Success Stories

LeadershipEnergies (LE) was hired to assess why new curriculum and materials did not result in improved student state test scores; provide support for school leaders and teachers as they prepared for a charter renewal; and provide direction and support as leaders and faculty relied more on student, adult, and school performance data to improve adult and student performance.

Industry: Education PK-12 Districts and Schools

Project Type: Assess current performance levels and devise processes and products to accelerate adult and student learning.

Challenge
LeadershipEnergies (LE) sought to understand leader and faculty priorities and practices and to accurately define performance strengths and improvement needs so that the combination of performance improvement efforts at the board, leader, faculty, team, classroom, and student levels could be coordinated for maximum adult and student learning.

Solution
LE used diagnostic inventories; staff, student, and parent satisfaction surveys; analyses of student performance data; analyses of teacher team lesson planning; reports on performance improvement efforts by the Board, administrators, and teacher teams to build understanding of the school’s performance reality. Many different types of workshops and summer training institutes were provided to leaders and faculty members. Each year additional assessment tools and strategies were introduced to build adult peer relationships into supportive, learning teams. Faculty members and teams and students engaged in self-assessments of knowledge and skill to plan for and attain an accelerated rate of learning. Coaching support was provided by LE to the board, administrators, teachers, and support personnel.

Results
Rapid learning growth of leaders and faculty members led to accelerating growth of student learning and improved scores on state tests. Student achievement of new students to the school improved in their first year and continued to accelerate in subsequent years. Faculty expertise improved in ten areas of responsibility and every faculty member became a coach and professional development presenter in at least two of the ten areas of professional expertise. Students outperformed by a substantial margin the students in the schools that they previously attended. More specifically, the rate of student learning growth was at the 84th percentile among similar schools and at the 74th percentile for all schools in the state.

Over a four year period, the board, leaders, faculty members, students, and some parents became experts in eleven of the eighteen interactive performance systems (IPS) with best practices that were tied to improving student outcomes. The eleven IPS were: Customer Focus; Effective and Integrated Governance; Human Resource Excellence; Information, Measurement, and Reporting System; Planning and Planned Change; Professional Learning and Instruction; Staff, Student, and Family Interactions; Student Behavior and Performance Data; Team Work and Problem Solving; Technology that Supports Programs, Personnel, and Students; and Universal Acceptance of Expectations.

A larger case study of the changes in practice and the improvements in student test scores was published by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) in their August 2014 magazine, School Administrator. The article title is: “Beyond Compliance to Performance Improvement: A Data-Driven Decision-Making Model that Parallels Clinical Protocols Is Used to Treat the Root Causes of Underachievement.”

Customer Feedback
“LeadershipEnergies (LE) provided unique beneficial coaching and direction based upon the Clinical Practice Model which provided the framework for performance improvement efforts over several years. LE provided numerous workshops to administrators, faculty, and the board of education. Diagnostic instruments were used to assess performance quality and to identify faculty and student learning needs. Our successful charter renewal and growth in faculty and student performance are greatly attributable to the leadership efforts of LE and our board, leaders, and faculty.”
—Thomas Lawrence, Supervisor

*The case study is real and positions of personnel are accurate. Names of districts, schools, and personnel have been changed.

Mentor an assistant superintendent in each district for 12 months in topics, processes, and skills needed to be the district leader and to be recommended for the certificate for the position of superintendent of schools.

Industry: Education PK-12 Districts and Schools

Project Type: Mentoring candidate growth in knowledge and ability to serve as a district superintendent.

Challenge
Use the DOE and ASA guidelines for mentoring superintendent candidates. Structure an individualized growth plan to build understanding of the range of job responsibilities, knowledge required to make appropriate decisions, and carry out interactions with many stakeholder groups. GTSD was a grades K-8 district with 11 schools; and the HTSD was a PK-12 district with 23 schools.

LE structured activities over a year that took advantage of the candidate’s strengths and prior experiences to establish expertise in all responsibilities of the superintendent. Candidate and mentor met once or twice per month to plan the program, review assignments and create new ones, review and oversee progress on tasks started at prior meetings, discuss and assess results, and make adjustments when needed to successfully complete assignments. LE conducted three evaluations of progress and recommended or not the candidate for certification to the state department of education.

