Category Archives: Blog

Moving the Needles of School Improvement Begins with the Teacher’s Needle

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With all good reason we focus school accountability on the improvement of student achievement and accomplishments. The bottom lining in most discussions about education relates to children. School Report Cards measure student academic achievements in reading and math, promotion and graduation rates, daily attendance, and student disruption/discipline events. When the measures of achievements increase and the measures of disruption/discipline decrease, especially when measured in each of the disaggregated student populations, we celebrate how a school has “moved the student achievement needle.”

The driver of school improvement, however, begins with the teachers who cause student learning. An essential question in the dynamic of moving the measurement needles of student achievement is “How are we addressing the measurement needles of teacher instruction and student nurturing?” If we do not take care of the engines for school improvement, we can only hope that students will intuit what they are supposed to know, do and be.

The first step in addressing teacher needle movement is to ask, “Does the teacher have a valid working needle?” It may seem to be a question asked and answered, but an appropriately licensed teacher is not always the case. Is the teacher licensed to teach the subjects assigned? With teacher shortages, teachers may be assigned to teach outside their licensed subject areas. This may be a short-term staffing fix, but it has consequences for student learning. Is the license a standard issue or an emergency or provisional license? Teachers who have not completed the criteria for a regular license often work with an emergency or provisional license while they complete the course work required for a regular license. Half- or partially-prepared teachers also present consequences for student learning. Teachers with emergency and provisional licenses also are less expensive to hire. What is the teacher’s most recent professional development in the subject of their approved license? Or, has the teacher renewed his or her license with credits or certificates unrelated to their licensed subject area?   A teacher who was issued a regular license based upon their academic major, but constantly renews that license with non-subject area professional presents consequences for student learning. If your ELA or math teacher does not have a regular license and/or has not engaged in ELA or math professional development, your teacher does not have a working professional needle.

Apply the same inspection as presented above to each teaching assignment. The same pros and cons present themselves for teachers of art, business education, computer technology, foreign language, music, science, social studies, and technology education. Teachers with strong working professional needles make a more significant and consistent contribution to student learning than unprepared teachers.

The second step in addressing teacher needle work is to ask, “What is the school district doing to strengthen each teacher’s professional needle?” A school board invests in school facilities improvements, school technology improvements, school transportation improvements, curricular additions and improvements, and arts and athletics program improvements. Board investment in improving a school district’s assets is expected. So, what expectation exists for the board’s investment in their teachers’ professional development?

The first expectation should be one of aligning district goals and district resources. When the board makes improving student achievement a major district annual goal, the board should support that goal with a commensurate amount of time and money for the professional development needed to accomplish the goal. Time and money translate into professional development to strengthen and enhance teacher knowledge, skills and attributes.

The second expectations should be that professional development directly related to a teaching assignment is not negotiable by the board or by any teacher. Every teacher regardless of assignment should receive the same expectation for and financial support of their professional development. And, every teacher regardless of assignment should be required to engage in the district-provided professional development. The aggregate of professional development for all may seem like a lot of money, depending upon the size of the school staff. The aggregate of professional development for all also says a school board should expect significant movement in student achievement needles when the board annually aligns major financial resources to its major goals.

The third step is requiring every teacher to improve student achievement or accomplishments due to the teacher’s instruction. This step follows from assuring that every teacher is regularly licensed for their teaching assignment, every teacher is actively engaged in professional development to advance their licensed subject area, and the school board annually invests in professional development aligned with district annual goals for every teacher. If these three conditions are in place, then a school board should expect that every teacher will move the learning needles of students assigned to their instruction.

Some student achievement needles are measured and published – ELA and mathematics. Schools gain and lose comparable and competitive status based upon ELA and math needle movement. Because social studies and science education also are translated into Common Core-like standards and often are related to legislative mandates (civics and financial literacy education, science-based industry and careers), achievement in the social studies and science receive some public scrutiny albeit minor compared to ELA and math.   Other achievement needles never seem to be discussed let alone measured and published. Art, music and theater education are applauded, but student knowledge and skills are not measured. Business, computer-science education, and technology education are vaunted by every state’s business and industrial lobbyists, but what gets measured also gets prioritized and these subjects linger in the shadows of open and public discussion.

