Many of our discussions have included multiple and consistent references to courageous leadership. Whether examining data to improve teaching and learning, evaluating faculty and staff, or leading for change, the principal is singularly in the cross-hairs when it comes to making numerous building decisions which inevitably will cause dissatisfaction among one or more stakeholder groups. Matthews and Crow discuss this frequently, and Shields' articles both make this point clearly.
Describe an example of courageous, socially just leadership with which you are familiar, and consider how this could serve as a model for you in preparing to lead change as a building-level leader.
Describe an example of courageous, socially just leadership with which you are familiar, and consider how this could serve as a model for you in preparing to lead change as a building-level leader.
The first example that comes to mind is from a leader I worked with for only a year. A few years ago, we had a first-year principal come in to the junior high. We have consistently done well on state tests, but he kept reinforcing the idea that the standards were rising and that we needed to focus more on the struggling students. Sounds like something we have all heard before, right?
ReplyDeleteWell, he actually made a change to the master schedule that was not liked by many. Between the last two hours of the day would be a roughly thirty minute block of time that would focus on interventions that some students desperately needed. You see, at the junior high, we all have a common prep (7th hour). However, this is also the time when students are in study hall, and so our preps are often forfeited to help students with questions on homework. This is always a debate as other teachers in the district have 90 minutes of un-interrupted prep a day.
Back to the interventions . . . During this block, students would be placed in a reading or math intervention based on both test scores and teacher input. Students who were already excelling would be placed in an enrichment (debate, science seekers, drama, etc). For most, the issue was because this was "another class to prep for."
While the idea was initially not well received, the principal pushed for teachers to come up with enrichment ideas as well as intervention ideas.
Fast forward a few years and while the principal that started it is now gone, the program is still in place. Some teachers have changed the enrichments they teach, but the interventions are still in place and the students that are in them have seen increased test scores. Do some teachers still complain about it? Of course.
Sounds very familiar to our situation at the middle school level! We have a perfect 47 minute block of time that could be used for interventions, however because this time is not supposed to be a planned hour of time for the teachers it has become a study hall. It is so frustrating that when some administrators try to create blocks of time for the benefit of students contract language and other teachers views can bring these "good" processes to a halt!!
DeleteA particular middle school administrator comes to mind as a just and courageous leader! This principal has taken his building to a new level with overall student success and positive staff climate changes. He isn’t afraid to suggest new ideas and get right in the middle of implementing them within his buildings, especially when the new ideas are not viewed as “easy” changes within his building.
ReplyDeleteOne specific instance I can recall was this past school year when he stated that all literature teachers would be teaching through the workshop model they were trained on the previous school year. Many staff members were not happy with this implementation and felt they had no models to construct their teaching off of. As the principal, he dubbed himself as a “substitute” teacher and went into these teachers’ classrooms to teach their lessons for them so they could go out into other classrooms to observe the reading workshop model. This instructional leadership role allowed his staff the insight into his unfailing commitment to achieving greatness for all students.
I think it is crucial that the building administrator is in the forefront of all new initiatives and changes occurring in his/her building. With the administrator at the front the teachers have nowhere to go but to follow and when they begin to lag behind he/she can swing to the back of the pack and push them forward with whatever encouragement or courageous conversation they may need to trudge ahead for what is seen as the best interest of all students.
I commend that principal for going into the classrooms and did work with an administator that did this as well. I think that really builds a great climate.
DeleteAs I ponder through examples of courageous or socially just leadership I have two examples that come to mind. The interesting part is that both of these examples tied to the case study I reviewed for class in regard to inclusion.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started teaching I had a principal and assistant principal who believed that every student should be out in general education classes regardless of their disability. In itself that is not an earth shattering revelation. The important piece to this was it was 1985 where this was not common practice. Most of the teachers accepted this practice but as new teachers came to the building it was questioned whether it should be that way. Many had the belief that students should "earn their way out." I was impressed that the principal held his ground through gentle guidance as to why the building fostered that practice.
Years passed and we got a new principal who had the same philosophy. Several years went by and he moved to a building that had an ED program but inclusion of any form was not promoted. This individual over the course of several years held firm to his belief of opportunities for all and really made an impact on the staff, students and families. This building currently houses both the ED and ID programs at the elementary level and has provided wonderful opportunities for all students.
The leadership and guidance that both of these administrators displayed had taken both vision and courage. I think it is an easier transition to into a building where everyone knows there are issues and make changes. I think it is difficult to go into a building where things are working well and start something new or different.
As a future leader and potential change agent I hope that I am able to look at both the big picture of the school and the individual student as I plan for a building. My goal would be to bring change about in a subtle but substantial manner that it is noticed and makes an observable impact. I also want to be able to model the beliefs and initiatives that I bring to a building or program through competency, trust and communication.
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ReplyDeleteThe best example I can think of involves a Junior High math department chair. When she was unpacking some new textbooks she discovered that a few boxes of books were delivered to her by mistake. It turns out that the boxes of books were filled with Saxon Math workbooks. These workbooks were filled with skills based worksheets for the second grade. After a little investigation, she learned that these workbooks were destined for the 8th grade self-contained classrooms.
ReplyDeleteWhen she attempted to learn the purpose of the books she had a number of individuals tell her that they were meeting the students where they were and the were only used to address skill deficits. She was not convinced so she continued to ask questions and started visiting classrooms.
Eventually she decided to talk about the issue at a department meeting. In that meeting, the consensus of the teacher was that many of the students were going to end up in jail or working minimum wage jobs. Despite pressure from teachers, administration, and even board members, she continued to fight for those students access to an appropriate curriculum and even offered to help teachers with the use of manipulatives to make the content more accessible to students.
Obviously, she could have ignored the problem from the beginning or give up after receiving so much external pressure. Instead, she advocated for the students who did not have knowledgeable advocates.
I think this serves as an example because there may be a fight that is worth risking a job for!
One example that comes to mind in this case is an initiative that our new director of instruction has infused into each of the schools in our district as he works to ensure that we can use data to show that all students are learning.
ReplyDeleteOver the past year and a half we have been using almost every professional development day to work on developing end of course assessments. Since I work in multiple buildings, it has been interesting to see the variations of reactions to this new initiative. There has been a lot of resistance to the tests because they take time to create and to give.
One administrator was courageous in his belief that this was an accomplishable and worthwhile task. When teachers were expressing concerns, he brought in the director of instruction often to answer questions and keep everyone on the right track. That building was able to complete and implement the tests at the end of this school year, giving us a good "pilot" run.
Another administrator was not so courageous in the implementation of this new idea. She did not listen to concerns or answer questions. When staff from this building attended district-wide meetings, there was lots of confusion and resistance. This group was required to sign an agreement of understanding that we would have these end of course assessments ready for the fall.
The director of instruction has been the most patient and willing to answer questions throughout this whole process. In following through with this idea, he has to take a lot of heat, and he is willing to do so because he believes in the process.
I am going to sound like the negative one of the group, but after putting a lot of thought into this question, I do not have a specific example of socially just leadership. There are certain qualities that I have admired about various administrators (honest, loyal, organized, supportive, dedicated) I have worked with, but none that modeled social justice or courageous leadership.
ReplyDeleteI have just one administrator that comes to mind and I didn't have the opportunity to work with her when she was in my mind acting with courage. The years prior to her opening our new building she was the principal of a school that was ranked at the bottom of the 48 elementary schools that were in our school district. The school had over 90% of their students qualifying for free/reduced lunch and was about 5% caucasian. She implmented excellent professional development for her staff as well as a strong believe that "even these kids" can succeed and in 3 years brought that school up to one of the top 15 in the district.
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