Canada Post Publications Agreement Number: 40609661 Building Building Instructional Instructional Leadership Leadership CapacityCapacity Journal The official magazine of the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents Spring 2020Manitoba Association of School Superintendents 3 MASS Spring 2020 Volume 21, Number 1 Manitoba Association of School Superintendents 3 MASS Journal Published For: The Manitoba Association of School Superintendents 900 St. Mary’s Road Winnipeg, Manitoba R2M 3R3 Phone: (204) 219-7059 Fax: (204) 487-7974 E-mail: barb.isaak@mass.mb.ca Web: www.mass.mb.ca Published By: Matrix Group Publishing Inc. 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Up Front 4 A Message from the Manitoba Minister of Education / Un message de le ministre de l’Éducation 5 A Message from the President of MASS / Un message de la présidente de la MASS 6 MASS 2020 Executive 7 MASS 2020 Priorities THEME: BUILDING INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP CAPACITY Features 8 Leaders are Learners: MASS Supports Superintendents’ Learning By Leanne M. Peters, Ed. D., Sunrise School Division 10 Recalculating Route: Building Alignment and Capacity Towards a Shared Vision By Kelly Barkman, Karen Boyd, Jason Drysdale, Tammy Mitchell, and Mark Bruce, River East Transcona School Division 13 Learning Growth Teams and the Use of Data Walls to Guide Improvement By Michael Borgfjord, Seine River School Division 16 Designing Learning… A Collaborative Journey for Building Capacity By Jamie Hutchison, Grant Park High School, and Julie Smerchanski, Winnipeg School Division 18 Social Work Clinician Builds Capacity for Student Success By Tim De Ruyck, Turtle Mountain School Division 21 What Do Good Leaders Do? By Tyler Moran, Interlake School Division 24 Building Professional Capacity Through the Teaching of Literacy in Lakeshore School Division By Darlene Willetts, with help from Alison Martilla and Roger McCulley, Lakeshore School Division Special Focus 26 The Social Justice Coalition By Coralie Bryant 28 Educators Step Up During COVID-19 30 Index to Advertisers Journal When the MASS Advocacy Committee selected the theme for this issue, there was still snow on the ground. With all that has occurred over the past few months, this seems like a lifetime ago. The Manitoba Association of School Superintendents (MASS) would like to applaud the entire education sector in Manitoba and across Canada for the leadership and diligent work that has been done since COVID-19 changed everything we were familiar with in our effort to connect with students, their families, and our communities. The problem solving and visioning that everyone has and is currently engaged in is providing support to our students and their families. We also appreciate and value our partnerships with Manitoba Education, the Manitoba School Board Association, Manitoba Association of School Business Officials, Manitoba Teachers Society, and the Manitoba Association of Parent Councils. We hope that you enjoy this issue of the Journal. Its theme, Building Instructional Leadership Capacity, will always be a topic of importance. Perhaps now, even more than before. Thank you to the authors who took the time to contribute. I look forward to connecting with all of you in person, when we’re able. Until then, stay healthy and stay safe. Barb Isaak, Executive Director 4 MASS Journal Spring 2020 A s Minister of Education, I am pleased to bring greetings to the members of the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents (MASS). I applaud MASS for selecting the theme, “Building Capacity for Learning,” inviting edu- cators to share important insights that are certain to strengthen our mutual efforts to provide a high-quality education for all Manitobans. We know that building capacity for learning will help to ensure our schools are increasingly innovative, progres- sive, and responsive to the needs of our students. We also know that in order to increase student achievement across the province, we must continue to engage in practices that support the growth and development of our teachers. The training and use of instructional leaders is one way that school divisions are helping teachers to become more effec- tive practitioners, thus building their capacity for success. Teachers and other school personnel play vital roles in helping our students develop their individual skills and abilities and foster a love for learning. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize MASS for its support in this area and for its continued contribution to educational excellence. Honourable Kelvin Goertzen Manitoba Minister of Education À titre de ministre de l’Éducation, je suis heureux de présenter mes salutations aux membres de la Manitoba Association of School Superintendents (MASS). Je félicite la MASS d’avoir choisi comme thème « le développement de la capacité d’apprentissage » et de donner ainsi l’occasion aux éducateurs de faire des observations importantes qui certainement ren- forceront les efforts mutuels que nous déployons pour offrir à tous les Manitobains une éducation de grande qualité. Nous savons que le développement de la capacité d’apprentissage permettra de rendre nos écoles de plus en plus innovatrices, pro- gressistes et adaptées aux besoins de nos élèves. Nous savons également qu’afin d’améliorer la