Fall 2015 Principal Navigator: Transitions

principal

Vol. 11, No. 1

Navigator The magazine of the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators

Fall 2015:

Inside:

TRANSITIONS

schools moving from one building to the next • students transitioning through different grade levels • children preparing to enter school • administrators retiring or changing jobs • principals embracing change 1

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Executive Director’s Exchange Dear Colleagues, One of my favorite musicals has always been Fiddler on the Roof. If you’ve seen it, you’ll remember that the song “Tradition” is the entire prologue of the show. It starts out with a solo from the fiddler who is standing on the roof. Then the father, Tevye, continues: “A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But in our little village of Anatevka, you might say everyone is a fiddler on the roof. You might ask, ‘If it’s so dangerous there, why do we stay up?’ Because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: tradition!”

What a question! How do we keep our balance? I bet you’ve asked yourself that question quite a bit in the past year or two. How do we keep our balance in the midst of all the many changes continually coming our way? Surely an effective educational leader cannot give the answer “tradition”! Rather, perhaps the answer is “transition.” Why, it even fits into Tevye’s song perfectly!

The dictionary says transition is the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another. Synonyms for this word include passage, move, transformation, conversion, metamorphosis, alteration, changeover, segue, shift, jump, leap, progression, development, evolution, flux! Wow—not a lot of same old, same old tradition there. Those words make me think of forward movement, energy, resilience, grit, and a growth mindset. And…sometimes…exhaustion!

In this issue several contributors have shared their transition experiences. Each one exemplifies some of the synonyms listed above. Our colleagues were moving from one situation or setting to another. They honored traditions; learned from them; and kept some while purposely abandoning others to make room for new ideas, people, and memories.

New traditions. More transitions.

So as we start yet another busy school year together, I might ask you, “If it’s so dangerous and exhausting up there on your ‘roof,’ why do you stay?” And I hope you respond with, “It’s because education is my home. And how do I keep my balance? That I can tell you in one word: STUDENTS!” May traditions and transitions assist you in your balancing act.

Sincerely,

Julie Davis, EdD OAESA Executive Director

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Feature Stories 12

Postobservation Conferencing and Reflection

by Dan Major

A retired principal and current state trainer informs administrators how they can maximize their leadership to improve instruction.

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Preparing for a Move: Transitioning Buildings at CHHS

by Zoraba Ross, Donna Feldman, PhD, Courtney Cahoon White, and Peter Eckendorf

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While the new school is under construction, CHHS students and faculty move to a temporary space, a recently closed middle school. Follow their journey here.

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I’m Finally Starting to Smell the Roses!

by Stephen J. Zinser

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Change

by Paul G. Young, PhD

Dr. Young guides readers through transitions in leadership and introduces the useful acronym, CHANGE, to help administrators during these transitions.

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Bridge Day: The Transition to a New School

by Dave Winebrenner, Andrea Kaercher, and Heidi Strong

Two seventh grade teachers tackle Bridge Day as part of their evaluation, resulting in a smoother transition from intermediate school to junior high for students.

OAESA past president reflects on his forty-two years in education and his decisions behind retiring.

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Make an Impact at Your School

Old-School Approaches

by Bobby Moore, EdD

A young principal describes how he’s old school when it comes to leadership.

Dr. Moore gives you three things that you can stop doing immediately to help improve your school.

by Matt Dillon

At the time of publication, we have not yet settled on a theme for the Winter 2016 issue. Have an idea you’d like to see us cover? Contact the editor, Abigail Smith, at navigator@oaesa.org.

Articles will be due November 15, 2015.

Please e-mail Abigail for article guidelines and to let her know you are interested.

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Vol. 11, No. 1

About the Principal Navigator Editorial Service Team Jeromey Sheets, EdD, chair, Lancaster City Schools Keith Helmlinger, Sidney City Schools Angela Schaal, Sylvania City Schools Paul Young, PhD, retired Stephen Zinser, retired

OAESA/SAIL Staff Julie Davis, EdD, Executive Director Mark Jones, Associate Executive Director Nancy Abrams, Business Manager Donna Ball, Special Projects Coordinator Melissa Butsko, Director of Operations Tyler Carson, SAIL/University Partnerships Advisor Mary Guiher, Communications Specialist Tony Piehowicz, Corporate Partner Advisor Abigail Smith, Editor, Principal Navigator Joanne Turner, Coordinator of Office Operations Zana Vincent, Project Manager, Ohio Ready Schools Kathy Windau, Membership Coordinator

Unless otherwise noted, all articles published in the Principal Navigator become the property of OAESA and may not be reprinted without permission from OAESA. The articles published in the Principal Navigator represent the ideas and/or beliefs of the authors and do not necessarily express the views of OAESA unless so stated. Advertising inquiries should be directed to OAESA by phone at 614.547.8087 or e-mail at info@oaesa.org.

The Principal Navigator (ISSN 1088-078X) is published three times per school year by the Ohio Association of Elementary School Administrators, 445 Hutchinson Ave., Suite 700, Columbus, Ohio 43235. Subscriptions are available only as part of membership. Periodical postage paid at Columbus, Ohio, and additional mailing offices.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Principal Navigator 445 Hutchinson Ave. Suite 700 Columbus, Ohio 43235.

OAESA is affiliated with the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP).

In This Issue

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Executive Director’s Exchange

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Highlighting a PrinciPAL

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OAESA Board of Directors

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OAESA Fall Zone Meetings

Julie Davis, EdD

Heidi Kegley, OAESA’s 2015-16 President 2015–2016

Join us—in your part of the state!

15 Updates from ODE 20

Transitioning Toward Technology in Schools

SAIL for Education

If I Knew Then by Paul Kulik, PhD

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SAIL/CUC Graduates

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Elementary Essentials

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Photos of SAIL Students Graduating in May 2015 What We Learned about Pre-k Through Grade Three Transitions

by Sharon Rae Dorsey, PhD

OAESA Chalkboard

News from the Association

The OAESA Professional Conference in Pictures

Photos of the 2015 Professional Conference and Trade Show

From the Desk of the Associate Executive Director

School Safety Updates by Mark Jones

Health Issues

Diabetes Update: The Three Ss by Ann Connelly Physical Activity: A Healthy Choice for Students with Asthma

by Virginia Vitartas

Legal Report

Hot-Button Issues by Dennis Pergram

Sorry...We’re Booked!

Book reviews on transitions

Welcome to the Association OAESA’s newest members

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Highlighting a PrinciPAL Heidi Kegley

OAESA President and Principal at Frank B. Willis Intermediate Delaware City Schools Tell us a little bit about your background.

I attended Wright State University with a full scholarship to play basketball. I then received my master’s degree from the University of Dayton, my elementary principal licensure from Ashland University and my superintendent licensure from Miami University. I was fortunate to receive a teaching position at Fairborn City Schools immediately following graduation, where I taught at Five Points Elementary and coached basketball for three years. I then began teaching in Delaware City Schools and was a teacher at Smith Elementary for four years. Then an assistant principal position was open at Willis Intermediate in Delaware City Schools, and I applied. I served as the assistant principal for 4 years. I was fortunate to be named the principal at Willis in 2007, and this year marks my ninth year!

How did you choose education? What was your inspiration?

As a little girl, I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. My great-grandma, mom, aunt, and uncle were all educators, and I admired their profession. I was always in awe at how many students would come up to them and say, “Remember me?” I had many amazing teachers through the years. I believe that strong foundation and commitment to education during my youth was key to my decision to become an educator. In addition it was so special for me to attend the same school district as my grandparents and my parents. Our twin sons started their education there and will be sophomores this year. I treasure the legacy my family set forth for me in education.

Tell us about your school and its climate. Name one goal you have for the 2015–16 school year.

Willis Intermediate is an amazing place to work. The staff, families, and students are truly the best! I love being able to build relationships and watch those relationships grow through the years. Many people, including staff and visitors, refer to Willis as a family. I believe that is a perfect description for our building. We are all there to help children as they continue on their educational journey. In the same way, as a staff, we are all able to continue to learn and grow together. The main goal for this school year is to ensure a smooth transition as we restructure our grade-level configurations across the district. Our fifth grade will be moving back to the elementary buildings, and our sixth grade will be moving up to our middle school. This is a time of mixed emotions for me. I am so grateful to our community for supporting our schools and our students, and at the same time it will be a new chapter for all of us as we transition to our new buildings within the district. Willis has an outstanding staff, and I am so blessed to be able to work with them each and every day!

What do you feel is the biggest challenge administrators face? Why? How would you like to see this change?

I believe our biggest challenge is to ensure all students feel connected and supported academically and emotionally. In addition we must support our staff daily as they engage with our students. As administrators we of course wear many hats and juggle many tasks, but with the support of OAESA and fellow administrators our mission is possible! Mission: Possible is the theme for our upcoming OAESA Professional Conference, June 15–17, 2016, at Hilton Columbus at Easton. I hope you will mark your calendars now for this important time to connect and learn together with your teacher teams and other administrators from across the state.

What expectations do you have of yourself as an administrator? What expectations do you have of your staff?

I have high expectations for myself, and I am always striving to do more for the students, staff, and families. I want to ensure everyone has exactly what he or she needs to learn and grow while at Willis. My hope is for my staff to always be positive they are meeting the needs of each individual student. I also want to support them with anything they may need, so they can achieve success for themselves and for each of our students.

Why did you get involved with OAESA governance? How long have you been on the board? What are some of the highlights of being involved with the board of directors?

I was elected to the board in 2012. I served as the Zone 4 Director for three years. I was then elected as president-elect for 2014, and I am currently serving as OAESA’s president. I had the distinct honor of being named the National Distinguished Principal for Ohio in 2011.

Through that process I was able to see firsthand the amazing support of OAESA for administrators. During my time on the board, I have had many incredible opportunities. One of my best experiences occurred in February 2015 when I was able to travel with the executive board to Washington, DC. During that visit we were able to meet with legislators and share with them our personal stories and the impact of current legislation in our schools and profession.

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Give us an idea of what the OAESA governance hopes to accomplish in the 2015–2016 school year.

One of our hopes is to build on the success of having a county rep in all eighty-eight counties, and we would like to have a district liaison in every district. If you would like to sign up to become a district liaison, please visit www.oaesa.org. In addition we want to elevate the voice of the principal—we are working with the legislature to establish October as Ohio Principals Month.

What’s the one thing our organization is doing this year that OAESA members shouldn’t miss?

Our professional conference is second to none! I believe everyone who is a member of OAESA should attend and bring a team of teachers.

It is a wonderful time to learn and plan as a team. The keynotes, sessions, and vendors at the conference support the work in our schools.

In addition to the conference, we have plenty of other opportunities for professional development during the year. However, we also know how hard it is to leave your buildings during the school year, so we provide Lunch and Learn webinars, the second Friday of every month, from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. We also host a Twitter chat with guided questions about hot topics in education the first Tuesday of every month, from 8:00 to 9:00 p.m. #ohprinchat.

When you’re not busy running a school or a statewide association for administrators, what do you do in your spare time?

My husband, Jack, and our twin sons, Kyle and Tyler, are amazing, and they are extremely supportive of my job as principal and president of the association. I love being able to attend the athletic events for our sons. They play football, basketball, and baseball. I love spending time with family and friends. We are very blessed to have our family all living very close, and I truly treasure spending time with them.

Have you read any good books lately?

I love to read, and my goal this summer was to alternate between professional reading and reading adolescent literature. During the OAESA conference, Donalynn Miller and Don Small recommended Fish in a Tree. It is a book every educator should read. President of Scholastic Bookfairs, Alan Boyko, Heidi and her family gave a book talk on Crossover. I enjoyed it immensely, and it is a fantastic book about the power of relationships. Robert Marzano and Darrell Scott collaborated together to write Awaken the Learner and it was a great book to read after finishing Fish in a Tree. The book focuses on the importance of having strong, positive relationships with our students to ensure high achievement for all. School Culture Rewired by Todd Whitaker is another must read for administrators.

The theme for this issue is Transitions, and we are focusing on different transitions that students, teachers, administrators, and districts face. What have you observed about this topic in your school and in your life?

Transitions are a constant for all of us. Every year at Willis we transition in a new group of fifth graders and transition our sixth graders to the middle school. Throughout this process it is key to ensure there are strong relationships and open communication to ensure everyone feels supported. As a principal, I have had the amazing opportunity to work with 6 assistant principals. Each of them brought their experiences, and we were able to learn and grow together as professionals. It has been so exciting to watch as they transitioned to principals of their own buildings. As administrators when we are transitioning to a new school year, all eyes are on us as we set the tone for everyone around us. Our attitudes and our level of support are key for our staff, students and families. Transitions can be positive and at times may be challenging; however, we must keep the staff and students as our focus to ensure we are all moving the same direction together!

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OAESA Board of Directors 2015–16 Executive Board

President

Heidi Kegley

Frank B. Willis Intermediate 74 W. William St. Delaware, OH 43015 740.833.1700 kegleyhe@delawarecityschools.net

President-elect

Stephanie Klingshirn

Mississinawa Valley Elementary 10480 Staudt Rd. Union City, OH 45390 937.968.4464 stephanie_klingshirn@darke.k12.oh.us

Past President

NAES P Rep

Kevin Gehres

Jeromey Sheets, Ed D

Van Wert Elementary 10992 State Route 118 S. Van Wert, OH 45891 419.238.1761 k_gehres@vwcs.net

Lancaster City Schools 345 E. Mulberry Street Lancaster, OH 43130 740.681.7676 j_sheets@lancaster.k12.oh.us

Federal Relations Coordinator

Aretha Paydock

The Arts Academy at Summit 1100 10th St. NW Canton, OH 44703 330.452.6537 paydock_a@ccsdistrict.org

Zone Directors & Representatives Zone One Director

Zone Two Director

Zone Three Director

Scott Martin

David Winebrenner

Cathryn Petticrew

Northwest Elementary 4738 Henley Deemer Rd. McDermott, OH 45652 740.259.2250 Scott.Martin@nwmohawks.net

South Lebanon Elementary 50 Ridgeview Lane Maineville, OH 45039 513.459.2916 dwinebrenner@kingslocal.net

Zone Six Director

Zone Seven Director

Erin Simpson

Melanie Pearn

Zone Nine Director

Zone Ten Director

Susanne Waltman

Steven Foreman

330.830.8056 sew2jc@jackson.sparcc.org

740.588.5539 foreman@zanesville.k12.oh.us

Assistant Principal Rep

Minority Rep

Daniel Graves

Stephanie Morton

Asia Armstrong

614.365.8951 dgraves@columbus.k12.oh.us

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Jonathan Muro

Zone Eight Director

Central Office Rep

Joseph M. Gallagher 6601 Franklin Blvd.

