Bohanon, Hank M

English

Loyola eCommons

Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works Faculty Publications and Other Works by Department 9-10-2020 Is Waiting for My School Leader to Retire My Only Solution to Bring About Change? Hank M. Bohanon Loyola University Chicago, hbohano@luc.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/education_facpubs  Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Bohanon, Hank M.. Is Waiting for My School Leader to Retire My Only Solution to Bring About Change?. School Social Work Network, , : , 2020. Retrieved from Loyola eCommons, Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works, This Other is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications and Other Works by Department at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Education: School of Education Faculty Publications and Other Works by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact ecommons@luc.edu. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. © Hank Bohanon, 2020. IS WAITING FOR MYSCHOOL LEADER TO RETIREMY ONLY SOLUTION TOBRING ABOUT CHANGE?Posted by Hank Bohanon | Sep 10, 2020 |Interventions, Research That Matters | 0  |     SEARCH …SUBSCRIBETO OURNEWSLETTERTools,Research &Resources -Oh My!Join ourmailing list toreceive thelatest newsand updatesfrom ourteam. View Past IssuesYOUR EMAILSUBSCRIBEINTERVENTIONS  TOOLS FOR PRACTICE  RESEARCH THAT MATTERS PODCASTS    Author Login SSW Network SSW Tools App Newsletter     SEARCH by Hank BohanonOnce upon a time, I was working with a high schoolteam that was implementing school-wide positivebehavior support (PBS). One of the team memberswas in tears as they reviewed their action plan.When I asked the group what was wrong, theyshared that their administrator was not supportive ofthe PBS approach. She (the administrator) did notbelieve in the overall philosophy of taking a moreproactive, positive approach. She also was activelyfinding ways to prevent the committees’ efforts. Herresistance strategies included not providingfinancial resources or time for professionaldevelopment. The team was devastated!My advice to the team at the time was to focus onstarting with a small pilot of schoolwide PBS with aspecific grade level, summer school cohort, ordepartment. I hoped that by creating local evidencethat the approach might work could help theadministrator see the value of the plan (see thisstudy that illustrates this approach).RECENTPOSTS“in thisprogram Ifound acohort:”SMHAPPStudents TellTheirStory(Part 3)“MYFAVORITEPARTABOUTTHESMHAPP WASTHEDIRECTAPPLICABILITYOF ALLOF THECOURSECONTENT”–SMHAPPStudents TellTheirStory(Part 2)Privacy PolicyMy other recommendation was to wait for theprincipal to retire if my first recommendationdid not work…Thankfully, there has been moreresearch since that time on how to obtain buy-in from administrators to implement schoolwideefforts.Photographer: Ross Findon | Source: UnsplashKent McIntosh and his colleagues developed anexcellent study that included insights into how toobtain administrator’s support for schoolwideefforts. The following are three scenarios you mightface based on their study:ADMINISTRATOR DISAGREES WITH THEAPPROACHAs in the example I provided above, sometimesadministrators may have a misunderstanding of theintent of the schoolwide intervention. For example,an administrator might think that implementing PBSmeans that teachers should never correct students,or should just hand out cookies.ADMINISTRATOR SEES THE STAFF ASUNSUPPORTIVEIn other cases, the administration might know theimportance of a schoolwide initiative but isImplementingTheModelSchoolDistrictPolicyOnSuicidePrevention:Part IVLoyolaSMHAPPStudents TellTheirStory(Part 1):“wejoinedasstrangers andwe’releavingasfriends”It’s ThatTime ofYear…InterviewStrategies ForSchoolSocialWorkersconcerned that the staff is not supportive. In someinstances, staff resistance could be due tophilosophical differences, a lack of resources, or theway the intervention was initially introduced to thecommunity.ADMINISTRATOR DOES NOT PROVIDESTAFF WITH TIME TO SUPPORT THEINITIATIVEPerhaps the administrator loves the idea ofimplementing a schoolwide approach, like socialand emotional learning. However, staff andleadership team members may not be provided withtime to plan and execute the approach outside oftheir daily responsibilities. During my earlyresearch, I came across perhaps an 11th andunwritten commandment, “Thou will not add onemore thing to our plate.”The following infographic matches these concernswith some recommendations provided by Kent’sarticle.FREE TOOLFROM SSWNCATEGORIESAnnouncements(24)Interventions(121)- Tier 1 (26)- Tier 2 (25)- Tier 3 (28)Podcasts (26)Reflections onPractice (97)Research ThatMatters (103)Infographic by Choobe Maambo and Hank Bohanon, LoyolaUniversity of ChicagoResources WeLove (84)- Community(14)- Family (14)Tools forPractice (146)Top 5 (4)Uncategorized(16)FOLLOW USFACEBOOKYOUTUBETWITTERPINTERESTJOIN THESSWNCOMMUNITYThere is undoubtedly more to developingadministrative support for an initiative. My pointhere is that administrative support is a criticalsystem component. The strategies recommendedhere may be one way to build support for yourefforts.We recommend reading Kent’s article for moreinformation on this topic. Additionally, for moredetails on how administrative support works within asystemic, schoolwide intervention, check out ournew book Implementing Systematic Interventions: AGuide for Secondary School Teams from RoutledgePress.Photographer: James Lee | Source: UnsplashI would love to hear your thoughts about how youhave developed administrative support and securedbuy-in. Please leave a comment below about yourexperience or recommendations.Hank Bohanon is a Professor at the LoyolaUniversity of Chicago. He focuses his research onmulti-tiered systems of support and schoolimprovement in secondary school settings. Formore information see his website, or contact him byemail (hbohano@luc.edu)SHARE:   RATE:ABOUT THE AUTHORHank BohanonDr. Hank Bohanon has been a specialeducation teacher in the Dallas PublicSchools. He also has served a projectcoordinator at the University of Kansasfor the U.S. Department of Education,Office of Special Education Programsresearch on positive behaviorsupports. He is a professor in Schoolof Education at Loyola University ofChicago There he founded and served 3  1  0  0  0    Chicago. There he founded and servedas the director of the Center for SchoolEvaluation, Intervention, and Training(CSEIT). He is a former member of theboard of directors for the Association ofPositive Behavior Support. Hisresearch includes three-tieredacademic and behavior supports inurban and suburban settings. Hiscurrent work focuses on supports forhigh school settings related to positivebehavior support, response tointervention, social and emotionallearning, and school mental health.RELATED POSTSEvaluatingthe Zones ofRegulation:SSWN OpenAccess 2020October 15, 2020SSWResearchBrief: Whatcan studentperceptionsurveys tellus aboutteaching?December 13,2017MovingForwardwith SocialEmotionalLearning:One School’sContinuingJourneyJune 4, 2019TF-CBT forChildhoodTraumaticGrief WebCourse- 6Free Ceu’sApril 17, 2013ABOUT SCHOOL SOCIAL WORK NETSchool Social Work Net is a free online resource dedicated to supporting the practice of school socialworkers through the sharing of tools, resources and research.QUICK LINKSHomeAbout UsContactPrivacy PolicySISTER SITES & SERVICESSSWN NewsletterSSWN CommunitySSWN Tools AppPARTNER ORGANIZATIONSCommon Ground Education PodcastSchool Social Work Association of AmerciaLoyola University ChicagoDesigned by EnVue Studios

Is Waiting for My School Leader to Retire My Only Solution to Bring About Change?

https://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1195&context=education_facpubs

Is Waiting for My School Leader to Retire My Only Solution to Bring About Change?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Loyola eCommons