21st Century Book Review: Michael Fullan's 'The Principal: 3 Keys to Maximizing Impact'

"Facing the unpredictable principals must be able to handle a good deal of ambiguity while displaying strong lead learner qualities." Michael Fullan, The Principal: 3 Keys to Maximizing Impact

After over a decade, policies relying on high stakes testing as a means to drive more effective teaching specifically and a better education generally have become embedded in public education.  Fullan (2014)  says we have gotten it all wrong. In his book, The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact, Fullan points out that these federal initiatives have failed to bring about extensive instructional change because they use the wrong policy drivers to try to change education. In other words, we simply aren’t getting the kinds of change we want in education because we are focusing on the wrong things to make that change happen. What should we be doing to maximize impact on schools? According to Fullan, we need to “reposition the role of the principal as overall instructional leader so that it maximizes the learning of all teachers and in turn all students” (p. 6). To do this, Fullan indicates we need to focus on three key aspects of the principal’s role: 1) Leading Learning, 2) Being a District and Team Player, and 3) Becoming a Change Agent.

Beginning in “Chapter One Outmoded,” Fullan describes both the current problem in education, and he introduces the idea of reconceptualizing the role of principal. According to Fullan, the current problem in education is that the “conditions for mutual learning have been seriously eroding” (p. 5).  Students are increasingly bored and disengaged from schooling, as indicated by the fact that “schooling alienates two-thirds of kindergarten students by the time they reach ninth grade” (p. 5). Teacher satisfaction in their work continues to decline (p. 5).  Even the job satisfaction of principals, who see their jobs as being too complex and too stressful, has been dropping since 2008 from 68% to 59% (p. 5). According to Fullan, this problem in education is due to an improper conceptualization of the role of the principal that is confusing and actually inhibits the professional learning of teachers and in turn the learning of students (p. 6).

In chapter two of the book, Fullan focuses on what he terms the “Four Wrong Choices for Driving Policy.” The four “Wrong Choices for Driving Policy” are: accountability, individualistic solutions, technology, and fragmented strategies” (p. 22). Each of these choices, according to Fullan, is more a part of the problem, than a solution.  For example, one of these wrong policy drivers includes current accountability strategies, which involve the belief that by tightening accountability through standards, standardized testing, and tying performance to test scores, student performance will improve. The problem with this approach to forcing educational change, according to Fullan, is that it assumes professional capacity is already there, which is not always the case (p. 27). Teachers and principals may lack the expertise to bring about learning gains with the students they have or the environment in which they’re teaching. According to Fullan, Principals in schools driven by these accountability policies are forced to simply “get better at a bad game” where you do what you can “to please the higher-ups in order to protect your staff and yourself” (p. 28). Fullan takes readers through each of these “wrong drivers” and explains exactly how that are negatively impacting education and actually keeping educators from getting the results they seek and preventing principals from leading schools the way they should.

If these “wrong drivers” of policy aren’t working, what exactly is Fullan’s solution? In Chapter Three, he begins describing what he calls the “The First Key for Maximixing Impact” which is the first of his three solutions for principals. The first key is “Leading Learning.”  In a nutshell, Fullan describes how principals can focus on building the professional capacity of the whole teaching staff rather than focusing on individual teachers. As he points out, principals should spend their time developing the group, not focusing on individual teachers because that is where the greatest learning gains for all will occur. Principals need to lead the professional learning of the teachers in a school as a group. They do this by leading “the school’s teachers learning how to improve their teaching while learning alongside them about what works and what doesn’t” (p. 55). According to Fullan, Principals should focus on capacity, climate, community, and instruction to maximize the learning in the school.

In chapter four, Fullan describes his second key for maximizing impact which is “Being a District and System Player.” He describes how principals need to do such things as “looking without to improve,” “foster intradistrict development,” “create district coherence,” and “reaching out beyond the district for expertise” (p. 97).  When “looking without to improve,” principals need to foster network connections outside the school but within the district to access new ideas and practices. When “fostering intradistrict development,” principals need to connect teachers in order to exchange ideas across the district. When “creating district coherence,” principals work together under the guidance of the whole district to improve all the schools. Finally, when “reaching out beyond the district for expertise,” principals connect to external sources, outside the district, for innovative ideas. In each of these instances, Fullan suggests that principals can maximize their impact on their schools by engaging the system in building professional capacity of teachers.

In chapter five, Fullan describes his third and final key for principals to maximize impact on their schools. This key is “Becoming a Change Agent” (p. 123).  Fullan argues that principals must focus on building their own professional capacity of becoming a change agent by fostering seven professional capacities for making change happen, which he describes in detail. For example, capacity one is “Challenging the Status Quo” which involves such things as questioning common practices, taking risks, exploring innovations, and avoiding letting the rules slow down the action” (p. 129). Fullan argues that principals need to foster their own capacity of challenging the status quo in their efforts to become a change agent. The rest of chapter five is devoted to describing these professional capacities for becoming a change agent in order to maximize impact on schools.

Fullan’s final chapter offers a glimpse of what the future holds for principals as they face the unpredictable world of ambiguity that education has become. He offers some parting advice for principals on how to maximize their impact on schools by focusing on the digital revolution and what it’s doing to schools and the Common Core Standards and how they affecte the role of principals who want to have the greatest impact on their schools.

Fullan’s book The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact offers principals and district administrators a full view of how current education policy is failing to bring about the results desired, and he offers a research-based approach using three key strategies to maximize impact. Each of the strategies taps into current educational leadership research and provides school leaders a “practical guide” to implement change. Fullan’s book powerfully provokes thought for school leaders on how the principal can best impact learning in her school.

Principal Walk-Throughs a Waste of Time? Maybe So

Today, I stumbled an interesting article from Education Week I feel I must share and comment upon. The article, "Principals Pressed for Time to Lead Instructional Change" by Leslie Maxwell, adds an interesting wrinkle to the focus on principals getting into classrooms and conducting walkthrough observations.

Apparently, if you're doing it to raise test scores, you might be wasting your time. Here's some interesting points from the article:

• "In a study published late last year in the journal Educational Researcher, researchers found that the amount of time principals spent on a broad range of activities related to instruction was not associated with gains in student performance, as measured by standardized tests."
• "Walkthroughs were negatively associated with student performance, especially in high schools."

Apparently, the study and this article make some important points about principals and using classroom observations and walkthroughs to improve instruction.

• First of all, I have always thought this to be true, though there are those who think differently: Principals must be teachers themselves. I would add that they must have extensive classroom experience to even credibly coach another teacher to improve classroom practice. The idea that someone who has not taught or who has little classroom experience coaching teachers makes little sense. School leaders must have more than a textbook knowledge of teaching and learning to even hope to help someone improve instruction.
• Secondly, like any strategy employed to improve instruction, none will work in isolation. There is nothing magical about a principal's presence in the classroom that is going to make teachers get better. As the article indicates, for classroom walkthroughs and observations to work, there needs to be follow-up and coaching as well as feedback. Improving teaching and learning takes a broad approach with a range of strategies.

Perhaps the real answer lies in what Michael Fullan, the author of the new book The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact. He argues that the whole problem lies with the currently defined role of "principal as instructional leader." It just doesn't work because trying to improve teachers one at a time is a time-wasting approach. Instead, principals should be "Learning Leaders" or "Lead Learners." In that role, according to Fullan, principals should work to develop community and collaboration. They should work to develop the expertise of the whole group, not focus on one teacher at a time.

This study once again illustrates how education so many times gets things wrong. There is no one single strategy for improving teaching and learning, despite what all the vendors and snake oil salesmen selling such wares tell you.

Implications of the 2012 NMC Horizon Report for 21st Century School Leaders

"To skillfully change our paradigms and cultivate the ability to embrace change, we must learn to let go of our old paradigms," write Ted McCain, Ian Jukes, and Lee Crockett in their book Lining on the Future Edge: Windows on Tomorrow. As 21st century school leaders, embracing change is no longer an option.

Each year the New Media Consortium (NMC) puts out a reminder of just how important embracing change is. This reminder is the 2012 NMC Horizon Report K-12 Edition (You can download it here.) This report is a snapshot review of trends that have the greatest potential to disrupt and shape education in the next five years. While the report is not meant to be predictive, it does serve as a point of thought and discussion for the 21st century school leader.

