What Does Your Local Legislator Know About Your Work?

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“The difference between a politician and a statesman is that a politician thinks about the next election while the statesman thinks about the next generation.” –Hillary Rodham Clinton

Policy changes can move slowly and impact people – including our students and teachers – for years while we learn about actual consequences to well-intended mandates.  For those of us used to the crazy pace of the classroom, the geologic-timing of governmental response can be frustrating.  (Although, to be fair, if policy change happened quickly – that would have its own set of consequences.)

Here in Washington State we have what is termed “citizen legislators.”  In general, while the “salary and time required for the job” significantly limits who can serve, it is also “difficult for legislators to obtain and maintain outside employment.” According to the Washington Citizens’ Commission, (Washington) state legislators typically spend about 70% of a full-time job.  Although their income from legislative work is greater than that for (other types of state) legislatures, it is usually not enough to allow them to make a living without other sources of income.

According to a 2012 National Conference of State Legislatures survey, Washington state elected officials have average annual salaries of $42,106. If we take the “70% of a full-time job” figure at face value, this means our elected officials are in jobs that would average annual salaries of … wait for it… $60,151.

Wow.  Why would someone do such a difficult, important job for such paltry compensation?  I mean – the complexity, the stress, the 24/7 public element of the position…it sounds so…so much like…TEACHING.

Clearly, both members of political and educational professions must work from a reserve of passion and dedication, and not omnipotence.  Understanding that they are dedicated, what is the best way for these folks to learn about your day-to-day professional issues?  From YOU.  You and I must engage our citizen legislators and be the teachers we claim to be.  Educate our representatives.

One recent example of this occurred in Eastern Washington.  My colleague Dr. Lambert, from Whitworth University, and I convened a panel of student teachers, mentor teachers, a supervisor, and professors to teach our area senators and representatives about the new exam required of preservice teachers, the educational Teacher Performance Assessment

(edTPA).  One of the legislators left with this comment, “This was one of the best events of this type I have attended.”  Others agreed and thanked us for the format, which was a bit different than what they usually experience.  Instead of asking them to come with all the answers, we invited them to come with questions while we supplied the “testifying panelists.”  Every participant seemed grateful and expressed a desire to work further on the issues together.  I feel great confidence that each of these legislators is going to the state capitol with a much better understanding of what is happening in this area of the profession and will move purposefully toward action that supports quality teaching and learning. 

We felt proactive. We felt like we had been heard.  We did not wait up in the tower, sighing with our head in our hands, hoping that someone would come ask us about the issues of the day.  We refused to gripe… and then sit idle.  Understanding that communication is our duty as good citizens and educators, we felt good as we partnered with our citizen legislators.

We educators always have our eye on the next generation, and so do our legislators.  How can you help our well-meaning citizen legislators to become better informed about our profession?

Suzann Girtz, Ph.D.

Asst. Professor

Teacher Education

Gonzaga University, Spokane, WA

girtz@gonzaga.edu

Are You PLC Lite?

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Terms travel easily. PLC is one of them. Many of us have them, but how we use them is really quite varied. The problem is that the results vary as widely as the manner in which we decide to implement our collaboration time. As a principal, I am constantly faced with decisions which could potentially allow for other agenda items to become more important than the mission itself. When we sacrifice our values we give permission to others to believe that the vision you have set before your staff is really not that important. There are, however, specific paradigms that wedge their way into our work and slowly disrupt our best intentions. When this happens we fall victim to the knowing-doing gap. This is a common misstep in PLC. We all know a well-intended leader working very hard to effect change in a building or district, but the results are a ‘mixed bag.’ The reasons why this occurs are due to both internal and external factors, some within our control, and others outside of it. I would argue these barriers to successful implementation are identifiable and navigable.

The PLC Knowing-Doing Gap

Professional Learning Communities have made their impact on many school districts across the nation. The level of implementation has much to do with the leader’s ability to understand and implement these concepts. Stanford professors Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert Sutton studied the knowing-doing gap (2000) focusing on understanding the barriers of turning knowledge into action and how to overcome these barriers. In their book, they discuss five principles that define the knowing-doing gap. These five principles apply to the implementation of PLCs as well.