réussite scolaire à l’échelle de la province, nous devons continuer d’adopter des pratiques qui favorisent le progrès et le développement de nos enseignants. La formation et la mise à contribution des leaders pédagogiques est une façon pour les divisions scolaires d’aider les enseignants à devenir des praticiens plus efficaces, en développant, ce faisant, leur capacité d’obtenir de bons résultats. Les enseignants et les autres membres du personnel scolaire jouent un rôle central en aidant nos élèves à développer leurs compétences et leurs capacités individuelles et suscitent le goût d’apprendre. Je voudrais saisir cette occasion pour remercier la MASS de son appui dans ce domaine et de sa contribution soutenue à l’excellence en éducation. Kelvin Goertzen Le ministre de l’Éducation A Message from the Manitoba Minister of Education / Un message de le ministre de l’Éducation We know that building capacity for learning will help to ensure our schools are increasingly innovative, progressive, and responsive to the needs of our students. Nous savons que le développement de la capacité d’apprentissage permettra de rendre nos écoles de plus en plus innovatrices, progressistes et adaptées aux besoins de nos élèves.Manitoba Association of School Superintendents 5 Manitoba Association of School Superintendents 5 A s we continue with the theme of instructional leadership in this issue of the MASS Journal, I’m pleased to share some thoughts with you on this key topic in education. Moving from a school into the role of a system leader is not for the faint of heart. Most educa- tors, in their initial studying at the university level, do not envision themselves leading an organization with dozens of schools and hundreds, if not thousands, of employees. Their own education and training are focused on being in the classroom and working directly with children, or pos- sibly as a leader in a school. Being an excellent educator is unquestionably an impor- tant skill for system leaders. Other key skills include the ability to receive and understand data in such a way that we can identify effective strategies to support staff and imple- ment appropriate programming for students. As system leaders, our role is to know what needs to be done because we are knowledgeable about the research, such as collective efficacy, spirals of inquiry, and brain development studies. Our focus, year to year, should be on persevering with the strategies that we know are effective for student suc- cess and achievement and fine-tuning them to the specific needs of our learners, while also identifying and removing strategies that have been less successful over the long term. We cannot subscribe to the “flavour of the month” mental- ity and then expect to see continuous and evidence-based improvement. The articles in this issue of the MASS Journal provide greater understanding and depth about how we can build capacity in instructional leadership within our own system leadership teams and the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents’ role in supporting the learning of system leaders. Pauline Clarke President of MASS Chief Superintendent/CEO, Winnipeg School Division T oujours sous le thème du leadership pédagogique dans ce numéro de MASS Journal, je suis ravie de partager avec vous quelques réflexions sur aspect important de l’éducation. La transition de l’école à un rôle de dirigeant de système n’est pas une mince affaire. La plupart des pédagogues, au début de leurs études universitaires, ne s’imaginent pas à la tête d’une organisation composée de douzaines d’écoles et de centaines, voire de milliers, d’employés. Leurs propres études et leur propre formation sont axées sur l’enseignement en classe et le travail direct avec des enfants, ou peut-être à titre de dirigeants d’une école. Il va sans dire qu’il est important pour les dirigeants de sys- tème d’être d’excellents pédagogues. Parmi les autres compétences essentielles, mentionnons la capacité de recevoir et de comprendre des données de manière à trouver des stratégies efficaces pour appuyer le personnel et mettre en place des programmes appro- priés pour les élèves. En tant que dirigeants de système, notre rôle est de savoir ce qui doit être fait, parce que nous connaissons les concepts de recherche, comme l’efficacité collective, les spirales d’interrogation et les études sur le développement du cerveau. Année après année, nos efforts devraient être axés sur la continuation des stratégies que nous savons efficaces pour assurer la réussite scolaire et sur le perfectionnement de ces stratégies en fonction des besoins particuliers de nos appre- nants, tout en repérant et en éliminant les stratégies qui se sont avérées moins fructueuses à long terme. Nous ne pouvons pas adhérer à la mentalité de la « saveur du mois » et nous attendre à voir une amélioration constante et fondée sur la preuve. Les articles dans ce numéro de MASS Journal aident à comprendre à fond comment nous pouvons renforcer la capa- cité de leadership pédagogique au sein de nos propres équipes de direction du système, ainsi que le rôle de la Manitoba Association of School Superintendents pour appuyer l’appren- tissage des dirigeants du système. Pauline Clarke Présidente de MASS Directrice en chef et PDG, Division scolaire de Winnipeg A Message from the President of MASS / Un message de