Principal Leadership for Effective Use of PGES Data October 21, 2015 Lexington, KY

Welcome and Overview of Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Appalachia Michael Flory Alliance Researcher, REL Appalachia

Connect With Us! Tweet during today’s event: Find our websites: – – Other ways to connect: – – 3

What Is the REL Program? Authorized by the Education Sciences Reform Act of Charged with helping to build a more evidence-reliant education system. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences (IES). 4

About REL Appalachia Mission: Meet the applied research and technical support needs of Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Bring evidence-based information to policy makers and practitioners. What Does REL Appalachia Do? Assess regional research needs. Collaborate with research alliances. Provide analytic technical support. Conduct research and evaluation. Distribute results of REL research across the region. Coordinate and partner with other RELs and education organizations. 5

How We Work: Research Alliances What is a research alliance? – A partnership between education stakeholders and REL Appalachia. What is the purpose of a research alliance? – Develop and carry out a research and analytic technical assistance agenda on priority topics. Who are the education stakeholders in an alliance? – Schools, local education agencies, state education agencies, regional cooperatives, and other organizations (e.g., colleges and universities). 6

Kentucky College and Career Readiness Alliance (KyCCRA) Member organizations: – Southeast/Southcentral Educational Cooperative – Central Kentucky Educational Cooperative (CKEC) – Green River Regional Educational Cooperative (GRREC) – Kentucky Valley Educational Cooperative (KVEC) – Northern Kentucky Cooperative for Educational Services (NKCES) – Ohio Valley Educational Cooperative (OVEC) – West Kentucky Educational Cooperative (WKEC) – Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) – Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) 7

KyCCRA Goals and Topics Goals – Understand the use and effectiveness of strategies to prepare students for college and careers. – Understand and increase student engagement in schools. Topics – Dual enrollment/dual credit programs. – Student engagement. – College and career readiness Interventions. – Educator effectiveness. – Data use. 8

Today’s Goals Learn about employing principal leadership strategies in using PGES data to support teacher professional learning trajectories. Learn about activities for establishing common understandings around the use of PGES data to support teacher professional learning trajectories. Learn methods for distributing leadership in using PGES data to support teacher professional learning trajectories. 9

Introduction to the Workshop Jeffrey C. Wayman Wayman Services,

Why Are We Here? There’s only one reason: to support a teacher’s professional learning trajectory. Not why we’re here: – Because the state makes us. – Because we want worksheets. – Because we want to check the boxes and get on with life. Capacity, not compliance. 11

What are PGES Data? Principals have been asked to use a set of data for evidence-based evaluation of teachers. These data are: – Student Growth. – Principal Observation. – Peer Observation. – Teacher Self-Reflection and Professional Growth Plans. – Student Voice. And the principal says, “Great…wait, what?” 12

The Principal and PGES Data Use Great idea. Data use lives and dies in the principal’s office. It’s hard: – Levers come from above and below. – University prep programs often don’t teach this. – Principals already are overburdened. This is workable! If and only if… – We infuse into everyday work. – We employ concrete leadership strategies for data use. 13

Research Behind Today’s Event Research paper: Using Data to Inform Practice: Effective Principal Leadership Strategies (Wayman, Spring, Lemke, & Lehr, 2012). – Reviewed research to identify 12 leadership strategies to support faculty data use (we’ll look at 10 today). – Examined which strategies principals used. – It’s on my website: (Click on the “publications” tab.) 14

The 10 Principal Leadership Strategies Base-setting strategies Data system support. Facilitating collaboration around data. Focusing data use on a broad context. Fostering common understandings. Functional strategies Asking the right questions. Communicating with data. Goal setting. Embedded strategies Distributing leadership. Ensuring adequate professional learning. Structuring time to use data. 15

Teacher Professional Learning Trajectory 16 Year 1 Year 2 Year 3

Today We’ll learn about leadership strategies that principals can employ to lead teachers in using PGES data. We’ll do all of our learning collaboratively, in activities. After each activity (except the first), we’ll discuss pertinent strategies. Our lens: how do we support and affect a teacher’s professional learning trajectory? Then you go back and adapt to your context. 17

Introductory Card Game: Barnga Jeffrey C. Wayman

Card Game Description Deck of cards at each table, with no face cards. We’ll play a few hands for practice. Learn the rules, because the rules will be taken away … and you won’t be able to talk. Keep score – how many tricks each person gets. After 5-10 minutes, high score moves clockwise to next table, low score moves counterclockwise. Then we’ll start a new game, new score. 19