If you know by doing, then there is no gap.  Whether you are implementing PLC from the ground level or piloting a new initiative, the best method for getting better is simply to learn by doing. We sometimes overthink our steps and wait until all the details align before engaging the work. At Glacier Middle School in the White River School District, we began the process of reviewing common assessment data in our PLC teams. In many respects we were unsure of whether what we were doing was the correct way. However, once we began the process we realized what needed to change and we made those changes in the moment. Because we did this together as a team the change was meaningful and the new product had ownership. We have developed the mantra – Get started, get better. The bottom line is that no matter how intimidating, or unwieldy the next step might be, just get started. Expect to make mistakes. That is what you are looking for; learning opportunities that arise in the moment and get fixed in the moment. Getting started right now, making mistakes, and fixing them in the moment is the quickest route to learning at high levels. Isn’t that what we would want for our students to do?

Talk. Does your PLC suffer from excessive talk and a lack of action? PLCs are prone to this dynamic. Without a well-established agenda, a strong team leader, and norms which hold team members accountable, PLCs quickly lose their power to the side bar conversation, the hidden agenda, or the ‘nay-sayer.’ When these conversations take over, you have effectively broken a promise to your stake-holders, the school board, your parents, and students. This is simply unacceptable. The time dedicated to PLC time must remain pure to its intent. Train your team leaders annually to draw them closer to the heart of the work and more deeply connected to the mission of improving student learning.

Memory. I call this ‘status quo’ thinking or ‘This is the way we have always done things around here.’ School systems are notorious for adhering to “the way things used to be.” The irony is that never in the history of education have we been in more need of doing something drastically different with how we teach our youngsters. The fact of the matter is that as we become well practiced at something we become rigid in how we do it. When we ask our teachers to meet in PLCs, collect data, share results with each other, and make changes to our practice, we are effectively asking teachers to change what they know and do differently. We are asking our teachers to feel anxiety and discomfort. Creating tension by implementing change is an emotional and trying effort. Stay true to your target, work with these mindsets as you grow forward.

Fear. The concept is simple. People may fear taking risks, sharing information, or making suggestions for improvement, especially if they think that they will be punished for doing so (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000). I have witnessed a staff share widespread concern that the data being collected on student learning was going to be used against them in year-end evaluations. The reality is that PLCs are professional development for teachers. Sharing data allows teachers to learn from each other and grow in their professional practice. When we implement PLCs with fidelity we need to confront fear by giving voice to teams to make decisions, open the channels for healthy communication, go soft on ideas and hard on people, treat failure as an opportunity to grow, punish inaction, give second and third chances, learn from and celebrate mistakes, follow creativity, and banish people, especially leaders who humiliate others (Pfeffer & Sutton, 2000).

Measurement. Data is our world. We have become an industry that champions the use of data and appropriately so. We are held accountable to it and we constantly seek and analyze it. The downfall is that many of us are poorly versed in the appropriate use of data; and more often than not wallow in the wrong data. Often times less is more. Too much focus on the wrong data obstructs good judgment. The key to using data effectively is to be intentional about the purpose of using it. If your goal is to determine whether or not students learned a specific standard, then keep your data specific to that purpose and no more.

While these are important considerations, it also equally important to consider your building and district culture as well. The gap between knowing and doing is not a struggle for one individual. It is an organizational phenomenon. The very nature of leading an organization embodies an organic element which requires human relations and behavioral dynamics. Building trust, confidence, and morale is essential for establishing a strong and safe environment for changing a culture. As we lead in our work, we must be cognizant of the effect we play on the organization and how we interpret problems. Instead of creating a solution to fix the problem, we need to go to the root cause and solve the issue there. Having a keen sense of the gap will enable us to see how we allow for problems to occur, and begin solving the problem by looking at ourselves first, and then how we are connected to the system.

references

DuFour, R. (2007). In praise of top-down leadership. The School Administrator, 38-42.

