Don't Take it Personally

Principals (school leaders) can do themselves favors by taking criticism in context.  It comes in two sizes, constructive and crude.  When investing in a school, it is easy to take criticism personally and reacting in a non-constructive manner.  Long days, consistent analysis of procedures, and proper supervision of students, teachers, and activities are aspects all school leaders perform for their community and district.  This investment should matter, but for some it is easy to take shots at the school leader's decisions.  Don't let your commitment to student learning be impacted with this type of criticism.  Your students deserve your unwavering focus on their achievement.  Change the criticism into constructive opportunities, if the nay-sayer allows it.  If not, then the solution isn't a priority for them.

Failures and constructive criticism are opportunities to promote dialogue with your school stakeholders.  Gathering students, teachers, parents, and community leaders to focus on solutions--which again, must align to student success.  Recently, I listened to Angie Adrean, principal at Worthington Kilbourne High School, tackle issues involving negative posts on social media.  The criticism of her students, teachers, and school didn't sit well with her, nor her students.  They met and devised a plan to promote the students and school, and continually monitor social media and educate students to use it positively.

Remember, you cannot fix everything in a year...or five years.  Pick 1-2 goals and focus.  Don't let the clutter and noise keep you from reaching these goals.  To keep yourself accountable, share your goals with your assistant principals, teachers, parents, mentor(s), etc.  It is a healthy practice to know your goals, promote your goals, and keep them centered around your core beliefs.  The armchair quarterback will always second guess your decisions, stay true to your purpose!

Leading Leaders

If the principal is not training a successor, they are doing a disservice to the school and district.  Moreover, he/she is not allowing the assistant principals or teacher leaders to grow and achieve.  Many leaders are called upon to take opportunities causing some of these positions to be short-term (2-3 years) stops for these individuals.  This makes it critically important to train them quickly and shortening the learning curve.  The principal should maximize the effectiveness of their leaders by placing them in areas of strength.  Identification begins in the interview process and should be discussed during the summer leading up to start of school.

Tips to help the principal with training (or learning as an assistant):

1.  The principal should know their professional vision

• This will assist you when planning your team's responsibilities.  Reflect on your strengths and identify your areas of improvement.  Decide if you assistant can fill this gap and be supportive and clear in your expectations.

2.  Equally distribute the difficult work

• It isn't a good idea to take all of the hard items to protect your assistant(s).  It isn't a good idea to give them all of the hard items.  Be fair to yourself and your assistant(s).

3.  Failure is necessary for growth

• Be aware your assistant(s) will fail.  Focus on the intention of the work and only address it if the intention isn't aligned to the mission and vision you set for the school.  If the intentions behind the failure were aligned, recognize this verbally and coach them through the decision-making process.

4.  Check in weekly

• You will check in more frequently than weekly, but it is purposeful and not presumptuous.  Their work is not your work and your work is not their work.  Check in with them to see if you can support them.  Do not use this check in to be critical of them.  The are not purposefully doing it wrong or different, they are doing it the best they know how.  

Spring Break Creates Learning Time

I, like many educators, look for breaks to recharge the batteries and reflect about recent events and decisions.  It is an opportunity to grow and learn without the constraints of the daily operations.  This break allowed me to do two things.  First, I committed to exercising every morning with my wife, Donita.  We went to the gym at 5:30am.  Secondly, this allowed me to listen to various podcasts and TED talks while I exercised.  I cannot describe how great if felt emotionally and physically by mid-week.  Dave Ramsey's EntreLeadership podcasts speak to entrepreneurs and small business owners, but the simplicity of the message easily transferred to education and general leadership.

Here was my podcast menu this past week:

TED Radio Hour - Brand Over Brain
EntreLeadership - Developing Culture, Why Good Leaders Ask Great Questions, How to Make Your Company Healthy and Wealthy, Put Your Strengths to Work, & The Art of Asking

Now, I have several ingredients for finishing the year and I started preparing the recipe for short-term and long-term success.  It is critical everyone in the organization knows the purpose and focus of Groveport Madison High School.  I challenged myself to connect with my leaders within the building.  I plan to informally ask them what they are working on and if I can help them.  From this I will gather information to see if our focus is aligned with our purpose.  Determining if we working on the things that matter and propel us to reach our mission.

