Be Our Guest

"Be our guest, be our guest, put our service to the test."

Most of us can sing or hum the words to this popular Disney song from "Beauty and the Beast."

For those of us who have been fortunate to visit Disney World and Disneyland, we know that Disney is world-renown for its customer service, the ability to create magic and memories over and over again for little kids and big kids such as us.  Walt Disney's ability to do the "impossible" has been sustained over time through generations with the implementation of unique business principles.

As educational leaders devoted to serving our students and families, what can we learn from Disney's service model?

In a recent Disney Institute blog post, Bruce Jones discussed the Disney principles of "Doing Things Right" and "Doing the Right Thing."

As a programming director for the Disney Institute, Mr. Jones discussed the singular mission of Disney: "striving to create happiness to begin forming life-long relationships with our guests."

Photo courtesy of David Castillo Dominici via Free Digital Photos.

Think of even that one word-- "guest."  Other theme parks, organizations and businesses aim to attract visitors, but at Disney we are all "guests."

Mr. Jones explained that guests are different than visitors.  In our homes, we invite and welcome guests.  We do special things for our guests-- the best towels, the best sheets, favorite meals and desserts.  "If someone is your Guest, don't you feel a greater obligation to ensure his or her happiness?" Mr. Jones posed.

So what can we learn from Disney.  Mr. Jones stated that Disney provides a script to each "cast member" (employee), for common questions or occurrences so that guests can have a high quality consistent experience.  It is important for each staff member to "do things right."  The Disney way.

Are there instances where we can provide better support for staff by providing guidelines on how to handle certain situations.  How do we want our secretaries or teaching staff to handle a parent who insists on seeing a staff member unannounced?  One who wants to visit classes during the school day? What about how to handle an irate phone call or nasty email?  How about a parent-teacher conference?  The more help we can provide our staff with common situations should provide a better experience for all of our key stakeholders.

In addition, Disney, according to Mr. Jones,  also empowers their cast members to "do the right thing."

In solving problems for guests, and in daily interactions, Disney encourages and promotes staff members to go off script in order to "empower people to intervene and own the common purpose."

A current TV Disney commercial shows a family excitedly at their first day of Disney and the cast members suddenly grows pointed ears in making all of their dreams of happiness at Disney come true.  Disney also empowers staff to do whatever it takes, even if it has never been done before, to make the Disney magic real.

Do our staff members feel the same way?  In this ever-changing educational landscape, the true work of every teacher, building and district has to be to individualize and personalize education so that each child can learn.  Our shift continues to be from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning.

Do we empower our staff to be creative in approaching each child in our classrooms?  When we were early in our Professional Learning Community journey, we discussed strategies that were uncommon in our district and building?

Re-does, test re-takes, differentiating reading assignments, flipped classrooms, grading practices,  extended time for learning, homework-- all of these became same-subject team and whole-staff discussion points.

Teachers at first were hesitant to individualize and personalize without making sure we were fine with it.  Clearly, change requires the culture and climate to empower and encourage staff to "do the right thing."  How empowered is your staff to try something never tried before?

Disney fosters creative problem-solving within a culture and climate where personalization ensures happiness and success.

Can we-- for every student in every classroom in every building every day?  If Walt Disney actualized making the impossible possible, we can, too.

Have the courage to do

In our professional and personal lives one very clear truth exists.  We often know what to do, but we don't do it.

People know not to text and drive, or do the other myriad of distracted driving tasks we see every day, but they still do it.

We know that we should eat fewer carbs, lower our salt and sugar intake and exercise every day.  Yet few do it.  And every year in January, new year resolutions are made, yet few are sustained.

How about our work as educational leaders?  What do we KNOW that we should change?  How often do we do it systemically and with sustainability?

Many of us are involved in the important work of improving our schools to improve student learning, whether as an educational consultant, teacher, principal, district administrator or superintendent.  Think of your own building or district.  What are those things that you know need changed?  Are there sacred cows that inhibit student learning that have been in place over time?

