1. education
2. school

WINTER
2014
Vol. 43 No. 1
Exploring
Educational
Leadership
WHAT IS YOUR PQ?
RECLAIMING PLAY
IN DAILY LIFE
OVERLOAD:
MAXIMIZING
EVERY MOMENT
SCHOOL CLIMATE:
WHY IT
MATTERS NOW
Contents
COVERSTORY
WINTER
2014
What Is Your PQ:
Reclaiming Play in
Daily Life –
A Balm for Stressed
Administrators | 3
Vol. 43 No. 1
from practitioners
This magazine is published
three times a year by the
School Administrators Association
of New York State
8 Airport Park Boulevard
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by Paul Grondahl
Managing Editor
Michelle B. Hebert | SAANYS
from practitioners
WINTER 2014
Vol. 43 No. 1
Overload:
Maximizing Every Moment | 9
By Kim M. Smithgall
formerly The Journal
“I Can’t Do It All... | 25
And That’s Okay!
How To Juggle Constant| 29
Change Through A Strong
School Culture
Interactive Walkthroughs | 33
That Empower Students and Staff
and Create Dynamic Synergy
School Climate: Why It Matters
More Now Than Ever | 17
By Peter DeWitt, EdD
A Lesson In Time| 37
Management: Using An iPad
for Teacher Observations
Editorial Board
Karen Bronson | SAANYS
Peter DeWitt | Averill Park
Jennifer Drautz | Saratoga Springs
Christine Foglia | Broadalbin-Perth
Scott McDonald | Cobleskill-Richmondville
Donald Nickson | SAANYS
Thomas Sands | Retired
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Administrators Association of New York
State.
Address any correspondence to:
VANGUARD/PRACTICES
Principles, Protocols, | 39
and Practices of Successful Leaders
8 Airport Park Boulevard
APPR: from Survival | 43
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The Evolving and | 47
Essential Role of the
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COLUMNS
President’s Message | 1
FYI | 16
Book Reviews | 15
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PUBLISHER’S PAGE
A message from
Frank Sutliff
Sustainability
School administration is often
a lonely occupation with increasing
demands on ones’ time, whether it
is instructional leadership, multiple
new mandates, school discipline, or
even attending sporting events as a
“supervisor in charge.” As I noted
in my speech in Rochester as the incoming president of
SAANYS, “being an administrator is a difficult business to be
in when you are standing at a game watching other people’s
kids play and missing your own children’s games.”
This issue focuses on sustainability – how do we get it
all done while at the same time maintaining or achieving
that magical balance that is essential to our personal and
professional well-being?
In our lead article, Paul Grandahl offers up strategies on
how to better achieve balance by looking at the importance
of incorporating play into our everyday lives. Although the
structure of schools is becoming non-conducive to play, we
learn here that it is incumbent upon us as administrators
SAANYS President
2013-14
to model the virtues of play, not only for the sake of our
students and faculty, but for our own personal health and
happiness as well. As we constantly read about the successes
of Finland, it is noted that we should be mindful of the
attention they place on the affective part of education and
school climate.
In a follow up story, Peter DeWitt discusses why school
climate matters now more than ever. In a recent speech, I
noted how school climate has been negatively impacted by
yearly cuts, the APPR, incessant testing, and the attempts
to make teaching an activity where a performance number
can be assigned. As we attempt to strike the balance between
“mandates and creativity, ” it is critical that all sources of
input be considered.
I hope that you enjoy this issue of Vanguard & Practices
with its emphasis on balance, climate, optimizing time, and
streamlining practices. The articles herein provide good
“food for thought” on these issues and I encourage each of
you to turn some of these strategies into actual practice.
VANGUARDCOVERSTORY
RECLAIMING PLAY IN DAILY LIFE
A Balm for
Stressed
Administrators
Dr. Stuart Brown, a physician, psychiatrist, clinical researcher and founder
By Paul Grondahl
of the National Institute for Play, empathizes with the escalating challenges
facing school administrators. He understands the consequences of the added
stress of new education reforms, a crushing workload, and the endless hours
of soul-draining paperwork required to comply with Annual Professional
Performance Review (APPR) requirements. And he wants to help. But first,
as perhaps the nation’s leading proponent of the joys and benefits of play,
Brown needs school administrators to listen to his message with an open
mind and an open heart.
3
VANGUARDCOVERSTORY
“It’s a really tough job to be a
school administrator today, stuck
with all the obligations, demands
and complexities of dealing with
teachers, parents, and students,”
Brown said. “But they’re not alone.
It’s a cultural norm now to be stressed
out and not to prioritize play. It’s
even more essential for teachers and
administrators to learn how to reclaim
play in their own lives and to teach
the benefits of play or they’re going
to spawn another generation that is
play-deprived. The scientific research
is incontrovertible. It we remove play
from our lives, it leads to depression,
ideological rigidity, vulnerability
to addictive disorders, other health
problems and eventually to cultural
discontent and fragmentation.”
“The scientific research
is incontrovertible. It we
remove play from our lives,
it leads to depression,
ideological rigidity,
vulnerability to addictive
disorders, other health
problems...”
The problem, according to Brown
and other leading experts on the
science of play, is that America’s
goal-oriented corporate culture is
obsessed with return-on-investment
metrics and rejects anything that does
not serve to improve performance
measures or to increase the bottom
line. Play is demeaned as the domain
of slackers and adults are inculcated
with the notion that they are too
busy fixing problems and dealing
with more important issues and
just don’t have time for something
as frivolous as play. The inevitable
cultural assumption that work and
play are separate can be addressed
as a model that is not supported by
nature, according to Brown, because
the paleo-anthropology of our human
heritage shows that keeping oneself
and one’s tribe in a “state” of play
– and not insisting on boundaries
between play and work – fosters
cooperation, increased mastery, and
sustained engagement, among other
qualities.
Brown is at the vanguard of a
group of researchers and academics
leading a cultural revolution to
reclaim play as a priority in daily life
– for children and adults alike – and
to assert play as something that is as
vital to one’s overall well-being as
exercise, a healthy diet, and getting
enough sleep. They are using data
from neurophysiology, developmental
and cognitive psychology, and
evolutionary and molecular biology
in both the human realm and
animal kingdom to underscore the
transformative power of play and to
show how it affects brain function,
creates core competencies, and
ballasts emotions.
Brown has produced an awardwinning PBS series “The Promise of
Play,” teamed with Jane Goodall
and the National Geographic Society
to observe animal play in the wild,
and is co-author of the book, Play:
How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the
Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul.
He is now striving to help playdeprived adults overcome their
amnesia about the joys of play by
guiding them through personal
reviews and visualizations of their
childhoods. “I want them to go back
and recreate the memory of when they
were deeply involved with free play
and authentic play and something
they did for its own sake,” he said.
“Everyone knew how to play when
they were young. It’s just that they’ve
forgotten it.”
Brown would like to assign
school administrators the simple
task of going to an elementary school
playground and observing the free
play of young children. That picture
will be worth a thousand words
of theory and it will make his case
emphatically.
Brown spoke by phone a few
days after New Year’s Day from his
office in Carmel Valley, California,
and he described taking a walk on
Carmel Beach a few days before. “It
was a nice day, although too cold for
swimming, and I saw kids digging
in the sand and constructing things
4
and totally engaged in their own play.
It was contagious to watch,” Brown
said. “And I saw dogs chasing each
other and jumping up and rolling
around in joyful, frenzied play and it
reminded me all over again why I do
this work.”
The difficulty, of course, is to
get school administrators to give
themselves permission to be as
unburdened and playful as children
climbing on a playground’s jungle
gym or digging in the sand on a
beach.
Joe Robinson, a work-life
balance speaker, trainer, and author
of a book on the power of engaged
play, Don’t Miss Your Life, leads
workshops for school administrators
in California that offer techniques
to recalibrate their private lives, free
of performance-based workplace
goals. “The reason so many people
are so stressed out, maxed out, and
burned out, is that they apply their
work minds to their personal lives
and they look at everything through
performance and results,” said
Robinson, who is based in Santa
Monica, California. “That really skews
people’s thinking. I teach people to
develop a different mindset on the life
side. It’s about experiences and doing
things for the love of it rather than to
achieve results. Taking dance lessons
with your spouse or playing a musical
instrument or taking your children on
a hike can add joy to your life, reduce
stress, and improve health. We all
need to develop more outlets for play
where we find joy and fun. I don’t
accept the excuse that people are too
tired and too busy and don’t have
time. Studies show that everyone has
free time; it’s just organized badly.”
Robinson first instructs clients to
conduct a detailed daily free time log
outside of one’s workday schedule
over the course of one week. “Patterns
VANGUARDCOVERSTORY
emerge and various open time slots
of 30 or 45 minutes pop up here and
there during the week,” he said. “I
also caution that surfing the internet
endlessly or obsessively checking
e-mail for the thousandth time in a
day are not productive and they’re
eating up free time. The key is then to
work recreational pursuits or things
you like to do just for the intrinsic joy
of it into those free time slots.”
Francisco International Toy Museum,
values. It’s bogus and it won’t make
and author of several books, including
them happy because it’s external.
Smart Play, Smart Toys. She is an
What makes us happy is intrinsic
advocate for the expansion of the
motivation and doing something we
P. Q. (Play Quotient), identifies toys
love only for the joy it brings and not
that make the transition between
for a performance rank.”
Robinson also offers techniques
home and school, and is known as
and exercises for how school
“Dr. Toy.” She believes in more play,
administrators can control stress
not only for children, but for parents,
and manage it in their jobs. “Almost
professionals, and seniors.
nobody in my experience in today’s
“I understand the pressures that
workplace knows
school administrators face,” said
how to do that,” he
Auerbach, a former staff member of
said. “Serious health
the U.S. Department of Education
problems arise from
in Washington, D.C. “Our school
stress and I spend a lot
administrators have to open up the
of time in my workshops
doors to play in a more fluid way in
re-programming our
schools and the change has to start
thinking. We need to leave
with them. Too many administrators
the work mind behind and
have forgotten that play is the best
develop the skill set of the play mind,
way to learn. They have also forgotten
which is being curious, spontaneous,
not only the joys of playing with their
taking risks, surrendering completely
own children, and other adults, but
to the joy of the moment, to making
need to rediscover the ‘child within’
it fun when you’re learning a new
that helps to achieve balance, expand
hobby even if you feel weird about
laughter, and reduces stress. We need
not getting it right at first. Those
to recall how important play was
play feelings are all opposite from
when we were a child. They’ve gotten
the rigid, controlled, performance
too serious and lost the many benefits
mindset of work.”
of play.”
Robinson also asks clients to
Auerbach urges school
administrators to integrate play
identify three recreational activities
they’ll try in the next four months and
and learning into a seamless whole.
to stick with at least four times before
For instance, she supports outdoor
giving up, in the hope of gaining
recess time and free play every day
competency and building enjoyment.
in schools. “Studies have shown that
He also has them create a Life List,
students are much more attentive after
which is similar to a bucket list, which
recess because they have more oxygen
articulates five loftier goals that they
circulating in their brains, and feel
want to accomplish in their lives that
more energized.” she said. “Another
will assist humanity and make the
study determined that kids who take a
world a better place.
break from studying to play chess also
“My whole purpose is to convince
do better in critical thinking, as well
them to let go of that analytical and
as other tasks that require strategizing
performance mindset and remind
when they return to their school
them how to live from the neck
work.”
The problem with school
down,” Robinson said. “They can
administrators can be summed up in
read the research, but they have to
give themselves permission
that it’s OK to have a life
“Our school administrators have to
outside work – and that’s
where they’re going to gain
open up the doors to play in a more
deep joy through engaged
fluid way in schools and the change
experience. Unfortunately,
just watching TV doesn’t do has to start with them. Too many
it.”
Stevanne Auerbach is an administrators have forgotten that
educator, child development play is the best way to learn.”
expert, founder of the San
“Studies show that the more active
your leisure life is, the more satisfied
you are outside work and the more
successful you will be on the job.”
The next step in Robinson’s
practical approach is to use these
active recreational pursuits to
help clients develop three core
psychological needs: autonomy,
competence, and relatedness.
“Science teaches that the number one
thing people need to feel happier is
that they are in control and they are
determining the outcome of their own
life, which is autonomy,” he said.
“So, if you start a new hobby like
dancing, you need to build a certain
level of competence to feel satisfied
and in control and to stick with it.
Dancing lessons help you gain that
competence. And, finally, feeling a
close connection to others is a core
psychological need. Studies show that
the more active your leisure life is, the
more satisfied you are outside work
and the more successful you will be
on the job.”
Robinson sees as key for school
administrators is to discard a
broken paradigm. This is what he
did in a daylong workshop with
school administrators in California
recently, initiated by “an enlightened
supervisor who could see all the
stress and pressure building up.” He
said once the school administrators
bought into restructuring their
work-life balance, they could see
the benefits. “They were really open
to having a life and they wanted to
change the way they worked,” he
said. “The performance anxiety they
worked under is a skewed system of
5
VANGUARDCOVERSTORY
the George Bernard Shaw quote that
Auerbach frequently cites: “We don’t
stop playing because we grow old. We
grow old because we stop playing.”
“If we don’t play as adults, we’re
holding onto a lot of stress and not
releasing it and that contributes
to a lot of health problems,” said
Auerbach, who is based in San
Francisco. “School administrators
can’t possibly incorporate play into
the curriculum if they don’t value it
and experience it on a personal level.
