That’s right!  You can now check-in for your flight at the San Diego Convention Center and bypass airport lines. It’s the first TSA-approved remote skycap service manned by highly trained agents who are credentialed to issue boarding passes and print bag tags on demand.  Proprietary sophisticated technology is used to ensure accurate, safe and secure multi-airline baggage check-in and transport to the airport.

Visit the NASSP Convention Web site for complete details on rates, hours of operation and to learn how to pre-enroll.

To paraphrase Margaret Wheatley, “People tend to support what they help to create."  School leaders in search for answers as to why students appear apathetic about learning or are disenfranchised from their school need to take note of Wheatley’s assertion.  People are quick to brand our student’s lack of caring about education as a form of rebellion or as a result of societal corrosion, when, in fact, there are many avenues open to schools to bolster student engagement.

One way to get student buy-in is to involve them in the process of school improvement.  The NASSP and the National Associations of Student Councils endorses a program called RSVP (Raising Student Voice and Participation), which outlines a protocol for increasing student involvement.

As a long time school leader who has thrived by promoting student voice I have come to believe that involving students is the missing ingredient in school redesign.  Beyond school improvement, there are numerous reasons for supporting student voice… here is a “top ten” listing:

10.  Schools should be about students.
 9.  Student participation should be non-negotiable.
 8.  Their involvement leads to more success.
 7.  Involvement in decision-making creates ownership.
 6.  Students feel like volunteers, not prisoners.
 5.  Teens should not be hidden away until they reach adulthood.
 4.  Students may have some of the answers we seek.
 3.  Caring creates good citizenship.
 2.  It shows that adults believe in their abilities.
 1.  “A silent school is not a school at all”. – D. Litkey

When each student is empowered to take responsibility for what happens to them academically and socially, a culture of caring ensues.  Students learn to speak out on matters of importance, learn self-advocacy skills and are provided opportunities to practice civic skills.  Join me in San Diego to explore other ways to make our work about what matters most- each student.

The session “Creating a School for Each Student” will be held on Saturday, February 28 from 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

The NASSP Convention offers school leaders at all levels the resources, information, and motivation they need to lead the school improvement efforts in their community.  If you haven’t done so already, take some time to read through the Registration and Housing Guide to learn about all the convention has to offer.  In the Guide you’ll find details for the more than 125 concurrent sessions that are the hallmark of the NASSP Convention. Concurrent sessions are categorized by the three core areas found in Breaking Ranks II and Breaking Ranks in the Middle:

Collaborative Leadership and Professional Learning Communities
Personalizing the School Environment
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment

In addition, four strands will run through the concurrent sessions—middle level, assistant principal, urban, and technology—all focused on meeting the unique needs of each group.

We are offering team discounts again this year so make plans to bring members of your staff to the Convention.  It’s easy.  With your member registration, you become a team leader who can bring six additional people from your school at a special team rate.  Visit the Convention website for complete details on registering a team to attend.  Don’t wait too long; the preregistration deadline is Friday, February 6.

As I mentioned in the last blog entry, ESR works with schools nationwide and we’ve observed a pattern of problems in efforts to develop successful advisories. Here I offer another one of the pitfalls and strategies for climbing out of the pit for developing and sustaining successful advisories.

Advisory doesn’t feel authentic or worth the effort to faculty, students, parents, or administrators.

From a student: “This is really lame.”

From an advisor: “I just don’t see how this is benefiting our students. It’s a waste of time.”

Strategies: Students and teachers easily recognize when something feels artificial or empty. Academic advising should be a key focus of advisory, especially in high schools. Monitoring and tracking students’ academic progress, conferencing with students about their goals and grades, supporting students’ completion of grade level benchmarks, graduation requirements, and personal learning and post-secondary plans provide immediate legitimacy for advisory and link advisory directly to a school’s core academic mission and educational program. When advisors coach students to monitor and assess themselves, they are truly teaching learning to learn skills.

Remember, advisories that remain strong over time put relationships first, but those relationships must be built with a higher purpose in mind. These advisory groups respond to the needs and interests of advisees, while maintaining a strong focus on academic support.

