Learning from Big Bird

[This is the second of a 2-part series on my learning from the DMGroup Superintendent Summit.]

Many educational leaders reach outside the educational literature to get insights from the business community.  One of my favorite books is Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, by Amy Wallace and Edwin Catmull and published by Transworld Publishers in 2014.  The book tells the story of Pixar, the animation studio that developed new technologies for animation and joined forces with Disney to establish a powerhouse in the entertainment world. While we, in education, operate in a very different environment, we can learn some lessons about supporting innovation by looking at the moves Pixar made that led to creativity and success.  Likewise, Jim Collins’ Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t, published in 2001 by William Collins, taught us, among other things, that the most successful companies find those things that they can be the best at, rather than being mediocre at a lot of things.

Day 2 of the DMGroup Superintendent’s Strategy Summit began with a case study about the rise, fall, and rebirth of the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW) – the home of Sesame Street and Big Bird.  John Kim, DMGroup’s Chief Executive Officer and Founder and professor at Harvard University, led a discussion of the role the CTW played in establishing television as a medium for educating young children, their struggles as television evolved from a free, one-TV-few-choices industry to the on-demand, for-cost media in the modern, digital world in which we now live, to the rebirth of CTW after Jeff Dunn took over as CEO in 2014.

It felt a little unfair to judge the decisions made by the former CEO, who faced significant challenges resulting from the rise of video-on-demand and new entertainment choices for children and their families.  We know how it all turned out. On the other hand, the changes taking place in the entertainment industry were significant and operating as if nothing has changed is a recipe for disaster. Decreasing revenues, dwindling support of public television, combined with a lackluster internal culture led one senior executive to note, “Jim Henson wouldn’t recognize the place” (as reported by John Kim, 2020).

Jeff Dunn, who had previously been the COO of Nickelodeon Networks, a for-profit company, came on board as the CEO of Sesame Workshop (formerly known as the Children’s Television Workshop) in 2014. Again, we were asked to judge the steps taken by the CEO when we knew, of course, how these decisions faired. Dunn had made a number of decisions that propelled SW to improved financial status and greater success.  Some decisions, such as the move from public television (which only covered 10% of the cost of producing Sesame Street) to the for-profit HBO, were controversial but necessary to keep Sesame Street afloat. Of course, Sesame’s story hasn’t really ended at all and there’s further decisions to be made that may either stymie progress or propel them to success.

In many ways, we in education are operating the same way we have been operating, despite a dramatic changes that are going on around us.  Whether or not we make appropriate changes will decide our fate; will our decisions stymie our progress of propel us to success?

Managing Change

Through a grant from the RI Interlocal Trust, our insurance provider, I was able to join the DMGroup and participate in a 3-day strategy summit focused on managing change.  Change, as well, was the focus of our administrative team’s summer reading, Time for Change (Muhammad and Cruz, 2019).  Sharing my learning from the summit will help me internalize the learning as well as reflect on the question, Why is this topic so prevalent in the educational literature and at leadership conferences and workshops? This blog post represents the first day’s learning.

Winston Churchill stated, “to improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” However, if change is suggested, there’s some indication that present conditions are not good enough.  In the mid-70’s film sales were continuing to climb, just as digital photography was invented. Companies, such as Kodak, who failed to make changes and, instead, held on to improving old technologies, fell off the list of the most valuable companies.  What did leadership fail to do and why?

Common causes of failure include a focus on incremental change, as opposed to disruptive change and change fatigue – too much change and without enough corresponding success.  Schools have additional challenges relating to change, since we’re in the people business, are highly regulated, and have a seasonal structure, among other reasons.  It’s no wonder that change is a subject of so many educational leadership texts and conferences.

Jeanie Duck, reminds us, “changing an organization is inherently and inescapably an emotional human process.”  To address the process and help districts manage change, DMGroup applies and further developed Kotter’s Change Management Framework for School Districts.  Below is a table that provides both the DMGroup model and that presented by Muhammad and Cruz, side-by-side:

Another, more simple change framework, focused primarily on the communication of change is the 4 P’s:  Purpose, Picture, Plan and Part (William Bridges’ Managing Transitions). When communicating a change, it’s important to include the purpose, provide a picture of what the change will look like when implemented, explain the plan, and let staff know what their part will be.

