Michael Fullan – The Moral Imperative of School Leadership



Michael Fullan – The Moral Imperative of School Leadership

Forward:

John Goodlad (president, Institute for Educational Inquiry)

“He (Fullan) knows that such people rise to high expectations when those they respect have confidence that they will.”

Preface:

10 previous guidelines to follow: Avoid blame, start small/think big (don’t over/micromanage), focus curriculum, instruct, assess, and professional culture, take risks, embrace diversity/empower others, vision-relate to goals and change processes, decide what you are not going to do, build allies, know when to be cautious, give up searching for the “silver bullet”

Chapter 1: Changing the Context (framework, environment)

Pg 2 - Behavior a function of social context…little things matter (change current situation, change behaviors – common beliefs expressed and nurtured)

Focus on changing culture and working conditions (3)

What should students, teachers, admin know and be able to do? (add: what does it look like?)

4- Key pt: Improving overall system will not happen by endorsing the vision of a strong system

5- principal guide and support

6- Generate purpose, passion, and energy / intrinsic motivation or strategy will fail

8 - Level 5 leader characteristics (Jim Collins, Good to Great):

|Level 5 Leadership |First Who |Confront the Brutal |Hedgehog |Culture of Discipline|Technology |

| |Then What: |Facts |Concept | |Accelerates |

|Self-effacing, quiet,| | | |When you have | |

|reserved, have |Need the right people|Confront what you |What are you |disciplined people, |Apply carefully |

|humility and prof. |for the job before |really have, but |passionate about? |thought, and action, |selected technology |

|will |starting the job |unwavering belief |What you can be best |great performance | |

| | |that you will succeed|at; What drives your |follows | |

| | | |economic engine? | | |

|Disciplined People |Disciplined Thought |Disciplined People |

From Good to Great (Chapter 2) –

Website regarding Level 5 leadership:

Explaining his findings are in the data:

The Two Sides of Level 5 leadership:

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More from Good to Great (pages 39-40): leaders embody a paradoxical mix of personal humility and professional will, set up successors for even greater success, compelling modesty are self-effacing and understated, fanatically driven – need for sustained results, workmanlike diligence, attribute success to factors other than themselves – except when things go poorly – they take responsibility…humility + will=level 5 (22),

Working conditions in a school that are conducive to retaining good teachers:

High expectations, build relationships with teachers (serve as support and guide, not rule from above), build positive relationship with community, have positive stress (limited amt is good, too much devastating over the long term), need to build TRUST teacher to teacher, teacher to administrator, etc.

How can we attract that type of leader to become a principal of a school that has challenges of low socio-economics, low test scores, high absentee rate, low graduation rate, large number of students below grade level in reading and math, high transience rate, etc.?

Some will be financially motivated, others will simply have a belief that they can and must (duty) create a better school for the good of all

Collins - More precisely, a Hedgehog Concept is a simple, crystalline concept that flows from deep understanding about the intersection of the following three circles:

1. What you can be the best in the world at (and, equally important, what you cannot be the best in the world at)? This discerning standard goes far beyond core competence. Just because you possess a core competence doesn’t necessarily mean you can be the best in the world at it. Conversely, what you can be the best at might not even be something in which you are currently engaged.

2. What drives your economic engine? All the good-to-great companies attained piercing insight into how to most effectively generate sustained and robust cash flow and profitability. In particular, they discovered the single denominator—profit per x—that had the greatest impact on their economics. (It would be cash flow per x in the social sector.)

3. What you are deeply passionate about? The good-to-great companies focused on those activities that ignited their passion. The idea here is not to stimulate passion but to discover what makes you passionate.

Chapter 2: Barriers to School Leadership

What does the author mean, “leadership is to the current decade what standards were to the 1990’s?”

16- Standards can only take us part of the way, school leadership is the only thing that can take us all the way

What are examples of self-imposed barriers that exist among some principals and what inoculation can they take to “cure” the responsibility virus?

17- Self-imposed barriers

perceived system limitations – don’t use system as an excuse; understand the complete system, take active roll in fate

if-only dependence – inhibits forward movement (don’t make excuses instead of action)

loss of moral compass- follow what you stand for as a leader, your beliefs

inability to take charge of one’s own learning- need to learn more to get others to learn more (life-long learning – serve as model)

responsibility virus- over responsibility (too take charge) vs. under responsibility (not my problem, fault of others)

21-22 - What can be done to resolve the top-down dilemma that exists in systemic change?

