Strategic Planning in Schools

The strategic planning process begins in the spring for many schools.  It can be challenging for school leadership teams to shift their thinking from closing out the current year to preparing for the next.  In April, I reviewed The School Improvement Planning Handbook by Duke, Carr, and Sterrett.  Their seven-step plan for developing and implementing school improvement plans is a good place to start.  They recommend the following steps:

  1. Data gathering- use multiple sources, anecdotal, formative, and summative
  2. Diagnosing- examine the data to pinpoint concerns
  3. Assessing context, constraints, and capacity- what factors will impact your efforts?
  4. Focusing- decide your focus, align your goals, and provide a rationale
  5. Determining strategies- what will you do and how will you measure it?
  6. Developing the plan- what resources will you need and how will you fit it all in?
  7. Managing and monitoring the plan- when will you review your plan’s success?

Whether you follow these steps exactly, or modify them to meet your needs, the strategic planning process requires great thought by school leadership teams.  More than likely, your plan will be a combination of continuing some practices, deleting some, and strengthening others.  Arguably, the most important aspect of strategic planning is that it is done collaboratively.  The likelihood for success rises when strategic planning is a shared practice.

I asked several of my principal colleagues to share how they begin the strategic planning process in their schools.  Here is what they said:

We are in the process of looking at the work each grade level has done related to the school improvement plan.  We are determining the next level of work for each grade level and for individual teachers by examining progress over time through the lens of the action steps selected as an area of focus.  We will work vertically to determine grade level and school “next steps” based on commonalities of student “data,” student work samples, and teacher needs.  
Walter Reap (@WalterReap)

I am currently planning an all-day school improvement team meeting with 20 staff members.  We will examine all the data we have:  math, reading, behavior, walk-throughs, observations, science, social studies, writing and work together to begin identifying priorities.  We will then work through the action steps.  We used our last SIT meeting to have teams discuss the current plan and assess where we are and modifications that need to be made.
Cheryl Cox (@CoxCherylcox628)

I sit with my leadership team to analyze data and determine how we are doing with current goals and establish 2 or 3 big rocks for future goals.  Then, with the SIT, we look to see how these rocks can be monitored through daily classroom instructional practice.
Jeffery S. Haynie (@crazydukie)

We’re looking at where we want to be this time next year and how we are going to get there.
Pat Keffer (@psikeffer)

We have been reviewing and analyzing data throughout the year to identify areas in need of growth and successes.  We have used administrative walk-throughs to collect data to make decisions about the next school year.  We look at the positive growth areas so we can expand on them as well as areas of needed improvement.  Our leadership team determined a need for more collaborative planning and team teaching.  I also find opportunities to talk with my colleagues about what they are doing at their schools.  There is power in collaboration and much to be learned from other principals. 
Sue Myers (@SueMyers1984)

As Sue Myers suggests above, collaboration among principals in a district supports the strategic planning process.  It is a model that easily translates to the school level.  When everyone contributes to the instructional vision of the school, only good things can happen!

Will Fed Guidance on Charter Schools Bring Change?

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights issued a letter of guidance last week to charter schools (see link below).  While supportive in tone, it laid out clear expectations regarding the application of civil rights laws in charter schools.  This is good news for all schools.  Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Catherine E. Lhamon’s letter suggests that a new level of transparency needs to be practiced by charter schools.

Charter schools have been criticized for many of their dubious practices.  The OCR letter, thankfully, addresses these concerns.  The letter included guidance in the following areas:

  • charter schools are expected to know and understand Federal civil rights laws
  • admissions procedures may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, or disability
  • special education students cannot be excluded
  • once admitted, students with disabilities must be provided FAPE (free appropriate public education)
  • charter schools cannot ask students to waive their rights to FAPE
  • English learners must be provided the same meaningful access to admissions information
  • English learners must be provided with effective language instruction
  • charter schools must operate under local desegregation plans
  • discipline policies and enforcement must be free of discriminatory practices

It is reasonable to expect that charter schools operate under the same rules as public schools as they are funded by the public using a per-pupil expenditure formula.  The rush into the public charter business led to violations by many of these eager start-ups.  While some charter schools have been touted for their innovative practices, many of them have been operating outside the guidelines addressed in the OCR letter.

