building instructional capacity - book preview, introduction

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BUILDING INSTRUCTIONAL

CAPACITY

3 Key Strategies for

Successful Student Learning

Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D. Realistic Educator and

Optimistically Determined Leader

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CAPACITY



Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D.

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CAPACITY



Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D. Realistic Educator and

Optimistically Determined Leader

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @Artistwithwords

Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D. 2016

mailto:[email protected]

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Copyright © 2016 by Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used

in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher

except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: 2016

ISBN 978-1-329-91308-0

Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D.

P.O. Box 726

8700 Stonebrook Pkwy

Frisco, Texas 75034

www.stanleycrawford.com

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To Brenda, Tyrone, and Elizabeth for your patience,

support, and encouragement.

And, thank you, Dad and Mom,

For instilling in me the value of

hard work and persistence.

Building Instructional Capacity

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Introduction 1

1. Leadership 9 Create and Select Versus Inherit 14 Clone Versus Complement 15 Team Building 16 Achievement and Morale 18 Chapter Summary 24 2. Strategy 1: Increase Applied Personnel

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities 27 Applied Knowledge 30 Applied Skill 44 Applied Ability 48 Chapter Summary 53 3. Strategy 2: Improve the Curriculum

Program and Supporting Aspects 54 Curriculum Program 57 Curriculum Alignment 60 Curriculum Programs

Organizational Structure 66

Supporting Aspect of the Curriculum Program 74

Contents


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Professional Development 75

After-School Programs 83 Chapter Summary 87 4. Strategy 3: Provide the Basic Medical,

Social, and Emotional Support for Students 89

Provide Basic Medical 93 Provide Social-Emotional

Development and Training 101 Chapter Summary 106

Conclusion 107 References 109 Index 112

Contents


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Introduction

“The greatest good you can do for another is not

just to share your riches, but to

reveal to him his own.”

~ Benjamin Disraeli ~

This book will teach you how to build your school or

school district’s instructional capacity for the purpose

of increasing student learning. Along with this

increase in student learning; you should see an

increase in student achievement.

I have the honor of leading student learning

and student achievement. I have served in education

for over twenty years for both children and adults. I

have served in the K-12, higher education, business

industry, and military service. Student learning varies

in each of these environments. In addition, student

learning is similar in each of these environments. For

example, K-12 students need the teacher to capture

their attention in the topics they must learn. Often,


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we call this engagement which is similar to self-

motivation.

While on the other hand, adult learners in

education, business, or the military readily give their

attention because their livelihood is involved. With

adult students, the self-interest aspect helps to spur

self-motivation; which in turn drives their

engagement. As a result, the teacher or presenter for

adults often doesn’t have to put as much emphasis on

finding extremely creative ways to engage the adult

learner.

As an example, when I served in the United

States Air Force, one of my roles was to train airmen

on the proper way to use Personal Protective

Equipment (PPE). When the airmen arrived for class,

after introductions, I would launch into the material.

I would begin by talking about what nerve agents and

blister agents would do to the body; how fast the

agents would impact you; and how much time you

would have to get your equipment donned. Usually,

this was enough to get the undivided attention of

everyone in the class. In addition, airmen would often

ask questions without being prompted. Keep in mind


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in this case the student’s life could one day depend on

what they were learning.

From these experiences, I have learned some

significant lessons about ensuring student learning

and student achievement. One of my primary means

has been to focus on Building Instructional Capacity.

This is my focus in this book.

In every position that I have held, whether as an

assistant general manager of a food service

establishment, a department manager of a retail

specialty store, a service member in the United States

Air Force, an adjunct professor, or a public school

administrator, the ultimate goal was to obtain the

results in support of the institution’s vision, mission,

and goals. Normally, this required facilitating student

learning; whether the students were adults or

children.

For instance, when I worked in food service one of

my goals was to provide training for employees that

would allow them to deliver hot and tasty food from

our menu to our customers. As a retail manager, my

team and I wanted to train adults to properly price

and stock merchandise on the shelves; so that

customers would willingly purchase our retail


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products. Turning to education, the goal is to ensure

student learning; which should lead to student

achievement. Of course, this is the short term goal.

The long term goal is to prepare students to be able to

thrive in a global society.

“A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the

moment a single man contemplates it, bearing

within him the image of a cathedral.”

~ Antoine de Saint-Exupery ~

This book represents a combination of things that

1) I did to be successful, 2) I observed as part of my

service to successful institutions, and 3) my

observations of what can lead to success in student

learning and thereby student achievement. Now let us

begin the journey of “Building Instructional Capacity.”

