Jim Warford

My new White Paper, The Chemistry of Culture, was released at the 2018 Model Schools Conference in Orlando, FL. It is available at the link below:

https://goo.gl/87RrjR

The most important question a student will ask a teacher is, “Why do I need to know this?” The most important question a teacher can ask a principal is, “Why do I need to do this?” If we don’t have compelling, informed, and relevant answers for those questions, we’re in trouble before we start. Our answers inevitably reflect how we understand and articulate the culture of our school.  And why does culture matter? Because if your culture is broken, you can’t fix anything else. This is probably the single most important thing I’ve come to understand over the last twenty years of my work in education.

As the Florida K12 Chancellor of Public Schools, district superintendent, and Executive Director of Florida Association of School Administrators from 2000-2011, the easiest thing for me to find was a failed implementation of some new program, curriculum, strategy, technology, or school improvement model. By failed implementation, I mean that after two or three years, the program or strategy either had either not taken root or not survived at all.

Failed or poorly executed implementations were literally everywhere I looked. For example, before visiting a school with a large ELL population, I’d be told all teachers had been trained in GLAD Instructional Strategies, and yet in the course of my visit, I could often find little evidence of them being used in classrooms. Over the years I’ve also found that in any meeting I’m in, about the easiest way to get agreement around the table is for someone to say: “It’s all about the implementation.” Without exception, people will nod in agreement. I’ve heard it over and over. Meanwhile, schools and districts continue to lurch from one new idea to the next. I’ve come to the conclusion that the “implementation” cliché is like the old weather cliché: Everyone complains about the weather, but no one does anything about it.

One exception to this trend is Farrington High School, in downtown Honolulu, Hawaii — one school that is definitely doing something about it. Or, as they say at Farrington… “making shift happen!” Farrington is a two-time ICLE Model School because there is something special about the highly effective culture school leaders, teachers, and students are building there. It’s a culture built on a foundation of positive Relationships, sharing a vision of Rigorous and Relevant learning for all. Through their shared vision, school leaders, teachers, and students are creating a highly effective culture of learning, a positive culture built on three things: Trust, Empowerment, and Collaboration.

At the 26^th Annual Model Schools Conference in Orlando, FL, Farrington teachers and Principal, Al Carganilla, will again share specific strategies he and his team have used to earn teachers’ trust, and empower them to collaborate on ways to literally re-invent their classrooms. At Farrington High School, everyone is teaching and learning! Teachers are learning from teachers, students are learning from students and teachers, and teachers regularly collaborate to create inter-disciplinary, real-world Quad D Lessons. For almost four years now, it’s been my great privilege to join them on their journey from struggling to successful by serving as their ICLE Coach.

But, how did they start? How did they successfully begin to move their culture from one of compliance to innovation? It began with two key steps. First, Principal Carganilla needed to earn his teacher’s trust. He began by creating a new Mantra: “You are pre-forgiven.” What does that mean? It means that you’re implicitly giving people the benefit of the doubt and treated with respect. Have an idea you think will better serve students? “You are free to try it and supported in doing so” is the message to teachers at Farrington. Want to try a new program, technology platform, or instructional strategy? Want to collaborate with colleagues to decide, design, and deliver your own professional development? Go for it! Wait, what? Teachers in charge of their own Professional Development?!

Yes. At Farrington High School, that was step two. The Teacher Leadership Cadre, or TLC, is empowered to design and deliver their own PD to every teacher, every week. In their Model Schools session this summer, these Farrington teacher leaders will show you step-by-step exactly how they do it. In my Model Schools session, “The Chemistry of Culture,” I will show how exciting new discoveries in the field of Neuroscience support each of the strategies Farrington is using. If you can attend both, you’ll get a great understanding in both the brass tacks of school culture improvement as well the reasons why and how it positively affects human beings.

The bottom line is, when it comes to culture, we know what to do and we know how to do it. We know how to make classrooms more engaging and effective for all our students. And we’ve been talking about the need for 21^st Century instruction for, let’s see, eighteen years now! I mean we’ll soon be a quarter of the way into the 21^st Century. Think of your own school. Do your classrooms look like they’re ready for this century? Most importantly, are they classrooms where you would be genuinely excited to send your children? I mean, your own children? If your answer is any version of, not so much, why? The short answer is: If your culture is broken, you can’t fix anything else.

Whether your school’s culture is broken, or just not where you want it to be, my Featured Session at this year’s 26^th Annual Model School Conference in Orlando, Florida will explore exciting new findings in the field of Neuroscience that not only support the work Farrington is doing, but also what brain scientists are uncovering the “Chemistry of Culture.” My session will provide both school leaders and teachers with specific brain-based strategies that you can use to build a more highly effective and positive school or classroom culture. I hope you will join us. In the meantime, I’ll be posting more in this space.

I started writing this Blog because I’ve been thinking about and studying how best to use technology in the classroom for over 30 years, and I thought I could contribute to the topic. After all, I was “flipping” my classroom (using analog technology) 25 years ago. As Senior Advisor to the International Center for Leadership in Education I’ve been speaking and leading workshops on technology-based intervention programs, Flipped Classes and Blended Learning for over 10 years.

The focus of this Blog was to help educators at every level more effectively implement technology in the classroom. I’m grateful to have been very busy, working with schools and districts all across the country, even Asia, and Europe. The two essential questions driving my work were: What are the biggest barriers to effective use of technology, and how do we overcome them?

This may sound simple, even obvious, but I’ve learned the answer to both questions is: School Culture. As I studied the differences between districts and schools, I saw clearly that in schools that struggled, the biggest barriers were most often not budget, instructional, or technical. What was holding them back was a negative, sometimes even toxic, school culture. As I coached teachers and principals, and we peeled back the layers of their problems digging for root causes, they said over and over that… their school culture was broken.

