WEBVTT 00:00:10.106 --> 00:00:11.866 My name is Julie Kowal. 00:00:11.976 --> 00:00:13.876 I'm a research consultant with Public Impact. 00:00:14.126 --> 00:00:19.586 It's critical for the turnaround leader to build a committed staff early in the turnaround 00:00:19.586 --> 00:00:22.856 because even the best principal can't turn 00:00:22.856 --> 00:00:25.776 around a school that's been low-performing for years all by themselves. 00:00:25.776 --> 00:00:29.466 After all, they're not the one who's in the classroom with students everyday. 00:00:29.986 --> 00:00:34.726 So what we see in the literature about turnarounds, really, from across sectors-in business, 00:00:34.726 --> 00:00:39.926 government, and schools-is a turnaround leader who comes in early with a clear vision 00:00:40.766 --> 00:00:45.106 and inspires the staff to all get on the same page with the same beliefs: 00:00:45.106 --> 00:00:48.516 All of our students can learn; the success is possible. 00:00:49.136 --> 00:00:54.976 A lot of times in a low-performing school if it hasn't seen success for many years, 00:00:54.976 --> 00:00:57.226 even teachers who started out with the highest motivation 00:00:57.226 --> 00:01:00.366 and the best of intentions may lose their motivation 00:01:00.466 --> 00:01:03.326 and forget that success is possible in the school. 00:01:03.406 --> 00:01:07.156 So, for the turnaround leaders to initiate any other sort of changes outside 00:01:07.156 --> 00:01:11.356 of the staff-curricular changes, instructional changes-they really have to have buy-in, 00:01:11.356 --> 00:01:14.626 and that takes motivating the staff to believe that they can change. 00:01:15.106 --> 00:01:17.706 When a principal starts the turnaround process, 00:01:17.706 --> 00:01:21.476 it's important for them to know what are the strengths and the weaknesses of the staff 00:01:21.596 --> 00:01:27.676 that they have, and what we see in successful turnarounds very often is a turnaround leader 00:01:27.676 --> 00:01:31.756 who starts with a detailed inventory-what they have. 00:01:31.816 --> 00:01:35.726 So they, a leader will enter the school at the very beginning of the school year 00:01:35.726 --> 00:01:39.216 and look at all kinds of data, so test results, grade reports, 00:01:39.596 --> 00:01:42.016 and the strengths and weaknesses of their school. 00:01:42.386 --> 00:01:46.036 Ideally, principals tell me, they could get into the school before they're actually assigned 00:01:46.036 --> 00:01:50.756 as the principal, so in the previous year, and get into the teachers' classrooms 00:01:50.756 --> 00:01:55.116 as an informal observer, just to get a sense of their instruction, their style, 00:01:55.116 --> 00:01:57.236 their level of commitment, how they interact with the students. 00:01:57.506 --> 00:02:00.726 It can give the principal a lot of information about whether that teacher is going 00:02:00.726 --> 00:02:04.446 to be a strong candidate for making the sort of changes that the principal wants to make. 00:02:04.446 --> 00:02:09.246 If that's not possible, it's not always possible for the principal to get into the school 00:02:09.246 --> 00:02:11.846 in the prior year, then starting the year off 00:02:11.846 --> 00:02:14.926 with a really intense schedule of classroom observations. 00:02:15.166 --> 00:02:19.346 So not formal observations, but just drop-ins where the principal, 00:02:19.446 --> 00:02:22.896 during the first two weeks of school, is in the classroom almost all the time. 00:02:23.426 --> 00:02:28.726 Another strategy that we see a lot, actually, in the case studies about turnarounds, 00:02:28.766 --> 00:02:33.296 is principals who meet individually with each member of their staff at the very start 00:02:33.296 --> 00:02:36.506 of the school year, so one-on-one meetings with each teacher. 00:02:36.666 --> 00:02:43.186 It gives the teachers an opportunity to say what they believe needs to change about the school, 00:02:43.466 --> 00:02:46.776 what sort of support they are going to need to make those changes, 00:02:47.276 --> 00:02:50.956 but it also gives the principal some insight into whether or not these teachers are going 00:02:50.956 --> 00:02:55.636 to be able to buy into the changes-sometimes unpopular changes-that need 00:02:55.636 --> 00:02:56.736 to happen in the turnaround. 00:02:57.086 --> 00:02:59.346 A lot of the information that helps the principal decide what to do 00:02:59.346 --> 00:03:04.736 after they have collected this information from their observations is to tie their sense 00:03:04.736 --> 00:03:08.036 of the strengths and weaknesses of each individual teacher to the results 00:03:08.036 --> 00:03:09.616 that they are seeing from students. 00:03:10.066 --> 00:03:14.496 So, if a teacher appears to be really energetic in the classroom 00:03:14.496 --> 00:03:18.376 and has a really great relationship with the students but is a third-grade teacher 00:03:18.376 --> 00:03:21.436 and the third-grade reading scores just aren't improving, 00:03:21.776 --> 00:03:25.656 then maybe that teacher is great in some areas but not in reading. 00:03:26.156 --> 00:03:31.016 So that's going to then inform the sort of strategies that the principal will use to assign 00:03:31.016 --> 00:03:33.556 that teacher to certain groups of students or to certain subjects. 