DRILLING DOWN ON LEADERSHIP
AND INSTRUCTION
Sam Redding
sredding@centerii.org
Center on Innovation & Improvement
www.centerii.org
This is Alaina
Alaina . . .
Has brown hair and brown eyes
A big brother, big sister,
and little brother
A dog named Junebug
And a kitty named Abby
Alaina loves her new doll; she named her Alexis
Alaina is in first grade
Alaina . . .
Is my granddaughter
She calls me “Papa Sam”
Where is Alaina in the school system?
Looking for Alaina From the Top Down
Alaina's State Education Agency
Alaina's Intermediate Education Agency
Alaina's District's Board
Alaina's District's Superintendent
Alaina's District's Support for School
Alaina's School
Alaina's Principal
Alaina's Teacher's Team
Alaina's Teacher
Alaina's Parents
Alaina
Alaina's Schoolmates
Finding Alaina
Alaina's Schoolmates
Alaina
Alaina's Parents
Alaina's Teacher
Alaina's Teacher's Team
Alaina's Principal
Alaina's School
Alaina's District's Support for School
Alaina's District's Superintendent
Alaina's District's Board
Alaina's Intermediate Education Agency
Alaina's State Education Agency
What Matters Most to Alaina’s Success?
Proximal variables matter most – the people closest to Alaina and
what they do
And the systems (people) who support them
Alaina’s Family
Alaina’s family’s role is to:
 Love her and talk with her every day
 Read to her and listen to her read
 Teach her to be kind and to behave in school
 Aspire for her to succeed
 Expect her to do her best
 Build her habit of studying at home
 Stay in touch with her teacher
 Know her friends and their parents
Alaina’s Teacher
Alaina’s teacher’s role is to:
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Know Alaina well and care about her
Know the subjects well and how to teach them
Meticulously plan every detail of every day
Set and reinforce clear expectations for students
Know what Alaina already knows and what she needs to learn
Adapt instruction for Alaina and for each student
Inspire Alaina to love learning and do her best
Stay in touch with Alaina’s parents and support them in their role
Alaina’s Teacher’s Team
Alaina’s teacher’s team’s role is to:
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Add flesh to the bones of the aligned curriculum
Develop and share instructional plans, strategies, and activities
Monitor the progress of their students
Adapt their plans, strategies in response to assessments
Mentor new teachers
Observe each other’s teaching and make suggestions
Contribute to each other’s professional growth
Alaina’s Principal
Alaina’s principal’s role is to:
 See that Alaina has the best teachers possible by:
 Hiring good teachers
 Clearly communicating and reinforcing expectations for teachers
 Monitoring teachers’ performance
 Evaluating teacher’ performance, especially through classroom observations and student
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achievement
 Providing teachers with opportunities for growth aligned with their evaluated performance
 Removing inadequate teachers
Monitor student and school progress and make adjustments
Coordinate the work of teams
Manage the “business” of the school’s operation
Set the tone of attitude toward students and their families
Alaina’s District’s Support for Her School
The role of Alaina’s district’s support to her school is to:
 Provide a rich, aligned, articulated curriculum
 Provide periodic assessment with timely and meaningful reporting to
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teachers
Maintain regular two-way communication with Alaina’s principal
Monitor the school’s operations and performance
Provide mentoring and professional development for the principal aligned
with the principal’s needs
Provide professional development for teachers aligned with their collective
and individual needs
Alaina’s District’s Superintendent
Alaina’s superintendent’s role is to:
 See that Alaina’s school has the best principal possible by:
 Hiring good principals
 Clearly communicating and reinforcing expectations for principals
 Monitoring principals’ performance
 Evaluating principals’ performance, especially through school operations and student
achievement
 Providing principals with opportunities for growth aligned with their evaluated
performance
 Removing inadequate principals
 Organize and monitor the delivery of district support for Alaina’s school
 Serve as channel of informed communication among district constituencies
 Manage the “business” of the district
Alaina’s District’s Board
Alaina’s district board’s role is to:
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Establish policies with Alaina in mind
Negotiate contracts with Alaina in mind
Provide the resources necessary for Alaina’s success
Provide the best superintendent possible by:
Hiring a good superintendent
Clearly communicating and reinforcing expectations for the superintendent
Monitoring the superintendent’s performance
Evaluating the superintendent’s performance, especially in district operations
and student achievement
 Providing the superintendent with opportunities for growth aligned with their
evaluated performance
 Removing inadequate superintendents
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How Do Schools Get Better?
