• No system or protocols: Lastly, chaos and disorganization are apparent when no time has been spent considering what practices, procedures, or systems are needed at the school. As shown in our concert examples that begin this chapter, your school can have the same outcomes as others but without attention to systems or protocols (traffic patterns, crowd control, supervision, clear expectations, communication, support and visibility, and so on), it is difficult to create organization. Leaders who take the time to be aware and respond to the needs in the school with systems and protocols provide greater opportunities for both students and staff to have a safe and orderly environment in which to learn and work.
Reflection
In what areas or during what times of day do you feel things are more chaotic than you would like in your school? Do you have data or observations that could provide evidence to consider? Do any of the root causes in the previous list apply to your current reality?
Use figure 2.1 to reflect and consider next steps to address these issues. Figure 2.2 shows an example of a filled-in template.
FIGURE 2.1: Template for a reflection on current reality for organization.
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks for a free reproducible version of this figure.
FIGURE 2.2: Example of a reflection on current reality for organization.
Practices That Focus on School Safety
As we wrote this section on systems and protocols, we were devastated to learn along with the rest of the world about the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. During production of this book, news broke of additional school shootings: Great Mills High School in Maryland, Highland High School in California, Santa Fe High School in Texas, and Noblesville West Middle School in Indiana. We want to acknowledge here that there is great need to be aware of and pay attention to school protocols and systems that impact student safety. As a school leader, you are responsible to do all that you can do to ensure safety, and this must be one of your top priorities. This means understanding the need to secure your building by locking doors and having a single entrance, for example, and practicing protocols with students and staff for fire, bombs, hurricanes, tornados, intruders, and so on. As the leader, you also must create every opportunity for your school community to understand the importance of being aware of situations that cause alarm, and communicate and address these situations. Although this section does not directly address specific safety protocols (such as for fire, bombs, natural disasters, and so on), we provide recommendations and protocols from the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP, 2014) regarding making schools safe places to learn. We also understand that most districts have developed comprehensive guidelines and policies, that you, as the school leader, are expected to follow. Our intention is not to replace what you and your district have implemented. Rather, we suggest that you reflect on your established practices to continue to monitor them for effectiveness. We believe it is critical for leaders to provide organizational safety structures and systems.
Reflection
Is it time to review your school safety practices? Are your staff, students, and parents fully aware of the expectations? Is there room for improvement? What should your next steps be?
We recommend the following NASSP (2014) actions for school and district leaders related to school safety.
• School leaders must develop proactive systems to address school safety that include all stakeholders. This includes creating a personalized, safe, orderly, and inviting school environment predicated on nurturing relationships and shared responsibility.
• School and district leaders should develop responsive systems to support school safety in partnership with all stakeholders. This includes a uniform code of conduct that contains clear policies regarding bullying and harassment and meets all federal, state, and board requirements pertaining to investigations, recording, and reporting.
• Localities, school districts, and individual schools should use the uniform definition of bullying established by the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control and the U.S. Department of Education to ensure consistency in measuring and addressing the causes and the impact of bullying and bullying prevention efforts (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018).
• School and district leaders should maintain ongoing staff development regarding school safety, bullying, and related mental health issues.
• School districts should use emergency preparedness plans that follow the National Incident Management System for schools developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2011).
• School leaders should complete the Introduction to the Incident Command System for Schools (IS-100.SCa for Schools) course, which was designed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Education and is available through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Management Institute.
• School leaders should regularly administer a schoolwide climate survey of students, parents, and school personnel. The climate survey should measure the degree to which collaborative leadership exists; the personalization of the school environment; and the strength of the school’s curriculum, instruction, and assessment—factors NASSP believes lead to a supportive learning environment and increased student achievement. The Illinois 5Essentials Survey (Urban Education Institute, n.d.; https://illinois.5-essentials.org/2017) is a climate and culture survey currently being used in Illinois for this purpose.
• School and district leaders should establish curricula for grades K–12 that address violence prevention and bullying, including electronic aggression.
• School and district leaders should collaborate with parents, law enforcement agencies, public and private social service agencies, and other agencies to develop programs and services to foster caring schools and communities.
• School districts should ensure that school resource officers receive specialized training that mirrors the proactive and responsive systems previously described to ensure a safe, orderly, and inviting school environment.
• School and district leaders should partner with all stakeholders, including the news media, to ensure transparency and the responsible dissemination of information regarding school safety.