For help with these and other advisory conundrums, attend my session for schools who are struggling with advisory implementation challenges at the NASSP Convention: The Advisory Clinic: Improving and Sustaining Effective Advisory Programs on Friday, February 27 from 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

The session I will be presenting is the National Forum’s to Accelerate Middle Grades Schools to Watch Program.  As a member of the National Forum and also the state coordinator for the Michigan Schools to Watch Program I have had the opportunity to participate in recognizing middle grade schools that are truly making a difference for young adolescents.  The middle grade schools that achieve recognition as Schools to Watch are academically excellent, meet the unique needs of adolescents, provide equity and excellence for all, and are organized for continuous school improvement.  The Schools to Watch program is in over twenty states with over two hundred schools receiving recognition.

The session, “National Forum to Accelerate Middle Grades Schools to Watch Program” will be held on Saturday, February 28 from 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

So, as you make plans to attend the NASSP Convention, think about building in some extra time to enjoy all the San Diego has to offer.

As I mentioned in the last blog entry, advisory is a key structure for personalizing learning for every student, but many schools experience challenges that make advisory time seem like an unfulfilled promise. ESR works with schools nationwide and we’ve observed a pattern of problems in efforts to develop successful advisories. Here I offer another one of the pitfalls and strategies for climbing out of the pit for developing and sustaining successful advisories.

Pitfall: Advisor expectations are vague and there is no clear plan for professional development, coordination, supervision, and assessment.

“We’re going to start holding advisory groups in September. No, we don’t have any professional development scheduled. We just need a few activity ideas. Maybe we’ll insert an hour or two of training along the way in faculty meetings.”

“We’ve had advisory groups for a year now. Some groups are terrific; a real home base for kids. In other groups, the advisor checks email and the students treat it like study hall or nap time.”

Strategies: Too many leaders underestimate what it takes to develop and support effective advisors. Developing comfort, confidence, competency, and consistency requires professional development and much more. Create expectations, which promote advisor accountability. Provide workshops, study groups, mentors, incentives, and pressures to live up to the expectations. Designate a teacher or counselor whose job description will include time and responsibility for coordinating and coaching. Department heads or team leaders who place advisory on meeting agendas or who do observations of advisory give it weight. Of course, the principal sets the overall tone for taking advisory seriously.

Though these pitfalls and more surface repeatedly as we work with schools to establish and strengthen advisories, we witness lots of successes too! Advisories that remain strong over time put relationships first. These advisory groups develop culture-building rituals, encourage student voice, and respond to the needs and interests of advisees. For help with these and other advisory conundrums, attend my session for schools who are struggling with advisory implementation challenges at the NASSP Convention: The Advisory Clinic: Improving and Sustaining Effective Advisory Programs on Friday, February 27 from 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

As the US economic roller coaster experiences a series of drops and turns every school and district is going to grapple with the budget and funding.  I know that some boards of education look hard at the salaries paid to school administrators and the number of support staff employed.  There is a general misconception held by some that we have too many school administrators, central office employees and support staff.  Further, some mistakenly consider them to be overpaid.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  The Educational Research Service has worked to get the facts—and the facts say that we are not overstaffed, we are not overpaid and we are not taking money away from instruction.  In fact, school leadership is second only to teacher quality in its impact on student achievement.  For me, the most powerful fact uncovered by ERS is that effective school leadership matters most in the schools that are doing the worst!  That means that, given the choice between putting an additional teacher in a school or an assistant principal, the assistant principal would probably be the choice that most impacted student achievement, especially in a poorly performing school!

Session participants will get an executive summary of the research refuting these common misconceptions:

1.  Administration is an unnecessary burden on schools and should be curtailed.
2.  There are too many administrators.
3.  The number of school administrators is growing rapidly and at the expense of instruction.
4.  School administrators are paid too much.
5.  Increasing amounts of school budgets are going to administration.
6.  A lot of money is going to administration that could be better spent for other purposes.

As a principal, I would have used this information to justify my need for an additional assistant, an extra counselor and other support staff.  It wouldn’t have hurt in my salary discussions either!

The session “Answering the Critics of School Administration: What Are the Facts” will be held on Friday, February 27 from 2:30–4:00 p.m.

It’s easy. Simply visit the NASSP Convention Web site, log in to the Itinerary Planner, create your username and password in the "new users" area, and then create and save your personalized schedule. You can always come back later, make changes and print a copy before leaving for San Diego.

