ACM1 Task 1

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1 ACM1 Task 1: Managing Change Kristin Nilsen College of Education; Educational Leadership, Western Governors University Paul Vickers March 21, 2023

2 A: Leadership Style Evaluation In the scenario video, a former principal outlines his attempt to change and improve reading scores at an underperforming high school. He references the community as a rural, yet suburban community, with many blue-collar community members, where students aren't necessarily college-bound students. He mentions that he was brought in to help change the narrative of the school by implementing a transformational leadership style over a long period of time. (Leading Change Assessment Video, :029) At approximately 1:49 in the video, this principal addresses statistics that drove his initiative to adjust reading scores and mindsets in the school. In the current year, only 51.8% of high school Juniors could read at grade level or above, which indicates that almost half of the 11 th -grade class was reading below grade average based on test scores. Reviewing data from years past, this number was trending downward. Only two years ago 53.1% of students could read at grade level, meaning the data was stagnant and improvements need to be made to improve reading scores at the high school. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 2:11) In the video, the principal self-identifies that he was using a laissez-faire leadership style to tackle this particular problem. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 4:26) A Laissez-faire leadership style is defined as “…laissez-faire style gave complete freedom to the group and displayed little concern for completing a job. Followers were left to make decisions on their own.” (Green, R. L., 43) The principal cited the chaotic nature of May as a principal for his decision to allow his English Language Arts faculty to complete this task unassisted. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 4:01) He also self-identifies that a long-term goal for him and his building is to implement a transformational leadership style. “Using a transformational style, leaders develop positive

3 relationships with followers inside and outside of the schoolhouse. More specifically, these relationships are ones in which the leader and followers are bound together around a set of common beliefs, values, and norms.” (Green, R. L., 77) The principal convened a team of people to address low test scores at a busy time for a principal and a building; in April and May. The team addressed the situation the best that they could but did not get input from “followers inside and outside the schoolhouse” as cited in Practicing the Art of Leadership by Reginald Leon Green. A decision was made unilaterally in a short period of time, by one committee without input from other internal and external stakeholders. A structural shift needs long-term goals, staff and community buy-in, and effective management. The chosen styles of transformational and laissez-faire were not effective in creating this change in this building. A1. Leadership Style Recommendation One of the issues that is implied in the video is that teachers were allowed to act on their own accord without a leader overseeing their decisions and progress. “The leader hands over, or delegates, the power of decision-making and action planning to the followers, while remaining responsible for the outcomes.” (Marin & Moore, 2018, 2) While it is admirable that he has faith and trust in his staff enough to tackle the issue of low reading test scores, an alternative leadership style might be a better fit for this scenario. When first considering a new leadership style, it is important to address what broke down and what were some of the failings of the original plan and rollout. A big pushback on this summer reading initiative was from the external stakeholders or the community itself. There were issues with the assignment itself, access to resources, and texts selected for student consumption. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 7:46) Therefore, a conversational or collaborative leadership style would have been best utilized in this scenario. “Conversational

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4 leadership takes root when leaders see their organizations as dynamic webs of conversation and consider conversation as a core process for effecting positive systemic change.” (Hurley, 2017) Conversational leadership is designed to tackle more “long-term, large-scale strategic change initiatives” (Hurley, 2017), which is what low reading scores in a building would be classified as. Conversational leadership can be broken down into six different processes, one of the most important processes, that fits this scenario is “engage all key stakeholders”. (Hurley, 2017) This involves diverse voices and multiple perspectives being present at the table. Some of the community issues could have been discussed, such as lack of access to resources or even the need for a break during summer to reset the adolescent mind, at a community forum, or through parent engagement. The team in place for combating low reading scores could have made adjustments to their proposal and goals as the external stakeholders weighed in on the decision- making process. Another issue that could have been addressed with a conversational leadership style was the exploration of critical issues and questions. In the video, we don't know what essential questions and issues the English Language Arts team was addressing. What was the rationale for choosing summer reading as the goal to improve reading scores? How did the projects created by staff assist in addressing these deficiencies? Furthermore, there was no information given in the video concerning what particular skills were lacking in the overall reading scores. How was B. Applied Leadership Responsibilities One of the responsibilities we see of the principal in the video as a transformational leader is “The effective school administrator must help staff members think of old problems in new ways (intellectual stimulation).” (Marzano, 2015) The principal is willing to take an old problem, low test scores, and allow staff to make new decisions to approach this issue. He is

