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What's
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| Commentaries
on Leadership: |
Make
Professional Learning a Core Leadership
Responsibility |
by
Dennis Sparks |
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"In
District Two . . . there is no line
drawn between administration and professional
development. Its leadership believes,
in fact, that professional development
is not something separate from administrative
responsibilities or added on to them.
Instead, professional development
is the centerpiece of administering
a district committed to continuous
improvement in student learning. "
- Elaine
Fink & Lauren Resnick |
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I believe
that a core leadership responsibility is
the creation of schools in which it is everyone’s
job to learn, child and adult alike. While
such learning may be both formal and informal
and occur in many settings, learning leaders
understand that continuous improvements
in teaching and learning begin with significant
changes in their beliefs, understanding,
and actions.
In large, complex
systems some aspects of the professional
learning agenda must be delegated, particularly
its more formalized processes such as workshops,
courses, and instructional coaching. But
leaders’ learning can never be delegated.
And, in addition, at the system level the
ultimate responsibility for promoting professional
learning and monitoring its effectiveness
belongs to superintendents and other key
staff members. At the school level that
responsibility belongs to principals and
teacher leaders. Nothing can substitute
for leaders’ active engagement in
their organizations’ learning agenda.
Prepare an "I
believe" statement about leaders' responsibilities
regarding professional learning. After writing
your statement, share it with colleagues
for the purpose of better understanding
your own views and those of others. To promote
learning and to counter the debate and defensiveness
that often occur when individuals advocate
the "truth" of their points of view, I encourage
you to offer your belief in the spirit of
mutual inquiry with a genuine openness to
being influenced by others. |
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Dennis
Sparks is emeritus executive
director of the National Staff Development
Council (nsdc.org)
and serves as a “thinking partner”
to leadership teams of education organizations.
He is the author of the best-selling
book Leading
For Results (corwinpress.com),
and his Leading
Through Learning essays are co-published
by NSDC and Phi Delta Kappa International
(pdkintl.org/publications/leading.htm).
He can be reached at dennis.sparks@comcast.net. |
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Join
an upcoming Failure Is Not an Option®:
Courageous Leadership for School Success
event! |
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| In This Issue |
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| The National
Forum's Schools to Watch Program |
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Launched in 1999, Schools to Watch is a national
program that identifies schools that are academically excellent,
developmentally responsive, and socially equitable with organizational
supports in place to sustain the schools’ success. There
are currently seventeen states recognized by The
National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform; in
the state of Illinois, the Association of Illinois Middle-Level
Schools facilitates this process. Locally known as Illinois
Horizon Schools, those making the grade for national recognition
must score extremely well on a rubric based on the following
criteria:
- They are academically
excellent – these schools challenge all students
to use their minds well.
- They are developmentally
responsive – these schools are sensitive to the
unique developmental challenges of early adolescence.
- They are socially
equitable – these schools are democratic and fair,
providing every student with high-quality teachers, resources,
and supports.
To achieve this level of performance, high-performing schools
establish norms,
structures and organizational arrangements to support and
sustain their trajectory toward excellence. They have a sense
of purpose that drives every facet of practice and decision-making.
Illinois is fortunate to have thirteen
Middle Level Schools designated into the program. Both
Kennedy Junior High School
in Lisle, IL and Indian
Creek Middle School in Waterman, IL, have shared examples
of their success. |
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| Kennedy
Junior High School |
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| No Child Left Behind Every Child
Brought Forward
Teachers, administrators, and staff members at Kennedy Junior
High School pride themselves on “meeting the needs of
each student.” The saying is ubiquitously-displayed
throughout the school; it reminds everyone of the school’s
shared mission. Read
more
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| Indian Creek Middle School |
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At Indian Creek Middle School, we have implemented
higher expectations to facilitate academic success and build
stronger academic work ethic. However, creating a grading
system to carry out these expectations has many obstacles
to overcome. A student at ICMS is on academic warning when
a grade is below 70%. Read
more
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We
Have No Time for This!
by Alan Blankstein
This statement is, on its face, completely legitimate.
There is simply no way of getting around it—the process
of creating mission, vision, values, and goals, completing needs
assessments, collecting data and planning for change will require
an investment of time. Schools also need to make time in the daily
schedule for teacher collaboration, and continued professional
development.
