The Changing Landscape of Education:

Leadership in WisconsinRaymond J. McNulty, President

@ray_mcnulty

Schools are Improving

School

Improvement

Schools are Improving

School

Improvement

Changing

World

The primary aim of education is not to enable students to do well in school, but to help them do well in the lives they lead outside of school.

Making a better “20th Century School”

is not the answer.

We are getting better at things that do not matter

as much anymore.

Unless we unlearn some of our

traditional practices, we will never get

beyond an improvement

mindset.

The Boston Globe

Ray, reading the paper on your “Kindle” or online just

isn’t the same!

Almost everyone wants schools to be better,

but almost no one wants them to be different.

Teacher – Student Comparisons

T – I make learning exciting for my students.

86%

S – My teachers make learning fun.

41%

First Different - Then Better

Why I do this work…..

“The future is not some place

we are going to, but one we are creating.

The paths are not found, but made, and the activity of

making them changes both the maker and the

destination.”--John Schaar

Systems are challenged today like never before.

The key challenge that we face

is results.

In an environment driven by results, the best

strategy is to “DEVELOP YOUR PEOPLE.”

Broaden the definition of learning in your system to include adults.

I believe the future is not about the latest gadgets,

it is about something more than gadgets, it’s

about …LEARNING

Adult Learning Year!

2011

The focus must be on the way we work.

• Cooperation is what was valued in the past. It is about efficiency: “You do this and I will do that.”

• Collaboration is where we should focus. It is about shared creation, in which the focus is not on the process but on the specific results.

WE need to become the AGENTS of change.

Themes1. Best and Next Practices2. Some key trends3. Innovation Skills4. Why is change so hard?5. Closing remarks

Theme

•Best and Next Practices

Best practices allow you to do what you are

currently doing a little better.

Next practices increase your organization’s capability

to do things it has never done before.

System Innovation

Sustaining Innovation

Next Practice

Expertise (“the way we do things around here”) can be a road block to problem solving

and to the development of Next Practices.

We have a flawed perspective of always listening to our best customers… They tell us how good the system is working

for them!

BANKING

•Sears

•IBM

•Xerox

A Story….• Not a bad idea, but to

earn a grade more than a C+, the idea has to be viable! (Yale Professor)

• Fredrick Smith

• The idea FedEx

-Shurnyu Suzuki

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the

expert’s mind there are few.”

First practice must change, then results,

then policy.

Current System

Something Different

The Horse

The Automobile

Henry Ford quote…

“If I had asked the public what they wanted,

they would have said a faster horse.”

Theme

•Some key trends

First Key Trend• Our roles as educators is

challenged by easy access to an abundance of resources

• Sense Making• Coaching• Credentialing

Second Key TrendPeople expect to be able to learn,

study and work whenever and wherever they want.

The world outside of school is increasingly collaborative.

We must reflect upon the way student projects are structured and graded and how teachers work.

Third Key TrendThird Key Trend

Effective and Efficient Practices

John Hattie…. Visible Learning

Synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement.

Third Key TrendFourth Key Trend

Effect Size

• 1.0 indicates one standard deviation typically associated with advancing children’s achievement by two or more years (improving the rate of learning by 50%)

• Hattie set a bench mark of .40 as the minimal desired effect

Some data• Student expectations of self 1.44

• Providing formative evaluation .90

• Teacher Clarity .75

• Class size .21

• Retention .16

Intentionally Non-Compliant Student

The Fundamental Attribution Error

When looking at our own behavior, we tend to view the situation in the environment that surrounds our action.

When looking at the behavior of others, we make assumptions about their personal qualities.

The Effects of Praise

Fixed or Growth

Can’t hand confidence to learners on a silver platter.

Disruptive Innovation

Theme

Innovation Skills

All leaders have problems or situations in front of them for which there are no answers.

The skill set to do this is:

Current Leadership works hard to efficiently deliver the next thing that should be done given the existing system. Current leadership shines at converting a vision or goal into actions to achieve that vision or goal.

Delivery Skills

• Analyzing

• Planning

• Detailed Oriented Implementing

• Disciplined Executing

Innovators seek to fundamentally change the current model.

• Why accept the status quo?

• Look for new and better ways!

• Steve Jobs, “I want to put a ding in the universe!”

• Are you good at generating innovative ideas?

• Do you know how and where to find innovative people in your system?

• Do you know how to train your people to be creative and innovative?