5 willing to admit there is a problem that needs to be tackled and placed the appropriate stakeholders at the center of the decision-making process. Transformational leadership is focused on change versus its counterpart, transactional leadership, which focuses on maintaining the status quo of a building. One of the biggest hurdles that the team and leadership had to overcome was the standard of academics in the community. He self-identified the demographics of the community and the motivation of students. Most were driven to either enter the military or the workforce. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 1:11) He begins the video by establishing the need for a change; a change in the academic culture of the school, and perhaps the community, and the need to improve reading scores for juniors. “The leader does so by analyzing the organization's need for change, isolating and eliminating structures and routines that work against change, creating a shared vision and sense of urgency, implanting plans and structures that enable change, and fostering open communication.” (Marzano, 2015) According to Marzano’s 21 responsibilities of a school leader that he outlines in his work School Leadership that Works , this would be classified as a change agent responsibility. (Marzano, 2015) The principal is also demonstrating an input responsibility by “Providing opportunities for staff input on all important decisions.” (Marzano, 2015) One of the principal’s strengths is utilizing his team to give input into the decision-making process when it directly affects their instructional practices. Reading scores are primarily a reflection of the English Language Arts department. He gave the responsibility of this task to his team and placed professional trust in this team to come up with the best solution to fix the low reading scores. In this scenario, the principal could also be acting as a buffer from parents to the staff in the responsibility of discipline. He mentions in the later part of the video, that there was a school

6 board meeting in which negative comments and parental concerns were addressed. “Discipline refers to protecting teachers from issues and influences that would detract from their instructional time or focus.” (Marzano, 2015)Laisse-faire type management style allows groups and individuals to make many of the decisions, but ultimately the success and/or failures of these decisions fall on the leaders of schools. The principal, in this case, allowed parents to vocalize their immense concerns directly at school leadership rather than bringing them into the classroom so teachers could focus on instruction. Lastly, the principal is utilizing the responsibility as an optimizer. Throughout the video, despite pushback from the community, viewers can determine that he still supported the summer reading initiative and had scholastic reasons for supporting it. “High-performing school districts typically required summer reading assignments.” (Leading Change Assessment Video, 2:52) One of the hallmarks of an optimizer is to “bolster a change initiative with…optimism and energy.” (Marzano, 2015) Even by the end of the video based on his word choices and non-verbal communication cues, a viewer could recognize that the principal still felt this was a solid proposal by the department that was evidence-based and aligned with best practices for students and was optimistic it would increase test scores. 1B. Leadership Responsibilities Justification One of the biggest leadership responsibilities that were absent in the scenario was communication. “…effective communication might be considered the glue that holds together all the other responsibilities of leadership.” (Marzano, 47) Some of the concerns with the summer reading assignment could have been mitigated with direct and open lines of communication. The parents would ultimately be the overseers of this project, how did they feel about this large reading assignment that was a requirement of the district? The principal cited complaints that “…

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7 started in June and lasted all the way till the end of the first quarter.” (Leading Change Assessment Video, 7:46) There seems to be a disconnect in how the project was communicated to the community members and the staff putting together the materials. As a building principal, he should have been the communicator in the rationale and expectations. Instead, parents were taken by surprise by this shift in culture and structure and responded accordingly. Along the lines of communication, was the lack of district-level involvement. In the video, the principal makes it clear that he "greenlit" the project all on his own without approval from an assistant superintendent, school board members, or additional voices. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 4:51) While he may have been within his rights to greenlight this particular initiative, it ended up becoming a large cultural shift in the community. If perhaps the principal included the voice of more internal stakeholders, then they could have brought up potential concerns that the project highlighted and the team, or committee, drafting the project could have made edits to what was proposed. Another absent responsibility was focus. “…schools are quite willing to try new things— perhaps too much so.” (Marzano, 2015) Focus requires the intentional setting of clear goals over a long period of time and not necessarily changing for change's sake. One of the hallmarks of the focus responsibility is, "Establishing high, concrete goals, and expectations that all students will meet them." In the video, the principal cites that 35% of the school did not complete the summer reading project, therefore, one-third of the school immediately showed a deficiency before school even started. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 11:09) Based on the information outlined in the video, this was a complete shock to the systematic approach of the Language Arts department, yet it was a decision made in May that did not provide students and a staff adequate time to make adjustments and establish high goals and expectations. The data shows that the

