VitalInsight

Shoreville is a PK-12 school district with four elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school.

Industry: Education PK-12 Districts and Schools

Project Type: Online use of the VitalInsight Diagnostic Inventory.

Challenge
Provide an online tool for internal stakeholders (all employees) to assess current school performance by comparing their experience against best practices and to complete the assessment and provide reports to the interim superintendent whose two year term was ending in a few months.

Solution
The online VitalInsight™ (VI) Diagnostic Inventory was used to collect assessment data from administrators, teachers, and support personnel from all six schools. From the collected data, four reports were generated. LE presented the reports to the superintendent within the projected time frame.

Assessment data collected from nine stakeholder groups identified each group’s assessment of readiness for performance improvement. This data was reported by administrators, teachers, and support personnel at each school and by all elementary principals together. Strengths and priorities for improvements were identified in all eighteen Interactive Performance Systems (IPS) that have an impact on school, adult, and student performance. Priorities for professional growth were identified by each stakeholder group in 18 IPS.

Results
Administrators, teachers, and support personnel responded online. A five point (1-5) scale required stakeholders to identify the frequency (never, rarely, sometimes, often, or always) with which they interacted with the best practice described in VI diagnostic statements. The schools received ratings in a broad range of 2.5 to 4.5, a significant spread with the six school average of 3.5. The range of identified System challenges was 2.0 to 5.0.. Priorities for professional growth were identified in sixteen of eighteen IPS.

The unique strengths and challenges in each school for conducting performance improvement processes were identified. Among stakeholder groups, the IPS of Customer Focus, Leadership, and Team Work, and Problem Solving were rated as strengths. The IPS of Alignment of Work Processes, Technology, and use of Student Behavior and Performance Data were rated low and were considered challenges to overcome to improve performance.

Among the IPS, stakeholders across the district identified the following IPS as priorities for professional learning growth: Alignment of Work Processes; Business and Financial Acumen; Effective and Integrated Governance; Customer Focus; Information Management and Reporting Systems; Student Behavior and Performance Data; Programs that Accelerate Learning; and Structures that Nurture Improvement.

Many performance improvement priorities were identified. A large majority of schools and stakeholders selected as priorities the IPS of Business and Financial Acumen; Effective and Integrated Governance; and Structures that Nurture Improvement. LE recommended that leadership teams at the district level and each school review the reports, reduce the number of priorities, and prepare action plans that would best address current adult and student performance needs.

Customer Feedback
“This assessment was easy for staff members to complete. While some ratings appeared a little high, the overall assessment of strengths and needs for improvement are accurate. This process would be very helpful for superintendents starting new in the position.”
—Dr. Ken Litts , Interim Superintendent

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

Petersburg is a grades PK-12 school district with seven schools. LeadershipEnergies, (LE) was hired to assist the interim superintendent in putting the district back together after reductions to staff following a $10 ten million dollar state aid cut and to prepare for a state DOE visit and evaluation in the following year. The project ended when the permanent superintendent was hired.

Industry: Education PK-12 Districts and Schools

Project Type: Redesign delivery of central office services and to help staff prepare for comprehensive review by state DOE.

Challenge
Within six months while utilizing existing personnel in unfamiliar functions, LE redesigned the delivery of central office responsibilities, reconstructed files (paper and electronic) and practices connecting central office and schools in order to establish a smoothly operating PK-12 school district with which to favorably impress a state department of education team coming to comprehensively evaluate all aspects of the district. Key leadership positions of superintendent and school business administrator were vacant due to retirements, and almost all supervisory and related staff positions were eliminated due to cuts in state aid.

Solution
LE was hired to address governance issues for the board of education, coach the assistant superintendent/interim supt and director of curriculum & instruction in redesigning central office functions and services, and prepare teams of central office and school faculty members to reestablish records and distribute former employee responsibilities to other positions. More specifically, LE provided the following:

• Interviewed remaining personnel to gain an understanding of who carried out which responsibilities and how.
• An instrument to assess the completeness of organization functioning and effectiveness.
  Solution cont.
• LE provided a diagnostic instrument for members of the board of education to assess their priorities and to develop consensus among members for the goals that would move the district forward.
• LE prepared central office and school personnel for the State’s evaluation process called the Quality Single Accountability Continuum (QSAC) through the establishment of a QSAC Coordinating Council and teams that successfully completed a four month long gathering of materials, training, and a simulation of the state’s evaluation. Members of the team included principals, teachers, and officers of the Petersburg Education Association,.
• The central office and schools successfully prepared for reviews in all five major areas of QSAC responsibility in the areas of: Instruction and Program (including student performance); Fiscal Management; Governance; Personnel; and Operations.
• LE provided multiple evaluations of progress until readiness was attained.
• LE prepared for the board a job description and evaluation instrument for the position of the Interim Superintendent and worked with the board to complete the board’s evaluation of the performance of the Interim Superintendent.

