Round 'em up for a Breaking Ranks Training

Like many principals around the country, Janice Koslowski, principal at Eagle Ridge Middle School in Loudoun County, VA, received her complimentary copy of Breaking Ranks in the Middle in 2006. And like so many copies, after it was given a quick read, it sat on the shelf for a while. “Knowing that the book was designed to be a field guide, I just got the key ideas,” she said.

All NASSP members received free copies of each book upon release. But having the book—and even reading it—are only part of the process.

“It would take a unique person to take the book and maximize its potential without the training,” Koslowski said. “Breaking Ranks training is that essential step between knowledge and implementation.”

When she attended a Breaking Ranks training session, “it was one of the most powerful professional development experiences I have ever had as an admin,” Koslowski said. Now as a trainer herself, she witnesses the impact of the training sessions, even in her own school. “I absolutely feel like I’m a better principal every time I do a training,” she said.

The Breaking Ranks II and Breaking Ranks in the Middle trainings are two-day events that aim to build leadership capacity, so that principals, assistant principals, and teachers can engage their schools in systemic reform. Trainings including presentations, discussions, and group activities in sessions such as, “Building the Capacity of the Leader through Professional Growth,” “Managing Complex Change,” and “Myths and Realities We Create from Data.” Attendees have the option to participate in a third day of training, in which they prepare to conduct training for other school leaders.

As a Breaking Ranks trainer, Lynchburg College Professor Roger Jones loves teaching school leaders about the process of change in their schools. “The process of engaging with the [Breaking Ranks] tools increases the probability that you’re going to be successful when implementing,” Jones said. “When I was a principal and assistant superintendent, I wish I had these tools and resources. They really get to the heart of student achievement and academic rigor.”

To date, more than 6,000 leaders have participated in Breaking Ranks trainings taught by 800 trainers. During the training, school leaders have time to focus on essential questions such as, what is the vision, what skills need to be developed, what is the incentive, what resources are needed, and what is the plan. Then they take the time to build the skills necessary to be the agent of change at their school.

The Breaking Ranks framework is research-based practical strategies and methods and the training’s interactive structure shows leaders how the concepts of the book are logically aligned and intermixed, provides them with the tools needed to implement the strategies in the book, and allows participants to meet and network with 30 to 50 other practitioners. After the training, the discussion continues on e-mail discussion lists exclusively for Breaking Ranks trainers.

Trainers recommend that schools send teams of administrators and teacher-leaders to the training to maximize their efforts toward reform. Principals who are initially concerned about team buy-in often see attitudes transformed during the training.

“I have seen people who were very comfortable in their own schools and weren’t really sure why they had to come and people who absolutely didn’t want to be there,” said Rider University Professor and trainer Michael Curan. “As the activities progress and everyone is forced to role play and participate, their eyes open up. They see it as an opportunity to really make some changes in their schools. It’s the contagious atmosphere that really causes people to enact change in their own schools.”

Trainings are held at schools and districts by request.

““I’ve been in public education for 37 years,” Lynchburg’s Jones said. “And it’s the most exciting aspect of education I’ve been involved in.”