Wednesday, January 8, 2020
Written by: Joseph Kanke - Statewide Coaching Coordinator
Each quarter this newsletter will highlight a success story of one district or school in their implementation of coaching. A variety of regions, district sizes, types of coaching and grade levels will be showcased. The articles may reference specific programs and models, but this does not denote an endorsement from myself or the state. Rather, by sharing the many methods of coaching, your school or district may be better informed on what works best for you.
The second competency of Wisconsin’s Coaching Competency Practice Profile speaks to facilitating change. Both in my own experience, and in talking with other coaches around the state, this is arguably the most difficult competency to master. Coaching an individual through changing their mindset is a challenging task in its own regard, so getting a critical mass of educators within a system to shift their beliefs can sounds a little bit like a pipe dream. There are other ways to think about dreams, though: dream big and, of course, dreams do come true.
Below is the story of Hortonville Area School District.
Building Competency
Perhaps you have seen the viral video: a man at a music festival is dancing, flicking his wrists above his head, kicking his heels out, and occasionally windmilling his arms before cartwheeling. At first his dance seems a little silly, but soon one more dancer joins him and then two more, until there is a swell of festival attendees racing from all sides to join in the infectious joy of the collective movement. Lori Smits, Director of Special Education/Pupil Services, and the Hortonville leadership team, used this video as a metaphor to introduce a seismic change to their district.
When Lori joined the district, it was considered high-achieving overall, but when looking closer the gap in achievement for students with IEPs was bleak. A leadership team began to envision what special education could look like if the current system was dismantled and reconstructed to serve all students. “We began here,” Lori stated gesturing to several piles of books spread across her desk. “We have a book study culture in this district. Across the district leaders and teachers are engaged in professional books studies to build our collective capacity at all times.” From the initial learning about establishing systems, the leadership team realized that selection of the “first dancers” would be a key step. They selected one building site where they felt there was enough readiness from staff to begin the work. They also determined that educators would need ongoing training, strong PLCs and site-based inclusion coaching support. Lori noted, “The work was messy and stressful, but everyone has bought into it. We all believe students do well if they can. We all believe teachers do well if they can.”
Kelyn Kasten and Dena Craddock, two inclusion coaches, both expressed the importance of their role on pushing on belief systems. Having an inclusion coach as support has been essential, for example, when coaching teachers to make shifts in mindsets and practice from “the student with an IEP struggles in the classroom, and the teacher notifies the special education case manager” to “the teacher collaborates with the grade-level team, which includes the special education teacher, to support the student”. Hortonville’s special education guidance document clarifies that the purpose of an inclusion coach is part of the continuum of services: “to facilitate, empower and educate in order to create a least restrictive environment in which there is flexibility and ownership by staff to ensure ALL students learn at the highest level.”
Dena acknowledged that coaching is powerful because, “change is hard for anyone, but teaching is so personal that you bring pieces of yourself to the classroom and when the data is reflective of what you feel your efforts were, that can be felt on a very emotional level.” Kelyn shared a similar sentiment in feedback she recently received from a teacher who stated, “Oh you’re just so real. Sometimes this work feels yucky and crummy and things aren’t going well, but we always end with what did we learn from it all.”
When asked about the importance of systems in supporting the work Kelyn noted, “at my past district they would say “system” and I felt like a deer in the headlights. Now I see that coaching is one part of the system and must be connected to data, learning and leadership. Now I feel like a leader.”
Leadership
In speaking with Kelyn and Dena, it became clear that support of leadership was also key to the creation and maintenance of an inclusive culture. Both coaches noted that Hortonville School District leadership was trusting and supportive of their roles, and always brought a level of optimism to the work.
With adaptive change, emotions can run like a rollercoaster with apexes of excitement followed by dips of discouragement. The team spoke to the district’s experience with a dip when some schools and individuals wanted to return to a model of pull-out service. Leadership rallied together behind their vision and made it clear that they were available to provide the necessary supports and resources to weather the storm, but that the culture of, “supporting ALL learners and families” would not change.
I briefly spoke with principal David Harris and he admitted though the work has been quite difficult the change has been equally dramatic. When he started in the building he said the culture was such that, “if a student looked at you funny, they were sent to another room.” No longer are classrooms of students segregated by disability status within the district. Now inclusive classrooms are, “the heart of the building”. Instead of “one teacher in one classroom meeting the needs of our students with IEPs, we have 28 classroom teachers with experience to meet their needs.” Mr. Harris wanted to make it clear that they have not arrived at perfection. It took them four years of changing policies, sharpening communication and building a data system to get where they are and the work continues.
Facilitative
In efforts to continually improve and meet the needs of all students, classrooms which were previously designated as self-contained have been converted into learning labs and sensory break rooms for all students. These rooms are overseen by the inclusion coaches and logs are kept regarding when and how often students access the rooms. Based on the data collected, coaches determine where to lean in and coach a student and/or teacher. For example, if a student is consistently accessing the lab during math instruction, a coach will circle back to the student to check what is coming up for them during this block of time. The coach will then partner with both the teacher and student to set up strategies and instruction to meet the student’s needs within the classroom.
Another piece of data, that sparked the initial question to disrupt the system, is closing the gap data from the state’s district report card. In 2013-14 when the leadership team began their discussion 61.7% of students with IEPS scored at the proficient and advanced levels on regular or alternative statewide assessment. That gap is closing. In 2015-16 the score grew to 71%, 16-17 rose to 73% and 17-18 closed out with a closing gaps total score of 88%. Lori indicates that while the growth is attached to many system-level changes, the inclusion coaches were foundational.
Educational vision statements across the country are replete with language attesting to meeting the educational needs of all students. Converting these visions from dreams to reality requires changing mindsets and creating new systems committed to genuine inclusion in all spaces, but beginning this new way of being is daunting.
As Hortonville has demonstrated, transforming dreams to new ways of being starts with one person dancing to a new rhythm on the side of the hill.