EPISODE #180

How Builders are Defying the Odds

You're listening to the school leadership reimagined podcast episode 180. 

How do builders like us make a dramatic difference in the lives of our students in spite of all the obstacles we face? How do you keep your vision for your school from being held hostage by resistant teachers, uncooperative parents, ridiculous district policies or lack of time, money or resources. If you're facing those challenges right now, here's where you'll find the answers, strategies and actionable tips you need to overcome any obstacle you faith. You don't have to wait to make a difference in the lives of the people you serve. You can turn your school into a success story right now with the people and resources you already have. Let's get started.

Hey Builders, welcome to another episode of the school leadership reimagined podcast. I'm your host Robyn Jackson. And today I was going to talk about something else. But last week, the nape scores came out and the news was uniformly dismal.

Now for those of you don't know what nape is nape is the National Assessment of Education Progress. And what they do is they take a look at how students are performing in across the board in the United States. And the results have shown that students have declined experience significant declines. After going through education during COVID. There was a historic low drop a drop for the first time in students math performance and certain grades, reading scores have taken a dip. And this drop has happened across the board. So it's happened regardless of of income or socioeconomic status, race region. Kids everywhere are doing poorly according to this assessment.

And I remember taking a look at the data when it first came out. And then reading afterwards all of the punditry about it, you know, hey, listen, we've just shown that, you know, schooling during the pandemic was not good keeping kids out of school is not good. Kids have lost for COVID, they may never recover. And I heard all this doom and gloom. Then I went inside of builder ship University, and and built a ship University, we have a thread in our in our private forum. And the thread is called wins. And people post wins. And it's hard to get people to post wins. Because when you become a builder, you're always thinking about that 100%. And a lot of times when you experience a win, it's just normal, that just shows progress towards 100%. And a lot of times people don't realize how significant their wins are, because they're just thinking about the next thing and the next thing and moving their schools forward.

So we do the wins thread, to make people kind of pause for a moment and be intentional about celebrating all the wins along the way. And I went and took a look at the wins thread and right about the time the nape data is coming out, schools are starting to get their test score results from last year last year for many schools was the first time in several years since COVID. That students tested. And I know that across the nation, principals everywhere have been kind of nervous about those scores, they expected them to go down. But something strange was happening in the BU wins thread because instead of scores going down, we have people who are making significant gains. And so although we are hearing across the nation right now, there's a decline in test scores, students are really struggling, we're, you know, we have more students than ever who are struggling, our test scores have have taken a significant dip because of COVID Not only that, we're hearing things like you know, behavior is bad and and we're struggling with students who've been home for you know, a year and a half, two years, two and a half years. And they're they're not acclimating back to school. And we're having all kinds of disciplinary issues and and our teachers are stressed out, and our cultures are turning toxic, because our teachers are stressing out. That seems to be the narrative nationally.

But it's not the narrative inside of Buildership University. 

So today, what I thought I would do is, I would, I'd like to give you a counter narrative to what you may be hearing or even experiencing in your own school, just so that you know that there is another option. There's another way. And the reason I'm doing that, as I was reflecting this week, we just finished at the 100% vision challenge. And I watched a lot of people kind of talk themselves out of their 100% vision because they're so bogged down. They don't believe it can happen. And they don't know of other schools that are making it happen. And I really feel like if we can amplify some of the success stories, we can help more and more people believe in that 100% vision and the work that it takes to make it happen. So I was thinking about that and I ran across an old A quote that I remember writing down a few years ago. And it goes like this, if you think you can catch the bus, you'll, you'll chase it. And I think that a lot of people in their hearts, they want to believe that 100% of students can be successful, but they don't believe anymore, they can catch the bus. And we get bad news, like the nape data. And the consistent narrative. We're hearing now about teachers being burned out teacher shortages, bad cultures, toxic cultures, and, and disciplinary issues, it starts to make us think that maybe as much as we want to believe that 100% Success is important, and every child deserves that we no longer believe we can catch that bus.

