Davis School District

Learning First! Special Education Planning Day

The 4 Disciplines of Execution“Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals”

Adapted from McChesney, Covey, & Huling, The 4 Disciplines of Execution

Discipline 1: Focus on the Wildly Important

Discipline 2: Act on the Lead Measures

Discipline 3: Keep a Compelling Scoreboard

Discipline 4: Create a Cadence of Accountability

Table of Contents

Messages from Leaders 3

Discipline 1: Focus on the Wildly Important 5

DSD Special Education Wildly Important Goals (WIGs) 5

Discipline 2: Act on the Lead Measures 9

Discipline 3: Keep a Compelling Scoreboard 14

Discipline 4: Create a Cadence of Accountability 17

Appendix 20

Effect SizeLead Action Resources

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Message from Bryan BowlesSuperintendent Davis School District

Why Plan? Need for planning Stick to the plan Same vision so the plan works We all do our part End product are students who are well prepared to accomplish the tasks of tomorrow

Message from Glenna Gallo Utah Special Education Director

During your planning please consider… Utah’s focus – Improving outcomes for students IDEA’s focus – College and Career Ready Utah State Systemic Improvement Plan (SSIP) focus – Improve outcomes in math, grades 6-8

o Root cause: Lack of high expectations and beliefso Root cause: Lack of understanding math content and application of the contento Root cause: A lack of a tiered system of support in secondary settings

DSD and WIGS! How do the three root-causes impact DSD goals?

Message from Kathy Chisholm Davis School District Special Education Director

Planning process for teams 4DX is a process that enables individuals to accomplish and execute their goals We will see improved results for S in math proficiency and improving graduation rates Data drill down reveals we are not improving proficiency rates Focus as a team to accomplish our goals Learning First!

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INTRODUCTION

The Whirlwind A Baseball Story To achieve a goal you have never achieved

before, you must start doing things you have never done before.

The challenge is executing your most important goals in the midst of the urgent.

You are probably already doing it; 4DX gives you permission to focus on it.

The 4 Disciplines Success story! DSD LEARNING CENTERS

Focus on the Wildly Important ~focus~

“The first discipline is to focus our finest effort on the one or two goals that will make all the difference, instead of giving mediocre effort to dozens of goals. Execution starts with focus.

Without it, the other three disciplines won’t be able to help you.”

ENERGY!

Apply more energy against the one or two wildly important goal(s).

A high-focus, high-performing team must have something wildly important to focus on.

If every other area of our practice remained at the current level of performance, what is the one area where change would have the greatest impact?

Eighty percent of the team’s energy will still be directed at sustaining the whirlwind.

A WIG is fundamental to the heart of educating students with disabilities; so much so that the WIG defines our existence.

FOCUS!

WIG Rules

#1 No team focuses on more than two WIGs at the same time.

#2 The battles you choose must win the war.

#3 Senior leaders can veto, but not dictate.

#4 All WIGs mush have a finish line in the form of “from X to Y by when”.

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NOTES…

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WIG Builder Tool Sample

1. Brainstorm ideas for the WIG2. Brainstorm lag measures for each idea (from X to Y by when)3. Rate in order of importance to the organization or to the overall WIG4. Test your ideas against the checklist on the facing page5. Write your final WIGS(s)

Ideas for the WIG Current Result (from X)

Desired Result (to Y)

Deadline (When)

Rank

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Final WIGS ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

WIG Checklist – Did you get it right?

Check off each item to ensure your Team Wigs and lag measures meet the standard.

__ Have you gathered rich input both top down and bottom up?

__ Will the Team WIG have a clear, predictable impact on the overall organization WIG or strategy, not just on team performance?

__ Is the Team WIG the most impactful thing the team can do to drive achievement of the overall WIG?

__ Does the team clearly have the power to achieve the WIG without heavy dependence on other teams?

__ Does the WIG require the focus of the entire team, not just of the leader of the subgroup?

__ Is the lag measure written in the format “from X to Y by When”?

__ Can the WIG be simplified any further? Does it start with a simple verb and end with a clear lag measure?

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Act on Lead Measures ~clarity~

“The second discipline is to apply disproportionate energy to the activities that drive your lead measures. This provides the leverage for achieving the lag measures.”

