Educational Leadership

Matthew Lynch published in Adult Education, EdTech & Innovation, Education Leadership, Elementary Education, Personalized Learning July 1, 2017

Teacher Leaders In the 21st Century

As we find ourselves standing on the fault lines of shifting paradigms in education question about how we lead and will be lead seem to surface with between each mini quake and aftershock. The reoccurring rumbles to develop a mindset and culture that embraces failing, thinking outside the box, and risk taking, feel shaky when they originate from a group specifically selected because of their lack of failure, ability to maneuver within the box, and their skill to mitigate risk. New pedagogies require that we follow differently as much as that we be led differently.

In a building or culture cultivating 21^st-century teaching strong leadership will be more dependent upon open communication and honest feedback from trusted voices in the fray, lynch pins, teacher-leaders that are applying design thinking in real time, managing innovation in action, and proving the value of deep learning daily. One of the unexpected consequences of a personalized learning culture is that for the first time there are multiple paths to access the demonstrable power of teacher-leaders. Academia has grappled with how to harness the magic of master level classroom craftsmen for more than a decade now, moving them into administration, linking them to mentorships, and persuading them to present their work in various ways. While each of these routes has offered opportunity none has offered a way to capitalize effectively on the skill set that makes those classroom maestros as valuable as they are. However, in a 21^st-century learning environment where the leadership is multi-directional teacher-leaders can become a celebrated conduit for what works, and testing ground for new best practices.

In a world obsessed with leadership skills and a profession built upon a limited hierarchy it can be easy to not recognize the necessarily complex infrastructure of successful schools. Educational institutions are what economist refer to as weak link systems¹. A structure more dependent on the best performance of the weakest link. (ie: soccer teams rather than basketball teams, where the best player is dependent upon the skill of the lesser known players for success.)

As we explore the multitude of roles and aspects of leading a school or district in a digital age, where change is a constant theme and innovations and risks are goals then identifying, accessing and amplify those lynchpins is essential. As a district administrator explained it, “Personalized learning is a healthy virus we want to spread as systemically and infectiously as possible…” Leadership within this kind of educational system is then no longer a title it is a distributive model².

Following that analogy through a slight modification of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Law of the Few,² which theorizes that The success of any kind of academic epidemic is heavily dependent on the involvement of teacher-leaders with a particular and rare set of pedagogical gifts:

Marine: These are the first into any new challenge, idea, or program. They are the risk takers, the ones that can and will fall in the valiant effort to try new learning.

Maven: Especially valuable in the digital age these are information specialists that know what apps and extensions are new, where to find the best list research on STEM projects and when AI will be ready for the classroom

Media Moguls: 87% of teachers are on some kind of social media, these are the ones on all kinds of social media. To go back to the epidemic analogy these are they carriers.

McGyvers: With an inherent understanding of how to hold extract the useful elements of any lesson and modify or even redefine them with digital wonderment.

The odds are good that you have these people sitting in hard chairs reading an email from you almost daily. These qualities are not in their personnel record, Finding them and allowing them to bring a whole new skill set

^1:^{http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17465493-the-numbers-game}

^2:^{http://www.gettingsmart.com/2017/04/preparing-to-lead-in-a-project-based-world/}

^3:^{http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2612.The_Tipping_Point?ac=1&from_search=true}

Matthew Lynch published in Early Childhood & K-12 EdTech, EdTech & Innovation May 15, 2017

Edtech’s Ideal User Interface Requires More Than Simplicity

Most discussions regarding the development of educational technology boil down to one key factor: How easy is it to use? Simplicity is often the name of the game when it comes to creating new technologies — any application or tool that doesn’t offer an optimal experience in terms of usability is usually rejected in favor of one that has a better user experience.

While simplicity and usability are undoubtedly important considerations when developing educational technology, educators have other priorities as well. The most well-designed, elegant solution is meaningless in the face of other deficiencies, which means that edtech developers need to consider the entire experience and role of the technology in the classroom if they expect their products to be embraced and successful. Everything from the graphics interface to the page layout must be designed so that it supports the cognitive processes of learning to improve outcomes.

What does this look like? Good user interfaces incorporate any number of features, but the following are among the most important.

Graphics User Interface (GUI)

The look and feel of any educational technology tool, whether an online classroom, an educational game, or a multimedia presentation, is important to the effectiveness of the overall learning experience. All too often, the GUI dominates the experience to the point that the content becomes secondary to the colors, design features, cartoon characters, logos, and more.

This creates a cognitive overload, in which more of the user’s attention and brain power is devoted to processing the graphics than on the subject matter being presented.

Ideally, then, the GUI should play a secondary role to the content, or enhance the presentation. On a more technical level, this means choosing the right technology for the device or product, e.g., 8-bit, 16-bit, or 32-bit graphics processor, as well as the right colors and design. At the same time, the GUI must be responsive, and compatible with a variety of different devices and screen sizes. Consider developing interfaces that borrow characteristics from familiar websites or games, which help make the product more intuitive and comfortable for students to use.

Also, when choosing graphics for the product, avoid adding graphics or photos simply for decoration. Although studies indicate that most learners are more successful with a combination of text and graphics, that doesn’t mean adding random or unrelated graphics just to break up the text. Graphics should always serve a purpose, whether to explain a concept (especially those that would otherwise be invisible), indicate transitions and progress, show relationships, or indicate the structure of the learning. When technology is designed in this way, it has a better chance of being attractive, intuitive, and effective.

Add a Human Element

It almost seems counterintuitive, but some of the most effective educational technology tools are those that include a human element in the instructional. Studies indicate that people learn better when they perceive some type of social presence, rather than a disembodied “other” providing the instruction. This can be accomplished as easily as using a conversational tone, but most edtech developers also include a virtual agent of some type, whether an avatar, cartoon character, or just a human voice providing narration.

