SQUIRCLE Shifts in Leadership:
School Improvement Planning
Balancing Logic and Intuition for Innovation
The SQUIRCLE Model
The SQUIRCLE model emphasizes the integration of logical and analytical thinking (square) with creative and intuitive thinking (circle). School leaders often face complex challenges that require not just systematic planning and data analysis, but also innovative solutions and adaptive thinking.
Innovation in Education:
Education systems are in constant need of innovation to meet the evolving demands of students, parents, and society. When leaders lean into a creative problem-solving approach, they must think about both the process and the people (particularly students) who will be involved in various stages of implementing innovative change.
Checklist for a Human-Centered, Transformative Process:
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Evaluate school culture and climate.
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Ensure that data analysis includes various types of data, including qualitative and perceptive data, like teacher observations and student and family survey results.
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Who are we?
Why are we doing this?
Why are we doing this this way?
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Assess how stated values and purpose show up not just in academic results and student behavior, but also in hallways, faculty lounges, and on playgrounds.
Restorative Culture Toolkit
Restorative Practices in Schools: Building Strong, Inclusive Communities
Overview:
Restorative Practices in schools serve as a comprehensive approach to building strong, inclusive school communities and lay the foundation for creative and inclusive problem-solving. Our Restorative Practices toolkit leverages the Seven Principles to support building stronger school and classroom communities that are better equipped to be resilient in the face of conflict and change.
Inspiration :
“We all are worthy of telling our stories and having them heard. We all need to be seen and honored in the same way we need to breathe.”
-Viola Davis
Community Building Circles: A Simple Way to Get Started
Restorative Practices in schools serve as a comprehensive approach to building strong, inclusive school communities and lay the foundation for creative and inclusive problem-solving. Our Restorative Practices toolkit leverages the Seven Principles to support building stronger school and classroom communities that are better equipped to be resilient in the face of conflict and change.
It’s important for members of a community to get to know each other before we ask them to embrace a growth mindset and take academic risks together. It’s important that these circles are planned carefully, but that doesn’t have to take more than about 10 minutes, once you have learned the progressive nature and important elements of different types of circles.
Types of Circles:
There are circles that are just about getting acquainted with each other. It’s important to start with these. The things that are shared by participants after a quick opening question can give the facilitator lots of information and ideas for the next phase of building understanding and trust. When facilitated using shared agreements and planned prompts, Community Building Circles help to build the social and emotional skills to take the next step into academic discovery, discussion, and risk-taking.
Quote Highlight:
“All aspects of the Circle give students practice in developing not just social skills but skills that are valuable for learning other subjects as well.”
-Nancy Riestenberg
Reflective Conversations:
Understanding Your School’s Current Culture
It's important to take a reflective look at your current culture in order to know where to begin. Begin with a staff circle to have a focused conversation about the current reality in your school. Some example prompts are below. By starting with conversations, you will hear information but also feelings associated with that information that are critical to better understand the impact of your culture.
Reflective Conversation Prompts: Community Building and Restorative Practice
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How would you characterize relationships among school leaders and staff? How does this make you feel?
How are adult relationships being built and maintained?
What can be done to improve adult relationships?
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How would you characterize relationships between teachers and students? How does this make you feel?
How are healthy relationships between teachers and students maintained?
What can be done to improve teacher-student relationships?
Starting from a Strengths-Based Perspective
It’s also important to start from a strengths-based perspective. Once you have a sense of the current reality, it can be helpful to begin by examining what you are already doing well so you can build from there.
Questions to Consider:
What do you do well with regard to creating and maintaining relationships in your school communities?
Where and how do you incorporate practices and strategies to build students’ social/emotional skills?
How can you make relationships the foundation of your work?
Community, Culture, and Empowerment Toolkit
Review and note which areas represent active strengths or areas for improvement for your classroom, school, and district.
Culture of High Achievement for Learners
Learner Community
Learners engage in opportunities to…
Find commonalities with others in backgrounds, lives, preferences, strengths and needs
Create synergy, a group identity, shared responsibility and interdependence
Learn SEL skills that enable collaboration and teamwork
Develop empathy and supportive accountability for all members of the community
Make decisions and solve problems together that heal harm and enrich the learning community
Learner Confidence and Growth Mindset
Learners develop beliefs that…
Smart” isn’t what you are born with, it’s what you get through hard work and effort
Imperfections should be celebrated, mistakes are important and part of the learning process
Everyone is capable of high achievement
Asking for help and feedback are indicators of successful people
Faster doesn’t equal success, care, quality and perseverance count
Creativity and imagination are valuable and necessary for future success
Challenges are opportunities for growth
The success of others can inspire us rather than make us feel inadequate
Learner Confidence and Growth Mindset
Learners are deliberately supported to…
Understand what is negotiable and what is not
Use their understanding of themselves to make choices in learning and in the classroom community
Identify and activate their strengths
Clearly understand the learning objectives and what constitutes success
Advocate for their needs and preferences (voice and choice)
Freely share ideas and understandings
Collaborate with others and use peers as resources
Inspiration :
“So often, we are concerned about the classroom climate, but forget the purpose of warm, trustworthy, empathetic climates. The primary purpose is to allow students to feel okay about making mistakes and not knowing, and to establish a climate in which we welcome errors as opportunities.”
— John Hattie, 2013, p. 165
Although the chart above is focused on the classroom environment that teachers can create for students, it could easily be used when considering the learning culture for adults. It is important to emphasize how supporting the Seven Principles for our professional learners is critical in order for them to do the same for the learners in their classroom. Leaders can use these same ideas to examine their professional policies and learning opportunities to ensure that they encourage the growth mindset associated with the principle of Emergence.
Questions for teams to consider:
At first glance, what do we notice about these areas and indicators? How do we feel about them? What ideas and challenges do they evoke?
What information can we collect to assess where we are in these categories?
How will we organize ourselves to analyze what we find and look for areas to enhance?
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