This year the theme of most staff meetings and newsletters has included defining our own success.  Declaring our mission and measuring our work towards it.  Our team is committed to designing opportunities at the high school to prepare students for success beyond graduation.  We are creating internship and work study programs, career exploration courses, and courses to assist students with college admissions.  Finally, we are developing a cluster of courses assisting students with interests in law, teaching, nursing, business, IT, and more.  I need to ensure the work in the building is aligned to the these structural changes.

In closing, I aim to refine my work to make it simplistic and use the power of asking questions and forming (or in some cases repairing) relationships to guide our school to a buffet of courses for students to consume.

March Brings Madness

NCAA basketball and K-12 education share a common theme in March.  Collegiate athletes prepare, practice, and perform all season until they turn in their resumes to a committee which determines their fate on selection Sunday.  Schools across Ohio--and the country--prepare their students, give them plenty of opportunities to practice, and hope they perform well on PARCC and AIR assessments.  Both systems are maddening and give plenty of expert analysts and laymen topics to discuss and debate.

Watching the coach, Ron Hunter, of Georgia State embrace his son after the loss to Xavier Saturday was heart wrenching.  These young men came together to give their school and fans something for which to cheer.  And for the Cinderella Story fans, they were willing and ready to jump on the bandwagon.

Students across the state took new and very controversial assessments the last few weeks.  Some parents elected to opt-out of the assessments while some politicians, superintendents, and educational associations had their eyes on schools.  Newspapers and media outlets were chomping at the bit to get the horror stories of school technology and testing coordinators.  The House and Senate certainly isn't quietly waiting for results.  They are creating bills and momentum to change the students are assessed.

As March closes and every school has formed an opinion, one thing is certain.  March Madness is in full swing.  Selecting a flawless bracket is just as unlikely as finding a school district without a strong opinion on assessments.  Our district has MAP (Northwest Evaluation Association), PARCC, AIR, ASVAB, OGT, Encore, ACT, Compass, SAT, and PSAT assessments we give to students.  This doesn't include the SLO (Student Learning Objective) data our teachers are required to capture for part of their yearly evaluation.

We alter schedules, close off use of technology, and displace classes to assess students.  We pull teachers to proctor examinations and fill their positions with substitutes.  We assign hours of pencil sharpening duty to our student office assistants and move pallets of exam booklets from various parts of the building.  Moreover, we ask many people to donate hours outside the work week to coordinate, separate, and collect testing materials.

Whether #14 Georgia State was selected to win the championship or #1 Kentucky, it can be agreed both teams are very successful.  And we cannot discredit the performance by Georgia State, even though they lost in the 3rd round.  Just as our students cannot be discredited on one assessment, they have various opportunities to prove their worth.  It may be their 3.5 GPA or they have 6 varsity letters.  It could be their stellar performance in the musical Wizard of Oz or their Superior rating for marching band.  Look for the great things our students are doing, not the one thing they working to improve.  The madness will change as soon as the goals of these assessments are identified.  I just hope we don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Resilient Leader

As I navigate the evolving role of the principal, it is important to remain resilient.  Criticism, defamation, and destructive forces will accompany any decision, mission, and/or direction.  Boards change, directors change, superintendents and principals change, and so forth, and this change causes both an opportunity for new and refreshing ideas and the uncomfort of changing the course(s).

I know parents, teachers, and administrators want the best for their students and their schools.  Boards want to be proud of the accomplishments and direction of the school community.  Employers and colleges want students ready to solve problems and work in teams.  Are you serving these expectations?  Do you help support ideas in which foster the development of problems solvers, critical thinkers, and collaborators?  These questions must be considered throughout the year.  Furthermore, the essential questions which guide your leadership and decision making should be obvious to the students and staff in your building.  Not because you tell them, but instead because you consistently use them to influence your decisions.

Remain resilient and steadfast to your core beliefs and mission.  Some will try to bring you down.  You are human and the criticism will impact you.  "If you want to walk fast, walk alone.  If you want to walk far, walk with others." - Burkina Faso.  Use the people around you to make sure you are in this for the entire journey.  We need you to lead and we need you to stay.  Be resilient!