A Practical Approach to School Security

It’s not lost on me that a deeply ironic counterpoint exists between our district’s new Mission Statement -- which reads, in part, ‘… believing every child deserves a childhood,’ -- and my use of valuable print space to address ‘school security’ rather than a more inviting, educational message. However, since the Newtown tragedy, other random acts of violence have continued to rock our world; and during the summer of 2013, school security usurped a prominent place on our projects list.  More so than anything else, this topic needs addressing.

Last January, an Ad-Hoc Committee of the Board of Education began researching sensible changes which would make our children safer.  We quickly learned that the key concept in school security is not ‘prevention,’ but rather ‘moments matter.’  The experts taught us you can’t prevent an incident from arriving at your doorstep; but the longer it takes for any incident to unfold, the less damage is done and the sooner it ends.  We looked at the factors that made us ‘soft targets’ -- such as unlocked doors, ready access points, and poor line-of-sight.  Our police department and fire department generously spent time helping us through a SWOT Analysis – a study of our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Orange didn’t go crazy with new initiatives.  With almost every installation, I can honestly say we either played catch-up to, or surpassed, the security measures already existing in newer school building, and even many of our parents’ workplaces.  We concentrated on the principle ‘moments matter,’ and planned strategies that either made unobserved access difficult or lessened the response-time of emergency personnel.   We concentrated our efforts on identifying visitors (with security monitors and software), improving our alert systems (with surveillance cameras and rapid-call notification), and slowing down illegitimate access (by locking exterior and classroom doors and adding sally-ports).  Some of this security is ready for the start of school; some of it is still coming. 

Our new security monitors will check visitors in and out, and the computer software they will use, School Gate Guardian, adds an additional layer of safety.  With a quick scan of a driver’s license, the software makes a digital record of our visitors and matches them to a child in our system.  If there is a custody problem, the software alerts the monitor.   Parents may grant permission for others to take home their children, but no one can take their children from school without their permission. 

Just last week, from a pool of 109 applicants, we hired four new security monitors for the 2 – 9:00 p.m. shift.  Earlier in the summer, we moved our current monitors to newly-created day shifts, beginning at 7 a.m.  This week we’ll order their neon shirts and plan their professional development which will include everything from conflict resolution … to CPR and defibrillator training … to management of the School Gate Guardian software.  

The hardware we’ve purchased was also carefully planned.   This week, we finished installing a rapid-response system with several important, inter-connected components. We can now keep every exterior school door locked at all times.  A proximity card reader, located outside the school, is personalized to each teacher’s ID and will open locked exterior doors.  The teachers will use their ID cards to open the front door before school and the back door after recess.  The same system has a powerful camera, and the security monitors or office personnel can ask someone they don’t know to hold an ID in front of the camera so they can read it.

An additional piece of equipment, sometimes referred to as a ‘panic button,’ puts the school in lock-down.  With a simple push of a single button, the fire doors close, a lock-down announcement goes out over the PA system, and an emergency call is made to the police.  There are both stationary and portable buttons.  In addition, the new video surveillance cameras (not the same camera described above) will allow the police to monitor the exterior of the buildings (the playgrounds, loading docks, parking lots, etc.) and the interior corridors, gym, and cafeteria from their cars.  

I realize the new security measures have made access to the schools a little more difficult for parents, too.   I also realize that the chance of a significant emergency is infinitesimally small.  But, all of the security measures we’ve taken will protect Orange in other ways as well.  We need locked classroom doors, during lunch and recess, if we are to encourage kids and teachers to bring their Kindles and iPads to school.  We need interior and exterior cameras to prevent vandalism, to apprehend vandals, or to determine the cause of accidents.  We need to record who takes our students home and when they left the building.

This is a new world our children live in; but as adults, it is our responsibility to confidently surround them in reassurances that keep their childhoods intact.

When Character Counts!

I want to share with you an amazing example of one child’s courage and character at the end of the Orange Olympics, an annual athletic event which took place at High Plains on June 12, 2013.  But, first a little background. 

