ASCD Educational Leadership Confronting POVERTY in Schools  Volume 80, December 2022/January 2023

I started my teaching career in 1999. Technically teaching was my second career, including treasured years at home raising two boys. When entering the teaching profession, it took me longer than most to land my first position. For the first year or two, I bounced around as a substitute teacher and even landed a few long-term opportunities teaching in my local school district. As hard as that was, it gave me incredible insights into what school communities I wanted to be a part of.

When the call finally came, offering my first position, I was extremely grateful I landed in a high-poverty Title I elementary school. It was exactly where my heart needed to be. It wasn’t with the mindset of saving them; looking into their eyes, I understood them. We were more similar than they knew. They taught me so much about the value of establishing high expectations, instilling a belief mindset, and celebrating and recognizing their efforts toward their goals.

Almost twenty-three years later, I am still highly engaged in a similar school community as a principal. When reading the recent ASCD Educational Leadership Magazine, Confronting Poverty in Schools, I couldn’t put it down. I read it from back to front. (Who else does that?). Many articles were my favorite, but a few spoke of what, over twenty years, I found to have the greatest impact on teaching and learning.

Jim Knight’s article, The Beautiful Question, reminded this school leader, “Our lives are lived in conversations, and when we ask better questions, we have better conversations.” As a principal, my number one responsibility is instructional leadership, which requires mastering the art of instructional coaching. Knight, an expert on creating positive change in teaching and learning through coaching, shared how effective questions can be empowering, authentic, respectful, and invitational. Good questions he shared include listening to others' options, showing genuine curiosity, building connections, and encouraging educators to think deeper.” 

When you read Jen Schwanke’s article Every Student Is a Firecracker, you can feel her advocacy for students living in poverty. Her personal experience reminded us, “Poverty isn’t the same thing as a lack of love…If a child is hungry, their parents must have failed at something. Right? Wrong.” I must admit my heart soared, and my eyes started to water. I wholeheartedly agree with her statement. I have witnessed the fierce love, devotion, and unwavering belief parents and families living in poverty have for their children. I’ve been humbled and inspired multiple times over the years. Schwanke mirrored my thoughts when she declared the following.  

Although the article that almost brought me to tears was the story of Butcher Greene Elementary, Learning from a School on the Path to High-Performing. As a turnaround principal, it could have been our story. A dedicated group of educators on the path to ‘yet’! “We have to remember, we’ve made so much growth. What we’re doing is working.” Their pursuit of providing high-quality instruction to each of their students, and developing their own belief mindset within a shared leadership framework was riveting. Respectfully, you can read the words of authors who write about the work. Still, those in the trenches often provide real-world examples of the influence school educators can have when they prioritize every initiative to change the trajectory of learning for each child they serve. 

There were many other articles in this issue that I read fervently with my red pen in hand, underlining, and note-taking, while building awareness and understanding. Discovering insights into What It Takes to Truly Leave No Child Behind, STOP Punishing Poverty in Schools, and, When Confronting Poverty, Think Abundance, Not Scarcity gave me greater hope knowing there are many educators across the country who are in pursuit of equitable outcomes each of our students deserve and need! This issue of ASCD Magazine provides research and examples of what is needed in our schools that confront the effect of poverty every day. A must-read for every educator.

Fearless Schools Build Trust & Resilience

 Douglas Reeves Fearless Schools Building Trust and Resilience for Learning Teaching and Leading

During a global pandemic, teaching and leading in 2021 will be unforgettable. As schools across the nation began to close, there was a genuine fear for our individual and collective health. We learned to teach and lead through a digital screen while managing our personal lives. Leaving our dwellings for food and care of close friends and family was a necessary risk fueled by fear.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines fearless as free of fear, brave. Looking back over two years ago, we determined bravery as we navigated our new normal secluded existence. Our schools and classrooms are showing bravery as we reinvent our systems and schedules to reflect the nurture and focus needed for our students and staff. It’s exciting and exhausting because priorities continue to change.