However, while virtual agents can have a positive effect on the learning, it can also be distracting when the agent is used for entertainment rather than instruction — or overused. In other words, a cartoon character that provides an occasional hint or guidance is effective. A cartoon character that pops up every two minutes will quickly become annoying. In addition, your virtual agent doesn’t necessarily need human appearance. As long as the agent exhibits human-like behaviors, such as gesturing, it can be effective, especially when accompanied by a human voice.

Offer Feedback and Control

Learning is most effective when it includes feedback and a give and take between the student and the instructor. Effective educational technology includes ample feedback, not only about student performance, but about progress. Design your product so that it responds to user commands; even something as simple as a green light or click sound when the student answers a question can provide assurance that they are on the right track.

And finally, give users some control. While they may not be able to control the sequence of the content or which tasks must be completed, include features like video control, the ability to review older material, or save their progress and exit. This helps learners become active participants, and not simple passive observers.

Educational technology is a growing and expanding field, and developers are still working on the ideal methods of instruction. But understanding how people learn, and using that information to guide product design, will ensure better outcomes in every respect.

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, K-12, Teachers May 1, 2017

Understanding Academic Language and its Connection to School Success

Carlyn Friedberg, MS, CCC-SLP, Assessment Specialist, Lexia Learning

Alison Mitchell, Ph.D., NCSP, Director of Assessment, Lexia Learning

Elizabeth Brooke, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Chief Education Officer, Lexia Learning

As students progress through school, they are expected to demonstrate increasing levels of sophistication in their language and reading skills across all content areas. In order to gain knowledge through independent reading and participate in meaningful discussions in the classroom, students must master the complex words and phrases that characterize the language of school. Proficiency in these skills, otherwise known as academic language, is critical for reading comprehension and overall academic success.

Across the country, educators and policymakers have begun to acknowledge the importance of academic language, as well as its notable absence from curriculum and assessment. Recent national and state standards reflect a shift towards academic language by calling for instructional focus on words that appear across content areas, as well as opportunities for students to develop knowledge of words and concepts through discussion and reading (Baker et al, 2014). Students must be able to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words, understand nuances in word meanings and multiple meaning words, and utilize sophisticated words and phrases, including transitions and precise word choice (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). These demands are particularly challenging for students with impoverished experience or limited exposure to English.

Many students struggle with academic language because their exposure to language outside of school does not include advanced words and phrases. The transition to “school talk” poses a particular challenge for English Language Learners (ELLs) since they must simultaneously develop everyday language already familiar to their monolingual peers, along with academic language skills (O’Brien and Leighton, 2015). Without exposure to advanced English language skills at home, ELLs face double the demands of language learning. Increasing numbers of ELL students attending schools across the country, as well as significant numbers of students from low income backgrounds and those with learning disabilities, have made it an educational imperative that instruction and assessment directly promote students’ academic language proficiency.

What is Academic Language?

The term academic language may be used to refer to formal English rules, structure, and content for academic dialogue and text, and the communicative conventions that allow students to meet the demands of school environments. A concise definition refers to academic language as “the specialized language, both oral and written, of academic settings that facilitates communication and thinking about disciplinary content” (Nagy & Townsend, 2012). For actionable, instructional purposes, these specialized language skills include advanced vocabulary and syntax that help students unlock key elements of both oral and written language. These skills support the listener or reader in gaining a rich understanding of the message being delivered.

What are key elements of Academic Language?

Vocabulary and syntactic knowledge in oral and written language encompass specific skills that allow students to meet academic demands across the curriculum. Though commonly used to denote breadth of knowledge of word definitions (i.e., how many words a student knows), vocabulary knowledge also refers to depth of understanding of word parts (prefixes, suffixes, roots), multiple meanings, and figurative language that shape the subtleties of vocabulary use. Proficiency in word parts and relationships helps students acquire new vocabulary, reason about the meaning of unfamiliar words, and comprehend the sophisticated vocabulary that characterizes academic language, including:

Morphologically complex words (words with multiple parts, including prefixes and suffixes) e.g., comfortable; prediction; reconciliation
General-academic words that are high frequency and may be abstract or have multiple meanings, e.g., investigate; principle; asylum
Discipline-specific words that typically contain Greek combining forms, e.g., ecosystem; longitude; integer

Syntactic knowledge refers to the understanding of parts of speech and rules that govern how words and phrases combine into sentences, and how sentences combine into paragraphs. To comprehend connected text, students must master basic grammatical rules as well as sophisticated knowledge of words and phrases that are used to establish referents, organize ideas, denote relationships between concepts, and develop text cohesion, including:

Use of connective words requiring sentence-level inferencing, e.g., consequently; whereas; similarly
Resolution of pronoun reference, e.g., We examined the extent to which native plants in coastal regions adapted to climatic changes in their (The reader needs to connect the pronoun their to the noun native plants)
Grammatical agreement between subjects, verbs, and tense, e.g., All of the candidates, as well as the current President, are attending the televised debate.

Given the increasing emphasis on students’ abilities to independently engage with complex text, perhaps the domain most impacted by students’ academic language skills as they progress through school is reading comprehension. In fact, researchers have shown that reading comprehension difficulties are in large part due to students’ challenges in understanding the academic language of school texts (Uccelli et al, 2015). Vocabulary knowledge particularly predicts students’ literacy achievement, because it contributes significantly to both word identification and reading comprehension skills. In addition, vocabulary and syntactic knowledge have been shown to account for the majority of individual differences in reading comprehension performance for students in upper elementary school through high school (Foorman, Koon, Petscher, Mitchell, & Truckenmiller, 2015). Vocabulary knowledge and syntactic knowledge help students engage with text and progress towards deep reading comprehension with increasing independence by supporting their abilities to:

Acquire knowledge through reading and synthesize it with previously learned material
Analyze audience, structure, purpose, and tone of texts
Evaluate evidence, main ideas, and details in what they read

How do you teach Academic Language?