 

In education, as with many other fields, we tend to rely on catch phrases which are intended to resonate with the audience and make a complex concept more meaningful and memorable.  Sometimes, however, our jargon does the opposite because the phrase is wide open to a variety of interpretations.   ‘Whole child education’ is one of those terms.  What does it mean?  On the surface, it even seems a little silly – after all, who would teach half of a child?

Whole child education, however, refers to the idea that all children learn best when their academic, emotional, physical, and social understandings are addressed.  Yes, we write report cards and update you on the CMTs and other standardized tests as evidence of our students’ academic achievements.   In fact, for a while now, it has seemed as if educational thinking, practice, and policy have been singularly focused on academic achievement.   In Orange, that is not the case.  We all know that to be successful participating world citizens, our students must also be healthy, confident, self-motivated, considerate, and honest.  In other words, they need to be young people of character.   These attributes are, of course, treasured by our families; and we realize what we do in our schools supplements these same values you are teaching at home.  But, be assured, all of our schools do focus on these qualities through programs, such as ‘Character Counts,’ through planned philanthropic activities, and by capitalizing on ‘teachable moments’ when they occur.  Yesterday’s event at the Olympics illustrated the importance of ‘whole child’ character education perfectly; and hopefully, all of our students paid attention and learned something of value.

At the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, a young man was called up to podium to receive his gold medal for winning his event.  He took the stage, and in front of his peers and a crowd of parents found the courage to express, ‘I didn’t win this; it doesn’t belong to me; the person who actually won this event has the same first name as I do, but he’s the person who won.’   Imagine the nervousness he felt in front of a crowd; imagine the choices running through his head.   He could accept the medal and keep it.  He could accept the medal, for now, and then after the ceremony, give it back and explain it wasn’t his.  But, he took the least easy path available to him and chose ‘doing the right thing’ at the moment when doing the right thing was called for.  In front of everyone, he ensured that the medal and recognition went to the person to whom it belonged.

That’s character!

The Death of Boredom vs. Bored to Death

I worry about my grandchildren, specifically, and our youngest generation of students, generally, and their overall inability to accept boredom into their lives.  Without boredom, how will they think? 

When I was a child, my mother and father expected me to rake, shovel, dust, and do a whole host of very boring things.  Yet, while I did these chores, my mind was active.  As a duster, I remember ‘staging’ commercials in my mind.  I could dramatically wave my hands and ad lib about my streak-free shine and Pledge’s ability to bring out the natural beauty of the wood.  As I got older, I used the boring times, such as walking home from field hockey practice or washing dishes at Friendlies, to problem-solve the ‘major’ issues in my young life.  I ran scenarios; I pre-scripted upcoming events (as in, I’ll say this, and then he’ll say that, and then I’ll say…); I made plans, both for the weekend … and for the future.  Even now, when I’m driving home to Massachusetts or gardening in the backyard, my mind is active.  Boredom is important to my mental processes.  Boredom is where I reminisce about the past and sift through new opportunities, ideas, and solutions.  Boredom leads to a clear mind.  A clear mind leads to creativity.

The problem I see in my beloved and beautiful grandchildren is their desire to fill every moment with activity and their complete uneasiness with ‘boredom.’  If we are waiting for a table in a restaurant, riding the escalator in the mall, or even standing in the kitchen, waiting for the toast to pop up, they are texting or playing a quick game of ‘Draw Something.’   In the back seat of the car, they have headsets on, cutting them off from both conversation and observation. 

They call it multi-tasking, but they watch TV and are on their computers or cell phones at the same time making even TV-watching less cerebral (if that’s possible!), because they aren’t processing either the facial expressions or the dialogue.  If you ask them a thought question about the show, they respond, ‘I don’t know. Why?’ as if thinking about the story-line was absurd. 

I love them dearly, but I worry that I never, ever hear them complain ‘I’m bored;’ and as a result, I never, ever get to say, ‘Well, think of something to do.’

For more information about kids, creativity, and boredom, check out:

Aha! Parenting's "Why Boredom is Good for Your Child"

Essential Kids'  "The Battle to Let Them Be Bored"

 

 

 

 

Schools and the Social Networking Terrain

I don't think social media is getting any easier to navigate.  There's a lot of information circling amongst my peers purporting the merits of 'going social' by creating a district Facebook page or by joining the ranks of the 'twittering Superintendents' ... or by doing both, since each has its separate merits. 