Whether DMGroup’s model or Muhammad & Cruz’s model is used or whether the 4 P’s are communicated, the idea that change can be more successful when leaders utilize a change model is tied to research results.  Moreover, senior leaders can apply four “leadership enablers to drive the change process. These four enablers are:

  1. Communicate and Motivate – Is there a compelling change story on why we are undergoing change?
  2. Remain Steadfast and Focused – Are we seeing the initiative through?
  3. Role Model the Change – How do we demonstrate the required mindset?
  4. Be Engaged and Connected – How do we keep a pulse on the change?

There’s always some change going in a school.  If you are undergoing a change, are you able to see how the leader has explicitly used a framework to introduce and manage the change process?  [Next blog post: What can we learn from how big bird was brought back to life?]

Why Curriculum Matters

Running a district requires quite a bit of work that often doesn’t involve education at all.  Negotiating contracts, monitoring budget lines, advocating for legislative action, working through a facility improvement project, and developing policy are all interesting unto themselves but as the instructional leader of a district, it’s important to step back now and again to read educational literature and reflect on the practices in our classrooms.  I’m using this blog post to reflect on the importance of curriculum for equity.

 I’ve read the book, Why Knowledge Matters, by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., which critically reviews many current educational practices that have minimized knowledge acquisition in favor of skill development.  The author posits, in order to understand what you read you need to know the majority of words encountered in the passage or to have the background knowledge to infer the meaning of those words. There’s plenty of research to back that claim but, more importantly, it simply makes sense. 

 During our years in school we should amass quite a bit of knowledge in a variety of subjects from ancient history to current events, from chemistry to astronomy, from number theory to differential equations, and from poetry to the classics.  We also learn through less structured means by reading, traveling, and experiencing life. All other things being equal, less advantaged students amass quite a bit less vocabulary and background knowledge outside of school, making their experiences inside of school all the more important for ensuring equity and a higher quality of life as adults.  

A well-developed and common curriculum provides a foundation upon which students gain knowledge necessary for strong reading comprehension.  Strong reading comprehension, in turn, enables students’ access to even greater knowledge and vocabulary. There are certainly strategies good readers employ to figure out meaning from unfamiliar texts and teaching those strategies can be beneficial to students who haven’t yet acquired them on their own.  Somehow, though, we have lost our way by putting so much of the emphasis of education on skill development at the expense of knowledge building. I’m not 100% sold on Hirsh’s strong stance, but clearly, the pendulum needs to return to center. 

Some believe that in our every-changing world we can access all sorts of information if we just know how to search the Internet, apply comprehension strategies, and utilize number sense.  Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. If you had to stop every time you encountered an unknown word to Google its meaning, reading would be quite a chore. Yes, I can find the exact dates of World War I on the Internet so not knowing them as I read a novel set during World War I isn’t important, but because I have studied World War I some time in my past, I know that it occurred before the roaring 20’s and can better visualize the context of the novel than if I had no idea at all and, let’s face it, who would interrupt reading a novel to Google World War I dates and facts?

For pleasure, I’m reading The Secret Wife by Gill Paul, which is set during World War I.  Unfortunately, it’s been a while since I studied World War I, so certain passages of the book take me a bit more time to read and comprehend.  Some knowledge of the geography of early 20th Century Asia, the Bolsheviks, the reign of Nicholas II and the fall of the Russian Empire, and the mystery surrounding the murders of Nicholas II and his family helps to comprehend the fictional text. The novel may be out of reach for those not having any background knowledge.  Stumbling though passages without an understanding of the historical context would be quite frustrating. Encountering words like Bolsheviks, socialist, monarchy, and imperial, without knowing enough context to figure them out would put a damper on the captivating story of romance and mystery. I know my high school friend, Stephen, would finish the book in a day.  His knowledge of history is astounding and he amasses more and more knowledge each year with the books he reads.  

In Smithfield, our vision is to write curriculum documents that don’t simply sit on a shelf but instead are used to define the knowledge, understanding and skills to be learned from grade to grade and subject to subject to ensure a strong foundation and equity for all our students.  When they leave us as seniors their learning journey will not have ended but the foundation built during grades K and 12 will either help them to set about to acquire more knowledge or stunt their growth as learners. When they pick up a novel for pleasure that happens to be set during World War I, I hope they will fondly remember a lesson in history class and when they read an article in the newspaper about a desalinization plant that produces drinking water, I hope the knowledge they have tucked away from elementary science can help them make meaning from the article. I am interested in how well they do on state tests but I’m more interested in equity and quality of life they experience as adults. 

2019: The Year in Review in Smithfield

It’s that time of year when every news and sports show reflects on the year that’s coming to a close.  Best Movies of 2019; CNN Special Report – All the Best, All the Worst 2019; and SportsCenter – Top Plays of the Year; are just some of the shows being aired during the last week of 2019.   Using this same theme, I’m providing some reflections on 2019 in Smithfield. 

