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Volume 5, No. 1
Spring, 2011 Exclusively online at
www.EducationHall.com
A Passionate Advocate: The
Distinguished Mr. Spiller Mr Darwin Spiller, a recent ASCD Emerging Leader honoree, is the principal of Stults Road Elementary, a National Distinguished Title I School in Dallas, Texas. Under Mr Spiller’s leadership, Stults Road more than doubled its passing rates in reading, math, and science between 2005 and 2009. Recently, we caught up with him when he was presenting at a regional Title I conference after receiving the recognition. What secrets does this terrific educational leader want to share? Let’s see: LP: Your school recently received some well-deserved accolades. Tell us about the award and how your school earned it. DS: Stults Road has been named a National Title I Distinguished School. The National Distinguished School Program is a project of the National Title I Association and provides an opportunity for Title I Schools from every state to be recognized for their positive achievements. Schools are selected for national recognition by their State Department of Education based on state-determined criteria, such as use of research-based instructional strategies, implementation of sustained research-based professional development, or established partnerships with parents, families and the community. LP: So what, in particular, made your school stand out? DS: Since the start of the Professional Learning Community (PLC) movement in 2005, the culture of Stults Road has been embodied by a shared vision and mission. As the Stults Road Community, we are committed to high expectations, appreciation of individuality, and encouragement of lifelong learners who will successfully function in today’s global and culturally diverse society. The intent of the PLC movement has been to develop the empowerment of all teachers. Stults Road’s success is highly dependent upon the responsibility for student success shared by all members of our community. Working together towards a common goal requires alignment with district standards and scope and sequence. Using data to drive the focus of instructional planning, teachers and support staff are able to collaborate and close the achievement gaps across all student groups regardless of their social, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Through the shared efforts of the administrators, teachers and staff on our campus, continuous focus on student success is achieved through clear instructional expectations, shared leadership, and support for each other throughout the process. The PLC culture allows for research-based instructional strategies to be implemented through job-embedded collaboration time. Teachers create goals and strategies based on data analysis to address the needs of all learners. Powerful professional development is used to address student and teacher needs based on a variety of assessment data. This data analysis provides the information necessary for creating high impact educator learning goals. The learning strategies and implementation of professional development allow for the maximization of these learning goals. Through job-embedded coaching provided by support personnel, the faculty is able to self-evaluate in order to assess the impact of the professional development. Teachers are able to produce powerful results and reflect on how to continuously improve. The key factors for creating opportunities for all students to achieve come from scientific-based research as well as our own campus action research. Opportunities for the staff are also created through Title I funding. This allows the faculty to observe, co-teach, and reflect with one another. Job-embedded planning days, also funded through Title I, allow for highly effective planning that directly benefits students. Additional resources such as instructional materials and tools such as Saturday School allow further opportunities for student success. Parent Education programs also provide the community a chance to extend their learning. Stults Road Elementary faculty and staff have a high sense of efficacy regarding their ability to teach all students. Expressions of high efficacy are evident though the halls of Stults Road: · We hold high standards for both staff and students. · We have high expectations for both students and staff. · We have a tight familial culture with high commitment and dedication; no one wants to let anyone down. · “Together We Can” and “Whatever it Takes” are our mottos. · We are fired up about what we are doing. · We are professionals who are still learning. All kids can learn. Our staff aligns behaviors with this belief. Every teacher goes above and beyond. LP: It sounds like the PLC movement and the idea of professional collaboration are key ingredients to your school's success. What were some of the early obstacles you faced, and what did you do as the building leader to overcome them? DS: One probably would say that I had an advantage when I became principal of Stults in 2004 because prior to that I was a 6th grade self-contained teacher at Stults from 1997-2000. I became the assistant principal in 2000-2003; however, making the shift from teacher to assistant principal to principal was an obstacle because people made comments about my age at the start of my term as a principal (29). My personal background and