In the recent version of the economic stimulus package making its way through Congress, education is looking at an additional $141 billion in funding, including $19.4 billion for Title 1 funding and $16.9 billion for IDEA (Individuals With Disabilities Education Act) funding ($17.9 billion in 2010). Whereas this increase in funding is highly lauded, it continues to show that government officials feel the only way to solve problems is to throw more money at them.

For many years, those districts who have approached student learning (note I didn’t say educating - that is the process, not the outcome) from a systemic perspective, looking at the whole picture AND the pieces instead of just the pieces, have excelled in helping students learn. They keep in mind that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and that (to use a worn out phrase), “it takes a village to raise a child.”

But, what does approaching learning systemically mean? Let me give you an example.

Last year I completed a programmatic assessment for a large urban school district. The engagement was to do an assessment of how the district rolled out an elementary instructional program, and most people thought that it would be a simple thing and take no more than 2 months. After all, what goes into rolling out a new program - it gets put together, rolled out, train the teachers, and then you have it wired - right? Not so fast . . .

The final report (all 192 single-spaced pages worth) made 82 recommendations (49 critical and 25 important) to improve instruction, the majority of which centered around organization structure, communications, leadership, stakeholder involvement and buy-in, culture, professional development - and not so much on the programmatic rollout.

Here’s the amazing thing - and only 5 would required more funding and all could have been done in 9 months. Those schools which did incorporate many of the results had excellent results - one went from 39% to 70% subject matter proficient in 12 months!

This, a systemic approach to learning, takes into account the big picture AND the pieces, instead of just the pieces. Unfortunately, most organizations approach problems in this way - they use analytic thinking which focuses on the symptoms instead of the whole system and root causes to problems - and then they wonder why they don’t get better results with their investments into instruction.

Here are seven keys to consider when approaching a situation systemically:

• Where are we going? This is the vision (future state - where we are going), mission (what are we doing and at what do we excel), and values (culture - the criteria on which we base decisions);
• Where are we now? What is our current state?
• How do we get there? (What strategies and tactics get us to the future state from our current state)
• How will we know when we get there? (What are our metrics, goals and objectives so that we know when we have reached your goal and how we are doing along the way);
• What external environmental factors will influence us on our “quest,” e.g., socio-demographics, competition, political factors, economics, environmental factors, technology, suppliers, customers, etc.
• What type of leadership must be present to get us there; and
• What organizational structure will facilitate our getting there?

Simple, right? Again, not so fast.

There are a lot of things which go into these 7 simple distillations. For instance, when we observe an iceberg, we see only the 13% which is above the water. The vast majority of the iceberg - 87% - is below the water, and that is what the 13% floats on.

The same is with educational organizations.  We “see” only 13% of the “education iceberg” - the  student learning - and the remaining 87% is the processes and the structures that we put in place to “ensure” student learning. These include instruction and teacher training for sure, but there are many other things which go into this 87% that have a significant effect on the desired outcome - student learning.

Key number one: Focus on outcomes and those factors which contribute the most to them. We understand this in education as “evidence based learning,” but what about the other things which are major factors in student learning such as leadership, development and rolling out of programs, building a learning culture, parental and business involvement, organizational structure, etc., that go into learning?

For instance, those who are familiar with organization design know the statement that form must follow function which is a simple way of saying that the organization structure should be based on what one wants to accomplish. However, what most do not understand is that we get the results that our structure allows us to have - no more and no less. Bottom line, the org structure either helps or hinders our success. Frequently, educational organizations have structures in place which do not facilitate good communications and frequently key information is lost, information that is critical for student learning.

Second, leadership is critical and great leaders are great communicators. We need to look no further than our new President, or other historical figures such as Presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, and Martin Luther King Jr. All are / were excellent communicators, and were able to inspire people to new heights. Conversely, we know of those leaders who were not good communicators, and know of many who are no longer there . . .

Everyone intuitively knows that good communications is critical for leadership, but do people understand how much communications influence culture which influences performance? If a leader doesn’t communicate, people can become unhappy which can translate into less dedicated teachers / employees which will result in lower student learning.

Last, people support what they help create. We all want a say in what we do and how we do it, but those organizations which are most successful have strong leadership who listens to its employees.

Take for instance one of my favorite issues - unions and teacher pay. For years unions have told us that if we want to attract and retain better teachers we have to pay them more.  However, in a recent study from UC Davis, teachers said that the #1 reason they leave in the profession is NOT pay (that was #6) but being involved in the decision-making. They want a say in their destiny.

