Our K-6 teacher leaders spent time with Mike Rutherford this past week, visiting classrooms, and practicing 30 Second (positive) feedback along with Craft Conversations which are two tools from Mike’s, “Seven Tools for Growing Teachers and Teaching.” We are thrilled to have him joining us next month with 7-12 teacher leaders.
We started on this journey two years ago with principals. After principals saw the value, they asked that assistant principals receive the learning, and with such a favorable response about the value, we are now starting our third year with teacher leaders and new to our district administrators.
Why do we believe in this so deeply? Well, to start, the research is very compelling. I’ve probably heard Mike talk about the research no short of 16 times, and it never gets old. Essentially, when teachers receive non-evaluative, growth-evoking feedback, they grow over twice as much as teachers who receive no feedback. High-quality, non-evaluative, timely feedback is key. Why is it key? Because while we all have evaluation systems, many of which are mandated at the state level, there is no research to support that evaluation for the sake of scoring or rating people, grows teachers (and therefore, student learning).
It turns out that the same is true for students. Mike reminded us of Hattie’s research on student feedback. High-quality, non-evaluative, timely feedback continues to emerge as one of the most essential strategies for growing student learning. Not grades. And I will leave it at that because that’s an entire post on its own, and it’s one that I’m not sure I want to write, haha.
I’m sharing all of this to say that we are overcomplicating a lot of things in education and overlooking some of what matters most. I’m passionate about this and about what will happen to the future of education. I’ve been writing about this for over 6 years consistently. This is the bedrock of my book: Legacy of Learning: Teaching for Lasting Impact.
I’m not saying the world hasn’t changed a lot since I started my career over twenty years ago. What I am saying is that in this fast-paced and ever-changing world, much of what matters most has not changed. We knew relationships were at the core of strong schools twenty years ago and guess what? They are still at the core. We’ve known about the positive impact of high-quality feedback for perhaps even before my teaching career started, and it still remains one of the most impactful factors for growing teachers and student learning.
I’m sharing all of this because Mike also reminded us of something else quite compelling about good teaching: it doesn’t just improve academic skills. The research shows that it also grows non-academic skills. The very skills or attributes found in the Portrait of Graduate that many schools and states are creating and adopting.
I’m not saying that we won’t have to change as a system. What I am saying is that before we work to put big change initiatives in place around our portraits, we cannot overlook the ways in which we can and in many cases are already growing students in their non-academic skills by simply ensuring we grow teachers and teaching. One way we can do this is quite literally by showing up and giving non-evaluative, high-quality feedback to one another. Is it pretty easy to do when executed with intentionality? Sure. Is it hard to do consistently? Yes, but only if we let that which is less impactful get in our way. And that’s the part that can feel hard. It’s easy to lose our way in that which feels loud or urgent to others.
We can’t do everything with excellence. So, we must prioritize what matters most and commit to excellence in a few key areas. We will attend to the rest, but it can’t have our best energy and our best thinking. We reserve our best for that which is most impactful. I’m not saying we reserve our best for that which feels the biggest or showiest. That which is most impactful may look small or inconsequential to others. Don’t let the big flashy things take your attention away from what you know matters and is making a difference. Maybe that flashy thing has merit. Make sure it does before you chase it. And make sure you’ve identified what can fall away too. Often, we are good at pursuing the new and not so great at deciding what must go away to make room for it.
That must be true in our curriculums. That must be true in our strategic plans. That must be true in our efforts to operationalize our portraits. When done well, those three things are clearly interconnected and in support of one another versus siloed endeavors. This is how we “advance the work and develop the people” as they say in Expect A Lot/Care A Lot.
This is how we take good care of the work while also taking good care of the people.
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