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Leadership -- doing what is right and best for the WHOLE organization

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Access this webinar by entering name and email -- an hour long lesson on going districtwide with your classroom digital citizenship program.

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Presented by Theresa Ellington, Instructional Technology Manager, Life Schools Charter School in Texas
Hosted by Common Sense Education and Sponsored by Symantec
WATCH THE EDWEBINAR RECORDING If you attended the live session, you'll be emailed a CE certificate within 24 hours of the edWebinar. If you view the recording and would like a CE certificate, join the Digital Learning & Leadership community and go to the edWebinar Archives folder to take the CE quiz.
What are some ways to get started teaching digital citizenship? What is the best strategy to implement a digital citizenship plan throughout a school or district?

In this edWebinar, Theresa Ellington, Instructional Technology Manager for Life Schools Charter School in Texas, guides through the planning and implementation of digital citizenship from one classroom to districtwide adoption. Theresa shares tips, resources, and the step-by-step process used to achieve district implementation. Gain valuable insight on developing or extending your own digital citizenship plan at the teacher or district level.

This recorded session is designed for K-12 teachers, administrators, and library media specialists. Learn how to take your digital citizenship program to the next level!
About the Presenter
Theresa Ellington is the instructional technology manager for Life Schools, an eight-campus charter school district south of Dallas, TX. She is a veteran Texas-certified middle and high school math teacher with 10 years in the classroom and 13 years in education. Theresa's teaching experience and training includes working with special populations, such as GT/2E students, ELLs, and students with dyslexia and ADD/ADHD. She has a passion for integrating technology and interactive notebooks, as well as implementing innovative data-driven teaching and classroom management methods to inspire students to reach and feel success.

As a Google for Education Certified Educator and Trainer, a Microsoft Innovative Educator, and an Apple Teacher 2016, Theresa has skills in educational technology that stretch across many devices and platforms to reach the needs of all. Theresa is an ambassador and podcast guest for You Can Do the Rubik's Cube, a Google for Education Certified Trainer, a Common Sense Educator, and a guest blogger for GradeCam.
Join the Digital Learning & Leadership community to network with educators, participate in online discussions, receive invitations to upcoming edWebinars, view past edWebinars, take a quiz to receive a CE certificate for a past edWebinar, and access free resources. WATCH THE EDWEBINAR RECORDING
Common Sense Education provides teachers and schools with free research-based classroom tools to help students harness technology for learning and life. Our K-12 Digital Citizenship Curriculum and interactive games teach students how to make safe, smart, and ethical decisions in the digital world. And our revolutionary educational rating system, Common Sense Graphite, helps educators discover, use, and share high-quality digital products that propel student learning.

Symantec was founded in 1982 by visionary computer scientists. The company has evolved to become one of the world's largest software companies with more than 18,500 employees in more than 50 countries. We provide security, storage and systems management solutions to help our customers - from consumers and small businesses to the largest global organizations - secure and manage their information-driven world against more risks at more points, more completely and efficiently than any other company.

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Roadmap to Districtwide Digital Citizenship Adoption

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Presented by Theresa Ellington, Instructional Technology Manager, Life Schools Charter School in Texas Hosted by Common Sense Education and Sponsored by Symantec WATCH THE EDWEBINAR RECORDING If you attended the live session, you'll be emailed a CE certificate within 24 hours of the edWebinar.

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Steps to Begin a Digital Citizenship Program

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Steps to Begin a Digital Citizenship Program

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7 beginner's steps in digital citizenship for any district

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How should an entire district begin teaching digital citizenship? To begin with, creativity, flexibility and strong goals are a must.

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"But once you are satisfied with it, share it and live it."

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Another video about the need for recess in each school day

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The research is clear. If you want smart, healthy, well-rounded children it pays to invest in recess.

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Learning Walks
Instructional Rounds
Walk Throughs

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Classroom walk-throughs are a trend that is on the move! The non-threatening, non-evaluative walk-throughs give principals a quick snapshot of student learning. That snapshot is used to engage teachers in conversations about how to improve teaching. Included: Principals talk about the benefits of walk-throughs, and how to initiate walk-throughs with teachers who might fear frequent classroom visits by the principal.

School leaders are under a lot of stress -- but if exercise is a stress antidote, then principals might be among the healthiest managers around. That's because a lot of principals are doing an awful lot of walking. They're using a technique known as the walk-through to take the pulse of student learning in their schools.

The walk-through technique is based on the work of Carolyn Downey and others (authors of The Three-Minute Classroom Walk-Through: Changing School Supervisory Practice One Teacher at a Time). Walk-throughs are intended to be separate from any formal teacher evaluation process. The technique is used strictly as a means of engaging teachers in dialogue and reflection about teaching practices and school-wide goals.

The walk-through process can benefit teachers in many ways, according to Kathy Larson of the Cooperative Education Service Agency #2 in Milton, Wisconsin. Larson, who presents a session called Classroom Walk-Through Training, says teachers benefit by learning to use reflection to increase their knowledge, skills, and performance; strategically aligning classroom instruction to district curriculum; and increasing student learning across grade levels.

As one teacher put it, walk-throughs "allow us to see where we want to go, with the students' best interests in mind."

MORE BENEFITS OF WALK-THROUGHS

Principals who have been trained to use the walk-through observation technique speak clearly about its benefits.

"The biggest benefit is that the process gets principals into classrooms much more often and with a specific reason in mind," said principal Todd Wiedemann. Since the walk-through has a specific focus "it puts teachers and principals on the same page in terms of expectations."

Another huge benefit is that it's an effective use of a principal's time, Wiedemann told Education World. "To make it into every classroom once every two weeks and only use 10 to 15 percent of my time is an awesome advantage."

Principal Ron Tibbetts agreed that getting principals into classrooms more often is one of the biggest benefits of the walk-through approach. "The more principals are able to spend time in classrooms, the more they understand what the teacher is doing and how the art of teaching is approached," he said. "Walk-throughs create a mutual ground for discussing students, curriculum, achievement, and behavior. They keep the administrator 'in-touch' with day-to-day classroom activities."

Walk-throughs enable principal Marguerite McNeely to really know her teachers' strengths and weakness. "By knowing that, we can plan for improved instruction," said McNeely. "Doing walk-throughs -- being visible and giving feedback -- helps everybody know that I am active within the school and pressing for improvements always. Walk-throughs reinforce that I have a vested interest in what goes on daily in our school."

Walk-throughs also improve rapport with the students and decrease discipline issues, said McNeely. "And when I do walk through, I also check lighting, space and maintenance issues, the availability and condition of textbooks and other materials, teacher routines such as gradebooks, attendance, and lesson plans...

"A lot can get done in a walk-through," added McNeely. "The staff welcomes me because they know I am there to aid them and support their efforts."

The dialogue that results from walk-through observations is the biggest benefit for principal Deepi Kang-Weisz. "The reflective focus questions become a springboard for professional dialogue that is all about improving instruction and learning," she told Education World.

"Walk-throughs are a great way to maintain contact, and they provide a basis for reflection and sharing effective practices for staff as individuals and a faculty as a whole," added Kang-Weisz. "At staff meetings, I share some of the great things I see during walk-throughs. I encourage staff to share their practices, and we all ask questions and learn together. We are a professional learning community at work."

THE KEY TO MAKING WALK-THROUGHS WORK

Making teachers comfortable with the walk-through process is the key to making it work. At the first mention of frequent, quick classroom walk-throughs, teachers might resist. They may fear that there is an ulterior motive or that the purpose behind walk-throughs is to "catch" them doing something wrong. Combating those fears and establishing trust -- and helping teachers see walk-throughs as the non-threatening tool it is -- is key, said Kang-Weisz.

"Talking about the process and determining collectively the focus questions around which walk-through observations are done is essential," she added. "The shortness of the time spent walking through classrooms is balanced by the number of times a principal gets into each room during the year. There is a cumulative effect from those visits that provides an overview."

For Todd Wiedemann, training is the key. "You have to train the teachers on the importance of the walk-throughs and the relevance of the data collected," he told Education World. "Teachers have to buy in to the fact that walk-throughs are a tool that will be used to help them improve and not to punish them.

"Once you get the teachers to buy in to that thought, then you have to make sure you are consistent with the follow-through. Use the data collected to drive staff meetings, and incorporate the data into the school improvement plan."

Each year, Marguerite McNeely spends part of her first faculty meeting prepping teachers for her regular classroom visits. "I provide teachers with all the informal and formal forms I will be using when observing them. I explain what each item on those forms is measuring and how it can help us in development of a successful school," she explained. "I am very up front with my expectations."

Ron Tibbetts also sets the tone for regular classroom visits from the start of the school year. "At the first teachers' meeting, I mention that one of the things I like to do is visit classrooms, even if it is only for five minutes or less," said Tibbetts. "That sets the stage for regular walk-throughs.

"The more I can get into a classroom, the less of a distraction my visits become to students and the more comfortable a teacher will become with having me in the room. In a way, the goal of walk-throughs is that I will be such a common presence that teachers will wonder what is going on when I cannot get into their classrooms."

AN EXTENSION OF MBWA

Many principals see classroom walk-throughs as an extension of the Management-By-Walking-Around (MBWA) strategy developed by Hewlett-Packard executives in the 1970s and popularized in the book In Search of Excellence by Tom Peters and Robert Waterman.

"Whether walking through a classroom, the cafeteria, or a hallway, the walk-through technique keeps an administrator visible and accessible," said Tibbetts. "Walking through classrooms offers possibilities for interactions that otherwise might not occur.

"This morning I fielded a question about an Internet connection and was able to bring a printer back online. A couple of classrooms later I had the pleasure of listening to a kindergarten child read me her story about her family and her new brother...

"I might not get into every class every day, but walking around the school at least once every day is a necessity. It is important for visibility, but it is also necessary to check safety, security, and other building concerns."

WALK-THROUGH FOCUS QUESTIONS

Principal Michael Miller aims to get himself or his assistant principal into every classroom a total of three times a week. "My school is 800 students so that is a tall task, but most weeks we meet our goal," Miller told Education World.

On the quick walk-throughs that Miller and his assistant principal do, there is always a purpose. "Each week, we have specific things that we are looking for," he said. They communicate the weekly look-for in advance. One week they might be looking to learn Is the objective of the lesson clear to the students? Another week the purpose might be to learn Is the lesson aligned with state standards for the grade level? or Is the teacher asking higher-order thinking skills? The following week they might be looking at instructional strategies. They will want to know What instructional strategy is the teacher using?, Do we see the same strategy every time we walk through the room?, and Is this an appropriate strategy to use with the lesson? At other times they might be looking to learn How are the students engaged? Is engagement authentic, ritual, or passive? or Is the students' work displayed? or Are classroom rules displayed?

In addition, this year Miller is observing how teachers are using the new LCD projectors that were installed in all classrooms.

Walk-throughs are all about teachers and principals working together to reflect on teaching practices. Reflection is the key component. After his walk-throughs, Miller often leaves teachers with an observation and a question that might encourage thoughtful dialogue and deeper thinking about lessons, curriculum, and teaching strategies. The prompts are always non-judgmental. For example, Miller might say
* When I was doing my walk-through today, the students were in their seats responding to questions. How do you plan your lesson to encourage the students to be active participants?
* While I was doing my walk-through today, the students were taking notes and reviewing a social studies lesson. How do you ensure that all students understand concepts of the lesson?
* As I was watching the students work the problems today, I was wondering how many arrived at correct answers. How did you conclude how many of the students worked the problems correctly?

Sometimes teachers have a ready answer to Miller's questions -- an answer that details something they do that was not observed. Other times, the question offers the teacher a chance to reflect on the why of something they are doing. Subsequent observations enable teachers to continue to analyze their classroom practices and take charge of their professional growth.

Miller and the other principals in his county have been thoroughly trained in the walk-through procedure by Joe Whelan. Whelan's approach is based on the research of Robert Marzano, Robert Pickering, and Jane Pollock. He suggests keeping a map of the school and marking when you have been in each room. "This is a good visual that helps ensure you are hitting all classrooms and not just the ones close to the office," added Miller.

MORE EXAMPLES OF QUESTIONS

Any question that causes teachers to reflect and has the potential to result in improved student learning and achievement is a worthy one. Sometimes a focus question is tied to a school-wide goal; the question will be the basis for all teachers' walk-through observations. Other times, individual teachers might be asked to reflect on questions tied directly to their personal classroom practices or goals.

For example, increasing student time on task might be a school-wide or individual teacher's goal. When a principal enters the classroom, he or she might collect data on the number (or percent) of students who are focused on schoolwork. Over a period of several walk-through observations, the principal or another observer will have significant data that might spur a reflective question such as How can I increase the number of students who are actively engaged in learning? Subsequent observations and conversations continue to focus on that question, and teachers share their successful methods for increasing student engagement.

In another example, a 2001 article from the National Council for Staff Development ("Seeing Through New Eyes"), detailed how a team of observers set out to walk-through one Texas middle school. Their goal was to learn if the school was making progress on its goal of increasing the amount of writing students did across the curriculum. Before the walk-through, observers created a list of things they might expect to see:

Students actively involved in writing.

Evidence of past student writing, such as piles of written work and examples of student writing posted on classroom walls.

Students writing in their journals.

Students who could explain the writing process to observers.

Displays of exemplary student writing, so students can models of what good writing looks like.