District Improvement – Smithfield schools continue to engage in district improvement efforts first initiated at the Future Search, which involved an array of stakeholders representing our community, parents, students, and staff.  Our action plan employs strategies that guide the work of every administrator, teacher, and staff member. A district improvement team meets three times each year to help us monitor our progress as we aim for achieving our promise — Every child will be prepared for continued learning, career, and life.  

During 2019, we made significant progress toward improving the instructional experience of our students by focusing the educator evaluation system on improving teaching and learning; aligning curriculum and assessments; implementing a system of interventions, support, and enrichment; and improving professional development offerings for teachers.  It will, admittedly, take some time before student performance data reflects the investments that have been made but our efforts this year have resulted in substantial progress. 

New math curriculum materials were reintroduced to the middle and schools, a system of assessments and interventions are catching students early who may be falling behind, and our written curriculum ensures that every Smithfield student has access to a viable and guaranteed instructional program. Each Smithfield school, as well, has a strong improvement process and each elementary school implements a plan-do-study-act (PDSA) improvement cycle grounded in research.

Now in our second year of a writing initiative, teachers have been trained in the Collins writing approach and their efforts are translating to improved student outcomes. Ranking RICAS writing item scores against other state public schools, 4 of the 7 grades tested ranked 1st-4th in the state. 

 Facilities – 2019 saw significant progress toward achieving the district’s vision for elementary reconfiguration. With funding approved by voters in November of 2018 and state reimbursements that are expected to exceed 50%, the district hired an Owners Project Manager (OPM) and architectural firm to develop detailed plans for renovations and additions to McCabe Elementary School, Old County Road School, and LaPerche Elementary School.  The project is on time and on budget to ensure that Winsor Elementary can be closed and decommissioned by the fall of 2021. 

Utilizing a COPS grant in excess of $400,000 from the US Department of Justice, an architect was engaged to redesign the entrances to Smithfield High School and Gallagher Middle School to improve security.  In December, a construction company began ordering materials so that construction can begin as soon as school lets out for the summer.

Throughout 2019, an athletics facilities capital committee met to assess conditions of all athletic facilities, begin the construction of new baseball dugouts and backstop fencing, and consider options for improving the high school track and field.  

In addition, outdated interior and exterior lighting was replaced with led lights at all schools, excluding Winsor.

Special Education  –  In 2019, 364 Smithfield students with identified disabilities had Individualized Education Programs (IEP), with 354 in in-district programs, 3 students in parent-placed private schools (at parents’ expense) and 7 in specialized schools outside of Smithfield. We now employ a school psychologist in every school and have increased our behavioral supports. These professionals provide direct services to students in addition to providing guidance to staff so that students can successfully access the curriculum and make progress within the least restrictive environment.

In addition to serving students with IEPs, Smithfield Schools ensures that children and youth experiencing homelessness are provided protections afforded by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act.  Unfortunately, 2019 saw an increase in the number of families experiencing homelessness. Our hope for 2020 is a healthy home and family for every Smithfield student. 

Smithfield High SchoolThere are currently 742 students enrolled at SHS and close to a third of these students are enrolled in a Career and Technical Education (CTE) program within the high school. Smithfield High School offers six certified CTE programs:

  • Finance Academy 
  • Engineering
  • Teacher Prep 
  • Computer Science
  • Information Technology – Cybersecurity 
  • Law & Public Safety 

The year 2019 saw positive results achieved through an Innovation & Equity Grant, which aimed to increase the number of female students in computer science.  At Smithfield High School, the number of students in the high school computer science CTE courses has gone from 65 to 82 students.  The percent of females in these courses went from 9% in 2018-2019 to 27% this year.

The percentage of students meeting or exceeding expectations on the RICAS assessment is above the state average in both English and mathematics. For our current seniors, 65.6% met or exceeded expectations on the ELA RICAS assessment, administered in the spring of 2019. For the corresponding math assessment, 48.7% met or exceeded expectations. In 2019, 138 AP exams were administered to SHS students; 66 of these AP exams (48%) were qualifying scores. 

SHS has secured an XQRI grant of approximately $25,000 to engage an architect to re-envision the library media space to enable future-focused instruction and career exploration.  A team of educators has been working with XQRI to develop plans for courses and practices that engage learners and ready them for their futures.  

