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Not Just the Hard Data with Kimberly Miles

Season 3 Episode 127 Published 10 years, 5 months ago
Description

Kimberly Miles, principal of East Gresham Elementary School, returns to explain how a principal mastermind helped her narrow her focus, hold herself accountable and refine her practice. A weekly personal goal, shared with colleagues, keeps her work on what matters most in a turnaround school.

A colleague's data wall, glimpsed on a weekly video call, pushed her to ask why she wasn't doing the same. Her staff now looks at individual student performance data. She also learned that soft data, the stories students bring with them, is just as relevant and important as hard data.

What you'll learn

  • Set one personal goal each week and report to peers whether you met it.
  • Build a data wall so teachers study individual student performance, not just the percentage of students who are not yet meeting.
  • Sit down grade-level teams with all the test data plus what teachers know about each kid, then decide what each student needs.
  • Treat student stories as soft data that builds a culture honoring the cultures students bring.
  • Let your staff see you investing in your own professional development.

Chapters

  • 0:00 Kimberly Miles returns to talk mastermind
  • 2:29 Weekly goals narrow a principal's focus
  • 4:28 Advice for principals on the fence
  • 5:24 A data wall changes the staff's practice
  • 7:42 Is the time and money worth it?
  • 8:46 Hard data versus soft data
  • 9:47 What StrengthsFinder and DISC revealed

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Questions this episode answers

How can a principal hold herself accountable to goals?
Miles says her mastermind group sets a personal goal each week. At the next meeting she has to say whether she met it, and her colleagues offer suggestions and ask clarifying questions about how she did the work.

What is soft data in schools?
Miles describes soft data as the stories students bring with them. She says these stories are just as relevant and important as hard data, and helped her school build a culture of learning that honors the diverse cultures students bring to the conversation.

Is it worth paying for your own principal development?
Miles says yes. Building leaders are service-oriented, so she treats the mastermind as time and money invested in herself, to be a better leader and to inspire the administrators around her.

About Kimberly Miles

Principal of East Gresham Elementary School and a member of the Transformative Principal mastermind.

Links and resources

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