Presuming Competence in Our Students and Each Other

By Shaunna LaPlant, Principal, Franklin School District

As educators, it is our responsibility to ensure that we are always working to close gaps in our system both in achievement and in opportunity. Eliminating inequities both as individuals and as a collective school community is hard work and cannot be done in isolation. In this article, readers will learn how to lead a school towards “presuming competence”. Attention will be brought to Mindsets & Beliefs, Services & Supports, and High Leverage Practices.

Country Dale’s Story
Country Dale Elementary School is located in Franklin, Wisconsin. Franklin is a small city that has been evolving from a rural area school district into a suburban district. Country Dale truly represents Franklin’s ever-changing community as our students and families have also become more diverse each year. As our population has changed, our high expectations and belief in ensuring every student’s access to opportunity has not changed which is one of the many reasons why Country Dale has shown success. However, we have also experienced plenty of ups and downs on our journey towards that belief.

To paint a picture of what our service delivery model for students with IEPs consisted of nine years ago, we had two cross categorical teachers and two cross categorical educational assistants.  Each of the teachers had about 15 students on their caseloads and between the two of them, they covered all grades Kindergarten through 6th. Much of the students’ specially designed instruction was in the special education setting and co-planning wasn’t even a concept. When a child with an IEP was in their general education classroom, they often had another adult sitting right next to them “helping” them along. Everyone had good intentions and wanted our students with disabilities to be successful but we were going about it the wrong way, stripping children of their independence and it was time to make changes in order to better serve all students. It was time to start presuming competence in our students and in each other.

Four years ago, Franklin Public Schools developed our first district-wide Coherence Plan to bring focus and direction to our schools. As part of the Coherence Plan development, we determined our values, including Equity, as well as our own Equity Principles. In 2018 our district consulted with Integrated Comprehensive Systems for Equity (ICS) and conducted an Equity audit to gain a better understanding of the gaps within our system. It was determined that we were in need of professional development to help us increase our knowledge and belief in ensuring every student’s access to opportunity. This work is what opened up my own eyes to realizing how our current model was contributing to our gaps for students in traditionally marginalized groups, and in particular students with IEPs. 

Mindsets and Beliefs
Before a principal can begin to make big changes within a school, it’s essential to have a clear vision so that everyone else can understand why it’s so important they jump on board with these changes. “Leadership defines what the future should look like, aligns people with that vision, and inspires them to make it happen despite the obstacles” (Cotter, 2012, p. 28). In order to make changes within a school related to the presumptions we make about children, the leader must be prepared to address the mindsets and beliefs of the whole school.  

One place to begin this work is to evaluate the collective teacher efficacy that is either present or lacking among teams. As Jenni Donohoo states, “The strength of collective efficacy beliefs affects how schools tackle difficult challenges.” If student achievement scores are declining, teachers are feeling overwhelmed and more children than ever before are showing up with significant social-emotional challenges and a wider range of neurodiversity, then it’s likely time to consider refreshing your staff’s mindsets and beliefs while increasing everyone’s collective efficacy. The reason these topics must go hand in hand is because we know that when individual and collective teacher efficacy is high, teachers are more likely to accept change and try new things (Donhoo, 2017).

Shelley Moore is a teacher and researcher on special education who advocates for inclusive education. In one of her popular videos linked here, she said, “By presuming competence in each other, we realize that there is no other place that a student needs to be sent to be successful, because we belong together and can be successful together in all of our diversity.”  To this point not only do educators have to presume competence in our students but it’s also essential that we presume competence in each other. 

Presuming competence in our teams allows us to develop trusting, supportive relationships to see possibilities and build our resilience. Presuming competence in others means that nobody has to handle anything alone and that everyone is better because of each other. Simply put, presuming competence brings positive energy.  The leader’s focus must be put on creating a belief system where teachers understand that collective responsibility helps maximize our educational impact for the student directly and indirectly. This type of interdependence benefits each individual team member, but takes intentional effort. 

Research shows that anxiety makes people more risk-averse in a crisis like a pandemic and are less likely to seek out differing perspectives.  “Particularly in a crisis, organizations need to pull together experts with unique, cross functional perspectives to solve rapidly changing, complex problems that have long-term implications” (Gardner and Matviak, 2020, p. 2). Some people tend to fall back on things that have worked well in the past.  However, research from the 2008 financial crisis shows that collaboration leads to sustainably higher performance and the most collaborative partners outperformed their colleagues.  People who chose to hunker down and “go it alone” still had not recovered their business even five years after the recession ended. Leaders must help teachers understand the degree of collaboration during a crisis has a huge impact on whether or not our teachers, students and school thrive. 

Conclusion: Teachers need to understand their leader’s vision for change and they need to be able to presume competence in everyone around them including all students and staff.  If these two critical components can align, then it’s much more likely the mindsets and beliefs of a school will be ready to take on new challenges and begin making significant changes in the best interest of kids. 

Services and Supports
Another key feature of presuming competence in students and in each other is consideration of the services and supports that are provided to children within a school. Understanding that all services and supports are aimed at helping students to be successful, the location of and the delivery model of the services and supports make a big difference for the child.  If some students are excluded or removed from the general education curriculum, instruction, and social interactions with their typically developing peers for an extended period of time, it is once again suggested that the leader consider refreshing your staff’s mindsets and beliefs around the school’s service delivery model.  

