More High School Graduates: How Schools Can Save Students From Dropping Out

More High School Graduates: How Schools Can Save Students from Dropping Out by Ben Levin c2012

Ben Levin served as Deputy Minister of Education in Ontario from 2004 to 2007 and is instrumental in increasing the Ontario high school graduation rate from 68% (in 2004) to 81% (in 2010). The framework focuses on the belief that all high schools need to improve, that there is no one single strategy to improvement, and that improvement occurs over time. We are also reminded that there is no single factor that can be used to predict if a student will not graduate as it is a process rather than an event.

Levin’s framework of 4 strategies is presented to “change a large and complex institution such as secondary schooling” (p. 31). Levin states that high school leadership is differs from elementary school since “school principals don’t have the same direct connection with daily teaching and learning, not only because there are more teachers and students but also because the administrative and management requirements are greater” (p. 22). High school teachers, often focused only on their courses and departments as they prepare students for the next course and for post-secondary, need to see how the numerous school initiatives are applicable to their everyday work with students. Administrators needs to develop working relationships with teachers and to deal with teacher morale and resistance while providing the needed professional development and resources on the focus of 2-3 key initiatives/priorities.

Strategy 1: Know the status and progress of every student, know the reasons for any problems, and intervene as soon as there are signs of difficulties.
- most important factor whether students come to school, stay in school, or leave school is to have an important adult in the school who cares and know them
- have a student success team in each school
- “2 by 10”: spend 2 minutes each day for 10 consecutive days with a student on the wrong path
- use student mentors
- students who change schools have less chance of graduating: greater poverty, less family stability, less known to staff
- for students needing alternative to school: “Things are not working well at this moment and you may feel that you need to do something else right now, but we want you to know that when you feel ready to return, we will welcome you back with a clean slate” (p. 55)
- attendance and behaviour correlated with achievement; if not, need to determine why
- importance of student voice: survey data about feelings and attitudes of school; input on school improvement plan, policies and decisions

Strategy 2: Provide a program that enables all students to achieve a good outcome.
- high expectations for all students: “Good teaching is more important than a wider choice of courses” (p. 86)
- flexible programming: independent learning, on-line, dual credits, AP, IB, alternative education, Specialist High School Major (SHSM):
- recovery options (to keep students on track to graduate): credit rescue, credit recovery “There is no reason to think that retaking a course is a better way for students to meet academic standards” (p. 80)

Strategy 3: Improve daily teaching and learning is essential, to achieving better high school outcomes; to do this requires a thoughtful and specific strategy.
- strategies to improve student engagement: tasks require challenge
- “Effective student assessment practices is the best single lever to change student experiences” (p. 95) – clear criteria, alternative assessments, assessment to inform teaching practice
- teachers collaborate in professional learning communities to improve instructional practice
- use of technology

Strategy 4: Connect schools deeply to their local and broader community.
- Power of Three: School, parents, student success
- When parents are difficult, often a breakdown in communication or different perspective: “Parents are – and should be – advocates for their children. It is their job to take their kids’ side most (if not all) of the time” (p. 121)

Reflection
I thoroughly enjoyed reading More High School Graduates. As an educator in Ontario, it is nice to be able to step back and reflect on the educational reforms of the past decade. The focus here in Ontario is on increasing graduation rates. We know that students’ futures are limited without a high school diploma. Levin points out in addition to less employment and lower earnings, the consequences include poorer health and shorter life span (p. 157). The investment is steep as it costs $10 000 per year to educate a student (resulting in $6 billion dollars for 600 000 students in Ontario).

When I was a classroom teacher, I knew the importance of developing solid working relationships with my students. To do that required me to learn their names as quickly as possible, to have individual conversations with them (I remember these conversations through journal writing as well), and to show I cared deeply about their success. Interestingly, my MEd thesis focused on implementing alternative assessments and a decade later, assessment remained instrumental towards informing my instructional practices and ultimately students’ success. I also remember the excellent advice from 1994 as a teacher candidate when a teacher stated he calls home to parents in the first week of the semester to introduce himself. Building solid teacher-parent relationships are important as we cannot do it alone.

As a vice-principal, I strive to be visible in the hallways before, during, and at the end of the school day. I like to visit the library and ask students what they are learning. I have already visited all the classrooms on the 2nd floor during period 1. I will continue making classroom walk-throughs of the first floor and portables later this week. It is wonderful to see the student engagement occurring. Students are able to articulate what they are learning and usually able to articulate why they are learning it. Reality is I am an instructional leader and it’s all about student learning and achievement. It’s a juggling act with the operational responsibilities of the school.