Clear protocols and procedures are critical in ensuring an orderly, safe environment so learning can be the focus in schools. In addition to the suggestions from NASSP (2014), school leaders should work to create a positive, nurturing climate that fosters a sense of trust, respect, and belonging, as this is critical for students to feel comfortable and safe in school.
Practices That Focus on Trust, Respect, and Belonging
One simple way to foster a sense of trust, respect, and belonging is to connect with students and staff daily. Get to know your colleagues and students as individuals. Spend time talking with them about their lives outside school. Greet them daily and make them feel welcome. Ask teachers to do the same as students enter each classroom. Research indicates significant connections between learning, mental health, and well-being for students (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2009). This research makes the connection between students’ sense of belonging at school, academic achievement, and overall well-being.
In the eJournal of the International Child and Youth Care Network, Mary Beth Hewitt (2007), makes the following statement:
One of the factors that I have found very important in determining how much students care about their behavior is how valued they feel by the people around them. If they feel unimportant and are treated like “a number” instead of a special individual, then why should they care what other people think? Think about your own reactions to being “anonymous.” When you are with people whom you care about, whose opinion you respect, then you contain your impulses because you care how you treat them and what they think. You are interested in preserving those relationships. When you are with strangers you believe you will never see again, you may give in
to your impulses, thinking, “Who cares, these people don’t know me or care about me, and I won’t see them again.”
Hewitt (2007) asked students how they knew that they belonged to a group, school, or another group outside of school. The student responses (in the left column of figure 2.3) provide simple ways for educators to foster trust, respect, and belonging in schools. As a leader, ask staff to assess themselves using figure 2.3 and communicate the importance of knowing and respecting students. Have team members compare their results and create a team action plan. For example, the team might decide that they will stand at the classroom doorway and welcome students individually and by name each day. We worked with one sixth-grade teacher who welcomed every student to her classroom every day with a warm greeting and handshake. As an added benefit, she taught them how to give a proper handshake. As we watched this take place one morning, we were struck by the effect this simple gesture had on students. Students were smiling, and many stopped to recount a story with the teacher as they entered the classroom.
Source: Hewitt, 2007.
FIGURE 2.3: How do you know when you belong? self-assessment.
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks for a free reproducible version of this figure.
Systems, protocols, and practices that foster a sense of community are important and can help create an environment where students feel respected, connected, and safe; however, leaders must be sure not to send mixed messages as they create and implement rules and expectations.
Avoiding Mixed Messages
A mixed message is communication that is unclear or contradictory. For example, a leader sends mixed messages with a list of rules that are not enforced or inconsistently enforced. Rules written for the sake of having rules that provide “control” versus those that build a culture of community in the building are another example, as are rules that seem to change with the wind; a situation happens and immediately there is a new rule no one really knows about or understands. If you are unsure how this is playing out in your school, just ask your students. They always know when rules make sense, when teachers and administrators are on the same page, or what they can get away with in the building. For example, students always know which rules they can ignore because of inconsistent application by the adults in the building. They know which areas of the school have less supervision, and they definitely know which teachers will allow more “flexibility” with school expectations.
One of the most typical situations we see in relation to mixed messages is when teachers are inconsistent in applying expectations. There should be clear, non-negotiable schoolwide tights all teachers are expected to apply. For example, students should know the expectations regarding hallway and classroom behavior, and staff should ensure they uphold the expectations. Otherwise, the tight is not really tight. When some staff uphold the expectations and others do not, there are mixed messages to students who then have to adjust their behavior depending on what hallway or classroom they are in. When we talk to students, they quickly can describe the various messages that they hear and see every day. As we said in the previous paragraph, they know when, where, and how adults are either applying consistent expectations or where inconsistencies exist. They also can become confused by these mixed messages. As one student explained to Karen during a visit, “When the teachers and administrators do not agree on what the students should be doing, it feels very confusing to be in this school. I like it better when there is consistency. It makes studying and learning easier” (Jeremy, personal communication, December 2017).
As the school leader, it is important for you to establish your expectations for staff members and work with them to build common understanding of what is important and why it is important. It is critical for you to be aware of discrepancies in understanding and that you are prepared to address these with teachers. This is an area of discomfort for many leaders and it does take a courageous conversation (a firm but fair, honest, respectful, difficult, and necessary conversation) to address; however, to authentically create a safe and orderly learning environment, all staff must be consistent with what are considered tight or non-negotiable expectations. We understand that it is often difficult for you, as a leader, to confront staff who are not staying true to your “tights” or perhaps don’t understand the expectations. It is important for you to help them understand why consistency is important. This is why we call it a courageous conversation. For many of us, it does take courage to have this discussion with others.