Gallagher Middle SchoolIn 2019, Gallagher Middle School housed 594 students in grades 6-8. Our current instructional offerings include the four core courses of math, English, science and social studies. Our related arts program includes physical education, health, computer science, art, library science, and music/band/chorus.  Students in grades 7 and 8 may elect to learn Spanish or French. Reading and math skills classes are provided for those who need extra support in these areas.

Along with the high school, GMS was an Innovation & Equity Grant Winner. Through this grant, we are increasing the number of female students exposed to block coding, have redesigned the computer labs for functionality and appeal, and have purchased a new 3D printer, a computer-enabled embroidery machine, and Finch robots to expand the curriculum.

GMS is also a leader in science education in Rhode Island.  In addition to utilizing Jason curriculum materials and online resources, GMS teachers and students participate in research projects.  In 2019, Mrs. Carter and Lily Ford, our GMS Jason Argonauts, traveled to Nevada to study caterpillars. The GMS Science Olympiad team won the state science competition for the third year in a row.  

McCabe, LaPerche, Winsor, and Old County Road SchoolsCurrent 2019 K-5 enrollment is 997 students.  In addition to core academic subjects, students in the elementary grades take art, music, health, library, and physical education.

The teachers at all four schools continue to enhance the mathematics curriculum as well as to refine how we teach literacy in the early grades. In 2019 we piloted new reading instructional materials, which we hope to purchase for the 2020-2021 school year. Teachers in all grade levels apply Responsive Classroom techniques for an effective and safe classroom environment. 

Despite our best efforts to provide a quality instructional experience, some students struggle to meet the high expectations in math and reading. In response to these demands we have coordinated efforts to enhance our intervention programs.  Both schools continue with a Response to Intervention (RTI) approach, supported by Title I funding at OCRS, to identify student learning gaps and provide targeted and systematic remediation in those areas. The foundation of this approach is the use of data for monitoring student progress and making sound decisions about the focus of interventions.

McCabe Elementary School’s pre-kindergarten program continues to provide our youngest students with rich academic and social emotional opportunities through a nationally accredited program that has been recognized by BrightStars with a 4-star rating.  

Finances The financial health of 2019 was a far cry from 2018, due to a significant decrease in state aid. We are looking at another challenging year moving forward, since state aid is expected to decrease yet again.  Despite these challenges, we are retaining fairly consistent staffing and appropriate investments in professional development, technology, and curriculum materials continue through careful management of funds and increased efforts to secure additional income from competitive grants.

New Staff  – In addition to some changes in assignments and the engagement of some long-term subs, we welcomed many wonderful new teachers and staff in 2019.  At central office, we welcomed Melissa Battiston as the new data manager and Marshall Medeiros as the new accounts payable clerk. Two new custodians joined the team:  Donald L’Etoile at GMS and Gary Regneire at OCRS. McCabe welcomed two new early childhood teachers: Kaiya Day, in a one-year-only K position, Kaylie Filbert in kindergarten, and Lacey Harding and Kim Saccoia in pre-K.  

Matthew Kinslow is now serving as a speech language pathologist throughout the district.  Amanda Lemek is now a permanent special education teacher at OCRS while Julie Reddy is serving as a special educator at McCabe and Kayla Szylin is at GMS.  Casey Miller is a new art teacher at McCabe and LaPerche, Zachariah King teaches English at GMS, and Melanie Cotnoir teaches biology at SHS. Beginning in January, Nola Palombo will join the science department at SHS, teaching physics.  Robin Alves and Brianna Antonelli are new paraprofessionals at McCabe and SHS, respectively.  

Everything accomplished in 2019 came accompanied by unrivaled care for our students and community along with a good dose of humor.  Here’s hoping that 2020 brings academic and athletic success and continued humor and good will. 

Happy New Year!

Is it Common Core or is it Good Number Sense? 

Although the criticism of Common Core standards has died down in recent years, it’s still all too common for some to question math lessons or homework problems.  I hope that the information found in this blog entry will make the goals of math learning in Smithfield (and in Rhode Island and the rest of the country!) more clear.

While visiting elementary classrooms this past week, I observed 5th-grade students using base-10 blocks to determine the answer to a division problem as a precurser to learning the standard algorithm. In this activity, the students figure out how many 100-block squares, 10-block strips, and single squares can be distributed evenly.  For example, if you are dividing 768 by 8, how many 100-block squares, 10-block strips, and single squares would each of the 8 groups have? Someone with good number sense can easily tell you that you won’t have any 100-block squares in each of the 8 groupings. You’d need a total of 800 to have one of these squares in each group. The next step is to determine how many 10-block strips you’d need.  You could simply take some of these strips and pass them out to the 8 groups. You’d stop at 9 per group before running out of strips that could be distributed evenly. Some could figure this out even quicker, knowing that 9 x 8 = 72 and if each of the 9 are strips have 10 blocks, this would be 720. There’d be 48 blocks left to distribute so if you know your 8-table, you know that you’d need 6 single blocks per group.

