To Tenure or Not to Tenure...that's the question

I am in charge of new teacher support. I affectionately call my group of teachers "The Blue Crew". Our Blue Crew members range from having 1 year to 3 years of experience in the classroom, and it is my responsibility (and major project) to ensure that they have the resources and support necessary to be successful in the classroom. Two of my Blue Crew members are up for tenure this year, and my principal wants to know what I think. Herein lies the rub...

Teacher A: She teaches lower grades, and so to me does not possess a sense of urgency when it comes to education at all. She used to be our school's PreK teacher and was amazing, so my principal offered her a K/1 position so she could loop with her kids and get higher pay. Needless to say, these past two years have not been anywhere near as amazing as her year in PreK. Her struggles that we work through are (1) designing her own curriculum versus having one created for you as is done in PreK, and (2) knowing what is rigorous of K/1 students and not limiting them which is also done in PreK. Overall, I think she just lacks the drive behind being a career educator and is doing it until something else better comes along...But, is that reason enough to not tenure someone? She shows up to work, and does alright, but is it too much to ask for excellence?

Teacher B: This girl is a box of chocolates - you never know if she is going to cry in front of her kids, be out for 2 weeks, walk out of the room in a panic, or get into an argument with a parent. Despite all of this, her scores are ridiculously high, her students are some of the most behaved in the building, and she is highly effective. Not to mention, I think it is tough finding such an amazing, fifth grade teacher who can handle our students so well. But, she is completely unreliable, emotional, and inconsistent. Should her professional character even influence the tenure process?

                                      

I owe my principal my final decision about the two, but I feel like I still don't even know how to make this decision or even if I am basing my decision on the correct information. I have read a lot about tenuring awesome teachers, bad teachers, and how that effectively it is almost impossible to non-renewal an ineffective educator: http://teachertenure.procon.org/ (for all sides of the debate).

Here is what I think I will recommend...
Teacher A: She can have one more year since she did PreK, and I would option that year. In that year, her students must show growth, and she must demonstrate her instructional development and professional learning if this is her chosen profession. If she is not capable of demonstrating those things, then I would non-renew her.

Teacher B: I would say yes, but I would also inform her that her professionalism will prevent a lot of things from happening to her in the future. For example, she really wants to be grade level chair, but it is hard to make someone so inconsistent a grade level representative. So, I would tenure her for certain but make sure that she is growing professionally as well.

What would you do? Tenure or not tenure...?

The Multiplier Effect

The Multiplier Effect by Liz Wiseman, Lois Allen, and Elise Foster.

     Is your leadership team diminishing the smarts and capabilities of your staff or are they working to multiply the smarts and capabilities of the staff? My principal was introduced to The Multiplier Effect at a DoE training in the Fall. She loved the book so much that she introduced it to the department chairs in order to build capacity. Over the last few weeks, each department chair has presented a chapter of the book and we have talked about how we can use the information in the book to better ourselves and our departments.
     In the book they discuss the 5 disciplines of multipliers (see below). They compare leaders as "diminishers" or "multipliers" of the abilities of a staff. We are working at McClarin is to determine where we each stand as a leader and how we can move from a diminisher to a multiplier. If you are looking for a resource to drive your direction as a leader, I highly recommend the book.

     We have all worked for diminishers in the past (or perhaps in the present). Where does your leadership team/principal stand? Where do you stand? I am looking forward to using the information from this book in my work as a leader!

Just wanted to share this great resource!

Communicating

Blog 5

 

How do you communicate suggestions to your principal without offending him or her?  How many of you feel comfortable talking to your principal about issues in your school?  I have a dual role in my school; as a teacher and as a leadership team member (Special Ed Department Chair).  I often want to go to my principal about issues that I have as a teacher myself and issues brought to me as a member of leadership.  I really like my principal, but there are things that he as a leader could improve upon as with all leaders.  I have an Assistant Principal I can talk to, but I don’t feel as comfortable talking about certain things with my Principal.  I often go to him about departmental issues with no problem and would like to share some culture issues with him.  I have shared reading material from class as hints, but don’t think it is seen as hints.  What should I do?

