Establishing a School Culture: The Plan for Data

By: Henry Smith

July-August Key objectives: Meet with and establish positive rapport with staff members. Gather perception data about school processes, strengths, and next steps

While the goal of meeting with each teacher over the summer is lofty, I understand that doing so can pay off in spades. First of all, it provides an opportunity to conduct an ice-breaker. The principal may select a nearby coffee shop or diner to hold informal meetings in. Holding these meetings outside of the school will help staff members build an impression of the principal as a human being who exists outside of the schools walls. Aside from conversations, this is a time where a perception survey should be given to teachers that gives them a chance to point out what they would like changed about the school, things they think have been successful, ideas they have for change, and other comments. Collecting this data and maintaining it will show the staff that the principal has an interest in listening and making changes so that the school is more comfortable and conducive to the people who work there. Dr. Yeomans says that finding and grabbing low hanging fruit can be boundless in terms of how much influence and respect it can garner a leader. The goal of the perception surveys will be to identify some of that low-hanging fruit. Tasks required: Create and disperse perception survey Organize meetings with staffperhaps a handful at a time Gather and analyze data from perception survey Decide which changes to implement, and have a plan ready for the start of the year

September Key objectives: Ease the transition out of summer and into the work year Show the staff that you have listened to them and are willing to accommodate them SELL THE IDEA OF DATA TEAMS BUILD or REWORD a mission statement

It is critical to start the staff off with a good feeling about their administrator. I envision using time during the month of September to build trust in me as a leader. The first move will be to identify some of the low-hanging fruit from the perception survey. From my experience, teachers readily produce criticism when asked, and I know that there must be some clerical imperfections or overly cumbersome processes that can be pared down. Dr. Yeomans said that one thing he did was to implement a calendar system to prevent interrupting other members of the staff while they are working. This simple gesture builds trustespecially when the leader follows through and continues to search for more of them to implement. This is also the time where I would introduce a comment/suggestion box, open-door policy, and other housekeeping items. I foresee our meetings and interactions during this month as being designed to boost morale and gain trust. Also, the staff will need to make a mission statement. To do this: watch a video about mission statements from the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJhG3HZ7b4o. Divide into subject groups and write preliminary mission statements Combine groups in stages until the entire staff has come upon a single mission statement The mission statement will be predominately displayed in the school.

The other objective for this month is going to be selling the idea of data teams to the staff. As a principal, I could easily issue the directive of Get into teams and do X, but I know that leveraging authority like that is a fear-based tactic and will yield minimally positive results while simultaneously destroying my credibility with the staff. Instead, I will have to find a way to SHOW them what data can do for them and how they can use it. Thus, here is the plan (Note that this exercise is an adaptation from NASSPs website): 1. Ask staff to read Analyzing Data for Schoolwide and Individual Student Improvement a. Discuss the four types of data and the uses of each. As a team, discuss the Analysis and Team Discussion Questions that appear in the rectangles of the chapter tables and graphs. b. As a team, review and discuss the focus framework, key questions, and the outcomes on pages 53-55.

2. Conduct a data-driven dialogue a. Have staff make predictions about their preliminary thoughts concerning the data about student performance. b. Discuss in the mode of a think/pair/share c. Identify recurring themes

3. Observe a. Give out copies of data. Ideally, the data would come disaggregated by subject, and teachers could be asked to sit nearby their faculty teams. b. Ask teachers to make observations about the data that contain numbers. For example, From 2011 to 2013, 7% more students passed the Math HSPE. c. Ask staff to share out. Look for both positive and concern-area observations, and post them on a big sticky note or on a board. 4. Infer a. Ask the staff to come up with reasons for their observations and what can be done to promote and nurture the positive as well as fix the concern-area data. b. Ask teachers to confer privately to come up with the most important conclusion that comes from making inferences about the data. Example, I believe the data suggests that more instructional time should be allotted to mathematics instruction because. . . . 5. Extend a. Ask staff to start thinking about what kinds of changes they can start making in their respective positions to enhance student learning. Required Tasks: Find and disperse the data Make copies of mission statement Continue looking for low-hanging fruit.