Douglas Reeves published Fearless Schools in the middle of the health and safety crisis fueled by the COVID-19 virus. He writes, “Fear is nothing new to our students. They fear disapproval of adults, exclusion by peers, and their own sense of doubt and unworthiness. Add to the normal fears of childhood and adolescence the impact of the global pandemic of 2020 and the economic insecurity that follows for years afterwards, the loss of loved ones, and a continuing sense of uncertainty about the future—and the pervasive sense of fear in schools is understandable. The purpose of this book is to help educators, school leaders, parents, and policymakers create fearless schools despite a fearful environment” (xviii).

Reeves outlines how educators can move out of fear by enhancing their school communities with trust as their foundation, resilience as their mindset, and fearlessness as a critical component of their learning, teaching, and leading practices. “Being fearless in a fearful time” where “every mistake is an opportunity not for humiliation but for analysis, reflection, and learning” (p. XVI). 

In chapter 9, Fearless Leadership, and chapter 10, Fearless Change, Reeves suggests what does not need to change and considerations for change to positively impact our schools, classrooms, and teacher teams. “Even when facing the need for great changes, leaders must simultaneously identify and validate the practices and values that will endure and the people whose labor will be required to turn the page and get to the next level of success and recovery. 

• Leadership does not require a regal presence. Rather, it requires the confidence and assurance that uncertainty and doubt are not our enemies but natural parts of the change process.

• Fearless communication requires not oratory but plainspoken truth. 

• Fearless decision-making requires a dependence upon the lessons of the past, with leaders around the globe who have risen to unimaginable challenges in the 21st century and in times past.

• Fearless responsibility is not about recklessness without a hint of self-doubt but about the willingness to engage in imperfect decisions and then accept the blame and recrimination that inevitably result” (p. 127).

During the pandemic, we learned as educators that change is incredibly unsettling. Moving from frustration, resistance, and adaptation to learning requires “the organization must create an evidence-based culture in which a clear and compelling case for change leads to a sense of urgency by every stakeholder” (p. 137). Teachers and leaders can fearlessly lead change together in times of uncertainty by building trust, showing resilience, and selecting teaching and learning practices that have the highest impact on students. 

Leveraging Leadership in 100-Days

Douglas Reeves - Robert Eaker 100-Day Leaders Turning Short-Term Wins Into Long-Term Success in Schools

Each year the first few months of school pass by so quickly for teachers and leaders. The anticipation of newness settles in as we get to know our students and each other as a school community. Systems are created, schedules are made, and routines are implemented to guide growth. What happens in between is what our students remember and teachers relentlessly plan for. 

Douglas Reeves and Robert Eaker's book, 100-Day Leaders, Turning Short-Term Wins Into Long-Term Success in Schools, provides “a system for focusing on the highest leverage leadership actions that will yield significant results in just one 100 days” (p. 3). The authors share research on the impact a school leader's decisions can have on “student achievement and educational equity” and propose a “new way of thinking about leadership” in 100-day increments. 

Reeves and Eaker frame the actions needed for school leaders, starting by addressing the “why” or moral imperative of Leadership “to improve student learning” (p. 5). Six action steps to implement during these 100 days are available to download as an accessible reproducible at go.SolutionTree.com/leadership. Relatable experiences and outcomes of school leaders are shared through each step connecting the reader to what is possible when relentless focus on improvement becomes what drives their work. 

Most school leaders know school improvement is a continuous process. Moving from a three to five-year time frame to a 100-day cycle simply makes more sense. It is an opportunity to model what we want our teachers to do in their classrooms—breaking the learning into meaningful chunks to refine and make corrections mid-course. It’s an ongoing process that requires educators to align their actions to their values. The power comes from making adjustments as you learn what works, what needs refining, and what we need to stop doing!

Most importantly, the practices Reeves and Eaker outline align with the PLC process to ensure higher levels of learning for each student. These essential questions have proven foundational for improvement in teaching and learning and include creating a school system that prioritizes collaboration. Moving out of isolation into a mindset where we get to do this together as teachers and leaders can be the fuel and catalyst that propels change and learning forward.

