FETC 2019 New Digital Principal Julie Evans 012919

Julie A. Evans, Ed.D.
Chief Executive Officer, Project Tomorrow
@JulieEvans_PT
Identifying the Leadership Characteristics
of the New Digital Principal
Tuesday, January 29, 2019 @ 12 pm

While you are waiting ….
Take this Speak Up principal survey and we will send you a
report with how your leadership characteristics compare
to the national research cohort
http://bit.ly/2TafG45

Today’s discussion
▪ Introduction to Project Tomorrow and the Speak Up Research Project
▪ Do you have the right stuff to be a New Digital Principal?
▪ Introducing the characteristics of the “New Digital Principal”
o Leading from the front – the school principal as digital evangelist
o Leading from the back – the school principal as instructional coach
▪ Thought provoking questions for today, tomorrow or back in your district
▪ Your thoughts, comments, ideas! Let’s talk!

Sign up to get a copy of today’s presentation!
1. Sign up on the table sheets
2. Sign up on the Google form
http://bit.ly/2AYjqi2

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@JulieEvans_PT @SpeakUpEd
@FETC #FETC

About Project Tomorrow (www.tomorrow.org)
▪ Nonprofit education organization supporting K-12 education since 1996
▪ Mission is to ensure all of today’s students are well prepared for the future
▪ Programs and research focus on role of digital tools within the education
ecosystem – believe in power of STEAM to support student preparation for
college and career success
o Speak Up Research Project on Digital Learning: collecting & reporting
on the authentic feedback of K-12 stakeholders to inform federal, state
& local programs and policies

About the Speak Up Project (www.tomorrow.org/speakup)
▪ Annual research project since 2003
▪ Uses online surveys + focus groups
▪ Facilitated 100% through schools and districts
▪ We design online surveys to collect feedback from
your K-12 Students, Teachers, Parents, Administrators
and Community Members
▪ All K-12 schools – public, private, parochial, charter,
virtual - are eligible to participate
▪ Project Tomorrow manages all data collection and
reporting for you - 100% free service
▪ Schools get summary report with all locally collected
data + state and national data for benchmarks
We share national data with federal, state and local policymakers to inform programs and funding

About the Speak Up Project (www.tomorrow.org/speakup)
Standard survey question topics include:
✓ Use of technology to support learning
✓ School climate for innovation
✓ College and career ready skill development/interest
✓ Leadership challenges and capacities
✓ Teachers’ needs for professional learning
✓ How do different stakeholders value digital learning
✓ Emerging trends w/digital tools, content and resources
✓ New classroom models: mobile, blended, flipped
✓ School to home communications
✓ Student safety online & digital citizenship
✓ Designing the ultimate school
Since 2003, over 5.4 million K-12 stakeholders have submitted a Speak Up survey

National participation in Speak Up 2017: 406,779
Survey Audience # of Surveys Submitted
K-12 Students 340,927
Teachers & Librarians 34,833
Parents 23,159
Administrators 3,249
Community Members 4,611
About schools and districts: 3,641 districts, 10,619 schools
29% urban, 34% rural, 37% suburban, 68% title 1 eligible

Key trends from the Speak Up Research
• Greater emphasis on linking technology to students’ global skill preparation
• Interest, acceptance and implementation of new learning models
• Students’ self-directed digital learning influencing expectations for school
• Meet the new digital parent – new demands, higher aspirations
• Thinking beyond engagement to understand outcomes from digital learning
• Increasing criticality for Internet connectivity – at school and at home
• Digital learning is a metaphor today for education transformation
• The strong connection between leadership and effectiveness

This year’s
Digital Learning Trends report
– the 12th in our annual series
with our partner on this
initiative, Blackboard
https://tomorrow.org/speakup/speak-up-
2017-trends-digital-learning-june-2018.html

1. The increasingly important
and difficult role of the
school principal
2. The impact of the school
principal on personalized
learning implementations
within the school
Research focus for this year’s digital trends report:

Self-assessment opportunity
Take this Speak Up principal survey and we will send you a
report with how your leadership characteristics compare
to the national research cohort
http://bit.ly/2TafG45

Future Ready Framework for Principals
https://futureready.org/program-overview/principals/
1. Create a vision for digital learning in their school
2. Model professional learning with teachers that honors experimentation and new methodologies
3. Ensure that all students have access to anytime, anywhere learning
4. Enable ubiquitous connectivity, both at school and at home, for all students
5. Advocate for a diversity of approaches and strategies to meet learners where they are
6. Communicate a shared vision within the school community including engaging parents

