Ed Tech Critical Reflection Needs in a Time of Screen Time Limits

EdTech has some accounting to do now that major questions about the place of technology and screens in are being heavily scrutinized.

It is a time for the Ed Tech field to come to a reckoning.

Instead of acting like dogmatic, fundamentalists defending their technology tenants of faith, those in the field of Ed Tech should be engaging in mass self-criticism and self-examination, focusing on everything they have taken for granted since they first pushed devices into the schools.

Some thoughts on what those should be?

For example, Ed Tech has always had an extremely cozy relationship with those who create and sale the gadgets (and I use that word to broadly cover everything, computers to AI). These companies sponsor Ed Tech conventions, and Ed Tech has allowed them free uncritical access to all the educators attending. At these events they give attendees free gifts and subject them to company delivered or sponsored keynote addresses. They provide “free” training on their products. Not one minute is devoted to critical thinking about the products peddled.

In this way, Ed Tech has allowed the product companies to control the discourse and the discipline. Leaders controlling the budgets who really do not understand the technologies are sold on these, then Ed Tech jumps on board and tries to justify the purchase. This should not be.

Ed Tech needs to develop a conscience. It needs a “critical mind” that looks upon its discipline with skeptical, questioning eyes. 

Instead, we salespeople are allowed to promote unquestioningly their wares, and then, we horrifyingly, subject our students to these. Use now and ask questions later with no regard of the effects on our students is sometimes the thinking.

Is it any wonder, that these devices and gadgets have sometimes caused much harm and little good?

Joseph Weizenbaum, computer scientist and pioneer thinker about AI, once wrote:

“There are certain tasks which computers ought not be made to do, independent of whether computers can be made to do them.”

This statement, the field of Ed Tech does not get. It sees their devices as always the answer. They are most often “pure technology solutionists,” who look for problems to solve with their tools, instead of looking at the problems and then trying to find the tool to solve them. Maybe sometimes, even inventing problems in order to use their gadgets to solve them.

That’s why they always see their devices as the answer to every educational problem.

But here’s the rub: As Weizenbaum points out, just because a computer, a smart phone, or AI can do it, that does not mean we should use them to do it.

In these times, Ed Tech as a field would do well to reflect critically on itself.

Instead of a field that acts as a conduit to pipe gadgets into the classroom and schools marketed to them by tech companies, Ed Tech educators need to begin asking questions like these:

-Is this something I want technology to do?

-Is it something technology should be doing? 

-Is it just possible, that this learning, this teaching, this task would be best achieved through analog means?

Asking such critical questions, and being skeptical and critical of technology would perhaps give this field the beginnings of some kind of conscience. It would upset the uncritical value tech has and decenter it in the field of education, which is what should happen.

If Ed Tech educators had become critical and skeptical about the role of gadgets in the classroom from the beginning, instead of being awestricken by the glow of the devices, this might have also headed off the push to limit screens in schools because educators would have been more discerning before subjecting children to devices in their Ed Tech experiments.

Why Saying “I’m Doing What’s Best for Students” Isn’t the Best Rationale

One of the most common utterings you will hear from school leaders is, “I’m going to do what’s best for kids” when justifying or providing reasons for actions taken. But, is saying that justification enough?

By using the justification that actions are “what’s best for students,” the addressor, or one uttering that phrase, is staking claim to the higher moral ground. Educators, for the most part and by nature, became so because of their concern for the learning and well-being of the young. So, when one claims what one is doing is “best for students,” the immediate reaction by other educators is simply acceptance and obedience. Most times, not one asks for further explanation and proof either. But what if that action really isn’t the best for students?

As a school leader, I am so self-aware when I use that phrase and when others use it too. Sometimes it is tossed around so much, it almost loses its real power to justify anything. But when we use that phrase as school leaders, do we really know that what we’re doing or asking others to do is “best” for kids? It might very well be in our minds that it is, but the history of education is riddled with schemes and ideas that were “what’s best for kids too."

Should we not be a little hesitant to use this phrase? After all, we don’t get a grade of “A” in leadership when we were well-intentioned. I don’t get the consolation prize of knowing that, “Well, I did really mean well when I decided to trash the school’s arts program in favor of more reading instruction” because I thought it best for students to be able to read rather than play the violin or paint a landscape. Never mind that there just might have been a Mozart, or a Shakespeare in the midst of bloom in my school that was stamped out by my actions.

Perhaps we should discard the phrase “doing what’s best for students” from our leadership practice. I suspect it’s another thing of many that educational leaders have borrowed from the field of business and industry leadership. In business, there exists a true bottom-line. You need to make a profit, and to do that, you delineate the bottomline to make that happen. And, as leader, you simply make your decisions align with that.

But I don’t really think there’s a ‘bottomline’ in education. Things are not just that simple. Perhaps there’s a bottomline for every single student who walks in the hallways of our schools, and because of this, there’s absolutely, no way, we can say with 100% confidence, that what we do is in the best interest of all our students. We are fallible human beings in spite of what our college educational leadership programs tried to tell us.

One major lesson I’ve learned from educational leadership? Abolutely certainty will surely get you into trouble. I honestly think I know less about being an educational leader now than when I started. What this really means in practical terms is that I am a fallible human who can’t always say definitively that my decisions are “What’s Best for Kids!”

3 Ways to Create a Climate of Possibility and Creativity in Our Schools

“The real role of leadership in education is not and should not be command and control. The real role of leadership is climate control; creating a climate of possibility, and if you do that, people will rise to it and achieve things you did not anticipate and couldn't have expected.” Sir Ken Robinson, TED Talk "How to Escape Education's Death Valley"

What is ultimately wrong with No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and the Common Core State Standards? Each of these initiatives are a product of what Sir Ken Robinson calls mechanistic thinking. In mechanistic thinking, education is seen as an “industrial process” done to kids. You subject kids to this process, and at the end, you test them, then declare (or not declare) them college and career ready, educated, or whatever term you choose. As Robinson points out in his TED Talk "How to Escape Education's Death Valley," subjecting kids to these kinds initiatives and the standardization movement means millions of children have been left behind.

Why are so many children left behind in the current American system of education? The whole problem, according to Robinson, is simple: American education "contradicts 3 principles under which human life flourishes." These principles are: 1) Human beings are naturally different and diverse, 2) Human beings are naturally curious creatures, and 3) Human life is inherently creative. By contradicting these principles, we are losing students because the American system of education ignores the very things that allow humans to thrive and survive.

There's no denying that these fundamental principles of humanity are ignored in an education culture where standardization and conformity are elevated above principles of diversity, curiosity, and creativity. But what can we do, as school leaders, to create a "climate of possibility and creativity?" Perhaps we can begin to establish that climate by doing three things:

1. We can treat students as different and diverse, not as standardized unfinished products to which we "add value" through subjecting them to the same curriculum and the same tests. Education under No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and the Common Core is all about conformity and standardization, not diversity. Each of the initiatives is about narrowing the curriculum so that we can test kids the same way, compare their scores, and boast or censure what we have done educationally. Instead of moving more and more toward standardization, we need to be moving to personalization. Under a personalized education system we capitalize on students' natural talents and abilities, not stifle them with standard curriculum and standardized testing. As 21st century school leaders we need to focus not on data entirely, but more on individual students. Drop out rates, proficiency rates, growth rates are not the center of what we should be doing as educators. Kids are.

2. We can recognize that human beings are naturally curious creatures, and create systems of education that value curiosity above all else. As Robinson points out, “Curiosity is the engine of achievement.” Yet in our efforts to treat our education system mechanistically, we stamp our curiosity with standardized curriculum and standardized testing. We treat “teaching” as a delivery system, when it should be treated as the "art of mentally stimulating, provoking, and engaging children in learning."  Robinson points out that the dominate culture in American education does not focus on teaching and learning, it focuses on testing. We have turned our schools into places where the culture is about compliance, not curiosity. As 21st century school leaders we need to make human curiosity central to our school cultures, not compliance.

