July 1, 2023 • 46 mins
Dr. Tinisha Parker, as Executive Director for Student Services for Gwinnett County Public Schools in Georgia, is responsible for the wellbeing of more than 180,000 students. Imagine the challenges she faces in supporting the social, emotional, and academic needs of all students. Dr. Parker tells us how she approaches this complex and very personal professional work.
"Outliers in Education" is a project of CEE, The Center for Educational Effectiveness. Find out more at effectiveness.org.
Produced by Jamie Howell at Howell at the Moon Productions.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
AD VO (00:00):
Outliers in Education is brought to you by CEE, The
Center for EducationalEffectiveness - Better data,
Better decisions, Betterschools. To find out more visit
effectiveness.org.
I think we really need to changehow we look at what we do in
(00:35):
schools, everything that we doas educators, it just comes back
to people. I love it even whenit's hard, especially when it's
hard. Ultimately, I mean, thisis about what's best for kids.
Eric Price (00:48):
Hello, everyone. And welcome back to another episode
of outliers in Education. I'myour co host, Eric price, and
with me is always my friend EricBolz from the Center for
Educational Effectiveness.
Bolzie, what's the largestschool district you've ever
worked in?
Erich Bolz (01:01):
Well, the largest school district I've ever worked
in is the one I'm coming to youincidentally, from right now.
Pasco School District insoutheastern Washington, about
20,000 students about 24buildings. And I thought it was
the most giant place in theworld until last April, I got to
spend some time in Gwinnett.
County Public Schools.
Eric Price (01:18):
And what's that size proportionally?
Erich Bolz (01:20):
Well, it's just nine Pasco is merely nine times
20,000. So 180,000, it's, it's amind blowing experience to come
from a relatively rural place,and what passes for a large
district in a in a rural side ofa given state and work at GCPs.
And I know you've worked in somesmaller organizations as well,
(01:41):
what are some of thosedifferences when you have to go
from smaller to larger as far asleadership and some of the
challenges? That's a reallyinteresting question. So right
now I'm working as an interimsubstitute vice principal at
Kiahuna, Benton elementaryschool here, also in
southeastern Washington, theyhave 1400 kids in grades K
through 12. So that's thesmallest place I ever worked
started teaching there at thebeginning of my career, last
(02:03):
century between a certain age,and I really don't have a
preference between small andlarge. In my experience, I think
they're fraught with the samecomplexities and really attack
problems from a totallydifferent standpoint, in a large
system. You do have folks thathave expertise in just about
every area under the sun, in asmall district, you don't, but
you can really turn the shippretty agilely when you're in
(02:25):
small places, so I think I thinkthey just have different
contexts and equal complexity.
Well, our esteemed guest todayis coming to us from the 11th
largest school district in ournation. Dr. Tanisha Parker is
the Executive Director ofStudent Services for Gwinnett
County Public Schools inGeorgia. She's responsible for
supporting more than 180,000students across 142 buildings.
(02:47):
We're truly grateful that youmade the time to join us.
Welcome to our show today. Dr.
Parker. Thank you. And Dr.
Parker, I'm going to take thefirst question, I'm actually
going to ask it in a couple ofparts. So the first part is, can
you share with us really yourwhy What drew you into
supporting students on what wetypically refer to as sort of
(03:07):
the student services side ofeducation?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (03:11):
Absolutely.
My my Y comes from a couple ofplaces, starting definitely from
home. My mom was an educator. SoI grew up at schools all the
time, she went intoadministration, she was a
special education teacher,actually. So I got to see a lot
of the creative strategies andinterventions she would do just
(03:31):
to try to keep kids in theirseats so that they could engage
in instruction. So she wasdefinitely my first teacher and
my first influence in education.
When I did go into education, Iwanted to as a teacher in social
studies. And so when I startedteaching social studies at the
high school level, I had ninthgrade, and I had 10th grade
(03:53):
students. And I had, at thattime, what we called a technical
track. These were students whohad selected not to go on a post
secondary track for like collegepreparatory courses. That's not
an option anymore. And in thedistrict, we prepare all kids
for the college track if they ifthey choose to do so. But also
(04:15):
provide information for avariety of other post secondary
options as well. But in thoseclasses, and I had a couple of
college prep classes, what Ilearned is that there were so
many students that were dealingwith life. My my 21 year old now
says life is life in and at thattime.
(04:36):
I have learned what that meansfor her generation, but life has
always been life in is what itseems like. And so those
children we're dealing withsometimes very adult issues that
got in the way of them beingable to even attend to why
Napoleon wanted to, you know,invade and take over France, so
(04:58):
they just didn't That wasn't apriority for them understanding
or learning that. And when Iwould get to know them and talk
to them about, well, what whydidn't we do our homework? Or
why did we make this grade onthis test and I learned of all
the things that they weredealing with. So many of my
students for parental FIDE areadults of Fi, they literally
(05:19):
were dealing with adult thingsand helping their parents. So I
became definitely not I mean,there's a lot of training that
goes into counseling, but kidsat that point in time, would
come to me by just to talk. Andthey weren't in my class at that
particular time, our districtwas changing heavily,
(05:39):
demographically, as well. So Iat that point in time, in 2000,
I was the third black teacherhired at my school, and there
were 400 staff members at thetime, oh, smooth. So we had a
lot. We were, I believe thesecond or definitely the first
largest middle high school inour district, state, but I think
we were like, fourth or fifthlargest high school, it was
(06:03):
Collins Hill High School, at thetime in the nation. So we had a
lot, we had over 4000, kiddos,well over 4000 in that school.
And I just knew that, in orderfor me to even get to the
academic content, that I had tokind of break through some of
these other social barriers thatwere preventing them from from
(06:25):
learning. And so when I wenthome, to raise my own children
after my husband and I startedhaving our family, I also stayed
home, but also went to schoolfor school counseling, and I
came back into the buildingthree years later, as a school
counselor. And I've never lookedback. And it's been it's been a
work of passion for me, I wantto definitely sort of built that
(06:50):
network in that safety net forkids that not not every student
has had. My own brother was partof this school system and didn't
have that safety net, to catchhim. And so it has been a a
heart work for me not hard, itis hard. But it's been heart
work for me to really developthis system for for the kids
(07:12):
that are here now.
Erich Bolz (07:13):
Thank you for sharing that, Dr. Parker. And,
you know, when we think aboutschools, and and I started as a
principal last century beforethe before No Child Left Behind.
So when I think about schoolsover about the last quarter
century, you know, our focus hasbecome almost singular, almost
maniacally singular on readingand math results. Why is it so
(07:35):
important to focus on the wholechild or when we think about
kids, particularly post COVIDpandemic, on mental health
during these times, if our goalreally is to increase
achievement academically acrossthe board,
Dr. Tinisha Parker (07:46):
we started in this district having these
conversations probably three orfour years ago, we talked about,
I can remember doingpresentations to the board very,
very early on, at the time, thatconversation was, you know,
teachers and one more thingadded to our teachers plate. And
we really need to not overburdenthem with additional or
(08:06):
auxiliary supports. And that wasa national conversation that
wasn't a conversation isolatedto our district. It was it was
truly national. And one of thethings we as a district did was
really try to illustrate thatsocial emotional learning isn't
additional to the plate, socialemotional learning is the plate
in, we had a cute little graphicwith a fork and a knife and a
(08:27):
plate, and social studies, math,science and all this other stuff
on the plate. And this was fouryears ago, at least, that we
were having these conversations,and it was in order for our
students to achieve. And some ofthose kids are we're trying to
get them to achieve forgraduation requirements. But
even our kids that are doingwell. They don't achieve to
(08:50):
their maximum capacities, ifthey're not socially supported
and protected in. And if wedon't have those structures in
place, one to identify that helpis needed. Because not every kid
is going to cry out and cry outisn't literally crying out all
the time. Sometimes it'sattendance. Sometimes it's
behavior. Sometimes it isgrades, and those are things
(09:10):
that are ringing our bells andsaying, Hey, this kid is in
trouble. Sometimes those kidsare amazingly high fliers, but
they're struggling internally.
They are gifted kids. They arethe kids that never get in
trouble. they internalizeeverything. They are the kids
that are there every single day.
So they've not hit any of ourmarkers. But we have to build in
structures. My brother was oneof those kids. We have to build
(09:33):
in structures that investigateand we question and ask kids,
how is your experience? How areyou feeling? What's going on
that school for you today? Sothat even if they're not telling
us through the regularmechanisms that we've identified
as hard data marks, we'veinquired, we've we've been
watchful we've noticed changesin behavior. And so it's a part
(09:56):
of building up that structurethat awareness and that skill.
sat with the adults in thebuilding to make sure we really
have this comprehensive net tosupport kids. And that is how we
get to our best achievement andbest academic scores for all of
our students.
Eric Price (10:13):
So that's a bit of a flip, Dr. Parker. So when we, I
had a conversation with oursuperintendent of our state of
Washington number of years back,and we were talking about
changing things, because we wereputting in a new assessment
system in Washington State. Sothis was way back, you know,
before No Child, and, and one ofher comments was, like, High
(10:34):
School is the most difficultplace to change, you know,
elementary, they'll do whateverMiddle School as long as you
keep the meeting short, not aproblem. High School, good luck
changing that culture, that'sour most difficult egg to crack.
So when you presented this ideaof the plate, and that's a
that's a big structural change,you know, for some of our
instructors, how did theyrespond to that? Was that like,
yeah, yeah, I got it. I love thesocial emotional stuff. How did
(10:56):
they respond to that?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (10:58):
I think, again, the way the way we
responded here in the district,or the way it was received
initially, is how it's oftenreceived across the nation.
