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CONTENTS

Volume 88 Number three Winter 2023

CHECKING IN Crafting education’s next chapter together Tatia Davenport

BOTTOM LINE Face ongoing change with confidence Tina Douglas

GUEST FEATURE How to overcome your fear of the unknown Nathan Furr and Susannah Harmon Furr

IN FOCUS MEMBER Katie Hylton

IN FOCUS ASSOCIATE MEMBER Alan Zavian

INTERVIEW Amy C. Edmondson, Ph.D. Professor, author shares how to transform our relationship with failure Julie Phillips Randles

COVER FEATURE AI comes to school Unpacking the promises and pitfalls of AI use in districts Jennifer Snelling

FEATURE The unfinished road to learning recovery Tips and next steps for addressing the ongoing academic lag Jennifer Fink

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California School Business casbo.org 5

ABOUT CASBO The California Association of School Business Officials is the premier resource for professional development in all aspects of school business. Founded in 1928, CASBO serves more than 25,000+ members by providing certifications and training, promoting business best practices, and creating opportunities for professional collaboration. CASBO members represent every facet of school business management and operations. The association offers public school leaders an entire career’s worth of growth opportunities.

CASBO MISSION As the recognized authority in California school business, CASBO is a member-driven association that promotes ethical values; develops exceptional leaders; advocates for, and supports the needs of, members; and sets the standard for excellence through top-quality professional development and mentorship, meaningful collaboration and communication, and unparalleled innovation.

CASBO BY DESIGN For the past 16 years, CASBO has been dedicated to the organizational planning discipline as a method for guiding the association into a successful future. Last year, the association completed its sixth such plan, CASBO by Design 2.0, a living, breathing document that guided the association in its long-term planning process, which is grassroots in nature, invigorating in procedure and motivating in outcome. Work on our next strategic plan began in 2021.

Publisher Tatia Davenport Features editor Julie Phillips Randles

CASBO OFFICERS President Tina Douglas San Dieguito Union High School District

Contributors Jennifer Fink Jerry Fingal Jennifer Snelling

President-elect Eric Dill Carlsbad Unified School District

Art director Sharon Adlis

Vice president Aaron Heinz Colusa County Office of Education

Ad production Tracy Brown Advertising sales manager Cici Trino Association Outsource Services, Inc. P.O. Box 39 Fair Oaks, CA 95628 (916) 961-9999

Immediate past president Diane Deshler Lafayette School District

CASBO has long been committed to organizational planning because the approach has consistently helped the association envision its future and determine the clear steps to get there. The road map that strategic planning provides has allowed CASBO to remain focused on its unique mission, goals and objectives and to respond effectively to a continually changing environment. For more information on CASBO by Design, visit casbo.org > CASBO + You > About > CASBO By Design. Stay connected at CASBO.org and on our social media.

California School Business (ISSN# 1935-0716) is published quarterly by the California Association of School Business Officials, 1001 K Street, 5th Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814, (916) 447-3783. Periodicals postage paid at Sacramento and at additional mailing office. Submit address changes online by logging into your account profile at casbo.org. Articles published in California School Business are edited for style, content and space prior to publication. Views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent CASBO policies or positions. Endorsement by CASBO of products and services advertised in California School Business is not implied or expressed. Copyright 2023 CASBO. All rights reserved. The contents of the publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the publisher. Published December 2023

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CHECKING IN

Crafting education’s next chapter together We’re at a transformative juncture in education, balancing technological innovation with social challenges such as learning recovery – all while under the constraints of tightening budgets and heightened politics. These aren’t just issues, they’re chapters in our evolving story. This complex environment necessitates more than tactical responses – it demands visionary leadership. Developing our skills and those of our team allows us to navigate with precision. It’s this blend of data-driven and emotionally intelligent decision-making that turns challenges into steppingstones. In this intricate landscape, our community of school business professionals becomes an irreplaceable asset. Sharing best practices, resources and experiences solidifies our resilience. It’s the human network that equips us to adapt. As you read this issue, you’ll encounter an enlightening perspective on failure. We must remember that failure isn’t a setback – it’s an educator. Understanding its constructive aspects, be they developmental, systemic or transformative, enhances our leadership and enriches our community dialogue. Our ultimate aim – excellent education – remains steadfast. By refining our leadership, strengthening community bonds and valuing intelligent failure, we position ourselves to tackle the pressures we’re facing now and those that arise in the future. So, as you delve into these articles, bear in mind that the solutions aren’t just external, but internal and communal. Together, we can craft the next chapter in education – one of resilience, innovation and collective achievement. z z z

Tatia Davenport CEO

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BOTTOM LINE

Face ongoing change with conﬁdence

The more we learn, the better prepared we are for future changes, and the more confident we feel when making decisions.

The one thing that’s certain in school business is change. Think about all the changes that have taken place in school business over the last three years, and the changes we know are coming in the near future. We’ve experienced new plan requirements for new pots of money, ChatGPT emerged and EV buses launched. We’ve lived through supply chain shortages, classified staffing turnover, high staff vacancy rates, universal meals and more. These changes don’t always come with a nice set of instructions. We read the new guidelines and try to implement them as best we can based on the information we have. Sometimes that works better than others because, in many cases, we have to learn by trial and error. Since the rules are new, we don’t always have best practices to follow, especially if our local education agency (LEA) is an early implementer. In some cases, we can reach out to our district neighbors and talk through some ideas together. What I’ve learned is that we never have to go it alone. While each LEA has some of its own rules and its own culture, we all go through the same types of changes – which means we shouldn’t hesitate to reach out for help. Call nearby districts or reach out to a district of similar size. I guarantee that the person you

call will be willing to share information because, one day, they may need to call you. And two heads are better than one! We should also try to learn as much as possible in our ever-changing environment. The more we learn, the better prepared we are for future changes, and the more confident we feel when making decisions. That learning can come from networking, conferences, meetings, reading and, of course, CASBO professional learning opportunities. So, start filling your toolbox with critical training and reliable resources that will be ready and waiting when you need them. We o w e i t t o o u r s e l v e s , o u r organizations and our students to be prepared to adapt to whatever comes our way. Thankfully, CASBO is at the ready with dozens of opportunities to help us learn, grow and succeed! z z z

Tina Douglas President

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How to overcome your fear of the unknown By Nathan Furr and Susannah Harmon Furr

For many of us, uncertainty can be nerve-racking. That reaction, however, obscures a crucial fact: Uncertainty and possibility are two sides of the same coin. Chances are, your biggest achievements and transformational moments all came after a period of uncertainty – one that probably felt stressful but that you pushed

through to accomplish something great. Uncertainty doesn’t have to be paralyzing. After studying innovators and changemakers who handle it well and reviewing research on resilience and tolerance for ambiguity, the authors have found that the following four principles can help: (1) Reframe your situation by focusing on the

potential upside. (2) Prime yourself by taking small risks and reducing uncertainty in other areas of your life. (3) Take a series of modest actions instead of making bet-the-farm moves. And (4) sustain yourself by recasting setbacks and focusing on things that have true meaning for you.

