ACTIVATE

A leader's guide to people, practices, and processes, this book was our first @WaukeshaNorth1 leadership team read this school year.

Peter Drucker says, "people determine the capacity of an organization." That is why, as head learner at Waukesha North, I know the importance of leaders and their teams to spend time learning together to help build our collective capacity for change. As leaders, we are keepers of the vision. We must be steadfast in our constant and effective communication of North's overall purpose.

How many times have we heard and the research has shown, the number one factor that is the single most influential component of an effective school is the individual teachers within that school. North teachers, do you believe this?
This is one reason why it is so important to collect data about the relevant adult actions in pursuit of the vision. Are we collaborating on the creation of high-quality assessments? Are we truly operating as PLC's during morning PLC time? Are you operating as a data team? High-performing schools have data teams. Engaging in these adult behaviors with fidelity will honestly make or break you being the #1 factor in student achievement.

Success in any organization starts with a focus on self. Change will not occur unless people see the need to change. Does our student achievement data scream a sense of urgency to you?  Are you serious about success more than you are comfortable with a lack of it?  Do you take personal responsibility for student achievement? Engaged employees want their organization to succeed because they feel connected emotionally and socially to the mission, vision and purpose. Are you connected? If not, why not?

The single biggest gap seen in schools and districts is the lack of monitoring and feedback. Yet when these processes are put into place, leaders are questioned about this accountability. Really?

The tradition of our learning organizations are as deeply entrenched as you will find. Elmore says, "the existing institutional structure of public education does one thing very well: it creates a normative environment that values idiosyncratic, isolated, and individualistic learning at the expense of collective learning. The existing system does not value continuous learning as a collective good and does not make this learning the individual and social responsibility or every member of the system. Leaders must create environments in which individuals expect to have their personal ideas and practices subjected to the scrutiny of their colleagues. Privacy of practices produces isolation; isolation is the enemy of improvement."

Together, lets fight the enemy! Gut check Northstars!

How to Create and Use Rubrics for Formative Assessment and Grading

Let me just start off this post by saying that we have MUCH to celebrate @WaukeshaNorth1 in terms of our grading for learning best practices!

Sharing learning targets with students is the foundational formative assessment strategy.  Posting these daily targets in a visible location is just about implemented with fidelity and yes, they should be posted daily.
The main purpose of rubrics is to assess performances. Where I observe the most powerful aspects of rubrics- is in their usefulness helping students to conceptualize the learning targets and to monitor their own progress. Rubrics are important because they clarify for students the qualities their work should have. They key is to make sure that rubrics focus on the learning and not on the tasks.

When rubrics clearly characterize what student work should look like, instruction, assessment, and learning improve. Remember that good rubrics are tools that the students can use to help themselves learn, they are not just for you, as the teacher. Going over the rubric with your students and collaboratively developing rubrics with your students are even more important than going over the learning task itself. The learning that is outlined in your rubric descriptors should be the most valuable part of the discussion you have with students. Make sure that it is.

Growing into Equity-Professional Learning and Personalization in High-Achieving Schools

School communities can grow into equity and excellence through personalizing learning. This is the opening sentence of the book, so how could I not be intrigued as the author highlights the core values of Waukesha North High School. We are striving for equity, excellence and expectations through our personalized learning practices so that students and adults alike can achieve optimal learning success.

High achievement and equity means attending to each student and emphasizing each students' individual gifts and needs. A commitment to equity and excellence means recognizing that every student is a complex and compelling story, as a person and a learner.
So, as Principal, I must provide direction and exercise influence so that deep innovation for these practices can take hold. High-performing schools have cultures that support ongoing teacher collaboration and professional inquiry. This in turn goes hand in hand with positive student outcomes.

Sustainable change is all about building capacity. Empowering teachers, holding them accountable, and ensuring that these personalized learning practices take hold in more than just pockets. They need to happen in every classroom, for every student. The more students experience personalization, the greater their level of engagement and connection to our school and even achievement.



