Cyberbullying

Cyberbullying has emerged as one of the fastest growing issues faced by school leaders. It involves the use of technology to bully another person and can occur through e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, websites or social networking sites.

Often cyberbullying occurs out-of-school and off campus but the effects may carry over to the school day. The legal guidance about how schools may respond is unclear, particularly about when schools may discipline students for off-campus speech.

The US Department of Education suggests that the response may not always be discipline. Schools can talk with students, teach students about appropriate online behavior, and counsel students about appropriate behavior. For incidents where there is substantial disruption discipline might be the appropriate remedy.

There are many resources available to school leaders to help you deal with cyberbullying. They include an issue of Digital Directions, advice from the Center for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov), and strategies for stopping the harassment (www.safeteens.com), and information from the Federal Trade Commission about online safety (www.onguardonline.gov).

I'd enjoy hearing from you about strategies you use to deal with cyberbullying.

Force Field Analysis: A Tool for Decision-Making

I'm always looking for tools that can help groups may decisions or select a strategy. One I've used regularly is the Force Field Analysis. It can help to identify a clear course of action and is anchored in the belief that every idea has both advantages and disadvantages.

When you use a Force Field Analysis you consider both the driving forces and the restraining forces, the things that facilitate and inhibit change. Driving forces are the things that affect an issue and push it in a particular way; they tend to be things that initiate a change and keep it going. Restraining forces are those things that act to restrain or decrease the driving forces.

Start by stating the problem or desired outcome in clear, concrete terms. Then discuss and identify those factors working for and against the desired state. Then review and clarify each factor assigning a score from 1 (weak) to 5 (strong), or high, medium or low. Finally, discuss the factors and their scores. The discussion often helps you identify appropriate next steps and become the focus for a plan of action.

There are many tools to help with decision-making. I like the Force Field Analysis because it tends to depersonalize the discussion. I'd enjoy hearing from you about other ways you use to help with decision-making.

Merit Pay

Race to the Top legislation rekindled the discussed about the benefits of merit pay for both teachers and principals. Over the past few decades many districts and several states have launched merit pay systems with inconsistent results on student achievement. Several independent studies have looked at the impact of merit pay and provide disparate results. The Denver Public Schools have had positive results from their system while a study of a program in Nashville found no differences in achievement. Other studies in Florida and Texas provided mixed results.

The National Center on Performance Incentives at Vanderbilt University is one of the most comprehensive sources of up-to-date information about merit pay plans and the research on their success (www.performanceincentives.org).

During the past year I have authored two Research Briefs on the subject. They include one on Merit Pay for Teachers, and one on Merit Pay for Principals. These briefs are available on the website of The Principals Partnership, sponsored by the Union Pacific Foundation, and on my website (www.ronwilliamson.com).

As always I would welcome hearing from you about your experience with merit pay or about questions or comments you may have about the topic.

Expanding Leadership Capacity

One of a principal's most important roles is to nurture leadership skills among school staff. It involves creating a school with a variety of leadership roles, opportunity for inquiry and reflection, and the change to learn and develop new skills.

There are many ways to help others develop their leadership capacity. They include:

• Inviting them to work on a project outside their area of expertise;
• Asking them to help screen and interview new hires;
• Encouraging them to attend district meetings with you;
• Asking them to work with you to deal with a challenging parent or instruction issue;
• Inviting them to lead a book study group;
• Asking them to serve on the school leadership team;
• Asking them to serve as a mentor for a new teacher;
• Encouraging them to become a member of a professional organization;
• Asking them to present information to the staff after attending a conference or other professional development activity;
• Inviting them to maintain a journal and reflect on the "good," "bad," or "flawed" leaders they know and observe.

These ideas and others are discussed in Practical Suggestions for Developing Leadership Capacity (NASSP, 2009).

I'd enjoy hearing from you about how you work to expand the leadership capacity in your school. I'm always interested in practical ideas I can share with my students and other leaders with whom I work.

Dealing with Declining Resources

No school is immune from the need to plan for a future impacted by declining, or at the best, stable resources. Schools are caught between expectations for improved student performance and the reality that there are fewer human and financial resources to support the program. Almost universally the issue is one of how to be both efficient and more effective.

There are generally three responses. First, you can identify areas where you might reduce expenses by eliminating programs or reducing budgets. But in many schools these efficiencies have already been achieved. Second, you can consider alternative ways of doing things you're already doing. For example, some rural schools have shifted to a four-day week to reduced costs of transportation, food service, and office support. Some have begun to work together by combining programs, sharing teachers, or sharing central office resources. In Michigan one district contracted with a nearby district for a portion of the superintendent's time. Others consolidated human resources or business services. Third, you can prioritize what you are doing. This is often difficult, even when you use data, because it is often seen as valuing one program more than others. If you prioritize be sure to anchor your decisions in your school's vision and mission. Some schools have learned that reducing every program a little isn't very effective. It may be necessary to focus on fewer things and do them really well. Always be sure someone is advocating for the neediest students, those requiring the most support.

Some schools have begun to work together to share professional development. Others have worked with local business leaders to sponsor professional development. Or you might want to increase efforts to identify volunteers, such as senior citizens, to work with students.

These challenging decisions are almost always better when teachers, families and other stakeholders are included.

These are challenging times for schools and their leaders. I'd enjoy hearing form you about how you and your community are dealing with your declining resources.

Advocacy and Emerging Technology

Principals and other school leaders are advocates. They are always advocating for their schools and ways to improve the educational experience of their students. Advocacy can be an effective way to press for change. It is also an important part of our democratic system and allows ordinary people to shape and influence policy at all levels.

Technology has changed the way we advocate, the way we share information about our schools. A recent story in the NY Times discussed how parents increasingly crave timely information about their children's schools. While traditional media will remain part of any advocacy plan, emerging technology is increasingly used by schools to communicate with parents. Many schools have created Facebook pages and Twitter accounts as a tool to quickly share information with families and others about their school and its successes.

Here are some things you might want to consider as you assess your use of technology to advocate for your school.

• How often is your school website updated? Is the information current and easily accessible to families?
• Does your website include information about your vision for your school?
• Does the website provide information that families can use to become involved in the education of their children?
• Does your school have a presence on social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook)?
• If so, what sort of messages and information do you share? Doe you use it regularly to communicate?
• Do families and community know your school has a presence on these sites?

As I work with my friend Howard Johnston to finish our book on social media we are looking for examples of principals using emerging technology to advocate for their school. We'd enjoy hearing from you about your successes and your challenges.

Rigor in Your School: A Toolkit for Leaders

This week I'll be in San Francisco to speak at the NASSP Annual Conference. In addition to speaking on Friday about leadership strategies for creating rigorous schools and classrooms, my latest book, co-authored with Barbara Blackburn will be released by Eye on Education.

Rigor in Your School: A Toolkit for Leaders complements Rigorous Schools and Classrooms: Leading the Way. It is organized around our COMPASS model of change and provides over ninety tools that school leaders can use to work with their teachers, families and community to improve the rigor of their school.

If you're attending the NASSP conference I'd enjoy meeting you in our session on Friday morning or in the bookstore following the session. A copy of the handout used at the conference is available on my website at www.ronwilliamson.com. As always, I'd enjoy hearing from you about the book or about your efforts to improve the rigor of your school.