Podcast for Leaderful Schools (Galileo Institute )

Dr. Bob Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein spoke with Dr. Randy Liepa, Superintendent of Wayne County Regional Education Service Agency (RESA), prior to his announced retirement in June, 2021. Dr. Liepa is well recognized for his leadership on the issue of school funding among Michigan superintendents and intermediate school district colleagues.Prior to his role as Superintendent of Wayne RESA, Dr. Liepa served as both business manager and superintendent for Livonia Public Schools.  As part of Launch Michigan, The Coalition for the Future of Detroit School Children, he worked with the Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce; served as President of his local Chamber in Livonia, President of the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Administrators (MAISA), and twice served as Chair of the Galileo Teacher Leadership Consortium Board. 

An important priority during Dr. Liepa’s leadership, both as a local superintendent and at Wayne RESA, has been developing and putting in place processes. While superintendent in Livonia, he created a shared vision that still remains a part of the district Board policies.  That roadmap identified priorities and informed the district budgeting process, the long-term facility plan, and the school improvement plan. It also enabled the district to significantly renovate the school facilities, add innovative programs such as the first Japanese immersion program, offer an International Baccalaureate program, and preserve a variety of programs during an era of budget cuts.“That was all based on having those key components in place; a roadmap, a plan and, if we follow the plan, we're going to continue to provide educational opportunities for students at the highest level.”

Dr. Liepa explained that Wayne RESA is the largest county-wide school organization in Michigan, serving 33 school districts, over 100 public school systems, over 275,000 students, within a very diverse social and economic community. “Having such diverse communities in the county affords the opportunity to continue to learn from each other and our communities, to support our students in our own school districts.”  While at Wayne RESA, Dr. Liepa led the passage and renewal of a regional enhancement millage which brought in more than $300 per student, $75 million per year, for the next 12 years. “The biggest challenge going forward is resource allocation to provide all our school districts with the level of support to be successful, along with trying to coordinate services in the county to be more efficient and doing a better job of getting certain things off a local school district's plate by sharing with each other.”

Dr. Liepa noted some of the lessons learned from the impact of the recent pandemic.  Parents having their children at home led to a whole new appreciation of the importance of school in society and its role in regards to “just being good human beings”.  Many have also realized the importance of students working directly with the teacher, with their peers, and having that experience in a school. The pandemic also clearly revealed inequity of resources, the digital divide as well as the differences in support students have at home. Here Dr. Liepa pointed to the work of the School Finance Research Collaborative (SFRC) which “produced a roadmap on how to meet the needs of students and what we want schools to look like for all students.”  The 2018 SFRC study recommended a state funding formula which included both a foundation grant and additional dollar amounts needed to educate special education students, at-risk learners, and English language learners. There is also provision in the formula for school counselors, social work support, reading specialists and other teachers to support student learning needs. 

As leaders address these more visible educational inequities going forward, Dr. Liepa sees an opportunity to implement changes in funding policies. “…with the federal dollars coming in, it's a chance for school districts to do some transformational things; some once in a generation opportunity for some of these school districts to be able to do some catch up that is long overdue and much needed. There is a challenge in the messaging about the federal dollars, but also an opportunity to plan to implement a new finance system.”

The new superintendent will find important initiatives in place at Wayne RESA. “As a school leader I always felt that if I hired good people and provided them the resources that they needed to be successful, and had a good plan in place we would do great things…We started a literacy initiative about three years ago with our local school districts and have a very detailed plan to move forward collectively and learn best practices in literacy from each other to make a difference in reading in Wayne County, along with…helping our school districts with… innovation…”

When asked about recruiting and preparing educators for future leadership roles, Dr. Liepa acknowledged the challenges in the current environment and within the public sector. Leadership training, counseling and mentoring, both prior to being in the job and on the job, can build a supportive network for advice and resources needed to make difficult decisions. His advice to a new superintendent would be focus on building relationships. “It all starts there… focus on having that core foundation of relationships with people, so there's trust, two-way trust going, and then start building a foundation as it relates to your plans. Never forget the power in synergy. You don't have to be the smartest person in the room; you've got smart people around you.  Always be humble, be a good listener and use the synergy of others as you're building those relationships and those foundations of success.”

https://www.fundmischools.org/

FACT SHEET:

Vicki Wilson, the principal of the Monroe Elementary School in the Wyandotte, Michigan School District, and author of Lead with Instructional Rounds: Creating a Culture of Professional Learning, shares her views on why and how and when you use instructional rounds to both create a culture for learning, as well as support the teachers' learning.

Vicki Wilson recounted some of the experiences that shaped her approach as a school administrator and very passionate advocate for learning for both children and adults. As a fourth grade teacher, “I wasn't expecting the depth of the relationship that I had with students as individuals, but also that you have just with your class as a whole and the community that you build and the culture that you build. So that was the first thing that shaped me, is that realizing that it's so much more than sharing content with kids so that they learn it but it is about community and culture and family and getting to know each other."

The second experience Vicki Wilson recalled was as a principal in a school where she had been working previously. She visited the classrooms of teachers she knew and with whom she had taught and using a wider lens, “I realized that as I went into everybody's classroom I saw strengths that I did not know that they had and that changed me and shaped me dramatically. And I started to think about how can we leverage these strengths that are in classrooms.”

Moving beyond her walls and community and becoming an educational leader was the third experience that came later in her career as a principal. She became more connected, "reaching out beyond her district and joining the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principals’ Association (MEMSPA) state association and building a professional learning network, getting active on Twitter and eventually writing a book."

The instructional rounds approach that staff took at Monroe Elementary School was to examine different research and best practices. “The research out of Harvard supporting ten minute visits with reflection and debriefing was a structure that felt good to us.  We also like the work that Marzano discusses to be reflective educators, using the opportunities to observe colleagues to reflect on the practices you have in your classroom and think about them. Are you getting the impact that you want out of the class, out of those techniques that you're learning? Lastly we just wanted to strengthen our culture, so we looked at the research out of Gallup about strength-based employee feedback and how that contributes to greater gains. So, we made sure that we were very positive in the way we go about instructional rounds, and we talk about the positive impact that we're seeing with our kids.”

“We define it like this: instructional rounds is a process for educators, in small collaborative groups, to observe their colleagues teaching while reflecting on their own practices, followed by dialogue about the effective instruction and the impact on learning. I do believe that when adults learn more, students learn more also, and that was one piece that was really important. Are we growing ourselves as adults and knowing that there are strengths in all these other classrooms, how can we take that opportunity to do that? I don't believe we learn to our potential when we're in isolation as teachers, so how do we break down that isolation so that we can learn more?”

“To create a culture for learning for students and the adults in the school, it has to be safe for the adults to jump in and do it. You’ve got to put so much into the safety piece so that everyone can apply and compare and reflect and learn and process. It's really important for the leader to be involved in this work whether the leader's the facilitator or not. The principal needs to participate in the professional learning with their teachers and that in itself has an effect size of point eight four.“ 

“Teachers going on the rounds are in a deep reflective mind. They're walking in, they're observing, they're thinking about what they do with their students, and they're looking at what this person's doing. They're thinking about what we've learned about for best practices, rigor, and student success. As facilitator, my job is to step out with this group of teachers to talk about teaching and learning. I pose two strong reflective questions that will create some dialogue and discussion around the best practices we saw, the way the teacher executed it, that work that was positive and the impact that was having on the students. The teacher whose classroom we observed will get their feedback later.Upon completion of the rounds the staff that observed classrooms will write a note card to each of the teachers that we visited that validates a practice that they used with some very specific positive details and what we took away from it. The host teachers will receive five-six note cards in their mailbox that give them specific feedback on their instruction.”

"The gain for teachers is you're going to be able to see what someone else is doing and then take those very best ideas and make yourself better. What they'll find out later though, just beyond getting in someone's classroom is they're going to have such good dialogue with other colleagues in their building, it will strengthen their relationship. And they're going to see strengths of people that they didn't know that they had, so your culture is going to grow through this model."

In assessing the challenges to instructional rounds, Vicki Wilson indicated, “probably the biggest obstacle is a teacher evaluation process. It has to be presented as something completely different and separate, to the point where I hold different things in my hand when I go in during instructional rounds versus what I do when I go in for an evaluation or an observation. Obstacles to the process can be addressed with clearly communicated boundaries and guidelines, with genuine validation for teacher participation, and practices that are transparent and consistent.”

Turning to the impact of the pandemic, the challenges it revealed, and how it played out in her school, the thing that stood out so drastically to Vicki Wilson were the inequities and the obstacles students faced to get what they needed in order to learn. She identified “the important pandemic lesson learned was how do we make sure that we have equity in access and what students are given to be able to do the learning they need to do.” While change and progress in education moving at a snail’s pace has been frustrating for her, in terms of the pandemic’s impact, “I think probably the exciting piece of it is that it forced us to start to innovate and start making some changes, and start looking outside of the box. Last and I hope this comes out of the pandemic, I think what's really important is it forces us to look at our priorities in education and where we're investing our time and investing our resources. So I wish and I hope that we might look at some of the other obstacles that are preventing us from doing the true authentic work of teaching and learning for kids and for adults.”

Vicki Wilson’s ideal teacher preparation program would reflect a partnership between colleges of education and strong or model schools to be connected more deeply to the school experience and setting. “You learn your content in your college class and then you can go in and look at that instruction happening and then start to see the art of that content being delivered and how does that teacher engage those students around that content, I think that would be so powerful. When I have student teachers in the building they always go on instructional rounds with us. They learn so much from that experience and being a part of the conversation with veteran and mentor teachers. Beyond the content that's happening in their college classroom or observing in their assigned teacher's classroom is that dialogue piece with other educators after looking at learning.” 

Dr. Suzanne Klein confirmed that is the model in the Oakland University Teacher Education Program. “The students are in a partner district, and they work with a cluster of teachers. The professor goes to the school for their instruction and it gives the students an opportunity to do just what Vicki Wilson suggested, see the real teaching and learning in action, make the instructional rounds, invite some of the teachers in as guest speakers, and it makes it so much more relevant, real and impactful for the students in the program.”

Finally, Vicki Wilson’s advice for a new principal is to “find a strong mentor that you can talk to, and be authentic and real with. Also don't think that you have to know it all. Ask for help don't drown, don't let yourself drown. If you've been treading water even one minute ask for help, because nobody expects you to have this mastered and know what you're doing right now and especially in a pandemic. I also recommend joining your state association; MEMSPA's the one I'm in, MASSP, whatever level you're in but join a state organization, because besides the networking and the connections you make, they also provide legal assistance that you may need and that's just important to protect yourself.  And then I would just say get connected, whether through Facebook or Twitter. There are a lot of really good groups or principal communities that are really supportive. So get support within your district but also stretch beyond there with that social media or a state association.”

https://www.vickiwilson.org/

Wilson, Vicki, Lead with Instructional Rounds: Creating a Culture of Professional Learning, Dave Burgess Consulting, Incorporated, May 21, 2020.

After experiencing incredible challenges during the pandemic, schools are returning to in-person learning. Podcasts for Leaderful Schools hosts, Bob Maxfield and Suzanne Klein, invite their guest Will Richardson, co-founder of the Big Questions Institute, to reflect on the pivotal question of what’s worth teaching and learning, and how to promote learning so we can live up to the promise of American public education.

“It really is about not going back to school, but going back to creating environments where learning happens really deeply.” Will Richardson pointed out “the distinctions between learning loss and schooling loss; let’s get back to learning versus let’s get back to school; and not just going back and doing things a bit better, but doing things different. We’re helping schools, teams and communities build capacity to engage in conversations around different not just better, which is a shift in the way we talk about schools and education traditionally.” 

What is a coherent definition of learning? “The first step is you have to have some coherence as to how you define what learning is, and how it happens, and what the conditions are that are required for that. And the honest truth is that a lot of schools are still incoherent about that.”

“If you don't have a coherent, shared, lived definition of learning, then kids are in ‘incoherence’. They're going from classroom to classroom, having to figure out what every teacher means when they say to learn something. There isn't a coherent narrative or this thread or through line in their experience where everyone is building on the same understanding of how learning happens and what it needs to look like in classrooms.”

What contributes to learning? “We're starting to realize that a lot of what we do in schools really is not supportive of the way humans learn. Putting kids into age-grouped classrooms is not a great condition for learning, nor is limiting them to fifty or sixty, or eighty-minute time sessions, one subject at a time. That's not how we learn in the real world. None of those are conditions for really great learning to happen.”

“The type of learning that we want to see our kids do in classrooms is problem-based, question-based and meaningful. I think a lot more schools are trying to figure out how to create situations where kids can do more agentic learning where they have more agency, more choice, and more real freedom to pursue what they want to learn on their own terms.  Adults in the room fill in and support, question and probe, and do all those things that deepen that experience for them. I think that we're seeing a lot more opportunities for kids to really go in their own direction.”

“What we are seeing now are schools popping up on the edges that are really different and going about things very differently. They’re basically leaving the traditional systems, narratives and practices behind and going grade-less. They're not organizing by age. It really is about deep student-driven, project-based inquiry-based learning, with teachers more as supports. “

“Teachers may be up against a whole bunch of obstacles when it comes to moving into those types of pedagogies and those types of learning environments, because there is no coherent vision for what they want it to look like as a school, as a community. I don't think they've had the conversations.”

What do leadership teams need to do? “One of the most important jobs for leadership teams right now is to figure out a capacity building strategy for the community to understand a different narrative, a different story about the experience of school for their kids.  How are kids going to thrive in the future if they continue to live the current story?"

“Helping to create a different narrative or story is something we have to embed in our practice on a regular basis as school leaders, teachers and people in school.It's things like exhibitions of student work during the year or the community open exhibitions where kids are showing the types of interesting learning that they're doing, and describing it and talking about why it matters to them.”

“There is another layer to this that gets even more complicated, but is equally urgent. It’s not just about our kids in our schools; it’s about the world now. How do we all see ourselves as a part of the much larger kind of living system that is on this planet that is under duress right now?  I know a lot of people have a struggle even having that conversation in the community.” 

Should schools be places for the private or public good? “Schools have to be places now for literally the public community good, where we frame our work in the context that says we are part of a much larger system here. It can't be about ‘me’; it has to be about ‘we’.  It really has to change in terms of what we teach, how we teach it, the experiences we provide for kids, and the conversations we have in an ongoing way with the people in our communities.”

“We are facing a lot of challenges right now in the world. We’re not going to solve them without education. We can mitigate the challenging hardships and really contribute to the solutions if we think about education differently.”

What are two books you recommend to school leaders? “The first one is Who do we choose to be? by Margaret Wheatley, which is the powerful question she asks leaders.  How do we lead in our communities at a time of very, very deep difficulty, being good human beings and interacting with one another with a spirit of joy and hope but understanding that the larger problems may be unsolvable?”

“The second book is Education in a Time Between Worlds by Zachary Stein. His thesis is that we are in a ‘world system transition’. For education this brings up an almost unimaginable design challenge in terms of how we create an education for humanity at a moment of huge, huge shift.”

“Meg's book is about how we take this particular moment and make the best of it.  Zak's book is how we take this particular moment and aspire to something that really is different, and then begin to think about pathways to getting there.”

What is the design challenge for schools?   “We're helping schools move away from strategic planning to strategic design instead. How do we create the skills, literacy and disposition of designers, when we have conversations around schools, our practice and our environment?”

“So, if we're in this ‘world system transition’ and if we have this design challenge, then can we transport ourselves into the future to look into schools and see what are the things that are happening there that are good or bad, but then actually create artifacts and bring them back into the present?”

“As powerful as a story and narrative is when it comes to thinking differently or changing the script, even more powerful is actually holding an artifact in your hand and thinking about it. How do we get there, if it's something that we want to have happen? How is our work in the present getting us toward this kind of aspirational future?”

Final thoughts:

“I think that leaders have to engage in radical truth telling right now.  I think that we have to just be deeply honest about what's working and what’s not working in schools, in the context of how we understand learning and human beings, and acknowledge those things.”

“It requires a truthful assessment about the state of schools today, as well as thinking about potential opportunities for students and teachers and learners in communities in a world where we continue to see an explosion of ways that we can connect, create and access teachers and information in interesting and fascinating ways.”

“Engage students, teachers, parents, community members in these ongoing conversations.  Bring people together in groups and ask questions like: what is learning, what success means right now for this community. Be transparent about those conversations, and really try to use them as ways of building capacity in their communities.”

References:   https://bigquestions.institute/bqi-new-homepage/

Stein, Zachary, Education in a  Time Between Worlds Essays on the Future of  Schools, Technology and Society,  San Francisco, California, Bright Alliance, March 1, 2019.

Wheatley, Margaret, Who Do We Choose to Be? Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity, Oakland, California, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, June 9, 2017.

Podcast for Leaderful Schools, previous episode with Will Richardson, October, 2021

https://podcast-for-leaderful-schools.simplecast.com/episodes/epic-design-challenge-for-schools

Dr. Gerald Hill engages in a rich conversation with Bob Maxfield and Suzanne Klein, reflecting on his district leadership experiences, guiding principles and vision for re-imagining teaching and learning. Drawing upon a wealth of experience as an educational leader and insight as a forward thinker, Dr. Hill shares his perspective and advice for current district leaders offering eight essential guideposts:

1.School Finance

“Try to be as transparent as possible, so everybody knows what we have, where it is and how we utilize the resources that we have. One of the things I’m most proud of is that we have corrected the district’s financial situation going from less than a 1% fund balance when I started, to about a 19% fund balance this year…It is so critical to have the finances right, because the resources enable us to set goals and priorities.” 

2. School Board Relations 

“Superintendents need to have a really good working relationship with their boards of education and that's a lot easier said than done. As superintendent, share your vision with your board and bring them along, developing a set of operating principles. Have the board make the same commitment to work toward the goals. If board members change, you have a new dynamic; but  that communication is a constant.” 

3. Staff Relations

“If I am leaving any kind of  legacy here, it's that everybody has a seat at the table. All voices are heard and all opinions and perspectives are respected. The teacher leaders, the principals, the superintendent, the school board; we're in this together…As a team we will make it work or not work.  Once we start splintering then we're already losing; we're losing that edge to be creative and innovative on behalf of the students that we serve.  We can have conversations around the difficult issues but it’s student-centered and student-based.”

4. Organized Abandonment  

“With the pandemic we learned that we don't need some of our traditional practices. This gave us an opportunity for organized abandonment…We need a new playbook. I think if we allow ourselves and our teachers and parents to develop and design environments that are conducive to the best possibilities and choices for students at any age, that we would be surprised with what they came up with.”