Instead, a school board must discuss in open session its goals for annual improvement in student achievement and accomplishment in every subject. Measures of current student knowledge, skills and dispositions must be discerned and published along with expectations of improvement.

We can only imagine what could be achieved and accomplished in a school when every teacher is properly licensed, every teacher is engaged in profession development of their teaching assignment, every school board annually aligns and commits significant financial resources to its goals for the improvement of student learning in all subjects, and every teacher is required to advance measures of student learning every year.

“Can’t be done”, is the usual response to what this blog proposes. Teacher shortages in specific subject areas make short-cutting license alignment necessary. Budget shortages make hiring provisionally- and emergency-licensed teachers a necessity. “Pipe dreamer”, is the usual comment. No school district mandates district-provided professional development for all teachers. Teachers demand personal control of their professional development. “Expecting too much”, is the usual rejoinder. No district measures each student’s growth in every grade level and every subject area. It would take too much time and money and result in too little advantage.

That leaves us in the current status quo. Too often, we assign unprepared teachers, expect little from professional development, only talk about high expectations but make no investment in accomplishing those expectations, and do not require student growth in every grade level and every subject. If we don’t take the appropriate steps to assure that every teacher has a working profession needle with accountable investments and accountability for improving and working their needle, we can’t expect anything but happenstance to cause student achievement needles to be moved.

Don’t Be The Biggest Kid In The Classroom

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Read, smile and realize “I know that.”  That should be the response a teacher has to reading Sarah McKibben’s “Stay Calm and Teach On” article in ASCD’s Education Update.  McKibben succinctly describes the practices of several veteran teachers who work diligently to be the teacher in the classroom and not the biggest kid in class.

http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/dec17/vol59/num12/Stay-Calm-and-Teach-On.aspx

And, that is my take on the dilemma that many teachers face when confronted with disruptive and non-responsive children under their supervision.  It is clear in her reporting that veteran teachers who practice staying calm work hard to create the emotive state of calmness.  It is so very easy to let a belligerent child, one who throws a fit of defiance or purposefully and loudly ridicules other children, or looks the teacher in the eye and refuses to take direction, get under your skin and cause you to erupt.  That is when a teacher becomes the biggest kid in class.

Staying calm is hard work.  It means having a game plan for staying calm that encompasses what you say, the face you make, your body posture, your walk, and the timing of what you eventually do as a teacher in response to a child.  As Michael Linsin contributed, he resets his game plan each day.  He calms himself and reaffirms his role as the teacher who knows how to remain calm and teach on.

As I talk with young teachers, we acknowledge the wrongness of how the so-called “old guard legends” in our schools responded to children with bad behavior decades ago.  Calling out of children using profanity, belittling children, laying hands on, and paddling were trademarks of the biggest and worst kids in class – abusive teachers.  Today’s young teachers face the same challenges as the old guard, but staying calm and teaching on while using planned and appropriate disciplinary responses has become their best practice.

I encourage readers to check out McKibben’s article.  If you don’t say “I know that”, you will find a description of best practices that will cause you say “I will try that.”

Whose Learning Needle Must Move? Every Child’s Learning Needle

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What we say and what we do matters. If we believe that all children can and must learn, say it aloud and often and then cause it to happen.

Imagine walking into a school classroom on Monday morning, looking at the faces of children sitting and looking at you, their teacher, and saying, “This week I will improve the reading skills of five children. Although all of you will join me in reading groups, I am only interested in improving the reading skills of five children.” Or, saying to children in an Algebra class, “This week you will learn about quadratic equations. However, by Friday I expect only three of you to be able to balance an equation.”

In looking at test scores in elementary reading and middle school math, the paragraph above too often reflects student achievement following classroom instruction. The distribution of achievement staircases children from those who demonstrated advanced understanding and skills to those who minimally understand and demonstrate little to no skill. In this proverbial week, some children improved their reading skills and some children learned to resolve quadratic equations. Some children did not. In reverse, what we caused to happen we certainly would not have announced. We allowed the learning needle (how we measure learning achievement) for some children to be stagnant or recede while we advanced the learning needle for others.