Many years ago, I was able to attend a two-day PLC conference featuring both Richard and Becky DuFour as keynote speakers. I can still see where I sat in the audience, thoroughly compelled by their powerful message on the impact a leader can have when following the PLC process consistently. Their message captivated us then, and Reeves and Eaker continue their work today. What we choose to do next can change the learning trajectory for the teachers we serve and the students we teach. Although now we have an opportunity using the guidance of Reeves and Eaker to do our important work in 100-day increments rather than wait years to determine our impact.

Think Time

Adam Grant THINK AGAIN The Power of Knowing What You Don’t Know

As an elementary principal leading a school community through a pandemic for the past couple of years, I know I needed to slow down and reflect this summer. I purchased Adam Grant’s book, Think Again, The Power of What You Don’t Know to think more deeply about this experience and determine my next steps. Grant shared, “Our ways of thinking become habits that can weigh us down, and we don’t bother to question them until it’s too late” (p. 7). During this time of uncertainty, the actions we took became necessary habits, and questions were often a luxury with little time for reflection.

Grant stated, “Rethinking is a skill set, but it’s also a mindset. We already have many of the mental tools we need. We just have to remember to get them out of the shed and remove the rust” (p. 16). My mindset needed a reboot and my heart a jumpstart. Grant’s book did not disappoint. Through research and examples, he explored how thinking can be a tool for growth and change. First, how we can acquire this skill for ourselves, encourage others around us to think more deeply, and finally create a learning culture by conquering the art of rethinking together. As an educator, I thought about the Gradual Release of Responsibility framework. I do. (Modeling) We do. (Guiding) You do. (Collaborating) You alone. (Reflect).   

There is so much to unpack in Think Again, but three takeaways stand out as I return to school in the fall. Personally, as a school leader, I need to take it down a notch. I know my intensity can be an asset, and I’ll likely not shy away from that character trait. But what I can do is when I make mistakes, and I made plenty, I can model a more optimistic attitude and a bit of humor. Grant reminds us there is the opportunity to find joy when being wrong. "Laughing at ourselves reminds us that although we might take our decisions seriously, we don't have to take ourselves too seriously" (p.72). 

One of my responsibilities as a school leader is guiding others to think deeper about their decisions to positively impact their teaching and learning environments in their classroom. “When we try to convince people to think again, our first instinct is usually to start talking. Yet the most effective way to help others open their minds is often to listen” (p. 151). I smiled and thought to myself, yes, Grant, I’m guilty in that regard. Moving forward, I need to remember “...we can rarely motivate someone else to change. We’re better off helping them find their motivation to change” (p. 146), starting with talking less and listening more.

Collaboratively we can all learn to examine how we are thinking collectively in our decision-making process to keep us focused on what we value and prioritize as a school community. “Organizational learning should be an ongoing activity, but best practices imply it has reached an endpoint. We might be better off looking for better practices” (p. 216). “A bad decision process is based on shallow thinking. A good process is grounded in deep thinking and rethinking” (p. 217). 

Pushing out of a comfort zone to a learning zone requires me to normalize change for growth as a leader. What works research has the potential to be effective, but does it align with our beliefs and values as a school community? Grant proposes a Rethinking Scorecard for decisions that include processes and outcomes.

“Even if the outcome of a decision is positive, it doesn’t necessarily qualify as a success. If the process was shallow, you were lucky. If the decision process was deep, you can count it as an improvement; you’ve discovered a better practice. If the outcome is negative, it’s a failure only if the decision process was shallow. If the result was negative but you evaluated the decision thoroughly, you’ve run a smart experiment…The goal in a learning culture is to welcome these kinds of experiments, to make rethinking so familiar that it becomes routine” (p. 219). 

Summer for a school leader passes quickly. I have quite a few new challenges ahead of me, and I want to lead with joy, drive, and passion. Grant’s last thought is my most vital takeaway from Think Again “It takes humility to reconsider our past commitments, doubt to question our present decisions, and curiosity to reimagine our goals. What we discover along the way can free us from the shackles of our familiar surroundings and our former selves. Rethinking liberates us to do more than update our knowledge and opinions—it’s a tool for leading a more fulfilling life” (p. 243). 

