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Spread the loveThere are four major styles of leadership which apply well in the educational setting. While each of these styles has its good points, there is a wide berth of variation, and in fact, transformational leadership is truly an amalgamation of the best attributes of the other three.

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March 2019 | Volume 76 | Number 6
The Power of Instructional Leadership

Anne Vilen

Rachel Owens had four years of experience when she joined Two Rivers Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., as a new kindergarten teacher. She excelled at teaching reading and using academic-assessment data to adjust her instruction. However, she was still a newcomer at Two Rivers, an EL Education network school where there is an equal focus on academic performance and ethical citizenship. Like her kindergartners, Owens needed to adapt to this new environment by learning strategies for developing students' character as well as their academic understanding and skills.

Fortunately, just when Owens joined the faculty, the school's instructional leadership team, including administrators and teacher leaders from an array of departments and grade levels, began to implement a strategy called Collaborative & Proactive Solutions (CPS), based on education author Ross Greene's work at the nonprofit Lives in the Balance. At the core of this strategy is the belief that every student has a "noble story," the desire to do well in school and succeed in life. Teachers operationalize this belief by conferencing with students who have challenging behaviors, teaching them the social-emotional skills they lack, and, together, creating an action plan that enables the student to make better classroom choices.

To support Owens and other teachers' efforts to implement CPS, instructional leaders, in collaboration with Director of Curriculum and Instruction Jeff Heyck-Williams, designed a strategic improvement plan that combines intensive professional learning with structured protocols in which teachers collect, analyze, and revise their practices based on data from their own classrooms. Their plan employed techniques described in the EL Education book Leaders of Their Own Learning (2014), including identifying learning targets, looking at data, making an action plan, assessing results, and presenting their learning publicly.

According to Heyck-Williams, just as these techniques engage and empower students, they are equally transformative for teachers. "When teachers are clear about their targets and use data to see where they are in relation to the targets, they are more motivated and intentional about their teaching," he said. "Student achievement-both academic and social-emotional growth-is the proof of teacher improvement."

Focusing on a Goal

The process of school improvement at Two Rivers and other EL Education schools begins with setting goals in response to a broad array of quantitative and qualitative data, including school climate surveys and interviews with teachers or teaching teams. In 2017, Two Rivers' data dive revealed, among other things, that the number of students who were suspended remained stubbornly unchanged and that too many students were losing instructional time because they were out of the classroom for disciplinary reasons. This raised many questions for leaders, including:

Do suspensions reflect low classroom engagement?

Are some demographic groups disproportionately represented among the students who are out of the classroom?

How are our instructional practices engaging or not engaging students who are leaving the classroom?

Does missing class time for disciplinary reasons reflect the teacher's classroom management or relationship-building skills?

How are teachers' unconscious biases impacting their responses to students and their instruction?

Instructional leaders decided to look more closely at these questions, and crafted an ambitious goal to reduce the amount of time students were out of class for behavioral reasons.

In collaboration with teachers, Two Rivers leaders crafted three teacher-friendly learning targets:

I can demonstrate the beliefs that students want to do well and that supporting social-emotional growth is my responsibility.

I can collaborate with a student to solve a persistent problem.

I can reflect on the process of problem solving with a student.

This sequence of learning targets was designed to give teachers like Owens specific skills to aim for as they worked on new strategies for keeping all students in class rather than sending them to the office. Leaders dedicated three hours each week to professional learning, unencumbered by meetings, lesson planning, or non-instructional duties. The first few sessions were structured to build background knowledge and support teachers to reflect meaningfully on their own practice. Teachers read excerpts from Greene's Lost at School (2014) and explored their own perceptions, assumptions, and triggers in response to challenging behaviors and the students who exhibit them. Steeped in deeper understanding and empathy, teachers constructed their students' noble stories. Rachel Owens's reflection on her interactions with one particularly challenging kindergarten student, whom we'll call James, appears in Figure 1.

Braced with new knowledge and a new mindset about building students' social-emotional skills, Owens and her colleagues returned to their classrooms to try out and assess an action plan of their own making. They were expected to videotape themselves implementing the strategies they had learned and gather data to show the results. Later, they would share those data with colleagues and analyze them collaboratively to determine next steps. (Teachers at Two Rivers regularly share and discuss their own unfiltered data-student work, classroom observations, or assessment results-with powerful implications for teacher growth.)

Owens's data showed that in a typical lesson, 15 of her students were able to give their attention and effort to a task and monitor their own understanding, but five were not. From these five, she chose James as the case study for her research and created an action plan for implementing a CPS conference with him. (See Figure 2, which shows her reflection, and Figure 3, which shows her action plan).

Figure 3. Owens's Action Plan for Conferencing with James

Confidence-Building with Colleagues

Owens put her plan into action and videotaped her initial conferences with James. The following week, she participated in a "no blame, no shame" consultancy with three colleagues from other grade levels. She shared the video of herself holding a conference with James, as well as her conversation notes. She also shared her own insights about the conference, including what she heard the student say and what that made her think about. Then she tweaked her action plan in response to colleagues' feedback that she did a little too much of the talking during the conference.

"When we watched the video," she said, "we noticed that James has a lot more insight into his own behavior than I had given him credit for. I was assuming since he has trouble regulating his own attention that he is not paying attention to the way he is feeling or the things he is doing. But he was very clear that his brain is telling him to do something other than what the class is doing." She committed to doubling down on the collaborative conference strategy and to let James do most of the talking while she listened for information.

Gathering data about her interactions with James and getting ongoing feedback from colleagues and instructional leaders motivated Owens to revise and polish her CPS techniques. As the school's focused professional learning sessions unfolded throughout the semester, she spent more and more time in purposeful consultancies with instructional leaders and colleagues as thought partners-fueling even further revisions.

At the end of the year, the entire faculty came back together and instructional leaders made time for Owens and her colleagues to synthesize and debrief their learning. Teachers named their takeaways for the year, celebrated progress, and identified how their learning prepared them for the following year. They were encouraged to share both their story and their data publicly. Owens, for example, wrote a post about how changing her practice had impacted students in her classroom for Education Week's Next Gen Learning blog.

The deliberate process of working toward her learning targets by building her understanding and skills, testing out strategies in the classroom, and discussing and sharing her results with colleagues transformed Owens's experience of professional learning. "There are so many things thrown at teachers with the tagline "do this, and you'll get this result,"" she says. "I was skeptical when I started the year, but the problem-solving conference strategy really did work."

Because she collected data from her own classroom in real time and was given time to confer about those data with other teacher colleagues and integrate the data into her own teacher story through writing and publishing, Owens was motivated to keep trying. Her conferences with James also improved, and he got better and faster at creating his own solution so that he could focus on reading, math, or writing.

Leading for Impact and Growth

For Owens, building even one student's social-emotional toolkit matters deeply, and developing new engagement strategies holds the promise of increasing students' achievement in the future. But instructional leaders at Two Rivers are looking for a broader, schoolwide impact. To help with that goal, all 100 of Two Rivers's teachers participate in two data-analysis strategy implementation cycles per year, and this collective growth mindset impacts students' achievement across the school and over time.

For the 2017-18 academic year, the team wanted to know if the Collaborative & Proactive Solutions conferences were decreasing disciplinary actions and time out of the classroom. They conducted another data review and discovered in May that the amount of time out of class for disciplinary conferences had fallen 15 percent since January. Moreover, teachers and leaders were able to use the disaggregated data to deeply examine the relationships between the macro-level schoolwide data that leaders were analyzing and the micro-level classroom data that teachers had generated.

In the end, they concluded that teachers had made some progress in problem solving challenging behaviors with students. And, returning to the questions raised by their data at the beginning of the year, they committed to using the following year's professional learning to address the deeper issue of unconscious bias and its impact on instructional and disciplinary practices. Collectively aiming at a new set of learning targets, teachers this fall will use the same recursive process-reflecting and understanding, analyzing data, taking action, measuring impact, sharing their learning-to implement further improvements in their instruction.

Getting better together through this kind of shared leadership is challenging work, but it is also fundamentally collaborative, respectful, purposeful, and deeply rewarding. In the Educational Leadership article, " The Power of Collective Efficacy," Donohoo and colleagues write, "When a team of individuals share the belief that through their unified efforts they can overcome challenges and produce intended results, groups are more effective" (2018, p. 40). Owens agrees. "Everyone at Two Rivers leads by example. We learn from each other, we are grounded in the same mission, and everyone expects both staff and students to achieve." Instructional leadership that is steeped in curiosity and mutual respect for each student and teacher's story is work worth doing-work that enables leaders and teachers to walk their talk and to see their efforts become action that gets results.

References

Berger, R., Rugen, L., & Woodfin, L. (2014). Leaders of their own learning: Transforming schools through student-engaged assessment. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Donohoo, J., Hattie, J., & Eells, R. (2018). The power of collective efficacy. Educational Leadership, 75(6), 40-44.

Greene, R. W. (2014). Lost at school. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Heyck-Williams, J., & Owens, R. (2018, May 16). Providing agency for our most challenging students. Education Week. [blog post]. Retrieved from http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/next_gen_learning/2018/05/providing_agency_for_our_most_ challenging_students.html

Anne Vilen is a senior writer for EL Education. She is coauthor, with Ron Berger and Libby Woodfin, of Learning that Lasts: Challenging, Engaging, and Empowering Students with Deeper Instruction (Jossey-Bass, 2016) and of the forthcoming book, The Leaders of Their Own Learning Companion. Follow her on Twitter.

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March 2019 | Volume 76 | Number 6 The Power of Instructional Leadership Anne Vilen Rachel Owens had four years of experience when she joined Two Rivers Public Charter School in Washington, D.C., as a new kindergarten teacher. She excelled at teaching reading and using academic-assessment data to adjust her instruction.