Card Game Debrief What did you experience during this card game? How did you solve disagreements about how to play? What did this game teach you about “the rules?” What do you think this might mean for principals leading teachers in using PGES data? 20

Break

Establishing Common Understandings: Calibration Jeffrey C. Wayman

Calibration It’s important to arrive at common understandings in order to use data better (Datnow, Park, & Wohlstetter, 2007; Wayman, Jimerson, & Cho, 2012). Calibration exercises are anything that help educators share mental models about teaching, learning, and how data can serve. We don’t deliver these, we build them. Wayman, Midgley, & Stringfield (2006) suggested “calibration” exercises. 23

Calibration Activity The aim of this exercise is to help you see how one calibration activity can work in your context. Questions can be adapted to your context. If we’re going to improve teacher learning through PGES, we – as an organization – must know what “student learning” is. Then we can figure out how PGES data can support this. We’ll go through 4 questions and it won’t seem long enough (welcome to the world of a teacher). It’s the conversations that are important. Record your answers on the paper provided. 24

Calibration Activity Focus Question #1 What do we mean by “learning” and “achievement”? In discussing this question, you’re sharing perspectives and attitudes. You are not looking to come to consensus. Look to dig deep on areas of disagreement and commonality. 25

Calibration Activity: Focus Question #2 What data do you use to support teaching and learning? In discussing this question, list the things you currently use. If it includes PGES data, fine – but it doesn’t have to. Generate a list for your table. Include anything anyone uses. We’re only making a list. The “why” comes later. 26

Calibration Activity: Focus Question #3 What data do you need to support teaching and learning and why do you need it? Here, you’re imagining what could be. Don’t constrain yourselves to current data or PGES data. Again, generate a list for the table, including anything anyone needs. It’s critical to press each other on “why.” That forces us to be articulate about our practice. 27

Calibration Activity: Focus Question #4 What PGES data support this work? You’ve talked about various aspects of your work, now let’s focus specifically on PGES. What PGES data can be effectively worked into your previous answers? You don’t have to use all PGES data – just identify those that are useful. Remember, you can combine other data with PGES data. 28

Strategy Discussion Let’s draw this back to the research. In light of these two activities, three strategies are particularly relevant: Fostering common understandings. Communicating with data. Focusing data use on a broad context. (Recall that these strategies come from Wayman, Spring, Lemke, & Lehr, 2012.) 29

Fostering Common Understandings Creating opportunities to build shared ideas regarding teaching, learning, and how data serve. Think of it as “shared mental models” (Senge, 2006). All activities are created with this in mind. It’s the process that’s important Teachers like this. It respects them, involves them, gives them a voice. Imagine the difference if they are allowed to do this with PGES – instead of doing what someone told them to. 30

Communicating with Data Using a variety of strategies that clarify for staff and parents how data are used and what they mean. Clarity about why data are used helps data use become non-threatening. This is particularly true with an initiative such as PGES. Tell your story or someone else will. Look to communicate both internally and externally. 31

Focusing Data Use on a Broad Context Ensuring that data use goes beyond high-stakes tests to examine the broad spectrum of student learning. This is natural to teachers – they always think of the “whole student.” Multiple data points are key, which is why this fits PGES well. Common understandings broaden the context but narrow the amount of data. 32

Lunch

Distributed Leadership Jeffrey C. Wayman

Distributed Leadership Principals were already having trouble getting these things done before PGES. Distributed leadership or distributed work? Developing leadership not only gets things done, but it builds capacity. Careful! It can also create in-groups and out-groups. Aspen Institute (2014) recommends focusing on skills, not people. – My research: expertise, not experts. 35

Distributed Leadership Activity Each table has a list of tasks related to PGES data that support teacher professional learning trajectories. As a group, identify… 1.Specific skills needed to support this task. 2.Personal characteristics needed to support this task. Think skills and characteristics – not people. Feel free to insert your own tasks. Record your group’s results on the sheets provided. 36

Strategy Discussion Let’s draw this back to the research again (Wayman et al., 2012) You can see common understandings, communication, and broad context throughout distributed leadership. But four additional principal leadership strategies are important to discuss in effectively distributing leadership: – Distributing leadership. – Facilitating collaboration around data. – Asking the right questions. – Goal-setting. 37

Distributing Leadership Creating opportunities for staff to perform, create, and own data-related activities. Maybe these take on new meaning after the activity? Creates investment and ownership. Lean heavily on collaboration. Be skill-oriented, not person-oriented. Are you distributing leadership…or distributing work? Are you really creating “distributed power”? 38