8 change and new system weren't necessarily effective in the short term and a more long-term goal needed to be put in place to allow for more focus from the principal. Finally, the principal lacked situational awareness. “ Situational Awareness addresses leaders' awareness of the details and the undercurrents regarding the functioning of the school and their use of this information to address current and potential problems.” (Marzano, 2015) There were some miscues in allowing this decision to move forward. For example, the principal wasn't aware of a lack of materials on the part of the parents and the library. He mentions in the video that there are about 850 students in the high school but a limited list of books so parents have a barrier to access to resources to prevent them from completing the summer assignment. On top of the failure to critically examine the availability of the resources in the community, there was no thought in the list of texts compiled for the students. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 9:54) The principal admits there were books on this list of 30 books that not he nor the department had read or completed research on. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 10:11) C. Communication Plan In this scenario, communication is one of the key areas of improvement for the school. It is hard to establish buy-in for an initiative without the input of all stakeholders. The communication plan identified in the video was the compilation of a packet by the English Language Arts department and a cover letter that explained the rationale of the initiative. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 6:49) Based on the information provided in the video, this was the only communication tool that was provided to families concerning this project. There was no other outreach evident by the principal or staff. Also, there was only one department working on this plan and creating this initiative to tackle the goal of low reading scores. Reading is a cross-curricular activity that occurs in many

9 disciplines. Was there communication that occurred with other members of other departments? There seems to be no horizontal or diagonal communication being practiced at the school. Potentially having other voices at the table could have mitigated some concerns that were addressed such as text selection, overworking students, and the effect on summer plans. “…it is important for them to have a communications plan that can be used to clearly articulate the objectives and strategies that will achieve the vision and goals of the school. This plan must be one that ensures each student has equitable access to effective teachers, learning opportunities, academic and social support, and other resources necessary for success.” (Green, R. L., 150) It was evident in this scenario that there was a communication breakdown based on the success criteria and large pushback from the community. In terms of communication, the principal failed to include the superintendent in the decision-making process. In the video, the principal states, “I didn't need to consult with an assistant superintendent, superintendent, or school board. I had the authority, and so I green-lighted it.” (Leading Change Assessment Video, 6:30) However, had this principal utilized upward communication, some issues could have been addressed. For example, the district could have previewed the list of texts and chosen more age-appropriate books for students to read. Perhaps, the district could have been involved in the communication with the community and parents which also would alleviate the number of concerns parents had with this summer reading initiative. C1: Communication Plan Improvement One area of improvement that the principal could have made would be to get input from internal stakeholders, more directly, from the students themselves. A lot of current research indicates independent reading where students are the selectors of the text, instead of the teacher, fosters a love of reading and increased comprehension skills (Gallagher & Kittle, 2018) A great

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10 way to get students engaged in their own learning and to allow for more direct lines of communication, is to allow students to be the leaders of their own learning. This also places control back into the community and household, because parents can assist students with a text selection that appropriately fits their grade level and needs. It also tackles the issue of accessibility because students can self-select a text they find readily available at the library and 850 students aren’t fighting over the same 30 books in a small, rural community. Another area of improvement is in the feedback from the community itself. A committee or panel could be created to address the idea of a summer reading program. Instead of allowing the English Language Arts department to unilaterally make changes to the school system over the time period of a month or two, the committee could consist of many members across the various departments of the school that might have a stake in reading scores. Also, this committee should have representation from key parents in the community and perhaps the assistant superintendent. If the district has a curriculum specialist or a program leader that assists schools in adopting new curricula, this would be a great spot for them to fulfill instead of a superintendent. Overall, the idea is to bring to life the idea of a summer reading program that the high school could adopt. It would be a conversation over a year and many concerns could be voiced and worked through as the year went on. The principal could include this feedback and planning in his weekly updates or at the staff meeting to show the alignment of the mission, goals, and vision of the school. Teachers across disciplines could have more buy-in, the community wouldn't see this project as a surprise, and the district has a voice at the table and can be a buffer between the school and parent concerns as rationale and clear goals are established. D. School Culture