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May 2017 | Volume 74 | Number 8
Lifting School Leaders Pages 10-14

Baruti K. Kafele

For the past year, I have been conducting a workshop with school leaders called "Is my school a better school because I lead it?" I typically have my audiences reflect on this question and prompt them to point to evidence that supports their contentions. Then I ask whether they feel their staff would have similar perceptions. I often have to force myself to leave this question at some point during the workshop because it alone can generate enough reaction and lively discussion to fill up an entire day.

That being said, it's a very difficult question to answer, and school leaders are initially hesitant to address it publicly. There's a vulnerability with this question. It takes courage and honesty to answer-both for leaders who feel that their school is, in fact, a better place because they lead it and for leaders who feel that their leadership is not the difference maker it should be. After I pose the question, I can tell that participants are engaged in deep reflection; it just takes time for them to open up and reveal their responses.

During a workshop I conducted in the Southeast, a principal shared with the group that he felt strongly his school was better off because of his leadership. He provided solid evidence, such as a dramatic increase in assessment scores and a significant improvement in the school's overall climate and culture. In contrast, at a school in the Midwest, one principal emotionally shared that she needed to do more and didn't feel that her leadership was making the impact it could. She said that the question was helpful because it provided her with a continual prompt for self-reflection.

So, I ask you, is your school a better school because you lead it? Are your students in a better position to succeed because you steer the ship? Will your teachers experience exponential professional growth because you lead them? The answers to these questions are related to your overall leadership effectiveness, including your leadership identity, mission, purpose, and vision. Let's explore each.

Leadership Identity

Think about professionals who wear a uniform for their work-firefighters, pilots, chefs, and athletes, for example. When we see these individuals out of uniform, we generally know nothing about what they do professionally or how effectively they do it. When they put on their uniforms, everything changes. We know what they do, which leads us to have expectations about how well they do their work. We expect the firefighter to extinguish fires, the pilot to fly the plane safely, the chef to prepare excellent food, and the athlete to compete to win. In other words, their uniforms give them a professional identity.

Although you likely don't wear a uniform as a principal, your leadership identity works in a similar way. First and foremost, principals must have a firm grasp of who they are as leaders before they walk into the school building each day. Away from school, you are who you are relative to your home life, family, friends, interests, and hobbies. These assets make up your personal identity. But your personal identity is not necessarily your leadership identity. It may inform your leadership identity to some extent, but it's not who you are as the leader of your school.

As you transition every morning from who you are at home to who you are at work, what exactly are you transforming into as your school's leader? What is your identity? What does your presence mean in the eyes of your students, staff, parents, and the community? When your students and staff see or think of you, what comes to mind? Does your leadership identity affect the climate, culture, and achievement in your school? Is how you see yourself consistent with how others view you?

These questions mattered to me when I led schools over the years. In my capacity as principal, I wore an assortment of hats, but at my core, I was a motivator. I saw inspiring and "firing up" my students and staff as my essence. It was my reputation and what my presence represented. I knew that many of my students came to school each day with challenging realities going on at home. I had to ensure that the day always started with an inspiring and empowering morning message to lay a solid foundation for the day by setting a positive tone. Going back to the central question at hand, I am well aware that my role as a motivator made a significant impact on who we were as a school and the results we achieved.

There is no right answer to these questions about identity. The important thing is that you explore them and gain clarity on your role. At a recent workshop with rural and urban principals, one principal determined that she was a nurturer. Nurturing her students was a priority for her, and she devoted a tremendous amount of energy to playing this role for every student in her elementary school. The principal hoped that every one of her 500 students saw her as a nurturer. She felt strongly that her leadership identity played a significant part in creating a positive, warm school climate and culture.

Leadership Mission

With all that is on your plate, what's the one thing you feel you must absolutely accomplish? What drives you above all else and keeps you up at night? What is your leadership mission?

My mission began as an undergraduate student when the plight of black male grade school students became an area of concern for me. I knew I wanted to influence this specific population, but I wasn't sure how to go about doing so. A couple of years later, I decided I would make that impact as a classroom teacher. I eventually became a 5th grade teacher in a predominately black school and focused on helping my boys make the transition from being young males to young men. I taught them the standards and criteria for earning the distinction of being called men.

Several years later, I became an assistant principal and subsequently a principal. Once again, I focused on the young men in my school. It became my mission to defy the stereotypes of black males from urban communities. I intentionally set out to show our young men that they were scholars in every sense of the word. They were what I was about and what drove me.

Do you have a leadership mission, and does it drive what you say and do? It's imperative that you make your mission clear and specific and that you "walk in it" daily. In a recent conversation, an urban principal in the Midwest told me that his mission was to prove that his inner-city, underserved students of color could achieve at the highest levels. He passionately explained to me that he would not allow poverty to be an excuse for himself, his students, his staff, or his students' parents. He was on a mission to show the world that despite poverty, his students were going to soar high.

Leadership Purpose

If your leadership mission is your "what" (as in, "What is your work about?"), then your leadership purpose is your "why" (as in, "Why do you do it?"). My mission was to improve outcomes for black males. Why did I want to do that? My purpose was to empower these young people. I saw what was happening to so many of them across the United States, including massive underachievement and high suspension, dropout, and incarceration rates. I was determined to be part of the solution. I wanted to present a different reality at my school-and I did because my leadership mission had a purpose behind it.

What is your purpose? Why specifically do you do this work? Why did you make the decision to lead a school? Like your mission, your "why" drives what you say and do daily. I don't have to tell you about the enormous challenges of this work, which can become very frustrating. Your purpose keeps you focused on the mission at hand.

An urban principal from the Northeast recently confessed to me that she had led her school for years devoid of a "why." She hadn't considered a "why" until she heard me speak about it in a workshop and decided to develop her leadership purpose. She explained that more than 75 percent of her students read below grade level by the time they reached 3rd grade. Her mission was to ensure that all of these students ended up reading at grade level. Her work was driven by a purpose: She knew that literacy skills have lifelong implications for her students. The principal told me emphatically that her work was much more than a job-it was her reason for walking into the building every morning. Consequently, data now show that her school is on its way to making her mission a reality.

Leadership Vision

Finally, what is your vision for your leadership and school? As a leader, how will your skills evolve? How will you improve and become more effective as a leader one year from today? What will this improvement look like? Your leadership vision is a crucial component of your overall effectiveness. As an example, my leadership vision was to improve in all aspects of school leadership, but particularly as an instructional leader. I knew that as I grew instructionally, both my staff and students would benefit.

It's equally essential to have a vision for your school. Where will your school be in five years as a result of your direction? Although your school's vision statement is important, that's not what I'm referring to here. I'm talking about your personal vision for your school. To what heights will it rise because you are at the helm? In what way will it distinguish itself from other schools?

The vision of the principal matters because before you can think realistically about what your school can accomplish, you must already have a vision for what it will accomplish. For instance, one principal I'm currently working with has a vision for all of her seniors to be accepted into four-year colleges. When she assumed the leadership of the school three years ago, only 42 percent of seniors were college bound, leading skeptics to call her vision unrealistic. Today, 77 percent of her students are headed to college-in large part because of her vision for the school.

Leading with Confidence

"Is my school a better school because I lead it?" It's my strong belief that to lead your school forward, you must consider this question daily. To answer this question affirmatively, you must be absolutely clear about who you are as the school leader, what your mission is, what purpose drives your work, and how you envision the future of your leadership and school. These characteristics determine who you are, what you're about, why you're about it, and where you are going. They serve as a mirror for why you do this work in the first place. You must lead your school with the confidence to say, "Yes, my school is, in fact, a better school because I lead it." And when you do, students win.

Baruti K. Kafele ( www.principalkafele.com) is an award-winning former urban principal in New Jersey and a current education consultant. He is also the author of several books, including The Teacher 50: Critical Questions for Inspiring Classroom Excellence (ASCD, 2016) and The Principal 50: Critical Leadership Questions for Inspiring Schoolwide Excellence (ASCD, 2015). Follow him on Twitter.

KEYWORDS

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Is Your School Better Because You Lead It?

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May 2017 | Volume 74 | Number 8 Lifting School Leaders Pages 10-14 Baruti K. Kafele For the past year, I have been conducting a workshop with school leaders called "Is my school a better school because I lead it?" I typically have my audiences reflect on this question and prompt them to point to evidence that supports their contentions.

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Vol. 74

No. 7

Abstract

The Neurodiversity Revolution

How Neurodiversity Differs from Current Special Ed Approaches

Theoretical Foundations

A Focus on Strengths versus Deficits

The Role of Workarounds

How We Talk to Kids: Machines or "Brain Forests"?

Benefits of Transformation

Potential Roadblocks

Setting Change in Motion

If we want to use the most effective approaches with kids-and draw on new research about the brain-special education needs to change its approach.

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Credit: © Stefanie Felix

Abstract

The Neurodiversity Revolution

How Neurodiversity Differs from Current Special Ed Approaches

Theoretical Foundations

A Focus on Strengths versus Deficits

The Role of Workarounds

How We Talk to Kids: Machines or "Brain Forests"?

Benefits of Transformation

Potential Roadblocks

Setting Change in Motion

Special education needs to change. For too long it has traveled on its own track parallel with the regular education track, carting along its own tests, programs, and terminology. For too long it's been weighed down by a history emphasizing deficit, disorder, and dysfunction, ranging all the way from Henry Goddard's creation of the "moron" in 1910 (Gould, 1996) to current formulations such as disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (now included in the DSM-5) and a proposed variation on an ADHD diagnosis called sluggish cognitive tempo (not yet added). Even as regular education has opened up to new ways of thinking about brain-based learning, neuroplasticity, a growth mindset, and other innovations, special education has too often remained insular, holding fast to its diagnostic categories, instructional objectives, proprietary learning systems, and remedial and corrective methods.

At some point, the field of special education needs to rid itself of its negative baggage and embrace a more progressive way of educating students who learn differently. The concept of neurodiversity provides the catalyst for such a change.

