ROI

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”
– Michael Jordan

This post contains content and excerpts from a post originally published May 21, 2014

In DPS109 right now we are going through a number of teacher transitions due to retirements. Over the past two years we have experienced great changes in our District from instructional coaching model changes to leadership changes and transitions, we have and continue to experience a great deal of change and growth. Since last year we have experienced 45 teacher retirements and we have another 36 teachers who have declared retirement over the next four years. Out of a teaching force of 286, this will represent a turnover of at least 28% of all teachers in DPS109 over a six year period!

As I’ve posted in the past In terms of staff selection, DPS109 works with a private company to train and support staff selection and leadership development. This company is one of a few structured selection human capital management companies. Over the years, in three different districts, I have been part of a “client partner” relationship, and for several years I was a senior executive trainer for the company as well. With this work (on hold at the present time) I get to act as a “practitioner scientist” in terms of practicing and implementing research based practices in search of excellence.

I have spent the better part of the last decade honing skills at selection and development of talent. I have trained and supported implementation of structured selection with leaders around the country and here in the district. Our leaders conduct structured interviews every month as a regular part of their work so their skills stay sharp and so when vacancies arise we have multiple already “screened” candidates in the application database.

Our search for excellence is a regular part of our work. Our high expectations for and of excellence permeate all of our work. Our structured selection instruments/interviews allow us to manage the thousands of active applications in our job application database roi as we screen in the applicants with the highest predictive validity metrics. While we search for excellence, we have science to back up the work. With fidelity to our process, with structured selection as well as resume review, essay review and fit interviews with input teams, we can predict, with up to 88% (.88) certainty that our chosen candidate will be excellent in the particular role.

The structured interview helps increase this validity by between .23 and .50 … without scientifically based interview instruments, traditional unstructured selection yields about a 30% (.30) predictive validity. See chart modified from the original:

Validity of Various Assessment Tools from: Schmidt, F., & Hunter, J. (1998). The Validity and Utility of Selection Methods in Personnel Psychology: Practical and Theoretical Implications of 85 Years of Research Findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262-274.

Structured Interviews .51

Reference Checks .26

Training & Experience Point Method .11

For more sources from the US Government Office of Personnel Management, click here: http://apps.opm.gov/ADT/Content.aspx?page=RelatedDocuments

While no system is perfect, we are proud of our systems for selection and development of talent at all levels, administrative, frontline support personnel, teaching staff, etc. We have high expectations for our students, staff, administrators, vendors, partners, everyone with whom we work.

As we seek candidates for our posted vacancies at the time of this post, as we work within and from without to search for the right best fit for each position, we are proud that like the U.S. Air Force, we Aim High!

The competition for teaching positions is at an all time high – for example, right now we have more than 3000 (yes, more than three thousand) active and complete applications in our database.

With all that we have going on as we prepare to bring to closure this pretty amazing school year, we like to take the time to celebrate and share and educate with respect to how we do what we do and how we practice the tenets of our mission Engage, Inspire, Empower – each and every day!

“A group of teachers may use a new strategy and express concerns that the approach is ineffective because after initial attempts, students didn’t learn as well as when the previous strategy was used. However, when developing proficiency in a new skill or strategy, even experts are prone to errors (Ericsson et al., 1993).”
― Tony Frontier, Five Levers to Improve Learning: How to Prioritize for Powerful Results in Your School

A leader who I have had the privilege of interacting with in person is Dr. Anthony Frontier. Tony is a leader, a teacher, an author, and an inspiration! One of books he co-authored (with another superstar in education Dr. Jim Rickabaugh) is called Five Levers to Improve Learning: How to Prioritize for Powerful Results in Your School (January 2014 – ASCD). In this blog post I share some information that Tony shared with a leadership institute in which I was a part in an effort to highlight some thoughts and plans and priorities regarding DPS109 plans vis a vis the 5 levers. The specific lever in which we are directly focused is “strategy”.

From Frontier/Rickabaugh: (the five levers are structure, sample, standard, strategy and self.

strategy

The practices teachers use to help students deepen their understanding of content and improve student’s ability to use important skills.

· Instructional strategies for whole class instruction

· Instructional strategies for individualized instruction

· Efforts to empower students as agents in curriculum, instruction, and assessment

· How will we teach?

· How will we know they’ve learned?

· How will we build on student strengths?

· How will we provide appropriate challenge for learners?

· How will we provide appropriate support for learners?

The goal of meaningful change that transforms is referred to as transformational change, or second order change:

Transformational Change
Planning questions that challenge the underlying assumptions about the relationship among school structure, student & adult beliefs about learning that yields a more effective learning experience for students.

This is in contrast to surface change or transactional change

Transactional Change

Planning questions that seek changes in current practices, but do not change underlying assumptions about teaching and learning; typically require different logistical approaches, but do not require new or different ways of thinking about leveraging student learning.

Our leadership challenge is to move our system and the people in our system to TRANSFORMATIONAL changes in support of student growth and learning. Some questions Frontier/Rickabaugh suggest in an effort to reach more significant levels of change in the area or lever of strategy are:

What strategies can educators use to best leverage student learning?
What strategies can students utilize to best leverage their own learning?

The authors suggest the following strategies to leverage “strategy” as a “lever” of change:

Leveraging Strategies Five Levers to Improve Learning, Tony Frontier & Jim Rickabaugh 2014 ASCD
Do less of…	Do more of…
Assuming that because kids were told something, they understand.	Utilize strategies that allow students to construct meaning around important content and build fluency around important skills.
Treating students as though they are blank slates.	Utilize strategies that honor the fact that new knowledge is constructed on existing knowledge.
Assuming that all kids are as interested in, and as motivated to learn, the content and skills that you teach.	Strive to see learning from the perspective of each student; what is likely to be engaging? What is likely to be relevant?
Using rubrics as a tool to justify grades.	Use rubrics as an instructional tool to help students learn how to describe, understand, and assess quality work.
Rigid application of models or checklists that ignore the complexities of both the art and science of teaching.	Strive for superintendents, principals, and teachers to understand the complexity and opportunity presented by comprehensive instructional frameworks as a starting point for addressing each student’s learning needs.
Assume that all instructional strategies are equally effective in improving student learning.	Acknowledge that different instructional strategies can substantially increase student achievement when deployed effectively and in the right context.
Utilize the same few instructional strategies	Utilize a repertoire of instructional strategies that are specifically aligned to the intended outcomes for student learning.
Utilizing collaborative time with teams of teachers to talk about structure and sample.	Utilize collaborative time to talk about intentional use of standards and share instructional strategies.

As we lead on and continue to Engage, Inspire, Empower all students and staff and our community, we seek guidance from experts and leaders in change management like Frontier and Rickabaugh and we use communication tools like blogs, meetings, workshops, to reinforce our messages in our continual quest for excellence!

Superintendent Michael Lubelfeld

This is a blog from Superintendent of Schools Michael Lubelfeld Ed.D.

It’s Staff Selection Season in DPS109 – Selection for Excellence