Maintaining the status quo - Transactional change- Transformational change

The third book read of my spring break is entitled, Five Levers to Improve Learning- How to prioritize for powerful results in your school, by Tony Frontier and James Rickabaugh.

What struck me most about the ideas in this book, were the ideas that each school and each leader in essence choose the changes that will happen for students in their respective schools. Planning happens in three very different ways. Planning for maintaining the status quo, planning for transactional change, and planning for transformational change.

The five levers of change they discuss are; structure, sample, standards, strategy and self.

Maintaing the status quo in any of these areas, still takes a certain amount of conscious preparation and planning on the part of the school leader. Transactional change is often visible and takes a significant amount of planning, but at the end of the day...if we have engaged in transactional change efforts, but student's do not have significantly different learning experiences/results, we have to ask ourselves if anything has really changed?

Unfortunately, there are still some schools where, "as long as no one complains", then administrators and teachers just quietly coexist. This sad reality prevents the entire field of education from making meaningful improvements. If I think about this for too long, I am disgusted and angered by its implications.
On the other hand, in high-achieving, thriving schools...the skills of the teacher, the engagement of the students, and the rigor of the curriculum are the most effective strategies in achieving transformational change.

School reform and innovation in education can happen, if the right levers are prioritized and the critical questions for prioritizing are at the forefront of all decision-making:

(1) What is the student learning outcome we are trying to influence?

(2) What levers will have the most direct impact on influencing that outcome for students?

(3) What is the magnitude of change necessary to obtain the results we seek?

It is inevitable that some type of change must occur in order to see increased levels of student

achievement and performance. Do you need a leader that can help with ongoing management of the status quo? Are there transactional changes in process and procedures that need to be addressed? Or are there tough, transformational changes in our current understanding of our work and our overall relationship to this work that need to be improved upon?

Navigating change whether you are leading change in your classroom, department, school, district, or state....is always complex and rarely easy.
Each serves a purpose, each yields different outcomes.

Is it worth it?

There is no more rewarding profession in the world, than that of an educational leader.

Leaders Eat Last

Why do only a few people get to say " I love my job"? How can we get everyone "livin' the dream"?

Sinek's book says that a leader who takes care of their people and stays focused on the well-being of the organization can never fail. Is it really that easy? Can people in any organization take a step back and really reflect on their current leadership and their willingness to place the needs of others above their own?

When energy is transferred from the top of the organization to those who are actually doing the job, those who know more about what's going on on a daily basis, the entire organization becomes more powerful. In essence the organization can carry out the values and goals of the organization without the leader.

Everything about being a leader is like being a parent. It is about committing to the well-being of those in our care and having a willingness to make sacrifices to see their interests advanced. This is what leadership is all about.

Are you a leader?

How Children Succeed

Our team @WaukeshaNorth1 just got done reading and discussing this book. The thought-provoking parallel that kept coming up was the question, "how do our experiences in childhood make us the adults we become?"

As teacher leaders, administrators and school support personnel, we cannot expect to solve the intricate problems of a school without taking into account what is happening in the community. Reading about the correlations between adverse childhood experiences and negative adult outcomes was stunning.

Children who grow up in stressful environments generally find it harder to concentrate, harder to sit still, harder to rebound from disappointments, and harder to follow directions.

Notice I didn't mention the word poverty here, which is often times brought up as a determining indictor. It isn't poverty itself that is compromising executive functions but rather the stress that goes along with it.

Being a teacher is one of the most important professions in the world. Being a caring and engaged parent is the most high-stakes job that eventually will impact your child for their entire lifetime. Love, live, laugh and make each moment count. A special thank you to my Mother, Granny and Grandpa Collins for their everlasting love.