Transcript Education is fundamentally An imaginative Act of Hope

The Las Cruces Public Schools, in partnership with students, families, and the
community, provide a student-centered learning environment that cultivates
character, fosters academic excellence, and embraces diversity.
Education is fundamentally
An imaginative Act of Hope
(Novak, 1996)
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Revitalizing the EPSS Process
Invitational Education
Stan Rounds, Superintendent
Las Cruces Public Schools
Administrators’ Retreat
August 2012
Centennial High School
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A young boy was watching Michelangelo
chipping away at a block of marble no previous
sculptor had ever wanted. As he saw David
emerging from the stone, he asked, “Sire, how
did you know he was in there?”
Just as Michelangelo freed David from the stone, inviting
professionals free students from preconceived notions of
what they can do and what they can become!
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Purpose of Today
In your school and cluster teams, think, reflect, strategize, and vision what
we are doing well and vision for productive change.
Identify issues that are inviting (blue cards) and disinviting (orange
cards).
Understand some key components of invitational education and apply
these components in our schools.
Establish a mindset to ensure that our EPSS is our strategic plan that
guides our actions and ensures that student achievement is our
measure of true and profound accountability (monitored monthly).
Use concepts of invitational education to guide our strategic design PEOPLE, PLACES, POLICIES, PROGRAMS, and PROCESSES - to have
a more profound impact on student achievement.
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reflection
•
Take five minutes to think of a student, a child,
a grandchild, or some other child you know
well
•
If you have a picture of this child on your cell
phone, take a look at it and reflect on why this
individual is so special in your life
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Why Invitational Education?
Engaging a more positive school culture
An invitation to image, create, and think with your colleagues,
not only today, but on a continuing basis.
Time to take a step out of our immediate environment and
(re)imagine what is possible.
Opportunity to change the system - NOT REFORM- but rather
TRANSFORM
“Shift” to “L ift”
Creating a culture of “responsacountability” (responsibility to
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own the accountability)
What is Invitational Education?
A systematic way to describe
communication in schools and other
human services that results in learning
and human development
A theoretical framework and practical
strategies for creating effective schools
and other critical services
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Self concept is the picture people
construct of who they are and how they
fit into their perceived world
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Self-concept theory
Self-concept includes learned beliefs.
Beliefs are influenced by how a person interprets and acts
upon events.
Self-concept is manifested in ongoing internal dialogue, or the
“whispering self”(Purkey, 2005).
The truest form of accountability is individual accountability.
There are three constants in life...change, choice, and
principles (Covey)
Accountability breeds response-ability (Covey).
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Everything a teacher does, as
well as the manner in which he
does it, incites the child to
respond in some way or another
and each response tends to set
the child’s attitude in some way
or another (Dewey, 1931).
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Invitational Education
An Overview
PD360
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Motivation is internal
and continuous
Every person has motivation. If not,
they would do nothing.
Rather than trying to motivate
people, cordially summon them to
see themselves as able, valuable,
and responsible, and to behave
accordingly.
Effective leaders trust people to be
capable of overcoming obstacles
and accomplishing positive goals
and having confidence that they will
do it.
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Trust
Respect
Intentionality
Invitational Education is a metaphor for a model
of an education process that consists of five
value based assumptions about the nature of
people and their potential.
Care
Optimism
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Optimism
Invitational educators are optimistic about, and committed to, the
continuous appreciation and growth of all involved in the
education process.
People (students) possess untapped potential in many areas
People (students) have just begun to use their many social,
intellectual, mental, and physical skills
Better things are likely to happen when self-defeating scripts
(negative talk) are held to a minimum
Human potential is always there, waiting to be discovered
and invited forth
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Trust
Trust is derived from recognition of the fundamental interdependence of
human beings.
It takes time, effort, and collaboration to establish trustworthy
interactions
Trust is established through interlocking human qualities of:
Reliability
Genuineness
Truthfulness
Intent
Competence
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Respect
Invitational educators believe that people are able, valuable,
and responsible and should be treated accordingly.
Personal and professional behavior demonstrates respect.
Those who value respect will find ways for students to
succeed.
The stance of inviting schools is that people have inherent
worth and personal accountability.
Respect recognizes each person’s right to accept, reject,
or negotiate the message sent to them (positive or
negative)
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care
Care is the ongoing desire to link significant personal means with
worthwhile ends.
The personal need for joy and fulfillment is realized in the process of
producing something of value.
No aspect of Invitational Education is more important than the
educator’s genuine ability and desire to care about students, their
growth, and their accomplishments.
Care has its own ingredients of:
Warmth
Empathy
Positive Regard
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Intentionality
Invitational Education is characterized by PURPOSE and
DIRECTION.
