Reviewing Trust, Leadership, and Threat-Rigidity within your school district

Transcription

1 Reviewing Trust, Leadership, and Threat-Rigidity within your school district Dean L. Ramirez, Ed.D. NYSCOSS Fall Leadership Conference September 29,

2 Middle School Lewiston-Porter Central Schools, Youngstown, NY New York State Superintendent Development Program (NYSSDP) Western New York Cohort Doctor of Education University at Buffalo, February 2015 A Paradox of High Achievement: Implementing Race to the Top (RTTT) within a High-Achieving School District dlr29@buffalo.edu

3 1. Research What does the research say? 2. Framework What does the process look like? 3. Results Review the results of two studies 4. Practical Implications How can this work for you and your district? (call or text)

4 When faced with significant threat, organizations and individuals may close down, reduce information flow, engage in poor decision-making, and limit divergent views. - Staw et al. 1983; Daly, 2009

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11 1. Common Core State Standards (CCSS) 2. Gap Elimination Adjustment (GEA) 3. Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) 4. High-Stakes Assessments 5. Opt-Out Movement 6. Decreasing Student Enrollment 7. Making Annual Yearly Progress (AYP) 8. and many more!!!

12 1. Research What does the research say? (call or text)

13 Moving Teachers Vs. Stuck Teachers

14 Algorithmic Vs. Heuristic

15 the person with the greatest level of power (superintendent) is responsible to initiate the creation of strong trusting relationships. Benevolence Competence Integrity Openness Reliability Respect Risk

16 University of Toronto Highly effective teaching comes first with the support of highly effective leadership. Setting direction Developing people Designing the organization for success

17 Adaptive Approaches Awareness Change Culture Curriculum Empowerment Involvement Order Recognition Research-Based Practices

18 High Levels of Trust and High Levels of Leadership will predict UC - San Diego lower levels of Threat-Rigidity

19 Culture Shared norms Anthropological perspective Symbolic Historical Climate Shared behaviors/beliefs Psychological perspectives Descriptive Recent

20 Leadership Culture and Climate Trust Threat Rigidity

21 2. Framework What does the process look like? (call or text)

22 Instrument Characteristics Authors Threat-Rigidity, Trust, Leadership survey Daly (2004, 2009) # of questions 95 Time to complete 20 to 25 minutes Reliability.92 to.95 Participants Superintendent District office Principals Teachers 5-point Likert Style 1 = Never 2 = Rarely 3 = Sometimes 4 = Often 5 = Always

23 Threat-Rigidity, Trust, and Leadership questionnaire (Daly, 2004, 2009) Trust (27) Benevolence (5) Competence (3) Integrity (5) Openness (3) Reliability (3) Respect (4) Risk (4) Threat- Rigidity Leadership (48) Approaches (5) Awareness (5) Change (4) Culture (7) Curriculum (5) Empowerment (6) Involvement (4) Order (4) Recognition (4) Research-Based Practices (4)

24 Teachers District Office Principals

25 Internal External

26 Internal External

27 Internal External

28 One of 97 school districts in Western New York: Honor Roll school for the past 20 years In 2014, according to Business First of WNY: Ranks in the Top 10 in performance: ELA/Foreign Language Rank 4th Math Rank 7 th Science Rank 8 th Social Studies Rank 5 th Ranks within the Top 15 in family income: Economic Affluence 5th Free/Reduced Lunch 11.9% Below Poverty Level 8.1%

29 Mixedmethod Singlesite Quantitative and Qualitative methods Questionnaire and Interviews One school district in western New York Cross-sectional Single point of time (Fall of 2014) Evaluative study Group comparative Established an evaluative of the district Compare school levels: high school(s) middle school(s) elementary school(s)

30 Administrators Superintendent, District Administrators, Principals, & Asst. Principals Teachers Full and part time faculty members includes support professionals (counselors) Not participants in this study: Students, Parents, Teacher Aides, Support Staff, Community Members