In summarizing the significance of the pivotal 12th grade year, the late James Valhouli, a Phillips Exeter English teacher, eloquently captures the complex interplay of perspectives at work on 12th graders.

It is here that one begins to look forward and backward with equal intensity and with equal awe at what has been and what might be. Ambivalence and irony and ambiguity are not reserved solely for seniors, but it is usually during this period that one begins to see life as a . . . complex and puzzling continuum that almost seems beyond comprehension. Here is when decisions become unavoidable and the consequences of our choices are painfully inescapable.  But it is also here that we sense that we too may go forward in time and put our imprint on the world.  It is here that our consciousness begins to nudge forward or blossom and sometimes even explode into recognition, action, or some type of resolution that might influence the rest of our lives.  This is where we begin our lifelong journey into the unknown areas into the self and the world at large.  I think this is when we begin to think about and even decide that we might make a difference in life.  It is here that we normally begin asking those vital, imperative questions that we will return to the rest of our lives. It is also here that we begin to learn those habits of the mind and the heart that might help us to become the individuals that we want to become in the life we create for ourselves. The turmoil of the year might provide the very energy that we can direct into some powerful learning. [“The Senior Year in the High School Curriculum,” Valhouli, ERIC NO. 404764]

Despite the significant potential that Valhouli points to in the senior year, many high school educators across the country see a wasteland plagued by that pervasive disengagement so often referred to as “senioritis.” For many 12th graders, the failure to be engaged in a rigorous and relevant final year of high school comes at a high cost. The statistics regarding many high school graduates’ inability to meet the demands of both the college and the workplace are alarming. Nearly a third of incoming college freshman require remedial coursework in English and math, and many of those entering the workforce do not possess the requisite skills for employment. Beyond the academic consequences, there is mounting evidence that the country’s high school grads are also struggling to negotiate the social and emotional challenges that inevitably come as these emerging adults seek to establish their independence and a meaningful connection to the world beyond high school.

Our session on “Recasting the Senior Year” offers not only an in-depth exploration of the crisis of the senior year but also an examination of model programs and approaches to the 12th grade that can create the capstone educational experience that seniors need in preparation for the real world. If your school is interested in beginning to transform the senior year, join us for a dynamic discussion and presentation as we consider who these seniors are and what they need. If your school has already implemented some effective senior initiatives, we invite you to share them with us. In the words of James Valhouli, join with colleagues as we endeavor to harness that senior energy, or perhaps “senergy,” that “we can direct into some powerful learning.” 

The session “Recasting the Senior Year: Model Programs for Keeping Seniors Engaged” will be held on Friday, February 27 from 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Four years ago, I attended a full day Breaking Ranks pre-conference with Joe DiMartino (formerly with Brown University and now president of The Center for Secondary School Redesign).  The work conducted that day, and the relationships formed, have completely transformed Desert Edge High School in Phoenix, Arizona.  We have initiated Block Scheduling, Advisory Programs, Open Access to AP classes just to mention a few of the 31 components of Breaking Ranks.  My relationship with Joe and his staff have grown to a personal level.  They are genuinely interested in the work we are doing in Phoenix.  If you are a school in reform or just wanting information on tweaking some things that you are presently doing, this one-day School Showcase is for you!  I am completely confident you and your school team members will come home with something practical you can put into place immediately.

Early in this century Jim Collins coined the phrase, “From Good to Great,” to challenge business leaders and those of us in the public sector, including schools, to think about how good is good enough and why some organizations rise to a level of productivity and corresponding public recognition above that of other organizations with seemingly similar or even worse input and other contextual factors of production.  Today public pressure brought on by a host of factors, including economic competition from abroad, intensive media attention, and state and federal legislation, pushes performance expectations for schools higher than at any other time in our country’s history.  Maintaining an orderly environment, getting most students out of high school and some (or even most) into college, and of course, winning a few ball games, is no longer good enough.  Instead, all students are expected to graduate from high school college-and-career ready and equipped with world-class 21st century knowledge and skills.  Failing schools are required by law to improve significantly, and fast, or face closure.  But even schools that, in the past, could afford to be somewhat complacent with the status quo because of reputations in their communities as “good schools” are feeling pressure to get better.  In short, all schools are now being asked to rise to a level of productivity previously obtained by only a few.  All schools are being asked to go from, well somewhere, to great.

