“A Long, short Week”

The aftermath of the horrific event in Connecticut certainly impacted each of us.  As our instructional week began on Monday, an uneasy tension – one with uncertainty, apprehension, and to varying degrees angst was present not only in our schools but also across our state and nation.

The skill of our staff motivated by compassion, heartfelt concern, passion, and a commitment to each of our students navigated the day providing each student with as humanly possible a sense of calm and safety.  Staff, students, and especially our parents were extremely supportive and sensitive to the emotions, feelings, and concerns for safety and security.

The calls and conversations with parents, grandparents, community and staff alike were equally supportive, encouraging, and each with a genuine sense of being helpful.  Suggestions as well as recommendations were not unrealistic or reactionary.  To that end, we will explore some of these for feasibility and practicality. 

I found myself several times pondering before speaking the oft-cited reason of “money” as why we don’t explore certain strategies.  Though in all likelihood valid, I just couldn’t use money or the cost of something as a reason for not listening to well-intentioned callers that took time to call and share their ideas.

In most of these conversations we inevitably discussed that in many respects the safety and security protocols we have in place (I will not divulge for obvious reasons) are acknowledged as progressive and contemporary.  Yet, there are some areas we still need to address – and we will!

EdWeek’s timely article, Security Steps Said to Avert More Deaths at Conn. School: Experts warn against knee-jerk changes elsewhere by Nirvi Shah (18 December 2012 Vol. 32, Issue 15) is a must read.  Though it offers little in the way of understanding or sense making of what took place, it does, however, provide insights essential to the conversation about school safety.

Related – I met with our police chief this week and, as I did at the Board of Education meeting Monday night, expressed our heartfelt appreciation for all the officers of whom many volunteered on their own to be in our schools Monday as well as throughout the week.  Many parents, citizens, staff, and students noticed their presence and expressed their appreciation as well.

Unrelated – as the holiday season moves officially into full swing – marked by the release of students from school, we prepare to bring the year 2012 to an end and welcome 2013.  As we do, I have challenged our leadership to consider two important questions.  They are:

“What have we as an organization learned?”

“What have you learned?”

In part to be reflective and in part to set the stage for the Midyear Leadership Advance these two questions are extremely important. 

Why? 

As a learning organization we must come to grips with where we are with respect to where we expected to be at this point in the journey. 

What we have learned corporately as well as individually provide awareness and understanding about any gap between the actual and expected – make sense?

If we haven’t been learning – how do we expect to be different albeit in thought, behavior, or results?

I am extremely curious to learn our responses.  The “advance” will allow us to piece together the different “learnings” and perspectives with the best hope of raising to even higher level our leadership efficacy.

Learning continuously is part of improvement - continuous improvement – hence the word continuous, right?

Learning more often than not is a prerequisite for improvement especially if “different” is the expected outcome.  Though obvious to many, learning and therefore knowing what is expected is the first step to different. 

In learning to do different there is learning about what isn’t working or producing the results we expect or desire. As the “new year” looms closer the habitual practice of “new year resolutions” come to mind.  Simply put underpinning learning to do different requires humility.

Learning also requires assistance, objectivity, experience, and honesty.

We need mentors – those that candidly and effectively ground us as their interest – vested interest is in our development, growth and progress.

So it is, therefore, in my last Weekly of 2012 that I attempt to tie together events of the last week and the need to continually learn. 

I think there it is! 

We have to learn.  We have to be different.

With little doubt, we will learn and we will be different! 

It now becomes a matter of our capacity, our resolve, and our commitment to do so.

“Natural and Timely”

The work let alone progress of transformation is not easy and is more often fraught with frustration, disappointment, and discouragement. The lack of instant or immediate positive change, success, or results reinforces the naysayers as well as erodes confidence, taints the vision, and makes ambitious initiatives questionable. Leading to a loss of motivation, passion, and commitment the inevitable happens with transformative work – abandonment.

Suffice; Transformative work is not easy!

To create the conditions for transformative success, we set out five and a half years ago with a plan to address what many labeled a “persistently and chronically low performing school system” – bluntly, a failing district. 

That plan, the Strategic Commitments articulated the key success factors that must be achieved for breakthrough results.  Our plan created a word picture of what our school system could, should, and would look like when the work was completed.  Three commitments framed our work – and continue to frame our work.  Common to each commitment is the core of our work – “All Anson County School students meet or exceed state and community academic learning standards”.  The emphasis on “all” birthed the vision of “All means All”.  

The commitments are:

1.     All Anson County School students meet or exceed state and community academic learning standards

2.     The Anson County Schools are organized efficiently and effectively to ensure that all students meet or exceed state and community academic learning standards

3.     The Anson County Schools will engage, promote, and partner with parents and community to ensure all students meet or exceed state and community academic learning standards

The core work of our school system resides in commitment one.  It is here that we find the essential components of our instructional program – standards, curriculum, instruction, and assessment alignment with student performance and adult learning.  Those individually and collectively are keys to success – hence they are key success factors.  Achieving alignment and implementation fidelity of each of these factors will result in fulfilling our commitment.