So, when we talk about making equity commitments, we need to ask ourselves:
* Are we committed to all students scoring at least a 3 or higher on key assessments?
* Are we committed to making sure every student will graduate ready for college?
* Are we committed to making sure that every student and every teacher achieve their personal best?
* Are we committed to achieve social justice through the development of the complete individual?

If you cannot say a confident, YES, to each of these things, you might want to check yourself at the door before you walk into the Purple Palace. Our focus on equity begins with understanding students as individuals and working together to achieve collective capacity in personalizing student learning.

Blended Learning Infographic plus Free Implementation Guide

Blended Learning Infographic plus Free Implementation Guide

Waukesha Northstar Band 2013 WSMA AAAA Performance

The Smartest Kids in the World

Amanda Ripley's book was introduced to me by David Peyton, a former Northstar who now teaches with E-Achieve. While I was hoping to gain some leadership insight on how I can help produce the smartest kids at Waukesha North, I instead finish the book with a sense of skepticism as to what matters most in America's schools?
We all know that teachers are the number one predictor of student success and that rigor in the classroom matters most. Why then, does Homecoming decorating and sports news glitter the pages of our newspapers and Twitter chatter? Are our expectations for high academic output lower in America compared to other nations?

Waukesha North High School...the name school implies that we exist to help students master complex academic material. Other things matter, but nothing should matter as much.
Have you, as a student, taken 2-3 Advanced Placement courses at North before you graduate? Why aren't you preparing now, for the ever-changing, demanding future that lies ahead? As a student, do you know what it feels like to grapple with complex ideas and think outside of your comfort zone, to persist and work hard? How is being just a compliant learner going to prepare you for the modern world?
All staff at Waukesha North are hired to create a serious intellectual culture for all of our students. We lead and teach as our motto states: excellence, equity, expectations.
Parents and students, how are you teaming with us to create a world-class education?

As North HS moves from good to great, I want to emphasize the importance of doing well in school. Actively engage in rigorous, challenging coursework and put forth your very best academic effort everyday. The staff are here to help you reach your academic goals and push you beyond what you thought was even possible. Together, we can create an educational system of equity and rigor that will allow all students at Waukesha North High School to be the smartest kids in the world, and they will be right in our own backyard.

Waukesha Northstar Band - CBS 58 Morning News

Mastery Learning

It has been a while since I posted, but I was inspired by one of my teachers, Eric Hill (@NHScience) as I read the book, Mastery Learning in the Science Classroom. He shared this book with me last week and said, "you have to read this, you can read it in a day, and it changed the way I think about success for every student." The passion with which he spoke about completely changing his classroom, had me curious. Knowing that Eric is already a highly proficient teacher, I wondered what he learned from this book?

Mastery learning is not new. It has been around for a long time. The key to mastery learning is that students are required to show mastery of a concept before they are allowed to move on to the next concept. The teacher determines at what level the mastery must be accomplished. Mastery learning is a wonderful complement to standards-based education. Mastery learning is based on the concept of holding every student to a standard of performance rather than simply exposing every student to the minimum required content.

When you require students to master content you need to think carefully about which content to require they master. This is the first step. It was interesting to learning that in mastery learning classrooms, the language and use of the word "assignment" now turns to the word "learning opportunity". This simple change in name could change the emphasis from "this was assigned so I have to do it but I don't really see why other than I have to in order to take the summative" to "the reason I am doing this is to learn."


The result of a mastery learning classroom: kids take responsibility for their own learning. The best result is that students felt respected in the classroom. Those who could move more quickly and didn't need as much practice to gain a new skill appreciated the fact that the teacher respected their ability to move on when they were ready. Those who needed more time and would have been left behind had the teacher moved the class along together appreciated the respect the teacher showed them in staying with each of them until they were ready to move on.

If this type of learning environment is something you want to explore, start with Eric, as I am sure this connection and innovative brainstorming would help you, Eric, and most importantly all our students at Waukesha North High School (@WaukeshaNorth1).

Personalizing School Systems

In 2005, New Hampshire became the first state to formally eliminate the Carnegie Unit. Eight years later, we continue to stay in compliance with an anachronistic system that schools seem reluctant to retire. We push teachers to implement authentic assessment, personalized learning, and project-based learning and yet they are governed by a system that puts these foundational student-centered principles in the trunk of the car instead of in the driver's seat.

How much longer will student proficiency and competency based learning...the elements of personalization that will force real, lasting, school-wide improvement be talked about? 
                                                               If this was Nike, we'd "Just do it!"

Make Just One Change- Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions

WICR is becoming common language around Waukesha North High School.
W (Writing), I (Inquiry), C (Collaboration), R (Reading).
So what is Inquiry?

In the book, Make One Change, Dan Rothstein argues that we should be teaching the skill of question formulation to all students. We should do it to promote excellence and we should do it to promote equity. Both are achievable.

Learning how to ask questions leads to improved learning outcomes, greater student engagement, and more ownership of the learning process. This book asks teachers to make one simple change in their regular practice; to deliberately teach students how to ask their own questions.

The rigorous process of learning to develop and ask questions offers students the invaluable opportunity to become independent thinkers and self-directed learners. This also pushes teachers from the proficient category according to Danielson's component 3b: Questioning and Discussion Techniques, to the distinguished category. As the teacher, you are leading a process in which your students will be thinking and working by asking their own questions, rather than responding to the ones that you ask. Students do the formulating of many questions, initiate topics, and make unsolicited contributions.


Teaching students that skill of inquiry empowers students to be responsible for their own learning and also helps them refine a skill that has direct practical function and application in their daily lives. We can take action today to improve education in every classroom by teaching all students how to ask their own questions. Students will improve their discovery, engagement, and achievement!

Teaching Matters Most

The quality of teaching in classrooms is the single most important factor in advancing student achievement and in sustaining school improvement. We have heard this before right? We have said this before, but think about the power in this true statement.

Quality teaching matters most! If North is going to realize significant improvement and advance the learning and quality of our students' experiences in the classroom, then attention must focus assiduously and persistently on helping our teachers to refine their craft.

Educator Effectiveness and Danielson's Framework for Teaching will help us define what high-quality teaching looks like in every classroom.

The ultimate goal of a professional learning culture is continuous learning. The minute a teacher stops learning and growing, their students stop learning as well. The quote on the bottom of the framework is key, "it is the learner who does the learning."

Ensuring that every student has a high-quality learning experience in every classroom is not just the goal for every teacher, but school administrators need to make sure this happens by supporting the growth and innovation of all teachers.

Schools CAN Change

If there is no change in how teachers teach or in how students learn, we cannot justify the time spent in meetings. This holds true for our PLC's or anytime we come together as teams or as an entire faculty.
School improvement is based upon our ability to create a change system and it requires a culture of discipline. As Jim Collins explains in his book Good to Great, schools require a culture of disciplined people, disciplined thought, and disciplined action.

So what are the fundamentals of effectiveness for school improvement? Aristotle reminds us that, "we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." A culture of relationships and collaboration is an essential part of school improvement and increased student learning performance. The school environment must nurture excellence, risk taking, and creativity.

A shared vision is critical for success.
Waukesha North's vision is:

* Waukesha North will be a learning organization dedicated to equity, excellence, and high expectations for all.

* Waukesha North will create a performance culture of learning that promotes innovative thinking, collaborative learning, and personalized learning experiences to prepare students for their future. We will nurture a culture of excellence and equity for a continuum of learners.

Professional learning teams must share this vision for improving school innovation and increasing student learning performance. The guiding question must always be asked, what are students learning and achieving as a result of what teachers are learning and doing in PLC action teams? All teams must engage in cycles of collective learning and inquiry to improve educator practice and student performance. Every team must set specific, measurable targets for improved student learning in their classrooms for each cycle of learning and inquiry during the school year, measure progress toward these targets, examine student work samples and data, and modify work with students. Sound familiar?