00:03:33.996 --> 00:03:38.586 What we see from the literature is that there is not any easy answer to the question 00:03:38.586 --> 00:03:41.956 of whether staff replacement is critical for turnaround or not. 00:03:42.816 --> 00:03:47.086 What we see most is that there is not wholesale staff replacement, 00:03:47.086 --> 00:03:48.606 just wipeout the entire staff. 00:03:49.336 --> 00:03:53.936 More frequently it's a selective staff replacement, which could mean one or two staff members 00:03:53.936 --> 00:03:56.756 or it could mean half of the staff, but that's more common. 00:03:56.756 --> 00:03:58.346 It's more common that it's not the entire staff. 00:03:58.946 --> 00:04:02.676 What we hear from principals is that even if you have a fantastic staff, 00:04:02.826 --> 00:04:07.056 when you're doing such an enormous change effort as a school turnaround, 00:04:07.356 --> 00:04:12.596 even one or two staff members who aren't on board, who are sort of negative about the changes 00:04:12.596 --> 00:04:18.426 and who really doubt that this is going to succeed, they can really bring the whole school down. 00:04:18.536 --> 00:04:23.116 So, it's those staff members that the principal needs the flexibility to reassign 00:04:23.456 --> 00:04:25.136 or to counsel into another position. 00:04:25.576 --> 00:04:30.136 When there is no doubt about it, you have to replace a teacher. 00:04:30.136 --> 00:04:36.436 A teacher who is not going to be supportive of the turnaround, you have to counsel them out. 00:04:37.146 --> 00:04:42.146 And what principals tell me and what we see in the research is that those happen 00:04:42.306 --> 00:04:46.346 by difficult conversations, and that there's no easy way around it. 00:04:46.346 --> 00:04:51.096 There's no perfect solution, but it's a one-on-one conversation between the principal 00:04:51.096 --> 00:04:52.186 and that teacher who is struggling. 00:04:52.186 --> 00:04:56.356 And they're tough but, after all, the turnaround is about the kids. 00:04:56.356 --> 00:04:58.426 It's not about the grown-ups in the building, 00:04:58.426 --> 00:05:03.046 and so those difficult conversations are often a part of the turnaround 00:05:03.046 --> 00:05:07.126 when the principal realizes that they just can't keep that teacher in their school. 00:05:07.476 --> 00:05:10.716 The district can support the type of staffing changes that need to happen 00:05:10.716 --> 00:05:14.406 in a turnaround setting in a lot of ways but primarily three. 00:05:14.406 --> 00:05:19.546 We don't have a good answer across the board 00:05:20.156 --> 00:05:23.926 about whether wholesale staff replacement is the answer in a turnaround 00:05:23.926 --> 00:05:25.926 or selective staff replacement is the answer. 00:05:26.266 --> 00:05:30.266 And so one of the best things that the district can do is to leave that discretion 00:05:30.266 --> 00:05:32.976 to a qualified and trusted turnaround leader. 00:05:33.496 --> 00:05:40.536 So give this leader who they trust the big "Yes" with a capital "Y" so that then 00:05:40.536 --> 00:05:45.406 when a principal does have trouble with a given staff member or doesn't quite know what to do 00:05:45.406 --> 00:05:49.266 with a weak area in their school, they already know that they have the district's support. 00:05:49.416 --> 00:05:53.556 They have greater flexibility than a traditional principal might to deal 00:05:53.556 --> 00:05:55.116 with their staffing problems at their school. 00:05:56.166 --> 00:06:02.176 Another strategy is that it's a particularly good role for the district in unionized districts 00:06:02.546 --> 00:06:05.016 to negotiate special terms with the union. 00:06:05.066 --> 00:06:13.426 So there might be an expedited transfer or hiring or exiting process for teachers 00:06:13.426 --> 00:06:16.956 in turnaround schools, and if the district can engage in that conversation 00:06:16.956 --> 00:06:22.536 with the union upfront then district leaders can get favorable terms 00:06:22.536 --> 00:06:25.306 in the collective bargaining agreements for teachers in all turnaround schools. 00:06:25.306 --> 00:06:28.846 It's an across-the-board solution that gives principals a lot more flexibility. 00:06:29.506 --> 00:06:34.166 And finally one of the district's best roles, the role that it's best suited for, 00:06:34.166 --> 00:06:38.606 is the recruiting and hiring of really highly qualified 00:06:38.606 --> 00:06:40.926 and highly effective teachers in the turnaround setting. 00:06:41.366 --> 00:06:43.056 The district has a louder voice. 00:06:43.576 --> 00:06:48.756 They have a broader reach than any principal might, and so they can find teachers from all 00:06:48.756 --> 00:06:52.966 over the country to fill very specific needs in a turnaround school. 00:06:53.236 --> 00:06:59.536 And they not only find more teachers who are available to fill the slots that are left open 00:06:59.536 --> 00:07:03.376 by teachers who couldn't be successful in a turnaround setting, but provide incentives, 00:07:03.736 --> 00:07:08.086 either financial incentives or philosophical, 00:07:08.086 --> 00:07:12.946 imperative incentives for teacher to go directly first to a turnaround school.