WEBVTT 00:00:10.056 --> 00:00:13.706 I am Bryan Hassel, Co-Director of Public Impact. 00:00:14.346 --> 00:00:18.066 If you are an existing principal and you want to signal that things are going to be different, 00:00:18.096 --> 00:00:22.626 that things need to change, and yet you have been there for several years yourself 00:00:22.626 --> 00:00:28.116 and you have been part of the school in the situation where it wasn't working as well 00:00:28.116 --> 00:00:30.056 as it needed to, you have got a special challenge 00:00:30.106 --> 00:00:33.576 because people are not necessarily expecting you to exert the kind 00:00:33.576 --> 00:00:36.326 of bold leadership that is needed for a turnaround. 00:00:36.676 --> 00:00:40.376 So, you have a special challenge when it comes to signaling the need for change. 00:00:40.856 --> 00:00:46.436 A big part of this is taking ownership of the problems that the school has, 00:00:46.476 --> 00:00:49.666 not pointing the finger elsewhere but saying, "I have been here. 00:00:49.666 --> 00:00:52.986 I have been working on this for a few years, and I haven't done what I need to do." 00:00:53.446 --> 00:00:59.266 And the more specific a leader can get about that, the more the leader can explain to teachers 00:00:59.266 --> 00:01:04.586 and the community, the parents what's gone wrong in the past and take responsibility for that, 00:01:04.956 --> 00:01:08.986 the more credibility the leader has then to say, "Okay, we are moving to a new phase here." 00:01:09.446 --> 00:01:13.446 A new leader who is coming in for the first time doesn't have that exact challenge. 00:01:13.726 --> 00:01:15.586 The new leader has a different set of challenges 00:01:15.586 --> 00:01:18.506 because the new leader doesn't know all the players, 00:01:18.506 --> 00:01:21.136 doesn't know all the relationships, doesn't know all the history. 00:01:21.466 --> 00:01:26.796 That can be an advantage to a large degree, but the new leader has to quickly get up to speed 00:01:26.796 --> 00:01:31.346 on the politics within the school, on the relationships that exist beforehand, 00:01:31.786 --> 00:01:37.256 on what kinds of staff and parents and community members might be allies for the change effort 00:01:37.706 --> 00:01:41.546 and which ones might be naysayers or underminers of the change effort. 00:01:41.976 --> 00:01:43.836 And that's a lot to get up to speed on quickly, 00:01:44.196 --> 00:01:49.276 but it's vital for a new leader because then the leader can signal the changes needed 00:01:49.276 --> 00:01:52.716 and what is needed to be done in order to move the school ahead. 00:01:53.496 --> 00:01:56.216 District support is so important for turnarounds. 00:01:56.216 --> 00:02:00.446 In most successful turnarounds, we see the higher-level organization 00:02:00.446 --> 00:02:06.596 like the district giving the organization that's turning around what we call the "big yes," 00:02:06.596 --> 00:02:10.626 which means we support a dramatic turnaround in this unit. 00:02:11.246 --> 00:02:15.026 Without that "big yes," it's much harder for principals 00:02:15.026 --> 00:02:17.286 in this case to do the work they need to do. 00:02:17.776 --> 00:02:18.876 So what's in the "big yes"? 00:02:18.876 --> 00:02:21.816 Well, the "big yes" first of all involves the leeway 00:02:21.816 --> 00:02:24.146 to do what's needed to get results for kids. 00:02:24.556 --> 00:02:29.156 So, in a school, it means being able to reallocate resources towards programs 00:02:29.156 --> 00:02:31.436 or initiatives that are going to be effective 00:02:31.536 --> 00:02:35.736 in achieving whatever quick wins the leader is setting out to meet. 00:02:36.386 --> 00:02:41.216 It means giving them the leeway to build the team they need in order to be successful 00:02:41.216 --> 00:02:46.486 in the school, and it means the leeway to use time-another key resource 00:02:46.486 --> 00:02:49.726 in schools-in ways that achieve results for kids. 00:02:50.526 --> 00:02:55.176 Without that leeway, it's still possible for schools to be much better than they are, 00:02:55.176 --> 00:02:57.646 but that's a great enabler from the district level. 00:02:58.836 --> 00:03:04.356 Support from the district in a turnaround also means backing up the principal over time 00:03:04.356 --> 00:03:06.766 as the inevitable bumps in the road come along. 00:03:07.306 --> 00:03:12.116 Any turnaround worth its salt is going to be controversial. 