WEBVTT

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My name is Julie Kowal.

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I'm a research consultant with Public Impact.

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We put a lot of pressure and responsibility on leaders of turnaround schools.

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They are probably the single most important element of a successful turnaround,

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but they can't-even the best leader can't do this alone.

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It's too big a job, and while the leader may be tempted to be a silver bullet

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for these turnaround schools, it's imperative, in fact,

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for them to get buy-in from every staff member in that school.

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After all, those staff members, many of them may have been in the school for decades.

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They know the community; they have ties to the community, perhaps.

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They have ties to their students.

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They have ties to the school building that a new principal or turnaround principal just coming

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in for the first time may not have.

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So it's critical to get buy-in from those staff members,

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also because even the best principal is not going to be in every classroom everyday.

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And if the changes that the turnaround leader is bringing in only happened in the main office

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or in the front hall of the school, then students aren't going to feel a difference

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and parents aren't going to feel the difference.

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So changing the climate, what we see in turnaround settings across sectors is a transformation

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in the climate of the school, the way it feels in the classroom,

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the way it feels when teachers are talking in the hallway.

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And that sort of transformation can't just happen by putting new paint

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on the walls or giving the school a new name.

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It has to happen by changing the way people act in a moment-to-moment basis,

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which in many cases has to do with changing what they believe,

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that they believe they can succeed and that they can help their students succeed.

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And that sort of change has to happen from the top.

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It's got to be led by the turnaround leader.

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So, a huge part of the turnaround leader's job is influence,

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using superior interpersonal skills to get people on board with the types of radical changes

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that are going to be necessary in a turnaround situation.

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And what we see recur across successful turnarounds in all industries and in education,

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there's a couple of strategies, one is making strategic alliances.

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So, in any school-pretty much any school, whether it's high-performing, low-performing,

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any school-there are informal leaders, community members, parents,

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teachers who inspire respect from their peers and sort of set the tone

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for the school; they probably have for years.

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So, what we see as a principal forming a quick bond with those informal leaders very early

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in the turnaround, and then that helps, they built an ally to help them communicate the need

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for change, how urgent it is to build the case for the types

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of difficult changes they are going to be making in the school.

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So, finding those informal leaders is what we hear most often at the very start

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of the turnaround to help the principal get the message across to the other staff members.

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Another strategy is gathering staff together in open-air meetings.

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So, infusing the school with a sense of transparent accountability

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that probably hasn't been there in the past.

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And so the principal may get together, get the staff together daily maybe or weekly

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and have them share their successes and their failures from that day or that week

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or that month publicly with their colleagues.

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So teachers are sharing their students' results on interim assessments,

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or they're telling their colleagues about a particularly effective lesson plan that they tried

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that day, or they are saying, "Hey, I tried this, and it really didn't work,

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and can you all problem-solve with me to help me reach my students,

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get this material across in a better way tomorrow?"

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It really creates a sense of common purpose that can get all the staff members

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on board, and it highlights success.

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It highlights, allows teachers to get some positive feedback when something they've done

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in the classroom is working, which probably hasn't happened for years.

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The other side of that is, in these meetings, the teachers who don't have success to share

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or who don't have an active problem-solving strategy

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for finding success, the light is shone on them too.

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So these meetings can put a sort of positive pressure on teachers who weren't necessarily

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on board with the changes in the first place to either problem-solve with their colleagues

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and use these meetings proactively to better reach students or move on to a place

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where they might be more comfortable.

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What we see a lot in successful turnaround situations is leaders who start with sort

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of a campaign for change, and that's just a fancy word for communicating to the staff

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of the school why change is urgent and why it's going to happen now.

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Maybe it hasn't happened in the past.

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Maybe other strategies have been tried and failed, but the turnaround leader who can really come

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in and inspire staff by explaining why these changes will work,

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what the strategies are going to be, that campaign is one strategy to get staff on board

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who are uncomfortable seeing staffing changes that might happen in the turnaround school.

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So it's not, you know...

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If things have been a certain way for many years-teachers have been able to choose the classes

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that they teach in or groups have been able to work together in a social sort of setting-if

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that doesn't work for the students in a turnaround setting,

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then the turnaround leader really-it's imperative that the turnaround leader explain,

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"this is why you are going to see these changes.

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This is why you are going to see those informal groups change.

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This is why I am assigning you to second grade instead of fifth.

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Because it's all in the service of students,

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and there is an urgent need for dramatic improvement in student results,

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and these are the means that we have to use to get it there."

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So I think one of the best ways that the turnaround leader can help other staff members

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understand what they are seeing around them is by communicating the imperative

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for change; it's all about the students.