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Six Principles that Guide Student Achievement in High-Performing Schools

Elisabeth Barrow

Oakland University

EDU 740: School as a Formal Organization

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Abstract:

In Alan Blanksteins book Failure is Not an Option, Blankstein lays out six principles that guide

student achievement in high-performing schools: Common Mission, Vision, Values, and Goals;

Ensuring Achievement for all Students; Collaborative Teaming Focused on Teaching for

Learning; Data-Based Decision Making for Continuous Improvement; Gaining Active

Engagement from Family and Community; and Building Sustainable Leadership Capacity. In

this paper I will be discussing each of these points and their impact on the school I teach in as

well as the district as a whole.

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Introduction

Covering 2.2 square miles, Clawson Public Schools is the smallest school district in

Oakland County. Clawson is a suburban community in which many families in the district are

multi-generational and Clawson Pride runs deep. Clawson Public Schools serves 1,737

students and consists of five buildings: a pre-school/administrative building, two elementary

schools, and one middle school that is connected with one high school. Of the total student

population 35.6% are economically disadvantaged and 15.6% receive Special Education

services. 74.87% of the students are white, 11% are African American, 6.47% are Hispanic,

5.72% are two or more races, and 1.66% are Asian. The district also has a growing English

Language Learner population and a steady number of school of choice students. Paul A. Schalm,

the focus of this paper, has approximately 470 students and the demographics of this particular

school are reflective of the overall demographics of the district.

Principle 1: Common Mission, Vision, Values and Goals

You can not always move forward without looking backward and that is the starting point

in this journey. The principal for the past seventeen years retired last spring and a new principal,

Mrs. Hill, was hired from within. Mrs. Hill plans to continue initiatives that have had a positive

but is also prepared to bring about changes as necessary.

The schools mission statement; The Mission of Paul A. Schalm Elementary School is to

provide our students with quality education while fostering social and emotional growth, has

remained the same for almost a decade. The mission was developed in concurrence with the

district vision which was created by a committee of teachers, parents, and other staff members.

From there each building was tasked with creating a new mission statement and this was
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accomplished in small groups. Teachers all have the schools mission posted in their classrooms

but most likely a select few could verbalize it without looking. Currently it is not a document

that is referenced and new staff may not be aware of or get a copy of the mission statement to

post until right before a school improvement visit.

The last school improvement visit was in May, 2015 and while looking for other data and

documentation to include in the schools digital portfolio, the former principal rummaged

through a box and found a vision, mission, and beliefs paper that came out of the school

improvement plan years ago. This document captures the essence of what most staff would

probably say about our school climate, culture, and purpose but no one has ever seen it as it was

created by one or two individuals on the School Improvement Team. Some of the vision is very

different than the reality we are living and decisions are not thought about in the context of either

our mission or vision. One of the core values of the school is the idea of the Schalm school

family. This is something that many staff members value a great deal and has recently been

renewed in the search for a new administrator.

Mrs. Hill is looking to keep the sense of the Schalm school family and believes

strongly as her predecessor in educating the whole child. Teachers have historically stood by

their classroom doors in the morning to welcome students and this is something that will be

carried forward as she strongly believes in fostering social and emotional growth herself. Every

morning students recite the Schalm School pledge; I belong to the Schalm School Family. I

will choose to be safe, I will respect myself and others. I will be responsible today and

everyday, creating a warm, accepting environment.

Mrs. Hill has a vision and purpose beyond the documents that were created years ago but

has not had an opportunity to share it with the rest of the staff. Her vision alone is not enough to
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define the culture of the school, though. Right now the culture mostly reflects respect for

peoples differences and most people want to follow the rules. However, there are new staff

and resistant staff that have caused the building to work in grade-level teams with little

interaction between the grades. A lack of communication and/or follow through has let people

off the hook over the years and other staff who have followed through on initiatives are

frustrated. The past five years have brought about two superintendents, a change in curriculum

due to the state adopting the Common Core Standards, a new word study program that was

mostly abandoned, a new math program, a switch to standards-based grading with a new report

card, and a technology readiness grant which took over all professional development

opportunities last year. The staff is overwhelmed and having a year to year contract with pay

freezes and increases in health insurance have hurt morale as well.

Decisions about curriculum and materials that are made at the district level follow the

path of scenario 2 (Blankstein, 2013, p. 82). Teachers from all grade levels across the district are

asked for input and happily give it but the end result often seems as if there was already a

predetermined plan. This is then followed up with minimal training and communication. In

return, teachers do not trust the people making the decisions and it hasnt always made clear who

is the best person or group of people to make those decisions. The district leadership team has

not been clearly established, is constantly changing, and roles are vague. Initiatives fail because

staff had no buy in and then teachers fall into the, If we had more resources/time/support, then I

would be successful, mantra.

