creating a roadmap for change: utilizing school planning to reculture schools darius s. adamson, sr....

Creating a Roadmap for Change:Utilizing School Planning to Reculture Schools

Darius S. Adamson, Sr.School Transformation Coach

District and School TransformationSummer 2011

District and School Transformation Division,North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

What are some of the unique challenges of leading a low

achieving school?


Challenges

• Challenge of recruiting/ retaining teachers to work in high need schools

• Challenge of providing support /wrap around services

• Challenge of producing academic results with students who are academically behind and moving them at scale


Challenges

• Challenge of creating true sustainable / transformational change

• Challenge of preparing students to meet the demands of our future workforce with 21st century skills

• Challenge of meeting all federal, state and local mandates in a timely manner


Challenges

• Underperforming schools are often very incoherent places of learning;

• Many programs, activities, and functions that are often disconnected, implemented poorly, not focused on a common mission/ vision;


Responsibility of Building Level Leadership

• Responsibility of building level leaders comes in the form of instructional leadership;

• Responsibility to connect the dots, simplify complex challenges, and focus on bringing building coherence through alignment, execution, and monitoring to their schools.


?????

What do transformational leaders focus on to bring about change?


Transformational leaders value…

• Change• Belief vs. Action• Conflict/Cognitive Dissonance• Failure• Resiliency • Efficacy• Commitment to best practice and research

based decisions• Focus on the “main thing”


How can we reflect these “values” in our short and long

term planning?


Focus areas for change

• Culture – How do we build culture?• Learning – How do we train teachers, build

community and promote collaboration?• Structure – How do we create/build systems

and procesess to respond to student needs (academic and non-academic)?


Effective planning will provide a roadmap to create change

by…

• Effectively planning how to use and allocate resources to support the goal of school transformation.

• Utilizing school planning documents to create an opportunity to align all of the resources to support measurable goals, achieve the mission, and create the vision for the school.


How do we simplify and make planning relevant and reflective

of what we believe and what we do?


Often what we say we believe and what we do are not aligned.

(belief vs. action)Successful schools execute theactions steps reflective of what theybelieve and value.


Protocol Activity #1

• Principals will work in teams to share ideas, answer questions.

• Each team will answer a series of questions reflective of the essential elements of the planning process.

• Each team will have 5-8 minutes to discuss and answer each question. Responses should be written on flip chart paper

• After each question has been discussed/answered, each

group will be asked to share what was learned, discussed.


What is the vision for your school for the next three years? Where do

you want your school to be in terms of measurable goals?


What are three areas of change that need to be addressed

immediately as we go into the 2011-2012 school year? What is

the data that supports these changes?


Have you created a timeline for addressing key areas/levers of

change over the next three years?


How are these areas/levers of change reflected in your school planning (SIP/SIG)? Are they reflected in

measurable goals? Are these key areas supported through your allocations,

resources, and professional development? How?


Is there a systemic process in your building to provide professional development to

your stakeholders on how to execute the stated strategies? Is there a process in

place to provide monitoring, feedback or re-training for the strategies that will

support your focus areas over the next three years?


What school-wide systems and processes do you have in place to

provide “press and support” to improving the instructional core

(student, teacher, content)? Are these strategies reflective in district required

planning documents?District and School Transformation Division,North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Reflection Questions

• Do your answers reflect strategies that impact focus areas of change?

• Do your responses reflect strategies that create schools reflective of what transformational principals value?


creating a roadmap for change: utilizing school planning to reculture schools darius s. adamson, sr....

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