Ah, the sense of accomplishment we feel when we complete something to which we've dedicated a lot of effort. This feeling rings true in our professional as well as our personal lives. At the end of the school year, administrators often assess the quality of their school by counting how many graduates walk across the stage, the achievement scores returned from testing centers, and the number of scholarships awarded.

These kinds of assessments are easy since they involve measuring, adding, and calculating percentages. In fact, most assessments of school quality have been linear, which works well for predictable patterns. But the simple fact is that life inside and outside of schools is no longer so predictable. Outcomes for graduates are moving from straight fact acquisition to more transferable process skills. To assess this new school organization, new forms of assessment are needed. But how can we find a sense of accomplishment when trying to assess outcomes not easily seen or counted?

In my school, I try to observe a variety of system outcomes that tell me whether or not we are improving our practices. As part of my information gathering, I ask all members of our school community—teachers, administrators, secretaries, and custodians—the following questions.

1. Do you feel more resourceful in your ability to help others grow?

One way to receive feedback is through coaching. Rather than emphasize my role as evaluator, I join the staff in coaching relationships. Because coaching strategies emphasize a high degree of self-evaluation and reflection, colleagues tell me they have been able to develop their own thinking and see themselves as more efficacious.

Before they engaged in the process, teachers expressed concern over how much time coaching would take. At the end of the first year, however, they assessed coaching as not time consuming. Staff members reported that they enjoyed talking to colleagues and suggested more of them should volunteer to participate.

A custodian has described how he is able to come up with more solutions by himself as a result of discussing problems in a coaching relationship. In a coaching session, a Spanish teacher would explain her teaching activities using story and metaphor. I would respond using the structure of the story or metaphor. She told me she never views the use of story the same way because she uses story and metaphor as a main source of teaching the Spanish language to students. She said the resource is endless, her students are not as intimidated when speaking about stories, and they make more meaning from metaphors than when using mainly drill and practice. One of our math teachers pursued and completed a Ph.D. degree. He had participated in the coaching program and used cognitive coaching (Costa and Garmston 1993) as a direct teaching method with his students. The students were observers while the math teacher was coached in front of the class by me as a direct teaching strategy.

Creative problem solving by teachers and principals results in new solutions. When principals practice coaching, they take active roles in helping teams form, supporting them, and providing times to meet for planning. Nadler and Hibino (1990) affirm that creative problem solvers are risk-taking nonconformists with the capacity to pursue untried solutions. The willingness to attempt new teaching strategies is evidence of the resourceful nature of some of our staff.

2. Do we have multiple options for ways to think and act as a supervisor, teacher, coach, or administrator?

Three years ago, a secretary named Hazel transferred a phone call from an irate parent to me. After I finished the conversation, Hazel asked, "How did that call go?" I said the parent was very upset, but at least he wasn't threatening to sue. Hazel then asked how I reduced the tension and anxiety with the parent, and I told her I had about 10 response strategies posted by my phone to look at during times of stress. She asked me if I would teach her those techniques, and in the end I had four meetings with 11 clerical personnel to discuss strategies to handle stressful situations. Without Hazel, I don't believe I would have thought about expanding the repertoire of the clerical staff. And in working with them, I learned mountains of information about their daily jobs that stretched my knowledge base of school issues.

As leaders—whether administrators, teachers, or clerical workers—I think it is important to strike when such teachable moments arise. We all need to be committed to creating a learning environment. One way to affirm a learning environment is to extend repertoire and the flexibility to use that repertoire to anyone who can use the skills. Most times we think in terms of teachers teaching students, but the learning environment must encompass all staff members. For example, a secretary has coached me before I taught a lesson (Sommers 1990, Sommers and Costa 1992). If we cannot create an environment where every staff member can learn, it may be more difficult to create an environment where all students can learn.

People with a high degree of personal mastery are continually learning; they never arrive. Learning is a process, a lifelong discipline. To help fight against what Bardwick (1986) calls "content plateauing," leaders must motivate people to try different approaches, make it possible for everyone to be a follower and a leader, and be open to renewal. People, especially leaders, nurture learning behaviors by affirming and rewarding risk taking when it happens. Many breakthroughs occur by living on the edge, not staying on safe, predictable ground.

For example, two years ago a chemical dependency counselor and I started writing, assembling, and handing out condensed versions of literature about education. Now, half of the staff receives and contributes to the distribution of articles, book summaries, and new techniques about teaching and learning. This produces growth for everyone involved since sharing provides more resources. During the school year, I have observed many staff members using this literature to tap their natural talents and creative potential to develop new educational approaches.

Last year, an English teacher and a biology teacher team taught their classes around the novel Jurassic Park. As a result of this teaming effort, the biology teacher now has students journal a minimum of once per week, and the English teacher teaches writing as a problem-solving process. As part of the journal in biology, students must make connections between the content or the process and the outside world. Parents have commented to the biology teacher during conferences that the writings their children are doing and the connections they are making are more specifically related to their personal world.

The same biology teacher provides alternative ways to complete assignments. Instead of writing everything, some students create detailed mind maps or drawings to answer questions. Students can develop their own study guides with graphic organizers. The teacher also asks for a graphic representation of chapter summaries because he believes this helps all students develop their visual learning.

