Why Is This Important to Learners?

He finished the assembly, like every other assembly in previous years, by having both students and teachers participate in the following Cougar Pledge.

I will face the challenges before me. I will not run and hide. I know my teachers love me. They will always be by my side. But when it comes to my success, There are things that I must do. I must think, act, and show that I can handle anything new. Cougar CLAWS will always guide me. No more working to just get by. I will have Courage to Learn, Achieve, Win, and Succeed. And I will hold these CLAWS up high. Because when it comes to my success, There are things that I must do. I must think, act, and show that I can handle anything new. When I walk through these doors every day, My work will be done with pride. I will listen to what others have to say, And my dreams will not be denied. Because when it comes down to my success, There are things that I must do. I must think, act, and show that I can handle anything new. I WILL think, act, and show that I can handle anything new!

The building theme continued throughout the year at Campbell Elementary. To reconnect students to the purpose of the school, Tim held weekly challenge assemblies first thing every Monday morning. For Tim, those weekly assemblies were essential because they gave students the chance to see the role that they play in moving the mission and the vision of the school forward. What is more, weekly challenge assemblies turned affirmation of values and beliefs of the building into more than a one-time event. Each assembly became a platform to communicate the school’s expectations; to reinforce the school’s mission, vision, values, and goals; to celebrate with one another; and to develop a sense of unity across the entire building.

Throughout the year, students who had contributed to the goals of the school were recognized with yellow plastic hard hats that they could wear to weekly challenge assemblies. Students also received construction paper bricks with their names printed on them each time they took a step—showing determination in the face of challenge, extending support to a struggling classmate, demonstrating mastery on a classroom assessment—that moved the school forward. Those bricks were collected at challenge assemblies and then placed on a large bulletin board in the main hallway of the school. Eventually, the bulletin board was filled with hundreds of bricks, and the assemblies became a sea of yellow hard hats. Those bricks and hard hats served as a visual reminder for the entire school community that by working together, Campbell Elementary students and staff really could create a brighter tomorrow, one brick at a time.

Why Is This Important to Learners?

In his seminal book Good to Great, organizational theorist Jim Collins (2001) makes a simple claim: The most successful companies always have a big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG). To Collins (2001), a BHAG is “a huge and daunting goal—like a big mountain to climb. It is clear, compelling, and people get it right away. It serves as a unifying focal point of effort, galvanizing people and creating team spirit as people strive towards a finish line” (p. 202). President John F. Kennedy understood the inspirational power of BHAGs. He issued one on September 12, 1962, announcing that America would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade. That goal captured the imagination of the American people and pushed an entire nation to new heights together (Collins, 2001).

In the story that starts this chapter, author and building principal Tim Brown issued his own BHAG for Campbell Elementary: We are going to build a brighter tomorrow, one brick at a time. This simple statement became a powerful tool for motivating Tim’s school community. It provided a grounding point for decisions that kept Campbell Elementary moving in the right direction. It also became something that everyone

in the Campbell Elementary community could relate to, identify with, and promote as their primary purpose. Why did teachers work hard to know students as individuals at Campbell Elementary? Why did students lean in on challenging assignments at Campbell Elementary? Why did support personnel work hard to create the conditions necessary for students to succeed at Campbell Elementary? It was not just because they wanted a yellow hard hat and a construction paper brick. It was because they knew that doing so would help to build a brighter tomorrow—and the idea of building a brighter tomorrow together galvanized the entire Campbell community. They wanted to be a part of something bigger than themselves.

In many ways, schools functioning as PLCs use their mission, vision, values, and goals in the same way that successful businesses use BHAGs. Knowing why we exist (mission), describing what we want to become (vision), locking down our commitments (values), and focusing on the objective of all students learning at high levels (goals) can inspire us on tough days, move us to higher levels of performance, and renew our spirit. These foundational blocks—what DuFour and colleagues (2016) call pillars—can become a catalyst for necessary conversations that lead to greater effort and renewed service. They can also challenge us and serve as a call to action. Leaders use them throughout the year to reconnect their faculties to the primary purpose of the school. Educators examine practices against—and reach consensus on the guarantees they will provide to every student based on—these foundational blocks. They are simultaneously a source of celebration and reflection, keeping collaborative teacher teams in PLCs grounded and providing the legs for the journey.

What Tim has done differently than most leaders of learning communities, however, is create a way to connect students to the mission, vision, values, and goals of his school community. His theme—building a brighter tomorrow, one brick at a time—takes the abstract concepts and ideas often expressed in mission, vision, values, and goals statements and makes them approachable for elementary students. He then worked to reinforce those ideas through challenge assemblies and gave students tangible ways they could participate in efforts to strengthen their school community. The result was that students at Campbell Elementary saw themselves as essential contributors to an important, shared effort. No longer was school a place where adults make all the important decisions or complete all the important work. Regardless of their age, Campbell Elementary students knew just what they could do to move their building forward.

Tim intentionally integrated elements of Wilbur Brookover and Lawrence Lezotte’s (1979) effective schools research into the work of Campbell Elementary. Brookover and Lezotte (1979) argue that highly effective schools have a “climate of high expectations” (p. 4) where students make learning a priority because goals and expectations are clearly communicated by every adult up and down the hallway. A notable finding in their research is that staff in struggling schools have “low opinions of their students’ abilities” while conversely, staff in improving schools have “high opinions of student abilities” (Brookover & Lezotte, 1979, p. 5). The impact that a climate of high expectations can have on the achievement of learners has been echoed by researchers and school change experts again and again, confirming Brookover and Lezotte’s findings (DuFour et al., 2016; Fuchs, Fuchs, Mathes, Lipsey, & Roberts, 2002; Hattie, 2009; Jackson, 2011, Williams & Hierck, 2015).

Learning-centered schools do not just communicate messages about the ability of every student to achieve, however. Instead, learning-centered schools define specific actions that everyone can take to turn those core beliefs into reality. By articulating his vision in approachable language and then defining practical steps that students could take to move toward that vision, Tim brought the first big idea of the PLC at Work process—“a focus on learning”—to life for learners (DuFour et al., 2016). The success of his students happened not just because of the programs and structures that Campbell Elementary had in place to support learning. Rather, his students were successful because every member of the Campbell community— staff, students, and parents—believed that nothing could keep them from reaching their shared goals. They spoke about this belief together, sang about this belief together, and regularly celebrated progress made toward achieving this goal together.

Stated another way, Tim was intentionally using well-established rituals, symbols, and traditions to shape the culture of his school—a strategy widely