Transforming Education and Changing School Culture

Teachers College Record

School-Based Instructional Rounds is a follow-up publication to the book Instructional Rounds in Education: A Network Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning (City, Elmore, Fiarman, & Teitel, 2009). The latter presents the instructional rounds process, adapted from medical rounds, and explains how multiple school districts can form networks of superintendents, principals, and other district leaders to create a shared understanding of effective practice and improved teaching and learning. The instructional rounds process includes four steps: (a) identifying a problem of practice, (b) observing, (c) debriefing, and (d) focusing on the next level of work. Central to the process is a theory of action: an if-then statement that explicates both the improvement initiative and the expected outcome. Instructional Rounds in Education focused explicitly on school district networks; however, school leaders involved in instructional rounds networks saw potential in adapting the process for u...

Approach to Improving Teaching and Learning (City, Elmore, Fiarman, & Teitel, 2009). The latter presents the instructional rounds process, adapted from medical rounds, and explains how multiple school districts can form networks of superintendents, principals, and other district leaders to create a shared understanding of effective practice and improved teaching and learning. The instructional rounds process includes four steps: (a) identifying a problem of practice, (b) observing, (c) debriefing, and (d) focusing on the next level of work. Central to the process is a theory of action: an if-then statement that explicates both the improvement initiative and the expected outcome.

Grand Canyon University Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore how the use of learning rounds as a collective practice enhanced professional learning at the district and individual school level as perceived by administrators, principals, and teachers in one low-income rural K-12 public school district located in the eastern United States. The overarching research question in this study asked, how do administrators, principals, and teachers perceive the use of the learning rounds model has improved teaching and learning at the district and individual school level in one rural district located in the eastern United States? The use of organizational learning, adult learning, and communities of practice theories were used as the study’s theoretical foundation. The conceptual framework focused on organizational, learning, and culture-building dimensions as supported in the literature. A purposive sampling involved a maximum variation of administrators, principals, and teachers as part of the study’s sample of participants. The main findings were derived from face-to-face semi-structured interviews, obtained direct observations, and archival data. This case study used Yin’s Five Phase Cycle of Analysis as its primary approach for data analysis. The thematic findings in this study supported crossing boundaries, collaboration as a district-level practice, professional collaboration among and across schools, as well as the benefits and challenges associated with learning rounds. The results obtained in this study showed how K-12 educators may implement learning rounds to advance organizational, learning, and culture-building capacities to improve teaching and learning. Keywords: Andragogy, communities of practice networks, crossing boundaries, evidence-based learning, learning rounds, organizational learning, and shared and common language

2017

The road that I walk on has been built for me by the many people who made my difficult journey possible and without their assistance and support; my voice would have been drowned by many viewpoints and competing ideas. When no one else believed in me, my supervisor, blessed with a rare talent to see in others what they don't see in themselves, gently nurtured me to this end. Professor James E.M. Stiles built bridges to enable me to walk across difficult terrains. Professor Stiles also opened my thinking to multiple possibilities that I could not have imagined in the past. He embodies the ideals of a better today and a greater tomorrow for all. His work continues to inspire me to think deeply and entertain possibilities that are both realistic and far-reaching. I would like to acknowledge the school where I conducted this study. I admired them in the past for their innovation and I now admire them as a group of dedicated, hardworking, selfless people who exemplify the human spirit. The leaders at the school, who embraced an unknown student, and the teachers who participated in the Instructional Rounds, giving me access to their incredible practice, which never ceases to amaze me. They are a group of great teachers for the magnificent work that they do in the classroom and for their contributions to knowledge. The parents are indeed blessed to have them teaching their children. I stood on the shoulders of my family to make my journey possible and this has made the destination even sweeter. When I reflect on this journey, I see each of my family members paving the way ahead for me to fulfil my dream.

