What are we "settling" for in our schools?

A recent series of TV commercials features "settlers" dressed as pioneers in a variety of settings, including engaging in pioneer cooking and farming tasks in their home and neighborhood, parodying their choice of cable in contrast to the choice of a satellite provider.  Their response to questions about living in the past, doing things the way they have always done them, is that they are "settlers" so that is what they do.

It's been said that if a time traveler came to 2016 from the pioneer days, he or she would recognize or understand little, except for our schools, especially our high schools.  They would recognize a teacher in front of a room, students in rows, copying notes and working at desks.

Certainly many schools and districts have worked hard to change this stereotype of classrooms and teachers, with many innovative instructional strategies, educational research implementation and maker spaces changing the face of our schools for our students.

Having served as a high school administrator the last 15 years, the last nine as principal of a National Blue Ribbon School and National Model PLC at Work School, I have engaged in a PLC journey with all key stakeholders and seen the merits of systemic change in increased student learning.  Moreover, I have worked with met many committed educators, dedicated to invoking needed change that enhances student learning.

But are we also like the settlers in the commercial?  Are we also settling for certain things every day in our schools still because that is the way schools have always done it?  Even in the very best high schools, there still seems to be much work to do.  And in schools who have not yet engaged in substantive change, we are indeed mired in 20th century practices in a 21st century world.

Professional Learning Community work is one of the educational reforms that many schools are in the process of initiating or implementing.  As identified by Richard DuFour and Bob Eaker in Professional Learning Communities at Work (p 15), PLC work calls for teachers to work in collaborative teams to address 4 questions: What is it we want students to learn? How do we know they have learned it?  What do we do when they don't learn it?  What do we do when they already know it?

In PLC work, teachers focus on student learning in collaborative teams. Photo by Stuart Miles at freedigitalphotos.com.

But how many of us are settling for less, even though we know the research demonstrates that focusing on these four questions can and will enhance student learning?

How many of our schools support and create collaborative time for teachers within the schools day so that every student learns the essential learning targets or standards?  How many of us can walk in our high school classrooms and see every Biology teacher teaching the same learning target every day as  scope and sequence has been collaboratively implemented?  Or are we settling for less, leaving students either lucky or unlucky on getting the teacher who is delivering the intended curriculum?

How many of us provide professional development to our teaching staffs to create valid and reliable common assessments, again ensuring that each student is measured fairly on the essential learning targets?  What about supporting teachers to meet regularly to analyze the assessment data, informing their instruction and providing the requisite feedback to students in order to inform them of their learning progress?

Or are we settling for individually-created teacher tests, some of them re-used year after year regardless of student achievement, varying from classroom to classroom, negating validity and reliability.  Are we settling for teachers to simply record grades, without monitoring those grades, rather than analyze the data, not only to inform students of their progress but to inform teachers of the quality of their instruction.

What about when students do not learn?  Have we put into place systemic, building-wide  interventions for each student who is not learning?  Do we implement mandatory interventions based on our developed pyramid of interventions and analyze regularly our building D and F reports and other data? Are we committed to providing extra time and support for students to learn what we are teaching?

Or are we settling for less? Is our school dependent on individual teachers to respond, or not, dependent on their personal beliefs about teaching and learning? Do the same students stay on our D and F list grading period after grading period because we are settling for schools where our job is to teach and the student's job is to learn and when they don't it is their fault, just as the majority of our schools did in the past.

Photo by Stoonn at freedigitalphotos.com.

And finally, what about those students who already know the majority of the material before they take the class and the assessments?  Are we just settling for them to get A's because  we have always had those extraordinary A students, the kids who are great at "doing" school? Or are we also committed not only to their achievement but also to their growth, providing differentiation and enrichment so that they, too, can also learning at their highest potential?

What about it?  Are their practices in your school or district that you are "settling" for?  American education is at a crossroads, out-performed globally, and the time for change is now.

Whether you are involved in PLC work, Hattie's visible learning work, formative assessment, Marzano research or a combination of them all, we can no longer be settlers in those aspects of our schools that we know need changed.