DuFour, R., & Eaker, R. (1998). Professional learning communities at work: Best practices for enhancing student achievement. Bloomington, IN. Solution Tree

DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & DuFour, R. (2002). Getting started: Reculturing schools to become professional learning communities. Bloomington, IN. National Educational Service

DuFour, R., Eaker, R., DuFour, R., & Many, T. (2006). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities at work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Fullan, M. (2001). Leading in a culture of change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Pfeffer, J., & Sutton, R. I. (2000). The knowing doing gap: How smart companies turn knowledge into action. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

Reeves, D. (2007). Closing the implementation gap. Educational Leadership, 64(6), 85-86.

Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday Currency.

Senge, P., N. Cambron-McCabe, T. Lucas, B. Smith, J. Dutton, & A. Kleiner. (2000). Schools that learn: A fifth discipline field book for educators, parents, and everyone who cares about education. New York, NY: Doubleday.

Dr, Greg Borgerding

Principal, Glacier Middle School

White River School District

gborgerding@whiteriver,.wednet.edu

Closing the Achievement Gap through Collaborative Bridge Building?

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“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much” ― Helen Keller

Meeting with our local police officer regarding the behavior of one of our elementary students, our concern for his well-being, and that of his already over-stressed family, prompted a journey that forged collaborative relationships and deepened knowledge about the importance of children’s health in the context of school.

As educators, our daily priorities include analyzing data to close student performance gaps, designing professional development to support implementation of our new evaluation system, and supporting staff in deepening understanding of the Common Core State Standards. However, the reality is that many of our students do not arrive ready to learn; and are hampered by deep-seated health issues that affect their childhood and adolescence. In our quest to “close the gap” for all students, our understanding of  the importance of health and our connections with health care services may be bridges to success for the children we serve.

Facing seemingly insurmountable challenges in educating the child and recognizing the fragility of a family in need, we stepped beyond our school to launch a Community Connections Team.   We invited representatives from the police, schools, county health department, medical providers of low income health care, Child Protective Services, postal service, churches, housing agencies, and every other link to help that we could identify. As the meetings grew in size and enthusiasm, collaborative relationships emerged, along with products, such as a Community Resource Guide and a survey to identify needs and gaps for families.

Partners in the health care field expanded our knowledge to encompass emerging work in the area of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES).   We learned that the National Center for Disease Control (CDC) is also involved in this effort, and that the Federal Maternal Child Health Program had recently directed states to provide support through the county health departments. As we interacted with others engaged in this work, we applied data gleaned from the significant Kaiser Permanente study to better understand the dynamics at play in the schools.

The ACES work helps us to understand that adverse childhood experiences, such as emotional and physical neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence and parental substance use have lasting impact on the child.  It is now recognized that these events, often referred to as childhood trauma, influence the brain with long-term effects. As the young brain develops stress hormones flood the child’s system, causing actual structural changes.  Areas related to emotional regulation and cognitive processing are affected, which then become manifest in learning and behavior.  Trauma can have impact even before the child is born, as maternal stress hormones affect the growing fetus. 

Work by prominent leaders in the field offer insight into our students’ behavior.  Notably, Dr. John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist and an affiliate Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington School of Medicine, presents ground-breaking work that provides new direction for supporting our students’ success.  

Dr. Medina’s book “Brain Rules” details a fascinating view of the effects of multiple factors on our brains and offers implications for school and workplace. In his chapter describing the physical impact of stress on the brain, we recognize that many of our students experience great difficulty learning for reasons beyond the scope of our schoolhouse walls. Chronic stress, including parental conflict, divorce, and other common situations, affect our children and teens in profound ways.

In light of this research, the Compassionate Schools model, referenced below, provides a tangible means to work with students affected by adverse childhood experiences. For example, in Walla Walla, where collaborative efforts between the university, schools, health care, and community resource partners are in place; significant and positive results are emerging. Most recently, at Lincoln Alternative High School, which has embraced the Compassionate Schools model, graduation rates have increased five-fold, discipline referrals and expulsions have plummeted and achievement scores have risen. As Lincoln High School, Principal Jim Sporleder notes in a blog, “Accountability and consequences are foundational to our model. We would be doing our students a disservice if these weren’t in place. The difference for us, we seek for the cause, acknowledge the stress, offer support, teach strategies to learn how to self-regulate, and we teach our students about their brain and how stress impacts their inability to problem solve or take in new knowledge. The conversation depends on where the student is in their journey of understanding.” This understanding of the impact of trauma on the brain and learning, as well as the partnerships within the community make success for increasing numbers of students possible.

