1100 East Washington Road
Hinsdale, MA 01235
Networks: Cultivating Principal
Instructional Leadership
Presenters:
Ana Acevedo and Dr. Cordell Jones
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AGENDA
October 17, 2012
•Introduction and Overview
•Successful Network Environments
•Rich Content Exploration
•Network Learning as a Conduit to Changed Practice
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Objective:
•Audience will understand:
•Principals need specific conditions for effective network
learning.
•Principal networks create system-wide change in schools.
•Networking benefits principal leadership and the schools
they serve.
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GROUP NORMS
Be here 100%
Observe confidentiality
Speak and Listen with Respect
Have fun
Believe all is possible
Speak and listen with respect
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THE FOUNDATION: PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS
In the Circle please spend 5 minutes with member
introductions:
•Your Name
•What brought you to this session (1 sentence)
•3 adjectives that others use to describe you
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LEARNING THROUGH TEXT STUDY
•Network learning occurs through dialogue.
•We use texts, video clips, case studies, and modeled
practice to provoke rich dialogue.
•After dialogue we help principals consider how they can
translate the concepts, ideas, and processes back into the
leadership of their schools.
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Why We Exist…
To expand educational opportunity for
all students by transforming school
leaders into empowered, highly
effective change agents capable of
catalyzing change and driving
increased student achievement at
their schools.
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Why Leverage Principals?
Principals are second only to teachers in their impact on
student achievement
“To date, we have not found a single case of a school
improving its student achievement record in the absence
of talented leadership.”
Source: Louis, Leithwood, Wahlstrom & Anderson (2010). Learning from leadership: Investigating the
links to improved student learning.
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SLN Principals Become Highly Effective Instructional Leaders
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Design For Leading
Shaping a
vision of
academic
success
Creating a
climate
hospitable
to education
Cultivating
leadership
in others
so that
teachers and
for all students,
in order that
other adults
one based on
safety, a
assume their
high standards
cooperative
spirit, and other part in realizing
the school
foundations of
vision
fruitful
interaction
prevail
Improving
instruction
to enable
teachers to
teach at their
best and
students to
learn at their
utmost; laserlike focus on
the quality of
instruction
Managing
people,
data and
processes
to foster school
improvement
Design for Leading:
Seeing it in Practice
• Read Case Study: Jack Britt High School
• What examples do you see in this case study of effective
school practices? For each example, how would you
classify the practice using the Design for Leading
Framework?
• Take notes on template.
CONTENT DEBRIEF
Journal:
What new insights and understandings emerged from the text
and dialogue?
How might you translate what you discussed into your own
leadership practice?
Again in small groups, discuss and prepare to share
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LEARNING FROM SELF-EXPLORATION
New learning also emerges from principal dialogue about
the realities of their schools. They discuss:
• Their problems associated with leadership
• Their future actions leading
• The core barriers to student achievement and how to
overcome them.
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THE SCHOOL LEADERS NETWORK
Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future
“Even among friends, starting a conversation can take courage. But
conversation also gives us courage. Thinking together, deciding what
actions to take, more of us become bold. And we become wiser about
where to use our courage. As we learn from each other’s experiences
and interpretations, we see the issue in richer detail. We understand
more of the dynamics that have created it. With this clarity, we know
what actions to take and where we might have the most influence.”
Page 21
Have you experienced this to be true in your own experience?
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3 A’S PROTOCOL: ASK, AFFIRM, ADD
In triads:
• Reflect in writing: What is an initiative/system at your campus/district
that you are implementing that you think needs to be improved to
make greater impact for students and why?
• Person A shares the initiative/system that needs to be improved and
why.
• Person B and Person C Ask clarifying questions.
• Person B and Person C Affirm something about what Person A
shared.
• Person B and Person C Add something/suggestion something that
could be a possible solution or something to think about when
thinking about a solution.
• Switch.
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WHOLE GROUP DEBRIEF
In small groups reflect together and be ready to share
• What do you feel you gained in the dialogue?
• What conditions helped you to share?
• When would experiences like this be appropriate for you
as a learner? As a leader?
• Spokesperson sharing
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SLN Principals Enact Change with Support
Supported
and
Encouraged
by Peers
Focused
on Student
Outcome
Strategy
Principals
Lead
Change
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Principals Voluntarily Join
Effective Networking Experience
Principals
Model
Being
Vulnerable
Strong
Norms
Principals
Experience
Safe
Trustworthy
Environment
Principals Risk
Sharing Leadership
Vulnerabilities
Principals
Experience
Relevant
Learning
Principals
Reflect
About
How
Learning
Applies to
Them and
their
School
Ownership
of focus
Principals Explore New
Ideas in Collaborative
Dialogue
Principals Learn Instructional Leadership
Skills and Practices
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Other
Principals
are
Learners
NETWORKS AS A CONDUIT FOR CHANGE
• How do principals describe their experiences in
their network learning?
• How do principals describe the impact of their
network learning?
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SLN Meeting Experience
Participating in SLN so far this year…I experienced
97%
100%
97%
94%
85%
80%
60%
40%
20%
15%
6%
3%
3%
0%
a dynamic and engaging learning
experience.
concrete conversations about
practice that emerge from the
expertise of colleagues.
Every/ Most Meetings
a support network that met my
encouragement to try new
professional development needs. leadership practices/approaches
when I returned to my campus.
Some Meetings
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Not Yet
% of Membership indicating direct impact
SLN DIRECT IMPACT
90%
97%
87%
85%
Ability to create capacity for student learning
and achievement.
Ability to create school-system change to
effectively improve academic achievement for
all students.
70%
50%
30%
10%
Ability to increase the level of effectiveness of
creating a learning community at their school.
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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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Ana Ramos Acevedo
Regional Director
aracevedo@connectleadsucceed.org
210.373.5670
Dr. Cordell Jones
Principal, Alamo Heights Junior School
cordell@ahisd.net
210.824.3231