 

Racing through my head lately is that piece of professional advice, coupled with a nagging fear that Orange isn't doing enough to make our kids as cybersmart as they should be before hitting middle school, ... and tripled by this information I just read this week:  Author Emily Bazelon wrote an article in The Atlantic detailing how an anonymous student created a Facebook page called "let's Start Drama" at a Middletown, Connecticut, middle school and used the page to bully her fellow students.  She called herself simply 'Drama Queen.'   Bazelon writes, “She hovered over them in cyberspace like a bad fairy, with the power to needle kids into ending friendships and starting feuds and fistfights… Wrapped in her cloak of anonymity, she was free to pass along cruel gossip without personal consequences.  She started by posting a few idle rumors, and when that gained her followers, she asked them to send her private messages relaying more gossip, promising not to disclose the source. Which girl had just lost her virginity? What boy had asked a girl to sext him a nude photo?” Before long, Drama Queen had an audience of 500, many of whom had follow-up comments on the rumors. She pitted students against each other by posting side-by-side photos of girls and asking who was hotter and photos of boys asking, “Who would win a fight?”  It turns out that after investigating, the middle school turned up 12 other pages of the same ilk.

 

Any parent and educator would find this scenario scary.  She had 500 like-minded participants -- or, at least voyeurs into this dehumanizing world she had created?  

 

In my mind, we should be teaching our children to be exactly the same person on-line as they are in person... they should be the same person they are when they walk the corridors of the school... and the streets of any new city they visit.  If they wouldn't go up to other classmates, in person, and call them names or say cruel things, then they shouldn't do it online either.  If they wouldn't walk up to a stranger in the mall and hand that stranger a picture of themselves in their underwear, then they shouldn't 'sext' that picture, or post it online, either.  There's something about the 'artificiality' of social media that has stripped us of the basic sensibilities we know to be true in our daily interactions with 'real' people.  It's as if in the social media arena we aren't 'responsible' for what we say in the same way we are responsible for ourselves in public. 

 

In the Bazelton article, she talks about two 'organizations' who are tackling the cruelty of cyberbullying; one is BullySpace and the other is Anonymous (yes! that same controversial vigilante group).  Both are using artificial intelligence and algorithms to detect bullying language and posts and then targeting those message posters with pop-ups which read anything from, "That was nasty! Wait 60-seconds before you post!" to expletive-driven, 'What gives you the right!' messages.  Facebook, who reports that kids would rather be expelled from school than expelled from Facebook, has started shutting down offensive pages.  But, in truth, they are coming late to the party!

 

If you haven't already, it's not too late to talk to your pre-teen about social media and what your expectations are for his or behavior in that arena as well as in public.  We can't assume that they are naturally transferring those values, and the consequences for mistakes can be devastating.  Often, when cyberbullies are caught, or when a community finds out about a bullying page and lashes out at the kids who started it, the kids are shocked.  They say they 'were only trying to have some fun!'  They claim they 'didn't know anyone would be hurt by it!'  They rationalize 'it's not like it was real or anything!'

 

It's not easy to navigate, and it's real!

         

Get Your #2s Ready for the CMT!

In the midst of all our snow closings and delays and sub-freezing temperatures, the CMT tests arrived in Central Office – all 48 cartons!  Ann Marie DePetto inventoried every barcode on every Math, Writing, Reading, and Science test booklet, in addition to counting the Test Examiner manuals, writing prompts, rulers, and so on, readying them for delivery to the schools.  In fact, by the time you read this, the cartons will have been reinventoried in the offices of our Principals who, in addition to their regular duties, are also serving as our Test Coordinators.  And, in the meantime, our Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Colleen Murray, took on the overall responsibility for the CMT’s, setting up the administration schedule and making certain each State guideline is followed to the letter.