Instruction in academic language supports students’ access to content across all subject areas. Because the functions and structures of students’ home languages can significantly affect their reading comprehension, even when their first language is English (Westby, 2005), this instruction must be explicit and structured. Using language from the curriculum, educators of all disciplines can provide students with repeated exposure to and application of high-utility vocabulary words, both general-academic and discipline-specific, instruction in word-learning strategies and word relationships, and practice with complex syntactic forms.

In order to maximize the impact of academic language instruction, educators need to first understand their students’ specific language competencies. Educators should assess students’ knowledge of word associations, use of structural analysis, and abilities to make connections and inferences within and across sentences. In addition, evaluating both academic language and reading comprehension skills through use of authentic academic texts will help educators to identify students who need support coordinating vocabulary and syntactic knowledge with comprehension strategies. By assessing students’ skills before, during, and after teaching academic language, educators can collect actionable data that helps identify which students are likely to be successful or at risk for academic difficulty and what areas to target in instruction.

Academic Language Instruction for Early Elementary Students

Students need a strong foundation in age-appropriate language to aid their comprehension and expression in the classroom and support them towards engaging with more complex language as they progress through school. For early elementary students who are learning to read, academic language can be taught via oral language instruction. As students’ reading skills develop, they can apply their knowledge to text. Educators can leverage younger students’ natural enthusiasm for learning new words and participating in discussions to teach vocabulary and syntactic skills using the following strategies:

Foster a language-rich classroom that includes opportunities for students to learn and apply new vocabulary when following directions, describing, participating in conversations, and listening and responding to stories.
Provide explicit instruction in word relationships and categories, high-utility vocabulary (e.g., spatial, relational, temporal, and descriptive words), and content-area words.
Teach word-learning strategies for acquiring new vocabulary, including the use of sentence-level context clues and word analysis skills.
Demonstrate self-monitoring of comprehension when encountering complex language and ideas in texts read aloud.

Academic Language Instruction for Upper Elementary and Secondary Students

As students approach third grade and beyond, extracting relevant meaning while reading becomes more essential but challenging as students encounter texts that are increasingly complex and diverse (Nagy & Anderson, 1984). To meet these challenges, upper elementary and secondary students need instruction in more sophisticated academic language skills, including advanced vocabulary and grammatical structures. In particular, instruction in words and phrases that contain Greek and Latin word parts are essential to academic success (Corson, 1997), as 60–90% of words found in academic contexts contain these forms. Illuminating the connection between the root “struct” and the words “instruct,” “construct,” and “destruction” not only provides a key to the meaning of those words, but may also inspire students to engage with future novel words in an inquiring manner. Educators can help older students build their vocabularies, learn ways to reason about unfamiliar words, and think critically about what they have read with the following strategies:

Teach students about the morphological structure of words (prefixes, suffixes, and base/root words) and how words are joined together. Transitioning students’ thinking from “I don’t know the meaning of this word” to “What parts of this word do I recognize?” has the potential to generate a more active approach in a student’s response to spoken and written language.
Before students read class selections, preview and pre-teach vocabulary that will be important for their comprehension of the text, and provide semantic maps (graphic organizers or “webs” that connect new vocabulary to related words and concepts) when teaching new words.
Combine exposure and modeling with guided practice and independent, repeated oral and written application.

In addition to developing vocabulary, students need explicit instruction in the ways that words connect to other words, phrases, and concepts; new words must be learned and applied alongside the language structures within which they appear (Nagy and Townsend, 2012). With opportunities to read, write, say, and hear language that varies in form and function across contexts, students can internalize syntactic knowledge skills. In particular, focusing on connective (or “signal”) words and phrases in text can help students interpret relationships between ideas within and across sentences, clarify what they have already read, and provide clues to what they will read. To teach syntax skills, educators can use the following strategies:

When discussing texts, coach students through the meaning of sentences that require careful interpretation, especially those that require connections or inferences about multiple ideas.
Provide students with sentence frames that chunk complex sentences into meaningful phrases and demonstrate how changes in word choice and order affect meaning, subject-verb agreement, and pronoun usage.
Enhance lessons and conversations using academic language with pictures, video, and other multimedia to help students with language weaknesses connect definition and function to concepts and their current background knowledge.

Summary

Through targeted assessment and explicit instruction in academic language, educators have the power to impact students’ vocabulary knowledge, syntactic knowledge, and, subsequently, their reading comprehension. Although this instruction is particularly critical for struggling readers and English Language Learners, all students will benefit from targeted instruction in the words, phrases, and forms that constitute academic texts and discussions. While teachers’ classroom practices support students individually, school leaders can bolster language gains through selection of curriculum, assessment, and professional development opportunities that target this goal. A unified mission around academic language helps districts and schools improve students’ likelihood of educational success and provides students with the tools they need to comprehend their world, in school and beyondReferences:

Click here to access the references for this whitepaper.

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Teachers April 25, 2017

Maintaining a Connection with Students: 7 Tips for Administrators

Most principals were once classroom teachers. They loved education and making a direct impact on students and learning. But something drew them out of the classroom and into administration.

People who become principals understand that their impact will be further reaching than it was in the classroom. They give up the day-to-day, close relationship building with students in order to create and implement systems that will ensure success for all students and teachers.

But principals and administrators are still teachers at heart. The best ones make time to stay involved with student learning. They know their personal relationships with students will create a warm and welcoming culture in the school. We drew on our experiences of teaching in schools and also spoke with principals to collect some of the best ways administrators can stay connected to students despite not being in the classroom every day.

1. Teach lessons about things you love.

Remember that lesson you loved teaching when you were in the classroom? You don’t have to give it up. Make appointments to teach at least one lesson in each classroom throughout the year. I taught at a school with a principal who loved poetry. She asked to come into my fourth- grade classroom and teach a poem by Mary Oliver. My students were thrilled to have a guest teacher. The principal read the poem and led the class in a Socratic seminar to analyze its meaning. Then each student painted an image related to their understanding of the poem.