The more playful you are, the more
creative and improvisational you
will be in your thinking, compared to
rigid, boring ways of thinking from
people who don’t play.”
She offered concrete suggestions
for school administrators to raise their
P.Q., or Play Quotient. First, inject
some active play in our workday and
encourage teachers to do the same.
Keep toys and athletic equipment
in your office for your own use and
to serve as a role model for teachers
and students. She suggests taking a
break in your office every few hours
and to step away from the computer,
close the door and jump rope, dance
to music, play with a hula hoop,
practice yoga moves or complete a
series of stretches. “Anything that
forces them to take a break, move
their body, and loosen up the entire
system is going to be beneficial,” she
said. “A couple minutes of doing that
will allow them to deal better with
the inevitable pressure for the next
few hours. Children want to see role
models who are balanced, happy,
enthusiastic, energized and not rigid,
stressed, and uptight. Administrators
need to rethink how they’re projecting
themselves in front of teachers,
parents, and students.”
Second, add 20 minutes of
creative play to your daily routine. “It
could be doing crafts, playing music,
or making time for a hobby,” she
said. “Taking a little bit of time every
day to do something that is creative,
playful, and fun for its own sake will
result in better problem-solving in the
long run. This can include a school
garden that has many benefits for all
participants.”
Finally, administrators and
teachers should strive to incorporate
socialized learning play into each
day for students. “We can talk about
these goals, but they actually have to
practice it,” Auerbach said. “When
people are playful, children and
adults alike, there is more laughter,
energy, a lightness, and a more
positive frame of mind. I caution
administrators about being
short-sighted. It’s a matter of
looking at the whole child’s
development just as John Dewey
suggested. The strongest and
earliest memories from childhood
focus on play. Educators need to
be ready, and open the doors to more
playfulness for themselves, the staff,
and their students.”
Dr. Toy suggests a visit to the
Strong National Museum of Play
located in Rochester to learn first
hand about the history of play, and
its many benefits. She added that
administrators should examine the
UN Resolution on Play adopted in
February 2013 as a policy that should
be adopted by more educators in New
York State and throughout the U.S. It
was called a landmark document that
“recognizes the right of the child
to rest and leisure, to engage
in play and recreational
activities and to participate freely in
cultural life and the arts.”
Cathy O’Keefe, a retired instructor
of leisure studies at the University
at South Alabama and a specialist
on work-life balance, believes
“Children want to see
role models who are
balanced, happy, enthusiastic,
energized, and not rigid,
stressed, and uptight.”
6
school administrators are uniquely
positioned to inspire a more playful
society through leisure education, a
more holistic tool that encompasses
physical education but addresses
the social, emotional, and cognitive
domains as well. “The reason school
administrators are getting so stressed
and are burning out is that they
know in their hearts that the current
structure is not preparing healthy
children for the future, and their
frustration comes from sensing the
hypocrisy,” she said. “It’s going to
take a reworking of our social values,
and it needs to start in the schools.
We’ve become a society demanding
immediate payoffs instead of one
creating a world for the benefit of our
children, grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. We must challenge
the status quo and shift the focus of
education to well-being rather than
economic productivity.”
“I feel a tremendous amount of
empathy for school administrators
because I worked closely with that
system, and my five children went
through public schools,” she said.
“I would like to see administrators
create a better work-life balance for
themselves so they become models
for healthy learning. Children need
to see what they can be! I’ve always
admired the altruistic goals that
prompt educators to view their work
as a calling more than a career. We
need that sense of passion in a critical
mass of school administrators leading
the revolution for bringing back play.
The call to address the total wellbeing of our children is coming from
many fronts, and public education
should be taking up the charge.”
VANGUARDCOVERSTORY
Brown said researchers at the
National Institute for Play are
studying what’s working in the U.S.
and abroad and they’ve been bringing
back dispatches from the play front.
One organization on the leading
edge of this global movement is Play
Wales, a not-for-profit group funded
by the Welsh government that raises
awareness of children and young
people’s need and right to play and
it makes policy recommendations
that support the concept of play.
In 2002, Play Wales led an effort to
draft a national Play Policy and in
2010 produced a toolkit to aid local
authorities to assess and provide
sufficient play opportunities as part
of a Healthy Families Initiative. In
2011, Play Wales hosted the
International Play Association,
a four-day work conference on
play in Cardiff.
Brown is also keeping a close
eye on Finland, where children
don’t begin school until age seven.
Finland subsidizes daycare for
children, and 97 percent of Finnish
children attend preschool starting
at age five, which emphasizes
playing and socializing. Once
they are in school, play is
given a priority and recess
is an essential part of
the school day. Finnish
children get an average
of 75 minutes of
recess a day, including
breaks after each class.
Outdoor physical
activity is highly
encouraged and
some lessons are
taught outside, even in
winter. By comparison, U.S. students
average just 27 minutes of recess a day
and few go outside in winter months.
There are almost no mandatory tests
in Finland schools until a single
exam at the end of high school and
homework is limited. The average
class size is 20 students and there is
no tracking based on ability, although
slower learners work in the classroom
with teaching aides, who receive
special training. In Finland, a teacher
typically remains with the same group
of students for five years, which
forms deep relationships and gives
a teacher a chance to understand
how each student learns best. It must
be noted that in the Program for
International Student Assessment
(PISA), a standardized test given
every three years by the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and
Development that measures student
achievement globally, Finland has
consistently scored among the highest
nations.
In the U.S., much attention has
been directed toward Naperville
Central High School, west of Chicago,
where a new approach to play and
physical activity has generated
impressive results. They stress fitness
rather than team sports
and teach a lifestyle
where students develop
healthy habits, new
skills, a sense of fun
and an understanding
of how their bodies
work. They might
engage in aerobic
square-dancing
or other playful
exercises. Students
struggling in
math and reading
take Zero Hour
PE at the start
of school
before the
first class,
60 minutes
of riding
a stationary
bicycle or running
on a treadmill to
“jump-start their
brain,” according to
Dr. John Ratey, a medical
doctor and associate clinical professor
of psychiatry at Harvard Medical
School. Ratey has
studied the Naperville
revolution and examines
it in his book, Spark:
The Revolutionary New
Science of Exercise and
the Brain. Students
also are encouraged
to take breaks and use
bikes and balls in the
classroom. Movement
is incorporated even
into reading sessions.
7
“Finnish children get an
average of 75 minutes
of recess a day, including
breaks after each class.”
Fitness-based exercise makes
students’ brains more receptive to
learning, Ratey’s studies showed.
At Naperville, reading scores nearly
doubled and math test results
skyrocketed. Ratey and a team of
professionals formed Sparking Life,
a national group that works with
school districts to create a new style
of play and fitness programs before
and during academic classes to
optimize learning, activate impulse
control, moderate mood, build selfesteem, and generate excitement
about being in school.
After decades of often feeling
like a lone voice crying in the
wilderness, Brown feels that the
revolution has taken hold. “We’re
right on the threshold of the play
wave cresting and washing over
us,” said Brown, whose speaking
schedule has never been busier
or more widespread, across the
U.S. and in Canada, Europe, and
Australia. “Hopefully, some school
administrators will learn to play
again and they will help a lot of
students in the process.”
PAUL GRONDAHL is an awardwinning reporter at the Albany Times
Union. A paperback edition of his
political biography, Mayor Corning:
Albany Icon, Albany Enigma, was
recently published by SUNY Press.
VANGUARDFEATURESTORY
OVERLOAD:
Maximizing
Every Moment
By Kim M. Smithgall
Last spring, SAANYS administered a survey on the Annual Professional
Performance Review (APPR) process. As you might expect, the responses
painted a picture of increased stress and anxiety for school leaders.
“So much time is spent on gathering and tagging evidence and assigning scores appropriately and fairly that I have very little time for hands-on work with teachers.”
“We used to see and work with kids, we used to know their personal
stories and their families. Now we can’t even recall their names by
recognition because we have lost that rapport and interaction.”
9
VANGUARDFEATURESTORY
Brian Bailey, assistant
superintendent for curriculum and
instruction in the Ravena-CoeymansSelkirk School District, relates to both
comments. Before he moved into his
current district-level position, his
calculations showed that he spent
more than 400 hours on APPR work
when he was a principal last year.
“That’s almost two months of time
taken out of the work that I normally
would have been doing,” he said.
“This often means that school leaders
can’t spend casual time in classrooms
that they did previously – time talking
with students, participating in lessons,
or interacting with teachers.”
Add in the complexities of
implementing the new Common Core
Learning Standards, the Dignity for
All Students Act, and other mandates,
along with staff and program
reductions resulting from education
funding cuts, and the job satisfaction
level for school administrators is
likely trending downward even
more while stress levels are surging
upward. So what can administrators
do to maximize every moment?
BACK TO BASICS: BUILD
YOUR INTERNAL TEAM
Scott Brown, an elementary school
principal in the Liberty Central School
District, and other administrators
have found that forming a very
structured and deliberate team with
the support staff has been crucial in
helping to manage time.
“We hold weekly meetings with
our secretaries where we talk about
schedules and activities so there are
no surprises. There’s always constant
communication,” Brown commented,
adding that he has expanded the
roles and responsibilities of the
support staff and they’ve responded
by becoming integral members of
the team. “They’re phenomenal.
There is so much work as an
administrator that could keep you in
the office – paperwork, for example
– that they’re handling. This type of
positive relationship with the office
staff is almost more important than
relationships outside the office when
you first start off because you end up
with more time to get out and work
with staff outside the office to build a
positive school culture.”
Kelly McHugh agrees.
“The most important thing
I have done is establish a
partnership with my secretarial
staff. We redefined the
secretarial roles.” she said.
“We have set procedures and
routines in place, including a
daily morning meeting between
my secretary and me, so there’s
not a constant start-stop-startstop throughout the day. Also,
my secretary handles all my
incoming mail and paperwork.
Before we enacted this
management methodology I was like
a hamster on a wheel – always trying
to catch up.”
McHugh is principal of Whitehall
Jr.-Sr. High School and a presenter
for The Breakthrough Coach (TBC).
She attributes many of her successful
strategies to TBC, an educational
consulting firm that works exclusively
with instructional leaders to adapt
business management techniques to
school settings in order to maximize
time and streamline “administrivia.”
TBC’s workshops always include
both secretaries and administrators
to ensure that successful partnerships
emerge.
“The most important
thing I have done is
establish a partnership
with my secretarial
staff. We redefined the
secretarial roles.”
TIP TOP: TAKE CONTROL
OF YOUR TIME
Put the priority activities on your
schedule (every single one), even if
it’s simply 20-minute blocks of time to
conduct walk-throughs of the school,
advises author, university professor,
and former school administrator
William Sterrett.
“Many school leaders feel they are
being more reactive than proactive.
School leaders do not need to be
a victim of their busy schedules,”
Sterrett said. “They should focus
on carving out specific times for
specific activities and mastering their
calendars.”
When scheduling activities,
Sterrett advises administrators to lock
in priorities using the acronym DISC,
which stands for district, instruction,
school, and community. “First you
plug in things that are district-related
– principal meetings or school board
meetings, for example. Then add in
instructional commitments, which
might be classroom walk-throughs,
faculty meetings, and school-level
meetings,” he said. “Then it’s schoolspecific events, such as sporting
events or other student activities. The
‘C,’ or ‘community,’ is often neglected.
You have to build in time to make
connections with community partners
– for example, local businesses or civic
organizations. It could be organizing
a volunteer night at the start of the
school year to encourage participation
in school activities or maybe asking
businesses to donate services or gift
cards to use as staff member thankyou items. Carve out and commit the
time for these priority activities.”
Interestingly enough, many
administrators interviewed for
this article are, indeed, using very
strict scheduling to ensure they’re
Sterrett’s book, Short on Time: How Do I Make Time to
Lead and Learn as a Principal? is a quick read at 46 pages,
but the suggestions for setting and managing priorities
are insightful, especially considering the need for
administrators to create and maintain positive learning
environments. It’s available for sale on the ASCD website
www.ascd.org. Sterrett’s 100 follow-up action steps can
be accessed at no cost at www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/
books/Sterrett2013Arias.pdf.
10
VANGUARDFEATURESTORY
meeting their priorities – for example,
scheduling specific time periods to
meet with staff or parents and other
times for observations. However, they
seem to feel bad about it, saying that
they’re “hoarding” their time and
being “extremely greedy with every
minute.” Obviously, the change has
been an uncomfortable necessity, but
in the end, it allows school leaders to
stay connected with their staff and
students.
“The most important thing I
can do is be in the hallways and the
classrooms,” McHugh said. “I do not
schedule any meetings between 7 and
7:45 am because I am in the hallways
greeting students and talking with
teachers.”
McHugh makes it a habit to print
out e-mails from teachers and visits
faculty in person to follow up; she
describes her visibility as “command
presence.”
“One of the best strategies I can
offer is to forget you have an office.
It’s vital for school leaders to have
this command presence. It sets a tone
and makes a statement about what’s
important,” she explained. “Think
about when you’re driving down the
highway and you see a state police
speed trap. What do you do? At the
very least, you look down at your
speedometer. Or you may be stepping
on the brake. It’s the same type of
effect when I enter a classroom, even if
I’m just sitting in the back of the room
observing or I’m on my laptop.”
Visibility and availability also
helps to build trust in a school
building according to Denis Sibson,
principal of Miller Hill-Sand Lake
Elementary School in the Averill Park
School District. “The biggest impact
of all the new responsibilities is the
inability to informally connect with
students and staff in the building
– getting into classrooms or the
cafeteria, for example – not just for
formal observations, but more to
make the personal connections,”
Sibson said. “What’s really gotten
me through all of the new challenges
is the foundation of relationships I
built by connecting personally with
teachers and staff.”
