Click to Add Title Transformational School Leadership Archdiocese of Chicago 2/24/15
Overview of central ideas The miscompression of history Historic tension between education as a public good vs. as a private right Quality instruction as an organizational property of the school instruction and adult learning The discovery of the school principalship Systems-thinking for school improvement at scale Developing the leaders our schools need
Caveat on broad-stroke history Substories within the story are obscured E.g. History of education of women in the U.S. Or history of education of African Americans or any other racial/ethnical component group Or history of early childhood education, teacher education, the rise of Catholic school systems, etc. We are now in a particular historical moment...
Miscompression of history Our mental models of history are necessarily compressed, and... Sure, Jefferson did share the same technologies with Socrates and Jesus (but not the Jurassic)... But: understanding TJ s modernity is important to understanding the brief history of schools in the U.S. Jefferson dies 1826; Horace Mann 1859; Dewey lives 1859-1952 (virtually entire history of ed in U.S.)
Schooling, Political Economy, Ideology Jefferson: Able to help found a nation and a university, but not a school system failed 2xs; why? Horace Mann established public system of schools and teacher ed in Massachusetts in 1830 s why? John Dewey sought a system of of equitable schooling to educate children and youth as ends in themselves, not as means to social/political ends, and failed why? Current school reform continues to fail why?
Schooling, Political Economy, Ideology From Agrarian nation to industrial to post-industrial From homogeneous northern and western European stock to southern/eastern European--to minority European in our children s lifetimes From King James literacy to digital literacy Today: a knowledge economy and a service economy how do we educate the worker, the citizen, and the person in an equitable way (sufficient for our kids) in a culture of racism and economic inequality
From Coleman & Jencks to Chicago Consortium 1960s: SES is prime contributor to student learning outcomes; there s little that schools can do (yet Head Start begins...) 1970s: Effective Schools research: How many examples do you need to see? (Successful schools have strong leaders...) 1980s: A Nation at Risk launches 30 years of teacher ed reform 1990s: What Matters Most and the quality of classroom instruction 2000s: From No Child Left Behind to a growing recognition of the impact of school leadership and ECE on student learning 2010: Bryk, Sebring, et al. Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago-- 5 essential supports for improving schools
Bryk, Sebring, et al (2010) Organizing Schools for Improvement Five Essential Supports School Leadership Parent/Community School Ties Professional Capacity Student Centered Learning Climate Instructional Guidance Leadership as enabling factor (Charles Payne: Leadership and pick two )
High-need schools: changing expectations The national conversation on high-need schools has changed over the past 50 years, from what schools cannot do to what schools can do and how. School leadership research is changing it again--from emphasis on teacher quality to emphasis on instructional quality at scale. Teacher quality as a property that resides in individual talent and training vs. instructional quality as a property that resides in organizations and can be developed in (nearly) all teachers
The Recent Discovery of School Leadership School leadership matters because instructional quality at scale depends on school as organization Most teacher learning takes place after initial certification Schools as learning organizations: schools that succeed with low-income students are sites of successful adult learning: schoolwide
Leadership and Learning Outcomes Leadership is second only to classroom instruction among all school-related factors that contribute to what students learn at school (Leithwood, et al., 2004) Six years later we are even more confident about that claim (Louis, et al. 2010) The limitations of such thinking: Bryk et al. 2010
Root Within-school Cause: Within-school Improvement Improvement of Student Learning of Student (explicit theory Learning of impact) Administrative Leadership Instructional Leadership TEAM Organizational Resources Teaching/ Instruction Student Engagement and Learning Cosner 2014; Gamoran, Secada, & Marrett, 2000; Bryk et al., 2006
But where can you get such leaders? Higher education initiatives: UVA, UIC, UT, Cal Not-for-profit entrepreneurial initiatives: New Leaders, TFA/Harvard District-level initiatives: NYC Leadership Academy, Gwinnett County, Long Beach System-level focus: e.g., KIPP, Archdiocese of Chicago Could not have presented this material 15 years ago; it s all since 2002 (NB: AREL and Woodrow Wilson)
Detour: The Medical Profession a Century Ago 1909: Abraham Flexner s Carnegie Foundation Study The status of medical education (with few exceptions): Non-selective in admissions Little formal connection to sites of practice such as hospitals and clinics Clinical experiences minimal or absent Science of medicine in its infancy Low expectations of medical practice results
Your system, any system...... is perfectly designed to obtain the results you are obtaining (Carr, 2008) Our current system of public school inequity has to be disrupted if we are to produce different results Principal development is a key system component that can disrupt current outcomes Also explains why teacher ed is a weak lever for improving school outcomes (embedded in weak system of inputs and support)
