Podcast for Leaderful Schools

• 6 + 4 = Deep Learning for All: Six Global Competencies Plus Four Elements of Learning Design

  Dr. Robert Maxfield and Dr. Suzanne Klein welcome their guest Dr. Mag Gardner, Senior Global Capacity Building Facilitator for New Pedagogies for Deep Learning and the featured speaker at the fall EdCON22, hosted by the Galileo Institute. Her background experience includes: secondary school teacher, principal, superintendent, and work at the Ministry in different settings around Ontario, and a little bit of work in England.  Dr. Gardner noted, “Probably the most profound experience I had was leading deep learning in one of the districts in Ontario.  It was such a magical experience that I've been able to join the global team of New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (N.P.D.L.) and help to generate the enthusiasm and the work around the world.”Reflecting upon the impact of the pandemic, Dr. Klein referenced one of the N.P.D.L. papers entitled, “Defying Pandemic Gravity”.  Dr. Gardner explained, “The pandemic presented some daunting complexities that are still constraining our schools and the pandemic made it really difficult to build capacity and advance learning for both kids and for staff…we asked ourselves, how can we support staff, so they can refocus that precious energy on student learning, and what was it that educators needed to jump start deep learning. So, our suggestion was really simple: to focus on the needs of staff, to build learning, capacity and culture in small deliberate moves.”“The key words in that paper were all verbs like: dignify, gratify, simplify, clarify, amplify, and it just speaks to our own bias at N.P.D.L. (New Pedagogies for Deep Learning) where we have a bias towards action. So, for us, doing nothing was not an option. We advocated for just inching forward and investing in relationships and looking for the good that was all around us, knowing that change happens in those small micro moments. You know those little gestures, the small tweaks, the tiny moves like the moments of courage and love that snowball into life informing significance. And so really, that's what that paper was all about.” Dr. Gardner encourages educators "to think six and four, which partners the six global competencies: character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking, with the four elements of learning design: learning partnerships, pedagogical practices, learning environment and leveraging digital. The four elements provide a simple framework, where teachers can return to designing learning that's responsive to the students’ strengths and their needs and their interests, and that stimulates students, minds and their hearts. So when we look at the four elements: learning partnerships, learning environments, leveraging digital, pedagogical practices, we're talking about well-known strategies that engage learners and also stimulate thinking.”Learning partnerships“How we create partnerships between and among students, relationships with teachers, with families and with the wider community. There's so much knowledge that a teacher can't be expected to know everything, but should be invited to draw in lots of expertise within the classroom, inviting student voice and their perspective. Students’ rich and robust experiences can contribute to the whole learning opportunity. This is really about relationships, relationships, relationships when we're talking about learning partnerships.”Learning environments“We're talking about the third teacher (the physical environment) and creating lots of flexible, inviting, welcoming spaces, but what do we do with the culture, that invisible environment? How does it foster that sense of safety and the sense of belonging? Do students feel as though they are significant, that their presence and their involvement in the class matters? What we're talking about is the learning environment, the physical space; it’s that learning community, that climate and culture that enables students to flourish.” Leveraging digital“How do we leverage digital so it accelerates our knowledge and our understanding? Is there a way of using digital to go beyond those classroom walls and cultivate opportunities for collaboration and for creativity? Digital needs to be an accelerator, generating something new in the classroom; learning that couldn't be created without it.”Pedagogical practices“Teachers have well proven pedagogical practices to engage students, to really tap those six global competencies. It's important to acknowledge that there is good work happening everywhere. We're not asking teachers to throw all those good practices away, but rather think about how those other three elements can be incorporated into pedagogical practices to amplify innovation and to bring learning to a whole new level, and think about what's one next thing that they could do to move towards a much more fulfilling deep learning framework."Dr. Gardner emphasized that “it is critical that teachers really understand who the students in front of them are, not the ones they taught five years ago, but the ones right now. What do they care about? What peaks their curiosity? We're talking taking the first step inviting authentic student voice, and actualizing the belief that students can contribute as change makers. And that's the way to begin to move and shift from a talking culture to a listening and coaching culture, enabling teachers to ‘defront their classroom' giving students navigational control.”