Dr Toby A Travis of TrustED: 5 Things That Should Be Done To Improve The US Educational System
An Interview With Penny Bauder
Highly effective educators recognize that they have limited skills and need to depend and rely on others. For example, Richard Elmore argues that effective instructional leaders recognize they can only master a limited amount of expertise essential to leading a school. Therefore, to effectively lead the entire school community, trusted school leaders empower others with differing skill sets.
As a part of my interview series about “5 Things You Need To Know To Be A Highly Effective Educator,” I had the pleasure to interview Dr. Toby Travis.
Dr. Toby A. Travis is the founder of TrustED®, a framework for school improvement focused on developing trusted leaders. The application of his research serves as the basis for the TrustED® School Leader 360 Assessment, which schools worldwide utilize to inform improvement initiatives. In addition, he is an Executive Consultant with the Global School Consulting Group, an Adjunct Professor for the International Graduate Program of Educators for the State University of New York College at Buffalo, and an experienced teacher and administrator of Preschool–Grade 12 schools. His new book is TrustED — The Bridge to School Improvement. Learn more at www.trustedbook.info.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to get to know you a bit better. Can you share the backstory behind what brought you to this particular career path?
Without question, I have to credit the educators who invested in my life as a child, teen, young adult, and throughout my life. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania in a large family, the youngest of six boys, with a large extended family who lived within an area of less than a mile. It was a loving environment, but also a busy one. My parents and grandparents greatly influenced my life, but the other adults who invested time in me and influenced who I was or who I was becoming were teachers. So it’s interesting to reflect that those subjects in which I experienced the most supportive and caring relationships with teachers were also the subjects I excelled in to the greatest extent. And vice versa. But that’s another topic.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your teaching career? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
For several years I had the opportunity of teaching at the Alliance Academy International in Quito, Ecuador. The school was originally organized back in 1929 as a school for missionary children. Over the decades, it developed into one of the premier international schools in South America. Thus, by the time I was on staff, the school was attracting students from over 30 nationalities. It was the most diverse learning environment I’d ever lived in or worked in.
I’ve always been a proponent of diversity and valuing multi-cultural understanding, but we lived and experienced it at an intense level in this environment. And what I learned is that diversity breeds a lack of trust. Trust comes easy when living and working in a homogeneous environment. In a highly diverse environment, however, building trust must be done very intentionally.
I learned that frequently our cultural practices and preferences were assigned moral or ethical values. For example, not greeting someone properly or inquiring about their health or family before entering into a conversation about the business or purpose of the meeting is viewed by many Latinos as rude and uncaring. On the other hand, for North Americans, the practice of greeting everyone individually when you enter a room or saying individual goodbyes to each person in the room before your departure seems to be a waste of valuable time in the workplace.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I’m helping organize the new EdExcellence Conference, coming up on March 7th in Fayetteville, North Carolina. This conference is unique for educators as the primary focus is solely on how we can better support the well-being of students, teachers, and school leaders. More than ever before, as educators, I believe we’re coming to grips with a new and deeper understanding of the importance of “Relationships over Rigor,” or as it’s been said, we must address “Maslow before Bloom.” That’s a foundational concept of the conference, and I’m very pleased to assist with its launch. More information about the conference can be found at www.edexcellence.info.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the main focus of our interview. From your point of view, how would you rate the results of the U.S. education system?
Well, first, the phrase “U.S. education system” needs to be defined. One out of every four campuses in the U.S. is a private school campus, and most of those are faith-based schools. Much of the discussion and news items we see every day equate the U.S. education system only with the public school system and with an occasional nod to charter schools. Yet again, 25 percent of schools are privately owned and represent between 10–20 percent of all students. In fact, during the pandemic, we’ve seen a marked movement away from the public school sector and enrollment growing significantly in private schools.
So, to the question of rating the “system,” I believe it needs to be broken down and is quite frankly very difficult to do as literally every school campus is unique, whether public, charter, or private. One general observation is that whenever a system grows larger, it becomes more ineffective in ensuring quality education is delivered. In education, bigger is not always better. When decisions that govern the operations of a school are made at the local or even campus level, the results are better for teachers and students. Systems by their very nature create impediments to authentically meeting the personalized and individualized needs of local communities.