COLLABORATE AND
DELEGATE
Today’s successful school leaders
also advise building in time for
collaboration and for cultivating
future leaders. Again, it’s about
putting these activities on the calendar
and making them priorities.
“When I was an elementary
school principal, the high school
principal and I would lock a time
into our calendar periodically for
what we called a principal PLC
[professional learning community].
We would discuss the challenges in
the district, successes in our schools,
ideas for improving the schools, and
even discussed articles that we could
co-author. It was non-negotiable; we
met because it was a priority to share
information,” said Sterrett.
In many school districts
throughout the state, the local BOCES
and administrator groups provide
avenues for administrators to meet
and share ideas on a regular basis.
Brown has found the meetings
useful, as other administrators can
offer different perspectives, different
experiences or, sometime, just a little
camaraderie. “As you’re talking to
colleagues, you realize that they’re
often going through the same
challenges and that eases your tension
and makes you feel a little bit better
about what’s going on,” Brown said.
In addition, administrators have
found some advantages in sharing
and delegating responsibilities, as
this develops a new generation of
leaders. “We’ve become more reliant
on colleagues to pick up some of
the things we can’t do,” Bailey said.
“This can be the positive aspect of all
the lunacy in today’s schools. Other
people can help solve problems and
communicate the mission of a school.
It’s a great opportunity to foster
leadership, which may, in turn, be
a new skill set that administrators
develop.”
LITTLE TOUCHES OF
TECHNOLOGY GO A LONG WAY
Technology plays a big role in
helping school leaders make the most
of every moment, especially with
APPR observations and reporting.
11
VANGUARDFEATURESTORY
Sibson and other Averill Park
administrators are using iPads. “Our
district uses the Charlotte Danielson
Framework for Teaching and one of
my colleagues created templates on
the iPad for domains two and three,
which cover the environment and
instruction,” Sibson explained. “With
the template right on the iPad, we can
type in comments and information.
This can be a huge timesaver in terms
of streamlining workload.” [See “A
Lesson In Time Management: Using
an iPad for Teacher Observations” on
page 37.
Averill Park and RavenaCoeymans-Selkirk use StaffTrac
software from Educational Vistas,
Inc. to make APPR work more
manageable. “We can actually plug
in the elements of data into matrices
within this software and then share
observations electronically with staff.
There’s even a function for scheduling
appointments,” Bailey said.
Sibson likes the StaffTrac’s
information-gathering capabilities.
“It captures all of the observation and
evaluation information from both the
teacher side and the administration
side. So I can pull up a teacher
observation and see every document
teachers used and links to YouTube
videos or any other supplement they
used for their lesson. To me, that is a
great resource not only for me, but my
teachers, as well,” Sibson said.
Technology plays a big role in helping
school leaders make the most of
every moment, especially with
APPR observations and reporting.
12
VIDEO, SOCIAL MEDIA
AND GLOBAL COLLABORATION
Sterrett feels video technology
can play an important role in today’s
schools, too. “When principals are out
and about in their schools, they can
be taking short video clips of effective
instruction and then showcase
those videos at faculty meetings,”
he suggested. “This gives teachers
a chance to share their skills with
peers.”
Sterrett promotes the use of
technology in other ways, as well.
He feels Twitter is a must-have.
“Everybody in education should be
on Twitter. It is the best professional
development tool out there right now.
You can share ideas and connect with
colleagues,” he said.
Brennan agrees. “All six of
our principals in Farmingdale are
using Twitter. They’re using it to
promote our schools and show what
teachers and students are doing. It’s
wonderful,” he commented. “A few
are also using Twitter as personal
learning networks. They’re out there
VANGUARDFEATURESTORY
connecting with other principals every
single day. By participating in these
knowledge networks, you give up
that silo as a principal where you just
kind of feel like you’re on an island.
You get exposed and connected to
people from all around the country
who are facing the same issues you
are. The social networks allow you
to connect with the smartest people
and you’re getting a constant flow of
valuable information that you use to
push your own learning.” It’s opened
up my principals’ worlds and helped
rejuvenate them.
ANOTHER RETURN TO THE
BASICS: REMEMBER THE
BIG PICTURE
While sharing strategies for
becoming more efficient in an era
of ever-increasing responsibilities,
several school leaders felt the most
important activity they can engage
in is to keep the big picture firmly in
mind.
“You can’t lose sight of what’s
most important and that’s the kids,”
Martinelli said. “Once in a while I
have to remind myself of this. I go
13
down to a classroom and just spend
five or 10 minutes with the students
or go down to the gym before a
basketball game starts to shoot a few
hoops with the kids. We’re here for the
kids.”
And remembering this just might
make prioritizing the endless activities
just a little easier.
KIM M. SMITHGALL is an awardwinning communications specialist
and freelance writer, designer, and
photographer.
L
with
g
d
i
a
e n
Heart
43rd SAANYS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
October 26-27 | 2014
The Sagamore, Lake George, New York
Keynote Speaker: Todd Whitaker
One of the nation¹s leading authorities on staff motivation,
teacher leadership, and principal effectiveness, Todd has written
over 30 books including the national best seller, What Great
Teachers Do Differently. Other titles include: Shifting The Monkey,
Dealing With Difficult Teachers, 10 Minute Inservice, The Ball,
Motivating and Inspiring Teachers,
and What Great Principals Do
Differently. A former teacher and principal, Todd
will enlighten and encourage attendees with
insights and practical advice.
Scan or Visit:
Scan or Visit:
What Great
The Ball
http://youtu.be/
Principals Do
“By far the best speaker I have seen.”
BpRuVxUAVQ0
Differently
- Dr. Peter DeWitt, Education Week
http://youtu.be/
sJNRWEhbZRw
­
Featured Speaker: Bruce Taylor
The Pathway to the Core Through the Arts
Within the next decade there will be a fundamental rethinking on how
kids will learn and what they should be learning. The Common Core
will bring more of a need for understanding rather than simple recall.
Much of what kids will need to develop is how to think, create, and
communicate effectively. Bruce Taylor will demonstrate that these very
abilities are in reality arts skills! In order to succeed in an increasingly complex, conceptual,
and globalized world, kids will have to acquire skills that require them to analyze, interpret,
evaluate, and demonstrate understanding ­skills artist have employed for centuries.
BOOKREVIEWS
Mindset
Ten Minute Inservice
by Carol Dweck
by Todd Whitaker and Annette Breaux
Whether in
the press,
social media,
television or
in matters of
public opinion,
being an administrator (and teacher)
over the last year has been some of the
toughest work any of us has done. Given
the demands that we face, administrators are in need of a
positive mindset. But just being positive alone won’t cut it.
Dr. Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset: The New Psychology of
Success, takes having a positive mindset one step further. In
her book, she explains that there are two mindsets: growth
and fixed.
According to Dr. Dweck, those with a fixed mindset believe
you either have the talent to do the task or you don’t. Those
with a growth mindset believe the opposite – they believe
ability can be developed through hard work and perseverance.
In a recent conversation with colleagues, we found that
Chapter 7 (Parents, Teachers, and Coaches: Where Do
Mindsets Come From) was quite applicable to the work we
are doing in schools. In this chapter, the subtle messages
we give children (and each other) are discussed. “You’re so
smart” really means “If I don’t learn this quickly, I must not
be smart.” Dweck cautions, “Praising children’s intelligence
harms their motivation and it harms their performance…the
minute they hit a snag, their confidence goes out the window
and their motivation hits rock bottom. If success means they’re
smart, then failure means they’re dumb (170).” Chapter 7
gives examples of the kind of praise we should be using in our
classrooms. “Praise should deal with not the child’s personality
attributes, but with her efforts and achievements.”
When we are faced with challenges as administrators,
we need to remember that how we interpret the challenges
is our choice. These situations can become setbacks (fixed
mindset) or opportunities (growth mindset). Given all that we
have to juggle these days, we cannot afford to fall back on a
fixed mindset. Believing we will never get there won’t make
a difference. Believing we can get there, will. Learn more at
mindsetonline.com.
Rather than seeing professional
development as a separate event from
other meetings, Ten Minute Inservice
helps us maximize the short blocks of
time we may already have.
One of the easiest ways to do this
is through faculty meetings. Instead of
hosting a faculty meeting based solely on
announcements, carve out this time for
professional development. When you do this, you’ll need some
ideas on how to use this time to shift your school’s focus. The
Ten Minute Inservice is exactly the book that can help take you
there.
The Ten Minute Inservice is made up of five parts
dedicated to the following areas: classroom management,
teaching practices, improving school culture, learning from
others, and what makes a great teacher. Each part has five to
eight “inservices” scripted out for your use.
Two of my favorite inservices are “Twenty Five Reasons
to be Proud of Our School” and “Your Favorite Teacher.” The
directions for the first required me to present my own list of
strengths regarding our school. I had five reasons identified
and shared those out with faculty and then, broken into teams,
asked the groups of teachers to come up with at least five
more reasons. We then shared our responses and charted
them for all to see. “With this one simple activity, you have
helped remind teachers that what they do matters, you have
encouraged them to consider all that is positive about the
school.” I rewrote our list that evening and proudly displayed it
on our office door.
The second inservice, “Your Favorite Teacher” is from the
“What Makes a Great Teacher” section. The activity requires
you to ask a group to think about their favorite teacher and how
he/she made them feel. Then, responses are charted as taken
from the group. The next part of the exercise is challenging the
group to think about what has not been charted or mentioned.
The point is to remind ourselves that we would want today’s
students to say and remember the same things we do when
we recall our favorite teacher. We have the opportunity to
become that memory. The third part of the exercise is to ask
the teachers: “Are these the same characteristics your students
would list about you? (176).” When I posed this question to
the group of teachers I was working with, they grew silent. It
hit home. The inservice concludes by asking the participants
to commit to writing their own list (from the charted list of
characteristics) that they want to be sure they demonstrate
starting tomorrow and each day after.
These activities are just two of the 40 available
suggestions in the book. “One of the most important goals of
every faculty meeting should be for all teachers to walk out
more excited about teaching and more effective tomorrow that
than were today (1)”.
REVIEWS BY LISA MEADE
Lisa Meade is a practicing middle school
principal who also served as a director of
special education. She began her career
as a teacher, where she remained for 12
years before moving into administrative
leadership areas of responsibility. She has
previously done consultant workshops for
SAANYS and is very highly regarded for
her passion and her considerable work
expertise. This year marks Lisa’s 21st year
in education. One of Lisa’s most favorite
roles is that of mom to her son Sam.
15
FYI
DATA&STATS
“Play at school is more than recess. It can be any activity, in the classroom or
out, that fascinates the brain. When teachers use play in the curriculum and let
children follow their own interests, learning happens. When learning is selfinitiated and self-directed that way, it goes deeper and lasts longer.”
TRENDING
IN ED
The Strong National Museum of Play – Rochester, NY
For more about the correlation between play and child development, including
resources for educators, visit The Strong at http://bit.ly/1aKVice.
TRENDING ON...
THE TEACHING CHANNEL
Setting the Tone
from Day One
Scan or visit:
http://teachingchannel.org/
videos/setting-classroom-tone
TRENDING ON...YOUTUBE
An eye-pad for the blind and
much more from this 15 yr. old
Scan or visit:
http://youtu.be/wSVYvUHg4UA
TRENDING ON...TWITTER
What Does the PISA Report
Tell Us About U.S. Education?
Scan or visit:
http://youtu.be/XchNCnYo6KA
OPINIONS
“Necessity may be the mother of invention,
but play is certainly the father.”
– Roger von Oech
(US DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION)
Contemporary American creativity guru
“When we have tests in every subject almost
every day in September, it’s incredibly difficult to lay
a foundation of comfort and joy in school. They’re only
seven years old.”
– Kathleen Ferguson
TRENDING ON...ED.GOV
New York State Teacher of the Year during testimony before the Senate Education Committee
16
School Climate and Discipline
Scan or visit:
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/
guid/school-discipline/index.
html
Download a QR code
reader app on your
smart phone or tablet
to launch these videos.
VANGUARDFEATURESTORY
SCHOOL CLIMATE:
Why It Matters
Now More Than Ever
By Peter DeWitt, EdD
Bullying, cyberbullying, school shootings, and school safety are topics that
schools hear far too much about these days. When it comes to bullying and
cyberbullying, the incidents that are reported are usually not as harmful as
the incidents that go unreported.
School shootings are one step deeper into this sad reality. Recently, two
teenagers were killed at a Colorado high school; one of whom by his own
gun, and the other an innocent victim who died eight days later after fighting
a difficult battle. Over the years there have been a series of shootings that
have taken place in high schools and middle schools around the United
States. All of them have been tragic, but none more devastating than what
happened in Newtown last year. Newtown made all this feel a bit closer to
home, and the reality set in that this type of tragedy could happen anywhere.
17
VANGUARDFEATURESTORY
As a result, school districts around
New York State have had to put
safeguards in place. Whether it’s
practicing lockdowns and intruder
drills, or keeping their buildings in
perpetual lockout all day, every day.
As we hear about students who do
not often get an opportunity to go out
and play like we did when we were
young, those same students are now
entering buildings that can seem more
like a police station than a welcoming
place to learn. Schools have tried, and
continue to try, to strike a balance
between keeping students safe and
maintaining a nurturing environment
that focuses on social-emotional
learning (SEL). As school leaders and
their communities delve deeper into
SEL, there is confusion between school
climate and school culture. It may
seem like splitting hairs, but they are
not the same when we truly wish to
talk about more than safety and
enter into the social-emotional
dialogue.