Last year the building level leadership team consisted of two people; the new principal

and myself, an Instructional Specialist who is no longer in the building full time. Establishing a

new leadership team that represents the entire school building community with a variety of
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perspectives are paramount. Once that team is established the current mission statement needs to

be revised using four critical questions (Blankstein, 2013, p. 86). This would be best

accomplished with the current staff using the small group or snowball method (Blankstein,

2013, pp. 91-92). After the mission is created it should be referenced often and used to guide

decisions. If staff members are not acting in accordance with the schools mission, this must be

addressed immediately which has not been a priority in the past. A new teacher mentoring

program has been established recently and this is one venue that incoming staff can become

familiar with the schools mission, vision, goals, and school improvement plans.

Establishing a vision would also help teachers to think beyond getting through another

year and have more of a stable sense of purpose. According to Blankstein (2013), Without a

clear vision decisions are made randomly. At best, policies, procedures, and programs will lack

unity and fail to adequately support one another, (p. 94). This strikes home and reflects in the

plethora of initiatives that have been passed down and quickly abandoned because they were not

thought through clearly around a common vision. Many teachers will view writing a new

mission and vision as a waste of time as they are overwhelmed with so many things but this

step will, in the end, likely ease stress because things will be aligned behind a common purpose.

The Grow a Vision approach would be most effective at this time (Blankstein, 2013, p.

99). Teachers have had little opportunity over the past few years to reflect on their own purpose

and values. Reflecting inwardly and then sharing out helps to build relationships and establish

trust, both which are needed to bring a vision to life. Ideally staff would have time to research

school culture and what embodies a high-performing school. The activity described by

Blankstein (2013) in which all stakeholders brainstorm and create lists of the essential elements
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of a good school and then combine lists to produce common values would involve people

beyond just the teaching staff in creating a lasting vision (p. 100).

The value statements on the current vision, mission, and beliefs page could be revisited

and staff could decide to keep, edit, or add to them as a quick means to an end. A more

meaningful method would be to create new ones that become a shared commitment. Some staff

exhibit the my belief versus your belief pattern and operate as rouge agents so creating a

new shared vision would bring people together (Blankstein, 2013, 102). The value statements

should be few in number (five to six), and articulate what the staff will do and how behave.

Again, the snowball technique would work well for this to occur. The vision should be visible

with the guiding question, How would we need to behave to make this happen? Discussing

possible scenarios that would call the core values into question would help people see the

difference in writing core values versus actually living them.

While the mission, vision, and values are long-term overreaching words to live by, the

school also needs short-term, attainable goals that ensure quick wins that can be shared and

celebrated. This builds capacity for credibility, trust, and professionalism. With the amount of

new programs and initiatives, teachers need quick wins right now and something that shows that

the school is moving forward in the right direction. When writing goals, the goals need to be

SMART; specific, measureable, attainable, results-oriented, and time-bound (Blankstein, 2013).

Many stakeholders should be involved in the process so they see how they fit into the picture.

Goals should also be progress monitored and adjusted or abandoned if they are not bringing

about the desired results. When goals are reached, all stakeholders (including students) should

celebrate together and share their successes with the community at large. This is something we

do not prioritize but should.

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Blankstein quotes the statement, If you do what youve always done, youll get what

youve always gotten, (p. 107). Attempting to relive an old mission and vision without core

values wont pull the staff together and help us achieve our ultimate goal of doing whats best for

children.

Principle 2: Ensuring Achievement for All Students - Systems for Prevention and

Intervention

The mission of Clawson Public Schools contains the words optimal learning for all

students. Staff of Paul A. Schalm embody this message and believe fundamentally that all

students can learn and be successful. A decade ago the staff at Schalm school undertook a pilot

project through Oakland Schools to implement Response to Intervention (RTI) throughout the

building. With the support from Oakland Schools Early Literacy consultants, Schalm was one

of the first buildings in Oakland County to use Dibels as a universal screener and set up the RTI

process for reading throughout the building.

Since its inception, the staff have been trained in the Pyramid of Support RTI (now

MTSS) model. Teachers meet three times a year in grade level teams with the Instructional

Specialist and Special Education teacher to discuss student data, adjust instruction, and identify

students who qualify for Tier 2 or 3 supports. The supports are tailored to meet the specific need

of the child and if the teacher cannot provide those supports in class, students are pulled out in

small groups to work with the Intervention Specialist. Several research-based programs are

available to use with students in small groups as well as an adaptive computer program students

can do either in class, in the computer lab, or in the interventionists room.

