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Introduction  -  The choice of a leadership metaphor

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Introduction  -  The choice of a leadership metaphor

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On reflection, there are three central ideas that have guided my thinking during this degree:

1.      The importance of purposeful and strategic data collection and study to examine and improve school performance. This data, thoughtfully and skillfully interpreted, informs us of gaps and confirms success. The improper collection and use of data can mislead and distract us from our priorities.

2.      The importance of leadership vision and, in particular, servant leadership. There is always the danger of forgetting that schools today are lifeboats, not cruise ships. When we become satisfied, we become less critical of the systems and policies that generate barriers to access.

3.      “Good kids will look after themselves”. I have heard this statement three times from serving administrators over the last 15 years. I take real issue with this statement. My first objection is that this statement inherently masks and excuses poor performance. We know that teacher preparation and expectations are amongst the most critical variables in classrooms and schools (Lezotte & Mckee Snyder, 2011). Why then, do we ignore and dismiss high-performance teachers and prevent their success from being multiplied and spread throughout education? Why do we provide an excuse for students to “fall through the cracks”? Why are we not systematically intolerant of “cracks” in any case? My second objection is that “good kids” are made, not born, through a collective investment. We don't even objectively know who they are, or who is worthy to deserve this title. By definition, we are accepting that students with merit and potential will fail. We accept that other students will not rise on the tide of ever-improved practice and student growth that can only come from high quality teaching and learning.

Schools are complex. An overly simplistic metaphor cannot capture the essence of modern schools. Conflicting efforts miss opportunities for synergies, as do "One room schoolhouses". An ecosystem consists of complex and interrelated variables connected in ways that must be studied to be properly understood and influenced. The picture shows an impressive attempt to build and support the entire rich ecosystem of a Greek island. I visited this on the island of Crete in 2019. It is the plan of a single person with a grand vision. They understood the organic nature of the structure and its synergistic processes.  Many others saw the need for it and supported the vision to bring it to fruition.  I view the energy that flows through the system as the effort invested at all levels by stakeholders.
Lezotte, L. & McKee Snyder, K. (2011). What effective schools do: Re-envisioning the correlates. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

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I used a timeline to present my thinking and how it changed over time as I encountered each course chronologically. I connected each item of finished work back to its source. For example, my article for the BU Journal of Graduate Studies was presented in the Fall of 2020, but the essay it was based upon was written for a course in Winter 2018. Some references of importance are referred to in multiple courses as the ideas contained within resonated. Each post has a note of reflection attached in the body or at the foot of the page. I attached these with my written work and references rather than the course outline as these were more personal to me and reflected the aspect of my wn development or the issue I was examining within my own school through the lens of the course content.

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This was a very important topic to me to write about in this course. It was later published (with some revisions) in the BU Journal of Graduate Studies.

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07: 798 Selected Topics in Education: MASS Field-Led Leadership

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07: 798 Selected Topics in Education: MASS Field-Led Leadership

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01: 752 Introduction to Educational Administration

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01: 752 Introduction to Educational Administration

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01: 755 Administrative Leadership in Educational Institutions

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01: 755 Administrative Leadership in Educational Institutions

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This paper shows how the prevailing majority opinion in a population can be rapidly reversed by a small fraction (10%) of randomly distributed committed agents who consistently present the opposing opinion and are immune to influence. In other words, a committed minority can consistently overcome wrong thinking, prejudice, received wisdom, or ignorance. Statistics is a source of hope!                  Xie, J., Sreenivasan, S., Korniss, G., Zhang, W., Lim, C., and Szymanski, B. (2011). Social

consensus through the influence of committed minorities. Physical Review E 84, 011130

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/ PhysRevE.84.011130

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04: 768 Ethical & Legal Issues for Counsellors

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04: 768 Ethical & Legal Issues for Counsellors

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Professional Disclosure and Informed Consent Form

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07: 798 Selected Topics in Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

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07: 798 Selected Topics in Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

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02: 783 Contemporary Approaches to Curriculum Studies

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02: 783 Contemporary Approaches to Curriculum Studies

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Cruise Ships and Lifeboats

In my previous role as a high school teacher, I observed the considerable success of individual students and teachers but only limited systematic change to address our fundamental challenges. High graduation rates mask the significant under-performance of specific groups within our community. Limited systematic effort is currently made to understand and track the success of all our graduates in post-secondary studies and work. Data from testing such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests (OECD, 2016), are regarded as a source of shame and recrimination in Manitoba rather than an opportunity to improve the quality and reach of our educational and economic policy. Attempts to foster collaboration between teachers, school leaders, professors, students, parents and community stakeholders are rare and seldom sustained long enough to reap real benefits. I would argue that these all provide us with a wealth of potential improvements. We do have to be careful in thinking that everything is rosy because many of our students find success. This view elevates the favored in schools and scapegoats the rest. Resultingly, many of our students don't make it onto the cruise ship, nor are they invited. Brandon School Division has undertaken a Response to Intervention approach to address the challenges facing Indigenous and English as an Additional Language (EAL) students given their identified struggles with academic performance and absenteeism (Brandon School Division, 2019). This approach is a clear effort to close learning gaps by improving system supports and professional collaboration. Aside from this, we do not have an entirely clear picture as to the determinants and definition of academic success. Over the years, I have heard it commented (by three different Principals!), that “The smart kids will take care of themselves”. This marks a clear failure to develop clear and agreed upon picture of what “smart” looks like, or how we will broaden and extend opportunity to make this group ever larger and more inclusive. With a rise in mental health issues, many of these smart kids are not able to take care of themselves. How will we assist our students if we do not understand their learning needs and through this, identify tangible changes to improve processes and build capacity? Teachers today are more familiar with staffing the series of lifeboats needed to rescue our students from difficult waters.

Most administrators fill their day fighting the fires of short-term social and disciplinary needs of their students. The longer-term cultural and academic supports are largely placed in the hands of teachers and counsellors. Rather like a small business that is built by relationships over time, the new owners will mistakenly believe that the school runs by itself and these relationships are maintained without nourishment.  Resultingly, the good kids don't take care of themselves and school performance in all areas actually slowly diminishes from a lack of instructional leadership.

For these reasons, the Principal must balance the immediate needs of the individual student with the more strategic planning of building a school culture to support strong teaching and learning. This balance takes real skill and vision.

Brandon School Division (2019). Continuous improvement in Brandon School Division.

Retrieved from https://www.bsd .ca/Division/AboutUs/Pages/Continuous-Improvement -

in-BSD.aspx

OECD (2016), PISA 2015 assessment and analytical framework: Science, reading,

Mathematics and financial literacy, PISA, OECD Publishing, Paris. Retrieved from https://doi-org.berlioz.brandonu.ca/10.1787/9789264255425-en.