The issue is clear. Whose learning needle needs to move? Every child’s. Which learning needle needs to move? The needle that measures the educational attribute receiving our current focus. Causing learning is a purposeful instructional attention focused on every child that does not cease until every child’s needle is moved.

Enlarge the scope of this proposition. Imagine your band or choir director giving focused and measured instruction only to the brass instruments or the sopranos while giving unfocused attention to the remainder of the band or choir. Or, the home construction teacher giving focused instruction only to the carpenters and less attention to students learning the electrical and plumbing trades. In these two examples, we hear and see the results of attending only to the learning needles of some children and not all. Music performances at band and choir concerts will cause patrons to lose all confidence in the school music instruction. The learning needles of all band and choir members need equal attention to create a quality ensemble performance. Realtors trying to sell the school-built home will stop showing the property. The learning needles of all members of the construction crew contribute the quality of the build.

This is true also of the quality of a school’s academic program. The learning needles of all children need to move in every grade level and every subject. Quality academic programs don’t just have high achievers. They concentrate on moving the learning needles of every child, on increasing every child’s understanding, skills and problem-solving, and closing the measured gaps between the learning needles. Instead of an achievement distribution with children languishing as minimal performers, quality academic programs give concentrated instructional focus to cause every child to reach proficiency in their understanding, skill sets, and ability to resolve challenging problems.

Imagine walking into a school classroom on Monday, looking at the face of every child and saying, “This week we will cause each of you to look for periods in your reading and to take a breath after a period before starting the next sentence. At the end of the week, each of you will know how a period works in a sentence and you will improve your reading using periods as stops between sentences.” And, then cause it to happen.

There were regrettable politics and distorted practices associated with the words “No Child Left Behind.” Yet, those words clearly express the intent and necessary actions for moving every child’s learning needle. Be clear in telling each child, “We are going to move your learning needle today (this week, this month) and this is what your new needle will cause you to know, do and be.” Then, cause it to happen.

Educating Is Moving The Needle

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“What am I doing here?” is a good question to ask oneself frequently. The context of this question is your workplace, your career, your job. I surmise that many respond with confidence that “I am doing the work I want to do and have trained for and I am pleased with where I find myself.” Or, “I find my work to be both challenging and rewarding. What I do matters to me and to others.” To these responses, I say “Great! Keep on keeping on.” When considering their work, these folks smile, become energized, and talk with specific examples that illustrate what they do and how their work is a positive contribution to their industry. What they do helps their employer to achieve positive qualitative and quantitative organizational goals. This is “moving the needle” – how you measure performance – toward success.

Others may be both discomforted and disappointed when looking for an answer. This leads them to not ask the question very often. For these folks, I need to rephrase the question. “Is what I am doing here meaningful to me or to others?” “Is what I am doing important?” “Does what I do make a difference?” Already the fear that the answer may be “no” or “not much” may have them rethinking the wisdom in pursuing the question.

When considering these questions, you must come to grips with the “what am I doing and why am I doing it?” As a high school and later college student, I worked summers and vacations in a meatpacking plant. I helped to reduce animals to meat and agri-products. My goal, however, was to earn money. My needle was my bank account and success meant having enough money to pay for the next year of college. As a junior high school teacher, I taught English and social studies. My goal was to cause children to learn our grade level curricula. My needle was a measurement of what they knew, could do and how they solved learning problems on September 1 compared with the same measurements on June 1. Success was achieved when every child was ready for the next year’s curricular instruction. As a wrestling coach, my goal was to cause wrestlers to win and how to think about how they won. Success was measured in wins through a personal commitment to healthy goals. As a high school principal, my work was to cause every teacher to cause every child to learn their grade level curricula – to be a needle moving teacher. Success was measured in finding positive cause and effect relationships – what instruction would cause learning improvements. The scope of these cause and effect challenges increased when I was a district administrator. In each context, the “here” changed, but the “what I am doing” did not. My goal always is to move the needle. Sometime the needle was a direct cause and effect and easy to measure. Hours in the hog kill equals payroll. A wrestler’s hand raised in victory. Some time the needle of cause-effect was less direct and not easy to measure, as in learning and learning performances. Yet, in every situation, “What am I doing” is about moving the needle.

