The Webster Case

1. In guiding the principal to assess the staff, I would first suggest the principal go on a listening tour.
The focus of the tour is to spend time getting to know the teachers professionally and personally. Its
important to understand that our profession is humanistic, not industrialized, meaning that the same
factors that influence a childs readiness to learn, often impact a teachers ability to be highly effective.
To get to know each teacher as an individual will be helpful in building and sustaining long lasting,
healthy relationships for the future.
Id also suggest the principal adhere to the Coveyesque strategy of going slow to go fast. Too often
a new principal enters a building with high hopes and a by any means necessary approach to school
improvement. Although the principal may be highly competent and well intentioned, improvement
initiatives are often meant with resistance, and in many cases, do more damage than good. It is
imperative for a principal to take the time to understand the buildings culture how they meet, greet,
communicate, celebrate, deal with problems, engage difficult parents, rituals, sense of humor, etc.
In conclusion, coming in to a building on the heels of a principal that had been in place for twenty years
likely means that their culture now has deep roots and to solicit ownership in a renewed mission and
vision for the building must be done carefully and systematically. Having a vast majority of a staff with
over 15 years teaching experience can be a gift and a curse. The gift is that, if done correctly and
carefully, their experience can be used to harness and cultivate leadership throughout the school. The
curse in that, if not done carefully and correctly, there is a risk of galvanizing a strong-willed critical mass
to resist meaningful change.
2. To get the principal to think about improving the effectiveness of the staff, I would first ask her to
allow her EQ to override her IQ (for now). Develop her ability to identify, assess, and control her
emotions as well as the emotions of the group. Change is difficult and for a new principal to be effective,
she must develop the ability to channel emotions into high levels of collaboration and productivity.
I would also as the principal to assess the mission, vision, values and goals of the building. However,
before a concerted effort is put towards changing the MVVG, I would first seek to understand the
current feelings surrounding the MVVG. One strategy would be to post two charts, in regards to MVVG,
the principal could simply ask what do you want to keep and what do you want to change? This would
then inform the new principal where her energies can not only be applied, but embraced. Again, going
slow to go fast!
Lastly, I would ask the principal to consider building her awareness by attending to the
nondiscussables. These are the subjects that are important to the staff, but are so hot button that
they very seldom take place in an open forum. Not addressing nondiscussables is counterproductive to
building trust. I would suggest the Covey approach or preforgiveness in coming at these issues. Again,
this can only be done once there is a foundation of relational trust to build upon.
As for evidence for teacher improvement, I would start with facts. For example, we know that a highly
effective teacher has the greatest impact on student achievement. If our mission is centered on student
achievement and success (which most are), the question would be what is a highly effective teacher?
Once we, as a whole, ferret out the specifics of this question the next question Id be asking is what
support can we provide one another to work towards highly effective instruction? Reserached based
BEST Practices provide data that supports certain pedagogical strategies over others (e.g. more student
engagement vs. didactic instruction). The key here will be do address this from a we perspective, not
an I or you perspective. School Improvement should be a collaborative, all hands on deck process.
3. In a building with a culture as toxic as Webster, it will first be important to build trust and
relationships amongst staff and leadership. To do so, its important that we are able to understand one
another and listen empathically. I would start with a True Colors workshop. I would frame it, however,
as a means for the principal having an opportunity to better understand her staff.
Another option would be to consider Covey training. Becoming a Leadership school requires significant
buy-in (90%) and should be broached very carefully. Id suggest beginning this process with something
as simple as a voluntary book study. This group could then share their learning with the whole group.
Depending on the need, the staff may consider a staff retreat. I had the opportunity to partake in a
team-building retreat (for needs similar to Websters), during my first few years of teaching, and it
really helped staff to better understand one another.

4. The community element seems to present a great challenge. My initial thinking centers on
communication. Id suggest starting with a number of Get to Know the Principal information nights.
Parents could have an opportunity to ask questions as well as to better understand what they can
expect from their new leader. These events will also serve as a forum to seek engagement from parents
and shore up PTA strengthening efforts. Data clearly shows that when parents are more engaged with
their childs earning, increased achievement ensues. Through PTA, fundraisers, tutoring nights, school
spirit days, assemblies, etc. can be jointly developed. The key is to allow the PTA enough latitude to
become a key stakeholder in such decisions. This trumps buy-in and espouses ownership!
I would also suggest crafting a parent survey. In it, questions would be carefully crafted to assess current
parent perception data, as well assessing data related to continual improvement. This data should find
its way into the School Improvement Plan and become a staple in the annual process.
5. The current state of education reform will provide landmines for us all. Perhaps the most
potentially dangerous of them all being teacher evaluations. In reviewing the school data, many of the
teachers informal evaluations do not align with their formal evaluations. In an arena where much of the
subjectivity is being removed and replaced with student growth data, and subsequently effectiveness
ratings being linked with employability, the land mine becomes