5.  Flexible Thinking

“In terms of teaching and learning, no one strategy works best for every student; we need to be flexible in our thinking of how we deliver instruction...We have teachers doing some really creative work and they aren't that inhibited by pre-conceived boundaries. It needs to be the sky's the limit, and we need to create that feeling of safety and security and risk-taking at the central office level, the school board, and superintendent.” 

6. Student Learning Environments

“High schools need to look more like community colleges where students are coming and going, working in large groups, small groups, focused areas, and teachers are there as facilitators and advisors. We need more flexibility in the schedule to get students into the community with internships, and build more community partnerships as ways for young people to experience what's out there.”

“Middle school should be a time of exploration. We're building a new middle school, designed for integrated communities of learning. Students will be working as collaborative teams; grades six, seven and eight together with a cadre of teachers, in more of a STEAM kind of environment school-wide, with different pathways.”

“Our primary schools and our intermediate schools need to be rich in literacy across the board and numeracy. Let’s take advantage of kids discovering their passions with more active learning situations. I would like to see a blurring of the grades.” 

7. Graduate students with the Four C’s

“We developed a portrait of a graduate with the Four C’s. We want students to be: great communicators in writing, speech and through technology; collaborative problem solvers, working in collaborative groups; contributors not only to their classrooms and their schools, but to society and the world; critical and creative thinkers.”

8. Support current and future educators

“Young people coming into education have to have an understanding what their role is; have a firm understanding of what their goals are; have a support group that they can rely on and have discussions with; have some time for personal reflection; and be able to sort through the issues and not overreact, and feel you have the answer to everything…In West Bloomfield we have a richly diverse student body and I love the more recent grants available for growing your own future educators.” 

Final words of advice

“First of all, my advice to a new or newer superintendent (or district leader) would be to seek out somebody that you know and trust as a mentor or executive coach. You need to have a space where you can bounce ideas off somebody, have the conversation not necessarily to come away with the right answer, but to come away with what the options are. As you're getting into the profession, you need to submerge yourself and really learn as fast as you can, but you also need to have balance in your life with time for family and your own personal well-being.”

“Never lose that spirit of curiosity that you see in kindergarten students when they come into school for the first time, and never lose sight of the fact that we are here for them…Education is a privilege to be a part of; it's an honor to be a part of.” 

One of the more important things for democracy is to have an educated society. We have to keep in mind why we're here and what we do is important to not only the learners, but to society as a whole.”

Dr. Bob Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein invite Podcast guests Dr. Cynthia Carver, Associate Professor and Chair of the Teacher Development in Educational Studies Department at Oakland University, in the School of Education and Human Services, and Marcia Hudson, Elementary Field Coordinator, to discuss lessons learned during the pandemic that have informed their teacher preparation program and highlight the prominent features of the newly launched Elementary Teacher Preparation Program.  

Dr. Carver explained “about 85% of students take teacher preparation courses through her department,  which also works closely with the Reading and Language Arts, and the Department of H.D.C.S. (Human Development and Child Studies).”  As a long time teacher educator and scholar of teacher leadership, she is deeply passionate about clinical preparation and partnerships with area schools, which is a key component of the Oakland program. “The university does the work of  preparing new teachers in concert with our partners in our local schools, with the implicit expectation of mentor classroom teachers that they are also field-based teacher educators.”

Marcia Hudson incorporates her experience as a teacher, teacher leader and Literacy Consultant in the Avondale Public School District into her current position, which includes “supporting mentor teachers to fully recognize their leadership role as field based teacher educators and live into that vision. It's really necessary that our students have the opportunity to see the great practices that they're learning about taking place within their mentor teachers’ classrooms.”  

Marcia Hudson recalled the challenges brought about by the pandemic.  “When the pandemic hit, students were in the middle of the semester and suddenly schools closed. Then last fall we had 93 student teachers ready to begin their final internship. When our student teachers were connected with their mentor teachers they developed strong partnerships. Some of our students were taking the lead and helping our mentor teachers navigate new ways of teaching.”

“We didn’t have a vision for fully remote learning. In the past students were being prepared for brick and mortar schools.” Going forward, Dr. Carver described “the intention on the part of university faculty to help prepare students for this new reality of using technology in ways not previously imagined to support student learning and make connections to the community, as well as how to use technology to support our own learning as educators with one another.”

“We learned a lot during the pandemic about the importance of engaging with families who play a vital role in supporting learning. Teaching the whole child is not a new idea though the competencies around S.E.L., social emotional learning, provide new ways for us to think about equitable practices, as well as practices that help kids regulate their emotions and participate in more independent, self-regulated ways in the classroom. Some of the things I mentioned around S.E.L. and family engagement are important curricular pieces that will have a different emphasis going forward.”

“In K-12 education, we are being pushed to reconsider thinking so tightly around the boundaries of the bell schedule, but begin to think more creatively about learning itself, and how learning starts and stops in different ways, on different days around different topics. and the integrated nature of learning that can take place.”

Dr. Carver identified the three  hallmarks of the Oakland program: “practice-based teacher preparation;  a very important strand around equity and justice; and clinical practice and school partnerships. They existed pre- Covid and offer a lens to look at the past and forward to the future.”

“The redesign of the elementary program took four years as a faculty across departments and offices to define the touchstones of our program; what is it that our graduates would need to experience in order to be well prepared to do no harm when they go into the classroom and be well-started novices. “

“Practice-based teacher preparation focuses on putting theories about teaching into action to develop core practices; the term we use now in the state of Michigan. Every teacher, regardless of subject or grade level, will lead large and small groups and lead discussions. Every teacher will need to build respectful relationships with students and their families. Every teacher will need to help students elicit their thinking. We’re informed by our standards, state and national standards of course, but the difference lies in the way we tie it together in the coherence of our programs.” 

“One of the things that makes our program remarkably different from many other programs is the coherence of our programs. We have been very intentional to be collaborative as a faculty. Students are not taking classes that do not connect with one another. The faculty are always in conversation with one another about where their students are and how they are building these concepts and skills and deepening them over time.“

Marcia Hudson added “not only does the faculty continually meet, discuss, and create opportunities for students to make sure there's coherence with everything; they're also working with all of the support staff,  they're speaking with advisors, they're speaking with the support team.  Another thing that's really special about our new program is that we have faculty meetings and work regularly with the mentor teachers who are working with our students, so it's a full circle of support. I'd like to say that it's almost like a personalized kind of program that we offer to students. “

Dr. Carver emphasized that “part of being an Oakland student means that we care about you as a person and that's absolutely true here. We know our students, we’re following our students, and when students need some extra guidance and help, we're here to help them. 

Given the challenges going forward, Dr. Carver indicated “it’s really important that we continue to bring forward  the importance of teaching for diversity, equity, and inclusion; looking at ways in which we ensure that our candidates ‘don't do further harm to children’. That's a phrase we're starting to use a lot with one another and we've used it with students. And what we mean by that is that all children have opportunities to learn; all children are celebrated for their strengths; they have a voice in the classroom; they feel safe in the classroom, and that they are appropriately challenged. Also we are looking at the ways in which we are marginalizing students, because of their color or their gender or their ableness, or any number of other factors, and the heightened attention that we're placing on that and how very important that is. If we want to eliminate achievement gaps, we have to create opportunities to learn for all children.  We  want our teachers to leave our program ready to advocate on behalf of all children and their families and serve all children and their families well. As a faculty we've re-committed ourselves to that important form of teacher leadership.”

Another challenge that Marcia Hudson identified was “ the need to attract the best and brightest to the teaching profession”. As a fifth generation teacher, Marcia Hudson expressed very real concern about the teacher shortage and the negative response going into teaching elicits today.   While there is no silver bullet to address it, Dr. Carver suggested that “part of the solution is going to have to be elevating the status of the profession.  We have to give teachers as professionals that autonomy back;we have to celebrate their expertise; we have to honor and respect that expertise; we have to compensate that expertise. And we have to thank the teachers that we know and work with.” Dr. Carver and the Oakland University Teacher Preparation Program were featured in the Channel 4 WDIV-DET news broadcast TEACHERS IN HIGH DEMAND, 8/30/2021, 6:50 am.

 https://mms.tveyes.com/MediaCenterPlayer.aspx?u=aHR0cDovL21lZGlhY2VudGVyLnR2ZXllcy5jb20vZG93bmxvYWRnYXRld2F5LmFzcHg%2FVXNlcklEPTI3NTY0MSZNRElEPTE1NzMxNDkyJk1EU2VlZD03ODk1JlR5cGU9TWVkaWE%3D

As cheerleaders for the teaching  profession and teacher leadership, Dr. Maxfield and Dr. Klein thanked Dr. Cynthia Carver and Marcia Hudson for sharing their experiences, wisdom and optimism.

To learn more about the Elementary Teacher Preparation Program at Oakland University, School of Education and Human Services:

https://oakland.edu/teach/undergraduate-degree-programs/elementary-education/

Dr.  Carver  and Marcia Hudson have provided their email addresses should you wish to contact them.

Dr. Cynthia Carver, Associate Professor and Chair of the Teacher Development in Educational Studies  Department, carver2@oakland.edu

Marcia Hudson,  Elementary Field Coordinator, mlhudson@oakland.edu

Podcasts for Leaderful Schools, hosted by Dr. Robert Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein, at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, invites noted guests to share their leadership roles as well as the lessons they’ve learned, and engage in deep thinking as they examine the existing challenges and new opportunities facing school leaders in the post pandemic educational reset.

Chris Wigent recently retired as Executive Director of the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators, where he provided leadership and support to almost 600 school superintendents and central office administrators across the state of Michigan.  To illustrate the leadership lessons that guided his career, Chris recalled memorable experiences from his most recent position as well as his prior roles: school administrator, superintendent in a rural Michigan district, Superintendent of an Intermediate School District,  and Superintendent of Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency. Looking back on his career Chris reported he was the youngest assistant principal in the state, the youngest high school principal in the state and at one point was the youngest superintendent in the state, also the least experienced consequently he made some mistakes along the way without that experience.

His first leadership lesson was drawn from an experience early in his administrative career.  As an assistant principal and athletic director, Chris emceed an award banquet focusing on himself a little bit too much. Afterward the superintendent called him in and advised, “You need to remember it’s not about you, it’s about the food.” He learned that whether it was students, or the superintendents, or whomever it might be, it was not about him. Chris lauded the leadership and courage of that superintendent, and attributed that conversation to creating a shift in his thinking and a shift in his career; hence he became a much more effective leader. Chris was adamant that leaders have that responsibility to hold frank discussions with everyone and understand it's not personal, it's professional.  

A second lesson was the importance of active listening, which he deemed an essential skill for those in a leadership position. As Superintendent of Wayne RESA, active listening enabled him to broaden his skills by recognizing the knowledge, ability and diversity of the 34 county superintendents who met for monthly meetings.  It was a focus on them, listening to their needs, and learning from their experiences that enhanced his leadership skills.

Chris concluded that reminding yourself that it’s not about you, actively listening to other people, and forging relationships both individually and collectively with groups, are valuable lessons for effective school leaders.

Emphasizing the importance of cultivating trusting relationships, Chris pointed to having worked with 35 school board members directly as a superintendent.  Building a relationship of mutual respect with each board member was a point of pride. Even with disagreements and debates, the collective focus was on the good of the district and its students. Admittedly it took time and constant communication to build that trust, but once gained individually and then collectively when they got together, it became easier. 

Chris recounted a critical role he played as Superintendent of Wayne RESA, when the state dissolved the Inkster Public School District. He held multiple meetings with the four superintendents representing surrounding districts as well as their Board presidents and School Boards to divide up the district and determine where the students would attend school next. Additionally Chris stood before the Inkster community to deliver the plan and credited building relationships, honesty, and keeping students at the center of the plan, for the community response to his presentation.  He labelled the experience a leadership moment he would never forget.

Chris was adamant about embracing his full retirement. In hindsight, for the majority of his career his 90 hour work weeks were all consuming, negatively impacting his personal relationships therefore as a retiree he planned to focus on his life, his boys, and things he had not done in the last 41 years. He expressed a sense of pride as a former workaholic in establishing these new priorities.

As the conversation progressed, Chris reflected upon leading learning in his organizational roles. His commitment to lead learning for all was evident through a variety of initiatives at RESA, supporting school districts in Wayne County with diverse needs, resources and priorities. Moving from there to MASA, by supporting, assisting, and advising superintendents and school districts, his leadership impacted all the children in the state. 

Chris pronounced the MASA work the most challenging of his career. There were 600 school superintendents; each with a different personality, leadership style, background, and Board of Education. To be an effective leader, Chris had to get to know them individually as well as their situation to ensure that the work done by MASA was relevant, both globally and on an individual level.  In his capacity as Executive Director, immediate accessibility compelled him to provide support to superintendents experiencing a problem, regardless of the time of day. He assumed their problems as his own, checking in with them and seeking solutions whenever possible.

From his current vantage point, Chris indicated that districts have faced global challenges as well as individual challenges and are facing them now. He recommended that superintendents depend on each other, their state association, colleges and universities, for support rather than attempt to handle challenges individually.  Leaders needed to be thinking about change and looking at what is going on not only to education, but also in the business world. As an example, Chris admitted that his thoughts about remote learning were changed with increased staff productivity, forcing him to think outside the box. He asserted that leaders are going to have to think out of the box, way out of the box, as they move forward. 

In projecting ahead to the opportunities and challenges presented with a post pandemic educational reset, Chris emphasized that leaders need to realize that they weren’t trained for this type of situation, and while it was possible to lean on the past, it is imperative to be astute on a regional, statewide and national level to new research on best practices. Additionally, he cautioned leaders to continue demonstrating sensitivity to the diverse needs and positions taken by members within their community.  

With a reset Chris foresees a different set of leaders emerging, who perhaps have challenged the status quo before the current pandemic constraints, and are energized and ready to step up and lead, and be able to try something that perhaps they wanted to try that the establishment just hasn't been set up for. Chris stressed that the characteristics that make a quality leader haven't changed and they won't change. He suggested what you do with that leadership and how you handle that leadership, that's where the shift takes place. He recognized a new level of energy in school leaders. “It’s an exciting time to be a leader and to move forward. We’re 90 mph on the entrance ramp and we've got to be ready to drive the Autobahn.”   

Chris identifies several specific areas of teaching and learning that are post pandemic challenges, requiring shifts in thinking.  First he recommends a shift in thinking about virtual learning.  He sees a role for that, accompanied by best practices for virtual learning and teacher training.  Second, the area of support for mental health for students needs attention. Current ratios of students to counselors and psychologists  are terrible from his viewpoint and without attention to that, we’ll never get to the learning piece. The third shift Chris recommends is a review of student assessment to consider multiple types of assessments and options to ensure that assessment provides quality information about student learning.  

 In a mentoring role, if Chris had the opportunity to engage in conversation with a new or aspiring school leader, he would caution them not to move up too quickly, missing out on critical opportunities to lead change and learn from that experience. He would encourage them to talk extensively about the positives they were experiencing, and perhaps include a challenge they had, to help them work through that. He would remind them about the importance of finding a work life balance. Ultimately the conversation would entail asking a leading question that encouraged deeper self-reflection.

There exists a surprisingly small pool of candidates for superintendent vacancies and self-reflection may also benefit more experienced leaders considering this position. Chris noted there are leaders destined to become superintendents and those for whom a different administrative position was a better match. He advocated an honest conversation regarding that leadership skill set, as well as aspiring superintendent programs providing an opportunity to understand the complexity of the commitment. He indicated it is imperative to deepen the pool with a quantity of qualified candidates to become superintendents.

In closing Chris advised  every school leader to “take a step back and remember it’s not about you, be an active listener, and develop those relationships because the sooner you learn that, the more effective leader you become.”

Dr. Bob Maxfield introduced Dr. Stephanie Dulmage, Director of 21st Century Learning for the Hazel Park School District, as someone who thinks completely and deeply about educational issues and sometimes thinks a bit outside the box.

In terms of her educational background, Stephanie holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with a ZA endorsement from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in Reading from Oakland University. At Oakland she participated in the Galileo Leadership Academy while pursuing her Ed. Specialist degree. Returning to Oakland University, she earned her Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership.

Her professional background includes over 30 years with the West Bloomfield School District. After 26 years as a first grade teacher, she transitioned to a curriculum coordinator role focused primarily on using instructional technology to transform the learning environment. Stephanie supported schools in data analysis and implemented a data warehouse and data assessment systems in the district as a huge piece of her school improvement work.

Stephanie’s role as Director of 21st Century Learning in Hazel Park, similar to her work in West Bloomfield, is to support teachers to utilize and really think through how might we shift and transform learning environments with the effective application and use of technology. However upon arriving in Hazel Park, she needed to pivot and shift as the district launched into a total systemic reconfiguration of every system, process, procedure, and structure.  Collective energy was directed toward how you engage in deep turnaround work around systemic reconfiguration, and what does that take to build collective understanding, to engage in sense making, to really reform and rethink and redefine what the district does. 

Now she continues work on the systemic reconfiguration, moving forward the systems work that was started, and leveraging that forward movement to continue to deepen the capacity of our building administrators and our teachers.Her role also includes some oversight of early childhood and elementary education (K-5) in terms of curriculum and instruction, and occasional work with instructional technology, data and assessment.

When reflecting on her leadership path, Stephanie recalls as classroom teacher she held teacher leadership roles.  From the beginning of her career, she launched into saying yes to that one committee, or yes to that one decision that she could help make or impact.  She had the opportunity to lead as an instructional leader in the classroom, and to impact systems at the building and district level.

Looking back at opportunities and challenges she met during her professional career, from the big lessons that she’d learned Stephanie advises, "know who you are and know what you stand for personally and professionally."

Stephanie notes Leading with Emotional Courage by Peter Bregman is an influential book for her.  The book offers guidance on how to have hard conversations, create accountability, inspire action on your most important work and identify the big arrows that are crucial to decision making. Stephanie explains putting the word emotional and courage in the same phrase seems counter intuitive. If we are attending to and cognizant of others' emotions, as well as our own emotions and how we go throughout our day, we definitely can have the impact personally, professionally, or organizationally that we would want to have. 

Another of Stephanie’s big lessons is personal empowerment. Over her career and throughout the pandemic she is committed to the philosophy of really living into your days with the knowledge that you have the power to choose your action, your attitude, and your way forward. It reflects her desire to help others around her inspire to move forward as well. 