People think in order to do onething you have to do or not do
something else. So if we'regoing to support social
emotional learning, then we'renot going to support academic
and we're not going to supportrigor. And I believe that they
(11:19):
can exist together. And Ibelieve when they exist
together, you get the maximumresults for both. And so that's
how we presented it. Did it takea while to get everyone on board
and understanding that? I thinkso because there's so many
competing messages out it justin the world about what Sel is,
what Sel is it? So that wasreally part of our work here in
(11:42):
our district was really definingwhat social emotional learning
was here for us. Because when IGoogled SEL, when I Googled, you
know, different curriculums, ordifferent teachings or lessons
that people had engaged studentsin and other places, I was like,
yeah, that's not what we woulddo here. So I understood where
some of the concern from a lotof our parents actually came
(12:04):
from. And so it became a real,intentional job of of the
department in the district toreally educate on what social
emotional learning is here, andhow we ground our work in the
five competencies of SEL throughcastle. So. So yes, that is a
shift, but it's not a shift fromacademic or from rigor is the
(12:27):
shift to include socialemotional wellness, and learning
for all of our students with thesole intention of developing a
well rounded student andsupporting the whole child.
Erich Bolz (12:40):
And Dr. Parker, can you share with us what that
looks like when you have tooperationalize that vision to
support 180,000? Students?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (12:49):
Yes, it looks like a lot of work. It
looks like a lot of teamwork.
What we had done in ourdistrict, which is what I
suspect happens all across thenation, and particularly in
large districts, because thereare I think someone said
earlier, there are so manypeople that are working in the
district, you kind of specializein an area. And that is
certainly what happened in ourdistrict, we specialize we are
(13:12):
resource rich, we have a lot ofresources in terms of intellect
and expertise, we have that inour district. But what we
learned quickly is that andreally to operationalize a Multi
Tiered System of Supports, allof those experts have got to be
speaking and talking together.
(13:35):
It can't be in one off, youknow, quarterly meetings, like
it has to be part of thebusiness. And we can't just say
it here at the district leveland expect it to happen at the
local school level, we have todevelop and create structures
that really support thatinclusion and that cohesion of
efforts at the building level,for example, my team, just
(13:58):
present it to our clustersuperintendents, who have
oversight of schools in ourdistrict on how we're going to
merge and marry PBIS, MTSS, SELall of these things, because
right now, it does feel likethere are a million different
things that I as a classroomteacher, I'm supposed to do. And
(14:20):
oh, I was hired to actuallyteach social studies. So what we
have learned is that we can'tjust say, Hey, your teams need
to be collaborative, you need tohave your, your PBIS person
working with your advisementcoordinator, because that's
where these lessons can actuallybe given to students directly.
What we've developed and what weare going to move forward with
(14:41):
is creating that structure, thateffective teaming structure
where yes, we are a PBISdistrict now, we have every
single of our schools all 40 142trained in PBIS. They have to
have a PBIS team. Well, we'renot going to ask you to have a
PBIS Team and SEL team, arestorative practice team and an
(15:03):
advisement team, we're gonnapull all those those people
those components into this PBISteam, because that's required by
the state. And that's what wehave to maintain. And what we
saw and learned is that theirnatural connections, and natural
positions and roles that theseother areas were assigned that
(15:23):
can be pulled into our PBISteam. This way, we're not having
to hope that our schools, all142 of them have been able to
figure out and work out aschedule where the advisement
coordinator can meet with thePBIS coach or the SEL team lead,
can can meet with the PBIS coachor the advisement. They're all
(15:45):
on the same team already. And sonow what we're doing after we've
made that recommendation, or wemake that recommendation for
effective teaming, we're goingto provide them with not what do
you talk about when you get inhere to be most effective? Like,
what should this meeting looklike? Right? What data are you
using, because there's a PBISperson that's over data. But
guess what artists, el teamshave been using data,
(16:07):
particularly around a schoolculture, the effectiveness
survey that we launched lastyear, and so that person can
bring that into theconversation. And it's not
happening in isolation. So we'rereally working hard as, as a
large district, things don'tmove fast. And we have to
procedural lies everything,right? Because we have so many
(16:29):
schools, and people have to havethe same understanding. So
teaching and awareness is key.
But then the next thing isproviding that structure and
those tools to do what we'reasking our schools to do.
Eric Price (16:40):
So Dr. Parker, what I'm hearing you say, and I know
us as educators, we know PBISSEL, I mean, this is the
alphabet soup, right of all ofthose pieces. But the way in
which you're trying to make thatwork and function for your
system or for your teachers isyou're really putting that under
the umbrella of positivebehavior intervention supports
of students in that PBIS team,is that correct?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (17:01):
Correct.
That is the anchor framework,and restorative practices and
SEL all of those strategies andinterventions will support
enroll into PBIS.
Erich Bolz (17:12):
So I love what you had to say about trying to
create that coherence throughthe PBIS structure. And not sort
of bifurcating that into themillion initiatives that I that
teachers feel, in general, notin GCPs. But I think across the
United States at this point, Imean, folks are just saturated
with the initiatives coupled byI think our children have never
(17:33):
needed us more, they've neverbeen harder to serve. So working
in this day to day role as a asa substitute vice principal has
really has been a really goodthing for me. All that is a
really long winded way to say.
So what does it look like isyour operationalizing this at
the district level, you'vetalked about creating that
coherence to the PBIS structureat the building level, working
in two districts of 15 and 25,or about 15 and 20,000. And most
(17:55):
of my career, I found it reallyhard to get out of our silos in
organizations large but muchsmaller than what you're dealing
with. So how, how has thisworked impacted sort of the
unsilent, if you will, at the atthe central administration level
at GCPs?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (18:13):
I think that's a really important
question. And the answer is ithas to start at the district
level, we absolutely have someschools that have been able to
figure it out and find all ofthese connections and make it
simpler for for their staff. Andthat's amazing work. But it's a
(18:34):
lot of creativity. It's a lot ofthinking outside the box, it may
be even creating resources andtools that really, as a
district, we want to be able toprovide our schools. So I
believe it is something thattruly should start at the
district level. And so what arewe doing, not only
interdepartmental I have fouroffices within my department, we
have an SEL office, we have abehavior support and
(18:55):
intervention office, whichhouses PBIS, and restorative
practices, our SEL office housesadvisement peer leaders, our
leadership GSL T, and as well asour SEL initiatives. And then we
have our counseling, and collegeand career office, and then our
social work and our nursingoffice. So all four of those
(19:16):
offices exist in one department.
What we're doing with SEL andBSI, those two offices in
particular, is not only are wegoing to model that effective
teaming, because those twooffices are going to work hand
and foot together. Like they'regonna be in lockstep. And so
what that means is that they'reco creating presentations and
trainings for schools. They'reco delivering trainings to
(19:39):
school so that they see BSIcoach, and they see an SEL coach
delivering that content. And thecontent that has been delivered
has been co created betweenthose two offices. And so that's
what we're mirroring for ourschools to replicate at the
local school level. It alsomeans having commerce Asians
crossed divisionally. So whenwe're talking about teaching
(20:02):
strategies, so none of myoffices are over direct
oversight of teachingstrategies, or teachers, we're
over programs on the supportivecommunity side. But we have to
partner with our teaching andlearning our curriculum
instruction team division, sothat the strategies that are SEL
strategies are not isolated to aparticular point in time in the
(20:23):
day, which is advisement like ithas to be something that is
carried throughout the entireday. And so that's where we plug
into my amazing colleagues thatwork in CNI and teaching and
learning because they havesupport and oversight of
coaching strategies forteachers. So we work with them
to model strategies to co createdifferent presentations that
(20:46):
their instructional coaches andtheir teams then go out and
coach the teaching side of it,like how do you embed best
restorative preventativepractices? Because restorative
by nature makes people thinkthat it's reactionary, but there
are a lot of restorativepractices that are actually
culture building andpreventative. And so how do we
do that work? How do we leverageSEL strategies to do that work?
(21:09):
While we're teaching? Not not asa set aside, we absolutely do
set aside time to, but how do weincorporate this throughout the
day? How do our bus drivers andwe have not forgotten anyone, no
educator left behind and GCPslike we have pulled everyone
together because every adultthat we employ, has a has a huge
(21:30):
responsibility, whether you'reteaching that person in the
classroom, whether we'remaintaining our nutrition or or
the building, you're coming incontact with the kid or you're
driving, transporting kids backand forth. Our bus drivers are
the first people and last peopleto see our kids every single
day. So we've trained our busdrivers and SEL strategies and
(21:52):
listened to them and ask them,What do you need that this hit
the mark did it not whatbehaviors are using. So we don't
we don't take any adult forgranted because every adult has
an awesome opportunity tosupport the development and
growth of a student. And sowe're modeling that from the
district level with our crossdivisional and inter
(22:14):
departmental collaboration andwork and we're providing
resources and tools for that tobe replicated at the local
school level.
Eric Price (22:24):
Dr. Parker, I love that you are including bus
drivers. And you're
Dr. Tinisha Parker (22:29):
our nutrition workers are everyone
our custodians, our clericalstaff, they're answering the
phones when our parents arecalling zactly. All of every no
adult, like I said, no adult isleft behind. We want to train
everyone and make sure everyonehas the same understanding,
including our parents this thatthis will be new this year,
really pulling and gaininginformation to share with our
(22:52):
parents on how to support SELinstruction and restorative
practices at home like what doesSEL look like in the home
environment? Right? What doesour restorative practice looked
like in the home environment. Sothat's something we'll be
embarking on, as well as we tryto make sure our parents have
are just as aware of how tosupport this development in
their kiddos as we are trainingour adult staff in our
(23:14):
buildings.
Eric Price (23:15):
If we looked at your schedule in a day, what might
surprise us, I've got a coupleof questions here, what might
surprise us about your typicalday. And then the second thing
is, you have a story that inyour typical day where you've
kind of hat used yourcounseling, or you've seen some
of these pieces really affect akiddos life. And one of those
ways that you know, you're like,oh, yeah, we just nailed that
(23:36):
one.