Catalyzing Change in Elementary Math

 

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Writing Task Force CATALYZING CHANGE in Early Childhood and Elementary Mathematics Initiating Critical Conversations 

One of my favorite teachers in my undergraduate work in college taught the course Elementary Math Methods. I never missed it. The instructor had a sharp sense of humor, showed empathy, and was relentless in having us experience the joy of developing a deeper understanding of how to teach math. It is the one textbook I kept from all those years ago. 

When I pick it up, I can see myself in my self-selected assigned seat, spiral binder to the right, fervently writing detailed notes to use later for the anxiety-ridden test ahead of me. When I looked at my scribbles in the book’s margin, there were many formulas and steps to take to come to an endpoint or answer. Yikes! Maya Angelou's well-known quote came to mind, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”

Using evidence-informed research, “Catalyzing Change in Early Childhood and Elementary Mathematics offers four critical recommendations for launching children into a successful life-long journey with mathematics. These recommendations catalyze the initiation of crucial conversations about needed shifts in early childhood and elementary mathematics. We know more about how to provide equitable mathematics learning opportunities for students and we can all do better.

Catalyzing Change four recommendations will require commitment, actions, and ongoing conversations to impact each of our student’s beliefs and mindset about their ability to “do the math,” including;

Broadening The Purposes of School Mathematics

✔ Develop Deep Mathematical Understanding

✔ See themselves as Confident and Capable Learners

✔ Understand and Analyze Their Word Through Mathematics

✔ Experience Wonder, Joy, and Beauty of Mathematics

“Mathematics becomes joyful when children have opportunities to learn mathematics in ways they see as relevant to their identities and communities and when they are encouraged to explore, create, and make meaning in mathematics” (p. 18). 

Creating Equitable Structures in Mathematics

✔ Dismantle Inequitable Structures

✔ Move From Exclusion to Inclusion

✔ Shift from Readiness to Learning

✔ Consider Alternatives from High Stakes Testing to ‘Sitting Beside.’

✔ Aligning Curriculum to Integrity of ‘Depth’ rather than Fidelity of ‘Breadth of Coverage.’

“Each and every teacher needs to be supported as continuous learners with ongoing professional development to advance and grow in mathematics content and equitable mathematics instruction as well as to have opportunities to interrogate societal beliefs and individual implicit bias” (p. 42). 

Implementing Equitable Mathematics Instruction

✔ Consistent with Informed Research

✔ Equitable Teaching Practices

✔ Nurture Children’s Positive Mathematical Identities

✔ Provide a Strong Sense of Agency

“Equitable learning opportunities are the result of equitable instruction” (p. 57).

Building A Foundation of Deep Mathematical Understanding

✔ Underscore Students as Active Doers

✔ Emphasize Students as Knowers and Sense Makers 

“Early childhood and elementary mathematics is a time for children to discover the beauty of how numbers and operations are related. It should be a time to nurture children’s numerical curiosities and wonder” (p. 89). 

I read Catalyzing Change in Early Childhood and Elementary Mathematics as a book study with other district teacher leaders and administrators. Catalyzing Change offers evidence-informed research and guidelines for our decision to impact teaching and learning. I am confident we will make a decision that meets the needs of each of our students. Our evolving conversations will allow us to continue to know and do better as we learn from each other. 

Transformative

 Jethro Jones HOW TO BE A TRANSFORMATIVE PRINCIPAL 

I first met Jethro Jones through a mastermind group he hosted just after being assigned as a principal for a turnaround school. Jethro’s ability to guide me and new colleagues in reflective conversation on our school leadership practices was instrumental to my growth. I was also an avid listener to Jethro’s Transformative Principal podcast in its early stages of momentum. His conversations with his guests during each podcast were genuine, informative, and reflective of the engaging learning and leading actions needed for our schools. 

