Dr. Victoria Pettis

Summer Cohort 2006

EOCS 7450

July 15, 2006

 

EOCS 7450

Practicum in Leadership

Case Study 2

 

ISLLC Standard 2: A school administrator is an educational leader who promotes the success of all students by advocating, nurturing, and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth.

 

Case Study: Don’t Underestimate the Power of High Expectations [1]

 

Problem: Creating a positive school culture that empowers teachers and students to reach their fullest potential

 

Questions:

• What ways can an administrator can work to create a safe, supportive learning environment?
• How can administrators use classroom observations and staff development effectively to help both students and teachers?

 

The Situation:

 When Lorraine Monroe answered a late-summer phone call, it was Superintendent Robert Folchi calling to offer her a principal job. Monroe accepted the new position, and then found out the next day that she had inherited Taft High School, located in the Bronx. THS had once attracted students from the Bronx who wanted an alterative to the Bronx High School of Science, one of New York’s elite, specialized schools that attracted the best and the brightest in science.

 

The Problem

No longer regarded as the educational gem it used to be, Taft High School presently boasted a huge administrative team – one principal and 11 assistant principals – and what was then considered an average -size population of 3,200 students. Taft High did not offer its students a physically beautiful building or a welcoming academic atmosphere; most of the classrooms were unpainted and had missing or torn window shades. The school had a laundry list of serious issues, including low student achievement, lack of discipline, poor teachers, and low staff morale. Monroe had to react quickly. The first day of school was three days away. What was a new principal to do? Which problem should she tackle first?

Custodial Staff

First, Monroe focused on her relationship with the head custodian. Monroe knew that custodians were just like anybody else. They appreciated being treated with courtesy and respect. It was likely that they would respond cooperatively to her because she would take the time to talk to them and treat them as professionals. She met with the grumpy custodian, who (with the local union’s support) had flatly refused to do any work for the former principal. Mr. Ford was so impressed with Monroe’s respectful manner that he began painting the school in the colors she liked. This was no small feat: Taft High School had not been painted in 27 years. Nevertheless, Mr. Ford retired a few weeks later and was replaced by an interim custodian, who immediately responded to Monroe’s kindness by painting her office. As Monroe continued to bond her relationship with the rest of the custodial staff, they responded in kind by honoring her requests to get THS in its best shape ever.

 

School Order and Atmosphere

Next, Monroe directed her attention to restoring order and setting the tone of the school. She did this by first reorganizing the duties and responsibilities of the 11 assistant principals. She charged Peter Engel, a no-nonsense, detail-oriented man, to take charge over the secretaries, discipline, and guidance. She knew these were areas that could make or break a school. The assistant principals were placed on “foot patrol,” which meant they could no longer enjoy the luxury of sitting and talking in their offices while chaos ruled the hallways. When some of the administrators objected to their new responsibilities of clearing the hallways and bathrooms, Monroe gave them another alternative: Do that or return to the classroom. Unsurprisingly, they unanimously agreed to uphold their new job descriptions. Monroe initiated other innovative classroom management and discipline practices such as bell-to-bell teaching, hall sweeps, surprise checks on unlikely places by school staff, and an adopt-a-kid program (pairing a troubled student with a faculty or staff member who served as a mentor). Monroe also mandated that every teacher would implement the practice of starting each class period with a “Do Now,” a three- to four- minute activity that either focused on reviewing previous learning or prompted thinking and writing about a new topic that would be introduced during the class period. Since the work would be reviewed, graded, and collected by each teacher minutes after the class period started, students now saw the importance of coming into class immediately as a priority.

 

Staff Development

During her first faculty meeting, Monroe informed her teachers that she required two things of them: Planning and magic. She wanted each teacher to use his/her God-given talents, gifts, and style to help connect students to his/her passion about the subject matter. She further explained that she would be frequently making surprise visits to their classrooms once school started. “Please understand that I love to observe. I am not out to get anybody. If I can help you be a better teacher, our students can learn better.”

Monroe was a woman of her word. Once school started, she began a routine of informally visiting every teacher’s classroom several times to see what was happening. She checked for certain teaching practices: Was the classroom attractive and decorated to reflect the subject being taught? Was there a Do Now? Was there list of aims or objectives on the board describing the purpose of that day’s lesson? Were students engaged? Did the lesson appear to be organized and prepared? Was the teacher standing, reflecting passion and involvement? What were the students doing while the teacher was teaching? She sent “love notes” to teachers who were on track and memos to those who needed suggestions or a gentle nudge. She divided teachers into three types: 10 percent of teachers were stars; 10 percent were the shuckers and jivers; and 80 percent were well-meaning strugglers. [2] She believed that the well-meaning strugglers could be helped. Monroe used her informal observations to develop a schedule for further classroom observations[3] and as baseline data used to establish an in-house staff development program. For example, when she observed that a lot of the staff needed help with a specific teaching skill, she would institute a staff development session during a regular faculty or department meeting. What Monroe called “administrivia” was limited to five to ten minutes. Staff development talks were sometimes led by Monroe; other times she chose a star teacher skilled in the area to deliver this information to his/her peers. Practically every faculty and department meeting was an opportunity for teachers to grow professionally.

