WHY We Need Innovative Educational Leaders NOW

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WHY We Need Innovative Education Leaders
Presented by Chris Shade, Director of School Improvement and Support 2015
Often in education, the “what” and “how” is emphasized while letting the “why” go by the wayside. And people
wonder “why” it didn’t work. Innovation is no longer an option. Now that both knowledge and access to technology
are ubiquitous, it’s a must. Find out “why” in this session designed for innovative leaders, whether district or campus
administration, teacher leaders, and parent, business and community leaders seeking to push the tipping point
towards real educational change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqjGzIs3ifU

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If you have a smart phone, get it out. If what I am teaching is not
engaging and/or not relevant, you have my permission to use it. Surf the
web, check your email, etc. I won’t be offended. As a central office
administrator in the Curriculum, Instruction, and Staff Development
Division, I believe I must practice what we preach. If I’m not
implementing the best practices we expect of teachers, I am of no value.
So bring your phone. You won’t need it.
Often in education, we jump straight to the what (we are doing, learning,
etc.) and the how (how we’re going to do it, learn it, etc.) and skip right
over the most biologically important question: WHY are we going to do
or learn something?

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Simon Sinek “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Action”
http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_acti
on
Forget the “laggards.” They will NEVER be convinced. Go for the “early
adopters” (those who get onboard right away) and the “early majority”
(those who see the early adopters and want to be a part). Once you
reach the “tipping point” (15%), a movement begins.
Why is education so challenging today?

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Perhaps it is because we are trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.
Government policymakers, in an effort to correct what they perceived as
inefficiency and ineffectiveness in publication, have over-mandated and
over-regulated the local function. Multiple and largely punitive
accountability provisions were created to ensure compliance. Though the
continual proliferation of prescriptive rules and requirements is probably
well-intentioned, its impact on schools is inherently counterproductive.
Rather than focusing efforts on student success, school districts have
been forced to behave like inflexible and unresponsive bureaucracies,
more accountable to policies set by the government and their
enforcement agencies than responsive to meeting the needs of their
students and the communities they serve. This shift in power has
stripped the local community of a sense of ownership of its schools and
denied its citizens the right and opportunity to make meaningful choices
about the quality and nature of education it desires for its youth.
The state standards outline curricular expectations lack specificity and
relevance. Our curriculum is “a mile wide and an inch deep” requiring
students to be a “jack of all trades and master of none.” According to
Robert Marzano, “If you wanted to teach all of the standards in the
national documents, you would have to change schooling from K-12 to K-
22.”

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Our curriculum is a mile wide and an inch deep; and our standardized
assessments are a mile deep and an inch wide.
High-stakes tests hinder the things that have made America strong and
prosperous, such as cherishing individual talents, cultivating creativity,
celebrating diversity, and inspiring curiosity.
Stressors include the myriad of expectations of teachers to teach societal
and cultural norms once taught in the home. See all of Vollmer’s List at
http://www.jamievollmer.com/pdf/the-list.pdf.

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We cannot deny our moral imperative. We must take the vision to action
by transforming and allowing students to have the educational freedom
foundational to our democracy.
Knowledge without action [is known] as a knowing-doing gap.
"We're going to have to work with young people in very different ways.
We must develop the capacity to solve more and different kinds of
problems in ways that requires us to have a very different vision of
education, of teaching and learning."

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Doing the same thing expecting different results is like eating junk food
while working out at the gym…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brQYPCYvtwU.
“How’s that working for you?” Dr. Phil

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We can no longer operate a 19th
Century system, using 20th
Century
accountability, and expecting 21st
Century learners.
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20121220-jeffrey-
turner-staar-impedes-educating-future-ready-students.ece
We've created an economy based on people spending money they do not
have to buy things they may not need, threatening the planet in the
process.

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We have to transition from a consumer-driven economy to an
innovation-driven economy.

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The consumer society is bankrupt; it's not coming back.
"If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less." Eric
Shinseki
They are not addicted to the device, they are addicted to the relationship
it gives them. It does not replace, it enhances.

