How Central Offices Can Get Better With Structured Continuous - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

March 9 th , 2016 Webinar Series: Got Support? How Central Offices Can Get Better With Structured Continuous Improvement

Presenters Heather Berkley Max Silverman Director of Solution Delivery, Associate Director, Center for Aspire Public Schools Educational Leadership David Roth Amanda von Moos Director of Technology Solutions, Managing Director, The Central Aspire Public Schools Office Project 2

Our Mission The Center for Educational Leadership (CEL) is a nonprofit service arm of the University of Washington College of Education dedicated to eliminating the achievement gap that continues to divide our nation’s children along the lines of race, class, language and disability. 3

Equity Is a Key Principle of Our Work Equal Outcomes Fairness Equity Access and Support Respect for Differences Achievement of Every Student 4

Want to Support Principals? Make Your Systems Work Better Today we will get a behind-the- scenes look at how Aspire Public Schools tackles systems improvement. 5

The Leading for Effective Teaching Project Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation – Empowering Effective Teaching Project 11 Sites - 2 Key Questions 1. How are principals and central office leaders changing how they work to improve teaching performance? 2. What do principals and central office leaders need to know and be able to do to support the improvement of leadership and teaching performance at scale? 6

The Principal Support Framework Action Area 1 : A Shared Vision of Principals as Instructional Leaders. Action Area 2 : A System of Support for Developing Principals as Instructional Leaders. Action Area 3 : A Strategic Partnership Between Central Office and Principals. 7

The Major Ideas in Action Area 3 Add Value Differentiated Learning Efficient + Proactive to Org Integrated Service Principals 8

The Hunt for Bright Spots Central office survey • 195 leaders • 6 systems 9

Bright Spot: Systems and Culture for Improvement 91% report a structured approach to improvement. 91% also report a culture that embraces experimentation. 10

A Relentless Focus on Improving the Systems That Support Schools 11

A Little About Aspire Public Schools • Established in 1998 • Based in Oakland, Calif. • 38 Schools Ø 35 in California Ø 3 in Tennessee • 4 regions Ø Bay Area Ø Central Valley Ø Los Angeles Ø Memphis 12

Improve Quality and Reduce Costs: Our Journey Now 2009 Implementation Start-Up Way of Life Team Godzilla Team Godzilla Tech, Data, Strategy & Ops 13

Tell us what YOU think What best describes how your system approaches improvement? (Select your answer in the poll.) 14

Project Story: Principal Observer Certification 15

Improvement Projects are Systematically Submitted, Prioritized, and Greenlighted 16

Why This Project? How We Think About Prioritizing Factors This Project Project Alignment to Improve the quality and Requests alignment of feedback that Organizational principals give to teachers Feasibility Priorities Analysis Organizational Reduce the amount of time that it takes to certify Forced Efficiency principals as observers Ranking Organizational Risk Ensure that principal observations are evidence- based Leadership Team Decision 17

Margaret Wheatley: Above and Below the Green Line 18

Below the Green Line: Working Together Across Departments Opportunities Process and Strong to Tool Relationships Collaborate Co-Design Relentless Room to Fail Analysis & Improvement 19

Above the Green Line: How We Create Solutions Brainstorm Implement Prototype Prioritize 20

Results • Time savings of about 150 hours per year. • Tool sold to consortium of CMOs to recoup development costs. • Strengthened relationships that have yielded other improvements. • Principals receive more focused feedback on their observation trainings. 21

Lessons Learned 22

Lessons Learned: The Work 1. Understand the Process First Don’t lead with technology solution. 2. Work Collaboratively Pay attention to the process you use to engage the team. 3. Think MVP Our best solutions are simple and streamlined. 23

Lessons Learned: The Team 4. You Need a Dedicated Team Everybody’s work becomes no ones work. Improvement needs dedicated FTE. 5. Being Internal Rocks It means we understand the systems better, have relationships across the org, and over time we get better and better at our jobs. 6. Hire for the Skillset Ask yourself if you really need an education background to do the job. 24

Audience Question Do you have advice about how to engage principals in setting priorities for home/central office improvement? Please type response in the “Questions” panel. 25

Questions? Write your questions or comments in the “Questions” panel. 26

What Are You Going to Try on Monday? Please type your response in the “Questions” panel. 27

Want to Learn More or Share These Ideas? Check out the infographic! www.k-12leadership.org 28

Curious to Get a Snapshot of Your System? Take the survey! A streamlined version is now available for any interested district to take. https://www.k-12leadership.org/survey 29

Online Access to Results and Comparisons 30

Want to Support Principals? Make Your Systems Work Better Thank you for joining us! We hope you enjoyed this behind- the-scenes look at how Aspire Public Schools tackles systems improvement. 31

Got Support Webinar Series • Got Support? Principals and Their Central Offices Recorded version available now • Tried-and-tested Strategies to Teach Central Office Leaders the Role of the Principal Recorded version available now 32

To receive updates and materials, please sign up for the CEL mailing list or visit us at: www.k-12leadership.org Email: edlead@uw.edu 33