School culture is about
how safe students and staff
feel on a daily basis. It’s a
cross between proactive
safety precautions
and reactive safety
measures.
As vitally
important
as school
safety is,
there is more
to the educational
conversation. School
climate is more encompassing
than school culture, as defined by
The National School Climate Center
(NSCC):
“…the quality and character
of school life. School climate is
based on patterns of students’,
parents,’ and school personnel’s
experience of school life and
reflects norms, goals, values,
interpersonal relationships,
teaching and learning practices,
and organizational structures.
A sustainable, positive school
climate fosters youth development
and learning necessary for a
productive, contributing, and
satisfying life in a democratic
society. This climate includes:
•Norms, values, and expectations
that support people feeling
socially, emotionally, and
physically safe.
•People who are engaged and
respected.
•Students, families, and educators
working together to develop,
live, and contribute to a shared
school vision.
•Educators who model and
nurture attitudes that emphasize
the benefits and satisfaction
gained from learning.
•Each person contributes to the
operations of the school and the
care of the physical environment.”
School climate is about proactive
instructional strategies, and creating
an infrastructure that encourages
student voice, as well as community
input. And it now is more
important than ever to reflect on
our own school climate, and
make sure that we have a
well-rounded community
voice involved in it. What
adds
to the
confusion
about the
difference between
climate and culture
is that there is not a
unified definition of
what school climate
means. Jonathan Cohen,
the executive director of
NSCC says,
“There is not a
nationally agreed
upon definition for
“school climate,“ “a
positive and sustained
school climate,” and an “effective
school climate process.” The lack
of a shared definition results
in different practitioners and
researchers operationally defining
school climate in very different
ways. Some states for example,
still suggest that school climate
only refers a safety related issues
(2009).”
18
THE BIG 4
There are four important elements to
school climate, and they are:
1. Engagement
a. Student Engagement
b. Stakeholder Engagement
2. Empowerment and Autonomy
3. Inclusivity and Equity
4. Environment
ENGAGEMENT
When it comes to student
engagement, teachers
should make learning
visible. Visible Learning
(Hattie 2009) is about encouraging
student engagement, and it becomes
visible when teachers are transparent
in their intentions and students know
exactly where they are going, even
when the going gets tough. Visible
Learning is led by three important
questions, which are:
•Where am I going?
What are my goals?
•How am I going? What progress
is being made towards the goal?
•Where am I going to next? What
activities need to be undertaken
next to make better progress?
Learning intentions and success
criteria make learning more about
student growth than about
completing a list of tasks with
scripted lessons. Student engagement
is about preparing students for those
moments when they are going it alone
or with other peers, and an adult isn’t
present to solve the issue.
How do we get a broad range of
representatives from the community
more involved? Some schools have
not always been welcoming. One
of the ways to engage teachers
and parents is through the flipped
method. Flipped leadership uses
the same premise as the flipped
classroom model. School leaders can
VANGUARDFEATURESTORY
send a video, a link to an article, or
information about new mandates
and budget issues. Leaders change
the information to fit the stakeholder
they are trying to engage. It helps
faculty meetings become more about
authentic educational conversations
and professional
development, and keeps
parents better engaged
in the school community.
It’s not about replacing
communication methods,
but enhancing them.
EMPOWERMENT AND
AUTONOMY
Empowerment and autonomy
is about providing teachers with the
support to be risk-takers and not rule
followers. It’s about giving them the
freedom to step away from a script,
and use a variety of resources to make
sure they are meeting the needs of
all learners. This doesn’t just stop at
teachers, because too often school
leaders don’t always feel as though
they have autonomy, especially in
these days of increased accountability.
It’s important to any school climate
that leaders feel as though they
can strike a balance between the
mandates and creativity.
INCLUSIVITY AND EQUITY
Inclusivity and equity lead to
more difficult conversations about
marginalized groups within a school
system. Teachers and school leaders
need to ensure that there are books
available, and curriculum taught,
that encompass race, gender, and
sexual orientation. Fortunately,
in New York State the
Dignity for All Students Act
(DASA) protect teachers
and leaders who are
progressively taking on this
issue.
Equity is another difficult
issue facing schools. Whether it’s
poverty, lack of human and technical
resources, severe budget cuts, or
overburdened school leaders, the
discrepancy between the “haves”
and “have nots” is widening.
ENVIRONMENT
Lastly, the school’s physical
environment plays a vital role
in the school climate. A positive
school environment is one that
is inviting. It’s a place where the
school secretary is welcoming to
visitors and friendly to students.
The environment in a positive and
inclusive school climate is where
school leaders know the students’
names, and teachers are encouraged
19
Do’s & Don’t of
School Climate
Do:
•Participate in a comprehensive
school climate survey
•Create a stakeholder group that
involves all stakeholders in your
school community. Principal’s
Advisory Councils (PAC) offer
a good structure as long as the
group has consistent members,
diverse thinkers, and focus on
creating a better school climate.
PAC is not about complaining
about morale.
•Make school climate a yearly goal,
with a daily focus.
•Understand that surveys may not
tell you everything you want to
hear. Change is hard.
•Understand that school climate
involves formal and informal
communication, verbal and
nonverbal (body language)
interactions.
Don’t:
•Assume that creating and
participating in a school
climate survey means you are
addressing school climate. If
you don’t do anything with the
survey, you are merely wasting
everyone’s time.
•Feel as though you have to
take on school climate alone.
You need a strong group of
individuals and sometimes an
outside group.
•Ignore non-profit organizations
that would like to get into
school to help. These non-profits
may be LGBT community
centers or other organizations
that represent marginalized
populations.
VANGUARDFEATURESTORY
to create creative learning spaces for
students by hanging up student work
in the classroom and hallways, for
example.
WHY DOES ALL OF
THIS MATTER?
Individual school climates are
becoming more and more stressed
under the weight of increased
accountability and unfunded mandates.
To make matters worse, the New
York State Education Department’s
lackluster implementation of the
Common Core State Standards came
at a time when new Common Core
assessments were tied to new teacher
and administrator evaluations, and
schools lacked the necessary resources
to prepare teachers and school leaders
for this shift in student learning. All
of this stress leads to conversations
about low morale, teachers and leaders
leaving the profession, and increased
anxiety for students.
In an interview for Vanguard,
Jonathan Cohen said, “American public
education is one of the few remaining
sectors of our society that is not explicitly supportive of a continuous model
of improvement. I suggest that this is a
very big deal. And, it – understandably
– undermines school leaders’ willingness to embark on a multi-year process
of improvement, when they know they
will be judged on the basis of students’
cognitive test score alone THIS YEAR.”
Unfortunately, there are some roadblocks to the process of improving
school climate. Cohen continues, “I
think that there are two factors that
contribute to
school leaders
not focusing
more on school
climate reform
efforts. One
is that school
leaders know
less rather than
more about these
guidelines and
tools. My sense
is that most
school leaders have some
understanding and great
appreciation for
school climate
reform efforts. But, many are not aware
of these kinds of resources. The second
factor is that policy challenges exist.”
Considering the lack of a clear
definition of school climate and the
countless hours school leaders spend
on unfunded mandates and increased
accountability, there is no question why
school climate improvement seems like
such an enormous task. But Cohen says
that many school leaders and teachers
want school climate to be their focus.
“Principals, superintendents,
and classroom leaders have
an expressed need for more
detailed guidelines and tools,
which is a major finding from a
national survey that the Character
Education Partnership, the
National Dropout Prevention
Center, and our Center have
issued.”
WHERE DO SCHOOL
LEADERS BEGIN?
Organizations like the National
School Climate Center (NSCC) work
with schools around the country on
developing and improving a more
inclusive school climate. In addition
to working with schools, NSCC has
partnerships with the United Nations,
the State Department, and many other
national organizations. Cohen and
the rest of the NSCC team begin with
their National School Climate Resource
Center (SCRC), which is one of the
largest, and highly useful, resources
that focus on comprehensive school
climate for schools. Cohen said,
20
“One of the organizing ideas behind
the School Climate Resource Center
(SCRC) is to put together a set of
practice guidelines, tools, learning
modules and forums that support
school leaders understanding and
addressing the tasks/challenges
that shape school climate
improvement efforts.”
The National School Climate
Center does offer practice efforts as well
as face-to-face work to help schools
negotiate their way through school
climate improvement. Those are:
•School Climate Implementation
Road Map.
•Readiness Assessment Self Study.
•Process or “end of stage”
assessment self-study (both for
principals and their leadership
teams), and a growing number of
learning modules.
•District level sample policies for
school boards and central office
leaders.
•Community Scale and SchoolCommunity Partnership Process
(that is co-led by middle and/or
high school students).
IN THE END
Being a school leader is not an
easy job, especially in our present
educational system. Leaders have to
make school safety and learning their
top priorities at the same time they
negotiate their way through unfunded
mandates, increased accountability,
implementation of the Common Core
State Standards, high stakes testing,
budget cuts, and the fear of school
intruders. However, there is no better
time to improve the focus around
school climate.
Cohen says, “There are very real
legal, policies, and educational
accountability systems that
challenge school leaders’ focus on
school climate reform today. School
climate reform honors and supports
(i) students pro-social learning, (ii)
adult/educator learning and PLC’s
and (iii) a continuous process of
learning and improvement. Current
educational accountability systems
and related policies tend to focus
on students cognitive learning
VANGUARDFEATURESTORY
alone and are too often punitive
in a nature and only recognize/
measure students cognitive
learning THIS YEAR.”
Our students are at more risk
than ever of leaving us feeling as
though they were nothing more than
a number, and as hard as it may be,
we need to help them understand we
know they are more than that.
PETER DEWITT, EdD is an
independent education consultant
and workshop facilitator working
with schools around North America
on creating inclusive school climates,
teacher evaluation, and he is a
Visible Learning trainer for John
Hattie, director of research at the
University of Melbourne (Australia).
Peter is the co-chair of the National
School Climate Council which is the
steering committee for the National
School Climate Center and the
author of Dignity for All: Safeguarding
LGBT Students (Corwin Press). His
forthcoming books on school climate
(ASCD) and flipped leadership
(Corwin Press) will be released in
the spring 2014. He can be found at
www.petermdewitt.com.
Cohen, J., McCabe, E.M, Michelli,
N.M & Pickeral, T. (2009). School
Climate: Research, Policy, Teacher
Education and Practice. Teachers
College Record, Volume 111:
Issue 1: pp. 180-213. (Available
on: http://www.tcrecord.org/
Content.asp?ContentId=15220)
Cohen, J. & Pickeral, T, (2009). The
School Climate Implementation
Road Map: Promoting
Democratically Informed School
Communities and the Continuous
Process of School Climate
Improvement. New York, NY:
National School Climate Center.
(www.schoolclimate.org/climate/
roadmap.php) National School
Climate Center (NSCC) http://
www.schoolclimate.org/
Cohen, J, Jonathan Cohen,
Dorothy L. Espelage, Stuart W.
Twemlow, Marvin W. Berkowitz &
James P. Comer (2013). Rethinking
effective bully and violence
prevention efforts: Promoting
healthy school climates, positive
youth development, and
preventing bully-victim-bystander.
21
Share your ideas and
successful practices and
submit an article for the
winter Practices from
Practitioners issue on social
media and
digital leadership.
from practitioners
WINTER 2014
Vol. 43 No. 1
I Can’t
Do It All...
BALANCE
And That’s Okay
I’ll never forget my first day of graduate school when I was pursuing
By Mark Mambretti
my administrative degree. The professor walked in and (with his tongue
planted firmly in his cheek), said: “Being a principal is the easiest job in
the world. All you need to do is keep state ed, seven board members, one
superintendent, over a hundred faculty and staff members, five hundred
kids, and a thousand-plus parents perfectly happy every single day in every
single way.”
25
PRACTICES: I CAN’T DO IT ALL
When I tell this story, principals
share the same nervous laugh because
they know: we are expected to be all
things to all people while dealing
with complex and ever-changing
issues that need our attention. There
is an ever-growing list of things we
are mandated to do, that we are
obligated to do, things that we ‘must’
do. There are things we are legally
(and morally!) responsible for. There
are items that need our attention,
phone calls to return, forms to fill
out, e-mails to respond to. There are
decisions we need to make, meetings
we need to be a part of, stake-holders
we need to take time to genuinely sit
and listen and share and collaborate
with. We need to take time to be in
classrooms and observe and sit and
watch and learn. We need to sit with
children and help them grow in their
understanding of proper behavior. We
need to tend to our own professional
development. And then there are the
necessary (and often unexpected)
interactions we have with the students
and their parents, faculty and staff
who come into our buildings each
day. And we’re expected to handle it
all perfectly!
Under the best of circumstances,
the demands on a principal’s time
are infinite. In the current climate
of APPR, Common Core, and the
Regent’s Reform Agenda, this has
only grown exponentially true.
So, how do we deal with it? Well,
let’s begin with honesty: a principal
cannot do everything that is expected
of them and do it all with the quality
that is demanded. Not everyone will
be “perfectly happy every single day
in every single way.” And here’s the
hard part for a profession dominated
by type-a, high-energy, anxiety-ridden
perfectionists: and that’s okay. Read
that again… slowly… that’s okay.