We discovered of late that missing was an additional factor within commitment one.  That is, our commitment to digital conversion and digital integration.  Thus, administration is recommending amending our commitments to add under key success factor 1.4 – “Student learning is planned and predictive” a new factor:

“Implementation of digital, mobile instructional and learning devices, tools ensure each student experiences contemporary methodologies via digital delivery, acquisition, and application of digital tools, skills, knowledge and experience.”

Though generally understood, the digital conversion and digital integration initiative has resulted in unprecedented access and application of digital tools throughout our system.  We have seen incredible growth in both teaching and learning.  We have proved both in concept and in practice that digital conversion and integration works – it works for both teacher and learner.   We, or better put, our students have proved in both concept and practice responsibility and accountability for digital tools albeit laptops or tablets.  Sure there have been damages to equipment as well as incidents of inappropriate use but this was expected and not as egregious as some prophesied.  We have learned and adjusted as a result.  Our digital literacy program provided by one of our strategic partners; EverFi is comprehensive and effective. 

We have consistently and constantly engaged in new learning to integrate effectively and efficiency digital content into lesson design.  We have provided unprecedented product and device training as well as the more important instructional capacity development to ensure that staff does, in fact, weave the power of digital learning into daily lessons. 

We learned last week that at least twenty of our staff (the goal is every staff) will soon participate in an unique and powerful Discovery Educator Network (DEN).  As participants, our students will be invited to participate in an international consortium of distinguished digital learners – shaping the development of new tools, new applications, and new solutions to local, state, national, global and who else knows – but they will do it 

Thus, it is both natural and timely we include in our commitments – Strategic Commitments not only our aspirations for but our commitment to digital teaching and learning, digital tools, digital content, and digital demonstration and application.

“What Vision?”

At a recent meeting with our technology leadership I asked each to respond to where they perceived we are with respect to our plans for mobile/digital learning, comprehensive refresh of technology, and connectivity and access.  They did a pretty good job of answering.

I then asked, “Where did we expect to be?”

As the room silenced, I read the uncomfortable, awkward, and possibly confused looks on the faces of staff that only moments earlier were quick to articulate where we were.  Rather than show my disappointment – more in myself than in staff, I asked, “What has guided the decision making and procurement process for technology?”

I quickly followed up with, “What is our vision for technology?”  “What is the mission of technology?”  In an attempt to break the silence I finally asked, “What is the vision for our organization?”

At last, a response, “All means all”.

What does “All means all” have to do with technology?

Everything!

Backing up, I offered where I expected us to be at this point – over four years into digital integration.  First and foremost I expected that our student performance would be higher than it is – although we have made significant improvement.  It should be obvious but our core work is teaching and learning.  Technology is merely a tool to leverage, drive, inspire, motivate, innovate, create, and imagine different – deeper application, construction, and demonstration of learning for each learner. Specifically related to the teaching and learning tools of this century:

1.   I expected we would have every third through 12^th grader with mobile learning device;

2.   I expected we would have a comprehensive refresh plan that systematically as well as systemically refreshed all aspects of technology; and

3.   I expected we would have unlimited, ubiquitous connectivity and access in every instructional space, workspace and in every school.

In response and to be accurate, a number of staff said after hearing where I expected us to be, “This is the first time we have heard this!”  My only thought was to return to an earlier question, “What has guided the decision- making and procurement process for technology?”

 Vision or the lack of is exactly where we find ourselves at this given point.  To address this deficiency technology leadership is earnestly revisiting the district’s technology plan through the lenses of a new vision - “Technology shall be the central component serving as a link between all curricular areas and is utilized as a common tool for students and faculty to communicate, collaborate, and construct learning inside and outside our classrooms and schools.”

Not to oversimplify – “central link, common tool to communicate, collaborate, and construct learning” is at the center of this vision.  This vision requires elaboration and operational definitions for “central link” and “common tool”.

As a “central link”, technology must be dependable, reliable, high capacity, secure, fast, easily supported, and all those necessary, essential functions of making sure everything works as planned.  “Central link” is far greater than the operational aspect of technology.  It requires “linking” content, information, subject matter, knowledge, and etc. with acquiring, applying, demonstrating, evaluating and creating learning.

“Common tool” includes unlimited access and opportunity.  It is not lab based.  It is mobile.  It is any place, anytime, any space – hence it is common not uncommon.

Communicate, collaborate, and construct should be self-evident.  Yet, the tools of learning in this age require a set of skills not previously required.  That is, the wired, digital native learners require skills, knowledge and experience conceptualized by “digital” literacy – safety, discernment, ethical, moral, and legal implications and consequences, practices, and nuances of “living” online, virtually without boundaries or borders.  In many respects, the application of these skills is the culmination of learning how to use ones’ mind well, learning how to relate and learning how to decide. 

In all reality this present generation will learn and apply their intelligence differently than past generations.  This is as it should be.  However, we must be careful not to constrain or prohibit the “growth of the foot by the size of the shoe”.  This begins with vision!

We must in every way shift intentionally and purposefully our vision from a simple update or newer version of the past to a picture that begets inspiration, imagination, innovation, creativity, and motivation to  communicate, collaborate, and construct – 

Simply put, our vision must be something that everyone wants and must be a part of – “all does mean all”!