So we stopped chasing it. And I want you to know today that while all of that is going on, there are principles right now is how to build ship University, who have a very different story to tell. And hopefully, as you hear their stories, you can begin to feel encouraged yourself, you can begin to feel like you know what, maybe I can catch that bus. Because let me tell you something, it doesn't have to look, the way that that national narrative says, when you become a builder, part of making the decision to be a builder is deciding to change the narrative, the moment you declare that 100% vision, you've decided to change the narrative. And so I want to share these stories with you today so that you can be encouraged by people who are changing the narrative. And I also want to share these stories because I'm inordinately proud of these builders and the work that they're doing, because I know the circumstances under which they're doing it.

And I feel like they deserve to be highlighted. 

Now, before I jump into the stories, a couple of things, first of all, the doors to build a ship University are closing on Thursday, that's tomorrow. So if you're listening to this episode, in real time, you have one more day to get into the last cohort of 2022. Now, it's not the last cohort ever, we will reopen sometime in 2023 and get another cohort going. But if you have been on the fence about builder ship University, and you've been trying to figure out should I do it, or should I not do it, this is your last chance. And tomorrow's the last day. Once we do that, we're going to close the doors. And then I'm going to spend the rest of the year pouring into the people inside of builder ship University. And so a lot of times people are saying, well, you know, I can't do a course right now I'm really busy right now, first of all, Bill does ship University is not a course it's a mentorship. And I think it's important that you understand the difference. When you take a course, you have to take these classes and you have to kind of learn on your own and it's up to you to figure it out. Even a membership group, it's up to you to kind of show up, it's up to you to kind of weed through all of the resources inside of the online platform and figure it out on your own. Even a Facebook group, you know, it's up to you to kind of go in and then a lot of times Facebook groups are really the blind leading the blind people kind of offering advice, but most of the time peacocking and, and dunking on each other. They I'm really surprised at how hostile some Facebook groups can be. And so all of those things have their place. But buildership University is a mentorship. And that means that once you join, you can relax. Even if you're stressed out even if you're overwhelmed. That's part of our job. Once you join once you become a part of builder ship university, our job is to help you figure out why you're so overwhelmed.

Our job is to help you alleviate your overwhelm and create a better narrative for you and for your school. A lot of people tell me Well, I need to wait in order to get ready for builders ship University. I'm just swamped right now. Well, part of the reason why you're swamped is because you're doing you're using a leadership approach to solve what really is a builder ship problem. And when you come to build a ship University, we help you start applying the principles of build a ship to solve your problems, and you stop being so overwhelmed. The other reason it's a mentorship is that we keep building, ship University small on purpose, it's intimate every single week, I'm in there with you. We have live coaching sessions every single week where you can come in there drop in so you can come in and come out whenever you need to. And then each person who shows up gets individualized attention.

When you first start build a ship university, you build your own success path. And then once we work through that success path together, then our job is to help you achieve your success. When you come to build a ship University, you're not you don't have to figure it out on your own. We have a process that we take you through that helps you start applying the principles of builder ship in your school in the right order and in the right timing. So you can just come in instead of trying to figure things out on your own. You just work through the process. And when you get stuck, your your mentors there to help you get unstuck and if you make some sort of mistake in your school that has nothing to do with builders University, then you have an entire community that's there to Help you dust yourself off, pick yourself back up and keep striving. And then the other thing is that being a part of that community of builders is so inspiring.

You know, I've heard the phrase the same before, you probably have heard it too, that you are the sum total of the five people you spend the most time around. 

