Students’ Behavior is NOT Improving. . . But It Can

Classroom Management Lessons for Teachers from the Detroit Lions’ Shocking Playoff Loss

[The Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive podcast, hosted by popular AI Educators Angela Jones and Davey Johnson, provides an engaging and enlightening synopsis and analysis of this Blog on Spotify... CLICK HERE]

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[CLICK HERE to read this Blog on the Project ACHIEVE Webpage]

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Dear Colleagues,

Introduction

   I am not from Detroit, nor do I live there.

   Heck. . . I’m not even from Michigan, much less the Mid-West.

   But. . . I am a Dan Campbell fan. . . the four-season Head Coach of the National Football League’s (NFL) Detroit Lions!

   And. . . even if you are not a football fan, every educator in the country should know about Dan Campbell, his success, and—most importantly—why he has been successful.

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   This year, Dan led the Lions to a 15 Win – 2 Loss record. . . which made his Team the Number 1 playoff seed in one of the NFL’s two Conferences.

   Critically, as the Lions’ Coach, Campbell’s record over the past four years has progressively improved from 3 wins in 2021, to 9 wins in 2022, to 12 wins in 2023, to 15 wins this year (all out of 17 regular season games played each season).

   Can you spell: I-M-P-R-O-V-E-M-E-N-T ?!

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   In the Playoffs this year, given their talent and regular season play, the Lions were favored to go to the Superbowl.

   But in their first playoff game, they lost 45-31 to the Washington Commanders in a game that was not really even that close.

   But I respect and admire Dan Campbell because of how he stood up and publicly handled the loss.

   Just moments after walking off the field, he faced the “harsh glare of the lights” and the “unforgiving scrutiny of the Media” in a televised press conference geared to dissecting the minutiae of a game that will trigger a deluge of nightmares-to-come.

   And under these lights, Campbell taught us a lesson in candor, humility, perspective, strength, realism, and vulnerability.

   But the Lions’ remarkable improvement over the past four years, their loss in the Playoffs, and Coach Campbell’s contribution to both provides many other extraordinary lessons for all educators, and especially classroom teachers, relative to their leadership, their students’ success, and how to handle the times when things “don’t go as planned.”

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Students’ Classroom Behavior is Not Improving

   Critically, now three years after our “full return” (Fall, 2021) from the pandemic, students’ classroom behavior is not getting better.

    Indeed, a January 8, 2025 Education Week article reported on a mid-December 2024 survey of 990 educators (134 district leaders, 97 school leaders, and 759 teachers)—chosen as a nationally-representative sample by the EdWeek Research Center.

   The results of this survey indicated:

·       72% of educators said that the students in their classroom, school, or district have been misbehaving either “a little” (24%) or “a lot” (48%) more than in the fall of 2019, the last semester before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

   In contrast:

·       A year ago (early 2023), 70% of educators said that their students were misbehaving either “a little” (36%) or “a lot” (33%) more than in the fall of 2019; and

·       In 2021, 66% of educators said that their students were misbehaving a little or a lot more than in the fall of 2019.

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   The Education Week article went on:

Student misbehavior has routinely topped teachers’ lists of concerns and most pressing challenges in recent years. There’s been a pronounced spike in behavior problems, ranging from minor classroom disruptions to more serious student fights broadcast on social media, since students returned to school buildings. Teachers have also reported a drop in students’ motivation in that time period.

 

Student misbehavior is hurting staff morale, some survey respondents said.

Indeed, past surveys have documented this overall dip in teacher morale. An annual report released in August by the EdWeek Research Center showed that just 18 percent of public school teachers said they are very satisfied with their jobs, a much lower percentage than decades ago, and a slight drop from the year prior when 20 percent of teachers said the same.

 

In that same report, many elementary and middle school teachers said they need more support in dealing with student discipline, and that the additional help would improve their mental health. Eighty percent of teachers reported they have to address students’ behavioral problems “at least a few times a week,” with 58 percent saying this happens every day, according to a Pew Research Center report from April 2024.

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Students are Not Going to “Fix” Themselves: School Staff Need to Function as a Team

   While it is easier to “just blame the students, the parents, residual pandemic trauma, and social media” for students’ persistent behavioral challenges, this externalization is not going to solve the problem.

   The students are not going to fix themselves.

   Moreover, there are no quick fixes (otherwise, this problem would have been solved long ago).

   Instead, let’s look at schools. . . and solutions. . . from a “team” perspective.

   And while the students are certainly part of “the team roster,” school teams consist of administrators, related service professionals, teachers and instructional specialists, and support staff—like secretaries, custodians, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, and paraprofessionals.

   All of them should be contributing members of “the team.”

   Comparatively, an NFL football team typically has 12 coaches, 53 men on its “game-day” roster, and another 16 players on the practice (or taxi) squad... in addition to staff who, for example, include advanced scouts, athletic trainers, game videographers, data analysts, and others.

   The essential team questions—whether we are talking about a school or the Detroit Lions—are:

   Does your Team have:

·       The interdependent talent with the skills, experience, motivation, and commitment to succeed?

For schools, this ultimately involves the Teachers in the classrooms.

For an NFL Team, this ultimately involves the Players on the field.

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·       The evidence-based blueprints to facilitate success?

For schools, this involves the academic curricula with their scope and sequences, as well as the social, emotional, and behavioral components that focus on student self-management.

For an NFL Team, this involves the playbooks for the offense, defense, and special teams, respectively, and how they are applied to specific opponents.

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·       The leadership to guide player development?

For schools, this involves the Administrators, Supervisors, Instructional Coaches, and Related Service Consultants.