What is Instructional Capacity? Instructional

Capacity consists of all the personnel resources,

material resources, programs, and leadership abilities

that can be effectively utilized by a learning institution

in order to improve student achievement. A learning

institution can be a public school, public school

district, charter school, private school, college,


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university, military training institution, or corporate

training entity.

Each of the above mentioned institutions requires

some type of education and training. To illustrate,

when I began military service, I went to Basic Military

Training. This training occurred on Lackland Air

Force Base, Texas. There were many things to learn.

Some of these things were at a knowledge level; such

as, learning to recognize the various rank insignia of

the United States Air Force and of the sister services.

On the other hand, learning to march was a bit more

challenging. It required the ability to demonstrate

what you learned about marching, by marching. You

had to start, stop, adjust to distances, and other

activities that required you to evaluate and use

judgment.

There are many factors that go into building the

instructional capacity of a learning institution. A few

of the factors that must be considered are: the size of

the learning institution, financial constraints, training

priorities, time allotted for training, curriculum and

organizational structure, to name but a few. Some of

the factors have more of an impact than others,

particularly when a given learning institution’s vision,


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mission and goals are taken into consideration. In this

book I describe a model that can be used to build

instructional capacity. The model consists of three

key strategies:

1. Increase applied knowledge, skills, and ability

of personnel.

2. Improve the Curriculum Program and

supporting aspects.

3. Provide the basic medical, social, and

emotional support for students.

We will take a closer look at each strategy as we

journey through each chapter.

In order to successfully apply these three strategies

of the BIC model it is assumed that the learning

institution has a vision, mission, and goals that are

established and desired. If not, then I strongly advise

the learning institution to clearly establish or revamp

the vision, mission, and goals to desired ones; prior to

using these strategies. Otherwise the learning

institution risks becoming very good at what it doesn’t

want to do; or something that doesn’t effectively and

efficiently meet the desired outcome of successful

student learning and achievement.


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Several benefits are gained in building

instructional capacity:

Effective use of instructional resources in

order to achieve the highest outcomes from

student learning.

Clear awareness of how each piece of the

Building Instructional Capacity (BIC) model is

utilized in pursuing the achievement of student

learning outcomes.

Establishment of baselines for the various parts

of instructional capacity, in order to monitor

and adjust; both in the current learning cycle,

and for future learning cycles.

In order to build instructional capacity and sustain

student achievement, it is essential to have in place a

strong instructional minded team, effective

curriculum, and services that meet the needs of all

students. This model, when successfully

implemented, will lead to the achievement of these

objectives.

The book will start off by discussing the area of

leadership in chapter one. In chapter two, the first

strategy will be introduced, Increase Applied


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Personnel Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. We will

look at knowledge, skills, and ability as they relate to

increasing student learning. In chapter 3, the second

strategy, Improve the Curriculum Program and

Supporting Aspects will be discussed. We will look at

key aspects of the curriculum that must be addressed.

Also, we will discuss how after-school programs

should support the curriculum. Next chapter 4

introduces the third strategy; which will explain the

role basic medical, social and emotional support

should play in building instructional capacity.

How can you use this book? You should

initially read it through once in its entirety; so you can

clearly understand the BIC model, and the way the

various pieces fit together. Next, you should decide

what you want to achieve. Or, if you choose, you can

select the chapter or sections that will be most

beneficial to your situation. Finally, I welcome your

feedback. Feel free to send me an email at

[email protected].

Purchase your copy, today at, http://bit.ly/1RtG58c

mailto:[email protected]

http://bit.ly/1RtG58c


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About the Author

Stanley T. Crawford, Ed.D. has been an educator for over 20 years. He has served in education leadership positions at the district and building levels. In addition, he has taught in public education at PK-12 and College settings. Prior to public education, he worked as a manager in the service industry. Stanley, also served in the United States Air Force. Dr. Crawford is a graduate of the University of North Texas (Ed.D.), Webster University (MA), Southern Illinois University of Carbondale (BS), and the Community College of the Air Force (AAS). Dr. Crawford is the author of the book, Cinquains: Volume I. He is the co-author of a chapter in Research in Finance titled, “Managing Real Options in Not-for-Profit Organizations: The Case of Shell Space.” Also, he wrote the article, “Strategically Increase Your Network Using LinkedIn” which appeared in the September/October 2014 issue of OnSite. Stanley can be reached through the following venues:

Website: www.stanleycrawford.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/artistwithwords

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drstanleycrawford

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Stanley.T.Crawford

http://www.stanleycrawford.com/

https://twitter.com/artistwithwords

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drstanleycrawford

https://www.facebook.com/Stanley.T.Crawford


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building instructional capacity - book preview, introduction

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