Humans are wired to fear the unknown. That’s why uncertainty – whether at the macro level of a global economic, health or geopolitical crisis or at the micro level (Will I get that job? Will this venture be successful? Am I on the right career path?) – can feel nerve-racking, exhausting and even debilitating. However, that

12 California School Business Winter 2023

gut reaction leads people to miss a crucial fact: Uncertainty and possibility are two sides of the same coin. Consider the achievements you’re most proud of, the moments that transformed your life, the relationships that make your life worth living. We’ll bet that they all happened after a period of un-

certainty – one that probably felt stressful but that you nevertheless pushed through to accomplish something great. When we moved abroad, for example, we faced uncertainty about making less money, paying higher taxes, doing morechallenging work and introducing our children to new schools, a new language

GUEST FEATURE

and a new culture. But seven years later, we are so grateful for all the possibilities the move opened up. Our modern-day heroes all have a similar story. Rosa Parks faced great uncertainty when she refused to give up her seat, igniting the Montgomery bus boycott and paving the way for desegregation. Nearly everyone initially thought that Elon Musk and his team would fail when they set out to revolutionize electric vehicles and push the world toward a more environmentally friendly future. They couldn’t have achieved their breakthroughs if they had been afraid of uncertainty. Uncertainty doesn’t have to paralyze any of us. Over the past decade, we have studied innovators and changemakers who’ve learned to navigate it well, and we’ve reviewed the research on topics like resilience and tolerance for ambiguity. The findings are clear: We all can become adept at managing uncertainty and empower ourselves to step confidently into the unknown and seize the opportunity it presents. Applying the following four principles will help you do that.

1. Reframe your situation Most people are loss averse. Multiple studies demonstrate that the way you frame things affects how you make decisions. The research shows, for instance, that if one treatment for a new disease is described as 95% effective and another as 5% ineffective, people prefer the former even though the two are statistically identical. Every innovation, every change, every transformation – personal or professional – comes with potential upsides and downsides. And though most of us instinctively focus on the latter, it’s possible to shift that mindset and decrease our fear. One of our favorite ways of doing this is the “infinite game” approach,

developed by New York University professor James Carse. His advice is to stop seeing the rules, boundaries and purpose of the “game” you’re playing – the job you’re after, the project you’ve been assigned, the career path you’re on – as fixed. That puts you in a win-or-lose mentality in which uncertainty heightens your anxiety. In contrast, infinite players recognize uncertainty as an essential part of the game – one that adds an element of surprise and possibility, and enables them to challenge their roles and the game’s parameters. Yvon Chouinard, the co-founder of Patagonia, is an infinite player. As a kid, he struggled to fit in, running away from one school, almost failing out of a second, and becoming a “dirtbag” climber after he graduated. But rather than seeing himself as a failure, he recounts in his book Let My People Go Surfing, he “learned at an early age that it’s better to invent your own game; then you can always be a winner.” Chouinard not only created one of the world’s most successful outdoor apparel brands but also changed production norms by adopting more-sustainable materials, altered the retail model by refitting old buildings for new shops, and challenged traditional HR policies by introducing practices like on-site childcare. Some of those innovations created uncertainty for the business. For example, Patagonia adopted organic cotton before it became popular, when it was expensive and hard to source. When a financial downturn hit, outsiders encouraged the company to buy cheaper materials. But using organic cotton was in keeping with its values, so Patagonia persisted, despite the cost and the supply risks, and in the end grew its sales, while its competitors saw their sales fall. Chouinard has learned to face uncertainty with courage – and in fact

to be energized by it – because he views his role as improving the game, not just playing it. “Managers of a business that want to be around for the next 100 years had better love change,” he advises in his book. “When there [is] no crisis, the wise leader … will invent one.” Of course, when uncertainty is forced upon us, we often need help reframing. Consider Amy and Michael, a professional couple with four children who moved from the United States to France in 2017 for Michael’s job. When the pandemic started, his position was eliminated, and then companies that initially promised him job offers started stalling. In July 2020, Amy and Michael were scheduled to fly home to the United States, but three days before they left they still didn’t have jobs or even a place to live. Family and friends were asking for updates, and their teenagers harangued them: “You are the worst parents ever! How can you have no clue where we’re going next?” Two days before their flight, Amy confided to us over lunch that Michael had been offered a job, but neither of them wanted him to accept it. “Should we just take the bird in hand?” she wondered aloud. “I feel like we are such losers.” We encouraged her to reframe. She and Michael were showing resilience and bravery by exploring all possible next steps and holding out for the right one. How lucky their kids were to have parents bold enough to know what they really wanted and wait for it! The couple returned to the states with curiosity and courage and, by summer’s end, had both found jobs they loved as well as a fixerupper home in a fun location.

2. Prime yourself for new risks Although innovators often talk about eating uncertainty for breakfast, if you dig deeper, you discover some curious

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How to overcome your fear of the unknown habits. When Paul Smith – a designer known for daring color combinations – travels, he always stays in the same hotel, often in the same room. Others we’ve studied book the same airplane seat for every flight, follow the same morning routine or wear the same clothes. Steve Jobs had a lifetime supply of black turtlenecks. All those habits provide balance. By reducing uncertainty in one part of your life, they prime you to tolerate more of it in other parts. Some people ground themselves with steady, long-term relationships, for instance. As the serial entrepreneur Sam Yagan, one of Time’s 100 most influential people and the former CEO of Match.com explains, “My best friends are from junior high and high school. I married my high school sweetheart. Given how much ambiguity I traffic in at work, I do look for less in other areas of my life.” You can also prime yourself for uncertainty by getting to know the kinds of risk you have a natural aversion to or an affinity with. Case in point: Back when Nathan was pursuing a Ph.D. in Silicon Valley and Susannah had started a clothing line that wasn’t yet making money, we had four children to support and were still living off student loans in a few hundred square feet of on-campus housing. At lunch one day, Nathan told his mentor, Tina Seelig, “Let’s face it, if I really had any courage, I would become an entrepreneur, but I’m just not a risktaker.” Tina disagreed. She explained that there are many types of risks: financial, intellectual, social, emotional, physical and so on. In Nathan’s situation, avoiding financial risk by pursuing a stable career as an academic – while still taking intellectual risks – was a prudent choice. The important lesson is that knowing which risks you tolerate well can help you see where to push more boldly into the frontier, while knowing which you don’t

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will help you prepare, so that you can approach them with more confidence. Just as important, you can increase your risk tolerance by taking smaller risks, even in unrelated fields. Consider Piet Coelewij, a former senior executive at Amazon and Philips. When he was thinking of leaving the corporate track to head the expansion of Sonos – then a start-up – in Europe, he decided to take up kickboxing. Coelewij describes himself as “naturally fearful of physical confrontation,” but trying kickboxing helped him build up his muscles for dealing with uncertainty, which made him “more comfortable with higher risk decisions in other settings with less complete information,” he says. “Once you are in a cycle of lowering fear and developing courage, you create a virtuous circle that allows you to continuously improve.”