2. Host a lunch with the principal event.

There’s nothing like bonding over food. Pick a day each week or each month to host students for lunch. You can eat with them in the cafeteria or invite them to dine with you in your office. This helps students see that trips to the principal’s office don’t have to be a bad thing.

3. Get goofy.

Students think of principals as serious people who are usually pretty busy. By participating in school events, you’ll show them that you’re a fun person who cares about the school. Dress up for holidays, parades, and special events. Volunteer to sit in the dunk tank at the fair. Don’t be afraid to get messy in the hopes of connecting with students.

4. Make discipline a learning experience.

One of the reasons students don’t feel a close connection with principals is because of the idea that their job is to punish students, make phone calls home, and generally be strict and unwavering. Make sure that when you do have to work with students on discipline that you make it an experience of listening and understanding. Trying to get to the root of the issue rather than rushing to punish students will help go a long way towards building trust. If you’re not sure how to get started, check out the Love and Logic program for schools. It’s all about logical consequences and getting students to take responsibility.

5. Take polls and surveys in the hallways.

If you’ve got a big decision to make, ask for student input. During assemblies or while monitoring the hall in between classes, pull a few students aside and ask their opinions on things. Once you learn students’ names, say hello and greet them personally every time you see them.

6. Attend after school activities.

Sporting events have a way of bringing people together. You don’t need to attend every baseball game of the year, but try to make it to a few. Greet students before or after the game. The next day, congratulate students on their participation and achievement. This goes for other functions, too. Attend the community science fair if one of the students at your school is participating. Making the effort to show up for students outside of school hours shows them how much you care. It’s a great way to build relationships.

7. Create a “Principal’s Book of the Month” program.

Share your interests and love of reading with the whole school. Designate one book each month that you want to share with each class. Purchase enough copies so that each teacher gets one. Try to make it to each class at least once during the year to read the book of the month to students. The principals at one of my first schools used this program to build on reading standards. Each grade level would respond to the book of the month and one classroom would display those responses in a designated hallway. As you walked down the hallway, you saw responses to the same book from classes in kindergarten through fifth grade. It was great way to build camaraderie knowing every student in the school had read the same book.

If you’ve made the switch from teacher to administrator, you’ve probably already got a few great systems in place for keeping connected with students. If you haven’t made the switch, hopefully, this gives you some idea that keeping positive relationships with students when you’re a principal isn’t so hard.

Amanda Ronan is an Austin-based writer. After many years as a teacher, Amanda transitioned out of the classroom and into educational publishing. She wrote and edited English, language arts, reading, and social studies content for grades K-12. Since becoming a full-time writer, Amanda has worked with a diverse set of clients, ranging from functional medicine doctors to design schools to moving companies. She blogs for Teach.com, writes long-form articles, and pens YA and children’s fiction. Her first YA series, My Brother is a Robot, is slated for release by Scobre Educational Press in September 2015.

Matthew Lynch published in Ask An Expert, Education Leadership January 21, 2017

There’s more than practice to becoming a world-class expert

D. Zachary Hambrick, Michigan State University and Fredrik Ullén, Karolinska Institute

Some people are dramatically better at activities like sports, music and chess than other people. Take the basketball great Stephen Curry. This past season, breaking the record he set last year by over 40 percent, Curry made an astonishing 402 three-point shots – 126 more than his closest challenger.

What explains this sort of exceptional performance? Are experts “born,“ endowed with a genetic advantage? Are they entirely “made” through training? Or is there some of both?

What earlier studies show

This question is the subject of a long-running debate in psychology, and is the focus of the new book “Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise” by Florida State University psychologist Anders Ericsson and science writer Robert Pool.

In a 1993 study, Ericsson and his colleagues recruited violinists from an elite Berlin music academy and asked them to estimate the amount of time they had spent engaging in “deliberate practice” across their musical careers.

Deliberate practice, as Ericsson and his colleagues have defined it, includes training activities that are specifically designed to improve a person’s performance in an endeavor like playing an instrument. These activities require a high level of concentration and aren’t inherently enjoyable. Consequently, the amount of deliberate practice even experts can engage in is limited to a few hours a day.

Researchers found that skill level correlated with deliberate practice. Elliot Margolies, CC BY-NC-ND

Ericsson and his colleagues’ major discovery was that there was a positive correlation between the skill level of the violinists and the amount of deliberate practice they had accumulated. As deliberate practice increased, skill level increased.

For example, by age 20, the most accomplished group of violinists had accumulated an average of about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice – or about 5,000 hours more than the average for the least accomplished group. In a second study, Ericsson and colleagues replicated the finding in pianists.

On the basis of the studies, these researchers concluded that deliberate practice, rather than talent, is the determining factor for expert performance. They wrote,

We reject any important role for innate ability.

In a recent interview, Ericsson further explained that

we can’t find any sort of limiting factors that people really can’t surpass with the right kind of training. With the exception of body size: You can’t train to be taller.

Is it all about training?

Based on this evidence, the writer Malcolm Gladwell came up with his “10,000-hour rule” – the maxim that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert in a field. In the scientific literature, however, Ericsson’s views have been highly controversial from the start.

In an early critique, Harvard psychologist and multiple intelligence theorist Howard Gardner commented that Ericsson’s view required a “blindness” to earlier research on skill acquisition. Developmental psychologist Ellen Winner added that “Ericsson’s research demonstrated the importance of hard work but did not rule out the role of innate ability.” Renowned giftedness researcher Françoys Gagné noted that Ericsson’s view “misses many significant variables.” Cognitive neuroscientist Gary Marcus observed,

Practice does indeed matter – a lot and in surprising ways. But it would be a logical error to infer from the importance of practice that talent is somehow irrelevant, as if the two were in mutual opposition.

How important is training?

For our part, working with colleagues around the world, we have focused on empirically testing Ericsson and colleagues’ theory to find out more about the relationship between deliberate practice and performance in various domains.

A 2014 study led by Case Western Reserve University psychologist Brooke Macnamara used a statistical tool called “meta-analysis” to aggregate the results of 88 earlier studies involving over 11,000 participants, including studies that Ericsson and colleagues had used to argue for the importance of deliberate practice.

