eic 9.24.12 handout

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Educational Improvement Council (EIC) Meeting September 24, 2012

Get a group of colleagues or customers together and ask each person to identify a product or service that dramatically reshaped their expectations—something that made them go “Wow! How amazing!” Identify an experience that provoked a gusher of good feelings. Next, ask folks, what were the unique attributes of that experience that made it so memorable? How exactly did it defy their expectations? How might we leverage this idea to redefine customer expectations in our own industry?

Trader Joe’s

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From Chapter 39. Where did the good jobs go? in Stop Stealing Dreams (a free downloadable eBook) by Seth Godin Hint: The old ones, the ones we imagine when we think about the placement office and the pension—the ones that school prepared us for—they’re gone.

From Chapter 39. Where did the good jobs go? in Stop Stealing Dreams (a free downloadable eBook) by Seth Godin In 1960, the top ten employers in the U.S. were: GM, AT&T, Ford, GE, U.S. Steel, Sears, A&P, Esso, Bethlehem Steel, and IT&T. Eight of these (not so much Sears and A&P) offered substantial pay and a long-term career to hard-working people who actually made something. It was easy to see how the promises of advancement and a social contract could be kept, particularly for the “good student” who had demonstrated an ability and willingness to be part of the system.

From Chapter 39. Where did the good jobs go? in Stop Stealing Dreams (a free downloadable eBook) by Seth Godin

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/files/stop-stealing-dreams6print.pdf



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From Chapter 39. Where did the good jobs go? in Stop Stealing Dreams (a free downloadable eBook) by Seth Godin Today, the top ten employers are: Walmart, Kelly Services, IBM, UPS, McDonald’s, Yum (Taco Bell, KFC, et al), Target, Kroger, HP, and The Home Depot. Of these, only two (two!) offer a path similar to the one that the vast majority of major companies offered fifty years ago. Burger flippers of the world, unite. Here’s the alternative: what happens when there are fifty companies like Apple? What happens when there is an explosion in the number of new power technologies, new connection mechanisms, new medical approaches? The good jobs of the future aren’t going to involve working for giant companies on an assembly line. They all require individuals willing to chart their own path, whether or not they work for someone else.

From Chapter 39. Where did the good jobs go? in Stop Stealing Dreams (a free downloadable eBook) by Seth Godin The jobs of the future are in two categories: the downtrodden assemblers of cheap mass goods and the respected creators of the unexpected. The increasing gap between those racing to the bottom and those working toward the top is going to make the 99 percent divide seem like nostalgia. Virtually every company that isn’t forced to be local is shifting gears so it doesn’t have to be local. Which means that the call center and the packing center and the data center and the assembly line are quickly moving to places where there are cheaper workers. And more compliant workers. Is that going to be you or your kids or the students in your town? The other route—the road to the top—is for the few who figure out how to be linchpins and artists. People who are hired because they’re totally worth it, because they offer insight and creativity and innovation that just can’t be found easily. Scarce skills combined with even scarcer attitudes almost always lead to low unemployment and high wages. An artist is someone who brings new thinking and generosity to his work, who does human work that changes another for the better. An artist invents a new kind of insurance policy, diagnoses a disease that someone else might have missed, or envisions a future that’s not here yet. And a linchpin is the worker we can’t live without, the one we’d miss if she was gone. The linchpin brings enough gravity, energy, and forward motion to work that she makes things happen. Sadly, most artists and most linchpins learn their skills and attitudes despite school, not because of it. The future of our economy lies with the impatient. The linchpins and the artists and the scientists who will refuse to wait to be hired and will take things into their own hands, building their own value, producing outputs others will gladly pay for. Either they’ll do that on their own or someone will hire them and give them a platform to do it. The only way out is going to be mapped by those able to dream.



