1. Skillful Leader II
PA Rounds Walk
Jan 2010

2. AND COMMUNITY-FOCUSED
MAKING THE SHIFT TO
Skillful Leader II
Really not a change in direction--but perhaps a model that will help us really make the shift!
LEARNING-FOCUSED
AND COMMUNITY-FOCUSED
SUPERVISION

3. Traditional Balance of Attention
Skillful Leader II
Traditional Balance of Attention
Student Performance
CONTENT RIGOR
TEACHER ACTIONS
We are seeking to rebalance the focus---Historically this pie graph describes the Traditional balance

4. Individual Development Needs
Skillful Leader II
Discriminating between
Wide-spread Patterns
and
Individual Development Needs
WE will never switch entirely away from Individual development needs but we are beginning to focus on pattern identification-- and group feedback---Part of what Michelle will be doing will be to share some of the data patterns with the whole faculty. It will not be about individuals.

5. Check Other Classrooms
Skillful Leader II
See a concern
Check Other Classrooms
Pattern across the district/ school
Characteristic of 2-3 individuals only
Supervision and Evaluation
Professional Development
Feedback to school
Focused Improvement

6. Seeing a Pattern Calling only on students with hands raised Sci A B
Skillful Leader II
Seeing a Pattern
Calling only on students with hands raised
Sci A B
Math C D
Soc Stud E
Health F
Same 4-5 students speak
Teacher talks 1-2 minutes for every 30 sec of student response
Primarily low-level, recall questions; no follow up to responses
Call-response recitation exclusively on 3 walks

7. Widespread Needs/Limitations
Skillful Leader II
Classrooms
Communities
Going from good to great requires causing some discomfort --but supported discomfort
Widespread Needs/Limitations
• Whole school feedback • Professional Development Initiatives • Coaching

8. Skillful Leader II
Supervision is the act of stimulating, supporting, facilitating, and problem solving with staff to promote student achievement through effective instruction.
Evaluation is the act of judging whether performance meets district standards.

9. Skillful Leader II
Purpose of Rounds
To utilize walks (“rounds”) as a school/district change strategy that spreads implementation of desired practices into more classrooms.
To collect data on the instructional core focused on academic tasks, re what students will know how to to relative to questioning and provide guidance on the next level of work that would be required for the students to perform at higher levels (p.38)

10. Skillful Leader II
Purpose of Rounds
Build high performing accountable (problem solving) communities by designing walks focused on school/district defined problems of Practice involving all district administrators in collecting data and formulating a Theory of Action to guide implementation.
Build district capacity to sustain Skillful Leader development.

11. Beyond: Rays of Hope and Pockets of Excellence
Skillful Leader II
Beyond: Rays of Hope and Pockets of Excellence
The challenge of …..
moving research based vision into practice in all classrooms.
building a district collaborative network to meet this challenge.

12. Implication for School Improvement
Skillful Leader II
Implication for School Improvement
Getting change to scale in every classroom…..may mean….
Less dependence on pilots/volunteer participants
because….
pilots can lead to pockets of excellence where the learning is not transferred.
Went to a seminar with Jon Saphier Tony Wagner-- Art Costa, Bob Swartz----about reform,
Lot of discussion about the failure to get transfer

13. Skillful Leader II
Confronting the Undermining Conditions
Visions confront the “messiness” of schools– the composites and collections of previous “solutions” once thought compelling
“Systems and schools are not blank slates waiting to be written on by leaders”
Each of you holds a vision (a picture) for the way things should be in the CR’’s you supervise-

14. Activator: Medical Rounds
Skillful Leader II
Activator: Medical Rounds
What are they ? How do they apply?

15. Activator: Classroom Rounds
Skillful Leader II
Activator: Classroom Rounds
What are they ? How do they apply?
Collaborative
Accountable to

16. Breaks down isolated cultures and builds Accountable Communities
Skillful Leader II
ROUNDS
Require participants to focus on a common problem of practice that cuts across all levels of the system.
Breaks down isolated cultures and builds Accountable Communities

17. The purpose of rounds is to
Skillful Leader II
The purpose of rounds is to
deepen the understanding of crucial instructional problems (“Problems of Practice”),
develop common language
decide how to scale up implementation into all classrooms.