Prompts for journal writing on chalkboards or whiteboards.

Many of those things might be easily observed, even in a several-minute walk-through. The observers' findings -- plus other signs of student writing they had not even considered -- provided the basis for a report and follow-up dialogue about what teachers were doing to achieve the school-wide goal. "Best practices" that were observed in classrooms were shared school-wide. Most important, additional discussion ensued about what else could be done to enhance writing opportunities and results.

The goals of all this observing and questioning are clear: As a year of walk-throughs progresses, principals should see more student engagement, students working at higher cognitive levels, and teachers questioning their own practices and making appropriate adjustments.

TECHNOLOGY TOOLS AID WALK-THROUGH FORMS

Principals record their walk-through observations in a wide variety of ways. Some have set forms. Others use informal forms or observation notes.

See links to sample walk-through observation forms at the end of the article.

George Manthey of the Association of California School Administrators is the developer of the Walk'bout, a computer/handheld program that many principals use during walk-throughs to record "best practices" and other observable behaviors. The program can be used to generate reports for teachers. An updated version of the Walk'bout, called Walk'bout II, examines more closely the cognitive depth of teachers' lessons through the lens of Bloom's Revised Taxonomy. Both Walk'bout products are tied to content standards.

"The Walk'bout can be used to analyze student learning activities," Manthey explained. "The program's standards database allows the observer to easily see where the observed student activity fits within the state standards and whether or not the standard being taught is tested at that grade level."

The Walk'bout tools require training, said Manthey, adding, "One reason principals really like them is because we can customize them based on the district's priorities."

Bill Craig, principal at Byron (Illinois) High School, uses another program, The Administrative Observer Software, on his handheld computer for recording observations and generating reports that provide teachers with feedback.

"Feedback is most powerful when the expectations are spelled out ahead of time and when feedback is expressed in terms of those expectations," Craig wrote in My Recipe for School Improvement: Walk-Through Observations on a Handheld Computer. "My teachers know the seven of eight most important things I hope to see, and I ask them to focus on those things each class period. The Administrative Observer lets me put those expectations into the software as preferences and record my thoughts easily while I am in the classroom."

WALK-THROUGHS NURTURE PERFORMANCE

Walk-through observations continue to grow in popularity. Paul Young thinks he knows why. "In most school districts, formal evaluations have been negotiated to the point that they result in minimal observations at best," said Young, principal (retired) of West Elementary School in Lancaster, Ohio, and past president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals. "It is best that you develop a close professional relationship with teachers so that you can comment on performance throughout the year in personal, informal, and informative ways. Develop trust, and then you can really mentor and help a teacher grow."

"Walk-throughs help gather data that is needed to nurture performance," added Young.

"Classroom walk-throughs work," said Todd Wiedemann. "As long as the training is in place and there is consistency in their use, walk-throughs are a great tool for everyone in education."

MORE ABOUT WALK-THROUGHS

Classroom Walk-Through (CWT)
This PowerPoint presentation by Todd Wiedemann, principal of Berrien Springs (Michigan) High School, serves as an introduction to the basic goals, concepts, and process of walk-throughs.

Attempting to Harness Real Change
In the El Segundo (California) Unified School District, the walk-through technique has been used on a school-wide basis. A leadership team will walk through an entire school looking for evidence of a clearly defined school-wide focus. After the observation, a debriefing is held; the leadership team reflects for the entire faculty on what they have observed.

WALK-THROUGH OBSERVATIONS: SAMPLE FORMS

Principals use a wide variety of forms to document walk-through observations. Refer to Three-Minute Classroom Walk-Through for information and sample forms. Following are a handful of sample forms that we found online.

Article by Gary Hopkins
Education World® Editor-in-Chief
Copyright © 2010 Education World

Originally published 04/12/2005
Last updated 06/21/2011

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Classroom walk-throughs are a trend that is on the move! The non-threatening, non-evaluative walk-throughs give principals a quick snapshot of student learning. That snapshot is used to engage teachers in conversations about how to improve teaching. Included: Principals talk about the benefits of walk-throughs, and how to initiate walk-throughs with teachers who might fear frequent classroom visits by the principal.

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An interview with C. Sleeter

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This book review covers an e-Book written from the perspectives of a new teacher and a new principal in their first year. Genuine insight and lessons are taught by the authors, Bolman and Deal, throughout the book.

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Thank you, Mrs. Lane for sharing this video with us!

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Technology in Competency-Based Learning and Individualized Instruction

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Technology in Competency-Based Learning and Individualized Instruction

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Keyon Lambert waited a long time for April 20th to arrive - the day when he and hundreds of other Newark students are discovering which high schools they've been matched with.

Long before this day, Keyon, an eighth-grader at Brick Avon Academy in the South Ward, spent hours poring over the test scores, class offerings, and graduation rates of the city's high schools. As he awaited the results this week, he explained why he had invested so much time and thought into his application.

"If I went to a bad high school and got distracted - time flies by," he said. "Senior year, I [might not] even know what I want to be, what college I want to go to. I probably miss out on a whole bunch of stuff. I'd probably be a dope by then."

"But if I go to a good school," he added, "I'll be able to get my education and focus on the other things. Nothing, basically, will distract me."

Newark students can apply to as many as eight high schools - traditional, magnet, or charter - through the district's universal online application, and to the county-run vocational schools through a separate application. While the city has long offered competitive magnet schools alongside its traditional "comprehensive" high schools, the online system has made it easier for students to apply to multiple schools.

Still, each student only gets one match. And, as Keyon understood, some options are better than others. That leads many students to compete for the limited seats at the most selective schools, whose enrollments often do not match the overall demographic makeup of the district - a trend the school board has been probing.

Chalkbeat spoke to more than a dozen eighth-graders this week as high-school match day approached to understand their decisions. We'll be checking back with some of them after they receive their matches Friday.

"There's going to be a lot of tears," said Jahida Gilbert, another Brick Avon eighth-grader, earlier this week.

The district's six magnet high schools, which admit students based on their academic records or artistic talent, are by far the most popular option - and the most exclusive. Last year, more than two-thirds of incoming ninth-graders ranked a magnet school first on their applications, according to a new report on the city's enrollment system. But just 31 percent of students across all grades who rank magnets first are actually admitted, and only 24 percent of Newark high schoolers wind up attending one of the coveted schools.

At the other end of the spectrum are the district's eight comprehensive high schools. Unlike magnets, they cannot weed out students with low scores or poor attendance - they must admit anyone they have room for, or use a random lottery if they are oversubscribed. Partly as a result, they tend to serve far more students with disabilities, have many more students who are chronically absent, and post much lower test scores.

About 10 percent of Newark students opt into one of the four technical-vocational schools run by Essex County, where they can join peers from other towns and study trades ranging from culinary arts to engineering while also earning a high-school diploma. Like the magnets, the "vo-tech" schools screen applicants. They look at students' grades, test scores, disciplinary and attendance records, and the results of an entrance essay and interview.

Keyon ruled out the comprehensive high schools. But he did go for an interview at a vocational school, where the interviewer tried to assess Keyon's personality by asking whether he'd rather be a lion or a bear. "I picked a lion because you could set a good example for others," he explained.

He also explored a third category - charter high schools. Publicly funded but independently operated, those schools cannot screen applicants. However, several are affiliated with lower-grade charter schools that act as feeder schools, leaving few spots for other incoming ninth-graders. The charter high school Keyon applied to, Great Oaks Legacy, which includes pre-kindergarten to 12th-grade, reported having no available seats for students entering ninth-grade last year.

During his search, Keyon consulted his parents, who told him: "Be mature and pick the wise decision," he said. Finally, he decided to apply to the vocational school (Essex County Newark Tech), along with two magnet schools (Science Park and American History) and two charter schools (KIPP Newark Collegiate Academy, in addition to Great Oaks Legacy).

Noon on April 20 was this year's appointed hour, when families could start viewing their children's matches - for elementary as well as high schools - on the enrollment website. The district also sends letters to students' homes and gives copies to schools to hand out. Last school year, 41 percent of incoming ninth-graders were matched to their first choice, while 70 percent got one of their top three picks.

Brick Avon's principal, Charity Haygood, said students shouldn't despair if they don't get into one of the most competitive schools. Some high-achieving students flourish at the city's comprehensive schools, which also boast impressive sports teams and arts programs.

Still, Haygood is troubled by the knowledge that some of her students will be shut out of the selective schools where they applied. She hates to think that a less-than-stellar report card one year or a poor showing on the state tests - perhaps because of an upheaval at home - can determine the course of a student's high-school career, and maybe well beyond that.

"The idea that we - at the age of 12 or 13 - tell a child their destiny. How dare we?" she said. "That's devastating."

Out of about 14,400 students who attended a public high school in Newark this school year, 45 percent go to one of the district's traditional high schools and 24 percent attend a magnet school. Another 21 percent are enrolled in one of the city's seven charter schools with high-school grades.

While each high school has its strengths and weaknesses, academic performance varies sharply across sectors, with the magnet sector on average outscoring the charter sector on state exams - and both sectors outperforming the comprehensive schools. One factor that impacts their performance is the share of students with disabilities they serve.

Among comprehensive high schools, 22 percent of incoming ninth-graders require special-education services, compared to 13 percent in magnet schools and 15 percent in charter schools, according to the new report on the city's enrollment system by the Center for Public Research and Leadership at Columbia University and MarGrady Research.

One exception is People's Preparatory Charter School, where 33 percent of ninth-graders have disabilities, according to founder and co-director Jessica Rooney.

"Our whole job is to make sure that we're decreasing or eliminating barriers to a high-quality education," she said.

To help families sort through all the options each year, the district publishes a 115-page , hosts two school fairs each year, and created an informational video on the where families can apply to most district or charter schools using a single application. (The vo-tech schools use a separate system .)

Students also lean heavily on their teachers and guidance counselors to make sense of all the options. At Sussex Avenue Renew School in the Central Ward, seventh-grade teacher Amanda Grossi prints out the guidebook and goes through it page-by-page with students, helping them interpret the schools' academic data and acceptance rates. She brings in former students to talk about the process and where they landed, and hosts a family night where parents can fill out the application.

While Grossi tries to help students make informed decisions, she worries about hardworking but middling students who fall into the "big divide" between magnet and comprehensive schools - and who, for all the dizzying options, have limited choices.

"There's really no in-between," she said.

For many parents, the solution is to push their children toward the magnets. Haneefah Webster encouraged her daughter, Samiyah, an eighth-grader at George Washington Carver School, to apply to Bard Early College High School, a magnet where students can earn two-year college degrees by graduation.

When she was her daughter's age, Webster attended one of Newark's traditional high schools, where she said she was a "math genius" and a "super honor roll student." But when she entered a public college to study accounting, she soon found huge gaps in the math education she'd received. Before long, she switched her major to literature.

"That's why I picked Bard" for Samiyah, she said. "So when she gets to college, she won't have that struggle."
Below are some of the eighth-graders we spoke with:

Valencia McDonald
Age: 13
Current school: Sussex Avenue Renew
Top choice: Bard Early College High School (magnet school)
Advice to next year's eighth-graders: "Go to a school that you like, especially if they have a club day you want to go to - so you can enjoy your time there, and also learn."

Jahida Gilbert
Age: 14
Current school: Brick Avon Academy
Top choice: Science Park High School (magnet school)
Advice: "Go beyond where you want to go - not what level your teachers say you're at. [But] also, don't choose too high, to where all the ones you choose you don't get accepted so then you have to wait until they put you in one. Be reasonable with your grades - but try to go big too."

Brianna Padilla
Age: 13
Current school: Hawthorne Avenue
Top choice: Essex County Newark Tech (vocational-technical school)
Advice: "Don't let no one doubt you, whatever high school you want to go to. If you feel you want to go there, then go there."

Jordan King
Age: 15
Current school: Hawthorne Avenue
Top choice: Science Park High School (magnet)
Observation: "The one thing I hate is the waiting part. Life is all about waiting."

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Don't just talk about tech: How 'personalized learning' advocates are honing their messaging

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Keyon Lambert waited a long time for April 20th to arrive - the day when he and hundreds of other Newark students are discovering which high schools they've been matched with. Long before this day, Keyon, an eighth-grader at Brick Avon Academy in the South Ward, spent hours poring over the test scores, class offerings, and graduation rates of the city's high schools.

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Sweeney, P. (2001). What's The Difference Between Leaders and Managers?(Brief Article). Franchising World, (4). Retrieved from http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.easydb.angelo.edu/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=10&sid=9d792b50-7a78-4f05-a300-e1c518947ec1%40sessionmgr4010

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Brendon Burchard talks about what great leaders actually do.

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Know your laws!

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State vs. Federal Authority

States are responsible for holding schools accountable for student achievement. The law provides a framework, but it's a flexible framework. Each state can set its own goals for student achievement within that federal framework.

States were responsible for holding schools accountable for student achievement. The law provided a framework for states, but there was less flexibility for states to set their own goals.

The law also put forward a universal goal that every student in every school be proficient in reading and math.

Annual Testing

States must test students in reading and math once a year in grades 3 through 8, as well as once in high school. They must also test kids in science once in grade school, middle school and high school.

Students with IEPs or 504 plans can get accommodations on all annual state tests.

States aren't limited to using their own tests. They can use nationally recognized tests, such as the SAT and ACT. (But those scores aren't necessarily valid for college admission.)

Only 1 percent of all students can be given "alternate" tests.