Each study included a measure of some activity that could be interpreted as deliberate practice, as well as a measure of skill level in a domain such as music, chess or sports.

It isn’t all about practice.Ahd Photography, CC BY-NC

The study revealed that deliberate practice and skill level correlated positively with each other. In other words, the higher the skill level, the greater the amount of deliberate practice. However, the correlation wasn’t so strong as to warrant the claim that differences in skill level are largely due to deliberate practice.

In concrete terms, a key implication of this discovery is that people may require vastly different amounts of deliberate practice to reach the same level of skill.

A more recent study synthesized the results of 33 studies to understand the relationship between deliberate practice and performance in sports at a more detailed level.

One important finding was that deliberate practice lost its predictive power at the highest levels of skill. That is, on average, there was almost no difference in accumulated amount of deliberate practice between elite-level athletes, such as Olympians, and subelite athletes, such as contestants in national championships.

Training isn’t the only factor

As we discuss in a recent review article with behavioral geneticist Miriam Mosing, this evidence tells us that expertise – like virtually all phenomena that psychologists study – is determined by multiple factors.

Training history is certainly an important factor in explaining why some people are more successful than others. No one becomes a world-class performer without practice. People aren’t literally born with the sort of specialized knowledge that underpins skill in domains like music and chess. However, it now seems clear that training isn’t the only important factor in acquiring expertise. Other factors must matter, too.

What might these other factors be? There are likely many, including basic abilities and capacities that are known to be influenced by genes.

In a 2010 study with psychologist Elizabeth Meinz, 57 pianists ranging in skill from beginner to professional estimated the amount of deliberate practice they had accumulated across their musical careers, and took tests of “working memory capacity.” Working memory capacity is the ability to focus one’s attention on information critical to performing a task by filtering out distractions.

Working memory capacity made a difference while sight-reading. woodleywonderworks, CC BY

The pianists then attempted to sight-read pieces of music (that is, to play the pieces without preparation) on a piano in the lab. The major finding was that working memory capacity was a factor in the pianists’ success in the sight-reading task, even among those with thousands of hours of deliberate practice.

Our research on twins further reveals that the propensity to practice music is influenced by genetic factors. This research compares identical twins, who share 100 percent of their genes, to fraternal twins, who on average share only 50 percent of their genes. A key finding of this work is that identical twins are typically more similar to each other in their practice histories, as well as their scores on tests of basic music aptitude, than fraternal twins are to each other. For example, it’s more likely to find a pair of identical twins who have both accumulated over 10,000 hours of practice than a pair of fraternal twins who have both accumulated this amount of practice.

This discovery indicates that, while extensive practice is necessary to become a highly skilled musician, genetic factors influence our willingness to put in that practice. More generally, this research suggests that we gravitate toward and persist at those activities that we have an aptitude for from the outset.

Research by other scientists is beginning to link expert performance to specific genes. In a groundbreaking series of molecular genetic studies, the University of Sydney geneticist Kathryn North and her colleagues found that the ACTN3 gene, which is expressed in fast-twitch muscle fibers, correlates with high-level success in sprinting events. Based on these findings, North and her colleagues have called ACTN3 a possible “gene for speed.”

How can people excel?

In view of this evidence, we have argued that the richness and complexity of expertise can never be fully understood by focusing on “nature” or “nurture.”

For us, the days of the “experts are born versus made” debate are over. The task before us is to understand the myriad ways that experts are born and made by developing and testing models of expertise that take into account all relevant factors, including not only training but also genetic influences.

From a practical perspective, we believe that this research will provide a scientific foundation for developing sound principles and procedures for helping people develop skills. As sports science research is already starting to demonstrate, it may one day be possible to give people accurate information about the activities in which they are likely to excel, and develop highly individualized training regimens to maximize people’s potential.

Far from discouraging people from following their dreams, this research promises to bring expert performance within the reach of a greater number of people than is currently the case.

D. Zachary Hambrick, Professor of Psychology, Michigan State University and Fredrik Ullén, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch September 18, 2016

5 Keys to an Effective School Mission

Instructional leadership offers administrators the opportunity to create a shared vision of learning for the entire school environment – allowing both educators and support staff to get behind a common goal. That common goal is most often articulated in the form of a school mission statement, which must be built effectively in order to be compelling.

What are the characteristics of a good school mission statement?

1. Academically Focused

A school’s mission must be academically focused, as after all that is the primary function of the school environment. While there are other functions that a school serves, other roles that it plays, the academic growth of the students is where it all starts and where it should ultimately lead. The mission statement serves as a reminder to all members of the school community that strong academics are the prize.

2. Objectives are Clearly Expressed

In order for all stakeholders to have the opportunity to participate in the school’s model, the objectives must be clearly expressed in writing. The language has to be clear and something that everyone can understand, from teachers and administrators to parents and support staff. Students should also be able to access the mission statement so that they can become participants in their own education.

3. Clearly Displayed

A mission statement does no one any good if it’s kept locked up in the office or just posted on a web page. In order for a school’s mission statement to be of any use, it must be displayed in places all over the school environment. In hallways and on distributed materials, discussed in classrooms and assemblies. If a school wishes for its mission statement to drive the school culture, then it must be part of the school environment and conversation.

4. Present in the Classroom

Besides being displayed and talked about in the school, the mission statement should be the primary driving force for teachers when they are planning and implementing lessons. This is something that can take some acclimation for teachers, who are might be reticent to change their focus when planning lessons. However using the school’s mission as a focus and a trigger point will help students to have a unified educational experience, which will help them to solidify their learning across the school setting.

5. Actively Modeled

In addition to all of this, the mission must be expertly articulated by the school’s top administrators. If the mission has an academic focus, then that needs to be actively backed by the administration. Stakeholders will have a hard time pushing the mission of the school if they believe that there is a lack of integrity in the execution of it, for example if the mission pushes academics but the school more actively focuses on sports or societal concerns. Of course even with that academic heartbeat that’s driving the school’s mission, there will continue to be ancillary projects and activities going in in the school, but with that the pulse must still be academic, and that pulse is derived from the actions of administrators.