At one large urban high school we worked with, a close look at data led district and school administrators to be concerned about attendance as a factor in overall student achievement. A deeper dive into the data produced more evidence; being tardy for class was an even more significant issue than just attendance: seventy students were tardy for one or more classes each day. The administrators and leadership team developed a hands-on tardy policy. A staff meeting was called to explain the policy and both student and teacher expectations. The following day, the principal held a meeting with students by grade level and explained that the new tardy policy would be in effect beginning the following morning. Communication also went out to parents. For one month, the staff stayed very consistent with the following practices: Before class in the morning and during each transition time, the administrators committed to being in the hot spots of the school—locations where they knew students were most likely to hang out and take their time getting to class. So instead of just enforcing a rule, they also were in the hallways to remind students and send them on their way to class. Teachers were also expected to be in their doorways to welcome the students. With a combination of a hands-on approach, a policy of action, and the collection of tardy data, this high school reduced its tardy rate from an average of seventy students tardy for one or more classes each day to an average of thirty-four students tardy in one entire month (S. Pierson, personal communication, March 2017).
Unfortunately, the improvement in the number of tardies did not last. Some administrators and staff continued to be tight about classroom tardiness, and others did not. Students soon determined where and when they could go to class late (or not at all). The established consistency of practice had faltered, and school leaders did not regain the focus with consistent communication. Without staff commitment and follow-through, plus high expectations and accountability from leadership, even the best-intentioned practices can cause unintended chaos and confusion.
Consider how you might be creating mixed messages.
Reflection
What clues will help you know when you are not being clear? Can you determine the actions that provide alignment? Whom might you talk to to ensure messages are clear and aligned?
Use figure 2.4 to clarify your thinking. (Figure 2.5 shows a completed example of the template.)
FIGURE 2.4: Template for clarifying mixed messages.
Visit go.SolutionTree.com/PLCbooks for a free reproducible version of this figure.
FIGURE 2.5: Example of clarifying mixed messages.
Considering Organizational Versus Instructional Focus
Providing structures, systems, and organizational expectations in a school is necessary. This work does not, however, replace a focus on instruction. It isn’t uncommon for school leaders to believe they have things under control once they have tackled overall school organization. They know there are great systems and protocols in place, and they believe that all teachers are being consistent in their classrooms. Sometimes school leaders make the assumption that the rest—effective classroom instructional practices—will take care of itself. Please understand that we are not advocating for you, as a school leader, to only focus on organizational improvements. You will also need a system for instructional improvement that includes clarifying expectations, a professional development plan, coaching, and support. We strongly recommend that your system for instructional improvement include a coaching model. We know that many of you may have instructional coaches on site who work with teachers, both indi
vidually and as groups, providing professional learning, modeling, and classroom support. Their expertise should be part of your overall instructional plan for improvement. We also ask you to consider instructional coaching for your collaborative teams.
As Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Thomas Many (2016) note, “Teacher collaboration in strong professional learning communities improves the quality and equity of student learning, promotes discussions that are grounded in evidence and analysis rather than opinion, and fosters collective responsibility for student success” (as cited in McLaughlin & Talbert, 2006, p. 154). In Amplify Your Impact: Coaching Collaborative Teams in PLCs at Work, authors Thomas W. Many, Michael J. Maffoni, Susan K. Sparks, and Tesha Ferriby Thomas (2018) remind us that when teachers collaborate within a PLC:
They improve their practice in two important ways: (1) they share specific instructional strategies for teaching more effectively, and (2) they deepen their content knowledge by identifying the specific standards students must master. In other words, when teachers work together they become better teachers. (p. 13)
The authors share a strategy implementation guide that coaches can use as a tool for guiding the development of PLCs. Whether you use this tool or some other guide (rubrics, continuums, and so on), you should have a systematic plan that will ensure collaboration and consistency to improve instructional practices. This has to be part of your overall goal to improve the organizational structures and practices at your school. We intentionally connect the idea of school organizational structures and instruction here because school leaders often focus on them as separate issues when, in reality, they are deeply connected. As we discuss in the previous chapter, creating a plan, strategies, protocols, and effective practices that include the continuous improvement of collaboration and instruction is highly recommended as leaders think about improving the organization of their schools. An instructional coaching plan for collaborative teams using the PLC process is definitely one way to provide leadership and guidance. We provide more information regarding instructional leadership practices in chapter 6 (page 117).
Leading With Intention Page 6