Stephanie identifies the most important lesson is to always do what’s best. She paraphrases a quote from Mark Twain, it is never wrong to do what’s right.  During difficult conversations and difficult decisions, when you don’t always know what is the right way, you just own that is it never wrong to do what is right and continue to lean on that, otherwise you would lose your way. 

The concept of digital literacy as a human life skill surfaced while researching her doctoral capstone project.  Data literacy as a societal skill extends to how we function, make decisions, and process information. To be an effective functioning member of society and process through the massive amounts of data that we get from various sources, it must be embedded in the very core of what we do, and as the research suggests be part of the educational system.  It is imperative our K-12 students understand the concept of data literacy in a much broader context and become critical thinkers, critical learners and make good informed decisions with intentionality.

Her bucket list for the reset would be to develop interdependency between K-12 education, higher education, and profit, nonprofit businesses and community organizations to process through and reflect on the very hard questions that need answers, and take a stand as a society on what we believe in. If we believe in the importance of building an impactful educational opportunity for all children, then we build an interdependent ecosystem that is going to connect and leverage every resource we have.  What it's going to do is rather than try to find ways for our learners to fit the system, to flip it and have the system be flexible, nimble, and responsive to fit our learners.

Post pandemic, Stephanie hopes we don't push aside the feeling of being uncomfortable with some of the “gaps” right now, or some of the issues that we saw in the system. It would be really easy for us to get back to that status quo place. I hope that we in Hazel Park, as well as other educational organizations, can stay in a place where we don't forget that feeling of being little uncomfortable, knowing that we had some gaps that we need to live into, and really address. Rather than trying to go right back to where we were, we can all collectively come together, say this isn't right, and actually create the space to have those hard conversations.

Another post pandemic hope that Stephanie has given thought to throughout her career is owning decision making about what's best for the learner. Part B is letting the learners have a voice, and part C is actually being willing to respond to what they share with us, rather than putting adults, politics, internal and external stakeholders first. She hopes that we can shift the post pandemic transition to where's the learner, and what do we need to do for that learner, and let's listen to that learner and let's respond.

Stephanie is adamant teachers and teacher leaders need to own their role as an instructional leader in their classroom. Stephanie defines an instructional leader: you are an active learner, you engage deeply in reflection and you not only respond to but ask for feedback.  You're willing to really push toward building those student-led, student focused classrooms where you as a teacher are that instructional leader, but you're also doing that in a way that you're inspiring the greatness in the students that you serve. 

Moreover, Stephanie counsels teacher leaders to own your growth and your professional opportunities. Stephanie attributes multi-talented Shonda Rhimes (Grey’s Anatomy) with promoting the importance of writing your own story and the fact that while you write your own story, you can also rewrite your own story.  It is crucial that teacher leaders understand that you own your learning, you own your professional growth, and you have that opportunity to write your own story, to rewrite your own story and be everything that you can be to inspire the students in your classroom as well as your colleagues.

Stephanie summarizes her advice to leaders: know who you are and what you stand for; be willing to stand up and stand into the things that are important to you and that you know are right; any opportunity you have to have your voice heard, to be a part of the bigger picture of how a school or district is run, leap at it because you never know where that pathway is going to lead. Additionally, it is very important that you understand the big picture and understand how the big picture and all the pieces fit together. Make sure you’re being informed by joining outside organizations at the state and tri-county level. 

Finally, teacher leadership is the way forward and the way that we actually transform education. The way we actually have the impact that we want on students is by passionately, proactively and fiercely working on teacher leadership skills in order to impact the small and the big picture.

Bob Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein invited Jarod McGuffey, who leads the work of Trusted Voices, joined by Trusted Voice Fellows Mary Binge and Laura Haydamacker, to share the history, mission and current activities of Galileo 3.0 Trusted Voices. Trusted Voices is a nonpartisan advocacy group of teacher leaders, supporting superintendents through collaborative advocacy and serving policy makers by offering feedback on how education policy shapes Michigan schools, as well as the teaching profession.

Bob Maxfield introduced the background of the guests. Jarod McGuffey is currently a 21st Century Teacher and Instructional Coach in Fraser Public Schools, and Chairman of the Board of a charter school in the Detroit area. "He worked with the Galileo Consortium for the past four years to lead the development of a network throughout the state of Michigan of teacher leaders, concerned about the future of education.” Mary Binge is an instructional coach at the elementary level, from the Center Line Public School District in Macomb County. Laura Haydamacker is a middle school science and math teacher from Flat Rock Community School District in Wayne County. The third fellow, representing Oakland County is Kyle Geralds, who was unable to join us today. Kyle is a high school social studies teacher in the Farmington Public School District.

Jarod observed that the movement in education has been growing around teacher leadership, especially in recent years. “Teachers should be valued, both as the foremost authorities of instruction and as leaders whose feedback can inform the development of policies that can drive improvements in the education system and student outcomes.”

He credited “Dr. Bob Maxfield, who along with a powerful group of educators launched the Galileo Teacher Leadership Academy, which has empowered close to 1500 teachers. These teachers would graduate from one of the most transformational two year commitments in their career.”

As a graduate of the program, Jarod described the first year, Galileo 1.0, “as guiding teachers through the self -examination of their own practices and helping them become the best version of themselves, whether this is their pedagogical practice or just as an individual. Then Galileo 2.0 equips teachers with the necessary skill set to lead and build capacity at the building and or district level.”

“Dr. Maxfield launched the new initiative to expand that influence of teacher leadership at the state level. Galileo 3.0 is a nonpartisan advocacy group of educators focused on building collaborative partnerships among teachers, administrators, and policymakers, to ensure every Michigan learner receives the highest quality of education. The goal is to simply support our superintendents through collaborative advocacy, and serve policy makers offering feedback on how education shapes Michigan schools, as well as the teaching profession. So the mission for Galileo 3.O is to collaboratively reframe the agenda for public education.”

“The original priorities, which have shifted a little bit, were: teacher retention and recruitment, which still stands to be a very big concern, and the issues we need to continue to address: adequate, equitable school funding; mental health and social emotional learning; teacher evaluations; and the third grade reading law.”

“One way we could be most effective in meeting the needs around these priorities was by simply creating an awareness of the suggestions and findings of the 2018 school finance research collaborative, the SFRC. The School Funding Research Collaborative is a research based successful school model, bipartisan adequacy study that suggested that the cost to educate a general education student is roughly $10,000. Although we are closer to that number than we have been in the last 25 years, we still have further to go, hence the need for Trusted Voices.”

“Recently one webinar we hosted featured former state Rep. Dr. Sheryl Kennedy, who now serves as MDE legislative liaison, and current state Rep. Brad Paquette. Together they helped us walk our teachers and ourselves through looking beyond the pandemic. And that webinar can be found on our website.”    www.trustedvoicesed.com

“Prior to the pandemic, Trusted Voices were holding meetings with dozens of the legislators from both sides of the aisle. We'd partnered with the Education Caucus in Lansing, where 10 educators and 10 legislators met together to build those relationships that are necessary in moving forward. We met with our current and previous state superintendents. We presented to MASA (Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators), regional superintendent meetings, and local ISD superintendent meetings. We wanted our superintendents to be well informed and to vet their Trusted Voices representatives.  We published a few articles, one of which was an op-ed entitled “Trust teachers with reform ideas.”

“In order to really have an impact and a seat at the policy making table, Trusted Voices needs teacher leaders who are conversant in both classroom practice and education policy, to speak the language and understand the invisible playing field. We held some initial training on policy and representing one's district with former state Rep.Christine Greig, accompanied by district HR and public relations personnel. Dr. Kathy Merry from Wayne RESA (Wayne Regional Education Service Agencies) clarified for us the difference between advocating and lobbying, as we need to make sure that we are seen as advocates as opposed to lobbyists. Dr. David Arsen, MSU professor of Educational Policy, led us in a zoom meeting regarding issues of school funding and finance.  Additionally we had mentors like Dr. Randy Liepa, Wayne ISD Superintendent, and our Oakland University Galileo team.“

“Trusted Voices has worked with representatives from both sides of the aisle; former state Rep. Dr. Sheryl Kennedy, a Democrat and former school administrator, who now serves as MDE legislative liaison, and current state Rep. Brad Paquette, a Republican and former public school educator. This whole initiative has to be seen as oriented toward education policy, not toward the platform of either the Republican or Democratic Party.”

Moving forward as the new school year begins, Jarod notes that “Zoom is the appropriate choice for communicating with our stakeholders from every level.  Recorded zoom trainings can be re-watched, shared and archived. Zoom has enabled teachers to lead from the classroom without leaving the classroom.” As far as future plans, Jarod emphasized that "the SFRC remains relevant. Although districts have ESSER funds, we still need to address this blueprint and create that awareness.”

Laura Haydamacker reflected that “the pandemic gave us time to evolve, reinvent ourselves and self-examine our goals; how we can influence policy to help teachers in the future and how to highlight what's best for kids through policy. We want to highlight the benefits to students of programs created with ESSR funds. There are programs that are new, innovative and well needed to help learning for all Michigan students and to be more equitable now that funds are there. So we're excited to be able to advocate for these policies to continue.”

 Mary Binge commented on the long standing concerns and inequities which were revealed by the pandemic. In her district which went virtual, “not all children had devices and the district rallied and got devices to everyone.” Sharing the concern for internet access, she seconded the importance of equity and access for all students in Michigan. “In the metro area, we know that a lot of the schools have different needs but I mean Michigan. There's a lot of rural parts of Michigan that children don't have access to the Internet.”

Jarod explained, “Equity we define as the responsibility of public schools to ensure all children receive an opportunity for success, and when you have this reality of resource scarcity and that's simply with public schools that the need for our students will always be greater than the available funds.”  He alluded to the current environment, “which exposed inequity with some districts lacking some critical resources and the need to shift thinking about school funding. While acknowledging the need to address funding, the current mission of recipients of ESSR funds is deciding what to do with the money."

Mary Binge previewed the agenda for the upcoming months. Along with this podcast, she listed writing an op-ed and a call to action to our Trusted Voices Fellows.  Writing organized letters to legislators and policy makers was another action on her list. The first letter would be written in September or early fall, introducing Trusted Voices as partners and thanking them for the additional funding. A second letter would be sent in January, providing examples of how this funding has impacted our students. 

Another goal of Trusted Voices is reconnecting with legislators and policy partners such as the Michigan Education Caucus, The Education Trust-Midwest, the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators (MASA) as well as Launch Michigan which has a similar goal of equitable funding for students. Mary shared that she has established Trusted Voices connections with Rep.Lori Stone from her district, and former Center Line Public Schools Superintendent Eve Kaltz.

For more information on Trusted Voices, visit their website   www.trustedvoicesed.com or Trusted Voices (@TrustedVoicesEd) on Twitter

Woven throughout the podcast conversation with Mary Kay Gallagher, Superintendent of Northville Public Schools, is her inherent belief in the tremendous importance of collective work and shared leadership. She was hired in Northville as the Early Childhood Program Coordinator in 1985, and has held various district leadership positions, becoming Superintendent in 2011. 

Her leadership journey 

Mary Kay Gallagher was hired to begin a pilot early childhood program, "adding a full-day childcare program, along with expanding our after school programs, and involved in K-2 curriculum development.” As Moraine Elementary School Principal, she noted it was “a great opportunity to build leadership capacity across our teachers and students and become a National School of Character as a result of shared leadership.” As  Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services, Mary Kay Gallagher “had the opportunity to move our district goals more in the direction of alignment with learning communities and Rick DuFour’s work, which continues to be a foundation.”  She noted as superintendent, “moving the district goal setting processes to focus on learning and growth mindset, in a five-year cycle so that long term continuous goal setting really centered around our vision and purpose” is a point of pride.

A culture of learning, leadership and the focus on learner voice and agency

“I think over the course of time in Northville, the growth in our culture of learning and leadership has been really instrumental, along with that focus on learner voice and agency which research bears out to be critical.  Our vision work in moving to build on a tradition of excellence along with that whole idea of opening a world of possibilities for and with our students is something that I’m really proud of, our work collectively.”

“Northville has had a longstanding commitment to a multi-tiered system of support (M.T.S.S.) providing intervention and support: bringing students together through peer pals, peer links and our unified teams. We've had the great fortune to have a center-based special education program as a part of our Northville community and that's been a strength of ours, in terms of bringing different learners together and building on each other's strengths... We have marginalized students that we need to continue to give thought to and the greater work that we have to do in fostering inclusive school communities."

In 1997, Northville was one of the founding members of the Galileo Teacher Leadership Consortium. “Galileo impacted Northville Schools through its work on leadership and Linda Lambert’s building leadership capacity. One of the big principles was making sure we had our Galileo leaders on our school improvement teams and that whole idea of building shared vision.  Utilizing a D.C.I. Chart (Decision Maker, Consulted, and Informed), we surveyed our staff on their preferred participation in decision making.  Those pieces really became part of our school community, our work on intrinsic motivation, student voice, and how you engage teachers in supporting our kids in their learning. The work with Stephen Covey continues to be a driving force.” This reference is  to Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and maturity continuum from dependence to independence to interdependence.

Leader in Me Lighthouse Schools affirm the role of shared leadership and student voice

“All six of our elementary schools are Leader in Me Lighthouse Schools and have adopted that framework. Why I think that's so powerful is it addresses what our teachers are doing. There's that teacher lighthouse team and teacher feedback, our student leaders, and then that family connection. That framework involves everyone and also connects academic goals to the social-emotional learning goals.”

Leadership at all levels  and voice in the organization

“I think that leadership capacity work rises to the district level because you're really taking a look at how your principals have a voice in what's happening in your district, and then at the building level, teachers are involved in looking at their sphere of influence and taking a look at where they have impact, and that idea of leading from everywhere in your organization. It's not about your title; it's about your action.” 

"As I have applied that to the role of the superintendent, it certainly gets more challenging because you have more voices in your ears. You're answering to your community, you're answering to seven individual board members, so there's a lot of variables in the mix. But if you can build systems where that voice is a part of your process, I think that's tremendous.  I also think the more recent work on teachers as facilitators, leaders as facilitators, Carolyn McKanders’ work, has been very impactful in terms of having protocols, norms you set up and processes for bringing divergent voices together and still being able to move the work. 

During the myriad of challenge so the pandemic, "people either felt left out of decision making or felt like their voices weren't heard.  As we come back together I’m trying to figure out those systems that allow you to continue to have the voices and have the right people at the table and make sure you have structures in place for hearing voices. Do that in ways that are effective in terms of moving on decisions a little more quickly...Then set up systems for feedback loops and monitoring and adjusting. 

Collaborating and capitalizing on collective expertise

“We, as a profession, need to continue to move forward on how we collaborate and work together, and how we share that work with our students because we can't be reinventing the wheel in every classroom… We've made some tremendous growth with technology expanding access to content area experts,  connecting with kids across the world, and  finding new ways to gather and support one another... our kids have the opportunity of all these global connections, but they also have the impact of the weight of worry and concern for an entire globe on their shoulders too. “

“We have to capitalize on the collective expertise because we have seen firsthand and more extensively the impact of trauma on learning. We need knowledgeable folks; we need to work together. We definitely have to make sure our teachers, our professionals, our counselors, social workers, mental health providers, all have the tool sets and the materials and equipment and opportunities to impact our kids. We really need as a society to make that investment in the future of our world.”

Advice for aspiring leaders: Create a shared vision and coherence by listening. 

If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. - African Proverb

“Leading a school district isn't about your personal vision, it is about shared vision and coherence and you only get there by listening.  When you are listening and having conversation, you have to be very thoughtful about facilitation and be mindful of what you say and what you do…The greatest thing that you do as leaders in the thoughtful work is gather folks together. I have had the great fortune to connect with other superintendents.  We've move away from the idea of mentorship just across our team, so I think you need to have those thought partners.”

I think the thing about leadership is we all have egos and you can't do this work without having some strength and fortitude and commitment to your values. You do have to check your ego at the door because this is about the work, it's about the kids. It's about our collective work. It's not about you or getting that title of superintendent, it's about our collective work."

Covey, Stephen R., The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Simon & Schuster, 30th Anniversary Edition, May 19, 2020.

DuFour, Richard, DuFour, Rebecca, & Eaker, Robert, Revisiting Professional Leading Communities at Work, Solution Tree, Tenth Anniversary Edition, January, 2008.

Lambert, Linda, Leadership Capacity for Lasting School Improvement, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development; 59843 Edition, Alexandria, Virginia, July 1, 2003.

Bob Maxfield and Suzanne Klein continue the series of conversations with educational leaders about the issues facing public schools, emerging from the pandemic. Their guest, Dr. Chris Delgado, reflects on his experience completing his first year as Superintendent of Farmington Public Schools, having spent more than a decade as Deputy Superintendent in the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools.

The Fit

“Farmington has always had a very special place in my heart.  I've  looked  at Farmington as very reminiscent of my wonderfully diverse childhood growing up in the city of Southfield. I’ve always kept my eye on Farmington and when the opportunity arose, I threw my hat in the ring and was fortunate enough to be given the position. In my interview, I  articulated my desire to finish my career in Farmington and commit fully to the community to make a difference in the lives of children in this community, and to support families.” The diversity of the districts in which Dr. Delgado previously held positions enables him to navigate different worlds and to help bring people together, was another facet that made him an attractive candidate for this superintendency.

Building Relationships

Dr. Delgado noted with pride being able to live into “the vision of the superintendent that I wanted to be and envisioned being. It's very rewarding to get to know so many people personally, not only in schools but in the community. I've been able to be in schools, in every classroom and supporting children and supporting families, and really showing my commitment to everyone in the organization. In my first state of the city speech with over a hundred community members in attendance, I knew almost every individual and organization. In a very short time, we've really been able to establish some pretty solid relationships, both in the community, in the schools, and in the community at broad and so that's very satisfying for me."

Reflections on his first year

"I actually haven't been surprised by anything procedurally or managerially, and I attribute that to my time as a deputy superintendent, where essentially I ran the day-to-day operations of the entire district. Because I had so much experience as a deputy superintendent, leading others, implementing systems, collaborating with a board, with the community, that aspect of the job has made for a very smooth transition.”

“I am surprised at how difficult it's been for me to find a balance in how to contribute when people are asking for my ideas and help, and needing them to develop as well in the same way that I was given the opportunity to develop as a deputy. I have a lot of knowledge and expertise that I want to offer to people but the art of leadership is very tricky in trying to listen more and be silent, and not introduce my ideas and allow people to develop their own ideas.”  

“One of the challenges and the things that keep me up at night is the whole dynamic of social media in our lives and the amount of falsehoods and vitriol that can happen very quickly on social media, the judgment out in the community over a school issue without the context. Things are taken out of context and it starts to gain some traction on social media. The damage control is something that you really have to work hard to get out ahead of so that's a unique challenge for modern administrators in general, but certainly a first superintendent.”