Creative Versus Comfortable

In my educational career so far, this school year has probably been the most taxing on me - initially, I chocked it up to a massive amount of change in both my personal and professional lives that seemed to come all at once. With a new school and grad school, my personal life took a bit of a backseat - or a spot in the wayback, to be exact - & I started to become more critical of my surroundings. At first, after conducting the culture survey for EPEL 8650 (The Principal), I just believed that I was working in a toxic culture. As first semester wore on, I became more and more frustrated - things didn’t seem to be changing and I did not have the power to change them. 

Honestly, I became a little judgmental in regards to what I would deem “unacceptable behaviors” from educators, let alone adults. I kept my opinions to myself with the exception of a few trusted friends who did not work in my school or district. 

After a few weeks of marinating on this approach, I only found myself sinking more and more into a pit of gloom; those individuals whom I was silently judging weren’t affected - they just continued on as they have done for a while. I started to consider if I was the problem - maybe I thought too highly of myself. I spent the end of the semester trying to just roll with each day, and I was able to make it to winter break. When I returned, I found myself searching for an answer for my dissatisfaction - why didn’t I like coming to work?

And when did I start thinking of my career as work???

Realizing that the only person that I could change was me, I started doing a lot more self-reflection, and in my readings and podcasts and journaling I realized that I’m a creative in a comfortable’s environment. Many of my peers are aversive to my ideas because they are comfortable where they are - in their practices, in their classrooms, in the building - they do not want to rock the boat. The student’s perform well, so perception is reality - we’re considered an incredible school…some even refer to us as the kids getting a private school education at public school prices.

Perception is reality.

Or it isn’t.

I could launch into a rant about the things that I would change, but I want to get back to this idea of creatives and comfortables. Creatives like to think outside of the box. They like to be challenged. They’re problem solvers. They’re risk takers - well, I’m getting back to being a risk taker. They don’t settle for good-enough. They strive for let’s-make-it-better. 

A few years ago, I went from being a creative to being a comfortable. It wasn’t a decision that I wanted to make, but for me it was a question of surviving where I was teaching - a high-performing school with a if-it-isn’t-broken mentality. Over the course of my first year, I was told to “go-with-the-flow.” 

So I did.

I made it a year before I started getting antsy.

Although not the original source of my epiphany regarding creativity, Adam Dachis’ insights on “Why Comfort Is a Productivity Killer” really resonated with me, especially when he describes being “‘comfortable’ in a job I mostly hated, but I didn’t realize it because [it] was so simple…I could go home and be lazy at the end of the day and no harm done—you know, except for pretty much giving up on what mattered to me.” OUCH! I’ve read and taught enough dystopian novels to know that perfection does not exist…or it doesn’t come without a cost (that I don’t want to pay)…but I need an environment that is not only going to allow me to be creative, but one that encourages and supports me in doing so. Margie Warrell, in her Forbes piece, poses some great questions that I feel every school leader should ask her or himself:

• Do I keep doing what’s always been done, or challenge old assumptions [and] try new approaches to problems?
• Do I proactively seek new challenges or just manage those I already have?
• Do I risk being exposed and vulnerable, or act to protect my pride and patch of power?
• Do I ask for what I really want, or just for what I think others want to give me?
• Do I ‘toot my horn’ to ensure others know what I’m capable of, or just hope my efforts will be noticed?
• Do I speak my mind or bite my lip, lest I ruffle feathers or subject myself to criticism?

I have a place that I want to be in the near future…and it’s time to get out of my comfort zone. What about you?

Leveraging the Veterans

I must say I am extremely fortunate to work with a group of passionate, talented and experienced educators. Within my first few weeks of being an administrator I had identified 3 key teachers that hold up the entire school. Our entire staff is hard-working but these three teachers take on extra roles, organize entire programs and lead grade levels and teams of teachers. All of them have been at the school more than 8 years, two of them have more years in education than I have on Earth and one is the former principal of our school...I know!

I am also fortunate that none of them have undermined my authority but instead have been extremely supportive. They all participated in my research project and often offer to help with additional tasks.

How do I build on this relationship with critical veterans without forming a "special" group? I want them to know they are valued without showing favoritism. How do I garner their support without making other teachers feel slighted? I know this sounds like a great position to be in but I really feel like we could use our veteran teachers a lot more. This would really push my school from good to great!

Photo credit: Buffer Blog Buffer Blog

Resources Needed!

