Talking About Leadership: How Leaders Talk in Odds-Beating High Schools
By Francesca Durand, NYKids Co-Investigator and edited by Kristen C. Wilcox, NYKids Research & Development Director
The language used by leaders sets the tone for “the way we do things” in a school or district and it extends to the kinds of messages imparted to all members of the school community. In the latest NYKids Odds-beater Study focused on how educators are preparing adolescents for college and career, leaders in odds-beating schools shared three key messages.
- We have High Expectations for Everyone
When a principal has an expectation and explains the expectation and then when people begin to see that, “oh, that’s a reasonable expectation after all,” people fall behind it.
– Port Chester Senior High School Principal
When one improves, we all improve is the motto of these odds-beating leaders. High expectations for everyone is part of the everyday language of leaders- at both the district level and school level. Leaders prioritize learning and achievement of everyone: students, teachers, and leaders. For students, this means that educators take a collaborative approach to student learning (checking in with each other regularly on what is working and not and for whom) and focus on connecting personally with the young people they strive to motivate to reach their own unique potentials. For teachers and leaders this means that opportunities for authentic contributions to important initiatives and purposeful and timely professional development is provided and in sufficient doses.
At Maple Grove Junior/Senior High School the principal provides an example of just such a high expectations message: To me, success is when I see kids challenging themselves, that they’re taking more challenging courses…I think, also, an environment where kids can see a pathway of what are some of my career interests? What are my goals? What are the courses I should be taking? They know why they’re here. That to me is success.
- We are Family
The administrators become the so-called father figure, the brother figure, or our teachers become the extended family for our students. Beyond taking care of the social, emotional needs, then also leading them to be successful academically. That’s what I look for in our administrators and staff. – Freeport Superintendent
Another message common among odds-beating leaders relates to how the school and district is understood as a “family”. Leaders in these schools and districts set this tone by using language such as “our kids” when discussing student learning and growth. This contributes to a culture of we– where all educators are expected to have a vested interest in each young person as part of their family and colleagues, like siblings, are expected to work through their differences for the greater good of the school and district “family”. Therefore, a collaborative environment is nurtured by ensuring that a variety of stakeholders, from bus drivers, to cafeteria staff, social workers, school psychologists, guidance counselors, parents, other caregivers, and of course teachers and leaders have voice and choice in decision making. Distributed leadership models are the norm in these schools -indicating a high level of trust both vertically (e.g. school leader to teacher leader) and horizontally (e.g. teacher to teacher). In a culture of we, leaders express these principles: We work together to improve the lives of our kids. We are responsible for our kids’ growth and development. In these schools this takes shape in mentorship programs where each youth has at least one adult with whom to connect and in teaming of educators with, parents, other caregivers, and community members.
The Crown Point Superintendent expressed it this way: Everybody is actively involved in kids’ lives as far as whether it’s for academics, sports, or their emotional well-being. So everybody kind of takes turns with different kids, making sure that they stay positive and making progress in their grades and are motivated and wanting to learn.
- We Think of Students Holistically
Then we said, “Let’s define success. Success has got to be the total person.” It’s got to start with attitude, behavior, well-being and safety. Then it has to go to academic achievement and personal achievement. – Malverne Superintendent
Odds-beating district and school leaders in this study communicated frequently with teachers, staff, community members, and students themselves about seeing kids as “more than a test score.” In these odds-beating schools, social emotional development and citizenship were as high a priority as academic outcomes. To this end, they recognize that each student is on an individual developmental journey and foster personal and academic learning opportunities that are geared toward preparing them to thrive beyond high school. In these schools, this is enacted through effective and timely evidenced-based interventions, early college programs and visits to college campuses, opportunities for gaining practical work experiences while completing high school classes, afterschool programs designed to encourage social emotional growth and improve academics, and programs to ease the middle to high school and high school to postsecondary/workforce transition.
The Alfred-Almond Superintendent highlighted this message: We do amazing things here. We really celebrate the Renaissance students…. We do a ton of things for all students. We look at every one of those participation data points…. We know ultimately the more connected they are to the school the better they’re going to do.