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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Yt4wxSblc&feature=share&list=UU71PBx9QfLNnD2_SSMFYSiA

The Board shall adopt a policy to establish a District- and campus-level planning and decision-making process that will involve the professional staff of the District, parents of students enrolled in the District, business representatives, and community members in establishing and reviewing the District’s and campuses’ educational plans, goals, performance objectives, and major classroom instructional programs. BQ(LEGAL)

The Board shall adopt a policy to establish a District- and campus-level planning and decision-making process that will involve the professional staff of the District, parents of students enrolled in the District, business representatives, and community members in establishing and reviewing the District’s and campuses’ educational plans, goals, performance objectives, and major classroom instructional programs. BQ(LEGAL)



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The Board shall ensure that an administrative procedure is provided to clearly define the respective roles and responsibilities of the Superintendent, central office staff, principals, teachers, District-level committee members, and campus-level committee members in the areas of planning, budgeting, curriculum, staffing patterns, staff development, and school organization. The Board shall also ensure that the District-level planning and decision-making committee will be actively involved in establishing the administrative procedure that defines the respective roles and responsibilities pertaining to planning and decision making at the District and campus levels. BQ(LEGAL) Specifically, both the campus- and district-level planning and decision-making committees’ roles address the areas of:

• Planning

• Budgeting

• Curriculum

• Staffing patterns

• Staff development

• School organization FASRG 5.2.1

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The District-level planning and decision-making committee shall analyze information related to dropout prevention. BQA(LEGAL)

The Educational Improvement Council shall advise the Board or its designee in establishing and reviewing the District’s educational goals, objectives, and major Districtwide classroom instructional programs identified by the Board or its designee. The council shall serve exclusively in an advisory role except that the council shall approve staff development of a Districtwide nature. BQA(LOCAL)

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The council shall include two parents of students currently enrolled within the District. The council shall include two community members. All community member representatives must reside in the District. The council shall include two businesspeople. Business member representatives need not reside in nor operate businesses in the District. The professional employees shall consist of:

• Classroom teachers representing each of the campuses in the District. Each campus teacher representative shall be nominated by and elected from classroom teachers assigned to that particular campus.

• Each teacher representative on the council shall also serve as an ex officio (nonvoting) member of their respective Campus Leadership Team for the purpose of communicating work and progress of the council and for the purpose of collecting campus input.

• One counselor representing all of the counselors in the District. The counselor representative shall be nominated by and elected from the counselors in the District.

• One librarian representing all of the librarians in the District. The librarian representative shall be nominated by and elected from the librarians in the District.

• Three campus administrators representing elementary, middle, and high school administrators. The administrator representatives shall be nominated by and elected from the campus administrators in the District.

• Three central office administrators representing the Superintendent and the central office staff. The central office administrator representatives shall be nominated by and elected from central office professional administrative staff.

• One technology division representative.

Each teacher representative on the council shall also serve as an ex officio (nonvoting) member of their respective Campus Leadership Team for the purpose of communicating work and progress of the council and for the purpose of collecting campus input.

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The Superintendent shall be the Board’s designee and shall name the chairperson of the council from among the council’s members. The Superintendent shall meet with the council periodically. The chairperson of the council shall set its agenda. BQA(LOCAL)

The chairperson of the council shall set its agenda, and shall schedule at least four meetings per year; additional meetings may be held at the call of the chairperson. All council meetings shall be held outside of the regular school day. BQA(LOCAL)

September 24 October 15 October 29 November 26 January 28 February 25 March 25 April 29

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The District shall have a District improvement plan that is developed, evaluated, and revised annually, in accordance with District policy, by the Superintendent with the assistance of the District-level committee. The purpose of the District improvement plan is to guide District and campus staff in the improvement of student performance for all student groups in order to attain state standards in respect to the student achievement indicators. BQ(LEGAL)/BQA(LEGAL)

The District’s planning process to improve student performance includes the development of the District’s educational goals, the legal requirements for the District and campus improvement plans, all pertinent federal planning requirements, and administrative procedures. The Board shall approve the process under which the educational goals are developed and shall ensure that input is gathered from the District-level committee. BQ(LOCAL)

The expected outcome of site-based decision making is improved student performance. FASRG 5.1.1