Acknowledge importance of principal’s role, clarify the role, and invest in developing the capacity of principals in numbers to act as chief operating officers – operate in Collins’ Level 5 role

Roles of principals more of manager not instructional leader

Many reforms bring higher floor, but don’t raise ceiling (27) – no ownership, increased workload, overall pace of change

27-takes capacity to build capacity

What are some of the weaknesses of the “informed prescription model” that the author discusses in the chapter?

27 - Want to be told “what to do”; takes capacity to build capacity – teachers and admin may be working in new way and may not know what they should do/how to collaborate; judgments made without pressing for informed component; pursue new directions in a way that is transparently accountable to the public; need to go much deeper in transforming schools

(note: when starting something new, need constant feedback/updates/support – random inservices are not enough)

Chapter 3: The Moral Imperative at the School Level

What is the moral purpose and moral imperative that he refers to so often?

29-Moral purpose of the highest order is having a system where all students learn, the gap bet high and low performance is greatly reduced, and what people learn enables them to be successful citizens and workers in a morally based knowledge society; 4 levels – individual, school, regional, societal

30-those indiv most cut out for the higher levels are least likely to aspire to higher roles b/c their highest moral purposes will be thwarted

Is it important to recast the role of the principal as the chief operative office vis-à-vis traditional role in transforming schools and school systems? The hierarchy on 30 explains why as well as below…

31-indiv helps some, but doesn’t change way organization operates, not making difference in organization as a whole

31-32- make diff in school – some talk good game and mean, but aren’t consistent or show integrity when implementing (Bryk and Schneider, 2002 – trust atrophies when indiv perceive others aren’t acting in ways consistent with their role’s obligations; listen, but not follow up; stronger teachers limit interactions w/ those they feel unprofessional; absent base of collegial trust; incompetence tolerated)

35-36 – discusses using data to drive instruction, can only be done district wide when principal leads process

37 – talk about offering incentives to get people not on board to leave (different from driving them out)

38 – Chris Spence, principal in LHMS raised scores from lowest to average – “put together the best people, support them and give them every opportunity to do their best work”

What can a district do to sustain the positive effects that a school builds into its culture?

38 - Hope drives improvement, pounce on daily problems, celebrate success, selecting and supporting staff, drawing on external ideas; (own) teachers collaborate daily, support, ownership in work, gain respect (which is different from being liked), hold people including self accountable, be consistent, honest, and open, allow people to take calculated risks without fear, develop a feeling of mutual respect and trust

42-schools reporting strong positive trust levels ere 3x more likely to be categorized as improving in reading and math; schools with weak trust virtually no chance of improvement

42-43 – Benefits of trust – reduce sense of vulnerability, facilitates organizational problem solving (curric, assessment, instructional problems worked out among staff), helps social control in professional communities, norms are followed and mutual support among staff is given, creates a moral resource for school improvement – influences the development of strong personal attachments to the organization and beliefs in its mission – needed for the long term b/c people usually willing to ive the extra effort

43- (Bryk and Schneider, 2002) - organizations with trust more likely to be innovative, outreach to parents, professional community, commitment to the school community – all create greater organizational learning and effectiveness

43- four dimensions of trust: respect, competence, personal regard for others, and integrity

44-need relational trust and a culture of discipline (as Collins mentions in Good to Great)

Gerstner (was CEO w/IBM) – no organization will succeed over the long haul without a culture of commitment and disciplined capacity building

Chapter 4: Making a Difference Beyond the School

According to Fullan, “the moral imperative will never amount to much unless school leaders take it on the road.” How realistic is it that a principal will do this considering all of the responsibilities that s/he has on a daily basis?

This can be realistic – it’s a cultural / setting priorities issue; if people want to be more innovative, they need to see what others are doing and share with other districts to be more effective – this also creates efficiency in not recreating the wheel and creates additional professional learning communities – 47 – build capacity across schools

How do systems transcend the “little neck of the woods to the whole forest?”

