Building Up Small Success to Achieve Larger Results

“Success is a series of small wins!” Jamie Tardy

Once you have clearly defined goals and data to measure progress towards those goals, it is important to identify the quick wins you can accomplish. Getting these quick wins done can help you build upon the next tasks. Using these successes, everyone can gain momentum by using these as stepping stones to achieve greater results.

I like to refer to this as “Breakthrough Strategy: Short-term Success for Long-term Results”.

Your new start and new habits are much like a rocket ship. When a rocket ship lifts off, it requires a considerable amount of energy to get off the ground, break the atmosphere and enter space. But after that, the resistance-free momentum of space helps carry that rocket ship over huge distances. 

To keep it simple, let’s have an example of a breakthrough short-term goal for this SMART Goal:

24 students will move out of partial proficiency to proficiency on the grade 5 state assessment (insert the name of your assessment) administered in the spring. 

If there are four Grade 5 teachers, they can handle 6 students each. If you will move 24 students by the end of the year, then you would need to move at least 50% (12 students) by mid-year. If you are going to move 12 students by mid-year, what do those students need to accomplish in September, October, November, and December? 

Can teachers identify and closely monitor 6 students for the year? Absolutely! I have seen them do this repeatedly in school after school. The teachers can listen and watch student responses to their questions and assignments. This way, they can have a better understanding of the root cause of the student’s challenges. After that, they assist the students in areas where they specifically need help.

This approach can create quick wins with these students. You give your teachers permission to learn these “kid-watching” strategies and you will see success. Teachers who know their students and how they perform are teachers who achieve consistent results. When teachers start observing what is needed in those 6 students, they begin to see similar patterns in other students. Their overall teaching improves, and we see an increase in results. 

You may be asking, what if that teacher cannot move those 6 students? Then you have some powerful information that you can evaluate. This can help in identifying deeper root causes that may be blocking yearly, long-term success. Either way, it is still a win!

Let’s go back to the rocket ship analogy. The location of the launchpad is critical for a successful mission. For example, what if you tried to launch on a frozen lake? The blast-off would melt the ice, causing everything to sink before it could get off the ground. The same will happen if you pursue a goal without a solid foundation.

Classroom instructional knowledge is a key foundation for success. This means knowing what to do and how to help students reach their goals. Given the complexity of the classroom, there is no way to succeed without clear instructional strategies. Start small and pick one. Which one? 

Look at your teachers who are getting consistent results. What are they doing? 

Moving forward also requires a desire or will to move forward. This is why creating an atmosphere of data ownership is so important. Motivate, inspire, and lead teachers to accomplish your vision of achievement.  See my blog post a couple of weeks ago WORKING TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE SCHOOL GOALS  as a reference on how to implement data ownership. 

Before we move on to the next data step, let’s review Data Step 1 and the sub-steps discussed:

• Empower teachers to accomplish your school goals by involving them in the goal-setting process, data analysis, and decision-making. 
• Evaluate your goals in relationship to your state and district expectations.
• Streamline your data.
• Inspire and share the goals at every level: staff, students, and community.
• Create an atmosphere of data ownership.
• Identify your data gauges. Create a data profile.
• Identify short-term goals and success for long-term results. 

Depending on the strengths and needs of your staff this can happen quickly or take some time before you can establish a firm foundation. Bringing an outside facilitator (whether in district or out of district) can help you move through this process at a pace that will help all your staff move forward. 

There is nothing wrong with taking massive action or trying to adopt multiple strategies at once, but I find very few schools can do this successfully. Usually, it is much easier to concentrate on one or two steps, and then move on after that. Start small, build in quick wins, gain momentum, and keep moving forward to achieve greater results.

For the past few blogs, we’ve been focusing on Data Step 1 and defining what needs to be accomplished. For the next blog, we will begin looking at Step 2: Analyze.

Are you unhappy with your results or feeling overwhelmed with defining your data? If so STAR Leadership School & Student Data Solutions Training is your answer! Click here for more info: STAR Services (debradurma.com)