Rethinking Leadership Behaviors - NAESP

Rethinking Leadership Behaviors

A Research Based Approach to Improve Student Outcomes

P R E S E N T E R S

International consultant, former teacher, principal,

superintendent, professor, NJ

MICHAEL CHIRICHELLO

Principal on Special Assignment for the Lake

Washington School District in Redmond, WA

JEFF DeGALLIER

Principal at Kelso Virtual Academy (K-12) in Kelso,

WA

CINDY CROMWELL

Principal at East Vincent Elementary School, Owen J.

Roberts School District in Spring City, PA

CHRISTINE SEELEY

ObjectivesParticipants will…

Learn how the principal’s role is transformed from instructional leader to educational leader;

Discover three essential skills that principals need to achieve success according to the latest Wallace research; and

Discuss four interrelated leadership behaviors that can improve your leadership skills and student learning.

Join our panel of principals in designing actionable outcomes that will enable you to have a greater impact on student achievement using leadership behaviors outlined in the Wallace Foundation’s new research on How Principals Affect Students and Schools. During this engaging experience, panelists will share key take-aways for focusing on people, instruction, and the organization that can impact student learning outcomes and enable your staff to achieve more.

Which best describes your current role?

• Aspiring Principal

• New to three years in the principalship

• Four or more years of experience in the principalship

• Other role

Poll

Which of these 3 broad categories of skills would you consider to be your strength?

• Supporting instruction

• Managing and developing people

• Organizational management

Poll

Actionable Outcomes

How Principals Affect Students and Schools:A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research

This groundbreaking synthesis of research on school principals finds that effective principals have positive impacts on student achievement and attendance, as well as teacher satisfaction and retention.

www.wallacefoundation.org

Changing beliefs that form our perceptions is complicated!

Perceptions

“…in the current climate, it is easy to go overboard on instructional leadership… principals are being led down a narrow path of instructional leadership that will ultimately prove futile… 75 percent of principals find that the job has become too complex…we have taken instructional leadership too literally…”

Education Leaders

Key Findings

• Studies using new data and methods show that the importance of principals may not have been stated strongly enough in earlier work, given the magnitude and scope of principals’ impacts on students and schools.

• Evidence links four domains of principal behaviors to positive outcomes for students and schools—and they include but go beyond engagement with instruction.

• The principalship needs continued reorientation toward educational equity.

• Given the strength and scope of the impact of an effective principal, investing in successful strategies is likely to have a very large payoff.

• We need renewed attention to supporting a high-quality principal workforce.

• Foremost, our results on the importance of principals’ effects suggest the need for renewed attention to strategies for cultivating, selecting, preparing, and supporting a high-quality principal workforce.

www.wallacefoundation.org

Effective principals carry out four key behaviors, according to a major synthesis of research on school leadership… It is essential, too, that these practices be conducted through an equity lens.

Research

The updated synthesis draws on 219 high-quality research studies about school leadership published in the 20 years since 2000.

Among the studies are six, all published since 2012, that examine principal impact by taking advantage of school and principal longitudinal data unavailable 20 years ago.

It was through their analysis of these studies that the authors reached their conclusions about principal effects on student achievement.

Breakout Rooms- 12 Minutes

• First Round

• Rooms 1, 2, 3

• Second Round

• 1 to 2; 2 to 3; 3 to 1

• Third Round

• 2 to 3; 3 to 1; 1 to 2

Breakout Rooms

Principal SkillPeople

• CHRISTINE SEELEY

Principal Skill: People

Equity Lens

Engaging in instructionally

focused interactions

with teachers

Building a productive

climate

Facilitating collaboration and

professional learning

communities

Managing personnel and

resources strategically

Principal Skill: PeopleL e a d e r s h i p B e h a v i o r :

E n g a g i n g i n I n s t r u c t i o n a l l y F o c u s e d I n t e r a c t i o n s w i t h Te a c h e r s

CaringCommunication

Building Trust

• Offer proactive support to new teachers

• Student support

• Send weekly emails with info and recognitions

• Challenging conversations

• Effective communication with families or caregivers to increase involvement

• Empower teachers

• Build autonomy

• Be highly visible

New to the Building Teachers

ACTIVE LINK

Student Support

Conversations about

Competency

Clear expectations

Needs Assessment

Certifications

Specialized Training

Professional Development

Principal Skill: PeopleL e a d e r s h i p B e h a v i o r :

B u i l d i n g a P r o d u c t i v e C l i m a t e

CaringCommunication

Building Trust

• Create and maintain safe, nurturing environments

• Send weekly emails with info and recognitions

• Challenging conversations

• Effective communication with families or caregivers to increase involvement

• Empower teachers

• Build autonomy

• Be highly visible

Create and Maintain Safe,

Nurturing Environment

Social Emotional Learning

Clear Expectations

Professional Development

Staff Wellness

Consistent Communication

ACTIVE LINKACTIVE LINK

Principal Skill: People

L e a d e r s h i p B e h a v i o r :

F a c i l i t a t i n g c o l l a b o r a t i o n a n d p r o f e s s i o n a l l e a r n i n g c o m m u n i t i es