The Neurodiversity Revolution

Coined in the early 1990s by journalist Harvey Blume and Australian autism activist Judy Singer, the term neurodiversity can be defined as an understanding that neurological differences are to be honored and respected just like any other human variation, including diversity in race, ethnicity, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, and so on. In the past 10 years, neurodiversity has emerged into international prominence through university programs such as the College of William & Mary's Neurodiversity Initiative and the London School of Economics's Dyslexia and Neurodiversity program, which seek to provide broader acceptance of neurodiversity on campus and to support neurodiverse students in creating positive niches for themselves at school. There have also been efforts to integrate neurodiversity into the workplace through conferences (such as one sponsored by Microsoft on Neurodiversity in the High Tech Workplace) and job initiatives to bring more people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and other diversities into the computer industry (Higgenbottom, 2016). Neurodiversity is popping up in media coverage in such venues as The New York Times, PBS, and Wired and in many academic papers, books, and projects. Although many neurodiversity advocates focus their efforts specifically on autism spectrum disorder (ASD), increasingly the concept is being applied to other disability categories, including learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD, intellectual disability, and social and emotional disorders (Armstrong, 2011, 2012).

How Neurodiversity Differs from Current Special Ed Approaches

A neurodiversity-based approach to special education differs in many ways from the special education system currently operating in most schools. Figure 1 summarizes these differences-some theoretical and some more practical. Let's look at a few of the differences that have the most powerful implications.

Theoretical Foundations

Conventional special education views disability categories-such as ADHD, dyslexia, and autism-as having an organic basis, usually involving some combination of biological, neurological, and genetic causes. This orientation draws from theories related to genetics and neurobiology.

Neurodiversity advocates, on the other hand, offer a more nuanced and complex approach to the origins of these conditions, focusing, for example, on the evolutionary advantages of particular disability categories as a way of explaining why the genes for certain diagnoses are still in the gene pool (for instance, see Harpending & Cochran, 2002, on how ADHD symptoms might have been adaptive to hunting and gathering societies).

Neurodiversity also places greater emphasis on the social and ecological dimensions of diagnostic labels by examining how a person may be disabled in certain contexts but not in others. For example, a person with autism spectrum disorder may function at a level surpassing a typically developing individual when working at a job that capitalizes on the ability to discover tiny errors in computer code, as has happened with employees at the Danish software company Specialisterne (Henry, 2015).

A practical outcome of this perspective is that the role of the neurodiversity-oriented special educator becomes less one of correcting errors, remediating deficits, and teaching instructional objectives and more one of creating environments within which neurodiverse students can thrive. I've termed this process positive niche construction (Armstrong, 2012).

A Focus on Strengths versus Deficits

The biggest practical difference between special education as it's currently practiced and the neurodiversity-based approach is the way in which educators emphasize either deficits or strengths. Although special educators are certainly taught to look for students' strengths, the actual infrastructure of special education doesn't provide them with much in the way of formal or informal instruments, methods, protocols, or procedures for assessing their students' strengths. The one place in special education that has done a relatively good job of this is the field of gifted and talented education, but I can't emphasize enough that these procedures need to be available for all students with special needs.

The diagnostic instruments used in most special education systems today are designed primarily to diagnose disabilities and pinpoint ways of remediating student deficits. The neurodiversity-based approach, by contrast, aims to make use of the emerging literature on the strengths of special education populations (see, for example, Mottron, 2011; Diehl et al., 2014) and focuses primarily on assessing strengths, talents, abilities, and interests.

Figure 1. A Tale of Two Special Education Paradigms

Neurodiversity: The Future of Special Education? - table

Elements of Deficit-Based Special Education

Elements of Strengths-Based Special Education (Grounded in Neurodiversity)

Along with the typical deficit-focused diagnostic assessments, a neurodiversity-trained special educator must be familiar with a wide range of strength-based approaches to discovering abilities in their students. For example, a teacher might use assessments associated with asset models like the VIA Character Strengths and Virtues, Dunn and Dunn Learning Style Assessments, Search Institute's 40 Developmental Assets, Gallup's StrengthsFinder, the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, the Multiple Intelligences Diagnostic Assessment Scales, or the Baron-Welsh Art Scale. He or she might tap informal assessment methods to gain additional information about student strengths, including rough-and-ready inventories such as my 165-item Neurodiversity Strengths Checklist (Armstrong, 2012), "strengths chats," (Epstein, 2008), and motivational interviewing (Sheldon, 2010).

A neurodiversity-oriented approach would focus more attention on using the information gained from such assessments to help build on learners' strengths and to help students use their assets to tackle their social, emotional, cognitive, and academic challenges. Whereas traditional special educators often seek to teach students how to "live with their disability," both the theory and practice of a neurodiversity-based approach would emphasize helping students learn to maximize their strengths and minimize their weaknesses.

For example, an educator might encourage a student diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder who has an intense interest in a particular topic (a feature common to many individuals diagnosed with ASD) to develop that interest through project-based learning, group sharing, and other experiential approaches (Kluth & Schwarz, 2008).

The Role of Workarounds

A key strategic component of this new approach is what I call workarounds, ways in which students can manage assignments and other academic and nonacademic challenges without letting their disabilities get in the way. For example, special educators could guide students who have trouble getting their ideas down on the page because of handwriting difficulties, dysorthographia, or dysgraphia to use speech-to-text software like Dragon NaturallySpeaking or Windows Speech Recognition. Similarly, wheelchair users can use virtual reality applications such as Google Cardboard and Oculus Rift to gain access to experiences that might otherwise be closed to them (like exploring the inside of a cave or examining underwater coral sea life). Students diagnosed with ADHD who have difficulty concentrating on their work but do better when they can move around and fidget would be able to use ergonomic "wiggle furniture," such as stability balls, bouncy bands, or standing desks.

These strategies and tools are already employed in some special education programs, but their use in this new neurodiversity-based approach to special education would be expanded and seen as fundamental to most students' Individualized Education Plans.

How We Talk to Kids: Machines or "Brain Forests"?

Similarly, rather than "teaching students about their disorders," a neurodiversity-based approach would teach them about the value of human variation and neurological diversity. Educators would teach students about how the human brain-and their brain-works, how the environment shapes brain structure and function (neuroplasticity), how brain power can be used to its maximum, and how a growth mindset improves performance. Students would be given tools and tips to help them actualize their brain's fullest potential.

An emerging theory about the brain that's particularly appropriate in helping students understand their neurological differences is Nobel Prize-winning biologist Gerald Edelman's model of the brain as an ecosystem (1994). I like to use the term brain forest as a metaphor students will understand and appreciate more readily than many of the machine-based metaphors used in conventional special education materials. (For example, in Galvin, 2001, the ADHD student's brain is compared to the engine of a car that runs too fast.) The problem with using "machine" metaphors to talk about the brain is that it's easy to fall into a dichotomy of "it's either working or it's broken." This practice is not too far away from cultural insults like "his elevator doesn't go to the top floor." A brain-forest metaphor, on the other hand, allows us to speak to students about the beauty of diversity, about how nutrients grow plants in the brain forest, and about the resilience of the brain forest to regrow itself even after suffering substantial damage. 1

Benefits of Transformation

There are clear benefits to moving ahead with a neurodiversity-based approach to special education as opposed to staying with our current model. Perhaps the most important outcome would be a change in the expectations of those involved in the special education system-most important, the expectations of students themselves, but also those of teachers, administrators, support personnel, and family members. The literature on expectations and the influence of words and labels on our attitudes and behaviors show clearly that positive expectations improve academic outcomes (see, for example, Rubie-Davies & Rosenthal, 2016). Similarly, students are less likely to be bullied in school if they're perceived in a more positive way by their peers (Swearer, et al., 2010). In addition, the seamless inclusion of neurodiverse students into regular classrooms is more likely to succeed if regular classroom teachers see students entering their classes as assets rather than burdens.

I also believe that a system that regards students with special needs primarily in terms of their assets and contributions is more in tune with 21st-century views of respecting diversity and giving all students a chance to contribute something of value to society. Such a system aligns more closely with society's emphasis on equity and with not singling some students out on the basis of their weaknesses, but rather giving them the same opportunities to succeed as anyone else.

Potential Roadblocks

Formidable challenges stand in the way of implementing this forward-looking approach to special education. Perhaps the most fundamental obstacle is the fear by many special educators and parents that portraying a student with special needs primarily in a positive light rather than in terms of that student's "disability" would threaten the very foundations of special education itself. Special educators-and parents-have fought with great energy and courage over the past several decades to ensure that the needs of their kids are recognized and served. The focus on disability has functioned as a rallying cry for many advocacy organizations. So to suddenly stop and say, "These kids should be seen primarily in terms of their strengths and abilities" risks a reaction from legislators and the heads of funding organizations, who might think, "So why do these kids need special services?"

This is a legitimate concern. The answer lies in establishing clear boundaries between actions designed to protect the availability of special services for students with special needs (essentially using disability categories as a means for obtaining services) and actions designed to provide neurodiverse students with cutting-edge approaches to learning and human development (strength-based learning, inclusion, and other innovations) that will help them develop their full potential. In other words, use the disability laws to get them services, but then discard the "disability mindset" and use strength-based learning and other positive innovations. This latter goal should be seen as both the theoretical and pragmatic core of special education practices.

A second potential roadblock to this approach is the concern of many parents and educators that without the constant push of traditional special education programs to remediate weaknesses, students with special needs would fail to meet the increasingly rigorous academic demands of today's accountability-focused educational realities. People who care about these students worry that they would be at risk of falling far behind their typically developing peers.

This fear of "falling behind" is really an indictment of the "one-size-fits-all" mentality plaguing our current educational climate, but is nevertheless a real concern. One practical response to this problem lies in what I'd like to call guerilla special education. This describes the process of using the letter of the law to justify using practices that will lead to optimal learning for neurodiverse kids-practices that are in the spirit of truly educating them with strength-based approaches.

For example, Common Core State Standard W.4.3, a writing objective for 4th graders, states, "Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences." Neurodiversity/strength-based special educators would be trained to help students meet this standard using their gifts and interests. An educator might allow a boy who draws beautifully to create a comic strip, encourage a girl with a gift for dramatics to write a short play, or have a student with strong oral skills but weak writing ability use speech-to-text software to craft his story.