11 In this scenario, the way the summer reading program was developed and rolled-out created a lack of trust in the community. No transparency existed between the building and the parents, or even the internal and external stakeholders in the building and district. “Transparency in leadership, or more specifically, transparency in decision making is a key foundation upon which trust is built." (Marin, 2018) Because the parents did not feel the school was transparent with this project, they lacked trust and confidence in the decisions that were being made. They felt the only way to have their voice heard was to complain and refuse to have their students complete the assignment. “In the absence of transparency, conspiracy is born and trust is dismantled.” (Marin, 2018) The volume of resistance was evident in how the community felt about the school and the trust they had in their transparency and ability to educate. Those who understand the rationale and purpose of something will respect the decisions being made and understand the project. (Marin, 2018) A key indicator of pushback from the community was the change in venue for the school board meeting; parents felt the only way to communicate frustration and dissatisfaction with the summer reading program was to attend a school board meeting to let their elected officials know how they felt about this initiative. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 9:46) In the video, the principal addresses internal stakeholders by stating, “Then I communicated with internal stakeholders and we started asking school-wide within all the teachers and school counselors what they thought of this proposal, and it received very favorable feedback.” (Leading Change Assessment Video, 6:12) It does show trust and transparency with staff to include teachers and counselors in the process of creating this project, but the video is unclear as to which departments were specifically addressed and if there were any edits made after the staff had an opportunity to review it and give notes. While the principal states that the

12 feedback was favorable, he does not elaborate on what that means. Were there any concerns? What aspects of the project did the other staff members find favorable? The project was also not inclusive to students as well. Throughout the whole video the principal never once mentions any sort of accommodations for diverse learners. The entire school was given the same packet with the same materials. How was this project inclusive to Special Education students or even bilingual students? Near the end of the video, the principal discusses the book list and only mentions one novel, The Kite Runner , but does not mention any other texts. (Leading Change Assessment Video, 10:03) One question that arises from this is, how was the text list selected and was it designed to be inclusive? How could the project be edited and tailored to be more inclusive in the future? D1: Alignment to Mission, Vision, and Values The mission of the unnamed school in this scenario is, “ In partnership with parents and the community, we will provide a comprehensive educational experience that is rigorous, individualized, and enables students to contribute to a changing and diverse world. ” (Leading Change Assessment Video, 5:08) This summer reading program did meet the guidelines aligned to the rigorous part of the mission statement, but there were a lot of pieces that were missing. For instance, the opening line of the mission statement declares that there will be a partnership between parents and the community with the school. This was not the case in this scenario. Parents and the community were not involved in the conversation about this program and the reading initiative. Arguments could be made as well that it wasn't an individualized project as well. Students were not able to choose their own texts to read and complete; in fact, there was little student voice at all in the project. Therefore, the adoption of this program didn’t fully align with the mission statement of the school.