3. Do something Taking action is one of the most important parts of facing uncertainty, since you learn with each step you take. Research by Timothy Ott and Kathleen Eisenhardt demonstrates that most successful breakthroughs are produced by a series of small steps, not giant bet-the-farm efforts. Starting modestly can be more effective and less anxiety-provoking than trying to do everything at once. When Jenn Hyman and Jenny Fleiss, the founders of Rent the Runway, first had the idea of renting out designer dresses online, they were students at Harvard Business School. But they didn’t begin by writing a business plan, raising money and then getting big as fast as possible. Instead, they made one small move: They rustled up some dresses, set up a dressing room on Harvard’s campus before a big dance and observed firsthand whether women would rent them. Then, one experiment after another, one step

at a time, they built a large, successful public company. Sometimes you need to quickly ramp up your learning to blow away the fog that obscures the view of what to do next. Entrepreneurs face that challenge all the time. Research on the most-effective start-up accelerators demonstrates that the best way to help founders meet it is to make them talk with as many people, from as many different backgrounds, as quickly as possible (instead of keeping their ideas to themselves for fear that someone might steal them). Leading accelerators often force entrepreneurs to meet more than 200 people, some from seemingly unrelated backgrounds, in just one month. It’s not unusual for invaluable input to come from unexpected corners. The founder of one new platform dedicated to helping charities, including religious organizations, initially balked at the feedback session his accelerator had arranged with the vice president of marketing at Playboy. To his shock, the VP not only was a churchgoer but also gave him some of the most helpful advice he had received so far. Finally, as you make your way forward, focus on values rather than on goals. David Heinemeier Hansson, the creator of Ruby on Rails and the cofounder of multiple start-ups, including Basecamp and Hey.com, views goals as “oppressive” and argues that setting them doesn’t even work. “Whether you meet $10 million or not does not happen because you set that as a goal,” he explains. If you instead aim to fulfill your values (which for him include coding great software, treating employees well and acting ethically in the market), you’ll have the confidence to make the moves you need to, no matter how the world responds, because you’ve redefined what success means to you. Even if a big project fails, he says, “I will still look back on

the path – the two years and millions of dollars we spent developing this thing – and feel great about it.” He took that approach when Apple began imposing exorbitant app store fees on his most recent project, Hey.com, threatening to shut the new email service down just after it launched. He admits that even he felt anxiety about the uncertainty, just as anyone else would. But his focus on values, rather than goals – in particular, on fairness in the tech industry – “gave us freedom to go all in” fighting back, he says. His situation became a rallying point for entrepreneurs, and the free press that resulted became “the greatest launch campaign we could have imagined.”

4. Sustain yourself According to Ben Feringa, who won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for work on molecular machines that could one day power nanobots that repair the pipes in your house or keep diseases out of your blood, scientific discovery happens only after facing uncertainty. That means, he says, you have to “get resilient at handling the frustration that comes with it.” His approach includes both emotional hygiene (attending to emotions – much as you would a physical wound – so that they don’t turn into paralyzing self-doubt or unproductive rumination) and reality checks (in which you recognize that failure is just part of the process). Feringa admits that failing hurts and that he allows himself to feel frustrated, even for a few days. But then he stops and asks, What insights can I take away from this? What’s the next step I can work on? Whether he realizes it or not, he’s adopting one of many lenses that can help people recast setbacks, such as the learning lens (what you can learn from them), the gratitude lens (what you still have, not what you lost), the timing lens

(it’s just not the right time now, but that doesn’t mean it won’t ever be), and our favorite: the challenge lens (you become the hero only by facing obstacles). Another practice that the scientists, creators and entrepreneurs we’ve studied use to sustain themselves is to focus on the people and things that have meaning for them. You can get through anything – not just the fear of potential losses but the pain of real ones – by holding tight to what really matters. Take Jos and Alison Skeates, a British couple who launched a small chain of jewelry shops featuring new designers. They’d opened locations in three London neighborhoods – Clerkenwell, Notting Hill, and Chiswick – all while raising their two young girls. Then a series of disasters struck. First, construction around the Notting Hill store killed foot traffic. Then the financial crisis of 2008 crushed sales and, much worse, Alison was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. They had to close two shops and declare bankruptcy. But they navigated those tragedies by remembering that their love and their family were more important than the business. Slowly, Alison’s health improved and the cancer went into remission. Eventually, they relaunched the Clerkenwell shop, repaid all their former creditors and even won an award for being the UK jewelry boutique of the year. They also discovered a new, more meaningful pursuit: becoming one of the UK’s first certified B-corp jewelry workshops, leading the way in sustainable practices. Ultimately, their switch to sustainable jewelry strengthened them and their business. Recently, Jos went back to school to earn a master’s degree in sustainability. More than 30 years out of school, he seriously doubted whether he could meet the rigorous reading and writing demands of the program while still running the store. The upside to

this uncertainty? “What I have learned has been so interesting and inspiring, and our sales have increased,” he says. Although he and Alison didn’t build the chic jewelry empire they had imagined, their lives are happier and richer on this side of many challenges. Resilience – being able to take a blow and stay standing – is important. But we argue for something more: learning to transform uncertainty into opportunity. The only way for any of us to tap into new possibilities is through the gateway of the unknown. And it doesn’t have to be a painful process if you believe in your ability to navigate it. Our hope is that you can use our advice to transform your relationship with change and inspire others to do the same. z z z Editor’s note: Nathan Furr and Susannah Harmon Furr are the authors of The Upside of Uncertainty (Harvard Business Review Press, 2022), from which this article is adapted. A version of this article appeared in the

July-August 2022 issue of Harvard Business Review. Reprinted with permission.

California School Business casbo.org 15

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IN FOCUS

Katie Hylton

She keeps coming back, and giving back, to CASBO By Jerry Fingal

Photography by Hope Harris

KATIE HYLTON GRADUATED from the

University of California, Davis, with a degree in animal science. Now, she’s the director of business support services for the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, directing a staff of 53 people serving schools scattered over the country’s largest geographic county. How she went from caring for animals to running a county office of education’s school business operation … therein lies a tale. And it’s a tale in which CASBO plays a major role. Hylton’s story starts in Barstow where she moved after graduating from UC Davis because her first husband was starting a new business in his hometown. With no large animal hospital nearby, there were few opportunities to put her animal science degree to work, so Hylton approached the school district and took a position as a substitute for clerical staff. That led to a position in the district’s purchasing department where she stayed for eight years, leaving as the lead warehouse person. She then took a job as a purchasing agent in the nearby Silver Valley Unified School District. While at Silver Valley, she attended her first CASBO conference.