A lag measures tell you if you have achieved the goal but a lead measure tells you if you are likely to achieve the goal. We can’t influence lag measures but we can influence lead measures. After determining the WIG,

don’t keep your eye on the lag measure. Focus on the lead measure!

A lead measure foretells the result because it is PREDICTIVE and it is INFLUENCEABLE. A team can directly influence the lead measure

LAG MEASUREMeasures the goal

The formula from X to Y by when in a WIG provides the lag measure. Leaders fixate here.

LEAD MEASUREPredictive: Measures something that leads

to the goal.Influenceable: Something we can influence

The lead measure foretells the result. Teams fixate here.

THE LEVER AND THE BOULDER

The data on lead measures make the difference and helps teams to close the gap. Trying to manage lag measures without understanding the lead measures often yields poor results. Teams know what the lead measures are, but often don’t FOCUS on the lead measure because of the crazy whirlwind. Lead measures act like a lever moving a boulder.

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CHOOSING THE LEAD MEASURES

Who has achieved the goal like yours? What did they do differently? Select activities that will have the greatest impact on achieve the WIG. We can find lead measures by looking at the effect size of influencing factors on students. A large effect size strategy will influence and predict student outcomes (See Appendix for more information on Effect Size).

TRACKING LEAD MEASURE DATA

A team who is serious about their WIG will create a way to track their lead measures. No data = no leverage = loss of control of performance on the lead measures.

LEAD MEASURES AND ENGAGEMENT

When teams identify a lead measure, individual team members engage more thoroughly. A school administrator may be concerned about flat student growth indicators. An ineffective administrator might tell the faculty to “just do better”. An effective administrator would identify lead measures with high effect sizes (see Appendix) (such as formative assessment, Piagetian activities, or student-report grades) upon which the faculty could focus. The faculty disposition would move from frustrated to engaged.

TWO TYPES LEAD MEASURES

The secret to execution excellence is investing best efforts on a few activities that have the most impact on the WIGs. Two types of valid lead measures are:

1) Small outcomes are lead measures focused on achieving a weekly result, but give individual team members the latitude to choose his or her own method for achieving it.

2) Leveraged behaviors are lead measures that track the specific behaviors you want the team to perform throughout the week. They enable the entire team to adopt new behaviors at the same level of consistency and quality, and provide a clear measurement of how well they are performed.

Which type of lead measure is best for your team?

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PILOT ERRORS

In the 1930s pilot error was responsible for many fatal airplane crashes. This was a concern to their customers. Pilots got together and adopted a set of lead measures now known as a “preflight checklist”. The result was fewer crashes due to pilot error. Today, the greatest predictor of arriving safely is the preflight checklist. The preflight checklist is a lead measure of the wildly important goal of zero crashes due to pilot error. The checklist only takes a few moments but it has ENORMOUS impact. 100% compliance with the checklist is predictive of a safe landing and influenceable by the pilots.

STEPS TO DEVELOPING HIGH-LEVERAGE LEAD MEASURES

Step 1: Consider the Possibilities

Step 2: Rank by Impact

Step 3: Test Top Ideas… use the following ideas to evaluate your lead measure:

Is it predictive? Is it influenceable? Is it an ongoing process or a “once and done”? Is it a leader's action or a team action? Can it be measured? Is it worth measuring?

Step 4: Define the Lead Measures by asking these questions:

Are we tracking team or individual performance? Are we tracking the lead measure daily or weekly? What is the quantitative standard (How much, how often, how consistently are we

supposed to perform)? What is the qualitative standard (How well are we supposed to perform)? Does it start with a verb or action word? Is it simple (few words as possible)?

Notes:

A process-oriented lead measure is another way. Somewhere in every process there are leverage points or critical steps. The critical steps in the process become the lead measures. If the data show critical steps where performance falters, these steps become lead measures to which the team can apply concentrated energy.

