Tom Waters

It's more than just to-do lists, meetings, memos, and walk-throughs. Great principals know this. You know this. The job of a great principal is larger than the job description. That's why networks are crucial. The networks you build, not just your own network, but also the networks you help others build, create influence. And influence is more powerful to effect change than policy, than union agreements, than legislation, and great ideas. Influence is more powerful to effect change than policy, legislation, and great ideas. Networks are not built overnight - they slowly grow like oak trees that last decades. They require careful attention and nurturing. Professional networks are really about relationships. They are about people . Networks begin with a deep-seated belief in the value of humans - a belief in goodness and diversity. Networks are not for political maneuvering. They are not for manipulation. In a case study from ASCD , principals who developed ne...

Teachers R Heroes Be sure your teachers are reminded of this more than they are reminded of... lesson plans due dates meeting times dress code policy bus duty parent complaints ...and all the other minutia. Celebrate your heroes and how they impact students, families, your school, and the local community. Teachers impact lives (here are 17 ways teachers change lives ) in so many more ways than a mere test score. Never miss a chance to affirm, appreciate, and add value to your teachers - the investment pays immeasurable dividends for them and for students! Why are Teachers Important?  Because they're heroes. Consider sharing this message with an educator hero you know.

Mission statements don't matter unless you want to be a great leader - that's the title of a recent article that reviews successful cases of organizational leadership. For school leadership, I'd take it a step further. Mission statements don't matter unless you want to simply be mediocre, at best. Schools rely on a core sense of purpose - a unique selling proposition - because the service we provide is about changing lives. A mission statement removes the fog of daily work and gives purpose to something larger. When you clarify your school's mission, you provide: Unique identity that defines what you do. Core purpose to ignite why you do what you do. A filter through which all goals and strategic decision are passed. Language that unifies teams. If you're lucky to have a community that's academically advantaged, you can get by without a mission statement.  You'll be average or slightly above average, but turnover will be a prob...

As a school leader, you are so busy with many things everything! Student data, parent conferences, IEP meetings, faculty meetings, dismissal procedures, student management, human resources, recruitment, policy, curriculum meetings, student programs, budgeting, campus planning, et cetera. Notice the one thing absent from that list? The list should read this way: You are solely responsible for communication, it's easy to get busy with... That difference is huge. Yes, school leaders are solely responsible for communication. Like a floodgate, the school leader can let the communication flow or stop it entirely. Because you are so busy, it's easy for communication to just become another priority - but remember it is the priority.

Preview a Chapter Here Burned Out, Beaten Up, Fighting Back: A Call to Action for America's Public Educators Released on February 9, 2018 Dr. Latoya Dixon gives a practitioner perspective on the efforts of policymakers to reform education as they actually cause harmful unintended consequences. We have to shift the culture away from competition to collaboration, from standardization to personalization, from the test to the children. We are long overdue for this conversation. She offers a confession and personal narrative about her own burnout as a successful teacher and campus principal. She offers simple-to-follow action steps that will allow educators to fight back against the harmful effects of poorly-designed policy and demeaning narratives. We've become so connected to the test we're using to sort, sift, rank, and label our schools, that the issue of trusting teachers and educators to assess children's academic needs and provide for thos isn't a con...

Here's an early reflection for educational leaders in 2018...from educational leaders this year. With popular articles, blogs, and Twitter chats already blowing up 2018, I wanted to share with you my top inspirations from educational leaders so far this year. Without further ado, let's jump to it. On Leading Teams We must mine for excellence in every teacher and find ways for them to lead in building our Excellence Support System.  @JohnWink90 Schools rise and fall, not on test scores, but on leadership.  @heffrey Championship teams don’t sit in the locker room. They get on the court and demand excellence. They push each other to high levels of performance.  @mafost Principals, who you hire today determines the culture for tomorrow.  @nalang1 Behaviors that create trust & inspiration in a learning community team often begin w/ someone being vulnerable, baring a bit more of who they are and what they believe w/ the group. Trust often begins when...