Principals, teachers and others in a school’s circle of influence need research-based guidance regarding the policies, practices, strategies, and beliefs most likely to produce results.  Fortunately such guidance is now available.  The last four decades of research in education have produced a treasure trove of information about how students learn, about effective schools and effective teaching, about what teachers need to do their work well, and about good leadership in schools and in school districts.  We know a lot about what works, or stated more accurately, what is most likely to work.

Those interested in using research-based strategies to take their schools from struggling, or average, or even good, to great can increase their likelihood of success by following the research-based recommendations included in a model I developed called, 6 + 1: Strategies and an Attitude for Becoming a Great High School.  The model was developed with a very specific theory of action in mind; that significant school improvement depends first, last, and foremost on improving the quality of instruction in classrooms.  Together the 6 + 1 elements constitute a framework for success.

Two truisms come to mind when I think of the future of the American high school, the first from education researcher and author Michael Fullan and the second, although well known, of less certain origins.

The organization we currently have is perfectly designed to deliver the results we currently get.

Insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Taken together, these two “blinding flashes of the obvious” open our minds and set the stage for taking our high schools from good, or from somewhere, to great.

The session “From Good to Great:  Creating the High Schools of our Choice” will be held on Friday, February 27 from 11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

Ok, so you think of “professional development” and what is the first thought that comes to your mind?  Come on, be honest!  As much as we all appreciate effective and purposeful professional development that is designed to make us all better educators, it is not always the most exciting thing to be a part of.

The Breaking Ranks 2009 Secondary School Showcase is just the opposite!  Where else are going to find REAL LIFE stories of success, and told not only by teachers and administrators, but STUDENTS as well.  The Showcase brings together 17 of the nations top secondary schools, all from different demographics, to tell their own personal stories of program implementation and student success.  It could be how to start an Advisory Program, how to incorporate literacy across the entire curriculum, or even the elements of a successful Transition Program.  Either way, this professional development is interactive, real, and highly effective.

So what are you waiting for?  Join NASSP and CSSR out in San Diego to learn more about how these schools were able to work around the typical roadblocks of limited budgets, teacher buy-in, and student/staff engagement.  After hearing these stories you and your colleagues will never again say, “we can’t do that at our school” but instead say, “when can we start!”

Register you and your team for the Showcase today, and get ready to be motivated to personalize education for ALL students!

Advisory is a key structure for personalizing learning for every student, but many schools experience challenges that make advisory time seem like an unfulfilled promise. Research solidly confirms that advisories provide the kind of personalized support that increases student achievement, and the current surge of secondary school start-up and restructuring initiatives is promoting a new wave of advisory programs in thousands of schools nationwide. Although many exemplary advisory programs exist, we know of many other schools struggling to establish meaningful advisories.

As we’ve worked with high schools nationwide, we’ve observed a pattern of problems in efforts to develop successful advisories. I would like to offer some cautionary notes by way of pointing out one of the pitfalls, and some strategies for climbing out of the pit for developing and sustaining successful advisories.

Pitfall: Advisory planning begins with scheduling, instead of goals.

“We found a way to fit advisory in the schedule so we’re ready to go.”

“One thirty-minute advisory per week will work, right?”

Strategies: There are lots of possible reasons to create an advisory program. Maybe climate data shows that students feel anonymous, or you’re noticing cliques and factions that make the atmosphere tense. Maybe your students need more support regarding career or college plans. Or, perhaps the ninth graders need a more deliberate transition to high school. It is crucial to identify your goals, and then make sure the goals and schedule are a good fit.

Daily fifteen-minute advisory sessions have worked in schools where the main purpose is academic advising, the group has seven to nine students, and the advisor’s responsibility is meeting privately with each advisee several times per week. However, if an advisory program is expected to improve peer culture, support the development of life skills, or focus on career and college preparation, longer blocks of time are essential. Thus, sort out your goals, then the session length, frequency, and whether or not they will be held simultaneously (for example, allowing for town meetings).

For help with these and other advisory conundrums, attend my session for schools who are struggling with advisory implementation challenges at the NASSP Convention: The Advisory Clinic: Improving and Sustaining Effective Advisory Programs.