Dr. Tinisha Parker (23:37):
I will say my typical day often has a lot
of meetings and triage and, andand, you know, putting out what
could potentially be a reallybig issue and really helping
bring some levity to a situationand solution for for different
situations. That's what mytypical, and it's an all
different areas, I'm in constantcontact with our CSTs. They call
(24:01):
whenever they they need me inour CSCs again, or have direct
supervision over our school. Soif there's a school issue that's
being elevated, if I'm pulledin, I'm definitely one trying to
support the de escalation ofwhatever that is. And also that
frontline, yes. And trying tosupport with some different
strategies and interventionsthat maybe have not yet been
(24:21):
thought of, I think maybe one ofthe most surprising things that
that people would think or findsurprising is how often I talk
to parents. Like I'm always opento talking to parents and
calling, they'll call me oneither my work phone or our work
cell and we'll have aconversation and I can honestly
say a lot of this conversationshave been around therapeutic
(24:43):
support or SEL for kids likewhat is that? And I've never
shied away from theconversation, particularly
around SEL because I trulybelieve that that is just good
for all kids. And when I talk toparents, who have been in
extreme opposition of SEL, andwe talk about well what is it
what was about response? Well,decision making, it's about self
awareness. It's about managingyour time. And they're like, oh,
(25:06):
okay, what else is it about? AndI'm like, That's it, you know,
you want to look through ourlessons. And yes, I want and so
we give them access, you knowthat we have a process that we
review our materials throughthat we invite parents to sit on
as well. So we try to be as openas possible so that our parents
(25:27):
can feel comfortable. I mean,I'm a parent, I have three
daughters two grown one, onestill in school, but I certainly
as a parent can understandwanting to know what's happening
and what what instruction isoccurring with my kid,
particularly if it goes outsideof like, core curriculum like,
well, how are you teaching mykid to be a good person? What
does that mean? And so I'malways happy to have that
(25:50):
conversation with parents. And Ithink that would probably
surprise people.
Eric Price (25:53):
But that's pretty amazing at a place that your
size of an organization Dr.
Parker, to get access to youisn't that kind of unique that
you would parent could talk withyou.
Dr. Tinisha Parker (26:02):
Um, maybe it's just always been a way I've
read it. So it doesn't feelunique at all. It feels very,
very regular, actually. But Ithink that is something that
people would say is that I amaccessible.
Eric Price (26:21):
Dr. Parker, thank you. We're gonna take a quick
break. And then we're gonna beright back because there is so
much more here to talk about,stick around for more from
outliers in education.
AD VO (26:37):
School districts across the country are turning their
focus to social emotionallearning like never before, but
who has the time? Now you dothanks to the whole educator
series, an online SEL trainingthat you take at your own pace,
six modules packed with provenstrategies that will make a
difference right away. Thetraining was awesome. The
content was amazing. Thisworkshop is going to make you a
(26:59):
better educator, taught by SELexpert, Dr. Greg Benner, the
whole educator series deliversstrategies to ease the stress on
you while bringing out the bestin your students,
these strategies they work,you'll be amazed at the results,
not only with the youth youserve, but also in your own
life.
He's telling us strategies thatwe can implement tomorrow.
(27:21):
Absolutely, homerun professionaldevelopment at the speed of
life. Check out the wholeeducator series online SEL
training available now from CDEat effectiveness.org/workshops.
That'seffectiveness.org/workshops.
Erich Bolz (27:39):
Switching gears slightly used from the Center
for educational effectiveness,you've used our educational
effectiveness surveys over thelast couple of years. Can you
share an anecdote or two on howthat's a positively impacted
practice at GCPs?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (27:53):
Yes, I think it's given us more depth to the
picture of our schools and it'sin it's equipped our principals
with more information aroundculture and in an our students
experiences. And I really workwith this the student part of
the surveys. So that's where alot of my energy in my time is
spent with my team, reallyfinding out what our kids are
(28:16):
saying about their experiencesin our buildings. And I think
the way that the the survey inthe screeners are constructed,
it gives us insight toinformation we haven't quite had
before. And so what we'restarting to do this coming year,
like this year was get get themadministered. And let's see what
(28:37):
type of data it's providing us.
And what we're moving to nextyear is how to best leverage and
use this information. So we'llbe spending quite a bit of time
training our internal teams, myteams on how to really look at
that data and determine Okay, isthis an issue or concern that
can be resolved? Throughadvisement? How can advisement
support because advisement isthe time that we can explicitly
(29:00):
teach SEO lessons like thelesson is on time management,
the lesson is on responsibledecision making. So if we're
finding that we're having someissues in any of these areas,
how can we leverage structuresand programs already in place to
support that particular need?
(29:21):
I'm also with the screeners,which we've never had. This was
our first year administeringscreeners. We have insight to
our individual studentsperspective, and for those
students that may not bring likeI said earlier, any of those
hardcore data bills that bringus to alarm. Sometimes they'll
say, there's not anybody in thebuilding. I feel like that's my
(29:42):
friend. That's an alarm, butthey may not have ever shared
that had we not asked so. We areable to look at things from a
programmatic perspective likeusing advisement what what
structures in place do we haveto support a more global need?
What we're also We're able toreally drill down to that
individual student and say, Hey,this student may need someone to
(30:06):
reach out and touch this kiddolike tomorrow. And and we use
that information to do justthat. And we'll be developing
some procedures and processes tomake that more streamlined
across the district. Now that wehave the data, we've been able
to kind of pull run through itand look to see what it is we'll
be developing structures on howwe actually leverage and best
use that information both at theindividual student level and at
(30:29):
the student group and globallevel our teachers,
Eric Price (30:32):
are you directing them to Hey, check in with your
your kiddos, you know, as muchas you can in this social out,
you know, how are they doingemotionally? Are they directed
that way?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (30:40):
Absolutely.
That's definitely part of ourPBIS structure. And our tier one
best strategies and practices,we have something called the
warm welcome, right? We want ourwe want our teachers to connect
with our kids, when they firstwalk into the building, are we
greeting our students as theycome in the door? Do we know our
students names, you know, justand what they want to be called.
So we want to make sure that weare definitely focusing on those
(31:02):
just tier one best strategiesfor instruction. And that's
where a lot of what you'respeaking to comes in. And that's
where my team on the SEL sideand the PBS side are really
there to help coach and supportand develop, you know, some
identify common strategies thatmaybe we're going to do across
all the third grade, you know,classes in the school, because
(31:23):
third grade is really having anissue here, you know, and we've
got ways that we can see ifthey're their classroom
infractions, which means youknow, that it's not to the level
of needing administrator, butit's something that's disruptive
to a degree, but the teacher canhandle them in the classroom, we
can see that data and theteacher has that data. And so
what can we do to support thisparticular behavior?
(31:45):
Particularly if it looks likeit's more than one or two or
three students? Right? So that'snot a student issue. It may be
something more with how can wemanage this classroom in a way
to me to be more productive forall of our kiddos. And that's
where my team comes in and helpsupport.
Erich Bolz (32:00):
So thank you for all of that. And as as we think
about SEO and screeners, in ourcurrent political climate across
the United States, you'veundoubtedly run into some parent
resistance to either SEOglobally or screening children
under the guise of SEL, what areyour best persuasions, when
(32:22):
confronted with that type ofresistance,
Dr. Tinisha Parker (32:25):
awareness and education? Again, that's
where I've spent a lot of myphone call time over the past
two years, is really talking toparents. And I honor and respect
that, you know, I, they want tomake sure that their kids are
not in harm's way or their kidsare not being taught things that
(32:46):
they in their family would notbe teaching. And when I talk
about, we're teaching timemanagement, we're teaching kids
how to be able to read a roomand determine, you know, is this
a time that I should be yellingout? Or is this a time that you
know, everyone is quiet andlistening with that social
awareness? They're, they'remore, they're more
understanding. And I actuallyhave not gotten off of a phone
(33:09):
call with a parent who was stillas opposed to SEL, as they were
when we first started theconversation.
Eric Price (33:17):
So you're a great salesman, dark department, but
Dr. Tinisha Parker (33:19):
you said, Well, I don't know. I think SEL
sells itself once you really getto know what it is. So parents
want the best for their kids.
And I always treat everyconversation like this parent
has this level of emotionbecause they they care and they
want the absolute best for theirkids. So I know a lot of my
counseling background and mytherapeutic background comes
(33:40):
out. But I think that hascertainly been a benefit and has
helped me make some of theprogress with some of our more
resistant parents.
Eric Price (33:49):
That's really tiring work. So when you have that kind
of an output, what kind of keepsyou going what refuels you
everyday to keep going anddigging in talking to parents
looking at systemic pieces. WhatWhat's your secret there?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (34:02):
You know, um, is the work tiring?
Absolutely. Is it hard? Most ofthe time it is. But what what
keeps me going is that I knowthere's a kid out there, that is
really depending on me and myteam to get it right in some of
us need it. need us to havegotten it right, yesterday. So
(34:24):
what I do is, is make sure thatmy support structures are in
place, because you know, do youget down do you get? Do you feel
like sometimes, ah, you know, Ifeel defeated? Absolutely. I
know, our teachers feel thatway. So I understand. But what I
try to do and what I try toteach and preach is that we've
got to have our own supportstructures in place. And while
(34:46):
we're trying to build all ofthis for kids, we have to make
sure that it's in place for usto and wherever it is that you
draw upon for that energy orwherever you retreat for that
respite. You know, at times youhave to do that. So I will Whoa,
slow down and pull back. But Idon't stop. And I only pull back
and slow down just so that I canget back in it and keep going
(35:07):
hard for for kids. So that's howI handle it. Well, and
Eric Price (35:13):
it sounds like a lot of this motivation comes from
some of the experience with yourbrother, would you mind sharing
a little bit about how thatdrives your thinking and your
work?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (35:21):
Absolutely.
