Applying design thinking principles to support the school leadership residency

Preparing to succeed in high-stakes professions like aviation, medicine and school leadership requires hands-on experiences under authentic conditions. That’s why the residency phase is so critical.

Like a medical residency, the NYC Leadership Academy’s (NYCLA) Aspiring Principals Program (APP) residency matches aspiring leaders with opportunities to perform a highly complex job with the support of a mentor principal and coach (See “The Residency: Performing key functions of the job under authentic conditions”).

One of the biggest design challenges of this preparation phase is to help school leaders become adept at managing a multitude of priorities and limited resources without compromising one’s focus on student learning, growth and success.

NYCLA’s Senior Director for Learning Systems, Rachel Scott, led the team that studied and matched the needs of aspiring leaders with a complementary online platform and curriculum.

“A school leader’s job can be overwhelming because of the crush of competing demands and the imperative to accelerate student learning,” Scott said. “That’s why the residency is so intense. It is intentionally designed to help leaders build the stamina and strength they need to lead schools of their own successfully.”

NYCLA is piloting a “blended residency” — an innovative mix of online assignments and support aligned with the intense, in-school work of an aspiring principal. Adding online components to the traditional in-school residency creates more opportunities for aspiring leaders to join colleagues to reflect, troubleshoot and access the latest research. In addition, online options such as NYCLA’s address the challenges of geographic, financial and time constraints. One current cohort of NYCLA aspiring principals is spread across five states.

Design thinking: getting into school leaders’ shoes

To create something truly useful, the NYCLA design team drew on team members’ considerable experience addressing what it means to take the reins of a school, particularly one that serves underserved students.

The blended residency includes a variety of activities and resources. Aspiring leaders can access instructional videos of teacher teams collaborating or they can submit draft professional development plans for feedback from fellow cohort members. “The resources and assignments support the interactions, challenges and opportunities principals face throughout the school year,” said Scott.

NYCLA’s blended residency is continuously tested and refined based on user experience.

For example, facilitators have found they need to be especially direct and explicit in managing discussion forums — where aspiring principals are asked to contribute their thinking to specific topics. Without clear parameters, aspiring leaders can slip into sharing personal opinions and experiences rather than structured insights about their own and others’ practices — thus advancing professional learning and growth.

Student equity imperative

It is vital that aspiring principals develop the skills and experience to initiate difficult conversations about gaps in student opportunities to achieve.

This includes learning how to motivate staff to provide all students with access to promising life opportunities, particularly those underserved by the current system.

Aspiring school principals must receive the opportunities to learn how to confront low expectations about what students of color living in under-resourced communities are capable of achieving.

Pernicious disparities in student outcomes and opportunities will continue to grow without intentional and focused efforts to strengthen school leadership.

“As designers one of the real challenges we’re facing is how to create opportunities for aspiring principals to hone their ability to identify and address patterns of inequity. We want school leaders to be able to challenge low expectations, and thoughtfully evaluate student needs and guide and support change,” said Scott.

This kind of thinking and leadership is aligned to the student equity and social justice practices NYCLA challenges all leaders to incorporate. The blended residency includes online and face-to-face resources and experiences that help school leaders become more aware of their biases, effectively identify the needs of diverse student populations, devise and implement strategies to meet those needs, and measure progress.

What principals need, when they need it

The blended residency consists of five modules with assignments, access to resources and research, videos and other tools timed to support aspiring principals at key points in the school calendar. The units can be adapted to participants based on their own and district’s needs:

1) Beginning the Residency: Assessment — Aspiring principals use a range of data and personal observations to assess school culture, their own understanding of standards, and more. They also focus on building an online community as a cohort, just as they are building relationships within their school communities. This helps leaders plan and reflect on how they are entering the school and are perceived by those they lead.

2) Building a Culture of Learning — Aspiring principals develop and communicate their vision, theory of action and strategic plan for their work at the residency site, including leading a collaborative process to address specific student learning goals, and more.

3) Leading Continuous Inquiry — Aspiring school leaders delve deeply into collaborative inquiry to assess students’ needs, staff support needed to meet those needs and how the needs are being addressed.

4) Managing Resources — This unit helps participants learn how and to what extent resources at their residency sites (including space, funds, personnel, and time) are aligned to support the school’s vision, student needs and resource alignment in future leadership work. The module includes a focus on the role of equity in allocating resources and creating effective partnerships with family and community members.

5) Assessing Results– This unit is focused on analyzing aspiring principals’ impact and sustaining their work.

Principals as key drivers of instructional changes

Principals are expected to incorporate research-based, results-oriented, and efficient approaches to professional learning. The design of the online platform and in-school residency experience is intentionally focused on what school leaders will need to know and be able to do to improve learning for the all students.

For example, one assignment captures aspiring principals’ thinking and experiences in leading an instructional team meeting. Questions include:

Think back to your reflections on cultural proficiency in the Unit One Theory of Action Worksheet. What are you noticing about the cultural proficiency of your team? How are they responding to the work ahead?

Describe the population of students who are outside the sphere of success who will be the focus of the work of the instructional team.

NYCLA’s blended residency is an integral component of the preparation of aspiring principals who will be under considerable pressure to drive instructional improvement as school leaders. The online platform provides a cost-effective way to support both aspiring and sitting principals scattered across geographic distances. It opens access to a range of online tools and experiences that can enhance school leaders’ practice for the rest of their careers. This can be particularly important for resource-strapped school districts or networks with schools in different locations.

“The ability to transcend time and location is an important feature for an increasing number of school districts and networks,” said NYCLA’s Chief Strategy Officer Jana Carlisle. “The ability to customize in-person and virtual programming to meet a range of needs, geographies and budgets is a hallmark of NYCLA’s 13 years of experience.”

Coming up … Much has been written about how students learn in blended learning settings, but less in K-12 is known about how the adults who teach them best use blended learning for professional development. Five lessons are emerging from NYCLA’s experience launching an online platform to support their APP residency phase.

For more information about programs for aspiring principals and leaders go to www.nycleadershipacademy.org