3. We can recognize in our schools that human beings are inherently creative and turn them into places where creativity is valued. We spend our whole lives creating; it is a part of who we are as humans. Our role as educators should be to awaken this creativity and power it up, instead, we are too busy standardizing everything and stifling creativity. Our students should be engaged creatively, not engaged in test prep and testing at the expense of all else. As 21st century school leaders we need to create a school culture that values creativity above standardization and conformity.



Sir Ken Robinson's TED Talk: How to Escape Education's Death Valley


As long as policymakers at the national level, state level, and the district level continue to see education as this mechanistic, industrial process that is “done to kids” we're going to continue to have an education system that fails a large number of students. Changing our tests and our standards every few years is not going to create a climate of possibility and creativity in our schools. It only perpetuates the mechanistic system of education that has failed many of our kids for over a hundred years.

3 Principles for Operating Schools with a Responsive Mindset: Steps Toward Personalizing Education

After being an administrator at a “public school of choice” I can’t help but wonder: “What if we ran our schools as if our parents could choose to remove their children tomorrow if they felt we were delivering the education they wanted for their children? How would we choose to operate? How would this affect policy implementation? How would we change our decisions and decision-making processes?

While I am certainly not convinced that “school choice” or vouchers are the salvation of public education, but there is one thing inherent in the idea of choice that I think warrants consideration. That idea is that schools, when facing competition, are forced to be more responsive to student and parent needs. Public schools in our country are massive bureaucratic institutions that are too often unresponsive to student and parent needs, and more interested in preserving and promoting themselves and the status quo. For example, how many times as school leaders are we forced to use the justification, "Well, it's just board policy." Or, "It's state regulations?"

I sympathize with parents who do not feel that their public schools are meeting the needs of their kids. Whether or not their claims are true, it is still their perception. Many decisions are made, from the legislative level to the classroom, for all kinds of reasons. And, if one questions those decisions, the reaction is "How dare you question my motives!" but the reality is, as educators and school leaders, we should be hyper-vigilant and willing to question all decisions. Decisions that can't be entirely justified to be in the best interests of kids, should be questioned vehemently. As 21st century school leaders we must be willing to scrutinize decisions that are made and be willing to express our opinions when we do not feel those decisions are being made in the interests of our students.

It's too bad public schools can't adopt a customer service model in their approach to educating kids. While schools are not businesses, nor should they be considered so, the disposition of approaching our kids and parents as if what they need and want matter is what I call having a "responsive mindset." Schools with this responsive mindset approach school with a disposition that says, "What if my parents could pull their students out of my school immediately? How would that affect how I make decisions and deliver education to the students in my building?"

For all the reasons and arguments others have made, I realize treating our kids and their parents as “customers” in the business sense is not totally adequate. Still, public schools do owe students and their parents to be responsive. Perhaps if school leaders acted with responsiveness there would be fewer people who advocate for vouchers in the first place.

What would some of these responsive mindset behaviors look like? Here's three that come to mind.

• As school leaders, we never say we are doing something simply because policy says so. While we need policy to guide us, policy should never be something to hide behind. If what we are doing can’t be argued to be in the best interest of kids, perhaps we should not do it period. Arguing that we do it because policy or the law says so makes us look like that policy or law is more important than the child. Being a responsive school leader means always making decisions for the good of kids, not because it is written down in some policy manual. It also means making sure we can meticulously explain our actions and decisions in, not hide behind the law.
• As school leaders, we should make every effort to make the rationale for what we are doing clear to our kids and their parents. Most parents, if we take the time to explain, can understand why we do what we do. They still might not agree, but we must give them the opportunity to have their say. When we make decisions that affect the lives of their kids, we must always keep in mind, even parents who struggle, most often want the best education they can get for their kids. Being a responsive school leader means taking whatever amount of time it takes to explain our decisions, allowing parents the opportunity to explain their disagreement, and being willing to change our decisions if our parents make a good argument for changing our decisions. There's no room for ego in the process for doing what's right for kids.
• As school leaders, we should make decisions as if all our parents could pull their kids out of our schools tomorrow if they so desired. Making decisions in this manner, makes us responsive when it comes to providing an education to kids. If our parents could simply go elsewhere to get an education for their kids, we would perhaps scrutinize our decisions as school leaders a bit more carefully. In a district or school that operates with a responsive mindset, every decision is viewed through a lens of its impact for all kids and for individual kids, and care is given not to delude oneself into thinking that what's being done is best for kids when it clearly is not. I would hope we would never sacrifice a single student for the good of all students, hence arguing that the needs of many outweigh needs of the few, or one, does not give us an excuse to harm the few or one at the expense of the many. Being a responsive school leader means always examining the impact of a decision on every single student.

As school leaders, we can personalize education for all kids by adopting a responsive mindset that truly places students at the center of what we do.

Top Five 21st Century Principal Blog Posts for Week of May 25, 2013

Graduation and end of the year festivities have prevented my from posting as much as I would like this week, but here’s what most everyone has been reading on my blog.

Which Model of Project-Based Learning Is Needed for 21st Century Schools?

Using Yong Zhao’s PBL framework from his book World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students, this post looks at the various iterations of Project-Based Learning and provides some thoughts about what form is best for 21st century learning.


7 Principles to Guide Amazingly Simple School Improvement Plans and Planning

There’s no need for our school improvement plans and planning to be complicated. Our school improvement plans should be readable and legible to all audiences. This post provides some principles and thoughts to guide having “amazingly simple school improvement plans” in the spirit of Steve Jobs and Apple.


5 Abilities of Successful School Leaders in a Sea of Change…Mindful Leadership

In an era when change is all about us, and within our schools as well, being able to effectively lead that change is vital. This post captures some tips from author Maria Gonzales that empowers school leaders with mindful leadership abilities that equip them to face change.


Structuring Classrooms for Exploration, Risk-Taking, and Engineering

Why are we basically still building schools and classrooms like we always have? Maybe we should structure our classrooms to empower students to explore, take risks, and engineer new ideas and products. This post looks at possible characteristics of a classroom that places these characteristics front and center.


Transforming Our Schools by Changing Mindsets Not Buying More Technology
If we really want to change teaching and learning, we are not going to do that by putting more computers in our schools and classrooms. We must change teacher mindsets on what teaching and learning is. We need to reinvent how “we do school” by changing how teaches see what they do. This post briefly looks at that idea.

Transforming Our Schools by Changing Mindsets Not by Buying More Technology

“Teacher mind frames are the most important enhancer and barrier to students’ learning.” Alan Bain and Mark Weston, The Learning Edge: What Technology Can Do to Educate All Children

Our relentless pursuit for some magical formula that will suddenly transform our schools is a fruitless quest. There are no magical formulas or tools, and there are no heroes who will ride into our schools and school districts and suddenly save the day and turn our schools into magical places of learning and engagement. If transformation is to happen, we need to stop pursuing 1:1 initiatives, new standards, new tests, next generation tests, longer school days, and the other latest and greatest educational gimmicks and get down to the real reasons why we can’t change our schools. Authors Bain and Weston offer some good advice: look to the mindsets of the educators in our schools and districts. That's where the real obstacles lie.

According to Bain and Weston, “Technology will not force its way into classrooms; for decades, teachers and schools have shown remarkable kickback,” and if you walk into any district that has spent thousands or millions on technological toys,  you will see what they are talking about. We look at all out technological toys and we ask ourselves:

• “Why are our teachers not using these interactive boards?” 
• “Why are those iPads sitting idle in the corner of the room?” 
• “Why is it when I visit the classrooms in our school district I see little engagement with technology by the students, and mostly the kinds of teaching and learning that has been going on for the last 100 years or so?” 