Results from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey taken in Washington State in 2011 indicate that 74% of Washington residents have experienced at least one Adverse Childhood Experience, and 28% have three or more.    This survey measures health status of adults, but the translation of ACES to younger generations can easily be recognized in the children. As these students’ teachers, principals, and district administrators seek to “close the gap” for the children and young adults, awareness of the impact of trauma on the developing brain provides critical insight. In our quest to ensure success for every student, the nexus between the worlds of education and health offers both hope and results.

For more information, here are additional resources.

Hertel, R, Johnson, M. M., Kinkaid, S. O.. & Wolpow, R. (2009). The Heart of Learning and Teaching: Compassion, Resiliency, and Academic Success. Olympia, WA: Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction Compassionate Schools (OSPI). 

Medina, J, (2008). Brain Rules. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.

Resource List from the Washington State Department of Health.

Kathryn McDaniel

Public Health Nurse Supervisor

Family Medical Center

Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic, Walla Walla

KathrynMc@yvfwc.org

Karin Manns

Principal, Monte Cristo Elementary and

Director of Teaching & Learning, Granite Falls School District

kmanns@gfalls.wednet.edu

Do I Need to be a Connected Educator?

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“I’m convinced that we as educators have an obligation to initiate new learning, become skillful in the use of new tools that accelerate and advance our learning work, and share with others what we are learning.”  - Pam Moran, Superintendent Albermarle County Public Schools

Educators have worked extremely hard over the past years to shift away from a paradigm of isolation and closed doors to one of inclusion and support.  School districts have developed and established professional learning communities to further the practice of connecting with colleagues and eliminate the practice of isolation.  Through this intentional work, school leaders and educators have learned from each other, supported one another through new learning, and become reliant on a small team of colleagues for support and encouragement.  They have become “connected” and see the potential in continuing the work.

Being connected to others is exciting.  As educators it is powerful to know that we can share ideas and learn from one another.  We now have the opportunity to stretch our thinking and create a network for learning.  Too often though, this network is limited to just our school walls.  To be a truly “connected educator”, we need to expand our network beyond the walls of the school and engage and participate in the global connectedness we live in.

To do this we must look beyond the traditional meaning of connectedness.  Defining it is not as simple as participating in a professional learning community at your school, belonging to the science team in your district, or knowing your colleagues and staff.  Many people instantly assume that in order to become a connected educator we need to embrace technology as the vehicle for this.  Technology can play a critical role, but being connected is much more than just using technology.  It is about the interactions and conversations we have with people.  It’s about connecting with people who inspire, support, and enrich your learning.  It’s about creating conversations that have purpose and meaning to your work.  It’s about becoming a connected learner and increasing your expertise.  In order to do this, an educator must be willing to:

•   Seek out and connect with other educators through any means, technology or otherwise.

•   Explore, create, share, and contribute something meaningful to the group.

•   Become digitally literate through the use of Twitter, reading of blogs, and the development of a Personal Learning Network (PLN).

•   Share with colleagues what you have learned through connecting with other educators.

•   Be transparent in thinking and reflect on the conversations you take part in.

•   Talk about how being connected has affected your work.

For me the answer about needing to be a connected educator is clearly yes.  Being an active participant in the connected world with which we live, has had a profound impact on my work as a school leader.  The connections I have created through using technology and otherwise, has allowed me to break down the isolation I feel as a solo building administrator.  I have a network of wisdom that I can turn to when I need information or want to learn something new.  Knowing that I can reach out and receive thoughtful, intelligent, and honest feedback is comforting.  The more conversations I have, the more I realize there is no way I could effectively do my job without being a connected educator.