My first year teaching, mybrother was a senior here in
Gwinnett. County and in one ofthe brightest minds. In October,
he had been accepted to GeorgiaTech and to Morehouse. And so
that is strictly meritacceptance. They're not looking
at any clubs or anything,they're strictly looking at
academic performance. And so hehe was definitely we believed in
(35:45):
our family was going to go on todo some amazing, I mean, great
things, but my brother struggledwith things that we we obviously
missed or didn't know about.
And, and he, he died by suicidein January of his senior year.
So. So a lot of my work comesfrom wanting to build those
(36:10):
structures for every single kid,absolutely, we're building it
for those kids that we know needus. And and, and I'm thankful
for those kids, I'm so thankfulthat they're showing us and
giving us signs that, hey, Ineed help. But I'm so worried
about those kids that aren'tshowing us any signs that are
(36:32):
excelling in every single thingthat they do that seem like they
have it all together, some ofour AP, gifted kids, those kids,
we think they have it alltogether. But if they don't get
into that one school that theyreally want, they literally
think I don't have any reason tobe here. Like I like I'm a
failure. And I'm thinking mostpeople can't even apply to the
(36:55):
schools that you're getting, youknow, wait listed for, like,
that's not even an
Eric Price (37:00):
option, they just see, they see the negative part
of it, right, and that way, theysee the negative
Dr. Tinisha Parker (37:05):
part of it.
And that comes from a culture ofonly really emphasizing academic
success. And and not reallyembracing that you can be
successful in so many differentways. And a really great way to
be successful is to be a goodperson and to be sound and and
who you believe you are. So andthose are some of those other
(37:26):
skills that come up and fortifyand support that academic
achievement even right. So wewant our kids whether we're the
we're just trying to get themacross the graduation line, or
we're trying to get them youknow, to the moon, because
they're going to recreate NASA,what we want them to do is
believe in themselves and knowthat if I make a mistake, or if
(37:47):
this doesn't go right, the firsttime that it's not all over,
I've got a lot of skills onboard to figure this out. I can
do hard things. So that's whatthis this edition, not a shift
away from academic but this thisinclusion of, you know, SEL and
mental wellness is synthesis
Eric Price (38:09):
of all absolutely, yeah, yeah. So we're missing
some of our kids that are reallyhighly successful, but they're
hurting deeply inside. Right.
And we're not hearing we're notseeing them. What can we do as
leaders to respond to them? Whatwould you tell folks?
Absolutely,
Dr. Tinisha Parker (38:25):
we can, we can listen to them. And we can
create spaces that that invoketheir engagement in that way. So
the screening, the giving kidsopportunities to quietly say,
you know, I don't have anyfriends. They may not even tell
you that if you ask them face toface, that's a hard thing to
(38:46):
say, No, I don't have anyfriends in the school. But they
may bubble that in on a survey.
So as many opportunities as wecan to investigate the
experience that our kids arehaving at school. I think that's
what we need to do. I knowthere's a lot of talk about
student voice. And I know ourdistrict has really leveraged
(39:06):
student voice in ways that wehaven't in the past, and we're
encouraging student voice. I'mkids, they're there. They're so
bright, like I am always just inawe when I listen to some of
their ideas. Or if you just askthem, What do you need what
would make this experience in myclass better and you hear them
(39:26):
and you truly hear them and youtake away that it's you know,
it's me not doing somethingright. It may be me not knowing
what they need, right. So I'mmissing the mark. But if we
listen to them, and we developmechanisms to to be
investigators of theirexperience, I think we we
position ourselves well tosupport as many kids and catch
(39:49):
as many kids as we possibly can.
And that is what I believe mywork here on this earth is is to
do and so Oh, I get tired, but Idon't stop.
Eric Price (40:02):
Right? Ah, well, that is awesome. Dr. Parker, I'm
hearing these themes that arereally moving me and I know
BOCES get we're gonna get to hissummary here, but vulnerability,
trust listening. And I thinkthat these themes keep coming
up. But these are not thingsthat we were raised with as
educators or as leaders, and allof a sudden we're coming
forefront. So this is the timewhen our amazing Sultan of
(40:27):
summary gets to have a shot atthis is a big one ballsy What do
you got his first summary,
Erich Bolz (40:31):
I think this is just a test every single time we drop
an episode, ensure that I'mpaying attention higher. I see
through this. I want to starttowards the end of the
conversation and utilize one ofthe terms that you just threw
out EP. Want to thank Dr. Parkerfor her authenticity and
vulnerability. I think it'sincredibly inspirational that
(40:54):
your brother continues to be aNorth Star in this work. And,
you know, for all of us who havebeen touched by, you know, these
tragic events, I think the waywe make sense out of them is to
is to push forward and honorthat memory. So I wanted to
thank you for that. Before Ieven get into the summary. You
and I have a lot in common. Bothof my parents were career
educators and you know, hearingyou talk about your own children
who are roughly the age of mychildren I have, I call them
(41:17):
children. They're 20 and 22.
Nothing changed me as aneducator, nothing changed my
beliefs as an educator andnothing changed the actions I
took as an educator, more thanthe experience I had raising my
own children. And so much ofwhat you said resonated with me.
I love what you had to say aboutmental health and SEL not being
additional to the plate, butreally it is the plate. We hear
our colleague Dr. BENNER talkabout that in episode six on
(41:38):
outliers in education. We alsosee that in our outlier study,
which is a groundbreaking studyof outliers schools in
Washington state for folks whoaren't aware of this study, we
see it in the context ofsustainability, which is one of
the common conditions inside ofthe outlier study, and SEL
really being maybe that bestvehicle we have to be able to
eliminate student inequitiespervasively and across the
(41:59):
board, not every kid hits everymarker. I think that's something
a lot of us learned aseducators, the internalizes are
not necessarily all right, andthe subtlety it takes inside of
an institutional system. Tocatch those folks is something
that is always a great reminder,thank you for reminding us of
that. Love. The idea that wejust talked about effective
teaming and using PBIS really isthat vehicle to effective
(42:21):
teaming to kind of eliminate theconfusion, the frustration and
the alphabet soup that teachersand principals are dealing with
day to day. Moreover, hearingmodeling that effective teaming
starts from the top and howyou're really de siloing. The
work inside of a largeinstitution like GCPs, I think
will resonate with a lot offolks couldn't agree more that
PBIS restorative and SELpractices are seamless parts of
(42:44):
teachers instructional paradigmand repertoire. So it was great
to hear that no educator leftbehind. I think we don't speak
to that often enough. I again,picked up one of the things that
EP threw out there listening tothose working with kids on the
day and getting them what theyneed, and not forgetting about
nutrition services,transportation, we talked about
an earlier podcast. If a busdriver can take a kid who's
(43:08):
easily set off and put that kidat ease, they've given a gift to
every teacher in the buildingwhere that child attends. So
really appreciated that andbranching out to parents next
year. It's just nice to hear thesystematic nature of the work at
GCPs. Your typical day astriage, said, every educator in
the United States in 2023. Soabsolutely picked up on that. I
(43:29):
love the fact that you talk toparents about SEO at your, at
your level inside of theeducational hierarchy. I think
one of the unique things aboutyou is the fact that you don't
consider that a uniqueness. Sowanted to call that out as
something that's really prettyimpressive and incredible
advisory advisory meetings,student voice circles provide
explicit activities to teachsel. And I'm glad when we talked
(43:53):
about our surveys inside of thatstudent survey. I think there's
77 advisory lessons built inthere by each question item
every single day. So the moreI'm working with folks in the
field I completely agree withwith that assertion, I think
we've got some great ways to toget it that vehicle wise, love
warm welcomes, you can check outwhat we share around warm
welcomes and other building andteacher SEL strategies. With our
(44:15):
whole educator series. There'sgenerally a plug for that inside
of our podcast, and awarenessand education of the best
strategies to break throughresistance, not just with SEL,
but with almost everything as itturns out. And I think when we
think about where we're at interms of polarity in the United
States, you know, for those ofus who want to lash out, be
inappropriate, take the moralhigh ground to constantly come
(44:36):
back to it's really all aboutconnecting with that person
knowing they want what's bestfor their child and utilizing
awareness and education areabsolutely our best strategies.
And then finally, there's a kidout there who needs us. That's
what we heard loud and clearthroughout and totally by the
end. And that's not only yourway, Dr. Parker, but I think
that's everybody's collectiveway who gets up and works every
(44:58):
single day in education. So I'dlove to hear you add on to to
what I summarized because Ithink I hardly did it justice
given all the wonderful andprofound things that you took
the time to share today.
Dr. Tinisha Parker (45:11):
I think you did a great job. Actually, I
really do. I would definitelynot add but reiterate what you
said around at the end of theday, there's a kid out there
that needs us they needed usyesterday, and they need us to
get this right they need us toset aside egos set aside
whatever it is, that could be abarrier to the work and and just
(45:33):
come together. But at the end ofthe day, it's we're doing all of
this because there's a kid outthere that needs that.
Eric Price (45:41):
Dr. Parker, I can't thank you enough. I, I mean,
it's apparent your intelligenceabout systems and the way in
which they fuse together, youclearly on top of most
administrators gained there,that's amazing, but really about
the trust and the vulnerabilityand about just loving the kid
and doing the right thing forour kiddos. And that's the
beginning of our education.
Absolutely wonderful. I wish Icould just clone you and put you
(46:04):
in every system in the UnitedStates. So thank you very much
for being on the show. We soappreciate your words of wisdom.
Dr. Tinisha Parker (46:13):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Erich Bolz (46:15):
And thanks to all of you for joining us today on
outliers in education. You canfind this episode and more
anywhere you listen to yourfavorite podcasts, or visit us
online at effective just.org.