You know what needs to be done. For successful change to occur, teams must establish a sense of urgency and create and communicate a compelling vision. All teachers are leaders. Support one another to take action for innovation and improving student learning.

Aim High, Achieve More

This book by Yvette Jackson and Veronica McDermott talk about how to transform urban schools through fearless leadership. One of the main tenants of an urban leader is a commitment to proving that demographics need not be a destiny.

Leadership matters. It has the second-most profound influence on student achievement after classroom instruction. It is through instructional improvement and relationships that we need to support our leaders just as our teachers need support in the work they do.

Fearless leaders inspire others. Our goal is to rekindle moral purpose, fan the fires of intellectual engagement, and restore hope, trust, love, and joy to two crucial, highly reciprocal activities: learning and teaching.

Inspirational leaders know the way, show the way, and get out of the way. :-)

By modeling desired thoughts and behaviors, leaders furnish the inspiration needed to motivate teachers and students to think and act in transformed ways.

In whatever leadership role you possess, may you aim high and achieve more!

The Skillful Team Leader

So, I guess one advantage of spending waiting time in hospitals lately, is that I am able to do a ton of reading. My latest read is a resource for overcoming hurdles to professional learning for student achievement.


I am blessed to have a skillful leadership team. I have three wonderful Associate Principals, and two in house Instructional Coaches, that have helped move forward our values, our vision, and provide guidance to the work that our teacher teams do. What a teacher believes in his core about every student's capacity to learn impacts his effectiveness in the classroom. In turn, what a team leader believes in her core about every teacher's capacity to learn and improve impacts her effectiveness in leading a team. Applied to leadership, the skillful team leader approaches hurdles from a growth mindset with a belief that every student and every teacher can improve as can her own ability to lead them.


Collaboration is fundamental to professional learning. The collaboration most teams hope to achieve, but only some do, is that in which team members work well together, learn from one another, and implement change that yields measured gains for students. How high-functioning is the team that you are a part of?  

The "real" work of all teachers is to promote learning for student achievement. Team goals and action plans should advance that work. This is what all teachers will produce  next school year with evidence in their SLO's.

Rigorous discourse in your PLC teams without data is like trying to get a weightlifter's body without weights. There might be a modest benefit, but no one should expect transformation. My intention as a school leader is to make sure that every teacher, every PLC team....achieves this transformation for the sake of our students!

NEVER Underestimate Your Teachers- Instructional Leadership for Excellence in Every Classroom

I got the opportunity to hear Robyn Jackson as a keynote speaker this year during an AWSA conference and was very interested in her belief that all teachers can become master teachers. As Roland Barth says in On Common Ground, "If we truly believe that all children can learn, then we must believe that all educators can learn, even in the face of contrary evidence."

All teaching is a combination of skill and will. Skill is the science of teaching; it involves a teacher's pedagogical and content knowledge. Will has to do with a teacher's passion; it is the art of teaching.

As leaders, it becomes our job to help distinguish between the will and skill of our teachers so that we can best support them. Peter Drucker says, "what you have to do and the way you have to do it is incredibly simple. Whether you are willing to do it, that's another matter."

What then drives teachers to become master teachers? What drives the skill and the will to see all students experience success in the classroom?

Building a mastery-focused environment is essential. Every teacher must be on a pathway to mastery.

Great teaching happens on purpose. It's deliberate. It's about developing a mindset, an internal voice that helps teachers plan effective lessons, solve problems on the spot, and ultimately make the right decision for every student every day. The success or failure of your curriculum, organization and reform models depends upon the people who must carry it out in individual classroom environments.

Our students deserve to learn in classrooms where their teachers are getting better every day. They deserve teachers who are their best selves and consistently giving the best of themselves to their students.

ROLE Reversal- Achieving Uncommonly Excellent Results in the Student-Centered Classroom

After 20 years in the classroom, Mark Barnes finally figured things out. He empowered his students to be more responsible for their own learning. He created an academic environment in which students thrive and develop a genuine thirst for knowledge instead of chasing grades. Can this really happen?

