The following is a guest post by Dr. Chris Weber, expert in instruction and intervention systems and Senior Fellow at the International Center for Leadership in Education (ICLE).
The demands of educational leadership have never been
more challenging and the stakes have never been higher. Ensuring high levels of
learning—particularly for our most vulnerable students—is the most critical
task education leaders face today. Of all the characteristics of leadership,
the most crucial and difficult is courage—courage to have progressive conversations
with stakeholders and courage to challenge the status quo and transform the way
teachers teach and students learn.
Fortunately, there is a research-based set of principles
and practices that will ensure that we deliver on this mission: Response to Intervention
(RTI), also known as Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).
Serving
ALL Students
We can predict that
students will bring different learning styles, interests, and readiness levels
to core learning environments. We can predict that
some students will need more time to master core priorities and that other
students will benefit from enrichment. We can predict that some students will have
significant deficits in foundational skills. If we can predict it, we
can prepare for it. Delivering on the promise of RTI requires the courage to
proactively and systematically prepare supports for students.
We must also courageously
challenge the traditional practice of grouping students based on ability and
label. Students aren’t in tiers; needs and supports are in tiers. We must support students based on
their needs, not a label. Equally important, we must have the courage to insist
that staff support students based on their availability and expertise, not
their job title or funding source.
It
also takes courage—and a leap of faith—for leaders and staff to prove to
themselves that students will learn more (and perform better on end-of-course
tests) when we teach less. And yet, it’s true. The quantity of
content threatens the mastery of critical skills and concepts.
Delivering on the moral
imperative of high levels of learning for all requires courage. All means all; if
a student will be expected to live a happy and productive adult life without
accommodations and modifications (which is the case for 99% of students,
including the majority of students with IEPs), then they are in the ALL category.
The actions of school leaders
speak louder than words. Leaders that talk about their professional respect for
teachers, but then micromanage teaching and learning with rigid pacing guides quickly
lose credibility. High expectations for all combined with tracking and the
marginalization of students with IEPs violates the verbally expressed moral imperative
of a growth mindset and high levels of learning for all. Leaders’ actions must
match their words; a school’s actions must match its mission statement.
Courage
in Action
The first way that leaders
can behave in courageous ways is to embrace continuous improvement and change.
Change frightens many. Leaders must manage the change process respectfully and
sensitively. They must also positively and willingly model the reality that
learning organizations accept constant, evidence-informed revisions to practice
as a professional obligation.
When initiatives are
selected and commitments are made, school leaders must lead from the front. It
takes courage for leaders to roll up their sleeves and do the work, often because
the leader may not imminently qualified. If a new pedagogy is determined to be
necessary, school leaders must practice new lessons with students. If the
school commits to monitoring student progress more frequently, then leaders
must administer the assessments one-on-one with students. Vulnerability and
humility require courage; leaders never ask students or staff to do something
that they are not willing and ready to do first.
Just as school leaders must
monitor how much they say, and place a priority on listening, they also must
avoid the temptation to do too much, or to ask their staffs to do too much. Trying
to push too hard too quickly will not result in more rapid gains of staff
performance or student achievement. The key is patient persistence—and patience
requires its own special brand of courage. There is a temptation to engage in
many simultaneous projects, and there is often external pressure to do so.
There is no more appropriate
or important “project” on which to focus than RTI/MTSS. By modeling necessary transformative
actions, leaders can and must exercise the courage to ensure that all students
learn at high levels.
RTI
Health Check
Are
you and your staff proactively and systematically preparing supports for
students? Take our RTI Health Check to see where
you are, and where you need to go.
Share this: 