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The purpose of the data meetings has evolved over the years. Initially most time was

spent selecting students for pull-out intervention. Now part of the meeting is looking at data and

the other half is having discussions about what to adjust in the curriculum to better meet the

needs of all students. Last year the final data meeting included teachers from two grade levels so

the next years teachers could hear about the strengths and needs of the group and children

coming into their classroom the following year. This was a change that teachers felt was helpful

and one that they are hoping to continue in the future. The next step is to further bridge the gap

to the Middle School for all students (the Special Education teachers currently have move up

meetings in place for their students).

In the past nine years Schalm had two Instructional Specialists. One mainly worked with

students in grades K-2 providing literacy support in programs such as Leveled Literacy

Intervention. The other specialist, myself, provided more targeted support to students in grades

K-5 who needed direct instruction in decoding skills. Between the two interventionists, over 90

students received support for reading and recently math using the Successmaker computer

program before school.

Other supports have been put in place to ensure all students are successful including

training K-5 teachers in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Positive Behavior Supports

(PBiS). Teachers can bring students they are concerned about to monthly Student Support Team

meetings in which the Instructional Specialist, Social Worker, Speech Pathologist, Special

Education Teacher, School Psychologist, and principal work together to plan effective behavioral

and/or academic supports. To make the Student Support Team even more systematic and

vertical, specials teachers and teacher representatives from other grade levels could be added to

ensure continuity for students as they progress through the grades.

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The Community Circle of Caring (Blankstein, 2013, p. 125) and the Four Cs:

Practices that Promote Connection Versus Disconnection (Blankstein, 2013, pp. 126-127) are

something that staff at Schalm embrace. Teachers all stand at their doors to greet students and

go above and beyond to make sure students feel safe and loved at school. Discipline referrals to

the office and suspensions are minimal because of the efforts teachers put in to build students up

and make them feel important and appreciated. To further this work the principal wants to create

multi-grade Shark Pods this year to ensure that each student has a connection to one adult for

their entire elementary career. Students would be assigned to a teacher in Kindergarten with

students from other grade levels and then stay with that teacher all six years until they

graduate. Lessons that support the PBiS expectations will be taught in monthly Shark Pod

meetings and be a way for students to feel more connected to an adult as well as students in other

grades.

While the MTSS model that has been put in place has been largely successful in the past,

challenges and questions still arise. A main concern of all teachers is having students miss other

academic content due to being pulled for interventions, especially in the upper grades. The

solution at this time is to have the miss either Social Studies or Science but this situation is

certainly not ideal. Teachers also struggle with how to grade those students on report cards so a

new marking (LS; Literacy Support) was created this year for that purpose. A possible solution

to avoid having students miss other curriculum would be to create a building-wide Power Hour

in which all support staff (Instructional Specialists, para-pros, specials teachers) push in to a

particular grade level at a time to work in small groups targeting specific skills with each group

of students. Due to the size of our district and because we share specials teachers with other

buildings, this has been difficult to implement. Another solution would be to have interventions
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before or after school but attendance at these types of programs has typically been poor in the

past. A third option would be to have an extra reading or math workshop class built into the

specials rotation that students could be placed in for a marking period. This is the model

currently used at the Middle School which could possibly be adapted for students in the upper

grades.

This year, due to budget cuts and a change in how 31A monies must be spent, both

elementary schools lost intervention support. Schalm went from two full time Instructional

Specialists to one with an additional 0.4 position to support a rapidly growing population of

English Language Learners. The full time Instructional Specialist has also been told that 50% of

her day needs to be spent in third grade to help increase Reading proficiency through coaching

teachers in using guided reading and providing intervention support. In addition, per the

superintendent, no fourth or fifth graders will receive services unless they are English Language

Learners. This has huge, damaging implications on student success as Often, school policies,

schedules, or structures simply dont accommodate the young people theyre supposed to serve,

(Blankstein, 2013, p. 132). To make up for this deficit, using the deep questions on pg. 140

would take the tri-annual grade-level planning sessions to the next level and help teachers be

even more effective in their own classrooms since they can no longer rely on the support systems

of the past (Blankstein, 2013).

