Well I thought that I would take a fresh look at Cage Busting Leadership by Frederick Hess. I wanted to make sure that my bias from my initial impression wouldn't get in the way of what Hess was trying to say to me as a reader. The more I read the more my earlier bias quickly percolated to the surface. Dr. Hess condescendingly tried to explain to me, that as a district leader, I had a blind spot concerning the true nature of what school leaders do. Hess writes: "That said, these experts routinely make two mistakes. First, they have erected a notion of instructional leadership that reifies consensus, deifies stakeholder buy-in, and insists on the “specialness” of education—while dismissing or ignoring the half of the leadership equation that deals with statutory, bureaucratic, contractual, or organizational obstacles." He follows up with the idea that these leaders create solutions that only work in optimal conditions, and that we're not even interested in acknowledging that "the cage" exists. That line of reasoning is disingenuous, and pure ad hominem. Hess unconvincingly tries to create false divisions between leaders that are concerned with what Hess derisively calls the "five Cs", and the real work of leadership such as paying attention to statute, contract and bureaucratic institutions. He goes on to boldly count the number of times the words collaboration, consensus, capacity, coaching and culture are counted in educational articles, as if that represents statistically important data to give credence to his argument.
As I continue to read through the pages of Cage Busting Leadership, I'm perturbed and I can't quite put my finger on the reasons why. Hess's own words helped clarify my own thoughts when he writes, "That same lack of enthusiasm for strategies that promise discomfort or controversy is echoed by school board members." This sentence crystallizes what's been brewing in my conscious and subconscious thinking since I started reading the book. His basic premise that disruptive action, and controversy are actually part of a recipe for a litmus test to a leader's commitment to well-rounded, thoughtful, and visionary practices is preposterous. I also find it a ridiculous statement that district leadership doesn't work to create efficiencies as part of the business structure of the district. Again, I can only speak to the experiences of my school district. We never have conversations regarding systems and structure without considering all of the factors that contribute to the possible success or failure of our mission. Contract, regulation, law, collaboration, capacity, culture, etc., are all ingredients considered during the conversation.
Next time I'll start in on the latest quote from his book that has me thinking:
"The truth is we’ve been able to identify the elements of “effective schools” for four decades, going back to Ron Edmonds’s seminal work in the 1970s, but we’ve struggled, through the whole of that period, to scale up scattered successes. This history illustrates the problem with focusing on instructional and improvement strategies without attending to the statutory, regulatory, contractual, or organizational obstacles. The problem is that we fixate on the climb and turn a blind eye to the terrain. The result is a constant chase for new miracle solutions that never quite pan out."
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Cage Busting Leadership by Frederick M. Hess - Initial Thoughts
I've just downloaded my copy of Cage Busting Leadership by Frederick M. Hess, and as I make my way through the prelude I'm already troubled by the metaphor of school systems serving as a cage. I'm equally troubled by the premise that the cage needs to be busted out of by district leaders in order to create schools that serve students well. I would never pretend to be naive to think that obstacles are absent from our discussions as we try to build systems that serve both the students and the adults within a school system. I'm not sure how helpful it is to liken a school district to a cage, or talk about contracts or laws as obstacles. In my district contract, law and regulation have often kept the students from suffering tremendous educational harm. Without this modicum of protection many of the programs that we value such as art or music would have been cut due to the dire financial straits of our municipality.
I was initially struck by what Hess describes as the outline of the book. "This is a book that draws from all of those stories to help current and aspiring leaders understand what the cage looks like, how to bust it, and how to help cultivate and sustain powerful cultures of teaching and learning that are equal to their ambitions. " I guess I was struck by the irony of trying to both bust culture, and build culture at the same time. It seems to me that the work of educational researchers like Anthony Bryk and Barbara Schenider speak to the vital importance of creating schools that work based on the idea of relational trust. I love how Parker Palmer speaks about this in his 2008 interview with Krista Tippit (listen to the entire show, but skip ahead to 11:27 - 16:43 of the interview to hear his thoughts regarding relational trust.) It's hard to build relational trust by busting up anything, nevermind something as important as school culture.