Cleveland, OH 44102 216.961.0057 stephanie.morton@ clevelandmetroschools.org

Troy Armstrong

419.867.5600 troyarmstrong@springfield-schools.org

330.335.1420 wadc_simpson@wadsworthschools.org

Columbus City Schools 270 E. State St. Columbus, OH 43215

Zone Five Director

Madison Middle School 1419 Grace St. Mansfield, OH 44905 419.522.0471 jmuro@mlsd.net

Midwest Regional ESC 121 South Opera St. Bellefontaine, OH 43311 937.599.5195 cpettic@gmail.com

Fairfax Elementary 6465 Curtiss Ct. Mentor, OH 44060 440.357.6171 pearn@mentorschools.org

Overlook Elementary 650 Broad St. Wadsworth, OH 44281

Zone Four Director

Strausser Elementary 8646 Strausser St. Massillon, OH 44646

Indian Trail Elementary 6767 Gender Rd. Canal Winchester, OH 43110 614.833.2154 aarmstrong@cwls.us

Springfield Local Schools 6900 Hall St. Holland, OH 43528

Zanesville City Schools 956 Moxahala Ave. Zanesville, OH 43701

Cleveland District Rep

Gretchen Liggens

Watterson-Lake K–8 School 1422 W. 74th St. Cleveland, OH 44102 216.838.7550

gretchen.liggens@clevelandmetroschools.org

Timothy Barton

Galloway Ridge Intermediate 122 Galloway Rd. Galloway, OH 43119 614.801.8000 timothy.barton@swcsd.us

Columbus District Rep

April Knight

Avondale Elementary 141 Hawkes Columbus, OH 43222

614.365.6511 aknight@columbus.k12.oh.us

Get Involved!

Zone Map

OAESA is seeking district liaisons all across the state.

We have only 100 right now.

Is your district represented?

Contact your zone director directly or call the office at 614.547.8087 for more info.

Sign up online at www.oaesa.org.

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Postobservation Conferencing and Reflection: How Principals Can Maximize Their Leadership to Improve Instruction

by Dan Major

The art of reflection is the critical path to professional growth.

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ccording to Donald Schon, the capacity to reflect on action in the process of continuous learning is one of the defining characteristics of an effective professional. (Schon, 1983) Schon (1987) describes the practitioner who is engaged in reflection as a builder of repertoire through inquiry, rather than a collection of procedures and methods. The practice of reflection provides new insight into the meaning of teaching events; it is also a vehicle for developing metateaching skills—that is, the ability to think about the thinking of teaching. (Marchant, 1989) The role of the building principal/supervisor in the reflection process is paramount. However, professionals in general—and teachers in particular—seldom receive the kind of meaningful feedback that leads to professional development. (Bridges, 1986; McGregor, 1960) “Feedback is among the most common features of successful teaching and learning, but there is an enigma: while feedback is among the most powerful moderators of learning, its effects are among the most variable.” (Hattie, 2012) Hattie further states that more than 50 percent of feedback is ineffective and in some cases actually harmful.

To this end we have seen the development of multiple models and measures of teaching effectiveness. The development of new instruments such as Ohio’s Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) and other frameworks that target teacher evaluation within each and every state has been unprecedented. This is grounded in the belief that the teacher is the single most important factor that impacts student learning.

Therefore, these evaluation instruments serve as the critical tool that can move professional thinking and instructional practice forward.

In his recent book, The Principal, Three Keys to Maximizing Impact, Michael Fullan (2012) takes strong exception to the use of these instruments all together. “Most teachers don’t get good feedback. Too often the carrot-and-stick approach is used—reward the high performers and punish the low. At best, carrots and sticks work only in the short term and always become dysfunctional in the long term, as Daniel Pink (2009), the observer of business, work, and management, has so convincingly shown in his book, Drive, an Examination of Motivation.” (Fullan, 2012) Fullan challenges us to reposition our thinking on the role of the principal as an instructional leader so that it maximizes the learning of all teachers and students. He suggests that principals think of themselves as “lead learners.” (Fullan, 2012) Another area of concern is artificially inflated evaluations. Often the majority of teachers receive highly effective/skilled ratings while, in comparison, student performance levels on multiple measures demonstrate low achievement. In the January 2015 issue of the New Yorker, Governor Andrew Cuomo implies that everyone knows that

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the key to education reform is a quality teacher evaluation system. He noted that only 38 percent of New York state high school students are considered college ready, while 98.7 percent of teachers were rated as effective. He wonders how this can be possible.

Cuomo’s observations ring true from state to state, where measures of teacher effectiveness generally outpace the results on various student achievement data. Whether right or wrong, the public’s perception is that while the vast majority of teachers appear to be very good at what they do, there are far too many students who do not perform well.

So the challenges remain: How do we design a valid tool to measure teacher effectiveness, and how does the school principal/supervisor provide constructive feedback and support to move instructional practice forward in an honest, collegial, and professional manner?

“Too often the evaluation process may be viewed as a task, a hoop to jump through with little transparency and purpose. And a time-consuming one at that, so both principals and teachers are often caught playing the game of cat and mouse.” (Fullan 2012) According to Fullan, “a fool with a tool is still a fool.” (Fullan, 2012) What does Fullan mean by that? Read his book!

Effective principals also know that building a collaborative culture is necessary to sustain instructional growth. This, in balance with meeting the needs of individual teachers, is the reality that principals face.

“Time devoted to building the capacity of teachers to work in teams is far better spent than time devoted to observing individual teachers.”

(DuFour & Marzano, 2009) So where does this lead us? Principals have to do both! This, of course, is a far greater discussion than one can possibly address in the space on these pages. But my purpose is to offer ways to use the systems in place in the most efficient manner, given this is the reality we have. If we agree that the process of individual teacher evaluation/appraisal will be time bound, evidence based, and reflective, how can principals provide—in an authentic and transparent manner—meaningful feedback that results in real instructional improvement and true professional growth?

An evaluation system is simply a process of gathering evidence of practice, followed by an opportunity for dialogue to move instructional practice and reflective thinking forward in ways that ultimately impact student performance/achievement. Given that most educators can identify evidence and that most principals have the observations skills to gather said evidence, then the most critical dimension becomes the conversation that follows. “Conversations about teaching must be grounded in actual events, in actions or statements, in artifacts, or in decisions teachers have made. Without such grounding, impressions of teachers’ skills are based entirely on the observers’ own idiosyncratic views of teaching and their understandings of what has occurred and what those events mean.” (Danielson, 2008) The postconference is the vehicle that ensures that the evidence is

delivered in a meaningful manner. Principals should strive to script guided questions of inquiry that require teachers to be reflective. The OTES postconference framework provides a good model for developing an opportunity for rich discussion. By augmenting this process with known theories of adult learners, focused discussion on best practice, and reflective wait time, principals can create a path of discovery for teachers. “In essence, principals provoked in teachers the ability to notice odd and unexpected things, frame a puzzle or question from them, inquire and explore, and be willing to adjust student learning experiences accordingly.” (Blase and Blase, 2004, p.

92) Principals’ behaviors have a huge impact on teacher capacity for professional growth, and these skills are always a work in progress for school leaders. “In sum, principal modeling, classroom observation, dialogue, and praise have powerful effects on teacher reflection and reflectively informed behavior.” (Blase and Blase, 2004) From 2011–2013 I was part of a group of six experienced administrators from around the country chosen to work with novice principals through a grant initiated in the Memphis City Schools, Tennessee. As external mentors we were engaged to support these building principals, within the framework of the district’s vision and mission, to grow their leadership skills. We were to provide an outside lens of experience that afforded exposure to additional frames of reference to inform their professional growth. We experienced many challenges in this role. Certainly one of the biggest was helping principals as they worked to implement TEAM, Tennessee’s teacher evaluation system, which, interestingly, is cited in Fullan’s book in detail. We witnessed principals spending hours and hours doing classroom observations, gathering vast amounts of evidence based on a checklist of instructional practices, supported by pre and postconferencing. They said they spent three to four total hours per classroom observation. In discussing this as mentors, we wondered if we could help them frame their feedback in ways to have meaningful impact on instructional practice and teacher growth beyond the PD offered by their school district. To this end, one of the mentors, Dr. Gary Cooper, designed a framework to aid us in working with our assigned cohort of principals. The guiding points he developed to inform our conversations time with the 10 percent who need your intervention and support the with these principals were: most. I have had the opportunity to mentor new principals since 2002.

• Postconference dialogue should be based on principles of As a facilitator for Ohio’s Entry Year Principals Program from 2007– learning and effective technique.

09, and as a current mentor for Ohio’s Beginning Principal Mentoring • Discussion should focus on teachers’ activity as influenced Program, I have heard the same concerns for over a decade. Principals by their own decision-making. want to know: “How do I frame the postobservation conference in a way that really makes a difference?” Teachers and administrators can • Focus should be given to decisions that promoted, prohibagree on best practice and authentic evidence, but the way forward is ited or had little/no effect on learning. the common challenge. And there are many variables that come into play: the administrator’s relationship with his/her staff, knowledge of • To be effective, suggestions given by principals must be best practices, credibility, communication skills, and a culture of trust. purposeful and appropriate to teacher needs, able to be Of course these conditions are time bound and, for new principals, an performed by the teacher and not given in an offensive arduous burden. But all principals face the same obstacles. School leadmanner. ers must focus on their own professional growth in these areas as the lead learner, enabling them to facilitate and accelerate the highest-qual• Dialogue during the conference should be as nonjudgity instructional practice of those they lead. (Fullan, 2012, p. 29) mental as possible.

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Think of the principal’s role as extending, broadening, and enriching a teacher’s thinking.

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Praise as necessary.

As a practicing principal, I often correlated the teacher evaluation process to student discipline. You will end up spending 90 percent of your

As stated above, the other task principals face is establishing a schoolwide culture that builds the capacity of teachers to work in teams.

There’s an old adage in professional sports: anyone can get the right players, but getting them to play together is another matter. Teachers continued on the next page...

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...continued from p. 13 must see themselves as a team that plays together. Principals can foster this type of a building culture through staff discussion that is open and purposeful and focused on building collegial relationships. Collegiality will serve as a catalyst for fostering staff ownership and sustainability. Indicators of collegiality include talking with one another and observing each other engaged in their own practice, sharing their knowledge and cheering for each other. Additionally, these processes of engagement, honest dialogue, refection, and instructional decision-making must take place in an atmosphere of autonomy.

“Teachers not only exert significant influence on the performance of students, but they also influence the performance of other teachers and school leaders. Overall, the educators in this study reported that they were more likely to be influenced by the professional practices and action research of their peers than they were to be influenced by journal articles or undergraduate or graduate courses.” (Reeves, 2008) So it is one thing for us to talk about effective teaching and quite another to experience and observe it in action. It’s highly likely then that teacher-to-teacher modeling has the greatest impact on teacher improvement. I will prove this to you. Have you ever had a student teacher? Did you ever work harder? And while you may laugh a little at how true that is, think about this: your modeling helped establish the practice of a new teacher. Great teachers like other great performers

employ habits, routines, practices, and ways of communicating that they are unaware of. One has to watch them work; their modeling is more than just demonstrating a teaching technique. (Knight, 2007) So principals must find ways to engage their staffs in observing each other teach and time to discuss and reflect on their own practice. This can be accomplished in many ways—individual classroom observations of exemplary teachers, reciprocal and team observations, videotaping, coteaching, and team teaching are means to this end. When this type of peer engagement and practice is established to drive instructional improvement in an autonomous way outside of the district/principal’s evaluative process, teachers will embrace their role.

Here in Ohio, we know this. As a state trainer for Ohio’s Resident Educator Program, I can see a clear vision and purposeful design that draws upon this theme. Embedded within the program standards is an understanding of the importance of teachers teaching teachers.

Ohio’s induction vision for the next generation of teachers is grounded in this belief. Through collegiality and professional engagement, teachers must lead our profession in more dynamic ways than they have in the past. Taking collective responsibility of their own learning as educators can make a real difference.

In summary, principals must possess the capacity to embrace their role as an instructional leader, arm themselves with knowledge and skills, and provide the leadership vision that will ensure the delivery of quality instruction. And while this is a daunting challenge, today’s schools demand nothing less.

References

Blase, J. and Blase, J. (2004) Handbook of Instructional Leadership: How Successful Principals Promote Teaching and Learning (2nd ed.).

Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Bridges, E. M. (1986). The Incompetent Teacher. Philadelphia, PA: Falmer, 1986.

Danielson, Charlotte. (2008) The Handbook for Enhancing Professional Practice. Alexandria, VA: The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

DuFour, R. and Marzano, R. J. (2009) “High-leverage Strategies for Principal Leadership.” Educational Leadership, 66 (5), 62–68.

Hattie, John. (2012) Visible Learning for Teachers: Maximizing Impact on Learning. New York, NY: Routledge.

Fullan, M. (2012) The Principal, Three Keys to Maximizing Impact. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Knight, Jim. (2007) Instructional Coaching. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

McGregor, D. (1960) The Human Side of Enterprise. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Marchant, G. J. (1989) “Metateaching: A Metaphor for Reflective Teaching.” Education, 109 (4), 487–489.

Pink ’09 Ted Talks. (Producer). Dan Pink: “The Puzzle of Motivation.” 2009. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com.

