Management Issues in Schools

When Data Calls for Change
PART
ABC Intermediate School has had a number of principals, and some years ago was labeled at risk. At that time, the school had been in the public spotlight over poor state assessment reports and conflict over governance and management issues. Since then, the school has moved on to a better time. It has enjoyed growth in enrollment, has built a good reputation, and is well regarded in the community. A new and experienced principal, Leslie Counts, has taken the leadership position. She finds that, despite appearances, all is not well, especially with the literacy program. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has recently pushed for improved reading performance in the state.
The honeymoon period
For the first semester Mrs. Counts could do no wrong – everyone thought she was great: the community, board, staff, and the students. Leslie always thinks of the first semester at a new school as a time of observing and starting to understand the school culture. That is exactly what she did. This is why they thought she was great. She didn’t try to change anything! During this time, she considered how best to set the direction of the school and marry the competing demands: Goals/priorities, community aspirations, teachers perceptions and … a real biggie … the place of literacy learning in a school with focus on curriculum integration. She knew that she needed to start collecting data.
When she became the new principal at this school she was aware that, despite outward appearances, it did not appear to be a moving school. She had taken the position because she wanted the challenge of bringing about change there, of getting it moving. She imagined that she could repeat the mechanics of change she had worked at previous schools. She should have realized that change looks and feels different in each situation, and that therefore what worked in one place might not necessarily work in another.
In terms of her leadership during this time she worked with the teachers on relationships, positive change, and the model they would use for change. She perceived herself as consultative and during this period of time she generally was. The only thing that she did other than consultation was to change the seating arrangement of the faculty room! In a sense the culture then was characterized by the eating and drinking habits of the teachers– students were sort of a by-product that enabled everyone to have a good time. Still, despite her frustrations with the current position she was perceived very positively.
Confronting the reality
As her view of the school started to form she realized that there were some pressing issues. Alarms started to ring when she couldn’t locate observation data results. Classroom management, teaching practice, student management, assessment and monitoring and overall literacy standards were low. Was this because of the focus on curriculum integration? While she professionally believed in curriculum integration she was not sure the school had the right foundations to support it.
At the end of the second term, she began to gather school-wide review data on literacy. The data gathered was extremely helpful in terms of understanding what was happening, and where the school had to get to, but she knew it would be very challenging for the teachers to digest. Presenting challenging review data is always a time when a person has to dig deep. Being presented with data on their teaching and learning, even when not being evaluated, is always difficult for teachers to handle the first time. Sometimes teachers take external criticism better than from a member within the team.
Mrs. Counts determined that the literacy review would not avoid confronting the “non-discussables” like “teachers do not plan for reading at this school.” She knew there would be an issue in terms of climate management once the review was presented to the teachers.
What was evident from the literacy review was that students were underachieving in all areas of literacy. There was limited or no planning, no literacy procedures, limited dated resources, poor classroom practices, limited teaching of reading, and evaluation and assessment procedures were nonexistent. Quite a positive little package to deliver!
Just to complicate matters …
Timing around change management is almost always critical. Mrs. Counts’ thinking about the right time to present the review to teachers was accelerated with the news that DESE was planning to review the school close to the start of the fourth term.
Mrs. Counts determined that the best time to present the review to the teachers and the Board was before this visit. Her reasoning was that they would be in a better position to manage the DESE visit if they could demonstrate that they were moving to address literacy issues based on school review data collection and analysis. Mrs. Counts presented the data to teachers in the last two weeks of the third term.
Presenting challenging data to staff
The teachers’ meeting to present the literacy review was very silent. The silence was punctuated by sighs. Teachers looked across the room at each other. Many faces were red with anger and indignation. Mrs. Counts tried to pull things together with a discussion about how this review was just a process of looking at how things were across the school in a professional manner. But she knew she had broken the unspoken cultural taboo of criticizing the school’s culture. The cruising teachers in a cruising school do not take kindly to critical review feedback.
She hadn’t rocked the boat – she had sunk it.
However, she had only said what some knew to be true and what others were relieved to have finally out in the open.
Reflective questions 1
• What is the problem or issue here? Is there more than one? Explain.
• What would you do at this point if you were in this principal’s position? Describe what you would do.
• What are the principal’s options for dealing with this dilemma? Name at least two options and describe them.
• If you were this principal, which option would you most likely choose? Why?