What Happened About Year 7?
Millard Fillmore School
Scores on State Assessment
Year 1
Year 4
Year 7
Year 9
Year 12
What happened about Year 7?
List 3 actions that most contributed to Millard Fillmore’s improvement.
Change of principals doesn’t count.
17
Proximal Variables for Student Learning
The student’s –
 prior learning, which teachers have provided;
 metacognitive skills, which can be taught;
 motivation to learn and sense of self-efficacy, which a teacher nurtures;
 effort and time on task, which a teacher expects;
 interaction—academic and social—with teachers and other students;
 family’s engagement and support for learning, which a teacher curries.
The teacher’s  instructional planning and classroom management;
 instructional delivery through a variety of modes;
 personalization (individualization) of instruction for each student;
 taught and aligned curriculum, designed by teacher teams.
Culture of Candor in the School
1. Accountability to students and to each
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other
Willingness to polish the craft together
High expectations for adults
Focus on the practice and not the person
Openness to the data about student
outcomes and about the practices that
contribute to the outcomes
Indicators of Effective Practice
 TEAMING
 THE PRINCIPAL’S ROLE
 INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING
 INSTRUCTIONAL DELIVERY
 CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT
What is an Indicator?
 An indicator of effective practice is a concrete, behavioral
expression of a professional practice that research
demonstrates contributes to student learning.
 An indicator is expressed in plain language so that a school
team can answer with certainty whether or not it is standard
practice in the school.
Effective Teams
Effective Practice: Establish a team structure with specific duties and
time for instructional planning
Indicators of Effective Practice (Sample)
 A team structure is officially incorporated into the school improvement plan and
school governance policy.
 All teams have written statements of purpose and by‐laws for their operation.
 All teams operate with work plans for the year and specific work products to
produce.
 All teams prepare agendas for their meetings.
 All teams maintain official minutes of their meetings.
 The principal maintains a file of the agendas, work products, and minutes of all
teams.
The Principal’s Role
Effective Practice: Focus the principal’s role on building leadership capacity, achieving
learning goals, and improving instruction
Indicators of Effective Practice (Sample)
 The principal makes sure everyone understands the school’s mission, clear goals (short term and long
term), and their roles in meeting the goals.
 The principal develops the leadership capacity of others in the school.
 The principal participates actively with the school’s teams.
 The principal keeps a focus on instructional improvement and student learning outcomes.
 The principal spends at least 50% of his/her time working directly with teachers to improve
instruction, including classroom observations.
 The principal celebrates individual, team, and school successes, especially related to student learning
outcomes.
 The principal personally engages parents and the community in the improvement process.
 The principal offers frequent opportunities for staff and parents to voice constructive critique of the
school’s progress and suggestions for improvement.
Instructional Planning
Effective Practice: Engage teachers in aligning instruction with standards
and benchmarks
Indicators of Effective Practice (Sample)
 Instructional Teams develop standards‐aligned units of instruction for each subject
and grade level.
 Units of instruction include standards‐based objectives and criteria for mastery.
 Objectives are leveled to target learning to each student’s demonstrated prior
mastery based on multiple points of data (i.e., units tests and student work).
 Units of instruction include specific learning activities aligned to objectives.
 Instructional Teams develop materials for their standards‐aligned learning
activities and share the materials among themselves.
 Materials for standards‐aligned learning activities are well‐organized, labeled,
and stored for convenient use by teachers.
Instructional Delivery
Effective Practice: Expect and monitor sound instruction in
a variety of modes
Indicators of Effective Practice (Sample)
 All teachers differentiate assignments (individualize instruction) in
response to individual student performance on pre‐tests and other
methods of assessment.
Instruction – Teacher-Directed – Introduction
 All teachers review the previous lesson.
 All teachers clearly state the lesson’s topic, theme, and objectives.
 All teachers stimulate interest in the topics.
 All teachers use modeling, demonstration, and graphics.
Classroom Management
Effective Practice: Expect and monitor sound classroom management
Indicators of Effective Practice (Sample)
 Transitions between instructional modes are brief and orderly.
 Students maintain eye contact and are attentive.
 All teachers maintain well‐organized student learning materials in the classroom.
 All teachers display classroom rules and procedures in the classroom.
 All teachers correct students who do not follow classroom rules and procedures.
 All teachers reinforce classroom rules and procedures by positively teaching them.
 All teachers engage all students (e.g., encourage silent students to participate).
Resources
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