Reeves, D. G. (2008) Reframing Teacher Leadership to Improve Your School. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Schon, D. (1983) The Reflective Practitioner. New York: Basic Books.

Schon, D. (1987) Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning in the Professions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/when-a-teachers-job-depends-on-a-childs-test

About the Author Dan Major is a retired Ohio principal who served OAESA as a board of director member (2003–07). A former facilitator for Ohio’s Entry Year Principal’s (EYP) Program, Dan is a current state trainer for ODE’s Resident Educator Program and a mentor for the OAESA/OASSA Beginning Principals Mentoring Program (BPMP). He can be reached via e-mail at dmajor@trimtabeducation.com.

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Transitioning Toward Technology Integration in Schools: Introducing ODE’s Stephanie Donofe

The Ohio Department of Education has created the new role of director of Integrated Technology. Stephanie M. Donofe will be supporting technology integration innovations and blended learning initiatives for the state of Ohio. She will be providing guidance from a state perspective for initiatives and programs, as well as providing tools, resources, and frameworks to assist districts in moving forward with learning and teaching in the digital age.

Before joining the department, she was the district coordinator for instructional technology at Westerville City Schools and Olentangy Local Schools. She also has been a teacher and school librarian with Diocese of Columbus Schools, Columbus City Schools, the Department of Defense Dependents Schools in Germany and South Korea, and Edison Local Schools.

She can be contacted at Stephanie.Donofe@education.ohio.gov or (614) 644-5926 or (877) 644-6338.

Here are a few resources to stay informed and engaged about digital learning: iNACOL www.inacol.org The International Association for K–12 Online Learning is a nonprofit organization focused on research; developing policy for student-centered education to ensure equity and access; developing quality standards for emerging learning models using online, blended, and competency-based education; and supporting the ongoing professional development of classroom, school, district, and state leaders for new learning models.

ISTE www.iste.org The International Society for Technology in Education provides resources, advocacy, and standards to more than 100,000 members.

Future Ready www.tech.ed.gov/futureready Future Ready provides resources and tools from the US Department of Education.

Digital Directions www.edweek.org/dd EdSurge www.edsurge.com

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Preparing for a Move:

Transitioning Buildings at Cleveland Heights High School

by Zoraba Ross, Donna Feldman, PhD, Courtney Cahoon White, and Peter Eckendorf In the world of education, educators’ lives are constantly in flux because school systems are ever-changing agents, attempting to remove barriers preventing teachers from teaching and students from learning at the maximal levels. What if atop normal change, we included transitioning 2,000 staff and students from a small school design to a comprehensive concept, packing and moving to a renovated swing space, planning for both the swing space and a new high school, and adding a new administrative principal—all in one year?

T

his is the reality of Cleveland Heights High School (CHHS), in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. The 2014–15 school year was the final year in the almost ninety-year-old CHHS building, as we prepared to build a new high school. It was decided that the best course of action would be to move the entire high school to a middle school building for the two-year construction period. Through the resources of dedicated faculty, students, and community, we have disallowed the challenges to frustrate our presence and have striven to ignite our future.

Preparing the Faculty

This past school year brought more changes than normal to the CHHS faculty. PARCC and student growth measures entered schools, a new bell schedule with duty periods for teachers was implemented, and the district faced a crucial spring levy and possible teacher layoffs. Thanks to the generosity of the community, CHHS also had to prepare to move to another building at the end of the school year.

To prepare for these changes, the Labor-Management Committee

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(LMC), comprised of CHHS administrators and teachers’ union stewards, had been formed the previous year. Its charge was to address building issues and improve school climate. Additionally, the LMC now had to anticipate and address issues stemming from the move.

The starting point was in October with a visit by several LMC members to what was to become the swing space. After the tour, the LMC identified two priorities—faculty morale and the logistics of moving.

The action for these priorities was determined to be increased communication. That task was assigned to the administrative principal, who agreed to provide weekly updates about the move and periodic directions for packing with reminders to purge unwanted materials.

Faculty raised few concerns until the January communication that informed teachers they would be sharing classrooms in the swing space and required to inventory textbooks. Stewards received countless complaints and concerns.

Above photo: the original 1927 CHHS building before demolition

The union leadership offered their assistance and conducted a short survey of CHHS teachers. A number of faculty members asked about time for packing, how textbooks would be packed, where parking would be at the swing space, and travel time between shared classrooms and work areas. With survey results in hand, the assistant superintendent held a meeting for faculty in which she addressed each issue raised.

Weekly reminders continued as more information was disseminated, and the number of concerns expressed to stewards dropped.

The last contract day and final day of moving began with a breakfast and acknowledgement of retirees. A few faculty and staff shared unforgettable moments in CHHS. Midmorning, the formal events of the day ended, and faculty returned to classrooms to finish recording grades and packing, as music sounded through the PA. By late afternoon, members of the LMC walked through the hallways of what had been Cleveland Heights High School and noticed a pattern: despite knowing the building was going to be torn down, almost all teachers had stripped their walls completely clean. The teachers had said good-bye to CHHS.

Preparing the Students

Preparing the students to move from their expansive high school back to a smaller, crowded middle school was no easy task. Students were not thrilled and felt they were returning to middle school and to all the memories associated with that experience. This was not the traditional high school image students had envisioned.

Incoming seniors, most of all, were struggling with the transition.

They had attended CHHS for three years and felt a connection to the building as their own, the place from which they would graduate. Most reconciled themselves to the move, but many began to make other plans to transfer to local open-enrollment schools or to take postsecondary classes at local colleges.

The biggest factor for students to overcome was the idea that we could fit CHHS into the middle school building. The Wiley Middle School campus was designed to accommodate 700–800 students, while the student population at CHHS was over 1600. Students did not see the modular classrooms added on to the building to accommodate the increased numbers or many of the expanded features, such as the cafeteria, music wing, and second gymnasium.

The logistics of the move would be a challenge for students as well. The

Superintendent Dr. Talisa Dixon at the farewell ceremony

high school building was located in the center of the district, making travel convenient for most students. Wiley, however, is in the eastern corner and would lengthen the travel distance for the majority of students. Because our district does not provide transportation for secondary students, CHHS altered the school day schedule to align with the city bus schedule.

The saving grace in the student turmoil has been the student cadre, a group of CHHS students selected by the superintendent. The purpose of this group was to meet with the administration to ensure students’ voices and needs would be heard during the transition. In the spring, the group toured the swing space and viewed the in-progress construction plans. Upon their return, students reported that not only were some of their fears alleviated but that they were excited to attend the new building. This visit was crucial in gaining student buy-in. During class time, many teachers allowed the student cadre members to inform their classmates about the swing space.

We know the transition will not be seamless and cannot change the fact that the swing space was once a middle school. But our best hope is that we have aptly prepared the students for the move and that we can create a new environment that will be both productive and enjoyable for students.

Preparing Athletics

Included in the many moving parts of a working school district are athletics. Athletics traditionally bring a sense of pride and tradition to a district and give the students, staff, and community an asset to rally around. Athletics also give students the opportunity to be included in large social groups and help increase their time-management and goal-setting skill sets. In other words, athletics are an important part of the high school experience.

As part of the transition to the new swing space for the next two years, Cleveland Heights-University Heights (CHUH) has had to make significant accommodations in many areas. Athletics is a large group that uses indoor and outdoor facilities year round, which means much thought had to go into how and where to practice and play contests.

While the outdoor contests will not be directly affected by the transition period, areas associated with the playing surfaces will have a new look. Just as classrooms will get an overhaul, so will varsity locker rooms located inside the building. During the renovation time, modular locker rooms will be used to house teams, coaches, athletic trainers, and officials just inside the high school stadium fences. continued on the next page...

Wiley Middle School: CHHS’s temporary home

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What the new high school will look like in 2017

...continued from p. 17 The indoor spaces are where CHUH had to get creative. A new gymnasium is being erected at the swing space, but due to limitations, it cannot be used as an on-site competition gym. Therefore, neighboring schools and athletic venues were contacted regarding available practice and competition times. The swimming pool attached to the high school is a large part of the renovation, and during the two years the school is under renovation, the swim team and synchronized swim club will practice and compete at a neighboring community’s indoor pool facility.

There are two key components that work simultaneously when dealing with this part of the transition period. First is scheduling—not only games but practices. The athletic department will be in charge of scheduling and will be meticulous about what team is where and when. The second component to this is transportation. Since all practices and contests will be off campus, scheduling buses and

CHHS Alumnus Evelyn Marrone, ’36, helps bury the time capsule

working closely with the district transportation department will be crucial. Cooperation and understanding will be concepts in use daily.

As CHUH embarks on this two-year journey toward a bigger and better high school, athletics, as part of the big picture, will be on its game and communicating on a consistent basis given that there will be so many different working parts. With the end result of better facilities on the horizon, athletic department staff, from coaches to administrators, will truly be team players.

Conclusion

Thus far, the transition has taught the CHUH community many lessons. We learned about the impact of transparency and the power of information. We learned how to best meet the needs of all of our shareholders. But perhaps the best lesson learned was how to create a stronger vision for the entire district.

About the Authors Zoraba Ross graduated from Ashland University with an MA in education administration and The Ohio State University with a BS in education.

He currently serves as the administrative principal at Cleveland Heights High School and has served as a school administrator for the past eleven years. You can reach him by e-mail at z_ross@chuh.org.

Donna Feldman, PhD, currently teaches English and college composition at Cleveland Heights High School and Cuyahoga Community College. She earned her graduate degrees from Cleveland State and teaching credentials from the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She has written articles for international, national, and regional academic journals and chapters in books about pedagogy. Donna has presented at the Israeli Forum for Academic Writing, International Reading Association, National Conference of Teachers of English, and American Education Research Association, and other conferences. You can reach Donna at d_feldman@chuh.org.

Courtney Cahoon White teaches AP English and American literature at CHHS. She has presented at the Partnership for Global Learning Conference, Ohio Educational Technology Conference, and the Cuyahoga County Educational Service Center Global Teacher Institute. She holds a BA in English and an MS in secondary education from the University of Akron. Contact Courtney at c_white@chuh.org.

Peter Eckendorf is the learning center coordinator in the athletic department at Cleveland Heights High School. He is a Cleveland Heights graduate and holds a degree in sports management from Seton Hall University. Peter can be reached at p_eckendorf@chuh.org.

All photos in article are reprinted courtesy of Cleveland Heights-University Heights School District.

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If I Knew Then...

Reflections from a Retired School Administrator

by Paul Kulik, PhD

Having had time to reflect upon my career as a school administrator, I often wonder: If I knew then what I know now, would I have acted differently as a principal?

I would trust my gut more thoroughly, especially regarding personnel decisions. There were times in my career during interviews when I just felt certain candidates weren’t a good fit, or their answers weren’t genuine—maybe even canned—but I allowed myself to become a victim of “Group Think” and hired the person despite my reservations. Invariably, the employee either was nonrenewed, or they departed of their accord. Now I recognize that some candidates are masterful in the art of interviewing, but if the proper questions or scenarios are posed, it is easier to determine the authenticity and competence of individuals.

I would recognize we cannot—or should not—try to please everyone. Throughout my developing years as a neophyte principal, I thought I needed to prove my worth by being all things to all people. When teachers or other school personnel came to my office with problems, I believed it to be my responsibility to provide solutions. Ultimately I recognized that if I handled all matters myself, I was depriving others of the opportunity to become empowered as problem solvers. Only when I informed staff that if they came to my office with their “monkeys” (issues) that they also needed to leave with their monkeys did I truly become more effective and efficient as a leader.

I would recognize that change is an often necessary and a useful part of life and work. Realizing that change is inevitable and that what’s really important is the ability to adjust to change in a positive, productive manner, then and only then, could I function as an effective leader and person. Not acknowledging the state of change, or ignoring it, only make one’s work and life increasingly more stressful and difficult. Embracing change as an opportunity to improve the conditions for students and staff is the key to success for an administrator and a well-adjusted individual.

I would take more risks and not fear failure. The periods when I grew and learned the most as a leader were during those times I failed to implement an initiative. During those difficult times, I should have recognized that complacency and the status quo were not in the best interests of the organization and what was needed was creative, outside-the-box thinking and action. If I had taken calculated risks— and had not feared failure—I could have discovered new and unique ways to approach some seemingly impossible situations.

I would recognize that others can and are often willing to carry the load and that success is not dependent upon me alone. If I had acknowledged that others have skills and strengths greater and more diverse than my own, and if I had allowed them to use these diverse strengths to improve the organization, the results would have demonstrated that, as a team, we had become an even more productive, meaningful educational environment.

I would laugh more at myself and acknowledge the genuinely funny episodes that require an old-fashioned belly laugh instead of feeling embarrassed. Certainly education is a serious business, but there are times, such as during a staff meeting when a slip of the tongue caused nervous laughter, or while attempting to inconspicuously enter a parent conference in progress and landing on my posterior because I thought a chair was attached to a desk, that simply require acknowledgement or humor. I should have seen those moments as times to recognize my missteps and to simply laugh, relieving any awkwardness and acknowledging my lack of coordination.

I would prioritize my commitments to balance time between work and home. With the wealth of athletic, extracurricular, and community activities available within the school, it is not possible to attend all events scheduled throughout the year. Therefore balance becomes the operative term. Having two children who were active in school athletics, traveling soccer, and other extracurricular activities as well as family responsibilities, I would attempt a more reasonable balance between work and home, allowing me time to enjoy family life while still being a visible presence at those important school-wide events and community activities.

I would allocate time each day for silence and meditation. Taking time to reflect upon the activities of the day would allow me to gain

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a realistic perspective on situations and self-correct/clarify my thinking. At times I overreacted to situations because I did not take time to adequately consider all aspects of an issue. Gaining a more realistic, thoughtful perspective could have been more helpful by engaging in meditation and periods of silence before acting.

I would never miss an opportunity to demonstrate my appreciation for others’ contributions. Just as important as understanding how individuals wish to be acknowledged is ensuring that credit for contributions is given to those who help to make our schools a meaningful, welcoming environment. Some individuals do not appreciate public displays and prefer private acknowledgement or notes while others desire more public acclaim from peers. Regardless of how appreciation is demonstrated, it is vitally important to ensure recognition of others’ contributions to the education of our young people.