Your system, any system...... is perfectly designed to obtain the results you are obtaining (Carr, 2008) Challenges to Archdiocese include funding, lower rates of Latino access to PreK, population mobility Opportunities include PreK-8 capacity and system scale (all key leaders in one room...) Principal development remains a key system component that can disrupt current outcomes
Challenge: PreK3-12 Leaders at Scale Leadership ==> Org Capacity ==> Instructional Capacity ==>PreK-12 Student Learning Quality teaching and learning as an organizational property of the school instruction, integration, assessment, adult learning At scale: 100,000 principals nationwide: 1/3 # of active MDs Vacancy rate: about 10,000 annually (can be reduced) Annually in Illinois: about 400+, half the size of my HS class
Illinois and Chicago: the Public Sector State law passed 2012 in Illinois to change principal licensure requirements for greater selectivity, school district involvement, site-based internships, and more rigorous assessments of candidates Chicago Leadership Collaborative represents a $10M investment in preparing selective, full-year residency-trained, rigorously assessed principals at scale for CPS (now in 3rd year)
CPS vs. Illinois XCPS: 2001 Grade 3 Kauerz & Coffman (2014): Framework (Cycle) (also 8 NAESP policy recs--both raise leadership expectations at every step) Cross sector work (governance, strategy, funding) Administrator Effectiveness (licensure, support for P-3) Teacher Effectiveness (supporting adult learning in schools) Instructional Tools (state role in standards, assessments) Learning Environments (achieved only via adult learning) Data-Driven Improvement (creating local & state systems) Family Engagement (one of the 5 essential supports) Continuity and Pathways (multiple ECE paths to success) 18
2001 ILXCPS v. CPS: Reading & Math Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 8 19
2012: ILX CPS Vs. CPS--Reading & Math Grade 3 Grade 5 Grade 8 20
What happened in that decade in CPS vs. remainder of Illinois? Your system, any system... Concerted effort to establish the most ambitious school leader development pipeline of any urban district in the U.S. Extensive engagement of the funding community in both of these Research agenda: what part did leadership play? The multiplier effect of school leadership on ed reform efforts 21
The PK-3/Leadership Nexus Growth of PreK in elementary schools and importance of quality ECE for later learning Carson School Principal in Chicago: I could not have done it without the PreK program Quality instruction, quality integration from 3 to 3 rd requires quality school leadership PreK-3 education and school leadership as key levers Yet too often in separate conversations The need for intentional cross-sector work (Kauerz & Collins; NAESP) 22
Implications for a systemic approach Kauerz & Coffman (2014): Framework (Cycle) (also 8 NAESP policy recs--both raise leadership expectations at every step) Cross sector work (governance, strategy, funding) Administrator Effectiveness (licensure, support for P-3) Teacher Effectiveness (supporting adult learning in schools) Instructional Tools (state role in standards, assessments) Learning Environments (achieved only via adult learning) Data-Driven Improvement (creating local & state systems) Family Engagement (yet another of the 5 essential supports) Continuity and Pathways (multiple ECE paths to success)
A Challenge to IHEs and School Districts NAESP: Leading PreK-3 Learning Communities-- Embrace the Pre-K-3 Early Learning Continuum Ensure Developmentally Appropriate Teaching Provide Personalized Learning Environments Use Multiple Measures of Assessment of Learning Growth Build Professional Capacity Across the Learning Community Make Schools a Hub of PK-3 Learning for Families and Communities BUT PRINCIPAL PREPARATION PROGRAMS ARE NOT SET UP TO PREPARE SUCH PRINCIPALS (AT LEAST NOT YET)
Challenge: PreK-3 Leaders at Scale Leadership ==> Org Capacity ==> Instructional Capacity ==>PreK-12 Student Learning Quality PreK as an organizational property of the school instruction, integration, assessment, adult learning Developing/supporting school principals who get it : pushing down vs. pushing up (at scale: 200+ principals) IHEs and state policy at scale: turning ECE teachers into leaders AND turning leaders in Early Childhood Educators Cross-sector challenges: IHEs, Districts, States, funders...
What would it look like to prepare such principals? UIC example*: University/District Partnership: pre-service/inservice High selectivity for all program admissions Full-year paid residency leading to P-12 principal licensure Three years of post-residency coaching in leadership roles Ed.D. program structure to support 4 5 years of leadership development (EXTERNAL FUNDING to demonstrate model) *See also UT Knoxville, NYC Leadership Academy, Gwinnett County, Georgia, entire principal pipeline in Chicago (results? Last slide)
Implications for Leadership Development Key resources for ECE Systemic Thinking 1. The power of PreK-3 as a PreK-8 lever for learning: Heckman (2013) Giving Kids a Fair Chance Ritchie & Gutman (2014): First School 2. Leading PreK-3; Developing as a Leader Kauerz & Coffman (2014): Framework for Planning, Implementing, & Evaluation PreK-3 Approaches NAESP (2014): Leading PreK-3 Learning Communities Donaldson (2008): How Leaders Learn Cultivating Capacities for School Improvement
Questions and Comments Steve Tozer: stozer@uic.edu 28