la présidente de la MASS Our focus, year to year, should be on persevering with the strategies that we know are effective for student success and achievement and fine-tuning them to the specific needs of our learners, while also identifying and removing strategies that have been less successful over the long term. Année après année, nos efforts devraient être axés sur la continuation des stratégies que nous savons efficaces pour assurer la réussite scolaire et sur le perfectionnement de ces stratégies en fonction des besoins particuliers de nos apprenants, tout en repérant et en éliminant les stratégies qui se sont avérées moins fructueuses à long terme.6 MASS Journal Spring 2020 MASS 2020 Executive TABLE OFFICERS: Pauline Clarke, President Chief Superintendent/CEO Winnipeg School Division Tyson MacGillivray, North Area 3 Superintendent Frontier School Division Janet Tomy, Metro Assistant Superintendent Pembina Trails School Division Celia Caetano-Gomes, Metro Superintendent of Education Services Winnipeg School Division Ron Sugden, South Central Assistant Superintendent Prairie Rose School Division Barb Isaak Executive Director Karen Wohlgemuth Executive Assistant Jason Drysdale, Metro Assistant Superintendent River East Transcona School Division Jason Young, Southwest Superintendent Beautiful Plains School Division Verland Force, Metro Assistant Superintendent Seven Oaks School Division Michele Polinuk, Southeast Interlake Superintendent Lord Selkirk School Division Leanne Peters, Professional Learning Director Assistant Superintendent Sunrise School Division Krista Curry, Vice President Superintendent/CEO Border Land School Division Christian Michalik, Treasurer Superintendent Louis Riel School Division DIRECTORS: STAFF: René Déquier, At-Large Assistant Superintendent Division scolaire fronco- manitobaine (DSFM) Dan Ward, At-Large Superintendent/CEO Mountain View School DivisionManitoba Association of School Superintendents 7 Manitoba Association of School Superintendents 7 MASS 2020 Priorities Mission: MASS provides leadership for public education by advocating in the best interests of learners and supports its members through professional services. MASS believes that our mandate is to be leaders of learning, in our local school systems and in the broader domains of provincial, national, and global public education. MASS believes a quality education empowers the whole child to constructively participate in global society. We model learning that is: • Active and visible; • Based on robust research; • Tested through purposeful application in the field; and • Evaluated using a wide range of meaningful data. We take responsibility for our own continuous learning and the learning of everyone we lead: • Creating and fostering safe, supportive, inclusive, and challenging environments; • Ensuring essential learning for each and every child; and • Preparing others to go beyond our own learning. We are guided by our learning in shaping policy and practice to achieve what is best for the children in our care. MASS believes that improved achievement and well-being for all of our students requires a shared commitment to raising both equity and quality. • A conscious and persistent commitment to equity, system- wide and across sectors, leads to poverty reduction, greater inclusion, and an appreciation for the riches that diversity brings. • A purposeful and sustained commitment to quality education for every student increases the capacity for teaching, learning and leading throughout the system. • A strong grounding in literacy and numeracy and a rich learning experience involving inquiry, curiosity, creativity and artistic expression enables all students to achieve success and to flourish in life, academics, and career. • A respect for and openness to authentic youth voices and support for meaningful student action are critical for building capacity and self-efficacy in our students. MASS actively works towards equity and quality throughout the public education system, with a special focus on three action areas: The Early Learning Committee will take leadership to ensure that MASS: • Advocates for full implementation of the Calls to Action in the MASS position paper on Early Childhood Education. • Participates actively on the Provincial Educaring Committee. The Indigenous Education Committee will take leadership to ensure that MASS: • Builds capacity in MASS and school divisions to address the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action. • Promotes ever increasing academic achievement, graduation, school completion, and positive life outcomes for Indigenous students, informed by collective inquiry into evidence. • Actively supports the teaching of Indigenous perspectives, corrective history and culture and the use of Indigenous languages. The Mental Health and Well-Being Committee will take leadership to ensure that MASS: • Advocates for an implementation of a comprehensive provincial Children and Youth Mental Health Strategy. • Collaborates with The Education for Sustainable Well- Being Research Group at the University of Manitoba and Manitoba Education and Training to develop tools and indicators for assessing the well-being and well-becoming of students in schools. • Pursues inter-sectoral liaisons with public and mental health organizations and agencies. • Contributes