Principal empowerment through AB 75: principals find that AB 75 training helps them better understand the curriculum and support teachers' instructional needs.

Ronald Reagan once said, "The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things." Jim Collins, in his book "Good to Great," describes the characteristics of leaders who build enduring greatness in an organization as those who "set up successors for even greater success in the next generation."

What does this have to do with the AB 75 Principal Training Program? Quite a bit. AB 75 is about empowerment as instructional leaders. Districts are empowering principals who, in turn, are empowering teachers and students.

As we reflect back on the first two years of the Principal Training Program and talk with administrators, we are struck by its immediate impact on practice at the school site. Principals and assistant principals, whether veterans or new at their roles, have found the training to be unlike any other that they have experienced. They often relate that they now have a deeper understanding of the curriculum and are better able to converse with teachers about instruction and support their instructional needs.

We are impressed with how districts have supported this professional development opportunity and use it as a key element in a coherent strategy for district-wide focus on improving student achievement. Following are two examples where districts are moving together in a concerted way using AB 75 as a cornerstone for administrators. We also take a look at the trenches--what principals have to say about the empowering effects of AB 75.

Simplify and focus

Bob Bailey, assistant superintendent of Coachella Valley School District in Riverside County, uses the words "simplify and focus" to describe the change that began three years ago. With 15,000 students, 99 percent Hispanic and 80 percent English language learners, the highest mobility rates in the state and API scores in the 300s, Coachella Valley had its share of challenges. When the new, from the ranks superintendent "Tut" Pensis asked the question, "How many different reading programs do we have?" the answer was 27. The district was fragmented. The ensuing strategy was simple in concept but took discipline to implement.

The district began what Bailey calls a "laser-like focus"--purchase teacher-selected, district-wide, standards-based instructional materials at elementary, middle and high school levels (the complete programs), train staff (teachers and administrators), and realign the district's education services division to support mathematics and language arts.

The district is in its third year of training teachers through AB 466, Mathematics and Reading Professional Development. Teacher voluntary participation has been at 99.5 percent three years in a row, serving more than 300 teachers.

Administrators have received training through AB 75 and now are more visible in the classroom, more supportive of teachers because they understand the curriculum, and better able to obtain the resources that teachers really need. They are now part of the curriculum and instruction process and tied into what teachers are doing.

Understanding data and how to use it

The intervention materials contained in the core language arts program are now the content for their summer and after-school programs. And as teachers became familiar with these intervention materials from their adopted program, they began using them in their regular school year classrooms.

AB 75 provides an understanding of assessment data and how to use it. Assessment data in Coachella Valley plays a key role in providing feedback at the district, school and individual teacher level. The results of curriculum-embedded assessments are virtually instantaneous. Tests are scanned and all data resides in a common data management system. Teachers get instant feedback and can examine data on their own. Principals can sit with teachers and review data in grade-level meetings or with individual teachers. The next push for administrators will be to work with assessment specialists and dissect the data at the grade level.

So where has this taken the district in three years? API scores have moved from the 300s to the 500s and a few in the 600s, making it the highest-growth district in Riverside County.

Knowledge and heightened awareness

Sandra Carsten, assistant superintendent of Fresno Unified School District, believes that AB 75 training for their 200+ administrators has given their site administrators the knowledge base, especially with regard to their district-wide, adopted instructional programs, to take the next steps for the district--focusing on middle schools and high schools. Fresno USD, with 80,000 students and 100 schools, began AB 75 training two years ago.

Carsten credits AB 75 training with creating a heightened awareness and knowledge base for administrators around the importance of fully implementing complete instructional programs and providing teacher training around that curriculum. She was particularly impressed with the high quality and commitment of the trainers. Administrators are learning what they didn't know about the instructional programs and their implementation.

An impressive outgrowth of the administrator training on Module 1 was the request by administrators last year that middle school teachers receive AB 466 training on the adopted middle school language arts program. Administrators were able to convince their teachers, and that training began this summer with administrators attending alongside their teachers.

Equally impressive was the recognition by high school administrators of the need to purchase core anthologies and implement a language arts intervention program for students more than two years below grade level. Fresno USD intends to leverage ongoing administrator development around instructional programs that began with AB 75.