Similarly, in writing IEPs, neurodiversity-based educators would be trained to incorporate strengths into each objective. For example, if Jason has highly developed three-dimensional thinking abilities and some difficulty with reading, instead of his IEP reading "By March, when discussing a story, Jason will answer 4 out of 10 'why' and 'how' questions in a mixed question probe," it might be written in a more strength-based manner: "By March, when discussing a story, Jason will answer 4 out of 10 'why' and 'how' questions in reference to a preferred activity or product, such as a three-dimensional structure he has built."

Setting Change in Motion

Finally, there is the question of how to practically bring about this type of neurodiversity revolution in special education. There are several positive initial steps we might take.

First, school districts that have existing programs, departments, or offices devoted to inclusion, diversity, or equity (such as the Springfield Public Schools in Missouri and the Clark County School System in Nevada) can begin to liaise with their departments of special education to integrate the values of neurodiversity in helping students with special needs succeed. One way to begin might involve setting up a schoolwide "Neurodiversity Fair," where both typically developing kids and kids with various learning differences would showcase their gifts and strengths through art, plays, musical performances, sports, and other creative channels. Another strategy might be to create a classroom curriculum on the importance of diversity (in general) and neurodiversity (in particular) for creating positive changes in the world.

In addition, districts can create a "neurodiversity coordinator" role within their departments of special education. Ideally, the coordinator would be someone who has completed a thesis or dissertation on the strengths of people with a specific learning difference or on some aspect of neurodiversity. 2 The coordinator should be familiar with the strength-based literature on kids with special needs (see notes sections of Armstrong 2011, 2012 for a good start) and competent in administering strength-based assessments. This person could advise regular and special education teachers on how to create strength-based instructional strategies for neurodiverse students and provide professional development to the district's teachers.

Finally, special educators themselves could establish study groups, conduct action research, and do individualized study of neurodiversity using the growing body of information available in the field, effecting change from the grassroots up.

Although there would be significant challenges involved in bringing about this change, the benefits would be many. We owe it to our neurodiverse students to give them the best, most innovative ideas education has to offer.

References

Henry, Z. (2015, May 21). How a Danish company is helping people with autism get jobs in IT and tech. Slate. Retrieved from http://slate.me/1Rkeww5

End Notes

1 An excellent children's book on neuroplasticity is Your Fantastic Elastic Brain by JoAnn Deak (Little Pickle Press, 2010).

2 My own doctoral dissertation, published in 1987, was on the strengths of children diagnosed with learning disabilities, and is available through University Microfilms International in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48(08A).

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Neurodiversity: The Future of Special Education?

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If we want to use the most effective approaches with kids-and draw on new research about the brain-special education needs to change its approach.

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October 2017 | Volume 75 | Number 2
Unleashing Problem Solvers Pages 20-25

Ronald A. Beghetto

What would happen if we invited uncertainty into our classrooms? If you're not sure how to answer this question, you're not alone. What makes this question difficult is that most of us don't like uncertainty. It's uncomfortable. We do our best to avoid uncertainty and if we experience it, we attempt to quickly resolve it.

In the context of classrooms, educators often replace uncertainty with overplanned learning experiences. We go to great lengths to clearly define the problems our students will solve, how they should solve them, and the desired outcomes. There are benefits in doing so beyond maintaining a sense of consistency, calm, and control; students can and do learn from routine problems and assignments (Lee & Anderson, 2013).

The key limitation to these types of learning experiences is that they don't give students opportunities to engage with uncertainty. Just as you can't learn to swim if you never get in the water, students won't learn how to respond productively to the unknown if we never give them opportunities to do so.

What if instead of trying to eliminate uncertainty, we welcomed it into our classrooms? Doing so requires a shift in how we think about uncertainty and its place in fostering problem solving. Five strategies can help us make that shift.

1. View (Good) Uncertainty as an Opportunity

If we view uncertainty as causing curricular chaos, then we're justified in attempting to eliminate it. Not all uncertainty, however, leads to chaos. One way to think about uncertainty in the context of classrooms is that there is good uncertainty and bad uncertainty (Beghetto, 2016a).

Bad uncertainty results from learning experiences that don't include necessary supports and structures. In such situations, students have no idea of what's expected of them. They also don't know whether, when, or how they will receive support when they need it. When structure and support are lacking, chaos is likely to ensue. If on top of this lack of supportive structure we ask students to tackle complex challenges or ill-defined problems, then we really are inviting chaos into our classroom, presenting them with a double whammy of uncertainty.

Good uncertainty, however, provides students opportunities to engage with the unknowns of a challenge in an otherwise supportive, well-structured environment. For example, when students are trying to come up with their own ways of solving a problem, teachers can let them know in advance about key constraints (such as time and materials), what's required for success, and how they can get additional assistance if they get stuck.

Although it may not be clear in advance how to best approach or solve a complex challenge, students still receive the guidance necessary to navigate the doubts and confusions connected to the problem they're attempting to solve.

This approach relates to why it's important to inject uncertainty into students' learning experiences. Put simply, uncertainty is what makes a problem a problem. If you already know how to move from A to Z, then you don't have a problem-yet our students will face problems in life. If we want to unleash student problem solving, we need to give them chances to respond well to uncertainty in the context of a supportive environment.

2. Try Lesson Unplanning

To invite uncertainty in their classrooms, teachers need to make room for it. They can do so by making slight adjustments to pre-existing lessons-what I call lesson unplanning. This refers to replacing some predetermined element (such as the problem or process) with a to-be-determined (by the students) component. Doing so transforms a routine exercise into a more complex one (Beghetto, forthcoming).

Lesson unplanning can be used with any preplanned learning exercise or activity. You might start small by unplanning just one feature of an already planned lesson. Let's say your typical approach is to teach students how to use a procedure to solve math story problems, and then assign them a set of similar problems to solve using the just-taught procedure. This is a routine exercise because the features of the task are predetermined; there's a clearly defined problem, solution, and procedure for arriving at the solution.

You could transform this exercise into a more open-ended one by removing the requirement to solve it using the predetermined method and instead require students to come up with as many different ways of solving the problem as they can.

Niu & Zhou (2010) observed a 3rd grade math teacher in China who took a similar approach. As a result, her students generated more than a dozen unique, mathematically accurate procedures for solving one math story problem.

In such cases, students still have an opportunity to reinforce their understanding of the concepts just taught. But instead of being limited to solving a dozen practice problems one way, students can learn how to solve one problem a dozen or more ways. The key advantage of doing so is that students learn that even problems with fixed solutions can be approached in many different ways. So if students get stuck trying to solve a problem one way, they may realize that there are likely other ways to solve it-and persist or seek assistance rather than give up at the first sign of difficulty.

Although teachers may already include a few problems and activities that incorporate uncertainty in these ways, it's worth exploring what would happen if they used lesson unplanning systematically throughout their entire curriculum. The more opportunities students have to practice working through problems when things are less spelled out, the more likely they'll be able to take on increasingly complex challenges (Beghetto, forthcoming).

3. Assign Complex Challenges

Challenges can range in scope from modest "in-classroom" tasks (such as rewriting the ending of a short story, while adhering to the style of the narrative) to more complex projects (such as developing a gardening project to provide homeless families with fresh produce). The more uncertainty involved in a challenge, the more complex the challenge becomes.

If we want to prepare students to respond productively to uncertainty, we need to have them tackle a full range of challenges, including those addressing ill-defined problems and big issues-such as developing an inexpensive, accurate way to detect the Ebola virus or designing a robot that can clean trash from New York's subways (Stone, 2016). Such work invites students to engage in tasks, situations, or experiences that are filled with uncertainty. There are no sure-fire formulas or predetermined steps to solve a problem like how to address under-the-radar bullying. And the nature of such problems can change during the process of solving them.

Students need to learn how to sit with the uncertainty of a thorny challenge, take time to explore the features of the task or situation, generate possible ways to address it, and evaluate the viability of those possibilities. Finally, students need to take action by choosing initial steps, taking those steps, monitoring progress, and making adjustments along the way. Teachers can help students become more familiar with these principles by having students apply them in different learning situations and highlighting how they differ across disciplines (monitoring progress looks different when working on a chemistry problem than when addressing a problem in theater design). When students become skilled in these basic principles of complex problem solving, they can apply them to almost any ill-defined problem.

Although complex challenges are filled with uncertainty, educators can set them up so they also have a structure. Teachers should break such challenges down into smaller parts and provide guidelines, criteria, and supports for addressing them (Beghetto, forthcoming). Consider the challenge of developing a gardening project to provide fresh produce to homeless families. The teacher might break this challenge down into smaller subgoals (for example, learn about the nutritional benefits of fresh fruits and vegetables, determine what can be grown in our region, identify a location for the garden, and so on). She can then help students develop specific agenda items (what must be done by when) to complete before moving on to the next sub-goal.

Working through complex challenges also requires students to put their knowledge to creative use, challenge their assumptions about the situation, seek out assistance from more knowledgeable people, persist through setbacks, and know when it's necessary to modify or even step away from a challenge (Beghetto, 2016a; 2016b; forthcoming).

4. Explore the Backstory of Famous Solutions

One way to help students learn to tackle complex challenges is to let them learn from models of successfully solved problems and accomplished problem solvers. Doing so requires students to go beyond the "what" of solved problems and learn about the why, who, how, when, and where of getting to that solution (Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein, 2017).

Much of what we teach in school involves solutions to complex challenges that have already been figured out (scientific laws, technological inventions, major social movements, and other solutions that have changed the course of history). Focusing only on tidy solutions, however, doesn't allow students to understand how or why those challenges were identified in the first place or reveal the behind-the-scenes messiness and productive struggle that went into resolving them.

