"Really ... Seriously"

We need to do better!

We can do better!

We must do better!

The challenge however, is do we really want our learners to be successful? Really? Seriously?

Are we afraid of our students being successful?

This is a serious question –

We have a plan – a detailed plan.

We have planned and provided means for aggressive identification and early intervention.

We have planned and provided a focus and the tools to create environments – teaching and learning environments that are conducive for success.

We have planned and provided resources – technology resources to enhance, enrich, and accelerate teaching and learning for success.

We have planned and provided professional learning and growth to target specifically the needs of learners to achieve success.

We have not however implemented to fidelity. To implement to fidelity requires the same attributes of effective teaching and learning – constant and consistent monitoring, constant and consistent measuring, constant and consistent adjustment or corrective action – constant and consistent reviewing and reflection – constant and consistent planning and – constant and consistent doing.

Sadly, it appears we haven’t.

Our results suggest we have not implemented deeply those practices, programs, behaviors, and decisions that yield the desired or expected results. Our data suggests the opposite.

I purposely started with the constant and consistent monitoring. A responsibility of leadership.

The good news is that leadership recognizes that planning means little without implementation. In a like manner, implementation without monitoring amounts to random, inconsistent results. Really! Seriously!

We know now more than ever that monitoring implementation of our plan especially instructional strategies including practices and programs is lacking.

Let’s not get intentions, commitment, or desire for success to be confused with the tools, skills, and application of effective implementation. Effective implementation requires first and foremost – doing.

Doing is well, doing! It’s not talking about it, not going through the motions, not trying to dress it up or pretend on certain days or in certain environments or giving the appearance of doing – no! Doing is doing.

Let me offer a thought about Make Your Day – again! If our staffs including leadership would just do it rather than not doing it they would find that not only does it work; it will be each educators' best hopes for student management.

Just wait for the final suspension numbers and I will, you will, we will hear about how Make Your Day doesn’t work. The alternative? Suspend more students – corporal punishment – we need to intimidate and force students to behave and learn. I have one question – so how was student achievement before MYD?

I would rather be faced with implementation fidelity where principals, students, parents or all three come back to me to say, “Firn we implemented it – we did everything you asked, we followed the program protocols exactly the way we were trained and it hasn’t worked – here is the data to prove it.”

Our problem remains - an important ingredient is missing – our staff and administration have not followed the program protocols or made the complete uncompromising effort to do so.

Frustrating?

Really!

Seriously!

There are many more examples – TeachTown, Headsprout, Fast ForWord, Reading Assistant, Smart Thinking, Laptops, Connect ED, Co-Teaching, TIA, Thinkgate, Common Formative Assessments, Benchmark Assessments, and many more.

We have chosen or at least majority has chosen not to implement fully or completely, but pretend to do so.

What must and will be different – monitoring. Get ready; monitoring is about to play a much greater role.

It has to – we will not achieve the results we desire if we don’t implement with fidelity.

Training and capacity building without monitoring is akin to planning without implementation.

We need, can and must perform better. By the by, monitoring is effective only when specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and timely feedback is provided. A responsibility of leadership.

To that end, our planning work during the Leadership Advance will focus on awareness, understanding and application of effective monitoring skills, knowledge, and tools.