October Key Objectives: Design and implement pre-assessments in each team Reteach staff about TPEPs data requirements

For this month, the staff will have to identify which areas are problematic for the department as a whole, and they will need to start thinking about which strategies to implement in order to ameliorate them. The data teams will need to design an assessment, which they believe will address the problematic area of focus, and they will also have to build rubrics with which to assess students performance. The task of writing the pre assessment followed by administrating it and then grading it will take a great deal of time, so the tasks for this month will be limited to that undertaking. For this to be successful, it will be necessary to provide examples of what has been done or what could be done to make this a success. Also, staff will be alerted that these results will be used to determine which strategies will be best for intervention. In the meanwhile, I will provide examples of what kinds of gains schools see when they use data to guide instruction and intervention This month will also be a time where I introduce TPEP and its data requirements. My hope is that this will help garner more buy-in for using data. I also plan on making myself accessible to address any problems or concerns regarding how to use data. It is important that the staff feels like they can come to me with concerns, but I also want to encourage them to go to one another with concerns. Required Tasks: Guide staff through the process of designing and implementing pre assessments. Provide encouraging examples of data usage in schools and classes Provide examples of finished products for staff Provide continued support in these endeavors

November: Key Objectives: Disaggregate and draw conclusions from the pre-assessments. Look for and decide upon an intervention method for individual teachers and or data teams Start using the new method Start thinking about College Readiness

Staff will use time this month to grade the pre-assessments and start drawing conclusions about the students needs. The expectation will be for teams to meet up to do this work during the month. Once they have identified a problem that needs attention (This problem should come from a strand in the rubric, or an overall low score or high number of students who do not meet standard in the pre assessment), they start looking for interventions to implement. I will provide literature and lots of sources that teachers can look to for intervention strategies, but I will empower them to ultimately make the decision on what they want to try. I will also encourage them to think outside of the box and have some fun with this project. Their homework will be to decide upon a method for the following month. This month will also be one where I would like to get teachers thinking about the schools culture and how it can be shaped to better fulfill the mission statement (which I know will have some mention about students futures! If it doesnt, then we are in trouble. . . . ). I will hand out the NASSP article, Creating a Culture of College Readiness and field a discussion about it. I will also ask the teachers to fill out the survey at the bottom and share their results in small groups, and then with the larger group. This will be a good way to identify where our school culture lacks in relation to the articles prescriptions. From there, we will discuss ideas we can implement to build up the culture of the school. Since there are so many ways to do this, I would like to have the staff brainstorm ideas, and then I would like to have pairs of staff members sign up for things to do. Items might be things like have a community member come speak about the merits of college, Start a campaign for As, or implement strategies to fix the attendance problem. Next month, the accountability portion will be for th ose teachers to talk to the staff about what they are doing and what they are noticing as well as what supports they may need. Required Actions: Gather and give out articles with interventions for student achievement Help generate ideas for creating a college-readiness culture among students Encourage sharing and self-advocating for help

December: Key Objectives: To hear what strategies teachers have been using and what successes and difficulties they have encountered To follow-up on the college readiness culture project To empower the staff in building servant leadership and or cultural competency in the students.

Since this is a short month, our time together will be used to provide support and accountability about the projects we have set into motion. I will ask staff to share what they have done, and what they plan on doing. The start of this month should be used to look at ways to get students involved in some kind of servant leadership and cultural understanding about the holidays. It would be very easy to have community members come to the school to talk about ways that kids can get involved and help those in need. Also, I am sure the staff could come up with lots of ideas we could implement to this end. Furthermore, I think it will be beneficial to give an opportunity for staff to use time together as a forum for improvement and even venting a little bit. I know that December is a very stressful time for students and staff.

Required Actions: Provide ongoing support and high expectations for the staff Follow up on staff concerns and successes regarding their work with data

January: Key Objectives: To create summative assessments to see how effective teacher interventions were To identify the effectiveness of interventions and areas for improvement To reflect and assess our progress in fulfilling the mission statement

Since this month takes us through the semester, it seems like a good time to assess students success rates as a result of the intervention strategy selected by the fa culty team. This will require much less work than the pre-assessment, because the rubric should be pretty much identical. This month will also be a time where I ask staff to reflect and honestly explain how successful we have been so far at realizing the schools mission statement. I will collect this data from staff, and I will use it to make adjustments as needed to keep the school on track in realizing the mission. Finally, I will ask staff to get in groups and discuss their predictions about how successful they were with their new intervention strategy. For this particular exercise, I will require that each staff member bring in at least 2 samples of student formative workone that represents a high-performing student, and one that is an example of lower performance. The goal here is to build a shared understanding about what the expectations are as well as to identify possible problem areas to address in the future.

Required Actions Provide continued support to staff Gather data about staff perceptions regarding the mission realization Monitor staff conversation to look for opportunities to offer encouragement and or praise when needed.

February: Key Objectives:

To show staff that using data is the best way to build interventions and enhance instruction. To discuss the role of formative assessment and what it looks like in data teams To set up formative assessment schedules with data teams

The goal here is for teams to share with the staff what their interventions were and how effective they were. They will be expected to talk in terms of numbersmy hope is that by this point, that will be a given. This will be a time where we can celebrate the successes of our interventions and work with one another to decide what can be done to prevent shortfalls in the future. My hope is that by now, data teams have made pre assessments and used a single summative assessment to measure an increase in learning. For the next step, I want to start looking at formative assessment strategies with the staff. To introduce them to this, I have made a handout about the Formative Assessment Cycle, and I will be sharing it with them (This is also an article I provided for class). I want to use February as a month where data teams design windows for administering and assessing formative work to their students.