Blankstein (2013) also mentioned a few other ideas that are worthy of being considered

as part of how our school functions and increase student engagement. A few years ago the

district implemented the MAISA units as our Language Arts curriculum. The units themselves

have sound practices woven into them but are very lengthy to teach. This does not allow much

time to implement project-based learning although it is something to consider as we revise

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curriculum in the future. Student engagement would be considerably higher if that was the route

our district or even building decided to go.

An easier change to make and one that would help to maximize instructional time would

be to look at flipping our lunch and recess schedule. Our students currently eat lunch and then

go out for recess afterwards. Students do have issues at recess that they carry back with them

into the classroom and teachers have to spend time putting out fires and getting students to settle

back down and be ready to learn. Parents would also be happier because more children would

take the time to eat their lunch rather than throwing most of it away to be able to get out to recess

quicker.

The last idea worth mentioning is to increase the amount of extracurricular activities we

offer. Most of our students are not involved in after school activities and would benefit from

having a place to go with positive role models beyond the traditional school day. Staff are

stretched thin and while they would like to run more after school clubs, are not able to due to

family and other commitments. There are other organizations, however, that might be willing to

run activities after school for a small fee to parents.

The following quotes are ones that capture the essence of what our school should do for

students to help them be successful now and in the future.

What we want to achieve in our work with young people is to find and strengthen the

positive and healthy elements, no matter how deeply they are hidden, Karl Wilker, 1983,

The Lindenhof.

Everyone has a gift and a challenge. Find both and move forward, Denise Kott,

Instructional Coach, Clawson Public Schools.

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Principle 3: Collaborative Teaming Focused on Teaching and Learning

According to Blankstein, Collaboration among colleagues is a means to an end:

enhancing teaching for learning, (2013, p. 143). The days of entering a classroom, shutting the

door and teaching only the students in your own room are long gone. With the curricular

demands and other issues both in education and those facing students outside of school today,

collaboration becomes critical to student success.

Collaborative teaming must start around a common purpose. The purpose of teaming can

vary but the same processes should be used so that individuals on the team know what is

expected and how to be a contributing member. In order to create successful teams, a truly

collaborative culture must be built. Currently the culture in our building is one of contrived

collegiality, (Blankstein, 2013, p. 147). Teachers mainly meet in grade level teams and discuss

units of study and lesson plan together during staff meetings twice a month but the discussions

are very surface level. When asked to dig deeper during professional development sessions or

tri-annual data meetings teachers tend to skirt difficult issues and socialize instead. There are

only a few staff that are comfortable raising questions and bringing up multiple points of view.

What tends to happen is that someone will share an idea and everyone will appear to agree. At a

later time someone will bring up a different viewpoint which often is one that could bring about

a change but then time is up and it the idea gets lost in the shuffle. Since people were seemingly

getting along, the former principal was content with this type of school culture. Staff members

even complained if they were asked questions that made them feel uncomfortable.

Consequently but not always accurate, the perception in the building and in the district as

a whole is that some grade level teams collaborate more effectively than others. The teams
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whose members all tend to agree with each other and have similar views and therefore get things

accomplished quickly are seen as being the most effective. These are the teams who turn in data

or complete tasks the quickest. Teams who spend time more time discussing issues are often

seen as being less effective because things arent getting done although in reality these teams

are closer to working as collaborative teams than the others because they are willing to dig

deeper into student achievement. There are also grade level teams who do not work together or

collaborate at all for a variety of reasons.

In order to change the overall culture of the buildings in the district two Instructional

Coach positions were created and Instructional Rounds were implemented on a volunteer basis.

Two elementary cohorts ran the first year incorporating teachers from both elementary schools at

multiple grade levels and positions. The cohorts identified a common problem of practice and

then spent time visiting each others classroom in walk throughs to evaluate outcomes from

changes in practices. Teachers who were involved in these cohorts felt that the time spent doing

instructional rounds was extremely valuable and appreciated being able to share ideas and learn

from each other.

In the second year of implementation, one grade level was identified by the

Superintendent as one that wasnt functioning in a collaborative manner. Teachers from the

same grade from both buildings were forced into doing instructional rounds with the

Instructional Coach to improve instructional practices. Because these teachers did not have a

choice, a culture of trust and respect never developed and the team never functioned properly.

Instead of viewing walk-throughs as positive experiences, these teachers felt judged and that it

was a waste of time.