“We’re suggesting that deep learning is as important for the adult as it is for the students. Actually, the adults need to be able to exercise those six global competencies. The adults need to be able to pursue what interests them. They need to be able to exercise their strengths, and they need to be able to come together collaboratively to problem solve.”When asked how teacher leaders and administrators start this journey, Dr. Gardner advised, “We always say begin with the coalition of the eager. Who are the teachers in your schools, who already are showing passion for this kind of work? They are courageous; they're willing to take a few risks. They want to work with each other. They want to build those connections with a global community. Start with them because they are going to learn so much together, and they will teach the school a lot about what is possible.”Addressing concerns about low enrollment in teacher preparation programs, Dr. Gardner proposed that “we need to do a much better global marketing job. This is the best profession in the world, and it is a profession that prepares all professions, making an incredible impact on today’s society and also tomorrow’s society. There is no such thing as ‘just a teacher’; you change the world. We need to move to a space where we regenerate a real pride in the profession. We provide opportunities for professional rigor with each other, that important validation of our profession, so that people feel as though they can make a difference, that they can problem solve, that they can be creative, that they can again exert all those six competencies.We have to be optimistic about the future and we have to create conditions where teachers can thrive again. And so that's up to us.”Dr. Gardner concluded the podcast speaking about two huge challenges: equity and well-being, which are priorities within our schools right now. “We need to create some deliberate opportunities and conditions for not only healing but for flourishing for every student. I would suggest that some initiatives such as school-wide assemblies on anti-racism, while checking a box on a school improvement plan, may not have an impact on all students. A yoga class addressing well-being may not respond to students’ needs, nor equip students with the meta-condition to manage their well-being independently. While they have good intentions, they may inadvertently work against the efforts to improve well-being and equity.”“We can no longer tinker our way toward transformation. It's up to us as leaderful educators to intentionally create spaces where students can thrive, where equity and well-being are embedded, where equity and well-being are baked into our classroom communities and normalized in our day-to-day practice.  What we're learning in our deep learning work from our knowledge building partnership from around the world is that when classes are engaged in deep learning, it serves all of our kids, and especially those kids who are traditionally under served. It has a way of leveling the playing field and inviting all students to demonstrate their abilities in a range of ways. Students who struggled with well-being issues begin to feel empowered. Students who didn’t have a voice are now feeling as though they can exert themselves within the classroom. We know that deep learning is not only about drawing connections with what we learn, but it's about making connections with whom we learn, and making connections about how we learn, and all these connections open up hope for students. It builds a sense of individual and collective efficacy, and it changes their trajectories. We need to get at equity and well-being and deep learning is a great way to authentically get there.”Gardner, Mag, et.al. “Defying Pandemic Gravity: How to Jumpstart Deep Learning in your School”, New Pedagogies for Deep Learning, Deep Learning in Action Series, Issue 04, March 2022.   https://bit.ly/DefGravNP22                          Also, here is a link to our Deep Learning Lab brochure. I forgot to mention that this is a great way for people to dip their toe into Deep Learning.   https://deep-learning.global/DLL23/

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  29:51
• Creating School Environments Where Deep Learning Really Happens

  After experiencing incredible challenges during the pandemic, schools are returning to in-person learning. Podcasts for Leaderful Schools hosts, Bob Maxfield and Suzanne Klein, invite their guest Will Richardson, co-founder of the Big Questions Institute, to reflect on the pivotal question of what’s worth teaching and learning, and how to promote learning so we can live up to the promise of American public education.“It really is about not going back to school, but going back to creating environments where learning happens really deeply.” Will Richardson pointed out “the distinctions between learning loss and schooling loss; let’s get back to learning versus let’s get back to school; and not just going back and doing things a bit better, but doing things different. We’re helping schools, teams and communities build capacity to engage in conversations around different not just better, which is a shift in the way we talk about schools and education traditionally.” What is a coherent definition of learning? “The first step is you have to have some coherence as to how you define what learning is, and how it happens, and what the conditions are that are required for that. And the honest truth is that a lot of schools are still incoherent about that.”“If you don't have a coherent, shared, lived definition of learning, then kids are in ‘incoherence’. They're going from classroom to classroom, having to figure out what every teacher means when they say to learn something. There isn't a coherent narrative or this thread or through line in their experience where everyone is building on the same understanding of how learning happens and what it needs to look like in classrooms.”What contributes to learning? “We're starting to realize that a lot of what we do in schools really is not supportive of the way humans learn. Putting kids into age-grouped classrooms is not a great condition for learning, nor is limiting them to fifty or sixty, or eighty-minute time sessions, one subject at a time. That's not how we learn in the real world. None of those are conditions for really great learning to happen.”“The type of learning that we want to see our kids do in classrooms is problem-based, question-based and meaningful. I think a lot more schools are trying to figure out how to create situations where kids can do more agentic learning where they have more agency, more choice, and more real freedom to pursue what they want to learn on their own terms.  