2012 NMC Horizon Report Near Adoption Technologies

Where is technology going in the next 5 years, and what might be some things we can expect as educational leaders? Here's what the 2012 NMC Horizon Report outlines as the technologies closest to adoption in our schools.

Near Horizon: (Within Next 12 Months)


Mobile Devices and Apps: According to the Horizon report, mobile devices and apps are increasingly becoming part of the classroom. Schools are implementing BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies that allow students Wi-Fi access using their smartphones. The number of applications available for these devices is near endless too, making mobile devices one of the most versatile tools students can have in the classroom.  More and more schools are re-thinking policy regarding students having these devices.

Tablet Computing: Tablets, according to this report, "Presents new opportunities for enhancing learning in ways simply not possible with mobile phones, laptops, or desktop computers, and is esepcially suited for 1:1 learning in the K-12 environment." These devices accelerate the possibilities of accessing existing content on the web, and generating and sharing student-created content. My own school is entering a second year in our district iPad project, with plans to move toward utilizing these devices more effectively.

Mid-Term Horizon (2-3 Years Out)


Game-Based Learning: "Educational gaming brings an increasingly credible promise to make learning experiences more engaging for students, while at the same time improving important skills, such as collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking." Keep in mind that this game-based learning is not the old "drill-n-kill" games peddled to schools in the early days when schools were just beginning to put computers in the classrooms. These are complex game environments engaging students in real-world problem solving and critical thinking. Game-Based learning uses the complex characteristics of gaming to deliver instructional content. These instructional gaming tools employ what Jane McGonigal calls, in her book Reality Is Broken, the "Four Defining Traits of a Game:" 1) these games have goals or specific outcomes players work to achieve, 2) these games have rules that place limitations on how players can achieve the goals, 3) these games have a built-in feedback systems that tell players how close they are to achieving that goal, and 4) these games employ voluntary participation which translates into the acceptance of the goals, rules, and feedback system. As the Horizon Report indicates, one of the greatest potentials for this technology is the ability to "foster collaboration and engage students deeply in the process of learning." From an administrator perspective it is important to understand that just because it's a game doesn't mean it's going to be effective. Those working in this area are trying to capture McGonigal's characteristics of games like Runscape, Minecraft, and World of Warcraft, and employ them in game-based learning environments.

Personal Learning Environments: According to the Horizon Report, personal learning environments (PLEs) are "personal collections of tools and resources a person assembles to support their own learning----both formal and informal." As more smartphones and mobile devices have become a part of our students' experiences, they are in a position to select more and more of the apps and learning tools they use in their own learning. The goal of PLEs is move to a learning environment where students "have more control over how they learn in school." The teacher role shifts in this kind of learning environment to more of a support or facilitator role in helping students develop and engage in their own personal learning environments. As more online tools that lend themselves to this kind of learning have become available, the opportunity to learn in this way increases. This technology will prompt serious discussions on traditional factory schooling concepts like required seat-time, teacher roles, and teacher expertise in technology.

Far Term Horizon (4-5 Years Out)


Augmented Reality: The definition of augmented reality provided by the Horizon Report is "layering of information over a view or representation of the normal world, offering users the ability to access place-based information in ways that are compellingly intuitive." These tools can add to learning experiences by combining real world imagery with virtual content. There are few examples of this technology, but in the future, students may be able to manipulate a 3-D image of a cell overlayed with a real world image. Some experts contend that this technology is not quite ready.

Natural User Interfaces: These allow "computers to respond to gestures, motions of the body, facial expressions, voice, sound, and other environment cues, and are replacing the key board and mouse as the standard for computer/human interaction." These devices make interactions with a computer more intuitive. Examples of this technology include the X-Box Kinect and Ninetendo Wii. These natural user interfaces have been particularly promising in teaching with autistic, blind, deaf, and other special needs students.

Implications for 21st Century Technology Leaders

While these are not predictions, this list does serve as a "Reflection and Consideration Point of Decision" for the 21st century school leader. The object is not to "prepare for these technologies" or even advocate for them. but what are the implications of these "near-horizon" technologies for 21st century technology leaders? Here's some things 21st century administrators might wish to think about in light of this report.