I think the answers to these questions are rather simple: we put all this technology in our classrooms and schools, but we forget that many of our teachers simply look for ways to use the technology to help them teach as they always have, rather than look for new ways of teaching with the technology. Their mindset is the obstacle. (Administrators have that mindset too.)

If you really want to know why all that technology sits idle, it's probably because it does not fit the way your teachers teach and the way they have been teaching for the past 100 years or so. Too much of that teaching is still teachers talking, students sitting and listening. In these classrooms, some teachers determine that if the technology won't help them do school like they have been doing it, then they don’t need it. They don’t see the need to change how they are teaching, even though half their class stares up at them in glazed-eye stupor.

If we really want to transform teaching and learning in our schools and classrooms, perhaps we need to pause from all the technology buying, installing, and training and focus on the “mindsets” that our teachers and administrators have. We need to stop “automating the 20th century ways of teaching and learning” and pursue whole new ways of teaching and learning.

Empowering and Educating Students About Cell Phones: Ending the Bans

School’s continuing to ban cell phones and smartphones are fighting a losing battle. In spite of administrative efforts to keep cell phones out of our schools, our students are becoming “cell-only” internet users according to a recent report, entitled “Teens and Technology 2013,” released by the Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project. The report continues:

“One in four teens are “cell-mostly” internet users, who say they mostly go online using their phone and not using some other device such as a desktop or laptop computer,”

Smartphone adoption among American teens has increased substantially and our students have “pervasive mobile access to the Internet.” Because our students now have this “pervasive mobile access” the time has come to pull the plug on cell phone bans entirely. Instead of keeping cell phones out, we need to get our students engaged in using them constructively. Where else are they going to learn about the potential for good or ill of mobile technologies?

Other interesting points from the report include:

• 78% of teens now have a cell phone. Almost half of those are smartphones (47%).
• 37% of all teens have smartphones, up from 23% in 2011.
• 1 in 4 teens have tablet computers.
• 3 in 4 teens (74%) say they can access the Internet on cell phones, tablets or other mobile devices at least occasionally.

In addition to getting rid of cell phone bans, we also need to reconsider our efforts to filter access as well. If our students are going to have unfiltered Internet access anyway through their mobile devices, would our energies not be better directed toward teaching them responsible access?

Cell phones, smartphones, and tablets are becoming the Internet access devices of choice among our students, yet we still engage in policies that try to limit or filter that access. Instead of ban and filter, let’s empower and educate students to use that access for good.

5 Ways Schools or Districts Can Immediately Use Technology to Engage in Authentic Learning

"Opportunities brought about by the recent developments of technology have been almost completely missed in education," writes Yong Zhao in, World Class Learners; Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Students. Take a quick look in schools, and you will see that there are a great deal of "missed opportunities." You are still likely to see students sitting in rows, teachers at the front of the room lecturing, or students flipping pages in a textbook and answering questions at the end of  chapters. This is happening, while across the room sits four or five desktop computers, fully wired to the world. Or, safely tucked away in many of the students' pockets are smartphones with more computing power than the first PCs many of us owned. These missed opportunities exist for lots of reasons. Failure to provide training and support for implementation. Lack of technical support for the devices. Leadership that discourages innovation and experimentation. The list is endless.  Nonetheless, these are missed opportunities for engaging students in authentic, 21st century learning.

What, then, are ways schools and school districts can turn these missed opportunities into the means to engage students in 21st century learning? It simply involves looking at the technologies and using all of their capabilities, not just those that support the ways we've always taught. Here are five ways schools and school districts can immediately use technology to engage their students in 21st century learning.

• Use the technology as a media creation tool. Desktops, laptops, netbooks, and can do so much more than type research papers. While that is certainly a legitimate educational activity, our technological devices will do so much more. Educators and their leaders need to see them as tools to create media products, such as books, artwork, photos, movies, music, web pages, and blog posts. The list for media creation possibilities is limitless. In the end, you can recognize a school that gets it technologically by the media products students are asked to create.
• Use the technology as a communication tool that enlarges your school campus. Instead of using our devices to just email parents and communicate with each other in the building,  we can have students email experts, and engage national and international leaders in conversations that constitute real learning. When it comes to communication, you can recognize a school that gets it technologically by the extent of its use of global connections.
• Use the technology to engage global audiences. Instead of seeing devices as a way for students to publish and share in the classroom, use them to engage students in India, Japan, and Australia as authentic audiences. Use the world as an audience, not just the students in the classroom or the teacher. When it comes to engaging authentic audiences, you can recognize a school that gets it technologically by who their audiences are.
• Use the technology for global collaboration, not just for in-class cooperative learning. Instead of students only partnering with their peers in desks across from them, have them partner with peers in India, Argentina or Germany. Effectively engaging technology means having students work with other students on the other side of the world, rather than just the other side of the room. When it comes to collaboration, you can recognize a school that get its technologically by where the students with whom they are collaborating are located.
• Use the technology to forge partnerships with other educators in other parts of the world. Use the devices to make connections with educators and students in areas of the world that are seeing first hand what you want your students to see and what you want your students to learn. Technology offers the opportunities of global partnerships. When it comes to partnerships, you can recognize when a school that gets it technologically by whether it engages in international partnerships for learning.

One only need look around his or her schools and districts to see if there are missed opportunities for engaging in authentic learning through technology. Are there missed opportunities sitting on tables, resting in students' pockets, or sitting in storage carts? Are students still primarily learning through textbooks and chapter questions? Authentic learning can happen when we engage in learning that capitalizes on the capabilities of our technologies rather than simply using those technologies to enhance what we've always done.

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4 Principles for Fostering and Maintaining Authentic 21st Century Leadership

In his book entitled The Mindful Leader: Awakening Your Natural Management Skills Through Mindfulness Meditation, Michael Carroll writes, "When we lead a career that is sharply focused on being more successful, more admired, or just more comfortable, we can deceive ourselves into neglecting the world around us. We end up managing our lives like projects rather than actually living them." To add to Carroll's points about authenticity, Dennis Sparks writes, "Outside-the-box leaders know that their authenticity is a potent source of influence and that honesty is at the heart of authenticity."

How then, does a 21st century leader develop this "authenticity"? How do we as school leaders avoid the pitfall of managing our lives like projects, instead of remaining authentic in the middle of them? The answers to these questions have been at the center of my own explorations in recent months. Those explorations have taken me through the writings of leadership experts like Dennis Sparks, Ken Blanchard, and Paul Houston. This same journey has also taken me through the writings of Buddhist thinkers such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Jack Kornfield, Phillip Moffit, and Michael Carroll. It has even prompted me to attend a Buddhist retreat, which I posted about here.

So what have I learned from these masters of leadership and Buddhist thinkers? I have learned at the end of the day, what matters the most to leadership is being authentic. Being present at all times is the way to effectively lead and influence others. Being authentic is more than just being yourself; it also means acting with integrity, pulling off the masks we tend to put on, and courageously facing the truth of every moment of our day. Being present means being in the moment at all times. In practical terms, it means not getting lost in the "what-ifs" or "might-happens." Furthermore, it means being patient, and fully listening to others.

In the 21st century, school leaders would do well to foster authenticity and presence each moment of each day. How then, do we do that? Here's my own Four Principles for Fostering Authentic 21st Century Leadership and Presence. These are derived from my readings of the above, and my own mindfulness practice as well as my attendance to a meditation retreat this past summer.

1. Being authentic begins by leading from the inside out not from the top down. Being authentic with those we lead means offering daily, ourselves. There are no masks, and no room for hiding at the top if we want to be authentic leaders, and to truly be present for those around us. Top down leadership separates us from those we lead, and is sometimes useful, but it does not foster authenticity and presence. We must be willing to accept vulnerability as a normal part of our leading.