Until next time, this has beenoutliers and education.
AD VO (46:33):
If you'd like to find out how to gather the data you need
to help drive positive change inyour school or district. Take a
moment to visit C E The Centerfor Educational
effectiveness@effectiveness.orgBetter data better decisions,
better schools effectiveeffectiveness.org
Outliers in Education is brought to you by CEE, The
Center for EducationalEffectiveness - Better data,
Better decisions, Betterschools. To find out more visit
effectiveness.org.
I think we really need to changehow we look at what we do in
(00:35):
schools, everything that we doas educators, it just comes back
to people. I love it even whenit's hard, especially when it's
hard. Ultimately, I mean, thisis about what's best for kids.
Eric Price (00:48):
Hello, everyone. And welcome back to another episode
of outliers in Education. I'myour co host, Eric price, and
with me is always my friend EricBolz from the Center for
Educational Effectiveness.
Bolzie, what's the largestschool district you've ever
worked in?
Erich Bolz (01:01):
Well, the largest school district I've ever worked
in is the one I'm coming to youincidentally, from right now.
Pasco School District insoutheastern Washington, about
20,000 students about 24buildings. And I thought it was
the most giant place in theworld until last April, I got to
spend some time in Gwinnett.
County Public Schools.
Eric Price (01:18):
And what's that size proportionally?
Erich Bolz (01:20):
Well, it's just nine Pasco is merely nine times
20,000. So 180,000, it's, it's amind blowing experience to come
from a relatively rural place,and what passes for a large
district in a in a rural side ofa given state and work at GCPs.
And I know you've worked in somesmaller organizations as well,
(01:41):
what are some of thosedifferences when you have to go
from smaller to larger as far asleadership and some of the
challenges? That's a reallyinteresting question. So right
now I'm working as an interimsubstitute vice principal at
Kiahuna, Benton elementaryschool here, also in
southeastern Washington, theyhave 1400 kids in grades K
through 12. So that's thesmallest place I ever worked
started teaching there at thebeginning of my career, last
(02:03):
century between a certain age,and I really don't have a
preference between small andlarge. In my experience, I think
they're fraught with the samecomplexities and really attack
problems from a totallydifferent standpoint, in a large
system. You do have folks thathave expertise in just about
every area under the sun, in asmall district, you don't, but
you can really turn the shippretty agilely when you're in
(02:25):
small places, so I think I thinkthey just have different
contexts and equal complexity.
Well, our esteemed guest todayis coming to us from the 11th
largest school district in ournation. Dr. Tanisha Parker is
the Executive Director ofStudent Services for Gwinnett
County Public Schools inGeorgia. She's responsible for
supporting more than 180,000students across 142 buildings.
(02:47):
We're truly grateful that youmade the time to join us.
Welcome to our show today. Dr.
Parker. Thank you. And Dr.
Parker, I'm going to take thefirst question, I'm actually
going to ask it in a couple ofparts. So the first part is, can
you share with us really yourwhy What drew you into
supporting students on what wetypically refer to as sort of
(03:07):
the student services side ofeducation?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (03:11):
Absolutely.
My my Y comes from a couple ofplaces, starting definitely from
home. My mom was an educator. SoI grew up at schools all the
time, she went intoadministration, she was a
special education teacher,actually. So I got to see a lot
of the creative strategies andinterventions she would do just
(03:31):
to try to keep kids in theirseats so that they could engage
in instruction. So she wasdefinitely my first teacher and
my first influence in education.
When I did go into education, Iwanted to as a teacher in social
studies. And so when I startedteaching social studies at the
high school level, I had ninthgrade, and I had 10th grade
(03:53):
students. And I had, at thattime, what we called a technical
track. These were students whohad selected not to go on a post
secondary track for like collegepreparatory courses. That's not
an option anymore. And in thedistrict, we prepare all kids
for the college track if they ifthey choose to do so. But also
(04:15):
provide information for avariety of other post secondary
options as well. But in thoseclasses, and I had a couple of
college prep classes, what Ilearned is that there were so
many students that were dealingwith life. My my 21 year old now
says life is life in and at thattime.
(04:36):
I have learned what that meansfor her generation, but life has
always been life in is what itseems like. And so those
children we're dealing withsometimes very adult issues that
got in the way of them beingable to even attend to why
Napoleon wanted to, you know,invade and take over France, so
(04:58):
they just didn't That wasn't apriority for them understanding
or learning that. And when Iwould get to know them and talk
to them about, well, what whydidn't we do our homework? Or
why did we make this grade onthis test and I learned of all
the things that they weredealing with. So many of my
students for parental FIDE areadults of Fi, they literally
(05:19):
were dealing with adult thingsand helping their parents. So I
became definitely not I mean,there's a lot of training that
goes into counseling, but kidsat that point in time, would
come to me by just to talk. Andthey weren't in my class at that
particular time, our districtwas changing heavily,
(05:39):
demographically, as well. So Iat that point in time, in 2000,
I was the third black teacherhired at my school, and there
were 400 staff members at thetime, oh, smooth. So we had a
lot. We were, I believe thesecond or definitely the first
largest middle high school inour district, state, but I think
we were like, fourth or fifthlargest high school, it was
(06:03):
Collins Hill High School, at thetime in the nation. So we had a
lot, we had over 4000, kiddos,well over 4000 in that school.
And I just knew that, in orderfor me to even get to the
academic content, that I had tokind of break through some of
these other social barriers thatwere preventing them from from
(06:25):
learning. And so when I wenthome, to raise my own children
after my husband and I startedhaving our family, I also stayed
home, but also went to schoolfor school counseling, and I
came back into the buildingthree years later, as a school
counselor. And I've never lookedback. And it's been it's been a
work of passion for me, I wantto definitely sort of built that
(06:50):
network in that safety net forkids that not not every student
has had. My own brother was partof this school system and didn't
have that safety net, to catchhim. And so it has been a a
heart work for me not hard, itis hard. But it's been heart
work for me to really developthis system for for the kids
(07:12):
that are here now.
Erich Bolz (07:13):
Thank you for sharing that, Dr. Parker. And,
you know, when we think aboutschools, and and I started as a
principal last century beforethe before No Child Left Behind.
So when I think about schoolsover about the last quarter
century, you know, our focus hasbecome almost singular, almost
maniacally singular on readingand math results. Why is it so
(07:35):
important to focus on the wholechild or when we think about
kids, particularly post COVIDpandemic, on mental health
during these times, if our goalreally is to increase
achievement academically acrossthe board,
Dr. Tinisha Parker (07:46):
we started in this district having these
conversations probably three orfour years ago, we talked about,
I can remember doingpresentations to the board very,
very early on, at the time, thatconversation was, you know,
teachers and one more thingadded to our teachers plate. And
we really need to not overburdenthem with additional or
(08:06):
auxiliary supports. And that wasa national conversation that
wasn't a conversation isolatedto our district. It was it was
truly national. And one of thethings we as a district did was
really try to illustrate thatsocial emotional learning isn't
additional to the plate, socialemotional learning is the plate
in, we had a cute little graphicwith a fork and a knife and a
(08:27):
plate, and social studies, math,science and all this other stuff
on the plate. And this was fouryears ago, at least, that we
were having these conversations,and it was in order for our
students to achieve. And some ofthose kids are we're trying to
get them to achieve forgraduation requirements. But
even our kids that are doingwell. They don't achieve to
(08:50):
their maximum capacities, ifthey're not socially supported
and protected in. And if wedon't have those structures in
place, one to identify that helpis needed. Because not every kid
is going to cry out and cry outisn't literally crying out all
the time. Sometimes it'sattendance. Sometimes it's
behavior. Sometimes it isgrades, and those are things
(09:10):
that are ringing our bells andsaying, Hey, this kid is in
trouble. Sometimes those kidsare amazingly high fliers, but
they're struggling internally.
They are gifted kids. They arethe kids that never get in
trouble. they internalizeeverything. They are the kids
that are there every single day.
So they've not hit any of ourmarkers. But we have to build in
structures. My brother was oneof those kids. We have to build
(09:33):
in structures that investigateand we question and ask kids,
how is your experience? How areyou feeling? What's going on
that school for you today? Sothat even if they're not telling
us through the regularmechanisms that we've identified
as hard data marks, we'veinquired, we've we've been
watchful we've noticed changesin behavior. And so it's a part
(09:56):
of building up that structurethat awareness and that skill.
sat with the adults in thebuilding to make sure we really
have this comprehensive net tosupport kids. And that is how we
get to our best achievement andbest academic scores for all of
our students.
Eric Price (10:13):
So that's a bit of a flip, Dr. Parker. So when we, I
had a conversation with oursuperintendent of our state of
Washington number of years back,and we were talking about
changing things, because we wereputting in a new assessment
system in Washington State. Sothis was way back, you know,
before No Child, and, and one ofher comments was, like, High
(10:34):
School is the most difficultplace to change, you know,
elementary, they'll do whateverMiddle School as long as you
keep the meeting short, not aproblem. High School, good luck
changing that culture, that'sour most difficult egg to crack.
So when you presented this ideaof the plate, and that's a
that's a big structural change,you know, for some of our
instructors, how did theyrespond to that? Was that like,
yeah, yeah, I got it. I love thesocial emotional stuff. How did
(10:56):
they respond to that?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (10:58):
I think, again, the way the way we
responded here in the district,or the way it was received
initially, is how it's oftenreceived across the nation.
People think in order to do onething you have to do or not do
something else. So if we'regoing to support social
emotional learning, then we'renot going to support academic
and we're not going to supportrigor. And I believe that they
(11:19):
can exist together. And Ibelieve when they exist
together, you get the maximumresults for both. And so that's
how we presented it. Did it takea while to get everyone on board
and understanding that? I thinkso because there's so many
competing messages out it justin the world about what Sel is,
what Sel is it? So that wasreally part of our work here in
(11:42):
our district was really definingwhat social emotional learning
was here for us. Because when IGoogled SEL, when I Googled, you
know, different curriculums, ordifferent teachings or lessons
that people had engaged studentsin and other places, I was like,
yeah, that's not what we woulddo here. So I understood where
some of the concern from a lotof our parents actually came
(12:04):
from. And so it became a real,intentional job of of the
department in the district toreally educate on what social
emotional learning is here, andhow we ground our work in the
five competencies of SEL throughcastle. So. So yes, that is a
shift, but it's not a shift fromacademic or from rigor is the
(12:27):
shift to include socialemotional wellness, and learning
for all of our students with thesole intention of developing a
well rounded student andsupporting the whole child.
Erich Bolz (12:40):
And Dr. Parker, can you share with us what that
looks like when you have tooperationalize that vision to
support 180,000? Students?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (12:49):
Yes, it looks like a lot of work. It
looks like a lot of teamwork.
What we had done in ourdistrict, which is what I
suspect happens all across thenation, and particularly in
large districts, because thereare I think someone said
earlier, there are so manypeople that are working in the
district, you kind of specializein an area. And that is
certainly what happened in ourdistrict, we specialize we are
(13:12):
resource rich, we have a lot ofresources in terms of intellect
and expertise, we have that inour district. But what we
learned quickly is that andreally to operationalize a Multi
Tiered System of Supports, allof those experts have got to be
speaking and talking together.
(13:35):
It can't be in one off, youknow, quarterly meetings, like
it has to be part of thebusiness. And we can't just say
it here at the district leveland expect it to happen at the
local school level, we have todevelop and create structures
that really support thatinclusion and that cohesion of
efforts at the building level,for example, my team, just
(13:58):
present it to our clustersuperintendents, who have
oversight of schools in ourdistrict on how we're going to
merge and marry PBIS, MTSS, SELall of these things, because
right now, it does feel likethere are a million different
things that I as a classroomteacher, I'm supposed to do. And
(14:20):
oh, I was hired to actuallyteach social studies. So what we
have learned is that we can'tjust say, Hey, your teams need
to be collaborative, you need tohave your, your PBIS person
working with your advisementcoordinator, because that's
where these lessons can actuallybe given to students directly.
What we've developed and what weare going to move forward with
(14:41):
is creating that structure, thateffective teaming structure
where yes, we are a PBISdistrict now, we have every
single of our schools all 40 142trained in PBIS. They have to
have a PBIS team. Well, we'renot going to ask you to have a
PBIS Team and SEL team, arestorative practice team and an
(15:03):
advisement team, we're gonnapull all those those people
those components into this PBISteam, because that's required by
the state. And that's what wehave to maintain. And what we
saw and learned is that theirnatural connections, and natural
positions and roles that theseother areas were assigned that
(15:23):
can be pulled into our PBISteam. This way, we're not having
to hope that our schools, all142 of them have been able to
figure out and work out aschedule where the advisement
coordinator can meet with thePBIS coach or the SEL team lead,
can can meet with the PBIS coachor the advisement. They're all
(15:45):
on the same team already. And sonow what we're doing after we've
made that recommendation, or wemake that recommendation for
effective teaming, we're goingto provide them with not what do
you talk about when you get inhere to be most effective? Like,
what should this meeting looklike? Right? What data are you
using, because there's a PBISperson that's over data. But
guess what artists, el teamshave been using data,
(16:07):
particularly around a schoolculture, the effectiveness
survey that we launched lastyear, and so that person can
bring that into theconversation. And it's not
happening in isolation. So we'rereally working hard as, as a
large district, things don'tmove fast. And we have to
procedural lies everything,right? Because we have so many
(16:29):
schools, and people have to havethe same understanding. So
teaching and awareness is key.
But then the next thing isproviding that structure and
those tools to do what we'reasking our schools to do.
Eric Price (16:40):
So Dr. Parker, what I'm hearing you say, and I know
us as educators, we know PBISSEL, I mean, this is the
alphabet soup, right of all ofthose pieces. But the way in
which you're trying to make thatwork and function for your
system or for your teachers isyou're really putting that under
the umbrella of positivebehavior intervention supports
of students in that PBIS team,is that correct?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (17:01):
Correct.
That is the anchor framework,and restorative practices and
SEL all of those strategies andinterventions will support
enroll into PBIS.
Erich Bolz (17:12):
So I love what you had to say about trying to
create that coherence throughthe PBIS structure. And not sort
of bifurcating that into themillion initiatives that I that
teachers feel, in general, notin GCPs. But I think across the
United States at this point, Imean, folks are just saturated
with the initiatives coupled byI think our children have never
(17:33):
needed us more, they've neverbeen harder to serve. So working
in this day to day role as a asa substitute vice principal has
really has been a really goodthing for me. All that is a
really long winded way to say.
So what does it look like isyour operationalizing this at
the district level, you'vetalked about creating that
coherence to the PBIS structureat the building level, working
in two districts of 15 and 25,or about 15 and 20,000. And most
(17:55):
of my career, I found it reallyhard to get out of our silos in
organizations large but muchsmaller than what you're dealing
with. So how, how has thisworked impacted sort of the
unsilent, if you will, at the atthe central administration level
at GCPs?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (18:13):
I think that's a really important
question. And the answer is ithas to start at the district
level, we absolutely have someschools that have been able to
figure it out and find all ofthese connections and make it
simpler for for their staff. Andthat's amazing work. But it's a
(18:34):
lot of creativity. It's a lot ofthinking outside the box, it may
be even creating resources andtools that really, as a
district, we want to be able toprovide our schools. So I
believe it is something thattruly should start at the
district level. And so what arewe doing, not only
interdepartmental I have fouroffices within my department, we
have an SEL office, we have abehavior support and
(18:55):
intervention office, whichhouses PBIS, and restorative
practices, our SEL office housesadvisement peer leaders, our
leadership GSL T, and as well asour SEL initiatives. And then we
have our counseling, and collegeand career office, and then our
social work and our nursingoffice. So all four of those
(19:16):
offices exist in one department.
What we're doing with SEL andBSI, those two offices in
particular, is not only are wegoing to model that effective
teaming, because those twooffices are going to work hand
and foot together. Like they'regonna be in lockstep. And so
what that means is that they'reco creating presentations and
trainings for schools. They'reco delivering trainings to
(19:39):
school so that they see BSIcoach, and they see an SEL coach
delivering that content. And thecontent that has been delivered
has been co created betweenthose two offices. And so that's
what we're mirroring for ourschools to replicate at the
local school level. It alsomeans having commerce Asians
crossed divisionally. So whenwe're talking about teaching
(20:02):
strategies, so none of myoffices are over direct
oversight of teachingstrategies, or teachers, we're
over programs on the supportivecommunity side. But we have to
partner with our teaching andlearning our curriculum
instruction team division, sothat the strategies that are SEL
strategies are not isolated to aparticular point in time in the
(20:23):
day, which is advisement like ithas to be something that is
carried throughout the entireday. And so that's where we plug
into my amazing colleagues thatwork in CNI and teaching and
learning because they havesupport and oversight of
coaching strategies forteachers. So we work with them
to model strategies to co createdifferent presentations that
(20:46):
their instructional coaches andtheir teams then go out and
coach the teaching side of it,like how do you embed best
restorative preventativepractices? Because restorative
by nature makes people thinkthat it's reactionary, but there
are a lot of restorativepractices that are actually
culture building andpreventative. And so how do we
do that work? How do we leverageSEL strategies to do that work?
(21:09):
While we're teaching? Not not asa set aside, we absolutely do
set aside time to, but how do weincorporate this throughout the
day? How do our bus drivers andwe have not forgotten anyone, no
educator left behind and GCPslike we have pulled everyone
together because every adultthat we employ, has a has a huge
(21:30):
responsibility, whether you'reteaching that person in the
classroom, whether we'remaintaining our nutrition or or
the building, you're coming incontact with the kid or you're
driving, transporting kids backand forth. Our bus drivers are
the first people and last peopleto see our kids every single
day. So we've trained our busdrivers and SEL strategies and
(21:52):
listened to them and ask them,What do you need that this hit
the mark did it not whatbehaviors are using. So we don't
we don't take any adult forgranted because every adult has
an awesome opportunity tosupport the development and
growth of a student. And sowe're modeling that from the
district level with our crossdivisional and inter
(22:14):
departmental collaboration andwork and we're providing
resources and tools for that tobe replicated at the local
school level.
Eric Price (22:24):
Dr. Parker, I love that you are including bus
drivers. And you're
Dr. Tinisha Parker (22:29):
our nutrition workers are everyone
our custodians, our clericalstaff, they're answering the
phones when our parents arecalling zactly. All of every no
adult, like I said, no adult isleft behind. We want to train
everyone and make sure everyonehas the same understanding,
including our parents this thatthis will be new this year,
really pulling and gaininginformation to share with our
(22:52):
parents on how to support SELinstruction and restorative
practices at home like what doesSEL look like in the home
environment? Right? What doesour restorative practice looked
like in the home environment. Sothat's something we'll be
embarking on, as well as we tryto make sure our parents have
are just as aware of how tosupport this development in
their kiddos as we are trainingour adult staff in our
(23:14):
buildings.
Eric Price (23:15):
If we looked at your schedule in a day, what might
surprise us, I've got a coupleof questions here, what might
surprise us about your typicalday. And then the second thing
is, you have a story that inyour typical day where you've
kind of hat used yourcounseling, or you've seen some
of these pieces really affect akiddos life. And one of those
ways that you know, you're like,oh, yeah, we just nailed that
(23:36):
one.
