Creating a Roadmap for Change: Utilizing School Planning to Reculture Schools Darius S. Adamson, Sr. School Transformation Coach District and School Transformation Summer 2011 District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

What are some of the unique challenges of leading a low achieving school? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Challenges Challenge of recruiting/ retaining teachers to work in high need schools Challenge of providing support /wrap around services Challenge of producing academic results with students who are academically behind and moving them at scale District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Challenges Challenge of creating true sustainable / transformational change Challenge of preparing students to meet the demands of our future workforce with 21 st century skills Challenge of meeting all federal, state and local mandates in a timely manner District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Challenges Underperforming schools are often very incoherent places of learning; Many programs, activities, and functions that are often disconnected, implemented poorly, not focused on a common mission/ vision; District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Responsibility of Building Level Leadership Responsibility of building level leaders comes in the form of instructional leadership; Responsibility to connect the dots, simplify complex challenges, and focus on bringing building coherence through alignment, execution, and monitoring to their schools. District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

????? What do transformational leaders focus on to bring about change? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Transformational leaders value… Change Belief vs. Action Conflict/Cognitive Dissonance Failure Resiliency Efficacy Commitment to best practice and research based decisions Focus on the “main thing” District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

How can we reflect these “values” in our short and long term planning? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Focus areas for change Culture – How do we build culture? Learning – How do we train teachers, build community and promote collaboration? Structure – How do we create/build systems and procesess to respond to student needs (academic and non-academic)? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Effective planning will provide a roadmap to create change by… Effectively planning how to use and allocate resources to support the goal of school transformation. Utilizing school planning documents to create an opportunity to align all of the resources to support measurable goals, achieve the mission, and create the vision for the school. District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

How do we simplify and make planning relevant and reflective of what we believe and what we do? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Often what we say we believe and what we do are not aligned. (belief vs. action) Successful schools execute the actions steps reflective of what they believe and value. District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Protocol Activity #1 Principals will work in teams to share ideas, answer questions. Each team will answer a series of questions reflective of the essential elements of the planning process. Each team will have 5-8 minutes to discuss and answer each question. Responses should be written on flip chart paper After each question has been discussed/answered, each group will be asked to share what was learned, discussed. District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

What is the vision for your school for the next three years? Where do you want your school to be in terms of measurable goals? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

What are three areas of change that need to be addressed immediately as we go into the school year? What is the data that supports these changes? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Have you created a timeline for addressing key areas/levers of change over the next three years? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

How are these areas/levers of change reflected in your school planning (SIP/SIG)? Are they reflected in measurable goals? Are these key areas supported through your allocations, resources, and professional development? How? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Is there a systemic process in your building to provide professional development to your stakeholders on how to execute the stated strategies? Is there a process in place to provide monitoring, feedback or re-training for the strategies that will support your focus areas over the next three years? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

What school-wide systems and processes do you have in place to provide “press and support” to improving the instructional core (student, teacher, content)? Are these strategies reflective in district required planning documents? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

Reflection Questions Do your answers reflect strategies that impact focus areas of change? Do your responses reflect strategies that create schools reflective of what transformational principals value? District and School Transformation Division, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction