It All Begins At the Top How to Lead Your District In the Use of Technology and 21 st Century Skills

1. It All Begins At the TopHow to Lead Your District In the Use of Technology and 21st Century Skills John Doherty, Ed.D., Superintendent Reading Public Schools April Goran, MEd., Instructional Technology Specialist, Reading Memorial High School 2010 Blueprint for Excellence National Conference December 7, 2010 Lake Buena Vista, Florida

2. Contact Information John F. Doherty, Ed.D. Superintendent, Reading Public Schools 82 Oakland Road Reading, MA 01867 Phone: 781-944-5800 Email: jdoherty@reading.k12.ma.us Twitter: jdoherty Presentation Link: • http://expandingtheboundaries.wikispaces.com/2010+Blue+Ribbon+Conference+Presentation

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10. Focus For Today • Why Change? • Our role as leaders • What are 21st Century Learners? • How will this get done? • Leadership is the Key • An example of how it is being done • 13 Step Process • A look at some tools for administrators • Closure and Questions

11. Key Question All Day How can I lead my school/district to change their use of technology and 21st Century Skills?

12. Why do we need to change?

13. Did You Know?Howie DiBlasi

14. Three Fundamental Changes • The rapid evolution of the new global knowledge economy with profound effects on the world of work-all work • The sudden and dramatic shift from information that is limited in terms of amount and availability to information characterized by flux and glut • The increasing impact of media and technology on how young people learn and relate to the world and to each other

15. The World Is Truly Flat When I was growing up, my parents told me, “Finish your dinner, People in India and China are starving.” I tell my daughters, “Finish your homework. People in India and China are starving for your job.” Thomas Friedman The World is Flat

16. Learning How to Learn is Key “You actually want to become really adaptable. You want constantly to acquire new skills, knowledge, and expertise that enable you constantly to be able to create value….Being adaptable in a flat world, knowing how to “learn how to learn,” will be one of the most important assets any worker can have, because job churn will come faster, because innovation will happen faster.” Thomas Friedman The World is Flat

17. “The fact is, our young people are woefully under prepared for the demands of today’s workplace” Ken Kay, Past President of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills

18. The Job

19. We need to become more right brained to compete and survive “The future belongs to a very different kind of mind ─ creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers, and meaning makers. These people ─ artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers ─ will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.” Daniel Pink A Whole New Mind-Why Right-Brainers will Rule the Future

20. Technology-The Equalizer “We should use technology funding to bolster new learning models and innovations, such as online learning environments, to level the playing field and allow students from all walks of life-from small rural communities to budget strapped urban schools-to access the rich variety that is now available only to children of wealthy suburban districts.” Clayton Christensen Disrupting Class

21. What Are 21st Century Learning or Transferable Skills?

22. Partnership for 21st Century Skills

23. 21st Century Skills • Creativity and Innovation • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving • Communication and Collaboration • Information Literacy • Media Literacy • Technology Literacy • Life and Career Skills • Flexibility and adaptability • Initiative and self direction • Productivity and accountability • Cross Cultural Skills • Lifelong learning • Responsibility • Social Skills • Leadership • Personal Wellness

24. 4 C’s Critical Thinking Communication Collaboration Creativity Source: http://www.edleader21.com/approach.html

25. Seven Survival SkillsThe Global Achievement Gap (Wagner, 2008) • Critical Thinking and Problem Solving • Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence • Agility and Adaptability • Initiative and Entrepreneurialism • Effective Oral and Written Communication • Accessing and Analyzing Information • Curiosity and Imagination

26. All of Our Schools Are Obsolete “In today’s highly competitive global knowledge economy, all students need new skills for college, careers, and citizenship. The failure to give all students these new skills leaves today’s youth and our country, at an alarming competitive disadvantage. Schools haven’t changed; the world has. And so our schools are not failing. Rather, they are obsolete-even the ones that score the best on standardized tests.” Tony Wagner The Global Achievement Gap

27. Here are the questions… • What changes must be made within the education system to prepare our nation’s students for both analytic and creative thinking? • What must teachers and administrators do differently to stimulate student’s imaginations? • What kinds of tests must be given to students to show whether we are making progress toward these ambitious goals? Tony Wagner (2008)