Since she was working in a small district and didn’t have a lot of experience, CASBO’s annual conference, workshops and webinars were invaluable to her. “You're building knowledge in areas where you might only know a little bit, and you need to grow your knowledge base because you're the only person in your district who works with that particular piece of school business,” she said. “You're hearing from subject matter experts who are telling you, ‘Here are the current topics, here are the current best practices.’” CASBO, she says, has given her “immeasurable opportunities” that have provided her with the knowledge and skills she needed to grow her career. Hylton’s involvement in CASBO has also allowed her to build a professional network. “I just kept going back for more as people kept asking me to volunteer to participate,” she said. “It wasn’t something I sought out, but I felt if a colleague was asking me to step up, they had a confidence in me that I didn’t particularly have in myself at the time.” She now serves as the state director representing CASBO’s Eastern Section. “You get information and education from CASBO, and then there are the friendships

and the network that you build, so that when you do have a question, you can reach out to someone who has experienced it before.” That proved especially valuable in 2012 when heavy rains flooded classrooms in Yermo and Fort Irwin. She reached out to a fellow CASBO member and asked: “Can you help me find someone I can call for remediation to dry out these classrooms?” She got her answers immediately. “And that was a Sunday afternoon. You can't buy that.” Hylton spent 18 years at Silver Valley where she became the director of maintenance, operations and facilities. She left for her current job in San Bernardino, a position for which, yes, CASBO played a role. A longtime CASBO colleague had seen her work ethic firsthand as they worked together on CASBO’s Executive Committee for their region. Six years ago, she asked him about more information on “that job opening over at the county” – and they’ve been working together ever since. “I have been fortunate to work in organizations where they invested in my professional growth and development, and CASBO has been with me every step of the way,” she said. z z z

California School Business casbo.org 17

Service is at the heart of who we are It’s our highest aspiration Over 470 California public school districts have joined together to make SISC what it is today. We have a 44 year history of providing our members with coverage for workers’ compensation, property and liability and health benefits. Districts join SISC for our consistently low rates, but they will tell you our service is the reason they stay for decades. We’d love to serve you, too.

Interested in membership? Let’s talk. Call us at (800) 972-1727 or visit www.sisc.kern.org. A Joint Powers Authority administered by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office, John G Mendiburu, Superintendent

18 California School Business Winter 2023

IN FOCUS

Alan Zavian

He’s bringing automation to the procurement process for districts nationwide By Jerry Fingal

Photography by Allen Zaki

ALAN ZAVIAN IS PROUD of the clients

he has assembled in the 23 years since he co-founded PlanetBids with his wife, Arpie. They include the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the California State Universities, the Getty Museum and cities and school districts up and down the state of California and beyond. He’s also proud that his company has retained 98% of its customers. They’re noteworthy accomplishments for a service that didn’t even exist 25 years ago. PlanetBids automates the procurement process for public and private entities large and small. It offers software that manages bids, contracts, insurance certificates, prequalifications and emergency operations. It has taken a paper- and labor-intensive process and moved it to the web, which has streamlined the process and made it more transparent and accessible. The company started as a melding of the Zavians’ professional lives: She was an office manager for an environmental company and managed its bidding process with state and local governments. He had a company that did computer maintenance and circuitry repairs for the aerospace industry. That

familiarized him with the federal bidding process, which was “long, tedious and very inefficient,” he said. They could see it was an area ripe for the benefits of the digital age. When they started, they had the field pretty much to themselves. “We were the creators of this technology,” he said. But the world did not beat a path to their door. There was reluctance to overhaul the way something had been done forever. “It was an educational process with this new technology,” he said. “There was a lot of skepticism.” That meant taking their show on the road. They’d sometimes meet with four public agencies a day. Over the years, PlanetBids added more and more clients. By 2016, the technology reached a tipping point and has since gained momentum. “We don't have to educate like in the early 2000s,” he said. “Now, there’s an understanding that it needs to be done.” Still, Zavian estimates that less than 30% of school districts have gone to automated bid systems. “The K-12 industry was not in the forefront of looking to automate,” he said. “We

took it slowly and patiently, and now we are actively promoting our solutions to K-12 very successfully. From the smallest unified school districts to the larger ones, they are using our system with great success. It’s a lot of cost savings and time savings for them. It's a proven system.” A CASBO Premier Partner, PlanetBids is gaining traction with California school districts. Its presentation at last year’s CASBO conference was a big success, with over 100 people attending, Zavian said. As technology evolves, so does PlanetBids. “Innovation is always part of our formula,” he said. “We are leaders in innovating many aspects of technology and we're reinvesting into producing new technologies and new solutions.” z z z

California School Business casbo.org 19

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22 California School Business Winter 2023

INTERVIEW

Amy C. Edmondson, Ph.D. Professor, author shares how to transform our relationship with failure

Photography by Caity Begg

By Julie Phillips Randles

“We’re often torn between two failure cultures,” says Amy C. Edmondson, Ph.D., the Novartis Professor of Leadership and Management at Harvard Business School. “One says failure is not an option and must be avoided at all costs. Another advises us to fail fast and break things. Neither is particularly helpful!” Edmondson knows what she’s talking about, as she is an expert at … well, failure. She holds a doctoral degree in organizational behavior, a master’s in psychology and a bachelor’s degree in engineering and design, all from Harvard University. Before joining her alma mater in the teaching ranks, she was director of research at Pecos River Learning Centers, where she worked on transformational

change in large companies. And prior to that, she was the chief engineer for architect/inventor Buckminster Fuller. The accolades don’t stop there. She has authored seven books, most recently Right Kind of Wrong: The Science of Failing Well, released in September. In these pages, she dives into the three types of failure (intelligent, basic, complex), shares why intelligent failures are good and necessary for progress, yet easily avoided, and dissects the three reasons most of us fail at failure. Aversion, confusion and fear is the answer to that pop quiz. “With so many critical and complex issues facing us personally, in business and in the world at large, we must learn to frame failure differently: as a source of

information, as a part of our personal development and as an experience shared by everyone,” she says. Edmondson’s take on tanking gets a thumbs-up from noted consultants and authors Daniel H. Pink, Adam Grant and Tom Peters, among others. And she’s racking up professional honors as well, including being No. 1 on the latest Thinkers50 ranking of the world’s most influential management thinkers, winner of Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award as a pioneer of psychological safety, and winner of the 2019 Distinguished Scholar Award from the Organization Development and Change Division of the Academy of Management. But her biggest task may be defining exactly what all this means. Psychological

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Amy C. Edmondson, Ph.D.

safety, she maintains, is often confused with a “safe space.” She suggests skipping the idea of cotton wool-wrapped employees, protected from conflict, consequences or accountability, and instead creating an atmosphere of healthy give and take where there’s no need to tiptoe. We sat down with her to talk about how education leaders can embrace the right kinds of failures to move their districts forward.