Base-10 Manipulative

Using the standard algorithm, one actually applies exactly the same thinking, except that for many students, going through the algorithm is a robotic exercise with very little thought going into how the algorithm works.  For this reason, the algorithm is taught after exercises with manipulatives and conceptual learning. Parents, though, might question why we don’t simply go directly to the short cuts.  

As adults, there are times when we use standard math algorithms (short cuts) and times when we apply good math sense.  If you were adding ½ cup sugar to ¾ cup sugar, you’d know you’d have a cup and a quarter, not because you found the least common denominator, converted both numbers to equivalent fractions with the least common denominator, then converted to a mixed number and fraction, like this:   1/2     +     3/4     =     2/4   +    3/4    =    5/4    = 1  ¼ 

Instead, you would know because you would “deconstruct” (in your head) ¾ as being ½ + ¼ then you would recognize (grouping!) that ½  + ½ = 1, so the end result would be 1 and ¼. Of course we do want to teach our students the standard algorithm of finding the least common denominator, but we DON’T want them to only know that way! 

Second graders do not work with fractions but, instead, work with whole numbers and grouping 10’s.    For 9 + 4 …. We know that 9 + 1 = 10 and 4 is just made up of 3 + 1 so we’d have one ten and another 3 so the answer would be 13:  9 + 4 = 9 + 1 + 3 = 10 + 3. I know parents know this but if you are doing it automatically, realize that your child isn’t, so we’re working on teaching them that. 

Here’s another real life example:  When adding and subtracting money, we group by dollars (100 cents).  If I added 85 cents to 30 cents, I know in my head that another 15 cents would make the 85 cents a dollar and I also know that 30 cents is 15 cents plus 15 cents, so I’d group the 85 cents with one of the 15 cents to make a dollar, leaving 15 cents.  So, the answer would be a dollar and 15 cents. 

The way this second grade standard is written is: Fluently add and subtract within 20 using mental strategies (counting on, making ten (e.g. 8+6=8+2+4=10+4=14); decomposing a number leading to a ten (e.g., 13 – 4 = 13 – 3 – 1 = 10 – 1 =9); using the relationship between addition and subtraction (e.g., knowing that 8 + 4 = 12, one knows 12 – 8 = 4); and creating equivalent but easier or known sums (e.g., adding 6+7 by creating the known equivalent 6 + 6 + 1 = 12 + 1 = 13).

Now, you might say, “who in their right mind would subtract 4 from 13 using 3 steps like the example just provided?????”  Of course, one wouldn’t do this in practice, but as we teach these young students the strategy we want them to do it out the long way.  Once they learn it, it can be done in their head. Through this work, we are building mental math skills and making great mathematicians.

Changing the Engagement Culture in Your Classroom

From the time we begin school, we assimilate into the practices and routines of the classroom.  Raising your hand, asking for a pass to the bathroom, listening, lining up, and other regimens, collectively, are rarely observed in environments besides classrooms but are readily accepted as the norm in school life.  Many of these practices help institute an environment that is conducive to learning, yet one practice, raising hands, deserves a critical review.

Raising one’s hand signals to the teacher that you know the answer.  Calling on someone who probably knows the answer can help move the lesson along.  The practice, however, allows for 20 or more other students to remain disengaged. It also doesn’t provide enough information to the teacher to inform next steps.  Sure, Johnny may know the answer, but what about the other students in the class?

Teachers hoping to improve classroom engagement, formative assessment practices, and learning, can  discontinue hand-raising and choose from a variety of other options.  It isn’t easy, however.  Teachers, as well as students, have been assimilated into these classroom habits and habits are hard to break.  I’ll never forget piloting a new science kit in a kindergarten classroom and calling upon a student randomly to answer a question.  Even at the ripe age of 6, this young student knew that this wasn’t playing by the rules.  “You can’t do that; I didn’t raise my hand!” she informed me.  It took a few more lessons for her to accept this new practice.

If you are ready to increase engagement, increase learning, and inform your instructional decision-making, try some new methods to replace hand-raising, such as the following:

Individual White Boards – this method is fairly common but not used nearly enough.  When asking a question, such as, “what is 3 x 2,” don’t call on a student raising their hand.  Instead, have EVERY student write their answer on an individual white board and hold the board up.  You can then scan the room to see which students had it right and which were wrong and decide whether or not a re-teaching was in order.  If everyone has it right, move along!