18. Skillful Leader II
“Our goal is to support systems of instructional improvement at scale not just isolated pockets of good teaching in the midst of mediocrity.” (p.5)

19. Skillful Leader II
Problem of Practice=
the specific problem of instructional improvement that the school and the school system is working on and want feedback about .

20. Skillful Leader II
The formulation of the problem is more important than the solution (Einstein)

21. The Instructional Core
Skillful Leader II
INSTRUCTIONAL CORE
CONTENT
There are only three ways to improve student learning at scale: You can raise the level of the content that students are taught. You can increase the skill and knowledge that teachers bring to the teaching of that content. And you can increase the level of students’ active learning of the content. That’s it. Everything else is instrumental. That is, everything that’s not in the instructional core can only affect student learning and performance by, in some way, influencing what goes on inside the core. Schools don’t improve through political and managerial incantation; they improve through the complex and demanding work of teaching and learning. j
STUDENT
TEACHER
(Cohen & Ball, 1999) 21

22. The interaction of students and teachers in the presence of content.
Skillful Leader II
The interaction of students and teachers in the presence of content.
Teacher: what a teacher does in the classroom. Depends on teacher’s skill and knowledge (repertoire and ability to match)
Student: what students do in the classroom. Level of ACTIVE student learning
Content: how concepts are presented and the tasks students are asked to complete. Difficulty of content; level of challenge; activity vs. mastery focus 22

23. Skillful Leader II
TEACHER
What is the level of skill and knowledge that the teacher brings to teaching the content?
What are the instructional decisions the teacher is making (repertoire and matching)?
Intro Presentation 23

24. Teacher as decision maker
4/6/2017
Skillful Leader II
Life in Classrooms (1968)
Teacher as decision maker
Do you recall how many decisions teachers make in a typical school day?
Assessment 24 24

25. FOUNDATION OF ESSENTIAL BELIEFS
CURRICULUM
PLANNING
MOTIVATION
INSTRUCTIONAL
STRATEGIES
MANAGEMENT
FOUNDATION OF ESSENTIAL BELIEFS
KEY CONCEPTS
Areas of Performance
Repertoire
Matching
Overarching
Objectives
Curriculum
Design
Assessment
Learning
Experiences
Personal
Relationship
Building
Class Climate
Expectations
Clarity
Principles of
Models of
Teaching
Space
Time
Routines
Attention
Momentum
Discipline
Planning

26. BELIEF #1- ABILITY-BASED BELIEF

27. + + Belief #2 (Learning Goal Orientation) Ability CONFIDENCE EFFECTIVE
Skillful Leader II
Belief #2 (Learning Goal Orientation)
Ability
CONFIDENCE + +
EFFECTIVE
EFFORT
ACHIEVEMENT
Lets not forget this anchor for our work
Hard
Work
Strategies

28. STUDENT Skillful Leader II
What about supervision, evaluation, and strong instructional leadership? Administrators’ influence on the quality and effectiveness of classroom instruction is determined not by the leadership practices they manifest, but by the way those practices influence the knowledge and skill of teachers, the level of work in classrooms, and level of active learning by students. 28

29. STUDENT Are students actively engaged?
Skillful Leader II
STUDENT
Are students actively engaged?
Do students know what they are doing and why they are doing it?
Do they perceive value in the tasks they are being asked to do?
Intro Presentation 29

30. Skillful Leader II
CONTENT
Are the tasks related to asking or answering questions students are being asked to do, challenging but attainable?
Intro Presentation 30

