Elephants in the Room: Confronting Barriers to Collaboration Welcome and Overview – Cass Logistics: facility, bathrooms, etc. Purpose & Expectations Process (modeling / adding tools) Context of this Orientation in line of becoming an associate Intros to the team (Janet, Jeff, Cass) as modeling to their intros Check-in / Introductions – Janet 2 Truths and a Lie Sign ‘non-compete’ forms? Anthony Muhammad, PhD 1

The Clash of Idea Egalitarian Meritocracy

Meritocracy A system in which the talented are chosen and moved ahead on the basis of their achievement Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Egalitarianism 1: a belief in human equality especially with respect to social, political, and economic affairs 2 : a social philosophy advocating the removal of inequalities among people Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Foundational Beliefs of An Egalitarian System All Children Can Learn All Children Will Learn Because of our Collective Beliefs and Behaviors

Reflection How closely aligned are your school/districts belief systems with egalitarianism? What are your major obstacles?

Two Forms of Change Technical Cultural

Common Misconceptions about Technical Changes Changing the structure will lead to higher levels of productivity(“Rearranging the seats on the Titanic”) Technical changes make up for human deficiencies like poor instruction or unprofessional behavior Technical changes will “fix” kids or “fix” schools which are broken (Doing this “to” students as opposed to “with” students)

Apprenticeship of Observation Educators have been socialized in their field since childhood and adopt the norms. The average educator was a good student. Educators subconsciously protect a system that was of personal benefit. Educators implement practices that protect the system (academic obstacle course). (Lortie, Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study,1975) I assume that this information is a paraphrase from a book. Please let me know if this is so. Also, we need the title of the work.

Systemic Collaboration

Healthy School Culture “Educators have an unwavering belief in the ability of all of their students to achieve success, and they pass that belief on to others in overt and covert ways. Educators create policies and procedures and adopt practices that support their belief in the ability of every student.” —Kent D. Peterson in Cromwell, 2002

School goals guide behavior. Prescriptive Prescription Collaborative Disciplined practice Reflection Analyze data Confront brutal facts. Commitment Belief in all students School goals guide behavior.

Frustration The Root of a Toxic Culture Frustration: A feeling of anxiety resulting from the inability to perform a task A mismatch between skill set and task Causes people to deflect blame onto others and create covert alliances with people experiencing similar struggle

Toxic School Culture “Educators believe that student success is based on students’ level of concern, attentiveness, prior knowledge, and willingness to comply with the demands of the school, and they articulate that belief in overt and covert ways. Educators create policies and procedures and adopt practices that support their belief in the impossibility of universal achievement.” —Kent D. Peterson in Cromwell, 2002

Descriptive and Deflective

Recipe for Disaster Inappropriate preparation Poor support system Task overload

The Culture of Complaint Two V’s Venting Validation

The Real Difference Descriptive Deflective Reflective Prescriptive Toxic Healthy Descriptive Deflective Reflective Prescriptive

Good to Great, Jim Collins What do great corporations/organizations do differently than good/average organizations? They seek and confront the “brutal facts” They get the right people (everyone) on the “bus” and sit them in the “right seats”

The Quandary (Muhammad, 2009) Tweeners Believers Survivors Fundamentalists (Muhammad, 2009)

Adult Drama Dysfunctional social interactions between adult professionals within a school environment that interfere with the proper implementation of important policies, practices, and procedures that support the proper education of students

Reflection How do people in your organization typically respond when they become frustrated? Does your organization have elements of “Adult Drama”?

Two Must-Reads for Follow-Up

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