Power struggles and Defiance 101

I came across this video of a principal clearly losing her ability to be an effective leader and I cringed as I saw how she handled the situation. She chose to use intimidation and yelling to try to get the skateboarder off the school property. To me it was one of the worse power struggles I have seen in years. To see how she totally lost her ability to reason and persuade the skateboarder to leave the property was horrifying. His reaction was to yell right back, her reaction seemed to make the skateboarder even more defiant and rebellious. I have always worked at the high school level and this situation can potentially happen with our students if we would take the same approach. I would of tried to calmly talk with the skateboarder, befriend him, give him some kind of statement like "that's a really cool trick, we have a lot of students that love to skateboard..." Then go on to let him know that it is unsafe at our school and if he could move on to another place to do his tricks. If his response was still defiance, I would walk away and call security or school police to ask for assistance. There was no immediate danger since no students were present and he was not harming anyone at that moment. In fact, her actions seemed to make the situation worse and bring out some extreme defiance in the skateboarder. This happen quite a few years ago and the Principal ended up initially being supported by the district with her actions...strange to me...but that following year she was removed (along with several other Principals) due to the school "moving in a different direction". I am wondering how much of an impact this incident had on the decision? Also, many parents complained to the media that she "used bullying and creates an intimidating atmosphere". If she handles stressful situations like she handled the defiant skateboarder, than I could see how this is part of her personality and leadership style. I know we practice and write about these scenarios throughout our program but when actually put in this position and have to handle it, are we really prepared to use our skills and strategies to make good decisions?

Should the Secretary of Education know about Ed Code?

What Gets Measured Gets Done

What are your thoughts on the phrase “What gets measured gets done”? What gets measured gets done." This premise for developing standards is at the core of educational improvement. If it is not important enough to measure, then it is not important enough to do. By Woodard, James R. | The Agricultural Education Magazine, September/October 2004 | Go to article overview In researching a few different articles, I found that this idea is essential for a variety of fields, business, education, government, medicine all rely on metrics to measure growth and progress and make improvements. How does this phrase apply to education assessment and accountability? In order to make the right decisions in improving our instructional programs and student achievement we must have reliable forms of data collection from a variety of assessments. This will help us measure true growth and progress of both our instructional programs and student achievement. These measures also set a standard of accountability by identifying certain trends, weaknesses, and strengths or what John Kotter labels as short term wins to increase motivation. Phrase in Action: This reminds me of when I was working with students that have challenging behaviors. One of the most common requests to the district from teachers or parents is to have 1:1 behavior techs for student to control their behavior. Our district behavior program believed the ultimate goal was to have the student in control of their behavior and denied many requests for 1:1 as a solution before trying a variety of behavior supports. If we even thought about requesting a 1:1 or asking for district support, we had to have documentation to measure the behavior. They were all about data collection and documentation, their motto has always been “if was not documented, it did not happen.” Once we are able to show documentation, the district program would send a staff to assess, collect more data, offer positive behavior supports and then asked us to implement and monitor with fidelity (meaning be consistent and do it for at least 6 weeks to have sufficient data). From there, we would work with the Behavior staff to figure out next steps and the appropriateness of more intensive supports. lack of measurement contributed to a change initiative failing). I have had teachers go to the district to ask for behavior support just by saying I have a very difficult child in my class I need help. And the district behavior staff would see that there was no valid measures or documentation, just a lot of stories and incidents that were never documented. Again, they are looking for specific, observable behavior documentation with times dates and data that was collected over an extended period of time. They would offer a variety of documentation forms and would even model a few ways to collect data. Unfortunately, some teachers feel that this is way too much for them to handle and never follow through with collecting data and doing what the district behavior program asked for. T hey just give up on finding extra support or help with behavior management and then the student sadly misses out on their own education because the teacher is not willing to document and measure the behavior. How will I apply this phrase in my role as a leader? As a future leader, I want to make this idea a priority and create a system of documentation or data collection, so we have the ability to analyze information, see the strengths and weaknesses, set standards to compare against, and develop action plans to improve in areas of need. I think having the documentation and data can also make my requests for change more compelling to my staff by creating a sense of urgency.

