How and Why MI-LIFE

is Making a Difference in

Michigan

MDE/AdvancED Michigan NCA Spring School Improvement ConferenceApril 14, 2011

Steve HeckerJane Perzyk

MI-LIFEwww.mi-life.org

2

What is MI-LIFE?

The Michigan Leadership Improvement Framework

Enhancement is a professional learning program for school

administrators developed through a grant from the Microsoft

Partners in Learning Program to the Michigan Department of

Education.

Funded by a grant from…

$

3

Program Partners

4

5

MI-LIFE Mission

All participants will acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes to

become 21st Century Leaders who have an ultimate impact on improving student achievement.

6

Preparing 21st century students for success in high school, post-secondary education, and multiple careers during

their lifetime requires more of educators than ever before.

It requires 21st century

1. How can we prepare school leaders to become 21st Century Leaders who have an ultimate impact on improving student achievement for all students?

2. How can we support school leaders to become models of 21st century learning for their staff and for their students?

3. How can we engage school leaders to develop common understandings and build consensus around 21st century learning and leadership?

4. How can we provide a technology-rich professional learning program that has practical application to the everyday work of school leaders?

Four big questions…

7

Strand II - Leadership

INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

OPERATIONAL RESOURCE MNGT.

SHARED LEADERSHIP

CURRICULUM

INSTRUCTION

ASSESSMENT

Strand I – Teaching & Learning

Strand III - Personnel & Prof. Learning

PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

Strand IV - School/ Community Relations

PARENT/FAMILY INVOLVEMENT

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT

Strand V - Data & Information

Management

DATA MANAGEMENT

INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

Curriculum focuses on the Michigan School

ImprovementFramework

9

Comprehensive Needs Assessment

Accountability Requirements

Our world has changed 

digital virtual

global

10

11

Our educational community has

changed 

12

Our teachers have changed 

Our students have changed 

13

Their future has changed

“We need to prepare students for their future, not our past.”

--Ian Jukes, educator and futurist

14

North Central Regional Educational Laboratory NCREL http://www.ncrel.org/engauge/skills/agelearn.htm

21st century skills

15

16

Unit 1

Building 21st Century Leadership

Intersecting Data

17

Supervising the Instructional Process

Creating a Culture of Shared Leadership and Capacity for Continuous Improvement

Unit 2

Aligning Systems - online

How does it work?Face-to-Face Session 1 Intersession Work

Face-to-Face Session 2

18

19

Levels of PerformancePerformance Assessment

Overall performance is assessed based on ……….

Fail Accomplished Developing Beginning

Does not complete

Contains all elements..

Missing some elements..

Missing many elements…

Returned with instructor comments for revision

20

SBCEUsSessio

nCourse In-class

hoursPerformanc

e Assessment

Total hours

SBCEUs

1 Overview/ Leadership

8 14.5 22.5

2 Leadership 8 14.5 22.5

3 Data 8 14.5 22.5

4 Data 8 14.5 22.5 9.0

Unit 1

5 Systems ONLINE 16 29.0 45.0

6 Culture/Capacity 8 14.5 22.5

7 Instructional Supervision

8 14.5 22.5 9.0

Unit 2

TOTAL 64 93.5 180 18.0 SBCEUs

Course/Program Evaluation

21

• Conducted at the conclusion of each course

• Online

• Anonymous

22

University Credits

23

Michigan Department of

Education Endorsement Must have an

administrator

certificate to

receive an

Endorsement

MI-LIFE Delivery Sites 2008-2011

COHORT 1January 08-February 09 11 Locations, 12 Groups

COHORT 2September 08-June 098 Locations, 11 Groups

COHORT 3October 09-May 10

4 Locations

Cohort 4August 10-April 11

6 Locations 24

MI-LIFE Proposed Delivery Sites 2011-12

25Wayne Macomb Oakland

Cass

Jackson

Monroe

Wex-Miss

AMA ESD

Genesee

Cohort 5

Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona ESD

Genesee ISD

Jackson ISD

Lewis Cass ISD

Macomb ISD

Monroe ISD

Oakland Schools

Wayne RESA

Wexford-Missaukee ISD

Let’s sit in on a session or two

27

Unit 1

Building 21st Century Leadership

28

Stimulate, inspire and challenge educational leaders to confront and cultivate their personal and professional leadership capacity