ESSA encourages states and districts to get rid of unnecessary testing. The law includes funding for them to audit their current testing.

ESSA will also provide funds for seven states to explore "innovative" tests. These are tests that align with personalized learning and competency-based education.

States had to test students in reading and math once a year in grades 3 through 8, as well as once in high school. They also had to test kids in science once in grade school, middle school and high school.

Students with IEPs or 504 plans could get accommodations on these tests.

States didn't have the option to use tests other than their own state tests.

There was no limit on the number of students who could take "alternate" tests.

Academic Standards

States have to adopt "challenging" academic standards in reading, math and science. That could be the Common Core State Standards. But the federal government can't try to influence a state's decision.

States had to adopt "challenging" academic standards in reading, math and science.

The law didn't bar the federal government from encouraging states to adopt a particular set of standards.

Accountability Measures

With ESSA, states must consider more than just test scores when evaluating schools.

Each state must use four academic factors that are included in the law. States can choose a fifth factor that impacts school quality.

The required academic factors must be:

Reading and math test scores

English-language proficiency test scores

High school graduation rates

A state-chosen academic measure for grade schools and middle schools

The school-quality factor could include things like:

Kindergarten readiness

Access to and completion of advanced coursework

College readiness

School climate and safety

Chronic absenteeism

Overall, states must give more weight to the academic factors than to the school-quality factors.

NCLB focused solely on student academic achievement and primarily used state reading and math test scores when evaluating how schools were doing.

Achievement Targets

States must set achievement targets for students in schools. States must also set ambitious goals for groups of students who are the furthest behind, like students in special education. These goals should help close the gap with other students.

There are no federal penalties for struggling schools. Instead, these schools will get more funding and will have to develop a plan to improve.

States had to bring all students up to the "proficient" level on state tests. This included students in special education.

States also had to set targets for improvement, called adequate yearly progress (AYP). If a school didn't meet AYP, it could be labeled as "needing improvement." It could be required to fire its staff and face other federal penalties.

Struggling Students and Schools

States and school districts must have a plan for helping schools that:

Have high drop-out rates

Are consistently struggling, or

Have a specific group of students, like those in special education, who are struggling

Decisions about what to do may be made by the state, or by local school districts and schools. But ESSA requires states to use evidence-based methods to help these struggling schools and students.

If a school or subgroup of students was struggling, the federal government offered the state a specific set of actions to take to improve the school. There was limited local decision-making.

State and School District Report Cards

Schools must publicly report test results, other measures of student achievement, and information about how much funding they are receiving.

They must break these down by "subgroups" of students. The reporting has to show the performance of students in special education, minorities, those in poverty and those learning English.

If a state identifies a school or subgroup as struggling, it must tell parents.

Schools had to publicly report test results and other measures of student achievement.

They had to break these down by "subgroups" of students. The reporting had to show the performance of students in special education, minorities, those in poverty and those learning English.

National Center on Reading Issues

ESSA calls for the creation of a national center focused on literacy and reading issues for kids with disabilities. This includes dyslexia.

The center will be a clearinghouse for information for parents and teachers.

NCLB didn't include a national literacy center.

Literacy Programs

ESSA has a literacy education grant program. This program authorizes up to $160 million in literacy grants to states and schools.

The grants fund evidence-based instruction in literacy skills, including writing, phonological awareness and decoding.

NCLB had several literacy programs that have since been defunded.

UDL and Personalized Learning

ESSA endorses Universal Design for Learning (UDL). This approach to teaching aims to meet the needs of all students, including those with learning and attention issues.

The law also encourages states to expand personalized learning for students.

NCLB didn't include UDL or personalized learning.

Parent Involvement

ESSA requires states to get input from parents and families as they create state plans. To get involved, reach out to your state's department of education.

NCLB didn't require states to include parent input when creating their state plans.

Opt-Out

ESSA doesn't create a federal opt-out option if parents don't want their child to take standardized tests.

But it also doesn't stop states from having their own opt-out laws.

NCLB didn't address the opt-out issue.

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The Difference Between the Every Student Succeeds Act and No Child Left Behind

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State vs. Federal Authority States are responsible for holding schools accountable for student achievement. The law provides a framework, but it's a flexible framework. Each state can set its own goals for student achievement within that federal framework. States were responsible for holding schools accountable for student achievement.

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Administrators must see the importance of recess and adjust their school's schedule to allow students and teachers to benefit from the unstructured playtime.

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One sunny day in May, Ms. Brown tells her first-grade class, "OK, boys and girls, it's time for recess." As the children leave the classroom in an organized fashion, three other first-grade classes join them out on the playground, an open field with one tree and a six-foot-tall monkey bar structure. Under the teachers' watchful eye, the children climb and play.

After 15 minutes, one of the teachers blows a whistle, and the children run back to the building, where another teacher leads them in. Aside from a few latecomers to the door, every child has entered the building in less than 30 seconds. Back in the classroom, Ms. Brown begins a song about not dawdling, and the children move to the carpet for a group story discussion.

Earlier that day, Ms. Brown wasn't so sure all of her students should go to recess. Connor had acted out one too many times, and she was thinking he didn't deserve to go out and play. But then, she remembered her training last spring and summer with LiiNK trainers (a project described later in this article), who urged her not to withhold recess as punishment.

So when recess arrived, Ms. Brown decided to allow Connor to go out; she even let him be the first student out the door. The break from his desk ends up helping him refocus. Upon returning to the classroom, Connor apologizes to Ms. Brown and promises to behave better. She believes it. The rest of the day is pleasant for her and Connor-indeed, for the whole class.

While denying recess to a misbehaving student is common for many teachers, Ms. Brown's response may not be. Her decision to allow Connor to attend recess and his subsequent apology show the power of unstructured play time for students during school.

What Is Recess?

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), in its 2013 policy statement titled "The Crucial Role of Recess in School," describes recess as "a necessary break in the day for optimizing a child's social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development." ¹ Recess ought to be safe and well supervised, yet teachers do not have to direct student activity. The frequency and duration of breaks should allow time for children to mentally decompress, and schools should allow students to experience recess periods daily.

As the AAP makes clear, outdoor play "can serve as a counterbalance to sedentary time and contribute to the recommended 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day." ² An effective recess is one where children demonstrate their ability to stay within the boundaries of their play space, negotiate conflict with each other, and then return to academic learning. The peer interactions that take place during recess allow for communication, cooperation, and problem solving, complementing the classroom experience. ³ Unstructured play, with adult supervision, gives children the opportunity to develop important social and emotional skills, which is essential to a well-rounded education.

The AAP's policy statement on the role of recess in school cited four critical benefits of recess: (1) greater levels of physical activity and fitness, (2) improved attentiveness in class, (3) improved cognition and learning, and (4) practice of peer-to-peer social and emotional skills. The latter, often overlooked, is cited by child development experts as a fundamental skill set, laying the basis for social success in later life. As a result, the AAP concluded that "recess should be considered a child's personal time, and it should not be withheld for academic or punitive reasons." ⁴

After all, "it is the supreme seriousness of play that gives it its educational importance," said Joseph Lee, the father of the playground movement. "Play seen from the inside, as the child sees it, is the most serious thing in life. ... Play builds the child. ... Play is thus the essential part of education." ⁵

A Harvard-educated author and philanthropist, Lee advocated for playgrounds in city schools and parks in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was a leader in promoting school attendance and safe havens for play for all children, especially poor children in the urban core of Boston. In the 1890s, children were forbidden from playing games in the streets and there were no playgrounds in the poorest neighborhoods, where adolescent boys were routinely arrested for delinquency. Lee was from a wealthy Boston family, and, recalling the childhood he experienced-one filled with games, dancing, and play-he took it upon himself to find a solution. He gained permission to clear a vacant lot and provide materials and equipment he felt children would be likely to play with or on, such as dirt piles, large pipes, and sand. And, as he predicted, children came to play.

Over the next decades, Lee's initiative spread from Boston to Chicago and extended into municipal investment in parks and recreation centers for boys and girls. Lee's efforts also extended to public education. He was determined that poor children receive the same kind of educational opportunity in schools as their more affluent peers by being educated by teachers who were trained as teachers. He personally underwrote the creation of Harvard University's School of Education in 1920. It was during this period of growth in urban education and play space for children that recess-as a time during the school day for children to play in a designated space-came to be. ⁶

Lee's vision of play in education still resonates today. Given that the new federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) removes the emphasis on high-stakes standardized testing in schools and includes nonacademic indicators as a component of a student's "well-rounded education," ⁷ schools that have narrowly focused on scores to the detriment of students' well-being can now correct the imbalance. In doing so, they can ensure that recess, which plays a vital role in social and emotional development, maintains its rightful place in the school day.

The Current State of Recess

Beyond Lee's advocacy of playgrounds and recreation, it is difficult to document a precise history of recess. In fact, when the School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS) was initiated in 1994 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the purpose of providing "the first in-depth description of policies and programs related to multiple components of the school health program at the state, district, school, and classroom levels," ⁸ recess was not included.

It wasn't until 1997 that the CDC defined recess as "regularly scheduled periods within the elementary school day for unstructured physical activity and play." ⁹ Recess was first included in the 2000 SHPPS, among various opportunities in schools for children to engage in physical activity. Prior to that, what we know about recess as an experience during the school day-an experience of childhood-is something that is informed by individual and collective memories.

Since then, in addition to SHPPS, other published research about recess practices and policies in the United States has included studies on a smaller scale, in a school or district. These explore various aspects of recess, under the assumption that recess is a given for every child in that school or district. ¹⁰ Few studies, however, actually examine how recess varies within and across schools and districts (for instance, how teachers monitor and handle recess in the same school and grade).

Largely, the documentation of what happens in the daily, lived experience of recess in schools remains uneven and takes the form of blog posts, news stories, and other social media sharing. The limitations of understanding the delivery and experience of recess at individual schools aside, since the mid- to late-1990s, a growing body of evidence has emerged about the value of and practices and policies related to physical activity-of which recess is one part. Since its inception in 1994, SHPPS has been repeated in 2000, 2006, 2012, and 2014.

According to SHPPS data from 2014, "82.8 percent of elementary schools provided daily recess for students in all grades in the school." ¹¹ (For a summary of current recess practices, see the table below.) Because this study surveys principals and "lead health education teachers," this statistic doesn't necessarily paint a complete picture of where, when, or how recess is provided,* and the documentation about current practices only includes data collected from those schools that reported having regularly scheduled recess. Even with these limitations, however, the 2014 SHPPS research is useful. It shows that, among elementary schools with regularly scheduled recess, the percentage of schools providing recess decreases from first to sixth grade. The average number of days with recess per week across all grades was 4.9, and the average time spent in recess was 26.9 minutes per day.
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Decisions about timing, duration, location, and activities for recess are typically made at the school or grade level. While there is no recommended duration (minutes per day) or timing for recess, one of the largest studies published on recess found that for 8- to 9-year-olds, at least one or more daily recess periods of at least 15 minutes was associated with better class behavior ratings from teachers than no daily recess or fewer minutes of recess. ¹²

According to SHPPS data from 2000 to 2014, among schools that offer recess, the percentage of classes having regularly scheduled recess immediately after lunch decreased from 42.3 percent in 2000 to 26.2 percent in 2014. This may be a result of a decrease in recess opportunities, or it may reflect schools' shifting recess times to before lunch, which has been shown to increase meal consumption and decrease food waste, while improving lunchroom behavior and increasing attention in the classroom following lunch. ¹³

A comparison of results from the SHPPS surveys in 2006 and 2014 also indicates an alarming trend: in 2006, 96.8 percent of elementary schools provided recess for at least one grade in the school, compared with 82.8 percent in 2014. Using self-reported data from high-level administrators at the district level, these surveys show that even though more than 80 percent of districts claim to provide daily recess, a 2014 analysis conducted by the CDC and the Bridging the Gap research program revealed that 60 percent of districts had no policy regarding daily recess for elementary school students and that only 20 percent mandated daily recess.

Additionally, a 2006 analysis by the National Center for Education Statistics found noticeable disparities: ¹⁴

City schools reported the lowest average minutes per day of recess (24 minutes in first grade to 21 minutes in sixth grade).

Rural schools reported the highest average minutes per day (31 minutes in first grade to 24 minutes in sixth grade).

The lowest minutes per day of recess (21 minutes in first grade to 17 minutes in sixth grade) occurred in schools where 75 percent or more of the students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

Decreased opportunities for recess have been associated with increased academic pressure. Recess has been the victim of the perceived need to spend more time preparing students for standardized testing and, generally, to meet increased demands for instructional time. Diminishing recess first began in the early 1990s, and it further declined with the enactment of No Child Left Behind in 2001, which emphasized English language arts and mathematics. To focus on these core areas, districts reduced time for recess, art, music, physical education, and even lunch. ¹⁵ In addition, recess often was and is withheld from students as punishment for disruptive behavior and/or to encourage task completion, even though research shows this practice "deprives students of health benefits important to their well-being." ¹⁶

Interestingly, the emergence of a national health crisis in the United States-the rising rates of obesity in children-has sparked a reevaluation of recess. Recess was included, along with physical education and other opportunities for school-based physical activity, in the wellness policy requirement enacted in 2004 as part of the Child Nutrition and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) Reauthorization Act. (But, as we just noted, a recess-specific policy is lacking in 40 percent of school districts.) In 2014, this requirement was bolstered by an approved rule under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, ¹⁷ which "expands the requirements to strengthen policies and increase transparency. The responsibility for developing, implementing, and evaluating a wellness policy is placed at the local level, so the unique needs of each school under the [district's] jurisdiction can be addressed." ¹⁸ By June 30, 2017, all schools/districts must have a wellness policy that meets all required components.