Every farmer knows you can’t get the little pig fatter by weighing him.   I sometimes use this statement as an analogy to the obvious limits of standardized tests such as the CMT.   We certainly won’t make our children more 21st Century-skilled or more academically successful simply by testing them.   And while, this blog is an inside look at the time and effort that goes into the “weighing,” we all know the real work is what our teachers do every day in their classrooms to help our students achieve. When they teach students to explain their thinking in solving a complex word problem in math or to repsond in writing to a text-dependent question, they are not "teaching to the test," they are imparting important real-life skills. 

On the other hand, I’d also like you to know that preparing for these tests is no simple task … and our efforts in Orange are replicated in every school district across Connecticut.   Each year when our Coordinators and our Principals check-in our boxes, (which inevitably arrive wet and sandy), I remind myself that some districts are receiving 100’s of boxes and need a whole storage facility to store them.

Here are some facts to ponder!   Based on last year’s data, we can expect to spend a total of 58.5 total hours in actual testing. Our third graders have the least amount of testing -- 7.5 hours. Our fifth graders have the most – 13 hours!   We will likely administer about 250 make-up tests for students who were sick or away from school during test administration.   We will work with over 100 official accommodations, such as for those students who need a reader or scribe, or large print materials, or extended time and an alternate setting, per their special education Individualized Education Plan (IEP).   We will need about 90 teachers as trained proctors during the various exams.

The three school Principals, Colleen, and Ann Marie will spend about 175 hours on the various administrative tasks, including 50 hours in unpacking and inventorying tests and supplies, 15 hours training proctors and readers, 15 hours in phone or email correspondence with Measurement Incorporated over interesting testing ‘issues,’ and 30 hours repacking the test booklets for scoring.    We'll send back and forth about 140 emails.  Lest you think even the inventory is simple, at each school the principals will count hundreds of small blue paper rulers and formula sheets. 

There are individualized bar code labels for each student’s testing booklets. In addition, your school Principals, and sometimes even their PTO’s and parent volunteers, will spend many hours re-doing the bell schedule, planning whole school assemblies or pep talks, finding appropriate space for small group accommodations, scheduling proctors and substitutes, writing letters home, and even arranging healthy snacks for our test-takers.

At the end of March, we’ll count it and box it all up again – the completed tests and all the materials -- and each box will be taped shut, numbered, and affixed with its two security seals and two address labels routing it back to Measurement Incorporated.

No one is complaining!! (Well, maybe a little!) But, in Orange, we take this time very seriously, intending that every detail is well planned and every eventuality is controlled. It’s important to us that this community continue to enjoy its excellent test scores.   But, more importantly, it’s crucial to us that your children continue to master the math, reading, writing, science, and analytical problem-solving skills that the Connecticut tests measure.   We want them to feel confident going into these tests and proud of their accomplishments afterwards.  It wouldn’t be fair of us to send them into a testing situation feeling overwhelmed or underprepared.  

Over the summer, we'll study our results and make changes in curriculum and instruction that will help more children reach the goal.  We'll report back to you on the results.  In a few weeks, I'll blog about the new test, the SBAC, headed our way.  In the meantime, we've posted March's CMT schedule and some easy-to-follow tips on the webpage.

School Security -- We Care!

The devastating tragedy in our neighboring Newtown forever changed our comfort level and the nature of our community-wide conversation about our children’s safety. After all, this is not an event we can rationalize or compartmentalize. This was not a custody battle gone wrong. This was no former employee with a grudge, looking for revenge. This was not even a media-numbed student trying to put his grievances against school or peers to right through violence. This was simply random and senseless.

The images from Sandy Hook left us reeling with sadness and torn between two basic instincts: the first, to button up our schools, to lock all the doors and make them fortresses; the second, to let our children be children in a nurturing environment that welcomes parents and volunteers and celebrates community.

We are, of course, engaged in the serious study of Orange’s facilities and safety procedures. We are trying, to the degree we are able, to provide as much protection for our children and staff as we can. In January 2013, the Police Department, Fire Department, and our Facilities Director, along with several Board members and parents with experience in the field, participated in a SWOT Analysis. This is an assessment of the district’s buildings and infrastructure with regard to our Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.   This deep level of assessment was not new to Orange, as our SWOT reports date back to 2006; but Sandy Hook gave them a new sense of urgency and level of importance.  