For an NFL Team, this involves the Head Coach and the different Position Coaches.

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·       The culture, belief, dedication, persistence, and resilience to consistently act as a Team for “the greater good”?

For schools and NFL teams, this involves everyone. . . but for schools, it also necessarily involves the students, their voices and needs, and their active commitment and involvement.

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   Significantly, success for an NFL team is measured in wins and championships.

   Success for a school is measured in students’ academic and social, emotional, and behavioral learning, progress, proficiency, and graduation with the skills needed for post-graduation success.

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Classroom Behavior and Teachers

   As noted above, everyone on a successful team needs to have (a) the skills, experience, motivation, and commitment to succeed (b) in an organizational culture that (c) nurtures and reinforces everyone’s “team-first” beliefs, dedication, persistence, and resilience to consistently act for “the greater good.”

   Thus, to truly address the student behavior and classroom management challenges also noted above, schools need to strategically apply their organization’s culture and team talent to (a) analyzing and understanding their present social, emotional, and behavioral challenges in order to (b) address, diminish, or resolve them.

   In most cases, this necessarily starts in every classroom, and involves every teacher—individually, within their grade-level team and/or academic department, and as a member of the entire school community.

   Individually, teachers must recognize that—as an extension of their grade-level, department, and school teams—they are responsible for:

·       Creating and sustaining positive, safe, and productive classroom learning environments;

·       Identifying, teaching, prompting, and reinforcing students’ expected social, emotional, and behavioral skills; and

·       Analyzing and strategically addressing—once again, individually, within their grade-level teams or departments, or through their administrative and/or related service supports—the students who are not conforming or responding to classroom norms.

   While even veteran teachers periodically struggle with classroom management (needing coaching and other supports), it is important that schools with the student, peer, classroom, and schoolwide challenges especially analyze the classroom management skills and student interactions of teachers who are (a) new to the profession, and/or (b) new to the school.

    There are at least three reasons for this recommendation:

·       Teacher Training. Decades of published studies analyzing colleges of education across the country have consistently found that the instruction and supervision of graduates’ classroom management knowledge and skill is sorely lacking.

These knowledge and skill gaps are even more pronounced for many teachers certified through alternative education programs.

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·       Teacher Research. As but one example, a methodologically well-done study in Educational Researcher (“Troublemakers? The Role of Frequent Teacher Referrers in Expanding Racial Disciplinary Disproportionalities;” June 14, 2023) analyzed the characteristics of the referring teachers and the “misbehaving” students from over 75,000 office discipline referrals (ODRs) in a large, racially-diverse urban school district in California during the 2016-2017 through 2019-2020 school years.

Analyzing the teachers responsible for the top 5% of the district’s ODRs, the study determined that (a) this involved only 1.7% of all teachers; (b) Black and Hispanic students were overrepresented among the students referred by these “top referrers”; (c) teachers who were White, early career, and serving in middle schools did the most referring; and (d) after 3 years of classroom experience, the likelihood of being a top referrer quickly dropped—except in Middle schools where the top referrers’ ODRs did not decrease until they had at least 11 years of experience.

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·       Teacher Supervision and Evaluation. As but one example here, another well-done study in Education Evaluation and Policy Analysis (“’Refining’ Our Understanding of Early Career Teacher Skill Development: Evidence from Classroom Observations;” January 10, 2025) analyzed the instructional progress of 25,000 novice teachers in Tennessee, based on their principals’ observational data from Tennessee’s teacher-evaluation system.

In this system, principals’ classroom observations had to identify one focus area for improvement from among 19 instructional skills—including, for example, teacher questioning, presenting content, behavior management, and problem-solving.

Critically, the researchers found, among the 25% of new teachers who received the lowest overall evaluation scores, administrators were most likely to identify weak behavior management skills.

By contrast, the highest-performing new teachers looked more like veteran teachers when it came to these skills.

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   Taken altogether, once again, schools whose staff report continuing student behavior and classroom management challenges should first analyze where these challenges are occurring and with whom.

   Without blaming these teachers, these analyses should especially look at new or novice (less than three years of experience) teachers.

   Critically: Why should anyone be surprised that new teachers sometimes have the most classroom management problems?

   While most schools. . . and NFL teams. . . have teachers and players, respectively, who are emerging or seasoned veterans with five or more years of successful team experience, they also have new teachers or new players (“rookies”), respectively.

   To be successful, new teachers and rookie NFL players, respectively, need to embrace the organization’s positive, “team-first” culture while learning (a) the “plays” and how to execute them; (b) how to be good teammates; and (c) how to contribute—in the classroom or on the field—to student (for schools) or championship (for NFL teams) outcomes.

   For teachers, part of this contribution is classroom management.

   Moreover: Just as NFL rookies get more instruction, coaching, evaluation, and feedback before they participate in actual games, new and novice teachers need the same opportunities.

   The problem is: Many times, they don’t.

   In fact, new and novice teachers are almost always immediately put “into the game.”

   That is, these teachers are independently placed in charge of their classrooms on the first day of school. . . with little “pre-season” training, coaching, evaluation, and feedback.

   Kind of scary. . . isn’t it?

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Classroom Behavior and the Evidence-based Blueprint that Facilitates Success

  Successful NFL teams have well-designed and proven offensive, defensive, and special teams’ playbooks.

   Relative to student behavior and classroom management, many schools. . . not so much.

   The ultimate goal of a “student behavior and classroom management playbook” is to motivate, teach, prompt, and reinforce or correct students’ social, emotional, and behavioral self-management skills.