Intentionality explains the how of Invitational Education and pulls
together the OPTIMISM, TRUST, RESPECT, and CARE that are
essential to being a proficient professional.
In practice, Invitational Education focuses on the PEOPLE,
PLACES, POLICIES, PROCEDURES, and PROGRAMS that
transmit messages promoting human potential.
Education is never neutral. Everything and everyone in and
around schools adds to, or subtracts from, the educative process.
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Theory into practice
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Human potential can best be realized by
✤Places;
✤Policies;
✤Processes;
✤Programs; and
✤People
The five “Ps” provide a
framework to
collaboratively address,
evaluate, modify, and
sustain a positive total
school environment
Enhancing the EPSS process
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PEOPLE
•
Invitational Education begins and ends with people.
Every person - teachers, custodians, food service
professionals, counselors, bus drivers, educational
assistants, secretaries, principals, and students - is an
emissary for Invitational Education
People create a respectful, optimistic, trusting, and
intentional society within inviting schools
If policies, procedures, programs, or policies inhibit people
achieving established goals, they are altered when ever
possible
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No one cares how much you know, until
they know how much you care
(Purkey, 1996).
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Places
Because they are so visible,
PLACES are a good place to
start the practice of Invitation
Education
If classes, offices, and hallways,
common rooms, cafeterias,
playgrounds, and restrooms are
neat, attractive, and wellmaintained, they show people
care about the entire school
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Inviting/Disi
nviting
What do you
see?
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Policies
Include mission statements, directives,
codes, rules (written and unwritten) that
regulate the school
Policies influence the attitude of those
involved in the school
It is especially important to write inviting
policies about attendance, grading,
discipline, and promotion
Policies should pass the Invitational
Education litmus test: Do they reflect
trust, optimism, respect, care, and
intentionality
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Programs
Programs should encourage active
engagement with robust content
Programs that appear to be elitist, sexist,
homophobic, discriminatory, or lacking in
intellectual integrity must be changed or
eliminated
IE encourages group guidance and conflict
management integrated into the curriculum
School safety is promoted
Small group collaboration enables students
and adults to extend their interests and
learning
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Processes the way we do things in this school
•
Processes are characterized
by a democratic ethos,
collaborative and cooperative
procedures, and continuous
networking among teachers,
students, parents, staff, and
the community
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The ladder Levels of functioning
Level 1 - Intentionally Disinviting
Level 2 - Unintentionally
Disinviting
Level 3 - Unintentionally Inviting
Level 4 - Intentionally Inviting
It is possible for a message, no
matter how well meaning, to be
perceived as disinviting.
•
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Level 1
Intentionally disinviting
The message is that people are incapable, worthless,
or irresponsible
These people may excuse their actions as “good” for
students
There is no justification for being intentionally
disinviting
People who operate at this level should be removed
from daily contact with those they should be serving
In this lowest level of functioning, behaviors,
policies, programs, and places are deliberately
meant to demean, diminish, shun, or devalue
the human spirit.
•
•
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Level 2
Unintentionally disinviting
Level 2 people can be condescending and are often obsessed with
policies and procedures
Their classrooms, for example, may be disorganized, boring, and
filled with busy work
Students and teachers in Level 2 schools may have low morale
and high absence rates
In frustration, Level 2 individuals may resort to Level 1 behaviors
It is a concern when all five “Ps” are unintentionally disinviting
•
Professionals who function at Level Two are typically well-meaning, but
may not reflect upon their actions.
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Level 3
Unintentionally inviting
Professionals who function at Level 3 are
generally effective but can’t explain why
These teachers lack the ability to use
“dependable guidance systems” like aviators
who fly by the seat of their pants
If what accounts for their success fails them,
they may resort to Level 1 or 2 behaviors
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Level 4
Intentionally inviting
Level 4 professionals know why they are doing what they are doing,
so they examine and modify their practice to continually grow.
They are persistent, imaginative, resourceful, and courageous even
when the going gets tough.
They affirm, yet guide students, deliberately choosing to be caring
and democratic.
They focus on what is most important in education - an appreciation
of the individual, respect, and high expectations.
The have the courage to stand up to cynics and critics because they
have a defensible theory of practice.
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Just as teachers invite or disinvite students, student behavior can
invite or disinvite teachers. However, teachers have the ability
and responsibility to continually invite students. Teachers are
the professionals and should be the primary source of the
“inviting message”.
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At the end of your School leadership
meeting
Newsweek has selected your school as the
school of the year
Write the article to share with your colleagues
on what the schools looks like, feels like, and
how it reflects the most responsive learning
environment to the students you serve
Tell us about the essential elements that caused
your school to be selected school of the year
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After a decade of high
stakes testing, zero
tolerance, threats of
mandatory retention, low
achievement, and negative
labeling of students,
teachers, and schools, a
renaissance is in sight.
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