Focus. How school districts can avoid death by initiative

Too many school districts are struggling to maintain focus on prioritized initiatives.  Districts are dealing with local initiatives, state initiatives and federal initiatives and struggling to do any of them well. Teachers are not buying in to these initiatives because they were not in on the decision making, believe “this too will pass,” or are just too overwhelmed to take on more and more. In Massachusetts, the federal mandate of adopting the common core standards and the state mandate of the new educator evaluation system are both occupying much of the limited time that districts dedicate to professional development.  Local districts are also drowning in the alphabet soup of initiatives.  Here are just five of the more popular:

UBD = Understanding By Design

UDL = Universal Design for Learning

RTI = Response to Intervention

PBIS = Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports

PLC = Professional Learning Communities

The problem is that with all of these admirable initiatives most districts are still failing to improve in any dramatic way.  Why?  I call it death by initiative.  Districts that take on too many initiatives, fail to make connections between initiatives, or fail to leverage the power of mandates quickly find that teachers are too overwhelmed to take on any of the tasks needed to move the district forward.  Instead of trying to do all of these initiatives in any given year, district leaders need to work with a leadership team that includes classroom teachers to prioritize. 

Frequently, time is used as the excuse for initiatives not succeeding to make a positive impact on student achievement.  Time is just an excuse.  If there were fewer initiatives, if initiatives were connected, and if there were clear strategic plans in place time would no longer be a problem.  Instead time would start to work for us.

One often hears talk in schools about teachers having too much on their plate to the point of feeling overwhelmed.  Instead of putting more on a teachers’ plate without ever taking anything off of the plate, districts need a new approach.  I suggest a new “plate.” The plate needs to be all about collaboration.  For schools to be more efficient it is time to break down the isolation of teaching and the isolation of educational leadership.  Collaboration needs to be the new plate and the tenets of professional learning communities can serve as an effective guide. 

Let me give a concrete example of how school districts could execute this.  Starting in September every school in Massachusetts needs to implement the new educator evaluation system.  Many have already implemented the new system over the past two years.  This system can be leveraged to help a school system work together to improve and positively impact student achievement.  Under this system every educator in the school system needs to create SMART goals – at least one student learning goal and one professional practice goal.  If every individual educator is allowed to create his or her own goal, it is a set up for failure.  There will be no clear direction and professional development opportunities will be ineffective.  Instead, every educator should be part of a team of educators.  Every team should have clear guidelines for goals.  For example, if the priority for the district is integrating technology and implementing the common core state standards (CCSS), then all SMART goals should relate to those two initiatives.  All professional development should relate to those two initiatives.  This should be true for at least two consecutive years.  No other initiatives added.  This sets up intense focus on two things (CCSS and technology integration) for at least two consecutive years.

To solve the obstacle of time, a number of things can be put in place to get creative with time.  The middle school structure provides a template.  In most middle schools teachers work in teams and there is time in the schedule for common planning time.  Common planning time needs to be in place at all levels, not just the middle school.  Additionally, if there is a grade level assembly in the auditorium, administrators can free up the teachers to use that time to collaborate.  Instead of doing lunch duty or study hall duty get parent volunteers to take on this work and free up teachers to have a duty free lunch and additional time in school to collaborate.  Dedicate more professional development time in each school year. (Consider also front loading PD at the end of summer before students arrive – see earlier blog post).  Use faculty meeting time for additional professional development.  Use all of this available time on the two initiatives and only on these two initiatives.  And don’t forget to celebrate progress and success.

We can do this.  We can avoid death by initiative in schools by prioritizing one or two and providing the time to effectively put things in place that will help improve student achievement.  Let’s leverage the SMART goal process and stop overwhelming our teachers.

Has your district successfully stepped back from trying to implement dozens of initiatives and focused in on one or two for an extended period of time?  Has your district overcome the obstacle of time?  Please share.