Course Goal

http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/directions/blueprint1/fs3.htm

Leadership Session 1

Review selected leadership resources

Conduct a Web search

Identify leadership behaviors

Develop an online leadership survey

29

30

Survey Question Types

Choice

Date and Time

Heading

Name and Address

Open Ended

Rating Scale

Ranking

Yes or No

Leadership Session 1 Handout #4 – Question Types

31

Examples1. I engage staff in collaborative decision making.

Yes No

2. Indicate the extent to which I engage staff in collaborative decision making.

Frequently Sometimes Rarely Never

32

Examples

1. How long have you been in your current position?

2. How long have you been in your current position?

Less than 5 years 6-10 years 11-15 years 16-20 years 21 years or more

33

Examples

4. Rate your perception of my communication skills.

2. Describe my communication skills.

Create and Administer Survey

Leadership Session 2

Create a Gap Analysis visual representation of leadership skills

Conduct a Force Field Analysis of leadership skills

Develop a Leadership Improvement Plan

35

Deepen Your Understanding

Overall TaskFrom the Leadership Strand of the MI School Improvement Framework, select one Standard and prepare a presentation that demonstrates a deep understanding of the benchmarks/key characteristics of that Standard.

Recorder will capture the presentation in one of the following applications: Word document, PPT slide, Excel spreadsheet, recording or other creative method!

36

Strand II - Leadership

INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP

OPERATIONAL RESOURCE MNGT.

SHARED LEADERSHIP

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS

37

Presentations

Design a billboardCreate a jingleWrite a poemRecord a skit

Design a graphicWrite or record a two-minute speech

Sample Project

Sample Project

Sample Project

Sample Project

42

Leadership Plan Preparation

Leadership Survey

Gap Analysis

Force Field Analysis

Leadership Improvement Plan

Participant Reflections

• The leadership survey and analysis was … personally humbling as I "saw" myself through the eyes of others…

• …Apparently, I had not been communicating my methods, motives and actions as well as I thought…

45

Unit 1

Intersecting Data

46

“Commit to data analysis as a continuous process, not an event.”

Douglas Reeves

Douglas Reeves, The Learning Leader/Looking Deeper Into the Data, Ed Leadership, December 2008/January 2009. The Intersection of Instruction and Assessment: The Classroom. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service

Understand various types of dataIdentify multiple sources of data for each type of data

Examine data intersection processesEngage in conversations about the implication of data intersection results on student achievement

Write Data Narrative Statements

Understand various data systems

Data Session 1

47

Student Learning

(Achievement)

Types of Data

Adapted from the work of Victoria L. Bernhardt

School Processes(Context)

Demographics

Perceptions

Sources of Data

The basis, root or origin of the data, i.e. where/how did we get the data?

The classification or category of the data

48

Demographics

Student Learning

School Processes

Perceptions

Intersecting Four Types of Data

“It is not until we intersect all four measures, at the school level and over time, that we are able to answer questions that will predict if the actions, processes, and programs that we are establishing will meet the needs of all students.”

Victoria L. Bernhardt, Multiple Measures, ASCD, March 1998

Adapted from the work of Victoria L. Bernhardt49

50

Investigation Preparation

Multiple Types and Sources of Data

Intersecting Data

Data 4 SS

51

Data InvestigationScoring Guide

Data Session 2

Present data investigations

Listen to and discuss Doug Reeves’ interview

Analyze data investigations for root causes

Explore Web based data sources

Conduct a data driven culture gap analysis

Prepare for Aligning Systems Online Course52

Insert an example?

54

Log in

Select

55

Post your reaction to the Doug Reeves’ interview statement:

“Results are not sufficient.”

Then reply to someone else's

posting.

Discussion Board Practice

Participant Reflections

• The data investigation allowed me to continue to look at our subgroups, and by using PowerPoint the impact was intensified…

• As a result of the activities and intersession assignment I found new and better ways to work with data...

• …I feel very confident coaching staff through the process of being effective data consumers now.