A ROLE classroom stands for a results-only learning environment. Letting go of as much control as possible may be the single most important part of creating this successful classroom.

We know, people are motivated by three things: autonomy, mastery and purpose (Pink, 2009).
These qualities are the backbone of a results-only class and it gives students a real chance at mastery learning.

The results-only classroom is project based. It's also important to have at least one year-long project that students can work on occasionally in class as a backdrop to other activities. Mark says that a well-crafted year-long project will incentivize students to continue to improve it, even if it's not always part of the curriculum or being graded.

Strategies vital to a results-only learning environment include:
1- Incorporate the Year-Long Project
2- Talk Less. When the teacher stops talking, learning begins.
3- Build Choice into ALL Activities
4- Convert to a Workshop Setting
5- Integrate Technology

Get your students excited about learning! Always ask yourself what will give your students autonomy and a thirst for learning. How can you make your class a student-centered learning community?

SLO's...Student Learning Outcomes

One of the many things I did this week, was attend a state session on the new Educator Effectiveness process. I am pretty thick into the Professional Practice piece as I have piloted the process with three teachers this school year. I am also using Danielson's domains and rubrics as part of my feedback for all teachers on the supervision and evaluation cycle. Part of the expected evaluation process for 2014 includes teachers and teams establishing student learning outcomes. The concept is basically SMART goals for everyone.

I have started to prepare the Waukesha North High School staff for these new measurements by having them come up with PLC SMART goals this year. Where I believe we currently lack fidelity is in the old adage "what gets measured gets done". Our administrative team has not monitored the SMART goals at the mid-checkpoint and I am not sure that my teachers have monitored themselves in this area?

So, what does this all mean?

These SLO's should include a measurable baseline, a measurable target, a specific time frame, specificity about what is being assessed, specificity about the method of assessment, and focus areas.
There is a rubric that will measure whether or not you have met expectations for student growth in your SLO. Does your evidence indicate substantial growth for most of your targeted student population? Have you fully achieved the expectations described in the SLO and demonstrated notable impact on student learning?

As full implementation of the Educator Effectiveness model is required in 2014, we need to practice and reflect NOW on how this will happen.

Instructional Rounds in Education

I finally finished this book that Jason Smith gave me several months ago, called Instructional Rounds-A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning. I am excited by this collaborative approach to system success because it leads to student success. I am encouraged by the feedback I have received from several North teachers who have taken advantage of visiting their colleagues' classrooms, thanks to the prompting of our Instructional Coach, Amie Farley.

Waukesha North, I believe, has finally reached that "aha" moment, that closed classroom doors will not help us educate all students to high levels. What goes on in classrooms is at the heart of instructional improvement, and a key part of our continued growth is growing our collective efficacy when we visit each others classrooms and then reflect upon what we have observed.

This process had been slow to start, but if the invitation to visit classrooms did not result in awkwardness and disequilibrium, it would not effect any significant cultural transformation.

As Principal, it is my responsibility to foster a culture that creates a safe space for individual and organizational learning. During visits, the goal is to learn about teaching, not to focus on teachers. A key part of this work is building trust and collective efficacy. This opportunity has enormous power to unlock peer learning, to support improvement in our instructional core, and support one another in improving instruction for all of our students.

Instruction is at the core of our school improvement efforts. Even if we start with three simple questions:

1. What are teachers doing and saying?

2. What are students doing and saying?

3. What is the task?

If people associate their learning not only with their own growth and development, but also with those of their colleagues and the entire organization; and if trust and collective efficacy are at the center of our culture, then the conditions are conducive to adult learning, which is a prerequisite for instructional improvement.

A sincere thank you from myself...and from our students...for embracing a collaborative learning culture that will ultimately lead to improved teaching and learning and collective success for not only all of us, but most importantly for all our students.

Cage-Busting Leadership

Just the title of this book by Frederick M. Hess, made me want to dive in and learn more about cage-busting! :-)

My world as a High School Principal is continuously thinking ambitiously about how to create a great school and then doing what it takes to make that a reality. This book encourages you to look in the mirror and do just that.