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13 In this scenario, the unnamed district’s vision was, “ We will be an outstanding school district in which all students exhibit high standards of achievement and critical thinking skills, and are socially responsible, contributing members of their community. ” (Leading Change Assessment Video, 5:27) While two-thirds of the school did complete the summer reading program, which some would argue is an improvement and aligns with the socially responsible and high standards of achievement part of the district’s vision, this particular project doesn't necessarily align with the vision of the district. As stated clearly in the video, this project was met with hostility by the community and there was an indication that the students begrudgingly completed this project despite the massive concerns with transparency, communication, and roll- out. It wouldn't necessarily align with critical thinking skills in this case. Also, the vision states "all students." Based on the information provided in the video, one-third of students did not complete the summer assignment at all. Therefore, we know that there already is a disadvantage to a third of the school at the beginning of the school year. This doesn't establish high standards of achievement when you are already trying to manage student deficiencies before the school year has even begun. The values of this unnamed school in the scenario video include, “ Students come first, results matter, decision making driven by data, parent & community partnerships are essential, quality instruction for everyone, rigor and relevance in our teachings, accountability for everyone, and transparency in leadership .” (Leading Change Assessment Video, 6:00) The principal did do his due diligence in ensuring that this project was aligned to the core values of the school such as making decisions driven by data, ensuring rigorous lessons for all students, and relevance in teachings, and even accountability for everyone. In the scenario, the principal addresses accountability by having a standard grading process that is uniform for all students for

14 the first quarter. However, one piece of information that is missing from this scenario is the impact that this project had on testing data. One of the core values of this school is "driven by data". Do we know if this project yielded the intended results and can simply be rolled out differently or was it a failure in all aspects in addressing students and a rigorous education? The two core values that were not adhered to were the parent and community outreach portion and transparency in leadership. The external stakeholders of the parents and the community were not instrumental in driving this at home, summer reading project, therefore failing to align with the core value of the school. Also, due to the overwhelming number of parent complaints, it is evident that there was no transparency in leadership as described in the core values. Arguments could be made that students didn’t come first when designing this all- encompassing reading project. Student voice and freedom to select any text were not apparent in this project in conjunction with the overall project. Why were character analysis and summarization selected as the assessment and data collection piece? Were those historically low areas in the testing data? Also, three books in three months with three essays is a lot to ask of a student on an extended break. As one parent states, “an adolescent’s brain needs rest over the summer.” (Leading Change Assessment Video, 6:00) Just like professionals need breaks from time to time, so do our kids. Some English classes read only 2-3 novels in a 180-day school year, so having them do the same course load in a 3-month period which is designed to be a mental break for students, doesn't necessarily put the needs and wants of the student first. D1A: Improved Alignment The principal could align the mission, vision, and core values of the district and school by focusing on the key issue of involving internal and external stakeholders in the needs, wants, and

15 goals of this summer reading program. Having forums for parent communication, parent feedback via surveys, and more direct communication from the building administrators would help align with the core values of transparency and parental and community involvement. In this scenario, the principal could have tailored the requirements of the project to put students more at the forefront of the summer reading project by valuing student and parent choices and not limiting students to a list. Also, allowing students to choose an assessment that fits their needs and individualized plans would allow for more trust between the high school and the community. Parents feel they have more of a voice in their child's learning and it allows more buy-in from the students themselves. It can teach the joy of reading, not the chore of reading. Finally, to ensure that the summer reading program is doing what it is designed to do, revisiting the testing data and making adjustments based on what the data is saying would be paramount. Meaning, is the summer program working? If it is, how can the summer reading program be altered to fit the communities needs and wants to support students and learning while also being data-driven. References Gallagher, K., & Kittle, P. (2018). 180 days: Two teachers and the quest to engage and empower adolescents . Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Green, R. L. (2016). Practicing the Art of Leadership (5th ed.). Pearson Education (US). https://wgu.vitalsource.com/books/9780134078663 ]

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16 Hurley, T. (2017, April 25). Conversational leadership: Thinking together for a change. Retrieved March 21, 2023, from https://thesystemsthinker.com/conversational-leadership-thinking- together-for-a-change/ Marin, JP & Moore, DL (2018) Cautionary Leadership Styles Course Publication: Leadership Foundations & Ethics Western Governors University Marin, JP (2018) Leadership Transparency: One Leader’s Perspective Course Publication: Leadership Foundations & Ethics Western Governors University Marzano, R.J., McNulty, B.A. & Waters t. (2015) School Leadership The Works. Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development Harker Brownlow Education Western Governors University (2019) Leading Change Assessment Video Leadership Foundations & Ethics https://wgu.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx? id=cbb528b2-f0df-4092-9ad9-a98801322e22

ACM1 Task 1

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