   Just as an NFL team’s best defense is a good offense, a school’s Tier 1 prevention system helps minimize students’ behavioral challenges and the need for more intensive Tier 2 and 3 services, supports, and interventions.

   Across ten years of Blogs (and many publications), we have discussed the five proven, evidence-based, and interdependent components that schools need in their playbook.

   Let’s listen to AI Educators Angela Jones and Davey Johnson on their Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive podcast of this Blog as they integrate our discussion thus far and expand on the school blueprint more specifically.

   When you “FOLLOW” this podcast, you are automatically notified when each bi-monthly podcast is posted. 

   Briefly, the evidence-based blueprint for school discipline success has the following five interdependent components:

·       Positive School and Classroom Climate, and Staff and Peer Relationships;

·       Explicit Prosocial Behavioral Expectations in classrooms and common school areas, and Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skill Instruction;

·       Student Motivation and Accountability;

·       Consistency and Fidelity—relative to the implementation of all the above components; and

·       Special Situations—the application of the components above to all school settings, all peer interactions, and those students who need more strategic or intensive services and supports.

   Critically, these same components are present in a sound and successful NFL football team. They are introduced and taught especially during the preseason and reinforced and extended during every practice before a regular season or playoff game.

   More specifically, sound and successful NFL teams ensure that their offensive, defensive, and special team units:

·       Develop positive relationships in the midst of a supportive, but competitive climate;

·       Learn and master their playbooks to automaticity;

·       Are motivated and self-accountable;

·       Demonstrate consistent play during each game, as well as those across the entire season; and

·       Apply their skills in different weather conditions, at both home and away games, when different players are injured and are unable to play, and after disappointing losses.

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   To expand the school blueprint more specifically:

·        Positive School and Classroom Climates, and Staff and Peer Relationships

 

This component focuses on building strong, positive relationships across same-grade and cross-grade students, across teachers and other staff and administrators in the school, across students and staff, and across students and staff and parents and others in the community. It also includes activities and expectations that build and sustain support for students from different backgrounds (relative, for example, to gender, race, culture, religion, sexual orientation).

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·   Explicit Prosocial Behavioral Expectations in the Classrooms and Common School areas, and Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Skill Instruction

This component is anchored by an evidence-based social skills program that is taught by classroom teachers at every grade level, and that focuses on teaching, modeling, practicing, and applying social and behavioral skills (e.g., Listening, Following Direction, Asking for Help, Ignoring Distractions, Dealing with Teasing, Accepting Consequences). It also includes student training in emotional awareness, control, communication, and coping so that students can demonstrate or perform their social skills even under conditions of emotionality.

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·        Student Motivation and Accountability

This component focuses on the developmentally-appropriate incentives and consequences, respectfully, that motivate appropriate, prosocial student behavior, and the differential responses needed to hold students accountable for inappropriate, anti-social behavior. This area includes the development (if needed) of a progressive, tiered school Behavioral Code of Conduct, and how to implement it in equitable ways, eliminating disproportionality—especially for students of color and with disabilities.

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·        Consistency and Fidelity

This component focuses on how to train and reinforce staff and students in the consistent implementation of the activities and processes in the three component areas above. . . so that they are used and applied as empirically designed and with fidelity. Clearly, if evidence-based processes are not implemented with the consistency (across, for example, time, people, settings, and situations), integrity, and intensity needed to facilitate or change behavior, then they will not work or will take longer to work. This can create a resistance or distrust of the change process that potentially undermines current and future change efforts.

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·        Special Situations

This component addresses the more complex, multi-dimensional behaviors related to (a) the school’s Common Areas; (b) peer-driven psychosocial interactions (including teasing, taunting, bullying, harassment, hazing, and physical aggression); and (c) the multi-tiered services, supports, and interventions needed by students who are not responding to effective school discipline and classroom management approaches.

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Classroom Behavior and Administrators

   Finally, leadership skills are essential whether you are the Head Coach of an NFL football team or a School Principal. Critically, neither leader simply “talked” their way into the position.

   Many head coaches played in the NFL themselves. And they spent many years coaching different parts of a football team. . . often under the tutelage of a Head Coach who saw their potential and mentored them.

   Many school principals were classroom teachers. And they spent many years in different school leadership positions. . . again, under the tutelage of Principals and others who saw their leadership potential.

   But as reinforced above, both Head Coaches and School Principals need to have a great support staff, a sound playbook, and players or teachers, respectively, who are skilled, experienced, motivated, and committed.

   One leader does not a team make.

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   Relative to the continuing student discipline and classroom management challenges noted by many schools across the country, school principals need to actively and consistently do the following:

·       Be Present—at staff problem analysis and intervention planning meetings, at professional development and coaching and feedback sessions, interacting in the classrooms and the common areas of the school, and working side-by-side with staff who are working with students to make things better.

·       Be Knowledgeable—about the school’s discipline and classroom model, and the components and activities being implemented by staff with or on behalf of students. Here, principals need to have the knowledge and skills such that they could walk into a classroom or situation and implement the model fluidly and with integrity.

·       Be Respectful and Empathetic—when interacting with classroom teachers, students, other instructional and support staff, and other administrative colleagues. High levels of emotionality or disregard only increase the chances of the same reactions in others. 

·       Be Humble—by knowing when to take the lead and when to delegate, when to make a decision and when to defer to others, when to give encouragement and when to express disappointment, and when to press ahead and when to back off and regroup.

·       Be Aware of and Comfortable with—the difference between a student’s discipline problem, and the problem that reflects a social, emotional, or behavioral student challenge. Discipline problems usually change when strategically-chosen disciplinary actions are implemented. Social, emotional, or behavioral challenges are only responsive to strategically-chosen services, supports, and/or interventions.