Who's the leader? Who makes improvements on your campus? Is it the principal? How about the instructional coaches? What about the paraprofessionals? Here are 5 reasons you don't need a title to impact school culture and make a vast improvement in your school! Pin Me! Dr. Amy Fast ( follow her here ) hit a home run when she wrote about the 5 ways to impact school culture ( read her article here ).   1.) Assume Best Intent 2.) Surround Yourself With Greatness 3.) Elicit Feedback From Those You Trust 4.) Know Your Sphere of Influence ( Read more on Context Switching for School Leaders ) 5.) Make Your WHY Transparent If you step back and think about what these all have in common, you'll find one common thread - personal awareness . The first four ways to impact school culture deal with being aware of the persons around you - listening, trusting, gauging, and building your circles. The fifth way to impact school culture is not focused on outer awareness but...

  Your Vision and School Culture "When we think we need to solve problems all the time, we forget to focus on and celebrate what's already working!" From  @Jennifer_Hogan "The problem with passion...I was too invested in the process...prohibiting me from seeing things through the teacher's eyes." From  @matthew_arend "I believe it's the duty of the educator to prepare students to maneuver in the world regardless of the world's obstacles. Ss determine their position in this world, and this begins with a school's culture." From  @calewis1975 Professional Learning and Relationships "When a campus culture lives and breathes professional growth, the principal must clear paths for the teachers that work to improve themselves and their teams." From  @GlennWilly   "Reflection is a state of mind. It’s a mental habit. It’s a necessity for outlier teachers." From  @mafost "If you want s...

Three principals go to their schools one day, and each one faces a series of problems, challenges, and frustrations with staff members. The first principal, the Talker, decides to summon the courage and talk candidly with two teachers that she is concerned about. It's not a pleasant thing for the Talker, but she believes transparency and truthfulness build trust and respect . The Faker believes being kind and positive will create the conditions for her campus to thrive. She also has two teachers that she's concerned about, but is fearful of holding an uncomfortable conversation - instead, she fakes a smile and brings in heavy doses of nice . The Shaker also has two teachers that seem to be causing problems on her campus. She shakes things up by deciding to move these two teachers into positions that they will dislike, and she hopes they get the message . The Talker Without a doubt, the Talker tackles discomfort with courage and honesty. If this approach is couche...

Assessment often falls under the hate mail category, standardized testing. And rightfully so. Here are three ways that you can improve assessment practices on your campus. What will these ideas in this post do for you? improve reliability data sets that are simpler to interpret data that's actionable, quickly reporting that details learning, not just a grade information that can lead to highly-reliable evaluations of curricular programs Data Dashboards A data dashboard is a simple way to combine the most important metrics in ways that improve reflective practice. The data on a dashboard need to vary from sensitive data that show weekly student growth to qualitative results from parent surveys. Read more on Data is Not the Solution for Teachers   A defining characteristic of effective dashboards is the combination of district/campus determined metrics and teacher-developed metrics. This increases involvement in the assessment and evaluation pro...

It's Rose's first year on your campus. She has promise to be a great teacher and only has 2 years of experience. The students love her, you like what you see in walk-throughs, and she gets along with her team. However, there's a problem, and it's going to impact your entire school climate - uncertainty. Innovation Misinterpreted Rose attended the last team meeting and offered some great ideas about improving students' math computation skills. She listened to the feedback on her team and decided to implement her ideas with the adjustments suggested by her teammates. Sound good, right? Well, it is good. The problem is the uncertainty on the team about your expectations for innovation. At a recent staff meeting, you made it clear that you expect everyone to work together . Your exact words were, "Every teacher on your team needs to be on the same page." The Problem with Your Solution You were addressing a problem that was arising on a 2nd-gr...

Many teacher and principal evaluation systems are evolving more and more into growth vehicles. And that's a good trend. However, there's a major problem haunting evaluation systems. Evaluation systems will never equal growth systems. I know that's superlative, and there's no room for mistake in my claim. So let me explain. Evaluation Does Not Equal Growth Evaluation is judgment. It's a stamp in time on your performance. Evaluation is a rating. A score. It's not a discussion that promotes thought, reflection, or creativity. Therefore, it does not equal growth. That's not to say evaluation is unnecessary. Of course, it's needed for many reasons. But it's not to be confused with growth tools. Evaluation is about Employment An evaluation measures your performance as an employee. It doesn't gauge you as a professional or as a person. It compares you to the expectations of an organization. It's used to make employment decisi...