Solution
The mentor developed a series of questions to guide the acquisition of knowledge and skill needed for each developing area of expertise. The twelve areas of expertise follow: Board of Education Operations and Relations; Collegial Management, Participatory Decision Making, and Professional Governance; District Financial, Legal, and Business Operations; District Planning and Policy Formation; Government and Community Relations; Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining; Management of District Operations; Roles in Supervision and Evaluation of Central Office Staff and School Principals; School Facilities; School Law; Student Performance; and Supervision of District-Wide Programs of Curriculum, Instruction, and Student Services.

The mentor and candidate structured experiences to document existing and new areas of expertise and to answer questions. Tasks were scheduled each month and related questions and accomplishments were reviewed. When satisfactory results were evident, the mentor signed-off on project progress sheets. Then, the mentor and candidate moved to the next area of growth.

Results
Candidates, through tasks that the superintendent normally does, in simulations, through projects and related research, in reviews of data and information about district and school functions provided in reports and in answers to questions, and in discussions, demonstrated the ability to appropriately apply new information and data in decisions. Reports and measures of progress were presented by the candidates each month. After a year of work, both candidates completed their residencies and were recommended for receipt of their certifications from the state DOE.

Customer Feedback
“The residency process was rigorous and I now see the superintendent’s responsibilities from a new perspective. I have a greater appreciation for the difficult decisions superintendents make.”
—Dr. Joseph Acroma, Assistant Superintendent

“I appreciate how you assessed my background and devised a plan that maximized my growth for the position of superintendent. Thank you for your coaching while I served as the Interim Superintendent.”
—Ms. Stephanie Acquino, Assistant Superintendent

*The case study is real and positions of personnel are accurate. Names of districts, schools, and personnel have been changed.

The Riverside School District Leadership Team in a one school K-8 district during the 2014-2015 school year participated in monthly workshops provided by LeadershipEnergies (LE) to prepare the team to use clinical practice to solve problems.

Industry: Education PK-12 Districts and Schools

Project Type: Professional Development and training for a team of teachers, supervisors, and administrators in an enlarged role of problem solving.

Challenge
Provide an inexperienced cross functional team, the District Leadership Team (DLT), with training and support for the implementation of clinical practice to improve school problem solving and raise student achievement.

Solution
Though the use of a textbook and resource manuals on clinical practice written by the workshop presenters and training workshop topics used by the presenters to expand team understanding of how to support faculty growth, LE provided instruction and structured experiences that prepared these leaders and the faculty for greater decision making responsibility to raise student achievement. Topics selected to improve DLT performance were: understanding of the school organization and team work on performance outcomes; use of data to drive decisions in the school’s Professional Learning Communities (PLCs); use of the clinical cycle to analyze performance data; use of diagnostic instruments to establish diagnoses, prescriptions, prognoses, and assessment of results; understanding and use of the 18 Interactive Performance Systems (IPS) to find the root causes of underperformance; use of vital signs to make diagnoses and report progress; and DLT application of this knowledge to identify systems needing improved performance health.

Results
The District Leadership Team (DLT) developed preliminary diagnoses to explain what was holding back progress in faculty learning and student achievement growth. At first, performance functions in seven systems were identified as needing improvement. These preliminary findings and intended corrective actions were refined by the DLT and the number of improvement activities was reduced to five systems. Later in school year workshops, the DLT narrowed proposed performance improvement action to three systems—Student Behavior and Performance Data; Team Work and Problem Solving; and Universal Acceptance of Expectations—a more manageable number to launch the improvement process in the following school year. A new organization chart and team design were drafted for use and certain school, adult, and student behaviors were identified as those most likely to produce improvements. The DLT prepared a presentation of the DLT’s work and prepared recommendations for the superintendent before reporting and discussing with the full faculty.

Customer Feedback
“We learned a lot about school performance and improvement processes that were new to us, but we gained the confidence to use this learning in our team meetings. We look forward to our presentations to the superintendent and the efforts to improve performance next year. Now, we see the advantage of selecting priorities for improvement earlier in the year and starting implementation strategies in the same year.”
—District Leadership Team assessment of the benefits of their experience in LE workshops