Richard DuFour, Robert Eaker, and Rebecca DuFour present the four essential questions of a Professional Learning Community in On Common Ground (15).  If we, as educational leaders, examine our practices through the lens of these four PLC questions, we clearly can identify what we know needs changed every day in the classrooms of our respective buildings and districts.

Graphic courtesy of Stuart Miles via free digital photos

PLC Question1: "What is it we want all students to learn?"

Too often, we know that in many classrooms, every student is not learning essential identified learning targets.  Teachers who work in isolation often end up teaching what they know or what they like.   There is the hidden curriculum, intended curriculum, and the delivered curriculum. The result is that students are often left behind, and when this lack of learning compiles over the course of a year, students actually lose any learning gains they may have had with a more effective teacher.  Are we certain that the teacher in the classroom is the best teacher for that grade level/subject area? Or are they there because they have been there the longest?  We know this may be the case, but how do we respond?

PLC Question 2: "How will we know when each student has mastered the essential learning?"

How to measure student learning is a widely discussed topic in professional development sessions, workshops, conferences, and on social media. Why? We know that every assessment that is given in every classroom is not a valid and reliable measure of student learning.  Certainly assessment creation and data analysis are now essential teacher skills.  But we also know that in every building there are still teachers who do not utilize student assessment as feedback on their instruction. We know this, but how do we respond?

PLC Question 3: "How will we respond when a student experiences initial difficulty in learning?"

This is indeed the separator of good teachers from great teachers, good teacher teams from great ones, good buildings from great ones and good districts from great ones.  Excellent teachers, teams and buildings support re-teaching and providing students multiple learning opportunities.  If in our buildings we do not have a systemic focus on intervention, and if our districts do not value and support time and staffing for intervention, this is the question on which we fall short the most.

Most students are either lucky or unlucky on which teacher they have if learning becomes the constant or time.  How do you respond, how do your teachers respond, and how does your building/district respond when students are not learning? Many good instructional leaders know what gaps on student achievement and growth they have, but they often do not address it systemically or systematically.  We know, but we don't do.

PLC Question 4: "How will we deepen the learning for students who have already mastered essential knowledge and skills?"

As educational leaders we have often interpreted this as the enrichment we provide at the building level. Particularly at the high school level, we have often identified our enrichment as our honors or advanced courses, such as AP and IB classes.

But just having students in these courses does not mean that students are learning what they are supposed to be learning or that the instructor is providing enrichment. We know that differentiation should occur in every class we have, as students are unique in their ability to learn.  We also know, however, that it is not occurring, and that the best students in regular or advanced classes are often unchallenged.

Certainly the most encouraging work going on in America today is the monumental shift in many schools from teaching to learning.  Indeed schools committed to  Professional Learning Community principles work on this every day, and many students are more successful in learning than ever before.  Richard DuFour states in many sources that the four PLC questions should be answered collaboratively by teachers in teams and that buildings, districts and administrators must strive to support teachers in this best practice work.

Graphic courtesy Stuart Miles via free digital photos

But truly, even in the best schools, and certainly those schools in challenging circumstances, the problem of doing, not just knowing, is not being addressed in many cases. Sometimes educational leaders are not even fully aware of their students achievement and growth data.  But certainly, we also have educational leaders who know their data, but lack either the professional development, the motivation, the support, or the courage to make the changes in their schools to improve student learning.

Indeed the problem is that the knowing/doing gap is one of the largest gaps we have in American schools.  We know what needs to be done, but for varied reasons and barriers, many of them our own making and keeping at either a building or district level, we lack the courage to make the changes we know we need to make.

Graphic by Stuart Miles via free digital photos

And until we have the "courage to do," we will never embrace or reach our goal of ensuring learning for every child in every classroom in every school every period of every day.


Dufour, Richard and Robert Eaker and Rebecca DuFour, "Recurring Themes of Professional Learning Communities and the Assumptions They Challenge." On Common Ground. eds. Bloomington: National Educational Service, 2005. Print.

The 3 C's to being an effective leader

What does it take to be an effective leader?  Countless articles and Twitter chats explore this topic daily.  Why?  Because those of us who have dedicated ourselves to improving ourselves and our organizations every day seek the most effective strategies to achieving excellence in ourselves and our work.