Adults in the room fill in and support, question and probe, and do all those things that deepen that experience for them. I think that we're seeing a lot more opportunities for kids to really go in their own direction.”“What we are seeing now are schools popping up on the edges that are really different and going about things very differently. They’re basically leaving the traditional systems, narratives and practices behind and going grade-less. They're not organizing by age. It really is about deep student-driven, project-based inquiry-based learning, with teachers more as supports. ““Teachers may be up against a whole bunch of obstacles when it comes to moving into those types of pedagogies and those types of learning environments, because there is no coherent vision for what they want it to look like as a school, as a community. I don't think they've had the conversations.”What do leadership teams need to do? “One of the most important jobs for leadership teams right now is to figure out a capacity building strategy for the community to understand a different narrative, a different story about the experience of school for their kids.  How are kids going to thrive in the future if they continue to live the current story?"“Helping to create a different narrative or story is something we have to embed in our practice on a regular basis as school leaders, teachers and people in school.It's things like exhibitions of student work during the year or the community open exhibitions where kids are showing the types of interesting learning that they're doing, and describing it and talking about why it matters to them.”“There is another layer to this that gets even more complicated, but is equally urgent. It’s not just about our kids in our schools; it’s about the world now. How do we all see ourselves as a part of the much larger kind of living system that is on this planet that is under duress right now?  I know a lot of people have a struggle even having that conversation in the community.” Should schools be places for the private or public good? “Schools have to be places now for literally the public community good, where we frame our work in the context that says we are part of a much larger system here. It can't be about ‘me’; it has to be about ‘we’.  It really has to change in terms of what we teach, how we teach it, the experiences we provide for kids, and the conversations we have in an ongoing way with the people in our communities.”“We are facing a lot of challenges right now in the world. We’re not going to solve them without education. We can mitigate the challenging hardships and really contribute to the solutions if we think about education differently.”What are two books you recommend to school leaders? “The first one is Who do we choose to be? by Margaret Wheatley, which is the powerful question she asks leaders.  How do we lead in our communities at a time of very, very deep difficulty, being good human beings and interacting with one another with a spirit of joy and hope but understanding that the larger problems may be unsolvable?”“The second book is Education in a Time Between Worlds by Zachary Stein. His thesis is that we are in a ‘world system transition’. For education this brings up an almost unimaginable design challenge in terms of how we create an education for humanity at a moment of huge, huge shift.”“Meg's book is about how we take this particular moment and make the best of it.  Zak's book is how we take this particular moment and aspire to something that really is different, and then begin to think about pathways to getting there.”What is the design challenge for schools?   “We're helping schools move away from strategic planning to strategic design instead. How do we create the skills, literacy and disposition of designers, when we have conversations around schools, our practice and our environment?”“So, if we're in this ‘world system transition’ and if we have this design challenge, then can we transport ourselves into the future to look into schools and see what are the things that are happening there that are good or bad, but then actually create artifacts and bring them back into the present?”“As powerful as a story and narrative is when it comes to thinking differently or changing the script, even more powerful is actually holding an artifact in your hand and thinking about it. How do we get there, if it's something that we want to have happen? How is our work in the present getting us toward this kind of aspirational future?”Final thoughts:“I think that leaders have to engage in radical truth telling right now.  I think that we have to just be deeply honest about what's working and what’s not working in schools, in the context of how we understand learning and human beings, and acknowledge those things.”“It requires a truthful assessment about the state of schools today, as well as thinking about potential opportunities for students and teachers and learners in communities in a world where we continue to see an explosion of ways that we can connect, create and access teachers and information in interesting and fascinating ways.”“Engage students, teachers, parents, community members in these ongoing conversations.  Bring people together in groups and ask questions like: what is learning, what success means right now for this community. Be transparent about those conversations, and really try to use them as ways of building capacity in their communities.”References:   https://bigquestions.institute/bqi-new-homepage/Stein, Zachary, Education in a  Time Between Worlds Essays on the Future of  Schools, Technology and Society,  San Francisco, California, Bright Alliance, March 1, 2019.Wheatley, Margaret, Who Do We Choose to Be? Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity, Oakland, California, Berrett-Koehler Publishers, June 9, 2017.Podcast for Leaderful Schools, previous episode with Will Richardson, October, 2021https://podcast-for-leaderful-schools.simplecast.com/episodes/epic-design-challenge-for-schools

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  30:11
• Shared Leadership: It's not about your title; it's about your action.