Fair Squares or Popsicle Sticks – I hadn’t seen this method called “fair squares” until visiting Winsor one day! In either method, a child’s name is written on cardboard squares or on wooden sticks so that a student’s name can be pulled randomly to answer a question.  The key to this method is to ask the question first, wait, then pull the square or stick.  In this way, no one knows if their name will be chosen so they all work on the answer.  If you pull the name first, this gives the 20+ other students a break from thinking (and we wouldn’t want that!).

Group Check – In this method, each student works on the answer individually then check their answers with their peers in their assigned groups.  If everyone gets the answer or if those that didn’t get it right got an explanation from their group, there is no need for the teacher to go over the problem.  If there’s confusion or disagreement, that’s the time to spend more time.  (Another practice we need untraining from is going over problems if there’s no reason to go over the problems!).

Technology – there’s more programs that are introduced in every school year to poll the classroom for questions or views.  Below are a few available for free:

Poll Everywhere – This polling software allows one to easily set up polls and present them from a computer, Chromebook or smartphone. Participants text in their answers while results display in real-time for all to see.

Kahoot! is a game-based program that allows teaches to set up multiple-choice questions to present to students.  Responses can then be accessed via a web browser or the Kahoot app.

Socrative is another game-type program that can be used to assess student learning and improve engagement.

Instructional rounds is providing for great discussions among our administrators and is identifying the need for small tweeks in instructional approaches, including the need for more “total participation” techniques.  It is through continual, incremental improvements that we all get better and better at our craft.

Human Capital

Using funding from a Stephen Alfred Leadership Grant, four Smithfield administrators recently attended a DMGroup leadership development meeting in Boston. The goal of the meeting was for district teams to develop strategies for hiring, retaining, and developing the highest quality staff for their districts.  With approximately 80% of school operating costs committed to salaries and benefits, both in Smithfield and beyond, attending to the quality of this important resource is essential. Our team left with a to-do list, as well as a better understanding of good practices for human capital management. In this blog post I’ll share our learnings, as well as our next steps.  

As the presenters explained, human capital management has evolved over the decades, from linking teacher evaluation to student performance in the 2000’s to debates about performance pay in the 2010’s, to an erosion of the teacher evaluation movement and a shift to strategic human capital development in the current era. The growing need for a wider definition of success, warranted by a changing student demographic and new societal needs, requires a change in how we look at teacher effectiveness as well as how we create the conditions for teacher and student success.  

Both locally and nationally, a substantial investment in developing teachers is made, though research has shown that the effectiveness of teachers tends to plateau after three years. Time was provided for participants to chew on these disheartening statistics and to begin to develop a district strategy for continual improvements, along with identifying measures for success.  

In addition, a focus on recruitment and hiring provided more opportunities to critique current district practices and plan for future actions.  The most important concept to the hiring discussion was the idea that the best strategy is to retain the talented staff you have. Nationally, 1 out of every 6 teachers leave their current job each year and 44% of teachers quit teaching within the first five years.  In Smithfield, our statistics are much brighter, but our team identified the need to conduct exit interviews and to track the reasons why teachers either leave the district or move from school to school in order to address any emerging issues. We also asked ourselves, what steps are we taking to improve the working experience for teachers?

Even with the best retainment strategies, teachers eventually retire or new district needs are identified, resulting in the need for hiring new staff.  While the logistics for posting positions, carrying out interviews, and hiring and onboarding new staff are firmly established, the presenters provided information and prompting for discussions about how we attract new teachers to the district, partner with area colleges for fresh talent, and make our district as attractive as possible to the very best educators.  We discussed, How do we market ourselves to potential hires? What are our values and how do these values align to our process for hiring and induction?

The remaining time focused on developing leaders and succession planning.  In small districts like Smithfield, the challenge is anticipating leadership openings.  Developing leaders and having those individuals leave the district for leadership positions elsewhere can feel a bit self-destructive, though the need for leaders throughout the state is evident and we all have a responsibility for the greater good of our state and region.  Partnerships and regional organizations, such as the Northwest Consortium, a network of five districts, including Smithfield, may serve as a means for developing leaders across our region.  