Required Actions Provide examples of common formative assessments Foster and encourage staff discovery of the benefits of using the Formative Assessment Cycle

March: Key Objectives: Follow up with staff regarding culture projects started in December. Reflect on current strategies in place for discipline absenteeism Discuss and implement new strategies to increase rigor for students Review Formative Assessment Schedules

This seems to be the month where I run into behavior and absenteeism problems, so it would be a good time to address it with the staff. I will start by having them read the eduguide.org article entitled Discipline in School: What Works and What Doesnt. The article has lots of subtitles that show various aspects of misbehavior in students as well as ways to respond to and prevent them. Staff can get into teams and discuss what stands out to them, what we already do, and what we should start doing. If there is a policy that needs revamping or something that needs bolstering for this time of the year, then we will work together to achieve it. Also, I will have staff read the NCSL article entitled Improving High Schools through Rigor, Relevance and Relationships. Similar to the previous activity, I think it would be beneficial for the staff to look at what the data in the article has to say about rigor. My goal here is to establish a working definition for the word Rigor and to discuss what that looks like in our classrooms. It is important to remind teachers that when presented with rigorous tasks, students will rise to the challenge. I will also use this month to continue focusing on developing a school culture where rigor is expected, and the mentality is shifted from credit accumulation to thinking about the future. I am hoping that this is something that will be almost completely in the hands of the teachers. They are the true change agents, as they are the ones who see students each day. I am hoping that by now, there is enough buy-in to motivate teachers to continue their work in this. Finally, I will use this time to field questions about building formative assessment schedules. For next month, I will ask teams to develop their first common formative assessments. These assessments should occur at least once or twice a month. Required Action Provide continued support to staff regarding the culture projects Provide resources for discussion regarding disciplinary procedures Discuss formative assessment schedules with data teams

April: Key Objectives: Follow up on and seek staff input about rigor activities Reflect on new discipline implementation and modify as needed Build and implement first common formative assessments

For this month, my expectation will be to see that data teams are building formative assessments with their accompanying rubrics. I hope that by now, they have had a chance to see how common assessment and data can help to enhance their instruction, and I believe that this will lead to greater buy-in with implementing regular formative assessments. I chose to discuss rigor in tandem with formative assessment, because I think it is important that all tasks given to students are rigorous. The rigor discussion and article should motivate staff to develop formative assessments that push students outside of their comfort zones even further. The formative assessment goal implementation for this month will include a component where staff does some pre and post assessment work. PRE: What will this assessment include that is RIGOROUS? That is, what will you try? What is one of your predictions about student performance? Use a quantitative explanation here like, only about 42% will meet standard on this assessment, or at least 70% of students will perform lower on this part of the assessment. Briefly describe what students have learned or done up until now.

POST:

What indicators can you find that indicate this assessment was indeed RIGOROUS? Compare your predictions with your findings. Use numerical, quantitative language. Based on the results of the assessment what is one modification you will make to your future instruction?

This will require teachers to be very transparent and honest with themselves and their teams; that is why I chose to wait for so long to try this. In a debriefing discussion, I would like to engage staff in some thinking about how effective data-driven instruction is. I would also hope that they realize how using the data from formative assessments can take the guesswork out of the question, Is the student learning? Also, I want to emphasize REALITY/FINAL PRODUCT over PROCESS. Too often, principals can observe a class that appears engaged or entertained, but without the data, there is no proof that real learning is occurring.

Required Action: Build Pre and Post assessment reflection/prediction forms Educate staff and provide further support regarding rigorous formative assessment Continue to foster conversation and development as it pertains to assessment

May/June: Key Objectives: Start building intervention toolkits in data teams Each teacher tests an intervention and its effectiveness Celebrate the progress made so far this year

I would like staff to start building toolboxes/toolkits in their respective departments. This can easily be done digitally, and it is a good way to share knowledge and strategies to improve student performance. By now, teachers have tested instructional interventions to address the needs of their students. Since they KNOW that these interventions work form them, at least, they should share them with their colleagues so that they dont have to reinvent the wheel. Also, I think that building these toolkits digitally can serve a valid purpose because they provide teachers with proof of how far they have come with using data to shape instruction. I would like to top off this years work with a celebration. I think it would be appropriate to put together a luncheon, complete with some kind of award ceremony to put a positive emphasis on all of the HARD work the staff did this year. Everyone should be recognized for their hard work and input this year.

Required Action: Plan luncheon Design an award ceremony that recognizes each player in the new data system Setup digital method for sharing interventions based on formative assessment