So think about the colleagues, you're hanging around right now, are they all negative? Are they all, you know, buying into this narrative that things are really bad in education right now? You know, are they buying into the toxicity of their cultures? Are they they complaining a lot about discipline issues and throwing up their hands and say, I don't know what to do with these COVID kids? And are they are they thinking that they, you know, if I could just maintain my poor performance, now, I just don't want to go with me, I just don't wanna get any worse, rather than thinking about how they improve on it, then that stuff is wearing off on you. It's rubbing off on you, and, and it's wearing down your resolve for 100%. But when you're part of the builder, ship, university community, everybody there believes in 100%, everybody is working towards 100%. And when you get discouraged, somebody else is saying, Hey, I was where you were a month ago, here's what we did. And here are the results.

And so you begin to believe in yourself. Remember, if you don't believe you can catch the bus, you won't chase it. Well, and fellowship University, people are not only chasing that bus, they're catching it, as you'll see in a few minutes when I started sharing their stories. So it's really important that you not wait. The moment you join, build a ship university, you can breathe a sigh of relief and you can, you can start to feel encouraged again, because you're no longer doing it alone, you're no longer doing it by yourself. Now you are part of a community of people who are doing it with you. And not only that, you don't have to figure it out on your own. Because as a part of this mentorship, our job is to help you figure it out in a way that works for you.

So if you're ready for that if if you're in your office every day, and you're just frustrated, because everybody's coming to you and they're they're looking for you to have all the answers and you don't have all the answers and you're frustrated because you're dealing with the same problems over and over again, and they don't seem to be getting better, you're frustrated because you really want to be doing something more but all you spend your day doing is putting out fires and and dealing with people's complaints. If you're ready for something more, join us in builder's ship University come in and get that mentorship that you need to become the principal or the assistant principal or the district administrator that you really know you can become. It's not a program that just applies to the school you're in, you are learning a set of skills that you can take to any school, any office, any any new organization, and they're still going to work for you, you become something different. When you join, build a ship university, you become a builder. So build a ship university.com. That's where you can get your tickets. Let me know your tickets. That's where you can join. And again, this is the last cohort of the year. So don't wait. You need to join now.

All right now I want to celebrate some builders 

Because again, the narrative that we're hearing is cultures are toxic scores are down. And people are just happy if their scores only drop a little bit because everybody expects scores to go down. Well, meanwhile, inside of builder ship University, we have people whose scores are not going down, they're going up. So just last week, we got a post inside the wins thread and builders should be university that I want to share with you. This is I'm so excited because we've been working with Sue for a while Sue Forbes is a principal in Hawaii. And she says this
"Aloha, I am super excited to share our schools huge win and how we're achieving our vision. Despite all the odds against us, as a background were a K five title one school in Hawaii with a very diverse student population of 860. We're the fifth largest Elementary School in Hawaii and we're located in the heart of Mali. I was hired into the principal position in January 2020. Just eight weeks prior to our shutdown for quarantine. Our school's vision is all students will demonstrate at least one year of growth in reading, writing, math and science every school year. Our 2021 22 challenges are as follows. Number one, we have the highest number of positive COVID 19 cases on the island of Maui and the highest number of cases out of all the elementary schools in the state of Hawaii. Number 260 3% of our students were chronically absent due to illness and quarantine. Okay, so that means that nearly two thirds of our students miss 15 or more days of school that school year. Number three we experienced an extreme shortage of instructional staff and substitutes throughout the year. And number four, we're a title one school And Number 520 4% of our students speak English as a second language. So about a quarter of the students are our second language English as a second language learner. So our 2021 2022 high stakes testing results just came in. And here are the results. First of all ELA proficiency increased by 10%. Number two math proficiency increased by 11%. Science proficiency increased by 15%. We outscored our complex areas average. And number four, the percentage of students in third grade who are reading on grade level is 81%, which represents a 71% increase. Best of all, we are achieving our vision, a median growth percentile of 50 is equal to one year's growth in one year's time. So first of all, our ELA medium growth percentile is 57. That means that on average, or average, your students are achieving more than a year's worth of growth for years with their time and our math. Median growth percentile is 64. And back to their the fastest growing school in the entire complex area out of 15 schools."