Understanding the three reasons we hate to fail is the first step toward failing successfully. Those reasons are aversion, confusion and fear.

One of your areas of expertise is organizational learning. After several challenging years and fallout from the global pandemic, how can school leaders begin to re-energize teams that may be feeling burned out or enormously stressed? It starts with taking time to reconnect with your own sense of purpose for doing the job, the role that you are currently doing, and considering why it matters to you and why what you are doing or leading matters to the world. The next step is to share your thoughts with others. Share them often and then invite others into the conversation to help navigate the stormy waters that might lie ahead. It should start with you, and then it should be an honest sharing of why you care, why it’s challenging, why you very much need and are interdependent with others. Because all of us want to be needed. We want to matter.

Despite all the talk in business about failing forward or failing fast and failing often, why do we as humans all hate to fail? Humans are wired for self-protection, and this makes us want to avoid confronting failure at all costs. Most of us feel ashamed of our failures, and we’re more likely to hide them than

24 California School Business Winter 2023

to learn from them. But when mistakes happen in an organization, learning and improvement can follow. Moreover, if you’re not failing, you’re not journeying into new territory. Understanding the three reasons we hate to fail is the first step toward failing successfully. Those reasons are aversion, confusion and fear. I define aversion as an instinctive emotional response to failure. Even when we understand that failure is an unavoidable part of life – and even an opportunity to progress – our emotions sometimes don’t match this rational understanding. But, ironically, our human aversion to failure can actually make failing more likely. Our anxiety makes us more error prone, which can lead to preventable failures. Also, when we don’t admit to small failures, they can turn into bigger ones. Confusion comes into the picture when we don’t have a healthy relationship with failure. For example, maybe you were turned down for a job you applied for, and a friend helped you reframe the situation and think about the experience differently. Reframing is a learnable skill that we can use to overcome our tendency for aversion. Fear comes from the social stigma around failure. It’s good to have rational fears, say about being in a car accident on a dangerous freeway, but fear can be counterproductive when it stops us from taking small risks or trying new things. So, we need to work on overcoming our irrational fears and let ourselves experience the types of failures that move us forward.

Your latest book is about how we can transform our relationship with failure. Can you share how you define failure, and how failure differs from making a mistake? Failure is never preferred. It’s something that turned out in a way you didn’t want it to; it’s not what you hoped would

happen. This might mean failing an exam, launching a new product that wasn’t successful or putting forth a hypothesis that isn’t supported in a lab. We humans don’t like failure, and oddly, the size of the failure doesn’t always matter. Large or small, we have a negative reaction to failure. A mistake is different than a failure. A failure is something that went wrong, that we wish were otherwise. But a mistake is a deviation from a known practice. Mistakes occur due to inattention, lack of training, burnout or a host of other reasons. But leaders must talk about the reality that we will make mistakes – to err is human, after all! The best practice

is not to never make a mistake. It’s to catch and correct them quickly, and then to make the distinction between smart experiments in new territory that we want more of because they lead to future value creation – and the careless mistakes that are not helpful. But we need to learn from all kinds of failures, smart and not.

Through your research, you’ve identified three types of failure. Can you share those and briefly describe each one?

We need to learn from all kinds of failures, smart and not.

The three kinds of failure I’ve identified are basic, complex and intelligent. Basic failures have a single cause. They are failures that happen in situations where we know how to do

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Amy C. Edmondson, Ph.D.

Overall, a failure becomes an intelligent one when it’s the result of a thoughtful experiment – not part of a haphazard one.

26 California School Business Winter 2023

something correctly, but for some reason, it doesn’t happen that way. These failures give us the chance to practice feeling OK about the fact that mistakes happen. Beating ourselves up about basic failures is unhelpful and unhealthy, even though these failures rarely lead to big moments of discovery. Complex failures are failures with multiple causes, multiple contributing factors, which on their own would not have led to failure. It was the way they combined that caused the problem. They are what we might call “perfect storms;” they happen because multiple factors lined up in just the wrong way. Complex failures offer us multiple opportunities to notice deviations and prevent the failure outcome. For complex failures, if you catch any one of the contributing factors, that often means the failure would have been avoided. So, they’re complex, which is challenging, but they also give us many chances to prevent them before it’s too late. Intelligent failures are the only good failures. Intelligent failures have four key attributes: they take place in new territory; the context provides a real chance to advance toward a goal; they’re informed by prior knowledge; and the failure is as small as possible, while still providing critical insights. A bonus of intelligent failure is that the failure’s lessons are taken to heart and can then be used to guide next steps. An intelligent failure has a beginning and an end. An intelligent failure strategy, often used by inventors and scientists, strings multiple intelligent failures together to create progress toward a goal. Overall, a failure becomes an intelligent one when it’s the result of a thoughtful experiment – not part of a haphazard one.

It seems like complex failures come with opportunities to derail the failure along the way. How can we attempt to avoid complex failures? One of the most important strategies for avoiding complex failures is emphasizing a cultural preference for speaking up openly and quickly. In other words, make it psychologically safe in your organization to be honest about a small problem before it snowballs into a large failure. Too many of the large organizational failures I’ve studied could have been prevented if people had felt able to speak up about their concerns earlier.

When a team does inevitably fail, how should leaders address that failure, letting people know that it’s OK, that the failure was a good one? It has to start with honesty. That might sound like, “Wow, this was disappointing for all of us, but let’s get everything we can out of this failure. Let’s learn as much as possible.” Given that when something substantial goes wrong there’s almost always many reasons for it, it’s helpful to have a thoughtful, data-driven conversation about what happened. Instead of asking, “Who did it?” we should ask, “What happened?” You can also ask your team, “What did you see?” And you should be really digging into what happened, what contributed, and the ways you may have contributed or the things you didn’t do that may have added to the failure. It’s about having a thoughtful, learning-oriented conversation that will help everyone do better next time.

Can you describe the “fail well” mindset that you recommend we all embrace? Humility and honesty are the essential ingredients of the fail-well mindset. That might look like sharing our failures with

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Amy C. Edmondson, Ph.D.

others to minimize shame, encouraging truth-telling in everything we do, and giving others a chance to learn from our mistakes by sharing them openly and honestly. Although it can feel scary, this approach not only normalizes failure, it’s deeply bonding. After all, we all appreciate, and connect more fully with, people who are honest and vulnerable compared to those who present themselves as perfect.

I think the ultimate prize is to fail enough to know more than when you started, and thus be less likely to fail in the future.