  Woven throughout the podcast conversation with Mary Kay Gallagher, Superintendent of Northville Public Schools, is her inherent belief in the tremendous importance of collective work and shared leadership. She was hired in Northville as the Early Childhood Program Coordinator in 1985, and has held various district leadership positions, becoming Superintendent in 2011. Her leadership journey Mary Kay Gallagher was hired to begin a pilot early childhood program, "adding a full-day childcare program, along with expanding our after school programs, and involved in K-2 curriculum development.” As Moraine Elementary School Principal, she noted it was “a great opportunity to build leadership capacity across our teachers and students and become a National School of Character as a result of shared leadership.” As  Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services, Mary Kay Gallagher “had the opportunity to move our district goals more in the direction of alignment with learning communities and Rick DuFour’s work, which continues to be a foundation.”  She noted as superintendent, “moving the district goal setting processes to focus on learning and growth mindset, in a five-year cycle so that long term continuous goal setting really centered around our vision and purpose” is a point of pride.A culture of learning, leadership and the focus on learner voice and agency“I think over the course of time in Northville, the growth in our culture of learning and leadership has been really instrumental, along with that focus on learner voice and agency which research bears out to be critical.  Our vision work in moving to build on a tradition of excellence along with that whole idea of opening a world of possibilities for and with our students is something that I’m really proud of, our work collectively.”“Northville has had a longstanding commitment to a multi-tiered system of support (M.T.S.S.) providing intervention and support: bringing students together through peer pals, peer links and our unified teams. We've had the great fortune to have a center-based special education program as a part of our Northville community and that's been a strength of ours, in terms of bringing different learners together and building on each other's strengths... We have marginalized students that we need to continue to give thought to and the greater work that we have to do in fostering inclusive school communities."In 1997, Northville was one of the founding members of the Galileo Teacher Leadership Consortium. “Galileo impacted Northville Schools through its work on leadership and Linda Lambert’s building leadership capacity. One of the big principles was making sure we had our Galileo leaders on our school improvement teams and that whole idea of building shared vision.  Utilizing a D.C.I. Chart (Decision Maker, Consulted, and Informed), we surveyed our staff on their preferred participation in decision making.  Those pieces really became part of our school community, our work on intrinsic motivation, student voice, and how you engage teachers in supporting our kids in their learning. The work with Stephen Covey continues to be a driving force.” This reference is  to Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and maturity continuum from dependence to independence to interdependence.Leader in Me Lighthouse Schools affirm the role of shared leadership and student voice“All six of our elementary schools are Leader in Me Lighthouse Schools and have adopted that framework. Why I think that's so powerful is it addresses what our teachers are doing. There's that teacher lighthouse team and teacher feedback, our student leaders, and then that family connection. That framework involves everyone and also connects academic goals to the social-emotional learning goals.”Leadership at all levels  and voice in the organization“I think that leadership capacity work rises to the district level because you're really taking a look at how your principals have a voice in what's happening in your district, and then at the building level, teachers are involved in looking at their sphere of influence and taking a look at where they have impact, and that idea of leading from everywhere in your organization. It's not about your title; it's about your action.” "As I have applied that to the role of the superintendent, it certainly gets more challenging because you have more voices in your ears. You're answering to your community, you're answering to seven individual board members, so there's a lot of variables in the mix. But if you can build systems where that voice is a part of your process, I think that's tremendous.  