31. Skillful Leader II
CONTENT
The TASK
Intro Presentation 31 31

32. third principle: If you can’t see it in the core, it’s not there
Skillful Leader II
first principle: Increases in student learning occur only as a consequence of improvements in the level of content, teachers’ knowledge and skill, and student engagement
second principle: If you change any single element of the instructional core, you have to change the other two
third principle: If you can’t see it in the core, it’s not there
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 32

33. There are only three ways to improve student learning at scale:
Skillful Leader II
There are only three ways to improve student learning at scale:
1. You can raise the level of the content that students are taught.
2. You can increase the skill and knowledge that teachers bring to the teaching of that content.
3. You can increase the level of students’ active learning of the content.
That’s it.
Everything else is instrumental.
Schools don’t improve through political and managerial incantation; they improve through the complex and demanding work of teaching and learning.
(Instructional Rounds, Richard Elmore, et al)
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 33

34. Skillful Leader II
If we change any single element of the instructional core we have to change the other two to effect student learning
CONTENT
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform.
STUDENT
TEACHER
Intro Presentation 34

35. Skillful Leader II
If you change any single element of the instructional core, you have to change the other two to affect student learning
For example, what happens if we only change the level of content (a new math or ELA curriculum), but not the expertise and skill level of teachers to effectively teach that new content?
Or, what if you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student?
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform.
“Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and the students are sitting passively, watching the teacher perform.”
Instructional Rounds in Education, Elmore et al, pp
Intro Presentation 35

36. Skillful Leader II
Therefore….
Any innovation or intervention must take into account all three elements of the instructional core
CONTENT
Here we spend a great deal of time worrying about what we’re teaching and how it is being taught. In other places, I notice that people also spend a great deal of time worrying about whether students are actually interested in, actively engaged in, and able to explain how they think about what adults are trying to teach them. There are differences between elementary schools and secondary schools in the U.S. on this score.
The culture of American schools, in its deep structure, is very teacher- centric.
The real accountability system is in the tasks that students are asked to do.
STUDENT
TEACHER
Intro Presentation 36

37. third principle: If you can’t see it in the core, it’s not there
Skillful Leader II
first principle: Increases in student learning occur only as a consequence of improvements in the level of content, teachers’ knowledge and skill, and student engagement
second principle: If you change any single element of the instructional core, you have to change the other two
third principle: If you can’t see it in the core, it’s not there
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 37 37

38. The core defines points of entry for instructional improvement
Skillful Leader II
The core defines points of entry for instructional improvement
Should be observable (“if you can’t see it, it’s not there”)
What about supervision, evaluation, and strong instructional leadership? Administrators’ influence on the quality and effectiveness of classroom instruction is determined not by the leadership practices they manifest, but by the way those practices influence the knowledge and skill of teachers, the level of work in classrooms, and level of active learning by students. 38

39. “What predicts performance is what students are actually doing”
Skillful Leader II
fourth principle: Task predicts performance
“What predicts performance is what students are actually doing”
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 39 39

40. fourth principle: Task predicts performance
Skillful Leader II
fourth principle: Task predicts performance
What predicts performance is what students are actually doing
…the instructional task is the actual work that students are asked to during the process of instruction-not what teachers think they are asking students to do or what the official curriculum says that that student are asked to do...” (23)
fifth principle: The real accountability system is in the tasks that students are asked to do
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 40 40

41. STOP and PROCESS re:L Instructional Core
Skillful Leader II
STOP and PROCESS re:L Instructional Core
Insights or Sharper Thoughts?
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 41 41

42. sixth principle: We learn to do the work by doing the work
Skillful Leader II
sixth principle: We learn to do the work by doing the work
seventh principle: Description before analysis, analysis before prediction, prediction before evaluation. You build a common culture of instruction by focusing on the language that people use to describe what they see
Description Analysis Prediction Evaluation
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 42