You’ve written about reframing failure to help us learn from it, instead of fear it. What does that look like? When we reframe our failures as unavoidable – and meaningful – life experiences, we can begin to reduce our fear of failing. You can start this process by asking yourself questions like: What did I set out to do? What actually happened? – rather than focusing on how you “screwed up.” The goal is to review the facts of the situation to learn, and also to determine if it’s possible to make amends or a course correction. Exploring these questions, or even just journaling about them, can prevent you from blowing a failure out of proportion. Then, rather than feeling shame after experiencing a setback, you can focus on what you can do to move on or pivot. A failure has an end point, but a pivot looks forward. It becomes about possibility.

How is failing the secret ingredient to success? Small mistakes make an incremental contribution to increasing our knowledge and experience, and can help us get closer to reaching our goals. The opposite is also true. Fear is the enemy of learning. I think the ultimate prize is to fail enough to know more than when you started, and thus be less likely to fail in

28 California School Business Winter 2023

the future. That’s why it’s important to set up organizations with failureproofing, ongoing training and safety scaffolding that help us do our best to avoid, catch and correct human errors before they cause failures. The best organizations create systems and rewards that override our natural tendency to not allow for failure. What matters most is self-compassion and the willingness to be open to learning something new. By embracing failure as a necessary step in growth, we all increase our chances of success. z z z Julie Phillips Randles is a freelance writer based in California.

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Fortunately, ODP Business Solutions already had a solid relationship with the school district, and the teams agreed that keeping the current timeline and working with a new supplier was the best option. Leveraging its industry experience and connections with other OEMs, ODP Business Solutions quickly found another supplier that had the technology available and could meet the timeline. Once the Chromebooks were delivered, ODP Business Solutions connected with a local Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) to provision each device and rewire 401 carts at the district’s schools to enable charging and safekeeping. The project was bigger than the delivery of Chromebooks: Its success meant that students and teachers could return to school with the technology they expected.

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32 California School Business Winter 2023

COVER FEATURE

AI COMES TO SCHOOL Unpacking the promises and pitfalls of AI use in districts

By Jennifer Snelling Imagine hosting an important school board meeting where the parents and supporters who are participating speak Mandarin, Spanish, Farsi and Somali. And yet, rather than a meeting rife with language barriers, board members and the superintendent are able to speak to each and every parent in their native languages. How is that possible? Artificial Intelligence (AI). In addition to generating the translations, AI can help shape the mouth of the speaker so that it matches the words being said. In another innovative use of AI, the Los Angeles Unified School District introduced “Ed,” an AI chatbot that will be the district’s student adviser, informing parents about their child’s grades, test results and attendance.

For school leaders, AI has the ability to plan the most efficient bus routes in real time, predict where extra staffing needs to be added on any given day and, of course, write that time-sucking report on your to-do list. This isn’t some distant Utopian future; it’s happening right now in districts nationwide. Since ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022, the technology has become widely and easily accessible. But you may be wondering how ChatGPT and other AI technologies apply to school business, and how to best leverage their potential. It starts with learning how to use these technologies safely. Next, school leaders must understand the potential risks to privacy and security, as well as the numerous potential benefits.

California School Business casbo.org 33

AI COMES TO SCHOOL

Get out of your office and meet staff and stakeholders on their turf.

34 California School Business Winter 2023

Kevin Haugh is a chief product officer for Frontline Education, which provides software for school administration. Frontline Education is currently piloting the use of AI in its software products. “The way I look at AI is that it’s an enabler,” says Haugh. “It’s simply a technology to allow you to do things faster and better.”

What is AI exactly? Whether we know it or not, we’ve all been using AI in our personal lives for several years. Think about the recommendations based on your previous

choices on Netflix or Amazon; or the chatbot that helps you on just about any website. Traditional, or computational, AI has been around for some time and is becoming more widely available. These models are specific, meaning they can perform just one task, such as analyzing data to make predictions. Haugh says this type of AI can be used, for example, to predict whether districts might need to surge extra staffing to a particular school. As the name suggests, generative AI generates new content. Generative AI, like Open AI’s ChatGPT, is powered by foundation models – networks trained

on vast quantities of unstructured data in a variety of formats. For this reason, it can “create” content. Generative AI is being embedded into software by vendors for everyday tools, such as email or word-processing software. It has the potential to classify, edit, summarize, answer questions and draft new content. The content created by generative AI is highly dependent upon the quality of information available to it. This means generative AI still needs human supervision. Thomas Tan is executive director of technology services for Huntington Beach City School District. He has begun using AI to generate reports or grant requests. Tan is careful about what information he puts in, and he fact-checks the output. It’s definitely the wild west phase with AI,” he says. “In that way, it is like when the internet and Google first showed up.”

Conduct an AI survey As AI becomes more widely used, it’s time to survey where it’s already showing up. Tan recommends getting a complete picture of who is using AI in your district, how they are using it and what the effects are. This may be fairly simple to do with district staff who are directly using ChatGPT, but it’s a little more difficult with outside vendors. Most software companies embed AI created by someone else into their software. Haugh suggests asking how the company ensures that the information will be handled appropriately. Develop trust with vendors to make sure they have the same priorities and values as the district. To find out how vendors are leveraging AI in their products, CASBO

Chief Executive Officer Tatia Davenport suggests meeting with them to discuss the following:

1. FUNCTIONALITY INSIGHTS What specific tasks or processes does your AI tool automate within an educational setting? This question sets the foundation for understanding the tool’s primary functions and potential impact.

2. SKILL REQUIREMENTS What specific skills are needed from our staff to effectively implement and use this AI tool? Will staff need training in data analytics or basic programming to maximize the tool’s utility? This helps you identify necessary professional development initiatives and skill gaps.

3. STAFF ADAPTABILITY How will staff roles need to be redefined or reskilled to adapt to the AI system? Will instructional coaches transition into data interpretation roles? Will administrative staff need training in AIassisted decision-making? This information aids in planning for a smoother transition and workforce integration.

Develop trust with vendors to make sure they have the same priorities and values as the district.

4. ONGOING AI-DRIVEN IMPROVEMENTS How is your AI system continually updated and improved? Do you use AI to analyze performance metrics for further optimization? This ensures that the tool remains effective and innovative, offering a longterm return on investment. “By asking these refined questions, you’ll not only gauge the tool’s capabilities, but also prepare your staff and system for a successful AI integration,” Davenport notes.

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AI COMES TO SCHOOL

Determine guidelines and best practices

AI is only as accurate and reliable as the information it is working with.

