Day 1—Breakout
Authentic Alignment in a PLC:
Moving From Compliance to Crusade
Kenneth C. Williams
Kenneth C.
Williams
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REPRODUCIBLE
REPRODUCIBLE
What Am I Prepared to Do Differently?
What Resonates With Me?
Things I Plan to Start Doing
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Authentic Alignment
Authentic alignment is the process by which schools:
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•
•
•
Explore core beliefs and develop a guiding school mantra.
Envision and create a description of the school they seek to become.
Reconnect with the moral imperative of their collective commitment to the five
essential elements of a PLC.
Systematically integrate the mantra, vision, and commitments into existing
structures.
The four stages of creating a culture of authentic alignment:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The WHY
The EYE
The HOW
The NOW
Four Stages of Authentic Alignment
The WHY
Schools identify their fundamental purpose and develop a guiding
school mantra.
The EYE
Schools envision and create a description of the school they seek to
become.
The HOW
Schools connect with the moral imperative of their collective
commitment to the five essential elements of a PLC.
The NOW
Schools systematically integrate mantra, vision, and commitments
into existing structures.
The WHY is the process of exploring your school’s core beliefs, habits, and assumptions. The
goal is to get clear on your school’s fundamental purpose. The end product of the WHY is the
development of your school’s guiding mantra. A mantra is akin to a motto, albeit more
fundamental to a school’s internal purpose than a simple slogan. It's concise, repeatable, and
core to a school’s existence. The mantra is easily understood, works as a rallying point, and
represents the unwavering core values that drive your daily work. Your school’s mantra
encapsulates the answers to questions like:
•
•
•
•
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What do we believe?
What do we want to achieve?
Why do we go to work each day?
Why does our school exist?
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The EYE is the process by which you develop a clear, compelling vision of the school you
want to become. Schools need to develop a detailed description of what they want to
become.
•
•
•
What does our school look like when it’s a GREAT place for students?
What does our school look like when it’s a GREAT place for teachers?
What does our school look like when it’s a GREAT place for parents?
The HOW is the process by which schools connect with the moral imperative of their
collective commitments to the five essential elements of a PLC. Those five elements are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A focus on learning
The collaborative culture
Clear definition of what every student needs to learn
Constant measurement of effectiveness
Systematic response when students do or do not learn
The NOW is the process of systematically embedding the WHY (beliefs), the EYE (vision), and
the HOW (collective commitments) into existing school structures. Three practices will ensure
that the work of actualizing these deeply held cultural beliefs remains at the front and center
in everything a school does. These three practices are:
1.
2.
3.
Aligned feedback
Aligned storytelling
Aligned celebration
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The WHY
“We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach all children whose schooling
is of interest to us. We already know more than we need to do that. Whether or not we do it
must finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven’t so far.”
—Ron Edmonds, Harvard University
The WHY is the process of exploring your school’s core beliefs, habits, and assumptions. The
goal is to get clear on your school’s fundamental purpose. The end product of the WHY is the
development of your school’s guiding mantra.
What is your school’s current mission or guiding statement?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
What two words would you use to describe your school’s culture?
1. ______________________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________
The Problem With Mission Statements
We have learned that developing guiding statements is no simple task and that building the
collective will to bring these guiding statements to life is equally challenging. Here are five
problems that contribute to schools ignoring their guiding statements:
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•
•
•
•
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Problem
Problem
Problem
Problem
Problem
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
We share and shelve.
All fluff, no stuff
T-shirting
No skin in the game
We accept pockets of excellence.
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All Beliefs Are Not Created Equal
Belief Levels
A tentatively held belief that
does not engender a high level
of personal investment
Level 1
Probationary
Belief
Relatively easy to change with
better information
A strongly held belief generally
created over time by repeated
experience
Level 2
Immersion
Belief
Not easily changed; requires
significant experience to shift
A deeply rooted belief based on
meaningful experience that
entails a fundamental value
about right and wrong
Level 3
Visceral
Belief
Almost unchangeable; based on
moral and ethical values
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Developing Your School’s Guiding Mantra
What Is a Mantra?
A mantra is a three- to five-word statement that clearly defines what your school is, and why
you matter to people. A mantra is a powerful, energy-infused chant that everyone inside and
outside your organization can instantly get their heads around.
