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Leading School Teams

Building Trust to Promote Student Learning

By: David M. Horton

With ready-to-use tools, this guide will help you connect people, build trust, discover strengths, and clear barriers to improve teacher effectiveness—and ultimately raise student achievement.

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Product Details

Grade Level: PreK-12
ISBN: 9781506344928
Published By: Corwin
Year: 2016
Page Count: 200
Publication date: October 07, 2016

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Review copies may be requested by individuals planning to purchase 10 or more copies for a team or considering a book for adoption in a higher ed course. To request a review copy, contact sales@corwin.com.

Description

The busy administrator’s guide to creating strong teams, changing culture, and improving performance

How effective is your team? Research shows that “teacher collective efficacy”—when all teachers are collectively engaged and focused on improvement—can do more to increase student learning than any other strategy. In fact, using powerhouse teams can achieve four years of student growth in a single calendar year. Horton’s practical guide will help you form your own dream team through:

Short activities that require little to no preparation that you can use to deepen conversation at your very next meeting
Step-by-step tools that will help your team move from identifying its biggest challenges to choosing and implementing successful reforms
Strategies to enhance teamwork, trust, and collaboration so that your team becomes as effective as possible

Horton will help you connect people, build trust, discover strengths, and clear barriers to reach greater teacher and program effectiveness—and ultimately raise student achievement.

This book provides leaders and teams with a blueprint of how to work through a problem to find possible solutions while valuing each member of the team. This is not an easy task at any level and to have a resource to provide guidance for those tough situations is always welcomed.
Nicky Kemp, Assistant Superintendent
North Callaway R-1 School District

Leading School Teams allowed our team to address the lack of processes and the finger pointing and tension that went along with it. It was surprising how quickly the activities and discussion brought out the meat of the issues within our team. Because of the natural manner in which the issues were approached, team members felt respected and accomplished after each session.
Eric Dahlstrom
Principal, Dartmouth Middle School

Author(s)

David M. Horton

David Horton is a lifelong educator. He has served as an Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, a K-12 Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment; Coordinator of Secondary Mathematics and K-12 Instructional Technology; high school Assistant Principal; and high school math and science teacher. David’s area of expertise is building systems and structures of organizational leadership that align mission and vision with practice. He currently teaches as an adjunct professor with two Southern California universities.

David has a Bachelor of Science in Biology and Master of Education from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received a Master of Science degree in Administration from Pepperdine University and earned a Doctor of Education degree in Organizational Leadership from the University of La Verne. David resides in Southern California with his wife and two children.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Introduction

Sustained Improvement Requires Teams

What This Book Is—What This Book Isn’t

Quick-Start Diagnostic

Making a Selection

Putting It All Together

Activity Guidelines

Components of Team Activities

PART I. EXAMINATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF THE PROBLEM

Chapter 1. Learning Leadership

Leaders and Teams

The Realities in the Leadership of Learning

Application Activity 1.1—Assessing Your Organizational, Team, and Personal Strengths

Application Activity 1.2—Effective Learning Leaders

Application Activity 1.3—Strong Learning Teams Exhibit Common Characteristics

Conclusion

Chapter 2. A Problem Worth Solving and the Ideas to Solve It (the Filters)

Introduction

Ideas Are Fragile—Ideas Are Delicate

The Fosbury Flop, Ski Jumping, and Newton

Application Activity 2.1—Treating Ideas in a Learning Organization

Application Activity 2.2—Ideas That Don’t Work: Part of the Process

Application Activity 2.3—It Takes Other People Sooner or Later

Application Activity 2.4—Who and What You Have Around You

Deeper Use of This Chapter (Deeper Dive)

Conclusion

Chapter 3. Why Solve the Problem That Needs Solving (the Filters)

Introduction

Application Activity 3.1—What the Result of a Great Decision Looks Like

Application Activity 3.2— Reasons to Have the Idea in the First Place

Application Activity 3.3—The Problem That Needs Solving: Clear, Concise

Application Activity 3.4—The Role of the Leader in Developing Ideas

Application Activity 3.5—Harnessing the Forces Around You

Deeper Use of This Chapter: Deeper Dives

Conclusion

PART II—INTROSPECTION, BEHAVIORS, TYPES: THE HOW AND WHO TO SOLVE PROBLEMS

Chapter 4. How the Problem Is Solved

Introduction

Application Activity 4.1— Importance of a Process

Application Activity 4.2—Trust

Application Activity 4.3—Fear of Conflict

Application Activity 4.4—Commitment

Application Activity 4.5—Accountability

Application Activity 4.6—Attention to Results

Application Activity 4.7—Generating Ideas and Action Steps

Deeper Use of This Chapter: Reusable Prompts

Deeper Use of This Chapter: Deeper Dives

Conclusion

Chapter 5. The People Who Will Solve the Problem

Introduction

Application Activity 5.1—Know How to Build and Use People

Application Activity 5.2—The Chemistry of the Team

Application Activity 5.3—Managing the Creative Team

Application Activity 5.4—Handling Conflict in the Ideas From the Team

Deeper Use of This Chapter: Deeper Dives

Conclusion

Chapter 6. The People in the Room (the Types)

Introduction

The Assessment

The Basics

Application Activity 6.1—Part 1/Type 1: The Idea

Application Activity 6.2—Part 2/Type 2: Organization and Execution

Application Activity 6.3—Part 3/Type 3: Forces of Community

Application Activity 6.4—Part 4/Type 4: Leadership Capacity

Using the Four Types

Conclusion

PART III. FUNCTIONALITY OF THE TEAM

Chapter 7. People, Leadership, Support (the Fuel Sources)