the values systems my parents instilled in me at a young age help me to deal with negative adversity. In fact, people who really know me - know that when I think you think I cannot do something - the inner personal desire I have within, coupled by my own beliefs, propel me forward to prove people wrong. I have always surrounded myself around greatness and am often reminded of a quote by Maya Angelo "If you are the smartest person in your group, you need to find another group." Not only that, to curtail negative feedback, I listened to those that had great things to say and were performing well with children. By listening, it allowed me to remain open to information from other people as well as create an environment where the staff understands how to work together and develop a school wide belief system focused on student success. It was important for me as a leader to collaborate with the staff and develop a set of core values geared towards student success. It was critical that we all believe that teaching all students and ensuring their success was a given. People with the opportunity to offer input and lend a hand are more likely to support change. They are more likely to be satisfied with decisions affecting their environment and more committed to the overall goals of the respective group. By the end of my first year as a principal, I made it a point to review and align my beliefs with the community/district vision, beliefs and goals. In addition, I wanted to ensure that all staff can articulate the core values and beliefs of the school. The PLC philosophy was a perfect match for my leadership style which allowed me to develop a comprehensive professional development plan to support the community/district vision that aligned with that of Stults Road. The dynamics unfolding within schools speak loudly. Not only was it important to focus on the group process in listening to people, but also to everything else emerging within the environment. The environment has something to say and it is not always common knowledge, which was another obstacle I encountered along my journey. To counteract this, another immediate goal I put in place was to develop a strong instructional leadership team. Clearly, a strong instructional leadership team is critical to the continuous improvement process for a school, so it was vital for me to empower and develop leaders within, backed by high quality professional development. It was my goal to make others continuous learners because I continue to learn and leadership trickles down. It’s easy for things to go wrong when people work together in groups. And even when things are going right, a sharp eye can often find other ways for them to go a lot better. I paid attention to what was going on within the environment. By doing this it allowed me to see problems that needed to be fixed. My expectation of them through this process was to pay attention to what's going on inside the group and they hopefully they can see problems that need fixing themselves. The spirit of collaboration, teachers learning every day, risk taking, and mentoring new teachers are other components I encountered along the way that needed tweaking. To counteract these components multiple professional development sessions were designed to allow for continuous sharing of ideas, teamwork opportunities and teachers teaching teachers to teach. LP: How long did it take before you realized you were into something special at Stults Road? What were the telling signs that grand success was within reach? DS: Immediately when I became principal, I knew I was in for something special. I knew starting the principal game in 2004 I had somewhat of an advantage because I had knowledge of the Stults Road's playbook beforehand as a teacher and assistant principal. In 2007, the signs were evident that we were on the road to success. After 2007 ended, Stults became an Exemplary school for the first time since it was opened in 1961. Wow, the task now was to maintain the status. After sustaining success as an Exemplary school in 2008, 2009, and 2010 and acclaiming TBEC status in 2008 until the present, it was evident that major systems and structures were in place to continue to close the achievement gap at Stults. In 2008, I deepened my quest to cultivate and mentor the teacher leaders of the building. A primary focus was building people up while bringing significance into their lives and building leaders for the next generation. Ultimately my goal was to build people up to take my place someday - to build leaders who will be equipped not only to lead Stults Road or some aspect of it, but also, when they leave Stults one day, to stand on their own and lead and build other people. In 2008, teacher leaders emerged...One can hear "expressions of efficacy" and observe certain behaviors as they move throughout the building: "We hold high standards for both staff and students" - teacher leaders begin to take charge of situations and formulate action teams to address concerns. For example, behavior was a concern and the teacher leaders established a school wide discipline team which focused on positive and negative campus behaviors, then they developed a school wide approach to reward and discipline students prior to receiving an office referral. "We have a tight familial culture with high commitment and dedication; no one wants to let anyone