Here are a few ways that our school and I have benefitted by becoming connected with others:

•   Fifth grade students participating in an “Identity Day” project where they create a display that shows what they are passionate about in their life.  This idea came from Chris Wejr, Principal at James Hill Elementary in Langley, British Columbia.  This project has become an integral part of our end of school year reflection.

•   Participating in the World Read Aloud Day with multiple classes in our school.  Through the power of Skype we read books aloud to other classrooms across the world.  Reading with a class of students in the country of Jordan was a highlight for all.

•   Participation in a local network of local school administrators to examine and reflect on the implementation of a new teacher evaluation system. 

•   Learning how to become more effective in my work as an instructional leader by participating in educational chats (edchats) on Twitter.

•   Developing a collaborative writing project between our school and an elementary school in Missouri.

This list is by now ways exhaustive, but I hope it provides you with a small glimpse on how being connected has made the work that happens in our school meaningful.

We live in a connected world and the students that walk through our doors each day are connected.  They want and need educators that are connected, not just through technology, but also with each other.  Being connected to others is exciting and I hope you find being connected as enriching to your practice as I have in mine.

Scott Friedman, Principal

Nine Mile Falls Elementary

Nine Mile Falls School District

sfriedman@9mile.org

Why does it seem like everything in education is changing? And, is there a way to think about the work that could make the work more manageable?

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Anyone working in education today knows this is a busy year. On top of local initiatives that were already underway in many districts, externally-imposed initiatives – such as the new teacher and principal evaluation systems, adoption and implementation of evaluation frameworks, student growth measures, Common Core State Standards (CCSS), and the new state assessment, Smarter Balanced (SB) – are also in full swing. So why does it seem like everything is changing? Because it is! In a nutshell, we are re-tooling almost everything in public education related to curriculum, instruction, and assessment.

Why so much change? Our work is changing because the purpose of American public education has changed. In 1993, we switched from a norm-referenced system of education to a criterion-referenced, or standards-based, system with the passage of HB 1209. The goal of the education system over the last 20 years has been to graduate students who were high school competent. Although the system is still standards-based, those standards have changed. Since August, 2013, the new goal is to get all students, not merely high school competent, but college and career ready.

Because our previous standards aimed only at high school competency and not college and career readiness, the CCSS are being implemented to provide a better path to college and career readiness. When the goal of education changed, the standards needed to change. Likewise, once the standards changed, the assessment used to measure the standards needed to change.

Although it is a lot of work to learn the new standards (CCSS) and to align to the new assessments (SB), it may be comforting to remember we have been doing this kind of work for two decades. These changes in curriculum and assessment, although numerous, are mostly just a “search and replace” of the work we have been doing and know how to do. On the other hand, instruction is likely to be the most overwhelming area of change because it has been the most neglected in previous reform efforts.

For 20 years, we have set curriculum standards (EALRs) and aligned to them (GLEs). We also established assessments (WASL/MSP/HSPE) and aligned to those (test specifications). During this time period, however, there was not much talk about instruction. Some of the state teacher evaluation criteria related to instruction, but no state or national initiative gave much attention to improving instruction. The theory of change for the last 20 years was essentially: Set standards and assess students; re-set standards and re-assess students; re-re-set standards and re-re-assess students. When students did not perform to the level of expectations, the standards were revised. The solution to improved student learning appeared to be solely in an aligned curriculum.

The next two decades, however, promise to look a bit different. Because college and career readiness has raised the standard on what students must achieve before exiting high school, students must learn more information, faster, and earlier than they have in the past. This being the case, if 70% of the students in a district were meeting the criterion standard when the goal was high school competency, then one might expect that percentage to go down now that there are more rigorous standards aimed at college and career readiness.

Just because we set new (higher) standards does not mean students will meet those standards unless we consider the role instruction has to play in learning. Research around cognitive science and learning theory indicates students can learn if they are taught in a way that helps them learn. The challenge over the next two decades will be moving our mindset from teaching content to facilitating learning.