Only 5 pages into the book, after Hess makes an analogy between present educational reform efforts and Sisyphus he also make the following statement, "Stop rolling the boulder." This is followed up by: "This is a book for superintendents, principals, school board members, teacher leaders, and district and state staff who have been rolling that boulder too long, and are drained, frustrated, and puzzled at why their good work and furious effort is yielding such limited results." Do we really know whether or not our efforts have yielded limited results? I can only speak about my experiences, and those of my school district. As far as results are concerned we can actually tell a different story than what's reported in the newspaper or in the press release from the DOE. In fact, our recent report card from RIDE describes our students' reading growth as stagnant. However when we look at our students a little closer we see that the 11th grade cohort has seen their reading scores grow from 59% proficient/proficient with distinction in the 4th grade to 82% proficient/proficient with distinction as 11th graders. If we look a little closer at the 11th grade cohort of students that have stayed with us since the first grade they actually performed at 89% proficient/proficient with distinction. I'm not sure if our experience supports this notion of limited results.
In getting back to the Sisyphus metaphor, we try really hard to diminish this idea that we're rolling a boulder up a hill only to frustratingly watch it fall back down the hill. We actually try to build collaborative relationships to address the fact that sometimes we ARE actually moving a boulder up a mountain. Just as importantly we try to build a culture in which ideas are valued, and not an individual's personality or charisma. We are fond of saying, "Check your ego at the door." This helps us look at problem solving in a much different manner, and individual personalities are not the driving force behind our next steps as a school district.
Hess soon writes, "You don’t do cage-busting instead of mentoring, coaching, and inspiring, but so that you can do these things better. Cage-busting helps make it possible for you to be the leader you aspire to be." I'm not sure if I even slightly agree with the premise for his statement. If leaders are involved in mentoring, coaching, and inspiring is there even a cage?
As I got deeper into the first chapter titled, "It Doesn't Have To Be This Hard", and I was struck by the irony of the chapter title. One of the conversations that we often have in our district is that "if it were easy wouldn't we have already done it." Of course the "it" I'm referring to is this complex idea of creating work cultures based on relational trust. I don't think anyone comes to a public school system and willfully bangs their head against a wall everyday. My point is that it actually is hard work to create systemic opportunities to address the needs of the students and the adults that we serve everyday. As I read each page I'm actually bugged by the oversimplification of the complex institutions that we serve.
These are just some of my initial thoughts as I dig deeper into the book. I look to engaging in a professional learning community with any of you willing to take a risk and share your own thoughts...
I was initially struck by what Hess describes as the outline of the book. "This is a book that draws from all of those stories to help current and aspiring leaders understand what the cage looks like, how to bust it, and how to help cultivate and sustain powerful cultures of teaching and learning that are equal to their ambitions. " I guess I was struck by the irony of trying to both bust culture, and build culture at the same time. It seems to me that the work of educational researchers like Anthony Bryk and Barbara Schenider speak to the vital importance of creating schools that work based on the idea of relational trust. I love how Parker Palmer speaks about this in his 2008 interview with Krista Tippit (listen to the entire show, but skip ahead to 11:27 - 16:43 of the interview to hear his thoughts regarding relational trust.) It's hard to build relational trust by busting up anything, nevermind something as important as school culture.
Only 5 pages into the book, after Hess makes an analogy between present educational reform efforts and Sisyphus he also make the following statement, "Stop rolling the boulder." This is followed up by: "This is a book for superintendents, principals, school board members, teacher leaders, and district and state staff who have been rolling that boulder too long, and are drained, frustrated, and puzzled at why their good work and furious effort is yielding such limited results." Do we really know whether or not our efforts have yielded limited results? I can only speak about my experiences, and those of my school district. As far as results are concerned we can actually tell a different story than what's reported in the newspaper or in the press release from the DOE. In fact, our recent report card from RIDE describes our students' reading growth as stagnant. However when we look at our students a little closer we see that the 11th grade cohort has seen their reading scores grow from 59% proficient/proficient with distinction in the 4th grade to 82% proficient/proficient with distinction as 11th graders. If we look a little closer at the 11th grade cohort of students that have stayed with us since the first grade they actually performed at 89% proficient/proficient with distinction. I'm not sure if our experience supports this notion of limited results.