Why should anyone care about how public charter schools operate?  They should care because charter schools have been siphoning away students from their home schools and eroding communities across the country.  They have become quasi private schools by selectively choosing who gets in and who doesn’t.

The OCR’s letter is a starting point for holding public charter schools to the same expectations as all other public schools.  Enforcing civil rights laws will be another question.  Let’s hope the OCR monitors the performance of public charter schools and takes action when necessary.

http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201405-charter.pdf

The Mad Rush

The middle of May signals the start of the “mad rush” toward the last day of school.  Students, teachers, parents, and administrators are faced with fitting in all of the things that need to be done between now and the final school day.  This can be exciting and overwhelming at the same time.  Here are a few quick tips for each group that may make the coming days a little less stressful.

Students

-provide students with consistency over the final weeks
-lower their stress levels by giving them advance notice of what’s coming up
-reassure them that by the last day of school they will be ready for the next grade
-provide some closing activities that allow them to reflect on their year
-have them write letters to next year’s students giving them advice for success

Teachers

-have a clear plan for what will be taught until the last day of school
-organize your days so that you’re not left with a mountain of paperwork at the end
-start consolidating your materials and planning for next year
-take some time to reflect with your grade level on all of the successes you’ve had
-brainstorm with colleagues about how you can improve specific areas next year
-start making summer plans, it goes quickly, so make sure fun is included

Parents

-remind your child that while summer is on their mind, there is much work to be done
-keep your child’s morning and evening routines consistent
-tell your child how proud you are of their accomplishments
-plan a summer that includes fun learning opportunities
-find ways to support the school over the final weeks (volunteer, field trips etc.)

Administrators

-be an example of “calm and reason,” even if your head is spinning from all that has to be done
-provide your students and staff with a structure that keeps routines in place
-stay focused on students, even when other tasks may pull you away
-start planning for the summer and next year, both personally and professionally
-tell your students and staff how much they are appreciated before they head off

If everyone works together, the year can only end on a positive note.  Take satisfaction in knowing that your students and staff made significant growth this year.  The great part of being an educator is that you get to do it all again next year.  Just take a deep breath before you start thinking about that.

14 Ways to Promote Culturally Responsive Teaching

The Mexican holiday, Cinco de Mayo, commemorates the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla.  While it is a holiday that many Americans enjoy, it also inadvertently reinforces cultural stereotypes.  Let’s take the opportunity this Cinco de Mayo to think about how we can foster culturally responsive teaching in our schools and classrooms.

Eileen Whelan Ariza, author of Not for ESOL Teachers, shares the following culturally responsive teaching strategies that are based on recommendations from Brown University’s Education Alliance for Culturally Responsive Teaching:

  1. Get to know the culture of your students.
  2. Try to make home visits.
  3. Attend neighborhood and local cultural events.
  4. Use inquiry-based teaching that is culturally relevant.
  5. Scaffold for students by activating prior knowledge.
  6. Call on students regardless of English proficiency, modify your questioning strategies.
  7. Integrate multicultural views into daily instruction.
  8. Learn about diverse learning and teaching styles and culturally appropriate behaviors.
  9. Incorporate the students’ native language within class learning situations.
  10. Seek to understand parents of English learners.
  11. Use a variety of learning strategies and have high expectations for all students.
  12. Use cooperative and collaborative learning on a regular basis
  13. Aim to increase academic language proficiency, orally and in writing.
  14. Be conscious of your own ethnocentric attitudes.

Effective strategies for English learners are effective strategies for all students.  While it is impossible to be fully aware of all of the nuances associated with every culture, it is possible to care about how culture impacts teaching and learning.  Culturally responsive teachers have a natural interest in the lives of their students.  They use this interest to motivate students toward success.

Culturally responsive teachers recognize that stereotypes don’t define the children they teach.  While they recognize that stereotypes exist, they strive to learn more about the culture of their students in order to dispel the myths and clarify reality.  As with any school, or classroom, great teaching is about relationships.

So, feel free to enjoy and celebrate Cinco de Mayo today.  Just don’t forget that it’s only one small part of Mexican culture.  Maybe you can celebrate by asking your students to share a few others.