A project milestone is another way to develop a lead measure. If the WIG is a project, the project milestone can be effective lead measures but must be evaluated carefully. A milestone that requires less than six weeks to complete is generally not significant enough to serve as a good lead measure.

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LEAD MEASURES MOVE THE LAG MEASURE

Discipline 2 results in a set of lead measures that will move the lag measure on the WIG. Teams become excited when clear, concise, and measurable lead measures have been identified. Consider the following example:

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TRY IT. Use the Lead Measure Builder tool to experiment with creating lead measures for your WIG:_____________________________________________________________________________

Lead Measure Builder Tool1. Insert the Wildly Important Goal and lag

measure in the top box.2. Brainstorm ideas for lead measures.3. Brainstorm methods for measuring those

ideas.

4. Rank in order of impact on the WIG.5. Test your ideas against the checklist.6. Write your final lead measures.

WIG (Move from x to y by ____ as measured by _____.):

Ideas for lead measures How to measure? Rank

Final Lead Measures:

Did you get it right? Check off each item to ensure your team Lead Measures will move the lag measure of the WIG:

__Have you gathered rich input on the lead measure format he team and others?__Are the lead measures predictive—this is, the most impactful things the team can do to drive achievement of the Team WIG?__Are the lead measures influenceable—that is, does the team clearly have the power to move the lead measure?

__Are the lead measures truly measurable? Can you track performance on the lead measures form day one?__Are the lead measures worth pursuing? Or will the data cost more to gather than it is worth? Will these measures lead to unintended consequences?__Does each lead measure start with a simple verb?__Is every measure quantified—including quality measures?

______________________________________________________________________________After Lead Measures have been identified, teams must go on to Discipline 3 to promote engagement and success.

Keep a Compelling Score Board ~engagement~

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“The third discipline is to make sure everyone knows the score at all times, so that they can tell whether or not they are winning.”

Accountability is a frequently recurring cycle of accounting for past performance and moving the score forward. This is where execution actually happens. The game has been set up – now get into the game.

Keeping score helps to achieve a WIG in the middle of a raging whirlwind. When changing the behavior of a large group of people, keeping score does the trick. People play differently when they are keeping score.

A coach’s scoreboard is not a players’ scoreboard.

The purpose of a players’ scoreboard is to motivate the players to win.

Step 1: Choose a Theme.

Step 2: Design the Scoreboard. Keep it simple, visible, include the lead and lag measures, and a glance should tell if you are winning.

Step 3: Build the Scoreboard.

Step 4: Keep It Updated. Who is responsible, when will it be posted, how often will it be updated?

Some examples…

CRICKET GOLF FOOTBALL BAR GRAPH REPORT CARD

ELECTION TREND LINE GALLUP POLL CREDIT SCORE OLYMPICS

SCOREBOARDS THAT WORKED FOR US

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Scoreboard Builder Tool

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Use the template to create a compelling score board. Test your ideas against the checklist on the facing page.

Team WIG Lag Measure

Lead Measure 1 Graph

Lead Measure 2 Graph

Scoreboard Checklist – Did you get it right?

Check off each item to ensure that the team scoreboard is compelling and will drive high performance:

__ Has the team been closely involved in creating the scoreboard?

__ Does the scoreboard track the Team WIG, lag measures, and lead measures?

__ Is there a full explanation of the WIG and measures along with the graphs?

__ Does every graph display both actual results and the target results (Where are we now? Where should we be?)?

__ Can we tell at a glance on every measure if we’re winning or losing?

__ Is the scoreboard posted in a highly visible location where the team can see it easily and often?

__ Is the scoreboard easy to update?

__ Is the scoreboard personalized – a unique expression of the team?

Keep a Cadence of Accountability ~personal commitment~

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“The fourth discipline is to create a cadence of accountability, a frequently recurring cycle of accounting for past performance and planning to move the score forward.”

Weekly WIG meeting.

