Friday, November 24, 2017

Increasing the Odds

When we are trying something new or making important decisions, we look to an expert for guidance.  As I was making investment decisions recently, I counseled with my brother, who works in finance and has much deeper understanding than I do of stocks and the market.  I was grateful that he took the time to explain not just his recommendations, but why he was making them.  I walked away from our conversation with the ability to make more informed decisions.  Investing in the stock market always means playing the odds, so I needed to make my own decisions and assume the risk.

In educational settings, we also look to experts: the student looks to her teacher; the teacher looks to a principal or coach; the coach looks to professional literature and experts in the field.  As leaders implement educational initiatives, knowing the research in the field and seeking the advice of experts can improve the odds for success.

Recently, I worked with a team of researchers who asked experts their opinion about a new literacy initiative in our state (Arkansas).  What we learned has import not just for Arkansas and not just for literacy; what we learned has implications for any educational change initiative, so I thought I’d share the results with you. 

We asked experts (mostly Reading Hall-of-Fame members) to rate and comment on statements from our state’s literacy initiative. We also interviewed the experts to deepen our understanding of their recommendations. While the experts agreed with many of the statements our state provided to guide the reform, these education gurus had an important caution:  Context and the needs of individual students, they said, are ultimately important in instructional decision-making.  Similarly, our experts warned against the use of extremes and absolutes (as in “all,” and “every”).  The experts’ emphasis on context and flexibility remind us that there is no one-size-fits all curriculum.  These top researchers in their field, while emphasizing the value of using everything research has taught us about good instruction, admonish us to remember another thing that research has taught us:  There is no perfect method, lesson, or curriculum, because students’ needs and abilities are variable.  An initiative that does not encourage flexibility to match instruction to students’ needs is doomed to failure.

The experts we sought advice from also emphasized the importance of students’ engagement and motivation as considerations for our initiative.  And I’ll add that it’s important to consider teachers’ engagement, too.  What makes implementing an initiative motivating for teachers? Do they feel ownership for the change?  Are improvements being celebrated?  Is their expertise honored?  For educational change to have successful results, both students and teachers need to be cognitively engaged in the process. Since instructional coaches are often the feet on the ground in a change initiative, we can improve the odds of success by heeding these experts’ warnings.

As we move into the final stretch of the first semester, it’s time to take a hard look at initiatives we’ve been implementing this year.  What changes were on the docket for your district or school as the year got underway?  Pause for a moment and consider the extent to which these expert recommendations have been heeded. Are students’ needs at the core?  Are both students and teachers motivated and cognitively engaged?  Failed educational change initiatives destroy morale, waste time and resources, and limit student learning.  So seeking and heeding the advice of experts is an investment worth making.

(If you’re interested in a summary of the study about our state’s literacy initiative, you can find it here.)

This week you might want to take a look at:

Coaching veteran teachers with respect:



A really good article about fake news – teaching students to be skeptical but not dismissive of media:



I love heart maps for helping students generate writing ideas!  Find details for using them with young children here:



Lesson plan on analyzing political cartoons:



Teaching independence (think about this parenting article from a teacher perspective):


That’s it for this week.  Happy Coaching!

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