A mantra is defined as a word, sound, or statement repeated frequently to aid in
concentration of thought. In Sanskrit, mantra literally means “instrument of thought.” In
schools, we suggest a mantra is a highly effective organizing principle easily shared by people
who care.
Your school’s mantra should be created collaboratively, and meet the four criteria: focused,
inspiring, visionary, and expectant.
Mantra
Criteria
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Focused
Ambiguous language is one of the problems with traditional
mission statements. Your mantra should provide a laser-like
focus on what matters and why.
Inspiring
Your mantra should influence, guide, and move teams toward
achieving their interdependent goals.
Visionary
Everything you want as a school lies just outside your comfort
zone. Your mantra should provide a reminder of the power of
constantly stretching toward greatness.
Expectant
There is a difference between hoping for excellence and
expecting excellence. Your mantra should be created through
a lens of “speaking your goals into existence.”
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Mantra Examples
While your school’s mantra is a unifying principle, it’s critical that you make personal
commitments to that end. Collective mobilization begins with individual responsibility.
That’s why we’ve included examples of I-messages below.
Mantra
Mantra in Practice (I-Message)
We work as a village.
All of us are smarter than one of us. I commit to embrace a
true collaborative culture. I will pull my weight as part of my
interdependent team.
We believe you can
achieve!
I embrace accountability for our results, and I am constantly
asking, “Is there something else I can do?”
Every child is my child.
I consider every child my child, and the failure of any one of
them is not an option. I am humble enough to ask for help and
think abundantly enough to share resources and best practices.
Tomorrow depends on
TODAY.
I will spend time focusing on factors I can control, and hold my
teammates accountable to do the same.
Act as if …
I operate each day as if we are already the ideal school we
described.
In three to five words, what would you suggest for your school’s guiding mantra?
I-Message Commitment:
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
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For Clarifying Your Fundamental Purpose and Your School’s Mantra, Ask:
1. What is our school’s fundamental purpose? What is our school’s unshakable sense
of mission?
2. What makes our school special and unique?
3. What do we mean when we say that all students can learn? Does all really mean all?
4. Was our school built as a place where teachers come and teach or as a place where
students come and learn? What evidence do we have to support our choice?
5. What happens in our school or district when a student experiences difficulty in
learning?
6. What is our school’s one non-negotiable that serves as a lens for everything we do?
What is our school’s North Star? Our mantra?
7. Why did you become an educator?
8. Think of a child you love with every fiber of your being. If you had an opportunity to
create a guiding mantra for his or her school, what would it be?
At the heart of every great group is a shared dream. All great groups believe that they are on
a mission and that they could change the world, make a dent in the universe. They are
obsessed with their work. It becomes not a job but a fervent quest. That belief is what brings
the necessary cohesion and energy to their work.
(Bennis, “The Secrets of Great Groups,” Leader to Leader Journal, No. 3, 1997)
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The EYE
“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life—think of it, dream of it, live on that idea.
Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave
every other idea alone. This is the way to success.”
—The Swami Vivekananda
The EYE is the process by which schools envision and develop a clear, compelling picture of
the school they want to become. What will your school look like when it’s a GREAT place for
students?
•
•
•
What does our school look like when it’s a GREAT place for students?
What does our school look like when it’s a GREAT place for staff?
What does our school look like when it’s a GREAT place for parents?
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In Three Years, What Do We Want Our Ideal School to …
Look Like
258
Sound Like
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Feel Like
For Clarifying the EYE for Your School or District, Ask:
1. Can you describe the school we are trying to create?
2. What would our school look like if it were a great place for students? What would it
look like if it were a great place for teachers?
3. It is five years from now, and we have achieved our vision as a school. In what
ways are we different? Describe what is going on in terms of practices, procedures,
relationships, results, and climate.
4. Imagine we have been given sixty seconds on the nightly news to clarify the vision
of our school or district to the community. What do we want to say?
5. Decades from now, if they build a statue to remember your school, in one
sentence, what will the plaque say?
Point to the future and describe, in clear terms, the school you imagine that doesn’t yet
exist. If others volunteer to help build that future, then, and only then, do you become a
leader.
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The HOW
When people begin to act, people begin to hope. When people begin to gain hope, they begin
to behave differently. When people behave differently, they experience success. When
people experience success, their attitudes change. When a person’s attitude changes, it
affects others’ attitudes. This is the essence of reculturing schools into professional learning
communities.
(DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, Learning by Doing, 2010)
The HOW is the process of connecting with the moral imperative of your collective
commitment to the five essential elements of a PLC. The five elements are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
A focus on learning
The collaborative culture
Clear definition of what every student needs to learn
Constant measurement of our effectiveness
Systematic response when students do not learn
It is important to note that the HOW consists of behaviors, not beliefs.
Culture of Accountability
Embed to ensure: The most effective way to build collective efficacy in this context is to
embed experiences and routine practices of the school that will facilitate adults engaging in
expected behaviors.
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Simplifying Response to Intervention by Buffum, Mattos, and Weber
© 2012 Solution Tree Press
solution-tree.com • Visit go.solution-tree.com/rti to download this page.
(How will be respond when
students don’t learn?)
Systematic response when
students don’t learn
(How do we know if they
have learned it?)
Constant measure of
effectiveness
(What do we expect our
students to learn?)
Clear definition of what
every student needs to
learn
Collaborative culture
A focus on learning
Do we have frequent time during the school
day to reteach and enrich students?
Do we use this information to guide our
interventions?
Do we compare results to identify the most
effective teaching strategies?
Do all students have access to grade-level
essential standards?
Have we created common assessments that
measure student mastery of each essential
standard?
Do we hold each other accountable to
follow our norms?
Have we clearly defined essential learning
outcomes that students must master to
succeed in the next course or grade level?
Have we identified team norms?
Does our teamwork support each member’s
daily responsibilities?
Will we take responsibility to make this a
reality?
Do we have frequent (weekly) collaborative
time embedded during our professional day?
Do we believe all students can learn at high
levels?
Guiding Questions
Our Current Reality:
Where Are We Now?
Desired Reality:
Where Do We
Want to Be?
Building the Foundation: Five Essential Elements
Next Steps:
How Do We Get
There?
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Start, Stop, and Continue List
Desired Result
Behaviors to Start
1
2
3
4
5
Behaviors to Stop:
1
2
3
4
5
Behaviors to Continue:
1
2
3
4
5
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For Clarifying the HOW of Your School or District, Ask:
1. What are the specific commitments we must honor to achieve our WHY and EYE?
2. What are the specific behaviors we can exhibit to make a personal contribution to
the success of our school?
3. What commitments are we prepared to make to each other?
4. How will we demonstrate learning for all?
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The NOW
“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce
urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being
too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. … We must move past indecision to action.
… Now let us begin. … The choice is ours, and though we may prefer it otherwise, we must
choose in this crucial moment in human history.”
—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
An Ongoing Dialogue
The NOW is the process of systematically embedding the WHY (beliefs), the EYE (results),
and the HOW (behavioral commitments) into existing school structures. Three practices will
ensure that the work of actualizing these deeply held cultural beliefs is front and center in
everything a school does. These three practices are:
1. Aligned feedback
2. Aligned storytelling
3. Aligned celebration
We have developed these three practical tools that when used systematically, will integrate
and embed your school’s most important WHY beliefs, EYE results, and HOW commitments
into everything you do.
Aligned Feedback
The first powerful tool in the NOW stage is aligned feedback. Whether the feedback is
praiseworthy or constructive, it is always aligned with what has been deemed most
important: your guiding mantra (WHY) and vision (EYE).
• Feedback is a muscle that should be exercised often in an effort to constantly assess
where you are in terms of authentic alignment.
• The power of this alignment is in its de-personalization. Aligning the feedback mitigates
some of our general resistance to providing any kind of constructive feedback for fear of
negative reaction.
• Aligned feedback is not centered on any one person’s particular and isolated beliefs; it is
directly connected to the guiding mantra (WHY). Feedback gives your mantra context.
• It provides the opportunity to focus on areas to improve and areas to reinforce.
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Aligned Storytelling
Stories put a human face on success. They tell us that someone just like us can make it
happen. They create organizational role models that everyone can relate to. They put the
behavior in a real context and make standards more than statistics. Stories make standards
come alive.
(Kouzes & Posner, The Leadership Challenge, 2007)
Working in concert with aligned feedback, aligned storytelling is the second of three powerful
tools used to keep your school’s mantra in the here and now. Conveying important
information about your school through aligned storytelling is one of the most powerful ways
to share priorities. Whether you know it or not, storytelling is used as a tool in your school.