Facilitating Collaboration around Data Structuring ways for staff to work together with data on issues specific to their practice. Collaboration is the lifeblood of data use. A good opportunity to build common understandings around PGES. Creating time to collaborate is important, but structuring what happens during that time is really important. Be there. Participate in collaborative meetings with faculty and staff. 39

Asking the Right Questions Providing support for staff to identify relevant problems and choose appropriate approaches. Helps staff focus data use and avoid being overwhelmed by data. It’s really hard to do this unless you know what teaching and learning is. Don’t let it slide – principals must hold staff accountable for good questioning if PGES is to be effective. 40

Goal Setting Setting benchmarks, and tailoring data use to support attainment of those benchmarks. Lay out a clear path and destination. Goals should communicate what we’re about. Set goals collaboratively. Support the work of reaching the destination. 41

Professional Learning Jeffrey C. Wayman

PGES in Support of Professional Learning Everything we’ve done so far has been focused toward supporting teacher professional learning trajectories. Our activities focused on common understandings and distributed leadership because those are critical to PGES. Our activities incorporated many diverse strategies. Let’s turn this around – let’s talk about the strategy first, then do our activity. Ensuring adequate professional learning is one of the principal leadership strategies suggested by research (Wayman et al., 2012). 43

Ensuring Adequate Professional Learning Ensuring that staff consistently engage in immediately relevant professional learning opportunities. Professional learning should be immediate, relevant, coherent, and of sufficient intensity. PGES as a whole is gigantic. Time commitment alone is huge. But you can make it small by embedding it in everyday work. Don’t get caught up in traditional formats. Everything is a professional learning opportunity. Teachers should have many learning groups. Link learning plans/activities coherently over time – multiple years. – That reflects real life, right? 44

Professional Learning Trajectory Activity Everyone was asked to bring a PGES component they are working on. Group up to talk bout this work: mentor/mentee, district-based group, table, whatever. Using the work you brought, apply what we’ve learned today in two tasks: 1.Place the work on a timeline. Note strategies, PGES data use, and support roles. 2.Expand this plan to connect to next year – or two years, if you can. We’ll share back in a whole-group discussion. 45

Final Comments Jeffrey C. Wayman

Review: What Did We Do? Activities about common understandings that support PGES data use. Methods for distributing leadership to support PGES data use. Activity to apply today’s learning to support teacher professional learning trajectories. Principal leadership strategies that can be implemented to support all of the above work. (Wayman, Spring, Lemke, & Lehr, 2012). – Research paper at Let’s look at the strategies again, then we’ll talk briefly about two we haven’t yet used: – Data system support. – Structuring time to use data. 47

The 10 Principal Leadership Strategies Base-setting strategies Data system support. Facilitating collaboration around data. Focusing data use on a broad context. Fostering common understandings. Functional strategies Asking the right questions. Communicating with data. Goal setting. Embedded strategies Distributing leadership. Ensuring adequate professional learning. Structuring time to use data. 48

Data System Support Supporting staff to use data systems to get information from data and improve practice. Focus on the data, not the system. Embed system use in everyday work. We’ve done a lot of research on this (e.g., Cho & Wayman, 2015; Cho & Wayman, 2014; Wayman, Cho, & Shaw, 2009, 2011) Create feedback loops that help you understand how staff understand the system. Want to do this in our next workshop? 49

Structuring Time to Use Data Scheduling dedicated time for teachers to examine and reflect on data. Structures abound: planning time, team meetings, etc. Structure and support what goes on in that time. Time to process and reflect is critical. But don’t structure your time so data use is an event. 50

Taking It Back To Your Schools By this time, you must have some ideas about what you would like to do when you go back. One of the things I stress with these strategies is “get specific.” Adapt these activities to your own context. Use them to give you other ideas. Take advantage of the expertise you have at your tables and in this network. Now that we’re done – your work as a group will begin! 51

Final Thoughts Data use lives and dies in the principal’s office. As you implement, think small. Think subtle. But absolutely: be intentional. Build capacity. – Gandhi: There go my people. I must catch them, for I am their leader. Teachers will like PGES if you make it all about the work. – That’s why they’re there. 52

Stakeholder Feedback Survey Michael Flory

Stakeholder Feedback Survey Please complete the survey in your packet before you leave. Thank you! 54

Presenters’ Contact Information Michael Flory, REL Appalachia Jeff Wayman, Wayman Services 55