43. Description Analysis Prediction Evaluation
Skillful Leader II
seventh principle: Description before analysis, analysis before prediction, prediction before evaluation. You build a common culture of instruction by focusing on the language that people use to describe what they see
Description Analysis Prediction Evaluation
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 43 43

44. Data Collection--& Grouping and Looking for Patterns
Skillful Leader II
Description Analysis Prediction Evaluation
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform.
Data Collection--& Grouping and Looking for Patterns 44 44

45. Skillful Leader II
Description Analysis Prediction Evaluation
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform.
Making causal inferences about the kind of learning we would expect as a consequence of the instruction. (Task predicts performance) 45 45

46. What is next level or work?
Skillful Leader II
Description Analysis Prediction Evaluation
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform.
What is next level or work? 46 46

47. Read through notes and collected data
Skillful Leader II
Individual Processing
Read through notes and collected data
With a different color highlight /annotate notes with anything that relates to the Problem of Practice or targeted focus
Identify 5-10 salient points of data.
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 47 47

48. Skillful Leader II The PA ROUNDS ROUND VISITS & DATA GATHERING
DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS
SHARING AND PREDICTION
NEXT STEPS If
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 48 48

49. Sources of data: Wall reading;
Skillful Leader II
The OBEN ROUNDS
Sources of data:
Wall reading;
literal notes on interaction; student interviews
Student artifacts e.g. journals, worksheets
Insterviews with students
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 49 49

50. MOVING and REMOVING IMPEDIMENTS=
Skillful Leader
MOVING and REMOVING IMPEDIMENTS=
LEADERSHIP

51. What explains these patterns?
Skillful Leader
ROOT CAUSES
What explains these patterns?
MOVING and REMOVING IMPEDIMENTS=
LEADERSHIP

52. Skillful Leader II
Actions or decisions particularly relevant to helping students exert effective effort to meet the objective
Salient
Data
Quote or set of quotes particularly relevant to helping students exert effective effort to meet the objective
Missed opportunities (MO’s) to take an action that would help student exert objectives focused effective effort.

53. understanding or to develop
Skillful Leader
• Chunked instruction • Alignment with instruction
• Variety of processing structures
THINKING SKILLS
MASTERY
ACTIVITIES
What activities could
students do to gain
understanding or to develop
these skills?
INVOLVEMENT
How can I get students
really engaged?
COVERAGE
What knowledge,
skill, or concept
am I teaching?
Students summarizing and making connections
Checking for understanding across all students not just an eager few

54. Skillful Leader II
THEORY OF ACTION
Organizations embody beliefs and practices deeply rooted in people’s identities
A school represents an equilibrium state– however dysfunctional– that reflects the comfort zone of people who work in it

55. The Undermining Conditions
Skillful Leader II
The Undermining Conditions
“Organizations resist vision not because of some perverse instinct..to resist change but because existing structures and practices provide a story line people understand” p.40
A new vision often fails to provide people a persuasive and understandable alternative

56. Skillful Leader II
Vision for Instructional Improvement (identifies the students who will benefit from improving instructional quality in a specific content area)  
Strategy (reflects actions and initiatives related to improving instruction in the content area identified in the vision)
Instructional Improvement Map (reflects priorities for instructional improvement in this content area)
  IF we…. THEN…
  IF we…. THEN…  56 56

57. Skillful Leader II
The theory of action emerges from the outcome and the specific problem of practice
Goal
(Intended Outcome) +
Problem of Practice
_______________________
Theory of Action
(If …Then)

58. Skillful Leader II If
(the development strategy we’ll use to address our Problem of Practice) …..
Then
(this will result in the Intended Outcome we have identified as desirable)

59. Theory of Action- What is it?
Skillful Leader II
Theory of Action- What is it?
allows the vision for teaching and learning to be realized within the context of the individual school. The theory of action:
is the story line that makes a vision and strategy concrete  
provides the map that carries the vision through the organization
cuts through the organizational clutter to the instructional core   59 59