The new emphasis on evaluation systems and frameworks reflects an intentional, purposeful effort to define effective instruction and to hold educators accountable for delivering it. Effective instruction will play a (perhaps the) key role in helping students succeed at more rigorous work, earlier in school. This is why there is so much emphasis on instruction now: Because we have never supported it systemically before, and we have some catching up to do. The theory of change for the next two decades is more likely to be characterized by the following:

Can we think about this work in a more manageable way? People are more likely to do something if it is doable. Therefore, how do we make sense of this work and keep it simple? First, try to think about all the changes as being under one initiative related to College and Career Readiness. Second, although CCSS and SB present new information, they are essentially the same kinds of work we have been doing for years. Third, beyond CCSS and SB, most of the other initiatives have to do with our new focus on instruction. Although the professional development that an educator attends might be titled TPEP, GLAD, AVID, GRR, STEM, STAR, Learning Walks, Lesson Study, Danielson, Marzano, 5 D+, Calibration, etc., they all have one thing in common – instruction. I believe helping educators understand why all the changes are happening and how they can make sense under one or two initiative umbrellas is the key to avoiding reform fatigue.

 

Duane Baker is the founder and president of Baker Evaluation, Research, and Consulting, Inc (The BERC Group). Dr. Baker has a broad spectrum of public school educational and program experience, including serving as a high school classroom teacher, high school assistant principal, middle school principal, executive director for curriculum and instruction, and assistant superintendent. Dr. Baker can be reached at duane@bercgroup.com.

How Do You Treat the 'New Kid' at Your School?

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Increasingly, as WSASCD provides professional development for teachers and administrators, student mobility and English Language Learners become topics of conversation.  With that in mind, I’ve chosen to focus my article on ways to ensure that new students are comfortable in our schools, enabling them to become engaged learners.  When a person is comfortable in a setting, students and adults alike, they are far more likely to engage. 

As a child born into a military family, I had the opportunity to be the ‘new kid’ at school a number of times, even attending three different high schools.  I will never forget the butterflies in the pit of my stomach every time I had to face a new classroom of students.  I was terrified!  That feeling is something I’ll never forget, and it became the impetus for me to provide a safe, welcoming, and caring environment for new students who came into my own classroom years later.  The challenge became even greater when I became an elementary principal, as I tried to help teachers understand that for many students, it is all they can do to muster up enough courage to go to a new school.  The last thing they need is to be told that we are not ready for them, so they have to wake up the next day and face that fear all over again. 

As a principal, when I talked with students who were moving from my school to a new school, their biggest worry was that they would not have any friends or that people would make fun of them.  The prospect of being friendless or getting teased is a concern for many students and can profoundly affect their sense of affiliation with school. Students, new to my school, would share the pain and anger they felt when they seemed invisible or not included. At the extreme, some students were not only treated with indifference but became targets of bullying.

Families that move frequently, do so for a wide variety of reasons – job changes and/or losses, homelessness, family issues, or military service.  Military children get new schools, new friends, and new homes on average about every three years, while the average American family moves once every five years. Most military children will attend six to nine different schools from grades K-12. According to the National Military Family Association, kids say that next to deployments, moving was the toughest thing about being a kid in a military family.

Research has shown that frequent school transitions can affect a child’s self-esteem and academic performance.  However, as a primary social environment for children, classrooms and schools are uniquely good places to learn how to treat others and how to tell others the way we want them to treat us. Dozens of times a day, people in schools negotiate interpersonal exchanges with others from diverse backgrounds, making schools a premier learning environment for social, emotional, and ethical learning, which can translate into more student engagement and increased academic performance.  With that in mind, here are some tried-and-true strategies that various schools have implemented.

1.    Remember that adults play a critical role in teaching children to be welcoming or rejecting. As a teacher, receiving that note in your mailbox, "You're getting a new student tomorrow," or seeing the classroom door open as the principal escorts a new student into the room can feel overwhelming. Your first thoughts might be "Where am I going to find a desk for him/her?" or "What about placement testing?"  If you let these thoughts shape your responses and treat the child as a bother and a nuisance, so will your students.  If you treat each new student as a welcome addition to the community, your students will, too.