to a national voice on mental health through CASSA and through input into the Canadian Mental Health Strategy. • Promotes Mental Health Literacy in mental health for all educators and pre-service educators. • Renewing MASS Mental Health position paper and calls to action.n »Early Learning »Indigenous Education »Mental Health and Well-Being 8 MASS Journal Spring 2020 T he Manitoba Association of School Superintendents (MASS) is an organiza- tion of leaders and learn- ers. Over the last eight years, the MASS Professional Learning Committee has consciously and deliber- ately focused superintendents’ learning to enable leaders to ably and capably lead the school systems of the future. Dr. Andy Hargreaves expounded on the need to develop professional capital to ensure that school systems continued to improve outcomes for all learners. “Capital relates to one’s own or group worth, particularly concerning assets that can be leveraged to accomplish desired goals” (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2012, p. 1). Hargreaves and Fullan discuss what it means to teach like a pro. This includes continuously inquiring into and improving one’s own teaching practice, planning, and improving not in isola- tion but as a part of a team of learners, and contributing to the larger teaching profession. Hargreaves shared that school sys- tems not only need to focus on leading the work in isolation but in creating systems that have professional and social capital to carry on the work in between sessions. High performing systems allow people to be supported at the school and classroom levels in between profes- sional learning opportunities. Systems with high social capital have structures in place where teachers are supported with implementation, have an opportunity to ask questions, and receive feedback as they consider how to implement within their own specific context. At a past MASS event, Pasi Sahlberg, noted Finnish author, policy maker, and thought leader, led superintendents to deepen their thinking about education systems that are both high quality and equitable. Sahlberg noted that, “The Finnish Way” is focused on collabora- tion, personalization, trust-based respon- sibility, and equity which leads to public good. The was compared to the Global Education Reform Movement (GERM), which zeroed in on competition, stan- dardization, test-based accountability, and choice leading to privatization. Much of the success of Finland’s education system came down to this: “Because Finnish educators and policy- makers believe schools can change the course of children’s lives, these schools must address the health, nutrition, well- being, and happiness of all children in a systematic and equitable manner” (Sahlberg, 2012, p. 28). Sahlberg left superintendents with five Finnish lessons for Manitoba: 1. Strengthen teacher professionalism and leadership; 2. Make equity a concrete aspect of policy agenda; 3. Enhance lateral collaboration and learning; 4. Invest in empowerment; and 5. Sharpen the shared vision (Sahlberg, 2013). These challenges continue to inform superintendents’ conversations and prac- tices as we think about educating all of Manitoba’s children. The Manitoba Association of School Superintendents’ submission to the Commission on Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education (2019) highlights the ongoing desire to focus on teaching and learning for all students and supporting an equitable, democratic platform for all through edu- cation. In 2014, MASS began its longstand- ing and ongoing relationship with Dr. Simon Breakspear. Breakspear (2014) kicked off the MASS Summer Institute by saying, “Our challenge is to both incrementally improve and to radically redesign learning at the same time….” He led superintendents through sessions designed to help us consider the global nature of education and how to lead school systems that provide thought- ful, carefully curated learning experi- ences for each child in our care with a specific emphasis on leading for equi- ty. Breakspear continued to encourage superintendents to lead in ways that hon- our risk-taking, learn from failure, and increasing the quality of teacher practice across systems. The following summer brought Dr. Öslem Sensoy to Manitoba from the University of British Columbia (UBC). Dr. Sensoy continued with the theme By Leanne M. Peters, Sunrise School Division Leaders are Learners: MASS Supports Superintendents’ LearningManitoba Association of School Superintendents 9 challenges for superintendents to contin- ue to grow and learn as chief educational leaders in Manitoba. As an organization, MASS continues to invest in professional learning for its members and recognizes that it is through ongoing, sustained learning that change happens. n Leanne M. Peters, EdD, is the Assistant Superintendent, Learning and Instruction Development at Sunrise School Division. She can be reached at lpeters@sunrisesd.ca or you can follow her on Twitter @leanne_petersl. and focus on teachers’ expertise. By framing it as “Small is the new big,” Breakspear (2017) encouraged partici- pants to explore solutions in context and once “incubated” follow up by “amplify- ing” the solutions that work and embed- ding those into practice. Then the pro- cess continues with a small, new piece of pedagogy in which teachers will enhance their