I also think the more recent work on teachers as facilitators, leaders as facilitators, Carolyn McKanders’ work, has been very impactful in terms of having protocols, norms you set up and processes for bringing divergent voices together and still being able to move the work. During the myriad of challenge so the pandemic, "people either felt left out of decision making or felt like their voices weren't heard.  As we come back together I’m trying to figure out those systems that allow you to continue to have the voices and have the right people at the table and make sure you have structures in place for hearing voices. Do that in ways that are effective in terms of moving on decisions a little more quickly...Then set up systems for feedback loops and monitoring and adjusting. Collaborating and capitalizing on collective expertise“We, as a profession, need to continue to move forward on how we collaborate and work together, and how we share that work with our students because we can't be reinventing the wheel in every classroom… We've made some tremendous growth with technology expanding access to content area experts,  connecting with kids across the world, and  finding new ways to gather and support one another... our kids have the opportunity of all these global connections, but they also have the impact of the weight of worry and concern for an entire globe on their shoulders too. ““We have to capitalize on the collective expertise because we have seen firsthand and more extensively the impact of trauma on learning. We need knowledgeable folks; we need to work together. We definitely have to make sure our teachers, our professionals, our counselors, social workers, mental health providers, all have the tool sets and the materials and equipment and opportunities to impact our kids. We really need as a society to make that investment in the future of our world.”Advice for aspiring leaders: Create a shared vision and coherence by listening. If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together. - African Proverb“Leading a school district isn't about your personal vision, it is about shared vision and coherence and you only get there by listening.  When you are listening and having conversation, you have to be very thoughtful about facilitation and be mindful of what you say and what you do…The greatest thing that you do as leaders in the thoughtful work is gather folks together. I have had the great fortune to connect with other superintendents.  We've move away from the idea of mentorship just across our team, so I think you need to have those thought partners.”I think the thing about leadership is we all have egos and you can't do this work without having some strength and fortitude and commitment to your values. You do have to check your ego at the door because this is about the work, it's about the kids. It's about our collective work. It's not about you or getting that title of superintendent, it's about our collective work." Covey, Stephen R., The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Simon & Schuster, 30th Anniversary Edition, May 19, 2020.DuFour, Richard, DuFour, Rebecca, & Eaker, Robert, Revisiting Professional Leading Communities at Work, Solution Tree, Tenth Anniversary Edition, January, 2008.Lambert, Linda, Leadership Capacity for Lasting School Improvement, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development; 59843 Edition, Alexandria, Virginia, July 1, 2003. 