In conjunction with these federal initiatives, some state legislatures have explored recess as part of a broader school-based wellness or physical activity education bill. Accurately documenting what these legislative actions mean for recess is difficult, partially because recess could fall under a variety of laws or policies, and also because the way the law or policy is written can vary. (For example, a mandate may require a set number of minutes per day for physical activity, with recess included, or it might require recess be specifically included in a district wellness policy.)

To supplement CDC and SHPPS information, the National Association of State Boards of Education's State School Health Policy Database is updated as states enact or revise laws and policies. Within states, districts can add to or build on any federal or state requirement. A similar database does not exist for district-level school health policies, but as indicated by Bridging the Gap's research, such policies often do not include recess.

With the renewed emphasis on a "well-rounded education" thanks to ESSA, states and schools now have additional incentive to elevate policies and practices for regular recess as part of a robust package of "nonacademic" health and physical activity initiatives, which research has shown to positively affect academic progress.

ESSA requires states to select at least one nonacademic indicator that each school district will report. Funds for implementing the federal law will be allocated to the states to distribute, and they include funds for professional development and programs to support students' physical health as well as their mental and behavioral health. Recess offers a unique way to address both.

Integrating Recess into School Culture

In 2011, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced it would reintroduce daily recess in the 2012 school year, making it "the first large urban district to once again require daily recess at the elementary and middle school levels." 19 This move was prompted by a groundswell of parents, community members, and concerned district employees, who led the push for recess reinstatement during their struggle to lengthen the school day. We could find no published accounts on the decision to eliminate recess in the first place; however, based on the timing (recess was discontinued in the early 1980s), we can surmise it was both a cost-cutting measure and a response to concerns that students spend as much time as possible on academics.

Thus, in the fall of 2012, when CPS extended the school day by at least 30 minutes across the district, recess once again became a daily occurrence at all elementary and middle schools. Exactly how these minutes are used varies at each school, but reinstating recess did not take away instructional time. Once recess was reinstated, the CPS Office of Student Health and Wellness codified daily recess by making it a provision of the district's Local School Wellness Policy that was passed in 2012, which mandates that all CPS K-8 students receive a minimum of 20 minutes of recess each day. ²⁰ The office provides ongoing support for teachers and administrative personnel to engage in daily recess and other wellness practices. Reinstating recess not only required dedicating the time for it but also required training and resources for schools and teachers to ensure it was safe and consistent across a large number of schools in a wide variety of neighborhoods.

More recently, in September 2015, the Seattle Public Schools and the local teachers union agreed to a guaranteed minimum of 30 minutes of daily recess for elementary school students, although teachers had originally asked for 45 minutes. ²¹

Such changes in recess require schools to rearrange schedules. But even in districts where recess is required, how students experience it is sharply inequitable, as demonstrated at Detroit's Spain Elementary-Middle School, where "students are forced to walk the halls during recess, because the gym is shut down due to mold and the outdoor playground emits burning steam-even during Detroit snowstorms." Children in poverty also have less access to free play, fewer minutes of physical activity during the day, and the fewest minutes of recess in school. ²³

Promising Programs

Ongoing research continues to expand our understanding of why recess and play are crucial. Some studies are exploring play spaces, specific activities, and the benefits of close supervision, while others are examining the benefits of accumulated physical activity and social interactions. While much is being learned from practices in other countries, three programs in the United States are particularly instructive: Peaceful Playgrounds, Playworks, and the Let's Inspire Innovation 'N Kids (LiiNK) Project out of Texas Christian University. Each offers a slightly different philosophy and approach, but the commonalities are that recess is well supervised and that every child experiences daily, safe play time during the school day. Each program is annually evaluated, and findings have demonstrated the benefits of recess as a component of a whole-child education.

began in 1995 and is grounded in the following principles: teaching conflict resolution, establishing clear rules and expectations, providing low-cost equipment, and designing a play space that invites exploration and interaction and minimizes potential for conflict. Peaceful Playgrounds offers training for school personnel in the wealth of games available to children and provides blueprints, playground stencils, and playground game guides. The program emphasizes free choice by students.

, which began in 1996 as Sports4Kids, focuses on using safe play and physical activity during recess and throughout the day to improve the climate at low-income schools. The program offers a variety of services that hinge on training or providing Playworks "coaches" to "enhance and transform recess and play into a positive experience that helps students and teachers get the most out of every learning opportunity." According to a survey of Playworks schools, staff report a decrease in bullying and disciplinary incidents, an increase in students' physical activity during recess, and an increase in students' abilities to focus on class activities. ²⁴

The , a school curriculum modeled after one in Finland (whose academic performance consistently ranks in the top five countries in the world-well above the United States), was created three years ago to balance a focus on academics and the social and emotional health of children and teachers. Ms. Brown, the first-grade teacher mentioned earlier, teaches in a LiiNK school.

While LiiNK received national media attention in 2016 as strictly a recess program, it emphasizes more than just embedding additional recess into the school day. It also focuses on preparing teachers and administrators to redesign learning environments through recess, character education, and teacher training, in order to combat critical issues affecting the development of noncognitive skills, such as empathy in students. ²⁵ Preliminary pilot data are compelling: in schools implementing the LiiNK curriculum, student achievement significantly improved, as did students' listening, decision-making, and problem-solving abilities. ²⁶

Other recess practices, both in the United States and in other countries, have demonstrated positive effects for students and teachers. As discussed previously, the move to conduct recess before lunch is associated with decreased food waste, increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, and better behavior in the lunchroom and upon returning to the classroom.
In studies with British children, providing large equipment and playground markings increased physical activity levels. ²⁷ A study in Belgium found a similar effect on physical activity levels through providing smaller, less costly games and equipment. ²⁸ Across the globe, simply providing these kinds of portable play equipment, such as balls and jump ropes, encourages children to be active during recess. ²⁹

Holding recess outside invites self-directed play where children choose what to do, from playing make-believe games, to reading or daydreaming, to socializing and engaging in physically active games; the experience is up to the child. Certainly, these activities can also occur in an indoor setting, but the opportunity for exploration is limited. ³⁰ Interestingly, a large controlled study in China found that outdoor recess may help prevent or minimize nearsightedness in children. ³¹

Meanwhile, children in Japan experience recess in five- to 10-minute bouts approximately every hour, based on the premise that a child's attention span wanes after 40 to 50 minutes of academic instruction. ³²

Given the evidence of the value of recess for children and teachers, what can educators, schools, and districts do to promote this critical aspect of the education of the whole child? Daily decisions about who gets recess and when and where it will happen are often made by teachers; thus, teachers are a crucial link for recess. Policies that support daily recess for all children are also essential, especially when it comes to the practice of withholding some or all of recess for disciplinary reasons. ³³

It is imperative to treat recess time as a child's personal time (similar to the way adults take breaks and choose how to spend them) and to make this explicit in policy and in practice. Recess time should not be usurped to fulfill a physical activity requirement. That is, if the school is required to offer opportunities outside of physical education classes, recess should only be included as an optional or supplemental opportunity. During recess, it should be as acceptable for children to engage in other types of play as it is for them to engage in physical activity. In addition to policy, teachers, administrators, and school staff would benefit from coursework during initial preparation, as well as from ongoing professional development, in recess management and in establishing and carrying out alternatives to discipline other than withholding recess.

Other ways to promote recess include:

Advocating for district and school policies that require or recommend daily recess for every child.

Disseminating information on the benefits of recess and the successful programs and practices described above.

Including recess-type games and the practice of conflict resolution in physical education teacher training and in school physical education curricula.**

Encouraging state and district boards of education to integrate the social and emotional benefits of recess in health education curricula.

Collaborating with school wellness councils, school health and wellness teams, and parent-teacher groups to reinforce policies for recess, fund the purchase and maintenance of playground or recess equipment, and train playground monitors and teachers.

Daily recess for every child supports a school's mission of providing a high-quality, comprehensive, and meaningful education so students grow and reach their full potential. Participating in recess offers children the necessary break to optimize their social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development. It not only helps them get important daily physical activity but also requires them to engage in rule-making, rule-following, and conflict resolution with peers. These are essential life skills that children can learn to master through the serious act of play.
Catherine Ramstetter is the founder of Successful Healthy Children, a nonprofit organization focused on school health and wellness. A member of the Ohio chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Home and School Health Committee, she has researched and written about the importance of recess to children's development. Robert Murray is a professor of human nutrition in the College of Education and Human Ecology at the Ohio State University. A former chair of the Ohio AAP chapter, he was previously a professor in the department of pediatrics in the university's College of Medicine.
*To see the original questionnaires given to principals and teachers, visit the CDC's website. ( back to the article)

†The wellness policy language only includes recess as one of the ways schools can address student physical activity. Schools are only required to have a policy that addresses nutrition services, nutrition education, physical education, and physical activity. The federal law does not prescribe the duration, timing, or type of activities. Some states have laws, some have recommendations that are codified, and some have nothing (which is the case for recess in most states). ( back to the article)

‡For a state-by-state listing of recess policies in schools, see the NASBE's website. ( back to the article)

§For more on health and safety in schools, see "A Matter of Health and Safety" in the Winter 2016-2017 issue of American Educator. ( back to the article)

**Physical education is intended to impart not only sport-specific physical and competition skills but also lifelong physical health skills, like rule and goal setting, rule following, and general fine and gross motor skills. While separate from recess, physical education is one class that offers a place where children can learn recess-type games, or games that require imagination and physical movement, as well as appropriate ways to negotiate conflict with others. ( back to the article)

Endnotes

1. American Academy of Pediatrics, "Policy Statement: The Crucial Role of Recess in School," Pediatrics 131, no. 1 (2013): 186.

2. American Academy of Pediatrics, "Policy Statement," 186.

3. American Academy of Pediatrics, "Policy Statement," 186.

4. American Academy of Pediatrics, "Policy Statement," 186.

5. Joseph Lee, Play in Education (New York: Macmillan, 1915), 3-7.

6. The history of Joseph Lee's life is informed by Donald Culross Peattie, Lives of Destiny: As Told for the "Reader's Digest" (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1954), 80-88.

7. Every Student Succeeds Act, Pub. L. No. 114-95, § 8002(21), 129 Stat. 2099 (2015).

8. Lloyd J. Kolbe, Laura Kann, Janet L. Collins, Meg Leavy Small, Beth Collins Pateman, and Charles W. Warren, "The School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS): Context, Methods, General Findings, and Future Efforts," Journal of School Health 65 (1995): 339.

9. Promoting Better Health for Young People through Physical Activity and Sports (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Education), app. 7, accessed January 19, 2017, www.thenewpe.com/advocacy/promotingPA.pdf.

10. A notable exception explored the effects of recess in one classroom in a school that had eliminated recess. See Olga S. Jarrett, Darlene M. Maxwell, Carrie Dickerson, Pamela Hoge, Gwen Davies, and Amy Yetley, "Impact of Recess on Classroom Behavior: Group Effects and Individual Differences," Journal of Educational Research 92 (1998): 121-126.

11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "School Health Policies and Practices Study: 2014 Overview" (Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015), 1.

12. Romina M. Barros, Ellen J. Silver, and Ruth E. K. Stein, "School Recess and Group Classroom Behavior," Pediatrics 123 (2009): 431-436.

13. Ethan A. Bergman, Nancy S. Buergel, Annaka Femrite, Timothy F. Englund, and Michael R. Braunstein, Relationship of Meal and Recess Schedules to Plate Waste in Elementary Schools (University, MS: National Food Service Management Institute, 2003); Montana Office of Public Instruction School Nutrition Programs, Pilot Project Report: A Recess before Lunch Policy in Four Montana Schools, April 2002-May 2003 (Helena: Montana Office of Public Instruction, 2003); and Joseph Price and David Just, "Lunch, Recess and Nutrition: Responding to Time Incentives in the Cafeteria" (paper, Social Science Research Network, December 9, 2014), doi:10.2139/ssrn.2536103.

14. Basmat Parsad and Laurie Lewis, Calories In, Calories Out: Food and Exercise in Public Elementary Schools, 2005 (Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics, 2006), 62.

15. Jennifer McMurrer, Instructional Time in Elementary Schools: A Closer Look at Changes for Specific Subjects, From the Capital to the Classroom: Year 5 of the No Child Left Behind Act (Washington, DC: Center on Education Policy, 2008).

16. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Guidelines for School and Community Programs to Promote Lifelong Physical Activity among Young People," Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 46, no. RR-6 (March 7, 1997): 12.

17. Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-296, § 204, 124 Stat. 3216 (2010).

18. "Local School Wellness Policy Implementation under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010: Summary of the Final Rule," U.S. Department of Agriculture, July 2016, accessed December 15, 2016, www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/tn/LWPsummary_finalrule.pdf.

19. "CPS' Daily Recess Is More Than Just Play," Healthy Schools Campaign, February 17, 2015, www.healthyschools campaign.org/chicago-focus/cps-daily-recess-is-more-than- just-play-5395.