Discovery Skills• Questioning

• Observing

• Networking

• Experimenting

• Associational Thinking

Question Storming

• What is…

• What caused….

• Why… Why not….

• What if…

Highly Innovative Systems

• In your system is innovation everyone’s job?

• Is disruption part of your system’s innovation portfolio?

• Are small project teams central to taking innovative ideas to scale?

• Does your system take smart risks in the pursuit of innovation?

Some are suggesting bold moves….

Conrad Wolfram… Start teaching math and stop teaching calculating.

Theme

Why it is so hard to change?

Why is it so hard to change?

• The more successful a system is, the more difficult it is to recognize when it must change. By example, market leaders are the last ones to transform.

• The American Education System, “The market leader during the industrial era!”

Market Leader Thinking• Dominant logic: “That’s the way we do

things here.”

VII

Shown below is the Roman numeral seven. By adding only a single line, turn it into an eight.

IX

• Shown below is a Roman numeral nine. By adding only a single line, turn it into a six.

SIX

IX6

Mental Locks

• We don’t need to be creative for most of what we do (driving, shopping, business of living). So staying on routine thought paths enables us to do many things without having to think about it.

• Our training in school has taught us that there is one right answer.

• The Right Answer

Five beautiful and well-dressed woman are standing in a tight group. One is crying and she has never been happier. The other four are smiling and they have never been more disappointed. Why?

The Second Right Answer

• What is the answer?

• What are the answers?

• The Right Answer

• That’s not logical

• SOFT • HARD

• Logic• Metaphor• Dream• Reason• Precision• Humor• Consistency• Ambiguity• Play• Work• Exact• Approximate

• Direct• Focused• Fantasy• Reality• Paradox• Diffuse• Analysis• Hunch• Generalization• Specifics• Child• Adult

• SOFT• Metaphor• Dream• Humor• Ambiguity• Play• Approximate• Fantasy• Paradox• Diffuse• Hunch• Generalization• Child

• HARD• Logic• Reason• Precision• Consistency• Work• Exact• Reality• Direct• Focused• Analysis• Specific• Adult

• SOFT

• Shades of gray

• Hard to pick up

• Many answers

• Flood light, diffused

• HARD

• Black and white

• Easy to pick up

• Right answer

• Focused like a spot light

Cat - Refrigerator

NEXT PRACTICE THINKING• The Iterative Process

• Versions

• Create a disciplined, managed space for development of new ways to accomplish difficult tasks

Theme

Closing Points

# 1• Leadership today requires a balance of

traditional skills mixed with innovation skills

• Stability, control and standardization mixed with uncertainty, ambiguity and disruptive thinking

#2• Making a better 20th Century School is not

the answer

• It is about becoming different not just better

• Using researched based best practices important, but for true transformation you need a mixture of BEST and NEXT practices.

• 70 – 30 or 80 - 20

#3• Collaboration is essential for success today

• Cooperation won’t get you the results you need

• Collaboration is mutual engagement to solve the challenge (21st Century)

• Cooperation is a division of labor approach (20th Century)

#4• We live in a world obsessed with

predictability and control, some people believe that if we can’t truly measure something it must not matter.

• We must consider the possibility that if we can’t truly measure something, it may be the most important thing.

• Technical Challenges

• Culture Challenges

TO DO THE JOB WELL

• QUANTITATIVE DATA

• QUALITATIVE DATA

• GREAT QUESTIONS…

Teacher – Student ComparisonsT – I am aware of my students’ interests outside of school.

84%

S – My teachers know my interests outside of school.

28%

BE EXTRAORDINARY

BEING EXTRAORDINARY

• Committed to the truth• Be committed to delaying

gratification• Be someone who always has the

chance of saying “yes”• Live a life where you do not make

others wrong

BEING EXTRAORDINARY

• Be committed to courage• Be someone who produces results

with absolutely no force• Be a person who is peaceful in chaos

BE EXTRAORDINARY

Themes1. Best and Next Practices2. Some key trends3. Innovation Skills4. Why is change so hard?5. Closing remarks

WASDA / AWSA

• Four Workshops

• Leadership in a Transformational Setting (Nov 15)• Leadership and Empowerment (Jan 10)• Understanding the Classroom Implications CCSS and NGA

(March 13)• Developing Next Practices (May 15)

The Changing Landscape of Education:

Leadership in WisconsinRaymond J. McNulty, President

@ray_mcnulty