I would recognize that a person’s performance may be the very best they can offer at a particular time. This does not mean that we should accept a subpar or unsatisfactory performance, but sometimes individuals are experiencing stressors or crises that are short term and bear consideration. Therefore, we may need to be more understanding during these trying times. Of course, if these circumstances continue to impact an individual’s performance long term, we might have to intervene.

I would be more humble when being recognized for successes and not play the “blame game” when adopted goals are not met. It is vitally important that I acknowledge we succeed as a team and that when our goals are not met, there is generally a reasonable explanation. My focus for future planning would concentrate on active listening, patience, and self-awareness—not on affixing blame to any individual or group. Above all else, I would view the journey of my career as a marathon and not a sprint.

Throughout my tenure as an educational administrator, I have been fortunate to encounter many mentors who unselfishly provided me with support and solid advice. I am eternally grateful for their compassion, insight, and wisdom. It is critical that we seek out those individuals who are willing to invest time in our development. Even so, if I knew then what I know now, I most certainly would have avoided the minefields and missteps I encountered along the administrative highway.

About the Author Paul E. Kulik, PhD, served as an assistant principal for five years, principal for twelve years, and central office administrator and superintendent for fourteen years. Presently, he serves as an adjunct faculty member for SAIL and Concordia University Chicago.

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SAIL for Education Students Graduate from CUC

On May 9, 2015, SAIL for Education team members, Dr. Julie Davis, Melissa Butsko, and Tyler Carson, headed to Concordia University Chicago (CUC) to watch sixteen SAIL graduates from across the state receive their master’s degrees in educational leadership, teacher leadership, or experienced administration. CUC also graduated one doctoral student, Bradley Leyrer of Wickliffe City Schools, who achieved his EdD in school leadership. Here are a few of the photos from the ceremony.

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I

I‘m Finally

S

tarting to

have finally reached retirement! Yes, after forty-two wonderful years in education, I decided to “hang it up”! This was the first August in over four decades that I was not back at school, getting ready for another year. It is a strange feeling, but I become further aware and marvel at what we educators do for our kids and school.

(You know, if we were paid by the hour, we would all have a few more dollars!)

Since retiring, I now have the time to do things I never could (or would take) the time for. I even took my grandson to see the Cincinnati Bengals practice this week! That sure beats another day in the office!

Yes, I am very proud of my educational journey and I thank God every day for allowing me this great experience, but…I am looking forward to spending more time with my family and interests. I am blessed to have five beautiful grandkids, and I realized that I was missing more of their activities because I was always at school. This “always at school” was part of a letter that my youngest daughter, Angie, sent to me in 1998. She was a senior in high school and didn’t want me to miss any of her end-of-year activities. She was well aware of what educators do and the time commitment I made to my school and responsibilities. I still have that letter and have shared it at the different schools that I worked with. I always tried to help my teachers keep focused on family as well as work. Just before Christmas this past year I was working (as usual) on several December evenings and unfortunately missed two piano recitals and a Christmas play starring three of my grandchildren. I knew then, over our Christmas/holiday break, that I had to make 2014-15 my last year.

Again, I am extremely proud of serving as a principal and educator for so long, but I want to remind you to always remember that there is more to life than school. It can be very difficult to balance time at

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mell the Roses!

by Stephen Zinser

school and personal/family time. I probably spent too much time at work, but at the time, I felt I needed to do everything and be everywhere when it came to school tasks and activities. If you take anything from my words here, take the time to take care of yourself and family, and then let your school have a few minutes of your time!

I am now enjoying my “freedom” to come and go as I please. I can now schedule appointments at 9:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. and not have to worry about recess duty or time in the cafeteria or curriculum meetings. As you know, we always have to schedule these “normal” life activities after school or during holiday breaks. My calendar is becoming full with dates to babysit, pick up the kids after school, or other family things that my daughters (and wife) order me to do! Who knows? I may even volunteer in my oldest daughter’s classroom!

Anyway, thank you for all you continue to do for the kids across our great state. Be sure to give them all your best but to do so you must take care of yourself and family. When you do, ALL kids in Ohio will benefit!

Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to work with many of you over the years and serve you through OAESA. OAESA has supported me for over thirty years along this journey, and I am forever grateful. Yes, I am proud and blessed for my years in education, but I am looking forward to smelling the roses!

About the Author Stephen Zinser recently retired as the principal for St. Vivian School in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is a past president of OAESA and continues to serve the organization on the Network and Outreach Service Team.

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Elementary Essentials What We’ve Learned about Pre-k to Grade Three Transitions: The Ohio Ready Schools’ Paths to Obtain Leadership Skills

by Sharon Rae Dorsey, PhD

S

mooth transitions into school and from grade to grade are at the heart of the Ohio Ready Schools (ORS) Initiative, a statewide network of more than 40 public school sites. Schools that are members of the ORS initiative value the opportunity to offer activities that welcome, inform, and support students through multiple periods of transitions. Over the seven-year history of the initiative, transition has been the focus area of most ORS sites as their local teams design annual action plans.

There are three reasons that dedicated transition activities are important. A well-orchestrated transition program can do the following:

Sustain early gains.

Research indicates that students who received additional environmental support and continuity as they transitioned kindergarten through grade three are more likely to sustain early gains and perform better in reading and math. (Ramey and Ramey, 1999)

Level the field.

According to a Harvard Family Research Project’s review of current research on transition practices, “school readiness initiatives, and the promising transition practices that accompany them, should be judged not only in terms of how they improve academic performance, but also by how well they ‘level the field’ so that disparities among children of diverse social and economic backgrounds are reduced.”(Bohan-Baker and Little, 2002, p.4)

Build home/school connections.

Family involvement is a crucial component in the transitions of young children, yet elementary professionals are less trained in family involvement compared to early childcare professionals.

(Bohan-Baker and Little, 2002, p. 4–5) To guide our work on transitioning students, ORS generated a list of questions that may be helpful to others wanting to build a transition program.

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Guiding Questions : 1. What is meant by transition? How can it be communicated?

2. Why is it necessary for young children to experience positive transitions?

3. How can transition activities be individualized to meet the diverse needs of entering kindergartners and students’ gradeto-grade progressions?

4. What is the agreed-upon broad skill set we would like for entering kindergartners?

5. Who are and should be our partners in creating smooth and effective transitions for students?

6. How and what should we communicate with stakeholders concerning transitioning?

7. What are some examples of effective transition strategies and activities?

8. What are the qualities of an effective transition activity with parents?

9. When should the transition activities be done?

What have we learned about transitions?

While ORS sites fully realize they are still learning and generating more questions as data is collected and analyzed, the following seven concepts summarize present thoughts: As much as possible, transition activities should be designed to meet the diverse and individual needs of entering students as early as possible. Since the range and type of needs entering students have vary from year to year and from school to school, staffs are designing methods to collect information as early as possible on entering students. During registration, families complete surveys on students’ prior learning experiences.

After early spring screening, teachers meet with parents and a) provide student scores and discuss the meaning of the scores, b) pinpoint activities in provided packets most appropriate for an individual child to be done during the summer before kindergarten. In addition to early screening activities, some ORS schools conduct an “evening of play” for incoming kindergarten students and their families where teachers can observe the students. Stations are set up in classrooms, the gym,

or the playground to observe students in selected fun and engaging activities that require both cognitive and noncognitive skills. A kindergarten teacher is assigned to each station to observe behaviors, relationships, and social needs. The observations are used to increase parental awareness of the kindergarten curriculum, to provide specific suggestions/training on how to help children prepare for the start of school at home, and to enroll identified students in school-sponsored summer transition programs.

Identifying and communicating the range of expectations for entering kindergartners, and for others at various grade levels, is an essential component of any transition plan. The question of expectations and skill sets is one of the most challenging. The ORS initiative is based on the premise that schools should be ready to meet the needs of all entering children and support their learning. Although Ohio has student standards for K–3 and early childhood standards for pre-k, what do these standards actually look like in children’s behavior and is there a commonly shared interpretation of them among families, kindergarten teachers, and the early childhood community? The topic of standards and expectations and how students can be helped at home to achieve them is, and should be the focus of meetings, not only for the families of incoming kindergartners but also the families of students entering each grade. Many of our K–3 teachers have stated the feeling that social/emotional/ physical well-being skills are as important as the cognitive skills in students’ success in school.

Purposeful collaboration among the wide range of stakeholders in pre-k through grade three transitions enriches the process and brings more resources to the table. The range of stakeholders while transitioning students is broader than we originally thought. In addition to the students, families were initially the most commonly involved stakeholders in the transitioning activities. The range of stakeholders is much broader. ORS sites work to involve the early childhood community including preschools, childcare centers, home-care providers, Head Start, Help Me Grow, SPARK, Success-by-Six, HIPPY, or COAD in the planning and implementation of transition activities. Some of our schools involve social service agencies, the local library, the local police and fire departments, and local doctors and nurses. When school district summer budgets were cut, some local churches housed summer programs for K–3 students or partnered with schools to combine a teacher-designed “lunch buddy” reading program, which complimented the churches’ already planned summer children’s program. Because of the correlation of success in kindergarten with a students’ success in their whole school career and later, many local business and community organizations are willing to contribute time and/or other resources to activities. Thinking collaboratively with the willingness to reach beyond school walls does get results.

Several formats must be used to share transition information due to the range of media on which stakeholders rely. ORS sites have used face-to-face meetings, videos, smartphone apps, school websites, “Get-to-Know-Us” school-made photo books, signs in local stores or neighborhoods, local newspapers, TV stations, and signs or banners in the schoolyard.

ORS sites use a wide range of activities to support student transition. Due to the diverse needs and resources of schools, communities, and families, transition activities employed by ORS sites vary widely. The sites learned to carefully identify and monitor the needs and interests of students and their families and use that information as a guide to design activities. They’ve also learned to partner with families and community agencies, which can bring more resources to the table, make the activities more powerful, and connect school activities to the real world.

A sampling of activities, which address the transitioning needs of a range of students, families, and teacher are located on the ORS website: www.ohioreadyschools.org.

The tone and process of transition activities must be inviting and inclusive for students and families. For entering students, initial school events must be fun and engaging. Just as with classroom activities, the first encounters students have with schools and staff should make each student feel comfortable, safe, and valued as an individual. In a similar manner, families need to feel comfortable in the school community and valued as a partner in the child’s learning. As educators, we need to communicate in both spoken and unspoken ways, an invitation to families that we want and value their participation in their child’s transitioning process. We need to reaffirm that the families are the most important advocates and supporters of their children’s learning. Are families invited to ask questions? Are their questions taken seriously? Are families asked for feedback at the end of each meeting? Is the feedback used to design further activities? Schools have found it beneficial to include families and parent organizations in the planning and implementation of transition meetings. Families bring perspective, closer knowledge of familial needs, and resources to the table that the school staff might not have envisioned. Transition activities may be the families’ first experiences with the school and may continued on next page...

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...continued from p. 25 establish the tone for the relationship the families will have with the school. Is there a balance between telling and listening?

Students’ transition into school, and through the grades, cannot be addressed by a single event but requires a continuous and deliberate program guided by a dedicated site level team. Programs need to include ongoing communications to families and stakeholder, invitations to regular school events, “getting-to-know each other” episodes, and collaborative activities that begin prior to entering school and continue throughout the school years. Each program may start when children are very young, intensify in the spring and summer before entry to kindergarten, reach a crescendo on the opening days of school, and continue through the school years and summers between

transitions to the higher grades. Schools have found establishing a transition team that operates throughout the year to be a valuable resource.

We can all recall many personal transition experiences, both positive and negative. By reflecting on those transitions that went well, we might identify some common elements. There was ample communication about expectations and a positive, well-informed, goto person that guided the way. The transition process was designed to make us feel welcome and gain a sense of security. Our concerns were addressed and feedback provided through an open-door policy that invited ownership of the new environment. These same elements should be the goals for activities and processes that support students, families, and caregivers through the many transitions in the K–12 education process.

References

Bohan-Baker, M., and Little, P. (2002). The Transition to Kindergarten: A Review of Current Research and Promising Practices to Involve Families. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project.

California Department of Education. (1997). Continuity for Young Children: Positive Transitions to Elementary School. Sacramento, CA. Ramey, C. T., & Ramey, S. L. (1999). Beginning School for Children at Risk. The Transition to Kindergarten. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.

About the Author Sharon Rae Dorsey, PhD, is a program evaluator with the Wexford Institute. She is also a regional program coordinator for the Ohio Ready Schools Initiative.

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Change

by Paul G. Young, PhD

Change and transition are familiar synonyms. They imply an evolution, a move, or a shift that is often surrounded by unfamiliarity. Change impacts people, policies, processes, practices, structures, culture, and productivity.

In schools, the word transition is applied to a wide range of changes and can mean different things to different people. Perhaps most commonly it marks a time when students move from one school environment into another, occurring at a variety of ages, and varying greatly across school districts. The transition into preschool or kindergarten is typically the first major school evolution, followed by shifts from elementary to middle school, middle to high school, high school to college, work, and much more. Teachers and principals receive professional development training to help students navigate school transitions as successfully as possible. Quite often, special resource personnel also support school transitions. continued on next page...

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...continued from p. 27 When a transition marks a turnover in the principalship, however, the two individuals involved are often left to work out transition processes alone. The announcement of change often spikes varied and sometimes unexpected emotions among students, staff, parents, and the community—let alone the two principals. Some are excited to be free of the past. Others face change and an unknown future with trepidation. Regardless of the reasons for the change, every principalship transition is an important process, not a simple event. How the perceptions, feelings, emotions, and anxieties of the affected are handled eventually determines how smooth and peaceful the transition will be.