So let's think about that for a second. Her revision is all of our students are going to be performing at or above grade level, not only is she seeing 1011 15 17% gains in COVID, in the midst of a pandemic, but as of now, on average, all of her students are achieving at least more than a year's worth of growth for years with the school. And when I was talking to sue about this and one of our office hours. She said yes, that's average, but it's still not every kid. And so she's still working towards her vision. Instead of like basking and resting on our laurels. She's saying that's great, which shows that we're making progress. But we still have more work to do.

I love that about her that she says How did we do it? 

We were unrelenting. We focused on her school's vision, no matter what came our way, or how many times we had to pivot. We anchored in the outcomes and we successfully weathered the storm. You see, during COVID. I mean, she just got there right before COVID started, she hasn't even been at the school two solid years yet. And already her school is showing those kinds of gains. Because of her unrelenting focus on the vision. Remember, if you think you can catch the bus, you'll chase it. And in the midst of COVID, when when she was dealing with 60, something percent of her students were missing more than 15 days of school. I remember she'd come to office hours and say I have to send whole classrooms home today because I just didn't have enough teachers. Even in the midst of that she was still able to show gains.

So while the national narrative is we're losing ground with kids, that's not happening on her campus. 

So I want to talk about Tasha Lin Frances Tasha Lin is a principal in the school in New York City. And she's a principal of a middle school and, and she also started at the school right before COVID. So she she had been at the school for a year. I met her in 2019 when she came to a builder's lab. And at that builders lab, she created a vision she struggled with it and she finally came up with a vision that felt right to her and she went back to her school in the fall of 2019 and got started working on her vision. Now we all know what happened in the spring of 2020. So right the chanson even gotten a year of her vision in place. And yet she was stubborn about that vision. I remember during the beginnings of the lockdowns, Tasha Lin came to one of the office hours and she said

"I had to meet with my my team today and everybody was kind of devastated because we, you know, we we thought we're going to be going home for two weeks and we came to find out that we're going to be closing schools may be closed for the rest of the year. We're doing you know, remote learning until further notice. My staff was just so stressed out and demoralized and worried and, you know, all the things we all were feeling right at the beginning of the lockdowns. And she said very calmly, she said, All right, I hear your concerns. Does any of that change our vision? Our staff said no. She said, Okay, well, then we'll figure it out."

And that's what they did. Now, she just got her test scores back for her students last year. Last year was the first year I think our students tested since COVID. And her test scores show that she has quintupled the number of students who are proficient or above in mathematics, and doubled the number of students who are proficient or above in reading, and all that happened in the midst of COVID. So again, while the narrative is saying, hey, you know, kids are going to be dropping scores are going to be dropping. In her case, she is actually making significant gains in her school. In fact, You know, she's being asked now well, what are you doing? And she says, Well, I'm practicing builder ship, I'm focusing on my 100% vision. And people want to know, is that a program? Can we buy it?

No, it's not a program. It's a mindset. 

And so she's still working, because again, she's made huge gains. And everybody's now kind of looking at her school and saying, What are you doing. And even though she's made gains, and she's pleased about them, she's still focused, because it's not 100%, those gains are great, we can celebrate them. But we're not stopping, we're not going to rest on our laurels, because there's more that needs to be done in order for us to get to 100%. So, if you are hearing that test scores are going down, they're not going down everywhere. Now, as amazing as those gains are, they're just they're more of them. We we have a principal, John Hughes, who's in Utah, and his school was the only school in their district to get an A from the state of Utah for academic achievement during COVID. So this narrative, again, that students are going to fail, you're going to have declines. Not true.

We have Kevin Taylor, who is a system principal in Canada, and has been in charge of the literacy initiative for his district. And when everybody was telling him, Listen, if you could just maintain where the kids are, we're going to be okay, Kevin pushed for 100%. And in doing so, he showed a 10% gain and literacy for the students in his school. We have Adrian Hudson, who is a principal in Mississippi and Adrienne has an elementary school. And Adrienne after focusing on her vision and really applying the principles of Bill dish up to her school, her school, her students outscored every other school in the district and all but a couple of different measures. Her school is at the top of her district now.