Can you identify 5 areas of the U.S. education system that are going really great?
1. The increased opportunities for parental choice of the education for their children.
2. The increasing awareness and value of individualized learning plans for students, recognizing that one curriculum does not fit all.
3. The growing understanding that we need to be educating students for their future, not our past (see Tony Wagner’s Most Likely to Succeed).
4. The commitment to meet the needs of all learners.
5. The desire to be research and data-informed in the professional development of our school leaders, teachers, and programs (although rarely successful in application).
Can you identify the 5 key areas of the U.S. education system that should be prioritized for improvement? Can you explain why those are so critical?
1. Increased parental/guardian involvement in the education of their children. Decades of research show that one of the major indicators of highly successful students is highly informed, involved, and supportive parents and guardians. This priority needs to begin with empowering parents to select the school of their choice. In addition, parents need to be viewed as partners in the learning, not as “clients” or even “adversaries” as viewed by some educators. As school leaders, we need to continually look for ways to support parents in their role as parents, who are ultimately responsible for their children’s education.
2. Facilities and infrastructure need to be updated. We cannot expect 21st-century skills to be developed in facilities designed to support a 19th and 20th-century industrial model.
3. Investment in the ongoing professional development and autonomy of school leaders and teachers. We need to hire professionals, support them in the continual development of their knowledge, skills, and competencies, and trust them to be professionals. In addition, reduce bureaucratic accountability practices and provide educators with autonomy as much as possible to make the best decisions for their students and local communities.
4. Increased support and focus on “authentic literacy” practices. Pursuing authentic literacy means we need to focus in our curriculum on reading, writing, and oral proficiencies connected to the student’s world. Students need to read about the learning, write about it, and then speak about it (without PowerPoint slides or prompts). When students can articulate their learning in their own words, we know that the learning has gone deep and will be retained. In addition, the learning must be meaningful. And, to the student, “meaningful” means authentic.
5. Greater transparency. We all know and realize that the future of our world is walking in the halls of our schools today — thus, the importance of shaping the worldview and beliefs of students. This belief may be part of the rationale behind why faith-based schools are seeing a marked increase in enrollment. Today, a growing number of parents don’t believe that their public school leaders and educators are being transparent about the social or political agendas to which those leaders and educators are committed. To gain greater levels of trust, schools need to be transparent about their beliefs and values. And if parents are not aligned with those stated beliefs and values, they should have the freedom and opportunity to align with a learning environment for their children that does support their convictions.
Super. Here is the main question of our interview. Can you please share your “5 Things You Need To Know To Be A Highly Effective Educator?” Please share a story or example for each.
1. The number one indicator of successful schools is trusted, school leaders and teachers. Educator effectiveness is tied directly to the level of trust between students and teachers, teachers and parents, and teachers/parents and school leaders. Research shows that it doesn’t matter how we measure school “success.” In every measurement of success, the key indicator is a high level of trust. For example, when we consider schools that produce the highest levels of student achievement, we also discover high levels of trust in teachers. In schools with high levels of teacher retention, we also identify high levels of trust in school leadership. When schools are marked by high levels of community involvement, donations, and volunteerism, we also see high levels of trust. So, to be a highly effective educator, my first priority needs to be the assessment of, development of, protection of, and ongoing improvement of the level of trust that I have with those I work with or serve.
2. Highly effective educators are known to be good listeners. An essential skill to effective leadership is to know how to be quiet and listen to others intentionally and actively. An acrostic I developed to help me develop my listening skills as I navigated especially difficult conversations with students, teachers, and parents goes like this:
L = Look. Maintain appropriate eye contact to communicate engagement and caring.
I = Inquire. Ask questions that invite the speaker to tell you more.
S = Stay Focused. Remain focused on the listener. Don’t allow the phone, clock, or others to distract you.
T = Time. Honor the speaker with your time. Do not rush conversations. The giving of our time to others communicates that we value them.
E = Empathize. To the greatest extent possible, always look for an opportunity to empathize with the speaker, even when in disagreement. Expressing phrases such as, “This must be difficult for you to go through,” demonstrates a level of care.
N = Non-verbal. Be sure that non-verbal expressions and body language communicate support, attention, and care.