One way to provide students with a behind-the-scenes look is to invite accomplished professionals from various disciplines into their classrooms (in person or through platforms like Skype) to describe the kinds of ill-defined challenges they face in their professional work and how they have addressed them (Beghetto, forthcoming). Alternatively, students might explore the story behind successfully solved challenges. Creativity researchers Root-Bernstein and Root-Bernstein (2017) assigned students in one course to choose an important discovery, figure out how the problem behind that discovery was initially identified, explore the approach used to address the challenge, find out how the problem solvers overcame obstacles along the way, and describe how the disciplinary community received the solution. Students then shared what they learned with the class. Such assignments can powerfully illustrate how accomplished problem solvers rely on both prior and new knowledge to structure the uncertainty they face.

5. Launch Never-Ending Projects

Projects provide great opportunities to address complex challenges. Unfortunately, most projects don't go far enough. Regardless of what form projects take, most are confined to the walls of the classroom and almost all have a predetermined end date. Once a project is over, it's over; the science fair trifold is recycled or stored in the basement, and the 3-D printed fidget spinners are shelved.

What if instead of limiting projects to the classroom and viewing them as coming to an end, we engaged students in projects that address authentic complex challenges and that make a lasting contribution beyond classroom walls, what I call legacy challenges? A legacy challenge represents an issue, problem, or situation that requires us to develop an ongoing solution and pass that solution on from one group of young people to the next (Beghetto, 2017; forthcoming).

For instance, suppose a group of bilingual high school students recognizes that non-English speaking members of their community aren't receiving important health, education, and other public information in Spanish, their native language. These students work with their school language department and local businesses, nonprofits, and community centers to develop a service that translates public information into Spanish and delivers it to people in the community. The service would be sustained as each incoming class of bilingual students helps translate and disseminate key information.

As this example illustrates, legacy projects are a way for students to respond productively to complicated challenges facing them, their school, or their community. Designing such a project starts with working through four deceptively simple design questions (Beghetto, 2017; forthcoming):

1. What is the problem? Identifying a problem that's relevant to students is the first step. Potential challenges or problems can emerge from what students are learning in class or what they're experiencing in their lives, schools, homes, or neighborhoods.

2. Why does it matter? Once students have identified a challenge, they need to understand why it needs to be addressed. This includes learning more about the challenge, obtaining feedback and perspectives from various stakeholders, and becoming able to articulate to others the importance of addressing this problem.

3. What are we going to do about it? Students must start developing a plan for addressing the problem by drawing on their existing relevant knowledge, identifying areas where they need additional information, establishing external partnerships, and identifying initial steps to take.

4. What lasting legacy will our work addressing this problem leave? This question distinguishes legacy challenges from other kinds of problem-solving efforts. It requires students to take a long view of the challenge and identify how their work will be sustained, curated, and passed on from one generation of students and project partners to the next.

These questions are filled with unknowns. The idea of inviting this much uncertainty into the classroom may initially seem terrifying. Again, the key is to invite students to take on these questions within a structured, supportive learning environment. Break down each question into smaller subgoals, distribute the work across teams of students, and guide teams to accomplish it over time.

By working in this way, we support learners in moving from an ill-defined starting point toward a more clearly defined resolution of the challenge. Such efforts can go a long way in helping students learn how, why, and when to unleash their problem-solving skills on complex challenges-and even when it's better not to do so.

The Beautiful Risk

Let's return to our opening question: What would happen if we invited uncertainty into our classrooms? I hope you now have some idea of the potential benefits of doing so, and understand that reaping those benefits requires a change in how we think about uncertainty. It also requires a shift in how we do things, including being willing to unplan our lessons, incorporate complex challenges into our curriculums, explore previously solved problems with students, and give students opportunities to respond to community needs through legacy projects.

Many other good things may come from welcoming uncertainty into our classrooms. But we will never realize these benefits unless we're willing to take the beautiful risk of allowing students to unleash their problem solving on complex challenges-inside and outside the classroom.

References

Beghetto, R. A. (forthcoming). What if? Unleashing the power of complex challenges in teaching and learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Beghetto, R. A. (2017). Legacy projects: Helping young people respond productively to the challenges of a changing world. Roeper Review, 39, 1-4.

Beghetto, R. A. (2016a). Big wins, small steps: How to lead for and with creativity. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Beghetto, R. A. (2016b). Leveraging micro-opportunities to address macroproblems: Toward an unshakeable sense of possibility thinking. In D. Ambrose & R. J. Sternberg (Eds.) Creative intelligence in the 21st Century: Grappling with enormous problems and huge opportunities (pp. 159-174). Rotterdam: Sense.

Lee, H. S., & Anderson, J. R. (2013). Student learning: What has instruction got to do with it? Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 445-469.

Niu, W., & Zhou, Z. (2010). Creativity in mathematics teaching: A Chinese perspective. In R. A. Beghetto and J. C. Kaufman (Eds.) Creativity in the classroom (pp. 270-288). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Root-Bernstein, R., & Root-Bernstein, M. (2017). People, passions, problems: The role of creative exemplars in teaching for creativity. In R. A. Beghetto & B. Sriraman (Eds.), Creative Contradictions in Education (pp. 143-164). Switzerland: Springer.

Stone, A. (April, 2016). Science Fair 2016: Meet the next generation of America's innovators. Retrieved from https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2016/04/08/science-fair-2016-meet-next-generation-americas-innovators

Ronald A. Beghetto ( www.ronaldbeghetto.com) is professor of educational psychology in the Neag School of Education and director of Innovation House at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. Follow him on Twitter.

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October 2017 | Volume 75 | Number 2 Unleashing Problem Solvers Pages 20-25 Ronald A. Beghetto What would happen if we invited uncertainty into our classrooms? If you're not sure how to answer this question, you're not alone. What makes this question difficult is that most of us don't like uncertainty.

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Olympia Della Flora: Creative ways to get kids to thrive in school | TED Talk

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To get young kids to thrive in school, we need to do more than teach them how to read and write -- we need to teach them how to manage their emotions, says educator Olympia Della Flora. In this practical talk, she shares creative tactics she used to help struggling, sometimes disruptive students --…

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We know that two-thirds of large scale transformation efforts fail. But that's not a terribly helpful piece of information―unless we're looking for confirmation that this is hard, really hard. What is useful is to understand what leaders can do to substantially increase the odds that their companies won't be among the two-thirds of those that fail. From my research and work with companies around the world leading large-scale transformation initiatives, here are the four things I've found that virtually all successful change leaders do really well:

Recognize embedded tensions and paradoxes

Smart, capable, solid professionals most often perform well in their roles until they reach a level in their organizations at which they are confronted with a series of embedded tensions and paradoxes that make leading effectively much more complicated. The most common paradoxes leaders face when driving a transformation effort are:

1. Revitalization vs. Normalization. At the core of every change initiative is the desire to breathe new life into the organization―to revitalize ways of thinking, behaving and working. But one change initiative often morphs into many, and before long employees become "change weary." Thus, we find ourselves in the conflicted situation of needing revitalization but desiring normalization.

2. Globalization vs. Simplification. Doing business today means doing business globally, but the complexities brought on by globalization are often in conflict with the need for organizations to make it simple for customers to do business with them. Leaders struggle with creating organizational responses that address the need to master globalization while offering customers and employees optimal simplification.

3. Innovation vs. Regulation. Many organizations, particularly in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, are saddled with trying to do business, let along innovate, under increasingly crushing regulatory environments. This is a stifling tax on a company's capacity to find creative approaches to solving unmet customers' needs. As such we struggle with the tension between the desire to boost innovation and the need to operate under increasing regulation.

4. Optimization vs. Rationalization. Customers not only have more power today―in some industries, they seem to have all of the power. Organizations are struggling to provide solutions that are better, faster, cheaper and increasingly customized. Leaders are caught in a seemingly endless struggle to reconcile the tension between optimizing benefits to customers while rationalizing their costs of doing business.

5. Digitization vs. Humanization. Advanced technology is at the core of virtually every company's business model today. Entire value chains are being digitized. Yet, the onset of ubiquitous digitization is occurring at the same time that individuals are yearning for a sense of meaning in their organizations. Leaders are struggling with how to reconcile the increasing need for the digitization of their business models while trying to create organizational climates that have an authentic sense of humanization―creating an overarching sense of purpose and collective ambition.

Successful transformation leaders embrace these tensions even though they make the challenge more complex. There are no easy answers; however, the leader's bedrock commitment to helping to reconcile these tensions is paramount. That means above all committing to an on-going communications and listening campaign so people know what's going on and know how they might contribute to the transformation effort―and know that they are invited to do so. This process starts by the CEO and top team telling powerful and compelling stories of where the company has been, where it is now and where it needs to go―and why. But it doesn't end there. Senior leaders must be ready to open up the flood gates so managers and employees closest to the client interface can surface these tensions and discuss them openly. While this might not resolve the tensions and paradoxes, it enables people to at least acknowledge that they exist, have their concerns heard, and discuss proactive ways forward together.

Hold everyone accountable

The leadership of the change effort can't end with the top team, the top 100 managers, or the top 1,000 managers. It has to be an all-hands-on-deck engagement. The change leader must signal that enterprise-wide transformation will be a collective effort, with accountability distributed throughout the organization.

But it is far easier to say this than to do this, so change leaders must be ready to back up their statements with real world initiatives that will strengthen engagement. For example, when Hess Corporation launched its 2020 Change Initiative, CEO John Hess challenged his entire leadership team to come up with solutions that would make the company more agile, cost conscience, and faster at decision making. And to minimize change weariness brought on by needless duplication of effort, he created a champions team responsible for coordinating the variety of efforts underway.

Invest in new organizational capabilities

Change leaders must go beyond storytelling, motivation, and mobilization efforts―they need to provide resources so that the organization has what it needs to win in the new environment. This might include capital improvements, process improvements, and building new talent capabilities.