We remained connected over the years, and I continued to listen and follow as he interviewed school leaders worldwide. I nudged him to capture these stories and leadership lessons in a book for school principals. Their wisdom, stories, and transparency could act as a guide for prioritizing what we value. Jethro Jones’s new book How to be a Transformative Principal does that. 

Leadership insights from known and unknown school leaders inspire the reader to take the next step and be the leader our students, staff, and families need us to be. I hear his voice in my head, “It’s hard, but it’s worth it.” “Being a principal requires you to serve many different people. The job can feel overwhelming. But it does not need to feel that way. Because many principals have already figured out what works and how to be great” (bc).

Here are a few of my favorite leadership lessons from the book’s excerpts selected from the now almost 500 episodes of the Transformative Principal Podcast. Well done, Jethro!

Intention, Connection, and Direction In Our Schools

 Dr. Joe Sanfelippo LEAD FROM WHERE YOU ARE Building Intention, Connection, and Direction in Our Schools

Dr. Joe Sanfelippo had me in the first few pages of his book, Lead From Where You Are. He shared, “I started to lose the joy of leading and helping people move forward.”  After leading through the COVID19 global pandemic, nothing could have been a greater truth for me. I needed to get back to my joy of leading a school community.

Sanfelippo recommends three principles for a school leader: intention, connection, and direction. These components should be embedded in building your leadership capacity and the leadership capacity of those around you. He compels the reader through personal and shared experiences of the day-to-day purposeful actions and interactions a school leader's impact can have on a school community, considering

Why is it meaningful? 

What does it look like in education? 

How do you do it? (p.10)

Lead With Intention: Why is it meaningful?

Lead With Connection: What does it look like in education? 

Lead With Direction: How do you do it?

Moving Forward Together: Collective Efficacy  

“When we live in the mess, there has to be a way to tease out the amazing moments that happen in your pace on a day-to-day basis. When we are intentional about identifying these moments, find a way to connect them to someone who wasn’t there, and build momentum through direction about what is going well, we begin to see the impact we can have, and that is what brings us back tomorrow” (p. 141). 

Moments matter for our students, staff, and community. They matter to school leaders too. It’s how we intentionally connect moments to the direction we aspire to move our school community towards for equitable outcomes and experiences for each of us that matter. 

Using Regret to Make Us A Better Human

 Daniel H. Pink THE POWER OF REGRET How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward

Regrets, we all have them. We have dreams of do-overs, visions of what-ifs, and plenty of self-doubts. Often right behind my regrets comes relentless waves of heart-thumping emotions. Feelings of utter disappointment and lost opportunities have the potential to consume and define my ability and belief about myself as a human on planet earth. 

The beauty of Daniel Pink’s book, The Power of Regret, How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward, is there is a better way of approaching regret. Pink takes a deep dive into the last seventy years of research on regret with “two simple conclusions” (p. 14).

Regret makes us human.

Regret makes us better.

Pink introduces the concept of counterfactual thinking of regret with the perspective of At Leasts and If Onlys. When contemplating a regret, the At Least mindset makes us feel better in the moment, and by contrast, If Onlys make us feel worse. For example, an Olympic runner might come away from their experience with If Only I won first place; versus the outlook of At Least I got a medal. “At Least counterfactuals preserve our feeling in the moment, but they rarely enhance our decision or performance in the future. If Only counterfactuals degrade our feelings now, but—and this is key—they can improve our lives later” (p. 38). 

Pink suggests how regrets can be the fuel for better decision-making. “We need the ability to regret our poor decisions—to feel bad about them—precisely so we can improve those decisions in the future” (45). One regretful step back can propel us—forward. “The near-miss likely prompted regret, which spurred reflection, which revised strategy, which improved performance” (p. 48). 

Pink shared one woman’s story from the World Regret Survey that might sound familiar to a few of us. As a child, she resisted her grandparent’s attempts at connecting. An If Only regret she will have forever. The key here is what she decided to do next. She made more purposeful decisions, built relationships, and deepened the meaning of her life with the loved ones that are still with her. “I seek out more meaning. I seek out more connections…I don’t want to feel the same way when my parents die that I felt about my grandparents of ‘What did I miss?’" (p. 50). 