And all of this is happening in the midst of this narrative that we're hearing about people declining, test scores getting worse. 

We are seeing people who are defying that narrative, and are actually seeing gains under some of the worst circumstances. Why? Because they refuse to buy into the narrative about about the fact that kids have to fail. And they have chosen to write their own narrative, they are changing things for their students. You know, if you ever see a picture of the builder ship model, in the heart of that builder ship model is your success story. Because the whole point of builder ship is for you to create a new story for you for your school and for your students. And there's, you know, those three words and they're your, it's yours, it belongs to you and your school, it's not because you went to build a ship University, it is yours, you own it, you took what you learn inside of eldership University, and you've leveraged it to create a success for your students. The second part is success. We're not talking about incremental improvement, we are talking about achieving success. And then the last word is story. Because when you do that, you change the narrative for your school. Now, test scores are one thing, but that's not the only way that that builders are changing the game inside of builder ship University. You know, right now, there are a lot of of schools who are experiencing heightened toxicity in their schools and their cultures. And that toxicity can take the form of staff feeling really disgruntled and overwhelmed and, and just tired and unmotivated. But it can also take the form of of what's happening with students, increased disciplinary issues, increase SEL issues.

And yet, even though that is the national narrative right now that in school, you're going to be dealing with that builders are rewriting that narrative to just the other day one of our builders and builders ship University, who is still very early in the process, and Yvonne Johnson, she talked about what is happening to her culture as a result of shifting the narrative and focusing that vision on 100% of her students. She says the biggest overall victory is finally having everyone on the same page for the same purpose and with the same intentions. I don't have to spend time explaining why because everything is centered and anchored in the vision, mission and core values. The narrative has indeed shifted, and learning is no longer about the teacher or the parent, but the focus is 100% on our learners. How are we transforming minds? How are we growing learners? How are we developing leaders each day? Personally, seeing the sheer joy for teaching on my campus has been so exciting to see. I'm deeply motivated to see through things through. So think about that. While other schools are talking about how their teachers are burned out. The Vaughn is actually seeing a shift in in the entire way. People are approaching their work. Teachers are excited to be at work every day and they're excited to help students learn. Patricia Goolsbee talks about how just how the culture has shifted Her school this year that Patricia is a principal of a of an alternative school. And so those those campuses tend to, to have a lot of cynicism attached to it as students are really working hard to try to still achieve something under some really tough circumstances. But she's seeing a shift in her narrative, where while everybody else is complaining about toxic cultures, her culture is becoming healthier her culture is, is growing.

And then we have principles like Julie Stiglitz, who is working in a highly impacted area, working with an indigenous population in Canada and her school and going in and trying to repair things, especially when there's a distrust of school in the community after years of residential schools, when when students don't feel like they have a lot of hope. Julie is seeing a shift in her culture rather than a culture of despair. There's a culture of hope, rather than a culture of distrust. She's building inroads into the community by by sharing that vision by by creating core values and a mission that's bringing her culture together, instead of going through a very toxic year that a lot of people are going through. And people are just saying, Well, I mean, what are we going to do? It's just been tough. We're all tired.

Julie is taking the leap and healing her culture. 

Now, we also have Julie McIntosh. And and Julie Mackintosh has been killing it with her culture, just by having that vision. She says, you know, personally, I feel like I'm not playing this giant game of Whack a Mole. But what she's doing to her culture is really extraordinary, because she's saying that they are going through the vision and the mission, and they're still working on the core values. But what she says is the vision has created a momentum shift with staff, you can almost feel relief or a weight being lifted, that they know what they are there to do versus showing up every day to as she says, shovel in a snowstorm. So this instead of her staff feeling stressed out like people are saying everybody is feeling her staff is changing, they don't feel stressed out. There's a relief that comes from that. These are just a few of the stories that that we're hearing inside a builder, ship University, from people who just like you are dealing with the same crises of coming out of COVID. They're, they're dealing with the same threat of toxicity in their culture, they're dealing with the same disciplinary issues. 