For example, for three decades leading up to 2010, HSBC had successfully pursued a growth strategy and organizational capability that was founded upon acquisitions. However, with acquisition upon acquisition, the leaders within HSBC failed to develop a one-company culture, which made it difficult to integrate its offerings to an increasingly demanding customer base. As such, Stephen Green, HSBC's Chairman at the time, set the company on a course that called for a dramatic slowdown of acquisitions, at least until the current portfolio of companies was integrated and a culture of what Green referred to as Collective Management was cemented. This meant nothing short of building new organizational capabilities based upon collaboration and client-first thinking, which not only meant developing new systems and processes but building a collective mindset that would make aspiring to being a one-company culture a reality.

Emphasize continuous learning

It's far easier to talk about revitalization and renewal than to actually do it. The companies that pull it off have transformation leaders that commit to a relentless learning process.

Perhaps the best example I know of a remarkably successful transformation leader is Alan Mulally, who not only led the transformation effort for Boeing Commercial Airlines, but also the stunning turnaround of Ford Motor Company. Mulally would be the first to insist that Ford's transformation was not his achievement but rather the collective achievement of thousands of stakeholders, including employees, suppliers, dealers, unions, financial institutions, Board members and others. Mulally believed deeply in his "leading together" philosophy from his Boeing experience, but this became even more critical at Ford, due to the multitude of stakeholders and a political infighting culture that had become toxic. Mulally would have none of that. He brought his top managers together weekly to assess problems and progress, through his implementation process called the Creating Value Roadmap. Met with heavy resistance at first due to fear of admitting problems, Mulally pursued this course and built trust that those who were brave enough to acknowledge that they needed help were actually showcased as exactly the kind of leader that Mulally was looking for in Ford's future. At every meeting, managers were asked: what have we learned by airing concerns, making course corrections, and especially, fixing problems together? By combining his relentless focus on implementation and making tough calls with an equally important focus on continuous learning, Mulally transformed Ford from a moribund company on the verge of bankruptcy to one of today's most successful automobile companies in the world.

Leveraging these four activities, while framing the transformation effort as a collective challenge to be embraced together, fuels positive change over the long haul-which is important since the transformation journey is a never-ending one for most companies today. Ultimately, these practices create a culture of agility and resiliency that will pay dividends out into the future, as large-scale change becomes an organizational capability and not a recipe for management failure.

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4 Things Successful Change Leaders Do Well

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We know that two-thirds of large scale transformation efforts fail. But that's not a terribly helpful piece of information―unless we're looking for confirmation that this is hard, really hard. What is useful is to understand what leaders can do to substantially increase the odds that their companies won't be among the two-thirds of those that fail.

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Vol. 72

No. 7

Abstract

A Reality Check

Video e-Mails

Show Respect

A Collaborative Blog

Sitting Down Together

Honest Feedback

An Open Door

What Do You Want to Accomplish?

Voice Messages

Make It Personal

Putting Money in the Bank

Show You Care

Say It and Write It

Collaborative Improvement Goals

Building Trust

Grade-Level Mentorship Teams

A Staff Website

Weekly Updates

Continual Communication

Say It With Chocolate

Full Attention and Support

A Special Thanks

An Inspiring Challenge

Share the Positive

Better Than an e-Mail

Nothing Beats Face-to-Face

Bringing in Different-Perspectives

Open and Accessible

A Calendar Facilitates One-on-One Meetings

Let Me Evaluate Myself

Abstract

A Reality Check

Video e-Mails

Show Respect

A Collaborative Blog

Sitting Down Together

Honest Feedback

An Open Door

What Do You Want to Accomplish?

Voice Messages

Make It Personal

Putting Money in the Bank

Show You Care

Say It and Write It

Collaborative Improvement Goals

Building Trust

Grade-Level Mentorship Teams

A Staff Website

Weekly Updates

Continual Communication

Say It With Chocolate

Full Attention and Support

A Special Thanks

An Inspiring Challenge

Share the Positive

Better Than an e-Mail

Nothing Beats Face-to-Face

Bringing in Different-Perspectives

Open and Accessible

A Calendar Facilitates One-on-One Meetings

Let Me Evaluate Myself

A Reality Check

Mid-year and mid-spring, I gave teachers a Reality Check-a one-page sheet with five questions: What's going particularly well for you this year? What concerns/issues do you have at this point? What can I do to best support you right now? If you could get some professional development right now, what would it be? Anything else? Teachers could return it in hard copy or electronically. This never failed to yield important nuggets that helped me focus my support on teachers' priorities.

- Dave Weston, principal (retired), Saudi Aramco Schools, Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia

Video e-Mails

I used to send out a weekly staff e-mail on Thursdays that contained school information and calendar items. Several months ago, I discovered MoveNote, an app that enables you to send a video through e-mail, and I started using it for my weekly e-mails. My teachers love it because they can multitask as they watch my message for the week. They also get the bonus of "pausing" me.

- Paul Baez, principal, Alief Independent School District, Houston, Texas

Show Respect

The best way to communicate with teachers is to show them that you value their time. Meet them in their classroom rather than your office, turn off notifications on your phone and computer, and open the conversation by asking questions. Show teachers that you know their time is valuable and that their voices matter.

- Brianna Crowley, English teacher and instructional technology coach, Derry Township School District, Pennsylvania

A Collaborative Blog

My assistant principal and I publish a weekly blog (using the Smore app) to provide teachers with inspiration and innovative practices for their classroom. The blog features a different teacher blogger each week, who shares a practice he or she is passionate about. Topics have included Genius Hour, guided reading, math stations, differentiation, and relationship building. In another section, "The Principal Ponders," I reflect on the teacher's topic and how it affects our school. Also included are articles and videos from various sources that relate to the topic. What started as a simple communication from administrators to teachers has evolved into a collaborative venture in which teachers, and now students, are waiting in line to be the next guest blogger!

- Kelly Hayunga, principal, Lewisville, Texas

Sitting Down Together

I have used many media to communicate with our staff-phone messages, text alerts, Twitter, e-mail, faculty meetings, team meetings, department meetings, and so on. However, we all know that the best communication is face-to-face conversations. Technology enables you to send a message to everyone instantly, and in many instances, this is great. But the real work happens when we sit down together.

- Bill Powers, middle school principal, Springfield Public Schools, Missouri

Honest Feedback

What I want from the principal is honest feedback. I appreciate criticism that is heartfelt, constructive, and delivered personally, in a way that shows me what needs improvement, but also shows that my successes are valued. I want the principal to acknowledge my efforts when I go above and beyond and to tell me when a student or parent has shared positive comments.

- Cossondra George, teacher, Tahquamenon Area Schools, Newberry, Michigan

An Open Door

As a child, I was never called to the principal's office over the loudspeaker. So, when I was called to report to the principal's office during my first week as a new teacher, I had some anxiety and stress as I walked down the hallway. As it turned out, she just wanted to hear how my first few days had gone and to let me know that her door was always open! In my several years of working under her leadership, I loved her open-door philosophy and her approachable demeanor.

- Christina Bauer, program specialist-technology, Cleveland Heights High School, Cleveland Heights, Ohio

What Do You Want to Accomplish?

This year, I started having teachers and education technicians talk to me one-on-one about their hopes and dreams for the next six weeks and how they hope to accomplish these dreams. I've been surprised and pleased with the energy and thoughtfulness of their reflections. These conversations give me a focus for helping them become better at what they do. Observations are more meaningful for everybody.

- Sally Brown, principal, Dike Newell School, Regional School Unit 1, Bath, Maine

Voice Messages

We use Voxer , a mobile messaging app that enables you to send recorded or live voice messages to one person or a group. It's faster than e-mail and better than sending a group text message when it's important to convey tone and empathy. You can also attach text and photos. It allows educators to make the most of commute time and spend more time sharing how to best meet the needs of students and families.

- Joe Mazza, leadership innovation manager, University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education, Philadelphia

Make It Personal

After conducting an evaluation observation, the principal left me a note saying she sincerely hoped her son would have me as a teacher. The ultimate compliment!

- Paula Hoffman, special education teacher, Grand Ledge High School, Grand Ledge, Michigan

Putting Money in the Bank

As a principal, I felt it was important to be available to all teachers, students, and staff. That meant being in the halls and doing walk-throughs so that I could talk to all staff every day. I also made a point of being in the department lunch areas at least once a week to be part of the casual conversation. As Stephen Covey would say, this "put money in the bank" for the times I had to take money out of the bank.

- Chuck Achter, high school principal, Anoka Hennipen District, Coon Rapids, Minnesota

Show You Care

It is vital that principals actively listen to the teachers and parents who come to them. One of the most important things I have learned is to stop and put myself into that person's shoes-to think, What if this were my child? Student? Parent? Situation? Then I focus on how I would feel, before moving on to what I would do. For communication to be constructive and successful, people need to know that you have listened to them, that you understand them, and that you care.

- Jessica Banks, assistant head of lower school, The Out of Door Academy, Sarasota, Florida

Say It and Write It

I believe the best way to communicate with a teacher is a face-to-face conversation followed up with an e-mail message. The face-to-face conversation gives you an opportunity to personally engage with that person, ask or answer questions, and resolve any concerns. You can gauge how that person feels about what you are discussing, which could lead to a make-it-or-break-it decision. The follow-up e-mail ensures that everyone is clear on what has been said and what decisions have been made.

- Jeanette Patterson, principal, Cherry Creek School District, Greenwood Village, Colorado

Collaborative Improvement Goals

My best communication tool was a positive, supportive assessment process to help teachers set goals. After formal class visits, we would sit down and discuss "commendations" and "recommendations." I would ask the teachers to tell me what commendations they hoped to hear and what recommendations they thought I'd probably offer. Often, they already knew an important goal that they needed to consider. On the basis of the recommendations, we would set two or three specific "let's try" items, and I would ask what supports the teacher needed to accomplish the new goals.

- Thomas Woodall, retired principal/educational supervisor, Loudoun County Public Schools, Dulles, Virginia

Building Trust

The best way for me to communicate with our staff is to be in their classrooms, recognize their hard work, and share with them what I've learned from them. This personal communication builds trust and relationships and shows an investment and partnership in their work in our school. Unlike digital communication, it's rarely misunderstood.

