Spotlight on Success Presentation

The following is an excerpt from a presentation I made to a group of peers at yesterday's principals' meeting.

This I believe…sometimes, in order to sustain change, you must keep things the same.

As most of you know, in July of 2008, I moved into the principal position at Laird. At that time, Laird had a reputation as a strong Reading First site, with several grade levels K-3 frequently ranking at the top of the Reading First project data. Laird also found itself showing well in TD3’s Comprehensive Achievement Analysis. For all intents and purposes, under Dr. Klajda’s leadership, Laird had “turned around” and was showing academic success that “beat the odds” given its level of “at-risk-ness”. As I prepared to take this role, I shared my concerns with some of my colleagues, “If you go into a school with data that is in the toilet, the only direction you can go is up. When you assume the reins of a high flyer, there is always a risk of crashing the plane.”

Often times, we, as leaders, when assuming a new role, are anxious to make it “ours”; that temptation was there for me during my first year. We must be cautious, however, to do a systemic assessment before we rush into any change. Where research-based leadership, instruction, intervention and assessment systems are in place, we need to analyze their effectiveness prior to performing a radical overhaul.

During my first year at Laird, based on an analysis of their data, I chose to do everything in my power to keep the momentum going, while assessing and analyzing site needs and available resources. Instruction and intervention systems remained in place, weekly leadership team meetings continued to be held with a focus on student data. Weekly grade level team meetings for (alternately) reading and math continued. Intervention systems remained in place. Walkthroughs and coaching across K-7 in reading and math was ongoing.

Even with these constants, there were still changes. Not only had the principal role changed, but there were new staff members in kindergarten, fifth grade, sixth grade and seventh grade as well as in the Language Arts coach position. This was the first year Laird housed a seventh grade. As a first year principal my level of effectiveness as a leader and as an instructional coach was not as strong as I would have liked it to be.

The result, we saw gains in our data, but not to the extent we would have liked. Our status, although remaining in the top tier on the CAA, dropped. A couple of grade levels showed a decrease in their effectiveness. All in all, we stayed the course, and successfully added a seventh grade to the mix.

During year two I began to refine, build, and scaffold those areas that were rough, had gaps, or started to fall off. I also began to identify the gaps in my own skill set that needed support in order for me to help Laird move forward. Math grew as a focus while maintaining the gains made in reading. More new staff joined the Laird team. Teachers demonstrating less effectiveness were challenged to step up. Eighth grade was added to the campus. Reading systems continued to receive the support for sustainability. Intervention systems for reading remained in place.

The result, our reading data remained solid across all grade levels except for second, where we continue to see a dip. All grades made AYP for math outright except for 7^th and 3^rd. Math will continue to be an area to target for improvement.

As I move into year three, I have made the most significant changes. The only grade level staying the same in regards to staffing is 4^th. Instruction and intervention systems, leadership team meetings, grade level team meetings and data driven decisions remain an integral part of Laird’s culture. These are areas of systemic change that need to continue to be refined, but must remain in place in order for Laird to maintain its current level of success.

The lesson for all of us, especially Ken, maintaining systemic reforms that have led to achievement gains are more important than putting our personal leadership stamp on our schools. When we are placed into new leadership roles, we must sustain the positive changes that have happened before us while continuing our quest to improve. As we bring on new principals to existing sites, we must also support them in maintaining and sustaining areas where systemic change has already happened.