Yes, teachers and instruction are important - dare I say critical - but there are multiple problems that can and must be solved so that we can improve student learning. If we look at these from a systemic perspective, we see that leadership, how we develop and rollout new programs, building a learning culture, parental and business involvement, communications, and an organization structure which facilitates communications, involvement, and learning ALL have a HUGE impact on learning, and most do not require $141 billion in new funding to fix.

So, as we are passing out this new money, let’s be sure that we are examining the issues systemically and giving it out to those who can make the best use of it (instead of just thowing it at problems as we have all to frequently done in the past).

The Doctor is in . . .

I recently received a book in the mail from ASCD entitled Never Work Harder than Your Students.”  It has a catchy title which grabbed my interest, and I found there are some great ideas in the book.

However, it got me thinking about the concept of why should anyone have to work harder than someone else (and my thinking can be dangerous - just ask my wife).

Is this in reality how we should be? Don’t others learn by example, and doesn’t this sets a poor one? What signal does this send to parents / students / etc.? Should we condone Bernie Madoff (pronounced “made off,” as in made off with others’ money . . .) making billions by not working hard and using (stealing) OPM (other peoples’ money)? (His story reminds me of a book that I read during my doctoral work entitled The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead. We know it is wrong, but more and more have done it. Isn’t this what we learned from our leaders for many years, e.g., Senators Randy “Duke” Cunningham and Ted Stevens?)

What if our teachers (or our parents) took this attitude with we were growing up? Somehow, this concept doesn’t work for me.

Another concept the author puts forward is how detrimental it is to “fake it until you make it,” that one must change their perceptions and attitude before this will work. This is absolutely true, but most people are not able to do this initially - they must put it into practice and see results before they believe (why do the call Missouri the “show me” state?). Once they see the results they become believers.

So, does someone not do something until they can fully believe in it? What about faith? Again, a sound bite that doesn’t really work.

Another point the author brings up is saying that using a 90 day performance improvement plan doesn’t help in teacher improvement and shouldn’t be used. Putting aside the fact that there are administrators who have no business “administering,” we live in an environment that makes it is nearly impossible to fire a tenured teacher who is under-performing. Sometimes drastic action like a 90-day improvement plan is required to get someone’s attention.

The question I ask is how many times has that teacher been asked to improve, suggested changes, etc., only to continue with the same ineffective teaching / behaviors? What resources has that teacher (or administrator) given to help them become more successful before it came down to a 90-day improvement plan?

In many respects, the impetus behind this is the old “teacher (union) vs. administrator battle” which has been waged for many years. This love-hate relationship boils down to the attitude that most teachers’ unions feel that when someone leaves the ranks of teaching to become an administrator they have joined Darth Vader / the dark side and immediately lose 20 points of IQ!

OK, so I am guilty of sound bite thinking too!

Let’s get real. Administrators are former teachers and (generally) understand what it takes to be successful in the profession. They know (or quickly learn) that things are not perfect and that the system needs changing. However, they can’t tell teachers to stop teaching or students to stop learning while they “fix the system,” and frequently the $$$ isn’t there to make the whole scale changes that are necessary.

We know that sometimes change is slow, but things are changing (and will continue to do so under our new President). However, WE must look to ourselves to do the best we can, improve ourselves as we need to, and have the right attitude. Like President John F. Kennedy said at his inaugural, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

We, teachers and administrators, have the ability to make changes and be more effective. Let us together improve our teaching and leadership skills by becoming more responsible for our actions. We like to blame poor test scores and a host of other problems on ineffective PD, administration, lack of funding, poor leadership, or the wrong phase of the moon for our not being more successful.

But, doesn’t it really boil down to our not taking responsibility for our own actions?  And when will we learn to do this instead of blaming others for our problems and situation?

The doctor is in . . .

Recently, the per capita spending on students data came out for 2005-2006 which has created a furor. Frankly, it makes me cringe when people attempt to simply what is a complex issue.Welcome to sound bite thinking! Maybe if we spent more on education we would be able to think more clearly and completely…Fiction. Low per capita spending on students (in California) is a result of Prop 13 and directly contributes to lower student performance.

Fact. There are multiple reasons for lower student performance. Per capita spending is only one, and the jury is still out on this as to its effect.

Fact. Property taxes have increased over the long haul because home prices have gone up.

People love that that their homes have appreciated. Had Prop 13 not been put in place, home values could not have increased at the same rate they have.

We can’t have it both ways. Either we pay higher taxes or we keep the median price of homes lower.

Fact. California’s budget has major problems that its politicians and people don’t have the political will to fix. For instance, many programs have built in formulas which automatically increase spending, but yet we are unwilling to raise taxes. When there is an economic downturn, i.e., recession (these do happen), it puts a strain on the State’s fiscal resources.

Something has to give (and it has - California is headed for $16 BILLION in debt this year).