Distributing Leadership

“In my first leadership team meeting, I talked about the theoretical framework behind distributed leadership and shared a clip from Dr. Alma Harris, talking about the difference between delegation and distributed leadership. Distributed leadership starts with the belief in other people and a belief that other people have something to contribute. Your status, whether you're a teacher, paraprofessional, secretary, or assistant principal, is irrelevant to leaderful schools. You can distribute leadership by tapping into the expertise and the interest of people and then supporting them.”

“Distributed leadership is modeled in strategic planning work or other committee work. When you as a parent or a teacher or a secretary can contribute in a meaningful way, where your ideas are valued and they turn into action steps or action plans, then you're more committed organizationally. We have five overarching goals, eight subcommittees, and over a hundred community members including teachers, parents, paras, custodians, and secretaries, on these committees working towards our vision and our profile of a learner in Farmington Public Schools.”

Re-imagining Education

“We have a board of education goal for innovation in education. Our vision for what we call our RVPR (Remote and Virtual Program) includes: flexibility of things like hybrid classes in the future; rethinking how we do high school; FLEX and hybrid schedules. We're maintaining our K-12 virtual program as well as a remote program; one being a live synchronous daily schedule and then asynchronous ‘learn at your own pace’ for those learners in those subjects where they may be able to pursue that on their own. When given the options students may choose to do an asynchronous class for history or an English class, but for some of the hard sciences, like math and science, prefer a synchronous model.”

“There's no reason that we can't rethink education and now that we have the skill set, the ability, the infrastructure with the Chromebooks and the technology, we can really start to re-imagine this. That's exactly what our strategic plan in Farmington is doing, rethinking that. A board of education subcommittee exploring pupil accounting flexibility met with state officials on how we might be able to provide flexibility to get us away from the 1098 hours that we all had to fit the box in. So we're very excited about those possibilities and we're better instructionally I think, having gone through the pandemic. We have a broader and deeper skill set.”

Recruitment and Retainment

“I think that some of the efforts that we've heard from the state as well as on regional level on loan forgiveness could be a huge incentive in young people being able to go into the public professions.

I think we need to do our best to re-change that narrative to promote to young people that it's a wonderful profession, a wonderful career. We should encourage teacher leaders to look at administrative leadership because we need good people in every single position along the chain.”

“If you look at the research on incentives and merit pay, salary alone doesn't validate people; it's recognition, acknowledgment, involvement in their organization, and being able to contribute in a meaningful way. At every school and district building, Dr. Delgado met face-to-face with staff to learn about their experience and asked the question, why would anyone want to work in Farmington Public Schools, and why would you want to stay here? That feedback will be shared with the Assistant Superintendent of Talent Development to talk about recruitment and retainment.”

Advice to aspiring superintendents

 “The first piece of advice I would give them is to experience central office before you jump into a superintendency. It's not that you can't come from a building level leadership and go to a superintendency, but the value you will gain from being in central office from being able to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the board of education, to have kind of a broader 10,000 or 50,000-foot view, to make connections with the community members; you will better understand the position before you assume the position.”

“Second, research the districts that you think match your skill set. How do your skill set and experience align with what you know about the district that you're applying to? Your fit is so very important. Research the philosophy of the district, and the individual perspectives of the board members. Before I applied for Farmington I watched hours of board meetings to understand who the people are, where their hearts were, where their minds were. Pick a district where you think you can make a meaningful contribution. Just don't run quickly to the role.”

Personal testimony to the power of public education

“My wife and I are both first-generation college students. Our parents were wonderful blue-collar workers and didn't have the opportunity to go to college. When we moved into our home we took our dining room and made it into the office. Around all four walls, we have hung not only our diplomas but also our children's diplomas. Ever since they were little kids in order to walk to the kitchen they had to come through this office. In as little as one generation we changed the narrative from poverty to opportunity and the perspective about not just university pursuits but post-secondary pursuits. So public education changed our lives and changed the trajectory of our children's lives. That's why I think it's so important for people to go into this field as teachers, as leaders, and as superintendents. I wanted to share that story just to highlight the power in my mind and in my heart of public education.”

Dr. David Dulio, Professor of Political Science at Oakland University and Director of the Center for Civic Engagement, is often asked by local and state media to comment on how to best address contentious issues and work through community concerns.  In this podcast, he provides perspective to the polarized political environment, explains how government representatives at all levels define their roles relative to the salience of the issue to their constituents, and recommends to school leaders the three behaviors that build trust with constituents. He advises increased transparency in process and information when responding to a potentially divisive educational issue.

Dr. Dulio offers insight into the origin of the Center for Civic Engagement.  “I arrived at Oakland University in 2002 from Washington D.C., where I did graduate work at American University and worked on Capitol Hill for about a year as a Congressional Fellow, through a fellowship program with the American Political Science Association. When I was a graduate student I watched my mentor, James Thurber, at American University create the Center for Congressional and Presidential Studies, bringing people together to talk about important issues.  When I got to Oakland University I continued on the trajectory of a normal academic, but always had in the back of my mind that I’d like to start something like that. Fast forward 15 years, the idea of a Center on Civic Engagement fit with the University’s strategic goal and mission. What really drove the creation of the Center which launched in 2018 was recognizing that people don't know much about how their government system works in the United States, and more importantly, the clear indication and evidence that Americans can't talk to each other anymore. ” 

“Polarization is one of the buzzwords today and the use of it is becoming greater, when in fact divisions in American politics are nothing new. Take the example of presidential job approval and we can see major division in terms of how people view presidents as far back as the 1960's; even John Kennedy saw some great polarization during his presidency. A lot of people think that it's just Trump that created this great divide in how people view the president. Certainly, Trump was polarizing and was someone who saw very divergent views of his job as president. Towards the end of his time in office, only 7% of Democrats had a favorable view of his job approval, whereas about 85% of Republicans did.  And that might seem jarring, however, at the end of Barack Obama's time in office; he was only in the low teens in job approval among Republicans and had over 90% job approval from Democrats. The one time we see some more general agreements about the job the president's doing was Jimmy Carter, who had low approval ratings from everybody. When the president's doing well among one group of partisans, it’s not often that we see him doing well among the other group of partisans.  A more important point is that disagreement, that divergence is long-lasting.”

“Polarization in terms of schools occurs because it's become a salient issue. Some data from Gallup at the end of last year showed nationally only 1% of Americans mentioned education as the most important issue the country was facing. As folks think about masking in schools, vaccine requirements, the school board issues, maybe it bubbles up a little more.  However when that issue becomes very, very salient and when it becomes relevant to their lives in a very pointed way, it becomes a huge issue.  Whether parents should have a say in what children learn in school galvanized and crystallized the issue of education for a lot of Virginians. It changed that gubernatorial race between Terry McAuliffe (D) and Glenn Youngkin (R), and it changed policymaking in Virginia in a lot of ways.”

How does this apply to local schools and school boards? Dr. Dulio explained, “Every school district is an elected government and school boards are the governmental entity representing the people.  There are two dominant models for how people perceive their job as representatives. One is the delegate model of representation, where somebody who is a representative acts as if his or her constituents are present. The constituents are simply delegating the authority to cast a vote or make a decision, rather than empowering the representative to do something other than what the constituents want.  The second model is the trustee model, where the representative may listen to constituents’ views, but they will use their own talents, opinions, competencies, beliefs, to decide what to do and how to vote.  Whether we have a delegate or representative model depends upon the individual representative and how they see their job; the issue; and here is where we get back to the issue of education, the context surrounding the issue; and how important it is to the constituents.  How important or how relevant it is at the time will depend or will dictate in some cases how a representative will look at that issue.”

How does a person who is in a school classroom, a principal's office, or central office, respond to these different models when you think about engaging a community with diverse interests and opinions? Dr. Dulio expounded on the point about saliency. “If things are going well or if times are good, a school board member or somebody who works for the district, may approach things as a trustee because they see no reason to do otherwise, and importantly the public might also see it that way, and they're okay with that. If things start to become more salient where more members of the public are thinking about it, they may change their expectation for that representative, whether it's an elected school board member or for a superintendent or a principal where they are now demanding, ‘You work for me. You better listen to what we think. You better listen to our input’.  If somebody has been approaching their role as a trustee the shift in that expectation can be jarring, taking them off guard. It might cause some of the biggest problems, where they’re now forced to think about their job very, very differently and even some of the decisions they make.”

For superintendents and school leaders, Dr. Dulio presented strategies for building trust, referencing Dr. Richard Fenno’s seminal study and subsequent book, Home Style: House Members in Their Districts. “Dr. Fenno convinced a handful of U.S. House Members to let him follow them around, observing their behavior. He called this method of research 'soaking and poking', soaking it all in and poking around. He noticed that the most important aspect of the home style of a Member of Congress was how a Member presents themselves to their constituents. Fenno argued that the most important aspect of the presentation of self is trust. Members have to build trust with his or her constituents and they do that by focusing on three things: qualification, identification, and empathy.   First, do you have the competencies, the skills, the requisite what it takes to do the job?  Second, do you have a connection with the folks?  The connection might be wearing the right T-shirt with the high school mascot on it or having a connection to one of the sports teams or one of the clubs. Third, do you understand the needs of the constituents?”

“Achieving these three things for a superintendent or a school board member will help immunize them against the pressures they’re feeling today.”  Dr. Maxfield pointed out that not every superintendent has the luxury of having built up that history of empathy or history of identification.  What can they do beyond understanding these qualities which are so vital? Dr. Dulio answered, “Beyond that, one key thing for me is being as transparent as you can in two ways: in your processes and in the information that you have. If something is starting to bubble up, share more information because if you don’t, given the Internet and given how good some folks have gotten at F.O.I. requests, someone will find out. If they find it out before you share it, you're on the defensive and you've lost control of the message. While there are some things that shouldn't be made public, folks should show a good faith effort to be open with the public and say, here’s what we're thinking."

“The vast majority of time folks in a school district are probably going to let the professionals: the superintendents, the principals, do their thing.  But if something that's really important bubbles up and gets on the public's radar, that's going to change. They're not going to be able to operate as they would in normal times because they are going to have people asking questions, seeking information, looking for answers to questions about what's going on in school, and what are you doing with my kids. If school leaders are just more prepared for that to come, they're in a better position to respond. It can be a sudden change and sort of jerky reactions where they've gone from everyone letting us do our thing, to beating down the door.”

The final advice: “Along with continuing to build trust in the community, it is important to put systems in place with transparency and vehicles for two-way communication as part of the culture of the community and the organization’s relationship to it.  As school leaders, planning during the best of times serves you in the more challenging times”. 

Dr. David Dulio    ddulio@oakland.edu

Center for Civic Engagement    https://oakland.edu/polisci/cce/

Fenno, Richard F., Home Style: House Members in Their Districts, Little & Brown, 1978.

Dr. Maxfield and Dr. Klein congratulated Dr. Dania Bazzi on being named 2022 Michigan Superintendent of the Year, by the Michigan Association of Superintendents and Administrators. Mentioned in the nominating materials was the fact that her district earned the Equity Innovator Award for 2019.  Dr. Bazzi discussed the district’s commitment to equitable learning opportunities for all students, the current initiatives, the importance of teacher leadership, teacher recruitment and retention, equitable school funding, and concluded the conversation with advice for current superintendents and school leaders. 

Her leadership journey included employment at Ford Motor Company as a project manager, followed by a teaching position at John Glenn High School in Westland. She pursued her doctorate and served as a School Improvement Consultant at Jackson County Intermediate School District; Director of Teaching and  Learning at Hamilton Community School;  Superintendent of Galesburg-Augusta Community Schools. Securing the superintendency in Ferndale “was like winning the lottery, having the same goals, values and really dedicated to always doing what's best for students.”

“We’ve been committed to really transformative change within the district, providing an equitable experience for every student within the district. We partnered with Great Lakes Equity, out of Indiana University, as it relates to diversity, equity and inclusion. That partnership has really been so impactful to the Ferndale Public Schools, examining if our policies match our commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, whether it is board policy; student codes of conduct; dress codes. Are these equitable policies that ensure all students have the ability to pursue their life's passion? “

“It catapulted us into creating an equity-based strategic plan.  To achieve the goals of our strategic plan there has to be equity that runs through the veins of each of those pillars of our strategic plan. The partnership with Great Lakes led to policy change; to an equity-based strategic plan; to the creation of our district Diversity Committee and Equity Task Force; and most importantly it led to curricular changes to ensure that our curriculum is aligned and represented by our student body.”

"One metric used to measure the success of the systemic approach to equity is the growth and achievement of our students. Our focus was student participation in A.P. and honors classes. Students who identified as black were not represented in those courses, so we made systemic efforts to ensure that students have the opportunity and the support needed to be successful in those courses. In a matter of a year we increased student participation in A.P. classes by 14%, of which 95% were successful in those A.P. courses. So again, it comes down to access, and removing any barriers that prevent students from taking advantage of the opportunities that we have within our schools.”

“One thing that's unique about Ferndale is our commitment to our social-emotional learning curriculum, recognized at the state and federal level. We prioritized time integrated into our PreK-12 school day to work on the five core competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and reasonable decision making. People may call these 'soft skills'; these life skills are essential. Content skills are important as it relates to being college and career ready, however, to be a student who is ready to make an impact on the world both content and ‘soft skills’ sets are needed.”

When asked what might have been learned over the last 18 months which has challenged schools, teachers, families and students, Dr. Bazzi commented on the digital divide; access to technology and the Internet.  Fortunately the district’s Technology Director applied for and was awarded a grant providing a Chromebook to every student to keep at home. What also came to light was the reliance that some families had on their students to work to help the family make ends meet, thus impacting students’ virtual school attendance. The importance of in-person learning was also highlighted during the pandemic when everyone missed just being together. The pandemic did allow more flexibility with parent meetings, which were typically done in the evening, and now can be done virtually.”

Dr. Bazzi also reflected that during the pandemic “the human connection piece is key and the government and public put so much responsibility on public education.Along with the role of educator, teachers also assumed the roles of nurse, confidante, and social worker in order to support students in all ways, taking on that responsibility with great pride.”

The district has developed a career ladder that recognizes and encourages leadership roles. Dr. Bazzi expressed her support for teacher leadership.  “It is important that teachers take on leadership as experts in the classroom in terms of teaching and learning. We really need instructional leaders leading our buildings. Building management is really important but it’s not focus of what we ask of administrators in today's times. We're asking people to be teacher leaders, to be teaching and learning experts as superintendents, as principals, and various other administrative roles. In my career taking teacher leaders into administrators positions have been my most successful hires. If they're an authentic teacher leader, people will follow them because they have trust and belief in that person, they know who they are, and they know that they have the expertise to lead them.”

In response to how Ferndale will recruit, hire, retain and develop the next generation of leaders, Dr. Bazzi referred to their efforts to grow their own teachers from within their student body. “The district is participating in Wayne State University’s Urban Educator Path. Students can be dual enrolled to take collegiate education courses, held on site at the high school, leading toward a teaching degree at Wayne State. Students graduating from Ferndale can take a teacher education path and then are able to come back.”

“The second piece is that Human Resources revamped the hiring process to clearly articulate the district vision and mission throughout the interview process so candidates understand our commitment to social equity, social justice, and our celebrated pride in our diversity. We want people who are committed to us for the long term, because teacher tenure and administrator tenure have an impact on student achievement. Our HR approach is really to continue to build partnerships that let people know what Ferndale is about and highlighting the great work that we do, and telling our story. If we don't share what we're doing how will anyone know? So I really urge districts to tell your story and celebrate your success to create that school family atmosphere and let people know what you're about.”

Returning to the topic of the high school students who are dual enrolled in college classes for teacher education, Dr. Bazzi advises the students “that as teachers you help students achieve their goals and every year you hear of successes of your former students. As a secondary teacher you are having an impact on 150 kids a day and as an elementary teacher, you are creating really strong bonds with 25 to 30 students in a particular year. Having that impact has intrinsic value that money just can’t buy. And there is a sense of familial community that you just don’t get in the corporate world. I always tell people you do have to be a patient person, an empathetic person, a strong person to be an educator but your impact will go on far longer than you're even here on this earth.”

In closing, Dr. Bazzi pointed out an additional issue that arose from the pandemic, which was the need for school funding to be addressed in Michigan. "I think the funding of schools has come out and people have really put in the time and effort and study to show the why behind this. Equitable school funding has to be addressed, especially with what we have been able to do with our COVID relief funds."

Her final advice was for superintendents and school leaders. “Every decision you make has to be rooted in what's best for kids, not based on outside pressures. Adult problems are adult problems and shouldn't impact kids.Ultimately you have to be able to explain the 'why' of your decision making. I will say that as a superintendent another piece of advice that is important for all of us, have a mentor. I still reach out to colleagues when I have a complex situation. Always seek to understand. Lastly, as a superintendent it's very important that the community knows you and knows you care about their kids, and you are visible at school events.  Seeing students outside of the classroom is vitally important for the superintendent role. My goal is to have as many students know who I am and know that they have access to me for whatever it is that they might need. It’s important to be visible, be honest, and be accessible.”

https://www.ferndaleschools.org/

dania.bazzi@ferndaleschools.org

Robert McCann is the Executive Director of The K-12 Alliance of Michigan, which strives to be the statewide leader in education policy and advocacy to ensure every child in Michigan has equitable access to a quality education and the opportunity to succeed both in and outside of the classroom. Currently the organization represents districts in Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Genesee, and St. Clair Counties, and is continuing conversation with other areas for potential partnerships and further expansion.

Responding to the challenges of the current school year Mr. McCann urged the school community as a whole, to focus solely on the best way to provide students a ‘normal’ school experience, laying aside the politics surrounding those discussions. From his viewpoint, “utilizing the guidance and directives of public health experts is essential for schools to offer in-person learning, keeping students in school where they learn best. Additionally if there is an outbreak, schools need the flexibility to shut school down for a period and continue offering learning remotely and third, schools need to have long term policies in place to support student recovery.”

Mr. McCann reflected on the impact of the uneven experiences students have had due to the pandemic, and how schools can best move forward.  “As we bring them back to classrooms this fall we know it's not just about focusing on where they are academically, but where they are socially and emotionally in their own recovery process that's ultimately going to dictate how we can best help them get back on paths towards academic success. Schools play a unique role not just in academics, but in these students' lives and in their ability to overcome whatever obstacles they're facing at home, whatever obstacles they're facing in their social circles. That schools give them that support that they need to succeed overall in their growth is so critical to getting them back on that path to success going forward.”

