WEBVTT 00:00:11.086 --> 00:00:18.016 My name is Dan Duke, I am professor of Educational Leadership at the Curry School of Education 00:00:18.016 --> 00:00:20.626 at the University of Virginia, and I am Research Director 00:00:20.626 --> 00:00:24.256 for the Darden-Curry Partnership for Leaders in Education. 00:00:24.686 --> 00:00:29.566 We have been involved in training turnaround specialists to go into low-performing schools 00:00:29.566 --> 00:00:33.726 for the last five years at the Partnership for Leaders in Education. 00:00:34.766 --> 00:00:39.146 What we have been learning is that a combination of best business practices 00:00:39.146 --> 00:00:45.386 and proven educational practices seem to hold the key to turning around a low-performing school. 00:00:46.056 --> 00:00:52.566 So, the training that we pick up from the business world would include successful teaming, 00:00:53.496 --> 00:00:58.866 developing 90-day plans and making midcourse corrections rather than focusing 00:00:58.866 --> 00:01:02.396 on an entire year in the planning process. 00:01:03.246 --> 00:01:09.546 We also get involved in project management and developing data-driven decision-making. 00:01:10.196 --> 00:01:17.166 Then from the world of education, we focus on targeted interventions for struggling students, 00:01:17.436 --> 00:01:23.496 as opposed to the kind of highly general interventions where a student might be placed 00:01:23.496 --> 00:01:26.066 in an extended day program for an entire year. 00:01:26.556 --> 00:01:32.666 That doesn't seem to work as well as targeting the specific learning objectives 00:01:32.666 --> 00:01:36.296 that the student's struggling with and then providing interventions. 00:01:37.436 --> 00:01:42.936 We also encourage our turnaround specialists to implement benchmark testing 00:01:43.046 --> 00:01:46.886 so that teachers have data on a regular basis that they can analyze 00:01:47.216 --> 00:01:52.106 and then provide assistance to students who are struggling. 00:01:52.276 --> 00:01:58.936 I guess the most important feature of turnaround specialist training is, 00:01:59.576 --> 00:02:04.496 from the education perspective, making sure that they focus on literacy because almost 00:02:04.496 --> 00:02:08.765 by definition a low-performing school is a school where students are struggling with reading 00:02:08.765 --> 00:02:11.266 and writing and communicating with each other. 00:02:11.796 --> 00:02:14.276 So, literacy has got to be job number one. 00:02:14.636 --> 00:02:19.286 There are leadership practices that principals can implement to turnaround a school 00:02:19.286 --> 00:02:21.926 that involve leadership at different levels. 00:02:23.066 --> 00:02:28.026 We know that one individual, one principal, can't turn around a school by himself or herself. 00:02:28.636 --> 00:02:31.386 It's critical that they develop teams. 00:02:31.386 --> 00:02:37.186 But teams alone aren't a solution to the challenges of turning around a school 00:02:37.776 --> 00:02:40.236 because there are teams in low performing schools, 00:02:40.236 --> 00:02:46.566 and unfortunately those teams often serve the function of defending each other, 00:02:46.566 --> 00:02:49.916 making excuses why students can't learn. 00:02:50.576 --> 00:02:54.286 So it's not just having teams, but a school needs an infrastructure 00:02:54.286 --> 00:02:59.606 of teams-we call them both horizontal and vertical teams-so that teachers 00:02:59.606 --> 00:03:04.406 at the same grade level meet together and talk about the issues related to their students, 00:03:04.466 --> 00:03:09.456 but also teachers across grade levels meet together to make sure that the curriculum is aligned 00:03:09.926 --> 00:03:15.946 and that students are moving in a steady progression from one grade level to the next. 00:03:16.616 --> 00:03:19.746 Activities that teacher leaders can be involved 00:03:19.746 --> 00:03:27.186 in that can facilitate the turnaround process include getting involved 00:03:27.186 --> 00:03:32.826 in aligning the curriculum, making certain that all teachers at the same grade level, 00:03:32.826 --> 00:03:36.296 working with the same group of students, are covering the same curriculum. 00:03:37.176 --> 00:03:44.256 Then troubleshooting how that process works, fine-tuning-constant fine-tuning is needed, 00:03:44.256 --> 00:03:48.716 and teachers are in the best position to do fine-tuning of the curriculum and of instruction. 00:03:49.736 --> 00:03:52.036 Getting the support of your faculty to turn 00:03:52.036 --> 00:03:55.346 around a low-performing school could be the greatest challenge 00:03:55.346 --> 00:03:57.416 that any turnaround specialist faces. 00:03:58.226 --> 00:04:03.216 For better or worse, organizations like schools don't change unless people change. 00:04:03.446 --> 00:04:08.686 And the older we get, the harder it is for us to change; we have gotten set in our ways. 00:04:09.306 --> 00:04:14.076 So, some of the ways that a turnaround specialist can facilitate change is 00:04:14.076 --> 00:04:17.096 to encourage teachers to examine their routines. 00:04:17.676 --> 00:04:22.906 All teachers have probably hundreds of routines or else they wouldn't be effective, 00:04:23.916 --> 00:04:29.466 but over the years the routines which once were effective may lose their effectiveness, 00:04:29.466 --> 00:04:32.736 and teachers don't necessarily realize that fact. 00:04:33.306 --> 00:04:39.876 So, examining how teachers grade homework, how they distribute assignments to students, 00:04:40.126 --> 00:04:46.576 how they manage their classroom can yield some insights into where change might be necessary. 00:04:47.296 --> 00:04:52.046 Also, helping teachers change perspective is extremely important. 00:04:52.116 --> 00:04:58.336 We have worked with principals who have teachers shadow a student for a day so they can try 00:04:58.336 --> 00:05:02.276 to understand what the classroom is like from the student's perspective. 00:05:02.906 --> 00:05:07.996 Such an experience can be awareness building and can contribute to change from teachers 00:05:07.996 --> 00:05:09.976 who otherwise might have resisted change.