As a building principal the past 9 years and a high school administrator for the last 15, and now as a passionate educational coach,  I, too, have been, and will continue to be on this journey of leadership learning and discovery.

How do we ensure we are the best leaders we can be, as well as empower others in leadership?

The 3 C's.

We must each be a highly effective communicator, catalyst and cheerleader.

Communicator:  We must be the most effective communicators in our organizations with all key stakeholders.  Sounds simple?  This may be the most difficult of all tasks of a leader.  If you are a principal of a high school of 1600 students, you most likely also have a staff of at least 150 and well over 3000 parents and extended family.  You also may have a district with multiple high schools or buildings and a central office with whom to also communicate.

Every day you have key stakeholders with whom to communicate.  Do you?  Is every staff member in your building clear about the day, the week and upcoming events and goals?  Is every student?  Every parent? Every other administrator that needs to know?

What about the means of communication?  On any given day, you will need to communicate in person, through email or enews, on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook with your stakeholders, not to mention your PLN, and through handwritten notes and letters.

The Why?  Dedicate a portion of every day to communication with all key stakeholders.  Principals and leaders determine the culture and climate fr their buildings/organizations and realize their mission/vision in every communication and interaction you have each day.  Students, parents and staff may remember that one interaction with you for the rest of their lives.  A powerful opportunity.  Don't miss it by not making time for it.

Catalyst:

Leaders MUST be the catalysts for the change every building and organization needs.  To be a catalyst in education you must be the best learner in the building.  Read widely all of the best educational research you can find.  Be a student of education in order to be a leader.

Henry Ford once said that if he had asked everyone what they wanted they would say a faster horse.  Henry Ford had a vision that no one else and revolutionized lives.  Do you? Principals have the power to revolutionize lives every day for the better.  Are you working on actualizing your vision every day with your key stakeholders.  By reading, attending workshops and institutes, immersing yourself in a PLN and participating in Twitter chats with other like professionals, you can become an expert in professional learning community work, formative assessment, a focus on learning, visible learning and a number of other best instructional practices that will improve your building.

Then collaborate with other administrators, teacher-leaders, students, parents and staff to develop timelines and action steps.  But the catalyst has to be you.  In science a catalyst is a substance that causes or accelerates a chemical reaction without itself being affected.  Be the change you wish to see.  Accelerate the learning while remaining strong in the process.  Leading without being a catalyst is not leading at all.

Cheerleader:

At first glance this one may be a puzzler.  But truly, it doesn't matter how well you communicate or how good your vision and action steps are if you are not a cheerleader for your your students, parents, staff and every aspect of your building.  Cheerleaders are visible and enthusiastic supporters of teams no matter how big or small they are or what the score is.  When the team is down by 5 touchdowns the cheerleaders don't pack it in and go home. Rain?-- let it pour and the cheerleaders are still smiling and still cheering.

And that needs to be you.  No matter how bad the day is, how dismal the funding is, how badly the levy fails, you need to stand at your front door every morning and smiling broadly, greet each student who comes in.  You need to do the same thing for your secretaries, custodians, cooks and teachers, and have ongoing positive interactions with every stakeholder you encounter.  If you are smiling on the outside, even though the stress of running a high school is killing you on the inside on that day, then that is what your students and staff will remember.

Attend every school event you can.  Drive to the mock trial competition at the courthouse as well as to the basketball game.  Go to every play and every concert, sit down with your students at their lunch tables, and sit with the parents at away sporting events.  Why? Because an important part of being a leader is being all in, every day, with every member of your school family.

Actively engage every school day at every school event with every person you can.  Be a cheerleader for your school-- it will show that you care about every person, and that is one of the most important roles a leader has.

Being a leader today in education is not easy, but it is the best job in the world.  By being effective communicators, catalysts and cheerleaders, we can enhance learning for every student, every day, and change lives. And very few people get to do that for a career.

100% Can and Should Be the Goal

Education in the US has undergone tremendous changes in the last 5 years.  Two significant ones are the greater accountability for teachers for student learning and the implementation of Common Core.  Having been a high school administrator for the last 15 years and high school principal for the last 9 prior to this year, I have led and been involved in a number of discussions on these changes.