Mr. McCann lauded the increased “funding from the federal stimulus packages, enabling districts to provide students a number of opportunities which they wouldn’t otherwise have, for the next two or three years. With the stimulus funding for programs we are looking at what wraparound services schools  provide to address those unique needs of any individual student, as a model to demonstrate what normal could look like if we were funding schools properly in the first place.”

“It's about taking those services: getting reading coaches into younger kids' classrooms; getting tutors into school buildings; getting social workers into school buildings to help with those needs; and providing all of those wraparound services as the best chance we have to not only help these students that have been struggling over the last year and a half, but meet those unique needs of every student instead of just saying all students are the same and here's a funding plan that fits that.”

Mr. McCann noted, “if we can redefine what normal is over the next couple of years and then advocate for the funding to meet that normal, then I think we'll have done the best job we can to give these students the best opportunities possible going forward. The Alliance wants to show that if the state of Michigan were to make the type of investment that those federal stimulus dollars are making on an ongoing basis, the good we could be doing for students for generations to come. We are going to show what some of these programs look like over the next few years that could be invested in perpetually by the state. We're going to say this is exactly what we could be doing if the state adopted an SFRC (School Finance Research Collaborative) based formula.”

In terms of funding for programs, Mr. McCann is a strong proponent of the School Finance Research Collaborative recommendations. He pointed out the disparity between the current state funding formula, with its one size fits all, and the SFRC recommendation that provides funds based on the unique needs of the students in schools and districts, explaining that “it's treating every student as the same when we know that's not the case. What that means is that we are under-funding every student and not doing even the most minimal effort to meet the unique needs that many students have; these are special education students, English language learners, people that need extra reading help. We're not funding those programs correctly, so when schools implement those programs because they're necessary, that means we're ultimately pulling funding from every student, which under serves the entire student population of Michigan.”

Mr. McCann also commented on the state of the teaching profession in Michigan, which has been “impacted by chronic under funding of schools, a lag in pay, to not enough teachers being in classrooms, overcrowded classrooms, to not funding classrooms properly, as well as increasing the responsibilities of educators, as evidenced by decisions made by school officials who aren’t public health experts, about the conditions for students to return to school.” In response to the low number of students enrolled in schools of education across the state, and the rate of retirements accelerated by the pandemic, Mr. McCann asserted the need to look holistically as a state to address the status of the teaching profession. “The more we can be doing to say that Michigan is a state that is willing to invest in public education, that is willing to invest in the profession of educating students again, that's what's ultimately going to start this process of encouraging young students in high school and going into college to say that's the profession I want to get into again.”

Looking ahead, Mr. McCann advised, “the best thing we can be doing as a school community right now is highlight the good work that we're doing as students benefit from the new supports that are available: instituting new reading programs, tutoring programs, social programs to help students' emotional recovery. Let's highlight the success that some of these students are going to be having this year: recovering from the pandemic, getting caught back up to grade level, getting reintegrated in with social programs and having school dances again and just even some of those most basic of things, to remind people the integral role that schools ultimately play within their communities, because we need to be doing that, right now.”

In the short term, Mr. McCann insisted “the state and local health departments need to be stepping up and making and giving very clear direction to schools of what they need to be doing inside the classrooms, inside the school buildings to keep kids safe.”

In the longer term, Mr. McCann is adamant about showcasing the benefits to students of programs derived from the stimulus funding or risk losing the gains that will be made over the next two years with those additional resources, by returning to an old funding formula. “We need to have lawmakers start looking at how we can start fixing the funding formula again. Next year in the budget process, we are going to be pushing to make some of those significant changes away from the one size fits all formula, to meeting that SFRC based formula. That is going to be critical moving forward, or we’re missing this opportunity that we have in front of us.”

Website    https://www.k12michigan.org

Bob Maxfield and Suzanne Klein spoke with Larry Thomas, facilitator of the Galileo Institute’s professional learning series on Re-imagining Teaching and Learning, to reflect on the workshops as well as hear his perspective on the challenges facing educators moving forward.  Fourteen school district teams of teachers and administrators attended the six-session series, with Oakland University School of Education and Human Services faculty and Intermediate School District leadership staff serving as thought partners. Utilizing the topics of rebuilding trusting relationships, quality instruction, equity, technology, and systems thinking, teams assessed what would be helpful to their educational systems, their schools, their classrooms and most importantly, for their students and their families during the workshops and in the follow up conversations back in the districts.

Rebuilding Relationships and Trust - Relationship building was an underlying theme in the design of the series.  Trust is at the center of quality relationships; consequently, relationships among teachers, students, parents, administration and community were focal points of the discussions resulting in the collaborative development of strategies to address and strengthen these relationships. Participants worked to develop a sense of community and supportive networks beyond their current district or county.  Series facilitator Larry Thomas, introduced the use of noteworthy cards to promote acknowledgement and affirmation among participants for contributions that sparked new thinking or further reflection. 

Learning v. Schooling - Session two challenged teams to examine current pedagogy, offering the opportunity to make some changes to the system to increase student motivation and ownership of their learning. The guest facilitator, teacher Grayson McKinney, brought a broad spectrum of instructional practices which underscored the importance of deep learning, relevancy and application through project based learning to build students’ skill sets for the future.

Attending to Equity for All Students - While working on rebuilding relationships, and improving instruction, “our theory of action was to ensure that all students, families and teachers were getting what they needed in order to provide the best education for all of our kids.”  Guest facilitator Dr. Robyne Thompson‘s extensive knowledge in the area of equity grounded her presentation which shared videos, personal perspective, and informational resources. 

Technology to Support and Extend Learning - The digital divide and the challenges of remote learning quickly became evident during the pandemic.  Teacher Jen McCollum, as guest facilitator, honed in on the evolving use of digital platforms and the role of districts in supporting students, teachers and parents by assessing and then building the skills necessary to support and extend teaching and learning. Her three-tiered approach to harnessing technology for digital communication and learning validated the importance of technology not as a driver, but as a support to learning for students and adults.

Structures, Systems and Leading from the Middle - Co-guest facilitators, Michelle Black and Principal Catherine Russel, introduced leading from the middle as a high leverage strategy to drive systems change.   In leading from middle, teacher leaders help support other classroom teachers, bringing feedback information back to the central office, while superintendents work at the regional and state levels to affect policies to support education.  Districts on the Move:  Leading a Coherent System of Continuous Improvement by Jay Westover was a resource utilized in this workshop.

Systems Thinking – The final session facilitated by Mr. Thomas focused on systems thinking using tools and protocols that participants could employ when working with others. District teams had been given time to organize their thinking and to develop comprehensive strategic action plans. Each district team was then matched with another team to present an overview of their plan and receive feedback using specific protocols to question and clarify components of the plans as well as encourage and lift up important ideas.

Survey feedback from participants about the workshop series was extremely positive:   participants wanted additional time to collaborate across the three counties and with their district teams to create systems and protocols to drive and sustain continuous improvement in their district.

Larry reflected further on the importance of time as districts approach the reset.  “We never have enough time to do the kinds of things to really get at good solid core instruction with kids, that’s meaningful and equitable, that has built rapport for kids; all the pieces that we had as our titles for the sessions. Learning comes best when we have good protocols and systems to have time spent with educators in meaningful ways, and so we tried to practice in this series using a lot of different protocols and then also talking about the value of them, so that people could think about how that would fit in their classrooms first and foremost, in their grade level meetings, in their district meetings and so forth. We were trying to take the time to model and give them resources that would take not just the content of learning but make that time effectively used in order to make the system better than it currently is.”

He passionately challenges educators to be cognizant of all kids’ needs first and foremost, whether you are an individual, a grade level team, a school, a district or across districts. “Finding the vision and finding polite ways to say ‘no’ to things that are not going to have the impact for kids that you want to have or allow you the time and space to get better than you are with your practice is core."  Other thoughts were to attend more to the social emotional learning and trust. "Finally, lead effectively and more from the middle and be strategic with the ways leadership takes place.”

Link to an overview of the workshop series: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/13HSiB7WNwTmmq76dnWuXpX1VIUjIwV0auia7fO4yLyk/edit?usp=sharing

Dr. Bob Maxfield sat down for a conversation with Carolyn McKanders, author of It’s Your Turn: Teachers as Facilitators, who spent  three days facilitating work with the cohort of Galileo Academy teacher leaders and district superintendents. As a former teacher, counselor, social worker, staff development specialist and administrator, her primary focus is supporting the well-being of students, teachers and the community.  She asks the pivotal question, how do you bring your best self to meetings as adults, because the quality of adult talk directly influences student outcomes. As a meeting facilitator, she shared her thoughts on managing polarities or natural tensions that occur in human systems.

Ms. McKanders noticed that “as teachers and kids are returning to in-person learning we're discovering some really significant changes and pressures that are being experienced.” In her current book, It's Your Turn: Teachers as Facilitators, she makes the powerful statement which aligns with the podcast series theme: “Never let a conflict go to waste, it's an opportunity to do things that you never thought you could do before.”

Dr. Maxfield asked her, “What do you see as some of the challenges that have surfaced during the pandemic, some of those truths that were probably there all along but have certainly become more evident, and how do we then not let that conflict and those tensions go to waste?”

Ms. McKanders responded, “Tensions are not always something bad. They  point us in the direction that this part of the system needs attention. These tensions have always been there. The pandemic painted them with a yellow highlighter so that we could no longer ignore  the huge differences in educational opportunities between affluent communities and economically poor communities. That was always there and now we're shining the light of awareness on it. We're rethinking how do we support students where there are such economic challenges, personally in their personal lives, and also in their educational lives. One of my favorite advocates is Jonathan Kozel, Savage Inequities, who has been shining a light on this for decades. I'm really hopeful now with the pandemic and with us rethinking and resetting, that conversations will lead to action.”

“We have to look holistically at a child’s life not separately. and recognize that they have been traumatized, as well as the adults. Next steps are to  look at what we already know about trauma informed teaching and crafting environments of safety, psychological safety, physical safety, cognitive embracement of different ways of learning, and put that into practice. We don't have to go in and create something; we have a lot of good solid principles that we can begin to put in place for students.”

“I think we need to look at the working conditions of teachers and the relatively low compensation for a very difficult job. What is the environment that needs to be crafted for teachers, so that they can craft an environment of support and safety for students? Teachers need more support; they need to be honored and pulled into leadership; they need a safe environment; they need time to collaborate with each other; they need more even more ways to partner with parents because school and home have totally merged this last year. How can we continue to merge school and home in ways that are productive for both teachers and students and parents and community? We need to start talking to let these challenges flip into opportunities. What gets talked about gets attention and it needs to be talked about in a particular way. We as adults need to truly know how to dialogue about social issues with empathy, skill and openness with other adults.” 

Dr. Maxfield concurred that “what needs to be done to better address the emotional well-being of our children, needs to be considered for our teachers as well. The same holds true for our administrators, superintendents and lately school board members.” The conversation turned to the current issue of diversity, "which is a strength that can enhance the self and collective efficacy of the group.” and he asked Carolyn McKanders about examples she has seen where diversity is welcomed, cherished, applauded and integrated into the culture of the building.  

Carolyn McKanders “commended Riley Middle School in Livonia, Michigan, where she noticed that students and staff were “happy”. Students and staff are celebrated for who they are, how they are and everyone has a strength.” She recalled her interaction with three middle school students who welcomed her and introduced themselves, accompanied by a different personal point of pride. “That is the utopia that we want, where diversity is announced and not hidden. Nothing needs to be hidden, and there is space for differences. There's a coalescence of all of those differences into one, and it becomes not who you are but who we are. There's synergy because systems that are the most diverse are the most adaptive. I have to make space for you and you make space for me and we create something beautiful together from these parts.”

When reflecting upon her experience with the Galileo Academy  teacher leaders, Carolyn McKanders was "inspired by their resilience, love of children, and tenacity to support students not only cognitively, but holistically. Coming together as a community with like-minded and like sharp people is important for your own support, and to support students.She expressed how significant and influential they are in saving lives." She hoped the Galileo Academy  teacher leaders “learned the importance of seeking to understand first and second to be understood.  The phrase she teaches around the world, “when in doubt paraphrase your butt off”. When in doubt, seek to understand because understanding brings people together. It sustains connection and is what students need to see modeled from adults right now. To disagree gracefully, seek to understand and never use the word “but” or “however.”  Use the word “and”- and I see it differently, and from a different perspective. She recommends in a conversation with tensions:pause, paraphrase, use the word "and” and then add their ideas, or a different perspective so that collectively we can come up with better solutions for students and for community.”

Referencing society’s current polarity in schools, politics, religion, race relations, Dr. Maxfield called upon Carolyn McKanders’s expertise in polarity management for advice.  She explained “Polarities are two or more ideas and they’re seemingly opposing ideas that need each other in the same space, at the same time for good outcome. Most social issues are complex, multi-answered issues and not problems to be solved. They must be managed with two or more right answers and those are called polarities. The polarity over mask mandates, is really personal autonomy and collective responsibility for community. Both of these need to exist in a society or in a community and we can begin to strategize and dialogue together, recognizing the polarity, to stay in the upside of both, for the good of all is what we are really looking for. People are not quite there, because they don't have the consciousness yet around that it's okay for two seemingly opposing large ideas to live in the same space, at the same time.”

Dr. Maxfield asked, "How to handle pronounced polarization, where it is hard to find common ground?" Carolyn McKanders advised, “What makes people get insane is fear. How can people settle down their fears? It still comes back to understanding. People  get really upset when they don't feel heard, so what we do is we keep pushing against each other and what you resist persists and get stronger.  Mediated proximity is needed because we can't come together by staying apart and yet when we're together, we need some mediation. We need someone to support us in listening, hearing each other and pulling out the larger issues that caused the fear in us and we need the common ground paraphrased because there is a space of oneness where we can meet.Skillful facilitation and mediation can happen, helping people understand there are really only two emotions: fear and love (Elizabeth Kubler-Ross). Coming out of a space of fear will not get me what I want, and coming out of a space of love will get me what I want while also helping someone else get what they need. We need that space of mediated proximity where someone can support the lessening of that aspect of conflict and more of the cognitive, social, spiritual aspects  come to the surface and letting people be heard.”

When asked what she continues to reflect upon Ms. McKanders answered, “I ask myself daily how might I love more fully, because I know love is really going to conquer. What’s my responsibility in healing human suffering? There’s so much human suffering and I don’t turn a blind eye to it. It bothers me and stays with me. And I ask myself, how can we be more like toddlers.I ask myself where does that toddler go, who is full of themselves? Toddlers know that they’re whole. They feel a love for themselves and they see a oneness. When they see their friend, they don't care if their friend is purple, they run towards their friend and they give them a big hug. How can we be more like toddlers?”

Carolyn McKanders’s book, It’s Your Turn: Teachers as Facilitators, published by MiraVia, LLC., 2022.

https://www.miravia.com/products/its-your-turn-teachers-as-facilitators-a-handbook/

To connect with Carolyn McKanders and know more about her work:

teachersasfacilitators@gmail.com

website https://www.thinkingcollaborative.com

Dr. Robert Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein welcome their guest Dr. Mag Gardner, Senior Global Capacity Building Facilitator for New Pedagogies for Deep Learning and the featured speaker at the fall EdCON22, hosted by the Galileo Institute. Her background experience includes: secondary school teacher, principal, superintendent, and work at the Ministry in different settings around Ontario, and a little bit of work in England.  Dr. Gardner noted, “Probably the most profound experience I had was leading deep learning in one of the districts in Ontario.  It was such a magical experience that I've been able to join the global team of New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (N.P.D.L.) and help to generate the enthusiasm and the work around the world.”

Reflecting upon the impact of the pandemic, Dr. Klein referenced one of the N.P.D.L. papers entitled, “Defying Pandemic Gravity”.  Dr. Gardner explained, “The pandemic presented some daunting complexities that are still constraining our schools and the pandemic made it really difficult to build capacity and advance learning for both kids and for staff…we asked ourselves, how can we support staff, so they can refocus that precious energy on student learning, and what was it that educators needed to jump start deep learning. So, our suggestion was really simple: to focus on the needs of staff, to build learning, capacity and culture in small deliberate moves.”

“The key words in that paper were all verbs like: dignify, gratify, simplify, clarify, amplify, and it just speaks to our own bias at N.P.D.L. (New Pedagogies for Deep Learning) where we have a bias towards action. So, for us, doing nothing was not an option. We advocated for just inching forward and investing in relationships and looking for the good that was all around us, knowing that change happens in those small micro moments. You know those little gestures, the small tweaks, the tiny moves like the moments of courage and love that snowball into life informing significance. And so really, that's what that paper was all about.” 

Dr. Gardner encourages educators "to think six and four, which partners the six global competencies: character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking, with the four elements of learning design: learning partnerships, pedagogical practices, learning environment and leveraging digital. The four elements provide a simple framework, where teachers can return to designing learning that's responsive to the students’ strengths and their needs and their interests, and that stimulates students, minds and their hearts. So when we look at the four elements: learning partnerships, learning environments, leveraging digital, pedagogical practices, we're talking about well-known strategies that engage learners and also stimulate thinking.”

Learning partnerships

“How we create partnerships between and among students, relationships with teachers, with families and with the wider community. There's so much knowledge that a teacher can't be expected to know everything, but should be invited to draw in lots of expertise within the classroom, inviting student voice and their perspective. Students’ rich and robust experiences can contribute to the whole learning opportunity. This is really about relationships, relationships, relationships when we're talking about learning partnerships.”

Learning environments

“We're talking about the third teacher (the physical environment) and creating lots of flexible, inviting, welcoming spaces, but what do we do with the culture, that invisible environment? How does it foster that sense of safety and the sense of belonging? Do students feel as though they are significant, that their presence and their involvement in the class matters? What we're talking about is the learning environment, the physical space; it’s that learning community, that climate and culture that enables students to flourish.” 

Leveraging digital

“How do we leverage digital so it accelerates our knowledge and our understanding? Is there a way of using digital to go beyond those classroom walls and cultivate opportunities for collaboration and for creativity? Digital needs to be an accelerator, generating something new in the classroom; learning that couldn't be created without it.”

Pedagogical practices

“Teachers have well proven pedagogical practices to engage students, to really tap those six global competencies. It's important to acknowledge that there is good work happening everywhere. We're not asking teachers to throw all those good practices away, but rather think about how those other three elements can be incorporated into pedagogical practices to amplify innovation and to bring learning to a whole new level, and think about what's one next thing that they could do to move towards a much more fulfilling deep learning framework."