Relevancy and practicality

About 1,000 school site administrators of the more than 10,000 administrators approved for the program have completed the 160-hour training and practicum through the 2003-04 school year. Preliminary survey feedback shows principals and assistant principals found the training relevant and that the practicum activities allow them to convert theory into practice at their school. Principals repeatedly report the following benefits:

1. Administrators have an increased understanding of California's comprehensive curriculum, assessment and accountability system. There is something powerful and empowering about understanding the big picture--how the pieces fit together to make for a coherent strategy for student improvement, and that a body of research supports the strategy.

Administrators leave the training understanding and able to explain to teachers and parents how academic content standards bring equity for all students. They review current research on a range of topics, from coherent systems to the effectiveness of direct instructional strategies for low-performing students.

Principals see how the instructional materials, state assessments and teacher and administrator professional development are aligned to the academic content standards. They understand the importance of creating a culture and directing resources and efforts at the school to focus on core academics for students.

2. School administrators are more comfortable in the classroom and talking with teachers about instruction. Principals return to their sites with concrete knowledge about the state-adopted, standards aligned instructional materials in use at their school site. They understand that the district-purchased programs include strategies and resources for addressing the needs of students up to two years below grade level and those with English language difficulties. They also learn about the SBE-adopted intensive intervention programs for students performing more than two grade levels below in reading.

They can recognize critical direct instructional strategies they should expect to see in the classroom, and understand the importance of school-wide pacing schedules for each grade level. They understand the value of targeting teacher professional development and coaching to support teachers implementing an instructional program.

3. Administrators understand data--how to analyze and disaggregate data and how to convey information to teachers and parents about student performance. Principals monitor and discuss student performance data from the six- to eight week curriculum-embedded assessments and the state annual assessments. One assistant principal, within six weeks of training oil assessment data, used some of her practicum hours to analyze the state assessment data for her school, develop and present the data to all of the teachers and meet with teachers regarding the data for their specific grade level.

Other principals report using curriculum-embedded assessments with teachers as a grade-level or course-level group to determine specifically those standards that the students are not achieving. The focus is then on immediate intervention within the classroom.

4. Administrators refocus staff meetings and grade-level meetings on important content issues. These content issues surround instruction and the instructional programs in use at the site, as principals work with teachers to fully implement their adopted instructional programs and follow a pacing schedule. Implementation issues around the instructional program and needed supports become the focus of problem-solving discussions.

The successes obtained at one grade level or even in a few classrooms are contagious, creating greater buy-in and collaboration among teachers.

Quiet revolution

As Glen Thomas, executive director of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, likes to say, "The best kept secret in California is we have five years of continuing increases in student achievement, especially at the K-6 level." Maybe the quietest revolution in California is the empowering of principals through AB 75.

More about the Principal Training Program

The Principal Training Program (AB 75, Steinberg), established In 2001 as a public-private partnership, is currently reaching more than 10,000 K-12 school site principals and vice principals with training focused on instructional leadership. The 160-hour program, funded 75 percent with state funds and 25 percent with matchin funds through an $18 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is designed to reach another 5,000 administrators.

AB 75 provides the leadership, infrastructure and support for AB 466, Mathematics and Reading Professional Development for teachers. By training principals and vice principals as instructional leaders, administrators are provided with the skills and knowledge to guide teachers.

The program is focused on supporting teachers in the instruction and delivery of standards-based curriculum, assessment, technology and use of fiscal and human resources--all key components in increasing student academic achievement. Half of the 160-hour training is devoted to an individualized practicum component. The program can be completed over a two-year period, but most site administrators are completing the program in 12-18 months.

The Principal Training Program offers high quality professional development and is a component of California's systemic approach to school reform strategies for student academic improvement. The program is fully aligned with California's curriculum standards, particularly focused on reading and mathematics. State- and locally-adopted instructional materials programs are the basis for the training.

Editor's note: As the major approved provider for Modules 2 and 3, ACSA is prepared to deliver AB 75 training to districts throughout California and to help districts comply with the Williams settlement requirements for principal training. More than 500 site leaders have attended ACSA's AB 75 trainings, presented by experienced association leaders. If you have questions or are interested in these services, contact Rich Foley at [phone] or [e-mail].

Chris King is assistant superintendent for the Stanislaus County Office of Education and chair for the statewide Curriculum and Instruction Steering Committee of the County Superintendents Educational Services Association (CCSESA). Gaye Smoot is administrator of the California Gates Foundation Administrator Training Project with CCSESA.