And why is it okay? Because not
being able to “do it all” doesn’t mean
we can’t do good work – really great
work even – and a whole lot of it!
It doesn’t mean we can’t lead great
schools. It doesn’t mean we cannot
effectively and efficiently manage
buildings. It doesn’t mean we can’t
26
be educational leaders to faculty
and staff. And, most importantly, it
doesn’t mean we can’t help children
develop knowledge and skills,
explore new interests, and grow into
their full potential.
Coming to peace with the truth
that we can’t do it all, brings with it
a sense of liberation. If I can’t do it
all then I don’t need to try to do it
all! I don’t need to be the expert in
7th grade social studies – I have a 7th
grade social studies teacher for that.
Same for 5th grade math. And for PE
and music. And Spanish. And boilers.
And snow-removal. In fact, if I have
to do these folk’s jobs, then one of us
is unnecessary!
Our authority as building leaders
does not derive from our ability
to ‘do it all’. On a sports team, a
winning coach can’t necessarily play
any position better than the player
– and he definitely cannot play all
of them better! Being ‘better’ is not
where he earns his authority. He leads
by setting the tone, identifying the
mission, coordinating the movement,
PRACTICES: I CAN’T DO IT ALL
and providing the resources that
allow for each player to reach his
potential.
As principal, what I need to focus
on is what I can do – and do that to
the best of my ability. What I need to
do is make sure my team of highlytalented and caring professionals has
the conditions, coordination, support,
and resources, necessary to do their
job well. If I focus on my job – and do
it well – the teachers will be able to
focus on their job – and do it well!
Yes, even in this overwhelming
climate, great work can happen, if
things are done in the right order and
with the right focus.
A STORY
A professor stood before his
class with some items on the table in
front of him. When the class began,
wordlessly he picked up a large,
empty jar and proceeded to fill it with
rocks, about 2” in diameter.
He then asked his students if the
jar was full. They all agreed that it
was. So the professor then picked up
a box of pebbles and poured them
into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles, of course, rolled into the
open areas between the rocks. He then
asked the students again if the jar was
full. Again, they agreed it was.
The professor picked up a
box of sand and poured it into the
jar. Of course, the sand filled up
everything else. He then asked once
more if the jar was full. The students
responded with a unanimous “yes.”
The professor then produced a glass
of water and proceeded to pour
their entire contents into the jar –
effectively filling the empty space
between the sand.
What is the moral of this story?
Does it teach us that there’s always
room for us to do more? That we can
always ‘fit just a little more into our
already packed days? No. It teaches
us that if you put the sand into the jar
first, there is no room for the rocks or
the pebbles. To make it all work, we
need to put the right things in the jar
first.
The ability to sort, categorize, and
prioritize ever-evolving issues (and
“The most necessary
skill to being
successful is knowing
what to ignore.”
to be in a constant cycle of doing
so) is essential. We start each day
with a pile on our desk – and just
when we start working on them a
rock flies into our office and hits
us square in the head! The first
question is not: how am I going to
get it all done? The first question
is: what order do I put them in the
jar?
Having clear priorities and
discerning which tasks move us
closer to those priorities allows us
to flourish. Mastering the art of
discernment allows a principal to
tackle the right issues, in the right
order, in the right way and at the right
time.
Does focusing on the rocks make
the pebbles… and the sand… and
the water… magically go away? No.
Can we ignore the ‘gritty sand’ of
our jobs? No. But I’ve learned that
if you focus on the right things first,
everything else tends to find its place.
I once came across the quotation
that I now keep in my office: “The
most necessary skill to being
successful is knowing what to
ignore.”
27
It is knowing which problems
are, indeed, problems and which
are drama. It is believing that not all
crises are created equal. It is sensing
which phone calls need to be returned
immediately or which ‘faculty room
issues’ will explode if left unattended.
It is discerning which critics are trying
to make you better by their critique
and which are trying to tear you
down with their criticism.
I’d say that the converse of the
quotation is also true: not ignoring
what shouldn’t be ignored is equally
important. The key is to know the
difference! Constantly, I ask myself:
What can I ignore? What can’t I
ignore? What do I need to ignore…
but just for now?
PRACTICES: I CAN’T DO IT ALL
This quotation doesn’t just impact
my in-building leadership. I’ve
found that it is also very important
on the personal level. Our job, by
its nature, is never ‘done.’ There is
always something else demanding
our attention,
something else
sitting on
our desk.
There’s
always
something
else to
put in the
jar. But,
without
the ability
to say
“I’ve done enough for today,” life can
quickly lose its balance and I cannot
refocus and recharge.
This is why I think principal
burnout is so high: When you care
about your school, your teachers, and
your student’s success as much as
most principals do, it is very difficult
to walk away – even for an evening.
But, unless you can do so, you’ll
never be as effective as you can be.
Yes, there are things we can do;
chief among them is restructuring
how we handle our administrative
duties (NB: For an interesting
read, research the Wallace
Foundation’s idea of splitting school
administration into “School Principal”
and “School Manager” – a 1/1A
model*).
But, in the end, how do we find a
way to manage our time and energy
in these crazy and complex times?
By always remembering to put first
things first.
28
People before paperwork.
Feelings before forms.
Caring about children before the Core.
Some things are rocks and others
are sand. Yes, some of it is very
important sand. But, at the end of the
day…. it’s still just sand. Build your
school on rock.
*http://www.wallacefoundation.org/
Pages/SAM.aspx
MARK MAMBRETTI, principal of
East Aurora Middle School. Mark is
also the SAANYS and NASSP New
York State Middle School Principal of
the Year.
How To Juggle Constant
Change Through A Strong
SCHOOL
CULTURE
School
Culture
In the midst of juggling multiple mandates, have you been successful in
By Michael Cipolla
finding an ultimate solution to managing the often “laborious” task of filing
proverbial paperwork, writing reports, and meeting demanding deadlines?
Like you, this is a part of my responsibility and I need continue to find ways
to complete these tasks, ensuring high quality and meaningful feedback.
29
PRACTICES: SCHOOL CULTURE
The most recent requirements
of Annual Professional Performance
Review (APPR), implementation of
Common Core Learning Standards
(CCLS) and other mandates
have certainly challenged us as
professionals to become astute
educational leaders as it pertains
to efficiency and maximizing our
resources. Let’s take it a step further
and examine the impact these
demands have had on our school
community culture and climate.
Depending on where we work and
live, the impact of CCLS and APPR is
a mix between positive and negative.
As educational leaders, we must foster
an environment that is academically
rigorous, safe for children, and
inspiring for all employees to work.
Let’s focus on championing these
changes while sustaining a positive
culture.
1. Have you allowed the increase in
demands (APPR, CCLS, etc.) to
negatively impact your visibility
in classrooms, in the cafeteria, in
hallways, or at school functions?
If so, your school culture may be
at a detriment. As leaders, one of
the greatest contributions we can
offer is our support of programs,
students and employees. If we
allow other factors to impact
this meaningful duty, our school
climate may suffer.
2. Have these demands impacted
your own professional goals in
creating an environment that
challenges students to take
academic risks free of scrutiny
from peers or adults? We are
directly responsible to create
a climate where students,
faculty and staff take risks.
The CCLS and APPR are not
tools to asphyxiate academic
development in classrooms.
However, if not implemented
properly, without a school
climate that rewards creativity
and taking risks, these demands
can easily stifle potential
development.
3. Given the uniqueness of school
communities, what strategies are
in place to evaluate your school
climate? Depending on your role
as a school leader, accountability
to groups may be abundant.
30
Students, parents, school boards
and supervisors are some of
the obvious groups that require
our direct attention as leaders.
Given the aforementioned
demands, how do we allow
these relationships to flourish
while meeting deadlines and
increased “desk” time?
A positive school culture might
be the number one key to success in
education. Measuring success will
vary among leaders and communities.
However, a school culture that is
based on continuous academic growth
that is both safe and nurturing should
be a common goal for educational
institutions.
So, what is the solution to
managing the increase in demands
while maintain a key role in the
development of a positive school
culture?
The answer to this question
looks different among leaders and
communities. If we were to visit
webpages of school districts around
the state of New York, the common
theme among mission statements
would be to provide programming
PRACTICES: SCHOOL CULTURE
and opportunities for students that
will fulfill skillsets necessary for
lifelong learning.
Often, we allow ourselves to become
overwhelmed in education with day
to day operations or “desk” tasks and
forget about the core value in which
our careers are based. Our careers are
based on the development of students.
Let’s examine a few ways to regain or
refocus our goals:
1. Does your leadership style
permit for failure of yourself and
others? Most of us acknowledge
that trying something new in a
classroom or in the building can
be a bit uncomfortable. If your
leadership style allows for failure
as a tool for learning, students
and adults will be more apt to
challenge themselves in various
ways. This is the foundation for
creativity.
2. Does your leadership
develop, empower and garner
appreciation for the skillsets
around you? Often, we as leaders
fall into a mindset that we need
to accomplish every task and
initiative presented to us. For
some of us, it is our nature to
dedicate countless hours to see
projects to fruition. And why
wouldn’t we? With this comes
a sense of pride and ownership.
As leaders, this often leaves
behind a desk taking on the
roles of multiple people. A
leadership style that empowers
others to utilize their talents will
create a positive climate that
is continuously developing to
meet the needs of your school
culture. Our challenge is to
inspire leaders within our school.
Allow others to feel a sense of
pride, accomplishment and
professional growth. Ask for
feedback and input. Challenge
those around you to develop.
3. Learn through failure.
Remembering that we learn
through mistakes and taking
risks for the betterment of
students, will always produce
positive dividends. Criticism for
failure only becomes negative
when we do not move forward
and find ways to improve
upon what we know and have
learned. This applies to school
leaders, our students, teachers,
staff and members of our school
community.
4. Ensure all of your efforts
continue to be student centered.
Our students are our most
valuable asset and are a wealth
of knowledge when evaluating
school climate. When student
programming, such as character
education, is student driven
it becomes more meaningful
and manageable. For example,
requirements like the Dignity for
All Students Act will develop
into an impactful and selfsustaining program when led by
students. Academically, asking
students what is working in
the classroom and what is not
will provide leadership with
feedback to develop educational
programming. Insight from the
students provides direction for
teachers, principals, and district
leaders.
This may or may not be a recipe
for “desk” management, but it may
be a solution for maintaining a school
culture where everyone contributes
and values their role in the educational
process. Keeping our energy focused
on students will always guarantee a
school climate that is rewarding and
based on continuous growth.
MICHAEL CIPOLLA, High School
Principal, Southwestern Central
School District Class of 2014 Future
Superintendents’ Academy, New
York State Council of School
Superintendents, Guest Presenter,
St. Bonaventure University.
Topics include:
–Creating a Positive School Climate During Uncertain Times
–Dignity for All Students Act
The School Counselor and Principal Relationship
–Academic Intervention Services – Implementation & Service
31
Interactive Walkthroughs That
Empower Students and Staff
and Create
DYNAMIC
SYNERGY
Dynamic Synergy
Given the new requirements for APPR I felt that my role has been changed
By John E. McKenna
significantly from an instructional leader to a lead evaluator. Having to
conduct at least 3 evaluations on each staff member made me feel more like
a policeman than a principal. I felt as though I was spending all of my time
evaluating staff using negotiated rubrics and all of my interactions were
based on metrics and not teaching strategies or the dynamic interactions
between students and teachers.
33
PRACTICES: INTERACTIVE WALKTHROUGHS
It was starting to affect my
relationships with my staff because
every interaction was becoming
evaluative and autocratic in nature. I
knew I had to do something to build
trust and positive relationships with
my staff and let them know that I
value their professional opinion. I
also wanted to enjoy time with the
students and create a culture where
a walkthrough could be a positive
experience for students, teachers
and myself. The question was how
do you do this given the regulations
and negotiated agreements? I came to
the conclusion that I had to develop
a different system separate from
the negotiated agreements and the
corporate reform political policies
related to the Regents Reform Agenda.
I realized that I had to “give to Caesar
what is Caeser’s” but I also had to
give to my students and staff the
caring, empowering environment
they deserve. Thus, I created a dual
system where students and staff
are empowered and respected in a
supportive environment. Here is a
summary of the simple and positive
walkthrough model I developed.
DEVELOP A SIMPLE TEMPLATE TO
CATCH TARGET INFORMATION
It is important
to identify what specific
information you want to collect.
This also emphasizes what you
value and want to see come alive
in classrooms. The key to an
effective information catcher is to
keep it as simple as possible and
make sure it is related to skills
and strategies that students are
familiar with. You want to be
able to dialogue with students
about the lesson so it needs to
be developed with terms they
understand. It is also important
to ensure the template catches
information that is seen as
relevant to teachers. Therefore, it
is critical to develop the template
cooperatively with your staff.
I developed mine with my
Building Leadership Team. We
broke it into 3 main areas we felt
provided key information that
could be collected easily and
effectively:
1. Levels of Engagement to identify what levels of Blooms taxonomy were evident in the classroom.
2. CCLS Target Skills to ensure instruction was focused on standards and
3. Stars/Wishes/ and Reflections to promote
positive interactions between teachers and principals as well as encourage self
reflection of the staff.
The template to catch this
information was developed in
simplistic terms so everyone
including students could
understand how to complete
it. A copy of the walkthrough
template is on the adjacent page.
EMPOWER STUDENTS TO PROVIDE
INFORMATION
When I enter a classroom I
immediately look for students
working on a task. I want to talk
to them and find out what they are
working on and what their level of
comprehension is. I openly tell them
I am here to gather some information
about what they are doing and ask
them to help me fill out the template.