How to Break the School to Prison Pipeline

I completely agree with limiting zero tolerance policies to extreme cases and using alternative discipline policies that focus on taking responsibilities and making better choices in the future. I think it is unfortunate to also see the long term negative effects of suspensions and expulsions and how it can lead to an increase in learning gaps and possibly lead to dropping out of school. It is even more concerning to see the huge disparity rates for both hispanic/latino and african americans as compared to the other ethnicities. A few years ago, my district had similar concerns about our district disparity rates since both african americans and hispanic/latino students are the two largest ethnicity groups. As I read the beter than zero article, I saw several trends and similarities within my district. Specifically, my district administrators acknowledged the negative affects of zero tolerance policies and the benefits of alternative forms of discipline. Our Board chose to revise our zero tolerance policy for extreme cases to keep our students connected to school and resources needed to prevent reoccuring behavior issues and avoid any long term negative effects on our students. In addition, our district introduced using restorative justice practices which is an evidenced based practice referenced in the article. I think this is a great alternative to discipline for students because they learn to take accountability and truly understand the impact of their behavior not only on themselves but within the school, community, and the harm caused on their victim. These policies have been in place for a few years and and their has been some huge progress with decreasing the amount of expulsions and suspensions so we are learning more and more everyday how to continue to use these types of alternative disciplines to keep our schools safe. From a high school point of view, revising the expulsion and suspension policies has not made us feel unsafe. I know some arguments for zero tolerance is to keep our students and schools safe and free of violence or disruptions to the learning environment.

Halfway through our MAELA program and I am feeling confident with my Reflective Practitioner Video Journals...although we have done so many it is about time!!! Excited to find out about school laws and policies and how best to ensure these are all being followed as a future administrator! In reviewing the Learning Objectives, our course at a glance, the CAPEs, and ELCC standards I feel this course relates to both my current and future role as an administrator by providing me with guidelines of how best to monitor and ensure compliance with federal and state laws as well as district policies and procedures. I don’t have any questions or concerns about our assignments in this class, now that we are halfway through this program, I feel the expectations and assignments are straightforward. I do have concerns with my own time management issues and want to make sure I produce quality work so I know I need to keep organized and closely monitor my time management to find a good balance between school, work, and my own life. Overall, what are you looking to get out of this course? I would like to gain a better Understanding federal and state laws and district policies, and more importantly developing effective skills in how best to meet these responsibilities and expectations as a future administrator. What experiences and expertise do you have that you feel will help contribute to the learning community in this course? • I feel my experience with special education can contribute to our student discussions and learning community. Sharing my experiences, both positive and negative, with understanding and abiding by the laws and policies that govern special education can help contribute to our understanding of the importance of following the law and the possible consequences that can happen if we disregard the school law or policies.

Celebration of Light

With the upcoming change in our Presidency, there were fears from our district students and families about possible deportation. A few weeks ago, my School Board adopted a resolution to continue to protect undocumented students from deportation. “As part of the resolution, the board directed the district general counsel’s office to issue a legal memorandum to all students and staff affirming the protections for immigrant students and their families under a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the rights of students in the country without legal permission to attend public schools.” In addition, we have a District Family and Community Engagement Office that is organizing an event to support the rights of all students to be educated in an “environment free from fear, violence and intimidation”. The event will have immigration advice, health care information, and other resources and support for our diverse community. I definitely saw some fear in some of my students about the idea of not being able to attend school and being deported. I think public schools have always been a safe place for students to attend. Now that policies are changing, the fear and anticipation of what will happen next is growing. It is a potential conflict that can have some devastating consequences. I do like how my district has taken action to ensure the safety and well-being of our students and families by adopting the resolution and offering supports and resources for families through the district office.

Resisting Change: Reasons and Research

What are the reasons that cause people to resist change? As individuals, we all have our boundaries and comfort zones. When faced with organizational change, I think there are a variety of reasons that cause people to resist change. From my experience, I have seen fear play a huge role in resisting change. Teachers can be fearful of a new strategy or procedure because it is outside of their comfort zone. We can also be fearful of taking risks, if we are in survival mode of just getting through the school year, to take a risk in changing up the norm can be frightening. I think another factor that plays into resisting change is the overall belief in the change. For example, if the change does not fit into our core values or we do not understand the rationale behind the change then we are more likely to resist. In the reading you have been doing for this class what does the research say about resistance to change? The responsibilities of a school administrator can be stressful and overwhelming when faced with staff that are resistant to change. Overall, approaching resistance in a systematic manner can play a huge factor in the success of a school (Lunenberg, 2010). Lunenberg identifies uncertainty, concern over personal loss, group resistance, dependence, trust in administration, and awareness of weaknesses in the change as primary issues when facing staff resistant to change. Worrying about the unknown and how their work life will be affected causes resistance. In addition, some teachers resist change because they see it as a loss of power, prestige, or other benefits. To overcome change, Lunenberg found the most frequent approaches used to include education and communication, participation and involvement, facilitation and support, negotiation and agreement, manipulation and cooptation, explicit and implicit coercion. Understanding these approaches can help administrators gain the momentum needed for a positive change.