Lessons Learned from Leaders Using “Failure Is Not an Option

Jayden Hardacre on January 26, 2011 in School Stories

Lesson 1: Ideas Have Consequences

The Failure Is Not an Option (FNO) mentality has in and of itself shifted the conversation significantly in thousands of schools and districts. Much like the concept held in Highly Reliable Organizations (Stringfield, Reynolds, & Schaffer, 2008), in which failure would mean disaster and therefore is almost completely mitigated, the concept of FNO has led school leaders and their teams to create places where, as the children in one district put it: Success is the only option!

Ideas and single statements alone certainly do not change school systems. As noted above, however, they have been an essential starting point for many, many leaders. Marion Wilson, principal of P.S. 375, Jackie Robinson School in a tough part of Brooklyn, New York, decided with her staff that Failure Is Not an Option and Excellence is the only option, thus beginning a journey in which they went from being a D school to an A school in her three-year tenure.

The power of clarifying and articulating intentions cannot be underestimated.  As Dennis Sparks (2007) writes, Knowing what we want and being proud of it increases the likelihood we will achieve the results we seek (p. 8).

The Power of an Idea: A New Start

When Shawn Smiley first became principal, he told his new staff that failure was not an option. They could no longer say they were failing and so what? Teacher and leadership team member Diane Pelkington (2009) recalls how she reacted: We had to find a way to succeed, and he’s not going to accept failure in our building any more. Just hearing that and having a leader who believes, truly believes that, helps everybody else get on board. It gives us that same desire to make our building a strong building once again. I was so impressed. I had not heard that before: that failure is not an option, so I clearly remember that moment. This determination on the part of the principal and school staff to assure success across the board had significant consequences as can be seen by the scores for current reading levels below

Kindergarten               51%                   97% First                                80%                   84% Second                           46%                   67% Third                               61%                   75% Fourth                            48%                   63% Fifth                                 48%                  70%

Personal communication, Shawn Smiley, Nancy Noel, Susan Lothamer, Chris Rasor, Diane Pelkington, Colleen Kobi-Berger, Lydia Beer, Marcy Bestard, & Deb Hyatt, 2009) Note: These were percentages of students per grade level reading at grade level; K–3 were measured from DIBELS and 4 and 5 were taken from Scholastic Reading Inventory (measured in LEXILE).

The idea that no child will fail is still relatively new:

The old mission was about providing access for all to basic education and access for a relatively elite to university education. . . . The new mission for schools is to achieve 90–95 percent success. (Fullan, Hill, & Crévola, 2006, pp. 1–2)

Yet once this becomes the clear picture of a core group of leaders, it begins to spread and develop in a manner that reflects the character of the new owners. For example, the teachers participating in the Courageous Leadership Academy at Shambaugh Elementary School in Fort Wayne, Indiana developed their own institute for the district based on similar information and titled it Failure Is Not an Option . . . One Student at a Time.

Most importantly, when a learning community agrees that success is the only option for their students, they have to come to terms with a whole new set of actions to support the new agreement for a no-fail school (Corbett, Wilson, & Williams, 2002; Blankstein, 2007). Indeed, ideas have consequences, and while not sufficient in and of themselves, the clear articulation and commitment to them is the precursor to any substantive change.

Lesson 2: The Marathon Starts

Before the Race Begins

We would never expect a marathon runner to begin her training at the starting line of a race. Yet many schools launch a new initiative in such a manner. Lacking the necessary strength, endurance-building of the staff, and preparation in laying the groundwork for change, the initiative and those leading it run out of breath long before the race is over. School change can occur in a minute, but sustainable change is a marathon.

Consider the following scenario reported by Karen Seashore Louis (2008): The busy and well-respected principal, eager to find new resources for her school, attended a workshop in which the work of DuFour and Eaker was discussed. Arriving back at school, she announced that they would be implementing PLCs and assigned teachers to cross-grade-level work groups to analyze the school’s literacy data (p. 44). Not surprisingly, the staff was not prepared to run this new marathon. As Louis reminds us, Culture cannot be permanently altered in a short time frame of one school year (p. 48). The reasons that school leaders often do not create the conditions for success are many and include the following:

- Lack of awareness around change theory – Lack of understanding of necessary precursors to change – Program mind-set in which one thinks, There has got to be an easy solution I can just buy! There is, but it works only short-term, if at all. – Belief in the marketing of solutions by the corporations that sell them. – Comfort in continuing ways of the past, and no desire to push the envelop. – Minimal time or focus to redress all the above; only time to repeatedly endeavor short-term solutions

Our research indicates that school district readiness is critical to long-term success (HOPE Foundation, 2009a). The methodology we use to prepare for the marathon of sustaining student success is instructive for any change effort and includes these steps:

Step 1: Clarifying Intentions and Desired Methodology

As indicated above, this is a critical and often time-consuming step.  Numerous calls have come into our offices from district leaders indicating they would like us to do a Courageous Leadership Academy for their district without clarity as to what that actually is, what they would gain, why exactly they want it, or who in their district really supports it. For some organizations, the request alone might be sufficient to move forward! Yet a successful outcome warrants adequate time and dialogue, and there are children’s futures at stake. Put another way, being in sync on operational definitions alone takes time:

There is considerable variation regarding the delineation of the PLC components, as well as how they operate to contribute to the increase in staff learning and competency that, in turn, results in desired student learning outcomes. (Hord & Hirsh, 2008, p. 25)  It is essential and worth the effort to clarify what is needed, by whom, and why prior to beginning a new initiative.

Step 2: Self-Assessment

Teams often engage in dialogue using book studies as a catalyst to better understanding of the six principles of Failure Is Not an Option, how to apply them, and what they are doing with them. Many use the FNO rubric (Resource 1), and Critical Success Factors (Resource 2) to get an overview of their current status.

Step 3: Assuring Readiness

To determine school and district needs, team-based readiness surveys are taken with the help of a professional development specialist at HOPE. At a later point, it is often the case that the steps to assuring readiness and ultimate sustainability of the effort will include creating breadth of motivation (large scale buy-in), depth of understanding, and commitment (Hargreaves, 2005).

Step 4. Building Successful School Teams

Once there is sufficient clarity around the nature of the marathon to begin, and leaders at both district and school levels have helped define the focus of the work, then school-based leadership teams can be formed to facilitate the change. These teams would have a common core commitment to student success, yet have varied titles, talents, and experience bases. There would likely even be some who have not yet fully bought into the effort, who might later become liaisons to bring naysayers and other resisters in the school on board.

Invariably, as efforts proceed through the Academy that follows, the leadership teams come to see themselves as facilitators of change, and the teachers on and off the team go from doing their job, to running their school. In the words of Reggie Rhines (personal communication, 2009), sixth-grade counselor and lead team member at the Icenhower school in Mansfield, Texas, We’ve become facilitators, and you’ll even have people come up and ask some specific questions about how this ties with Failure Is Not an Option in their classrooms.

The ability of team leaders to translate into school wide practice what they are learning at Courageous Leadership Academy meetings is critical so as not to create an inside-outside division of the staff. There are various reentry strategies for engaging the entire staff in the learning. At Icenhower, for example, the leadership team does more than present to those who are not in the Academy:

As individuals on other teams as well, we are responsible and accountable to team members, so we infuse what we have learned in the academy into our work within our department, on academic teams, and in faculty meetings. So what we learn becomes standard practice throughout the school. (Rhines, personal communication, 2009)

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Alan M. Blankstein is the President and Founder of the HOPE Foundation.  .

To order a copy of Failure IS Not an Options, Second Edition, visit our HOPE Store.

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