Note: I previously shared the sheets
with the teachers and students at
the start of the year and told them
I would be coming around to do
this so they are aware of what I am
looking for. I ask the students what
levels of Blooms Taxonomy they
believe they are working on. I show
them the sheet with the choices and
we dialogue about the various ways
they are engaged in the lesson. I have
them explain to me why they choose
one or more of the levels. I simply
put a tally next to the Blooms levels
they justify to me. After we discuss
the level of engagement I point to
the next category on the sheet and
ask them what CCLS ELA skills they
are working on. This is usually very
straight forward and students should
be able to tell you the skill they are
working on. If they can’t then you
34
know you got a problem that may
need a different level of supervision.
Again, I simply put tally marks
next to the skills they are working
on. For the areas of math, science
and social studies I provide a blank
line and have the students tell me
what skills they are working on. It is
very enlightening to have students
describe their perception of what
they are learning and takes the bias
out of administrative opinions.
The tallies are totally based on
student responses. I was pleasantly
surprised to see how students liked
to share and impressed with their
understanding of the concepts. They
feel empowered and enjoy sharing
what they know.
CATCH ‘EM BEING GOOD
I always preached to my staff
to “catch their kids being good” to
build their confidence and promote
trust between themselves and their
students. I realized that this concept
is good for promoting positive
relationships between principals and
teachers as well. To bring this to life
with my staff I added the section
stars and wishes on the template. I
learned this technique watching my
students use the “Step up to Writing”
program. It is a simple technique
where students find two good things
“Stars” and one area of improvement
a “wish” regarding another students
work. I took this concept and
applied it to my walkthroughs with
a few modifications. When I get to
this point during the walkthrough
process, I fill out the section entitled
“Stars” and find at least 2 good
aspects that I liked during the
walkthrough. Some lessons are
easier than others but I know I can
find at least 2 good things in every
class I visit. This allows me to focus
on the positive and builds trust
with the staff because they know I
am looking for “good stuff.” After I
have completed the “Stars” I leave
the paper on the teachers’ desk and
leave the room. I let the teachers fill
out the section on “wishes” and any
“Reflections/Thoughts they may
have.
PROMOTE SELF REFLECTION
The reason I have the teachers fill out
PRACTICES: INTERACTIVE WALKTHROUGHS
those sections is because I want them
to become self-reflective practitioners
and think about methods and ways
they could have improved the lesson.
I realized that when they come up
with answers themselves it is much
more powerful than me telling them
what I think. Besides I have 3 formal
observations that I have to conduct
where I get plenty of opportunity to
give my opinion. This gives teachers
an opportunity to reflect and improve
without the fear of being evaluated
by some form of metric. It gives
them the opportunity to share their
thoughts and opinions. I have found
that given this power teachers are
very tough on themselves and usually
find multiple critical points they
wish they did differently. I often find
myself telling them they are being to
hard on themselves and complement
them for the high standards they
have for themselves. I get to be
supportive and encouraging and that
is critical in building positive, collegial
relationships. I also must point out
that the teachers have come up with
some excellent ideas for improvement
that they would never have
discovered using just the negotiated
APPR model. The reflections and
thoughts from our dialogue have
generated many positive initiatives
that have transposed into real practice
that has directly helped our students
and staff.
NON-EVALUATIVE BUT
SUPPORTIVE
One point that is essential to the
success of this program is that it is
based on supporting teachers and
respecting there professionalism. It
is non evaluative and designed to
illicit open dialogue to help teachers
improve their practice. Self-reflection
is key and must be done in a non
threatening way to help staff feel
comfortable in looking critically at
their practice. APPR, high stakes
testing, and merit pay are divisive,
controversial evaluative methods
that have not been proven to build
trust. That is why a system that
empowers teachers and students
is imperative to developing a
supportive environment that
promotes self-reflection and allows
best practice to be embraced by the
entire school community.
NURTURING, POSITIVE
SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT
Empowering students and staff
is critical to fostering a positive
school climate. It also allows creative
ideas to flow in a non- threatening
environment. The system I described
is a simple and effective way to
build trust. It has been a catalyst for
fostering positive interactions and
synergy with my staff and students.
It has also helped to bring the joy
back to visiting classrooms and that
is essential to our success as building
leaders.
If you would like any further
information on how you can set up a
similar walkthrough system in your
school please feel free to contact me.
I would be happy to share all I have
learned and help you anyway I can.
DR. JOHN MCKENNA has been
a principal in the Tonawanda City
School District since 1995 and
is known and respected for his
innovative ideas and dedication to
his craft. In 2012 he received the
New York State Outstanding
Educator of the Year Award by
SAANYS. He also serves as the
Western New York chairman for
SAANYS and sits on their New York
State executive board. He also serves
as a national presenter for the HOPE
Foundation and is a Co Founder of
the Partnership for Smarter Schools.
35
A Lesson in Time Management:
Using an iPad for
TIME
MANAGEMENT
Teacher
Evaluations
Over the past year evidence-based observations became a regular occurrence
By Peter DeWitt, EdD
in many public schools across the country. Principals and other school leaders
had to step it up and complete at least two observations of teachers within
their buildings. This was due to new accountability standards in school,
but the political side of this accountability shouldn’t overshadow the
importance of evidence-based observations.
37
PRACTICES: USING AN IPAD FOR TEACHER EVALUATIONS
To be perfectly honest, I’m
not concerned about calling them
evidence-based because our favorite
phrases in education can sometimes
come back to haunt us. However, one
of the issues was the sheer number of
observations that some administrators
had to complete. Many school leaders
found themselves doing observations
almost every day, which was on top of
their other duties. Besides connecting
with students, parents and teachers,
observations offer us a window into
the everyday lives of students. In the
last year I saw teachers doing amazing
things. They facilitated learning and
the students went off on the road to
self-discovery because of the guidance
of their teachers. I sat in the middle of
it all and found it very inspiring. And
in the middle of all these mandates
and accountability...we need to find
inspiration and there is no better place
than with our teachers and students.
As an elementary principal, I
don’t have the number of teachers to
observe that high school and middle
school principals have but I also lack
an assistant principal. That is not a
complaint, just a reality. As I heard
administrators share their concerns
about being able to get observations
completed, I looked to my iPad for
assistance.
IPAD EASES THE BURDEN
For full disclosure, I am not a
technology guru. I work with teachers
that flip their classrooms and parent
communication from time to time,
and I flip my faculty meetings and
parent communication on a regular
basis but I do not always use fancy
apps and cannot speak tech language
fluently. What I am is a practical guy
who looks for ways to impact my time
management.
In our school district we have
been using the Danielson Frameworks
for 13 years (I’ve been there 7) and we
(teachers and administrators) have
worked hard to create a culture that
focuses on continuous improvement
by having many professional
conversations around the frameworks.
I wanted to combine my respect for
the Frameworks and my love for
technology and time management.
A couple of years ago I created a
special page on my iPad under the
“Pages” app that allowed me to create
sections for the 2007 Danielson
Frameworks. It gave me the
opportunity to write in evidence
under each section and then e-mail it
to myself on my desktop computer.
It was there when I walked back to
my office. I could then cut and paste
the evidence into our data portal
that houses all of our teacher Annual
Professional Performance Review
(APPR). It looks like this...
As you can see, it is not some
fancy app created by a multi-million
dollar publisher or Silicon Valley
start-up company. However, as some
administrators spend 3 hours on an
observation, I can cut that time in ½
and still have important professional
conversations with teachers...and I’m
modeling a positive use of technology
to our students.
Our students are growing up
surrounded by technology and most
times know more than we do. I’ve
seen kindergartners negotiate their
way around an iPad with greater ease
than I can, but what I can bring to the
table is the wisdom to know how to
use technology in appropriate ways.
When I walk into the classroom with
my iPad, I’m beginning to model that
behavior.
[I write this on] the 7th
anniversary of Scott McLeod’s
Leadership Day. I first came in contact
with Scott’s work when I saw the
Shift Happens: Did You Know videos
that he created with Karl Fisch. As a
new administrator I was completely
inspired by the video and it has been
a major influence in how I lead.
I understand that many people
have an issue with technology (ie.
Safety, privacy, etc.) but it can also
provide us with an opportunity to
authentically connect like never
before. In honor of Scott’s Leadership
Day, if you are weary of technology,
find one thing you like about
technology and find ways to enhance
it. Using the iPad for observations
was a game changer for me.
PETER DEWITT, EdD is an
independent education consultant
and workshop facilitator working
with schools around North America
on creating inclusive school climates,
teacher evaluation, and he is a
Visible Learning trainer for John
Hattie, director of research at the
University of Melbourne (Australia).
Peter is the co-chair of the National
School Climate Council which is the
steering committee for the National
School Climate Center and the
author of Dignity for All: Safeguarding
LGBT Students (Corwin Press). His
forthcoming books on school climate
(ASCD) and flipped leadership
(Corwin Press) will be released in the
spring 2014. He can be found at www.
petermdewitt.com.
Observation
Planning and Preparation
Demonstrating knowledge of content and pedagogy
Demonstrating knowledge of students
Selecting instructional goals
Demonstrating knowledge of resources
Designing coherent instruction
Assessing student learning
The Classroom Environment
Creating an environment of respect and rapport
Establishing a culture for learning
Managing classroom procedures
Managing student behavior
Organizing physical space
Formative assessment
38
Instruction
Communicating clearly and accurately
Using questioning and discussion techniques
Engaging students in learning
Providing feedback to students
Demonstrating flexibility and responsiveness
Principles, Protocols, and
Practices of
SUCCESSFUL
LEADERS
Successful
Leaders
By Regent James. O. Jackson, PhD
”You don’t lead by pointing and telling people some place to go.
You lead by going to that place and making a case.”
- Ken Kesey
39
PRACTICES: PRINCIPLES, PROTOCOLS, AND PRACTICES
In order for any enterpriseorganization, institution or movementto achieve sustainable success, all of its
members, supporters and constituents
must maximize their commitment
and contributions, while focusing
on attaining established objectives.
However, the organization must have
a leader who is not only practical,
goal-oriented and competent, but
also visionary and bold. The leader
must also have a clear vision and
an unwavering commitment to the
institution, its mission, and to those he
leads.
At all levels in education,
informed, imaginative and thoughtful,
leadership is indispensable to a
school’s success. A leader should
define for students and faculty and
the community what the teaching
and learning standards are and what
can be done to achieve and exceed
them. A leader inspires members
of the school’s learning community
to constantly strive to improve
their performance and to raise their
expectations. They must believe they
can accomplish more than what was
thought to be beyond their abilities,
the range of possibilities and scope of
their expectations and imagination.
To reach these objectives a successful
school leader, like an effective teacher,
must employ an arsenal of skills, ideas
and questions to inspire, to access, to
teach and to engage everyone with
whom he is involved. But, first and
foremost a leader must convince his
colleagues that they are caught up in
a network of destiny, wrapped in a
garment of mutuality, one that when
it affects one of them directly, affects
others indirectly.* When this covenant
of unwavering commitment, trust,
and collaboration is attained a school’s
staff will delivery the highest caliber of
instruction and support services to all
students; and their success, including
consistently high achievement, will be
as natural and as expected/predictable
as the unfolding of the seasons.
It should be borne in mind that
successful leadership has no single
set of characteristics or definition.
However, there are important
protocols, procedures, and principles,
which have consistently proven to
40
be essential to effective leadership.
They include sound intuition,
knowledge of constituency and
organizational culture, common
sense, sensibly applied, a clearly
delineated action plan which identifies
the vision achieving and exceeding
the organization’s goals. Moreover,
recruiting, hiring and retaining the
very best people, supporting them
and giving them the authority and
resources needed to succeed.**
Successful leaders are often passionate
and persuasive and have mastered
Cicero’s Five Canons of Rhetoric.
They are, invention, arrangement,
expression, memory, and delivery.
Cicero describes invention as “the
discovery of valid or seemingly valid
arguments.” He says that arrangement
is “the distribution of arguments in
the proper order.” Further, expression
is deciding on appropriate language
including word choices, which
tailors and clarifies a message. Cicero
explains memory as “the firm mental
grasp of matters and words.” Lastly,
delivery is stated as “the control of
voice and body in a manner suitable
PRACTICES: PRINCIPLES, PROTOCOLS, AND PRACTICES
to the dignity of the subject matter,
and of style.”*** Ability to incorporate
these principles, procedures and
protocols actively in a leader’s
stewardship will bolster his chances
for success.
These observations
notwithstanding, “The ultimate
measure of a ”leader “is not where
he stands in times of comfort
and convenience, but where he
stands in times of challenge and
controversy”.**** So, when problems
arise, the leader, after a thorough
review, must be decisive, make
informed decisions by getting the facts
and consistently telling the truth. It
is critical that he manifest confidence
and competency in all manner of
challenges. Therefore, he must focus
all of his energy on the problem
and expect to succeed 100% of the
time using a labor-intensive systems
approach to problem resolution. If he
fails 25% of the time he is still batting
750.
When a leader is faced with
adversity he must be able to raise his
“game” and that of the members in
his organization. For example, when
in the midst of problem resolution it is
imperative that the leader encourages
his colleagues and constituents to put
personal issues aside and focus their
collective cognitive energies on the
problem(s) and not on each other’s
shortcomings. If the leader permits
them to direct their frustrations and
energies away from the problem(s),
and towards each other, they will not
successfully resolve them and chaos
will result. Instead, the leader must
model rigorous introspective selfanalysis, provide opportunities for
“straight talk” as well as encourage
synergistic collaboration among
the members of the organization.