One common theme in the discussion to some of this educational reform from educators is that we should not be expected to adopt a business model because we are educators.  Some educators have felt that accountability is fine for businesses who can seemingly control their factors, but we should not be expected to adopt such rigorous reform that includes accountability standards for teachers, administrators, buildings and districts.

As a 30-year public educator, both as a high school and middle school teacher and as a high school administrator, I certainly understand some of the concerns, including educators being held accountable for assessments for which the state government has provided little time or support for administration and that teachers have never seen.

It is difficult to prepare students for assessments with which educators have very little experience. And these assessments are extremely arduous for special education students and English language learners who are not starting on an even playing field.  We certainly need to re-look at the graduation requirements for these students and mandated expectations.

But I also believe that we are responsible for a lack of establishing our own accountability for student learning for much of my career.  For too long, schools and teachers taught what they liked to teach with little or no focus or accountability to student learning.

I also believe that our educational systems have been plagued by low standards and expectations of our work, and that we should adopt much more rigorous expectations and goals, just as other professionals have for years.

The business world's ability to align staff and whole organizations to very high standards and a common mission and vision is what  educators and schools can and should emulate.  Our students deserve it, just as consumers of business organizations deserve it. A life-changing event in our family illustrates our appreciation for an organization with extremely high expectations for its consumers-- patients.

Almost two years ago my husband suffered a debilitating medical condition, a detached retina.  He had suffered no injury and had no precursors or warning.  One morning he woke up and an hour later his retina detached in his right eye.

Twenty-four hours later we were in emergency surgery which ended with a daunting post-surgery regimen.  He had to keep his head down for 24 hours a day for two straight weeks.  After the surgeon reattaches the retina, he inserts a gas bubble into the eye.  Staying face down causes the gas bubble to rise and floating on the back of the eye, rubs and helps heal the attached retina.  And we thought educators' jobs required high expertise. My husband is the runner, biker, skiier-type and an automotive crash research engineer.  Our lives as planned came to a stop.  He could not work, drive or do any normal activities.

Photo courtesy Idea go, free digital photos

As a high school principal I continued to work, meshed with putting three drops in his eyes before work, coming home to prepare his lunch and three more eye drops, and then home for dinner and more eye drops.  It was difficult to see him face down while trying to pass the time, even while sleeping.  I would come and go to various school events and return to him, still face down.  He was a good patient and followed all of the post-surgical regimen.

After these long two weeks, we returned to the surgeon, hopeful to hear him say that his eye was healed and our lives could return to normal.  As the surgeon peered into the eye we waited for what we hoped would be positive feedback.  Silence.

Then he hesitatingly stated that he was concerned about fluid in the eye and he wanted to watch it for two days as it could indicate there was still a hole in the retina.  After two lengthy days we returned and, alas, there was too much fluid and indeed, either a new hole had developed or the first surgery had not found this hole.

This news was devastating, as the surgeon had explained at our first surgery that while first detached retina surgeries are often successful, each failure leads to a more invasive surgery with more negative results for vision.  Retinas that are unable to be attached lead to blindness in that eye, a life-changer.

And then, the surgeon uttered these words that  us hope.  He told us that at his retinal surgery group, their goal was 100% re-attachments, and that he intended to reach that goal with us. The second surgery would be more difficult, and vision may be more compromised, but he intended to attach the retina.

My husband underwent the surgery, missed eight weeks of work, but has an attached retina in his eye. We appreciated we were part of the group which had 100% of successful surgeries as a goal.

I often now use this example in my presentations to educators, now as an educational consultant/presenter and a retired high school principal.  What if every teacher set a goal for every one of his or her students that 100% of them would be successful?  What if every school set that goal for every student, and more importantly worked toward it every day and communicated it with every student and parent?

Would every teacher instruct differently?  Would every school respond differently?  The answer is yes.