Mutual planning and communication is important. Sometimes during the time leading up to changing jobs, certain aspects of the transition process can become overwhelming for the outgoing and incoming principals. That’s why mentors are an invaluable resource in helping to navigate and negotiate the feelings of angst and unexpected developments involved with change. For the new leader, those processes involve allaying fears within the existing professional learning community (PLC) by keeping a positive momentum and infusing confidence. Incoming principals must listen to learn, gather evidence of what works, acknowledge strengths and weaknesses, and set about communicating and clarifying expectations. They must convey the big picture as well as a path leading to new levels of achievement. They must develop influence. Their disposition, as well as those they will lead, becomes more important than position or title. For the departing principal, regardless of what prompted the transition, managing an exit with efficacy, dignity, and grace is important.

John Kotter, renowned author and emeritus professor of leadership at Harvard Business School, cites a distinction between “change management” and “change leadership.” He describes change management as the basic tools and structures intended to control specific change activities. Change leadership focuses on the forces, visions, and processes that result in transformation. Principalship transitions present numerous management as well as leadership challenges. Both concepts must be applied to achieve a highly successful transition for both principals.

The specific management and leadership processes of principalship transitions are unique to each setting. Because of that uniqueness, there is no specific, cookie-cutter change recipe that guarantees success. However, both incoming and outgoing principals can lower anxieties and benefit personally and professionally by agreeing to adhere to practical, methodical management and leadership concepts. Those methods can be guided by the acronym CHANGE. It outlines ideologies, processes, activities, and the development of a shared vision for incoming and outgoing leaders.

C Commit to communicate. Cultivate a professional relationship. Show that you care by conveying compassion and con-

versing about personal and professional concerns. Collaborate to achieve a peaceful and smooth transition with a focus on consistency of student achievement. Avoid circumstances that lead to a continuous cycle of turnover.

H Honor legacies of both the new and former principal. Help each other. Hear the concerns of the entire PLC. Be honest and transparent with them about the processes of transition.

A Address prevailing assumptions, traditions, and expectations about principalship change. Analyze issues and others’ anxieties. Allowing an adequate amount of time to transition with active involvement from both principals is ideal. Approach discussions with a positive attitude. Attitude always trumps aptitude.

N Negotiate the small details. Never assume the other principal’s position regarding an issue without discussion. Decide the role and level of involvement in school activities of the departing principal.

G Generate buy-in for the change. Giving respect will gain respect. Give genuine and gracious praise for each other’s work.

Gratitude and gestures of kindness are important characteristics of a positive attitude.

E

Examine emotions that can have positive and negative effect on abilities to motivate, engage, and energize the PLC to embrace change processes. Express your thoughts and feelings. Envision common expectations for both short and long term goals for the school, and share them with stakeholders—together.

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“Change has the power to help people envision new possibilities, invest in relationships, and unify communities,� says Ayesha Farag-Davis in Principal magazine. Or, it can lead to a cycle of dysfunction. Constant change of principals, especially in schools in need of high quality and steady leadership, creates a churning effect that negatively impacts student achievement, sometimes for years. (Schimel, 2014, describing experiences in Denver Public Schools) Once a change is confirmed, both principals should prepare a list of processes, activities, and questions unique to their experience to address. They must set aside adequate time to meet alone and work through important discussions. Encouragement and support from central office leaders is essential. The CHANGE acronym guides professional conduct.

It is well documented that strong principals are a key factor in effective schools. They also determine the success of leadership transitions.

Successful change requires planning, time, and supportive resources. Thrusting principals into difficult, unplanned transitions without time to methodically reflect together, learn about their school, and prepare for the process is a recipe for disaster.

1

S. C. Cox, A. Farag-Davis, C. Gibbs, & J. Maslyk. Setting a Vision for Change Leadership. Principal, March/April 2013.

Recommended Reading Kotter, J. P. & Whitehead, L. A. (2010). Buy In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.

Kotter, J. P. & Whitehead, L. A. (1999). What Leaders Really Do. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press.

Kouzes, J. M. & Posner, B. Z. (2010). The Truth About Leadership: The No-Fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need to Know. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Kouzes, J. M. & Posner, B. Z. (2011). Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Schimel, K. (2014). After Ambitious Overhauls, Denver High School Sees Much Change, Little Progress. Co.Chalkbeat.org.

Spillane, J. (2015). Improving the Transition to a Tough Position, Institute for Policy Research. Northwestern University.

Web Resources http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkotter/2011/07/12/change-management-vs-change-leadership-whats-the-difference. https://www.naesp.org/principal-marchapril-2013-transitions/principal-marchapril-2013-transitions.

About the Author Paul Young, PhD, is retired from the principalship. He is a former president of both OAESA and NAESP and currently serves as an adjunct professor at Ohio University-Lancaster. He experienced four job transitions in his career as a principal and assisted with numerous others as a principal mentor. He is the coauthor of Mentoring Principals: Frameworks, Agendas, Tips, and Case Stories for Mentors and Mentees and other books for principals available from Corwin Press. He can be reached at paulyoungohio@gmail.com.

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OAESA is now accepting nominations for our 2015–16 Awards Program, including Ohio’s National Distinguished Principal, OAESA Hall of Fame Schools, the Outstanding Assistant Principal, and the Secretary of the Year. Go to www.oaesa.org for details.

The Ohio Ready School Professional Development Forum is planned for October 6 at the Crowne Plaza Ohio in Dublin. The overarching theme is “Getting the Conditions Right for Learning.” Author and early education teacher, Mary Anne Buckley, will share insights regarding how she integrates social, emotional, and literacy learning into her classroom. Her book, Sharing the Blue Crayon, has been well received by the the pre-k 3 community. Also included on the agenda is a panel of expert practitioners who will share ideas and strategies on working with challenging classroom behaviors that compromise student learning. Networking time for the Ready School sites will be provided as well as breakout sessions highlighting various Ready School accomplishments.

Are you looking for a 100% online, convenient way to further your education? SAIL for Education, in partnership with Concordia University Chicago, is currently accepting students for the October 2015 start date.

Please visit the ad on p. 22 for details about how to start earning your graduate degree today!

Members of the OAESA Board of Directors and staff headed to Long Beach, CA, for NAESP's national conference. With the theme "Best Practices for Better Schools," our team came back armed with many ideas to help build our organization. Our annual board and staff retreat takes place in November, where we'll use this information to guide the focus of the association this year.

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We just revamped our governance this summer with our new service teams. Replacing the old-school committees, our service teams are designed to give more of our membership a chance to serve in the capacity that best helps the organization. Watch the informative video on our YouTube channel (www.youtube. com/oaesa) for detailed information. We'll be meeting with our new service teams all fall and will post the minutes on our website. Be sure to stay tuned for more information.

Are you taking advantage of OAESA online communications?

+ Join our 1,192 followers on Twitter! + The first Tuesday of each month we host a Twitter chat, 8–9 p.m.

Check it out. #ohprinchat + Over 270 people like us on Facebook. Do you? + Many of our Tuesday Talk topics are suggested by members. What is important to you? Be heard! Send your ideas to info@oaesa.org. + Did you know our monthly webinars are completely free? Join us for our Lunch & Learn series held on the second Friday of each month from 1–2 p.m. to dsicover best practices from colleagues.

OAESA has a new staff member! Mary Guiher joined us in August as our new communications specialist. Mary is the voice behind our social media, the eNews, and all online communications. She is also in charge of OAESA marketing and advertising, most notably for the 59th Annual Professional Conference and Trade Show, Mission: Possible, which will be held June 15–17, 2016, at Hilton Columbus at Easton. Feel free to contact her by e-mail at guiher@oaesa.org or by calling the office at 614.547.8087.

Speaking of our upcoming professional conference, we are currently seeking proposals for clinic presentations. For more information and a downloadable RFP, please visit www.oaesa.org.

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Highlights from the 58th Annual Professional Conference & Trade Show

TRUE GRIT OAESA welcomed nearly 350 educators from all over the state—some even from across the country—at our annual professional conference this past June. With a cowboy theme and focusing on the topic of grit, the conference featured renowned grit experts, Jim Grant and Thomas Hoerr, as keynote speakers; dozens of clinics about resilience for educators; popular Scholastic programming, including sessions with conference favorite, Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer; over fifty of the top school vendors in our trade show; a jam-packed unconference to kick things off; and many opportunities for networking and socializing with colleagues and friends. True Grit was our most successful conference to date, and we hope you enjoy the conference in pictures on these pages. Please join us next year as we gear up to present Mission: Possible, June 15–17, 2016, at the Hilton Columbus at Easton.

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OAESA’s Award Winners for 2015 On the final day of the professional conference this past June, we recognized Ohio’s top educators, schools, and staff at our annual awards program. With sponsorship from VALIC and in partnership with NAESP, we honored Ohio’s Distinguished Principal, Glen Stacho, of Drake Elementary in the Strongsville City School District. We also celebrated our Outstanding Assistant Principal, Matthew Dansby, from Tussing Elementary and Secretary of the Year, Pat McDermitt, from Harmon Middle School; both winners are from the Pickerington Local School District. Finally we awarded Dr. Margaret Searle the D. Richard Murray Award for her excellent service to OAESA over the years.

Ohio Distinguished Principal Glen Stacho, pictured with members of VALIC and Dr. Julie Davis, OAESA Executive Director

Secretary of the Year Pat McDermitt and Dr. Davis

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Outstanding Assistant Principal Matthew Dansby and Dr. Davis

D. Richard Murray winner Dr. Margaret Searle and Dr. Davis

Our Hall of Fame Schools

Columbia Intermediate, Kings Local Schools

Coy Elementary, Oregon City Schools

Dorr Elementary, Springfield Local Schools

Franklin Elementary, Wadsworth City Schools

Holly Lane Elementary, Westlake City Schools

North Olmsted Middle, North Olmsted City Schools

Park Elementary, Swanton Local Schools

Royal View Elementary, North Royalton City Schools

Tarhe Elementary, Lancaster City Schools

Violet Elementary, Pickerington Local Schools

35 35

Bridge Day:

The Transition to a New School

by Dave Winebrenner

3636

by Andrea Kaercher

by Heidi Strong

B

ridges are an important part of any community, both literally and figuratively. So, too, are the bridges built within the community of our school districts with students transitioning from one building to the next as they progress through the grade levels.

Previously at Kings Junior High School (KJH), sixth graders would visit KJH on a morning in May. We gave them a brief tour and a wholegroup, grade-level meeting with KJH administration and counselors before they returned to their intermediate school for lunch. However, we decided that this traditional visit and tour needed a makeover. Two KJH teachers took on this challenge as part of their yearly evaluation.

Tackling a real-life problem made this a win-win situation for all involved, both students (current and incoming) and staff. continued on next page...

37 37

...continued from p. 37 We completed a review to identify activities we already did during the school year that would support transitioning the sixth graders into seventh grade. This evaluation directed us to ideas that we could use as a preview for the sixth grade students or as a mentoring/support opportunity for the current seventh graders. These activities would contribute to a smoother transition for sixth graders moving to the junior high—much more helpful than depending on one end-of-year visit to do everything.

One opportunity was securing a guest speaker who addressed students regarding bullying. Each grade level heard the speaker separately. We used the common vocabulary and content to address very real issues in the separate buildings and to create a baseline for student behavior, based on the ideas of a school community and student support of each other. To build on this, the junior high principal and counselors visited the intermediate school in early spring to begin establishing a relationship with the incoming sixth graders, to revisit the importance of a healthy and supportive school community, and to introduce the scheduling process.

In early February, we held a meeting with the administration at Columbia Intermediate School (a 2015 OAESA Hall of Fame School) to begin the development of the new sixth grade visit/transition day. We made the critical decision to focus on the district goal of making stronger transitions. The main concept we called “Bridges,” designed to support students from one building to the next and also to reconnect students with peers they had been separated from for the past year. We chose the second Friday in May as the date for the visit of the sixth graders. This was also the date our eighth grade students would be visiting the high school as a part of their transition experience to ninth grade. The Kings Freshmen Camp (KFC) allowed for only our seventh grade students to be in the building that day and provided much more flexibility in our planning.

Early in the week, just prior to the Bridge Day on Friday, administration met with the seventh grade staff to go over the schedule for each team. Staff members also signed up to bring food for a potluck lunch where sixth and seventh grade teachers could dine and have an opportunity to talk about curriculum and incoming students.

This communication not only provided a cohesive approach but also identified areas that were still unclear or might need improvement in the future. Encore teachers were also included in the planning and activities.

One critical change was the inclusion of the current seventh grade students in the transition day—as mentors and in student leadership roles. Both the sixth and seventh grades were divided into three equal teams, comprised of approximately one hundred students each. Rather than bringing every sixth grade student over at the same time, two buses were dispatched to the intermediate school to bring one team to the junior high. When they arrived, the students were met by encore teachers and escorted into a community room where they were greeted by the junior high administration and counselors. We introduced our district’s school resource officer along with the two teachers who had put this day together.

Then we showed a brief five-minute video that introduced the students to the various activities they would be able to participate in at KJH in the upcoming year.

After the buses dropped off the first group of students, they returned to the intermediate school to pick up the next group of students. The thirty minutes needed for round trip provided a perfect time frame for completing this cycle three times while keeping the numbers very manageable.

During Bridge Day, the sixth graders got the chance to tour the school. Each sixth grade homeroom class had been divided into two equal groups. Meanwhile, each seventh grade homeroom had also been separated into two equal groups.

Student council members led the tours, stopping to share a brief script at eighteen stations throughout the school. The tour groups began at alternate starting locations to spread out the students. One sixth grade teacher accompanied each of these tour groups.

After students finished a team-building activity, the seventh grade students led a “Ten Truths about KJH” PowerPoint with important information about daily life in the junior high. Prior to their visit on Bridge Day, sixth graders had provided questions to their teachers, and the seventh grade teachers made a list of the most common ones to create the PowerPoint and to fuel discussion. An

38

Here’s the schedule we follow on Bridge Day. unexpected but consistent benefit of this activity was the pride and confidence exhibited by the seventh graders in answering and discussing the answers to these questions.