When you add the “here” to “what am I doing,” you give the question personalized immediacy. For educators, “here” requires you to be introspective concerning your current assignment and the educational objectives that are attached to the assignment. “Here” is all about you and your ability to move the needle of learning for the children you teach, coach or direct.

Too often we consider only one needle in education – academic performances. Make no mistake, academic performances are extremely important, yet there are other needles of importance beyond test scores. And, these needles also move as a result of a teacher’s work efforts.

  • Daily school attendance
  • Child behavior
  • Willingness to engage in learning
  • Persistence
  • Self-esteem
  • Collegiality
  • Problem solving
  • Creativity
  • Career preparation
  • Artistic and aesthetic appreciation
  • More

Identifying needles to be moved does not rest with you alone. If it did, any needle movement would do. Identifying needles to move relates to the goals of the school and its community, the realities of learning challenges each student and all students present, the current status of measured needles, and the skill sets of each and all teachers. Picking priority needles leads to the determination of targets for how far and how fast the needle must move in the macro sense of whole school or classroom and in the micro sense of each child. Moving needles is hard work and it begins with selecting appropriate needles and targets of needle movement.

The rest is easier. Needle movement is doing the work needed to move the needle. In a meatpacking plant, you do the bloody work of earning a paycheck so that your bank account will let you do what comes next in life. In teaching, it is causing all children to become proficient learners and to demonstrate their knowledge, skills and problem solving at a quality level. In educational leadership, it is focusing school resources to cause all children to achieve high quality outcomes in academic, activity, arts and athletic programs, and to be proactive and healthy problem solvers.

Educating is moving the needle.

Calculating a School Lockdown: A Thank You

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A locked down school in response to a “potential” safety threat no longer makes the news headlines. School lock downs happen too frequently these days. But, that does not make locking down a school a daily routine. It isn’t. Enacting a lock down procedure is a very calculated administrative decision that needs to be understood and appreciated for how as well as why it works.

I start with a thank you to the school administrators who sit in the hot seat of decision making. “Thank you for examining the potentiality of a threat to your school and activating lock down procedures that are designed to keep children and adults safe from harm.” Locking down a school is a calculated decision, because threat credibility is what makes a lock down effective. If students and staff believe that credibility, the lock down will be effective. Children and adults will do exactly what they have been trained to do when their safety is threatened. They will find their safe places and remain safe throughout the lock down. If children and adults do not believe that credibility, locking down begins to look like a recess. “Thank you for weighing the information you are given, often incomplete and in a hurry, and making the right call.”

Hot seat decisions regarding school safety are difficult moments. Regional news often broadcasts that a school is locked down because there has been a neighborhood shooting or a person has escaped police custody or a person has called or posted their intent to harm people at school. These are not everyday broadcasts, but they, especially neighborhood violence, rightfully cause school administrators to invoke school lock downs.

Locking down immediately sparks a variety of community and school reactions. There is a flurry of social media and cell phone communication as children contact parents and parents contact children. Some parents immediately go to school to take their children home. Nearby daycare centers take safety precautions. Law enforcement is drawn to the school. Instruction and daily activities at school are immediately affected, depending upon the level of lockdown. Whatever children and teachers were doing becomes secondary to their need to follow lock down protocols. Visitors coming to the school during a lock down cannot enter the school and visitors in the school cannot leave. If the lock down is at noon, it affects lunch schedules; if at the end of the school day, it affects school bus routes and after school activities. Each and all of these are considered by a school administrator making a hot seat decision.

Gladly, I observe that our regional school leaders place school safety first. In almost lock downs, an initial statement of the threat is given by the news agencies. If necessary, local news and school social media update parents and community about the ongoing situation. Afterward, more information regarding the threat becomes available and the sensibility of a lock down is clarified.

Again, thank you to school administrators sitting in the hot seats of decision making for keeping our schools safe. With well-practiced lock down protocols, real threats are being handled realistically.

The ultimate sad truth, though, is that we never have forewarning when violent school tragedy actually befalls us.