28. Here is what is at stake… • The future of our economy • The strength of our democracy • The health of the planet’s ecosystem • Our current and future generations of students

29. It’s Time

30. The bottom line… Our classrooms of today are still using methods that we used over 30 years ago..

31. How will this get done?

32. To shift you need to change the culture “…all school cultures are incredibly resistant to change, which makes school improvement--from within or from without--usually futile. Unless teachers and administrators act to change the culture of a school, all innovations, high standards, and high-stakes tests will have to fit in and around existing elements of the culture. They will remain superficial window dressing, incapable of making much of a difference.” Roland Barth Educational Leadership May, 2002

33. The Key is Transformational Leadership

34. Transformational LeadershipDeep Change (Quinn, 1996) • Realize the vision at all costs • The vision is far more important than individuals • Organization is viewed as a moral system • Values and principles outweigh political interests • Transformational leaders will develop a plan of action, mobilize the workforce, and unleash power by vocalizing the core values of the system

35. Transformational Leadership • Leader must walk the walk and talk the talk • Every action is consistent with the vision • People watch the leader’s actions towards the vision and respond • Risk taking is encouraged and welcome • Symbolic communication is important • Leader’s actions are beyond normal expectations and outside the rules of self-interest

36. Transformational Leadership • Transformational leadership requires looking at educational change systemically instead of a narrow focus. • Transformational leadership aims to foster capacity development and higher levels of personal commitment to organizational goals, mission, and vision.

37. Nine Specific Practices of Transformational LeadershipLeithwood, 2007 • Setting Directions • Building school vision • Developing specific goals and practices • Holding high performance expectations

38. Nine Specific Practices of Transformational LeadershipLeithwood, 2007 • Developing People • Providing intellectual stimulation • Offering individualized support • Modeling desirable professional practices and values

39. Nine Specific Practices of Transformational LeadershipLeithwood, 2007 • Redesigning the Organization • Developing a collaborative school culture • Creating structures to foster participation in school decisions • Creating productive community relationships

40. How can you transform schools and districts?

41. Source: http://www.edleader21.com/approach.html

42. On or off the bus???“Good to Great: (Collins, 2001) How to change and transform a good school/district into a great school or district. 1. Get the right people on the bus. 2. Get them in the right seats- Put the right people in the right place in the bus 3. Get the wrong people off the bus. One way to find out who the wrong people are: If  you have to actively manage the people they are the wrong people.

43. How we are transforming our district

44. Five Years Ago… • 8 Schools Going in 8 Different Directions • No District Improvement Plan or Vision • No Wide Area Network • No Wireless Internet Access • Student to Computer Ratio High • No laptops • Minimal SMART Boards in District • Inadequate Technology Staffing • Direct Instruction was the Norm • Minimal Project Based Learning • 21st Century Skills was just a phrase

45. Today • Schools Moving Forward Together Toward a Common Vision while Keeping Their Own Identity • Developing a professional learning community • District Improvement Plan based on Research Based Standards • A vision developed by the stakeholders • Adequate Technology Staff • 90% of Classrooms Have SMART Boards • Job Embedded Professional Development in Technology • Mobile Computer Carts • 60% of the District is Wireless • WAN • Student to Computer Ratio in District 3:1 • Hands on, Project Based Learning • Sharing of lessons on WAN • Collaboration of lessons and skills

46. The Key is Changing the CultureIt is not going to happen overnight

47. Here is one way to do it…Some steps can happen simultaneously

48. Step 1Work with Community to Develop a (or Change Your Current) Mission and Vision

49. Develop the Process • Use a school wide assessment (i.e. Blueprint for Success) • Work with stakeholders to develop mission and vision for school and district • Develop district goals • Develop school goals that align with district goals and are measurable • Teachers develop measurable goals aligned with school goals

50. Mission of the Reading Public Schools The Reading Public Schools strives to ensure that all students will have common challenging meaningful learning experiences in the academics, health and wellness, the arts, community service, co-curricular activities and athletics. We will lead and manage our school community to reflect the values and culture of the Reading Community, and guide and support our students to develop the appropriate skills, strategies, creativity and knowledge necessary to be productive informed independent citizens in a global society.