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Optimizing School Performance: �Cultivating Shared Mental Models �and Continuous Improvement.

LEADING &

LEARNING

WORKSHOP

COMMUNITY SCHOOLS IMPLEMENTATION

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What are mental models?

Mental models significantly influence individuals’ values and beliefs, as well as their attitudes and behaviors. It is important that mental models are surfaced frequently, but we have found that many school communities rarely have an explicit awareness of their existing mental models, making changing attitudes and behaviors difficult.

Take 5 min to read the attached article.

Getting prepared to have those hard conversations. Mental Models Reading: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1z6VPEG5BAZBPBdW45cMkoOqaiAxAjc6o/view?usp=sharing

Mental models significantly influence individuals’ values and beliefs, as well as their attitudes and behaviors. It is important that mental models are surfaced frequently, but we have found that many school communities rarely have an explicit awareness of their existing mental models, making changing attitudes and behaviors difficult.

For example, when a school leadership team focuses most of its time identifying poor performers on tests, that suggests a certain mental model or common mindset about what is most important, and how to support the improvement of those students through basic numeracy and literacy skills. A more holistic mental model about how to support students is evidenced, for instance, when a school leadership team or school faculty places the name of every student on the wall, identifies students that no one on the faculty knows or has a relationship with, and make it a point to spend time with that student so they feel included and have a community who cares and supports them. The different mental models about supporting students can be seen in these two contrasting examples as starting with a judgment about student’s basic academic skills as measured by tests, or by starting with adult-student relationships and ensuring every student is known by name, face, and need.

Revealing the different mental models held by stakeholders represents a significant step toward developing a shared vision for readiness that can guide the collective work of students, families, teachers, and school leaders.

As we have partnered with schools to transform the student experience to better prepare them for their futures, we have found several mental models that should be surfaced and reinforced. They are as follows:

Relationships matter: developing/sustaining healthy relationships and a sense of belonging.

Students get what they need when they need it: students show up with unique strengths, and they need different supports to build those strengths and grow in areas where they have challenges.

Power of the collective: our individual strengths have a greater impact when we work together.

Ownership of learning: learners in the community are motivated, engaged, and feel a sense of autonomy, choice, and responsibility in their actions.

Inclusiveness: instructional approaches, opportunities, and supports are culturally relevant and inclusive of everyone in the school community.

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Let’s Discuss

Identify which mental models are most prevalent in your community that need to be reinforced, or explored, and which ones you need to prioritize surfacing in the coming months.
How can the concept of mental models be used as a tool �for community discussions about issues of inequity and unconscious bias?
In your role, what steps or protocols can you introduce in your building to help staff consistently recognize, confront, and unpack mental models in a way that is constructive and safe?
What learning and further exploration do you want to do in regards to mental models?

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Shared Identity
Shared Purpose
Collaborative Leadership

Needs and Assets Assessment: Collective Priorities
Community Schools Advisory Committee

Establish Foundations

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STEP

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Shared Vision for Readiness
Effective Communication Structures
Family and Community Partnerships

LCAP and SPSA Alignment
Coherence: Policy and Initiative Alignment
Strategic Community Partnerships

Set Goals and Take Action

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STEP

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Universal Practices
Student Empowerment
Elevated Student Voice

Professional Learning
Curriculum and Pedagogy Alignment

Focus on Student-Centered Learning

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STEP

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Shared Mental Models
Relationship Supporting Structures
Equitable Access (Individual)
Equitable Access (Programmatical)
Continuous Improvement Process
School Performance Framework

School Instructional Team Focus
Progress Monitoring and Possibility Thinking

Transforming

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STEP

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Student Supports
Professional Learning
Quality Hiring Practices
Evaluation
Hiring
Onboarding

Measuring Results and Impact
Sustaining Staffing and Resources

Sustainability

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STEP