31 3. Results Review the results of a recent study dlr29@buffalo.edu (call or text)

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33 1 3 5

34 Internal (principals) M External (district office) M Trust 3.75* 3.50* Leadership 3.35* 3.26* Threat-Rigidity 2.45* 2.62* * p <.001

35 Building View (Internal) High School Middle School Elem. Schools Trust 3.43* 3.89* 3.75* Leadership 3.01* 3.47* 3.41* Threat- Rigidity * p < * 2.33* 2.36*

36 District View (External) High School Middle School Elem. Schools Trust 3.70* 3.56* 2.98* Leadership 3.34* 3.24* 2.82* Threat- Rigidity * p < * 2.47* 2.94*

37 Internal Scale High School Benevolence Risk Middle School Competence Risk Elementary Schools Competence Openness 3.51

38 Internal Scale High School Order 3.26 Researched Based Practices 2.59 Middle School Order 3.92 Recognition 3.01 Elementary Schools Order 3.60 Change 2.99

39 External Scale High School Competence Openness Middle School Competence Openness Elementary Schools Competence Openness 2.710

40 External Scale High School Order Recognition Middle School Order Recognition Elementary Schools Curriculum Recognition 2.357

41 Negative Integrity Competence Positive Change Culture Order Empowerment

42 Negative Reliability Positive None Awareness Recognition

43 Negative Competence Positive None Culture

44 Negative Integrity Positive None Culture

45 Negative Respect Positive None Culture Empowerment

46 Negative Reliability Culture Empowerment Positive Researched Based Practices

47 Negative Competence Positive None Culture

48 Negative Openness Positive None Culture, Research Based Practices, Adaptive Approaches

49 I think that the teaching profession has lost a great deal of respect and now we have a government that sees fit to attach numbers to teachers, and so I think, given all of that, its no wonder that teachers are incredibly anxious and so I think in a lot of ways my job is to buffer that as much as I possibly can for them, so that they know that they are supported. - Mrs. Lincoln, Elementary Principal

50 I think the sad thing is that teachers anxiety got wrapped up in that too [opt-outs] and we started giving kids paper and pencil tests in kindergarten as a result of this, knowing full well that it was inappropriate but feeling like we didn t have a choice that s kind of bad. - Mrs. Carter, Elementary Principal

51 When I first got here, it was to the big "Highland family, and people hugged everybody. There was so much hugging going on, it was little uncomfortable to be honest with you, but you came here and you felt like you were part of a family, administratively, teachers, all of that. Over the past six years, I have seen some of that fade away probably because we are very busy doing business, as oppose being able to sit back and appreciate some of the other things that we have, some of the good things. - Mrs. Reagan, Elementary Principal

52 4. Practical Implications How can this work for you and your district? (call or text)

53 Trust Facets Reliability, Competence, and Integrity Leadership Facets Culture, Order, and Empowerment Change and Research Based Practices were identified as positive predictors of Threat-Rigidity in a high-achieving school district. It is important to understand the shared norms (culture) and shared beliefs (climate) of a school district when implementing policies. Understanding the setting can ensure proper implementation while certifying sustained achievement.

54 1. Behaviors of the Superintendent this study supports the importance of the Superintendent s behavior Trust Respect & Integrity Leadership Culture & Empowerment 2. Behaviors of Building Principals - this study supports the importance of principal behaviors Trust Integrity & Competence Leadership Culture, Order, & Empowerment

55 3. Change = Threat-Rigidity in this sample When principals challenge the status quo, threat-rigidity increases When district office introduces best practices, threat-rigidity increases 4. Know your staff take into consideration demographic data 51.6% worked 12+ years in the district Principals work to the teachers standards (show competence) District Office show respect, build culture, empower faculty

56 1. Willingness to be scrutinized Trust and courage to gain collect this data 2. Strategy to gain authentic data Teachers Union? 3. Communicate Data Opportunity to gain trust from stakeholders 4. Action Plan Focus on facets in need of improvement Use the data to plan professional development

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