Applying Research to Mission Building

Instructional leaders should apply research to their mission building strategies. One key way to do this is to ask questions about the mission statement as it is in development and then later as it is implemented.

Are the goals clearly articulated and easy to understand?
Are the goals visible throughout the school environment?
Are they familiar with all of the stakeholders in the school?
Do the goals apply in the day-to-day activities at the school?
Do instructional leaders consistently and actively reinforce the misson’s goals?
Do all stakeholders in the school support the mission?

The Importance of the Mission Statement.

Direction-setting in the school environment is an essential aspect of instructional leadership. Framing and communicating the school’s goals through a mission statement is the perfect way to communicate the direction and focus of the school environment. Clear, measurable and time based goals are at the heart of the school experience. When these goals are communicated and achieve buy in from stakeholders within the school environment, then the school’s mission becomes attainable. Too often goals are not active drivers in the school community, but rather are sidebar considerations that don’t get much attention from school personnel. The mission is a wonderful tool to help create an effective school environment.

Nearly every school has a mission statement, and it can be a powerful tool that helps to codify and give direction to the enthusiasm, passion and expertise that educators bring to the classroom. Or it can be a jumble of letters that are posted on the wall of the office and left unnoticed. The choice is up to the leadership of the school environment. One thing that administrators must realize is that good goals, good mission statements that are well articulated and actively communicated, offer the possibility for radical change and success.

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch August 7, 2016

4 Major Types of Educational Leadership

There are four major styles of leadership which apply well in the educational setting. While each of these styles has its good points, there is a wide berth of variation, and in fact, transformational leadership is truly an amalgamation of the best attributes of the other three. Let’s explore how servant leadership, transactional leadership, and emotional leadership compare to transformational leadership.

1. Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership takes the focus from the end goal to the people who are being led. There is no sense of self-interest on the part of the leader, who steps back and supports only the interests of the followers. Guidance, empowerment and a culture of trust are hallmarks of this style of leadership. A servant leader puts complete trust in the process and in his or her followers, assuming that those within the organization will align with its goal.

The primary issue with servant leadership is that it’s not viable on an organizational level, in large part because it does not keep its eye on the prize. With the focus being so entirely upon the needs of the people within the organization, the goal of the organization is nearly completely lost and therefore not attained. Education happens in the real world, where unfortunately people have shortcomings and quite often need guidance in order to get things going in the right direction. Transformational Leadership offers that same focus on the individual, while building an investment in the end goal of the organization and thereby creating a momentum to achieve it. Transformational Leadership takes Service Leadership to the next level.

2. Transactional Leadership

Give and take is the hallmark of transactional leadership – it is indeed modeled just like a business transaction. Of course the employer/employee relationship is largely transactional as is. Employers need work done and employees do that work in exchange for money. That “quid pro quo” (“something for something”) is the heart of the workplace, and everyone is generally happy with this arrangement, but it only works if everyone involved sees it that way. In education, there is often more at stake for employees who quite often understand their jobs to be more than just a simple exchange of services for money, but rather see their higher purpose. Money is therefore not the motivating factor.

This is where transformational leadership can step in to compliment transactional leadership, taking the whole process as step further by building upon other forms of motivation outside of simply the exchange of goods and services for money. However transformational leadership only really works of the leader is able to keep up the charisma and interpersonal relationships which are required for it to work. When transformational leadership fails, the last resort is quite often transactional leadership, which is easy and straightforward, if less than effective in the long term.

Perhaps the biggest contrast between transformational and transactional leadership is that the latter is laissez faire, in which the leader allows employees to do as they like, whereas the former is completely hands on and intrusive in its nature.

3. Emotional Leadership

Where transactional leadership was concerned primarily with the exchange of goods and services, emotional leadership is concerned with the feelings and motivations of followers. It takes the focus completely to the other side of the spectrum – demanding that leaders be emotionally intelligent themselves and then to motivate through the use of that emotional intelligence.

Emotional leadership and transformational leadership have a great deal in common with each other. With emotional leadership, the leader taps into their emotional center in order to find the path to guiding their followers. People sometimes argue that transformational leadership requires that same level of influence over emotions, however there is a fundamental difference in the two in that transformational leadership is by necessity a rational process rather than an emotional one.

4. Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership takes from each of the other kinds of leadership its best qualities and then uses those, along with a deep sense of shared purpose, to motivate subordinates. While the other forms of leadership focus on one singular aspect or another, transformational leadership takes a broad view of the issues surrounding leadership and then uses those as a driving force for meeting the overall goals of the organization. For education in particular, transformational leadership offers the best of everything – from tapping into the emotions of workers to offering the compensatory core that is the case for all forms of business, to guiding from a place of support.

However since transformational leadership is informed by all of these various types of leadership, it’s always a good idea for leaders to learn more about these other styles so as to offer a deeper understanding of these forms so as to offer those in whose service they are the best support and guidance possible.

References

Transformational leadership is a theory of leadership that was developed by James Burns (1978), and has been written about by many other scholars since then. To read more of James Burns’ work on transformational leadership and other topics, click here to visit his Amazon.com page.

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, list, Matthew Lynch March 12, 2016

6 Reasons Why You Should Become a Transformational Leader

A transformational school leader ensures students focus on their studies by being considerate of individuality, being charismatic in influencing them, and inspiring them. Instead of using set problem-solving techniques, he or she involves students and teachers to come up with solutions to problems as they arise. Transformational leaders in a school setting quickly identify areas in need of improvement, seeking out-of-the-box solutions. The leader identifies cynicism and intentions to quit among teachers, through consultation and individualized consideration. Realigning their values and goals to resonate with those of the school, the leader reassures teachers that they are needed and valued.