Aligning SystemsOnline Course in

Blackboard“Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing

wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing

patterns of change rather than static ‘snapshots.’"

--Peter Senge

1-Group Discussion onRed Bead* Lessons

• Lesson 1: It's the system, not the workers 

• Lesson 2: Quality is made at the top 

• Lesson 3: Rewarding or punishing the Willing Workers had no effect on the outcome 

• Lesson 4: Rigid and precise procedures are not sufficient to produce the desired quality 

*Dr. W. Edward Deming

Blackboard Group Discussion

Identify an initiative you are undertaking and analyze its systemic implications

2-Impacting SystemsReflective Inquiry

Assignment

Reflective Inquiry TopicsResponse to Intervention

New reading program

Positive Behavior support

Online grading system

Common assessments

Year-long writing plan

Failure is not an option

Activity period modification

MIBLSi Initiative

New reading assessment program

Alt ed and MEAP/MME analysis

Marzano strategies

3-Steady State of Systems Discussion

BoardThe first law of systems is that even if you understand the problem, the system will fight like mad to hold itself where it is.

---W. Patrick Dolan

Describe an example from your own experience

Blackboard Group Discussion

4-Aligning Systems Gap Analysis

Participant Remarks

• The most significant learning point for me in this module was to view my work from multiple perspectives, including the balcony view...

• …I would not hesitate to take another course on-line sometime in the future.

AbstractCulture explores the health or toxicity of the

environment in a district/school. Learners develop powerful strategies to create the right

culture for a purposeful and robust professional learning community that ultimately impacts student learning.

GoalPrompt educational leaders to develop healthy cultures and promote shared leadership.

66

Culture/Capacity

Climate and CultureSchool climate and school culture are two distinct

but highly interrelated and interactive dimensions of school life.

School climate is driven by the school

culture..

..a school can have a healthy culture or a

toxic culture68

It is the historically transmitted pattern of meaning that wields astonishing power in shaping what people

think and how they act.

Educational Leadership, Volume 59 Number 8, May 2002, Pages 6-11 -The Culture Builder - Roland S. Barth

“How the culture is developed”

69http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/sde/lowres/sden26l.jpg

Professional Collaboration

Affiliative Collegiality

Self Determination/Efficacy

3 Major Indicators of a Healthy School Culture

From: School Culture Assessment Manual, Gary Phillips & Christopher Wagner70

Intersession Overall

AssignmentExamine the health/toxicity of your school.

Create a “photo-story” and prepare a presentation that represents the culture of your school.

Save to your flash drive and bring to next session.

71

Culture Projects

Leadership Capacity

LINDA LAMBERT is professor emeritus and director of the Center for Educational Leadership at California State University

Hayward

Handout #6 – Leadership Quadrants

" Leadership is about learningtogether toward a shared

purpose, rather than a specific role, position, or individual with

formal authority.“Linda Lambert

73

HighLeadership

Capacity

MediumLeadership

CapacityLow

Leadership Capacity

Leadership for allLearning for allSuccess for all

No compelling purposeIndividualistic

Few community conversationsFragmented

Polarized Principal-dependentNo professional

cultureUnsuccessful with

children

“What Does Leadership Capacity Really Mean? Linda Lambert – NSDC Journal“ http://www.nsdc.org/members/jsd/lambert262.pdf

74

Six critical factors for building leadership

capacity1. The school community’s core values must focus its priorities.

2. As teacher leadership grows, principals must let go of some authority and responsibility.

3. Educators must define themselves as learners, teachers, and leaders.

4. We must invest in each other’s learning to create reciprocity.

5. The first tenet of leadership capacity is “broad-based participation.”

6. Districts must negotiate the political landscape to provide professional time and development, a conceptual framework for improvement, and tailored succession practices (fitting the principal to the school).

“What Does Leadership Capacity Really Mean? Linda Lambert – NSDC Journal“ http://www.nsdc.org/members/jsd/lambert262.pdf

75

Mistakes we tend to make when dealing

with the resisters and saboteurs

• we pay way too much attention to them• we vilify them• we focus on their attitudes

Professional Learning Communities at Work: Best Practices for Enhancing Student Achievement, Rick DuFour & Robert Eaker

79

Participant Reflections

• I took candid shots in every setting I could think of that would reflect my school's culture...