Photo courtesy Stuart Miles, free digital photos

I  know that some educators, both teachers and administrators, feel that 100% is an unrealistic goal. That we have too many students with external issues.  Is every patient the same?  Do surgeons have perfect and healthy patients or those with diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure that makes them more difficult to heal, whatever the ailment?

What if my husband's automotive crash research facility had less than a 100% goal for crash test safety?  Do you want the surgeon with less than a 100% success goal?  Do we want to eat at a restaurant with less that a 100% sanitation/safety goal?

Graphic courtesy of Jayme Linton via Twitter

Certainly some students are more challenging than others, but schools with effective pyramid of interventions can respond more appropriately, just as physicians respond individually to patients. High schools can be caring cultures and climates with dedication to 100% of students' success.  How? Through professional learning community work and alignment of all key stakeholders to a focus on learning.

Our school is a Professional Learning Community that focuses every day on learning, aligning every practice and aspect to a goal of 100% learning for every student every day with every teacher every class period. Every staff member focuses on the four questions of PLC work collaboratively in same-subject teams.  It has transformed our school into a true learning community, and high expectations yield high results.

In trying to attain perfection, we achieve excellence. Put simply, you hit what you aim for, so aim high.  And it has brought us success in a number of external indicators-- National Blue Ribbon School, National Model PLC at Work School, #88 in Newsweek rankings of America's Best High School, and outscoring Shanghai, the highest performing school system in the world, in reading, math and science on the PISA, the international assessment that ranks the world's best schools.

 If you are satisfied with a goal of 85% of student success, or a 77% goal, or a 95% goal, ask yourself if that would be good enough if you were choosing a pediatric surgeon or oncologist.  The answer would be no, for the failure rate is a life-changer, particularly if it is you, or your child.

Now picture your child in a classroom.  What would be an acceptable student success percentage that you would want his/her teacher to set?

Photo courtesy JSCreations, free digital photos

You see, that is the "why," the most important question that separates high-performing schools from average ones.  Shoot high, for if you fall short, you will have still achieved greater than your goal. Do we attain 100%?  Not necessarily, but do we exist in order to work towards 100% to change students' lives every day?  Yes.  And that is the growth mindset that is and will be the difference in education.

Graphic courtesy of Twitter

Paradigms for every educator: Microscope and Telescope

For those of us who are involved in improving student learning for every student in our schools every day, we have a myriad of research available to us, whether we are teachers, administrators, educational staff, or consultants.

Having served as a high school principal for the last nine years, I have not only read widely and deeply in educational research such as Professional Learning Community principles, Marzano, Hattie, Stiggins and other educational researchers but helped facilitate its implementation with our staff since Dublin Jerome's inception in 2004.  Now an educational consultant working with a variety of educators in diverse districts, I know that educators are working hard to digest research and implement effective instructional strategies to positively impact student learning.

This summer I read Training Camp by Jon Gordon, and one of the life lessons a football coach teaches the protagonist discusses the advantages of looking at life through both a microscope and a telescope.

I couldn't help but think how we, as educators and educational leaders, would also benefit from looking at our work through both paradigms.

Why? As educators, whether it be as a classroom teacher, building principal, central office administrator, or consultant, we benefit from looking at our practices and data both with a microscope and with a telescope.

Photo by Photokanok

Our data analysis often needs a microscope, making sure we "put the faces on the data," as Stiggins exhorts us to do, and digging deep to ask those "I wonder why" questions to give meaning to the data.  But we would also benefit from using a telescope, a longer range and bigger picture of our data.  This big picture gives us the opportunity to look at data longitudinally as well as conduct comparison analysis with same-subject team members and alignment with building and district data goals.

School districts often find classrooms teachers or individual building principals constantly using microscopes as they are laser-focused on their immediate student needs, with all of the daily stress, pressure and emotions associated with it.  Conversely, we associate telescopes with district administrators who must often analyze mounds of data from multiple buildings while always keeping a big picture in mind.

Photo by Idea.go

The most effective way to truly impact student learning, however, is for every educator-- classroom, building or district, to analyze data utilizing the paradigms of both the microscope and the telescope. A balance of paradigms in data analysis truly leads to more effective and aligned instructional strategies and a positive effect on student learning.