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  36:38
• Chalkbeat: Local and State Coverage of Educational News

  Bob Maxfield and Suzanne Klein continue their conversation on the impact of the pandemic, what has happened to schools, and how schools could improve going forward with their guest Lori Higgins, the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Detroit. Prior to joining Chalkbeat, she was an education writer for the Detroit Free Press from 2000 to 2018.  She also served as an education writer and the assistant metro editor for the Green Bay Press-Gazette, in Wisconsin.  What is Chalkbeat?   https://www.chalkbeat.org/Chalkbeat is a national nonprofit news organization with bureaus in eight cities, including Detroit, committed to covering the efforts to improve schools for all children.  The impact of education on children is evident at the local community level.  According to Lori Higgins, “There is very little reporting about what's happening at the local school level, or the local district level. At Chalkbeat we want to fill in those gaps that exist in news coverage. It is just so important that we show editors and publishers that this is a very important topic. When it's not covered, it's just not good for our communities.”“We also highlight education reporting all over the state so it gives our readers a chance to see the issues beyond metro Detroit that are pretty common to what they're experiencing, or they may find that there's some unique thing that some district in Grand Rapids or somewhere else in the state is doing. So, there is a link at the bottom of our web page where you can sign up for our newsletter.”  Chalkbeat’s Mission“We are very much driven by this idea that every child deserves a quality education.  We are all about our mission, which is to write about the inequities in education… As journalists we’re taught to always be objective but pushing for this is just so vital; pushing forward, not in an advocacy way but in an educational way: highlighting the inequities, highlighting the solutions, highlighting what's being done to address them. When it's in the public eye, there's more of an opportunity or more of a chance that the people in charge: the lawmakers, the policymakers, will listen and do something about it.”Partnerships“We do a lot of partnerships with other media, so our story sometimes shows up on other media websites. The Detroit Free Press picks up our writing on a regular basis; Bridge does as well. We actually share a reporter with Bridge Michigan. Right now we're partnering with the Detroit Free Press and Bridge Michigan to cover how districts are spending the COVID relief money. We have a meeting today with our partners just sort of collaborating and thinking about what people want to know about how this money is being spent, and how this money is making a difference for only their own kids but kids in their community because obviously, not everybody has a kid in school, but everybody cares about schools. This is kind of a massive effort on our part, and that collaboration makes for richer reporting, richer stories, stronger stories, and we're not constantly duplicating efforts.”New York Times Sunday Review co-published an article by three Chalkbeat staff  Kalyn Belsha, Melanie Asmar, and Lori Higgins wrote the article “As schools try to recover, COVID’s toll lingers: ‘We haven’t seen fine, ever’ ”. When they observed classrooms and talked with teachers, the authors noted, “America's schools remain fragile as teachers catch their breath after the latest wave of Covid cases, many are teetering between cautious optimism and lingering exhaustion.” When asked about this quote Lori Higgins explained, “The past few years have been tough on everyone, particularly teachers. We are coming out of a period where COVID cases are down, and people feel a little more optimistic. There's still this fragility in the education system that we have to address… while COVID may be declining, it's still there and the lasting effects of it are just enormous.  We'll be dealing with the effects academically, emotionally, and socially for years to come, and I don't know that we're ready for that. I don't know that we've talked enough in public about how long it’s really going to take to recover from the pandemic.”“At Chalkbeat we themed this year ‘the comeback year’… but we questioned if this was really going to be a recovery year because we were still dealing with COVID outbreaks, and then we got hit with staff shortages and schools dealing with the challenge of how do we keep operating in-person, every day when we have this many staff out. ”https://www.chalkbeat.org/2022/3/19/22983067/COVID-schools-toll-remote-teachers-students-absences-learning-loss-graduation-rates                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Addressing the impact of the pandemic                                                                                                                                            Although she was reluctant to recommend anything, Lori Higgins shared some personal observations. “I think we're starting to see an emphasis on addressing the mental health challenges that have risen up, and let's be honest these issues predated the pandemic.  Schools were dealing with more and more of these issues, and I think the pandemic only exacerbated it. I do think that there's a common, or bipartisan push to address the mental health challenges.”“I think we're going to see a lot some emphasis on how do we improve online instruction. I think that there are parents who found online learning to be the best way for their kids to learn. Districts will have to figure out how to address the needs of those kids who do want to work; learn online so that they are getting a quality education.”ESSER Funds and School Finance“I think that there will be a lot of scrutiny into how districts are spending the COVID relief money and how effective they are at using the money to address the needs of students and staff.  