Johnson: The Pizza Rule and Other Tips for Making Effective, Long-Lasting Changes in Your School
School and district leaders face a challenging task in finding the right balance when it comes to implementing change. They are expected to drive change quickly and completely, often using academic performance, enrollment, or other quantitative indicators as immediate benchmarks. However, if change is introduced too rapidly or forcefully, it can overwhelm teachers and students, resulting in little to show for the leaders’ efforts.
Superintendents and principals often have short tenures in their roles, averaging less than five years. This makes it even more difficult to bring about significant change, as they may only establish enough credibility to try something new right before it’s time for them to move on. That’s why successful change initiatives should involve not just top leadership, but also school leadership teams. These teams, made up of teachers, coaches, and school administrators, bring context and credibility among staff and have a better chance of longevity.
When considering the roles of school leaders and leadership teams, it’s helpful to think about six areas of responsibility: construction, planning, implementation, support, and monitoring of change-based initiatives.
Construction
One guideline for determining the size of a team is whether or not they could split one large pizza. It’s not about saving money on food, but rather ensuring that decision-making remains manageable. You want to have enough perspectives to represent the needs of your school and community, but not so many that moving forward becomes a challenge.
In addition to the number of people, the composition of the team is also important. While it may be easiest to have team members who are natural advocates for the work, it’s worthwhile to include a skeptic or two. You want a team that can provide ideas and constructive feedback, and individuals whom others will want to follow.
For example, School District 197 in Minnesota developed an effective process for selecting members of its Design Teams. They formed teams of teachers and building administrators to learn about, practice, and promote personalized learning in each district school. The district outlined the ideal qualities and expectations for team members, and created a promotional video and application delivered at each school. Within weeks, they had a group of dedicated teachers committed to engaging in personalized learning.
Planning
Once formed, school leadership teams can actively contribute to the planning of an initiative’s rollout and implementation. Teachers and coaches often have a better understanding of a school’s readiness for change, having seen previous initiatives succeed or fail. They can identify key factors such as professional development, clear communication, and a sense of ownership that contribute to an initiative’s longevity and success. These conversations allow leaders to ensure that the planning aligns with the school’s readiness, needs, and culture.
Furthermore, leadership teams can provide a measurable starting point by assessing teachers’ ability to target instruction for groups or individual students. This helps determine the school’s readiness before any work is done and can serve as anecdotal evidence of success once the initiative is underway.
Beyond assessing readiness, leadership teams can define an initiative within the context of the school’s unique needs and priorities. They can identify challenges or focus areas that personalized learning can help solve and develop problem statements accordingly. This process gives teams a sense of ownership and connection to the initiative, rather than feeling like it’s a top-down mandate.
For instance, Fulton County Schools in Georgia, which operates as a charter district, allowed each school to design its own instructional model, professional development, and communication plan before selecting technological devices for students. This approach resulted in highly engaged school-based teams that were committed to the success of personalized learning.
Implementing
Implementing change requires careful planning and execution. School leadership teams play a crucial role in this process, working in collaboration with teachers and administrators. They provide ongoing support and guidance, monitor progress, and make adjustments as needed.
Implementing change effectively requires clear communication, continuous professional development, and a focus on individual student needs. School leadership teams can help ensure that these elements are in place and that the initiative is being implemented successfully.
In summary, school and district leaders face the challenge of balancing the need for rapid change with the potential to overwhelm teachers and students. By involving school leadership teams and considering their roles in construction, planning, and implementation, leaders can increase the chances of successful change initiatives.
Depending on the team’s capacity, team members can also share the responsibility of leading professional development at the school. This can range from leading entire sessions to giving short presentations on their experiences. Personalized learning simulations can be used to demonstrate the changes that teachers may make in their classrooms, and the leadership teams can then bring these simulations back to their staff, with each member taking on a different role. Involving team members in these workshops not only reduces the burden on school leaders but also increases staff buy-in.
At Liberty Park Elementary School in Warren, Indiana, the leadership team underwent training to become the first group of teachers to implement personalized learning at their school. Before the initiative was rolled out schoolwide, team members invited teachers to visit their classrooms and witness personalized learning in action. As the initiative was implemented throughout the school, each team member took on a "personalized learning posse" and mentored a small group of teachers who could approach them with any questions they had.
Supporting
Once an initiative is in place, school leadership teams play a crucial role in providing ongoing support for its long-term success. Team members have direct insight into the needs of teachers and classrooms, and their feedback can be used to identify opportunities for professional development or additional support. Teams can establish resource banks that contain real-life examples of personalized learning strategies, organize monthly "Choice PDs" based on feedback from peers, or create blogs to share their experiences and learning.
In the Dundee Central School District in upstate New York, school leadership teams gather on a monthly basis to discuss the successes and challenges of personalized learning. They then break up into smaller teams to plan professional development sessions for teachers to choose from during monthly early-release days. The topics of these sessions can include training on digital content, strategies for small-group instruction, or teachers sharing their successful practices. In the first year of implementing personalized learning, districtwide surveys indicate that the majority of teachers feel highly supported by this peer-led system.
In addition to understanding the needs of teachers, members of the leadership team who provide support also have the opportunity to further develop their skills as leaders within the school. As they assist teachers, team members often gain additional expertise, and it is common for them to take on formal coaching roles as their colleagues increasingly view them as experts.
Monitoring
Ensuring the success of an initiative requires the systematic collection and analysis of data. Monitoring is aimed at answering three key questions:
• Are teachers implementing the initiative as intended?
• What challenges are teachers facing during implementation?
• Is the initiative leading to positive changes?
The goal is to have positive responses to each question, and while it is ultimately the school leader’s responsibility to provide the answers, school leadership teams can provide valuable backing. Schools may utilize various structures to determine whether teachers are implementing the initiative and how successful they feel. These structures can include formal or informal classroom observations, surveys given to students and teachers, or focus groups. Regardless of the structure used, school leadership teams can play a crucial role in analyzing the results. The team of teachers and coaches can validate whether the identified trends align with their own experiences or clarify any concerns raised by teachers.
In Yuma School District 1 in Arizona, leadership teams have actively participated in the monitoring of personalized learning implementation. These teams conduct formal learning walks in the fall and spring to assess the progress of implementation, identify strengths and areas for improvement, and provide feedback to the staff. These classroom visits serve the purpose of holding teachers accountable and also help identify the need for additional resources and upcoming professional development opportunities.
School districts or schools may establish quantitative measures of success, such as changes in academic or behavioral outcomes indicated by standardized test scores, attendance rates, or suspension rates. However, leadership teams can provide a continuous narrative regarding perceived changes in habits and mindsets. One way to accomplish this is by consistently asking a set of questions throughout the planning stages of the initiative, such as assessing the staff’s ability to target instruction. The notes from these conversations can then be compared with initial responses and used to determine the impact of the initiative over time.
Effecting change in education and ensuring its sustainability is a complex task for school and district leaders. With short tenures and numerous responsibilities, school leaders often lack the capacity, social connections, and understanding of teacher and student needs on the ground. To address these challenges, it is important to select influencers who can empower strong school leadership teams. When these teams are assembled with the right combination of personalities, strengths, and representation from across the school, they can help scale the skills and behaviors necessary to ensure the successful adoption and retention of an initiative.