Following the tour and activity, the students were dismissed for lunch. The seventh grade students had been encouraged (and were eager) to sit at tables with sixth graders to welcome them to the school. The junior high administration, counselors, and parents provided supervision for the lunchroom, which allowed the sixth and seventh grade teachers to also have a shared lunch together.

Following lunch, the students were treated to shaved ice from a local business. We also conducted lunch on a rotation schedule with one team of sixth graders and one team of seventh graders at a time in order to accommodate the larger numbers.

After lunch the seventh graders returned to their classrooms, and the sixth graders headed down to the football stadium for an informational scavenger hunt that included learning more about the history of the Kings community and the seventh grade staff members. As each sixth grade group finished the scavenger hunt, they boarded buses

in the same rotating schedule as the morning and returned to their building for a few more weeks as sixth graders.

The week after Bridge Day, the team met again to review feedback from the day and to make suggestions for changes and improvements. One change that came out of these meetings was to improve the tours. Prior to Bridge Day the following year, we selected the tour guides much earlier before the sixth grade visit so they could have more time to practice the tour script and their responsibilities.

This simple preparation paid valuable dividends later on.

After three years of this format, we can speak to the improved start to the following school year for our new seventh graders. They report being more comfortable and confident in making this transition to their new school. In addition, each year the seventh grade students begin asking in January when the sixth graders are coming over for their visit. The seventh graders are eager to share the “ins and outs� of KJH with the incoming sixth graders.

About the Authors Andrea Kaercher is a seventh grade science teacher at Kings Junior High. Mrs. Kaercher has taught at KJH for the past six years.

She is currently the Seventh Grade White Team leader and the student council advisor. Mrs. Kaercher may be contacted by e-mail at akaercher@kingslocal.net.

Heidi Strong is also a seventh grade science teacher at Kings Junior High. Mrs. Strong has taught at KJH for the past twenty-four years.

She is currently the Seventh Grade Blue Team leader and also the Science Olympiad advisor. You may reach Mrs. Strong by e-mailing her at hstrong@kingslocal.net.

Dave Winebrenner is in his first year as the principal of South Lebanon Elementary in the Kings Local School District after serving as the assistant principal at Kings Junior High School for the previous nine years. He also serves as the Zone Two Director on the OAESA Board. Mr. Winebrenner may be contacted at dwinebrenner@kingslocal.net.

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from OAESA’s Associate Executive Director

Student Safety Updates 2015–2016

by Mark Jones, OAESA Associate Executive Director

L

ike their counterparts across our nation, Ohio’s principals have faced a seemingly endless array of important changes affecting their work in the past few years. Most of these have required the principal to learn new processes and procedures or have involved acquiring a new set of skills or knowledge base in order to comply with legislative mandates. Without a doubt, the transitions and increased expectations have come at a head-spinning pace, and simply staying abreast of the details involved with these changes has been no easy task!

Still, every responsible administrator must make the effort to stay informed about all new requirements—not only for themselves but also for the staff and students in their care.

Clearly, recent changes to standards, evaluations, and instructional responsibilities are of critical importance to building principals. But that’s not all that’s important: today’s administrator needs to keep in mind his or her responsibility in ensuring student safety as well. Yes, here’s another place where Ohio’s principals have new expectations for a best-practice approach, and yes, those changes impact the school principal’s work. There is no greater responsibility than protecting the security of the children and adults in the school setting, so it is crucial for principals to be completely aware of the legal obligations involved in school safety.

New legislation passed by the 130th General Assembly and signed by the governor became effective on March 23, 2015. This law, known as HB 178, contains very specific language that outlines the expectations and requirements for conducting rapid dismissal and school safety drills as well as the mandatory procedures for documenting and reporting these drills. Included in the legislation’s text is a provision that identifies the consequence a school principal could face for failure to comply with the new regulations, amounting to a fine of $1,000. The exact provisions that address all the legal requirements from HB 178 are codified in ORC 3737.73 and are well worth reading. Additionally, legislative requirements that govern the development and implementation of school emergency management plans can be found on ORC 3313.536.

In an effort to summarize the information for the educators responsible for implementing school safety plans and conducting the required drills, the Safer Schools Ohio was established as a multiagency effort that includes the Ohio Department of Education, the Department of Public Safety—Office of Homeland Security, and the Ohio Board of Regents. There is a treasure trove of information and resources available on the Safer Schools Ohio’s website for any principal or district administrator who wants to stay informed about improving student safety. This includes sample safety plans, guides, and resources, as well as information about free school safety plan training for school personnel and districts. Please visit the Safer Schools Ohio website at https://saferschools.ohio.gov.

The Division of State Fire Marshal (SFM), Code Enforcement Bureau, has created a flow chart (on opposite page) as a quick-reference guide for the number and type of drills that schools must conduct each year.

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No-cost resource for members!

1–2 p.m. on the second Friday of each month. Visit oaesa.org for more info.

October 9

LuNCH AND

LEARN WEBINAR SERIES

Best Practices in Reading Comprehension Instruction

November 13

STEM: Stimulating & Triggering Elementary Masterminds

December 11

Partnering with Students to Build Ownership of Learning

January 8 February 12 March 11

Because I’m Happy TBA: Professional Conference Keynote PBIS Me ASAP

April 8

TBA: Professional Conference Keynote

May 13

You Want Me to Do What?

Effective Ways to Get the Most Out of Difficult Students

41

Health Issues Diabetes Update: The Three Ss

by Ann Connelly

I

n June 2014 Ohio adopted legislation that developed standards around care for students with diabetes in schools. Some parts of the legislation restated provisions that schools have always been able to do, but some areas created new requirements. Implementing this new law (Ohio Revised Code [ORC] 3313.7112) will require schools to transition from their old practices to new ones.

Schools can think of this transition as the 3 S’s: 1) Students and Families, 2) School Administration, and 3) Staff.

1) Students and Families Diabetic students and their families must initiate and maintain contact with the school about a diabetes diagnosis and ongoing need for care. Some of the student and familial responsibilities include: • •

Providing the school with documentation of diagnosis, doctor’s orders, and medication and supplies needed. These orders and supplies must be kept current.

If doing self-care, a student must follow doctor’s orders and staff instructions, including the safe disposal of blood- or urine-contaminated items. If a student does not follow these conditions, then his or her permission to perform self-care may be revoked. [3313.7112(H)(2)]

2) School Administration ORC 3313.7112 also has specific activities that school administration must address. These include: • •

• •

•

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Offering a 504 plan no later than fourteen days after receipt of a diabetes order for a student. [3313.7112(B)(2)] Allowing a student to continue to attend the school he or she would have otherwise attended. The school cannot require parents to provide needed diabetes care to the student. [3313.7112(G)] Providing care to the student in accordance with the doctor’s orders. [3313.7112(B)(1)] Seeking employees who are willing to be trained to provide diabetes care to students. [3313.7112(E)(1)] Training may also be provided to bus drivers and school employees with the primary responsibility for supervision of the student with diabetes. [3313.7112(F)(1–2)] Providing training to employees coordinated by a school nurse or other licensed health professional with expertise in diabetes care. Training shall be offered prior to the beginning of the school year or as needed but not later than fourteen days after receiving a doctor’s orders for

•

diabetes care. Employees shall demonstrate competency and receive any necessary follow-up training and supervision. [3313.7112(E)(1–4)] Reporting data annually to the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) regarding number of students with diabetes enrolled and number of medication errors associated with diabetes care. [3313.7112(K)(1)]

3) Staff The new law also has some specific requirements for school staff.

These include: •

• •

•

Providing care outlined in doctor’s orders, including checking and recording blood glucose and ketones; responding to blood glucose levels outside the target range, administering glucagon and other necessary emergency treatments, administering insulin or oral diabetes medication, and calculating medication dosage based on physical activity and diet. [3313.7112(B)(1)(a–h)] Attending training provided by a licensed health professional with expertise in diabetes care and demonstrating competence in diabetes care tasks. [3313.7112(E)(1)(a–c)] Allowing and supporting students with diabetes who have authorization to provide self-care and to self-carry diabetes supplies at any location in the school and any school-related activity. [3313.7112(H)(1)] School nurse (or other licensed health professional with expertise in diabetes care) shall provide or coordinate training as noted above, assess the competency of staff being trained as determined by the school governing authority, and provide any follow-up training and supervision needed.

[3313.7112(E)(1)(a–d)]

Resources Each school provides healthcare services to students in accordance to the needs and resources in the school’s community. Some schools already have virtually all of the activities in the new law in place. However, while the new legislation improves the safety and academic success of students with diabetes, it may require some changes in other schools. Fortunately, there are resources available to help.

ODE, in collaboration with ODH, the American Diabetes Association (ADA), the Ohio Association of School Nurses, and others developed a number of resources to assist schools in implement-

ing this law. Included among these resources are PowerPoint presentations, a pre/posttest, skills checklists that may be used by the school nurse to conduct staff training, and a letter for schools to give families regarding eligibility for a 504. Find these resources at education.ohio.gov/Topics/Other-Resources/Diabetes-Management.

The National Institutes of Health offers the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) for schools at ndep.nih.gov/hcp-businesses-and-schools/Schools.aspx. This provides resources for schools as well as educational programs for students and parents.

Included in the resources is Helping the Student with Diabetes Succeed: A Guide for School Personnel, which provides forms and describes the responsibilities of all parties involved in providing diabetes care at school.

The ADA provides an online curriculum, Diabetes Care Tasks at School: What Key Personnel Need to Know, which includes videos regarding administration of diabetes medication. It can be found at www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/parents-and-kids/diabetes-care-at-school/school-staff-trainings/diabetes-care-tasks.html.

The National Association of School Nurses offers information about providing care to students with diabetes and training to school staff at www.nasn.org/Home (search diabetes).

The ODH School Nursing Program provides consultation and technical assistance to schools, school nurses, or other healthcare providers and families regarding diabetes care in the school

setting. Find out about the ODH School Nursing Program at www.odh.ohio.gov/odhprograms/chss/schnurs/schnurs1.aspx.

Diabetes Is a Lifelong, Chronic Disease Once a student is diagnosed with diabetes, the school will need to provide appropriate healthcare services to the student until graduation. Knowing this, it is paramount that schools work to have a cooperative relationship with the student, the family, and the student’s doctor. Communication is key, and the pattern of communication established when the student is first diagnosed will develop the foundation for the school-student/family-doctor relationship potentially for years to come. Even if your school does not currently have a student with diabetes, it is prudent to consider what resources exist in your school and local healthcare community that you will be able to draw upon when such a situation arises.

Finally, since a person has diabetes for life, the goal of medical professionals and families impacted is to enable a student to ultimately manage his or her own care. Depending on the age and skills of the student upon diagnosis, this can seem a daunting task; the child’s willingness to successfully self-manage may actually decrease in middle school, for instance. Once again, effective communication between the school, family, and doctor is necessary to allow a diabetic student to be healthy, attend to his or her schoolwork, and be academically successful.

About the Author Ann Connelly is the public health school nurse supervisor at the Ohio Department of Health. You can reach her by phone at 614.728.0386 or by e-mail at ann.connelly@odh.ohio.gov.

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Physical Activity: A Healthy Choice for Students with Asthma P

hysical activity is part of a healthy lifestyle and provides positive health benefits to students with asthma. Asthma is one of the most common chronic diseases of childhood and nationally causes 10.5 million missed school days each year, according to the National Institute of Health. Standardized test scores of students with asthma demonstrate decreased academic performance. Poor performance at school correlates directly with the severity of asthma—the more severe the child’s asthma, the poorer the academic performance. For example, kindergarteners with asthma have demonstrated lower readiness scores, and children entering school with asthma have scored lower on reading assessments after the first year. The average student with asthma misses four school days a year.

by Virginia Delyse Vitartas 44

Uncontrolled asthma affects a student’s ability to be academically successful. Common symptoms of uncontrolled asthma are coughing at night interrupting sleep and a decreased ability to exercise. Fatigue and asthma symptoms affect concentration and decrease full participation in physical activities. Lack of physical activity is a likely contributor to weight gain, resulting in an obesity problem among children with asthma.

What is asthma?

Asthma is a chronic disease of the lungs. Symptoms range in severity from mild to life threatening. There is no cure for asthma, but asthma symptoms are controllable with medicine and lifestyle changes. Children with asthma have sensitive airways, even when they show no symptoms. Their airways have an increased response to triggers, which are allergens and irritants they breathe such as tobacco smoke, pollens, mold, and dust. Other triggers include viruses, hot or cold air, and exercise. Triggers vary from child to child—each child has triggers that are specific to him or her. Exposure to triggers causes asthma symptoms and asthma attacks.

What limits children with asthma from engaging in physical activity?

Exercise is one of the most common triggers of asthma in children.

Exercise-induced asthma, also known as exercise-induced bronchospasm (EIB), is asthma triggered by physical activity and affects a majority of children with asthma. It’s important to note that asthma—even exercise-induced asthma—is manageable. Asthma that limits a child’s participation in physical activity is uncontrolled and needs to be addressed by a doctor.

Although exercise can trigger asthma symptoms, children with asthma should not avoid exercise. A research study on asthma and exercise found that elementary-age children with uncontrolled asthma were less likely to participate in physical activity because they feared the feeling of suffocation that an asthma attack produces. (Haines and Kim, 2013) In the study, asthmatic children exercised less because they perceived exercise as causing an asthma attack, when in reality, the problem was their asthma was not under control. Those having symptoms while exercising should talk to their healthcare providers about how to better control asthma symptoms.

Extreme weather conditions—very hot or very cold—as well as outdoor air quality can limit outdoor activity, including exercise, during different seasons of the year and make asthma worse. Outdoor air pollution comes from car exhaust, smoke, road dust, and factory emissions. Pollen from crops and weeds can be higher at different times of year and can also cause asthma symptoms.

How does asthma relate to obesity?