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Core competencies every student must master by HS graduation:
Critical thinking
Ability ask the right ?s Collaboration
Adaptability
Initiative
Entrepreneurialism
Analyzing info
Curiosity and imagination
Today knowledge is ubiquitous, constantly changing, and growing. Today
knowledge is free. It's like air, it's like water. It's become a commodity.

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Technology is ubiquitous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfrQwgwlBIg
“We shouldn't be asking BYOD or 1:1. We should be asking one:web.”
Travis Allen @ischooltravis

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There's no competitive advantage today in knowing more than the next
person.
If I can google your questions, your questions suck.
If you use google, I consider you resourceful. If kids do it, they're
cheaters. “If I can google your questions, your questions suck.” George
Couros @gcouros
5 ways America's education system is stunting innovation:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericaswallow/2012/04/25/creating-
innovators/ by Tony Wagner

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#1. Individual achievement is the focus. Students focus on improving
their GPAs — school is a competition among peers.
Innovation is a team sport. Fundamentally problems are too complex to
innovate or solve by oneself.
#2. Specialization is celebrated and rewarded. The structure is 125 years
old.

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Innovation is cross disciplinary and explores problems and solutions
from multiple perspectives.
.
The whole challenge in schooling is to figure out what the teacher
wants. And the teachers have to figure out what the superintendent
wants and what the state (and feds) want. It’s a compliance-driven, risk-
averse culture. And it stinks.
#3. Risk aversion is the norm. We penalize mistakes.
Multiple and largely punitive accountability provisions were created to
ensure compliance. The present bureaucratic structure [is a] system
based on compliance, coercion, and fear. If proper focus is to be
restored, the system must be transformed into one based on trust,
shared values, creativity, innovation, and respect. “We don’t like to use
fear, but it’s the only tool we’ve got.” Director at the Texas Education
Agency, ACET Spring Conference 2013

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Innovation is grounded in taking risks and learning via trial and error.
Education should note [design firm] IDEO's mantra of "fail early, fail
often."
At Stanford's Institute of Design, "F is the new A." Without failure, there
is no innovation.

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First
Attempt
In
Learning
Failure is not an option.
IF failure is not an option, THEN NEITHER IS SUCCESS.

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#4. Learning is profoundly passive. For 12 to 16 years, we learn to
consume info in school. Our schooling culture has actually turned us into
"good little consumers."
“The American Dream” by George Carlin EDITED (NSFW: Search at your
own risk.)
Innovative learning cultures teach about creating, not consuming.

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#5. Extrinsic incentives drive learning: carrots and sticks, As and Fs.
Young innovators are intrinsically motivated and aren't interested in
grading scales and reward systems.
Caine’s Arcade: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faIFNkdq96U

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Teachers can encourage innovative thinking by nurturing the curiosity
and inquisitiveness of young people. It's a pattern of "play to passion to
purpose."

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We must create a community-based, bottom-up movement to
capitalizing on new and existing alliances with professional
organizations, local business leaders, and similar groups.

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“Education can be encouraged from the top-down but can only be
improved from the ground up.” Sir Ken Robinson
There are 1.2 million students in Texas. Why are we asking our
customers what THEY need???
There are 320,000 teachers and 70,000 other professionals in Texas.

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This is a call to action. [Communities] must embrace why change is
necessary and push through the barriers that hinder us from action. We
must collaboratively overcome our challenges, listen to the voices of our
students [and parents, educators, business and community members].
Our actions must include the following:
• We must continue the conversation and share the voice of our
students
• We must take responsibility and lead differently for transformation
to become a reality.
• We must act upon our beliefs and not simply leave them as words
spoken.
• We must stand for the ideas of transformation.
• We must drive the work forward with grace and ferocity.
• We must be courageous and transform.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wRkzCW5qI

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Name something you learned.
What surprised you?

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What’s something that stuck with you?
What still feels hard to do like nailing Jell-O to the wall; and what do you
want to ask?
Chris Shade, Director of School Improvement and Support
Denton ISD Professional Development Center (PDC)
1212 Bolivar Street Denton, TX 76201
cshade@dentonisd.org
http://www.dentonisd.org/eic
http://www.dentonisd.org/federalprograms

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https://twitter.com/cshadedentonisd
https://www.facebook.com/cshadedentonisd
https://www.youtube.com/cshadedentonstaff

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