It really is about working as a team to effect change – administrators cannot do it alone. Since administrators are transferred every few years, to sustain initiatives, it is the teachers who will keep them going by embedding them into their practices. Without a doubt, change seems endless. But that keeps being in the profession interesting. The focus is no longer on covering the curriculum – but on uncovering the curriculum to students. Ensuring student success – of each and every student – is a responsibility that we must strive to reach.

What Great Principals Do Differently

What Great Principals Do Differently by Todd Whitaker (2012)

"Education is extremely complex, and so is school leadership" (p. xi)
- "The principals are the architects. The teachers establish the foundation. The students move into the building and fill it with life and meaning. Every principal has an impact. Great principals make a difference" (p. 141)

1.) Great principals never forget that it is people, not programs, that determine the quality of a school.
- "Our most important work is to improve the people in our schools. Nothing makes as much difference as the quality of our teachers" (p. 10)

2.) Great principals have clarity about who they are, what they do, and how others perceive them.
- "Rather than waiting for others to come to them, they regularly visit classrooms, spend time in the hallways, and seek out informal feedback" (p. 15)
- "...the superstars want the school to thrive, and they want you to succeed. They will give you honest input in a positive way...they are on your side and their insights are likely to be right" (P. 16-17)
- "The most valuable gift a principal can give teachers is confidence...encouraging...praising...can go a long way toward cultivatign this self-worth" (p. 17)

3.) Great principals take responsiblity for their own performance and for all aspects of their school.
- "Good teachers consistently strive to improve, and they focus on something they can control: their own performance" (p. 20)
- "As leaders, we must help all our teachers take responsibility for their classroom performance...Who is the variable?...Success in any profession starts with a focus on self" (p. 25)

4.) Great principals create a positive atmosphere in their schools. They treat every person with respect. In particular, they understand the power of praise.
- "The real challenge is to treat everyone with respect every day" (p. 27)
- "If we praise correctly it is impossible to praise too much" (p. 29)

5.) Great principals consistently filter out the negatives that don't matter and share a positive attitude.

6.) Great principals deliberatly apply a range of strategies to improve teacher performance.
- "Outstanding principals know that their primary role is to teach the teachers...focus on students - by focusing on teachers" (p. 41)
- "Find the time to get into these troubled teachers' classrooms and help build their skills...the more we can build the skills of our teachers, the less we are drained by reacting to thei results of ineffective practices" (p. 44)
- "Can arrange for the new teachers to visit these best teachers' classrooms" (p. 46)

7.) Great principals take every opportunity to hire and retain the very best teachers.
- "Great principals look for the teachers who will be exceptional in the classroom. More than that, they look for those who will be influential in the school...I sought teachers who could lead their peers. After all, I wanted my school to become more like the best teachers" (p. 50)
- "Talent means the total package: love of students, a bright mind, a positive attitude, a congenial personality, great work ethic, leadership skills, and charisma" (p. 51)

8.) Great principals understand the dynamics of change.
- "It can take anywhere from three to nine years, to bring about substantive change" (p. 57)
- "The best leaders never forget that the business of education is improvement, not perfection" (p. 63)

9.) Great principals keep standardized testing in perspective and focus on the real issue of student learning.
- "Success on standardized tests brought their school greater autonomy to do what they believed was best for students" (p. 69)
- "Every decision should rest on doing what is best for the students" (p. 70)

10.) Great principals know when to focus on behaviour before beliefs.

11.) Great principals are loyal to their students, to their teachers, and to the school. They expect loyality to students and the school to take precedence over loyality to themselves.
- "When we hesitate to discipline a child or take up an issue with a teacher, it's easy to use the rationale, 'I don't want to hurt their feelings.' However, by using that excuse, it is really our own feelings that we are trying to protect" (p. 79)
- "I have always believed that no matter how much two people disagree, if both of them consistently make their decisions based on what is best for the stduetns, then they are both right" (p. 79)

12.) Before making any decision or attempting to bring about any change, great princpials ask themselves one central question: What will my best teachers think of this?
- "The best principals base every decision on their best teachers" (p. 81)
- "The most effective principals understand that their school will go as far as their best teachers take it" (p. 82)
- "...routinely consulted informal teacher leaders for input before they ever made a decision" (p. 82)
- "Your best teachers are confident enough to take the risk of trying something new, and - even more important - they are talented and intuitive enough to make it work. As respected role models for other staff members in the school, your superstars lead the way"