Dr. Gardner emphasized that “it is critical that teachers really understand who the students in front of them are, not the ones they taught five years ago, but the ones right now. What do they care about? What peaks their curiosity? We're talking taking the first step inviting authentic student voice, and actualizing the belief that students can contribute as change makers. And that's the way to begin to move and shift from a talking culture to a listening and coaching culture, enabling teachers to ‘defront their classroom' giving students navigational control.”

“We’re suggesting that deep learning is as important for the adult as it is for the students. Actually, the adults need to be able to exercise those six global competencies. The adults need to be able to pursue what interests them. They need to be able to exercise their strengths, and they need to be able to come together collaboratively to problem solve.”

When asked how teacher leaders and administrators start this journey, Dr. Gardner advised, “We always say begin with the coalition of the eager. Who are the teachers in your schools, who already are showing passion for this kind of work? They are courageous; they're willing to take a few risks. They want to work with each other. They want to build those connections with a global community. Start with them because they are going to learn so much together, and they will teach the school a lot about what is possible.”

Addressing concerns about low enrollment in teacher preparation programs, Dr. Gardner proposed that “we need to do a much better global marketing job. This is the best profession in the world, and it is a profession that prepares all professions, making an incredible impact on today’s society and also tomorrow’s society. There is no such thing as ‘just a teacher’; you change the world. We need to move to a space where we regenerate a real pride in the profession. We provide opportunities for professional rigor with each other, that important validation of our profession, so that people feel as though they can make a difference, that they can problem solve, that they can be creative, that they can again exert all those six competencies.We have to be optimistic about the future and we have to create conditions where teachers can thrive again. And so that's up to us.”

Dr. Gardner concluded the podcast speaking about two huge challenges: equity and well-being, which are priorities within our schools right now. “We need to create some deliberate opportunities and conditions for not only healing but for flourishing for every student. I would suggest that some initiatives such as school-wide assemblies on anti-racism, while checking a box on a school improvement plan, may not have an impact on all students. A yoga class addressing well-being may not respond to students’ needs, nor equip students with the meta-condition to manage their well-being independently. While they have good intentions, they may inadvertently work against the efforts to improve well-being and equity.”

“We can no longer tinker our way toward transformation. It's up to us as leaderful educators to intentionally create spaces where students can thrive, where equity and well-being are embedded, where equity and well-being are baked into our classroom communities and normalized in our day-to-day practice.  What we're learning in our deep learning work from our knowledge building partnership from around the world is that when classes are engaged in deep learning, it serves all of our kids, and especially those kids who are traditionally under served. It has a way of leveling the playing field and inviting all students to demonstrate their abilities in a range of ways. Students who struggled with well-being issues begin to feel empowered. Students who didn’t have a voice are now feeling as though they can exert themselves within the classroom. We know that deep learning is not only about drawing connections with what we learn, but it's about making connections with whom we learn, and making connections about how we learn, and all these connections open up hope for students. It builds a sense of individual and collective efficacy, and it changes their trajectories. We need to get at equity and well-being and deep learning is a great way to authentically get there.”

Gardner, Mag, et.al. “Defying Pandemic Gravity: How to Jumpstart Deep Learning in your School”, New Pedagogies for Deep Learning, Deep Learning in Action Series, Issue 04, March 2022.   

https://bit.ly/DefGravNP22                          

Also, here is a link to our Deep Learning Lab brochure. I forgot to mention that this is a great way for people to dip their toe into Deep Learning.   

https://deep-learning.global/DLL23/

Dr. Robert Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein welcome podcast guest, Will Richardson, the co-founder of the Big Questions Institute.   Author Homa Tavangar, who has frequently spoken about diversity, equity, justice and global competence  co-created this Institute, which is driven by questions.  Mr. Richardson explained, "We don't believe that there are a lot of answers right now, but we do believe that there are some really important questions that we need to be asking."

According to Will Richardson, "We are in the midst of an epic design challenge right now, to try to figure out what it is that schools need to become. This is not just because of the pandemic, but because of many other things that have happened and come to the surface in the last couple of years. What we have been doing has contributed to this moment in some pretty powerful ways, and the only way we're going to get out of this moment is through education redesigned. We have to be willing to take every part of our system, every piece of our practice and ask: Do we want to continue doing this? What is sacred? What do we want to leave behind in this moment? What do we want to take forward with us?  How does it comport to our understanding of how people and specifically children learn? How is it relevant for the moment that we find ourselves in? Do we want to continue to do it and if not, then what do we replace it with? The problem is that a lot of these practices are very deeply embedded in the narrative of school.” 

Looking at models of redesign, Will Richardson pointed out, "most of the really transformative, progressive changes are in new innovative startup schools that have been built for that purpose.  Kids are doing real work for the world there. They have real agency and input on what the experience of school looks like. They are developing all sorts of skills and literacies and dispositions, more than this emphasis on content knowledge and on recall.  But taking a school or school system that's been around for a long time, and moving it to something like that is excruciatingly difficult for any number of reasons.”

When asked what two or three things he hopes that schools have the courage to begin with, Will Richardson suggested that right now “there's just a ton of capacity building that we need to do in terms of leadership- teachers, parents, community members. That's number one, we have to get a contextual coherence as to what's happening in the world.  Budget our time and money to educate ourselves to a level where we can look at schools through a different lens to make the best decisions we can for kids.”

“The second thing is that we need to get some coherence around or some common language around what learning is.  Learning, success, achievement, all of those things; we need to have some conversations as to how we define those and how maybe our mission becomes different when we use those lenses to look at our work.”

Will Richardson observed  “kids find that they have a lot more agency outside of school to learn, to connect, to create. Most kids say they're doing their most interesting, important work on their own, not in school. Kids have a sense of the changes and challenges we face in the world today. They are aware of the conversations around justice and concerns for the climate, so schools need to be relevant."Student voice and agency is critical. “If we're talking about kids, kids need to be at the table. Kids need to have a voice because they are bringing a perspective and a knowledge base that many adults don't have.  We can't make really good decisions about the future for our children if we're not listening to them. In many ways they know more than we do about what's going on and about how learning is possible in the world today. If we are going to make good decisions, we have to put the collective in front of the individual.  He referred to Otto Scharmer, author of Theory U, (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2018) whose work advances the need to shift from ego systems to ecosystems.”

When asked about how to reverse the declining numbers of education majors, Mr. Richardson proposed “we have to make it more of a learning opportunity for the teachers. Create environments where they are engaged, creating and learning. The way to do that is redesigning the role", so students and teachers can come together in really healthy, joyful ways, to do collaborative, dynamic, important work in the word.  "We need to center wellness in order for kids  to learn and  flourish by cutting back to the things that are most important and that matter most. I think that would be the one message; try as hard as you can to advocate for less right now and more wellness."

https://bigquestions.institute/9-questions/   

will@bigquestions.institute

Dr. Bob Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein welcomed Dr. Carmen Kennedy-Rogers, Senior Program Officer of K-12 Education for the Skillman Foundation.  https://www.skillman.org

Dr. Kennedy-Rogers reflected on her leadership journey, the challenges facing school leaders during the pandemic, and vision for the post-pandemic reset.  Dr. Kennedy-Rogers’ leadership experiences and expertise, her identity as a fierce champion of Detroit children embracing the values of the Skillman Foundation, and her mission to support systems change converge in asking educational leaders, What would it take to transform a school community to a place where wellness and academic achievement are always used in the same sentence? When re-imagining a school system that provides equitable opportunities for all students, what would it take? 

Dr. Carmen Kennedy-Rogers’s expertise reflects a rich and impactful leadership journey: Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction in Avondale Schools, principal at South Lake High School, high school assistant principal and athletic director at Grosse Pointe North High School, physical education teacher and girls’ basketball coach in the Troy School District. She began her career in the Detroit Public Schools at Oakman Elementary utilizing her minor in adaptive physical education.  Dr. Kennedy-Rogers has also served as an adjunct assistant professor at Madonna University and adjunct faculty at Wayne State University. 

Dr. Kennedy-Rogers proudly spoke of the long-standing work of the Skillman Foundation as a Fierce Champion of Detroit Children and saw this role as an opportunity to “assign herself to working for the children and the families and educators in Detroit right now”.  As we look at a "reset", her hope is that educators will “not be content with returning back to normal. Normal was not equitable and excellent; it was just familiar. Let’s strive towards transforming mindsets, instructional practices, leadership practices, expectations and systems,” Taking her inspiration from Amanda Gorman's inaugural poem, The Hills We Climb,  Dr. Rogers-Kennedy urged leaders to recognize this as an opportunity to dismantle the inequities that permeate our educational systems.

Dr. Kennedy-Rogers credited Dr. Andrea Anderson, Director of Evaluation, Learning and Impact, at Skillman with introducing her to the critical question, What would it take? What would it take to return back face-to-face with minimum stress, in optimum collaborative planning, implementation, monitoring and adjusting along the way to be responsive to so many competing demands? What would it take to transform a school community to a place where wellness and academic achievement are always used in the same sentence? What would it take to ensure wellness is at the center of learning, teaching, serving, and leading? 

To keep moving forward, Dr. Kennedy-Rogers encouraged leaders to practice radical self-care and love, curate and cultivate space for wellness for all staff.   Focus on the wellness of self, staff, students and families, recognize the signs of stress and trauma and be willing to press pause.  “Leaders should think about ‘walking with’ in their decision making to explain the rationale, and make your thinking visible to those who you lead and who you have the opportunity to serve.” 

Another powerful point Dr. Kennedy-Rogers spoke to was respecting student voice in terms of how they are experiencing this pandemic as it is important to acknowledge, adjust, change, transform and dismantle it for them. The pandemic has created the opportunity to amplify student voice as well as how they are experiencing their learning and engagement. 

Dr. Kennedy-Rogers discussed The Water of Systems Change model used by Foundation Strategy Group  https://www.fsg.org  as a framework. Using the six conditions: policies, practices, resource flows, relationships and connections, power dynamics, and mental models is “when systemic change can come about.”  She shared a favorite quote from The Water of Systems Change, "Real and equitable progress requires exceptional attention to the detailed and often mundane work of noticing what is invisible to many." 

Dr. Kennedy-Rogers explained Skillman's Opportunity Agenda for the next three years which has four primary cross cutting themes: mitigate learning loss and disconnection due to the impact of Covid on kids and systems; leverage disruption to re-imagine how schools and supports are provided; amplify and strengthen Collective Impact efforts, specifically to build community, student, and parent power to shape systems; and build awareness, connection, advocacy for the Opportunity Agenda.  Dr. Kennedy-Rogers leads the K-12 strategy of mitigating learning loss and accelerating  advocacy efforts and funding centered on literacy loss, specifically third grade reading. 

“We are working with schools across Detroit, not just one particular system, on culturally responsive education. We are using this time, the racial reckoning that is happening, to really think about what is culturally responsive education, what does it look like, and wall-to-wall transformation.” Dr. Kennedy-Rogers announced Skillman is creating and launching a principal wellness professional learning community, working with educational experts and organizations that have expertise in principal leadership, culturally responsive leadership, and wellness. 

In closing, Dr. Kennedy-Rogers summarized the work of the Skillman Foundation: kids first, equity focused, trusted partner, greater than grants, world wise, Detroit smart. “We have granted nearly $670 million and have assets of approximately $500 million, allowing us to serve children, kids first. We remain focused on equity. We learn from so many different places and people across the world, so we can show up big for Detroit, world wise, Detroit smart. As grant makers and change makers we hold an ambition for children that outweighs what our dollars alone can accomplish, so we're greater than grants. We utilize our change making skills. We are change agents, we assign ourselves. We strive to be a trusted partner in service to the children of Detroit. So, we're always looking to be in good company in developing relationships and keeping the interest of Detroit children first.”

Dr. Kevin Corcoran, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Oakland University, provides a personal assessment of the impact of the pandemic on the PK-20 experience. Pivoting to forms of remote teaching and learning has significantly altered the university experience for students, staff and faculty. 

As a trained psychologist, he identifies the effects on students’ social and emotional well being. For some incoming students, who had an abbreviated senior year of high school, the structured schedule and social interaction of a traditional classroom are essential. Lacking private time and space to express emotional needs is also problematic for some students. Some faculty have grappled with recreating the educational experience in a remote setting and sought options to create supportive relationships with their students. 

Dr. Corcoran recalled the recent conversation with school superintendents in which he referenced the research on the importance of human connection as a significant challenge in this pandemic. Analogous to our financial bank account is our emotional bank account, wherein positive experiences create deposits. In their daily work educators may attract a barrage of negativity and be treated less like a human being and more like a “punching bag”, reducing their emotional bank account. Dr. Corcoran commented poignantly on how this loss of human identity resonates with each of us. 

PK-20 leaders face the daunting tasks of navigating the complex issues of racial equity; political polarization around the presidential election; economic fallout from the pandemic; differing opinions within their community favoring in-person or remote learning; and learning loss for students. Dr. Corcoran classifies these independent stressors, multiplicative and inseparable in nature, as a systemically “wicked problem” which becomes worse for those whom the pandemic has exacerbated the social, political, educational and economic challenges.

Faced with the enormity of responding to these stressors, his message to educators emphasizes the importance of self-care and care for those within the organization, making the case for essential restorative activities. While it may appear inherently selfish, Dr. Corcoran reminds leaders that stress, like kryptonite for Superman, can diminish their capacity to contribute to family and community, as well as serve the needs of others. 

The podcast conversation concludes by pondering the aftermath of the pandemic: the extent of the emotional, psychological and psychiatric fallout for students who may have missed a full year of school and socialization; for educators who have tried to juggle all of these things; and for families dealing with the challenges impacting them. With an intentional reset as an option, the curriculum, instruction and assessment could look different, as well as the social and emotional learning and support for students, their families and all who work in the education.  Dr. Corcoran offers some optimistic advice in closing: if we each went into conversations looking for opportunities to be changed, we would be enhanced, our emotional bank account would receive deposits, and a lot more that mattered might get done.

In their podcast conversation, Dr. Bob Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein invite Grayson McKinney to reprise the highlights of his presentation at the “Resetting” Teaching and Learning beyond the pandemic professional development series, sponsored by the Galileo Institute at Oakland University.  Grayson reflects on the current challenges in education and proposes a design for teaching that emphasizes deep learning opportunities and increased student engagement, moving beyond the Information Age to the Imagination Age.

Grayson’s leadership is shaped by his commitment to ongoing professional growth. He received a bachelor’s degree from Western Michigan University, and both his master’s degree in Educational Studies and his Ed. Specialist degree in School Leadership from Oakland University.  His teaching experience includes elementary grades, a multi-age classroom, and Spanish as a second language.  Through meeting prominent global educational leaders at conferences, attending virtual webinars, and connecting with people around the world through social networks, Grayson has expanded his expertise and influence.

He credits two presentations for their positive impact on his instruction practice. Troy School District Superintendent, Dr. Richard Machesky, gave an opening school address in which he encouraged risk taking in educational decision making, and challenged staff to consider what they were able to let go of, in order to make room for something more meaningful and impactful for our students. Second, Ron Ritchhart’s presentation on student learning, thinking routines, and learning through inquiry changed Grayson’s pedagogy. A sustained inquiry project is the vehicle through which student learning becomes most relevant and long lasting. Grayson explains that for students to truly learn through the process of the project, they need the chance to play the role of the professional working on an authentic task, typically taken on by an expert, throughout their unit of study. 

With an educational reset, Grayson encourages teachers “to be on the lookout for deep learning opportunities that have the potential to work for all students, as well as opportunities for students to show what they know in ways other than on a test or quiz. Deep learning experiences are achieved, not through pace and breath and getting through the content, getting through your curriculum but relevance and depth. It's not about learning loss it's about picking up students where they are and then taking them in the direction that they want to go.”

Grayson views the teaching profession as facing not only the challenge of this pandemic but one of preparing  students for an unknown future, one in which we are not even aware of the jobs that may exist by the time they graduate.  Grayson quotes David Warlick, "for the first time in history, we are preparing students for a world we cannot clearly describe." Grayson adds a quote by Seth Godin, "Never again is someone going to pay you to give them answers they can look up online, they will only pay you to solve problems that don't yet have answers." 

Grayson expresses his enthusiasm for this new type of paradigm for education. “We're calling it the Imagination Age. The Information Age is almost over, and we need to be ready for the changes coming our way and the things that will get kids to re-engage with school. It's imagination, entrepreneurship, and creativity that will be the most valuable assets; the things that can't easily be automated and turned over to artificial intelligence." With all of this knowledge available at our fingertips the compelling question is, what will you do with that information?

George Couros inspired Grayson to “reframe everything we were doing in the classroom around the goal of either inventing new solutions to problems that we identified, or innovating and finding a better way to do something in the classroom, or campaigning to raise awareness and use our learning to make the world a better place. David Geurin argues that while we are preparing our students for a world that we cannot clearly define, there are some essential goalposts that we can aim for.  I want to help my students develop those transferable skills that would help them be happy and successful, no matter what their future looks like. Students need to empathize, be engaged citizens, be upstanders not bystanders, and seek justice. We became the “5th-Grade Futurists” and produced our own podcasts.

Grayson summarizes a significant point from his presentation. “There is a difference between schooling and learning. Schooling over the past couple of decades might have been characterized by phrases such as compliance of students, rigid systems and schedules, rote memorization, and narrowly focused topics.  I had the liberty of urging leaders in our region to consider the potential pitfalls of getting back to normal, if this is what normal looks like. We're at the precipice of what could be an educational reset or revolution; that things should not simply get back to normal at our earliest convenience. We're now on the brink of moving beyond these models of society and therefore these models of education too.”  

Grayson makes a case for a greater role for teacher leaders for the educational reset.  "Teachers are experts: they have the schooling, they have the degrees, they have the experience, they have the passion and they have the willingness to share that passion with their students.  They are a wellspring of creativity and problem solving that has not been tapped into as much as it could.” 

“If decisions are being made at the top of the organization, much like a pyramid, you're only tapping into 5% of the knowledge and creativity that it takes to remake the system, but the system is people. So we need to invert that pyramid and tap into that base of teacher knowledge.  We need to be focused on social emotional learning as wraparound services from the schools for families. We need to be sure that Maslow's hierarchy of needs is being met before Bloom's taxonomy of higher order thinking skills. We need to make sure that we're putting the people first and again deciding what can we let go of, not just to let go of it, but in order to focus on these things that we know are more important.”

