Case Study 2

  • ISLLC Standard 2:
    • A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.
  • Case Study: Learning Focused Schools: Modeling the Model and Setting the Climate for Change Key
  • Knowledge:
    • b. applied learning theories
    • c. curriculum design, implementation, evaluation, and refinement
    • e. principles of effective instruction
    • g. diversity and its meaning for educational programs
    • h. adult learning and professional development models
    • i. the change process for systems, organizations, and individuals
    • k. school cultures
  • Key Dispositions:
    • a. student learning as the fundamental purpose of schooling
    • b. the proposition that all students can learn
    • c. the variety of ways in which students can learn
    • d. life long learning for self and others
    • e. professional development as an integral part of school improvement
  • Key Performances:
    • a. all individuals are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect b. professional development promotes a focus on student learning consistent with the school vision and goals
    • d. students and staff feel valued and important
    • e. the responsibilities and contributions of each individual are acknowledged
    • f. barriers to student learning are identified, clarified, and addressed
    • g. diversity is considered in developing learning experiences
    • h. life long learning is encouraged and modeled
    • i. there is a culture of high expectations for self, student, and staff performance
    • j. technologies are used in teaching and learning
    • k. student and staff accomplishments are recognized and celebrated
    • l. multiple opportunities to learn are available to all students
    • m. the school is organized and aligned for success
    • o. curriculum decisions are based on research, expertise of teachers, and the recommendations of learned societies
    • p. the school culture and climate are assessed on a regular basis
    • q. a variety of sources of information is used to make decisions
    • r. student learning is assessed using a variety of techniques
  • Questions:
    1. What actions can a principal take to change the climate of a school?
    2. How do you encourage reluctant teachers to try new methods?
  • Introduction:
    • After two successful years in our middle school, our principal was encouraged to take on leadership responsibilities at our feeder high school. The high school had been struggling for years and had a reputation for negativity. The school was on its eighth principal in as many years. It was time for change. The departing principal was not in support of the change and raised levels of anxiety among the school's staff and students. The new principal did not respond to this negativity. Instead, she went to the school to meet her new staff laden with ceremonial gifts and vision. She applauded the staff for all of the things that they had accomplished and met with each department to address concerns in small groups. Then, she moved on to the students. She met with the entire student body in groups to answer questions and mollify the anxiety that had been built up by the departing principal.
    • After weeks of working with the staff and students to build confidence and trust, she began to address areas of improvement for the school. Though the entire cluster was supposed to be using the Learning Focused Schools model, the high school was not using this model and had never been trained. The principal spoke with the leadership body at the school about the school's specific areas for improvement according to the data and addressed the ways that the Learning Focused Schools Model could help to improve those areas. The leadership body voted on the necessity of the training and on the dates for the training.
    • The principal then went back to the middle school and selected teachers in each content area that had embraced the LFS model and were using it successfully. Along with the middle school and high school CSTs, this team of teachers created a two day workshop for all of the high school teachers. The workshop was held at a local university Student Center. This was a neutral site for both schools and added to the workshop's level of professionalism. The teachers arrived to find tables set with composition books, pens, sticky notes, highlighters, sentence strips and markers. The table was set for learning.
    • The workshop began with a welcome and the setting of the purpose by the principal. Then, each teacher completed an anticipation guide. The teachers later found out that their answers to the guide determined how many scoops of snacks each person received. The rest of the first day modeled the rest of a LFS lesson. The facilitators gave instruction, and then the tables worked in small groups to practice creating their own LFS lesson step by step. At the end of each practice session, the groups shared their lesson piece with the group. This began to build the community that was lacking at the school. By the end of the day each group had completed a LFS lesson and worked directly with facilitators in small and large group learning.
    • On the second day of training, the LFS lesson parts were reviewed with a word splash and a card sort before moving into content areas. The content area teachers from the middle school met with their high school counterparts. The middle school teachers modeled a LFS lesson from beginning to end. The high school teachers then had a chance to ask questions and respond to an actual lesson. For the second half of the day, the same group met to translate what they had learned into lessons to be used next year using their specific standards. The day ended with a share fair and dancing with the new principal.
  • Analysis:
    • Setting school climate and culture is a precarious art. The principal showed her strength in this area by building confidence and trust. She set the expectation for the years to come and showed the staff that they would be appreciated and cared for. She acknowledged specific things that the school had done well and also addressed specific concerns. She built consensus before implementing training and allowed the staff to choose the date of the training. The teachers that were once reluctant to attend staff development on new methods found themselves enjoying the training and feeling like professionals. They received hands on job-based training that they put into practice immediately. Instead of bringing in facilitators from another state who no longer had ties to the classroom, the principal brought in teachers who taught the same type of students and the same content to demonstrate how the model had worked successfully in their classrooms. The training was a dialogue between professionals, rather than a lecture to a disengaged audience.
  • Evaluation:
    • This case study addressed almost all of the elements within the standard on some level. The principal demonstrated her understanding not only of school climate and culture, but also her understanding of learning theories for adults and students. She showed her aptitude for creating a climate for change within a school and for building confidence and trust within her staff and student body. She turned a place of negativity into a place of hope a purpose. This is something that she does consistently and pervasively to use Max Thompson's key words from LFS. She is accomplished in this component.