During the early elementary years, children are gaining basic social and academic skills critical to ongoing academic success. Unless students attain these essential skills by third grade, they require extra help to catch up and are at grave risk for eventually dropping out of school. (p. 3)
This is not a kindergarten or early years problem; it’s a systemic one. Left unchecked, the gap grows, frustration sets in as students enter secondary school, apathy enters the picture, and some students believe that all hope is lost. Also, these students seek other ways that they can seem successful in their peers’ eyes, and negative behavior becomes part of their arsenal. Flagrant behaviors, such as calling out or pushing back on reasonable teacher requests, give these students a certain cachet as the class clown. There is a “cool” factor to this behavior their peers often perceive that sets these students apart. Oftentimes what educators perceive as a lack of will to complete a task or attain proficiency is a cover for a lack of skill in the desired outcomes. When students lack these skills, educators must apply behavior management approaches to support the desired student behaviors and create a positive learning environment. Behavior management includes any action educators take to enhance the likelihood that students will choose behaviors that are productive and socially acceptable. Teachers must effectively manage their classrooms to establish and sustain a positive culture and learning environment. To respond to unwanted behaviors effectively, it’s critical that teachers reflect on what is maintaining a student’s challenging behavior. Recognizing that behavior is a form of communication, and that it is difficult to change because it serves a purpose or function for the student, compels educators to work proactively to reinforce the desired behaviors in their classrooms.
Researchers Joy Lesnick, Robert M. Goerge, Cheryl Smithgall, and Julia Gwynne (2010) offer their insight on the importance of getting students on track early:
Students who are not reading at grade level by third grade begin having difficulty comprehending the written material that is a central part of the educational process in the grades that follow. Meeting increased educational demands becomes more difficult for students who struggle to read. (p. 1)
The authors go on to suggest that third-grade reading level is a significant predictor of eighth-grade reading level and ninth-grade course performance, even after accounting for demographic characteristics (Lesnick et al., 2010). They further state that students who are above grade level for reading in grade 3 graduate from high school and enroll in college at higher rates than students who are at or below grade level in grade 3 (Lesnick et al., 2010). If the goal is reaching the bar (high school graduation and further pursuits driven by a student’s passions or interests) or better for every student, educators must work collectively to close the learning gaps and teach appropriate behaviors with an eye toward intervening early. In order for students’ learning to become unstoppable, we must address these issues early. This requires a collective commitment to changing an organization’s culture.
Systems Thinking
Douglas Fisher and Nancy Frey (2015), authors of Unstoppable Learning: Seven Essential Elements to Unleash Student Potential, offer systems thinking as the structure to accomplish this type of undertaking. They explain, “Systems thinking is the ability to see the big picture, observe how the elements within a system influence one another, identify emerging patterns, and act on them in ways that fortify the structures within” (Fisher & Frey, 2015, p. 2).
Fisher and Frey (2015) also remind us, “As part of a systems thinking classroom, teachers know how to respond to problematic behavior to renormalize the classroom and make learning the focus once again” (p. 13). Systems thinking involves seven specific elements and four principles (see figure I.1). The following sections will clarify these major elements and principles that compose systems thinking.
Source: Fisher & Frey, 2015.
Figure I.1: Unstoppable Learning components.
Seven Elements of Systems Thinking
Fisher and Frey (2015) identify seven essential elements for both the systems thinking classroom and the systems thinker in order to drive home the importance of (1) planning, (2) launching, (3) consolidating, (4) assessing, (5) adapting, (6) managing, and (7) leading learning in each classroom in a systematic way. All the elements constitute effective practice and are interdependent.
This book will examine the element of managing learning. While the phrasing managing learning may sound ominous and conjure up images of control, Fisher and Frey (2015) explain, “That doesn’t mean that teachers have to exert tremendous control, exercising their power over students” (p. 13). Managing learning is about setting up the structures that lead to the desired outcomes. It involves achieving consistency as a committed team of educators in order to minimize the impact of negative behaviors and maximize the potential of each student.
Let’s make this clear from the outset—we should leave very little about the work in schools to a single individual to address, resolve, or create. In fact, Fisher and Frey (2015) explain, “Every adult in the school has a role in building proactive, healthy relationships with students. These efforts are much more likely to succeed, and quickly, when schoolwide efforts are employed” (p. 151). The growth and development of all students must be the prime objective and the domain of all who interact with those students. My travels as a consultant and author have revealed that educators often find themselves in systems that are not as effective and efficient as they could be. In the absence of a consistent, intentional, and aligned approach—a we approach—to creating positive student behaviors, teachers default to a me approach, whereby they give their absolute best but rarely achieve consistency—at either the personal or the schoolwide level. However, teachers and principals can establish consistency by using an interdependent approach to managing learning and by recognizing that the end result is the domain of the team, not the individual. Doing so requires systems thinking.
Four Principles of Systems Thinking
Fisher and Frey (2015) outline the following four principles that should simultaneously guide educators’ work to improve learning systems and ensure unstoppable learning for their students: (1) relationships, (2) communication, (3) responsiveness, and (4) sustainability. It’s fair to say that I have encountered many educators whom I would describe as forward thinkers—they employ and nurture these principles daily in their practice—but many work in a system or structure that isn’t designed to support them or their efforts to bring these practices into play. As an oft-quoted adage from Albert Einstein suggests, we can’t solve today’s problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. If a school’s end goal is to improve its current results, then its actions will need to change to achieve that end. Education authors Tom Hierck and Angela Freese (2018) suggest, “This means aligning in unity around a singular focus of learning instead of perpetuating