Physical activity is instrumental in maintaining a healthy body weight and overall fitness in children with asthma. It is likely that childhood obesity and asthma are associated. According to the 2012 Ohio Medicaid Assessment Survey (OMAS), obese children in Ohio are almost twice as likely to have asthma than children of a healthy weight. Children with moderate persistent asthma are more reluctant to exercise and, as a result, are more prone to obesity and increased incidence of asthma attacks. (Haines and Kim, 2013) Moderate exercise reduces asthma symptoms while increasing interest and participation in physical activity. Obese children with asthma are less responsive to asthma medications, making symptoms more difficult to treat. Losing weight consequently decreases asthma symptoms and severity.

How can schools assist students with asthma to be more physically active?

Patterns of physical activity that begin early in life are likely to con-

tinue throughout a child’s lifetime, making physical activity a vital part of a healthy lifestyle for children. Here are a few simple tools for schools to assist students with asthma to increase physical activity: •

•

•

•

Ask parents to provide a copy of the student’s written Asthma Action Plan for the school. The Asthma Action Plan is a written treatment plan for home and school that creates a clear set of instructions for daily asthma care and management of asthma attacks. The healthcare provider, the student with asthma, and his or her family work together to write the plan.

Provide children with asthma easy access to their quick-relief inhaler, especially during times of increased physical activity. Ohio Revised Code 3313.716 permits students to self-carry inhalers if the school received orders. Some students may have orders to use their inhalers before physical activity, such as physical education class, recess, or sports practice in order to prevent asthma symptoms.

Monitor the Air Quality Index on your local weather report, and schedule outdoor activities at times when the air quality is better. Limit indoor plants in the classroom to decrease exposure to pollen.

Train all staff, including teachers, coaches, bus drivers, secretaries, administrators, food service, and custodial staff, how to identify and manage asthma emergencies. The school nurse is an excellent staff resource for teaching asthma and asthma care.

Schools are instrumental in promoting physical activity, which decreases obesity and improves asthma symptoms and academic success. The ability to participate fully in activities of their choice is an important part of promoting a healthy lifestyle for students with asthma.

For more information, contact the Ohio Department of Health’s asthma program: www.asthma.odh.ohio.gov.

Additional Resources Managing Asthma: A Guide for Schools http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/files/docs/resources/lung/ NACI_ManagingAsthma-508%20FINAL.pdf Environmental Protection Agency triggers information: http://www.epa.gov/asthma/triggers.html Haines, M. S., and Kim, D. H. (2013). “A Study of the Effects of Physical Activity on Asthmatic Symptoms and Obesity Risk in Elementary School–aged Children.” American Journal of Health Education, 44(3), 156–161. doi:10.1080/19325037.2013.779905.

About the Author Virginia Delyse Vitartas is the asthsma nurse consultant at the Ohio Department of Health. You can contact Virginia by e-mail at virginia.vitartas@odh.ohio.gov.

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Legal Report Hot-Button Issues

by Dennis Pergram

A

s for OAESA, I have noticed certain legal issues continue to certain circumstances. R.C. 3319.41(C) provides as follows: arise. Some of these result in actions by boards of education and/or the Ohio Department of Education (ODE).

Persons employed or engaged as teachers, principals, or administrators in a school, whether public or private, R.C. 2151.421—Reporting Child Abuse or Neglect. Principals, and nonlicensed school employees and school bus drivother school employees, and many others have a mandatory duty to ers may, within the scope of their employment, use and report suspected child abuse or neglect. Specifically, R.C. 2151.421 apply such amount of force and restraint as is reasonable requires a mandatory reporter to report to the public children serand necessary to quell a disturbance threatening physivices agency or a municipal or county peace officer in the relevant cal injury to others, to obtain possession of weapons or county if the mandatory reporter “knows, or has reasonable cause, other dangerous objects upon the person or within the to suspect based on facts that would cause a reasonable person in a control of the pupil, for the purpose of self-defense, or similar position to suspect that a child under eighteen years of age for the protection of persons or property. or a mentally retarded, developmentally disabled, or physically impaired child under twenty-one years of age has suffered, or faces a If you find yourself in a situation where you are required to use threat of suffering, any physical or mental wound, injury, disability, force or restraint as authorized under R.C. 3319.41(C), you should or condition of a nature that reasonably indicates abuse or neglect only use the amount of force and restraint that is reasonable and of the child.” The failure to report as mandated by the law can result necessary. It is also important that you make certain that you unin the termination of the principal’s employment, ODE licensure derstand and are aware of all of your district’s reporting requireproceedings, a criminal charge, and/or a lawsuit. ments and make sure that you complete all of the requisite forms in a timely manner.

It is important to recognize that the statute requires “immediate reporting,” and a principal can run into a problem if he or she de- Not Recognizing or Crossing the Boundaries. Not recognizing cides to do a full investigation before reporting, if the report is not the professional boundaries with subordinates and students and/or done in a timely manner, or if he or she has erroneously relied on crossing those boundaries are leading principals to be investigated someone else to make the report. It is important to remember that by their district and the ODE, Office of Professional Conduct, for a mandatory reporter has “absolute immunity” from any kind of alleged improprieties or alleged appearances of impropriety. legal liability.

Not all districts set forth a list of all conduct that would constiChanging of Letter Grades. I am seeing a great deal of scrutiny tute crossing a boundary, but leave it to the principal’s professional exercised by the ODE, Office of Professional Conduct, when it re- judgment. Unfortunately, some well-intended principals see themceives a report that a principal has changed a student’s grade. Obvi- selves as something more than the “boss.” They may see themselves ously, a grade may be changed where there is a legitimate reason for as confidant, buddy, friend, problem solver, counselor, spiritual addoing so. Many times, these grade changes occur when a teacher visor, substitute parent, etc. E-mailing, texting, and social media recognizes that he or she has made a mistake. If you, as a principal, serve as landmines for unsuspecting principals. are involved in a grade change, it is critical that you make certain that the legitimacy of the grade change is well documented.

I will not insult you by advising that certain conduct, such as showing pornography to a student, crosses the boundary because most Physical Contact with a Student. Ohio is one of the states that of the instances I see involve well-intended principals who, because prohibits corporal punishment as a form of discipline. While I of their familiarity with a subordinate or a student, do not recoghave not seen any true corporal punishment cases, this issue arises nize when they are crossing the line. Perhaps the best advice I can when a principal uses some form of physical restraint on a student, give is to view your intended actions as a third party who does not which may result in an investigation by the employer and/or chil- know you or the other person and ask yourself whether your action dren’s services, as well as the ODE, Office of Professional Conduct. would raise suspicion in the mind of a third party as to whether It is important to recognize your rights. While R.C. 3319.41 bans your conduct is appropriate. corporal punishment, it does allow for physical restraint under

46

R.C. 3319.02. Fortunately, we have been able to help some principals who are facing a nonrenewal and do not understand all of their rights under R.C. 3319.02. A principal is entitled to one written evaluation during each year that his or her current contract is not up for renewal and two written evaluations during the year his or her contract is up for renewal. Furthermore, the board of education must inform the principal, during the year that his or her contract is up for renewal, that the contract is expiring and that he or she has a right to meet with the board of education in executive session for the board to discuss the reasons it is considering renewal or nonrenewal. Finally, any notice of nonrenewal must be provided to the principal no later than June 1. If the board of education fails to comply with those prerequisites, the principal is automatically renewed for at least one year, and if the principal has served in the district for 3+ years, the automatic renewal is for two years.

Returning to the Classroom under a Continuing Contract. Another issue that continually arises is whether a principal has a right

to return to the classroom if his or her administrator’s contract is nonrenewed. When a teacher with a continuing contract becomes an assistant superintendent, principal, assistant principal, or other administrator with the same district or service center and is later nonrenewed, he or she retains his or her continuing contract status and has a right to go back into the classroom to a position for which he or she licensed, unless the only positions for which he or she is licensed are filled by teachers with continuing contracts and more seniority. The same legal principle applies to a principal who previously obtained a continuing contract in another district and served at least two years (with a year being 120 days) in the new district and is nonrenewed. It is very important to make sure that if you have obtained a continuing contract in another district, you provide your new district with a copy of the same. The aforementioned principle of law also applies to individuals who may not have been issued a piece of paper titled “Continuing Contract� but acquired continuing contract status as a matter of law.

About the Author Dennis Pergram, legal counsel to OAESA, is a partner in the law firm Manos, Martin, Pergram, & Dietz Co., LPA. He is a former chairperson for the Ohio State Bar Association Committee and has practiced school law for over thirty years.

47

Make an

Immediate Impact on Your School:

Three Things to

STOP

DOING TODAY

O

ver the last five years, schools have been smothered with initiatives, mandates, and new programs thrown at school leaders, teachers, and schools. Many of these initiatives were developed based on research, good intentions, and strategy, but they have left many educators feeling like they’re drinking water from a fire hose—with little time to catch a breath. From my own educational background, research, and current position working with schools across the country, I often worry about the feasibility or even practicality of schools being able to leverage time, talent, and resources to implement all or any of these new reforms.

School leaders must learn how to filter external influences, prioritize initiatives, eliminate distractions, and maintain an internal laser-like focus on student learning. There comes a time when leaders must spend as much by Bobby Moore, EdD time deciding what things to stop doing as they do coming up with new ideas. In fact, a new idea would be to systematically review what practices, strategies, or initiatives are expending valuable resources of time, energy, and money which have little or no impact on student learning. As Jim Collins suggests in his book Good to Great (2002), leaders should start with a “not-to-do” list.

From conversations with successful school leaders in Ohio and across the country that have stayed ahead of the curve and maintained an environment of student success, this is what we have learned: Many high-performing buildings and districts have the discipline to stop doing things they have always done—especially if there is little proof or correlation that the practice aligned with their building/district goals or contributed to desired student outcomes. John Hattie (2009) calls this practice of “knowing thy impact” an important strategy in high-performing schools.

The purpose of this article is to explore three things you can stop doing today that will provide the focus and time to ensure student learning remains the priority in your district.

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Stop Doing: Collecting Lesson Plans

ing districts and buildings across the state, were the use of common assessments and teachers analyzing student learning collaboratively. In addition, schools must have a system in place to respond to students who are not mastering material. It cannot be left up to the classroom teacher alone to respond to struggling students. Many high-performing schools have daily intervention/enrichment (I&E) or no-new-instruction (NNI) periods built into their daily schedules. During team meetings, teachers make decisions about where students may be assigned during this period so intervention is always timely (students who need additional support are identified quickly), directive (students are assigned to intervention based on need), and systematic (school-wide response instead of the individual teacher).

Schools cannot wait until the grading period to learn which students are struggling or need additional support. To ensure that the entire building is aware of struggling students at all times, a strategy as easy as collecting frequent assessments from teachers can help increase the likelihood of all students having success.

To move a culture from focusing on teaching to one that focuses on student learning, principals could start collecting assessments from their teachers weekly (or twice per month). Developing and turning in daily lesson plans is much more stressful and time consuming for teachers and does not ensure that students mastered any material.

Instead of collecting lesson plans, school leaders could have teachers create assessments before teaching a unit of study collaboratively with other teachers of the same subject or department. The practice of developing assessments before designing lessons will have a higher impact of ensuring that an aligned curriculum and essential standards will be covered in the classroom than creating the lessons before the assessment. What teacher would create an assessment and not cover the material that would ensure students’ success?

Stop Doing: Enabling Teachers to Work in Isolation

Schools get stuck in their journey of moving from good to great because they have a difficult time shifting their culture and conversations from a focus on teaching to a focus on student learning. In buildings that struggle or fail to make the jump to high performing, you hear conversations around pacing guides as “racing guides” or “I already taught that” or “I have no time to cover the entire curriculum.” First, let me share that pacing guides are an important planning tool for creating common or short-cycle assessments. However, many schools unintentionally allow these guides to pressure teachers to relentlessly cover the entire curriculum, regardless of whether students are learning the material or not. Pacing guides should be a tool to plan for when assessments will occur and even have built-in time for reteaching after students are assessed for “learning.” Teachers should not feel pressure from themselves or school leaders to race through their pacing guides without any regard to whether students are mastering material or not.

After assessing students for learning, school leaders should have teachers record on the front, right-hand corner of each assessment the number and percentage of students who scored an 85 percent or higher. While most teachers consider 80 percent proficient, we have learned that proficient is not college or career ready. An 85-percent standard is more rigorous and is a very good standard to establish mastery. More importantly, on the back of every assessment or attached sheet, the teacher should write the names of each student who did not get an 85 percent or higher. This philosophy of “name them and claim them” increases the responsibility for the teacher and principal to know the names of students who need additional reteaching and support, instead of just a number or percentage of students who need intervention. If a teacher did not give any assessments during the week, that teacher is probably still using some level of formative assessments. The teacher should still turn in a list with names of students who are not mastering material that week. This allows the principal and teacher to evolve in becoming a learning leader. Time spent focusing on monitoring student learning is time better spent than monitoring teachers’ lesson plans and is a higher leverage strategy for accelerating student learning.

This approach will also encourage and support teachers to develop common or short-cycle assessments that can be collaboratively scored or reviewed as a team to identify students who need additional support or even stretched. Odden and Archibald (2009) discovered that nearly every school that doubled its performance data had implemented common or short-cycle assessments. Common themes from the Ohio Department of Education’s (ODE) Promising Practices Regional Workshops, featuring some of the highest perform-

When all professionals are required to come out of isolation and work on teams, the impossible is possible. Twenty-three heart surgeons from Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont demonstrated the success of teamwork when they agreed to observe each other regularly during operations and to share best practices. They collaborated and observed each other during a nine-month period. Two years later, the death rate of their patients fell by an astonishing 25 percent.

Their success was attributed to the emphasis on promoting teamwork and communication, rather than working in isolation. All doctors brought about major changes in their professional and organizational practices, according to Bob Garmston and Bruce Wellman in their 2009 book, The Adaptive School: A Sourcebook for Developing Collaborative Groups. Many high-performing districts have discovered the importance of creating and developing teacher-based teams, building leadership teams, and a district leadership team, all of which are components of the Ohio Improvement Process.

Principals still need to develop their skills to provide feedback and coaching to individual teachers. But why not increase all of your teams’ effectiveness by spending more time with groups of teachers to review data, have conversations about student learning and lessons, and share teaching and intervention strategies? Fullan and Hargreaves (2012) put a greater emphases on “social capital” (teams) over “human capital” (individuals). In fact, human capital can be developed through social capital.