In the past, many of the recommendations that came out of a SWOT Analysis were considered ‘just out of reach.’   So, where the SWOT Analysis may have recommended such items as video surveillance cameras, classrooms blinds, or new locksets that locked classrooms from inside the room versus from the corridor, the implemented measures may have included the blinds, but not the cameras... or included a clever, but makeshift adjustment to the locks, but not the new lock themselves.   One of the best results of the past SWOT Analyses was the development of Orange’s Code Red Lock-Down Protocols which have served as a model for other school districts for several years. We know that lockdown procedures, while they could not prevent the events in Newtown, did save lives.   We have come to understand this as the difference between prevention and mitigation. While, we cannot prevent an incident from arriving at our doorstep, we can mitigate the impact. That is the approach we have applied as we paid much closer attention to our SWOT Analysis than ever before. We no longer want the installations that can save lives to be ‘just out of reach.’ 

On January 28, 2013, the Board of Finance became our strong ally when they funded the school district money for two immediate projects and recommended the remainder of the projects be bonded. Thus, my intention is to effectively discuss the issue of student safety and to demonstrate both the level of our preparedness and our plans for increased security measures, but to do so in a way that engenders your confidence and perhaps lessens your anxiety.   Our security plans going forward are about finding a place to land while the national debate rages around us.  

That said, I’m assuming these are your questions and concerns:

Why must I state my name, the nature of my business, and provide an ID at school doors?

First and foremost, there is a need that everyone follows our new safety procedures. Please don’t be personally offended if a staff member asks for your name and the nature of your visit. Please be patient if signing in or out your children takes extra time; please be courteous while staff looks up your name or checks a database. Staff members are not singling you out. 

These new, more stringent, policies are meant to assure that our staff members stay alert, assess visitors, and then make conscious decisions at the entryway doors. Staff members can get overly comfortable and ‘buzzing in’ can become automatic and lax. While our regular, easily recognizable guests may pose no threat, if they breeze in and out of school, the district’s safety message is rendered false.

It feels rude to shut the door when another visitor is coming up right behind me!

While it is probably contrary to the way you were raised, please do not hold the door open for other people who are not in your party. Please allow our school staff members to assess all visitors and buzz in all the school’s guests. If you feel the need, say hello and tell the visitor you hope they understand the security procedures do not allow holding the door open.

What will the rapid call system do?

While there’s no doubt the adults in Sandy Hook acted admirably, there’s also no doubt the systems didn’t cooperate. A standard morning announcement system is simply not the most effective way to engage emergency procedures, especially when moments matter. Too many steps in the process! Too much chance for operator error! 

We are installing ‘rapid call systems’ (or ‘panic buttons’) in all four buildings. The buttons will simultaneously initiate a pre-recorded message throughout the school that the school is in lock-down, a call to the Police Department that there is a lock-down emergency, and the automatic closing of the interior fire doors. This is one of the immediate projects funded by the Board of Finance in late January.

Why does the district need ID card readers at the doors?

This is the second project funded by the BOF, and it has many merits even beyond security. First and foremost, however, ID Card Readers will allow the school entrances to be permanently locked at all times, even in the morning when teachers are arriving to work. Technology will control the ID readers, turning on and off access as warranted. Teachers will scan themselves in from the front doors and from the playgrounds after recess. No more will doors be unlocked or propped open. Teachers, too, will be expected not to hold the doors open for each other, as the card reader will become the attendance record the police will use in an emergency. 

These colorful IDs will also identify teachers as staff to police officers … and as ‘people you can trust’ to students. We will, of course, carefully establish protocols to secure the IDs.

What is a ‘sally-port’? Does ‘shatter-guard’ really work?