20. "Local School Wellness Policy for Students," Chicago Public Schools Policy Handbook, § 704.7, October 24, 2012, http://policy.cps.edu/download.aspx?ID=81.

21. Rachel Lerman, "Seattle District, Teachers Agree to Higher Pay for Subs, Longer Recess, but Strike Could Still Happen," Seattle Times, September 6, 2015.

22. Katie Felber, "Heartbreaking Video Depicts Harsh Reality of Detroit Public Schools," Good, January 19, 2016, www.good.is/videos/heartbreaking-video-detroit-public-schools.

23. Parsad and Lewis, Calories In, Calories Out.

24. "2016 Annual Survey Results-National," Playworks, accessed December 8, 2016, www.playworks.org/about/annual-survey/national.

25. Debbie Rhea, "Recess: The Forgotten Classroom," Instructional Leader 29, no. 1 (January 2016): 1.

26. Rhea, "Recess"; and Deborah J. Rhea, Alexander P. Rivchun, and Jacqueline Pennings, "The Liink Project: Implementation of a Recess and Character Development Pilot Study with Grades K & 1 Children," Texas Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance Journal 84, no. 2 (Summer 2016): 14-17, 35.

27. Nicola D. Ridgers, Gareth Stratton, Stuart J. Fairclough, and Jos W. R. Twisk, "Long-Term Effects of a Playground Markings and Physical Structures on Children's Recess Physical Activity Levels," Preventative Medicine 44 (2007): 393-397.

28. Stefanie J. M. Verstraete, Greet M. Cardon, Dirk L. R. De Clercq, and Ilse M. M. De Bourdeaudhuij, "Increasing Children's Physical Activity Levels during Recess Periods in Elementary Schools: The Effects of Providing Game Equipment," European Journal of Public Health 16 (2006): 415-419.

29. Nicola D. Ridgers, Jo Salmon, Anne-Maree Parrish, Rebecca M. Stanley, and Anthony D. Okely, "Physical Activity during School Recess: A Systematic Review," American Journal of Preventive Medicine 43 (2012): 327.

30. Deborah J. Rhea and Irene Nigaglioni, "Outdoor Playing = Outdoor Learning," Educational Facility Planner 49, nos. 2-3 (2016): 16-20.

31. Mingguang He, Fan Xiang, Yangfa Zeng, et al., "Effect of Time Spent Outdoors at School on the Development of Myopia among Children in China: A Randomized Clinical Trial," JAMA 314, no. 11 (2015): 1142-1148.

32. Harold W. Stevenson and Shin-Ying Lee, "Contexts of Achievement: A Study of American, Chinese, and Japanese Children," Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development 55, nos. 1-2 (1990).

33. Lindsey Turner, Jamie F. Chriqui, and Frank J. Chaloupka, "Withholding Recess from Elementary School Students: Policies Matter," Journal of School Health 83 (2013): 533-541.

[illustrations by Liza Flores]

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One sunny day in May, Ms. Brown tells her first-grade class, "OK, boys and girls, it's time for recess." As the children leave the classroom in an organized fashion, three other first-grade classes join them out on the playground, an open field with one tree and a six-foot-tall monkey bar structure.

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Administrators must see the importance of recess and adjust their school's schedule to allow students and teachers to benefit from the unstructured playtime.

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Abstract

Recess is at the heart of a vigorous debate over the role of schools in promoting the optimal development of the whole child. A growing trend toward reallocating time in school to accentuate the more academic subjects has put this important facet of a child's school day at risk. Recess serves as a necessary break from the rigors of concentrated, academic challenges in the classroom. But equally important is the fact that safe and well-supervised recess offers cognitive, social, emotional, and physical benefits that may not be fully appreciated when a decision is made to diminish it. Recess is unique from, and a complement to, physical education-not a substitute for it. The American Academy of Pediatrics believes that recess is a crucial and necessary component of a child's development and, as such, it should not be withheld for punitive or academic reasons.

The Benefits of Recess for the Whole Child

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines recess as "regularly scheduled periods within the elementary school day for unstructured physical activity and play." The literature examining the global benefits of recess for a child's cognitive, emotional, physical, and social well-being has recently been reviewed. Yet, recent surveys and studies have indicated a trend toward reducing recess to accommodate additional time for academic subjects in addition to its withdrawal for punitive or behavioral reasons. ⁻ Furthermore, the period allotted to recess decreases as the child ages and is less abundant among children of lower socioeconomic status and in the urban setting.,

Just as physical education and physical fitness have well-recognized benefits for personal and academic performance, recess offers its own, unique benefits. Recess represents an essential, planned respite from rigorous cognitive tasks. It affords a time to rest, play, imagine, think, move, and socialize. ⁻ After recess, for children or after a corresponding break time for adolescents, students are more attentive and better able to perform cognitively. ⁻ In addition, recess helps young children to develop social skills that are otherwise not acquired in the more structured classroom environment.,,

Cognitive/Academic Benefits

Children develop intellectual constructs and cognitive understanding through interactive, manipulative experiences. This type of exploratory experience is a feature of play in an unstructured social environment., Optimal cognitive processing in a child necessitates a period of interruption after a period of concentrated instruction., The benefits of these interruptions are best served by unstructured breaks rather than by merely shifting from 1 cognitive task to another to diminish stresses and distractions that interfere with cognitive processing.,,, Several studies demonstrated that recess, whether performed indoors or outdoors, made children more attentive and more productive in the classroom. ⁻,,, This finding was true even though, in many cases, the students spent much of their recess time socializing. In fact, a student's ability to refocus cognitively was shown to be stimulated more by the break from the classroom than by the mode of activity that occurred during that break; any type of activity at recess benefited cognitive performance afterward. Although specified time afforded for recess diminishes with age, the benefits of periodic breaks in the academic day to optimize cognitive processing applies equally to adolescents and to younger children.

Social and Emotional Benefits

Recess promotes social and emotional learning and development for children by offering them a time to engage in peer interactions in which they practice and role play essential social skills.,,,, This type of activity, under adult supervision, extends teaching in the classroom to augment the school's social climate. Through play at recess, children learn valuable communication skills, including negotiation, cooperation, sharing, and problem solving as well as coping skills, such as perseverance and self-control. ⁻,,, These skills become fundamental, lifelong personal tools. Recess offers a child a necessary, socially structured means for managing stress. By adapting and adjusting to the complex school environment, children augment and extend their cognitive development in the classroom.,

Physical Benefits

There is a wealth of literature published on the need for and benefit of physical activity and fitness, not only for a child's physical well-being but also for academic and social maturation.,,⁻ Although not all children play vigorously at recess, it does provide the opportunity for children to be active in the mode of their choosing and to practice movement and motor skills. Importantly, recess affords young children free activity for the sheer joy of it. Even minor movement during recess counterbalances sedentary time at school and at home and helps the child achieve the recommended 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day, a standard strongly supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) policy, which can help lower risk of obesity.,,⁻

Safety and Supervision

A child's safety during recess is a concern for many parents, teachers, and administrators. Some schools even have chosen to ban games or activities deemed unsafe and, in some cases, to discontinue recess altogether in light of the many issues connected with child safety., Although schools should ban games and activities that are unsafe, they should not discontinue recess altogether just because of concerns connected with child safety. There are measures schools can take to address these concerns and protect children while still preserving play during recess.,,,,,, Compliance with the Consumer Product Safety Commission's Playground Safety Handbook ( http://www.cpsc.gov/CPSCPUB/PUBS/325.pdf) will help to ensure proper maintenance of playground equipment that meets all of the following applicable federal guidelines:

1. Provision of adequate safe spaces and facilities.

2. Maintenance of developmentally appropriate equipment with regular inspections.

3. Establishment and enforcement of safety rules.

4. Implementation of recess curriculum in physical education classes to teach games, rules, and conflict resolution.

5. Establishment of a school-wide, clear policy to prevent bullying or aggressive behavior.

6. Provision of adequate supervision by qualified adults who can intervene in the event a child's physical or emotional safety is in jeopardy.

Some playgrounds in areas with a high risk of violence may require additional protective measures to ensure the safety of children.

The Emerging Issue of Structured Recess

Structured recess is a recess based on structured play, during which games and physical activities are taught and led by a trained adult (teachers, school staff, or volunteers). Proponents for structured recess note that children often need help in developing games and require suggestions and encouragement to participate in physical activities. Recently, policy makers and funding organizations have called for more opportunities for daily activity as a means to address childhood obesity. These statements have strengthened the argument to maintain or reinstate recess as an integral component of the school day.,,, Although this new dimension to the recess debate has increased attention on its role, it also has created tension. Some have promoted recess time as a solution for increasing children's physical activity and combating obesity. If recess assumes such a role, then, like physical education, it will need to be planned and directed to ensure that all children are participating in moderately vigorous physical activity.,,,,, Pediatric health care providers, parents, and school officials should be cognizant, however, that in designing a structured recess, they will sacrifice the notion of recess as an unstructured but supervised break that belongs to the child; that is, a time for the child to make a personal choice between sedentary, physical, creative, or social options.,⁻,,⁻,,,, However, there are many cited benefits of structured recess to consider, including:

Older elementary children may benefit from game instruction and encouragement for total class inclusion.

Children can be coached to develop interpersonal skills for appropriate conflict resolution.

More children can actively participate in regular activity, irrespective of skill level.

Anecdotally, teachers have reported improved behavior and attention in the classroom after vigorous structured recess.

To be effective, structured recess requires that school personnel (or volunteers) receive adequate training so that they are able to address and encourage the diverse needs of all students., One aspect of supervision should be to facilitate social relationships among children by encouraging inclusiveness in games. A problem arises when the structured activities of recess are promoted as a replacement for the child's physical education requirement. The replacement of physical education by recess threatens students' instruction in and acquisition of new motor skills, exploration of sports and rules, and a concept of lifelong physical fitness.,,

There are ways to encourage a physically active recess without necessarily adding structured, planned, adult-led games, such as offering attractive, safe playground equipment to stimulate free play; establishing games/boundaries painted on the playground; or instructing children in games, such as four square or hopscotch.,, These types of activities can range from fully structured (with the adult directing and requiring participation) to partly unstructured (with adults providing supervision and initial instruction) to fully unstructured (supervision and social guidance). In structured, partly structured, or unstructured environments, activity levels vary widely on the basis of school policy, equipment provided, encouragement, age group, gender, and race.,,,, Consequently, the potential benefits of mandatory participation of all children in a purely structured recess must be weighed against the potential social and emotional trade-off of limiting acquisition of important developmental skills. Whichever style is chosen, recess should be viewed as a supplement to motor skill acquisition in physical education class.,,,,

Duration and Timing of Recess

In the United States, the duration and timing of recess periods vary by age, grade, school district, and sometimes by building., The majority of elementary schools that offer lunch-time recess do so after the students eat lunch.,,⁻ Many school wellness councils have adopted the "Recess Before Lunch" concept which stems from studies that examined food waste by students in relation to the timing of their recess. ⁻ When students have recess before lunch, more time is taken for lunch and less food is wasted. In addition, teachers and researchers noted an improvement in the student behavior at meal time, which carried into the classroom in the afternoon. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Department of Agriculture support the concept of scheduling recess before lunch as part of a school's wellness policy.,

Peer-reviewed research has examined the timing and type of activity during recess and chronicled the many benefits of recess for children, without establishing an optimal required duration.,,,,,, There is consensus about the need for regularly scheduled recess based on national guidelines, even though the length of the recess period has not been firmly established. In schools, the length specified for recess ranges widely, from 20 to 60 minutes per day., In other countries, such as Japan, primary school-aged children have a 10- to 15-minute break every hour, and this is thought to reflect the fact that attention spans begin to wane after 40 to 50 minutes of intense instruction. On the basis of this premise, to maximize cognitive benefits, recess should be scheduled at regular intervals, providing children sufficient time to regain their focus before instruction continues.

Conclusions

School attendance represents a unique opportunity to address nutrition and physical fitness. Each day, 55 million US students attend school, which constitutes nearly one-half of their wakeful hours. In light of rising rates of overweight and obesity, schools have come under increased scrutiny. Within the school environment, there are competing calls for stricter standards and greater academic achievement as well as calls for schools to provide greater opportunities for nonsedentary daily activity. Even with ample evidence of a whole-child benefit from recess, significant external pressures, such as standardized cognitive testing mandated by educational reforms, have led some to view recess as time that would be better spent on academics. Time previously dedicated to daily activity in school, such as physical education and recess, is being reallocated to make way for additional academic instruction.

Ironically, minimizing or eliminating recess may be counterproductive to academic achievement, as a growing body of evidence suggests that recess promotes not only physical health and social development but also cognitive performance., Although recess and physical education both promote activity and a healthy lifestyle, it is only supervised but unstructured recess that offers children the opportunity to actually play creatively. In this sense, then, pediatricians' support of recess is an extension of the AAP's policy statement supporting free play as a fundamental component of a child's normal growth and development. On the basis of an abundance of scientific studies, withholding recess for punitive or academic reasons would seem to be counterproductive to the intended outcomes and may have unintended consequences in relation to a child's acquisition of important life skills.