Once you gain a level of awareness of this fact, then you must assess whether or not these
stories are ones that move your culture toward your desired results or away from your desired
results. Aligned stories do much to help lay the foundation of our culture. Stories also serve
as the foundation of our school’s mantra (WHY) and vision (EYE).
Aligned Celebration
Aligned celebration allows anyone in the organization to observe and then to recognize
teammates for what they do to demonstrate and live your school’s mantra. To continue to
fuel the powerful HOW behaviors, there should be time devoted to acknowledging gains of
individuals, the team, and the entire community—where you take a refreshing drink from the
chalice of success before moving forward again toward authentic alignment.
Aligned celebration spotlights the momentum established through aligned feedback and
aligned storytelling. Like the first two, aligned celebration is most powerful when there is an
explicit and direct connection made between what is being recognized and your school’s
mantra.
1. Celebration in a PLC is about recognizing behaviors, actions, and results that are aligned
with improved student learning.
2. An opportunity to remind us again:
•
What is important
•
What we value
•
What we are committed to do
There should be expressions of both appreciation and admiration.
Four Keys to Celebration in a PLC
1. State the purpose of celebration.
2. Make celebration everyone’s responsibility.
3. Establish a clear link between the recognition and the behavior or commitment you are
attempting to encourage and reinforce.
4. Create opportunities for many winners.
Adapted from DuFour, DuFour, Eaker, & Many, Learning By Doing (2010).
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Aligned Celebration Form
I would like to recognize: _____________________________________________
for exemplifying our mantra (WHY): ______________________________________
in the following way (HOW behaviors): _____________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
These actions have created/maintained momentum toward the vision of our school
(EYE): _____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Given by: ______________________________
Date: __________________________________
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Opportunities to Embed Authentic Alignment
in Existing Structures
Meetings
Every school holds meetings, and so the task of embedding the tools should begin with developing
a list of every meeting that occurs at your school, regardless of size. These include meetings that
are led by the principal, a teacher-leader, support staff, a collaborative team, and all others
unique to your school context.
Systems and Structures
We understand that meetings are a part of systems and structures. However, meetings can
also represent an opportunity to accelerate the culture and embed the ongoing conversation,
and in this regard they can have an important and lasting impact. This list may apply to your
school and, depending on your school’s structures and systems, can be added to. The
following list is designed to activate your thinking:
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•
•
•
•
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•
•
•
•
Newsletters
School website
School social media sites
Posters
Incentives
Feedback on performance evaluations
Displays
Phone calls
Job descriptions
E-mail communication
Calendar Check-Ins
The last critical step of this process is to place on the calendar the details of your plan to
embed the tools. Regardless of its size, all schools contend with competing priorities and
being pulled in too many directions. A school day can slip away like grains of sand through
your fingers. If you do not schedule the things deemed to be most important, they can easily
slip away.
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Checking for Authentic Alignment
Question
Evidence
Are we aligned around the urgency
to shift the way we think and act?
Are we aligned around our WHY
guiding mantra?
Are we aligned around the compelling
vision (EYE) for our ideal school?
Are we aligned around ALL five
essential PLC elements we expect
people to practice to bring our mantra
to life?
Are we aligned around the specific
responsibilities of our leadership team?
Are we aligned around how we agree
to hold ourselves accountable?
Are we aligned around our strategic
plan for the NOW (aligned storytelling,
feedback, celebration)?
Have we planned and calendared
experiences in which we expect people
to engage?
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Personal
Personal and
and Collective
Collective Commitments
Commitments
as
as a
a Result
Result of
of This
This Presentation
Presentation
I will personally commit to implementing this strategy/idea I heard today:
I will personally commit to implementing this strategy/idea I heard today:
I will measure my effectiveness by:
I will measure my effectiveness by:
I plan to see results from my action by this date: ____________________________
I plan to see results from my action by this date: ____________________________
My accountability partner is: ______________________________________________
My accountability partner is: ______________________________________________
I will encourage my collaborative team to make a collective commitment to
I will encourage my collaborative team to make a collective commitment to
implement this strategy/idea I heard today:
implement this strategy/idea I heard today:
As a result of our action, we expect to see the following results in student achievement:
As a result of our action, we expect to see the following results in student achievement:
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