Dr. Tinisha Parker (23:37):
I will say my typical day often has a lot
of meetings and triage and, andand, you know, putting out what
could potentially be a reallybig issue and really helping
bring some levity to a situationand solution for for different
situations. That's what mytypical, and it's an all
different areas, I'm in constantcontact with our CSTs. They call
(24:01):
whenever they they need me inour CSCs again, or have direct
supervision over our school. Soif there's a school issue that's
being elevated, if I'm pulledin, I'm definitely one trying to
support the de escalation ofwhatever that is. And also that
frontline, yes. And trying tosupport with some different
strategies and interventionsthat maybe have not yet been
(24:21):
thought of, I think maybe one ofthe most surprising things that
that people would think or findsurprising is how often I talk
to parents. Like I'm always opento talking to parents and
calling, they'll call me oneither my work phone or our work
cell and we'll have aconversation and I can honestly
say a lot of this conversationshave been around therapeutic
(24:43):
support or SEL for kids likewhat is that? And I've never
shied away from theconversation, particularly
around SEL because I trulybelieve that that is just good
for all kids. And when I talk toparents, who have been in
extreme opposition of SEL, andwe talk about well what is it
what was about response? Well,decision making, it's about self
awareness. It's about managingyour time. And they're like, oh,
(25:06):
okay, what else is it about? AndI'm like, That's it, you know,
you want to look through ourlessons. And yes, I want and so
we give them access, you knowthat we have a process that we
review our materials throughthat we invite parents to sit on
as well. So we try to be as openas possible so that our parents
(25:27):
can feel comfortable. I mean,I'm a parent, I have three
daughters two grown one, onestill in school, but I certainly
as a parent can understandwanting to know what's happening
and what what instruction isoccurring with my kid,
particularly if it goes outsideof like, core curriculum like,
well, how are you teaching mykid to be a good person? What
does that mean? And so I'malways happy to have that
(25:50):
conversation with parents. And Ithink that would probably
surprise people.
Eric Price (25:53):
But that's pretty amazing at a place that your
size of an organization Dr.
Parker, to get access to youisn't that kind of unique that
you would parent could talk withyou.
Dr. Tinisha Parker (26:02):
Um, maybe it's just always been a way I've
read it. So it doesn't feelunique at all. It feels very,
very regular, actually. But Ithink that is something that
people would say is that I amaccessible.
Eric Price (26:21):
Dr. Parker, thank you. We're gonna take a quick
break. And then we're gonna beright back because there is so
much more here to talk about,stick around for more from
outliers in education.
AD VO (26:37):
School districts across the country are turning their
focus to social emotionallearning like never before, but
who has the time? Now you dothanks to the whole educator
series, an online SEL trainingthat you take at your own pace,
six modules packed with provenstrategies that will make a
difference right away. Thetraining was awesome. The
content was amazing. Thisworkshop is going to make you a
(26:59):
better educator, taught by SELexpert, Dr. Greg Benner, the
whole educator series deliversstrategies to ease the stress on
you while bringing out the bestin your students,
these strategies they work,you'll be amazed at the results,
not only with the youth youserve, but also in your own
life.
He's telling us strategies thatwe can implement tomorrow.
(27:21):
Absolutely, homerun professionaldevelopment at the speed of
life. Check out the wholeeducator series online SEL
training available now from CDEat effectiveness.org/workshops.
That'seffectiveness.org/workshops.
Erich Bolz (27:39):
Switching gears slightly used from the Center
for educational effectiveness,you've used our educational
effectiveness surveys over thelast couple of years. Can you
share an anecdote or two on howthat's a positively impacted
practice at GCPs?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (27:53):
Yes, I think it's given us more depth to the
picture of our schools and it'sin it's equipped our principals
with more information aroundculture and in an our students
experiences. And I really workwith this the student part of
the surveys. So that's where alot of my energy in my time is
spent with my team, reallyfinding out what our kids are
(28:16):
saying about their experiencesin our buildings. And I think
the way that the the survey inthe screeners are constructed,
it gives us insight toinformation we haven't quite had
before. And so what we'restarting to do this coming year,
like this year was get get themadministered. And let's see what
(28:37):
type of data it's providing us.
And what we're moving to nextyear is how to best leverage and
use this information. So we'llbe spending quite a bit of time
training our internal teams, myteams on how to really look at
that data and determine Okay, isthis an issue or concern that
can be resolved? Throughadvisement? How can advisement
support because advisement isthe time that we can explicitly
(29:00):
teach SEO lessons like thelesson is on time management,
the lesson is on responsibledecision making. So if we're
finding that we're having someissues in any of these areas,
how can we leverage structuresand programs already in place to
support that particular need?
(29:21):
I'm also with the screeners,which we've never had. This was
our first year administeringscreeners. We have insight to
our individual studentsperspective, and for those
students that may not bring likeI said earlier, any of those
hardcore data bills that bringus to alarm. Sometimes they'll
say, there's not anybody in thebuilding. I feel like that's my
(29:42):
friend. That's an alarm, butthey may not have ever shared
that had we not asked so. We areable to look at things from a
programmatic perspective likeusing advisement what what
structures in place do we haveto support a more global need?
What we're also We're able toreally drill down to that
individual student and say, Hey,this student may need someone to
(30:06):
reach out and touch this kiddolike tomorrow. And and we use
that information to do justthat. And we'll be developing
some procedures and processes tomake that more streamlined
across the district. Now that wehave the data, we've been able
to kind of pull run through itand look to see what it is we'll
be developing structures on howwe actually leverage and best
use that information both at theindividual student level and at
(30:29):
the student group and globallevel our teachers,
Eric Price (30:32):
are you directing them to Hey, check in with your
your kiddos, you know, as muchas you can in this social out,
you know, how are they doingemotionally? Are they directed
that way?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (30:40):
Absolutely.
That's definitely part of ourPBIS structure. And our tier one
best strategies and practices,we have something called the
warm welcome, right? We want ourwe want our teachers to connect
with our kids, when they firstwalk into the building, are we
greeting our students as theycome in the door? Do we know our
students names, you know, justand what they want to be called.
So we want to make sure that weare definitely focusing on those
(31:02):
just tier one best strategiesfor instruction. And that's
where a lot of what you'respeaking to comes in. And that's
where my team on the SEL sideand the PBS side are really
there to help coach and supportand develop, you know, some
identify common strategies thatmaybe we're going to do across
all the third grade, you know,classes in the school, because
(31:23):
third grade is really having anissue here, you know, and we've
got ways that we can see ifthey're their classroom
infractions, which means youknow, that it's not to the level
of needing administrator, butit's something that's disruptive
to a degree, but the teacher canhandle them in the classroom, we
can see that data and theteacher has that data. And so
what can we do to support thisparticular behavior?
(31:45):
Particularly if it looks likeit's more than one or two or
three students? Right? So that'snot a student issue. It may be
something more with how can wemanage this classroom in a way
to me to be more productive forall of our kiddos. And that's
where my team comes in and helpsupport.
Erich Bolz (32:00):
So thank you for all of that. And as as we think
about SEO and screeners, in ourcurrent political climate across
the United States, you'veundoubtedly run into some parent
resistance to either SEOglobally or screening children
under the guise of SEL, what areyour best persuasions, when
(32:22):
confronted with that type ofresistance,
Dr. Tinisha Parker (32:25):
awareness and education? Again, that's
where I've spent a lot of myphone call time over the past
two years, is really talking toparents. And I honor and respect
that, you know, I, they want tomake sure that their kids are
not in harm's way or their kidsare not being taught things that
(32:46):
they in their family would notbe teaching. And when I talk
about, we're teaching timemanagement, we're teaching kids
how to be able to read a roomand determine, you know, is this
a time that I should be yellingout? Or is this a time that you
know, everyone is quiet andlistening with that social
awareness? They're, they'remore, they're more
understanding. And I actuallyhave not gotten off of a phone
(33:09):
call with a parent who was stillas opposed to SEL, as they were
when we first started theconversation.
Eric Price (33:17):
So you're a great salesman, dark department, but
Dr. Tinisha Parker (33:19):
you said, Well, I don't know. I think SEL
sells itself once you really getto know what it is. So parents
want the best for their kids.
And I always treat everyconversation like this parent
has this level of emotionbecause they they care and they
want the absolute best for theirkids. So I know a lot of my
counseling background and mytherapeutic background comes
(33:40):
out. But I think that hascertainly been a benefit and has
helped me make some of theprogress with some of our more
resistant parents.
Eric Price (33:49):
That's really tiring work. So when you have that kind
of an output, what kind of keepsyou going what refuels you
everyday to keep going anddigging in talking to parents
looking at systemic pieces. WhatWhat's your secret there?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (34:02):
You know, um, is the work tiring?
Absolutely. Is it hard? Most ofthe time it is. But what what
keeps me going is that I knowthere's a kid out there, that is
really depending on me and myteam to get it right in some of
us need it. need us to havegotten it right, yesterday. So
(34:24):
what I do is, is make sure thatmy support structures are in
place, because you know, do youget down do you get? Do you feel
like sometimes, ah, you know, Ifeel defeated? Absolutely. I
know, our teachers feel thatway. So I understand. But what I
try to do and what I try toteach and preach is that we've
got to have our own supportstructures in place. And while
(34:46):
we're trying to build all ofthis for kids, we have to make
sure that it's in place for usto and wherever it is that you
draw upon for that energy orwherever you retreat for that
respite. You know, at times youhave to do that. So I will Whoa,
slow down and pull back. But Idon't stop. And I only pull back
and slow down just so that I canget back in it and keep going
(35:07):
hard for for kids. So that's howI handle it. Well, and
Eric Price (35:13):
it sounds like a lot of this motivation comes from
some of the experience with yourbrother, would you mind sharing
a little bit about how thatdrives your thinking and your
work?