3. “Simplifying the complicated” is a skill set that highly effective school leaders and teachers possess. For example, a gifted and skilled communicator helps others see complex ideas through simple language, just as a highly effective teacher skaffolds a student’s learning in simple steps that are within the grasp of their student to achieve.
4. Highly effective educators recognize that they have limited skills and need to depend and rely on others. For example, Richard Elmore argues that effective instructional leaders recognize they can only master a limited amount of expertise essential to leading a school. Therefore, to effectively lead the entire school community, trusted school leaders empower others with differing skill sets.
5. Highly effective educators know how to “keep the main thing the main thing.” For example, school leaders must ensure that every member of their organization knows what the top priorities are in relationship to the school’s mission and goals and individually calibrate all they do to reflect those priorities. I recall Dr. David A. Wells, executive consultant and principal with the Global School Consulting Group and former executive director of Alliance Academy International in Quito, Ecuador, while I was there, repeatedly stressing that every member of the faculty and staff keep the main thing the main thing. Dr. Wells knew what research has shown: one of the fundamental indicators marking trusted school leaders is the effective management of people, programs, and resources to meet foundational objectives per shared core values. Effective management exists in the leader’s ability to keep the school’s mission and values the focus of all organizational and operational decisions.
It’s easy for schools to embrace a wide variety of activities and programs. However, no matter how good these may be, if they don’t support the school’s central mission and core values, theyre a distraction to the pursuit of the school becoming great.
Ensuring a constant focus on the mission and top priorities and that decisions are processed through the school’s values is a primary practice that instills and ensures trust. The entire school community knows that the school’s leaders are committed to keeping the main thing the main thing. In addition, it builds unity among the stakeholders that rally the troops, as it were, around a shared purpose.
As you know, teachers play such a huge role in shaping young lives. What would you suggest needs to be done to attract top talent to the education field?
As I referenced earlier, we need to hire well, invest in those we hire, and then provide them with as much support and autonomy in their work as possible. Numerous studies have revealed that the primary reason teachers leave education is due to the perceived lack of support of their supervisor or school leader. Exiting teachers didn’t trust their leaders largely because their leaders didn’t exhibit that they trusted teachers. The focus on teacher accountability has meant that too many evaluation systems require teachers to jump through specific hoops or meet specific benchmarks, treating teachers like technicians rather than professionals.
If we can create professional learning environments that support and empower individuals with a passion for continually growing and developing in their practice, and that encourage innovation and even the freedom to fail on occasion, we’ll then be creating school work environments that attract new teachers. Quite frankly, many of the schools I work with as a consultant have unintentionally created very toxic work environments because the school leadership has placed other priorities over teacher well-being. Teachers are the essence of the school.
If the teachers are happy and engaged, leaders see highly engaged students experiencing higher levels of achievement. If students are happy and engaged, then the parents are happy and become champions of the school. Moreover, if the parents are happy and engaged, student achievement levels rise even higher, and school leaders get to be happy, too!
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson” quote? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Abraham Lincoln once observed that “The people, when rightly and fully trusted, will return the trust.” I’ve personally witnessed and experienced both sides of this truth about human behavior.
When I was first transitioning from teacher to school administrator, I had no experience in school administration and practically no formal training. However, what I did have was a Head of School who had confidence in me and my abilities, regardless of a less-than-ideal resume for the job. I knew that I had his trust fully (as Lincoln said) through his words and actions. In return, he garnered my loyalty and trust in his leadership, which also spurred me on to pursue the training and professional development I needed to ensure success in my new role.
Over the years since, I’ve endeavored to practice the same, first by “rightly” identifying the individual for their role and then “fully” trusting them to do their work.
We are blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, V.C. funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the U.S., with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)
I’d greatly enjoy the opportunity of sharing a meal with Jim Collins, author of Good to Great. His work on Level 5 leaders and the importance of maintaining a passion and focus on mission fulfillment while at the same time maintaining a humble spirit is, I believe, a needed call in school leadership today.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
All my social media links can be found at www.trustedbook.info.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/drtobytravis/
https://www.facebook.com/trustedschoolleader
https://twitter.com/TobyATravis
https://www.instagram.com/toby.a.travis/
Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!