A calculus teacher asks students to keep journals and write in organized detail their processes of problem solving as well as find the answers on tests. Students initially resisted this assignment and asked, "What workshop did you go to?" But the teacher reports that calculus test scores are increasing and the percentage of students scoring a four or five on last year's Advanced Placement exams was higher.

The visual icons that began showing up in classrooms are another example of seeing thinking occur in our school. Several teachers met to discuss how they could create visible reminders relative to thinking skills. From that, a CAD drafting teacher took Art Costa's intelligent behaviors, enlarged the vocabulary and a short phrase, printed signs, and distributed them to interested teachers. A student stopped by my office a couple of months later and asked, "What's going on? These signs are all over the place!"

Several teachers enlarged an 8-1/2 by 11 sheet of paper with the three-story intellect to a poster size. (The three-story intellect is a graphic model describing three levels of thinking: input-recall on the first floor, processing comparison on the second floor, and output-application on the third floor.) Those are now hanging in classrooms. Some have been translated into Spanish and German. Bookmarks with the intelligent behaviors are given out to parents, students, and community members. Other bookmarks describe ways to extend student thinking, why teachers make a difference, and how to read a book. Any list or strategies that staff members are trying to integrate into their own thinking can be put on a bookmark or sign as a visual reminder while planning to teach, during the actual teaching, or in reflection about teaching after the lesson.

In Susan Rosenholtz's (1989) research, she discusses her findings that the greater the teacher's opportunity for learning, the more students tend to learn. When teachers have more opportunities to expand their own learning, their students show higher reading performances and greater accomplishments with basic math skills. Teachers who are involved with coaching or discussing alternatives in their teaching ask for more discussion time with colleagues. The teachers who have been involved with the most risk taking, more inclusion of process skills in their classrooms, and sharing of ideas are the staff members who expect and demand more ideas to continue working on their craft.

3. Is there precision in our ability to question and respond to others?

Professionals who ask questions about their craft are self-motivated learners. Teachers who participate in coaching are trying to learn more by asking for precise feedback. Trusting relationships provide a positive environment for specific feedback in collegial coaching. As trust increases, risk taking increases. For example, I had a teacher ask me to collect any evidence of racist or sexist language he used during his lesson. I was pleased that a teacher asked me, an administrator, to collect this kind of data.

Asking mediating questions to increase reflective thinking encourages, enhances, and sustains creative solutions. Using Cognitive Coaching questioning strategies helps staff members with mental rehearsal of lessons, creates alternative instructional processes, and clarifies student and teacher outcomes.

Another questioning strategy being used by our teachers is from LaBorde: the Meta Model. This questioning system is used to increase precision of language. By clarifying terms used by students, parents, teachers, and administrators, the communication among all parties has been more accurate and more focused on outcomes with less wasted time.

Though questioning strategies are vital, response behaviors can be more important. In fact, Lynch and Kordis (1988) say the quality of an experience is determined not by what happens to you, but by your response to what happens to you.

4. Are we conscious about our own thinking and the behaviors of others?

Teachers tell me that because I ask them questions about their instruction, they ask students the same kinds of questions and plan lessons with those questions in mind. Teachers say their students demonstrate more breadth and depth of understanding because of the questions.

My observations tell me I am hearing more efficacious talk, seeing an openness to diverse ideas, and meeting teachers who accept a class that does not work perfectly. I hear more discussion about the process of teaching and how staff members from different disciplines can work together toward common goals.

I have had to develop better listening skills to collect examples of the staff's thinking as it relates to the five questions. By listening better, I've become aware of more information. And when we're more aware, we all have an opportunity to process the information and then modify the result if necessary.

5. Is there collegial support and appreciation for our own and other's continued learning?

Coaching has become the number one way to reduce teacher isolation. After telling one teacher about a strategy I had observed in another teacher's classroom, he remarked that I had an instructional overview that enabled him to obtain faster help with his unit. Those teachers started sharing ideas together.

Coaching reduces my isolation as an administrator. Teachers have told me they value discussion about instructional strategies instead of only talking about control or management issues. Being in classrooms provides me with more specific knowledge of content and instructional strategies.

Building connections within the building and throughout the district is an individual goal of mine. Senge (1990) describes this as "systems thinking." One of my goals this year has been to develop an appreciation of the interdependence of all staff. I think teachers are in the best position to determine what connections can improve education. As we all learn, we will all move ahead.

References

Bardwick, J.M. (1986). The Plateauing Trap. New York: Bantam Books.

Costa, A., and R. Garmston. (1993). Cognitive Coaching: A Foundation for Renaissance Schools. Norwood, Mass.: Christopher Gordon.

Lynch, D., and P. Kordis. (1988). Strategy of the Dolphin. New York: Fawcett Columbine, Inc.

Nadler, G., and S. Hibino. (1990). Breakthrough Thinking. Rocklin, Calif.: Prima Publishing & Communications.

Rosenholtz, S. (1989). Teachers' Workplace. New York: Longman, Inc.

Senge, P.M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline. New York: Doubleday Current.

Sommers, W. (November 1990). "Who's Coaching Whom?" ECSU Newsletter. 2, 2: 18

Sommers, W., and A. Costa. (September 1992). "Bo Beep Was Wrong." MASCD Newsletter. 9, 1: 2. Also in the NASSP Bulletin, December 1993, p. 110.