And then they're Scott Lawrence, who is just beginning his builder ship journey. And already, he has gotten his staff to the point where instead of kind of sitting around and commiserating about their problems and complaining, just getting them focused on that vision, just getting into that 90 day cycle, his staff is now coming together. And they are not just talking about problems, but they're eliminating some of their biggest challenges. So just removing them out of the way. And they're doing that in as short as 90 days. So a staff is now seeing the power, they have to really change the narrative in their schools. And it's shifting the culture in schools.

Now, these these are the kinds of stories that that builders are quietly telling on their campuses, while the nation is is bemoaning a drop in test scores, builders are quietly showing gains, while the nation is is pulling their hair out because of a teacher shortage and because of toxic cultures in schools. And because everybody feels overwhelmed. These builders are quietly creating hope in their culture, they're there quietly shifting the momentum, they're quietly getting a group of teachers focused on a 100% vision and seeing unprecedented levels of motivation and commitment to that 100% vision while while the nation is bemoaning disciplinary issues and and challenges around that we have builders who are quietly solving disciplinary issues and SEL issues and and getting students reconnected to their schools. And the reason I want to highlight these builders is not just because I am proud of them.

It's not just because I think their stories deserve to be shared. 

The reason I'm sharing it these stories with you is because I believe you need to hear a different narrative. You need to know that there's a different story out there. You don't have to live with the circumstances that you are living with right now. You don't have to accept defeat. You don't have to delay your 100% vision until you can get discipline together. You don't delay delay your 100% of vision until your staff you know stops feeling so overwhelmed. You don't have to delay your 100% vision until we just get through COVID You can start now You can start pursuing your vision right now. And you can see success, where other people only see failure, you can make gains when other people are losing, you can shift culture when other people's cultures are deteriorating. And when you do that, you to become this light you to help people see that it doesn't have to be this way.

You know, sometimes, I'll be honest, I get a little discouraged, it feels like I'm tilting at windmills when I say you need to be pursuing 100% People tell me I'm being naive. People, you know, challenge me and say well to have you ever achieved it. People, you know, get cynical about it and and laugh, or people ridicule it, or, or people try to poke holes and this idea of 100%. And yet, when I go inside a builder's University, and I see these stories, they feed me, they helped me realize that I'm not crazy. But I'm not being naive, that when you create a vision, that, that outlines success for 100% of your students, it changes how you do your work. It changes what you what, what, what you what you focus on every day, it changes the story for your school. And in doing so you change the narrative for your students. So knock on this shut up about it. Because every time somebody tells me it can't be done, I look inside, build a ship University and see people doing it. Every time somebody tells me that I'm being horribly naive. I look inside a builder ship University, and I see people who are not being naive, but I'm making this a reality. It's their reality. So much so that a lot of times we'll be in office hours talking and they'll just kind of casually mentioned it.

You know, we were talking to Kevin, he just casually mentioned that his school went from the highest number of disciplinary referrals to the lowest number of disciplinary referrals. After he broke core values in place, he just casually mentioned that Adrienne just casually mentioned that her school had outscored every other school in her district on all but a few key measurements. They they were busy talking about what was next. And that's what happens when you become a builder. You start putting in posting these wins on a regular basis, not sometimes but it becomes your normal, your normal is not accepting defeat, your normal is not setting a goal this summer of and then having to backtrack off of your goal, because you're not going to make it your normal is not going to work every single day and putting out fires all day or playing this giant game of Whack a Mole with your problems. Your normal is going into work with a sense of calm and purpose your normal is expecting to see 10% 15 20% gains, every single year, your normal is walking into a culture that is becoming more and more healthy by the day.

So if you're ready for that to be your normal, you don't have to wait. 