• Rethink, revise, and redo policies governing whether students can have smartphones and electronic devices in our schools. Cell phone bans have outlived their usefulness, just as bans on other electronic devices. Instead, we need poliies and guidelines that encourage students and teachers to engage in the use of these tools.
• Implement school-wide Wi-FI access for all students and staff. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies allow students and teachers to remain connected to the 21st century, not unplug once they walk through the school doors. Providing access should be a priority.
• Begin employing tablet devices in our schools, not as augmentation to current instruction, but to totally disrupt teaching models. If we want teaching and learning to change, we don't want to simply search for ways to augment what we are doing, we want to make it possible for new forms of learning and teaching. Tablets are the type of disruptive device to do just that.
• Stop viewing tablet computers as just another type of computer. Let's not use terms like 1:1 and the number of tablets in our schools as bragging points. Instead, let the discussion and bragging turn to how learning has fundamental changed in our schools for our students due to employing these devices. Let the technology disrupt and cause innovation and new forms of both teaching and learning.
• Be as cautious as ever. Beware of sales pitches and promotions of the "next thing." Insist that those peddling their wares speak in terms of how the technologies will enhance learning, and do not allow them to just quote test scores as evidence. Technology isn't beneficial just because it's new. It's effective in the hands of an effective teacher. Bad teaching with technology is still bad teaching.

The Horizon Report is an annual opportunity for school leaders to glimpse at possible near-horizon technology adoptions. In addition to quick view, as a technology leader, it is also an opportunity to engage in a bit of "what-if" thinking too, and that kind of thinking leads the way to embracing the change.

3 Easy Things to Do with Your School or District's Facebook Page

The negative press about educators' indescretions in Facebook posting is enough to send the 21st century school leader running in the opposite direction when someone talks about engaging in the use that media for school communication. But such thinking ignores the fact that other media has been, and will be abused in the same way. When a school staff members uses the phone line to engage in illicit activity, we don't take our the phone lines. We deal with the real issue, that staff member's behavior, not the technology.

But once a school leader gets beyond the fear, there are three good reasons to use Facebook to communicate with the larger community and the world. Here they are:

• Use Facebook to inform and Educate: This is probably the way it is most used by school leaders. Facebook is the perfect medium to announce what is happening in your school or district. You can post about new school or district initiatives. Post those big news items such as visiting dignitaries, budget information, and even new educational programs. Facebook is a source of news for an increasingly large number of our constituients, so we need to use it in that manner.
• Use Facebook to engage stakeholders: Facebook is an opportunity though, to move beyond just making announcements, and engage your stakeholders in conversations about your school or district. Once you've established clear guidelines for comments and posts, you can engage your parents in discussions about the proposed school dress code, or the new bell schedule. There's no reason to be afraid of those conversations. They are going to happen anyway. Bringing them to Facebook just brings those conversations under your radar so that you can know your community's true feelings about what you're doing. This is taking Facebook use to another whole level that many districts and district leaders aren't ready to move to, mine included.
• Use Facebook to entertain stakeholders and to celebrate: Facebook is a perfect opportunity to entertain your stakeholders with the many talents your students have. Posting a video of the band performing, or a interesting video created by a student are the kinds of things our parents find entertaining. It is also a way to celebrate the great things your school or district is doing.

It truly is tempting to either ignore the movement by organizations to social media due to all the negative press it receives. But to do so limits your school or district from taking advantage of one of the most effective 21st century communication tools.

Honor Roll: 50 Must-Read K-12 Education IT Blogs

I can't help but feel a bit honored to be included among those bloggers in EdTech Magazine's "Honor Roll: 50 Must-Read K-12 Education IT Blogs." This includes many ed tech heroes of mine such as Will Richardson and David Warlick. It's a great list to be included, and one I am going to make sure gets loaded into my Google Reader. Thanks EdTech Magazine.

Here's the link to the "Honor Roll: 50 Must-Read K-12 Education IT Blogs."