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This year the former secondary Instructional Coach has been given the full responsibility

of being the K-12 coach with the idea of creating vertical teams, interdisciplinary teams, grade

level teams, and continuing instructional rounds cohorts on a volunteer basis. Norms need to be

established no matter what teams teachers are involved in and meaningful collaboration needs to

be the expectation. This will only be accomplished with mutual respect and trust. The

challenge is to highlight each teachers strengths and contributions while also being willing to

challenge the status quo. Once small teams are created and relational trust is built within those

teams, it should begin to permeate throughout the building. The key will be to continue to

encourage teachers from different grade levels and with different positions to intermingle with

each other so that the culture does not become balkanized.

Moving forward two issues that are likely to occur are that teachers will agree to got to

meetings but be unwilling to take on additional responsibilities. To counter this expectations

must be clarified from the start and membership on the team must be sufficient in numbers so

that no one or two people have to take on the majority of the tasks. Contract negotiations have

not gone well the past few years so many teachers are unwilling to put in extra hours beyond the

school day.

One solution to this would be to look at the school calendar in the future and try to adjust

it to incorporate either late start or early dismissal days that would be used for collaborative

teaming. A caveat to creating this time is to ensure that collaboration must have the goal of

improving student achievement, (Blankstein, 2013, p. 161). In the past teams have met without

a focus or direction and time spent together laughingly became a meeting about a meeting

which led to resentment and unwillingness to give up ones time. More careful consideration

needs to be given as to who should be on team, what the task at hand is, a framework for action,
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and consistency. Too often major decisions are made without consideration of how teachers will

be able to implement the initiative. The answer has been to give teachers time to collaborate but

no direction in which to do accomplish that.

If the focus remains around what is best for children, we have an amazing opportunity to

change the culture of the school and district as a whole. The staff at both elementary buildings

are knowledgeable and want to support each other. Building relational trust by having consistent

expectations and a communicating a common purpose is key to bringing about this change.

Principle 4: Data-Based Decision Making for Continuous Improvement

What is the purpose of collecting data? Are we assessing students just to assess or are we

doing anything with our data? These are questions that have been raised many times in the past

few years but ones that have never fully been addressed or answered although we certainly have

a lot of data at our fingertips.

Blankstein (2013) suggests the 4 Cs of using data for improvement (pp. 164-165). Three

of the 4 Cs we do correctly but the fourth and final point; committing to and achieving

consistent implementation of data-based decisions, is where we fall short as a district

(Blankstein, 2013, p. 164). In the past the elementary schools used Dibels as a tri-annual

screener. Teachers liked the one on one time spent with each student and were used to how the

data looked and what it told about student strengths and weaknesses and were comfortable

talking about it at grade level data meetings. Data was never looked at to compare teachers but

to raise the question of which students needed additional support in class. To make the data

meetings more meaningful, two questions were added over the past few years; what should the
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instructional focus be for your class at this time and what can you do about it? At first these

questions raised concern among staff members who felt put on the spot and uncomfortable.

However, as resources were brought to the meetings and teachers were given time to brainstorm

together, this hesitation slowly went away and we started using the data in a more meaningful

way for all students, not just ones receiving intervention.

Three years ago our district started using an adaptive computerized program, iReady, as a

universal screener in Reading and Math at the Middle and High school level. Before this MEAP

and ACT/MME provided the only data at upper levels. In an effort to have consistent district

data the elementary schools started using iReady last year in grades 1-5. We have insisted on

keeping Dibels for Kindergarten as we feel that clicking five audio buttons to answer a question

is developmentally inappropriate for children who are six, let alone five. The question about

what our purpose was for collecting data was raised when switching to iReady and the answer

was vague at best. iReady testing has had its challenges, too. We have had problems with the

program freezing during testing sessions, students dont always understand what to do, and

teachers miss the one on one time with their students.

On the administrative side, we have many reports we can view about current iReady data.

The data can be broken down by sub skill (ie: phonological awareness) and students can be

ranked lowest to highest in each area which helps when making instructional decisions about

what type of support to provide. On the other hand, teachers dont really know what exact types

of questions the students answered so knowing that a student showed up as being behind in

vocabulary doesnt paint a clear picture of what they can or cant do. In addition, in the program

there is no way to look at data across years to see a trend line and no way to disaggregate data

based on factors such as gender or socioeconomic status. Now that we are in year two of using
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iReady we will need to start gathering some longitudinal data on our own regarding those

factors. That combined with a lack of data from M-Step has made using data to drive

instructional decisions difficult. We are still looking at how our students did on the MEAP test

from 2013-2014 to write school improvement reports.