I think there's going to be a side argument here about changing the funding system in Michigan, ensuring that the students who need it the most are getting additional funding. And I think there will be an attempt to look at the money that comes in from COVID and say this is the kind of money that we need; this is where funding should be. But I also think that they're going to have to be accountable; they're going to have to use this money effectively for lawmakers to say schools do need more money.  They're going to want to see some outcomes.”Teacher Recruitment and Retention“The governor wants to invest a lot of money recruiting and retaining teachers. She wants to provide bonuses for teachers and other school staff. People will still continue retiring, and we’ll still have a difficult time enticing people to go into teaching. I think we'll see lawmakers and policymakers looking at more or at broader initiatives. We're seeing more districts with Grow Your Own programs. Detroit just started a program last year where they took support staff through a summer program and then they entered the classroom in the fall.”“It's going to take people at all levels addressing this, but I think the one thing that lawmakers may not necessarily address that maybe should be addressed is the morale issue. There's a reason people are leaving, and there are reasons that people are not going into teaching. When I look at the system, it seems like this is something that has to be addressed in order to really solve this issue. There’s just a huge morale issue.”Lori Higgins’s personal story  “I had a grant a couple of years ago to do a big project about career and technical education and it's been stalled because of the pandemic…C.T.E (Career and Technical Education) is such a hands-on type of program and so I'm getting back to that project right now… I'm really excited about how C.T.E. can make a difference for a lot of kids.  I graduated from a vocational high school. It prepared me to be a secretary which I did not want to do, but there are so many advantages to coming out of a program like that, that I just value so much.”“I started college thinking that I wanted to be an accountant, even though I was really terrible at math. I was fortunate to have a roommate who was a journalism major. Going out with her on an assignment to cover a city council meeting was exciting because I always loved to write…educate the community and to potentially make a difference. I quickly changed my major and have not looked back since. I have been part of education journalism for pretty much my entire career. I was driven in part by growing up in a family full of educators: my mother was a teacher, three of her sisters were teachers, aunts, uncles; so many people in my family were teachers. I just remember sitting around at family gatherings and just listening as they talked about some of the challenges and some of the joys of teaching…So when I got into covering education in Manhattan, Kansas, it just felt natural. I think that education is the best beat at any news organization.”  

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  30:03
• A Purposeful Leadership Journey: Building Relationships, Distributing Leadership, Re-imagining Education

  Bob Maxfield and Suzanne Klein continue the series of conversations with educational leaders about the issues facing public schools, emerging from the pandemic. Their guest, Dr. Chris Delgado, reflects on his experience completing his first year as Superintendent of Farmington Public Schools, having spent more than a decade as Deputy Superintendent in the Walled Lake Consolidated Schools.The Fit“Farmington has always had a very special place in my heart.  I've  looked  at Farmington as very reminiscent of my wonderfully diverse childhood growing up in the city of Southfield. I’ve always kept my eye on Farmington and when the opportunity arose, I threw my hat in the ring and was fortunate enough to be given the position. In my interview, I  articulated my desire to finish my career in Farmington and commit fully to the community to make a difference in the lives of children in this community, and to support families.” The diversity of the districts in which Dr. Delgado previously held positions enables him to navigate different worlds and to help bring people together, was another facet that made him an attractive candidate for this superintendency.Building RelationshipsDr. Delgado noted with pride being able to live into “the vision of the superintendent that I wanted to be and envisioned being. It's very rewarding to get to know so many people personally, not only in schools but in the community. I've been able to be in schools, in every classroom and supporting children and supporting families, and really showing my commitment to everyone in the organization. In my first state of the city speech with over a hundred community members in attendance, I knew almost every individual and organization. In a very short time, we've really been able to establish some pretty solid relationships, both in the community, in the schools, and in the community at broad and so that's very satisfying for me."Reflections on his first year"I actually haven't been surprised by anything procedurally or managerially, and I attribute that to my time as a deputy superintendent, where essentially I ran the day-to-day operations of the entire district. Because I had so much experience as a deputy superintendent, leading others, implementing systems, collaborating with a board, with the community, that aspect of the job has made for a very smooth transition.”“I am surprised at how difficult it's been for me to find a balance in how to contribute when people are asking for my ideas and help, and needing them to develop as well in the same way that I was given the opportunity to develop as a deputy. I have a lot of knowledge and expertise that I want to offer to people but the art of leadership is very tricky in trying to listen more and be silent, and not introduce my ideas and allow people to develop their own ideas.”  “One of the challenges and the things that keep me up at night is the whole dynamic of social media in our lives and the amount of falsehoods and vitriol that can happen very quickly on social media, the judgment out in the community over a school issue without the context. Things are taken out of context and it starts to gain some traction on social media. The damage control is something that you really have to work hard to get out ahead of so that's a unique challenge for modern administrators in general, but certainly a first superintendent.”Distributing Leadership“In my first leadership team meeting, I talked about the theoretical framework behind distributed leadership and shared a clip from Dr. Alma Harris, talking about the difference between delegation and distributed leadership. Distributed leadership starts with the belief in other people and a belief that other people have something to contribute. Your status, whether you're a teacher, paraprofessional, secretary, or assistant principal, is irrelevant to leaderful schools. You can distribute leadership by tapping into the expertise and the interest of people and then supporting them.”“Distributed leadership is modeled in strategic planning work or other committee work. When you as a parent or a teacher or a secretary can contribute in a meaningful way, where your ideas are valued and they turn into action steps or action plans, then you're more committed organizationally. We have five overarching goals, eight subcommittees, and over a hundred community members including teachers, parents, paras, custodians, and secretaries, on these committees working towards our vision and our profile of a learner in Farmington Public Schools.”Re-imagining Education“We have a board of education goal for innovation in education. Our vision for what we call our RVPR (Remote and Virtual Program) includes: flexibility of things like hybrid classes in the future; rethinking how we do high school; FLEX and hybrid schedules. We're maintaining our K-12 virtual program as well as a remote program; one being a live synchronous daily schedule and then asynchronous ‘learn at your own pace’ for those learners in those subjects where they may be able to pursue that on their own. When given the options students may choose to do an asynchronous class for history or an English class, but for some of the hard sciences, like math and science, prefer a synchronous model.”“There's no reason that we can't rethink education and now that we have the skill set, the ability, the infrastructure with the Chromebooks and the technology, we can really start to re-imagine this. That's exactly what our strategic plan in Farmington is doing, rethinking that. A board of education subcommittee exploring pupil accounting flexibility met with state officials on how we might be able to provide flexibility to get us away from the 1098 hours that we all had to fit the box in. So we're very excited about those possibilities and we're better instructionally I think, having gone through the pandemic. We have a broader and deeper skill set.”Recruitment and Retainment“I think that some of the efforts that we've heard from the state as well as on regional level on loan forgiveness could be a huge incentive in young people being able to go into the public professions.I think we need to do our best to re-change that narrative to promote to young people that it's a wonderful profession, a wonderful career. We should encourage teacher leaders to look at administrative leadership because we need good people in every single position along the chain.”“If you look at the research on incentives and merit pay, salary alone doesn't validate people; it's recognition, acknowledgment, involvement in their organization, and being able to contribute in a meaningful way. At every school and district building, Dr. Delgado met face-to-face with staff to learn about their experience and asked the question, why would anyone want to work in Farmington Public Schools, and why would you want to stay here? That feedback will be shared with the Assistant Superintendent of Talent Development to talk about recruitment and retainment.”Advice to aspiring superintendents “The first piece of advice I would give them is to experience central office before you jump into a superintendency. It's not that you can't come from a building level leadership and go to a superintendency, but the value you will gain from being in central office from being able to work shoulder-to-shoulder with the board of education, to have kind of a broader 10,000 or 50,000-foot view, to make connections with the community members; you will better understand the position before you assume the position.”“Second, research the districts that you think match your skill set. How do your skill set and experience align with what you know about the district that you're applying to? Your fit is so very important. Research the philosophy of the district, and the individual perspectives of the board members. Before I applied for Farmington I watched hours of board meetings to understand who the people are, where their hearts were, where their minds were. Pick a district where you think you can make a meaningful contribution. Just don't run quickly to the role.”Personal testimony to the power of public education“My wife and I are both first-generation college students. Our parents were wonderful blue-collar workers and didn't have the opportunity to go to college. When we moved into our home we took our dining room and made it into the office. Around all four walls, we have hung not only our diplomas but also our children's diplomas. Ever since they were little kids in order to walk to the kitchen they had to come through this office. In as little as one generation we changed the narrative from poverty to opportunity and the perspective about not just university pursuits but post-secondary pursuits. So public education changed our lives and changed the trajectory of our children's lives. That's why I think it's so important for people to go into this field as teachers, as leaders, and as superintendents. I wanted to share that story just to highlight the power in my mind and in my heart of public education.” 

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