- David Huber, principal, Mountain View School, Bristol, Connecticut

Grade-Level Mentorship Teams

Each week, I meet with a small team of teachers from three consecutive grades to discuss what's happening in the classroom, explore curriculum, and address concerns about particular students. In these meetings, teachers learn from and give one another feedback. Natural mentorship opportunities arise as veteran teachers share expertise with the novices in their team. These team meetings support our school culture and ethos and ensure that no teacher gets left behind.

- Michelle Hughes, head of school, High Meadow School, Stone Ridge, New York

A Staff Website

I wanted to create a one-stop shop for any information a teacher could need at any point during the school year. Shared drives and district networks are nice, but they only work if you're on campus. I used Google Sites to create a website that is accessible only by our faculty. It contains information about upcoming events along with general staff notes, reminders, and announcements; links to content and documents that would traditionally be shared in staff and student handbooks; and links to archived resources from all of our professional development opportunities and programs. The site has significantly reduced the number of all-staff e-mails and has eliminated our need to meet to discuss housekeeping issues.

- Eric Sieferman, principal, Cascade Middle School, Clayton, Indiana

My weekly bulletin has become a resource for all stakeholders in the building and for administrators and other support staff in the district. I have three sections: events for the upcoming week, with time and location; upcoming events throughout the quarter; and an "As Seen" feature, in which I give important updates and shout-outs. Having a comprehensive bulletin has freed up time to concentrate on professional development.

- Bill Basel, principal, Defer Intermediate School, Streetsboro, Ohio

Continual Communication

We have weekly face-to-face meetings with all our teachers. This is the most personal way we communicate and the most effective, but we do use several communication methods daily to stay in contact. Our teachers are on their iPads or laptops all day long. We communicate throughout the day through instant messaging, Skype, and private messaging within our learning management system. The more we communicate with our teachers, the more effective we can be as a school.

- Michael Segelnick, principal, American High School, Hollywood, Florida

Say It With Chocolate

When I taught 5th grade, my principal, Dr. Joan Montgomery, was an excellent communicator. I will share several examples that I incorporate in my leadership today.

Consistent information. Every Monday morning, regardless of how early I arrived, there was always a one-page weekly newsletter from her to all staff. She would highlight successes from the previous week, note any concerns, and include a weekly events schedule as a reminder. It was a great way to focus everyone on the week.

Commitment with chocolate. Dr. Montgomery had the largest bowl of chocolates in her office that I have ever seen. It served as an open invitation to any staff member to come say hello or grab a quick pick-me-up. There were moments when a piece of chocolate could solve any problem I had, and other times when it simply reminded us of her commitment to engaging with all staff.

Approachable. Dr. Montgomery always smiled and was positive. There was a never a time when I felt I couldn't approach her about something. Her office door was always open, period.

- Melany Stowe, instructional technology, Danville City Schools, Danville, Virginia

Full Attention and Support

I will never forget my first teaching assignment under Mr. DeForest. As a novice teacher, I had more than enough questions for any one person to bear, but Mr. DeForest always made me feel like I was the most important thing on his plate. He would come out from behind his desk and sit next to me-no distractions, no reading through papers, no sideways glances at e-mail-and listen. Twenty-plus years later, his example still resonates deeply with me.

- Renee M. Burnett, curriculum coordinator, OCM BOCES, Syracuse, New York

A Special Thanks

This past Christmas, my husband received a handwritten greeting card from my school principal, expressing her thanks to him for sharing me with the school. I feel appreciated all the time, but this confirmed my value to the schools that I serve.

- Dawn Waddell, ELL teacher, Desoto County Schools, Hernando, Mississippi

An Inspiring Challenge

When I was hired, my dean told me, "Your job is this: Be the best at what you do and help every student succeed." That was wonderful. And that's what I did.

- Frederick Talbott, professor (retired), Nashville, Tennessee

The best form of communication I received from a principal was a high five. The principal addressed me face-to-face to discuss what I was doing in my classroom. It made me feel good to know the principal noticed and talked about it with the rest of the staff.

- Adrianne G. Williams, teacher, Guilford County Schools, Greensboro, North Carolina

Better Than an e-Mail

With all of the technology available, I cannot find a better way than face-to-face communication to build relationships and create a culture of trust in our school. It is easy to use apps like Remind, or simply shoot out an e-mail or a tweet, but none of those avenues gain teachers' respect like face-to-face interactions.

- Zach Wigle, high school principal, Keokuk Community School District, Keokuk, Iowa

Nothing Beats Face-to-Face

I believe that a face-to-face conversation is still the best way to communicate. It allows deeper conversation and nonverbal communication. There are times when e-mails or written notes are useful, but to really move change forward, we still need face-to-face conversations.

- Eric Townsley, middle school principal, South Tama County Schools, Toledo, Iowa

Bringing in Different-Perspectives

I appreciate when my principal values my experience and expertise while challenging me to see things from a different perspective. Sometimes my tunnel vision gets in the way, and he opens my eyes without discounting my ideas.

- Patty Howard, English teacher, W. F. West High School, Chehalis, Washington

Open and Accessible

I appreciate that all critiques, celebrations, and suggestions are done in person. An open-door policy makes it easy to communicate with my principal. He is eager to hear all about my students' successes.

- Katie Koontz, 2nd grade teacher, Diablo Unified School District, Concord, California

A Calendar Facilitates One-on-One Meetings

In my 14 years of teaching, I believe that communication has been best when my principal has used multiple forms of communication. Face-to-face is best, but all educators know that our fast-paced day may require alternate forms of communication such as e-mail, phone calls, or a quick note in a mailbox. Recently my new principal has adopted the use of an online calendar that she shares with her entire staff. She encourages us to check her calendar and fill in time slots if we would like to meet with her face-to-face.

- Stephanie Moore, special education teacher, Beaver Dam Unified School District, Beaver Dam, Wisconsin

Let Me Evaluate Myself

I was an elementary special area teacher for 42 years, and I had 12 different principals. Probably the best way a principal communicated with me was in my early years of teaching, when one principal asked me to fill out my own evaluation. I felt that I knew more about what I taught than he did, and it demonstrated what my strengths and skills really were. We briefly met, discussed the evaluation, and signed it. Principals have many responsibilities, and outstanding teachers should do their jobs and report what they have done. I learned from every administrator and became a better teacher.

- Patrice Bove, retired elementary music teacher, Berwyn, Pennsylvania

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Let us help you put your vision into action.

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Tell Me About ... / Good Ways to Communicate with Teachers - ASCD

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Vol. 72 No. 7 Abstract A Reality Check Video e-Mails Show Respect A Collaborative Blog Sitting Down Together Honest Feedback An Open Door What Do You Want to Accomplish?

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September 2007 | Volume 65 | Number 1
Teachers as Leaders Pages 14-19

Charlotte Danielson

Teaching is a flat profession. In most professions, as the practitioner gains experience, he or she has the opportunity to exercise greater responsibility and assume more significant challenges. This is not true of teaching. The 20-year veteran's responsibilities are essentially the same as those of the newly licensed novice. In many settings, the only way for a teacher to extend his or her influence is to become an administrator. Many teachers recognize that this is not the right avenue for them. The job of an administrator entails work that does not interest them, but they still have the urge to exercise wider influence in their schools and in the profession. This desire for greater responsibility, if left unfulfilled, can lead to frustration and even cynicism.

Teachers' tenure in schools is longer than that of administrators. In many settings, administrators remain in their positions for only three to four years, whereas teachers stay far longer. Teachers often hold the institutional memory; they are the custodians of the school culture. School districts that want to improve make a wise investment when they cultivate and encourage teacher leaders, because they are in a position to take the long view and carry out long-range projects.

The demands of the modern principalship are practically impossible to meet. Principals today are expected to be visionaries (instilling a sense of purpose in their staff) and competent managers (maintaining the physical plant, submitting budgets on time), as well as instructional leaders (coaching teachers in the nuances of classroom practice). In addition, the principal has become the point person for accountability requirements imposed by states and the federal government, and he or she must respond to multiple stakeholders (parents, staff members, the district central office, and the larger community). Under such pressure from a range of sources, many administrators simply cannot devote enough time and energy to school improvement.

Principals have limited expertise. Like all educators, most principals have their own areas of instructional expertise. A principal who was formerly a mathematics teacher may know a lot about research-based instructional practices in math, but not much about instruction in world languages. The school administrator cannot be an expert in everything. Individual teachers, of course, have their own particular areas of knowledge, but a group of teacher leaders can supply the variety of professional knowledge needed for sustained school improvement.

Given these factors, school improvement depends more than ever on the active involvement of teacher leaders. School administrators can't do it all.

Qualities and Skills of Teacher Leaders

Teacher leaders serve in two fundamental types of roles: formal and informal. Formal teacher leaders fill such roles as department chair, master teacher, or instructional coach. These individuals typically apply for their positions and are chosen through a selection process. Ideally, they also receive training for their new responsibilities. Formal teacher leaders play vital roles in most schools. In many cases, these teacher leaders manage curriculum projects, facilitate teacher study groups, provide workshops, and order materials. They may also evaluate other teachers, in which case their colleagues are likely to regard them as pseudoadministrators.

Informal teacher leaders, in contrast, emerge spontaneously and organically from the teacher ranks. Instead of being selected, they take the initiative to address a problem or institute a new program. They have no positional authority; their influence stems from the respect they command from their colleagues through their expertise and practice.

Whether they are selected for a formal leadership role or spontaneously assume an informal role, effective teacher leaders exhibit important skills, values, and dispositions. Teacher leaders call others to action and energize them with the aim of improving teaching and learning. As Michael Fullan writes,

The litmus test of all leadership is whether it mobilizes people's commitment to putting their energy into actions designed to improve things. It is individual commitment, but above all it is collective mobilization.

