world
The inhabitants are filled with pessimism and despair.
They expect new ideas to fail.They assume society isn’t
ready.
Planning is guessingUnless you are a fortune teller
“long-term planning” is a fantasy.
Timing of long-range plans are backwards; you have better information when you are doing something, not before you do it.
Planning Strategy
1.Long Range Vision
2.30 Day Plan
3.60 and 90 Day Plans
Live it or leave it
There’s a world of difference between truly standing for something and having a mission statement that “says” you stand for something.
Embrace Constraints
We do not have enough money, time, people, or experience.
Less is a good thing as limited resources force us to make good decisions with what we have. There’s no room for waste.
Culture
Culture is a by-product of consistent behavior. If you encourage people to share, sharing will be built into the culture.
As will be trust, etc.
New Daily Plan•Wake Up
•Be Amazing
•Go To Bed
“EPIC WIN”
21st Annual
Model Schools Conference• Effective and efficient approaches to improving student achievement in times of
declining resources and increasing expectations • Focusing on instructional excellence as the key to the Common Core State
Standards, Next Generation Assessments, and Teacher Evaluations• Instructional approaches for special populations • Identifying and overcoming common barriers to dramatic school improvement
June 30 – July 3 | Washington, D.C.www.modelschoolsconference.com
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