After I compiled my list of dispositions that I needed to work on (our last major assignment for 8970), I realized that a common theme for me throughout this entire Ed. S. program has been my need to delegate better and differentiate between important/immediate tasks and what I can put on the back-burner and/or delegate to others. So, with that being said, what resources or tricks do y’all use to do this? I know what it says in The Principal 50, and that book was a fire-starter for me on my journey of figuring out that this is a primary area of weakness for me. But I need more! Do any of you have systems you use that work for you? Or do you have a resource that I can read or a podcast I can listen to in order to get some varied assistance with this topic? One podcast I listen to often is from Lee Cockerell, former VP of Disney. He spoke at the Leadership Kickoff last summer for my district, and his leadership podcasts are quick and easy (about 10-15 minutes for most of them), and extremely insightful. But, again, I need more. I feel like the more I inundate myself with resources, the more successful I will be at getting this beast under control! 

Accountability.

I am sure everyone has come across really good parents and really not so good parents.  However, it really grinds my gears when parents are not held accountable for certain concerns and issues at the school level.   It bothers me that people have diminished the education profession to nothing more than being a baby-sitter.  All accountability now is placed on teachers and parents are given a slap on the wrist.

There is a motion in place in Cobb County to hold parents more accountable when children participate in extra-curricular activity.  I see the pros and cons of this, however, I do not believe the cons out-weight the pros and the big picture.

I am interested in hearing how do you build parental involvement and support at your school as well as hold parents accountable for their children for things such as attendance, behavior, homework, performance, overall parenting?

Closing the Gap

I decided to focus my lit review from another class on Closing the Achievement Gap. It was a topic that was relevant at my school where we just got back part of our CCRPI score. I'm not a numbers girl. It's hard for me to see ranges, increases, decreases, percentages and then compare in my head. But when I see flags, I'm on it! We had some significant red flags and they were concentrated around our subgroups. We acknowledge as a school the areas we need to address and work on, but how do we make it better?  It wasn't until I started doing my literature review that I realized there's a wealth of information out there on how to improve. One article, How One District is Systemically Closing the Achievement Gap, caught my interest. The premise of the article is that student work needs to be engaging and authentic and teachers need to be highly qualified. In addition, the belief should be there that all students have the ability to succeed. It's more than just presenting the material. There's so much more that goes into making academic gains and I think it starts with the heart! I often miss being in the classroom. I liked finding the connections with students; finding out what the latest and greatest TV show, fad, clothing style, dance, music, etc...was and then weaving it somehow into my lesson. I see teachers now that identify with students, and some that don't. Some teachers make learning relevant and some that just present the material. I'm wondering what we can do as a school, a school system, a state, or even as a country to really bring the achievement gap to the forefront and make an impact on low-achieving students who have the potential to succeed. What do you do at your school to close the gap? What strategies do you use? How do you make connections with students?

The E-Myth trilogy concludes: Part III

Before I launch into the timeline below, I want to offer the disclaimer that it is completely from my own limited perspective.  As I typed it out, I noticed I was focusing on the things I personally did and the changes I personally tried to enact.  Looking back now, I see that this "heroic technician" attitude is symptomatic of an organization in its infancy, trying to graduate to adolescence.  I tried to take everything on myself.  Albeit I did work with others in the organization, and I sought counsel from my mentors, but largely I took action independently, trying to "save" the school.  Too many business-starters or school-starters make the mistake of doing it all on their own.  I was being a statistic.


Cloverleaf's timeline on our journey from infancy to adolescence:

• May 2013.  I left off in my last blog with the proposal naming one of our founding parents as interim executive director-- an attempt to fill the hole in the "manager" role that our organization lacked.  She was willing to serve in the most "managerial" role in the school, yet we brought her in knowing her background was in higher education, not management.  She had been a professor, and her ability to run the school as a strong manager was limited.  But she was the best we had at the time, and we were desperate.  She was willing to lead the school on a volunteer basis for the 2013-14 school year as long as the school worked toward paying her a salary in the 2014-15 school year.
  
  
• October 2013.  Role tensions and management gaps remained.  I approached the executive director about a promotion from teacher to "lead teacher," taking on scheduling, meeting facilitation, and most of HR (including navigating employee grievances).
  
  
• February 2014.  I pitched a new org chart to the board that would allow the educational director and I to split time, half in the classroom and half in administration.  I would shadow the executive director to learn the role with the intent of taking it over for the 2015-16 school year.
  