A hallmark of leadership, therefore, is the ability to collaborate with others. Teacher leaders must enlist colleagues to support their vision, build consensus among diverse groups of educators, and convince others of the importance of what they are proposing and the feasibility of their general plan for improvement. They must be respected for their own instructional skills. They also must understand evidence and information and recognize the need to focus on those aspects of the school's program that will yield important gains in student learning.

A number of values and dispositions make certain individuals ideally suited for teacher leadership. Effective teacher leaders are open-minded and respectful of others' views. They display optimism and enthusiasm, confidence and decisiveness. They persevere and do not permit setbacks to derail an important initiative they are pursuing. On the other hand, they are flexible and willing to try a different approach if the first effort runs into roadblocks.

Many attributes of good teacher leaders are fundamentally the same as the attributes of good teachers: persuasiveness, open-mindedness, flexibility, confidence, and expertise in their fields. Despite these similarities, however, working with colleagues is profoundly different from working with students, and the skills that teachers learn in their preparation programs do not necessarily prepare them to extend their leadership beyond their own classrooms. To assume a leadership role, they may need expertise in curriculum planning, assessment design, data analysis, and the like. They may also need to develop the abilities to listen actively, facilitate meetings, keep a group discussion on track, decide on a course of action, and monitor progress. These skills are not typically taught in teacher preparation programs.

What Do Teacher Leaders Do?

Three main areas of school life benefit from the involvement of teacher leaders (see "Where Teacher Leaders Extend Their Reach"). In each area, this involvement may take place within the teacher leader's own department or team, across the school, or beyond the school. No setting is more "advanced" than another; each has its own requirements and calls on its own particular skills and inclinations.

Within the Department or Team

Leading change within one's own department or team may require considerable interpersonal skill and tact. The success of such an effort also depends on the teacher leader's having established credibility and trust with his or her colleagues.

Leadership at this level can take many forms. Teacher leaders may coordinate a program in which students in the 6th grade read to kindergarten students during their lunch period. Or they may invite their colleagues to examine the reasons for student underperformance in writing. In many different ways, teacher leaders mobilize the efforts of their closest colleagues to enhance the school's program for the benefit of students.

For example, William, a middle school math teacher, brought a situation to his 6th grade teaching team, asking for their thoughts. He had noticed that many of the girls in his class were not participating in group activities as enthusiastically as he expected.

One of William's colleagues offered to visit his class and see whether she could help him understand the situation better. She observed several classes and took notes on what she saw and heard: the nature of the activities students were asked to do, types of questions the teacher and students asked, interactions among the students, and so on.

What she observed was stunning: William, unknown to himself, was not challenging the girls in the class as much as the boys: When a girl encountered difficulty, he supplied the answer or a significant "hint"; he called on the boys more frequently than the girls to answer challenging questions; and he was more likely to encourage the boys to challenge one another's thinking about the math problems.

William was astonished at his colleague's findings and set about changing his behavior. His approach to this situation revealed extraordinary openness and courage. He and his colleague reported their findings and William's plan for action to the rest of the team. Soon, other teachers on the 6th grade team set about systematically assisting one another with similar questions and situations, as well as bringing the results back to the team for discussion.

Across the School

Some of the most powerful opportunities for teacher leadership relate to areas that have enormous influence on the daily lives of students across the school, such as the master schedule, grading policy, or student programs. For example, many students experience the most memorable activities of their school careers through participating in the school play, being on the debate team, or taking an advanced class that enables them to engage deeply with academic content. Ensuring that students have full access to such opportunities involves a collective effort, requiring discussion and consideration of alternatives. This is the work of leadership. And although administrators play an important facilitative role, teachers-who are closer to the action-frequently put forward important ideas and can assume a leadership role.

Grading policies also have a profound effect on how students experience their learning activities. Jennifer, a high school history teacher, found herself troubled by her students' responses to tests and papers. She read their work carefully and provided thoughtful feedback. But when she returned their papers, the students seemed interested only in the grade; some never even read her careful comments. Also, she noticed that some students would decline to turn in work altogether if they knew it was going to be late, believing that it was not "worth it" to complete it.

Jennifer invited interested teachers from across the school to join her in exploring alternate approaches to grading. The teachers met for an entire school year, and each of them conducted systematic discussions with their students. Toward the end of the year, the group made a recommendation to the entire faculty; as a result, the school piloted a different grading system the following year that incorporated formative assessment and student self-assessment. At the end of three years, the school's approach to grading was considerably different; the teachers were convinced that the new system resulted in greater student buy-in and commitment to high-quality work.

Beyond the School

Teacher leaders contribute beyond their own school when they participate in a districtwide teacher evaluation committee or curriculum team, make a presentation at a state or national conference, serve on a state standards board, or speak at a school board meeting as the voice of teachers in the community. Again, these teachers are doing more than teaching their own students (as brilliant as they may be in that work); they are influencing the larger education environment in their communities and perhaps their states.

For example, Maria, a high school Spanish teacher, noticed that there weren't good opportunities for her to meet with and learn from other Spanish teachers in the area. The state organization of language teachers had not recruited many members in her school or in neighboring schools.

Maria decided to begin a chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese in her area. She sent e-mail notices to teachers in other schools and scheduled an organizational meeting. Although response was slow at first, over the course of several years the chapter became vibrant. Before long, members were scheduling visits to one another's schools and preparing presentations for the state conference.

Conditions that Promote Teacher Leadership

Not every school is hospitable to the emergence of teacher leaders, particularly informal teacher leaders. The school administrator plays a crucial role in fostering the conditions that facilitate teacher leadership, including the following:

A safe environment for risk taking. Teachers must be confident that administrators and other teachers will not criticize them for expressing ideas that might seem unusual at first. Some of the most effective approaches to solving difficult issues in schools may not be intuitively obvious but may require that educators think creatively, which can only happen in a safe environment. School administrators should make it clear that teachers are safe to express ideas and take professional risks.

For example, a principal could raise discussion questions at a staff meeting: What would make the professional environment safe in our school? How would it be similar to the climate you create in your own classrooms? Following the establishment of these professional norms, the principal could schedule a brief, but regular, time at staff meetings for "wacko ideas," during which any teacher could propose doing something different.

Administrators who encourage teacher leaders. Administrators' commitment to cultivating teacher leaders plays an essential role in their development. Administrators must be proactive in helping teachers acquire the skills they need to take advantage of opportunities for leadership (data analysis, meeting facilitation, and so on). Unfortunately, some administrators jealously guard their turf, apparently fearing that ambitious teacher leaders will somehow undermine their own authority. In fact, one of the enduring paradoxes of leadership is that the more an administrator shares power, the more authority he or she gains.

Absence of the "tall poppy syndrome." It's not only administrators who, on occasion, stand in the way of teacher leaders. Sometimes the teachers themselves resist taking on leadership roles, or make it difficult for their colleagues to do so. In Australia, this is called the tall poppy syndrome -those who stick their heads up risk being cut down to size. This phenomenon might take the form of teachers' reluctance to announce to their colleagues that they have been recognized by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. To counteract this syndrome, the school administrator needs to create a culture that honors teachers who step outside their traditional roles and take on leadership projects.

Opportunities to learn leadership skills. As noted earlier, the skills required for teacher leadership are not part of the preparation program for most teachers. If teacher leaders are to emerge and make their full contribution, they need opportunities to learn the necessary skills of curriculum planning, instructional improvement, assessment design, collaboration, and facilitation. Teachers can learn these skills through school-level professional development, of course, but they may also build these skills through districtwide or university-based courses and seminars. Whatever the source, the opportunities must be available and sufficiently convenient for teachers to take advantage of them.

The Need for Teacher Leadership

Teacher leadership is an idea whose time has come. The unprecedented demands being placed on schools today require leadership at every level. Yet many schools are still organized as though all the important decisions are made by administrators and carried out by teachers.

In the most successful schools, teachers supported by administrators take initiative to improve schoolwide policies and programs, teaching and learning, and communication. By understanding the phenomenon of teacher leadership and helping teachers develop the skills required to act as leaders, we will improve schools and help teachers realize their full potential.

Schoolwide Policies and Programs

Work with colleagues to design the schedule so that students have longer periods of time in each subject.

Serve as the building liaison to student teachers.

Lead a school task force to overhaul the school's approach to homework.

Represent the school in a districtwide or statewide program for drug-free schools.

Teaching and Learning

Organize a lesson study to examine the teaching team's or department's approach to a certain topic or concept.

Serve on a schoolwide committee to analyze student achievement data.

Help design a teacher mentoring program for the district.

Make a presentation at a state or local conference on alternative assessment methods.

Publish a department newsletter for parents.

Initiate a regular meeting time to confer with colleagues about individual students.

Develop procedures for specialist and generalist teachers to share their assessments of and plans for individual students.

Serve on the district or state parent-teacher association.

Lead an initiative to formulate methods for students who leave the district to carry information with them about their learning.

Endnote

Fullan, M. (2007). Leading in a culture of change (Rev. ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p. 9.

Charlotte Danielson is an education consultant in Princeton, New Jersey; charlotte_danielson@hotmail.com. She is the author of many books, including Teacher Leadership That Strengthens Professional Practice (ASCD, 2006).

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September 2007 | Volume 65 | Number 1 Teachers as Leaders Pages 14-19 Charlotte Danielson Teaching is a flat profession. In most professions, as the practitioner gains experience, he or she has the opportunity to exercise greater responsibility and assume more significant challenges. This is not true of teaching.

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Transcript of "How to fix a broken school? Lead fearlessly, love hard"

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TED Talk Subtitles and Transcript: On Linda Cliatt-Wayman's first day as principal at a failing high school in North Philadelphia, she was determined to lay down the law. But she soon realized the job was more complex than she thought. With palpable passion, she shares the three principles that helped her turn around three schools labeled "low-performing and persistently dangerous."

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Rita Pierson, a teacher for 40 years, once heard a colleague say, “They don’t pay me to like the kids.” Her response: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like.’” A rousing call to educators to believe in their students and actually connect with them on a real, human, personal level.