36 California School Business Winter 2023

Once there’s a clear picture of how AI is already being used within the district, it’s time to think about how to be more intentional about its use. This will require guidelines built on two principles: security, since generative AI may accelerate the speed of cyberattacks; and reliability, meaning AI is only as accurate and reliable as the information it is working with. Inaccuracies can include misinformation or biases. “There are a lot of early adopters writing letters, updating job descriptions, getting language for RFPs and policies,” says Andrea Bennett, executive director of California IT in Education (CITE). “These people are trying to understand how it works and get ahead of it. We all need to know what we can implement without creating a lot of risk.” District staff can’t just take data and throw it into ChatGPT, says Bennett,

because district information might be used outside of the project it was intended for. Desert Sands Unified School District (DSUSD) is establishing policies for the use of AI, and there are challenges that must be solved. For example, if users input information that later ends up in an output form that identifies specific individuals there’s an issue. “Right now, most, if not all, AI platforms are sharing with third parties,” says DSUSD superintendent Kelly May-Vollmar. “You don’t want to open yourself up to a hack.” Federal laws such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) determine how student information can be used. Additionally, California has laws that require vendors to comply with data privacy rules for students and staff. Understanding these laws and how AI use might compromise them is critical.

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AI COMES TO SCHOOL

It frees up people for things that need that human element.

Building a basic understanding of best practices for AI use will help districts be intentional about how they integrate it. Some resources to consider when defining best practices are CoSN’s “K-12 Gen AI Readiness Checklist,” the California Department of Technology’s “AI Community of Practice,” and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology’s report “Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching and Learning.”

Potential district uses This summer, the Coachella Valley saw catastrophic flooding that damaged area schools. Desert Sands’ district offices still

38 California School Business Winter 2023

have no carpet, and a wall that had to be torn down due to water damage is yet to be replaced. That said, the district is in better shape than it might have been thanks to AI. DSUSD’s facilities and maintenance and operations departments used AI to help determine flood mitigation strategies for its buildings. The technology gave them a jumping off point to lessen the damage, as well as ideas for planning for the future. “It’s taking the workload off our people,” says May-Vollmar. “If there are things like this that can be automated, it frees up people for things that need that human element.”

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AI COMES TO SCHOOL

At the district level, it will be more important to look at it from an enterprise resource planning model for the whole organization.

Tan, at Huntington Beach, says AI is helping with some basic tasks in the district. Human resources has used it to write disciplinary letters. The leadership team has used it to create email responses. The chief business official has used it to help write a user-friendly guide to the budget. And Tan himself has used it to write a request for proposal for a federal funding program and to help him analyze enrollment statistics. “It’s pretty handy. With Google, you’d have five million pages of information. ChatGPT puts those sources together into a bulleted summary,” he says. Other potential uses include using AI to comb through job applications to verify candidates’ credentials; and analyzing social media reactions to district initiatives and suggesting messaging to reach concerned stakeholders. There is also potential to use AI for school safety by loading it into cameras that monitor the grounds. And the technology can be trained to identify guns or other weapons that are brought into the school. Or the foodservices division could ask AI to create a menu using 500 pounds of potatoes for 600 children. In an article for Education Week, Bill Daggett, founder of the International Center for Leadership in Education and the Successful Practices Network, agreed that AI has a lot potential for optimizing operations in district business offices. “If it will save you money at the operations level, it’s not going to be controversial, it’s going to be very positive,” Daggett said.

Upskilling your team To leverage the potential of AI, employees must understand how to use it effectively and safely. Daggett told Education Week that a fully functioning AI tool can

40 California School Business Winter 2023

remove 80% of the time and effort that goes into a single task. But the remaining 20% is up to the person using the tool. That includes fact-checking, revising or synthesizing the output. Part of the learning curve is understanding how to prompt the product. The more precise and detailed the prompt, the more accurate the information that comes out. “It’s important for business offices to understand how that product or service is validating and what is required to get it to work in the best way,” says Bennett. “The data you put in determines the quality you get back.” Some employees may be resistant to learning about AI because they feel the technology may put them out of their job. It’s important to work with unions up front to make sure they understand you aren’t replacing people. Boston Consulting Group data backs up this idea. Their research shows that 68% of workers are willing to reskill to remain competitively employed. “It might seem premature now, but it’s something that should be talked about and addressed so that your labor unions aren’t blocking the use of these tools for the wrong reasons,” says MayVollmar. “If we work on that ahead of time and acclimate everybody to the fact that AI is already here and we have to address it in a way that makes everyone comfortable.” The uptake of AI’s many uses is growing exponentially. For that reason, it’s hard to find a single “expert” who can train staff on the technology. In this case, it makes most sense to switch to a “learn together” model of education. Group employees, ask them to experiment with the tools and then have them share their experiences. “If they can see the value in it, see how it will make life better, help solve a

problem, or make them faster, they will embrace it,” says Tan. For school districts, AI has the potential to optimize efficiency and make the organization work better from the district office all the way to the classroom. “At the district level, it will be more important to look at it from an enterprise resource planning model for the whole organization,” says Bennett. “You could have the process set up in a way to save humans a lot of time. Figuring out where those school report card numbers are and making sure they are meeting the goals they set for attendance and grading. All that could be consolidated so it’s automatic.

“Automating things like attendance could free teachers up to do more effective work in the classroom. They can spend more time with their students, students are more engaged and grades go up.” z z z Jennifer Snelling is a freelance writer based in Eugene, Oregon

How are you incorporating AI into school business? Email us for a chance to be featured in an upcoming story at insight@casbo.org.

You could have the process set up in a way to save humans a lot of time.

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42 California School Business Winter 2023

FEATURE

The unfinished road to learning recovery Tips and next steps for addressing the ongoing academic lag

By Jennifer Fink How long does it take students, schools and communities to recover from a global pandemic? It’s been four years since the COVID-19 virus started circulating around the world, disrupting education and daily life. The U.S. Department of Education released its “Return to School Roadmap” in August 2021, and most U.S. students have been back in school more than a year-and-a-half. And yet, despite massive financial investment and intensive efforts by dedicated educators, students lag academically. Nationwide, ACT scores are the lowest they’ve been in three decades. Math and reading scores for fourth and eighth grade students reached record lows in 2022, and one-third of fourth and eighth graders “can’t read at even the ‘basic’ achievement level,” according to “Fall 2023 The State of the American Student Report” released by the Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE). California students appear to be doing better academically than their peers in many other states, but disturbing gaps remain. California’s third graders experienced the steepest decline in

California School Business casbo.org 43

The unfinished road to learning recovery

To move forward, educational leaders must cease ineffective interventions and carefully focus their efforts.

44 California School Business Winter 2023

English language arts achievement, with just 42% of third grade students meeting or exceeding ELA standards in 2022 (vs. 49% in 2019). That decline may not be surprising given that today’s third and fourth graders were kindergarteners and first graders during pandemic-required shutdowns. But the fact that so many have yet to attain crucial literacy skills portends continued academic struggles. Also troubling is the fact that students from historically marginalized groups – economically disadvantaged, Black, Latino, English language learners, disabled – experienced starker declines in achievement. In South Whittier Elementary School District, a district with 100% minority enrollment where more than 8 out of 10 students are economically disadvantaged, less than 18% of third graders met or exceeded ELA standards, compared to 36% in 2019. According to a study by Stanford and Harvard universities, California students, in the aggregate, lost four months of learning in math and one month in reading between 2019 and 2022. To

date, learning recovery efforts have not resulted in significant progress. That’s discouraging news because it suggests that the approaches taken thus far have not been effective. Unfortunately, “we’re seeing the wind going out of the sail around pandemic recovery,” says Robin Lake, director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education. “A lot of kids are not getting what they need, and things are about to get a lot worse in terms of the resources that are available” when one-time funds for academic recovery expire. There’s still time for districts to shore up students’ learning. However, you’ll have to be strategic. To move forward, educational leaders must cease ineffective interventions and carefully focus their efforts.