48-See public schools as the large enterprise, collaborate within district schools, move to areas in region, and continue to spread for the betterment of all (done through capacity building and accountable monitoring focused on moral purpose)

49-In England, grant to pair leaders of high performing and low performing schools in order to raise scores

Be aware of big picture – What is the role of public school in society?

50-Level 3: Making a Diff. Regionally – 51 - 25% there – district leaders in Baltimore meet twice a month – raised test scores over period of 2-3 years – good short-term, but no focus on culture or improvement of relational trust

50% - strong focus on developing school leadership (52) – 7 principles 53-54, (like Perry in many ways) – good: role of district is clearer, achievement gap narrowed, celebrated successes (which Perry only does on surface level); negative - teachers reported increased stress, take joy out of teaching, not beyond district, no cultural change or relational trust for long-term gains which come from passion and personal attachments)

59 – School Leadership and Society – leader must be fully cognizant of big picture; leaders from other districts meet and learn from each other; forest comment = multiple forests (schools)

Chapter 5: How to Get There: The Individual and the System

61 - Don’t forget to ask why? – not just how-to?

65 – living and working with tension is crucial to success

Key to book according to Fullan - Need for trust-based practice and performance-oriented school cultures. What can be done to change school culture?

65 - Develop culture of relational trust and disciplined performance; culture must be guided, cultivated, and confronted; leaders have to know when to let go and when to rein in; reciprocated transactional trust (give it to get it) and created incrementally (step-by-step) – Trust of capability, character and disclosure (66)

|Competence Trust |Contractual Trust |Communication Trust |

|Respect people’s knowledge, skills, and abilities |Manage expectations |Share information |

|Respect people’s judgments |Establish boundaries |Tell the truth |

|Involve others and seek their input |Delegate appropriately |Admit mistakes |

|Help people learn skills |Encourage mutually serving intentions |Give and receive constructive feedback |

| |Honor agreements |Maintaining confidentiality |

| |Be consistent |Speak with good purpose |

What steps should be taken to revamp the school principalship to reach a level of greater performance on a large scale?

66- get rid of those who don’t agree with beliefs or neglect their own learning

67- provide opportunities for leadership, create environments where people will take risks, promote day-to-day collaboration among peers/teachers/admin in order to create system of checks and balances of learning and accountable performance

How can hard-to-lead teachers be moved from resistance to being active participants?

When they are respected, collaborate with others (which can serve as peer pressure)

The Choice Structuring Process – 7 steps of restructuring process including brainstorming strengths and weakness

The Frame Experiment – ask “How do I get others to see it my way?” and “I may not see/understand everything, how can we access our collective intelligence?”

The Responsibility Ladder – seven-step process for avoiding the over/under responsibility issue

The Redefinition of Leadership/Followership – splitting responsibility through dialogue, making apportionment discussable, and subjecting performance and results to public testing (transparency of performance)

69 – fear of failure guarantees failure, Responsibility Virus produces failures and cover-ups rather than learning

Should have constant level of stress (low), too much discourages our potential under/over responsibility

70 – mention of quiet, behind the scenes leader as most effective; these leaders solve problems through multiple small steps, rely on act-learn approach – 3 virtues restraint, modesty, and tenacity

Leaders need to become aware of the nature and importance of what is involved

71 – The System, Stringer (2002) 6 dimensions of climate – structure, standards, responsibilities, recognition, support, and commitment

73- Strategic Directions for Transforming Leadership in School Systems’

1. Reconceptualize the role of school leadership – relate to Level 5 Exec-Collins (builds enduring greatness)

2. Recognize and work with the continuum of development – recognize starting pt., transformational leadership

3. Get school size right

4. Invest in leaders developing leaders

5. Improve the teaching profession

6. Improve the capacity of the infrastructure

74 – from Hargreaves

|Performance Training Sects |Professional Learning Communities |

|Transfer knowledge |Transform knowledge |

|Imposed requirement |Shared inquiry |

|Results driven |Evidence informed |

|False certainty |Situated certainty |

|Standardized scripts |Local solutions |

|Deference to authority |Joint responsibility |

|Intensive training |Continuous learning |

|Sects of performance |Communities of Practice |

79-Nottingham – provide a single national focus for school leadership development, research and innovation

be a driving force for world-class leadership in school and the wider community, provide support for and be a major resource for school leaders, stimulate national and international debate on leadership issues

80- need to unlock resources and capacities

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