“The processes of the past that isolate students-and isolate teachers from one another-do not work for teachers and administrators seeking to meet the needs of every student” (Jung, Frey, Fisher, Kroener, 2019, p. 63). Therefore any principal who strives to create an inclusive community will make it a priority to find opportunities for all services to be delivered in the general education setting.  Speech and language, physical therapy, and occupational therapy are services that can be provided in the general education classroom if planned appropriately.  “Inclusive school reform, when done correctly, looks not only at students with disabilities, but also at all other groups of marginalized students, and prioritizes full-time access to the general education curriculum, instruction and peer groups” (Causton & Theorharis, 2014, p. 61). Plus, the bonus to keeping students in their classrooms is that they are also able to practice all of the skills aligned to their services with their peers which will equate to a truly authentic learning experience. 

When considering how students will be supported in your building, it is also important to focus on what each student CAN do versus what they CANNOT do.  Oftentimes educational assistants believe it is their job to sit next to a student for the entirety of the writing lesson and work time.  However, when this happens, we are teaching the child that they can only work on their writing if they have an adult to help them.  This is where productive struggle comes into play and it is crucial that all of the adults in an inclusive school understand this mode of teaching and learning. By focusing on a child’s strengths, you are automatically presuming competence in that student. 

Conclusion: Part of the principal’s role as an LEA is to ensure that the IEP team is providing appropriate special education services that will promote student growth all the while identifying which supports will be the least intrusive for that individual student.  A principal who is working to ensure his or her staff is always presuming competence should be monitoring this process by working closely with the IEP team.

High Leverage Practices
Leading a school towards “presuming competence” will require intentional planning and use of many high leverage practices.  Of course a classroom or special education teacher will need to learn about flexible grouping in an inclusive classroom or how to best provide appropriate scaffolds with a plan for fading them away, a principal will have their own “to-do” list.  There are three key strategies that a principal should focus on while shifting the culture of their school and they are as follows:

• Foster high performing teams

• Provide feedback that aligns with your vision around presuming competence

• Offer coaching and professional development aligned to building student independence in all content areas

According to Hattie, collective efficacy is the new #1 on the list of influencing factors from Visible Learning.  He says, “In schools where teachers work together to find ways to address the learning, motivation and behavior problems, students are the major beneficiaries” (Hattie, 2018, p. 27).  For this reason, it is essential that the principal’s role is to foster high performing teams.  Time must be allocated each week so that teachers can plan and learn together on a regular and formal basis.  Schedules must be created in tandem so that the general education teacher does not simply hand over their daily schedule and expect the special educator to “make it work”.  High performing teams engage in joint work and think beyond just cooperating with each other. They set goals and use data to measure their impact collectively. 

In addition to fostering high performing teams, another item on the principal’s “to-do” list is to provide feedback to teachers that aligns with your vision around presuming competence.  Knowing that feedback between teachers and students has an effect size of 0.75, it’s no surprise that teachers learn and grow with feedback from their supervisors as well. Certainly a principal will continue to focus on a teacher’s instruction and planning and preparation, but making connections to what is happening in an individual teacher's classroom and how it relates to your school's goals will provide a whole new layer of clarity. 

Finally, the last high leverage practice that a principal should focus on is offering coaching and professional development aligned to building student independence in all content areas. Considering professional development achieves an effect size of 0.62, it’s worth a principal’s time and energy if planned and coordinated well.  It is also completely acceptable and recommended that a principal call on the help from external experts to help carry the weight of this particular strategy.  You might team-up with your district’s math or literacy specialists.  Or, better yet, you will bring everyone together, including student services, in order to create professional development or coaching that promotes presuming competence in reading, writing, math and all other areas of school.

Conclusion: When leading a school towards “presuming competence” a principal should consider dedicating time to developing high performing teams, provide feedback to staff that directly aligns to presuming competence and ensure that teachers receive specific coaching and new learning aligned to building student independence.  The use of these high leverage practices will better allow a school to close gaps in achievement and opportunities for all students.

In order to eliminate inequities both as individuals and as a collective school community a principal cannot work in isolation.  Shifting mindsets and beliefs takes time and requires many stakeholders to help carry the message.  Ensuring that services and supports are provided in authentic situations will require a principal’s support towards increased inclusion.  Finally, leaning on specific high leverage practices that promote presuming competence and building student independence must be made a priority by not only the school leader but by everyone who intends to have an impact on children. 

References

Caustin J. & Theorharis G. (2014). The Principal’s Handbook for Leading Inclusive Schools. Baltimore, London & Sydney.

Donohoo, J. (2017). Collective Efficacy. Corwin.

Donohoo J. & Katz S. (2020). Quality Implementation. Corwin.

Hattie J. & Zierer K. (2018). 10 Mindframes for Visible Learning. London & New York: Routledge.

Jung L., Frey N., Fisher D., Kroener J. (2019). Your Students, My Students, Our Students. ASCD. 

Kotter, J. (2012). Leading Change. Harvard Business Review Press.