I Get By with a Little Help from My Friends

There have been over fifty covers of the Beatles classic song “Little Help from My Friends” recorded over the years.  So the question is probably more about which voice you hear ringing in your ears when you think of this tune (Ringo Starr, Joe Cocker, Jim Sturgess, Mumford and Sons?) rather than whether or not you know it.  To be sure, so much attention paid to one tune over and over again --  through five decades -- underscores the timeless relevance of its lyric.  And due to the song’s broad appeal, I believe it can also serve as an effective organizer for this update about Educator Effectiveness, Common Core, and my own PLN.

Findings of some recent University of Virginia research demonstrates that the Beatles’ message is as true today as it was back in the ‘60s.  In this UVA study, each subject was asked to put on a heavy backpack, filled with weights, while staring up a hill and directed to estimate the hill’s steepness.  In some cases, the subject went through this exercise alone.  In others, the subject went through it with a friend nearby.  The results of this study were unequivocal.   Subjects carrying the burden who were accompanied by a nearby friend viewed the hill as less steep (i.e., more manageable).  And of course the reverse was also found true:  subjects carrying the burden and facing the hill alone viewed it as steeper (i.e., more difficult to ascend).

The findings and symbolism of this UVA study have many connections for education leaders and the challenges we must conquer and ascend in our daily work.  And as the Beatles song and the UVA study attest, our likelihood for success will improve significantly by helping and supporting and leaning on each other.  To that end, I hope the following updates about some of the big work in front of us promotes your discovery of an array of helpful people, information and supports around you to assist in your leadership journey:

Educator Effectiveness (EE) Update

Earlier this month, DPI posted its first edition of the Educator Effectiveness Newsletter.  Some highlights from it:

·      160 new school districts are planning on sending teams to the second round of training that DPI will hold at various regional sites across the state from April – June.  This will bring to a total nearly 230 districts that will have participated in state training.

·      The 2013-14 training will include some of the following new components:

o   Online implementation with videos of effective teaching practices, including a Teachscape © license for each educator in the pilot

o   An observer certification process

o   A system balanced between evaluation and student outcomes

o   Integration of SLOs with the teacher and principal practice cycles

·      DPI has stated that it is acceptable for a district to wait until 2014-15 to implement the EE system, but districts should still be preparing for it now by at least working through the District Readiness Tool, which will set the stage for implementation.

·      DPI plans on publishing future editions of the EE News.  You can access this and much more information about the initiative at http://ee.dp.wi.gov

As you also likely know, state EE law allows for an approved, equivalent option to the DPI model for the evaluation of teacher and principal practice.  The process for pursuing approved equivalency will be underway this spring and managed by DPI.  Many of our members are already participating  in the EE system via the CESA 6 model, which plans to apply for equivalency as soon as it can.   There may be other models seeking equivalency status within the state EE systems as well.  Time will tell. 

In checking with CESA 6 before this publication deadline, I was told that CESA 6 is currently finalizing spring and summer training dates in collaboration with their regional CESA partners.  Specifics should be available later this month.  You can check for future updates at www.cesa6.k12.wi.us.

Common Core

Later today, a focus group of AWSA members and I will meet with representatives of DPI’s Common Core Team.  Our major task, in terms relevant to this article, is to find means to most readily help our AWSA peers and friends scale the Common Core hill in front of us, given that our members are at different spots on that hill.  You can look for some results of this focus group and effort in the next edition of our AWSA Update Bulletin in early April.

My PLN
I have benefitted and grown from a personal learning network(PLN) for decades through all sorts of conventional ways, but only recently have I begun to scale the hill of setting up my own PLN through electronic means.  Over the weekend, I finally set up a Twitter handle (@joeschroeder23), began to tweet and contribute to my emerging PLN, and even set up a blog (joeschroeder23.blogspot.com) and published my first post.  One of the unexpected first benefits of this effort was that I got to “attend” the weekend’s ASCD national conference in Chicago virtually by following the various tweets (#ascd2013) even though my course registration on Friday and Saturday in Madison prevented me from being there in person.

To get some momentum going, this old dog truly has needed the help of a lot of friends along the way such as the AWSA Amplified Administrators program led by Brad Sarron, a host of tech-savvy AWSA members, and countless others.   And I can immediately see how my PLN will accelerate the means by which I can learn from others and in turn contribute to the learning network.   The line that “I get by with a little help from my friends” could never have resonated so true.  So thank you!  My hope is that, like any good friend, such kindness, encouragement and support that I have received can be reciprocated time and time again.