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Using traditional media for branding and communication does little to encourage give-and-take between schools and the communities they serve. While traditional media can deliver messages, receiving and responding to feedback is almost impossible. This lack of responsiveness can make school seem aloof and uncaring. Worse yet, traditional means for branding and communication are inherently slow. By the time messages are crafted and delivered, they are also outdated and unimportant. This lag in message delivery runs contrary to the immediacy that defines communication in today’s digital age. Parents and teachers who have grown to expect open channels, instant responses, and customized opportunities to participate—and who, increasingly, will have grown up in social media spaces—will lose faith in building that refuse to adapt. Instead of hiding from this new media ecology, tomorrow’s best [leaders] will embrace transparency and portability that tools like Twitter and Facebook enable, creating and managing multiple streams of communication at once. Sadly, parents and students often see schools as the same kinds of impersonal places. Once easily recognizable neighborhood icons, principals are often too busy to fully interact with their communities; high rates of transience in teacher and student populations make it unlikely that parents will have long-term relationships with faculty members; and standardized testing has created a culture that turns students into nothing more than numbers. The result of impersonality is a general sense of distrust between individuals and the organizations that serve them. Breaking through distrust requires frequent, open interactions between stakeholders—behaviors that social medial tools enable and amplify. Relationships between consumers and the businesses they support are changing. New tools have enabled progressive companies to interact directly and informally with customers in ways that were once impossible. They have also enabled businesses to craft interesting and exciting messages that entertain and capture attention. As a result, education’s stakeholders are beginning to expect the same kinds of innovative messages from their schools. The static communication patterns that we have come to rely on are seen as standoffish and distant. Not only do these one-way messaging patters fall short of the expectations of parents, students, younger staff members, and community leaders, they are likely to be lost in the digital noise that our communities are swimming in. Being heard, then, requires bravery. We have to be willing to open ourselves to criticism and to interact directly with important stakeholders in order to be taken seriously. While doing so is definitely risky in a field as staid as education, it carries tangible rewards in the form of stronger and more meaningful relationships with the communities we serve. The goodwill generated from two-way interactions in social media forums is exponential, spreading beyond just the individuals you are interacting with. That’s because in a social media world, each resolution is played out in front of an audience. Every

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message has the potential to answer questions that others haven’t asked. What’s more, every message is a tangible demonstration—a mini-commercial, so to speak—of your commitment to service. Branding, a term synonymous with marketing and business, is beginning to find its niche in education. Brands promise value—essential for maintaining support in difficult economic conditions—to specific audiences or stakeholder groups. Brands are designed to stand out, to influence consumers, and to build confidence in products. Sustaining a sense of trust is an integral component of a brand’s ability to promise value. Successful brands open themselves up to scrutiny, respond to criticism, and make every effort to own up to their mistakes, and work to improve based on consumer feedback. In education, schools are considered a brand, promising their communities the academic preparation necessary to succeed. Many families choose to live in townships with schools that have proven track records. Stakeholders become convinced that their schools prepare students well and provide a quality return on their investment of time, energy and resources. Schools can leverage this brand presence for additional community investment in teacher quality, curriculum, facilities, and professional development initiatives. The bottom line is that schools actively building their brand are supported by their communities, and that support translates into continued improvement and success. Developing positive relationships with important stakeholders in the new digital space requires authenticity, bravery, and consistency. We worry about parents and students using social media tools to complain about our decisions, our programs, or our performance. More importantly, we worry about those complaints being made in a public forum that anyone can view. Used to doing damage control anytime negative messages about our buildings surface, specifically creating forums that enable the easy sharing of negative message runs contrary to our instincts. Avoiding social media tools, however, is far riskier because they have been widely embraced beyond your buildings, fundamentally changing the nature of communication in today’s world. Your important stakeholders—teachers, parents, students, and community leaders—“might not know it yet, and perhaps neither do you, but in just a few years if you haven’t adopted social media in a signification way you risk shutting out the best and most powerful communications channel we’ve ever known, a channel that values authentic interactions…at its core.” From Communicating and Connecting With Social Media (Essentials for Principals) by William M. Ferriter (May 25, 2011)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc1o9FrYD7Y&feature=plcp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fc1o9FrYD7Y&feature=plcp

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http://www.dentonisd.org/Page/283

What is school for?

What matters to you?As in…what’s really important to you?

http://www.dentonisd.org/Page/283

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What is success?

Why do you do what you do? Why are you a teacher, counselor, administrator, etc.?

Like…why’d you get into the profession?

Why are you here?I don’t mean Planet Earth…I mean here in DISD.

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Call or write me at [email protected].

mailto:[email protected]