2. Being authentic means becoming an "open leader." In addition, we become totally present with all that is happening. Through deliberate practice we foster an openness that makes us totally available for what happens each moment of our day. Instead of following our thoughts off into planning, we sit and are present when others come to us with issues or problems. In the midst of crises, instead of being led off by our emotions, we choose to be present, which means we acknowledge our fears and concerns, but we are not led off by them. We remain present, which is the strength of being authentic, even in unfortunate situations.

3. Being authentic means we have a willingness to abandon our own version and vision of reality to engage the present. In practice, this means we aren't blinded by our truth and views. In the interest of being authentic and present, we simply let go of our versions of reality, or at least do not cling to them tenaciously. Being an authentic leader means understanding that we can't be attached to the idea of being right at the expense of everything else. Being an authentic and present leader means there's no room for "It's-my-way-or-the-highway" brand of leadership. Clinging to our own version and vision leads to inauthenticity and non-presence.

4. Being authentic means cultivating "complete generosity" or what Tibetan's call "jinpa." In practical terms, authentic leaders practice this by generously offering themselves to others without making ridiculous demands or placing lids on situations. Instead of trying to lead by always winning over or guarding our own point of view, we let go and lead by total exposure of our generous selves. We gladly take on a willingness to be vulnerable and express our humanity simply and authentically for the sake of generosity. We rid ourselves of the habit of thinking we need to place lids on ourselves and others. We grow and continually grow in generosity.

As leaders of 21st century schools and school districts, it is too easy to get lost in our own career advancement, the latest reform measures,being successful, or gaining admiration. These things lead away from authenticity, not toward it. We do sometimes turn our lives into projects instead of just being authentic. Take a moment today, and just be.

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21st Century Leadership in Schools with Changing Demographics

Recently, the Duke Sanford School of Public Policy released an updated study entitled "Racial and Economic Diversity in North Carolina's Schools: An Update." The study by Charles T. Clodfelter, Helen F. Ladd, and Jacob L. Vigdor, had some interesting bulleted points regarding the demographic status of North Carolina Public Schools.

• Since the early 1990s with the end and weakening of school desegration policies and measures, North Carolina schools became increasingly segregated. In other words, racial isolation has increased.
• Within school districts in North Carolina, where schools have higher shares of minority students, teachers in those schools have weaker credentials.
• With growth of enrollment of Hispanic students in North Carolina, school integration is no longer just a black-white issue. Hispanic enrollment has grown from 1.5 percent in 1994-95 to 13.3 percent in 2011-12.
• Though it appears the racial imbalance has stopped growing, the economic status imbalance has increased and is still increasing.

The next logical question is, What does this mean for educational leaders in North Carolina as we move further into the second decade of the 21st century?

It means we as 21st century school leaders are going to be leading less diverse educational communities.

It means we as 21 century school leaders are going to have to make sure our students gain understandings of diverse cultures because many are attending schools where multicultural experiences are lacking.

It means we as 21st century school leaders must recognize the continued need to grow in understanding and knowledge of Hispanic cultures.

Finally, it means that we as 21st century school leaders must find ways to mitigate the growing economic imbalance in our student population.

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American Education's War on Student Engagement: We're Losing Them!

A recent Gallup survey delivered what I would consider much worse news than that our students aren't first place on the latest international assessments. That news simply stated was:

"The longer our students stay in school, the less engaged they become."

In a word, we are boring our students into oblivion. This issue is not something a new set of standards will fix, nor will a "new generation of assessments fix." Engagement is a product of what we are asking our students to learn and how we are asking them to learn. Apparently, the more we keep kids in school, the less they see the point.

Here's some other interesting points from the survey's report.

• Perhaps our overzealous focus on standardized testing in this country is one of the culprits killing student engagement.
• Our school system is not only failing to embrace entrepreneurial talent in our students: we are actually neutralizing that talent.

Instead of chasing after test scores and adopting new standards, perhaps it is time to start honestly looking at those things that are causing students to disengage and simply change them. But I realize that is too simple. I suspect the real culprit is this tight-fisted grip Americans have on keeping schools as they are, because, after all, they worked for me, but that is probably a question for another blog post.

The truth is though, the kids are no longer buying what we're selling, yet we keep selling. It is time to fundamentally do things differently.

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Arming Educators Is a Bad Idea! Thoughts from a School Principal

After the Sandy Hook incident in Newtown, Connecticut, there have been a flood of calls by lawmakers and news pundits on the news networks to call for allowing educators and school employees to carry weapons as a part of their regular duties. That is a Bad idea!

While I understand some people place a lot of faith in Smith and Wesson, I however, do not share that same faith. Introducing a weapon into a school environment, even if that weapon is being carried by a well-meaning individual, has the potential to be disastrous  on so many levels it’s unfathomable. I will concede that I am not opposed to a law enforcement officer being hired to do this, if having gun in the building will allay the fears of those who think guns are the answer, but turning our schools into armed camps is a bad idea and non-starter for me, for several reasons.

1. Keeping these guns secure at all times could be a problem. As an administrator, this would be extremely important. Even if one child were to get their hands on a misplaced or unattended weapon and harm themselves or another, it is totally unacceptable. Or, what about the situation where a teacher tries to break up a fight, and in the process, one of the students takes his gun away and starts shooting? I would not accept the death of any child or individual under these circumstances as “the price we pay for security.” In spite of the common talking point put out by the pro-gun organizations, “Guns do kill.” They kill both when criminals use them, and when “law-abiding citizens” either get careless or give in to powerful emotions and use them. Schools are often very unpredictable places, and introducing firearms into them makes them even more unpredictable and potentially volatile.  Making sure that these guns brought into the building are secure at all times is another impossible task, since we can’t even guarantee that same security in our homes and in our businesses.

2. What Detrimental effects does  “gun-carrying” on the relationships between educators and their students have? Since we do not have many instances of educators carrying guns, there is of course, no research that I am aware of for this concern. However, I can’t help but wonder how an administrator carrying a weapon suddenly changes how students and staff suddenly begin to view this individual. I’m an administrator, not a police officer. I do not wish to be seen as the “law-and-order” sheriff of my building: the one who is going to shoot the bad guy when he tries to get into our building. That kind of relationship is far removed from my current relationship with students and staff. I suspect that if educators begin carrying guns, there will be changes, even subtle changes, in the relationships between educator and student.

3. Lack of adequate fire-arms training. Filling out a form and attending a class or two hardly qualifies you to engage in using deadly force in public. Using deadly force requires making snap decisions while assessing your surrounding environment. It requires thinking like a police officer, which simply having a concealed weapon permit does not qualify you to do. No educator I know is trained to think like a law enforcement officer in these kinds of dangerous situations. Putting guns into hand of educators who do not have the kinds of gun and gun violence training in extremely volatile situations is a disaster waiting to happen.

4. Guns do kill people. The purpose of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines is to kill as many people as possible is a short period of time. As we have seen in recent events, these do that highly effectively. We already keep a number of weapons out of the hands of ordinary citizens because they have no reason to have them. Bazookas, hand grenades, and rocket launchers pose a threat because they kill people, lots of people at once. Just by saying “Guns don’t kill people” does not make it so.

There are certainly other reasons that I personally oppose arming educators. By introducing guns into our schools in the hands of our teachers, what kind of message does a “gun-toting” teacher or administrator convey? I don’t know about you, but the last thing I want to worry about is having a “Rambo” as a teacher in my building.

6 Strategies to Make Your School of District’s Office Paperless

This morning’s #satchat turned to a discussion about using technology to make the school administrator’s office paperless. I have actually always been “less paperful,” if I may coin a term, than other administrators because it is a by-product of relying heavily on technology, which I always have. I won’t go into the rationale for why one would want to have a paperless office because I think the reasons for doing so are rather obvious. Instead, let me just list some of my own practices that have facilitated being paperless as an administrator. I can’t hardly remember the last time I opened my file cabinet; maybe it was sometime in July. At any rate, my file cabinet lives a lonely and neglected life these days because its utility has been reduced to simply some place to put my printer. Still, I think these 6 simple strategies will go a long way in reducing the reliance on physical documents, hence paper.

• Find some free/inexpensive Web 2.0 tools to streamline your practices. For example, I have a paid Evernote account and it is well-worth the subscription price. With this software, I take meeting notes, anecdotal notes, and  share articles/resources with staff. Evernote’s simple sharing feature means I can share the minutes from our last Professional Learning Community meeting with an email. Web 2.o tools like Diigo allow means I can share web resources I find with teachers, again, through email. My tablet’s Scanner app gives me a “scanner-on-the-go” and Dropbox gives me a virtual filling cabinet that follows me everywhere with access across devices. To go paperless requires finding Web 2.0 tools and apps that help you do many of those things you currently do on paper.
• Invest in a copier that acts as a scanner and will send scanned documents to your email as PDF files. Or, you can get copiers that will scan documents and place them in specified folders on your network server. Our copier is capable of scanning any document, and with the press of button, you can send it to your email account. When I receive a document of importance in the mail, I scan and then file it electronically. To facilitate your paperless office, find the hardware that allows cut down on your need to store paper copies. A copier that scans and then sends the document to you will do just that.
• Keep your computer file system simple; only use a handful of folders, the less the better. Many use conventional wisdom and start creating folder after folder on their desktop computers to file e-documents as they come in or are created. The problem with such file systems is two-fold. First, it takes time to ponder which folder in which you should place the created or received file. And then it takes time to remember which folder you put it when needed later. Instead multple folders, create one called “Working Docs” and another called “Docs Archive.” When working on that presentation next week, keep it in the “Working Docs” folder so you can access it quickly. If you are finished with a document or just are keeping an e-copy, dump it into your Docs Archive. One thing people seem to forget is that a computer is FULLY SEARCHABLE so finding a  file is a snap. Of course you have to put a little thought in what you name your files to begin with, but I bet you five dollars I could find my copy of last month’s principal’s meeting before you can!
• When you receive a physical document in the mail that is important, always scan and then shred it. Walk in to any administrator’s office and I bet there’s a stack somewhere. In that stack are things received in the mail that are awaiting their fate, either filing in a folder or in the trashcan. I will confess that I have one of those stacks too, but I bet mine is smaller, and I use the “scan and shred” method for physical documents I receive to keep that pile in line. While sorting the mail, I immediately make a determination: doc-to-be-archived or junk. It is that simple. I handle mail only once. Docs-to-be-archived go into to pile which goes to my copier-scanner then the shredder. This keeps the paper pile at bay in my office, and immediately gets those documents into my Docs Archive, which I described in the above bullet.
• Insist that others send you documents either as email attachments or share it with you as a Google Doc. I repeat constantly to everyone who will hear: “Just send it to me as an attachment.” Or I tell them, “Create your schedule on a Google Doc and just share it with me.” The rationale here is to get others to utilize the tools that will minimize the paper coming into my office. Most happily assist me. Those who don’t? I just keep encouraging them.
• Create a simple email sorting system and avoid using multiple email folders. Keeping a simple sorting and filing system in email will also affect the paper load coming through the office too. I use a two-folder system in my email similar to that I use for my desktop. I create two email folders in my Gmail. One is called “Follow-Up” and the other is “Hold.” By using these folders and my email processing procedure, I always have an empty “Inbox” at the end of the day. I usually conduct two or three main email processing sessions a day. The first step in this processing is to read each email and immediately decide whether a) it requires action from me, b) it is information I will need in the next several days, c) it is informational, or d) it is spam or junk. If an email  requires action from me, I put it in the “Follow-Up” folder. If it is information needed in the short term, I put it in the “Hold” folder. If it is general information I  hit the “Archive” button, which automatically places it in my archive. If it is junk or spam, I hit delete. At the end of each session, my Inbox is empty. Later, I go back through the Follow Up folder and take care of each item there or add it to my “To-Do List.” Once an item in my Follow Up folder is done, I archive it. The goal is to only handle an email once or twice.

School leaders can set the example for everyone else in efforts to cut back on paper usage by employing the technological tools and the processes/procedures that help reduce both the need for paper documents and for  the file cabinets to store them.

5 Reasons I’m Not Upgrading to Windows 8 at This Time

Should you upgrade to Windows 8? The answer? Probably not if you are asking that question right now. Microsoft has made it amazingly tempting with its cheap upgrade offers. Currently, I could upgrade my personal laptop for only $14.99, but I won’t.

It is seldom that I share a single link to a single web site or resource on this blog, at least I haven’t done that lately, but this video from C/NET makes a darn good case to stay away from the Microsoft Windows 8 Upgrade. (Top 5 Reasons Not to Upgrade to Windows 8).

But the special offers from Microsoft to upgrade to Windows 8 make the idea quite tempting. Unfortunately, even though I could upgrade my laptop from Windows 7 to Windows 8 on the cheap, I won’t and here’s why.

• My laptop isn’t a touchscreen laptop, and Windows 8’s interface is designed for touchscreens. I have read complaints everywhere on how awkward trying to navigate a touchscreen interface with a mouse and keyboard is, so for now, I’ll save myself the pain. Perhaps you should too. I’m staying with the Windows 7 desktop interface for now.
• I want to avoid the horror of finding compatible drivers for all the devices on my laptop. I ran the Windows 8 utility to check compatibility, and there were way too many devices with question marks beside them. My laptop is buzzing along nicely thank you. I don’t won’t to spend hours trying to find compatible drivers so that my Bluetooth capability will work, or to keep my DVD burner working. Finding drivers is a nightmare. Even $14.99 isn’t enough motivation to make me spend an entire day trying to find compatible drivers.
• Honestly, I like my desktop. I like my start button. I like whole Windows 7 interface. Honestly, I could care less about having sleek tiles on my screen. I like my task bar. I like my start button, and I like my ability to just slap folders on my desktop. Switching to something else when I like what I have makes no sense.
• I don’t want to take time to learn a new operating system. For me to want to learn a new operating system, I need to know there’s going to be some benefit, but from what I’ve read, there isn’t simply enough benefit to force me to spend the time to learn how to operate my laptop again. Faster boot times and the Windows app store aren’t enough motivation to make the switch, and from what I’ve read those are the only other two reasons I can find to make the switch.
• Finally, my laptop “ain’t broke anyway.” When something is running well, why mess things up? I’m afraid upgrading to Windows 8 will turn my otherwise satisfying desktop experience into a battle of bugs. No thank you. I’ll stay with Windows 7.

After a little research and discussion with other through social media, I am happy as a Windows 7 user. I am also a happy Android user too, so I don’t really need another operating system that maximizes my touchscreen experience. Sorry Microsoft, but you haven’t yet convinced me, even with your cheap upgrade prices.

5 Suggestions for 21st Century School Leaders on Web Presence Management

According to Kitty Porterfield and Meg Carnes, in the book Why Social Media Matters: School Communication in the Digital Age, school leaders should

“Think of your website as home base for your school information platform.”

A great deal is written about school leaders engaging in the use of social media. I myself have done the same. But, most of us have a more powerful way to communicate information and image to the broader world than social media, and that is our school or district web presence.