Moving forward we need to look more closely at multiple sources of data when writing

goals. Our school improvement goals have been about increasing proficiency in math, reading

and writing but are not specific to any particular standard or set of standards and have an end

date of 2025. Success is measured solely on proficiency on state-wide assessments as our plans

are currently written. We are not able to see patterns of weakness when we only look at overall

proficiency levels on the MEAP test. This makes it difficult to see if we are on track or not.

Using the MiSchool Data site shows if we are making adequate yearly progress and meeting

proficiency targets but we need shorter more specific SMART goals to see if what we put into

practice is making a difference. Our goals must be attainable and realistic.

That being said, we also need to look at district data more carefully before we make a

curricular change as The selection of goals, instructional practices, materials, programs, and

policies in a school should be directed by good information from good data, (Blankstein, 2013,

p. 176). Our district has switched programs for both word study and math without looking at

what our area of need truly was and without doing a pilot of either program. Our math scores on

state-wide assessments were actually rising when we abandoned the previous program. Word

study was much the same. A program was adopted for a year and later abandoned but without

anyone looking at data to see if it was effective. Decisions at the district level about staffing

also should look at data. Elementary intervention was cut at a time that enrollment in Middle
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School Reading Workshop classes was at an all time low. Perhaps the early intervention had

something to do with that?

A process needs to be created that pulls together the right people who are able to make

informed decisions. This could happen easiest during monthly District School Improvement

meetings with sub committees meeting as needed. Sometimes totally separate committees are

created but the people involved in school improvement who are continuously looking at data are

not represented so the decisions made are not backed by student achievement data. Likewise,

vertical teams are in the best position to help make decisions that affect the entire student

population.

We will never fully use data correctly unless we make it meaningful to students,

however. At the elementary level we have switched to standards based grading and are

exploring how to best report achievement to students and parents. Much dialogue has occurred

about formative versus summative assessment but few teachers feel completely confident in their

grading practices. Part of this is because we do not have common assessments in subjects other

than math. Those still need to be developed. Using McTighe and OConnors seven assessment

and grading practices (Blankstein, 2013, p. 181) would empower not only teachers but students

as well. Students should set personal learning goals based on data shared with them in formative

assessment. We have not used portfolios in the past but this would be an excellent way for

students to keep track of and reflect on their own growth throughout the year.

Finally, we need to celebrate our successes with students, parents, and staff. Last year we

created a fact fluency data wall to show students how their grade was doing on their monthly fact

fluency tests. Students enjoyed talking about how their graph was going up and commented

about other grades and the progress they were making, too. We also had infrequent pizza parties
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for students who made the most gains on Successmaker, our computerized math program. These

are just a few examples of many activities we should continue and add to in order to celebrate

success.

Principle 5: Gaining Active Engagement from Family and Community

Studies show that children who have involved parents have higher levels of achievement

and improved student behavior. Educators have known this for years but getting parents

involved continues to be a struggle in many schools. It is an issue in our building and district as

a whole, too. Family and community involvement are always the lowest areas on our school

improvement self analysis documents. We have tried to address this by communicating more

and in different ways (i.e.: Facebook, Twitter, web pages) but havent seen an overwhelming

change in what capacity parents are involved.

Our PTO and family events consist of the same core group of parents; similar to many

other schools. With an increasing number of parents working multiple jobs, students attending

from other communities, and an influx of more families immigrating to the area, getting parents

involved is more challenging than ever. The fact that September 11 changed schools forever and

made us on a permanent lock-down during school hours hasnt made parents feel welcome. No

longer do parents stop by teachers rooms at the end of the day to check in. That line of

communication was completely shut down as parents dont want to take the time to ring the bell

and sign in. Additionally, parents now have to have full background checks to work with

students. Many do not want to (or are unable) to pay $60 to have fingerprinting done. As a
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result we have lost many parent (and grandparent) volunteers as well as the citizens who live in

the Senior Center in our community.

With cuts in funding, volunteers are an untapped resource that we need in our buildings

for a multitude of reasons. A 1994 study from the Center on Families, Communities, Schools,

and Childrens Learning found that 70% of parents surveyed said they had never been asked to

volunteer in their childs classroom (Blankstein, 2013, p. 191). If teachers are unwilling to have

parents help in their own classrooms, the school as a whole should offer other ways for them to

get involved. Many parents would be happy to help in other classrooms, the library, or doing

secretarial tasks like copying papers for teachers. One way to get more people involved would

be to send out a Sign-up Genius through email with specific ways that parents can help

throughout the year. This way parents could take on the parts they feel comfortable doing or

know they can commit time to and teachers wouldnt be overwhelmed trying to find things for

them to do on the spur of the moment. Another option is to look into sponsored programs like

Watch Dogs where dads, grandparents, and other male figures volunteer time to come in and

be a male role model in a variety of ways.

