Episode Details

Ken Daly, an 11th grade English teacher in Wallingford, Connecticut, spends every other day on his district's innovation team. He explains leading change in schools by putting teachers, not administrators, in charge of the research and the rollout, funded by local businesses, and why that gives new initiatives legitimacy.

Daly walks through what the team has launched: a capstone pilot with 20 students at each of two high schools, a bridge academy for at-risk students moving from middle school to high school, and a credit recovery pilot. Teachers told them credit recovery students need face time with a teacher, not a computer screen.

What you'll learn

• Take a few teachers out of some classes to research and pilot reform, as Wallingford does with two teachers on alternating days.
• Ask local businesses to fund release time, and build the relationships first, as Daly's superintendent did over a couple of years.
• Try mastery-based grading in one classroom first, and ask your students what they think of it.
• Put teachers and students on committees early, because Daly says he sees no initiative working without buy in.
• Build flexible time, such as office hours, into the day so students who miss a standard can get help.

Chapters

• 1:22 A half-time teacher on the innovation team
• 2:07 How local businesses and a superintendent funded it
• 5:11 Mastery learning, capstone and credit recovery projects
• 11:54 Why the principal stepped off the team
• 13:53 What an innovation day looks like
• 17:44 Building office hours into the school day
• 24:50 Rotating teachers in and out of the team
• 36:17 Advice for principals: trust teachers, add students

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Questions this episode answers

How can a school district create an innovation team?
Daly says Wallingford's superintendent built relationships with local businesses and asked them for funding that pays for someone to cover the teachers' classes. Two teachers now work on reform every other day, researching best practices, visiting schools and piloting programs such as capstone, credit recovery and a bridge academy.

How do you get teacher buy in for a new school initiative?
Daly says teachers doing the grunt work gives initiatives legitimacy, but a teacher loses some of it once tied to central office initiatives. He says no initiative works without buy in, so bring teachers on board very early and add students to committees.

What is a simple way to start mastery-based grading?
Daly says he made the most minimal changes in how he assesses and saw immediate results. He suggests a teacher take one unit, give students more choices in how they show what they learned, and give them time. He calls that capstone on a very small scale.

About Ken Daly

High school English teacher in Wallingford, Connecticut, who splits his time between teaching and his district's innovation team on high school reform.

Links and resources

• Ken Daly show notes
• Transformative Principal website and survey

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