My own experience is that most districts do not spend a great deal of time deliberately thinking about their web presence. They simply post a web site because either “everyone’s doing it” or there’s some written or unwritten mandate out there that says they must. The result of this often means a school or district has a web site, but it is highly underutilized and poorly updated, and that is a shame. A web site is an opportunity for a school or district to get its message out to the world.

I am going to propose a new idea: “21st century school leaders need to take charge of their web presence.” In other words, school leaders need to make their web sites purposeful places of information and news about their schools and districts, make it a tool of public relations and organizational promotion.  To do that, here’s some simple suggestions:

1. Do not delegate updating the web site to someone else. I can already hear the protests on this one, especially from those “not-so-tech-savvy” school administrators, but hear me out on this one. Too often, school administrators have no clue about how web sites work, and how important web presence is. If a school leader takes on the role of updating and monitoring their school web site, then what goes on it matters. They also know what’s on their school web site. I am afraid there are probably administrators out there who don’t even know everything that is on their web site. By taking on the role of managing your web site, you know what is there. You can also make sure it projects your school mission and vision to the world. In a word, when you take on the job of managing your school site, you take its content personal, and that is important.

2. If you do delegate your web site management and maintenance to someone else, make sure you are involved. Too often, web presence is delegated to someone who knows how to do it, then the school administrator rarely assists in its management and maintenance. If a school leader is going to delegate this task, she needs to meet periodically to review the site and examine it for content, style, aesthetics, etc. This periodic review also needs to look at the site’s statistics. By looking at analytics such as web traffic and traffic sources, school leaders can tell if they are getting the most out of their web presence, and look for ways to increase traffic to their site, after all, why have a web site if you aren’t interested in its traffic?In the 21st century, just having a web site isn’t enough. To utilize that web presence to fullest, school leaders need to be involved in its management and maintenance even if the mechanics are delegated to others.

3. Use social media tools to direct traffic to your web site. While social media can be used to make announcements, which I do myself, it can also be used to promote your web site. This is especially important for those longer announcements and more detailed information that can’t be shared on Twitter in a 140 characters, or on a Facebook page. Using social media tools to direct traffic to your web presence, simply means posting using social media tools when there’s significantly new information, or just important information on your web site. Ultimately, my personal goal is to get parents, and the larger world,  to visit our web site regularly without prompting, even getting them to subscribe to changes with RSS, if that’s possible. Ultimately, social media is a means to call attention to our school or district’s web presence.

4. Update and revise your web site often. If you want people to visit your school or district web site often, then you have to give them a reason to do so, and this can be done by constantly providing new and engaging information. If you take a moment and visit some school or district web sites today, and you return to them a year from now, you will probably see little change. Maybe the calendar widget has changed, or the little announcements box has new items in it, but if you click on the “principal’s message button” you are treated to the same message he posted last year. If you want people to return to your site again and again, you have to give them a reason to do so. This means updating and providing new and engaging information about your school on a regular basis.

5. Carefully and deliberately select your web presence manager. Too often the role of web presence manager is simply “dumped” on someone with the tech savvy to operate the software. This is a big mistake. Instead, 21st century school leaders should delegate their web presence management to after carefully and deliberately selecting the person who will take on this role. Yes, the person needs to tech know-how, but they also need to be expert communicators, knowing how to make the most of the medium. They need to be able to do more than just “update the web page with latest announcement.” They need to know who to make the most of web presence in promoting school or district. Simply selecting someone who knows how to work the tools makes little sense in a digital age when you are projecting a global image by your web presence.

The reality is, a number of school leaders view just having a web presence as enough. The truth is, those who think that are missing out on using an effective tool to get their school or district’s story out to the world. To get the most out of our web presence, you have to start looking at our web site as “information central” about your school and district, and take an active role in its management and maintenance.

Turning Your Classrooms into 21st Century Learning Spaces

“Where a school is located and how it sets up internal structures determine its possibilities,” writes Heidi Hayes Jacob in the book Curriculum 21: Essential Education for a Changing World. As she argues in this book, we have inherited spaces in our buildings that were designed for learning of another era.

Tearing down and rebuilding our schools is hardly a tasteful option in an era of tight budgets and a total lack of funding. What can we do then? We can start by redesigning our classrooms from places where “knowledge is imparted” to more of place where knowledge is found, discovered in a collaborative manner. We can turn the physical environment into places where authentic learning is the classroom business, not sitting in rows, listening to lectures. This may mean simply getting rid of desks and moving in tables and chairs that are portable and can be rearranged quickly according to the needs of the students and the teachers. It means we can change our physical spaces in our schools into 21st century learning environments without breaking our budgets.

The building we currently occupy was constructed around 1929, so you can imagine its limitations. Yet, each teacher in our building has consciously worked to create learning spaces that capture the philosophy and spirit of our school: collaboration, engagement in authentic learning, and using technology. Here’s a photo of one of our English classrooms.



I know, you can see chairs stacked on the tables. Even 21st century classrooms need vacuuming, but if you look closely,  you see tables arranged along the walls, and on those tables are laptops. Students work seated at the tables and the teacher has room to move about to assist students and monitor what they’re doing. Two tables are placed in the center of the room both for students who bring their own laptops, and for meetings among collaborative groups. It is not your normal English classroom arrangement. In this case, students can turn their chairs to attend to the teacher at the beginning of the class, then turn to their computers when it’s time to engage in whatever their projects ask them to do.

The space is arranged to facilitate, not lecturing, but engagement in using 21st century tools in authentic learning tasks and maximize collaboration. How a classroom is arranged tells a great deal about what happens the most in it.

Let’s look at another classroom.



Tables, tables, tables everywhere. No desks in rows. In fact, we do not have a single old-fashioned desk in the building and that is by design. In the 21st century students need to work collaboratively and having highly portable tables allows for maximum collaboration. This is a science classroom. Students are purposefully seated at tables in this room so that they can work on collaborative science projects. The chairs and tables can be turned and used in multiple configurations, depending on the needs of the class. Out of the picture, is a small lab of desktop computers that students can use, along with their own personal laptops and devices as well.

So, what does this say about our school? Even though we inhabit an older building designed for 20th century pedagogy, we can purposefully redesign our spaces for 21st century learning. But keep in mind, we all know that just changing spaces does not necessarily mean a change in pedagogy. We should know that from the “Open School debacle back in the late 60s and early 70s. Still, purposefully redesigning spaces for 21st century learning in your school does not have to be an expensive undertaking, but you can tell how a school conducts the business of teaching by how its learning spaces are designed.

6 Key Personal Learning Network Literacies Every Educator Needs

“We now live in a world where even twelve-year olds can create their own global classrooms around the things about which they are are most passionate,” writes Will Richardson in an essay entitled “Navigating Social Networks as Learning Tools.”  Richardson adds this about our students, “Most of them have no adults, neither teachers nor parents, in their lives, who can help them see and employ the learning potential at hand.” With this lack of adult involvement, there is no wonder why our kids get into trouble online with cyberbullying and other forms of web mischief. Our children need to have adults in their lives that know and understand the art of developing personal learning networks and connecting with others. In other words, they need adults who are “network literate.”

There are still far too many educators shirking this responsibility of teaching children art of developing personal learning networks. Administrators and teachers create Twitter accounts and declare they are now connected and have a Professional Learning Network. District administrators and policy makers are so hung up on social media’ s negatives to see the potential of social media and personal learning networks as a 21st century learning tool. As 21st century educators,  we should be working to become network literate so we can be the adult guides for our students in using personal learning networks effectively.

But what does being “network literate” look like as it relates to personal learning networks? What are these abilities that we as educators need to be able to do in order to best teach, guide, and facilitate others, both educators and students, in their development of powerful learning networks?

Here’s my own short list of personal learning network literacies educators need to have.