60. Theory of Action- The Ethos
Skillful Leader II
Theory of Action- The Ethos
Trial and error--ongoing revision
Double Loop Learning reflecting about how we learn
High risk= must share failures and face plants with everyone
Collective learning beyond boundaries of closest colleagues 60 60

61. Theory of Action- Requirements
Skillful Leader II
Theory of Action- Requirements
has three main requirements:  
it is a statement of causal relationship that describes what I do – in my role as a superintendent, principal, teacher, coach, etc.-- and what constitutes a good result in the classroom  
it is empirically falsifiable – it must be able to be disproved based on evidence of what is happening in the classroom  
it is open-ended and needs to be further revised as more is learned about the consequences of actions.  
needs to be proven or falsified by repeatedly revisiting it in the presence of colleagues and providing the opportunity to reflect candidly on our teaching practice and about our own learning  
should be revisited by people with different ideas from both within and outside the organization – more heads are better than fewer  
should be shared publicly. 61 61

62. Theory of Action- an hypothesis
Skillful Leader II
Theory of Action- an hypothesis
Stated as if- then propositions:  
to stress the causal nature of the statements 
to reinforce that these are testable propositions that are subject to revision if the goal is improved student learning 
Picture of scientist??? 62 62

63. Theory of Action- In addition it …
Skillful Leader II
Theory of Action- In addition it …
needs to be concrete and relate to the specific context in which the participants work  
provides a through line to the instructional core and provides information about the vital activities that need to happen to improve teaching and learning  
tends to tighten up accountability requirements because it shows the interdependence of roles  
Remember: even if it is a simple and incomplete theory, it is better than no theory at all– this is a learning process 
Fail Forward! 63 63

64. Theory of Action: Examples
Skillful Leader II
Theory of Action: Examples
IF we monitor students’ progress through multiple assessments over time, THEN we will be able to assess our instructional effectiveness and develop focused intervention strategies.
IF we develop a deep understanding of the pedagogical knowledge base among our instructional leaders, THEN administrators and curriculum instructional leaders can support and impact high quality teaching by providing teachers with specific, results-oriented feedback that impact student learning. 64 64

65. Skillful Leader II
Theory of Action?
IF the algebra-for-all vision is compelling and people have good motives and work hard, THEN students will take algebra and succeed at it.
At your tables use the criteria to determine why this example is not an effective theory of action 65 65

66. Theory of Action- Second Thoughts
Skillful Leader II
Theory of Action- Second Thoughts
The key implications for practice are these:
We need to have a vision that reflects where the school is going.
A theory of action should be developed collaboratively to reflect how the vision will be realized and how teachers will operate in the classroom.
The theory of action should be a living document and should be reflected upon regularly.
Discussions about the validity of the theory of action should incorporate a wide range of opinions. 66 66

67. Skillful Leader II
If you raise the level of content without changing the level of knowledge and skill that teachers bring to the content, you get what we see with considerable frequency in American classrooms: low-level teaching of high-level content. Teachers assign high-level text or complex problems, and then structure student learning around fill-in-the-blank worksheets, or walk students through a straight procedural explanation of how to find the answer, leaving the students in the role of recording what the teacher says.
If you raise the level of content and the knowledge and skill of teachers without changing the role of the student in the instructional process, you get another version of what we see with some frequency in American classrooms: Teachers are doing all, or most, of the work, exercising considerable flair and control in the classroom, and students are sitting passively watching the teacher perform. 67 67

68. Recognizing and Climbing Down From the Ladder of Inference
Skillful Leader II
I take: actions (based on my beliefs)
I adopt: beliefs (about the world.)
Recognizing and Climbing Down From the Ladder of Inference
I draw: conclusions.
I make: assumptions
I add: meanings
I select: data
Observable data and experiences
Source: Peter Senge et al, Schools that Learn, 2000, 71.