In Schools, On Schools
SPI's blog is named to emphasize that our best ideas come from observations in our own schools as well as at high-performing schools across the United States. We are proximate to the work going on in high-poverty schools that get results for students, and we are working to share these bright spots with others. Through generous sharing of best practices, our mission is to increase access to high-quality schools for all students, regardless of zip code.
There may be no better example of non-systems thinking in education than when the issue of poverty is discussed. In one camp, you have people who insist that in order to fix underperforming schools, you must fix poverty. In the other camp, you have the people who insist that to fix poverty, you have to fix underperforming schools.
So, which camp has it right?
Read MoreAt United Schools Network, we recently added a system aim as a complement to our vision and mission statements. Taken together, USN’s vision, mission, and aim statements help align the work of everyone in the network.
Read MoreUnderstanding systems may be our best hope for making meaningful change across the many dimensions of our lives at home, at school, and at work. The system lens helps us see events as a part of trends and those trends as a part of an underlying structure. This understanding provides us with improved ways of managing in this world of complex education systems.
Read MoreContinual improvement guided by the 14 Principles is not a project or program to be implemented, but rather a never-ending commitment to quality. With that mindset framing in hand, a recap of each of the principles that have been discussed in this series follows.
Read MorePrinciple 11: Eliminate arbitrary numerical targets in the form of work standards that prescribe quotas for teachers and numerical goals for people in management. Substitute leadership in order to achieve continual improvement of quality and productivity.
Read MoreBreak down barriers between departments and grade levels and develop strategies for increasing cooperation among groups and individuals. Administrators, business & financial managers, operations staff, support staff, students, and teachers, etc. must work as a team to foresee problems in the production and use of high-quality learning experiences.
Read MoreDrive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the school system. No one can perform their best unless they feel secure to express ideas, ask questions, and make mistakes.
Read MoreIn January and February, I outlined six common management myths. The point of those two posts was to help education systems leaders see what not to do. I’m now turning to a set of principles that can be used by these same leaders to guide their transformation work. I’ll kick things off this month with a brief introduction and a bit of background information regarding the 14 Principles for Educational Systems Transformation. From there, I’ll describe each of the principles through twice monthly posts from April through November.
Read MoreHow do we improve the math engagement rates discussed in last month’s post? In other words, what would your theory be for improving these rates?
Don’t get too caught up in the idea of theory. By theory I mean any set of assumptions that you use to predict what’s going to happen in the future. Here, I simply mean the plan or strategy you’d suggest to improve those rates. The plan or strategy you choose is based on the prediction that it will improve the 8th grade math engagement rates, and your underlying rationale for your choice in plan or strategy is your theory. Theory of Knowledge then is the study of how what we think we know and claim to know actually is the way we claim it is.
How many of you have pursued the school improvement “magic elixir''?
The “magic elixir” has come in many forms across my more than two-decade career in education, and I suspect you’ll recognize its siren song even if you haven’t fallen prey yourself. It may have reared its head as a reading curriculum, an online tutoring platform, a revised organizational structure, or a new five-year strategic plan. You may have dabbled in all four of these areas—curriculum, online programs, human capital planning, and strategic initiatives—among many others. The attraction to these “magic elixirs” doesn’t seem to weaken, even when you recognize that there is no such thing.
Read MoreFor the past four months, I’ve been writing about organizational goal-setting. In Part I of the series, I proposed four conditions that organizations should understand prior to setting a goal. In Part II, I introduced the idea of “arbitrary and capricious” education goals as well as the first five of my 10 Key Lessons for Data Analysis. In Part III I rounded out the lessons with an introduction to lessons 6-10. In this installment, we’ll take a look at an applied example of the lessons in action.
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