Schlechty likens the reactionary nature of school systems to a seismic shift, acknowledging that educational leaders make decisions based upon assumptions about the environments in which they exist. This responsive and evolving nature of education has often been described as a swinging pendulum. Each swing of the pendulum creates an environment in which schools serve as hotbeds for educational innovation. Stemming from a variety of sources, the changes are numerous, as educators and lawmakers attempt to respond to the needs of students and the ever growing demand for teacher accountability. In many instances, just as the pendulum indicative of one innovation reaches its summit, those who are left in its umbra are left to ponder what comes next. Yet, as various educational innovations are introduced, administrators encourage strict fidelity to the model while teachers scramble to figure out how best to implement the latest change within their individual classroom. At the same time, administrators must be concerned with ushering in the innovation while simultaneously managing those responsible for its planning, instruction, and implementation and establishing or maintaining accountability. Principals often serve as the intermediary between external decisionmaking bodies and the school's internal staff who must execute the changes. This paper describes one such pendulum swing that took place as Stark Elementary School (all names are pseudonyms) attempted to implement a two-way immersion (TWI) program: a unique form of bilingual education. With ultimate goals of fostering bilingualism, biliteracy, cross-cultural competence, and high academic achievement in students, TWI programs integrate native English speakers and speakers of another (target) language for content area instruction that is delivered in both languages . The current Online Journal for Workforce Education and Development Volume VI, Issue 1 -Spring 2013 2 discussion centers on the case of Stark and the social changes that occurred during implementation efforts.

2017

Research shows that half of all teachers working in urban school settings leave the profession within five years, and many who choose to leave are the ones who are most effective (Coggins & Diffenbaugh, 2013.) Manual Rounds, a structured peer observation process based on the established practice of instructional rounds, was implemented at Manual Academy in 2010 to strengthen teaching practices and enhance student learning experiences in the classrooms of teachers new to an urban school setting. Project improvements were made incrementally over three years’ time, with a different Manual Rounds model launched in the fourth year. This article offers an overview of instructional rounds before describing the history and progression of Manual Rounds from various stakeholder perspectives including administrators, experienced teachers, new teachers, and Bradley PDS facilitators. We believe the case study shared in this article will offer other school-university partnerships insight and idea...

Journal of Educational Change, 2018

Leadership and Policy in Schools, 2013

American Educational Research Journal, 2000

This research presents case studies of fi2ur exempla*w schools" as they worked Io meet the demands of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) as well as the ~s~yslem designed to assess resulL~--the Kentucky Instructional Results Information System (KIRIS). We argue that the teachers' re~Tp0nses to large-scale reform q/forts exist in a larger web of connection and are dependent on their collaborative and consistently positive stance toward learning as well as their principal's leadership. Thus, human capital, the kJlowledge and willingness to learn on the parl o/'indivMuals, is inextricably linked to social capital, the relationships of trust and willingness to risk among school personnel. The wal~ in which the four schools successfidly met the challenge o/" KET~,,I and KIRIS was unique to each siw. Still, there were critical commonalties among the leachers: their regard .for histo~ and Sm.'.Ll~v A. WoLv is an Associate Professor in tile School of Education at the University of Colorado at 13oulder. She is co-principal investigator of this CRESST ,esearch, and was a National Academy of Education Spencer Postdoctoral Fellow. Her specializations include teqcher education, children's literature, literary response, and writing.

2007

This manuscript reports on the initial findings from a study of two district’s efforts to improve the instructional leadership of principals, and lead teacher coaches in collaboration with an external support provider who provided learning-focused professional development for the districts’ leaders. Researchers collected preand postintervention data on forty-four (44) principals and district coaches from within the two districts, one a mid-sized urban district in Southern California, and the other a small town district from northwest Washington State, engaged in a strategic partnership with an external support organization that provided coaching and professional development sessions focused on improving leaders knowledge and skills to analyze instruction and lead instructional improvement. The study specifically inquired whether leaders’ ability to analyze a videotaped lesson segment changed over the course of one year’s work in this process. Leaders viewed a brief lesson segment on...