Education Week - February 25, 2015 - Special Report - S53

EDUCATION WEEK LEADERS TO LEARN FROM
February 25, 2015 n
S53
edweek.org/leaders
fully digital. In this digital environment, "teaching
and learning capture the power of technology,"
with students taking greater responsibility
for their learning and solving real-world problems,
she said. "When I go to those classrooms,
I see every student engaged. They're not doing
rote learning but analysis, synthesis, the higherlevel
thinking," Ms. Clark said.
'From the Ground Up'
Failure while trying such new approaches
is not only an option, but an expectation,
said Ms. Clark, who did her doctoral research
through the University of San Francisco,
visiting China to study the process of
change and the role that education, economics,
and leadership played in that country's
economic change in the mid-1980s.
Ms. Clark "stands out in that she believes
innovation does not happen at the district
level," said Sara Schapiro, the director of
the Digital Promise League of Innovative
Schools, a national coalition of 57 school districts
willing to share their innovation successes
and setbacks. "She believes innovation
happens only when teachers feel empowered
to make changes in their classrooms."
West Ada was one of the original district
members of the league, and as its superintendent,
Ms. Clark is a charter member of
the nonprofit, nonpartisan organization authorized
by Congress to spur innovation in
education.
For instance, educators in West Ada are
encouraged to apply for technology-innovation
grants that will directly benefit their
own classrooms. Since the 1980s, teachers
have sought grants from the local education
foundation. In 2009, Ms. Clark hired a parttime
grant facilitator, who helps locate available
funding, write grants, and track results.
Within two years, Ms. Clark found that
"leading edge" teachers were seeking grants
for digital tools. Then the district began
seeding them in 2012 to spur the digital
conversion. Two or three times a year, West
Ada provides a pool of $50,000 to $60,000
to award competitive grants of $2,000 to
$3,000 per recipient. Teachers' applications
are blindly scored for fairness in selection.
In the most recent round, $89,000 more
in grant requests was submitted than there
was funding to fulfill, said Ms. Clark. She
saw this as evidence that the "from the
ground up" grants-selection process and
showcasing results has caught on, "signaling
that our more reluctant teachers were now
eager to begin the digital transition."
Not everyone is a fan of Ms. Clark's approach.
Penny
L. Cyr, the president of the Idaho
Education Association, takes exception to
that way of encouraging innovation. "To force
teachers to be competitive with colleagues
to get ahead, that's crazy. If you have technology
money that can make it good for all
students," then it should be applied equally
to all classrooms, she said.
Thanks in large part to West Ada's highprofile
involvement with the League of Innovative
Schools over more than three
years, Ms. Clark was invited to participate
on a panel about empowering teachers when
more than 100 superintendents met at the
White House late last year. The occasion was
President Barack Obama's launch of the "Future
Ready Digital Pledge," a seven-point
document that defines a district's commitment
to effectively integrate technology for
teaching and learning.
Ms. Clark told the gathering: "Our secret
sauce is our staff, our teachers," as they work
to make strides under the constraints of a
tight budget. "They're very dedicated, very
hardworking."
Ms. Clark, her staff, and their innovative
approaches attract visitors from across the
country and abroad.
Unconventional Ideas
Steve Webb, the superintendent of the
24,000-student Vancouver, Wash., district, is
sending a team to West Ada to learn about
its blended learning rotation model at the elementary
level this year. Ms. Clark has also
collaborated with Vancouver in setting up a
technology showcase, in which companies
that partner with the district hold an expo
to demonstrate the benefits of their partnerships
with the schools.
"What I appreciate most about Linda's
leadership is that she understands that culture
trumps strategy," said Mr. Webb, whose
district is also a member of the innovative
schools' league. Her focus is creating "the
context and conditions where ubiquitous innovation
can grow and thrive," he said.
Another colleague from the league credits
Ms. Clark-whom he calls "pretty
unassuming"-with leading a digital
transformation about as efficiently as
anyone in the country. Steve C. Joel, the
superintendent of the 35,000-student
Lincoln district in Nebraska, said: "This is
not about going out and acquiring all the
nice stuff others acquire; this is about a certain
philosophy of transformation and how it
will augment the great work you do."
Among the more unconventional ideas Ms.
Clark has shepherded to reality is the hybrid
use of buildings for the district. It started
when she identified a warehouse that had
been vacant for four years and decided it
would be a perfect place to consolidate the
district's administrative offices, which at the
time were spread across 11 buildings over
the district's 380 square miles. But renovating
a warehouse is a costly undertaking.
Ms. Clark identified a partner in Idaho
State University, which needed space. Today,
the warehouse is an educational campus
that houses district headquarters, a comprehensive
International Baccalaureate high
school with 600 students, and a professional
training center that shares a lunchroom, library,
and other space with the university.
"There were people who thought that idea
was absolutely crazy, including a former superintendent.
After it opened, many of them
said they were wrong," Ms. Clark said.
The next frontier for Ms. Clark? Another
shared-building project with a new elementary
school, the ymca, and a local library,
again spearheaded by the superintendent.
The idea came after a $104 million bond
issue failed narrowly. The proposed elementary
school, budgeted at $12 million, would
now cost $10 million, thanks to the shareduse
approach.
"They'll use our computer lab. We'll use
the ymca gym," Ms. Clark said. This school,
which is part of a $96 million March 10
school district bond issue, will have a special
focus on healthy living.
It's another "large plan" that would,
no doubt, make Ms. Clark's great-aunt
proud. n
LESSONS FROM
A LEADER
>> Communicate Often
You cannot overestimate the value
and importance of communication.
The bigger your operation is, the more
challenging communication becomes.
It's essential that people understand
all the pieces along the way and that
you keep them in the loop.
>> Involve Everyone
The leader cannot dictate from the
top down. The leader has to have the
vision-the big picture-and engage
people in that. It takes buy-in
and cooperation. It takes everyone
to make that vision successful.
>> Share the Successes
Find a lot of ways to tell the story of the
process as it's unfolding. Use the stories
of success to help other people develop.
"
What we're engaged in now
is changing everything we know
about teaching and learning,
the structure of our schools, almost
from the ground up."
http://www.edweek.org/leaders
Education Week - February 25, 2015 - Special Report

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Education Week - February 25, 2015 - Special Report