Becoming a transformational leader is not that easy, though. Transformational leadership is all about perception. It only works if it is able to influence the core—the follower’s feelings. Charismatic and inspiring, transformational leaders are well versed the power of language and imagery. “Transformational characteristics” are included in training courses, but the personal effort of the leader determines whether transformational leadership is achievable.

Here are some reasons for you to consider adopting a transformational leadership style:

Transformational leadership is so crucial that organizations often suffer without it. The positive connection between transformational leadership and job characteristics is so strong, we should almost expect an opposite result in organizations that do not employ it. When switching to a transformational style of leadership, a principal or dean must understand how he or she is to influence task perception. The shaping of daily tasks in a transformational manner helps foster positive perceptions among followers.
Transformational leadership makes work meaningful. Meta-analytic research has produced evidence of a positive relationship between transformational leadership and work-related results. These findings demonstrate that transformational leaders make work meaningful by providing autonomy. Followers of transformational leaders feel strongly that their work is esteemed and self-congruent.
Transformational leadership makes workers feel more empowered. Transformational leadership encourages a feeling of empowerment in all followers. There is an inverse relationship between cynicism and transformational leadership, because persons under a highly transformational leader are usually intellectually stimulated and constantly challenged to be open-minded. Various studies have demonstrated relationships between follower empowerment and job satisfaction, decreased anger and frustration, and a sense of organizational attachment.
Transformational leadership allows workers to feel connected to their organization. Transformational leaders motivate by increasing self-efficacy in followers, by facilitating social identification within a group, and by linking organizational values to follower values. This allows followers to feel more determined in their work and augments their perceived empowerment.
Transformational leadership makes workers want to stay around. While cynicism and intentions to quit are widely considered symptoms of employee negativity, initial research in organizational behaviors has considered them to be generalized traits. Recent studies found cynicism to be a specific construct; a reflection of the followers’ perception of the leader. Cynicism is a product of ineffective leadership and lack of participation and consultation in decision making. Intention to quit (ITQ) is another form of employee’s negative reaction to poor leadership. Factors that have been linked to ITQ include poor pay, and lack of job satisfaction and goal commitment. Employees are unlikely to have ITQ toward an organization where their need for efficacy is met in their respective job responsibilities. Highly resilient followers are more likely to adapt after setbacks at work, rather than leave the organization.

Transformational leadership is universal. A study by Boehnke, Bontis, Distefano, and Distefano investigated the existence of universally consistent behaviors. They sampled 145 senior executives in two divisions of a global petroleum company and its subsidiaries around the world. One of the major findings of the study was that the basic dimensions of leadership that produce extraordinary performance are universal, with little variation in the six different parts of the world sampled. However, some leadership differences were attributed to the different corporate cultures in the two company divisions.

In the final result, transformational leadership is identified as consistent with a clear majority of sampled behaviors, as provided in the executives’ descriptions of their version of exceptional organizational performance. Terms such as visioning, intellectual stimulation, team building, coaching, and inspiring behavior appeared in 68% or more of the responses. All those attributes refer to a transformational style of leadership.

It is intriguing to note that the only non-transformational characteristic in more than half of the reports was “recognizing and rewarding,” at 62%, which is an element of the transactional style of leadership. It is apparent that transformational leadership is widely accepted as an exceptional leadership technique. It is applicable in all kinds of organizations, including the school setting. Whether you are a practicing leader or someone who aspires to become one, you would be well advised to add transformational leadership to your repertoire.

References

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch February 20, 2016

Leadership Practices That Directly Influence Teachers’ Emotions

The emotions of teachers are an often ignored, but very important part of a school’s learning climate. With each decision or policy they put in place, school leaders have an effect on the emotions of their teachers. Leadership practices that have emotional consequences reflect four sets of “core practices” for effective leadership. These practices form a major part of what most successful school leaders do, in many different organizational and cultural contexts. Due to their transformational bias to leadership, these core practices involve:

1. Direction-setting – The practices of school leaders geared at building an inclusive sense of purpose in the school, and a grasp of the specific goals often leads to success, and broader school purposes are also accomplished. Most successful school leaders set higher expectations for their own performance as well as those of their teaching staff and students.

2. Focusing on helping teachers improve professionalism – The development of teachers’ capacities includes most of the principal practices that influence teachers’ feelings. These practices include: being genuinely friendly, considerate, supportive, attentive to teachers’ ideas, and mindful of teachers’ welfare. School leaders who provide individualized consideration and learning opportunities build the teachers’ need to accomplish their own goals as well as those of the school. Success in building capacity is also achieved by reducing distractions to instructional work, as well as modeling values and practices that are aligned with the teachers’ core purpose.

3. Redesigning the organization – This entails building a culture that is supportive and collaborative in teaching and learning, and creating and sustaining school structures that complement such a culture. In this context, successful principals nurture productive relationships with parents and the entire community, to influence future policies and prevent situations that might affect the school.

4. Managing the instructional program – This aspect of leadership basically requires instructional knowledge. It includes efforts by school leaders to ensure that their schools have highly competent staff, to observe the progress of students and the school improvement, to monitor teachers’ instructional practices, and to provide supportive, helpful feedback to their staff.

Based on the extensive research carried out in both educational and non-school contexts, it is evident that emotionally responsive practices are closely associated with social assessment abilities. These abilities enable one to appreciate the emotional states of others, find out what those states entail in complex social situations, respond in helpful ways , and manage one’s own emotions.

Transformational leaders are known for their emotional capabilities and are prepared to include it in their professional life, despite the fact that it may involve breaking the traditions of professional culture and norms to maintain and repair relationships. They realize that building trusting relationships is vital for a cooperative culture.

One common element in both emotional intelligence and social appraisal skills is the understanding of others’ emotional experience. Empathy is used to sense what people are feeling, and look at things from their point of view. However, there is a risk involved when a leader assumes that he or she knows what followers are feeling. Such a belief is often mistaken, since it is easy to misinterpret others’ feelings. This is because we often try to imagine how we would feel in their situation.

