In this Application Activity, you will learn more about the research on sustaining improvement. You will also reflect on your own current practice as a leader. Finally, you will consider ways you might want to try new strategies to supported sustained improvement

Review the following table for an overview of the various domains and dimension in sustained improvement leadership:

[Insert table from p.22-23 of https://www-tandfonline-com.proxy01.its.virginia.edu/doi/pdf/10.1080/13632434.2017.1374943?needAccess=true]

Now, read some select narrative on practices shown to be the most important for sustaining lasting, dramatic improvement. Then, complete the series of questions through writing either narrative or bulleted responses.

Energizing and Motivating Contributors

Domain 2, Transforming the Organization: Engaging and Motivating Teachers to Maintain Commitment to the Organization’s Work, is an important lever for sustained improvement. The importance of maintaining motivation and commitment is not typically found in effective school leadership literature but is part of the organizational sciences literature.

This practice acknowledges the reality that the work beyond the initial surge of results is tough. In the initial improvement phases, there is nowhere to go but up for rock-bottom schools, yet schools in sustainability have been working longer for less and less dramatic gains. This domain suggests that there are some key maneuvers that leaders of sustained improvement undertake to maintain their teachers’ (and their own!) sense of collective and individual efficacy, including intentionally orchestrating ongoing mastery experiences. This practice suggests that sustained improvement leaders know that continually experiencing success during the long road to improvement rejuvenates teachers and combats the often arduous nature of improvement.

What does the research indicate about the importance of creating momentum?
What are some ways Gena could create momentum at RBG-MS?
As leader in your school, what are the ways you intentionally create momentum and a sense of accomplishment for teachers?
What are the ways your district intentionally creates momentum and a sense of accomplishment for you?
How can you better infuse your teachers’ experiences in the school with momentum and a sense of accomplishment?
How can the district better infuse your experiences in the school with momentum and a sense of accomplishment?
What is one commitment you would like to make to try out in your practice?

Timing Distribution of Leadership

Effective leaders prioritize broad participation by teachers, parents, and the community in an effort to enhance organizational commitment but also to strengthen the substance of the decision or work being accomplished (Leithwood, 2012). Dramatic improvement leadership suggests quite the opposite – at least initially – in that it calls for stabilization of the organization through swift decision making by a select few or even the principal alone and for big picture work to be accomplished by a smaller group (Public Impact 2008).

The assumption inherent here is that professional capacity must be built, and at least initially, teachers’ efforts must be focused almost exclusively on instruction of their students and the climate of their classrooms. Where does this leave sustained improvement leadership in terms of distributed leadership? This framework suggests that incrementally and appropriately moving toward distributed leadership is key.

Perhaps this example best illustrates the utility of this framework, as practitioners would be ill advised to completely embrace distributed leadership or eschew it in the time after initial improvement. Perhaps if a principal were to continue to rely upon only a select few, as suggested by the research on dramatic improvement, this could be why initial dramatic improvement never morphs into transformation. Instead, principals should be mindful that, as they stabilize a school through centralized authority efforts, that stage should be gradually transitioned toward more of a collaborative and inclusive approach.

This is the logic behind the assertion that sustained improvement leaders likely facilitate vision and mission development amongst a capable and representative leadership team. They also create a professional culture that builds, distributes, and advances the schools’ leadership capacity. As capacity is built, improvement becomes more widespread, and improvement has a broader base within the school.

Why is it important to share and distribute decision making and responsibility in your school?
What are some ways Gena could begin to share and distribute leadership in RBG-MS?
How well is leadership shared and distributed in your school?
What are the ways input on decisions is included?
How are decisions made in your school to reflect the input and needs of the entire organization?
What are the ways school-level responsibilities are shared?
What is one instance of potential growth? That is, how can leadership be shared or distributed even more effectively in your school?
What is one commitment you would like to make to try out in your practice?

Co-Creating Support and Success with the External Environment

Improvement leadership does not emphasize connecting and co-creating viable structures and processes with the external community. Perhaps this is because improvement leaders have their hands full with the halting of the school’s decline.

However, this framework, through the influence of the sustained improvement external to education, suggests that leaders of sustainability in dramatic improvement reach beyond the school’s walls to engage in mutually beneficial partnerships with likeminded organizations. This is a key difference between initial, dramatic improvement and sustained, lasting dramatic improvement.

The importance of this specific aspect of the framework is underscored by the particular work of other scholars in the field who found that sustainability of school improvement in challenging contexts includes working with the community and other external entities (Harris et al. 2006). Through networking with others, and identifying mutual ground, sustained improvement leaders extend their influence through considering how other organizations can support their challenging work.

Given the magnitude of the challenge, enlisting support of other capable and committed entities to support the work of the school makes much sense. Schools cannot do it all for underserved students in isolation, and even teaching and leadership are important for student achievement only in terms of school-based factors. Thus, multiple other opportunities to support student achievement reside beyond the direct instructional program for students. An example of how these practices might be enacted could be school-university partnerships to establish a pipeline of high-quality teachers or even a relationship with a local health and wellness clinic to bring care to students so that typical barriers to learning can intentionally be addressed and removed.

The research reveals that “schools cannot do it all.” What does this mean?
How is Gena trying to “do it all” at RBG-MS? Why might that not be working, according to the research?
What is one way Gena and Darrell could begin to move toward bringing in external partnership to RBG-MS?
To what extent do you as school leader try to do it all?
What supports could your district offer to help you think through building mutually beneficial partnerships?
What is an example of a current mutually beneficial partnership you have with an entity external to the school? Why is this partnership working well?
What is an opportunity for mutual partnership that you can identify and capitalize on?
What is one commitment related to Co-Creating Support with the External Environment that you’d like to try out in your practice?