down" - it is not uncommon to have parents and community members comment on the context of the school environment from the department store decorations throughout the school to an office clerk combing a little girl's hair in the morning to make sure she has a good day or even putting lotion on the face of a kid so he can shine on. "We are moving toward recognition - reading, math, science and writing increased by double digit percentages" - teachers begin to articulate the school’s success because they knew it. The staff had a belief that the kids can achieve and will achieve if they felt the love and support from the staff. The staff became empowered to continuously share ideas and strategies, use multiple examples of teamwork and, again, teachers teaching teachers. Examples of the strong, positive, collaborative culture observed were "we are a team, no matter what!" - each faculty meeting has a built in instructional sharing time, teachers begin to cover classes strategically so other teachers can model. Cadre and grade level leaders made it a point to inculcate new staff members and help them feel like a part of the whole. Everyone begin to interact positively with one another and it was known that we can't get anywhere without dedication and teamwork - it was just not an option to not have it. The staff also began to
realize that they are professionals who are still learning. They understood
that the climb to the top was not easy and certainly enjoyable; however; to
maintain the status was where the real challenged rested, and they were up
for the challenge. Along the journey to success, I often reminded those
around me that we need to take the time to push back, slow down, look around
and take stock of our success. The first step, or course, was to understand
and appreciate that the journey is as important as the destination. A good
friend of mine taught me the importance of enjoying the journey and not
letting a vision for the future cloud my view of the present - a present, I
might add, that we will never have the chance to live again. LP: We understand you’ve recently been named a National Distinguished Principal Finalist and you’ve been nominated for ASCD’s Emerging Leaders Program Class of 2011. This is an exciting time: So what’s next for the illustrious Darwin Spiller? DS: I am so glad you asked.... Let's get ready to Blog: In 2010, RISD realigned its district’s vision, mission, and goals, and implementing professional learning communities is one of the top priorities. Currently, I am implementing a district-wide PLC initiative involving 10 RISD elementary schools. The 10 campuses work collaboratively and individually with me to develop and cultivate the PLC framework within their school environment. Becoming a Learning School is being used to help facilitate and guide our discussions as we interact with each other via blog sessions arranged by me and RISD Cluster technology specialists. I will be a part of a panel discussion concerning the current status of public education and where we need to go in the future hosted at the National Council of Jewish Women Annual Spring conference in Dallas, Texas: Thursday, March 24. I will co-present at the Texas Association of Black School Educators conference in Dallas, Texas: Saturday, March 27 at 1:00 PM. Title: What Achievement Gap? Principal and Leadership Empowerment Leads to Exemplary Status - How an Administrative Team can Make or Break an Instructional Focus. April 19th and 20th - Catch me in San Antonio...As a member of the Title I Statewide Parent Focus Group (SPFG), we will continue our discussion in terms of defining the purpose of the SPFG and to identify actions that the group will take to support increased parental involvement/family and community engagement. May 5-7: Demographics Are Not Destiny Almost 80% of students who attend Stults Road Elementary School in Dallas, Texas qualify for free and reduced lunch. Fortunately for those students the staff members at Stults Road recognize that demographics are not destiny. Come share, learn and grow with Principal Spiller he will present at the Association for Compensatory Educators of Texas 2011 Spring Conference at the Renaissance Arboretum Hotel, Austin Texas from 3:45 - 5:00 PM. I will be at the Summer Conference for Learning Forward in Indianapolis on July 17-20. I will assist with training the NEW Learning School Alliance Inductees. I was nominated and sought to be an Emerging Leader through ASCD so I can have an opportunity to collaborate with others to strengthen and deepen my understanding of educational issues at the local, state, and national level. Becoming an Emerging Leader participant will allow me to stay abreast of current knowledge and practice; participate in professional development opportunities and collaborate with other educators. In addition, I have a huge interest in mentoring and coaching and the Emerging Leaders program is equipped with resources that will allow me an opportunity to grow in these areas and more. LP: We’re certain to hear a lot more from you in the coming years. Best of luck, thank you for sharing your story, and keep up the good work! In an exciting follow-up development, Stults Road Elementary School has also been profiled on the AllThingsPLC website. Check it out at http://www.allthingsplc.info/wordpress/?p=1680
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