"Success today requires the agility and drive to
constantly rethink, reinvigorate, react, and reinvent."
Bill Gates
Technology Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

Key findings from the report
1. District leaders believe that effective principals = improved
student outcomes
2. To meet the demand, a new type of principal is emerging:
the New Learning Leader
3. New Learning Leaders implement new classroom models in their
schools that emphasize personalized learning
4. New Learning Leaders model self-directed professional learning
for their staff
5. New Learning Leaders model the use of data to inform tasks

o Our methodology – identification of
two sub-cohorts of principals
o Leading from the front – the school
principal as digital evangelist
o Leading from the back – the school
principal as instructional coach
Introducing the “New Learning Leader ” Principal Profile

Digital Learning Trends: The Rise of the New Learning Leader
Using the Speak Up data, identification of two sub-cohorts of school principals:
• Implementing new classroom models at their
school: blended, flipped, competency-based
• Education equity is central to personal vision
Principals who are
Digital Evangelists
• Prioritizes supporting teachers in transition to
digital learning
• Modeling effective practices to develop staff
capacity
Principals who are
Digital Instructional
Coaches

“I feel it is my responsibility as an administrator to
encourage and get that movement going of being an
innovative educator to my staff.”
Elementary School Principal, California

What is driving the emergence of this New Learning Leader?
1. District administrators believe that effective school-based
leadership is key to improving student outcomes, esp. relative
to college and career readiness
▪ 2010: 11% of district supts agreed
▪ 2017: 40% of district supts agreed
o 55% of urban district supts
* 41% of district supts also say effective use of technology is important for
improving student outcomes – 56% say it is increased teacher effectiveness

What is driving the emergence of this New Learning Leader?
2. Principals acknowledge that a critical challenge at their school
is motivating their teachers to use technology more
effectively to support personalized learning
▪ 45% of New Learning Leaders say this is a serious
challenge for them at their school

34%
35%
44%
46%
62%
70%
20%
21%
9%
21%
30%
47%
Animations & simulations
Online textbooks
Digital content subscriptions
Online curriculum
Digital and online games
Videos I find online
2012 2017
What types of digital content are teachers using in the classroom in 2017 vs. 2012?

But increased usage does not mean that the learning experience is personalized or
that the digital content is effectively integrated into instruction …
3. Evidence of need for more effective tech usage in school
▪ 51% of parents say tech use varies too much from teacher to
teacher
▪ 43% of high school students say teachers limit their technology
use for learning
▪ 59% of school librarians say they continue to be challenged in
helping teachers more from sporadic to sustained integration of
technology within instruction

Introducing the “New Learning Leader” Principal Profile

“Change of instructional practices toward greater use of digital tools
is no different than any other instructional change. A leader has to
set the expectation with an understanding that some staff members
will be trailblazers, some pioneers and some will be settlers. Create
the capacity for teachers to experiment, to take a risk, and to learn
from failure without being hammered if they do fail.”
High School Principal, Indiana

Leading from the front: the school principal as digital evangelist
“The effective use of technology in the classroom is important
for students’ future success”
95% of New Learning Leaders agree with this statement
▪ 66% say technology use is extremely important

35%
46%
51%53%
67%
74%
Flipped learning Competency-based learning Blended learning
All principals Principals identified as New Learning Leaders
What new learning models have you implemented in your school?

35%
46%
51%53%
67%
74%
Flipped learning Competency-based
learning
Blended learning
All principals
Principals identified as New Learning Leaders
What new learning models have you implemented in your school?
Seeing positive academic
outcomes from
blended learning?
YES per 39% of
New Learning Leaders
YES per 24% of
other principals

New Learning Leaders identify the following benefits of blended learning:
1. Extends learning opportunities for students (66% of the principals agree)
2. Increases personalization of instruction (61%)
3. Increases student engagement in learning (53%)
4. Students are more responsible for their own learning (48%)
5. Enhances the relevancy of the curriculum (48%)
6. Builds stronger school to home communications (46%)
7. Student academic outcomes are improved (45%)
8. Teachers’ skills using technology are improved and technology is used more
effectively (40%)