Pink categories regret into four domains: foundation, boldness, moral, and connection. Regrets of failure to be responsible, take that chance, be a good person, and connect with others who help establish our sense of wholeness (p. 79-80). Looking back, most of us can find an example of each of those components of regret in our lives. Pink provides research findings, relatable examples, and actionable steps we can all consider as we look for stability, growth, goodness, and, yes, love.

“Think ahead. Do the work. Start now.” (p.96)

“Speak up. Ask him out. Take that trip. Start that business. Step off the train.” (p. 111)

“When in doubt, do the right thing.” (p. 129)

“Place the call. Make that visit. Push past the awkwardness and reach out. (p. 146).

"A solid foundation. A little boldness. Basic morality. Meaningful connections. The negative emotion of regret reveals the positive path for living" (p. 150). “If our lives are the stories we tell ourselves, regret reminds us that we have a dual role. We are both the authors and the actors. We can shape the plot but not fully. We can toss aside the script but not always. We live at the intersection of free will and circumstance” (p. 209). Regret can be how we tell and live our stories. 

I have a recent complicated story of genuine regret. It is sorely tempting to roll around in the mindset At Least, I still have what many do not. But Pink has helped me understand the personal growth I can accomplish by moving beyond If Only I would have done things differently. I can hold myself up, take action, do what I know is right, and reach out to others as needed. Not leaving the regret I have behind me, but moving forward with what it can teach me.  

Educational Leadership for Women

Dr. Rachael George & Majalise W. Tolan SHE LEADS The Women’s Guide to a

Career in EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP

I am in my eleventh year as an elementary school principal. I absolutely love leading a school community. The position fulfills me, drives me, and inspires me to support others to find their passion in education. Although what I didn’t expect was how complex the journey as a school leader continues to be.

What genuinely delighted me when reading Dr. Rachael George and Majalise W. Tolan’s book She Leads, The Women’s Guide to a Career in Educational Leadership was the multiple vignettes of women in leadership. These collections of experiences told in each woman's unique style are the page-turning elements of She Leads. The book includes excerpts from women leaders sharing honestly, and with such grace, their experiences and reflections on what they have learned in their mosaic role as a woman in education who leads. 

As I read, I posted on Twitter the author's and contributors' own words that moved me to continue to lead as a confident woman in education by utilizing my strengths, fine-tuning developing skills, and considering alternative approaches. I am known for my excess highlighting, notes in the margin, and book tabs, and it was difficult not to continue to tweet each ah-ha moment for me. Here are a few of the very favorites that still make me smile and tear up a bit simultaneously. 

#TimeToLead

“Welcome to Educational Leadership. There is a seat at the table for you—go ahead and take it.”

Dr. A. K. Perera

#Embracing Emotions 

“At that moment, I was not being emotional. I was 

being an emotional leader.” 

Liz Garden

#LiftOtherWomen

“Once in a leadership role, it is imperative we work to support and lift up other women.”

Dr. Rachael George & Majalise W. Tolan

#RethinkPerfect

“Let’s make our greatest champion the one living 

inside us.” 

Allyson Apsey

#ApplyAnyway

“Just think: had I let my fears take over, I wouldn’t have applied 

or been given the opportunity to grow.”

Sandi Battles

#BeTrueToYourself

“To replicate or not to replicate, that is the question.”

Dr. Rachael George

#WomenLeaders

“The shared experiences and connections with others are a

driving force in improving ourselves and our schools.”

Dr. Rachael George & Majalise W. Tolan

I have a colleague who is starting her leadership journey. I’ve purchased this book for her, and I can’t wait for the after-school talk sessions, random texts, and phone calls I know I’ll receive as she reads and devours George and Tolan’s book, She Leads. We should not lead in isolation but shoulder to shoulder and with cheers of encouragement and applauds of congratulations. We, as women in leadership, are better together.