Changing cultures seems to be one of the hardest jobs in leadership because there is so much previous structure and culture to overcome. Changing culture requires changing routines and expectations. Once you've embraced the cage-busting mind-set -- once you're questioning routines, challenging obstacles, and seeking new possibilities and solutions-- transformative leadership becomes more manageable and less exhausting.

The first thing we all need to step back and clarify is our values, aims, and vision. Harness this laser-like focus for yourself and your staff so that you build an environment where you change what is possible for all students. Cage-busting requires clarity on what you are trying to do and what you think a great school can be.

There is an exciting buzz around Waukesha North HS with regards to technology. We have been chosen as the first 1:1 environment for next school year. All teachers and all students with access to a device. If our teachers can, each day, spend ten fewer minutes entering data and grading quizzes, ten minutes fewer passing and collecting papers, and ten minutes fewer walking students to the library or accessing student data, they will save eighty or ninety hours a year. That's like another 15 instructional days they can devote to teaching, mentoring, or lesson design. Wow!

The biggest disappointment as a leader, is thinking that everyone will love you. It is likely that if you are going to move student achievement and everyone's happy, you are probably not ruffling enough feathers. I applaud my teachers for accepting that the status quo hasn't worked to this point, and that in order to serve all students successfully we need the people on the right seats on the bus...moving positively forward.

Every one of us has cage-busting leadership inside of us. Transformative leadership entails setting a vision, seeing clearly, asking questions, managing relationships, clearing obstacles, ensuring accountability, and creating a culture. This requires energy and engagement. Together...we will transform teaching and learning...one day at a time....one life at a time.

Enhancing Professional Practice

As Wisconsin gears up for the new Educator Effectiveness framework in 2014, our North leadership team continues to grow ahead of the curve. We just finished the book, Enhancing Professional Practice- A Framework for Teaching, that outlines Danielson's domains of: Planning and Preparation, The Classroom Environment, Instruction, and Professional Responsibilities.

As Principal of Waukesha North, I was able to pilot the new framework with three teachers this school year. It has been most rewarding to focus our improvement efforts on shared definitions and understandings of student learning and student outcomes. After all, our primary mission is to enhance student learning.

In the framework for teaching, PURPOSE is central to engaging students in learning important content and creating situations for them to put this learning into action!  A teacher's role is not so much to teach as it is to arrange for learning. The teacher is in charge of organizing the environment, managing the learning process, and establishing the framework for critical thinking and creative exploration.

If one component of the framework for teaching can claim to be the most important, it is student engagement. The quality of student engagement is the direct result of careful planning of learning experiences. Hands-on activity is not enough; it must also be "minds-on".

Schools with a culture for learning are purposeful and exciting places. Is the Purple Palace that exciting place? Do you feel high levels of intellectual energy?
What is your role to get us there?

Cognitive Dissonance

According to Wikipedia, the definition of cognitive dissonance is the feeling of discomfort when simultaneously holding two or more conflicting cognitions: ideas, beliefs, values or emotional reactions. The world of education seems to be straddling the fence right now. The traditional institution of a comprehensive high school is being put to the test. How do I know this? I am a High School Principal, at Waukesha North HS, in a district that is the seventh largest in the state of Wisconsin.

To live out our mission of achieving excellence and equity in education, we are faced with classrooms of our past, and the vision of our future...which some cannot conceptualize. The legacy of our classrooms, textbooks, desks, papers, and bells served all us successfully. At least that is what they tell us. Not that I remember anything about my high school except practices and games in volleyball, basketball, and softball that happened after the three o'clock bell.

iPads, MacBook Airs, Google Apps for education...personalizing education for each of our unique learners. Is it possible? Is it possible to design learning spaces differently? Is it possible to empower students to be metacognitive thinkers instead of compliant doers?

The feeling of cognitive dissonance can sometimes be overwhelming. My challenge for you is to take a look at our students, and listen to what they are telling us. Listen, learn, and lead your students to a learning environment that will help them become successful in life beyond our institutional walls.