3 Lessons Schools Can Learn From an Obsolete Hometown Newspaper

Today, I was attempting to read an article from our local newspaper's website. I was trying to access an article through my RSS Reader, when I got the following pop-up:

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Our small town newspaper, The Hickory Daily Record, is a mediocre newspaper at best for a number of reasons. First of all, I was once a subscriber, but I stopped home delivery because there would be stretches of days I would not receive it. I would then have to call their office, and the paper seemed content to just give me a credit when I did not receive it rather than find a way to deliver a paper. They inevitably did this rather than resolve the issue of delivery. Secondly, there's not a been a great deal of content in its pages for quite sometime. The paper edition is primarily advertisements, and the paper has had to cut its reporting staff back so much, they aren't even capable of providing the news, except what  news comes to them. Finally, the Hickory Daily Record has become irrelevant as a news source in our region. I can access free news channels such as our local TV stations, and the Charlotte Observer's site and get more information about the happenings in my hometown  than I can in my hometown newspaper. In all honesty, The Hickory Daily Record has become little more than a neighborhood newspaper with absolutely no impact on the community. It is a dinosaur that is still trying to avoid extinction. In some ways, I think public education is trying to avoid the same fate.

As you can see from the pop-up message I received, I could continue reading the article I wanted to see if I paid them $4.95 a month, but I won't pay them and I won't read the article. The whole problem is, the content offered by the Hickory Daily Record isn't worth $4.95 a month to me. You can scan their web site in less than 5 minutes. Unlike the larger newspapers, there isn't a wealth of content, certainly not 5 dollars a month worth. All this brings me to my point, "Newspapers basically still do not get it." While I have no idea how profitable the Hickory Daily Record's efforts to charge for online content is, it can't be sustainable. A glance at their site tells your they offer no amazing exclusive content you can't find elsewhere. A lot of the articles are from news wire services that offer the same text free. And, there is so little news content to begin with, in comparison to larger news sites. The bottom line is my small town newspaper is still caught in 20th century ways of delivering content and appears to be doing little to change. I can't help but wonder if our schools are still caught in the same time warp. We still try to deliver education the way we've always done too. So what can schools learn from my small town newspaper's predicament? Here's three things for thought:

1. In a digital age, we can't simply take what we've always done and post it online or digitize it and call it education. Our technology is clearly disrupting how we do things in our schools, and we'll not contain that force by trying to simply package what we're doing into 21st century packages. We need to fundamentally re-think and re-engineer everything we do in schools and take full advantage of the possibilities of the digital age.

2. We need to fundamentally re-think our digital content which is student learning. If newspapers want to have a hope of surviving online or off, they have to focus on content. People will only pay for content if they see it as engaging or useful, and if they can't get it elsewhere. As schools in the digital age, we must focus on our own "content" which is student learning. Everything we do, from front office procedures to instructional strategies in the classroom need to be about student learning. We need stop being distracted by everything that is not about student learning.

3. Twenty-first century schools need to acknowledge the competition. Newspapers like my small hometown paper haven't done this very well. They are still holding on to the belief that they offer something readers can't get elsewhere. They haven't acknowledged the competition. Whether charter schools, private schools, or virtual schools are better at raising student achievement is still debatable. That argument probably will not be settled any time soon, and most likely it will never be settled. The reality for public schools is that we have competition. Instead of expending large amounts of time discrediting the competition, let's use that energy to make our public schools better. Let's focus on what is most important.

Everyone knows newspapers haven't fared well under the onslaught of web content. Most barely survive. Some have learned that users will pay for content, if that content is of high quality, and if users can't get that same content from elsewhere. My hometown newspaper is still caught in an old paradigm that believes they can approach web content like they did paper content. They can simply post the same content from their newspaper online and people will pay for it. Of course they have tried to add some unique content like videos and information data bases, but its hard to say they've changed their content delivery model very much.  Maybe some will pay 5 dollars a month for this content, but I won't and I am sure many others won't as well. The newspaper is losing me as potential customer and I am sure there are others. If they want me to click that "Pay $4.95 Month" button they need to give me something I do not already have. Public schools would do well learn from this too. If our students aren't getting the education our parents want them to have, they aren't going to keep paying for our schools either. We have to give them the kinds of student learning they can't get elsewhere.