What doesn’t work: The status quo Delivering education as usual will not close persistent learning gaps. “There has been some recovery, overall, but not enough to erase what happened,” says Morgan Polikoff, associate professor of education at the USC Rossier School of Education. “Kids in some places have caught up and in other places they haven’t.” Yet many (if not most) families don’t realize that their children may not be meeting academic standards. “There’s a big disconnect between what experts are saying about learning loss and what parents say,” Polikoff says. “Parents, by and large, say their kids are doing fine” because their report cards show A’s and B’s. A survey conducted by Learning Heroes revealed that 90% of parents believe their child is performing at our above grade level, even though standardized tests tell a much different story.

Well-meaning attempts to ease student stress and emphasize learning – think grading reform initiatives that eliminate zeros and give students multiple opportunities to retake tests and re-do projects – may be obscuring gaps in student knowledge and hindering learning recovery. After all, parents and guardians who receive good reports from school are unlikely to enroll their

children in tutoring programs or advocate for extra academic support. “We need to be really transparent about individual proficiency rates,” Lake says.

Before- or after-school tutoring Research has consistently shown that high-quality, intensive tutoring is the

California School Business casbo.org 45

The unfinished road to learning recovery

There’s a big disconnect between what experts are saying about learning loss and what parents say.

46 California School Business Winter 2023

most effective intervention for ameliorating learning loss. But even though California piloted a tutoring and mentoring program that reached students in 33 districts, and many dis tricts offered tutoring services to families, less than 2% of students are “receiving tutoring that even meets a fairly moderate definition of high quality,” according to a study conducted by USC researchers. Many students and families cannot take advantage of before- or after-school tutoring programs. Work schedules and transportation plus childcare challenges make extra time at school impractical for many families. Additionally, students

who are already struggling in school may be reluctant to spend more time in the school environment.

Summer school High-quality instruction during summer school can absolutely boost student performance. However, summer school does not follow the “Field of Dreams” – “If you build it, they will come” – rule. A USC survey found that only 23% of parents were interested in summer school for their children. Simply offering additional instruction is not an effective means of closing persistent, widespread learning gaps.

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The unfinished road to learning recovery

Punitive approach to absenteeism

Strong relationships are at the heart of successful interventions to decrease absenteeism.

48 California School Business Winter 2023

Chronic absenteeism inhibits learning recovery. “Kids who come to school regularly do better than kids who don’t,” says Erica Peterson, director of education and engagement for School Innovations and Achievement, a CASBO Premier Partner. Getting students back in the classroom is an essential step to academic remediation, but research has found that a punitive approach to student absences is rarely effective. “Disciplinary means of addressing absenteeism is not really the right approach,” Peterson says, because issuing (or threatening) consequences (such as truancy citations) does not address the underlying issues that keep students from school. A punitive approach also creates an adversarial, rather than collaborative, relationship between the school and family. “Absenteeism is a mark of a bigger problem,” Peterson notes. “We have to

get behind the why and understand what’s going on with families. Once we know that and understand patterns and trends, we can start providing resources and interventions to address those things.”

What works: Positive school culture At Del Mar Union Elementary School District, leaders are trying “to make our schools inviting places that kids want to attend,” says Chris Delehanty, assistant superintendent of business services. They’re looking at everything from classroom environments to professional learning for teachers, school day structure, and social-emotional support. That’s a smart move, given that one in five students gave their schools a grade of D or F in mental health supports, individualized instruction and feeling

excited about learning, according to a 2023 Gallup survey. The Del Mar Union District didn’t have any counselors on staff pre-pandemic; now, they have seven. “We started with some of the one-time monies that came in and have moved that to a general fund expenditure,” Delehanty says. Polikoff, the USC associate professor, says that improving the school climate is a crucial step. “The only path out of this situation is through improving the school day,” he says. “That means having a high-quality curriculum in every classroom and making sure that teachers are comfortable with that curriculum. It means working on the school climate so that kids feel safe, and school is a place they want to be.”

Supportive approach to absenteeism Strong relationships are at the heart of successful interventions to decrease absenteeism, Lake says. Reach out to families with curiosity and empathy instead of judgment. At Del Mar district, site leaders identify chronically absent students and connect with families to identify and mitigate barriers to attendance. Many families may need education around the importance of school attendance. “COVID fundamentally changed the way people think about attendance,” Polikoff says. After years of being told to keep sniffling, coughing children at home, a lot of families are quick to call kids in sick. It’s a good time to explicitly outline criteria for illness-related absences – and for your school nurse to connect directly with families of frequentlyabsent students. School-to-family communications regarding absences should be “positive in tone,” Peterson says. The message you

want to convey is, We want to work with you. What can we do to help support your child’s attendance?

Innovative opportunities Some students aren’t well served in traditional classroom settings. Providing families with educational options – including continued online learning for students and families who desire it – is one way to meet students’ academic needs. Innovative partnerships between high schools and local community colleges may help older students gain crucial skills. “Many students have already left the system or graduated without the skills they really need,” Lake says. “I think now is the time to really break down the barriers between high school, college and career. Is there a way, for instance, to essentially extend the high school experience by a year, but at the community college level so the kids don’t feel like they’re still in high school?”

Delivering targeted academic support during the school day is perhaps the best way to help students catch up.

High-impact tutoring during the school day Delivering targeted academic support during the school day is perhaps the best way to help students catch up. In the Del Mar district, educators frequently review student achievement data to see who needs extra support. They’ve also identified teachers who are exceptionally strong in helping students gain math and reading skills, and used some one-time funding to move those teachers into special assignment roles. These individuals group students by need and ability, and create tailored invention schedules. “They’ve helped us find places to carve out time to pull kids or push into

California School Business casbo.org 49

The unfinished road to learning recovery

classroom to really focus on reading and math,” Delehanty said. “They provide targeted intervention based on the needs we see in our assessment data and help fill in the gaps.” Learning gaps won’t disappear without considerable effort and investment. “The key right now – and into the next few years – is targeting resources, time and political will toward the things that we know work,” Lake says. z z z Jennifer Fink is a freelance writer based in Mayville, Wisconsin. What learning recovery efforts are working in your district? Email us for a chance to be featured in an upcoming story at insight@casbo.org.

Learning gaps won’t disappear without considerable effort and investment.

50 California School Business Winter 2023

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