Why Schools Fail to
Act When their Students Fail
Dear
Colleagues,
[CLICK
HERE for the Entire Blog]
Introduction
In the past few weeks (or months), a number
of professional and college coaches (especially in football, basketball, and
hockey) have lost their jobs—some in the first few weeks of their seasons. Typically, their teams have “gotten off on
the wrong foot” by losing a series of games, and fans (and alumni) are
clamoring for a change and beginning to boycott games.
Given the “bad press”—but more often because
of the economic implications, owners and College Presidents know that they need
to act quickly and decisively.
As we all know by now, professional and
college sports are big, multi-million dollars businesses. And when business is not going well, the
business must reorganize so that it can return to profitability.
_ _ _ _ _
Education is a big business also. But the “profit” in education (some charter
schools aside) is about human capital—the academic and social, emotional, and
behavioral success of our preschool through high school students.
And yet, when the school and schooling
process is not going well—that is, when large numbers of students are failing,
underperforming, or not mastering essential skills—why do our educational CEOs
not move with the same strategic speed as their business counterparts?
And while I know that you “can’t fire the
team,” I also know that when the team is failing, it may need to be reorganized
and the coaching may need to be changed.
More about this later. . . .
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Why Do Students (and Schools) Fail?
As usual, I am consulting across the country
right now with ten or twelve different school districts—from traditional
preschool through high school districts, to a high school-only district, to an
inner-city charter school district.
And while the descriptions below are
occurring in a number of these current districts, the issues are common to
districts I have worked with for almost 40 years.
Many of my districts are working on
upgrading their multi-tiered systems of support (MTSS) practices. Based on my work—especially in designing this
system for thirteen years as the Director of the Arkansas Department of
Education’s State Personnel Development Grant (funded by the U.S.
Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs), the first
component of an effective MTSS system is an effective general education
classroom with effective differentiated instruction and effective classroom
management led by an effective teacher.
As students present with frequent or
significant academic and/or social, emotional, or behavioral challenges, the next
components of an effective MTSS system involve “layers” of support or
multidisciplinary teams.
_ _ _ _ _
In analyzing their students in preparation
for the MTSS upgrade, many of my districts are discovering five themes.
- Theme 1: Teachers Don’t Know Students’ Mastered Skills
- Theme 2: Teachers Have Too Many Discrepant Skills Levels of Students to Teach
- Theme 3: Teachers Don’t Have, Understand, and Follow Curricular Scope and Sequences
- Theme 4: School-level MTSS Teams Need to Refocus
- Theme 5: Schools have Too Many “Tier II” and “Tier III” Students
[CLICK
HERE for the full Blog, and comprehensive descriptions of these five
Themes.]
In summary, the five themes above represent
the many common reasons why many schools are not succeeding with 85, 90, or 95
percent or more of their students.
Because of ESEA, many school districts are
(responsibly) upgrading their multi-tiered systems of support. But to do this, districts and schools need to
first look at the quality of their general education curriculum, instruction,
assessment, schedules, and student grouping patterns. Simultaneously, they need to evaluate their
multi-tiered assessment-to-intervention services, supports, strategies, and
programs for students with academic and/or social, emotional, behavioral, and
mental health challenges.
As alluded to above, this will
necessitate a different approach to thinking, evaluation, strategic planning,
capacity-building, and professional development.
Many of the districts and schools that I am
consulting with get this. . . but there is still another hurdle to address. . .
.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _
It’s Not Too Late to Change
I am writing this in late November. For most August-start school districts, they
have been “in session,” during this 2018-2019 school year, for approximately 65
school days. For the September-start school
districts, they have been in session for just over 50 days.
This means—based on a 180-day school year,
that all of these districts have at least two-thirds
(approximately 120 days) of their school years remaining.
And yet, in the face of the themes and
issues discussed above, and having recognized that the educational processes
they are implementing for and with their students is not working, many of these districts and their schools are
still hesitant to act. . . boldly and now.
Instead, many schools act as if decisive
changes cannot be made “mid-year.”
It’s almost as if they are resigned to their
students’ failure, even as they commit, “We will change and do better next
year.”
The two problems with this statement are: First, the statement is a
rationalization. If any failing business
waited two business quarters (i.e., 120 working days) to make crucial changes
to its business practices, it would likely be out of business before the
third quarter.
Revisiting the Introduction to this Blog. .
. when most sports teams begin the year in an exceptionally unsuccessful way,
they do not resign themselves to a poor season.
Instead, their owners fire their coach and re-boot the process.
The second problem with the statement above
is that too many schools, despite their lip service, never really
“change next year.” Indeed, for most of
these schools, “next year” looks remarkably like “this year.”
_ _ _ _ _
So. . . why do schools wait to change.
. . when two-thirds of the school year remains, their students already
are failing at unacceptable levels, and they know that waiting will simply
strengthen the cycle of failure?
If I want to be insensitive, boorish, or
just an extremely assertive student advocate, I would answer the question above
saying, “I don’t want to know. There is
no acceptable reason for these schools not to change now. They should not and cannot wait.”
But as an organizational consultant, this
answer—and its accompanying attitude—will likely be counterproductive. . .
consolidating peoples’ resistance to introspection and change, and resulting in
an externalization of blame and a move for my dismissal.
And so, in contrast, I need to (help the
school to) analyze the underlying reasons that explain peoples’ reticence to
change (now), and identify any legitimate barriers.
I also need to recruit those who recognize
and support the need for change (now), and decide how to maximize the
school’s assets and strengths.
To start this process, we need to identify
and validate the “high-hit” hypotheses that explain the reticence to change
(now), so that we know the staff changes that will lead to the student
changes.
In my experience, there are eight high-hit
hypotheses.
[CLICK
HERE for the full Blog, and comprehensive descriptions of these
eight hypotheses.]
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _
Summary
While I know that the process described
above is “easier said than done,” the thesis of this discussion is that the
process and the changes need to be done now. . . even if the required
changes are uncommon, unorthodox, controversial, or risky.
But I am not trying to be pushy or
impractical here.
Indeed, if a school’s organizational and/or
situational variables make it more advantageous to build an “infrastructure of
success” at the end of the school year—in preparation for the beginning of the
next school year—then so be it.
But many of the high-hit reasons described
in the full Blog exist to delay actions that are realistic, do-able,
and that could be accomplished now. . . especially with 120 days left in
the school year.
And so. . . rather than “sacrifice the
students to protect the staff, school, and system. . . tough decisions need to
be made.
In the final analysis, we all know that . .
. “You can’t score if you don’t take the field.”
_ _ _ _ _
We do have at least 120 school days
remaining in the current school year.
And all of our schools have student
challenges that are serious, evident, and sometimes escalating. And yet, many of these challenges could be
solved if we confront the issues with courage, communication, commitment,
and collaboration.
Sometimes our districts and schools have the
resources to take the steps needed for change.
At other times, it takes an outside expert to guide the process.
If you need an outside expert, and would
like to discuss your current concerns with an eye toward using the next 120
days to begin the change process, I would be happy to provide a free,
one-hour consultation to discuss the possibilities.
Regardless of who you choose, please
begin now. If you are not currently
in a leadership position, feel free to share this Blog with your supervisor or
administrator.
Remember: “You miss one hundred
percent of the shots you don’t take.”
[CLICK
HERE for the Entire Blog]
Best,
Howie