   Once again—as embodied by Lions’ Head Coach Dan Campbell—these characteristics explain how his team went from 3 to 9 to 12 to 15 wins over the past four years. . . but also why he reacted to his team’s 45-31 loss last week.

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A Final Lesson

   There’s one more lesson to learn from Coach Campbell.

   If you watch the video of his press conference again, you see him say:

·       “We fell short;”

·       “It just hurts to lose;”

·       “It was just one of those odd days;”

·       “Things were just off” right from the beginning of the football game; 

·       “It was a ripple effect;”

·       “We just didn’t play great;”

·       “We couldn’t get over the hump;”

·       “I wish I had a better answer;” 

·       “I’ve got to spend some time to look at it and figure it out;” and 

·       “It’s my fault—I didn’t have them ready.”

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   Whether we are talking about classroom teachers, school administrators, or any staff group in between. . . there are times—even with the best players, playbook, past, and potential—that things just don’t go as planned.

   Sometimes, the students are just “off”. . . it’s just an “odd day”. . . teachers can’t “get over the hump.”

   For these days, tomorrow is another day.

   But if there are too many of “these days,” the school needs to analyze (a) the talent; (b) evidence-based blueprints; (c) leadership; and (d) the culture, beliefs, dedication, persistence, and resilience of the school and its teams.

   Remember: Students rarely fix their own social, emotional, or behavioral problems, and they rarely “mature” out of these challenging patterns.

   While they need to be part of the solution, educators (and parents) need to take the lead.

   A school may not have a “winning record” right now relative to student behavior and classroom management.

   But—like the Detroit Lions—we can turn things around. . . if we just “listen” to Dan Campbell.

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Summary

   This Blog described a recent nationally-representative Education Week Research Center survey of educators across the country that found that student discipline and classroom management continues to get worse post-pandemic.

   We then asserted that students are not going to fix themselves (and that there are no quick fixes), and that everyone in an affected school—especially teachers and administrators—needs to be part of the problem analysis and strategic solutions.

   The remainder of the Blog used Dan Campbell, the Head Coach of the National Football League’s (NFL) Detroit Lions, and how he handled his recent press conference after his team lost a playoff game that they were overwhelming favorites to win.

   We used his reaction to the loss—even in the face of his team’s significant improvements under his leadership the past four years—to compare the characteristics of a successful football team specifically to what schools need to do to solve their current student behavior and classroom management problems.

   In short, we discussed school leadership and “player development,” the talent and training needed, the “playbook” toward effective school and classroom discipline, and the importance of school culture and commitment.

   We closed by encouraging schools to start now on this road to improvement. . . again emphasizing that there are no quick fixes. . . you’ve got to put in the work to earn the rewards.

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A New Podcast and Professional Development Resource for You

   At the beginning of this month, we announced a new partnership and resource for you.

   The partnership is with popular AI Educators, Davey Johnson and Angela Jones. . . and the resource is their Podcast:

Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive 

   For each bimonthly Blog message that I publish, Davey and Angela will summarize and analyze the Blog in their free-wheeling and “no-holds-barred” Podcast. . . addressing its importance to “education today,” and discussing their recommendations on how to apply the information so that all students, staff, and schools benefit to “the next level of excellence.”

   You can find the Podcast at the following link:

Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive | Podcast on Spotify

   Davey and Angela have already created a Podcast Archive of more than 35 additional and separate podcasts reflecting involving all of our 2024 Blogs (Volume 2), and 14 of our most-popular Blogs from 2023 (Volume 1).

   The Podcasts are posted on Spotify, and you can “Follow” the Podcast Series so that you will be automatically notified whenever a new Podcast is posted.

   Many districts and schools are using the Podcasts in their Leadership Teams and/or PLCs to keep everyone abreast of new issues and research in education, and to stimulate important discussions and decisions regarding the best ways to enhance student, staff, and school outcomes.

   If you would like to follow a Podcast up with a free one-hour consultation with me, just contact me and we will get it on our schedules.

   I hope to hear from you soon.

Best,

Howie

 

[CLICK HERE to read this Blog on the Project ACHIEVE Webpage]

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[To listen to a synopsis and analysis of this Blog on the “Improving Education Today: The Deep Dive” podcast hosted by popular AI Educators, Angela Jones and Davey Johnson on Spotify: CLICK HERE for Angela and Davey’s Enlightening Discussion]

Delegating Duties and Decisions in a Shared Leadership School

Avoiding Staff Reservations or Resentment

[CLICK HERE to read this Blog on the Project ACHIEVE Webpage]

 

Dear Colleagues,

Effective delegation is critical to administrators’ success. Delegating properly can empower staff and give them leadership experiences and decision-making control, allowing them to exhibit agency over important stakes. Yet, our research shows that, if not done effectively and at the right time, staff can view delegated decision-making as a burden that they would prefer to avoid. Knowing when, when not, and how to delegate helps administrators navigate this process effectively without paying an interpersonal price.

 

Hayley Blunden and Mary Steffel (with minor modifications)

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Introduction

   When implementing a building-wide academic or school discipline, classroom management, and student engagement initiative, it is essential to work from a systemic, ecological, whole-school-improvement perspective. This is because classrooms’ academic/instructional and classroom management/student engagement processes are interdependent.

   I have demonstrated this for over forty years in the field by asking educators three simple questions:

·       Do you have students in your classrooms who are behaviorally acting out because of academic struggles?

·       Do you have other students in your classrooms who are academically struggling because of social, emotional, or behavioral challenges?