You’re no doubt very familiar with the concept of a sally-port, even if you didn’t previously know the term for it. It refers to a second set of doors that creates a locked foyer. A visitor is buzzed into one set of doors and then signs-in with a receptionist before being buzzed through the second set of doors. Now, that I know what they are, I have begun to recognize them everywhere I go. My dentist’s office has one, as do Woodbridge and Amity. My grandchildren’s schools in Massachusetts have sally-ports, as do most banks and many office buildings. You may have heard that we could only install sally-ports at three of the schools and would need to install a service window at Race Brook, instead of a sally-port. Recently, we worked out an option for a sally-port at Race Brook, as well.  

We will work hard to ensure the sally-ports are attractive and welcoming, while at the same time adding a second level of entrance security. Coupled with shatter guard, they should make us all more comfortable with how much more difficult it would be for an intruder to gain access.

Yes, shatter-guard is impressive. We saw a demonstration of a product that was bullet-proof, and about 17 minutes into the demo, even using sledge hammers and axes, the window was still impenetrable. I’m not going to go into the full plan here; but without changing the look of our schools, we have added those precious moments that become essential in mitigating a potential threat at our doors.

Won’t video surveillance cameras be an invasion of privacy?

There’s no doubt that video cameras can see and record everything these days. If you watched the Inauguration, you witnessed how powerful they are and how closely they can zoom in, from even a mile away, on someone yawning or scratching their nose. However, we are not planning to station anyone at a monitor, watching the cameras and zooming in on the students or staff on playgrounds or loading docks or in hallways.

We are carefully considering the camera placement, so that both the exterior doors and interior common areas are covered. This includes the entrances and offices. It does not include the lavatories, classrooms, and any semi-private or private areas! We will provide proper notice of the presence of surveillance cameras with signs stating ‘video surveillance in use.’ We will also develop all the legal protocols and policies for taping, reviewing, releasing, and so on.

In our security plan, the principals, Central Office, the Technology Administrator, and the Police will all be able to access the cameras from a computer and zoom in when an incident is in progress. This provides the opportunity to observe any unfolding events in real time. It also allows the Police Department or us to back-up the cameras’ DVR recordings and see what had happened in the previous minutes or hours, which is helpful if a child goes missing or we’ve suffered vandalism to one of the buildings.

At Sandy Hook, video surveillance could not have prevented the tragedy; but it would have allowed the police to view the school inside and out in real time. They would have been able to rerun a camera and quickly identify a backpack left at one of the doors as belonging to the perpetrator, saving the time they spent looking for a second intruder.

In each of the SWOT analyses prior to this January, the Police and Fire Departments requested video surveillance, but it was one of those ‘just out of reach’ plans. We can no longer afford to put off these security measures.

$100,000 for classroom locksets!

Our plan is to change the locksets on all the classroom doors so they will be automatically locked when shut and can be opened from the corridor only with a key. Shutting the door… locks the door!  This eliminates a lock-down protocol in which the teacher pulls a Velcro strip and ‘tests’ whether or not the door is locked from the hallway. It also eliminates ‘operator error.’   This upgrade is significantly overdue, as many of the current locksets are simply worn out and difficult to ‘key.’

There is an additional bonus in that classrooms will be locked when empty, as well. This makes students’ belongings and the classroom equipment much more secure. As we move to BYOD (bring your own device), and begin to allow students to use their own Kindles, iPads, and such, we’ll need to ensure their equipment is as protected as possible in the classroom.

What is an SRO?

An SRO is a highly-trained police officer who serves as a School Resource Officer. This important addition to our school security is both a preventative and mitigating measure. Because the addition of this Officer to the schools is a Police Department personnel change, it occurs in their budget, not ours. But, it certainly warrants our attention and full support.

A School Resource Officer would rotate, unscheduled, throughout the schools. He or she would work closely with students, their teachers, and families on programs such as bullying prevention, D.A.R.E., good decision-making, Internet and social media safety, and so on. The SRO is also another set of eyes, watching how students interact and spotting isolation and students at risk. He or she develops trusting relationships, serves as a strong role model, and taps into the community’s resources as necessary to support students and their families.

How important is the Police Department’s request for a Wireless Backhaul System?

Very! The value of the rapid call notification systems in the schools and the live feeds from the interior and exterior surveillance cameras is lost to us if the Police Department cannot access these software applications through a wireless system from their patrol cars. They have wanted the backhaul system for a while because, as we all know, wireless is faster and more reliable. Moments matter!

