Running All the Red Lights: A Journey of System-Wide Educational Reform

144 Pages·2009·2.78 MB·English

by  Terry Holliday and Brenda Clark

Running All the
Red Lights
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Running All the
Red Lights
A Journey of Systemwide
Educational Reform
Terry Holliday and Brenda Clark
ASQ Quality Press
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
American Society for Quality, Quality Press, Milwaukee 53203
© 2010 by ASQ
All rights reserved. Published 2009
Printed in the United States of America
15 14 13 12 11 10 09 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Holliday, Terry, 1950–
Running all the red lights / Terry Holliday and Brenda Clark.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87389-778-5 (soft cover : alk. paper)
1. School superintendents. 2. School improvement programs. 3. School management
and organization. I. Clark, Brenda, 1947– II. Title.

LB2831.7.H65 2010
371.2'07—dc22 2009038271
ISBN: 978-0-87389-778-5
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission
of the publisher.
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Printed in the United States of America
Printed on acid-free paper
To Denise, who has been my solid rock and
inspiration through many turbulent times.
—Terry Holliday
In memory of my mother, Anne Tucker Smith, who taught me how
to be a good person by modeling and setting high expectations.
Her example has guided my work and my life. Also to Carol
McCrory for her editing and insights into the flow of the
book, and her unwavering support of the dream.
—Brenda Clark
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Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables................................. ix
Acknowledgments ....................................... xi
Introduction............................................ xiii
Chapter 1 Red Light #1—Placing Blame on External
Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Connecting to Research ............................... 7
A Focus on Results................................... 9
Chapter 2 Red Light # 2—Complacency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Connecting to Research ............................... 15
A Focus on Results................................... 16
Chapter 3 Red Light #3—Cultural Barriers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Connecting to Research ............................... 27
A Focus on Results................................... 27
Chapter 4 Red Light #4—District Leadership and
Governance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Story: School Board—Governance Development........ 34
Connecting to Research ............................... 40
A Focus on Results................................... 44
Chapter 5 Red Light #5—Leadership Capacity to
Do the Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Lessons Learned..................................... 54
Connecting to Research ............................... 56
A Focus on Results................................... 56
Chapter 6 Red Light #6—Teacher Resistance: The
Longest Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The Story .......................................... 63
Connecting to Research: International Report and
Implications for I–SS............................... 68
A Focus on Results................................... 73
vii
viii Table of Contents
Chapter 7 What’s Next . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Benchmarks ........................................ 79
Benchmarking....................................... 80
Process Management in a Cross-Functional Organization .... 81
I–SS Model for Process Management .................... 86
Where Are We Now? ................................. 91
Other Areas of Improvement ........................... 95
In Conclusion ....................................... 95
Appendix A Zero-Based Budgeting Process for
Iredell–Statesville Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Appendix B Roles and Responsibilities of the Instructional
Facilitators—Iredell–Statesville Schools, 2008–2009 . . . . . . . 99
Appendix C Plan–Do–Study–Act Template Examples . . . . . . . 107
Bibliography ........................................... 117
Index.................................................. 119
List of Figures and Tables
Figure 1.1 Three questions for listening tour. ..................... 3
Figure 1.2 Top five responses to questions. ....................... 4
Figure 1.3 Superintendent 360 survey. .......................... 7
Figure 1.4 Six steps of the plan–do–study–act cycle. ............... 9
Figure 1.5 I–SS student attendance results using PDSA. ............ 11
Table 2.1 Effectiveness of professional development activities. ...... 16
Figure 3.1 School improvement planning template. ................ 22
Figure 3.2 SIP coaching/feedback report example. ................. 28
Figure 3.3 SIP template error frequency rate. ..................... 30
Table 3.1 Iredell–Statesville Schools turnaround highlights. ........ 31
Figure 4.1 I–SS model to raise achievement and close gaps. ......... 33
Figure 4.2 I–SS board of education governance model. ............. 45
Figure 4.3 Board of education overall and target goals with
action steps. ...................................... 46
Figure 4.4 Survey results from board of education climate survey. .... 48
Figure 4.5 External review for I–SS on leadership and governance
items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Figure 5.1 Flowchart of SIP coaching process. .................... 54
Figure 5.2 School improvement plan error report. ................. 57
Figure 5.3 Number of schools, by level, with identified gaps in
fidelity of implementation of SIP process. ............... 58
Figure 5.4 Composite ranking of Iredell–Statesville School District
in the state of North Carolina. ........................ 59
Figure 5.5 Bus discipline referrals over three quarters. ............. 59
Figure 5.6 Bus driver overtime reduction. ........................ 60
Figure 5.7 Workers’ compensation loss ratio. ..................... 60
Figure 5.8 Supplemental sales in child nutrition program. ........... 61
ix
x List of Figures and Tables
Table 6.1 Impacts of teacher and school on student achievement. .... 72
Figure 6.1 Overall academic ranking in North Carolina. ............ 73
Figure 6.2 Exceptional children (EC) performance in corrective
reading classrooms. ................................ 74
Table 6.2 Impact of I–SS continuous improvement model on scale
score gains. ....................................... 74
Figure 6.3 Longitudinal performance for I–SS on North Carolina
reading assessment. ................................ 74
Figure 6.4 I–SS closing the achievement gap for African-American
students. ......................................... 75
Figure 6.5 I–SS closing the achievement gap for exceptional
children. ......................................... 75
Figure 6.6 Longitudinal results for cohort graduation rate. .......... 76
Figure 6.7 I–SS results for Scholastic Achievement Test. ............ 77
Figure 7.1 Business found large gains through a process focus. ....... 83
Figure 7.2 Most education organizations are organized
functionally. ...................................... 84
Figure 7.3 Most processes are cross-functional. ................... 85
Figure 7.4 Education functional silos don’t deal well with
cross-functional processes. ........................... 85
Figure 7.5 I–SS enterprise model. .............................. 86
Figure 7.6 The IGOE model. .................................. 87
Figure 7.7 Manage financial resources to activity level. ............. 88
Figure 7.8 Control financial resources to activity level. ............. 89
Figure 7.9 IGOE for “control financial resources” subprocess. ....... 90
Figure 7.10 Stakeholder analysis for “control financial resources”
subprocess. ....................................... 90
Figure 7.11 PDSA radar chart reporting rubric. .................... 92
Figure 7.12 PDSA monthly tracking radar chart. ................... 93
Figure 7.13 I–SS model to raise achievement and close gaps. ......... 94
Figure 7.14 I–SS model for aligned, effective, and efficient
operations. ....................................... 94