In getting back to the Sisyphus metaphor, we try really hard to diminish this idea that we're rolling a boulder up a hill only to frustratingly watch it fall back down the hill. We actually try to build collaborative relationships to address the fact that sometimes we ARE actually moving a boulder up a mountain. Just as importantly we try to build a culture in which ideas are valued, and not an individual's personality or charisma. We are fond of saying, "Check your ego at the door." This helps us look at problem solving in a much different manner, and individual personalities are not the driving force behind our next steps as a school district.
Hess soon writes, "You don’t do cage-busting instead of mentoring, coaching, and inspiring, but so that you can do these things better. Cage-busting helps make it possible for you to be the leader you aspire to be." I'm not sure if I even slightly agree with the premise for his statement. If leaders are involved in mentoring, coaching, and inspiring is there even a cage?
As I got deeper into the first chapter titled, "It Doesn't Have To Be This Hard", and I was struck by the irony of the chapter title. One of the conversations that we often have in our district is that "if it were easy wouldn't we have already done it." Of course the "it" I'm referring to is this complex idea of creating work cultures based on relational trust. I don't think anyone comes to a public school system and willfully bangs their head against a wall everyday. My point is that it actually is hard work to create systemic opportunities to address the needs of the students and the adults that we serve everyday. As I read each page I'm actually bugged by the oversimplification of the complex institutions that we serve.
These are just some of my initial thoughts as I dig deeper into the book. I look to engaging in a professional learning community with any of you willing to take a risk and share your own thoughts...
Saturday, July 20, 2013
Why A Blog for Professional Books I'm Reading
I was trying to decide what might be the best manner in which I could take notes, engage others in a conversation, and share my thinking about the professional books that I'm reading, and it seemed that using a blog might make the most sense. I could have used a variety of tools such as, Google Keep, or Evernote, but in the end I thought this might just cut out the middleman so to speak.
My wife is away for PD at a AFT summer camp, and I thought it would be the perfect time to read "Cage Busting Leadership", by Frederick M. Hess. I downloaded the PDF from Harvard Press, and uploaded it to my Google Play account. I've heard so much press regarding this book that my anticipation was palpable, and I couldn't wait to dive into the book. I'll keep you posted as I continue my reading.
One thing that you should know about me as a reader...I will most likely be engaged in several books at one time, and will respond as each topic strikes my fancy. I apologize in advance if this frustrates, or irritates anyone that may participate in the conversation.
One additional important housekeeping issue before I proceed any further. The thoughts expressed are my own, and do not represent any official policy from the West Warwick Public Schools. My thoughts do have an impact on the direction I may want to proceed in as a district leader, but my thoughts are vetted by a district leadership team well before they make there way into any district policies. This blog is simply a public way to engage others in some discourse around my professional reading choices.
My wife is away for PD at a AFT summer camp, and I thought it would be the perfect time to read "Cage Busting Leadership", by Frederick M. Hess. I downloaded the PDF from Harvard Press, and uploaded it to my Google Play account. I've heard so much press regarding this book that my anticipation was palpable, and I couldn't wait to dive into the book. I'll keep you posted as I continue my reading.
One thing that you should know about me as a reader...I will most likely be engaged in several books at one time, and will respond as each topic strikes my fancy. I apologize in advance if this frustrates, or irritates anyone that may participate in the conversation.
One additional important housekeeping issue before I proceed any further. The thoughts expressed are my own, and do not represent any official policy from the West Warwick Public Schools. My thoughts do have an impact on the direction I may want to proceed in as a district leader, but my thoughts are vetted by a district leadership team well before they make there way into any district policies. This blog is simply a public way to engage others in some discourse around my professional reading choices.
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