Grayson reveals that he has written a soon to be published book with his teaching partner Zach Rondot, an Oakland County elementary teacher of the year.  “To give you an idea of what it's about, I'll share the subtitle, The Expert Effect: a three part system to break down the walls of your classroom and connect your students to the world. It's a book for teachers in which we share helpful tips, preferred tools, and anecdotes of how we've been able to transform our curriculum and  empower students to learn from experts outside the classroom, become experts in their own right through project based learning, and in turn teach others as experts, by connecting them with authentic audiences for their learning.”

Couros, G. (2015). The Innovator's Mindset: Empower Learning, Unleash Talent and Lead a Culture of Creativity, Dave Burgess Consulting Inc.

Geurin, D. (2017). Future Driven: Will Your Students Thrive in an Unpredictable World? , David Geurin.

Godin, S. (2012) https://www.slideshare.net/giorgiotedx/unesco-touch-and-mobile-technologies-for-the-classroom-session-1  slide 20 of 66, March 22, 2012

Ritchhart, R. & Church M. (2020). The Power of Making Thinking Visible, Jossey-Bass.

Warlick, D (2007) Classrooms for the Future Presentation, Landmark Project https://handouts.davidwarlick.com

Dr. Bob Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein continue the podcast series with a focus on resetting education featuring guests with unique insights into the issues surrounding public education during the pandemic and what schooling needs to look like afterward. Their guest for this conversation is Lou Glazer, CEO of Michigan Future Inc.  Mr. Glazer holds a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Michigan and was a member of former Michigan Governor Blanchard’s Economic and Community Development Team.  As he created Michigan Future Inc. as a think tank focused on the economic well-being of Michigan households, he understood the state’s economy was fundamentally changing due to globalization and technology, and wanted those in leadership positions to understand what it would take for Michigan to be a high prosperity state. Mr. Glazer suggests that we are still struggling with what good paying work looks like, the skills that people need to get it, and what Michigan has to do to be a high prosperity state. 

When asked what we have learned about effective schools during the pandemic and what advice he had for school leaders moving forward, Mr. Glazer cited two lessons for educational leaders: in-person learning is the way most education should be delivered to all students, and narrow content standards that are measured by standardized tests are a small part, not a main part, of what students need to be successful adults. From his perspective it is imperative to reconsider the role standardized testing plays.  “The unintended consequence of standardized tests is the horrible things it does for both curriculum and pedagogy.  And if, particularly for non-affluent students, everybody wants to double down on so called ‘learning loss’, that would be a horrible lesson to learn from the pandemic.  There's a whole set of skills that are not content specific that really are what matter most for kids” that need to be incorporated into state education policy.  Mr. Glazer clarified that although basic literacy skills do matter, there are other sets of skills that matter at least equally, if not more, noting it is difficult to build literacy skills until you have addressed social emotional learning. 

Michigan Future Inc. has adopted the 6Cs described in the book Becoming Brilliant as the best definition of foundational skills that all students need, irrespective of what they decide to do after high school: collaboration, communication, content, critical thinking, creativity and confidence.  He also noted that the authors of Becoming Brilliant argue that collaboration and communication, in terms of brain development, come before content, so educators cannot skip those steps.

Reference: Golinkoff, R. & Hirsh-Pasek,K. (2016), Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells us about Raising Successful Children, American Psychological Association

Mr. Glazer stated that for Michigan Future Inc., rock climbing has replaced ladder climbing as the metaphor for 40-year career success. For adults to have successful careers, he encourages them to be agile, constant learners. He views a career path as an ad hoc rather than linear experience, unpredictable rather than predictable.  “The 6Cs are the definition of rock climbing skills. They also are not just career success skills; they are life success skills.”  He re-emphasized that a K-16 education is about more than a good paying career as other aspects for a successful adult life are equally as important as earning a living.

Mr. Glazer went on to note that disparities in school design are significant because they build different skill sets in students. “Affluent kids, by and large, are in schools that are designed to build broad liberal arts skills, where the assumption is that a preponderance of all, if not all, kids are going to go to a four-year degree university. Non-affluent kids are fundamentally in schools which are designed around building discipline, standardized test skills, and first job skills”.  He views the fundamental problem with K-12 education in Michigan, the separate and unequal designs in what we want from schools, as a systemic inequity that interferes with efforts to reform education.  He concludes that for most students we have the wrong vision and, until we change that, we will not get the outcomes that we want for all of them.

Turning to systemic change, in Michigan there has been a state-level initiative to revise teacher preparation that will soon be implemented in colleges and universities. Dr. Klein shared that Oakland University has revised its teacher preparation program in response to the challenge of how to best prepare new teachers to effectively meet the needs of all students.  There are also revisions to state standards under development for universities preparing educational leaders at the building and central office level.  Mr. Glazer supports the preparation of teachers and administrators moving in the direction of focusing on a set of broad rigorous skills for all students that are beyond standardized tests with a focus on more project-based pedagogy.  He also recommends that districts embrace a similar vision as they offer professional development for their staff members.

In turning to the economy, Mr. Glazer stated that many people do not have a good understanding of the labor market and what good paying work looks like today and will in the future. “Unfortunately schools are still trying to build skills in kids that fit the 20th century paradigm, rather than the economy of the future. Kids need to know the difference between ‘rock climbing and ladder climbing’ and the skills needed to navigate their future career and life choices.  STEM and the skilled trades are not the only two paths to good paying work.” 

In conclusion, Mr. Glazer encouraged listeners to visit his organization’s website, www.michiganfuture.org.  He also recommended two books, Becoming Brilliant and In Search of Deeper Learning. He noted these authors strongly believe that great schools also offer opportunities in electives and extra-curricular activities to build the skills described in the 6Cs that are critical for student’s current and future success.

Golinkoff, R. & Hirsh-Pasek,K. (2016), Becoming Brilliant: What Science Tells us about Raising Successful Children, American Psychological Association

Mehta, J. & Fine, S. (2019). In Search of Deeper Learning: The Quest to Remake the American High School, Harvard University Press 

Bob Maxfield and Suzanne Klein continue their conversation on the impact of the pandemic, what has happened to schools, and how schools could improve going forward with their guest Lori Higgins, the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. Prior to joining Chalkbeat, she was an education writer for the Detroit Free Press from 2000 to 2018.  She also served as an education writer and the assistant metro editor for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, in Wisconsin.  

What is Chalkbeat?   https://www.chalkbeat.org/

Chalkbeat is a national nonprofit news organization with bureaus in eight cities, including Detroit, committed to covering the efforts to improve schools for all children.  The impact of education on children is evident at the local community level.  According to Lori Higgins, “There is very little reporting about what's happening at the local school level, or the local district level. At Chalkbeat we want to fill in those gaps that exist in news coverage. It is just so important that we show editors and publishers that this is a very important topic. When it's not covered, it's just not good for our communities.”

“We also highlight education reporting all over the state so it gives our readers a chance to see the issues beyond metro Detroit that are pretty common to what they're experiencing, or they may find that there's some unique thing that some district in Grand Rapids or somewhere else in the state is doing. So, there is a link at the bottom of our web page where you can sign up for our newsletter.”  

Chalkbeat’s Mission

“We are very much driven by this idea that every child deserves a quality education.  We are all about our mission, which is to write about the inequities in education… As journalists we’re taught to always be objective but pushing for this is just so vital; pushing forward, not in an advocacy way but in an educational way: highlighting the inequities, highlighting the solutions, highlighting what's being done to address them. When it's in the public eye, there's more of an opportunity or more of a chance that the people in charge: the lawmakers, the policymakers, will listen and do something about it.”

Partnerships

“We do a lot of partnerships with other media, so our story sometimes shows up on other media websites. The Detroit Free Press picks up our writing on a regular basis; Bridge does as well. We actually share a reporter with Bridge Michigan. Right now we're partnering with the Detroit Free Press and Bridge Michigan to cover how districts are spending the COVID relief money. We have a meeting today with our partners just sort of collaborating and thinking about what people want to know about how this money is being spent, and how this money is making a difference for only their own kids but kids in their community because obviously, not everybody has a kid in school, but everybody cares about schools. This is kind of a massive effort on our part, and that collaboration makes for richer reporting, richer stories, stronger stories, and we're not constantly duplicating efforts.”

New York Times Sunday Review co-published an article by three Chalkbeat staff  

Kalyn Belsha, Melanie Asmar, and Lori Higgins wrote the article “As schools try to recover, COVID’s toll lingers: ‘We haven’t seen fine, ever’ ”. When they observed classrooms and talked with teachers, the authors noted, “America's schools remain fragile as teachers catch their breath after the latest wave of Covid cases, many are teetering between cautious optimism and lingering exhaustion.” When asked about this quote Lori Higgins explained, “The past few years have been tough on everyone, particularly teachers. We are coming out of a period where COVID cases are down, and people feel a little more optimistic. There's still this fragility in the education system that we have to address… while COVID may be declining, it's still there and the lasting effects of it are just enormous.  We'll be dealing with the effects academically, emotionally, and socially for years to come, and I don't know that we're ready for that. I don't know that we've talked enough in public about how long it’s really going to take to recover from the pandemic.”

“At Chalkbeat we themed this year ‘the comeback year’… but we questioned if this was really going to be a recovery year because we were still dealing with COVID outbreaks, and then we got hit with staff shortages and schools dealing with the challenge of how do we keep operating in-person, every day when we have this many staff out. ”

https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/3/19/22983067/COVID-schools-toll-remote-teachers-students-absences-learning-loss-graduation-rates                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Addressing the impact of the pandemic                                                                                                                                            

Although she was reluctant to recommend anything, Lori Higgins shared some personal observations. “I think we're starting to see an emphasis on addressing the mental health challenges that have risen up, and let's be honest these issues predated the pandemic.  Schools were dealing with more and more of these issues, and I think the pandemic only exacerbated it. I do think that there's a common, or bipartisan push to address the mental health challenges.”

“I think we're going to see a lot some emphasis on how do we improve online instruction. I think that there are parents who found online learning to be the best way for their kids to learn. Districts will have to figure out how to address the needs of those kids who do want to work; learn online so that they are getting a quality education.”

ESSER Funds and School Finance

“I think that there will be a lot of scrutiny into how districts are spending the COVID relief money and how effective they are at using the money to address the needs of students and staff.  I think there's going to be a side argument here about changing the funding system in Michigan, ensuring that the students who need it the most are getting additional funding. And I think there will be an attempt to look at the money that comes in from COVID and say this is the kind of money that we need; this is where funding should be. But I also think that they're going to have to be accountable; they're going to have to use this money effectively for lawmakers to say schools do need more money.  They're going to want to see some outcomes.”

Teacher Recruitment and Retention

“The governor wants to invest a lot of money recruiting and retaining teachers. She wants to provide bonuses for teachers and other school staff. People will still continue retiring, and we’ll still have a difficult time enticing people to go into teaching. I think we'll see lawmakers and policymakers looking at more or at broader initiatives. We're seeing more districts with Grow Your Own programs. Detroit just started a program last year where they took support staff through a summer program and then they entered the classroom in the fall.”

“It's going to take people at all levels addressing this, but I think the one thing that lawmakers may not necessarily address that maybe should be addressed is the morale issue. There's a reason people are leaving, and there are reasons that people are not going into teaching. When I look at the system, it seems like this is something that has to be addressed in order to really solve this issue. There’s just a huge morale issue.”

Lori Higgins’s personal story  

“I had a grant a couple of years ago to do a big project about career and technical education and it's been stalled because of the pandemic…C.T.E (Career and Technical Education) is such a hands-on type of program and so I'm getting back to that project right now… I'm really excited about how C.T.E. can make a difference for a lot of kids.  I graduated from a vocational high school. It prepared me to be a secretary which I did not want to do, but there are so many advantages to coming out of a program like that, that I just value so much.”

“I started college thinking that I wanted to be an accountant, even though I was really terrible at math. I was fortunate to have a roommate who was a journalism major. Going out with her on an assignment to cover a city council meeting was exciting because I always loved to write…educate the community and to potentially make a difference. I quickly changed my major and have not looked back since. I have been part of education journalism for pretty much my entire career. I was driven in part by growing up in a family full of educators: my mother was a teacher, three of her sisters were teachers, aunts, uncles; so many people in my family were teachers. I just remember sitting around at family gatherings and just listening as they talked about some of the challenges and some of the joys of teaching…So when I got into covering education in Manhattan, Kansas, it just felt natural. I think that education is the best beat at any news organization.”

Dr. Bob Maxfield welcomed Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala, author of The Human Side of Changing Education and Director of the Institute for the Future of Learning, to the Podcast for Leaderful Schools, as part of the series on resetting education after the pandemic. Guests are asked to reflect on what we ought to be doing differently in education as we emerge from the pandemic. Dr. Maxfield’s regular co-host, Dr. Suzanne Klein, was unable to join him for today’s conversation, and in her place Dr. Elaine Middlekauff joined as acting co-host.

Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala grew up in North Ireland and first came to the United States in 1997, for a six month project in San Francisco. After about a decade of working in adult development, leadership and management development, she “recognized a recurring theme that much of what she taught people in those programs, as well as in coaching sessions was essentially to unlearn what they’ve learned through a standardized system of education.” That revelation prompted her to create the Institute for the Future of Learning as a non-profit; with a mission to help transform the one size doesn’t fit all model of education. While studying for her master’s in Education at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, Ms. Wilson Jungalwala recalled the impact of Dr. Eleanor Duckworth’s “Having of Wonderful Ideas” class.  Professor Duckworth studied directly with Piaget, enabling Ms. Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala to experience what inquiry-based learning actually is from a learner’s perspective.

Currently the majority of her work is writing about the topic, coaching leaders, keynote presentations, workshops and conducting research. She credits the research she did for Arthur Levine of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation with the genesis for her book, The Human Side of Changing Education.  “When we're asking schools to change, we're asking people to change. If we're not focusing on the adults we're never going to see the outcomes that we're looking for with the students. When you're asking human beings to change it goes against how we're wired. I think about David Rock’s research on neuroscience and leadership and the acronym SCARF: status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness. All those are thrown up in the air when school or district is going through change.”

“You've got a lot of folks with an amygdala hijack; we lose our rational thinking mind but also too few change initiatives actually tap into what is an unbelievable force for change, which is the fact that I would say 99.9% of the teachers I know enter the profession because of the mission that's in their hearts to deliver.  Rather than engage in what Richard Boyatzis called “negative emotional attractors”, if you were to tap into that mission as part of an overarching change process then you've got some real opportunity for change. The biggest tool is the passion and the mission that's inherent in every single person in your building. Apply Carol Dweck’s growth mindset to adults. I have seen some folks really turn around if you actually start being curious about their experience, what they see as being potential obstacles, how we might come together to mitigate or overcome those obstacles and what is it we're actually moving towards. It's part of a broader adult development behavioral change arc.”

Dr. Maxfield wondered what has gotten in the way of unleashing the passion and mission of teachers. Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala posited it is a “century plus bureaucracy. The goal of any system is status quo. Practically every human being, at least in the western world, has gone through school and has a very distinct set of mental models of what it is, and what it isn't.  The system is resistant to change and the vast majority of people have an idea of what school is therefore, we need to do more of that. Go ahead and change, but don't do anything to jeopardize my child's future. There's so many external forcing function pieces in place to hold this, again not one thing, just a lot of significant forces at play at once.” 

When asked what tools she would encourage people to embrace, Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala replied, “When you start asking people what's right with them as opposed to fixating on what's wrong with them, you're much more likely to enter into a productive conversation. Another great tool or resource is Richard Boyatzis's work. His latest book, Helping People Change, gets into the neuroscience of how coaching with compassion is so much more helpful, and actually produces behavioral change compared to coaching with compliance. In The Human Side of Changing Education, I profiled the work of William and Susan Bridges on managing transitions. I use that framework because they talk about how change is an event and it's external, while transition is internal, it's a process and it's psychological. You need to start with the people, their vision for what's possible, bring people into the co-creation of that change, and then with each other, we get through that change together, and each person's experience is different.” 

The final tool Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala would recommend is Joseph Campbell and his framework, The Hero's Journey. “I see that narrative arc with leaders leading change. Your school will not transform if you're not transforming. As a leader if you can make your learning explicit that gives others permission to do the same. It helps reorient the schools to become 'institutions of learning' as opposed to 'institutions of knowing'. As the teacher, as the superintendent, as the principal, ideally you're modeling what it is to be a lead learner. What excites me about it though is I think there's tremendous opportunity here for leaders to emerge. And that's what brings me back to Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey, on the call to adventure. If we could help each other really listen to the mission that's inside each of us and help us move forward with that, then great change would be possible.”

“There were school districts doing tremendous work before COVID.  A local school district was three-four years into a high-quality interdisciplinary project-based learning curriculum that was superb.  With COVID, they were back to here’s your desk, space, all the pods and the physical set up of the room felt like 10 years in the past. From the book, The Third Teacher, how things are physically set up has a significant impact. I wrote an article on Corwin’s blog describing a school district in Maryland in which each teacher committed to become a master in mind brain education. When district leaders thought about bringing adults and students back to school, they modeled leading with well-being for adults and students alike.” Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala acknowledged that with COVID “the stakes are heightened as the veil is lifted and we can’t ignore it, and sides are more entrenched. There is the potential here for schools to play a very different role and that takes level 5.0 leadership to lead that work. I read an article by Arundhati Roy, the writer and activist, and she gave this clarion call with the heading “Pandemic Is a Portal” and I thought this is where we are.  Humankind is going through a massive transition right now. There's tremendous opportunity here for leaders to emerge. That brings me back to Joseph Campbell's  Hero's Journey, on the call to adventure. If we could help each other really listen to the mission that's inside each of us and help us move forward with that, then great change would be possible.”

When looking ahead to the 2022-2023 school year, Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala advises listen to teachers. “We could really start to bring the teacher voice forward and listen to their experience. We could have more teachers and parents and students in conversation together to talk about their experience. I would like schedules to fundamentally change. Teachers have no time for prep and students have no time for recess. Neuroscience tells us that kids need time for recess. That's when the brain does the majority of its work and secondly, we all know that we need time to prep, to debrief, to be with colleagues.”

A driving question Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala introduced was what we should put under the heading of D.N.R. (Do Not Resuscitate). “What should we not resuscitate from the old model? What's just one of the things we should stop doing? School change is too much like evolution by barnacle, where we just stick one thing on top of the other. We never take a step back and say, okay what's working well. What should we keep? What's not working, what should we stop, and then what should we start doing?”