·       When you have an academically struggling student or a behaviorally challenging student, which is which based on why are they having these difficulties?

   Consistently, the answer to the first two questions is, “Yes.”

   The answer to the third question. . . after some thought and reflection on the interdependence of students’ academic and behavioral classroom performance. . . is:

   “I don’t know. It could be an academic or social, emotional, behavioral problem. . . or both.”

   And that’s the point.

   Before schools implement school-wide academic initiatives, they must look at how their school’s current discipline, classroom management, and student engagement processes are impacting their students’ academic instruction, learning, and mastery. . . and how the new initiative might positively or adversely impact these same processes.

   Similarly, before schools implement school discipline, classroom management, and student engagement initiatives, they must evaluate the impact of their existing academic program. . . and how the new initiative might positively or adversely impact these same processes.

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   For me, the strategic planning for any school initiative. . . indeed, for all school improvement activities. . . involves a shared, collaborative leadership structure and process.

   And this shared leadership structure and process requires staff involvement, commitment, and productivity. . . and the delegation of certain duties and decisions by school administrators to school staff.

   And there’s the rub.

   How do administrators best delegate duties and decisions to school staff— to individuals, teams, grade levels, departments, committees, or everyone in the entire organization—so that they embrace them rather than (as in the quote above) “paying an interpersonal price” because they are seen as “burdens to avoid?”

   In this Blog, we will describe (a) the essential structure and process in a shared, collaborative leadership school; (b) recent research reported by Hayley Blunden and Mary Steffel on how to effectively delegate duties and decisions to staff members; and (c) how to apply the two together.

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Expanding on the Shared Leadership School

   As emphasized above, there are two essential elements in a successful Shared Leadership School: (a) a formal and well-organized shared leadership structure, and (b) differentiated decision-making processes.

   While virtually no administrator would question this, most districts and schools have a loose shared leadership structure (if they have one at all), and they use decision-making processes that vary—sometimes unpredictably—over time and across different situations.

   Critically, the shared leadership structure should incorporate the science-to-practice components that (a) facilitate sound strategic planning and school improvement at the student, teacher, and classroom levels; and (b) result in successful and effective school and schooling outcomes.

   The differentiated decision-making processes need to use research, experience, and common sense so that they can be implemented flexibly to adapt to specific student, staff, and school questions and needs.

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The Shared Leadership School Structure

   Based on long-standing science-to-practice studies, there are seven interdependent areas that help produce positive, sustained, and meaningful school and schooling outcomes (see Figure 1 below):

·       Area 1. Strategic Planning and Organizational Analysis and Development

·       Area 2. Multi-Tiered Problem-Solving and Systems of Support (MTSS)

·       Area 3. Professional Development, Supervision, Coaching, and Accountability       

·       Area 4. Academic Instruction, Assessment, Intervention, and Achievement (Positive Academic Supports and Services—PASS)

·       Area 5. Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Instruction, Assessment, Intervention, and Self-Management (Social-Emotional Learning/ Positive Behavioral Support System—SEL/PBSS)

·       Area 6. Parent and Community Involvement, Training, Support, and Outreach

·       Area 7. Data Management, Evaluation, and Efficacy

Figure 1.

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   In a Shared Leadership School, the first six of these respective areas are overseen by specific school-level committees or teams (see Table 1 below). The last area is an embedded responsibility for all of these committees or teams.

   (Critically, this shared leadership committee “blueprint” may be adapted given the size, needs, or challenges within a specific school. Moreover, we certainly recognize the presence and importance of other teams—for example, grade-level teams—that also exist in effective schools.)

Table 1.

   Briefly describing these committees or teams:

   Led by the School Principal, the School Leadership Team (SLT) is primarily responsible for overseeing activities related to the Strategic Planning and Organizational Analysis and Development component within the effective school and schooling model. Thus, it makes most of the site-based management and related organizational and fiscal decisions on behalf of the school, or recommends these to the administration. The SLT is ultimately responsible for planning (e.g., through the annual School Improvement Plan) and evaluating all school-level and student-specific outcomes.

   Because the core of the SLT involves the Chairs or Co-Chairs of the other school-level committee, they report on their respective committee meetings and activities so that all SLT members are duly briefed and can coordinate and collaborate, as appropriate, across school committees, teams, and staff. All of this facilitates a seamless “bottom-up” (i.e., from individual staff to grade levels to school-level committees to SLT and administration) communication process, as well as a “top-down” (i.e., from the administration on down) process.

   While the SLT is the oversight committee to which all other committees report, there still is a clear delineation between the mandated and district-designated responsibilities of the school’s administration and the shared leadership responsibilities of the SLT. In the former area, the SLT may be advisory to the school’s administration relative to certain administrative responsibilities, actions, and/or decisions where the administration must make final decisions. In the latter area, the SLT has many of its own decision-making responsibilities—still as agreed upon by the administration.

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   The MTSS—Multi-Tiered System of Supports Team is responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating the continuum of services, supports, strategies, and interventions, and the data-based problem-solving process to address the academic and/or social, emotional, and behavioral needs of students who are not responding to effective general education instruction and classroom management.

   The MTSS team is composed of the strongest academic and behavioral intervention specialists in and available to the school, and it is also often responsible for determining a student’s eligibility for more intensive special education services if strategic interventions, over time and consistent with IDEA, are not successful. As such, this multidisciplinary Team is largely staffed by related service and specialization professionals—including special education teachers, the school nurse, the School Principal, and relevant others.

   Given all of this, this committee is largely responsible for the school and School Improvement Plan’s Problem Solving, Teaming, and Consultation Processes component and activities, but this committee’s activities clearly overlap with other committees, especially those focused on the school’s core academic instruction and social, emotional, and behavioral programming for all students.