The leader and each member of
the team must determine what
each can do better, or differently,
which will address the issues or
solve the problem(s). Specifically,
if an organization is to successfully
resolve issues and sustain its progress
all members must be robust and
accountable contributors.
Therefore, the leader must work
collaboratively with the members
of the organization in order to
identify what problem(s) they are
trying to solve and what are the
obstacles hindering the success of the
organization.***** Once they have
been identified, only then should an
action plan be developed, adopted
and implemented. A word of caution:
The leader must not get too far ahead
of his constituency/team or he will
look back and observe that no one
is following. It is important for the
leader to continuously listen to a
range of advisors and constituents
in order to remain connected. In
addition, a highly effective leader
must not only lead constituents but he
must be behind them pushing them
forward and challenging them as well
as beside them providing whatever
support and encouragement that they
require to successfully complete their
shared mission.
While a successful leader must
cooperate and collaborate with his
followers, he must create and support
a climate of possibilities and creativity
not control and he must be at all times
accountable and take responsibility
for failures, and not shift the blame
to others. ****** There may be times
when he must also have the courage
to stand-alone. A worthy leader’s
characteristics should reflect vividly
his ethics, integrity, principles, and
compassion for the health, safety and
welfare of others and the organization
that he represents. It is at these critical
times or junctures that a leader must
have the resolve or ability to stand
along. The poet Rudyard Kipling
summarized it well when he wrote,
“If you can keep your head when
all about you are losing theirs and
blaming it on you, if you can trust
yourself when all men doubt you”
…then and only then, will you have
clearly demonstrated the character
and constitution of an exceptional
leader.
I am most appreciative for
the editorial support and critical
analysis provided by Dr. Rose J.
Jackson, former Principal of the Blue
Creek Elementary in Latham, New
York and Mr. Robert D. McFarland,
former Executive Assistant to
the President of the University at
Albany.
*MLKing
** James Barba, President and CEO,
Albany Medical Center
***Cicero’s Five Canons Of Rhetoric
****MLKing
***** Greg Anrig’s Beyond The
Education Wars: Evidence That
Collaboration Builds Effective Schools
– Specifically, productive school
leaders establish environments
which moderate and eventually
eliminate conflicts between
administrators and teachers. This
transformation is achieved by
adopting innovative initiatives
which promote and embrace greater
collaboration, communication and
shared problem solving between
the school leader and the faculty
which results in a transformation
of the school’s culture into an
environment in which teaching and
learning are paramount.
******Sir Ken Robinson Creativity
and Cultural Education Expert
*******IF Rudyard Kipling
-----Dr. Emmons, retired Pepsi
Executive, Successful leaders know
that “promotion is by nomination
not just application.” Specifically, in
order to be promoted it is essential
that you not only to have acquired
the credentials for the position but
confirm that you can do the job by
having successfully demonstrated,
to the decision maker(s), that you
possess the interpersonal skills to
connected with people.
REGENT JAMES O. JACKSON,
PhD, is the principal Emeritus of
Shaker High School, a William
Randolph Hearst Scholar, a Ford
Foundation and Northwestern
University fellow and an honor
graduate of the John Knox Academy
Kndergarten, Selma, Alabama.
41
APPR:
from Survival to
SUSTAINABILITY
Sustainability
By Bruce H. Crowder, EdD
The purpose of reform should be to improve the status quo. However,
even the best intentions may be endangered without careful planning
and provision, such as clear communication. Transformation poorly
initiated may bring about a less than optimal result. New York State
education reform is at a precipitous state. In order to shift from survival
to sustainability, it must garner local support and passion.
45
43
PRACTICES: SURVIVAL TO SUSTAINABILITY
APPR: HOW DID WE GET THERE?
Approaching the end of year
two of the Annual Professional
Performance Review (APPR)
implementation, an atmosphere of
confusion and healthy skepticism
lays over the condition of NYS
education. A public understanding
of the accountability law is lacking.
A review of the history is helpful. It
began with Race to the Top (RTTT),
the federal program funding the
current educational reform. This was
the impetus and monetary stream
for State adoption of education
accountability, along with Common
Core State Standards (CCSS).
Deadlines for RTTT competition both
facilitated and complicated this phase
because the process in most states
was shortened to only a few months.
By accepting the RTTT funding,
NYS was required to implement
principal and teacher accountability
with a complicated reform agenda.
School districts needed an approved
negotiated plan for accountability,
implementation of new standards
(CCSS), and new assessments aligned
with CCSS. Education Law §3012c and §100.2(o) and Subpart 30-2
of the Commissioner’s regulations
established the requirements for the
school years 2012-13 and beyond.
There would be limited financial and
material support to implement the
reform.
Prior to the implementation
of APPR, the Common Core was
supported throughout the nation.
The National Governors Association
(NGA) and Council of Chief State
School Officers (CCSSO) acted as
policy entrepreneurs in developing
CCSS. This was a successful move to
fulfill the idea of national standards
for K-12 English language arts (ELA)
and mathematics. Data from the
Programme for International Student
Assessment (PISA) and the Trends
in International Mathematics and
Science Study (TIMMS) showed low
achievement of U.S. students when
compared with the nation’s global
competitors. Unlike the United
States, countries with high-achieving
students focused on rigorous and
coherent national standards.
APPR IMPLEMENTATION:
WHERE ARE WE?
What erupted from the State’s
hasty adoption of the reform agenda
was frustration. School districts
were on their own in understanding
the law and implementing it with
limited guidance. SED had not rolled
out Engage NY, nor were regional
teams in place. With emphasis on
accountability, school-based planning,
time for collegiality and sharing,
and instructional improvement
was restricted. Also, adoption of
the Common Core required the
development of new curricula and
newly aligned local assessments.
Attempts to create new K-12 curricula
and assessments as a single reform
initiative in the same timeframe has
proven to be unreasonable.
The first round of State testing for
accountability and student acquisition
of CCSS in the spring of 2013 found
that nearly seventy percent (70%)
of students tested in ELA and
mathematics in grades 3-8 failed the
tests. The results were to be factored
into the measure of principal and
teacher effectiveness against learning
standards not yet implemented.
Worse, students were unfamiliar with
Common Core aligned assessments
and their different formats and
contexts. No wonder such a
prophesized disaster was to take
place. A harsh reaction of educators,
parents, and students followed with
a focus on Common Core and testing.
The disconnect between State testing
and instruction placed educators in
limbo.
APPR: WHAT IS THE EARLY
RESPONSE?
As leaders at the State Education
Department (SED) initiated
information forums about the
Common Core, their affective
forecasting misjudged the public’s
concerns; they got lambasted.
Attempting to introduce the Common
Core to the public after the full reform
was being badly implemented
resulted in a flood of criticism,
primarily directed at testing. Likewise,
there was criticism of the Common
Core as the basis for unreasonable
44
learner expectations. Unsurprisingly,
APPR was the elephant in the room
at each of the informational forums.
Either out of ignorance or arrogance,
the SED failed to take the pulse of
educators and the public with the
rollout of APPR. To its detriment,
SED neglected to relate the Common
Core to APPR. If they had, it may
have helped, but ultimately would
not have changed the public’s
reaction. What has become clear is
the State can require reform, but
not transform it into practice. Press
coverage of the forums prompted
a series of discussions and actions,
particularly those dealing with
testing.
Without adequate understanding,
educators and the public were
astounded by what was happening to
their schools. With abysmal student
testing results on the initial phase of
implementing the Common Core,
it was logical for all stakeholders to
be concerned. In addition, without
support teachers were attempting
to implement the new standards
which created student frustration,
particularly in mathematics. The
Common Core is not a curriculum.
Rather, it functions as the platform
for developing and launching new
curricula for ELA and mathematics
in grades K-12. As yet, this has not
taken place. Past practice would
show that it will take 3-5 years to
develop new curricula. Instructional
modules provided by SED as
examples of Common Core curricular
materials are inadequate and have
not earned the respect of teachers.
Throwing untested materials into the
reform has not helped.
APPR SURVIVAL MODE: HOW
DO YOU BREATHE UNDERWATER?
APPR Survival Mode: How do you
breathe underwater?
While there is general support
for accountability and the Common
Core, the requirements within APPR
law are fraught with considerable
challenges, most of which needed to
be beta-tested in advance to remove
barriers and refine the process
prior to implementation. This was
not done. Therefore, the current
PRACTICES: SURVIVAL TO SUSTAINABILITY
teaching and learning environment is
dominated by excessive numbers of
teacher/principal observations which
have overwhelmed administrators
and constrained teaching practices.
Because of the nature of observations,
there is little or no time to foster
a collegial approach to identify
instructional and curricular challenges
for improvement and to implement
the Common Core. Instead, educators
are forced to obsess over their
individual effectiveness as measured
by observational rubrics and test
scores that may be meaningless.
Beyond State assessments, schools
are required to test all other subjects
in grades K-12 for accountability.
Kindergarten through grade 2 testing
is evolving as an issue. Educators
may find themselves forced into an
institutional survival mentality, while
desperately reaching for a life line.
WHY COMMON CORE?
The Common Core is the
foundation to prepare our students for
a world with new challenges and more
rigorous employment requirements.
However, this alone is not sufficient
to improve teaching and learning.
The adoption of the Common Core
is the right move to meet new
international challenges and it is a
necessary catalyst for building new
curricula and teaching approaches.
However, elementary teachers are not
content specialists and as such do not
currently possess the knowledge and
skills to implement the Common Core,
particularly in mathematics. Though
this is not to say they cannot acquire
the knowledge and skills required.
The deeper understanding that
is essential in reading and math
cannot take place without significant
professional learning. Therefore, a
continued emphasis on instituting
the Common Core cannot occur
without frontloading a staff training
dimension with additional text and
material support. It may be necessary
for secondary teachers to work closely
with their elementary peers. Therefore,
testing teachers and principals on
standards not in place at this stage
of the reform is counterproductive.
Aside from school
safety, curriculum is the
next key foundational
factor in influencing
teaching, learning, and
assessment practices.
RTTT: WHAT TESTING
BARRIERS THREATEN
SUSTAINABILITY?
A most disturbing
RTTT-related issue
at this moment is
the unwillingness of
SED to release 2013
item-specific data and
information from which
teachers and principals
can analyze their results
to determine student
strengths and areas of
challenge! How can we
expect teachers to develop student
learning objectives (SLOs) that are
influenced by State testing results
in a prior year or engage in related
professional learning without this
information? By being blindsided,
teachers cannot possibly craft and set
improvement targets with appropriate
and timely interventions. Hard to
believe, part of a principal and teacher
measure of effectiveness is based on
test scores for which they do not have
access! The SED’s release of a few test
items from the spring 2013 testing is
meaningless.
PREREQUISITE
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
APPR SUSTAINABILITY
The move from survival to
sustainability can only be carried out
at the local level. The Common Core
has the promise to reform American
education. If not Common Core, what
else? As the reform continues, here
are recommendations to consider for
sustaining the most vital aspects it.
At the state level:
• institute a hiatus on using State
testing results for accountability
for three years
•release of NYS item-specific
student test data and information
•identify and share model APPR
approaches
•streamline use of network teams
to assist districts
45
At the local levels with net-working
of school districts:
•select efficient, integrated
technology systems to support
implementation
•provide intensive Common
Core professional learning,
particularly in math
•share Pre-K-12 curriculum maps
for math and ELA
•list access to authentic, balanced
texts by grade and subject
•share Common Core curricular
materials, e.g., units, etc.
•share Common Core related test
items for ELA and math
While there are other factors
which may help us transition from
the current survival mode, these
recommendations will do much to
reduce unreasonable pressures and
improve implementation success.
The path that will take us from
mere survival to true sustainability
requires immediate action by all
involved in the reform process.
DR. BRUCE H. CROWDER is a
senior researcher for Educational
Vistas, Inc. He is a former NYS
assistant commissioner for Quality
Assurance and the Education and
Accountability Program (EAP).
Dr. Crowder may be reached at
evibruce@aol.com.
The Evolving and Essential
Role of the
ASSISTANT
PRINCIPAL
Assistant
Principal
By Karen Bronson
My role as director of professional development for SAANYS allows me
the opportunity to travel to every part of our state to work with school
leaders. Often, the highlight of a workshop is not the formal presentation,
but rather the interaction and sharing of participants. This valuable time
to talk together about both the challenges and the opportunities of our
present climate proves to be both supportive and informative.
45
47
PRACTICES: ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
The topic of sustainability: how
to attempt to do it all, how to make
it work, how to keep it going, is an
ongoing topic of these conversations.
One of the most recurrent themes in
the discussion between and among
school administrators is the changing
and essential role of the assistant
principal. In the current climate of
change and increasing demands
on the time of school leaders, a revisioning of this vital role is evolving.
A primary reason for this shift is the
fact that while assistant principals
have always been involved in the
teacher observation and evaluation
process, the demands of the APPR and
new evaluation requirements have
in many places expanded this part of
the role. Many principals, when asked
how they are handling the increasing
demands on their time, share that they
are delegating more responsibilities of
all types to their assistant principals
than ever before. Assistant principals
in the room and in on the same
conversation can be seen nodding
their heads in agreement, ready to
share their own recent experiences
around their evolving roles.
I asked assistant principals at a
recent workshop in Westchester to
draw a pie chart that reflected their
roles and responsibilities. The results
were notable in several respects.