Lead Authors

Robert Murray, MD

Catherine Ramstetter, PhD

Council on School Health Executive Committee, 2011-2012

Cynthia Devore, MD, Chairperson

Mandy Allison, MD, MSPH

Richard Ancona, MD

Stephen Barnett, MD

Robert Gunther, MD, MPH

Breena Welch Holmes, MD

Jeffrey Lamont, MD

Mark Minier, MD

Jeffery Okamoto, MD

Lani Wheeler, MD

Thomas Young, MD

Former Executive Committee Member

Robert Murray, MD, Immediate Past Chairperson

Consultant

Catherine Ramstetter, PhD

Liaisons

Mary Vernon-Smiley, MD, MPH - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Adolescent and School Health

Linda Grant, MD, MPH - American School Health Association

Veda Johnson, MD - National Assembly on School-Based Health Care

Carolyn Duff, RN, MS, NCSN - National Association of School Nurses

Former Liaison

Linda Davis-Alldritt, RN, MA, PHN - National Association of School Nurses

Staff

Madra Guinn-Jones, MPH

Footnotes

This document is copyrighted and is property of the American Academy of Pediatrics and its Board of Directors. All authors have filed conflict of interest statements with the American Academy of Pediatrics. Any conflicts have been resolved through a process approved by the Board of Directors. The American Academy of Pediatrics has neither solicited nor accepted any commercial involvement in the development of the content of this publication.

All policy statements from the American Academy of Pediatrics automatically expire 5 years after publication unless reaffirmed, revised, or retired at or before that time.

View Abstract

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Recess is at the heart of a vigorous debate over the role of schools in promoting the optimal development of the whole child. A growing trend toward reallocating time in school to accentuate the more academic subjects has put this important facet of a child's school day at risk.

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This article was written shortly after President Obama signed the reauthorization of ESSA, replacing NCLB. However, this measure has not improved American education at the rate needed. This article provides some insight as to how America differs from Finland, including some statistics about the ranking of our country in comparison to Finland. This article inspired me, as a leader, to keep in mind the improvements that are needed in my society, in my classroom, and soon, in my school.

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Finnish school children spend fewer hours in the classroom and more time at recess than their U.S. counterparts. (Photo: Sergey Ivanov/Creative Commons)

Educational philosophy in Finland is strikingly different than in the United States, but the students there outperform U.S. learners.

The Finnish school system might sound like a restless American schoolchild's daydream: school hours cut in half, little homework, no standardized tests, 50-minute recess and free lunch. But the Finns' unconventional approach to education has vaulted Finland to the upper echelon of countries in overall academic performance, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Finnish students have ranked at or near the top of the Program for International Student Assessment ever since testing started in 2000. In the most recent assessment in 2009, they ranked sixth in math, second in science and third in reading. By comparison, U.S. students ranked 30th, 23rd and 17th, respectively, of the 65 tested countries/economies.

But Finland's system hasn't always been successful.

"Finland had been traditionally thought of as the lowest achieving country in Scandinavia, and one of the lower achieving ones in Europe for a very long time. It was not a highly developed education system," said Linda Darling-Hammond, the co-director of the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education, in a lecture delivered Tuesday afternoon about the Finnish educational success story. She introduced the main speaker, Pasi Sahlberg, a Finnish education expert and the director of the Center for International Mobility and Cooperation in Finland's Ministry of Education and Culture.

From worst to first

"We came from behind from everybody else," Sahlberg said. "At some point in the last 40 years we've been able to pass the others."

In the last decades, U.S. and Finnish education policies have appeared to be moving in opposite directions. While U.S. public schools moved to standardized testing, Finnish schools eschewed nationwide tests to evaluate teachers, students or schools, instead relying on sample-based testing and school principals to identify potential problems, Sahlberg said.

While U.S. public schools are locally funded, usually from property taxes, and rewarded based on high performance through programs such as the U.S. Department of Education's Race to the Top grants, Finnish schools are nationally funded based on the number of students. Schools are provided additional funding if they have a higher proportion of immigrants or students whose parents are uneducated or unemployed, he said.

Darling-Hammond, who wrote about the Finnish educational system in her book The Flat World and Education: How America's Commitment to Equity Will Determine Our Future, also contrasted America's test-based teaching to Finland's more flexible system.

"The [Finnish] curricula are very much focused on critical thinking and problem solving, project-based learning, and learning to learn," she said. "There is a lot of collaboration in the classroom."

In his lecture, Sahlberg discussed three key areas: equality in education, time management and perception of teachers as professionals, topics also covered in his recent book, Finnish Lessons: What Can the World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?

Lower cost, better results

"We are spending less money than average for developed countries, much less than the United States. We spend less time, but the learning achievements are high," Sahlberg said. "You put more money and more time there, but the outcome, the achievements are less.

"When we compare teachers to other professions in society, we compare them to lawyers or doctors or architects," he said. "Not as here [in the United States], where they are compared to nurses or therapists, or something like that, that require lower academic training."

Teachers in Finland are required to obtain a three-year master's degree, state-funded, before teaching. These education positions are highly coveted, Sahlberg said. For example, only one in 10 primary-school teacher applicants are accepted.

"It's harder to get into primary school education than a medical program," he said.

But Sahlberg identified the biggest obstacle in the U.S. system as the same policy intended to revolutionize education. "If I could change one thing in policy, I would seriously rethink the role of standardized testing," he said in an interview with the Stanford News Service. "No high-performing nation in the world has been successful using the policies that the United States is using."

Sahlberg said that he doesn't think standardized testing is inherently bad, but "the way it's done here is simply leading to so many negative consequences, in the form of narrowing curricula and reshaping the way teachers and schools are working."

Sahlberg is quick to point out that solutions won't be as easy as transplanting Finland's policies across the Atlantic.

"I'm not trying to convince people that if they follow what Finland is doing, things will be good. All the education issues and reforms are done specifically to the culture and should be done locally," he said. "I'm very much aware that America is very different culturally. I'm trying to tell what we've been doing and use Finland as real-world evidence."

Ironically, inspiration for many of Finland's changes came from research in the United States, which contributes 80 percent of the world's education research, by Sahlberg's estimation. "We've built this excellent, high-performing, equitable system that everyone is praising today, based on American innovations," he said.
Stephen Tung is a science-writing intern for the Stanford News Service.

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How the Finnish school system outshines U.S. education

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Finnish school children spend fewer hours in the classroom and more time at recess than their U.S. counterparts. (Photo: Sergey Ivanov/Creative Commons) Educational philosophy in Finland is strikingly different than in the United States, but the students there outperform U.S. learners.

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US Education compared to Finland's Education

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US Education compared to Finland's Education

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This article is a narrative from the perspective of an American teacher who actually got to visit Finland. The teacher returns to America and writes this short article about the differences she observed. This article, not only aligns with the Module 4 assignment of searching for a problem in American education, but enlightens me and reminds me about teaching the whole child, instead of teaching to the test.

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An American Teacher’s Thoughts on the Finnish Education System (Opinion)

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Shannon Frank, was exhausted from teaching and almost quit - until she was inspired by education in Finland.

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4 Ways to Develop Leadership Skills in Everyday Life

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4 Ways to Develop Leadership Skills in Everyday Life

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When you're aspiring to a leadership role but perhaps not yet in one, developing the skills you need to be successful can seem like a Catch-22: How do you become a great leader when you haven't yet had the opportunity to lead?

And developing leadership talent matters. A February 2018 DDI study found that organizations that develop high-potential talent below senior levels are 4.2 times more likely to financially outperform organizations that don't based on a matrix of factors. Developing leaders can have a widespread effect throughout the organization.

But whether your company has thorough development programs or takes a more laissez-faire approach, the reality is that every day, you have opportunities to hone your leadership abilities, says Libby Gill, founder of leadership coaching firm Libby Gill & Company and author of The Hope-Driven Leader: Harness the Power of Positivity at Work. Often overlooked, these simple practices in your everyday life can help you on the job as well.

Make More Intentional Decisions

One simple practice Gill advocates is to begin being more intentional about your decisions. Whether it's your relationships, finances, health, or other areas that matter in your life, be more thoughtful about what you're doing and whether you're making the best choices, she says. As you cultivate more mindfulness in decisions and actions you may be taking for granted or dismissing, the practice will help you develop a stronger sense of self and identity, which will also help you in the workplace, she says.

"You've got to be a leader in your own life and that sounds obvious, but some of us just sort of float along, while others who are the real leaders make specific and intentional decisions that serve not only our best interests, but those of the peoples in our lives,

Cultivate A Diverse Network

Recent Boston Consulting Group research found that companies reporting above-average diversity on their management teams enjoyed innovation revenue that was 19% higher than those with below-average diversity (45% versus 26%).

Just as there are benefits to cultivating diverse teams, there are benefits to having people with varied backgrounds and life experiences in your life, says social scientist, speaker and coach Frank Niles, PhD. Make cultivating a diverse network a goal in your personal life. Getting involved in your community and becoming acquainted with different people will lead to surprising outcomes, often professionally, he says.

Get involved in community organizations, a church, or other groups where you're likely to meet people who have different experiences and backgrounds. Being around people who have varied experiences can expand your thinking and teach more about yourself, he says.

Listen And Communicate-Even When It's Tough

How often do you tune out certain people in your personal life? Yet listening is an essential skill if you're going to be a leader, Gill says. Who better to help you perfect that skill than the people who may challenge your listening ability sometimes?

"Put your gadgets away, look them in the eye, nod, listen, reflect what they have to say so they know, not only that you've heard them, but that you've understood them," she says.

Additionally, while many of us take great pains to communicate clearly at the office, we may slack off a bit when we get home. Niles says that in working with leaders across a broad range of organizations, one of the things that most often derails careers is not technical performance, but the way in which they relate to other people, he says. There is often a code of conduct in the office that defines expectations in the way people communicate. Without that "safety net," personal relationships offer an opportunity to improve how we receive, process, and relay information for the best outcome, he says. And with better listening and communication, we may also find that our relationships improve, too.

Take The Lead

Get involved with a cause you care about and raise your hand when a leadership opportunity arises, Niles says. When he was in graduate school, he volunteered in a local faith community. He had the opportunity to take on a leadership role with another person, and he got a crash course in strategic planning. "All of a sudden I'm here with another individual, we're setting strategy for the next year. We're vetting volunteers, so we're doing interviews and writing the descriptions. We're coming up with procedures and processes around how to do background checks and all the rest," he says.

While the role had a lot of responsibility, the stakes were lower than if he was doing these things on behalf of an employer. Niles says the education was invaluable.

"We often talk about leaders leading from behind, and that's absolutely correct. Leaders create the conditions for people to flourish," he says. By using the many opportunities in your daily life to improve and strengthen the skills to help your own leadership skills flourish, you can hone those critical skills, even outside of a formal training program.

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4 Ways To Develop Leadership Skills In Your Everyday Life

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When you're aspiring to a leadership role but perhaps not yet in one, developing the skills you need to be successful can seem like a Catch-22: How do you become a great leader when you haven't yet had the opportunity to lead? And developing leadership talent matters.

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PowToon by Bethany Thompson

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LEADERSHIP STYLESDefine the values and perspectives of the leaderAid and compliment abilities and faultsTRANSFORMATIONTwo theories common in education...TRANSACTIONALTransactional LeadershipRewards & Punishments Exchange for performance abilityLeader has power(Surbhi, 2015)(Surbhi, 2015)(Surbhi, 2015)Carrot and stick (Kahn, 2017)Focus is current not future (Kahn, 2017)Prizes and penalties are the motivation (Khan, 2017)TRANSACTIONALLeaders offer little incentiveto move beyond the desired target.Leaders fail to recognize team members achievements outside desired goal (Kahn, 2017)TRANSACTIONALMotivation in transactional leadership is based on meeting with the promise of a reward when accomplished.

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Akram, T., Lei, S., & Haider, M. J. (2016). The impact of relational leadership on employee innovative work behavior in IT industry of China. Arab Economic And Business Journal, 11153-161. doi:10.1016/j.aebj.2016.06.001

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Niessen, C., Mäder, I., Stride, C., & Jimmieson, N. L. (2017). Thriving when exhausted: The role of perceived transformational leadership. Journal Of Vocational Behavior, 103(Part B), 41-51. doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2017.07.012

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Transformational Leadership - Niessen and colleagues.pdf

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Hildenbrand, K., Sacramento, C. A., & Binnewies, C. (2018). Transformational leadership and burnout: The role of thriving and followers’ openness to experience. Journal Of Occupational Health Psychology, 23(1), 31-43. doi:10.1037/ocp0000051

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Transformational Leadership and Burnout - Hildenbrand and Sacramento.pdf

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Kurucz, E. C., Colbert, B. A., Lüdeke-Freund, F., Upward, A., & Willard, B. (2017). Relational leadership for strategic sustainability: practices and capabilities to advance the design and assessment of sustainable business models. Journal Of Cleaner Production, 140(Part 1), 189-204. doi:10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.03.087

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Relational Leadership - Kurucz and colleagues.pdf

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Emotional Intelligence: A Key Leadership Skill

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Emotional Intelligence: A Key Leadership Skill

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How Emotional Intelligence Became a Key Leadership Skill from The Harvard Business Review

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Anyone trying to come up to speed on emotional intelligence would have a pretty easy time of it since the concept is remarkably recent, and its application to business newer still. The term was coined in 1990 in a research paper by two psychology professors, John D. Mayer of UNH and Peter Salovey of Yale. Some years later, Mayer defined it in HBR this way:

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How Emotional Intelligence Became a Key Leadership Skill

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A reading list to bring you up to speed.