13.) Great principals continually ask themselves who is most comfortable and who is least comfortable with each decision they make. They treat everyone as if they were good.
- "Make every decision based on the best teachers" (p. 89)
- "Hostile parents love to argue...never argue with difficult people - they have a lot of practice at it!" (p. 92)

14.) Great principals understand high achievers, are sensitive to their best teachers' needs, and make the most of this valuable resource.
- "Truly outstanding faculty members need two things to make them content and motivated: autonomy and recognition" (p. 99)
- "Let them know how much they mean to you and to the students. Write them notes, send them e-mails, drop notes on their desks. In short, consistently reinforce their efforts" (p. 100)
- "Teachers who say they are burned out were probably never on fire in the first place" (p. 102)
- "High achievers are among the first to leave when they do not feel valued and important" (p. 103)

15.) Great principals make it cool to care. They understand that behaviours and beliefs are tied to emotion, and they understand the power of emotion to jump-start change.

16.) Great principals work hard to keep their relationships in good repair - to avoid personal hurt and to repair any possible damage.
- "I am sorry that happened" (p. 116)
- "If I am driving down the highway and I get pulled over by a patrolman, when that patrolman is walking toward my car I have one goal...and I have two choices in my behaviour. I can be nice or I can be rude. Which is more likely to get me out of the ticket?" (p. 118-119)

17.) Great principals take steps to improve or remove negative and ineffective staff members.
- "Great principals know full well that their primary obligation is to the students in the school, not the adults" (p. 128)

18.) Great principals establish clear expectations at the start of the year and follow them consistenly as the year progresses.
- "We never win an argument with a student. As soon as it starts, we have lost...there needs to be at least one adult and I would prefer that it be the teacher" (p. 136)

The Fourth Way by Andrew Hargreaves and Dennis Shirley (2009, Corwin)

First Way: teachers free to develop curriculum and teach as they see – no consistency between teachers

Second Way: government top-down of standardization, uniformity, inequity (in Ontario, Progressive Conservative Harris government of mid-late 1990s); negative impact on teacher motivation and student learning through decreased resources, less prep time

Third Way: increased levels of support, networks, resources, PD – but teachers held accountable by data

Fourth Way:
* 6 pillars of purpose and partnership
1) inspiring and inclusive vision
2) deepened public engagement – work side-by-side with parents and community
3) achievement through increased investment in education facilities and other social services
4) corporate educational responsibility, with education and business partners equally accountable to each other
5) students as partners in change
“Without students, there would be no teachers. Their voices matter a lot” (p. 82)
6) mindful learning and teaching: creative, innovative, team work, problem solving, flexible, courage, compassion, perseverance, differentiated instruction, assessment for learning, brain-based, learning styles, culturally responsive pedagogy
“Struggling students, striving to be more resilient, need to know that their teachers are ‘on their side’” (p. 86)

* Principles of professionalism
1) high quality teachers
“None of it matters unless all teachers are engaged in the changes that have to be achieved” (p. 88)
2) powerful professionalism
3) lively learning communities – teachers learn and improve together in cultures of collaboration, trust, responsibility

Catalysts of coherences“The challenge, rather, is how to bring diverse people together to work skilfully and effectively for a common cause that lifts them up and has them moving in the same direction with an impact on learning, achievement, and results” (p. 95)
1) sustainable leadership through distributive leadership
“Teachers and schools learn best not by reading research reports, listening to speeches, or attending workshops, but by watching, listening to, and learning from each other in the very act of teaching itself” (p. 99)
2) networks of mutual learning
“The point of networks is to spread innovation, stimulate learning, increase professional motivation, and reduce inequities” (p. 101)
3) responsibility before accountability
“Accountability is the remainder that is left when this responsibility has been subtracted” (p. 102)
4) building from the bottom, steering from the top


Reflections

I must admit this book was an academic read and not an easy one. Several "themes" are consistent with other books on school leadership: the importance of professional development for teachers, distributive leadership, use of networks, give student voice, involve parents as partners.

When I went through the Vice-Principal Selection process, my resume need to be include my leadership contributions and their impact on students and the school. I can resonate with the Fourth Way since we collect or obtain data but what is done with it? It is the impact it has for student learning and achievement that matters. Also, we are moving away from accountability to responsiblity - I like this!

Here in Ontario, all students in grades 3, 6, and 9 continue to write the EQAO tests. With the huge expense needed to implement the assessments, I agree with the authors of moving away from a census to a sample. We also need to remember the impact on student well-being.