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   The Professional Development/Teacher Support and Mentoring Committee oversees, facilitates, and evaluates the school’s professional development (PD), and formal and informal collegial supervision and support activities. These activities should help all staff feel professionally and personally connected to the school and its organizational, planning, instruction, and continuous improvement processes, and motivate them to interact instructionally and personally with students and each other at the highest levels of effectiveness.

   With goals and outcomes connected to the School Improvement Plan, this committee helps to evaluate the short- and long-term implementation and outcomes of the school’s PD program, making recommendations to ensure that all PD initiatives (a) are delivered using appropriate adult learning approaches; and (b) implemented so that staff receive the depth of training, job-embedded practice, supervision and feedback, and time needed to be successful. Ultimately, this committee facilitates a process such that the information and knowledge provided during any PD training transfers into instructional skill and confidence over time, and that the school’s PD program and process collectively results in meaningful student outcomes.

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   The Professional Development/Teacher Support and Mentoring Committee also helps welcome and orient staff who are new to the building each year, coordinates the teacher mentoring program for teachers who are new to the profession, and guides others who have completed this induction process and are moving toward earning tenure or continuing appointments. In addition, this committee stays abreast of new pedagogical or technological advances in the field, periodically briefing the faculty on these new approaches and how they can improve the school and schooling process.

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   The Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Committee looks at the most effective ways to teach and infuse the primary academic areas of literacy, mathematics, written/oral expression, and science to all students in the school throughout the instructional process and day. Meeting on at least a monthly basis with goals and outcomes connected to the School Improvement Plan, this committee also oversees the implementation of new and other existing district- and building-level curricula into the classroom such that they are most effectively taught to all students.

   The membership of this committee includes representatives from every grade or instructional/ teaching team or level, including representatives from every intervention support or consultation group in the school and administrators. Many times, this Committee extends from the school-level up to the district level, and from the school-level down to the grade (or instructional team) level and individual teachers’ classrooms. As such, this “Committee” often is as differentiated as the curricula being taught in the school and, in large schools, it may have curriculum-specific subcommittees or other organizational arrangements, as needed, to facilitate the instruction and achievement of all students.

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   The School Climate and Student Discipline Committee is the building-level committee that oversees the school’s positive behavioral supports and interventions, school discipline, behavior management, and school safety processes and activities. Meeting on at least a monthly basis with goals and outcomes connected to the School Improvement Plan, this committee looks at the most effective ways to facilitate positive interpersonal, social problem solving, and conflict resolution skills and interactions across students and staff such that students feel connected to the school, engaged in classroom activities, and safe across the school’s common areas.

   This Committee also addresses large-scale issues of teasing, taunting, bullying, harassment, and physical aggression—working to prevent these situations across the student body, and responding to them with strategic or intensive interventions as needed. In addition, the Committee oversees crisis prevention for the school, and is prepared to intervene when crises occur. Finally, this Committee works to involve school support staff (e.g., custodians, cafeteria workers, secretaries, bus drivers) in its efforts, and it reaches out to parents and community agencies, and other community leaders in a collaborative effort to extend its activities to home and community.

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   The Parent Involvement/Community Outreach Committee is responsible for planning, implementing, and evaluating the school’s parent and community outreach goals and activities as written into the school’s annual School Improvement Plan. As such, based ongoing needs assessments of the school’s different parent and community groups and constituencies, and analyses of their resources, interest, and capacity, this committee focuses on (a) establishing and sustaining the collaborative approaches needed to address students’ academic and social, emotional, or behavioral needs in home or community settings, and (b) increasing the support, involvement, and leadership of parents, community agencies, and other organizations in accomplishing the school’s mission and goals. 

   Consisting of a representative cross-section of staff from within a school, this Committee collaborates with and supports its school’s PTA leaders and members. This Committee also collaborates with other community agencies and organizations, establishing partnerships with relevant businesses and foundations, and becoming, formally or informally, the public face and public relations unit for the school.

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Three Embedded Committee Structure Principles

   Critically, there are three embedded principles in establishing these teams or committees:

·       All instructional and support staff are on at least one school-level committee;

·       Every committee (except, perhaps, the Leadership Team) has representatives from every grade level (for elementary and middle schools) or departmental level (for some middle and all high schools); and

·       Every committee (except the Leadership Team) is co-chaired by instructional and/or support staff, and these co-chairs form the core of the Leadership Team (administrators are ex officio to all committees)

   This, once again, brings us back to the theme of this Blog. . . how to utilize these principles and establish these committees so that staff see them as advantageous—to themselves, their students, and the school’s culture and operation—and willingly participate and collaborate in the shared leadership process.

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   For those interested in a more detailed discussion in this specific area, we show how to implement a shared school leadership committee structure and process in our popular monograph:

Shared Leadership through School-Level Committees: Process, Preparation, and First-Year Action Plans

[CLICK HERE for More Information]

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   Moreover, we have discussed this committee blueprint in a previous Blog on staff development:

May 27, 2023

“Aligning the Seven Areas of Continuous School Improvement to Teacher Leadership and Advancement”

[CLICK HERE to Read this Blog]

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Differentiating School Decision-Making Processes

   In a Shared Leadership School, administrators differentiate among the common decisions that typically occur on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.

   They then (a) determine how these decisions will be made and by whom; (b) share and confirm this information with the School Leadership Team; and (c) discuss them with the entire staff—providing training in how effective committees and teams run, and how sound decisions are made. . . even when they are complex or controversial.