• Looking at our school through the lens of someone else is powerful! ... This assignment enabled me to celebrate those things in our school that work well, and that I am proud of…

Instructional Supervision

“Schools need leadership from principals who focus on advancing student and staff

learning.”

Rick DuFour, The Learning-Centered Principal

Instructional Leadership

82

Our professional vocabulary has embraced terms such as…

“constructivist learning”“discovery learning” “cooperative learning” “differentiated instruction” “multiple intelligences”

From: Supervision for Learning by James M. Aseltine, Judith O. Faryniarz and Anthony J. Rigazio-DiGilio - Chapter 1. Reconceptualizing Supervision and Evaluationhttp://www.ascd.org/publications/books/106001/chapters/Reconceptualizing_Supervision_and_Evaluation.aspx 83

84

Paradigm shift

85

“By concentrating on teaching, the instructional leader of the past emphasized the inputs of the learning process.

Richard DuFour, The Learning-Centered Principal, Educational Leadership Volume 59 Number 8 May 2002

By concentrating on learning, today's school leaders shift both their own focus and that of the school community from inputs to outcomes and from intentions to results.”

Essential questions

What is it we want our students to learn?

How will we know when they have learned it?

What are we going to do if they have not learned it? (How do we deliver instruction to ensure they learn it?)

– Rick DuFour86Richard DuFour, The Learning-Centered Principal, Educational Leadership Volume 59 Number 8 May 2002

Participant Reflections• …I have found myself thinking about a

'learner centered' approach to observations in place of my traditional 'teacher centered' approach…

• I love the notion of focusing on student achievement and not teacher instruction. Such a simple concept and yet such a mind shift for so many of us…

MI-LIFE Cohort 4Evaluation

comments/results

“It is my sincere belief that every person wanting to become a school administrator should have to complete this course. I found it very helpful even though I have been an administrator since 1996.” “As a young administrator, this program has given me a terrific opportunity to more closely examine what I have been doing, and how I would like to approach things in the future. Overall, an excellent opportunity and a very valuable program.”

Evaluation Comments

1. The goals of the MI-LIFE program were made clear (by the instructors, during orientation, by course materials).

2. As a result of my participation in MI-LIFE I know more about school leadership than I did before taking the MI-LIFE courses.

3. Participating in the MI-LIFE program has helped me to become more skilled using technology. 4. There was a good balance between technology tools and leadership covered in the course

content. I5. will continue to use the technology tools and applications that I learned in MI-LIFE in my work

as an administrator. 6. Much of what I have learned can be applied to challenges I've faced in my current position. I7. will apply the leadership skills that I've learned in MI-LIFE to my work as an administrator. 8. On average, I was an active participant in the MI-LIFE courses. 9. I felt comfortable asking instructors for help when I needed it. 10. The instructors were able to engage participants in critical discussions of the topics covered. 11. The instructors were prepared and knowledgeable. 12. I would recommend MI-LIFE to other educational administrators. 13. My time was well spent in the MI-LIFE training program. 14. I have used strategies learned in MI-LIFE to improve my school improvement planning. 15. I have used MI-LIFE activities and tools at my workplace. 16. My training through MI-LIFE has had a positive impact on student achievement. 17. My training as a MI-LIFE participant has improved my relationships with teachers and staff. 18. My training as a MI-LIFE participant has improved my relationships with parents. 19. My training as a MI-LIFE participant has improved my relationships with students. 20. My training as a MI-LIFE participant has improved my relationships with other administrators. 21. How do you describe your satisfaction with the overall implementation of the MI-LIFE program.

Final Evaluation Questions

I have used strategies learned in MI-LIFE to

improve my school improvement planning.

Much of what I have learned can be applied to

challenges I've faced in my current position.

This course was excellent! Thanks for all you

have done to improve me as an effective

administrator.

Find us!www.mi-life.org

Register for Cohort 5www.mi-life.org

Follow us!

Michigan Leadership Improvement Framework Enhancement

MILIFE