Introduction

Fuel Source A: The People

Application Activity 7.1—Who

Application Activity 7.2—What

Application Activity 7.3—How (Coaching)

Deeper Use of This Chapter: Deeper Dives

Fuel Source B: The Resource of Leadership

Application Activity 7.4—Keep Things Moving (Management Leadership)

Application Activity 7.5—Keep People Moving (Leadership Management)

Deeper Use of This Chapter: Deeper Dives

Fuel Source C: The Supports

Application Activity 7.6—Gather, Collect, Assess

Application Activity 7.7—Feedback

Application Activity 7.8—Systems and Barriers

Application Activity 7.9—Performance

Deeper Use of This Chapter: Deeper Dives

Conclusion

Chapter 8. Team Dynamics, Blunders, Traps, Directions, and Connecting Dots (the Pink Elephants)

Introduction

Application Activity 8.1—Pink Elephants

Application Activity 8.2—Team Dynamics

Application Activity 8.3—The Blunders

Application Activity 8.4—The Traps

Application Activity 8.5—Ideas as Direction

Application Activity 8.6—Connect the Dots

Deeper Use of This Chapter: Deeper Dives

Conclusion

Chapter 9. Performance, Feedback, and Other Ways to Support, Maim, or Kill a Team (the Good, the Dangerous, and the Lethal)

Introduction

Application Activity 9.1—The Good: Selling the Idea: A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words

Application Activity 9.2—The Good: Communication and Frequency

Application Activity 9.3—The Good: Ingredients of the High-Performing Team

Application Activity 9.4—The Dangerous: Planning Mistakes

Application Activity 9.5—The Lethal: Lack of Feedback, Feedback, Feedback

Application Activity 9.6—The Lethal: Mistaken Assumptions of People and Meetings

Conclusion

Chapter 10. Leadership, Support, Structure, and Conclusion

Leadership

Support

Structure—The Overall Structure: The First 15 Minutes, the Next 45 Minutes

Conclusion

References

Index

Reviews

"This book provides leaders and teams with a blueprint of how to work through a problem to find possible solutions while valuing each member of the team. This is not an easy task at any level and to have a resource to provide guidance for those tough situations is always welcomed."

Nicky Kemp, Assistant Superintendent
North Callaway R-1 School District

“If you are a school or district administrator with the time, energy, and courage to take on the major concerns of your school/district and are willing to implement a plan with possible systemic change then this book is for you.”

Jim Anderson, Principal
Andersen Jr. High School

"Chapter 4 of Leading School Teams allowed our team to address the lack of processes and the finger pointing and tension that went along with it. It was surprising how quickly the activities and discussion brought out the meat of the issues within our team. It happened in a natural way that it snuck up on the team and we were in the middle of addressing the real issues before we realized what was happening. Additionally, because of the natural manner in which the issues were approached, team members felt respected and accomplished after each session."

Eric Dahlstrom, Principal
Dartmouth Middle School

"Building effective teams at all levels of an organization is critical for long-term success. Nowhere is this more evidenced than in the principal coaching I do where building vital relationships and high-performing teams transcends traditional content and data and get to the heart of what we value in one another and our collective work. Dr. Horton has laid out a comprehensive–and palatable–approach to teaming that values the individual strengths of each stakeholder and lays the foundation for teacher enthusiasm and learner engagement."

Dr. Michael Roe, Principal
Riverside Poly High School

"This year I was faced with the challenge of starting a brand new community day school, changing the paradigm of how we educate expelled and at risk youth, and implementing curriculum and procedures that are truly new and innovative choices for our teachers. As I read through Leading School Teams I saw a few specific topics that I felt were key discussions to have as a fledgling staff, but sometimes folks can be hesitant in truly being honest about difficult topics. One of the best discussions we were able to have was in regard to the following prompt from Chapter 7 of Leading School Teams: 'Do we have a system to collect data on the program or initiative? Is it simple to use and simple to understand? Have results targets been determined before the program launch?' This prompt was able to facilitate a powerful discussion on how we are evaluating our progress, and how effectively we are meeting targets that we set at the outset of the year. As a staff we are looking forward to continuing these discussions using the same format and seeing the growth that will come from vibrant and honest discussions."

Cristian Miley, Principal
ASPIRE Community Day School

"The strategies within Leading School Teams allowed our leadership team to develop a deeper understanding between our members. This enabled our team to create more effective connections with each other, improved our levels of communication, and strengthened our team's bond."

Jeff Franks, Principal
Acacia Middle School

"Whether you are a new leader of a team, an established team in need of trust or a culture shift, a team where not everyone’s voice is heard, or a team without established systems, Leading School Teams provides the tools needed to create a highly effective team. This book provides powerful insight to practical activities that can be easily implemented with any team, at any stage, with an end result of productive change. Diagnose your team, engage in the activities and dialogue and watch your team transform."

Leah C. Davis, Executive Director
Riverside County SELPA

"In order for any team or change effort to be successful, relational trust is key. In Leading School Teams, Dave Horton offers practical strategies to enhance relational trust in order to transform adult-centered systems into systems that put students at the center!"

Paul Bloomberg, Chief Learning Officer
The Core Collaborative

Other Titles in: Professional Learning Communities | Program Development & Evaluation | School Change, Reform, & Restructuring

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