There was a wide variance school to
school and district to district with
regard to job descriptions, with
attention to disciplinary issues and
student management taking up
anywhere from 17% to over 50% of an
assistant principal’s time. Additional
responsibilities were all over the
map, from oversight of 504 plans to
planning events to leading technology
implementation. Teacher observation,
in the form of both formal evaluations
and informal walkthroughs,
comprised over 25% for most APs and
considerably more for some.
The term instructional leadership
is nothing new to principals or
assistant principals, but this all
important interaction with teachers
around instruction is especially
critical now. The need to hone skills
around effective feedback, use of
data to inform instructional decision
making and current and emerging
instructional strategies is one that
must be met to support assistant
principals in their roles and strengthen
the sustainability of the principal
role given increased demands on
time and resources. A re-definition of
the image of the assistant principal,
from one whom we assume aspires
to a principalship, to one who is a
leader in his or her own right, is also
in order. Career assistant principals,
usually on the front lines with student
management and supervision in
addition to more instructional roles,
deserve meaningful support and high
quality professional development to
sustain their growth and development
over time.
•In an article entitled “Sharing
the Secrets” by Rebecca Good
(Principal Leadership, April 2008)
practices are identified to support
assistant principals as effective
instructional leaders who will
have a positive impact on teachers
and instruction, and by extension,
student performance. Some of
the recommendations include:
•Becoming as knowledgeable
as possible about current
instructional initiatives, such
as professional learning
communities, in order to play
a more active role in their
implementation
•Setting a goal with the principal
each week with regard to the
number and nature of classroom
visits, formal and informal
per week and having ongoing
conversations with the principal
about new and better ways to use
time most effectively
•Suggesting an action to improve
instruction and following up on
its implementation. For example,
a data study of the impact of after
school tutoring or new building
wide initiative to enhance
instruction could be a highly
valued contribution to the overall
instructional program
•Actively seeking opportunities to
attend meetings that focus upon
instruction and learning, such as
team and department meetings,
enhances understanding of
what is actually observable
in classrooms. Attending
48
professional development
with teachers when possible
can increase understanding of
emerging effective instructional
strategies.
As we seek to understand
and support the changing roles of
assistant principals, it is interesting
to look at models and rubrics that
are emerging to assess assistant
principal competencies. Two
models, the draft of the RISE Indiana
Assistant Principal Effectiveness
Rubric (1/11/13) and the New Jersey
Department of Education State
Practice Instrument for Assistant and
Vice Principal Evaluation (9/1/13)
may both be the shape of things
to come. The Indiana RISE Model
identifies two Domains (Teacher
Effectiveness and Leadership
Actions) and three “Optional”
Competencies: Professional
Development, Curriculum and
Instructional Leadership and Student
Culture, Management and Support
Services. Clearly, the primary focus
in this model is on active instructional
leadership centered in the teacher
observation and evaluation process,
with supervision, management and
support services delegated to an
“optional” competency. Similarly,
the New Jersey model identifies such
competencies as Providing Feedback
and Assuring Reliable and Valid
Observation Results as top priorities.
While the MPPR rubrics reflect
the reality that the principal is the
primary instructional leader in a
school, it is difficult to envision a
‘one size fits all’ assessment model
for assistant principals that could
adequately capture and reflect the
diversified roles that APs take on
in districts. While it makes sense
to focus on instructional leadership
competencies in light of the important
role APs take in the process, it would
be a mistake to lose sight of the
value of the more traditional student
management roles that have been
central to the AP role over time.
Especially now, with the heightened
focus on bullying and the DASA
mandates, that role is one that cannot
be minimized or given a back seat
in any AP evaluation or assessment
process.
PRACTICES: ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL
The challenge is to provide
assistant principals, new and
seasoned, aspiring or career, with
supportive professional development
opportunities that reflect their varied
and diversified roles in districts. These
leaders are vital to sustaining student
academic, social and emotional growth
in their schools and providing the day
in and day out means for principals to
accomplish increasingly challenging
demands. They must be seen as
leaders in their own right, not perched
between a ‘here’ and a ‘there’ but very
much present in the ‘now’ that defines
and shapes school success.
KAREN BRONSON, SAANYS director
of professional development, is a
frequent presenter on topics related
to instructional leadership, APPR,
and Common Core implementation.
Her background as a teacher of
English, principal, assistant to the
superintendent, and professional
developer gives her a perspective
grounded in the most current
developments and challenges of
educational reform.
49
TRADE
AMPLIFY ACCESS
COMMON SENSE MEDIA
LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE
Amplify is reimagining the way teachers teach
and students learn. Its products enable teachers
to manage whole classrooms and, at the same
time, offer more personalized instruction, so that
students become more active, engaged learners.
Common Sense Media is a national nonprofit
dedicated to providing educators and families
free tools and resources to help young people
think critically, behave safely, and participate
responsibly in our digital world.
Special Offer on Auto and Home Insurance
As a SAANYS member, you could receive exclusive
savings on Liberty Mutual Auto and Home
Insurance.1 We offer personalized coverage, multicar and multi-policy discounts, 24-hour claims
assistance, and more. Liberty Mutual is trusted
countrywide for quality coverage and exceptional
service. Visit libertymutual.com/saanys or call
1-800-225-8281 for a free quote. 1Discounts and savings
Eowyn Driscoll
(917) 551-5478
edriscoll@amplify.com
amplify.com
AXA EQUITABLE
Christopher Zingaro
(551) 482-4145
christopher.zingaro@axa-equitable.com
axa-equitable.com
For over 154 years, AXA Equitable has been a
leader in the financial services industry, offering
clients an array of retirement products and services
to help meet their needs, as well as to assist them
through changing life situations.
AXA Equitable is pleased to be working with
SAANYS as a business partner to work with
members statewide. With representation in
more than 700 schools throughout NY, this new
partnership provides offices around the state
for members’ convenience when seeking to take
advantage of the financial services available to
them. Reach out to your local AXA rep to discuss
how they can help you with all of your planning
needs.
Louisa Sullivan
(212) 315-2675
lsullivan@commonsense.org
commonsensemedia.org/educators
eDOCTRINA
Eon Verrall
888-537-3348, ext. 5103
everrall@edoctrina.org • edoctrina.com
eDoctrina’s tools help teachers map curriculum,
create standards-based assessments (plain
paper and online), and use data to chart student
progress. In addition, its SLO and teacher
observation tools help districts better manage
complex APPR data. The software is affordable,
user friendly, and proven to boost student
achievement.
EDUCATIONAL VISTAS, INC.
Scott Crowder
(518) 344-7022
scrowder@edvistas.com
edvistas.com
CASTLE SOFTWARE, INC.
Scott Fischer
(800) 345-7606 ext. 107
sfischer@castlelearning.com
castlelearning.com
Castle Learning Online is an Internet-based
review, testing, and assessment tool that supports
classroom instruction. The site provides a K-12
Common Core – aligned question database that
houses over 150,000 questions encompassing
math, English, science, social studies, Spanish,
and French. The resource can also be used by
elective teachers through the development of
personal content creation for the support of their
curriculums. All users can access their accounts
from school and/or home with any Internetconnected device, this allows for the extension of
the classroom with built-in instructional feedback
for the end user. Over 70 percent of the public
school districts in NYS make Castle Learning
Online available to their teachers, students,
parents, and administrators.
The NYS leader in integrated web-based
educational management systems, EVI currently
provides hundreds of districts with powerful
products and services. In areas such as APPR,
VADIR, DASA, AIS/RTI, Assessment/Data, ZIS,
and Curriculum Management (CD), EdVistas’
software solutions help schools meet mandates
and realize data-driven decision making!
Shaun Smith
888-677-6395
ShaunR.Smith@LibertyMutual.com
LibertyMutual.com
are available where state laws and regulations allow, and
may vary by state. Certain discounts apply to specific
coverages only. To the extent permitted by law, applicants
are individually underwritten; not all applicants may qualify.
Please consult a Liberty Mutual sales representative for
additional information.
McGRAW-HILL EDUCATION
PreK-5: Central/Northern NY -Marjie Sullivan
315-506-8773
Marjorie.sullivan@mheducation.com
6-12 : Central/Northern - Elaine Chandler
315-329-1601
Elaine.Chandler@mheducation.com
Specialized Solutions (PreK-12): Denise Williams
(516) 582-3972
denise.williams@mheducation.com
McGraw-Hill Education partners around the world
with students, educators, and administrators to
deliver engaging, adaptive, and personalized
solutions that improve performance and results.
We combine proven, research-based content with
the best emerging digital technologies to guide
assessment, teaching, and learning to achieve the
best possible outcome for students, instructors,
and institutions. McGraw-Hill Education PreK12 provides core curriculum and intervention
programs that are research based and aligned to
the Common Core State Standards.
SAANYS Vanguard Fall 2011 23
TRADE
MEASUREMENT INCORPORATED
RIGHT REASON TECHNOLOGIES
THINK THROUGH MATH
• Program Evaluation, Research, and
Measurement
• School Improvement Services including:
leadership development; data analysis and
decision making; and support in designing,
implementing, and sustaining a multitiered
system of student support
• Educational Testing and Assessment
Technologies
We’re educators. We’re trainers. We’re also
technology professionals. We partner with
schools to better the way schools educate their
students. Right Reason partners with clients,
tailoring our solutions to their needs, leveraging
our innovations to improve their students and
their employees.
Think Through Math is an award-winning,
adaptive, math intervention for grades 3 through
Algebra 1. The program provides unprecedented
differentiation that prepares students for the more
rigorous Common Core State Standards. TTM
provides a personalized lesson pathway that
deepens understanding of critical mathematical
concepts and improves higher order thinking and
problem-solving skills.
Thomas Kelsh, EdD
(800) 330-1420
tkelsh@measinc.com
measurementinc.com
Vincent Arezzi
(877) 778-8277
varezzi@rightreasontech.com
rightreasontech.com
Amanda Kloiber
(513) 307-9889
akloiber@thinkthroughmath.com
thinkthroughmath.com
ROWLAND READING FOUNDATION
RENAISSANCE LEARNING
Pam Marklow
(800) 338-4204
answers@renlearn.com
renlearn.com
Renaissance Learning is the world’s leading
provider of computer based assessment technology
for PreK-12 schools. Adopted by more than 70,000
North American schools, Renaissance LEarning’s
software provides daily formative assessment
and periodic progress monitoring technology for
reading, math, and writing.
Tracy DiDio
(518) 466-3497
tracy.didio@rowlandreading.org
rowlandreading.org
Rowland Reading Foundation publishes the
SuperKids reading program, a core reading
program designed for kindergarten through
second grade. Happily Ever After is the
Foundation’s motivating, literature-based
reading readiness program.
VERIZON WIRELESS
Mike Makuszak
(315) 794-9007
michael.makuszak1@verizonwireless.com
verizonwireless.com
Verizon Wireless provides a wide range of wireless
products and services, including mobile learning
devices, on the nation’s most reliable 3G and 4G
wireless networks. Mobile learning devices in the
classroom have increased student engagement and
improved test scores.
RESIDENTIAL HOME FUNDING CORP.
Richard Melnyk
(518) 429-3633
rmelnyk@rhfunding.com
rhfunding.com
Our mission is simple. Residential Home Funding
Corp’s goal is to be the lender of choice for
our customers by providing both diversified
and competitive mortgage financing options
with excellent customer service. With a diverse
customer base that includes first-time home buyers
as well as high net worth individuals, Residential
Home Funding Corp. can provide the appropriate
financing to meet any customer’s specific needs.
The Mortgage for Champions Program was
developed as a special thank you to the heroes of
our community and offers special discounts.
SMART TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Ellen Afromsky
(212) 696-9762
ellenafromsky@smarttech.com
smarttech.com
SMART Technologies Inc. is a leading provider
of technology solutions that enable inspired
collaboration in the classroom. SMART products
create more engaged learners, and help them
develop essential skills and prepare for the
future.
SAANYS Vanguard Fall 2011 23
SAANYS
MentorCoach
Service
The Roots of Success
To support, inspire, and invigorate new and mid-career administrators.
For more information,
contact:
Karen Bronson
518-782-0600
kbronson@saanys.org
www.saanys.org
“In New York,
approximately two-thirds
of new principals leave
the school in which they
started their careers
within the first six years.”
(Leithwood, Louis, Anderson
& Wahlstrom, 2004)
A MentorCoach can help
you retain quality school
leaders.
The NY Dignity for All
Students Act (DASA)
New York State’s Dignity Act (The Dignity Act) seeks to provide students with a
safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting,
harassment, and bullying on school property, a school bus, and/or at a school
function. This online course will help you understand best practices related
to bullying prevention and legal requirements for addressing bullying and
cyberbullying.
Special Education Series –
Course 1
Program and Placement: Section 504
This course will help you better understand how to provide all students with a Free
and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment
(LRE), and properly address complex issues related to developing student IEPs,
student placement and program. You will also gain a deeper understanding of
the legal requirements related to Section 504, including developing 504 plans,
addressing student allergies, and meeting the needs of student athletes who
qualify for Section 504 protection.
Special Education Series –
Course 2
Due Process, Discipline, and Changes in Placement
This online course addresses the complex issues related to student placement,
program, discipline, and due process. Gain a deeper understanding of the legal
parameters for determining whether or not student behavior is a manifestation of
a student’s disability, the student discipline and other options available
for addressing improper student conduct, key steps to ensure that
IEPs are being properly implemented, and obligations related to
child find.
Register at www.legaloneny.org
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