00:03:12.116 --> 00:03:16.526 There are going to be actions taken that some people don't agree with. 00:03:16.726 --> 00:03:22.896 Programs that some folks support are going to have to be set aside in place of new ones. 00:03:23.646 --> 00:03:30.276 Staff who once had leadership in the original school or might need to be replaced, 00:03:30.276 --> 00:03:33.386 not necessarily on the staff but in their leadership roles. 00:03:34.236 --> 00:03:38.746 Parent groups that might have been helping the school by supporting some initiative 00:03:38.746 --> 00:03:43.526 or giving funds for some purpose might need to be redirected to something that's more in line 00:03:43.526 --> 00:03:45.266 with what the new turnaround is about. 00:03:45.716 --> 00:03:49.076 And, inevitably, some people are going to complain to the district 00:03:49.116 --> 00:03:53.556 that things are not going well at the school and the district needs to be able to say, 00:03:53.886 --> 00:03:56.356 "We support this turnaround; we support the leader. 00:03:56.656 --> 00:04:00.836 We need to do what needs to be done to turn around the school and we are behind this." 00:04:01.276 --> 00:04:08.386 If the district, by contrast, responds to all of the inevitable flack by calling 00:04:08.386 --> 00:04:12.356 down the principal, by undermining the reforms the principal is trying to undertake, 00:04:12.806 --> 00:04:14.516 it can take the wind out of the sails 00:04:14.516 --> 00:04:17.185 of the turnaround before it really has a chance to get moving. 00:04:17.736 --> 00:04:22.186 One of the most important things the district can do in a turnaround is to stay on top 00:04:22.186 --> 00:04:24.126 of it to make sure it's on track. 00:04:24.626 --> 00:04:28.916 Most turnarounds that are tried in all different kinds of organizations don't work, 00:04:29.196 --> 00:04:32.026 and so we have to expect there to be a fair amount of failure. 00:04:32.496 --> 00:04:37.586 And the key in such a case is for the district to be able to step in and restart in some way. 00:04:38.086 --> 00:04:41.826 Maybe they hired the wrong person as the leader; maybe they didn't give the right conditions, 00:04:41.826 --> 00:04:46.606 but whatever it is, the district needs to be able to say, "It's been a year, 00:04:46.926 --> 00:04:49.836 we are not on track with the turnaround, we need to try something different." 00:04:50.306 --> 00:04:53.426 Otherwise, we are in the same pattern that we have always been in with schools 00:04:53.426 --> 00:04:58.006 of letting failure languish for three, five years before anything is done, 00:04:58.006 --> 00:04:59.846 and that's not how turnarounds work. 00:05:00.266 --> 00:05:06.466 Leadership for turnaround is a specialized leadership capability. 00:05:06.986 --> 00:05:11.846 It's not one that we have really cultivated that well in education over the years. 00:05:12.326 --> 00:05:15.986 And so, if we are going to get serious about turnarounds in the U.S., 00:05:15.986 --> 00:05:19.356 we have to get serious about developing this pipeline of leaders 00:05:19.356 --> 00:05:22.576 who have what it takes to turn around failing schools. 00:05:23.146 --> 00:05:26.686 And we need to do research to learn more about what kinds of leaders are successful. 00:05:26.686 --> 00:05:31.966 But we also need to be very clear about the kind of leaders 00:05:31.966 --> 00:05:34.046 that we are trying to hire for these jobs. 00:05:34.486 --> 00:05:39.016 It may be that a principal who has been very successful in a school that's doing pretty well 00:05:39.016 --> 00:05:43.576 and is getting better over time is not the right person to undertake a turnaround. 00:05:44.136 --> 00:05:48.016 And so it may be that we need a different kind of person in that role 00:05:48.016 --> 00:05:50.696 and we need to look for sources of that supply. 00:05:51.206 --> 00:05:52.646 They may be outside education. 00:05:52.756 --> 00:05:56.396 We may need to reach out beyond the boundaries of schools 00:05:56.396 --> 00:05:58.456 to find the people that can be turnaround leaders. 00:05:58.806 --> 00:06:02.076 But there are probably a lot of people working in school districts as teachers 00:06:02.076 --> 00:06:06.946 and as administrators who could be very effective turnaround leaders if we found them 00:06:06.946 --> 00:06:09.396 and cultivated them over time to be successful. 00:06:09.816 --> 00:06:14.386 We need to think about this as a kind of a craft that needs to be developed and that way, 00:06:14.386 --> 00:06:19.976 we will have a pipeline of people who can do this hard turnaround leadership work over time.