You don't eat, you're not being naive. You're you're you're not you're not being unrealistic. It can happen. Not only can it happen, it's already happening for principals all over the country. In Canada and other parts of the world. It's all ready happening. And it can happen for you too. So I want to encourage some people today, I heard somebody say something the other day that it's just been ringing around in my mind. You said you've not come this far to just come this far. When you chose to be a principal, or an assistant principal, when you chose to go into district administration. You know, you you didn't that didn't happen overnight, you worked hard to get here. And you didn't come this far in your own professional journey to settle for less than 100%. There's so much more out there for you. But you have to believe it, you have to believe it's possible. And it's hard to believe it's possible if you're only listening to the prevailing narrative out there which is doom and gloom. But when you can realize it that in the midst of all of that, under the worst circumstances, there are people who are posting 10% gains 15% gains there are people who are shifting their culture there are people who are are eliminating disciplinary issues.

What I hope is that that gives you hope that helps you Oh, that if they can do it, you can do it too. You know, we had a builders lab last year, I think it was we had some of the people from builders ship University and builders, lab alum, come into builders lab and just have a panel and talk about how they were applying what they learned in builders lab and the difference it was making. It was a great panel and mean, just incredible, just gems being dropped all over the place. But after it was over, and they left the panel left, and we were debriefing with the folks and builders lab, people kept saying, You know what, they were all very different. You know, we had an assistant principal from Canada, we had a principal from Mississippi, we had another elementary school principal from Mississippi, we had a middle school principal from New York City. So different regions of the world, different levels, different personality styles. So we were saying they were all so different. But the thing they all had in common was just, they were also calm. Wait, you know, we're stressed out, we're trying to, you know, figure out how we get through the rest of the year, and they're just calm. They're dealing with the same problems we're dealing with, but they're calm. And the reason they were so calm, is because they're being pulled by something bigger. See, when you have that 100% vision when that vision is out in front of you. It's like what Tasha Lin said? Does? Do these circumstances change our vision? Do these circumstances make our vision unimportant? No, then we'll figure it out. Because it's not about the circumstances, it's about the bigger vision. So you don't have your school does not have to conform to the prevailing narrative. As a builder, you get to rewrite the narrative for your school. You don't have to settle for the test scores, or the culture or, or the challenges that you're facing right now. You can rewrite the narrative. So that's my challenge to you this week. 

I want you to really kind of pay attention to what it is you believe about your school? 

Have you let the prevailing narrative out there, that's all doom and gloom seep into your consciousness so that you kind of believe it? Or is there something in your heart that believes it doesn't have to be this way. And my challenge to you is to drown out the narrative outside of you. Listen to your heart. If your heart is telling you that it really is possible for every student to be successful, even if you don't know how if your heart is telling you that it's possible. I want you to listen to your heart because your heart's not lying. It is possible. And my hope today is that by just hearing just a few of the success stories that that are happening inside a builder ship university right now that you become encouraged to know that it is possible there are people out there who are doing it right now and you can do it too. But only if you're willing to change the narrative, like a belter. I'll talk to you next time.

Hey, if you're ready to get started being a builder right away, then I want to invite you to join us at Buildership University. It's our exclusive online community for builders just like you where you'll be able to get the exact training that you need to turn your school into a success story right now with the people and resources you already have. You'll find our best online courses, live trainings with me tons of resources, templates and exemplars and monthly live office hours with me where you can ask me anything and get my help on whatever challenge you're facing right now. If you're tired of hitting obstacle after obstacle and you're sick of tiny little incremental gains each year, if you're ready to make a dramatic difference in your school right now, then you need to join Buildership University. Just go to Buildershipuniversity.com and get started writing your school success story today.

Thank you for listening to the School Leadership Reimagined podcast for show notes and free downloads visit https://schoolleadershipreimagined.com/

School Leadership Reimagined is brought to you by Mindsteps Inc, where we build master teachers.