expertise. This notion of Teaching Sprints resonated with superintendents and formed the foundation for a longer- term partnership with Breakspear which continues as MASS engages in ongoing work to support leaders in developing systems where teachers, principals, and superintendents can focus on their own expertise. Focusing on the Canadian context and Canadian research, Dr. Steven Katz, from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, came to Manitoba during the next two summers. Katz took super- intendents on a journey to interrupt humans’ propensity to follow a path of least resistance. Introducing a “Learning Conversations Protocol,” Katz showed leaders how disrupting natural think- ing and response patterns could lead to deeper and more meaningful conversa- tions around a problem of practice and open up the possibility of leading to innovative solutions. Katz (2019) also focused on the topic of the superintendent visit to schools which, in his words, is sometimes a “Swiss army knife” with no real impact. He chal- lenged superintendents to consider the impact of their visits and suggested that, “Structure, i.e. the actual visit, sometimes precedes function or the purpose of the visit. Sharing stories of work done with District Leaders in Ontario, Katz chal- lenged Manitoba’s superintendents to consider their next learning moves in relation to their own problem of practice. In other words, what is it that superinten- dents need to learn next? If there are two threads that run through superintendents’ learning through recent summer institutes, they are an ongoing focus on equity for all children in Manitoba and a development of the ongoing work to create and sustain quality, high performing school systems across the province. Each presenter has focused on equity for all learners and left of equity and quality by having par- ticipants consider how society comes to understand concepts such as gender. She posed the following questions to superintendents: “Is Elmo a boy or a girl? How about Cookie Monster and Big Bird?” This generated lively table discus- sion as we considered how early children become attuned to gender differences. Superintendents were challenged to con- sider their positionality in the world in terms of race, gender, socio-economic status, positions of power, and privilege. How does that positionality impact deci- sions and leadership of school systems? Dr. Michael Fullan and Joanne Quinn journeyed to Manitoba from Ontario in 2016 to talk about cre- ating a cohesive system that supports teachers and students. They present- ed the Coherence Framework from their book Coherence, which includes four dimensions: Focusing Directions; Cultivating Collaborative Cultures; Deepening Learning; and Securing Accountability (Fullan and Quinn, 2016). Superintendents unpacked this framework and in collaboration with their colleagues, considered ways to use this framework in local contexts to enhance student learning outcomes. They provided ample opportunities for school divisions to explore and think about how to continue to build high quality, equitable systems. The following summer brought Dr. Simon Breakspear back to Manitoba in a deliberate effort to support superintendents to go deeper with their thinking and move to action. Breakspear challenged superin- tendents to consider the agility of school systems and how the people in systems respond to making improvements in teach- ing and learning, which are not linear pro- cesses that are removed from the human element. As stated by Linda Darling- Hammond et. al. (2009), “Overall, the kind of high-intensity, job-embedded col- laborative learning that is most effective is not a common feature of professional development across most states, districts, and schools in the United States.” This sentiment could also extend to a Canadian, and, more specifically, a Manitoba context. Superintendents were introduced to the concept of Teaching Sprints – using short, iterative cycles to maximize impact References Breakspear, S. (2014, August). Deeper learning. Manitoba Association of School Superintendents Summer Institute. Breakspear, S. (2017, August). Agile system leadership. Manitoba Association of School Superintendents Summer Institute. Darling-Hammond, L., Wei, R. C., Andree, A., Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). Professional learn- ing in the learning profession. National Staff Development Council. Fullan, M. and Quinn, J. (2016). Coherence: The right drivers in action for schools, districts, and systems. Corwin. Hargreaves, A. and Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital: Transforming teaching in every school. Teachers College Press. Katz, S. (2019, August). The super- intendent school visit: Added value or activity trap? Manitoba Association for School Superintendents Summer Institute. The Manitoba Association of School Superintendents Submission to the Commission on Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education. (2019). http://mass. mb.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/ MASS-Submission-to-Education- Review-Commission.pdf Sahlberg, P. (2012). Quality and equity in Finnish schools. School Administrator 69(8), 27-30. Sahlberg, P. (2013, August). Quality and equity in education: Finnish les- sons. 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