Results
The board, central office staff, and school faculties completed all QSAC readiness responsibilities on time. The changed district and school functions and responsibilities were clearly understood and implemented by personnel with new job roles and descriptions. The district received a recommendation for a full five year state DOE approval. The county superintendent of schools who led the visiting team complemented the district for its comprehensive preparation and great results.

Customer Feedback
“During a very difficult time for our district, LeadershipEnergies provided great assistance and helped us achieve the results that we could not have attained by ourselves.”
—Mr. Charles George, Interim Superintendent and Superintendent of Schools

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

Under the No Child Left Behind Act, many districts were not able to reach expected student test score goals. The State Department of Education (DOE) sponsored teams comprised of representatives from the DOE, State School Boards’ Association and the State Association of School Administrators (SASA) to assist district boards and leaders to improve governance and leadership functions in order to improve school and student performance. LeadershipEnergies (LE) was selected by State ASA for team membership.

Industry: Education PK-12 Districts and Schools

Project Type: Coaching School Boards and Interim Superintendents

Challenge
Many urban school boards by the end of first decade of the 21st century experienced major political, social, economic, and education conflicts from the convergence of several negative performance trends. State funding reductions, low student test scores, elimination of programs and services, lack of district superintendent and central office leadership stability, public dissatisfaction, and board meeting turmoil were symptoms of the lack of purpose and direction needed to establish good practice and to improve results. Apple Park and Queen City schools were impacted by these and other forces.

Solution
LeadershipEnergies (LE) joined a state department of education initiative to provide business office support services, governance training and support, and leadership coaching to the school boards, interim superintendents, and central office employees in both school districts. LE met frequently with one interim superintendent (IS) with no district level experience, and with one school board to establish the interview process with community participation and to develop criteria to select a permanent superintendent. LE helped the Interims prepare for board meetings, develop budgets, and use financial and personnel reports to support recommendations to the board.

LE provided instruction and direction to the board and interim superintendent efforts to integrate governance, leadership, personnel, and business office functions and responsibilities to help the boards and leaders make appropriate decisions.

Results
In one district, the inexperienced Interim Superintendent completed the school year and oversaw the district until the board made a permanent appointment. This interim supt., a former principal, earned the certificate for the position of Superintendent of Schools and after serving in central office administrative positions, became the superintendent in a different district. Board behaviors and board meetings remained contentious for a couple of years and the DOE continued appointment of the Business Administrator.

In the other school district, one interim superintendent resigned and another was appointed. During this time period, the board reduced internal strife and collectively and effectively selected a permanent superintendent who was well accepted by employees and members of the community. At one point, representatives of the DOE and LE were invited to a board/community reception honoring the superintendent for early accomplishments.

Customer Feedback
“We thank LeadershipEnergies for coordinating the services received by these districts. Both districts have more stable leadership and board and leaders are working in more effective ways.”
—Mr. Jerry Weldon, former Director of Professional Development, State Association of School Administrators (SASA)

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

In fall of 2017, a school district with four elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school agreed to test the validity of the second online version of VitalInsight™ (VI) as an effective diagnostic tool to accurately identify priorities for improving performance of the district and each school. The Pilot School District and LeadershipEnergies (LE) identified internal and external stakeholders for the district and for each school and LE prepared the dashboard to report the results of assessing the existence and performance level of a large number of best practices related to improving performance.

Location: A school district with six schools covering grades PK-12.

Project Type: Test capabilities of VitalInsight™ to recognize different expectations among stakeholder groups and their impact on schools, to accurately diagnose priorities for improvement planning, and to select appropriate prescription options to improve school, employee, and/or student performance.

Challenge
Earlier versions of the diagnostic inventory were validated through paper and pen and online administrations of VitalInsight™ and analyses of feedback from small groups of stakeholders (board members, administrators, certificated staff, non-certificated staff, students, parents, and community groups). With improvements made to the inventory and changes in reporting formats, this pilot helped meet the challenge of assessing the accuracy of diagnoses produced from stakeholder input and the appropriateness of recommended prescriptions for the priorities identified. The challenge also included handling a larger number of stakeholder respondents for the district and each school, and the reliable use of dashboard reports for the development of improvement plans.

Solution
Stakeholders had two weekends and the work week in between to respond to approximately sixty inventory items. On a scale of one to five, from not evident to, rarely, sometimes, often, and always evident, six hundred forty-five stakeholders among eleven groups assessed the quality of these sixty best practices. Within two days of closing the portal, a variety of reports were available to district and school leaders. VitalInsight™ representatives met with the superintendent and assistant superintendent, then with all district and school administrators, and then with the board’s strategic planning committee to analyze report findings and to provide guidance on how to use reports to best advantage. There were seven sets of reports, one for each school and one for the district office. Each set contained a summary of reports for each of the seven, plus background information about the inventory items and their relationship to improving performance. Reports included diagnosed strengths, diagnosed vulnerabilities, prescriptions for the vulnerabilities, and numerous strategies and activities recommended for improving performance.

