1. What Difference Can Great Leadership make?
The Role of Principals in Closing the Achievement Gap
Pedro A. Noguera, Ph.D.
UCLA

2. The Reproduction Dilemma
Rather than reducing poverty education is implicated in the reproduction of inequality across generations
Education policies have failed to disrupt these patterns – We have ignored gaps in opportunity
We need new high leverage strategies that place equity as the central goal and improve conditions for teaching and learning

3. Making equity central Equity is:
Giving students the support they need to be successful
Academic and social
Recognizing that not all students are the same
They learn in different ways and at different paces
Pervasive inequality makes pursuit of equity difficult but essential
Staying focused on outcomes – academic and developmental

4. Equity is not: Lowering standards or expectations
Treating all children the same
Something only schools serving poor children of color should be concerned about
Choosing which students to serve – disadvantaged or affluent

5. Equity
Freedom

6. Equity requires a balance between technical and adaptive work
Technical work - A focus on managing the operations of the system, insuring that procedures are working and that employees are in compliance with policy.
Adaptive work - A focus on the dynamic and complex nature of the work, its substance, meaning and purpose. Work guided by a long term vision, with medium and short term goals. Leaders are actively engaged in trying to achieve their goals in a constantly changing environment
Ron Hiefitz - Leadership on the Line

7. Skills Needed by Principals
Instructional leadership - adaptive
Knowledge of finance and budget management - technical
Public relations- adaptive
Human Resources - both
Data management/analysis - technical
Strategic planning - both
Knowledge of social welfare service delivery - both

8. Schools improve when they focus on the five essential ingredients
- A coherent instructional guidance system – teachers plan together
- Ongoing development of the professional capacity of staff
- Strong parent-community-school ties
- A student-centered learning climate/culture
- Shared leadership to drive change

9. Pursuing Equity and Excellence at Brockton HS: Adams scholarship winners 2016

10. Key Elements of the Brockton Strategy
Shared leadership
Concerted effort to obtain buy-in around the strategy
A coherent strategy focused on student needs
Differentiated professional development
Follow through, examining the evidence, sticking with it

11. Key Questions in Brockton
What are we teaching, how are we teaching it, and how do we know the students are actually learning it?
What do our students need to know and be able to do to be successful on the MCAS, in their classes, and in their lives beyond school?
We are not likely to get any additional staffing or resources, so what resources do we have now that we can use more effectively?
What can we control, and what can’t we control?

12. Distinguishing between symptoms and causes
It’s…
NOT...
uncovering the system causing the outcomes
trying to develop a theoretical framework
understanding users’ felt needs
trying everyone’s favorite solutions
identifying breakdowns in the system
identifying people as good apples or bad apples
Investigating the existing system
starting with a blank slate
NEED HELP: what do people mistake this part for?

13. Turn Around at Brockton High
“Brockton High School has every excuse for failure, serving a city plagued by crime, poverty, housing foreclosures, and homelessness… But Brockton High, by far the state’s largest public high school with 4,200 students, has found a success in recent years that has eluded many of the state’s urban schools: MCAS scores are soaring, earning the school state recognition as a symbol of urban hope.”
James Vaznis, Boston Globe Oct 9, 2009.

14. Creating a School More Powerful Than the Streets: David Banks – Founder of Eagle Academy

15. Extended Learning at Eagle Academy

16. Engaged learners at Eagle

17. Key to Success at Eagle Academy: Ongoing focus on capacity building
Improve instruction through ongoing, differentiated professional development:
Content - subject matter coaches
Pedagogy- curriculum alignment, various instructional strategies
Rapport with students
Strong school-community partnerships
Health and social services
Extracurricular activities
Immigrant services - language and culture
Mentoring and youth services

18. Creating a culture that supports teaching and learning
- Rituals that reinforce core values – induction ceremony, town hall meetings
- Shared practices and common expectations
- Generating and sustaining buy-in among staff around shared goals and strategies
Clear and measureable goals
Time to deliberate, collaborate and process
Building team work with staff, students and parents
Maintain high morale
Developing the intrinsic motivation of students to learn

19. PS 28 obtains highest gains in literacy and math in Brooklyn -2012

20. Key Elements of PS 28 Strategy
Instructional leadership
Parental support
Community partnerships
Ongoing focus on building the capacity of teachers
Individualized support for students

21. Key Adaptive Questions:
What does it take to educate the children you serve?
How do they learn at home, in community?
How do they use literacy and math?
What are they interested in?
What challenges do they and their parents face?
What are their unmet needs that may impact learning?
What are their dreams and aspirations?
How do we make sure that we build on strengths and fight stereotypes?

22. 50 Books for Boys American Reading Company

23. Key Questions for Your School
How do we establish a “brand” for our school based on an environment where good teaching is valued and children are supported and respected?
What will you do to keep morale high?
How we create a school where it’s cool to be smart?
Students are motivated and excited about learning?
How do we build an effective partnership with our parents?
How do we organize our staff around a common vision ?(You cannot be indispensible)

24. Developing the brand As principal you are the keeper of the vision
Your “brand” must be rooted in a shared vision based on an understanding of what your community needs/expects for its children
To get there you need a plan with short, medium and long term objectives
Measurable goals, benchmarks

25. Five Principles of Courageous Leadership
Courage to act
Getting to your core
Making organizational meaning
Assuring constancy of purpose
Building sustainable relationships

26. Today’s challenges require proactive leadership
Achieving Excellence and Equity
Reducing racial disparities - Eliminating the predictability of achievement patterns
Addressing the social needs of poor and immigrant children
Doing more with less
Working under political pressure
Restoring public confidence and support – prevent losing students to charters and private schools

27. Need for a Paradigm Shift
Old Paradigm
Intelligence is innate
Schools measure and sort
Inequity in resources: best resources to highest achievers
Achievement measured by tests
Discipline used to weed out the “bad” kids
New Paradigm
Intelligence and ability influenced by opportunity
Schools cultivate talent and ability in all kids
Achievement measured by performance
Resources allocated based on student need
Discipline based on values