District Administration - April 2008 - (Page 66)

ProblemSolution SUCCESS STORIES FROM DISTRICTS ACROSS THE NATION Walk-Throughs for School Improvement By Kurt O. Dyrli PROBLEM THE GENESEE MICH. INTERME diate School District is a regional service agency providing leadership and resources to 21 school districts and 10 charter schools in Genesee County, which includes a total of 83,000 students and 10,000 educators. After the state created its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) goals for all Michigan schools as part of the 2001 federal No Child Left Behind act, GISD found it had 10 schools failing to meet AYP within its jurisdiction. GISD administrators were determined to raise the standardized test scores from these schools. SOLUTION “School improvement plans tend to be very broad and vague,” says JoAnn Pastor, GISD’s former interim assistant superintendent, “so part of our strategy was to focus on speciﬁcs. For example, since research has shown that principals need to be the ‘instructional leaders’ in a school, we looked for ways to help these principals develop into this role.” One district school already had a positive experience with a program focused on improving teaching and instructional leadership, called “Classroom Walkthrough,” from Teachscape. GISD Superintendent Thomas Svitkovich says he was “impressed with the program’s proven track record” and so decided to implement Classroom Walkthrough in these 10 struggling schools in 2007, as “one part of a systemic, long-term improvement strategy.” The Walk-Through Concept The philosophy behind Classroom Walkthrough is not a recent development, nor an idea that originated at Teachscape. Carolyn Downey, a longtime Arizona superintendent and now a retired professor and 66 April 2008 GISD administrators had principals in 10 struggling schools learn to utilize classroom walk-throughs, using handheld technology. consultant in San Diego, is widely credited for both developing the administrative style and coining the term “classroom walk-through.” Her approach was inﬂuenced by her experience and a best-selling 1982 business management book, In Search of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies, by consultants Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. Among the companies proﬁled was Hewlett-Packard, whose trademark management style became known as “MBWA,” or “Management by Walking Around.” Classroom walk-throughs emphasize the use of frequent, informal, short classroom visits by principals to look for speciﬁc aspects of good instruction, and they foster a mentoring or coaching, rather than a superior-subordinate, relationship with teachers. Administrators also gather ongoing schoolwide and districtwide assessments of teaching, instead of isolated classroom examples. Principals focus on a variety of simple but speciﬁc questions, such as “Is the objective of the lesson clear to students?” or “Is there a clear instructional strategy employed by this teacher?” Answering such questions leads to regular discussions with teachers about their teaching styles, strengths and weaknesses, and about possible ways to improve. Updated Technologies In recent years, educational technology companies such as Teachscape, Austin Sky, and McREL have developed walkthrough programs that utilize handheld devices, software and the Internet for data collection and staﬀ development. “The principals and teachers involved are thrilled with having these data so accessible. They can clearly see patterns in teaching, and focus on speciﬁc areas to improve.” Teachers can then access Teachscape’s online resource library, which includes “learning modules” that outline eﬀective ways to improve teaching. As a result, it is easier than ever for districts to utilize classroom walk-throughs, and they have become increasingly common. GISD has just begun implementation, but “already we’ve seen signiﬁcant improvements in instruction,” says Pastor. “We wanted to do the right things the right way, and classroom walk-throughs are an important component of our ongoing strategy.” DA Kurt O. Dyrli is a contributing writer for District Administration. District Administration RESOURCES Austin Sky Technology www.austinsky.com Corwin Press www.corwinpress.com Genesee Intermediate School District www.geneseeisd.org McREL www.mcrel.org Teachscape www.teachscape.com http://www.austinsky.com http://www.corwinpress.com http://www.geneseeisd.org http://www.mcrel.org http://www.teachscape.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - April 2008

District Administration - April 2008
Contents
Editor’s Letter
Letters
News Update
Technology
Facilities & Construction
Curriculum
Inside the Law
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Profit and Loss in School-Business Partnerships
The Broad Way
Big Macs for Big Grades
Hometown Success
How Well Does This Web Site Work?
Speaking Out
Crisis Response
New Products
Problem/Solution
Computer Literature
Research Center
Calendar of Events
Products Showcase
Understanding the Times

District Administration - April 2008