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The more that you, as a leader, manage each of these areas, the higher your emotional intelligence. So, let's look at each element in more detail and examine how you can grow as a leader.

Emotional Intelligence in Leadership

1. Self-awareness

If you're self-aware, you always know how you feel, and you know how your emotions and your actions can affect the people around you. Being self-aware when you're in a leadership position also means having a clear picture of your strengths and weaknesses, and it means behaving with humility.

So, what can you do to improve your self-awareness?

Keep a journal. Journals help you improve your self-awareness. If you spend just a few minutes each day writing down your thoughts, this can move you to a higher degree of self-awareness.

2. Self-regulation

Leaders who regulate themselves effectively rarely verbally attack others, make rushed or emotional decisions, stereotype people, or compromise their values. Self-regulation is all about staying in control.

This element of emotional intelligence, according to Goleman, also covers a leader's flexibility and commitment to personal accountability.

So, how can you improve your ability to self-regulate?

Hold yourself accountable. If you tend to blame others when something goes wrong, stop. Make a commitment to admit to your mistakes and to face the consequences, whatever they are. You'll probably sleep better at night, and you'll quickly earn the respect of those around you.

Practice being calm. The next time you're in a challenging situation, be very aware of how you act. Do you relieve your stress by shouting at someone else? Practice deep-breathing exercises to calm yourself. Also, try to write down all of the negative things you want to say, and then rip it up and throw it away. Expressing these emotions on paper (and not showing them to anyone!) is better than speaking them aloud to your team. What's more, this helps you challenge your reactions to ensure that they're fair!

3. Motivation

Self-motivated leaders work consistently toward their goals, and they have extremely high standards for the quality of their work.

How can you improve your motivation?

Re-examine why you're doing your job. It's easy to forget what you really love about your career. So, take some time to remember why you wanted this job. If you're unhappy in your role and you're struggling to remember why you wanted it, try the Five Whys technique to find the root of the problem. Starting at the root often helps you look at your situation in a new way. And make sure that your goal statements are fresh and energizing. For more on this, see our article on Goal Setting.

4. Empathy

For leaders, having empathy is critical to managing a successful team or organization. Leaders with empathy have the ability to put themselves in someone else's situation. They help develop the people on their team, challenge others who are acting unfairly, give constructive feedback, and listen to those who need it.

If you want to earn the respect and loyalty of your team, then show them you care by being empathic.

How can you improve your empathy?

Respond to feelings. You ask your assistant to work late - again. And although he agrees, you can hear the disappointment in his voice. So, respond by addressing his feelings. Tell him you appreciate how willing he is to work extra hours, and that you're just as frustrated about working late. If possible, figure out a way for future late nights to be less of an issue (for example, give him Monday mornings off).

5. Social Skills

Leaders who do well in the social skills element of emotional intelligence are great communicators. They're just as open to hearing bad news as good news, and they're experts at getting their team to support them and be excited about a new mission or project.

Leaders who have good social skills are also good at managing change and resolving conflicts diplomatically. They're rarely satisfied with leaving things as they are, but they don't sit back and make everyone else do the work: they set an example with their own behavior.

So, how can you build social skills?

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Emotional Intelligence in Leadership - Learning How to Be More Aware

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Relating to others is vital in today's workplace. Learn how to build your emotional intelligence (EI) with this article.

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The Focused Leader from The Harvard Business Review

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Idea in Brief

The Problem

A primary task of leadership is to direct attention. To do so, leaders must learn to focus their own attention.

The Argument

People commonly think of "being focused" as filtering out distractions while concentrating on one thing. But a wealth of recent neuroscience research shows that we focus attention in many ways, for different purposes, while drawing on different neural pathways.

The Solution

Every leader needs to cultivate a triad of awareness-an inward focus, a focus on others, and an outward focus. Focusing inward and focusing on others helps leaders cultivate emotional intelligence. Focusing outward can improve their ability to devise strategy, innovate, and manage organizations.

A primary task of leadership is to direct attention. To do so, leaders must learn to focus their own attention. When we speak about being focused, we commonly mean thinking about one thing while filtering out distractions. But a wealth of recent research in neuroscience shows that we focus in many ways, for different purposes, drawing on different neural pathways-some of which work in concert, while others tend to stand in opposition.

Grouping these modes of attention into three broad buckets-focusing on yourself, focusing on others, and focusing on the wider world -sheds new light on the practice of many essential leadership skills. Focusing inward and focusing constructively on others helps leaders cultivate the primary elements of emotional intelligence. A fuller understanding of how they focus on the wider world can improve their ability to devise strategy, innovate, and manage organizations.

Every leader needs to cultivate this triad of awareness, in abundance and in the proper balance, because a failure to focus inward leaves you rudderless, a failure to focus on others renders you clueless, and a failure to focus outward may leave you blindsided.

Focusing on Yourself

Emotional intelligence begins with self-awareness-getting in touch with your inner voice. Leaders who heed their inner voices can draw on more resources to make better decisions and connect with their authentic selves. But what does that entail? A look at how people focus inward can make this abstract concept more concrete.

Self-awareness.

Hearing your inner voice is a matter of paying careful attention to internal physiological signals. These subtle cues are monitored by the insula, which is tucked behind the frontal lobes of the brain. Attention given to any part of the body amps up the insula's sensitivity to that part. Tune in to your heartbeat, and the insula activates more neurons in that circuitry. How well people can sense their heartbeats has, in fact, become a standard way to measure their self-awareness.

Gut feelings are messages from the insula and the amygdala, which the neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, of the University of Southern California, calls somatic markers. Those messages are sensations that something "feels" right or wrong. Somatic markers simplify decision making by guiding our attention toward better options. They're hardly foolproof (how often was that feeling that you left the stove on correct?), so the more comprehensively we read them, the better we use our intuition. (See "Are You Skimming This Sidebar?")

Do you have trouble remembering what someone has just told you in conversation? Did you drive to work this morning on autopilot? Do you focus more on your smartphone than on the person you're having lunch with?

Attention is a mental muscle; like any other muscle, it can be strengthened through the right kind of exercise. The fundamental rep for building deliberate attention is simple: When your mind wanders, notice that it has wandered, bring it back to your desired point of focus, and keep it there as long as you can. That basic exercise is at the root of virtually every kind of meditation. Meditation builds concentration and calmness and facilitates recovery from the agitation of stress.

So does a video game called Tenacity, now in development by a design group and neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin. Slated for release in 2014, the game offers a leisurely journey through any of half a dozen scenes, from a barren desert to a fantasy staircase spiraling heavenward. At the beginner's level you tap an iPad screen with one finger every time you exhale; the challenge is to tap two fingers with every fifth breath. As you move to higher levels, you're presented with more distractions-a helicopter flies into view, a plane does a flip, a flock of birds suddenly scud by.

When players are attuned to the rhythm of their breathing, they experience the strengthening of selective attention as a feeling of calm focus, as in meditation. Stanford University is exploring that connection at its Calming Technology Lab, which is developing relaxing devices, such as a belt that detects your breathing rate. Should a chock-full in-box, for instance, trigger what has been called e-mail apnea, an iPhone app can guide you through exercises to calm your breathing and your mind.

Consider, for example, the implications of an analysis of interviews conducted by a group of British researchers with 118 professional traders and 10 senior managers at four City of London investment banks. The most successful traders (whose annual income averaged £500,000) were neither the ones who relied entirely on analytics nor the ones who just went with their guts. They focused on a full range of emotions, which they used to judge the value of their intuition. When they suffered losses, they acknowledged their anxiety, became more cautious, and took fewer risks. The least successful traders (whose income averaged only £100,000) tended to ignore their anxiety and keep going with their guts. Because they failed to heed a wider array of internal signals, they were misled.

Zeroing in on sensory impressions of ourselves in the moment is one major element of self-awareness. But another is critical to leadership: combining our experiences across time into a coherent view of our authentic selves.

To be authentic is to be the same person to others as you are to yourself. In part that entails paying attention to what others think of you, particularly people whose opinions you esteem and who will be candid in their feedback. A variety of focus that is useful here is open awareness, in which we broadly notice what's going on around us without getting caught up in or swept away by any particular thing. In this mode we don't judge, censor, or tune out; we simply perceive.

Leaders who are more accustomed to giving input than to receiving it may find this tricky. Someone who has trouble sustaining open awareness typically gets snagged by irritating details, such as fellow travelers in the airport security line who take forever getting their carry-ons into the scanner. Someone who can keep her attention in open mode will notice the travelers but not worry about them, and will take in more of her surroundings. (See the sidebar "Expand Your Awareness.")

Just as a camera lens can be set narrowly on a single point or more widely to take in a panoramic view, you can focus tightly or expansively.

One measure of open awareness presents people with a stream of letters and numbers, such as S, K, O, E, 4, R, T, 2, H, P. In scanning the stream, many people will notice the first number, 4, but after that their attention blinks. Those firmly in open awareness mode will register the second number as well.

Strengthening the ability to maintain open awareness requires leaders to do something that verges on the unnatural: cultivate at least sometimes a willingness to not be in control, not offer up their own views, not judge others. That's less a matter of deliberate action than of attitude adjustment.

One path to making that adjustment is through the classic power of positive thinking, because pessimism narrows our focus, whereas positive emotions widen our attention and our receptiveness to the new and unexpected. A simple way to shift into positive mode is to ask yourself, "If everything worked out perfectly in my life, what would I be doing in 10 years?" Why is that effective? Because when you're in an upbeat mood, the University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Richard Davidson has found, your brain's left prefrontal area lights up. That area harbors the circuitry that reminds us how great we'll feel when we reach some long-sought goal.

"Talking about positive goals and dreams activates brain centers that open you up to new possibilities," says Richard Boyatzis, a psychologist at Case Western Reserve. "But if you change the conversation to what you should do to fix yourself, it closes you down....You need the negative to survive, but the positive to thrive."

Of course, being open to input doesn't guarantee that someone will provide it. Sadly, life affords us few chances to learn how others really see us, and even fewer for executives as they rise through the ranks. That may be why one of the most popular and overenrolled courses at Harvard Business School is Bill George's Authentic Leadership Development, in which George has created what he calls True North groups to heighten this aspect of self-awareness.

These groups (which anyone can form) are based on the precept that self-knowledge begins with self-revelation. Accordingly, they are open and intimate, "a safe place," George explains, "where members can discuss personal issues they do not feel they can raise elsewhere-often not even with their closest family members." What good does that do? "We don't know who we are until we hear ourselves speaking the story of our lives to those we trust," George says. It's a structured way to match our view of our true selves with the views our most trusted colleagues have-an external check on our authenticity.

Self-control.

"Cognitive control" is the scientific term for putting one's attention where one wants it and keeping it there in the face of temptation to wander. This focus is one aspect of the brain's executive function, which is located in the prefrontal cortex. A colloquial term for it is "willpower."

Cognitive control enables executives to pursue a goal despite distractions and setbacks. The same neural circuitry that allows such a single-minded pursuit of goals also manages unruly emotions. Good cognitive control can be seen in people who stay calm in a crisis, tame their own agitation, and recover from a debacle or defeat.

Decades' worth of research demonstrates the singular importance of willpower to leadership success. Particularly compelling is a longitudinal study tracking the fates of all 1,037 children born during a single year in the 1970s in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. For several years during childhood the children were given a battery of tests of willpower, including the psychologist Walter Mischel's legendary "marshmallow test"-a choice between eating one marshmallow right away and getting two by waiting 15 minutes. In Mischel's experiments, roughly a third of children grab the marshmallow on the spot, another third hold out for a while longer, and a third manage to make it through the entire quarter hour.

Years later, when the children in the Dunedin study were in their 30s and all but 4% of them had been tracked down again, the researchers found that those who'd had the cognitive control to resist the marshmallow longest were significantly healthier, more successful financially, and more law-abiding than the ones who'd been unable to hold out at all. In fact, statistical analysis showed that a child's level of self-control was a more powerful predictor of financial success than IQ, social class, or family circumstance.

How we focus holds the key to exercising willpower, Mischel says. Three subvarieties of cognitive control are at play when you pit self-restraint against self-gratification: the ability to voluntarily disengage your focus from an object of desire; the ability to resist distraction so that you don't gravitate back to that object; and the ability to concentrate on the future goal and imagine how good you will feel when you achieve it. As adults the children of Dunedin may have been held hostage to their younger selves, but they need not have been, because the power to focus can be developed. (See the sidebar "Learning Self-Restraint.")

Quick, now. Here's a test of cognitive control. In what direction is the middle arrow in each row pointing?

The test, called the Eriksen Flanker Task, gauges your susceptibility to distraction. When it's taken under laboratory conditions, differences of a thousandth of a second can be detected in the speed with which subjects perceive which direction the middle arrows are pointing. The stronger their cognitive control, the less susceptible they are to distraction.

Interventions to strengthen cognitive control can be as unsophisticated as a game of Simon Says or Red Light-any exercise in which you are asked to stop on cue. Research suggests that the better a child gets at playing Musical Chairs, the stronger his or her prefrontal wiring for cognitive control will become.

Operating on a similarly simple principle is a social and emotional learning (SEL) method that's used to strengthen cognitive control in schoolchildren across the United States. When confronted by an upsetting problem, the children are told to think of a traffic signal. The red light means stop, calm down, and think before you act. The yellow light means slow down and think of several possible solutions. The green light means try out a plan and see how it works. Thinking in these terms allows the children to shift away from amygdala-driven impulses to prefrontal-driven deliberate behavior.