A strategy could be that the principal does classroom observations with all of the grade-level teachers during one week. The following week the principal meets with the entire team and explores the types of feedback and questions he or she observed. Was a majority of the feedback at the task, process, or self-regulation level? Were teachers asking deep or surface-level questions? If trust is established, the principal might even capture a few minutes of video of each class and do a lesson study. By taking the time to develop group norms, facilitate collaborative meetings, and learn with a team, the principal communicates the importance of team work. The principal should prioritize these types of meetings in their weekly schedule. In fact, depending on the negotiated contract and teachers observed, the principal could substitute four individual meetings with each teacher for one meeting with all four teachers.

continued on the next page...

49

...continued from p. 49 High-performing teams are “multipliers” in a school building.

Teams can take on challenges and initiatives, test hypotheses, support struggling teachers, and help the principal become more effective.

Stop Doing: Building Your Schedule Around Beans, Balls, and Busses

Rick DuFour once joked in a presentation that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he had a tablet with eleven commandments. The eleventh commandment was: “thou shall not mess with the school schedule.” For years, principals have built building schedules around lunch, athletics, and transportation. Recently, while facilitating a leadership academy in Mississippi, I asked the participants, “If I were to look at your school schedule, would I be able to identify your priorities?” Not one of the thirty school leaders in attendance answered yes.

Your building schedule should clearly communicate your priorities to students, parents, and especially staff. Every year, educators express that there is not enough time in the day. However, building leaders decide through scheduling how that time is being used.

What are your building’s priorities, goals, and values?

• • • • • •

• • •

Improve math and reading scores and growth Offer students course work that prepares them for success in high-growth industries Make time to address social/emotional growth through an advocacy or advisory program or even health and wellness activities Provide more opportunities for extracurricular activities or internship or apprenticeship programs Structure interventions critical for students who need additional support Encourage more students to enroll in rigorous courses/ programs (e.g., Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, International Baccalaureate) and provide the structure and support necessary for students to be successful Make available daily collaboration and planning time for teachers Provide job-embedded professional learning time for staff Implement an inclusion model for students with disabilities

• •

Moving courses to another grade level or offering courses before or after school or in the summer Scheduling all students’ elective courses during the same time to create collaboration time for staff

Regardless of your building’s goals, high-performing buildings always have additional time built into the schedule for 1) intervening with struggling students, and 2) opportunities for teachers to collaborate purposely. This was also reinforced during ODE’s Promising Practices Workshops as every building and district had created additional time in their schedules to support student learning.

In Summary

Schools can be improved by stopping what we have traditionally done and by focusing on high-impact strategies or practices that may even take less time, talent, and resources. The challenge is not in adopting new practices, but by abandoning old practices.

To create a high-performing school, stop doing three things now: 1. Stop collecting lesson plans.

2. Stop allowing teachers to work in isolation.

3. Stop allowing schedules to own you.

By focusing our time and practices on higher-impact strategies and abandoning practices that have little impact on student learning, school leaders and teachers may find they have more time on their hands than ever before imagined.

References Collins, J. Good to Great. New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2001.

Hargreaves, A. and Fullan, M. Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School. New York, NY: Teachers College Press, 2012.

Garmston, R. J. and Wellman, B. M. The Adaptive School: A Sourcebook for Developing Collaborative Groups. Norwood, MA: Christopher Gordon Publishers, 1999.

Hattie, J. Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. London: Routledge, 2009.

Odden, R.A. and Archibald, S.J. Doubling Student Performance and Finding the Resources to Do It. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 2009.

No matter your priorities, goals, and values, your school schedule should clearly reflect them. Most school schedules can support four to five goals. It is also important to build the schedule through a collaborative process. It’s not enough to just have more time. It’s important to focus on making better use of time.

Some schools have developed schedules to meet the priorities, goals, and values above by doing as follows: • • •

50

Increasing instructional class time for core classes like math and/or reading Using blended or online learning to free up time in the schedule Combining classes like math and science or reading and math

About the Author Bobby Moore, EdD, is a senior director at Battelle for Kids, a notfor-profit organization that works with state departments of education, school districts, and education-focused organizations across the country to empower teachers, develop leaders, and create high-performing schools. E-mail Bobby at bmoore@BFK.org. Learn more: www.BFK.org. Follow Bobby on Twitter @BobbyMooreBFK.

Old-School Approaches

by Matt Dillon

I

’m an old-school principal, an irony considering that this year marks my eleventh year in education and my fifth as a school administrator. My first teaching position was at the high school where I graduated, and I vividly remember one of my then colleagues and former classroom teachers sharing that I would see just about everything after five years of experience. I’ve seen a lot during my time in education. I’ve had my position cut due to a reduction in force, had students bring dead rats to school in book bags, and had to travel around to teachers’ classrooms to share that one of our own died in an accident on the way to work. These experiences grow you up fast and teach you lessons that cannot be learned from a textbook.

I entered public education during a tumultuous time. The Ohio Graduation Tests were in full swing during my first years of teaching. The economic troubles of 2008 saw school budgets hit hard, positions cut, and salaries frozen. During the same time, Race to the Top initiatives and value-added accountability measures were being implemented.

The waves of educational reform continue to hit the shore with the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System (OTES) now being used statewide.

As the federal government now considers changes to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a few old-school approaches to school administration remain true through all the change.

Manage the School

searched instructional practices. The overload of information reinforces how much attention others want to steal. I’ve gotten to the point where I now delete most sales-related e-mails without reading to see if it’s a good deal or not. My teachers and I do not have the time to devote to things that don’t matter. Our days are jam packed enough without additional noise and interference. One of my practices to simplify communication is holding off on forwards to staff by condensing much of the information I receive during the week into one Friday e-mail.

Build Relationships

Some principals will not stand firm to protect teachers when parents or guardians beat the drum. I’ve had colleagues that use the practice of hammers to get their point across. They believe in rolling out a new program by using a hammer to hit anyone who doesn’t respond.

When people are negative or don’t do as instructed, they get a bigger hammer. From the principal’s standpoint, this looks like a win, but it seldom produces lasting results.

The best school leaders build relationships and have tactful, professional conversations. They speak truth and engage in conflict with a heart of peace. Contrary to news media reports, it is possible to maintain respect for a person while disagreeing with his or her approaches.

A principal is only as good as the relationships established with his or her staff, and staff relations greatly impact the overall school culture.

The push for a principal to serve as the primary instructional leader is heavily preached on social media (where everyone is a self-proclaimed expert) and by educational gurus. I firmly believe that the principal needs to be engaged in instructional conversations and decision-making. Good principals are deeply involved in curriculum decisions, examining data, and keeping up with best practices.

However, the best principals also listen to their trusted staff members regarding instruction. The reality is that most of my day is spent managing conflict, working with student issues, and ensuring that the basics are covered. Instruction won’t matter if I’m not taking care of the day-to-day managerial aspects of the school. Therefore I prioritize tasks each day and make sure the basics get done first. Nobody learns when the lights are off.

Twenty years from now there will be new government initiatives, new accountability tools, and a new set of student assessments. These things will be important requirements to cross off a list, but the most important thing to focus on will be building lasting relationships. Not much will matter without positive relationships with our staff, students, and families. Old-school principles and working hard to help students will shine through the tumult.

Be a Filter for Your Staff

Matt Dillon is the principal of Kyle Elementary in Troy, Ohio. He has been a school administrator for five years and previously worked as a school counselor and teacher. Matt is passionate about building relationships and integrating technology into learning.

I receive about fifty-two spam e-mails every day. One of my first tasks in the morning is going through e-mail to delete the junk. The e-mails range from innovative playground equipment to the newest brain-re-

About the Author

51

Sorry...We’re Booked! utilizing data to make decisions this book clearly lays out how to communicate with preschools and identify the needed data to track and communicate out. This process, familiar to those in a school improvement setting, increases the vertical alignment that is lacking. The authors do a great job presenting past research that allows the reader to relate to the data and examples. This is what makes this book so valuable, it is a step-by-step manual on how to implement, improve on and successfully begin to enhance the student learning at the pre-k–3 level.

Ten Essential Steps to Building a Pre-K–3 System

by Linda Sullivan-Dudzic, Donna Gearns, and Kelli Leavell Reviewed by Bethany Carlson, Diretor of K–5 Instruction, District and Federal Programs, Struther City Schools

S

ullivan-Dudzic, Gearns, and Leavell capture the reality that faces public schools today: more rigorous pre-k through 3 systems. The authors clearly identify the immediate need for embedded partnerships and curriculum alignment beginning at the pre-k setting. Quite often schools forget to engage the preschools and early learning centers to ensure children are correctly prepared to enter kindergarten. This practice is a new and scary endeavor for many schools. The authors effectively present clear and applicable research that will allow schools to implement the practices of developing effective collaborations between both entities. They also developed a clear and concise presentation of the research and examples of how to grow embedded partnerships. Throughout the book administrators and curriculum specialists will identify steps that align to their school mission and allow for them to develop partnerships to begin the journey of ensuring students are prepared and successful in grades pre-k–3.

With the increased rigor of the curriculum, high-stakes testing, and Third Grade Reading Guarantee, Sullivan-Dudzic, Gearns, and Leavell have produced a much needed and timely resource for schools. The book clearly lays out the Ten Essential Steps to Building a Pre-K–3 System that will make schools ponder the importance of housing their own pre-k programs. Just as all schools are

52 52

A must read for all central office administration, elementary principals, and preschool owners. It is not a book but rather a resource about how to begin to develop, foster, and maintain partnerships that will benefit staff, schools, and mostly students.

Building Bridges from Early to Intermediate Literacy Grades 2–4

by Sarah F. Mahurt, Ruth E. Metcalfe, and Margaret A. Gwyther

Reviewed by Karen Bachman, retired principal, adjunct instructor, educational leadership and teacher education

M

any times when elementary teachers pick up a book about teaching literacy, it contains strategies for teaching basic literacy concepts and new ideas to help provide interventions for struggling students. Building Bridges from Early to Intermediate Literacy Grades 2–4 is quite different.

The authors of this literacy book address students who are transitioning from beginning readers to intermediate readers. As you read this book, you will find that a central theme emerges that for these students: you are teaching for independence and the gradual release of responsibility.

Literacy books regarding only the transitional reader have not been available until the authors, Mahurt, Metcalfe, and Gwyther, collaborated and provided us with this book.

The authors provide a blueprint for understanding your students’ strengths and areas of need, addressing both as well as the importance of developing stamina by extending reading and writing times and allowing for exploration, communication, and movement during the literacy time block. Teachers of the transitional student learn about the characteristics of a reader entering this phase of literacy, assessments and strategies for organizing the collected data and addressing student needs, and specific mini lessons in the areas of reading, writing, and word study.

the Principal’s Companion: Strategies to Lead Schools for Student and Teacher Success

by Pam Robbins and Harvey B. Alvy Reviewed by Jeff Schiller, principal, Cuyahoga Heights Elementary School, Cuyahoga Heights City Schools

The final chapter explores how teachers can work with the transitional student in the integration of language arts with other content areas. This enables students to make connections of their reading, writing, and word study skills in other content areas providing more practice in the informational text area along with those teachable moments to enhance literacy development.

I feel that this book offers teachers a greater understanding of those students shifting from beginning readers through the transitional phase and preparing them to move into intermediate readers. It is my belief that this book would be an asset to the teachers in grades 2–4 and would be of great help in providing strategies for the release of responsibility as students begin to think and work as independent readers and writers.

We extend our appreciation to Corwin for providing these publications to our reviewers.

You can order these books and other resources at: Tel: (800) 233-9936 Fax: (800) 417-2466 Mail: 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320 www.corwin.com To inquire about discounts for large quantities or to request information about professional learning programs built around these books, please contact your account manager at (800) 831-6640.

T

he fourth edition of The Principal’s Companion is an essential book for young administrators. This latest edition focuses of multiple educational issues that are at the forefront of every administrator’s mind right now.

Robbins and Alvy give the readers a nice balance between theory and ideas on how to deal with a wide variety of issues including building a learning community, evaluation practices, and crisis management in the wake of Sandy Hook.

The most interesting section of the book reflected on the story of Janucz Korczak, a Polish doctor, and children’s rights advocate who was killed in a concentration camp with his students. His message was that we as educators need to continue to create an environment that allows students to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from them. This is truer today then ever before as the rigor and expectations of highstakes testing seek to tear down and diagnose our students’ weaknesses instead of celebrating their strengths.

Again, this is truly a great “companion” for administrators because it does cover such a wide variety of subjects and issues that are driving current policies in our schools.

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Memberships not renewed within 30 days of the renewal date (above) will be considered expired.

___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Professional Plus Professional Aspiring Plus Aspiring Associate Plus Associate Retired Institutional

$375.00 $275.00 $160.00 $60.00 $160.00 $60.00 $60.00 $60.00

For membership definitions, please view back side.

For $100, your professional, aspiring, or associate membership can be upgraded to a PLUS membership allowing 12-­‐month access to the OAESA 360 Feedback Tool.

(optional) ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___

Active Institutional Active Emeritus Retired Associate Aspiring Principal

$235.00 $280.00 $118.00 $60.00 $135.00 $80.00

Method of Payment ___ ___ ___

Full Payment (Check or credit card) Purchase Order #________________

(Payment due within 30 days – See expiration policy) Payroll Deduction: Includes $25 processing fee.

Maximum of 10 equal installments.

Total:__________

Card Type: _MasterCard _Visa _Discover _AmEx

Card Number

Expiration Date

Cardholder Name

Signature Dues paid to OAESA are NOT deductible as charitable contributions.

Make check payable to OAESA for both OAESA and NAESP membership dues.

OAESA 445 Hutchinson Ave., Suite 700 • Columbus, OH 43235 Phone: 614.547.8087 Fax: 614.547.8089

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445 Hutchinson Ave. Suite 700 Columbus, OH 43235