   Focusing on the “how and the who” above, below are some ways that decisions are made by small and large groups in a school.

   Critically, staff need to understand that the absence or abdication of making a needed decision is actually a decision to either maintain the status quo or to allow (or force) someone else to make the decision.

   While this should not pressure staff into premature or rash decisions, it also should not routinely occur because, for example, (a) staff are unable to effectively discuss—or want to avoid making—complex or controversial decisions; or (b) a small number of staff are overtly or covertly “threatening” to undermine a majority decision.

   Conversely, then, it is assumed that school and schooling decisions that are made will be supported and followed by all staff—even when they disagree with the decision, or it was not their first preference.

   This is not to suggest that decision-making is dictatorial. Indeed, staff have the right to “agree to disagree,” express and document their concerns and apprehensions, and—in some cases—ask administrators to revisit a decision. In the latter case, decisions that are illegal, unethical, potentially unprofessional, or contrary to the common (student) good should be revisited. (Note that we are not discussing personnel decisions here.)

   While the assumptions above are implicit and universal, they may still need to be discussed explicitly— in general or when specific decisions are “on the table”—by school groups, committees, or with the entire staff.

   Different decisions in a Shared Leadership School:

·       Command Decisions: Decisions that are made by school administrators, largely on their own or due to their authority or official roles or responsibilities in the school.

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·       Expert Decisions: Decisions that are approved by school administrators, but are made by (for example, educational, psychological, pedagogical, or legal) Experts who are working in the school or who have been consulted or researched by the administrators.

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·       Consultative Decisions: Decisions that are made by school administrators, after consulting with a within-school team, committee, grade level or department, or individual staff member—or someone outside the school. Administrators here can make their own decisions; they are not bound by the information provided during the consultation.

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·       Consensus Decisions: Decisions that are made by informally scanning or polling a group. . . where an apparent majority of the group agree with a specific direction or option. A consensus decision is as binding as one determined by a formal vote, and individuals should be allowed to request a formal vote and additional discussion if desired.

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·       Voting Decisions: These are decisions where a formal vote (e.g., by a show of hands or “secret” ballot) is taken on a decision or a “motion on the floor” (if, for example, the school uses Robert’s Rules of Order for decision-making).

Administrators, the School Leadership Team, or school staff may decide—in advance—that some decisions will require a simple majority (i.e., 51% of the vote) to “pass,” while other decisions will require a “super-majority” (i.e., 60% or 67% of the vote). In very rare cases, a unanimous (100%) vote standard may be used.

When multiple options (e.g., selecting one curriculum from five options) are being weighed at the same time, the “standard for winning” should be determined or agreed-upon in advance. This, for example, may involve (a) an absolute vote—where the option with the most votes (regardless of the number or percentage) “wins;” (b) a weighted vote—where the options are given points based on each staff member’s ranked preferences, and the most-preferred option wins; or (c) a “drop-out” vote—where there are a series of votes, and the option with the lowest score in each “round” is dropped-out. 

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·       Minority Decisions: This decision typically is not planned, and should be avoided. It occurs when one individual or a small (but, for example, vocal, powerful, or regarded) number of individuals vote counter to the majority, and/or voice a dissent after the votes and decision have been announced. At this point, in deference to these individuals, the rest of the group acquiesce to their dissent and vacate the vote.

If this “if I don’t get my way, I’ll take the ball and go home” tactic or strategy is allowed, then the “minority” could be empowered, and the integrity of a school’s decision-making process will be weakened or damaged.

The “antidote” here is to (a) reassert the expectation that the everyone will respect and support all final decisions; (b) review, in advance, the voting procedure—along with the standard of winning; and (c) ensure that the formal vote does not begin until sufficient discussion has occurred.

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   When schools effectively implement and consistently sustain these two essential Shared Leadership School components—a formal and well-organized shared leadership structure, and differentiated decision-making processes—they create a culture and mindset where staff recognize that their involvement in school committees and relevant school decisions is:

·       A relevant part of their professional role and responsibility; 

·       Beneficial to their professional and personal well-being and success; and

·       An important contribution to the success of the school and its student body.

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Research: How to Strategically Delegate Duties and Decision-Making

   Blunden and Steffel, in a September 10, 2024 Harvard Business Review article, completed a progressive series of controlled experiments and surveys with 2,478 participants from across the United States.

   They found that:

Delegating decision-making responsibilities, compared with asking employees for advice and maintaining decision-making responsibility, had significant interpersonal costs for delegators. But we also found material ways that managers can alter how and when they delegate decisions, so that employees feel empowered rather than burdened.

The results of the first set of these systematically-completed studies indicated:

·    Study 1. When recalling past incidents with their supervisors, staff who were delegated a task versus asked for their advice were less willing to help the same individual with a future decision–-regardless of the positive or negative outcome of the decision.

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·    Study 2. As part of a research study, when asked to decide between two administrative candidates during an on-line chat, staff were more likely to hire the individual who asked their advice during an interview challenge than the candidate delegated a choice to them.

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·       Study 3. As part of the next research study, when asked whether they wanted to continue working with their team leader during an online team chat, staff who had been delegated to during the chat were more likely to end their relationship with the leader when compared to staff whose leader asked for their advice.

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   Blunden and Steffel concluded:

It turns out that the people in our studies thought being asked to make a decision was less fair than being asked for advice, and that this sense of unfairness made them view delegators more negatively. It may seem unfair when someone asks a colleague to take on decision responsibility—and its potential burdens—when the colleague views that responsibility as rightfully the requester’s to shoulder.

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   Given these research outcomes, Blunden and Steffel next investigated the ways that supervisors or managers could delegate tasks or decisions without seeming unfair.