As you likely have realized, there is nothing we can do which guarantees trouble will not arrive at our doors. However much we agree that a tragedy the scale of Sandy Hook is unlikely, it is still important that we modernize our facilities with upgrades which make sense.  It's important we add a level of security that capitalizes on modern technologies and puts what we’ve learned into practice. The Police have told us again and again that perpetrators look for easy or ‘soft’ targets. The degree to which we look and act prepared (i.e. less ‘soft’) is a significant deterrent. Our intention is to demonstrate that preparedness in word and deed, affirming your trust in the safety of our facilities while simultaneously conveying to our children that, yes, we do still welcome and value community.

The 'Smart' vs. 'Capable' Perspective

Almost every day, for one reason or another, I reach back to my childhood and find myself grateful for my parents' innate ability to foster what I now think of as 'perspective,' or the healthy ability to be both confident in my success and humbled by the lack of it.

Sometimes, my recollection is something funny.  I might trip on a crack in the sidewalk in front of MLT and hear my father's voice in my ear, "There goes 'Grace' again."  He never said, "Don't be so clumsy," which would have been denigrating; but he didn't blame the sidewalk, either.  He laughed a lot when we were kids, but never at us... unless, we were being ridiculous! 

Sometimes, the recollection is much more practical; and thus, when I'm fielding a complaint or a working through a difficult report I end up with his sayings running through my head: messages like "Don't judge, until you've walked a mile in that person's shoes," or "If you quit, who's going to finish for you?"

When I was child, my father might ask me to hold a flashlight for him under the kitchen sink, but I knew what that request really meant... it meant lots of questions about what I saw him doing: "What if I turn this...?"  "What do you think is holding this in place?" "Why might we try to ...?"

All of this was about 'growth' and 'becoming more capable,' which intrigued me as I read "Fostering a 'Growth' Mindset in Students," in Principal Leadership, by Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey.  In this article, the authors discuss the importance of helping students to develop what they call 'personal narratives' or belief statements about who they are.  The authors state that, "one crucial aspect is helping students move from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset."  They go on to describe students with a fixed mindset as those kids who believe their personal 'smartness' was fixed at birth and, therefore, they must keep proving they are smart to others.   On the other hand, students who have a growth mindset believe their basic qualities can be continuously cultivated through effort and persistence.

I think it's obvious which lifestyle approach will serve our kids, their parents, and our society at large the best.  Especially as we move into the 21st Century economy, we need young people who believe "I can learn anything if I put in the effort."  It can't be about getting the answer the quickest, ("I'm smart!"); because, when when the answer doesn't come easily, but takes time, concentration, and effort, which it will in our contemporary world, our kids will need persistence. 

"Praise for being 'smart' leads kids to believe that learning should be easy – and if it feels difficult, then they’re not smart.  On the other hand, praise for focusing and sticking with a task fosters a much more positive mindset – you can 'get smart' through effective effort.

I remember reading a study done at Brown University, and I think it was Varton Gregorian who quoted it.  In the study, elementary school students were given a multiple-choice math problem that went something like this: "The Army wants to move 729 soldiers.  If each bus holds 65 soldiers, how many buses will the Army need?"  The 'smarter' the kids, the more likely they were to choose '11.22' as their answer.  In other words, 11.22, which carried the answer out to the hundredth decimal place, seemed more correct to them than 12.  Yet, there is no such thing as .22 of a bus. 

So, how do we foster 'capable growth' rather than reverence for 'being smart.' Fisher and Frey tell us that when parents and teachers compliment children in a way in which children see their own roles in the accomplishment, they will begin to see that their effort allowed them to meet their goals."  Just as my father did, under the kitchen sink, with a wrench in his hand: "Huh, you figured that out, did you?  Feels good doesn't it?"

 

Growing up, my successes were my own, not my parents.  In their eyes, I wasn't born either smart or lucky.  My actions led to the results, whether good or bad.   They were very interested in my effort, always wanting to know how I accomplished something, what I might do differently next time, and how my success felt.