A Year End Process for Staff Synthesis of Learning
Even if we have ongoing qualitative evidence of success we could be examining, it can often be hard to organize, captured across a variety of formats, and not systematically embedded in our data reflection and analysis practices. Silos can hold genius we’re missing. We also may still emphasize only the qualitative “successes” instead of also including the “lessons learned” as wins in and of themselves.
“Winning” in the Broadest Sense: Lessons for Leaders
An asset-based orientation - focusing on successes - fuels the team’s momentum and mindset rather than depleting it. To be clear, we are not trying to gaslight you into a toxically positive view of celebrating wins in schools. Seeing weaknesses in implementation and impact creates urgency for change, and seeing success creates the belief that we can. Educators need both.
More Respect, Less Stress, Better Solutions - When Listening to Teachers is a Way of Working in a School System
If educators are asked to haphazardly contribute ideas and insights apart from school improvement processes - say, only during a single PD workshop facilitated by a consultant! - it can feel disingenuous and be ineffective in shaping smart solutions. When harnessing the collective knowledge and creativity of the team is a central way of working, schools develop better solutions and also reduce teacher stress and improve teacher respect.
What Do “Small Wins” Have To Do With Leading For Deeper Learning?
Experiencing, reflecting on, and sharing small wins in meaningful work can change your day (and your life!). The meaningful element of the work is key here. Many educators (and students!) believe pursuing Deeper Learning outcomes for students is more meaningful than working toward traditional achievement measures alone. As the Deeper Learning (n.d.) team defines:
Deeper Learning describes the higher-order thinking skills, learning dispositions, and collaboration skills needed for students to succeed in twenty-first century work and civic life. Deeper Learning competencies promote the ability to transfer learning and apply learning to new and complex situations in an ever-changing global environment. (para 2)
While meaningful, many of the Deeper Learning outcomes lack the concrete, well-defined metrics that help teams clearly see the goals they’re pursuing. Rather, Deeper Learning outcomes are a bold vision for what’s possible in education. Leaders are instrumental in cultivating a shared team vision for deeper learning across a school or system – and doing so is a significant, ongoing process. However, education leaders are tasked with profoundly intense operational demands that do not let them focus solely on instructional leadership (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007). This means leadership expectations can feel infinite, so having clarity on what is most important for your team to realize a bold instructional vision is essential (as you’re responding in the moment to the clogged drain, late bus, or lack of subs). Ok, so you’re bought in, you’re committed, now what?
Small Wins Data is Street Data
In our conversations with educators, many use the same phrase to describe their school progress data: “It doesn’t capture the full story.”
Not represented are stories about a student taking on leadership roles in the classroom once projects become more connected to the local community, stories about teachers finding better ways to build processes for peer feedback, and stories about restorative justice language and mindsets taking root. When student, family, and educator voices are not included, there are missing pieces to the puzzle that could help schools learn, adjust as they go, and ultimately move closer to their transformational goals for equitable student learning. These voices could illuminate a fuller picture of growth as it happens, and of the promising educator practices that contributed. (The Small Wins Dashboard centers educator experiences and observations in the continuous improvement process.)
Collective Efficacy As The Most Powerful Renewable Resource
In regards to leading collective teacher efficacy, researchers explain, “When a team of individuals share the belief that through their unified efforts they can overcome challenges and produce intended results, groups are more effective” (Donohoo et al., 2018, para 1). This may seem like a simple idea, but schools need intentional approaches to develop this collective belief so that collective actions lead to equitable student opportunities and outcomes. It cannot just be up to individual teachers to believe more or hope more: the school or organizational ecosystem must support belief. Schools must provide teachers opportunities to recognize their successes and progress, and to see those of their peers. Key here is defining progress as learning- even when the learning stems from a mistake or failure, versus a success.