Mechanics of Connecting: This involves, at the simplest level, knowledge of individual networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, blogs, wikis, and the whole list of tech tools that foster connections over the web. Educators need to understand the basics of establishing accounts with these tools, and a working knowledge that expands as the tools change. They also need to understand the potential and possibilities behind the use of each type of tool, and help students make wise selections about which tools to use in their learning situations. Being network literate means knowing both the personal learning network tech tools and the opportunities and potentials of those tools.

Basics of reputation management.  The basics of reputation management involve the ability to monitor online sources using simple tools to listen and follow the reactions that others have to what we say online. It also means using resources to monitor our digital footprint. Educators need to understand reputation management so they can guide students in making the kinds of online choices that enhance rather than detract from their future prospects. Being network literate means knowing how to use the web resources to shape our online reputations.

Verifying and Checking Credentials of Connections. To create effective personal learning networks, we need to be able to check and verify whether those with whom we are connecting are the experts they say they are. That can be difficult at times. Still, understanding the need to check and how to check the credentials of our connections is important. Being network literate means knowing how to verify the expertise and credentials of those with whom we are connecting.

Information management.  Educators need to understand how to manage all of the information flowing to them from their personal learning networks. Sorting and classification and being able to determine relevancy are all necessary skills to effectively manage information from personal learning networks. Also, knowledge of tech tools that help with the management of this information flow is important. Knowing how to use RSS feeds, note taking apps, and social bookmarking are important for effective information management.  Being network literate means being able to effectively manage the information flow from your personal learning network.

Personal learning network cultivation. Understanding that personal learning networks are organic and not static is key. Once we’ve begun connecting with other educators, the work of cultivating that network is never finished. Tasks like how to grow that network and maintain its usefulness is important. The art of sharing and reciprocity are also keys to effective network cultivation. And like pruning the branches back on a tree so that it will grow in a manner desired, we also need to understand how to best prune our personal learning networks so that they are effective learning tools themselves. Being network literate means knowing how to grow and shape our personal learning networks.

Netiquette and responsible web citizenship. Knowing and understanding the whys of responsible behavior online is important for educators too. Too often, when we hear in the news media of an educator posting something insensitive or inappropriate on a blog or Twitter, it’s because they did not fully understand some key elements of netiquette and web citizenship. Educators, of all people should be knowledgeable about responsible and polite online behavior and should be models of these behaviors for their students. They should know specifically what kinds of content is appropriate for online. Being network literate means knowing the rules of netiquette and web citizenship as we engage in the use of our personal learning networks.

By remaining network illiterate, educators are truly missing an opportunity to help students use one of the most powerful learning tools of the 21st century: personal learning networks. Teachers and 21st century school leaders need to begin taking responsibility for teaching kids how to effectively utilize personal learning networks by becoming network literate themselves. This list of six personal network literacies is an excellent starting point.

10 Things School Leaders Do to Kill a Teacher's Enthusiasm for Technology

Here's a list of ten things a school leader does to kill any teacher’s enthusiasm for using technology in their classrooms. An alternative title for this list might be, “10 Things a 21st Century School Leader Will Not Do to Discourage Teachers from Engaging in the Use of Technology.”

1. Mandate the use of technologies or specific programs. One of the fastest ways to kill an educator's enthusiasm for infusing technology is mandate a specific technology or specific program. We all have specific needs, tastes and desires, and a program that satisfies mine will not necessarily satisfy the next educators. For example, I like Evernote. I preach the use of Evernote. But, some educators despise it. It does not match their needs.It does not do the things they want to do with technology. Mandating the use of Evernote is counterproductive. The same goes for iPads, digital cameras, interactive boards, and any number of tech devices and software. Some teachers can use these technological devices because they fit their teaching style, their subject matter, and their students' needs. Others would rather get students using  devices themselves. Mandating specific devices, technologies, and software will kill an educator's enthusiasm quickly.

2. Use inadequate, faulty or overzealous web filtering systems that block sites teachers want to use. This one is a teacher enthusiasm-killer of major proportions. While school districts are obligated under CIPA and common sense to provide some level of protection for young students, a filtering system is inadequate or faulty when it dictates what teachers can and can't do with the technology. For example, I am an advocate for blogging, and as a former English teacher, the potential of blogging for providing authentic writing experiences for our students is enormous. But then comes the web filters, that dictate that blogs are off limits because the manufacturer of that filter sees blogs as a greater threat to kids' safety than its potential to get students to engage in authentic writing. A web filtering system that dictates what teaching resources teachers can use is a quick way to stifle a teacher's enthusiasm and to force them back to using textbooks and other 20th century materials.

3. Provide inadequate or sloppy tech support systems. While teachers should always have plan B, even without technologically enhanced lessons, they should not have to have a plan b, a plan c, and even a plan d. If a school district has such shoddy tech support systems that using technology is like running an obstacle course, then expect your teachers to lose enthusiasm for using technology. Having technicians available is only one aspect of support. Too often administrators like to brag about the number of iPads or laptops they've added, but they failed to hire the support needed to keep those things operating. When adding technologies it is vital that school leaders factor in additional support systems and their costs as well.

4. Provide inadequate funding.  There is a great deal of frustration when a classroom teacher wants to implement a project using a technology resource, only to be told there's no funding for that.  It's not frustrating because of the lack of funding itself, it's frustrating because there's evidence all around of funded projects that were a waste, and that same money could have been used to pay for technology a teacher wanted. Sometimes I have to wonder whether some administrators get a trip to the Bahamas out of the purchases they made because they obviously could not have made the technology purchases with a teacher in mind.

5. Fail to provide adequate hardware and/or software.  I've seen so many examples of this over the years. Teachers are encouraged to get students writing and engaging in online blogging, but they don't have access to computers. Another example is even more ludicrous; students being asked to create 21st century projects yet they aren't given anything but 20th century tools such a colored pencils and construction paper. It is the school leader's responsibility to ensure teachers have adequate hardware and software for implementing technology.                                    

6. Purchase hardware or software after a sales pitch rather considering staff needs. Sometimes while attending a leadership conference or in a leadership meeting a school leader will see a demonstration of a new product like a smartboard or class response device. He becomes so impressed by the device that he forgets he's seeing a "sales presentation" and agrees to purchase 15 of them. Next thing anyone knows, these things are being installed in classrooms and no one has any idea about how they are going to be used. The devices become expensive dust collectors. Administrators should always bring in the end users when making these purchase considerations. School leaders would do well to remember that sales pitches don't always translate into effective classroom implementation when it comes to technology sales presentations too!
                                                  
 7. Fail to be enthusiastic about technology use themselves. This is self-explanatory in many ways. There are many a school leaders who communicate a total lack of enthusiasm or even disdain for technology by their reaction to it. They don't talk about it. They ignore it. They even change the subject when a teacher excitedly describes a technology-infused lesson that went well. Twenty-first century education is exciting. I find it very difficult to understand the school leader who is not excited about technology's potential, but there some school leaders out there who kill teacher enthusiasm by just their reactions.

8. Refuse to use technology yourself. This is related to number 7, but involves a total rejection by the school leader to use technology. You can't be a 21st century leader by refusing to be a tech consumer yourself. Your refusal to engage in its use demonstrates what you really feel about technology. School leaders shouldn't complain that their teachers fail to use technology innovatively when they keep sending out paper memos.

9. Fail to provide training and additional resources needed for tech implementation. Training with an expert user is always a plus, even when using someone on staff as that expert. Even more important is providing time for the teacher to explore, experiment, and "play" with the technology. As far as resources, school leaders need to make sure teachers have all they need to implement new technologies: everything from powerbars to tables. Nothing can be more frustrating than having your greatest tech plans foiled by a lack of power outlets.

