Curriculum and Staff Development Good or Bad?

Unfortunately, the attitude reflected in the title of this lecture is the attitude that many principals have regarding curriculum and staff development. There are many reasons that this may be the case, but primarily it is because our training in this area is usually limited. We see staff development as something we “have” to do each year at the beginning of the year and a few other times during the year on staff development days. Curriculum is something we have to make sure our teachers know, or have access to in the form of curriculum “guides.” Many times none of the activities or documents associated with the two seem very important to the way things really are. Wrong! These are the two most critical components of being a principal. If you have a staff that is poorly trained, they will perform poorly. If you do not have curriculum that is aligned with the expectations for your school, you will fail. So if we do not become very competent in these two areas we will have poor performing staffs that will fail! So what is our role as principals in these two areas? First, we must be familiar enough with the development of curriculum that we can provide some leadership in its development. Not that we are curriculum experts, but that we know the function of curriculum and what it should do and look like. Today we cannot afford to have schools that are not curriculum driven. We need a plan to get where we are intending to go and curriculum has to be the road map. We must at least be familiar with terms such as “frontloading,” “backloading,” and curriculum alignment. We must be able to determine whether or not we have “vertical” alignment and how it all fits together. The days when we can sit on the sidelines and hope for the best are long gone. Second, we must be knowledgeable enough about research to know that staff development is the most critical component of successful schools. We cannot make changes or grow a staff that is effective without solid staff development. For example, I have been involved in staff development for twenty-five years and I have seen many different delivery models. As a result of this experience and my studies about staff development I have come to the conclusion that as much as 90% of staff development is wasted time and money. Wow! That seems like a lot! Much staff development concentrates on delivering new knowledge in a large dose and then there is no real follow up. This model does not work! We must have staff development that is relevant and directly connected to accomplishing the mission and vision of your school. If it is not connected, do not do it! The day when we can send staff to that “conference” that they have attended for years just because, is over. We must make sure that it is directly linked back to the improvement plans of the campus, if not they cannot go. I know this would create some discontent, but that is where the leadership, including campus leaders, must help determine the purpose of staff development and where the funds will be spent. Of course, I am aware that sometimes the “district” may be the ones who determine your staff development, but you must take an active role in its development if you want your campus to succeed. There are many questions that still remain to be answered in today’s modern education along the lines of curriculum and staff development. For example, how do we use modern technology to help our kids learn? Computers have been around for years, but their actual usefulness is questionable at times. We use them more for bookkeeping tasks rather than true instructional tools. It is not an easy task to get teachers to integrate technology and what does that mean? Integrate – to become a part of something. How do we design curriculum to integrate technology? This is one of those things that will be crucial to you as principal. You will undoubtedly have teachers who refuse to integrate and couldn’t if they wanted to due to lack of skills. This is not an easy task. I would advise any principal who wants to be successful to make sure they have honed their curriculum leadership skills and their understanding of an effective staff development program. Teachers must also be included in the processes that develop both of these. As a principal, you must create opportunities for these activities to take place. That means you must make the “time” for this to happen. That means you must be flexible and creative in the use of training time and curriculum development. At first, teachers will complain about being out of their classroom for these activities, but as they see the results begin to take place in their classrooms long term, they will be much more supportive. I recently, enticed teachers to come in for three days to align curriculum K-12 by paying them a stipend. Initially, they were skeptical, but as the days progressed they suddenly realized the significance of what they were doing and they have volunteered to do more in a shorter period of time than I could have ever hoped for. This is powerful stuff! Get good at it!