The entire contents of the 2-day meeting could not possibly be related in a short blog post but it suffices to say that our team learned much and had time and opportunity to discuss how we can develop human capital strategies for ensuring that Smithfield has the best conditions for both teaching and learning.  Our next steps include the following:

  • Push out social media specifically about working in Smithfield. (Consider how Southwest connects their values to their identification of future employees.)
  • Improve landing page for SchoolSpring (our posting site) to better market our district.
  • Establish relationships with additional colleges/teacher preparation programs. (Worcester State, Bridgewater, J&W, RIC, URI, Eastern CT, Roger Williams)
  • Analyze data about why people are leaving us or changing schools.
  • Hire an HR director to help us improve our hiring process and collect data to inform practices relating to recruiting and hiring.
  • Start the onboarding experience as soon as staff are hired.
  • Include in the hiring process efforts to sell our district. What makes the Smithfield culture the Smithfield culture?  What are our values? What do we stand for? Can you (the potential employee) get on board with that?
  • Continue to work on School Committee policies – revise compensation policy for administration, expectations for hiring.
  • Finish hiring manual.
  • In collaboration with NWC, develop a leadership program for department chairs and informal teacher leaders, providing them valuable skills for their current roles and increasing the possibility that  some will get a spark for administrative positions.
  • Consider structures for other educator leadership positions.
  • Establish informal leadership positions, whenever possible. 
  • Define, identify, and reach out to high-potentials in our district.

Acknowledgements:  Information in this blog post was taken directly from the meeting content provided by the DMGroup in November of 2019.  For more information about the DMGroup, go to: https://www.dmgroupk12.com/

Leadership Beyond Compliance

More and more Tweets, professional articles, and trainings in education focus on leadership and are not confined to traditional educational leaders – principals, superintendents, and directors.  There is a call for leadership at all levels, in the teaching profession and among students, to contribute toward a better educational experience in schools. 

We celebrated leadership this past month in several ways.  Sixty high school students were inducted into the National Honor Society on October 9th.  In addition to demonstrating scholarship, inductees must exhibit service, character, and leadership.  North Providence Police Chief Col. David Tikoian was asked to speak at the induction ceremony due to his role as a leader in our state.  Through his service in the Rhode Island State Police and now, as the North Providence Police Chief, he works tirelessly to serve the community.

This same month, nearly 50 Gallagher Middle School and Smithfield High School students were trained by the Anti-Defamation League to serve as peer leaders in an effort to recognize bias, value diversity, and improve relationships and school culture.

Why focus on leadership?  It certainly can’t be any type of leadership that brings about greatness because we have plenty of governmental, educational, and business leaders and all do not realize excellence.  David Culberhouse, an educational leader and writer, posits, “the leaders who’ll have real impact will be those who move past compliance into creativity… beyond implementation into innovation.” (@DCulberhouse, Sep 24, 2015)

If we accept Culberhouse’s argument, we then need to ask what we are doing in Smithfield that moves us “past compliance into creativity” and “beyond implementation into innovation.”  The Rhode Island legislature and Department of Elementary and Secondary Education certainly keep us busy just keeping up with compliance and implementation. A tight budget provides another challenge.  Excuses are plentiful but cannot be used as a barrier to creativity and innovation. 

Administrators still need to complete their lesson observations, submit their budget, and ensure safety.  Teachers still need to teach to standards, assess student learning, and provide a positive classroom environment.  Students still need to engage in their learning, complete homework, and be respectful. All of this is hard work in itself.  Getting beyond the compliance to creativity and innovation will distinguish the leaders among us and will ensure that we provide students with more than mediocrity. 

Our district improvement efforts include a focus on expanding world language programming and on applying a Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle of continual improvement.  An initiative to improve school libraries doesn’t simply contemplate staffing and book collections but ponders the design of learning commons that include “maker spaces,” technology access, and project work space.  A focus on grant writing across the district doesn’t just set out to bring in additional resources but also aims to spur innovation and creativity.

As we continue to do our work as educational leaders, teacher leaders, student leaders, and community leaders, let’s challenge ourselves to stretch beyond compliance to true innovation.  2,405 students are counting on us.

Why Teach Summarizing?

An earlier blog post focused on the importance of writing (Paolucci, 2018). Academic research and educational journals on the topic confirm our regard for this skill.  Writing has been shown to “promote thinking and learning across the curriculum” (Hill, 1991) and be “critical to student success in postsecondary education” (USDOE, 2011).  Knowing its importance, Smithfield schools have engaged in a multi-year partnership with Collins Writing to improve the frequency and quality of student writing across all grades and subjects.  

