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Create Learning Systems, Not Silos

Declare roles and responsibilities using KASAB

By Kay Psencik, Frederick Brown and Stephanie Hirsh
February 2018
Vol. 39 No. 1
In a learning system, central office personnel assume collective responsibility for schools and go about their work very differently. They are responsible not only for departments and programs, but also for student learning. They demonstrate that responsibility by engaging in data-informed conversations about student achievement. These conversations model a culture of collective responsibility for schools. When district administrators regularly and actively engage with site-based staff, they eliminate any mystery about how district leaders are facilitating, coaching, and supporting schools’ work. Effective central offices have transitioned from a commanding and controlling management style to one focused on support and solutions. As professional learning has moved from a centralized to a school-based function, central office staff members’ work has changed from determining content and delivering the learning

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Excerpted from: Hirsh, S., Psencik, K., & Brown, F. (2014). Becoming a learning system. Oxford, OH: Learning Forward.

References

Wheatley, M. (1992). Leadership and the new science: Learning about organization from an orderly universe. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.


Kay Psencik
+ posts

Kay Psencik served students and educators for over 30 years in Texas public schools as a teacher and school administrator. She has supervised, supported, and coached principals for over 40 years.

Frederick Brown
President | CEO at Learning Forward | + posts

Frederick Brown is Learning Forward’s president | CEO. Fred is an education visionary who knows firsthand that our nation’s schools need transformational change if we are to meet the challenges of the next decades. Fred advocates that every child deserves to reach their highest potential and every educator must have the opportunity to participate in exemplary, ongoing, professional learning programs to provide students the skills needed to meet their unique needs.

Supporting educators at all levels and improving student achievement are through lines of Fred's career. An elementary school teacher, a middle school assistant principal, and school principal, Fred saw firsthand the impact high-leverage instructional practices and school culture have on school success.

Fred is a frequent speaker on leadership and building high-quality learning in schools. He has co-authored two books that have made significant contributions to the field of education, demonstrating how a comprehensive approach to professional learning can be achieved so that everyone in a system is a learner, and how principals apply a learning lens to their many critical responsibilities to create a productive climate for learning and collaboration. "Becoming a Learning System" and "The Learning Principal -- Becoming a Learning Leader"  are time-tested Learning Forward resources for schools and leaders.

Stephanie Hirsh
+ posts

Stephanie Hirsh retired in June 2019 after 31 years with Learning Forward, an international association of more than 13,000 educators committed to increasing student achievement through effective professional learning. Hirsh led the organization as its executive director for the last 13 years where she presented, published, and consulted on Learning Forward’s behalf across North America.


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