Live, learn and hope

And so it is March 31, the end of the Slice of Life Challenge for this year. I remember at the end of last year, my first Slice of Life, I had a great feeling of exhilaration and relief.

Although I didn't write every day, I felt proud of my participation.

This year was different.  I truly believed that I could indeed write every single day, a bold and challenging yet thrilling prospect.  And I was proud of my progress and confident. Until March 20.  I am not even sure what happened that day.

It was spring break and I had worked every day, and so since it was Friday afternoon I longed for some relaxation and recreation.  I drove to Easton, a local shopping district, entered Brio's and watched some NCAA March Madness.  I thought to myself as I walked around-- Is this what people who are not high school principals do on a Friday? Sit in a bar and drink wine and beer?  What a strange paradigm.

After walking to Nordstrom's, Coach, Clark's Shoes, Crate and Barrel and a few other favorite window shopping stores, I returned home and relaxed prior to going out for a rare Friday night dinner with my husband since I work most Friday nights.

Ahh-- our favorite restaurant, great lobster, chopped salad and potatoes au gratin and back home.

Relaxing on the couch, we watched a few of the TV shows we record, especially Hawaii Five-O and slept soundly. It was just a beautiful evening.

And then when I woke up, it hit me.  I had not written on Friday.  As I became more alert, I reviewed it in my head.  I mentally re-wound Friday and yes, realized again, that after 19 straight days I had missed my first day, ruining my perfectionistic goal of writing every day.

I was simultaneously angry and disappointed in myself.  How could I let this happen?

I had written when I was overly tired, I had written with a high fever from the flu, and yet, in one day, without even thinking about it, I had just forgotten to write.

I actually thought about just ending the challenge there, but I found a way to write again.  And enjoy it again.

Did I write every day the rest of the month? No-- it does seem that once you miss one day it is easier to miss another.  And so on a trip to Indiana and spending four days with the best educational leaders, researchers, authors and educational practitioners in the United States, I then missed four days of writing.  And I was OK with it, whatever that shows.

Graphic from Page-A-Day Calendar.

But tonight, I just could not skip writing on the last day.

Why?  Because the Slice of Life Challenge is just that. A challenge.  And I love a challenge!

Perfect last year?  No. Perfect this year?  No.  Back next year?  Absolutely.

Why?  Because I have discovered that I can enjoy something and be imperfect.

And that is a great thing to learn about yourself.  I learned that on some days, you just have to live. And I learned that there is always hope for tomorrow.  Or for next year's Slice?

 Isn't that the real reason for the challenge?

Hundreds of channels and so little to watch

We have hundreds of channels on our cable service, and I am sure many of you do also.

And yet, night after night we struggle to find something on to watch.  We dislike reality TV-- so what do we watch?

We record Hawaii 5-0 and sometimes binge-watch catching up.  Big Bang Theory is a big hit, both in syndicated reruns and new programs, again set to record.  I love Blue Bloods and also record it to watch later, and do the same with NCIS and NCIS New Orleans.

We don't get Showtime or HBO but will record old movies from some of the other movie channels, especially Indiana Jones, Star Wars and the National Treasure series shows.

During college football and basketball season we watch Big Ten and Ohio State games especially and have it on when we are doing other household tasks and also do the same with some pro football games, especially the Browns.  Yes-- we are long-suffering Browns fans.

I drive my husband crazy going up and down the Guide finding nothing or little to watch.  On the weekends we watch the morning news shows and when I am doing school work I will watch CMT for the country music videos.

Occasionally I record really old sitcoms such as Andy Griffith as it reminds me of watching these wonderful episodes over and over again with my Dad.  Throw in Matlock, Hogan's Heroes and Gomer Pyle for the same reasons.  I can still hear his laugh.

Apparently we are still among the few who watch evening news shows when we are home, mostly CBS, and since we are creatures of habit, follow that with honing family not-so-friendly competition in viewing Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune.

And that is pretty much it for us in the course of the week. We watch very few shows when scheduled and have about 10 regulars.  So glad we are paying for hundreds of choices. :)