  
• August 2015.  I took over as executive director & renamed the role executive director & principal to better capture all it entails.  Over the course of the next few months I unearthed a series of managerial mistakes from the past: an employee was never issued a contract and subsequently quit with no notice, leaving us understaffed.  The bookkeeper had embezzled $4500 from us, and our accountant didn't catch it in his audit.  My own insurance benefits had never been submitted to payroll, so I owed the school $1200 in backed payments that I didn't know about.  Our renovations team was less familiar with county code than they had indicated, resulting in a 5-month delay on our school move and a 3-fold cost increase.
  
  
• January 2016.  By this point, we had remedied most setbacks.  We hired a new support teacher, new bookkeeper, and new accountant.  We straightened out employee benefits and our financial books.  We fundraised over $100,000.  We made it through the extended renovation project (including an extended stay at our old location that was falling apart, a 4-week stay at a temporary location, 2 "homeless" days of fieldtrips, and a flood on day 1 at the new space).
  
  
• February 2016.  I called an emergency board meeting because the school was running out of money, and the staff was exhausted after the many trials.  The board treasurer and I worked together on an in-depth financial analysis to identify exactly what moneys we'd need when.  We identified our fundraising targets to be $11,000 by the end of April, $42,000 by the end of May, and $38,000 by the end of June.
  
  
• March 2016.  The business coordinator & I met with our fundraising consultant to plan a course of action.  She helped us weave this year's fundraising needs into a bigger picture of a 5-year campaign to build out and purchase our building.  The board and I called a whole school meeting to celebrate our fundraising progress and spotlight our remaining fundraising needs.  It was a call to action for 100% community participation.
  
  
• As of today, the renovations are behind us, the books are straightened out, all current staff have committed to return next year, and morale is finally beginning to slowly rise again.  We weathered the storm.  We still have fundraising goals remaining, but at least that's one large hurdle to cross instead of multiple simultaneously.  I had a free call with an E-Myth business coach last week, and I'm planning to write a grant to afford a year of working with her to systemize everything we do.  I want to move on after next school year, and working with a specialist to fully systemize and document our program will allow me to leave the organization in a healthy and stable place.
  
  

I learned to become the manager persona that the school needed, through trial by fire and sheer necessity.  I also learned it is not who I want to be.  My talents lie in the entrepreneur and technician arenas, and I'm ready to begin finding a place where I can work in my areas of talent and passion rather than in an area of necessity.  Being who others need me to be rather than who I feel I am meant to be is exhausting and draining.  It is time to set a change in motion.

Thanks for sticking with me through this three-part blog series, I know it was lengthy and detailed.  It was helpful to gather my thoughts about where our organization has been, where we are, and where we are going (which will soon be down separate paths).  Hopefully I'm not the only one who gained something or learned something from this blog journey.  :)  Thank you!

All Hands on Deck

As in any school, having an "all hands on deck" policy is sometimes needed when short-staffed.  However,  this policy can sometimes come into conflict with the duties and responsibilities outlined by certain job descriptions.  Furthermore, accountability on missing employees should be taken into account when there is an "all hands on deck" situation.   A prime example of this situation is lunch duty.  The assistant principal did an excellent job at developing a lunch duty schedule for employees whose schedule allow it.  Contrary to that, my duties and responsibilities as outlined in my job description explicitly stated that I am not required to have a lunch duty.  With that being said, I have taken it upon myself to ensure that I am one of the "hands on deck."  The issue I have with this is when staff members do not report to his or her duty on time, if any at all.  Now because of the type person I am, I am going to report to my duty on time, as well as leave on time.  However, when someone does not show up on time or not at all, I am put in a rock and a hard place.   I have shared my concerns with administration staff, however, because it is primarily members of the staff, there has not be a solution to the problem.

What do you suggest?

To Algebra or Not to Algebra

Have we become to test centered that we have lost our true path in education? I remember the days when teaching was fun. I could be very creative with my lessons and was even encouraged to be creative. Back in the early 90's when NCTM first came out with their standards (the beginning of the end I think), I was working in Gwinnett and GCPS recognized that their textbooks did not reflect the new standards. Teachers were invited to get creative and write units that reflected the NCTM standards for mathematics. I created true relevant units to teach students math. Today, more than twenty years later, I even have a student from those days working nearby and he told me the minute he saw me about his money management portfolio that he still had at home. He remembered other activities that we had done as well. That was real math!