2. Establish routines for welcoming new students. Teach students that it's their job to welcome and include. Show them what that means. Use strategies to communicate with and include children who don't speak English.  Partnering students who speak the same language would be an obvious solution, but without that benefit, a buddy or partner could use signs, pictures and other non-verbal means of communication to connect with the new student. Assigning lunch partners for lunchtime or play-partners at recess is another important way to build connections with the non-English speaking student. The languages of food and play are universal.  With a child who is new to the country, as well as to your classroom, share information about the child's home culture. Honor new students and their home culture by asking them to teach the class words, show pictures, or share their culture. Children feel more empathetic if they know something about the newcomer's background.
3. Create a link on our website to an online ‘Welcome Wagon’ with a wide range of topics. Give families the opportunity to e-mail their questions and special student needs to the school/district prior to arrival.  Make it possible for parents and students to schedule a visit to the school before school starts.  Upon arrival, provide a map of the layout of the school.
4. Create a buddy system within the classroom where teachers assign new students a ‘buddy’ to accompany the student to classes and that all-important first day of lunch.  Provide training and role-playing exercises for the buddy prior to accompanying the new student.

5. Create a parent-buddy system for newly relocated families. Encourage members to hold PTA offices. Having a parent get involved in school serves as a good example for a child to do the same.
6. Create a welcome bag with items such as a ‘The Principal is my Pal’ eraser, a coupon for a free cookie from the cafeteria, a pencil with a note from the school counselor, and a brochure from a kid’s perspective created by older students.
7. Keep on hand a ‘welcome wagon’ packet of information that you would normally give to new students at the beginning of the year, including the school handbook. Contacts for local resources like the post office, library, popular parks, or after-school programs, help new families get acclimated to the area quickly.
8. Create a morning ‘Welcome Room,’ staffed by a counselor, social worker, behavior interventionist, or caring parent.  This would be place where any student could go when they arrive at school each day.  For some students, the need to start the day with a caring adult can help with their transition to the new school.   It is also a place where students, who are not new to the school, can get the socio-emotional support they need to start the day.
9. Create a ‘New Found Friend Program’ or ‘Newcomers Club.’ New students become members of the Newcomers Club and meet monthly with the school counselor at a designated time. Club activities vary according to the needs of the members.
10. Encourage new students to join a team, a club, the band, a service organization, or student activities.  Especially for older students, having that sense of ‘belonging’ to a positive group can make all the difference in their outlook on school.  Be sure to reserve slots in classes, athletics, and clubs for students who arrive later in the year.

Children who feel welcome and comfortable in the school setting show increased engagement, better school performance, improved health, and more productive behaviors. Schools and educators are in a unique position to create ways to make that happen.  I wish you all the very best as you find ways to make the ‘new kid’ feel like he/she belongs at your school.

Contributed by:
Kathy Clayton, Executive Director
Washington State ASCD
kclaytonascd@gmail.com 

How Does Your ‘Garden’ of Professional Learning Grow? The ‘What’ and ‘How’ of Successful Standards Implementation

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“The most powerful strategy school systems have at their dis­posal to improve teacher effectiveness is pro­fessional development. It is available to almost every educa­tor, and—when planned and implemented correctly—it ensures that educators acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to help more students meet standards.”  (Hirsch, S., 2011)

As summer blooms in the Pacific Northwest, a garden analogy has resonance for me as I think about the professional learning systems necessary to support educators to implement and bring to life state learning standards in classrooms throughout the year. Observing gardens in my neighborhood reminds me of the intention (or lack thereof) that my neighbors and I put into the planting of bulbs, sowing of seeds, and trimming of trees and shrubs during the fall and winter months. What was the vision? What did we do since planting to cultivate the soil and plants for a productive spring? What did we invest (time, money, resources) and when? Did we have dedicated time for cultivating the garden? Who needed to be involved but wasn’t? What is our commitment to maintaining the garden now that it is flourishing and then in getting it ready for winter? Have we articulated a cycle of support that is sustainable and maintainable?
Similar questions are at the heart of the professional learning that is necessary for educators and students as we transition to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English language arts (ELA) and mathematics.

