In the Spring, 2009 of The AdvancEd Source, Brian MCulty, Ph.D. writes that the single biggest challenge among educators is the lack of follow through. There is not a lack of knowledge, but a instead a lack of action throughout the system. He refers to this as the "knowing-doing gap." This is true not only of leaders but of teachers as well. How often have we attended some really good workshops, but came back and never implemented what we learned. This is probably more then norm rather than the exception. In this last post on Actions of Effective Leaders, we will look briefly at the last two of the "Five Actions of Success."
Action 4, Implement Deeply: Doug Reeves (2006) believes until you have high levels of implementation (90%) across the school, then you will not get desired outcomes. This calls for leaders to monitor regularly to make sure that implementation is happening across the board. This requires a lot of will on the parts of leaders.
Action 5, Monitor, provide feedback, and support: In this step, leaders will know what implementation looks like when it is being handled well. A rubric can be used to determine when this happens. Leaders will then develop a set of deadlines or a report schedule when the goals are to be met. This will also include formative assessment techniques that demonstrates that the goals are actually being useful for the students.
When Leaders use these steps on a regular basis, they should begin to see the type of implementation that makes a difference in classrooms, school and to the district.
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