It's never too late for adults to strengthen these circuits as well. Daily sessions of mindfulness practice work in a way similar to Musical Chairs and SEL. In these sessions you focus your attention on your breathing and practice tracking your thoughts and feelings without getting swept away by them. Whenever you notice that your mind has wandered, you simply return it to your breath. It sounds easy-but try it for 10 minutes, and you'll find there's a learning curve.

Focusing on Others

The word "attention" comes from the Latin attendere, meaning "to reach toward." This is a perfect definition of focus on others, which is the foundation of empathy and of an ability to build social relationships-the second and third pillars of emotional intelligence.

Executives who can effectively focus on others are easy to recognize. They are the ones who find common ground, whose opinions carry the most weight, and with whom other people want to work. They emerge as natural leaders regardless of organizational or social rank.

The empathy triad.

We talk about empathy most commonly as a single attribute. But a close look at where leaders are focusing when they exhibit it reveals three distinct kinds, each important for leadership effectiveness:

cognitive empathy-the ability to understand another person's perspective;

emotional empathy-the ability to feel what someone else feels;

empathic concern-the ability to sense what another person needs from you.

Cognitive empathy enables leaders to explain themselves in meaningful ways-a skill essential to getting the best performance from their direct reports. Contrary to what you might expect, exercising cognitive empathy requires leaders to think about feelings rather than to feel them directly.

An inquisitive nature feeds cognitive empathy. As one successful executive with this trait puts it, "I've always just wanted to learn everything, to understand anybody that I was around-why they thought what they did, why they did what they did, what worked for them, and what didn't work." But cognitive empathy is also an outgrowth of self-awareness. The executive circuits that allow us to think about our own thoughts and to monitor the feelings that flow from them let us apply the same reasoning to other people's minds when we choose to direct our attention that way.

Further Reading

Managing Yourself Feature

The origins of attention deficit trait, and how to control it in today's busy organizations.

Emotional empathy is important for effective mentoring, managing clients, and reading group dynamics. It springs from ancient parts of the brain beneath the cortex-the amygdala, the hypothalamus, the hippocampus, and the orbitofrontal cortex-that allow us to feel fast without thinking deeply. They tune us in by arousing in our bodies the emotional states of others: I literally feel your pain. My brain patterns match up with yours when I listen to you tell a gripping story. As Tania Singer, the director of the social neuroscience department at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, in Leipzig, says, "You need to understand your own feelings to understand the feelings of others." Accessing your capacity for emotional empathy depends on combining two kinds of attention: a deliberate focus on your own echoes of someone else's feelings and an open awareness of that person's face, voice, and other external signs of emotion. (See the sidebar "When Empathy Needs to Be Learned.")

Emotional empathy can be developed. That's the conclusion suggested by research conducted with physicians by Helen Riess, the director of the Empathy and Relational Science Program at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital. To help the physicians monitor themselves, she set up a program in which they learned to focus using deep, diaphragmatic breathing and to cultivate a certain detachment-to watch an interaction from the ceiling, as it were, rather than being lost in their own thoughts and feelings. "Suspending your own involvement to observe what's going on gives you a mindful awareness of the interaction without being completely reactive," says Riess. "You can see if your own physiology is charged up or balanced. You can notice what's transpiring in the situation." If a doctor realizes that she's feeling irritated, for instance, that may be a signal that the patient is bothered too.

Those who are utterly at a loss may be able to prime emotional empathy essentially by faking it until they make it, Riess adds. If you act in a caring way-looking people in the eye and paying attention to their expressions, even when you don't particularly want to-you may start to feel more engaged.

Empathic concern, which is closely related to emotional empathy, enables you to sense not just how people feel but what they need from you. It's what you want in your doctor, your spouse-and your boss. Empathic concern has its roots in the circuitry that compels parents' attention to their children. Watch where people's eyes go when someone brings an adorable baby into a room, and you'll see this mammalian brain center leaping into action.

One neural theory holds that the response is triggered in the amygdala by the brain's radar for sensing danger and in the prefrontal cortex by the release of oxytocin, the chemical for caring. This implies that empathic concern is a double-edged feeling. We intuitively experience the distress of another as our own. But in deciding whether we will meet that person's needs, we deliberately weigh how much we value his or her well-being.

Getting this intuition-deliberation mix right has great implications. Those whose sympathetic feelings become too strong may themselves suffer. In the helping professions, this can lead to compassion fatigue; in executives, it can create distracting feelings of anxiety about people and circumstances that are beyond anyone's control. But those who protect themselves by deadening their feelings may lose touch with empathy. Empathic concern requires us to manage our personal distress without numbing ourselves to the pain of others. (See the sidebar "When Empathy Needs to Be Controlled.")

Getting a grip on our impulse to empathize with other people's feelings can help us make better decisions when someone's emotional flood threatens to overwhelm us.

Ordinarily, when we see someone pricked with a pin, our brains emit a signal indicating that our own pain centers are echoing that distress. But physicians learn in medical school to block even such automatic responses. Their attentional anesthetic seems to be deployed by the temporal-parietal junction and regions of the prefrontal cortex, a circuit that boosts concentration by tuning out emotions. That's what is happening in your brain when you distance yourself from others in order to stay calm and help them. The same neural network kicks in when we see a problem in an emotionally overheated environment and need to focus on looking for a solution. If you're talking with someone who is upset, this system helps you understand the person's perspective intellectually by shifting from the heart-to-heart of emotional empathy to the head-to-heart of cognitive empathy.

What's more, some lab research suggests that the appropriate application of empathic concern is critical to making moral judgments. Brain scans have revealed that when volunteers listened to tales of people subjected to physical pain, their own brain centers for experiencing such pain lit up instantly. But if the story was about psychological suffering, the higher brain centers involved in empathic concern and compassion took longer to activate. Some time is needed to grasp the psychological and moral dimensions of a situation. The more distracted we are, the less we can cultivate the subtler forms of empathy and compassion.

Building relationships.

People who lack social sensitivity are easy to spot-at least for other people. They are the clueless among us. The CFO who is technically competent but bullies some people, freezes out others, and plays favorites-but when you point out what he has just done, shifts the blame, gets angry, or thinks that you're the problem-is not trying to be a jerk; he's utterly unaware of his shortcomings.

Social sensitivity appears to be related to cognitive empathy. Cognitively empathic executives do better at overseas assignments, for instance, presumably because they quickly pick up implicit norms and learn the unique mental models of a new culture. Attention to social context lets us act with skill no matter what the situation, instinctively follow the universal algorithm for etiquette, and behave in ways that put others at ease. (In another age this might have been called good manners.)

Circuitry that converges on the anterior hippocampus reads social context and leads us intuitively to act differently with, say, our college buddies than with our families or our colleagues. In concert with the deliberative prefrontal cortex, it squelches the impulse to do something inappropriate. Accordingly, one brain test for sensitivity to context assesses the function of the hippocampus. The University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Richard Davidson hypothesizes that people who are most alert to social situations exhibit stronger activity and more connections between the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex than those who just can't seem to get it right.

The same circuits may be at play when we map social networks in a group-a skill that lets us navigate the relationships in those networks well. People who excel at organizational influence can not only sense the flow of personal connections but also name the people whose opinions hold most sway, and so focus on persuading those who will persuade others.

Alarmingly, research suggests that as people rise through the ranks and gain power, their ability to perceive and maintain personal connections tends to suffer a sort of psychic attrition. In studying encounters between people of varying status, Dacher Keltner, a psychologist at Berkeley, has found that higher-ranking individuals consistently focus their gaze less on lower-ranking people and are more likely to interrupt or to monopolize the conversation.

In fact, mapping attention to power in an organization gives a clear indication of hierarchy: The longer it takes Person A to respond to Person B, the more relative power Person A has. Map response times across an entire organization, and you'll get a remarkably accurate chart of social standing. The boss leaves e-mails unanswered for hours; those lower down respond within minutes. This is so predictable that an algorithm for it-called automated social hierarchy detection-has been developed at Columbia University. Intelligence agencies reportedly are applying the algorithm to suspected terrorist gangs to piece together chains of influence and identify central figures.

But the real point is this: Where we see ourselves on the social ladder sets the default for how much attention we pay. This should be a warning to top executives, who need to respond to fast-moving competitive situations by tapping the full range of ideas and talents within an organization. Without a deliberate shift in attention, their natural inclination may be to ignore smart ideas from the lower ranks.

Focusing on the Wider World

Leaders with a strong outward focus are not only good listeners but also good questioners. They are visionaries who can sense the far-flung consequences of local decisions and imagine how the choices they make today will play out in the future. They are open to the surprising ways in which seemingly unrelated data can inform their central interests. Melinda Gates offered up a cogent example when she remarked on 60 Minutes that her husband was the kind of person who would read an entire book about fertilizer. Charlie Rose asked, Why fertilizer? The connection was obvious to Bill Gates, who is constantly looking for technological advances that can save lives on a massive scale. "A few billion people would have to die if we hadn't come up with fertilizer," he replied.

Focusing on strategy.

Any business school course on strategy will give you the two main elements: exploitation of your current advantage and exploration for new ones. Brain scans that were performed on 63 seasoned business decision makers as they pursued or switched between exploitative and exploratory strategies revealed the specific circuits involved. Not surprisingly, exploitation requires concentration on the job at hand, whereas exploration demands open awareness to recognize new possibilities. But exploitation is accompanied by activity in the brain's circuitry for anticipation and reward. In other words, it feels good to coast along in a familiar routine. When we switch to exploration, we have to make a deliberate cognitive effort to disengage from that routine in order to roam widely and pursue fresh paths.

What keeps us from making that effort? Sleep deprivation, drinking, stress, and mental overload all interfere with the executive circuitry used to make the cognitive switch. To sustain the outward focus that leads to innovation, we need some uninterrupted time in which to reflect and refresh our focus.

The wellsprings of innovation.

In an era when almost everyone has access to the same information, new value arises from putting ideas together in novel ways and asking smart questions that open up untapped potential. Moments before we have a creative insight, the brain shows a third-of-a-second spike in gamma waves, indicating the synchrony of far-flung brain cells. The more neurons firing in sync, the bigger the spike. Its timing suggests that what's happening is the formation of a new neural network-presumably creating a fresh association.

But it would be making too much of this to see gamma waves as a secret to creativity. A classic model of creativity suggests how the various modes of attention play key roles. First we prepare our minds by gathering a wide variety of pertinent information, and then we alternate between concentrating intently on the problem and letting our minds wander freely. Those activities translate roughly into vigilance, when while immersing ourselves in all kinds of input, we remain alert for anything relevant to the problem at hand; selective attention to the specific creative challenge; and open awareness, in which we allow our minds to associate freely and the solution to emerge spontaneously. (That's why so many fresh ideas come to people in the shower or out for a walk or a run.)

The dubious gift of systems awareness.

If people are given a quick view of a photo of lots of dots and asked to guess how many there are, the strong systems thinkers in the group tend to make the best estimates. This skill shows up in those who are good at designing software, assembly lines, matrix organizations, or interventions to save failing ecosystems-it's a very powerful gift indeed. After all, we live within extremely complex systems. But, suggests the Cambridge University psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen (a cousin of Sacha's), in a small but significant number of people, a strong systems awareness is coupled with an empathy deficit-a blind spot for what other people are thinking and feeling and for reading social situations. For that reason, although people with a superior systems understanding are organizational assets, they are not necessarily effective leaders.

An executive at one bank explained to me that it has created a separate career ladder for systems analysts so that they can progress in status and salary on the basis of their systems smarts alone. That way, the bank can consult them as needed while recruiting leaders from a different pool-one containing people with emotional intelligence.

Putting It All Together

For those who don't want to end up similarly compartmentalized, the message is clear. A focused leader is not the person concentrating on the three most important priorities of the year, or the most brilliant systems thinker, or the one most in tune with the corporate culture. Focused leaders can command the full range of their own attention: They are in touch with their inner feelings, they can control their impulses, they are aware of how others see them, they understand what others need from them, they can weed out distractions and also allow their minds to roam widely, free of preconceptions.

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This is challenging. But if great leadership were a paint-by-numbers exercise, great leaders would be more common. Practically every form of focus can be strengthened. What it takes is not talent so much as diligence-a willingness to exercise the attention circuits of the brain just as we exercise our analytic skills and other systems of the body.

The link between attention and excellence remains hidden most of the time. Yet attention is the basis of the most essential of leadership skills-emotional, organizational, and strategic intelligence. And never has it been under greater assault. The constant onslaught of incoming data leads to sloppy shortcuts-triaging our e-mail by reading only the subject lines, skipping many of our voice mails, skimming memos and reports. Not only do our habits of attention make us less effective, but the sheer volume of all those messages leaves us too little time to reflect on what they really mean. This was foreseen more than 40 years ago by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Herbert Simon. Information "consumes the attention of its recipients," he wrote in 1971. "Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention."

My goal here is to place attention center stage so that you can direct it where you need it when you need it. Learn to master your attention, and you will be in command of where you, and your organization, focus.

A version of this article appeared in the December 2013 issue of Harvard Business Review.

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Idea in Brief The Problem A primary task of leadership is to direct attention. To do so, leaders must learn to focus their own attention. The Argument People commonly think of "being focused" as filtering out distractions while concentrating on one thing.