To be clear, summarizing has long been known to be an important tool for both comprehension of subject-matter and for improving overall reading and writing skills. In fact, as a chemistry teacher in the 90’s, my own professional development had focused on reading and writing in the content areas and had included summarizing as a tool for use in content-area classrooms.  A Google search on summarizing results in a number of articles written in the 1990’s, including the Hill article, cited above. While I’ve thrown away dozens of college textbooks, the one that still sits on my shelf and continues to have value is Manzo and Manzo’s text, Content Area Reading:  A Heuristic Approach (1990).  

Collins Writing provides a consistent approach to the teaching of writing to enable teachers to use common vocabulary about writing and ensure that students have multiple, consistent experiences practicing writing.  After a short training held before the start of the school year, middle and high school teachers embarked on applying what Collins Writing refers to as “10 percent summaries,” since their goal is to be about 10 percent of the length of the original text (Collins, 2017).    

Ten percent summaries are designed for nonfiction text that is 700-3,000 words in length and should connect with the learning goals for the course or class. The structure provided by Collins Writing includes a beginning sentence that comprises the source of the text, the title, authors, and the topic, preceded by a verb that describes the author’s purpose. Main ideas then follow in the order presented in the text, omitting the writer’s opinion.  

Not everyone has a strong love for writing but all want their students to learn whatever content is being taught and want students to be college and career ready.  Using 10 percent summaries enables a deeper understanding of course content if the content of the article or text is connected to the course objectives. Moreover, such skill development can improve PSAT and SAT scores and make more students college and career ready.

Collins, J. (2017).  Summary writing as a critical school improvement strategy. Unpublished manuscript.

Hill, M. (1991). Writing Summaries Promotes Thinking and Learning across the Curriculum: But Why Are They so Difficult to Write? Journal of Reading, 34(7), 536-539. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40014578

Manzo, A. & Manzo, U. (1990).  Content area reading: A Heuristic approach.  Columbus, OH: Merrill Publishing Company.

Paolucci, J. (2018, November 11).  Re: Writing – A key to academic success [Web log message].  Retrieved from http://judypaolucci.edublogs.org/2018/11/23/writing-a-key-to-academic-success/

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education. (2011). Just Write! Guide. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from https://lincs.ed.gov/state-resources/federal-initiatives/ teal/guide/teachsumm

Don’t Stop Talking!

This year, we will be conducting Instructional Rounds in each of our schools.  During Instructional Rounds, teams of 2-4 district and school administrators will visit classrooms, focusing on the level of engagement occurring in these classrooms.  

Instructional Rounds consists of visiting classrooms in a school, analyzing observational data, and participating in focused conversations on what was observed.  The purpose of Instructional Rounds is to provide the school community with a focus for continual improvements and to provide positive feedback about the work of teachers to apply good instructional practices.  It also provides a means for the participants to hone their skills with observing instruction. The process is similar, in many ways, to structures put in place at Pixar Animation (the studio that produced Toy Story and other hits).  Ed Catmull, President of Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, posits, “Companies, like individuals, do not become exceptional by believing they are exceptional but by understanding the ways in which they aren’t exceptional” (2014, Creativity, Inc.)

A previous blog entry focused on a vision for student engagement, moving away from simply being “on task” to deep, intellectual engagement in learning. One of the sub-dimensions of student engagement, “student talk,” is worthy of a closer look.

When I started teaching in 1990, if my classroom was observed at all, the principal looked for silent students and an organized teacher lecture.  Today, we know that passive students may be less of a challenge but may not always achieve deep learning. Successfully applying instructional strategies to improve the quality of talk in classrooms, especially student-to-student talk, will be problematic because each of us –  students, parents, and teachers alike, have been encultured into what we believe schools should be like (quiet and orderly), teachers should be like (talkers), and students should be like (listeners). I’ve seen teachers encourage students to respond to each other’s ideas, but students are so used to providing responses to the teacher that, despite best efforts, they can’t seem to shake having the teacher serve as a conduit of the conversation.  

No one expects model student talk in every classroom at all times, but data from Learning Walks can help us monitor our efforts to engage students over time.  Observing classrooms where student talk is especially good is important and Learning Walks provide that, as do videos from the Teaching Channel, such as:

 https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/students-learn-from-mistakes-ccssmdc

and

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/proportional-relationships-issues-ccssmdc

Our hope for our improvement efforts, including the evaluation process, Instructional Rounds, and other professional development experiences, is not to concentrate on finding fault or looking for problems, but instead to target efforts so that the hard work of teachers and students in Smithfield can result in the deepest student learning.  Like Pixar, we want to be where everyone else in our field aims to be.