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"We have no time
for this... it is often the case that this statement is a
smoke screen for staff who are resistant to change" |
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At the same time, it is
often the case that this statement is a smoke screen for staff who
are resistant to change. This can be uncovered by asking: “Is
time the only issue? If I were to assure you that you will have
sufficient time to do this, would you become actively involved in
the process?” The change process must be seen as worth their
time spent, and as a valid part of professional development.
No nation requires teachers to teach more hours per
day and year than the United States. In most European and Asian
countries, teachers spend only 17 to 20 hours of the 40 to 45-hour
work week actually teaching. The remaining time is spent in “class
preparation and joint planning; collegial work on curriculum and
assessment development; one-on-one meetings with students, parents,
and other colleagues; and learning through involvement in study
groups, observation of other teachers, research, and demonstration
lessons” (Linda Darling-Hammond, Journal of Staff Development,
Spring 1999).
Beyond this comes the practical issue of “finding”
time. Here are some examples of how time can be created in the regular
school schedule: Read
more |
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Alan Blankstein is Founder and President of the HOPE
Foundation, a not-for-profit organization that is dedicated
to supporting educational leaders over time in creating school
cultures where failure is not an option for any student.
Alan is author of the best-selling book Failure Is Not
an Option®: Six Principles That Guide
Student Achievement in High-Performing Schools, which
has been awarded “Book of the Year” by the National
Staff Development Council. Currently, Alan is Senior Editor
along with Paul Houston of the eight-volume The Soul of
Educational Leadership series. |
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Failure Is Not an Option ® 3 |
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Effective Assessment
for Effective Learning:
Seven Instructional Principles for Guiding Student Achievement
Featuring: Jay McTighe, Carol Ann Tomlinson, Alan Blankstein, Ken O’Connor, Larry Bell, Michael Fullan, Linda Darling-Hammond, Ernest Morrell and school practitioners from two high-performing school districts
This fall, the HOPE Foundation will be releasing Effective Assessment for Effective Learning, a collaborative effort involving Michael Fullan, Jay McTighe, Carol Ann Tomlinson, Ken O’Conner, Larry Bell, Linda Darling-Hammond and other leaders and extraordinary practitioners in our field.
Read more |
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| Coach vs Mentor: Which
One Is Best For Me? |
by
Karen Dyer |
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Successful educational leaders recognize
the value of availing themselves of a coach and/or a mentor.
A mentor is an experienced advisor, a guide, a networker,
or a role model. A distinguishing characteristic between a
coach and a mentor is that the coach serves as a reflector
or questioner, whose role is to support the leader in discovering
the most appropriate course of thinking or action on his or
her own. The mentor's role, however, is to impart knowledge
and expertise for the purpose of assisting the leader in reaching
some mutually identified goals.
Similarities and Differences
There are key similarities between coaches and
mentors:
- Ability to engender feelings of mutual
trust and respect
- Ability to assist individuals in diagnosing
the organization's culture
- Effectiveness in dealing with process
- Ability to build individuals’
skill and confidence
- Ability to support or enable others
to act on their own to solve problems
- Skill in reflective questioning
- Ability to maintain confidentiality
- Credibility among peers, staff, and
others Read
more
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Karen
M. Dyer, Ed.D., is Vice President for Education
at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, NC.
She is 2009 President of the National Staff Development
Council (nsdc.org),
and co-author with Jacqueline Carothers of The Intuitive
Principal: A Guide to Leadership (corwinpress.com,
2000). Meet Karen in Los Angeles on October 23, 2008,
where she will discuss Leadership and Mentoring: Tools,
Strategies, and Relationships at the ASCD Conference on
Teaching and Learning (ascd.org).
Karen may be reached at Dyerk@leaders.ccl.org. |
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The Soul of Educational Leadership Book Package |
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| Get the complete set... |
The new Soul of Educational Leadership series - edited by Alan Blankstein, Paul Houston and Robert Cole - contains the latest information by top authors world-wide on timely topics such as Engaging Every Learner and Sustaining Professional Learning Communities.
Get the entire set by October 20 and save more than 10%. |
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Where There
Is HOPE, Failure Is Not an Option® |
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Copyright © 2008 by The
HOPE Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. |
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