Fiction. Teachers’ pay is too low (and intimate that it is the cause of low student performance).

Fact. Teachers’ generally complain (scream?) that their pay is too low AND that we don’t spend enough per student.

Why is that?

Let’s look at one of the hidden costs to education - teachers’ retirement benefits. Teachers are one of the few (if not the only) group which receive LIFETIME medical benefits. Tell me that this doesn’t take away from the $$$ that districts can spend on students.

Pay me today, or pay me tomorrow. You can’t have it both ways.

Fiction. Student test scores are low because teachers are not working hard enough.

Fact. Student test scores are low, but it isn’t about teachers working hard enough. Teachers are among the hardest working groups I know in America. The problem is the processes and structures which we have set up in which they must work.

We would like to think that if we want to improve something 5%, we work 5% harder - right? What if we want to improve something 50%? 100%? Work that much harder? It’s impossible - more sound bite thinking.

Fact. There are structural problems wrong in education that need to be addressed. Making people work harder (or throwing more money at it as in per capita spending) ISN’T GOING TO WORK.

Education is like an iceberg. With an iceberg - 13% is above the water whereas 87% is below. We have to fix what is below the surface, the structure and processes, before we will see any improvement on what is above the surface.

Bottom line, there are no free lunches, nor are there simple solutions. We must come up with real solutions which will work, and not everyone will get what they want. Welcome to the real world.

Einstein said that we cannot solve today’s problems with the same mentality which created them. We must set aside our special interests (such as teachers’ unions) to do what is best for our kids - get them educated.

Lest we forget, we are educating the generations which will be the leaders of our country and (hopefully) take care of us in our senior years. Scary thought that we are doing so poorly by them . . .

The Doctor is in . . .

D

I recently read a story about a young man in Canada who found a stack of $20s totaling $10K next to an ATM at his college campus. It was obvious that this money had been left there by someone, but the question was would he take advantage of someone else’s mistake? Being honest, he turned the money in and received a reward of $500 from the security company whose worker had left it there.  

The story touched me in that here was a young man who could have had a lot more money but instead chose to do the “right” (honest) thing.

Let’s think about this in organizational terms.  How many times have employees in your district, school, or university spoken up or done the right thing only to be ignored, had someone else take the credit for their work, or been punished because their “idea” didn’t jive with that of administration?  How many times have they been told that their jobs were safe, they were going to get a pay raise, or that class sizes were to be reduced, which didn’t happen?  

Trust - it takes years to build it but only moments to destroy it.

Trust is the foundational element for building a high performing organization.  Without trust, there can never be strong performance which, ultimately, hurts the students.

Breaching the trust with employees hurts everyone involved. Take union relations for example - if ever there was an example of a lack of trust between two stakeholder groups who critically need one another, that is it. Each is ready to blame the other for poor performance, but yet rarely will they take responsibility for their actions. How does this affect students? What do they learn from this?

So, how do you build trust? Building trust begins with honesty, transparency, and involving employees in decision-making.  When was the last time administrators shared with teachers the details behind a particular challenge? Do faculty have and understanding of the myriad of issues administration must deal with on a day-to-day basis, and do they have a say in the ultimate solution to the problem that involves them?

We must give people credit for being emotionally intelligent, i.e., adults.  We all want to know about and have input on situations which potentially affect us - that is normal. I have found that when people understand the circumstances and believe that leadership will act in their best interest and the best interest of the organization - trust leadership - they will do the right thing.

Take a moment to build trust. Rather, take lots of moments to build trust - make it an ongoing priority. You will be amazed at the results you get.

Now, as Paul Harvey used to say, “here is the rest of the story.” The story of the young man’s honesty was picked up by the Canadian Broadcasting Company and 1 year later he was awarded an “Arthur Award” and received $17K as a prize - far more than had he kept the money he initially found.  Who says good deeds and honesty go unrewarded . . .

The Doctor is in . . .

Welcome to Dr. Drumm, The School Doctor’s blog. For many of us, we “dreaded” going to the school doctor - it was never fun - but we came away feeling better (even if we did have to get a shot . . .).

Just like back then, this School Doctor is here to help heal schools, school districts, colleges, and universities of their maladies, e.g., NCLB, school funding, unions, the business of education, getting shared vision, etc. - you know, the “easy” stuff, and what we need to do to get back to education excellence. Additionally, if you have a particular topic you would like my views, please post it or send me an email at drumm@thechangeleader.com

These issues have common sense solutions which have become mired down in politics, WIIFM, and a need for being right. However, a quote from Horace Greeley comes to mind re: common sense, something along the lines of ”common sense so very uncommon.”

Indeed. The Doctor is in . . .

D