While it may be OK to "settle" for cable TV, we can no longer settle for antiquated practices in our schools.  Our students' future lies in our hands.

Beginnings are messy

Beginnings are messy.  There's no doubt about it. But beginnings are also essential, integral, and imperative.  Nothing gets done without a beginning.  Just like this new blog, See. Believe. Do.

As a principal and an educator,  I often saw how sometimes change was hard because the beginning was muddy and we are often uncomfortable with unclear starts.  We always drive more slowly, sometimes painfully so, on an unfamiliar road.

I started on a PLC odyssey 15 years ago after seeing Rick DuFour at a Principal's Academy at the Central Ohio Educational Service Center.  Then an assistant principal at a traditional high school with 2400 students, eight portables, and 70 teachers on carts, it took almost 2 years to actually start true PLC work.  The beginning was messy but necessary, with much exploration with a dedicated team of teachers who wanted and were willing to do high school differently.

Staying on a winding and curvy journey, especially if it is unfamiliar, is often difficult. (Photo by Exsodus at freedigitalphotos.net)

That core group transitioned to a new district high school, and again, we were in the beginning stages of PLC work for another two years. With integral groundwork and research laying the foundation, we embraced a remarkable PLC journey, resulting in being named a National Blue Ribbon School and a National Model PLC at Work School.

And without that messy beginning work involving our entire learning community of staff, parents and students,  our transition to a school of learning, a systemic focus on the 4 PLC questions, a pyramid of interventions and creative and innovative instructional strategies to better ensure learning would have never occurred.

This new blog and this initial post reflects my change in roles from a high school administrator for the last 15 years, the last nine as principal, to the thought leader and founder of See. Believe. Do., a company dedicated to transforming schools from a focus on teaching to a focus of learning.  It is from one of my favorite quotes, for I truly believe we must have the "vision to see, the faith to believe, and the courage to do" if we are to truly change and impact education for each student.

And yes, this beginning has been messy, too. It has taken many months to start the new Twitter @seebelievedo, Facebook (See. Believe.Do) , web domain and LLC. All of the steps made me realize why I made this transition.  We have many dedicated educators and administrators who are working very hard to change our American public education system.   Many I have met on Twitter, at conferences and at workshops.  They are continually initiating, reforming, changing and aligning to best practices.  They know that beginnings are also messy, but worth it.

But there are thousands of schools in America, public, private and charter.  And not all of them are focusing or trying to focus on learning.  How many schools have started PLC work and given up?  Design thinking? Whole-school literacy? Formative assessment? Visible Learning?

Even the best educators strive to persevere in their work, often in the face of many barriers-- fixed mindsets; district, state and federal mandates; a lack of resources; a lack of leadership capacity; continual building or district turnover, ever-changing district initiatives etc.

Barriers are part of the process of moving forward.  (Photo by Stuart Miles, free digital photos.net)

Often it is the beginning of the work, which may last longer than anticipated, and all of the messiness that accompanies it, that dooms its success.  Educators, including principals, often just decide it is easier to just go with the flow rather than start or sustain really important learning work.  Rather than see barriers as a part of the process of change and an opportunity to succeed, they see them as insurmountable obstacles.

It is easier to simply give up before they start, like many of us do in life.  We don't start something because we dread the start.   For example, once we learn to ski it is gratifying and fun, but the thought of starting sometimes results in never getting going.  Those beginning ski lessons are often ugly and frustrating, though essential.

But the difference is that in life, when we can't stand the messy beginnings or don't follow through, we are usually only affecting ourselves. But as educational leaders, we are affecting our students' lives.

As educators, we all know that 100% of the students in our schools today leave our schools in transition in a few short years, even if we are there for much longer.  Our action or inaction, or lack of followthrough, or starting or stopping, or never starting, delays or alters the future of our students.

Being an educator is hard work. PLC work is hard work.  But the transformation of student learning along the way is amazing.  And every journey starts with a single, first step.  Remember, first steps may be messy, but you will succeed if you stay on the road.