Engaging in respectful and thoughtful conversations is important for finding out if what we have “sensed” is accurate. In light of the evidence provided, it is clear that leaders who have emotional wisdom avoid assumptions about what others are feeling. Instead, they commit themselves to building emotional meaning with relevant parties. These leaders also recognize the importance of emotion in professional discussions, private reflection, and strategic analysis of situations. This kind of collaborative consideration of emotions is a step ahead of present leadership practice, emerging as the key element for nurturing learning communities in the true sense of emotional leadership..

Emotional leadership is said to be “future” leadership, because the research in schools exploring the particular connection between leaders’ success and their social appraisal skills is still in its early stages. However, evidence from the non-school settings show that these skills do make a significant contribution to leadership success. Nevertheless, the magnitude of contribution varies in strength based on the job description. When they seek to understand and respect the emotions of their followers, leaders are bound to experience positive results. Followers feel validated and appreciated when their feelings are not pushed aside, leading to a more positive, productive working environment for everyone.

Matthew Lynch published in Education Leadership, Matthew Lynch February 14, 2016

Surveying the Modern Applications of Instructional Leadership

A revolution is taking place in school leadership. New policies call for higher academic standards and accountability. So-called “accountability systems” include a more methods to develop and monitor school change. Researchers have joined the fray, adding their opinions about the reinvention of instructional leadership in schools.

More focus on student results leads to local changes aligned with the performance goals of the educational system. The general presumption is that these changes will come automatically, since public reporting of school outcomes creates pressure for reform. The development of direct incentives that yield innovation, efficiency, and solutions to performance problems will also be a source of change.

Accountability systems force the development of standards required for improved instructional and assessment practices. They also act as incentives for participation in the process. This simple logic of an accountability system is compelling, providing an irresistible rationale for educational reform.

This new vigor in instructional leadership has been spurred by the No Child Left Behind Act. The recent debate in the U.S. on the legitimacy of using standardized tests to gauge student learning has led to new leadership efforts and spending to help schools achieve better test scores. These efforts have pressured new instructional leadership, characterized by school analysts, researchers, and school leaders focusing on data in their decision-making. This new instructional paradigm was envisioned earlier in research.

This new instructional style has also been referred to as “learning-centered” leadership. It began with a push by state education leaders to process student data from available achievement tests. Private companies enjoyed financial benefits, selling data reporting systems to schools to help them sort the data. State education leaders hired consultants, who created data analysis workshops and data retreats to instruct school leaders on effective data use. School leaders adopted new school reform plans and curricula coordinated with state learning standards, resulting in far-reaching changes in student learning. Positive results only happened when practitioners were willing to change their ways and conform to the new standards.

The biggest problem in data-driven decision-making is the implementation of new accountability practices. Most schools already had active, working internal accountability systems. Schools already made decisions based on data, such as class attendance, test scores, student discipline, available budgets, and teacher reputations. Administrative reliance on these old internal accountability systems has cased the most resistance to reforms in school instructional practice.

To use data to improve student performance, leaders need to factor in external accountability instead of traditional methods. This new model improves on traditional practices such as teacher evaluation, professional development, curriculum design, and building new cultures of learning. Older techniques will have to be changed to address the challenges of contemporary schools.

Practical systems rely on two-way information flow, connecting classroom practice with external accountability measures. This requires stronger links between teaching and leadership , teacher collaboration, learning matched with current instructional goals, and close monitoring of instructional outcomes. To succeed here, the leader must assist students in taking tests, avoid favoring test preparation over learning, and justify instructional practices changes to the community.

Data Acquisition

Data acquisition refers to the processes of seeking, collecting, and preparing useful information for teaching and learning activities. The data gathered and processed at this stage comes from student test scores. However, other fields of information are needed to inform teaching and learning.

Data storage is a vital element of data acquisition. There is a need to use local data systems, since the NCLB Act requires certain information on student performance. Schools have created a retail demand for data storage and data analysis products.

Data Reflection

Data reflection is the manipulation of student learning data toward improved teaching and learning practices. DDIS data reflection is a structured opportunity for both teachers and leaders to make useful sense of data, rather than guessing “what works.”

Data reflection can be done at a school-wide level, grade level, or even in subject-area meetings. Problem framing is a vital element of data reflection . This involves active thought on how data can improve outcomes, leading to a a plan of action.

Program Alignment

This involves matching the school’s instructional program to the content and performance standards in classrooms. Program alignment is an essential part of planning for instructional leadership, probably the most sensitive part of DDIS, in order to influence the outcome of the new policies.

Program Design

— It is through program design that the school’s policies, plans, and procedures are defined in such a manner that reported problems are addressed. Curricula, student service programs, and instructional strategies are modified to improve student learning. Program design also involves the inspection of the school’s access to budgets and grants, for starting and maintaining a new program.

Formative Feedback

Feedback is always a crucial in the adoption of new strategies. The DDIS model creates a continuous and timely flow of information, designed to improve student outcomes. This feedback is different from data acquisition and reflection. It applies to information gathered to measure the school’s progress measured in terms of student performance.

Test Preparation

This last part of the DDIS model consists of activities designed to assess, motivate, and develop student academic abilities, as well as strategies to improve performance on state and district assessment tests. Test preparation covers a wide range of issues, such as test formats, testing skills, and addressing weak areas, as well as test preparation.

“Teaching to the test” refers to study content, called “formulaic instruction.” It is teaching students topics that are tested, without regard to holistic learning. Leaders in schools across the U.S. have changed multiple aspects of school life to gear their instructional programs toward test content. Schools where the DDIS mode was put into action didn’t narrow their curriculum to the test content. The researchers noticed instead that, in schools with DDIS systems, there were rich instructional systems designed to help students meet state exam standards.

A DDIS system of instructional leadership is insightful, innovative, and results-oriented. It increases precision in predicting student outcomes and developing key areas of study relevant to academic improvement.