Hold the WIG meeting at least weekly and lasting no longer than 20-30 minutes. Set an agenda and establish a weekly rhythm of accountability for driving progress toward the WIG. THIS DISCIPLINE LITERALLY MAKES THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESSFUL AND FAILED EXECUTION.

Non-negotiable rules:

1. Hold the WIG session on the same day at the same time every week…maybe more.

2. Never, never, never allow the whirlwind blast into the WIG session. No matter what!

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WIG Session Agenda Tool

Distribute the agenda electronically or on paper at the beginning of the WIG Session. After you hold the session, check it against the criteria on the next page.

WIG SESSION AGENDA

Where When

WIG(s)

Indi

vidu

al R

epor

ts

Team Member Commitment Status

Scoreboard Update

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Did you get it right?

Check off each item to ensure that the WIG session will drive high performance:

__ Are you holding WIG sessions as scheduled?

__ Are you keeping the sessions brief, brisk, and energetic (twenty to thirty minutes) ?

__ Is the leader the model for reporting and making commitments?

__ Do you review an updated scoreboard?

__ Do you analyze why you’re winning or losing on each measure?

__ Do you celebrate successes?

__ Do you hold each other unconditionally accountable for your commitments?

__ Does each team member make specific commitments for the coming week?

__ Do you clear the path for each other, finding ways to help team members who encounter obstacles to keeping their commitments?

__Do you keep the whirlwind out of the WIG session?

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Appendix

Effect Size

Definition: Effect size is a way of quantifying the effectiveness of a particular intervention in terms of moving the average. Generally, effect sizes are described as small, medium, and large.

Calculating Effect Sizes: There are many different ways in which to use effect sizes. The DSD Special Education Department focuses on student progress – not on comparisons between classes, teaching methods, or other variables.

For example, consider a class or group of students that has been administered a test relating to the curriculum in both February and June. The data from both assessments can be used to calculate an effect size. This effect size helps define the impact of teaching over this period.

The easiest way in which to calculate an effect size is to use Excel, using the following formula:

Average (post-test – Average (pre-test) Effect size = ________________________________

Spread (standard deviation, or sd)

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Consider this example using Excel:

A B C1234567891011121314

1516

StudentJohnPaulWayneBrandonNathanCaydenBritneyKelsieZachEmma

Average Spread (standarddeviation or sdAverage of spreadEffect size

February test40254530356065705055

48 = AVERAGE(B2:B11)15 = STDEV(B2:B11)

June test35305040457075807585

59 = AVERAGE(C2:C11)21 = STDEV(C2:C11)

18 = AVERAGE(B14:C14)0.6 = (C13-B13)/C15

The effect size was calculated as:

58-48

Effect size = ________ = 0.60 is this a small, medium or large effect size?

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(Hattie, 2011)

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Lead Action Resources

1. Visible Learning (2008) and Visible Learning for Teachers (2012) – John Hattie

Self-report grades

Response to Intervention

Providing formative evaluation

Classroom discussion

Teacher clarity

1.441.28

1.070.90.90.88

0.820.770.750.75

10 Most Influential Instructional StrategiesBased on Meta-Analysis

Effect Size

Inst

ructi

onal

Str

ateg

y

2. Explicit Instruction – Archera. Opportunities to Respondb. Praise Ratec. I Do, We Do, You Dod. Vocabulary instruction

3. Mathematical Teaching Practices (Nation Council of Teachers of Mathematics)a. Establish mathematics goals to focus learningb. Implement tasks that promote reasoning and problem solvingc. Use and connect mathematical representationsd. Facilitate meaningful mathematical discoursee. Pose purposeful questionsf. Build procedural fluency from conceptual understandingg. Support productive struggle in learning mathematicsh. Elicit and use evidence of student thinking

4. Other Instructional Practicesa. White Boardsb. Objective/relevance on boardc. Application to real lifed. Conceptual focus (not just procedural)

5. System Changesa. Co-teaching mathb. Double math time (regular class and resource math lab period)c. Not pulling students out of regular math to do resource mathd. Bringing math into other classes

6. See the Special Education 4DX webpage for more resources.

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