CaringCommunication

Building Trust

• Collective responsibility

• Send weekly emails with info and recognitions

• Empower teachers

• Build autonomy

• Be highly visible

Collective Responsibility

Building Leadership

Team (BLT)

Principal’s Advisory

Committee (PAC)

Kids for Change (KFC)

ACTIVE LINK

ACTIVE LINK ACTIVE LINK

Principal Skill: PeopleL e a d e r s h i p B e h a v i o r :

M a n a g i n g p e r s o n n e l a n d r e s o u r c e s s t r a t e g i c a l l y

CaringCommunication

Building Trust

• Commit to the success of all staff

• Send weekly emails with info and recognitions

• Challenging conversations

• Empower teachers

• Build autonomy

• Be highly visible

Success of All Staff

Common Language

Clear Expectations

Acknowledge Risk-Taking

and PD

“Open Door Policy”

Consistent Communication

ACTIVE LINKACTIVE LINKACTIVE LINK

Principal SkillInstruction

• JEFF DeGALLIER

Principal Skill: Instruction

Leadership Behavior: Engage in Instructionally

Focused Interactions with Teachers

Observation and Evaluation

Feedback and CoachingData Driven

Instructional Program

Principal Skill: InstructionL e a d e r s h i p B e h a v i o r : E n g a g e i n I n s t r u c t i o n a l l y F o c u s e d

I n t e r a c t i o n s w i t h Te a c h e r s

UDL RTI CLD/ELL

R T I

C L D/ E L L

Principal Skill:InstructionLeadership Behavior : Fac i l i tat ing Col laborat ion and Profess ional Learning Communit ies

BLT Self-Assessment

Principal Skill: InstructionW h e n re f l e c t i n g o n yo u r s k i l l s t o s u p po r t t e a c her ’s c l a s s room i n s t r u c t i o n , w h at l e a d e rs h i p b e h av i o r m i g ht t h e u s e o f r u b r i c s a n d c h e c k l i s t s h e l p i n fo r m yo u r p ra c t i c e s a n d re s u l t i n i m p rove d o u tco me s fo r s t u d e nt s ?

Principal SkillOrganization

• CINDY CROMWELL

Organization

•A general class of management skills that transcend schools. That is they would be relevant to leading other kinds of organizations.

Needs Assessment

• School Team

• Parents and Community Members

• Students

Key Questions Your School Team

• What is one thing we can do in the next 6 months to improve student learning?

• What is one thing you need from me to support your work in preparation for next school year?

• Three things you want me to know about you? (passion, motivation, strengths)

• 2 things not to touch or change in 2021-2022

• 1 thing to address (Look for low hanging fruit)

• An Activity: Quick sentence starter: How might we…. (at staff meeting)

Key QuestionsParents and Community

• What is going well at our school?

• What do you like most about our school?

• What are some areas we can improve in our school?

• What is something that you really want me to know?

Key QuestionsStudents

• What does a typical school day look like?

• What can we improve upon?

• What do you love about our school?

• What is something you really want me to know about our school?

What do you see?

What are celebrations you see in the data?

What do you find interesting?

Where do we go from here?

Power of Data

“Teachers feel empowered by having access to timely data on their students, something principals can influence as they create the circumstances for teachers to engage in data-driven instruction.”

-Brown 2015; Koyama 2014

• Share findings with the staff and community when applicable.

• Use the information to develop a plan and to determine the next steps. This will guide your future work and decision making.

• An Activity: Think big—“What is your headline”. What will be our headline after the first term into the new school year? What will be your headline at the end of this school year?

• What professional development opportunities can you plan and schedule for your staff for the upcoming year? What staff coaching opportunities does the data encourage? How can you utilize classroom supports and create staff schedules based on the findings?

Put It Together

Time Block

• Big things first

• Look at the school cycle

• Plan ahead for appreciation

• Block schedule

Email

• Use code responses

• 5-7 sentences is to much

• Avoid distractitis

Cindy’s Favorite Tools

• CANVA

• SMORE

• Index Cards

Self Care is a Must

• Start each morning with a positive

• End on a positive

• Track the good stuff

Time Management“The key is not to prioritize what is on your schedule but to schedule your priorities.”

-Stephen Covey

Staff Time“Beyond managing your own time, principals can harness the school’s schedule to pursue goals. To facilitate teacher collaboration principals can schedule common planning or protect teacher time for team meetings. “

-The Wallace Report

• Elementary schools in which grade level teams were allotted common planning time saw higher achievement growth, particularly in reading. -Wallace

• Having math in the first two periods of the day instead of the last increases math GPAs of students.

• Danish students had a 20-30 minute break to eat, play and chat before a test their scores did not decline but increased.

• Meetings: certificated, classified and combo leadership meetings are critical to the work. Review the agenda and make sure a meeting is required rather than an email.

HiringDo Not Settle-EVER

.

Actionable Outcomes

Presenters’ Emails

• Michael Chirichello Michael@Leadershipmatters.us

• Cindy Cromwell cindy.cromwell@kelsosd.org

• Jeff DeGallier JDEGALLIER@lwsd.org

• Christine Seeley cseeley@ojrsd.net