Washington’s four State Learning Goals articulated in the 1993 Basic Education Act present a vision of student learning in public education that acknowledges the importance of schools in supporting the whole child. This vision and goals, together with specifically articulated state learning standards, represent the “WHAT”, or the seeds that must be planted from the start of each student’s K-12 educational experience as to what all students should know and be able to do. Without ongoing intention and attention to educators’ professional learning needs from the start and throughout the year, the vision of every student graduating high school ready and prepared for their next steps whether they plan to enter the workforce or go to college, is not achievable. “Standards by themselves cannot raise achievement. Standards don’t stay up late at night working on lesson plans, or stay after school making sure every student learns – it’s teachers who do that. Standards don’t implement themselves. Education leaders from the state board to the building principal must make the Standards a reality in schools.” (CCSS Mathematics Publisher’s Criteria, p.1)
The “HOW” is essential. It is where the rubber meets the road in districts, buildings, and ultimately classrooms.

“The dramatic shift in teaching prompted by the common core will require practical, intensive, and ongoing professional learning – not one-off “spray and pray” training that exposes everyone to the same material and hope it sticks.” (Hirsh, S. 2011)

Over the past 18 months, our state has had the privilege of working with and learning from the national Learning Forward organization (formerly the National Staff Development Council) and the state of Kentucky as part of the national “Transforming Professional Learning (TPL) Initiative”. During the first year, Kentucky, as the first state to adopt and assess the CCSS, embarked on an overhaul of their state and local professional learning systems in support of the new standards in conjunction with a new educator evaluation system. States across the nation, including ours are also on a similar journey to navigate and integrate the interconnected efforts within implementing the new CCSS and transitioning to a new educator growth and development systems (in Washington this is the Teacher and Principal Evaluation Project). For the second phase of the project (this spring and next year), OSPI is partnering with Washington’s Learning Forward Affiliate, and Federal Way Public School’s Teaching for Learning team to define, refine, and put into practice foundational elements necessary to create and sustain strong professional learning systems at each of our levels that will sustain beyond changing standards. All three partners are deeply considering their roles for supporting high quality professional learning across the state.

Several excerpts from a recent Learning Forward action brief, Meet the Promise of Content Standards: Professional Learning Required (2011) capture the foundational underpinnings and core principles necessary for each of us in our difference roles to consider and act upon carefully. First, several core principles must be acknowledged in the shift of in relation to how the state, districts, and schools think about and support students and educators in these transitions (pp. 10-16):

·         Change requires learning;

·         Standards drive effective professional learning;

·         Professional learning addresses multiple purposes;

·         Commitment to equity ensures success for all students; and

·         Effective professional learning is a shared responsibility.

In the action brief, Joellen Killion (2011) also provides recommendations of specific actions that districts, schools, and individual educators can take as they consider the “how” in building comprehensive and sustainable professional learning systems (pp. 29-31) aligned with the core principles above and that echo throughout our work with Kentucky and within our state with Federal Way Public Schools.

I’d like to close with several questions that I will be using with my content team at OSPI and that I’d like to invite you to join us in considering as we reframe the “how” at each of our levels in our educational system:

·         What are the vision, mission, and beliefs for professional learning in your district or building?

·         How do you define professional learning?

·         What types of professional learning do educators experience and who participates?

·         What ensures that professional learning meets standards for high quality?

·         How is time allocated and who determines when it occurs and how it is used? When does it occur?

·         Who determines what types and how much funding are used to support professional learning for all teachers?

·         What other resources (staff, technology, materials) support professional learning? How are they acquired, allocated, and integrated?

·         How is professional learning evaluated? By whom? How often? Who uses the results? How?

As you engage in this dialogue personally and with your teams, there are many resources and districts out there to support you and serve as thought partners. In addition to the hyperlinks throughout this article, additional resources include:

·         Washington State’s CCSS District Implementation Readiness Assessment

·         Learning Forward’s publications: Meet the Promise of Content Standards: Professional Learning Required (2011) and Establishing Time for Professional Learning (2013)

References:
Killion, J. (2011) Meet the Promise of Content Standards: Professional Learning Required. Learning Forward. http://www.learningforward.org/docs/pdf/read-the-brief-%28pdf%29.pdf

Contributed by:

Jessica Vavrus

Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction

Jessica.vavrus@k12.wa.us