Results
Each set (district and each school) of reports contained five diagnosed strengths and five diagnosed vulnerabilities. Among the five vulnerabilities, the lowest two vulnerabilities by stakeholder group ratings were examined and for each of the two diagnoses that stood out as priorities, a number of prescription options, strategies and activities for each option were provided to guide the development of improvement plans. Findings included similar and different vulnerabilities among district and schools. Findings suggested that district office and schools should establish a common improvement goal with the prescriptions implemented at all levels of the district; and that there was sufficient evidence for each school to address vulnerabilities unique to its own circumstances. Representatives of VitalInsight™ received encouraging feedback about the benefits of using VitalInsight™ from district office and school administrators. Very helpful suggestions for improvements from users were provided as well. The most frequently made comments are reported below.

Customer Feedback

• The selection of district and school strengths and vulnerabilities was very accurate, much more accurate than expected.
• Stakeholder ratings and priorities were sensitive to issues in the district and each school. Stakeholder ratings reflected timely concerns.
• We have assumed that specific community-based concerns at the high school were still a negative influence; however, these concerns were not reported by stakeholders. We are relieved.
• In a very short period of time we received an enormous amount of data that helped us understand our strengths and opportunities for improvement.
• We received direction for our planning work and next steps before implementation will take very little time to complete.
• The reports provided many suggestions for improvement and options for our use are clear.
• The reports provided many suggestions for improvement and possibly too many options for our use.
• There was too much background reading material in reports and that made it difficult to decide which options to implement.
• Representatives of VitalInsight made the process of selecting and notifying stakeholders and providing stakeholders with access to the diagnostic inventory an easy task.
• Some stakeholders using VitalInsight™ reported that they were unfamiliar with the practices described in the diagnostic inventory.
• Representatives of VitalInsight provided excellent guidance to material in the Dashboard and reports. With their explanations, we had no difficulties. However, if their help was not available, I’m not so sure our experience would have been as enjoyable and profitable.

LPACS is a grades K-8 400 pupil charter school in the poorest section of center City. LeadershipEnergies (LE) was hired to utilize the Improvement Plan Reporting Matrix and Schedule developed from the Corrective Action Plan to support a system of continuous improvement that would increase adult and student performance outcomes.

Industry: Education PK-12 Districts and Schools

Project Type: Onsite consulting and coaching and transition to online consulting through diagnostic inventories and prescriptions at board, leader, faculty, student, parent levels over the 2015-2019 time period.

Challenge
After the LPACS school community responded to all state DOE compliance requirements in a short time period, it needed to build routines to change performance expectations and behaviors, and to meet the challenges of having board, leaders, faculty, and students understand how to assess organization, adult, and student performance strengths and improvement needs through processes that increased adult and student learning.

Solution
Many coaching sessions and professional development workshops were provided by LeadershipEnergies (LE) to build awareness of performance strengths and improvement needs. Routines were established through which student, faculty, administrator, and board performance periodically assessed progress. Paper and online diagnostic instruments were used by the board, administrators, and faculty members; and results were used by faculty teams within a horizontal organization design. Stakeholders focused on the activities and interactions of people, programs, protocols, and metrics that contributed to adult and student success.

Strategies designed to improve performance outcomes included creation and training of grade level and multi-grade level teams, development and use of data-driven individualized instruction, implementation of consistent behavioral expectations, engagement of parents in student learning initiatives, focus on instructional strategies and observations, and improved lesson planning.

LE introduced a suite of products called VitalInsight™ to provide an online technology to diagnose performance strengths and weaknesses and to prescribe best practice options to further improve performance. Professional development modules were constructed to address weaknesses in almost 20 different areas of performance.

Results
Student performance exceeded the performance of neighborhood schools that these same students would have attended if they did not attend this charter school. The rate of student learning growth surpasses that of the neighborhood schools. Reading, Language Arts, and Math scores approach the average for the school district. The rate of student learning growth is expected to accelerate. Teachers are members of multi-grade teams and student behavior and learning problems are addressed in team meetings. Stakeholder input is gathered online through and diagnosis and prescription reports have been generated. The reports are used in conjunction with ongoing student test results and faculty performance to fully inform the development and implementation of improvement plans.

Customer Feedback
“As a result of the new understanding affirmed by the data, we have reshaped our team structures, professional development program, curricular design, and data analyses. Now, everyone in our school is unified in the expectations we have established and are dedicated to implementing the strategies necessary for continued success.”
—Mr. Charles Garfield, CEO

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

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.