Ten Questions for Leadership

Barbara McSwain
Mar 02, 2009

It is easy for all of us to get caught up in the momentum of wanting a quick solution for a problem.  Advertisers scream at us from every medium. Sales people drop by the school.  The mail is full of trade materials citing the latest gadget or product. When reviewing products and services, the following questions may help administrators to define what needs to be identified, adjusted or implemented in order to make good decisions for a school/district.

1. How do I know the difference between a want and a need? 

  • What does my gap analysis tell me?

  • Does the solution/product directly affect student achievement?

If you haven't done a gap analysis, you may want to check out our Exemplary Practices Gap Analysis in our new Starting and Sustaining Exemplary Practices book.

Another area that often causes day to day problems for leaders is prioritizing.  Specifically prioritizing for time is almost non-existent in some schools.  Often whoever is making the loudest demand of the moment is the person/item that receives the attention of the administration.  These questions may make it easier to prioritize the issue of time:
 
2. Do we know where we need to focus our attention and actions in order to insure the biggest pay off in the success of our school/district?
 
3. Have we set up systems in our school/district that guarantee that we have time for Monitoring Instruction and for Walkthroughs?

  • Have I set boundaries with others which ensure that they respect the need for Monitoring for Achievement and for Walkthroughs?

More questions (and solutions) about where to focus attention in regards to achievement can be found in The Amazing Book of Connections for Learning.

We are bombarded with different thoughts regarding curriculum.  Business people are often confused about the education profession. One contractor commented, "A teacher who teaches without basing instruction on state standards is like a builder that builds a house without a blueprint!"  These are some questions that you may want to pose regarding curriculum standards and Learning-Focused:

4. Is the instruction in my school driven by state standards?  How do I know?
 
5. What is Learning-Focused Power Curriculum?
 
6. What is the Learning-Focused Model Curriculum?

7. Are teachers posing Extending Thinking questions to the most important state standards?

8. Does our school have assessment prompts in every lesson, a scheduled review throughout the year, formative assessment and rubrics consistently and pervasively?

It is important to reflect on your needs regarding Leadership.  Learning-Focused helps administrators make decisions about:

  • Focusing on (2 - 4) goals consistently and pervasively

  • Monitoring for learning and achievement

  • Providing teachers with high levels of support

  • Providing substantial planning time

  • Providing students with double dose learning

  • Providing students with Acceleration

  • Planning units and lessons

  • Adapting, not adopting (programs, texts, etc...)

Recently Learning-Focused has developed additional Leadership materials to address the questions posed in this article and others such as:

9. How do we develop a sense of urgency in our school?
10. When is 'Good Enough' NOT good enough?
 
If you wish to schedule a Leadership workshop for your district contact us at 866-95-LEARN or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).