For future prospective teachers, Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala hopes “principals and superintendents will go out into their communities and find teachers that represent the diversity of the children in the classrooms, and invite a much broader and diverse range of people into the profession and honor the difference that they will bring.  If I'm a child in the classroom and I can see a role model, a teacher who can reflect back my lived experience and the best of it and what's possible, then we have a tremendous opportunity for change right there in the communities. I'd also diversify the age. I know so many people who tell me they failed at retirement, so many folks in education. You can't not do what you're doing, so you find opportunity elsewhere all within the broader learning umbrella. There is massive talent there, so when you think more flexibly about recruitment in general, you can see what might be possible.”

Dr. Maxfield supported increasing flexibility and broadening the options for teachers. “Does getting into teaching require signing a regular contract?  Maybe you teach in a high school three days a week, because you've got a particular passion and we figured out a way to certify you to do that. That could allow that recent retiree to have some free time but still do what he or she likes.” Julie Wilson Jungalwala expanded that idea to include flexibility of role: subject matter experts, pedagogical experts, coaches. With the challenges of recruiting teachers and teacher education students, there are corresponding shortages of school administrators. Dr. Maxfield noted “with forty new or newer superintendents in the Detroit metropolitan area, the candidate pools were smaller. The problem is not getting better and the pandemic has accelerated that as well.”

 In closing, Julie (Wilson) Jungalwala gave some final words of advice to those who want to do things differently and better as we move forward. “I'm prepared to bet that your listeners have a mission; that they have a clear call to adventure; they do have a sense of the work that they would like to do; the change they would like to see in education. Rather than allow the fear, uncertainty and doubt to bubble up, your only job once you hear the call to adventure is to take the next step. Take the tiniest baby step, and if that seems too big, make it smaller. And once you start taking those baby steps, it's like a trail of breadcrumbs, you start to get some traction and then you start to meet people of like-minded mission and connect yourself with those folks. That's your support group, you need them, and they need you. So ground yourself in your call to adventure, your mission, take tiny baby steps with relentless consistency and do not do this work alone, find your peace.”

https://www.the-ifl.org/                Julie M. (Wilson) Jungalwala (@juliemagretta) / Twitter

Jungalwala (Wilson), Julie Margretta, The Human Side of Changing Education: How to Lead Change With Clarity, Conviction and Courage, Corwin, May 24, 2018.

Books and articles referenced in the Podcast

Boyatzis, Richard, Helping People Change: Coaching with Compassion for Lifelong Learning and Growth, Harvard Business Review Press, Illustrated edition, August 20, 2019.

Bridges, William, Ph.D. with Susan Bridges, Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, Da Capo Lifelong Books, January 10, 2017. (25 anniversary edition)

Campbell, Joseph, The Hero’s Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work, New World Library, March 11, 2014.

Duckworth, Eleanor “The Having of Wonderful Ideas” & Other Essays on Teaching and Learning, Teacher’s College Press: 3rd edition, November 24, 2006.

Dweck, Carol S. Ph.D., Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Ballantine Books, December 2007.

Mau, Bruce, A collaborative project, OWP/P Architects +VS Furniture + Bruce Mau Design   O’Donnell Wicklund Pigozzi and Peterson (Author), Bruce Mau (Author), David W. Orr (Foreword), The Third Teacher: 79 Ways You Can Use Design to Transform Teaching & Learning, New York, Abrams Books, March 1, 2010.

Rock, David Dr., Neuroscience research and SCARF, Dr. Rock holds a professional doctorate in the Neuroscience of Leadership from Middlesex University in the UK.  https://www.euroleadership.com         

 1 page summary -Understanding David Rock’s SCARF Model   https://conference.iste.org/uploads/ISTE2016/HANDOUTS/KEY_100525149/understandingtheSCARFmodel.pdf

Roy, Arundhati, “The Pandemic Is a Portal” in Rethinking Schools.org, Volume 34, No. 4 https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/the-pandemic-is-a-portal/  This text is abridged and excerpted from “The Pandemic Is a Portal,” in Azadi: Freedom. Fascism. Fiction., forthcoming from Haymarket Books. Used by permission of Haymarket Books. Copyright © 2020 by Arundhati Roy.       Roy, Arundhati, “The pandemic is a portal”, Original publication in the Financial Times, April 3, 2020. https://www.ft.com/content/10d8f5e8-74eb-11ea-95fe-fcd274e920ca

Stern, Julie and Julie Wilson Jungalwala, “Slow and Steady Summer School Planning”, Blog: Corwin Connect, May 17, 2021. https://corwin-connect.com/2021/05/slow-and-steady-summer-school-planning/

Podcast for Leaderful Schools has had a series of conversations with influential people talking about how schooling has been affected by the pandemic, how we're coping with it, and how we hope to be coming out of it. Today's guest is Dr. William Pearson, Director of the Office of Partnership Districts in the Michigan Department of Education (M.D.E.). The Michigan Department of Education is the state’s administrative office that supervises education across the state.

Dr. Pearson proudly continues a family tradition as educators. To achieve his goal of becoming a superintendent, Dr. Pearson ensured he had both teaching and administrative experience at the elementary and secondary level. His career continued as Assistant Superintendent for Instruction in South Lyon and then superintendent there for 20 years. “I left South Lyon, actually retired but still kept on being a superintendent.  The best move I ever made was to accept a position in Mount Clemens, in Macomb County, for two years where I was able to work with a high poverty district and we made some marked turnaround efforts. I was a superintendent at St. John's for a little bit, and then I worked for Munetrix, which is a data analytics company for a few months.” He had a chance conversation with Sheila Alles, who was Interim State Superintendent at the time, and offered to help out high poverty districts, resulting in his current position as Director of the Office of Partnership Schools for M.D.E. “When I was hired in December of 2018, I was also named the State School Reform Officer. There was only one in the State and the Legislature removed that position, so I remained the Director of Partnership Districts, and we currently are working with 26 districts around the state and 98 schools.”

Dr. Pearson provided historic context for his position. “In 2017-2018 Dr. Whiston, the previous state superintendent, decided that instead of trying to close schools, a new concept called partnership districts would be formed where M.D.E. would work with a district that had schools or a private school with a score in the bottom 5% of schools in Michigan. They began to have index scores from zero to 100 points that you would attain. Schools are identified based on their growth and proficiency rates which are 63% of the index score, with additional percentages added for English learner progress, graduation rate, and school quality and student success. Other categories which add percentages to the score are: K-8 access to media specialists, K-8 access to arts and P.E., the number of advanced classes for students in high school, and the post-secondary enrollment in some type of university or some type of college. All those percentages and numbers are input and the bottom 5% of the schools become C.S.I. (Comprehensive Support and Improvement).  Once labeled C.S.I. you qualify to become a partnership school that includes P.S.A (Private School Academies), or a partnership district (with several C.S.I. schools). With approximately 830 districts in the state of Michigan at the current time, we have 26 districts with a partnership agreement and 98 schools.”

“The agreements are supposed to be three years in length. Within the partnership agreement there are benchmarks to attain in 18 months, which is halfway through the agreement, and there are three year goals to meet. There are goals that are based on proficiency or growth and benchmarks, and there are goals that are based on what percent you want to decrease the number of kids chronically absent for example, or what systems you need to put in place in your districts or what type of school improvement planning needs to be put in place to help a district become better equipped to meet the needs of students and get out of the bottom 5%. With COVID, the U.S. Department of Education gave us two years of accountability waivers which extended the partnership agreements to four or five years, depending upon if they started in 2017 or 2018. This spring everybody believes there won't be any more waivers and the students are going to be assessed in M-STEP and S.A.T., so we will identify new schools this fall for round four.  We'll have new schools and new districts that we will be working with new three-year partnership agreements.”

Dr. Pearson noted, “There will be some schools and districts that will be re-identified and we're putting a new system in place with more intense support. A liaison from our office is assigned to that district to work closely with the district on systems that they need to put in place, interpreting data, changing systems for providing technical assistance.  The state budget has awarded the Office of Partnership Districts $6 million each year that we approve and disseminate to districts, based on their needs and their plans to use the money. In terms of support, there's money involved and we have a liaison that works specifically with them.  There are other offices within the Michigan Department of Education that we can also work with and dovetail into making the partnership district meet its goals at the end of three years.” 

Dr. Klein inquired about additional supports for teachers beyond the partnership work that is currently in place, citing communication from Dr. Michael Rice, State Superintendent, to certain members of the State legislature outlining opportunities to support educators in what in Michigan has become an impactful teacher shortage. Governor Whitmer suggested in her State of the State and budget messages that there be attention paid to that. When you think about the work that the M.D.E. is doing and the recommendations they're making, how is it proposed that the shortage of educators be addressed?

Dr. Pearson expressed his optimism, “I know Dr. Rice work diligently with the governor's office and with legislators trying to put a plan together that would help not only retain teachers, but get high school seniors and college freshman to enter the educational field. The governor’s budget includes retention bonuses for teachers, which I believe go from $2,000 a year for the next two years, $2,300 in 2024, and$4,000 in 2025, to continue to work in their current district. There is a plan to create Michigan Educator Fellowships, enabling student teachers to be paid $15.00 per hour while they student teach. There's money out there to entice high school seniors and college freshmen to go into the educational field. They are going to offer $10,000 to help out future educators that are going to school, if they provide two years of service for each year they would receive the money, to continue to go through the educational programs and come out and become a teacher somewhere in our state. There's a lot of money that is proposed to the legislature to provide dollars for future teachers and to retain staff, so the goal is to produce 10,000 plus more educators each year with this particular recommended budget from the governor. Additionally the governor’s recommendation is a $435 per student increase in state funding, which is a base amount of $9,135 and that is a significant increase. 

Asked how might he respond to the teaching and learning in the classroom that has been disrupted in a variety of ways over the last few years, Dr. Pearson replied, “I would push the acceleration versus the remediation aspect. Work with the kids at the grade level they are, looking at the course content and standards that are in front of them. Teach those standards and accelerate the students as much as possible without really reverting back to a lot of remediation. I think there's some value to maybe having some remote learning for some kids. My personal opinion is students and children need to be in front of the teacher face-to-face, so they can work more closely with the professional and the needs of the individual students can be met wherever they are, whatever place they come from.”

Dr. Maxfield suggested Dr. Pearson once again don the hat of a superintendent and share his advice with new and aspiring superintendents. “I would say always when you're making decisions, what's good for kids, what's good for your district,  not necessarily what's good for specific adults or adults. Always keep the kids in mind when decisions are made, whether you're building principal or whether you're in central office, specifically when you're a superintendent. Never lie to people. You can’t fool people. Don’t give them false hope. You don't give hope when there's an aspect or a topic that there's no hope for.  You don't tell people, yeah well, maybe, when there is no hope that it's going to occur; you tell them straight on. Be visible and keep working and talking with everyone.”

When asked about teacher leaders, Dr. Pearson continued the thread of leadership lessons. “You have to learn how to listen to people. When you listen to people it doesn't mean you're always going to agree, but you have to listen to what people are saying. People have to perceive that you are an open individual who will take what your colleagues are telling you. You have to be well versed in what's out there in terms of research. We do a much better job teaching kids, assessing kids, and figuring out what's good for kids in the classroom. We have a school improvement planning that was never there when I started.  We look at different points of a particular school and classrooms on how can we improve. I think leaders have to continue to meld all that into their daily activities as they work with individuals.”

Dr. Bob Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein welcome Jay Westover, Chief Learning Officer at Innovate Ed and author of Districts on the Move, the subject of a multi-session book study conducted with educational leaders in southeast Michigan, sponsored by the Galileo Institute at Oakland University.   

Jay Westover’s educational background followed a similar pattern to most administrators: classroom teacher, assistant principal, and principal. “I was lucky enough in my first principalship to meet Rick DuFour with whom I became good friends.  My career continued at the district office and then in California, the County Office focusing on leadership development; keeping that idea of how we improve schools from Rick's DuFour’s vantage point. In about 2000, I noticed that most of the school improvement work wasn't sustainable, so I left my job and started InnovateEd, and was lucky enough to find another mentor, Michael Fullan, about 2013. The book, Districts on the Move, was something that emanated from working in partnership with Michael, and what we found was how to make coherence happen in action.” 

“The idea of coherence or systems thinking is really using collaborative inquiry, which is how you seek out solutions in a way in which you really don't know an answer, to shape that coherent path of improvement. The key has to be district leaders with principals and teachers working together to find solutions, not only for their schools but for their district.”

“We found there are four key drivers that connect Fullan's work on coherence. The first key driver is clarity of focus. Using the analogy of a pendulum scale to determine the weight of a rock using pebbles, you need to work together to calculate it, work together to figure out how to move it, and keep working at it. So how do we work collaboratively to create movement or have an impact? The second driver, shared leadership, requires a very strong communication and collaboration model in order to share the vision and priorities to take action. The third driver is the idea of collective expertise or collaborative inquiry, but I think of it as more like improvement cycles. You know you can go all the way back to Bryk’s work, thinking about a short cycle of four to six weeks of inquiry; what's the problem, what's the solution, let's figure it out, what have we learned, and how do we keep moving in an agile manner? And that last driver which I think is most important, you have to have a feedback loop. If you want continuous improvement maybe every six to nine weeks, you have to come back together and as a system figure out: what's working, what's not working, and how you overcome problems of practice? I would say if you want to build coherence and be a systems thinker, you have to be very intentional in how you transform climate, shape culture, and build capacity to create coherence, and the end game has to be equity.  That's got to be in the forefront and it's got to be your long-term focus.”

Jay Westover observed, “a lot of times in school districts, schools are doing good work in isolation and not necessarily in partnership with each other or with district leaders. We have to move away from an isolated model of schools improving by themselves into more of a network structure. I think that concept probably goes back to the idea of a community of practice. So if a district has nine schools they may be grouped into three groups of three, to work together on a problem of practice with a district liaison supporting them. Then they come back together throughout the year to learn across functionally.”

To establish communities of practice within and across districts, “we have to be open to partner and establish broader networks among school districts, especially if there’re areas which we all feel are important. We call that big idea collective impact; how you collectively try to find impact versus individually? If we can create that internal network of the districts, we can really accelerate change and improvements. I've talked to superintendents that said that they feel they've accelerated for example, math improvement by three to four years just by co-learning with others that might be already ahead of them.” When responding to overcoming individual school identity,the difference in talent distribution, and competition between schools and districts, Jay Westover clarified “part of that comes down to what's the purpose? Simon Sinek, we know The Golden Circle, talks about ‘the Why, the How and the What’. I think what you may have described is ‘the What’, where we feel good about our outcomes, about certain practices, but that moral imperative happens to be student equity or equitable growth. So some of those successful districts aren't seeing equal gains for all kids and John Hattie really pushes that idea. If we can find common ground which is how do we achieve equitable growth in student learning, then it becomes an issue bigger than ourselves individually, and we're moving towards something that is collectively important.”

In the splinter between management versus leadership for time, energy and commitment, “if you're doing management you're really attending to urgent demands, if you're doing leadership you’re attending to important things. If you go back to the book Districts on the Move, the reason why we put the rubrics in the back is because when you actually look at those four key drivers you start to see if you really have clarity of focus. Chris McChesney in his book, The 4 Disciplines of Execution, said that internationally only 15% of individuals in any organization know the priorities. Well, the problem is when you start to attend to the urgent demands and you don't know your key priorities, everyone's going in a different direction. I think the idea of calibrating against something common like a rubric, being reflective about what's in place, what's not in place, really, really is important or else everyone else's opinion's right.”

Jay Westover’s advice to new leaders, “I think I would come into the job with a very strong collaborative inquiry mindset and I would shape some very key questions to get my organization to focus in on and identify some of those priorities. Therefore, we can shift away from the urgency of current demands into the importance that really's connected to sustainable improvement.”

Jay Westover commented on what he saw as some of the unique challenges that have surfaced in the last year and a half. “If you strip away the logistics that are connected to COVID, and whether it's the social-emotional or safety issues, I think what we have unveiled as the most significant problem in education in the  United States is its variability. I mean we now really see that there is variability in student learning. I think the real dilemma is how to overcome variability. My new book coming out in March, Schools on the Move, is a little bit more of a school-level look at the question, how do you overcome variability? In this work we're looking at it just a little differently; it's about climate, culture, capacity, and coherence. How do we develop leaders who are able to navigate change and reduce variability? I'm not saying it's easy, but we have to begin to really pay attention to some of these causations of variability in learning and begin to recognize that some of our systems, practices, processes, culture are at the root of it and support our schools to figure out how to overcome it, not individually but with district leaders leading the charge of what's at the root cause of the variability and how do we reduce it in a way in which it's going to lead to better growth in student learning.”

“I would suggest to reduce variability you have to have an inquiry cycle in your school or district. And the first step is to analyze the evidence; figure out what's the problem of practice; what's getting in the way of student learning. Then design some improvement strategies that are going to overcome it and how do you know if they're working. Implement, be agile, make adjustments, and then come back and figure out what works best, why, and move forward more intelligently. What I’m noticing is the urgent demands are preventing school districts from leading from an inquiry stance to figure out how to navigate change and improvements. We have to figure out how to get space and create opportunity for that because the management is taking over the leadership, unfortunately.”

For Schools on the Move, Jay worked with the Long Beach United School District, “recognized as I think number four in the world, and Chris Steinhauser, Superintendent, with an unprecedented eighteen years as the longest-serving urban superintendent in America.   In writing the book with Chris, we “merged the pragmatic voice of the superintendent and district leaders and principals, ‘as boots on the ground’, with not necessarily theory but more research from studying. I just want to reinforce that we've tried to figure out what's the solution for the current challenge. If you visualize a simple square divided into four boxes. In the center is the idea of collaborative inquiry, so we're collaboratively inquiring about what should our focus be; we're collaboratively inquiring to develop that really strong shared leadership of how we're going to overcome that challenge. We’re inquiring about how to build expertise, you know to figure out how to be successful and then inquiry implies we have an improvement process. If you could take the big tenets of Districts on the Move and try to get it down to the simplest nuggets, the starting point’s going to be collaborative inquiry.”

website: https://innovateed.com/

Westover, Jay, Districts on the Move: Leading a Coherent System of Continuous Improvement, Thousand Oaks, CA., Corwin; 1st edition, September 17, 2019.

Westover, Jay,  and Christopher Steinhauser,  Schools on the Move: Leading Coherence for Equitable Growth, Thousands Oaks, CA., Corwin, Release date March 2022

Fullan, Michael & Quinn, J., Coherence: The right drivers in action for schools, districts and systems, Thousand Oaks, CA., Corwin, 2016.

McChesney, Chris, et.al. The 4 Disciples of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals,  Free Press; 1st edition April 1, 2012