It’s not about the technology, it’s about the teaching. The best technology won’t fix poor instruction… and it won’t fix a broken culture. At the International Center, we believe in three things: Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships. But that’s not the proper order. It’s Relationships, Relevance, and Rigor. Building an effective school culture is all about the relationships!

Today there are many writers and resources for using technology in the classroom. But while we’re so focused on making sure everyone is wired; we must also make sure that everyone is connected. The strength of the connection determines your culture. And that will now be the focus of this Blog.

Technology and the Transition to the Common Core

As more schools and school districts across the country continue to dig deeper into the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Assessments by which they will be measured, there is a growing concern about their ability to be technologically ready within the two year timeline already established. Many have come to realize they actually have a greater “gap” with respect to technology than either the new standards or assessments.

Ann Flynn, the Director of Educational Technology for the National School Boards Association puts it this way, “Some districts are panicked about getting ready for it, but some are not even in a place where they know enough to be panicked yet. I won’t say they’re in denial, but it’s going to be a real challenge for a lot of districts.

Already dealing with growing financial constraints many school districts are now faced with a confusing and often conflicting array of hard questions about the types of devices to buy, the bandwidth needed, while at the same time preparing staff to manage the level of instructional integration that will be required.

A guiding principle of the new standards is that technology should be integrated throughout academics instead of being taught separately. They call for students to regularly use technology to help them learn. Students will be required to evaluate information presented in different media and formats, according to the standards. Along with evaluating information, they should be able to produce presentations with digital media, which includes Web-based tools such as Prezi.

As we move further into the information/technology age, more learning of all kinds will occur digitally. That means an increased demand on schools to provide more digital learning opportunities for students. To put it simply: in the very near future, a school leader who is unable to create a digital culture will struggle, as the demand grows for schools to develop the skills necessary for students to succeed in the new economy.

At last year’s 2012 Model Schools Conference, a growing number of sessions were focused on how educators can support digital learning. As Dr. Bill Daggett repeatedly pointed out, technology is one of the key forces “disrupting” the existing school system. Successful school leaders must begin to build a culture that can transition to teaching and learning in a different way, preparing very different students for a very different world. To do this they will need a strategy for how technology will be implemented in their schools and based on the understanding that the target is constantly changing.

But wait, there’s more… In about 18 months, 45 states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories must begin new computerized student assessments that align with the Common Core State Standards they’ve adopted. These new tests will replace existing state assessments for schools that have moved to Common Core curricula in mathematics and English. A goal of the new tests is to ensure that students graduate with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in college and the workplace.

Two groups, the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, or PARCC, are in the process of sketching out the technology standards schools will need for the assessment process. Both consortia have released guidelines: PARCC at PARCC.pdf and Smarter Balanced at SMARTERBALANCED.pdf.

Basic questions to consider in preparing for Common Core online testing should include the following:
Infrastructure: How many test-takers per session can currently be supported, including facilities for administering tests and other infrastructure?
Network: How many test-takers per session can currently be supported with existing levels of Internet connectivity, including network bandwidth and wireless coverage?
Devices: How many devices at school meet minimum requirements to administer the test? What is the maximum number 
of test-takers per session that can be supported with these devices?
Staff and Personnel: How many staff members have been trained to administer, troubleshoot and provide appropriate security for the tests? What is the maximum number of test-takers per session that staff can support?

It’s becoming increasingly clear that greater student access to technology is the key to making a successful transition in both instruction and assessment of the new standards. To accomplish this, students need a reliable Internet connection and sufficient bandwidth, as well as access to a variety of computing devices. The non-profit advisory group, Digital Learning Now at http://www.digitallearningnow.com/ recommends these additional questions for planning purposes:

What are your digital-conversion planning objectives and how will they support implementing the common core and preparing for the new college- and career-ready assessments?
Have you developed a phased plan for improved access that incorporates textbook and open-resources savings?
What resources can be reallocated to support deployment? What savings can be secured through adoption of digital resources?
Have you supported adoption of blended-learning models that leverage teacher talent?

In conclusion, we know many of these questions are creating serious anxiety in schools across the country, and that anxiety must be addressed. One step is to create a transition plan that involves all stakeholders, and that has clearly defined outcomes.
We know in our hearts and minds that the future classroom involves digital learning. We must find a way to create a culture of innovation that will transform our schools for this new age. To do that, we must not fear our failures because we will learn the most from them.

Recently I spoke about the importance of technology integration and the flipped classroom in Indianapolis, IN at the CELL, Center of Excellence in Leadership of Education, 2012 Conference. One of the questions often asked is about the suitability of flipping for students in the elementary grades.

It so happens, on Monday of that same week I’d observed an outstanding example in Mr. Hernandez’s 4^th grade classroom at McKinley Elementary School in Yakima, Washington. Mr. Hernandez was doing a highly engaging math multiplication lesson using a problem-based strategy for finding the missing integers.

I observed students working collaboratively in teams, accessing the multiplication content through Khan Academy videos while Mr. Hernandez moved from group to group effectively differentiating his instructional support with individual students and small groups.

Students found the Khan videos very engaging. They liked being able to pause and rewind the content. This effective use of technology to deliver the content allowed Mr. Hernandez much more time for one-on-one individual help than would have been possible in the traditional classroom model.

I do not have hard numbers yet; but based on my work with teacher groups around the country and classroom observations, I believe the practice of flipping may actually be spreading faster at the K-8 level than at High School. In their effort to improve instruction, many teachers are experimenting by incorporating “flipped” techniques without acknowledging a specific model.

These teachers are often creating their own tools while the resources available on line to support them are also growing exponentially. In my next post I will provide a link to for new elementary videos, resources and articles for anyone interested in trying this exciting new way of delivering instruction.