Jon Schmidt-Davis, SREB

2011 Annual Leadership ForumAtlanta, May 5, 2011

A Conceptual Framework for Principal Succession Planning: Key to School Improvement

The problem

• We need about 20,000 new principals a year• Too many districts engaging in a “hire and hope”

strategy• Joseph Bower: “You could summarize [the typical]

approach as ‘test tube development.’ Put a manager in a test tube, turn up the heat, and see what you get. If you don’t get what you want, get another manager, and heat up another test tube.”

Silent Spring

• We’re in a race to the bottom as we burn through school leaders who can’t do what’s being asked of them

• It’s not a problem of quantity, it’s a problem of quality – Wallace made that clear 7 years ago in Beyond the Pipeline

All the news that’s fit to print

The plan to turnaround the lowest 5% of schools all require new principals but – where are they going to come from??

The Fullan-Fuller&Young Conundrum:Schools requiring the most time to change have shortest principal tenure

The Framework: A Virtuous Circle

Four quadrants of succession

I: Talent Identification

• Superintendent must take the lead• Great if superintendents get in and teach PD• HR should facilitate and manage the process• Should start early in teachers’ careers• You want people who are good teachers – but

there’s “the quarterback problem”

Leadership standards are critical

• Screen for a small number of competencies – focus on 5 or 6

• Set of competencies adapted from Dell:– Mental agility– Student focus– Instructional expertise– Building teams– Motivating others

• Evaluate on not just “What,” but “How.” Not just performance measures, but values.

• Use a readiness rating scheme:– ready now– ready in 2-3 years– ready in 3-5 years

II: Talent Development

• Malcolm Gladwell and 10,000 hour rule– Bill Gates– Wayne Gretzky– The Beatles

• 80/20 rule at GE, Eli Lilly, other top companies

So – is this how we do it in education?

Stretch assignments

• Can’t be like the aspiring leader who was “never put in a situation where I could fail.”

• Instructional leadership teams• Curriculum teams• Cross-district teams• School improvement planning• Peer observations• Schools have enough problems for challenging leadership

roles

Stepping stones

• ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL: can’t afford to give them the 3 B’s and forget them

• Assistant to the principal positions in TN

• Teacher-in-charge positions in MD

• Literacy, math and graduation coaches

• Teacher leaders

• District’s job to create these positions

“The real challenge of leadership is to bring along the people who start off doing it badly and not just bring along the people who already look like they can do it well.”

~ Andy Hargreaves

III: Selection• Identify for a pool, select for a school• Ensure you have enough candidates

– Dow Chemical – multiplies its attrition rate by three to determine size of pool

– Sonoco – requires every manager to identify internal successors

• Move the right person into the right job for the right reasons

• No one’s ordained

“Great leaders develop those around them at a fast rate and in high numbers, so much so that the organization cannot absorb them soon enough. Stated differently, leaders who develop other leaders provide a farm system for other organizations.”

~ Michael Fullan

IV. Socialization and support

“One of the reasons that aspirants fail [is] …they’re put into very difficult positions. One of the reasons the position is open and that no other principal with seniority has attempted to transfer into it or secure it is it’s not a great position. So they go into positions with limited experience and into a place that probably has some significant problems.”

~ Ed Miley

How to support new leaders

• Remember the 80/20 rule

• At least two years quality mentoring

• Peer support: this is why cohort model is preferable

• Identify “derailments” and guard against

• Onboarding plan

Onboarding plan(goes way beyond handing just handing them the keys)

• Lists of key relationships to build

• Lists of critical knowledge to master

• Clear expectations for first 45 days, first 90 days, first year

• Formative 360 feedback early in first year

• Peer networking plan with district support

V. Evaluate, reflect and improve

Use quality evaluations for the new leaders so that

1.They know where they are in their development

2.Districts and states know strengths of leadership pools

3.There is feedback for preparation pathways

VI. Developing new leaders

• Expectation that leaders develop their staff as leaders

• Distributed leadership and use of teams

• Leaders participating in PD with staff

Kudos to Alabama on this

Standard 3 of AL’s leadership standards is human capital development:3-1. Knowledge to set high expectations and standards for the performance of all teachers and staff

3-3. Ability to work collaboratively with teachers to plan for individual professional development

3-13. Ability to create a community of learners among faculty and staff

3-15. Ability to foster development of aspiring leaders, including teacher leaders