Curricular subjects % of New Learning Leaders who
say tech use is effective in this
subject
% of New Learning Leaders who say
tech use needs to be improved in this
subject
Math 49% 37%
English/Language Arts 47% 37%
Science 44% 40%
Social Studies/History 42% 43%
Computer Science 38% 15%
Career Technical Education 36% 15%
New Learning Leaders report on the current effectiveness of technology usage by
subject – and see room for improvement in key subject areas

“Administrators must model the practices and be
instructional technology experts.”
High School Principal, Delaware

Introducing the “New Learning Leader” Principal Profile

Leading from the back: the school principal as instructional coach
“The most significant challenge in the effective use of digital
and online resources at my school is providing effective
teacher professional development.”
68% of New Learning Leaders agree with this statement
▪ 51% of all other principals agree

Focus on the teacher experience – even in the valuation of digital content
The New Learning Leaders highly values characteristics that support teacher adoption:
1. Content that allows teachers to modify usage to meet individual classroom needs
(identified by 82% of the principals)
2. Content that creates a rich set of student data that teachers can use to personalize
instruction (75%)
3. Content that includes embedded professional development for teachers (71%)
4. Content that is created by practicing teachers who understand real classroom
environments (57%) or evaluated by practicing teachers (55%)

“I am a new principal. I have made myself available to
those teachers who are willing to try new technology but
are somewhat afraid. I have walked some through new
websites, shown them new strategies, and offered
resources to them.”
Middle School Principal, New Jersey

Focus on the modeling of data usage to inform professional tasks
Leadership tasks using data % of New Learning Leaders who regularly
use data for this task
Developing strategies for school improvement 91%
Provide feedback to teachers about how to improve
their classroom practices
89%
Setting schoolwide goals and objectives 85%
Determining teachers’ needs for professional
development
83%
Tracking trends over time and within certain student
cohorts
78%
Sharing information with parents 74%

Focus on the using digital tools to model self-directed professional learning
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Subscribe to blogs
Participate in a Twitter chat
Use social networking sites to get advice
Follow experts on Twitter
Participate in a webinar
Watch TED Talks by edu thoughtleaders
New Learning Leaders Blended Learning Teachers Teachers

“Empowerment happens through challenging teachers
and then follow-through support. We must find ways to
support our teachers and help teachers feel that they
can experiment without judgement or fear of mistakes.”
Middle School Assistant Principal, Oklahoma

Principals who are
Digital Evangelists
Principals who are
Digital Instructional
Coaches
✓ Has a clear vision focused on the equity opportunities with technology
✓ Values potential of technology to create personalized learning
✓ Understands the teacher adoption/adaptation process
✓ Serves as enthusiastic communicator to parents about technology value proposition
✓ Ahead of the pack in implementations – but also reacts effectively to new challenges

➢ What do school principals need to be successful in implementing new learning models
schoolwide, especially on transforming the learning experience for students with personalized
learning strategies
➢ What do teachers need from their school principals to embrace and sustain digital learning in
their classroom?
➢ What are the most effective strategies to support a teacher’s journey to more effective use of
technology within instruction?
➢ How does a school district develop a cadre of strong school site leaders within their community
that are ready for the evolving challenges of principalship today?
➢ Does personalized learning inherently support equity of opportunity or are other interventions
necessary from school and district leadership to ensure equity across classrooms or across
schools?
Questions to think about in your schools and districts:

More resources available at www.tomorrow.org
National Speak Up reports and infographics
Targeted and thematic reports
Educational Equity
Digital learning trends
School communications
Mobile learning
Blended learning outcomes
Presentations, podcasts and webinars
Services: consulting, workshops, evaluation and efficacy studies
✓ We have expertise in the evaluation of mobile implementations, new
classroom models and digital content usage

Invitation for your school or district to participate in Speak Up 2018
Online surveys for:
o K-12 students – individual + group
o Parents – English and Spanish
o Teachers
o Librarians/Media Specialists
o School Site & District Administrators
o Technology Leaders
o Community Members
Surveys open now through June 28, 2019
Learn more www.tomorrow.org/speakup
100% free service to all schools and districts – including reports with comparison data

Your thoughts,
comments,
ideas
Let’s talk!

Identifying the Leadership Characteristics
of the New Digital Principal
1/29/19 @ 12 pm – C040
Thank you for joining me today!
Please review this session on the mobile app.
Julie A. Evans, Ed.D.
Chief Executive Officer, Project Tomorrow
@JulieEvans_PT
jevans@tomorrow.org

FETC 2019 New Digital Principal Julie Evans 012919

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