Today we are so busy teaching students material so that they can pass a test and show the world that we, the teachers, are doing a good job that we have lost our way. I ran across several posts recently about not requiring algebra and/or algebra 2 for everybody. I am not saying that we should throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater, but I do believe we need to rethink HOW and WHAT we are teaching students about math.

I believe that students deserve the best math program that a school can offer and I do not believe that every student needs to take calculus. I believe that we need to talk open and honestly with students about what they want to do and provide them with the curriculum that will help them achieve their goals. We are asking schools to graduate students who have completed a variety of CTAE pathways, but these students do not have the math skills to be successful in these pathways. My CTAE teachers are always asking me how to teach math to their students so that they can do basic calculations within their pathway.

At McClarin, we refrain from teaching financial math or math for business and industry because students won't receive credit for a fourth year of math with these two classes. The DoE approved a yearlong statistics course last year, but we can't offer it because Fulton County does not offer on-level statistics as it competes with AP Statistics. Again, not every student needs AP level courses! It is a vicious cycle that we cannot afford to keep repeating! Let's go back to teaching relevant and necessary math, not required math!

What to do, what to do...

So, I know a lot of great teachers and students at Latin Academy Charter School. Opened for less than 5 years, LACS has recently announced to its community that without fundraising it will have to close. This is mostly because of alleged theft of the scool's once founder and finacnial advisor's embezzlement of $600,000. Simply put it, this is a tragedy for the students, their families, the staff, and local community. Where are the students suppose to go? What about the promise to greater education? What about the loss of over half a million education dollars? What to do, what to do...

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local-education/atlanta-charter-school-could-close-after-alleged-t/nqRjx/

The biggest question that I have is - does money truly fix this problem? Will giving an additional $600,000 correct the wrong that has been done to this community, or will it only ameliorate it? I am fully aware the the persons charged are no longer at the school, but how did this happen in the first place? What was the system of checks and balances for why these abuses were not discovered earlier? And, this is just one school under one leader, what happens when educational funding is stolen? How is it replaced?

My major point is that damaged has been done and money may not fix all of those damages - the lack of resources available to students, the greater strain on the community to raise money for their school, how is it fixed or corrected. Where does the path to correction begin?

What to do, what to do...

Meaningful Lessons.....

Blog 4

Do you agree that meaningful and well planned lessons deter discipline issues?

I have experienced many teachers talking and complaining about discipline issues in their classes.  I am not exempt; I complain sometimes too.  As I was reflecting and consulting with my mentor, we came to the solution of meaningful instruction.  If students are engaged, distractions and discipline issues will decrease or cease.  With this being said, how do we get teachers to write engaging and meaningful lessons?  Teachers have had several professional learning sessions/opportunities, and collaborative planning.  In my opinion, plans are just made to have something to turn in, and not really used to guide them in the classroom.  We have teams that are supposed to check lesson plans, but there is never any feedback provided. If administrators were more visible in the classrooms, teachers had a good classroom management system in addition to engaging lesson plans, behaviors may decrease.  What suggestions or resources do you have?

Girl Power!!

On this Super Tuesday in Georgia, I can't help but think of the complexity of being a woman in leadership. Women have to compete with men who have held similar positions for hundreds of years. We have to balance work with family and friends (if you have any left). Then, you have to consider your leadership style and how others will view you. If you are firm, you are too aggressive for a woman, if you're laid back you're too passive to lead. If you display emotion, you're too soft to lead, if you show no emotion you're not woman enough. Where does the criticism end? I expect all leaders to endure criticism but when the criticism is based on the fact that you're a woman that's a problem. How do you balance the strength you have as a female leader with the tendency to over compensate?

At my school, men make up less than 30% of the faculty. This includes the CEO, CFO, COO, Principal, assistant principal and 3 out of 4 grade level chairs (who have significant authority at my school) who are all female. This creates a model of shared responsibility and leading with the whole person in mind. I'm not saying men don't do these things Im just saying women have an innate ability to nurture and consider the needs of other women and families when making decisions. The issue is that problems become emotional, personal and blown out of proportion. Women develop relationships, talk and bond in ways that sometimes make doing business a challenge. I think there are a lot of feelings involved unnecessarily. I guess I'm looking for a way to curb the emotions and think rationally when my team doesn't always get it done without coming off as inconsiderate. I mean I am a woman and I understand the need to take care of family while maintaining a stressful career but how and where do I draw the lines?