            Further classroom observations of teachers identified as the poorest faculty were coupled with post-observation conferences in which Monroe met with the teachers to discuss their individual perspectives and assessments of the lesson and to formulate a plan for improvement. Teachers left these “collegial conversational training sessions” feeling empowered instead of dejected. The word spread that Monroe was true to her word about her purpose for observing.

 

Expectations

Monroe said the faculty would no longer accept students coming to class without any supplies and their books. She and the faculty formulated a list of 12 “non-negotiable,” school-wide rules, which would be implemented the first day of school. Some of these rules included: attend school everyday, be punctual, bring supplies and books to class, and don’t fight or vandalize. Beginning the first day, students were saturated with the new rules – from Monroe on the intercom to class-by-class reminders from each of their teachers. They were required by the third day of school to bring their materials. Monroe purchased a dozen notebooks and kept them in her office closet to discreetly distribute them to students who really could not afford them.

The first day of school went smoother than expected. The days that followed produced smiles on the faces of staff, administrators, and students. The students liked the new school environment because they now had a safe, orderly haven from the chaotic danger they found in their neighborhoods, streets, and homes. Vandalism went down, so the custodians no longer had to spend so much time on repairs. The custodians appreciated the new atmosphere so much that they responded quickly to Monroe’s requests for other types of repairs.

There were some students with problems that could not be solved by magic teachers who planned and patrolling assistant principals. Monroe had her assistant principals to identify the 12 most difficult students in the entire school. She reviewed their records with the counselors and found that most of them were males who were age sixteen or older, had earned very few credits for graduation, and exhibited chronic problems that ranged from high absenteeism, cutting classes, failing grades, and fighting to insubordination. Under the previous administration, attempts at improvement such as counseling, retention, school transfers, and referrals to other professionals had failed. Monroe arranged a meeting with each student and the parents and advised them to investigate other options such as preparing for the GED, getting a job, or obtaining internships in the community.

It took several weeks of school to send a clear signal to teachers, other staff, parents, and students that a new tone was being set at THS – one that emphasized self-respect, discipline, and quality education. The school community got the idea as well and got involved.

 

Student Achievement

Monroe knew that once she established order at Taft High School, she could work to increase student achievement. She learned from her mentor that the classroom observation was a principal’s most important method for improving school tone and student achievement. A key belief in her “Monroe Doctrine” was MBWA, also known as Managing By Walking Around. She believed that a serious act of leadership was a principal being everywhere in the building – observing, listening, and schmoozing with everybody. With Monroe’s leadership, THS made progress in basic ways, such as restoring order, eliminating some of the incompetent teachers, and providing support for teachers who really expressed a desire to teach well.

One area that now needed Monroe’s attention was academic achievement. The first step Monroe took was working with the staff on developing a rigorous academic program that proved to the students that they could meet high intellectual expectations with excellent teaching and the proper support. Next, they worked with the community liaison and the coordinator of student activities to make school an exciting place to learn. Finally, the faculty worked to reinvent Taft’s image as “bad school.” One of their innovations was Monroe’s idea to form an “honor-school class”. Combining the best teachers with good counseling, special prep classes for the PSAT, and other special attention, all of the honors students were accepted to college. The Taft faculty even made it a practice to groom “average” students by placing them in pre-honor classes. The staff also implemented other practices that strengthened student achievement, such as establishing for-credit community service program and an extensive preschool and post-school extracurricular-activity program that appealed to all kids.

 

Response to Questions: In the scenario described above, the administrator worked collaboratively with the custodial staff and faculty to cultivate a school climate that reflected order, safety, discipline, respect, and excellence in education. The administrator used classroom observations as a method to help identify struggling teachers and then provided them with staff development opportunities during faculty and department meetings. Once order was restored to the school, the administrator took risks and implemented innovative programs to boost academic achievement.

 

Evaluation: The situation described above includes overwhelming evidence to support ISLLC standard 2. It leads me to conclude that this is leader exhibits accomplished leadership skills in this area. In writing this case study, I was unable to stay within the six-paragraph limit because this principal worked to achieve numerous components of this standard, including those components that relate to student growth and development, motivational theories, effective instruction, curriculum design, diversity, professional development, school culture, and student learning. The activities and processes initiated by the administrator demonstrated her abundant array of beliefs that relate to standard two – just to name a few: all individuals should be treated with fairness, dignity, and respect; students and staff should feel valued and important; diversity is considered in developing learning experiences; and the school is organized and aligned for success.