In addition to getting more parents to volunteer, we need different ways to involve all of

our families. The English speaking families who live in the community attend after school

events but children who come from a different community or whose families dont speak English

miss out on these events. Either the logistics or lack of feeling welcome is preventing them from

attending these events. Our school of choice population has been between 20-30% depending on

the year and the number of non-English speaking families has increased dramatically over the

past two years. We havent figured out a way to get these families involved or even a way to

communicate effectively with them. Sometimes letters are sent home in other languages using
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Google Translate but not consistently. Usually it is up to the classroom teacher to try to send

home communication in other languages. The Friday notes that are sent from the building

principal should be translated into Spanish at a minimum since this is the language most

commonly spoken in the homes of our English Language Learners. Parents who do not speak

English fluently often dont show up for parent-teacher conferences, either. We do have a fluent

Spanish speaking para-professional who is willing to attend conferences but families may or may

not even know thats an option. Many of our children come from El Salvador and are related so

there might be untapped resources from a local church that could help us bridge the gap.

Celebrating cultural differences in school might be a place to start getting other families

involved. If children feel their culture is valued, they will pass that on to their parents. If we

were to hold cultural celebrations where the students were all able to bring in something to share

with each other about their background and/or culture we would involve more families than the

projects we have done in the past. Families from different countries dont understand the

directions sent home about the Michigan Float Parade or the 4th Grade Science Project and

are unable to help their children complete these lengthy projects which also require a great deal

of materials to complete them.

Another way that we can support families is by having after school homework clubs. This

would help remarkably as the children who most need the help often have parents who are not

well prepared to provide the needed assistance, (Blankstein, 2013, p. 205). Many of our

schools of choice students dont go home directly after school. They stay in the community

until a parent gets off of work but are often unsupervised. Our English Language Learners do

go home directly but often do not have the support they need because their parents cant

understand the directions. An after school homework club would help support these families as
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well as the families whose parents are working late every day. Students who go to after school

childcare could attend homework club first and then go to childcare. Parents would not have to

spend hours late into the night fighting tired children about their math homework.

Other ways we can get parents and families more involved is by featuring student work

whenever possible. We have found that when students present information, more families come.

We could start adding more pictures, examples of student work, and even student testimonies

about what they have learned in weekly or monthly newsletters. If we offer parent education

classes we need to get students involved in the presentations and offer childcare so parents can

attend without having to get a babysitter. As many of our parents work opposite shifts, this is

often a reason they dont attend. On the same page, drop in childcare could be available during

conferences so parents dont have to worry about missing work and can focus on the conference,

not trying to occupy a younger sibling.

To make parents feel like welcome partners we need to work on two way

communication. A suggestion box could be placed in the office so that parents have a place to

share their ideas. To reach the parents that dont come into the building we have a Talk to Us

button on the district homepage where parents can submit questions or concerns anonymously.

A button could be added to our schools web page too. Parents could also be invited to

participate in school improvement activities and help make decisions throughout the year, not

just when a visit is nearing. Making them equal partners in decision making values their time

and commitment to these activities.

Finally, we need to consider that families are not involved for many reasons and not

assume that it is because they dont care about their childs education. They may have struggled

themselves in school or have had negative experiences in the past with school authorities.
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Training teachers in how to conduct productive parent conferences would help tremendously. As

teachers we sometimes assume that parents know what we mean when we say DRA or M-Step

but for most other adults, we are speaking in a language they have no experience with. As a

result they leave the conference feeling frustrated or possibly embarrassed by their lack of

knowledge.

Strong family support is crucial and now is the time to act. Weve talked about getting

families involved for years but without a real plan of how to proceed. There are many ways to

increase parental support. If we focused on a few small ones each year our school community

would benefit immensely.

Principle 6: Building Sustainable Leadership Capacity

According to Blankstein (2013), Sustainable leadership capacity enables school cultures

to thrive despite challenges, including leadership transitions, (p. 208). In a building that has just

hired a new principal in a district that has hired all new administrators (including the

Superintendent) in the past five years, this certainly rings true. In our situation, teacher leaders

and school improvement teams have been the consistent piece of the puzzle.

Blankstein (2013) also states, There is a chasm between the demands of educational

leaders and what they are actually able to do, (p. 209). This is absolutely true in a small district

where each building principal also has district leadership tasks such as being the testing

coordinator, athletic director, etc. With the added amount of time needed to correctly do teacher

evaluations, the principals in each building are stretched extremely thin. Because the

principals job is too big and too complex to be done alone, teacher leaders must take an active
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role in many different arenas just to keep things running smoothly (Blankstein, 2013, p. 209).