·    Study 4. In a controlled experiment, 578 participants were asked to imagine being asked by a supervisor either to make a decision or to give advice regarding laying off colleagues (a negative outcome) or awarding colleagues a bonus (a positive one). The participants were then asked to indicate how fair they felt the supervisor making the request was.

For those asked to make a layoff decision, Blunden and Steffel again found that participants whose supervisors delegated the decision to them (versus asking for their advice) were less willingness to provide help with future decisions. Yet, when asked to award colleagues’ bonuses, there was no difference in the willingness to help supervisors with future decisions between the participants delegated this decision versus simply asked for their advice.

 

In their follow-up analyses, the researchers found that participants told to make a positive outcome decision (i.e., awarding a bonus) felt that this was fairer than being told to make a negative outcome decision (i.e., laying someone off).

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·        Study 5. Critically, the results of next study demonstrated that supervisors were not rated down when they asked staff to make decisions that were relevant to them and that were consistent with their work roles and functions. In this situation, staff saw the delegation of the decision to them as “fair.”

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   Blunden and Steffel summarized all of their studies’ results:

When the decision outcome has a high potential to have negative consequences, is outside of the employee’s scope of responsibilities, and primarily affects others, there are likely to be interpersonal costs of decision delegation, and managers looking to utilize their employees’ knowledge should ask for advice instead. When these elements are reversed, transferring decision responsibility is likely to be less interpersonally costly and might provide employees a better venue to test out their decision-making skills.

Our work suggests that those seeking to delegate decisions may benefit from pursuing strategies that make their requests seem fairer. For example, delegators could consider framing a decision within the scope of their colleague’s responsibilities or could articulate how they will take active responsibility for any fallout from an employee’s choice.

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Implications for Administrators in a Shared Leadership School

   Adapting the research summary paragraph immediately above into “action steps,” administrators would be well-advised to delegate duties and decisions to their staff that:

·       Are consistent with their existing (or imminent) roles, responsibilities, and job descriptions;

·       Bring their knowledge, skills, and competence to the “next level” of excellence and efficacy;

·       Have a high potential to contribute to and positively extend their success and impact on students and other colleagues; 

·       Have a high potential to identify and eliminate existing ineffective strategies and/or time-consuming or counter-productive tasks; and 

·       Are fair and equitable with respect to what other staff/colleagues are being asked to contribute.

   All of these should be accomplished by asking staff to help build the school’s Shared Leadership system, by actively soliciting and judiciously using staff advice and recommendations, and by ensuring that new responsibilities are counter-balanced with the release of existing ones.

   Moreover, relative to any new duties or decision-making responsibilities, administrators should publicly commit to and consistently demonstrate that they “have their staff’s back.” While mis-steps or mistakes may occur as staff get used to new delegated roles or decision-making and leadership responsibilities, administrators need to focus on how to succeed “next time” through analysis, adjustment, advancement, and improvement.

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   As noted above, when schools effectively implement a well-organized shared leadership structure, and staff learn and apply sound and differentiated decision-making processes, staff embrace their new shared leadership roles and responsibilities because they enhance their professional and personal success, and that of their students, colleagues, and school.

   Indeed, through experience, they recognize that:

·       Schools and districts are stronger when experienced and talented people work together on shared short- and long-term goals, actions, activities, and accomplishments; and 

·       Having the responsibility to make some school and schooling decisions gives them an active voice in how the school is run, as well as what their future expectations, assignments, roles, and contributions might be.

   Ultimately, this is a win-win for both administrators and staff.

   When new roles and decision-making responsibilities are communicated and shared successfully by administrators, they have more resources and people contributing to all of the tasks that go into running a successful school.

   When administrators work as collaborative colleagues with staff, staff feel more trusted, involved, informed, and aware of the complexities of a school and the job of their administrators.

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Summary

   This Blog discussed the significant benefits of having a Shared Leadership structure and process in every school across the country. The structure was defined by the seven research-to-practice components evident in all successful schools. These were aligned to six school-level committees—each responsible for their part of the school success operation.

   The process was defined by describing the different ways to make school and schooling decisions. This is critical as successful Shared Leadership occurs when staff, who serve on committees, learn how to make decisions within those committees—and elsewhere in the school—on their own and on behalf of their colleagues.

   Knowing that some staff may initially be uncomfortable in a Shared Leadership School, we summarized the research in a recent Harvard Business Review article by Blunden and Steffel titled, “How to Delegate Decision-Making Strategically.”

   This culminated in recommendations on how school administrators can best delegate duties and decisions to school staff so that they embrace their shared leadership responsibilities—rather than seeing them as unwanted or burdensome, and their administrators as unfair or insensitive.

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   I hope that this Blog has either reinforced your current approaches to shared leadership in the settings where you work, or has opened a “new door” to you as to its benefits and features.

   As we near the mid-point of the school year, know that I continue to work on-site and virtually with schools and districts across the country—not just in strategic planning and the implementation of shared leadership approaches... but also in the areas of:

·       Enhancing school climate and student engagement;

·       Teaching students interpersonal, social problem-solving, conflict prevention and resolution, and emotional awareness, control, communication, and coping skills;

·       Implementing effective Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS); and

·       Implementing effective Tier 2 and Tier 3 services, supports, and interventions for students with challenging behavior.

   If you and your team would like to discuss any of these areas with me, please feel free to e-mail or call me, and we can schedule a free first consultation session.

   I hope to hear from you soon.

Best,

Howie

 

[CLICK HERE to read this Blog on the Project ACHIEVE Webpage]