10. Use test scores as the only measure of successful technology implementation. This is a real killer of anyone's enthusiasm for technology. Everything we do and do well cannot be connected to a "higher test score." Test scores provide valuable information but they are not the only measure of effectiveness. School leaders who always want to know, "Will it increase test scores" aren't really interested in successful technology infusion and tech implementation anyway. Their focus is pretty obvious.

There are, of course, many other ways for school leaders to "Kill the Passions any Teacher Has for Technology" but this has to be some of the most common I have encountered. I try to use this list as reminder daily in my own efforts to support teachers use of technology.

9 Principles of Courageous Leadership for 21st Century School Leaders

“A common requirement of leaders at all levels is having the courage to make tough decisions and take difficult actions,” write authors David Cottrell and Eric Harvey in their book Leadership Courage: Leadership Strategies for Individual and Organizational Success.  A big part of courage in 21st century leadership is standing up for what is right. As Cottrell and Harvey correctly describe, “The true measure of leadership is the ability to look in the mirror and know that you had the courage to do what you felt was the right thing to do.” 

Our ability as school leaders to look at ourselves in the mirror each morning and feel that the actions we took the day before regarding our students and staff is a measure of our own 21st century leadership ability. This contrasts starkly in an American culture that wants to turn schools into clones of businesses where maximization of self-interest is a virtue, often at the expense of many others. The problem is, these philosophies are at cross purposes in educational establishments. Ultimately though, as a school leader, I feel at my best when I have successfully passed a test of courage with integrity intact.

What are some “Guiding Principles for Courageous School Leaders in 21st Century"? No doubt we all have core values we hold dear, but here’s some principles I have taken the liberty of modifying a bit from Cottrell and Harvey’s book. I think they accurately describe what we have to be willing to do in order to be Courageous 21st Century School Leaders.

• Accept responsibility courageously. This includes accepting responsibility for all the actions of our schools from students to teachers and our own. When an unfortunate event happens under our leadership, we publicly accept our responsibility.Looking for places to cast blame is a weak, short-term strategy. If you want your school to be one where responsibility is important, then be responsible yourself.
• Implement change courageously. Courage comes from being able to step away from the status quo and enter into new possibilities. Courage is demonstrated in convincing others to move beyond their own comfort zones to stretch toward new horizons. Courage comes from leading change in the face of fierce resistance and even potential political peril. Change takes courage, and 21st century school leaders act courageously when leading change efforts.
• Hiring people using strict standards. Lowering one’s standards to just “fill a position” does not promote excellence. A weak person on your school staff can pull down the entire team. Hire only those who fit your school’s standards and principles. Surrounding yourself with talent makes the school or district successful. Hiring out of political expediency, or due to friendship connections is a recipe of organizational weakness. Also hiring only those who will rubber stamp your ideas or agenda is a recipe for long-term failure. Courage comes from hiring people who often are smarter and better equipped than you are, and who aren't afraid to express their opinions. Courageous hiring means getting the right people in place is a much higher priority than scoring political points or returning political favors.
• Keeping everyone focused on what’s important. Cottrell and Harvey call this “Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing.” Courageous 21st century school leaders fight to keep the focus on what’s important: the learning of students. Real courage is demonstrated in those school cultures where this is lost, and the school leader courageously reminds everyone of what they are truly about: "Keeping the main thing, the main thing!"
• Communicate for understanding. The purpose of communication in a 21st century organization is understanding. This means making sure what you have to say is clear, concise and on-point. There's not room for murky, unclear messaging. Courageously saying what needs to be said means there's only room for understanding, not misunderstanding.
• Coaching others. School leaders have a responsibility of coaching those within their schools or districts. This means setting aside the title of "boss" and giving your organizational members the information necessary to improve their performance. It means inspiring those within to reach for higher levels of performance and providing them with the direction to do just that. Coaching is not playing "gotcha games." Coaching means you genuinely want others in your school organization to be successful, and you work hard to help them improve.
• Effectively address conflict. There is no room in 21st century leadership for avoiding conflict. Minor conflict can paralyze a school or district so that nothing is accomplished. Effective 21st century school leaders take conflict head on. Courageous school leadership means having the difficult conversations. It means not passing the task of addressing a performance issue to a subordinate, or waiting on someone else to say something. Courageous leadership also means not sending "nasty-gram" emails instead of sitting down, face-to-face and talking with someone about an issue.
• Keep focus on the positive. This can be difficult. Trying to get everyone to see that things are still positive in a toxic environment is quite a challenge. Keeping the focus on the positive isn't about lying to people and building up a false sense of the positive. It is about fostering a "positive" belief that together we're going to succeed. School leaders who keep the focus on the positive, don't dwell on the negative and drag others down.
• Instill a culture of ethics and integrity. An organization without integrity that has as its purpose educating children is a frightening thought. Twenty-first school leaders work diligently to foster ethics and integrity in their schools or districts.  Principles are never sacrificed for political reasons or any other reasons. Organizations educating children that lack ethics and integrity have no business teaching children.

In the fast-paced environment of the 21st century, school leaders, from principals to state education leaders, courage must be a part of our leadership practice. These guiding principles make an excellent starting point to begin fostering that kind of leadership.

Resource for 21st Century School Leaders Who Are Instructional Leaders

No one argues any more that principals must take on the role of being an instructional leader in their schools. It is widely accepted, but often having credibility in that role is difficult when principals do not have experience teaching, or don’t really understand what being an instructional leader means. Author of the book The Principal as Instructional Leader: A Practical Handbook, Sally Zepeda points out that, “Principals who are instructional leaders ‘link’ the work of leadership and learning to everyone in the school.” Furthermore, these school leaders are charged with building an instructional program that “links the mission and vision of their schools to:

• supervising instruction
• evaluating teachers
• providing professional development and other learning opportunities for teachers
• modeling proactive uses of data to make informed decisions that positively affect student learning
• promoting a climate of instructional excellence
• establishing collegial relationships with teachers.

With this list of charges to principals as instructional leaders, it is easy to see why leading instruction in a school is a daunting task, and that does not even consider all the other roles principals assume, from facilities management, budgeting, to public relations and customer service. But for 21st century school leaders, being an instructional leader is not an add-on role any longer, it is at the core of transforming schools in 21st century institutions with learning at the center. Zepeda’s book The Principal as Instructional Leader is a hands-on guidebook for the school leader as instructional leader taking on this role.

Book Cover

The Principal as Instructional Leader: A Practical Guidebook is just as its title implies, a practical guidebook to instructional leadership that avoids becoming entangled in all the theories of learning,curriculum, and instruction that other books on instructional leadership often do. It provides principals, potential principals, and teacher leaders with comprehensive but concise information needed to tackle those things instructional leaders must tackle to improve student learning.

Often, books on instructional leadership get enmeshed in theory and rationale and never recover enough to rise above “textbookese” to give school leaders the tools to take on this most important role. This book does that. It relentlessly focuses on the practical side of supervising instruction. Readers are provided with an overview of what instructional leadership is, what the process looks like, and then given specific tools to carry out that role  in their schools or educational institutions.

After Zepeda briefly describes what instructional leadership is, she then ties that role to the vision and culture of the school. She also includes a complete overview of the instructional supervision process, and provides an extensive list of observational tools as supplemental downloads. These downloadable tools give principals the means to walk into classrooms and observe specific instructional elements such as “Beginning of Class Routines” or “Using Bloom’s Taxonomy and Levels of questions.” Each of the downloads are observation instruments to gather data regarding specific aspects of classroom teaching and student learning.

The Principal as Instructional Leader: A Practical Handbook is a definite reference book that every school leader, from teacher leader to district superintendent needs to have in their school administration library. I have read other books on this aspect of school leadership, but Zepeda provides the most no-nonsense approach to instructional leadership yet. Definitely an excellent addition to your reading list.