This is a blessing and a curse. Everyone is stretched thin but still expected to take on extra

responsibilities.

Teacher leadership can have more significant effects on student achievement, teacher

efficacy, teacher quality, higher standards of achievement and responsibility for school reform at

the classroom level, (Blankstein, 2013, p. 210). It has never been the principals at the building

level who have pushed school improvement. The building principals in the past always allowed

the school improvement team to take the reins and lead from within; often with the advice of the

chairpeople as to what time needs to be spent at staff meetings and what professional

development needed to occur in order for initiatives to be implemented. We have a core group

of strong teacher leaders who have been involved with school improvement for a number of

years and work well together at a district level. This leadership team has streamlined the district

goals and made them the same for everyone.

After working on district level tasks, the district team then divides into school teams who

are responsible for analyzing data, developing strategies, reporting back to the staff, and carrying

things forward in each school. The reason weve had success with the school improvement

processes recently is that the teams have built working relational trust. The staff at both

elementary schools has been relatively stable the past few years and with both elementaries

having similar goals, time spent in cross building grade level teams has made it easier to have

common discussions. No more is 14 Mile the great divide it used to be. We used to operate two

completely different schools with different philosophies and even different report cards. There

was no relational trust. If anything staff members from each building were reluctant to share

ideas with each other. Now teachers meet to discuss new curriculum programs, problem solve
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together, and share resources. Because we are a small district it sometimes makes

communication easier and we are sometimes able to affect change quicker than a large district

and we are able to do so because teacher leaders have sustained school improvement initiatives.

This year we were fortunate to have leadership succession, (Blankstein, 2013, p. 224).

The former principal retired last spring and a teacher she had mentored for years was hired from

within. The new principal was also the co-chairperson of the schools improvement team so is

acutely aware of school improvement initiatives. She also has relationships with many staff

members and is quickly building the Schalm family to include the others. Mrs. Hill recognizes

that everyones intelligence is needed to help the organization to flex, respond, regroup, and

retool in the face of unpredictable and sometimes overwhelming demands, (Blankstein, 2013,

p. 223). She is embracing distributive leadership which was the norm before and building upon

interrelationships and connections. As a former teacher in the building, she is aware of peoples

personalities, strengths, and should be able to draw on that knowledge to sustain and grow

teacher leadership.

At first this was seen as a possible weakness during interviews. Many people raised the

question, How can you lead your former peers? However because a strong leadership team

was in place and there was relational trust, she was chosen even though she had no prior

experience with the assumption that the team would support her transition. The superintendent

abandoned the hire and hope philosophy which wasnt successful in the previous hire at a

different building and is willing to give the grow your own a try (Blankstein, 2013, p. 233).

The challenge moving forward will be to tighten up systems that are in place. Some

routines are solidly rooted in tradition but with a new principal it is the perfect time to reexamine

those routines to see if they are worthy of keeping or if they should be revised or dropped
Running head: SIX PRINCIPLES 27

accordingly. Any new staff also need to be given both the expectation and support necessary to

become a part of a learning team and a project or endeavor, (Blankstein, 2013, p. 216). This is

where being in a small school district can provide amazing opportunities to get involved as a

teacher leader. We have had teachers involved in writing the MAISA units, presenting

professional development at staff meetings (we use the train the trainer model a lot),

implementing the coaching model, and a variety of other projects. In my own experience, Ive

had opportunities that I never would have had in a larger district that Ive used to grow my own

practice and now affect change at a larger level. That is what sustainable leadership capacity is

all about.

Conclusion

Clawson Public Schools is a unique district in many ways. For such a small district with

limited resources in many ways we are on the right track as many of the issues raised by

Blanksteins six principles have been brought up by leaders within the district. The areas we

need to focus our efforts most in the immediate future revolve around creating common mission,

vision, values, and goals and gaining active engagement from family and community. We have

known for years that engaging all stakeholders was our weak area but now have some possible

strategies we can begin to implement. Reinventing our mission, vision, values and goals has the

potential and power to revitalize a caring but exhausted staff and help bring our efforts together

with the common purpose of educating our students to be independent, self-directed, flexible

learners ready to work in a global 21st century world.

References

Blankstein, Alan M. (2013). Failure Is Not an Option: 6 Principles That Advance Student
Achievement in Highly Effective Schools. Corwin Press.
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