Dr. Tinisha Parker (35:21):
Absolutely.
My first year teaching, mybrother was a senior here in
Gwinnett. County and in one ofthe brightest minds. In October,
he had been accepted to GeorgiaTech and to Morehouse. And so
that is strictly meritacceptance. They're not looking
at any clubs or anything,they're strictly looking at
academic performance. And so hehe was definitely we believed in
(35:45):
our family was going to go on todo some amazing, I mean, great
things, but my brother struggledwith things that we we obviously
missed or didn't know about.
And, and he, he died by suicidein January of his senior year.
So. So a lot of my work comesfrom wanting to build those
(36:10):
structures for every single kid,absolutely, we're building it
for those kids that we know needus. And and, and I'm thankful
for those kids, I'm so thankfulthat they're showing us and
giving us signs that, hey, Ineed help. But I'm so worried
about those kids that aren'tshowing us any signs that are
(36:32):
excelling in every single thingthat they do that seem like they
have it all together, some ofour AP, gifted kids, those kids,
we think they have it alltogether. But if they don't get
into that one school that theyreally want, they literally
think I don't have any reason tobe here. Like I like I'm a
failure. And I'm thinking mostpeople can't even apply to the
(36:55):
schools that you're getting, youknow, wait listed for, like,
that's not even an
Eric Price (37:00):
option, they just see, they see the negative part
of it, right, and that way, theysee the negative
Dr. Tinisha Parker (37:05):
part of it.
And that comes from a culture ofonly really emphasizing academic
success. And and not reallyembracing that you can be
successful in so many differentways. And a really great way to
be successful is to be a goodperson and to be sound and and
who you believe you are. So andthose are some of those other
(37:26):
skills that come up and fortifyand support that academic
achievement even right. So wewant our kids whether we're the
we're just trying to get themacross the graduation line, or
we're trying to get them youknow, to the moon, because
they're going to recreate NASA,what we want them to do is
believe in themselves and knowthat if I make a mistake, or if
(37:47):
this doesn't go right, the firsttime that it's not all over,
I've got a lot of skills onboard to figure this out. I can
do hard things. So that's whatthis this edition, not a shift
away from academic but this thisinclusion of, you know, SEL and
mental wellness is synthesis
Eric Price (38:09):
of all absolutely, yeah, yeah. So we're missing
some of our kids that are reallyhighly successful, but they're
hurting deeply inside. Right.
And we're not hearing we're notseeing them. What can we do as
leaders to respond to them? Whatwould you tell folks?
Absolutely,
Dr. Tinisha Parker (38:25):
we can, we can listen to them. And we can
create spaces that that invoketheir engagement in that way. So
the screening, the giving kidsopportunities to quietly say,
you know, I don't have anyfriends. They may not even tell
you that if you ask them face toface, that's a hard thing to
(38:46):
say, No, I don't have anyfriends in the school. But they
may bubble that in on a survey.
So as many opportunities as wecan to investigate the
experience that our kids arehaving at school. I think that's
what we need to do. I knowthere's a lot of talk about
student voice. And I know ourdistrict has really leveraged
(39:06):
student voice in ways that wehaven't in the past, and we're
encouraging student voice. I'mkids, they're there. They're so
bright, like I am always just inawe when I listen to some of
their ideas. Or if you just askthem, What do you need what
would make this experience in myclass better and you hear them
(39:26):
and you truly hear them and youtake away that it's you know,
it's me not doing somethingright. It may be me not knowing
what they need, right. So I'mmissing the mark. But if we
listen to them, and we developmechanisms to to be
investigators of theirexperience, I think we we
position ourselves well tosupport as many kids and catch
(39:49):
as many kids as we possibly can.
And that is what I believe mywork here on this earth is is to
do and so Oh, I get tired, but Idon't stop.
Eric Price (40:02):
Right? Ah, well, that is awesome. Dr. Parker, I'm
hearing these themes that arereally moving me and I know
BOCES get we're gonna get to hissummary here, but vulnerability,
trust listening. And I thinkthat these themes keep coming
up. But these are not thingsthat we were raised with as
educators or as leaders, and allof a sudden we're coming
forefront. So this is the timewhen our amazing Sultan of
(40:27):
summary gets to have a shot atthis is a big one ballsy What do
you got his first summary,
Erich Bolz (40:31):
I think this is just a test every single time we drop
an episode, ensure that I'mpaying attention higher. I see
through this. I want to starttowards the end of the
conversation and utilize one ofthe terms that you just threw
out EP. Want to thank Dr. Parkerfor her authenticity and
vulnerability. I think it'sincredibly inspirational that
(40:54):
your brother continues to be aNorth Star in this work. And,
you know, for all of us who havebeen touched by, you know, these
tragic events, I think the waywe make sense out of them is to
is to push forward and honorthat memory. So I wanted to
thank you for that. Before Ieven get into the summary. You
and I have a lot in common. Bothof my parents were career
educators and you know, hearingyou talk about your own children
who are roughly the age of mychildren I have, I call them
(41:17):
children. They're 20 and 22.
Nothing changed me as aneducator, nothing changed my
beliefs as an educator andnothing changed the actions I
took as an educator, more thanthe experience I had raising my
own children. And so much ofwhat you said resonated with me.
I love what you had to say aboutmental health and SEL not being
additional to the plate, butreally it is the plate. We hear
our colleague Dr. BENNER talkabout that in episode six on
(41:38):
outliers in education. We alsosee that in our outlier study,
which is a groundbreaking studyof outliers schools in
Washington state for folks whoaren't aware of this study, we
see it in the context ofsustainability, which is one of
the common conditions inside ofthe outlier study, and SEL
really being maybe that bestvehicle we have to be able to
eliminate student inequitiespervasively and across the
(41:59):
board, not every kid hits everymarker. I think that's something
a lot of us learned aseducators, the internalizes are
not necessarily all right, andthe subtlety it takes inside of
an institutional system. Tocatch those folks is something
that is always a great reminder,thank you for reminding us of
that. Love. The idea that wejust talked about effective
teaming and using PBIS really isthat vehicle to effective
(42:21):
teaming to kind of eliminate theconfusion, the frustration and
the alphabet soup that teachersand principals are dealing with
day to day. Moreover, hearingmodeling that effective teaming
starts from the top and howyou're really de siloing. The
work inside of a largeinstitution like GCPs, I think
will resonate with a lot offolks couldn't agree more that
PBIS restorative and SELpractices are seamless parts of
(42:44):
teachers instructional paradigmand repertoire. So it was great
to hear that no educator leftbehind. I think we don't speak
to that often enough. I again,picked up one of the things that
EP threw out there listening tothose working with kids on the
day and getting them what theyneed, and not forgetting about
nutrition services,transportation, we talked about
an earlier podcast. If a busdriver can take a kid who's
(43:08):
easily set off and put that kidat ease, they've given a gift to
every teacher in the buildingwhere that child attends. So
really appreciated that andbranching out to parents next
year. It's just nice to hear thesystematic nature of the work at
GCPs. Your typical day astriage, said, every educator in
the United States in 2023. Soabsolutely picked up on that. I
(43:29):
love the fact that you talk toparents about SEO at your, at
your level inside of theeducational hierarchy. I think
one of the unique things aboutyou is the fact that you don't
consider that a uniqueness. Sowanted to call that out as
something that's really prettyimpressive and incredible
advisory advisory meetings,student voice circles provide
explicit activities to teachsel. And I'm glad when we talked
(43:53):
about our surveys inside of thatstudent survey. I think there's
77 advisory lessons built inthere by each question item
every single day. So the moreI'm working with folks in the
field I completely agree withwith that assertion, I think
we've got some great ways to toget it that vehicle wise, love
warm welcomes, you can check outwhat we share around warm
welcomes and other building andteacher SEL strategies. With our
(44:15):
whole educator series. There'sgenerally a plug for that inside
of our podcast, and awarenessand education of the best
strategies to break throughresistance, not just with SEL,
but with almost everything as itturns out. And I think when we
think about where we're at interms of polarity in the United
States, you know, for those ofus who want to lash out, be
inappropriate, take the moralhigh ground to constantly come
(44:36):
back to it's really all aboutconnecting with that person
knowing they want what's bestfor their child and utilizing
awareness and education areabsolutely our best strategies.
And then finally, there's a kidout there who needs us. That's
what we heard loud and clearthroughout and totally by the
end. And that's not only yourway, Dr. Parker, but I think
that's everybody's collectiveway who gets up and works every
(44:58):
single day in education. So I'dlove to hear you add on to to
what I summarized because Ithink I hardly did it justice
given all the wonderful andprofound things that you took
the time to share today.
Dr. Tinisha Parker (45:11):
I think you did a great job. Actually, I
really do. I would definitelynot add but reiterate what you
said around at the end of theday, there's a kid out there
that needs us they needed usyesterday, and they need us to
get this right they need us toset aside egos set aside
whatever it is, that could be abarrier to the work and and just
(45:33):
come together. But at the end ofthe day, it's we're doing all of
this because there's a kid outthere that needs that.
Eric Price (45:41):
Dr. Parker, I can't thank you enough. I, I mean,
it's apparent your intelligenceabout systems and the way in
which they fuse together, youclearly on top of most
administrators gained there,that's amazing, but really about
the trust and the vulnerabilityand about just loving the kid
and doing the right thing forour kiddos. And that's the
beginning of our education.
Absolutely wonderful. I wish Icould just clone you and put you
(46:04):
in every system in the UnitedStates. So thank you very much
for being on the show. We soappreciate your words of wisdom.
Dr. Tinisha Parker (46:13):
Thank you.
Thank you for having me.
Erich Bolz (46:15):
And thanks to all of you for joining us today on
outliers in education. You canfind this episode and more
anywhere you listen to yourfavorite podcasts, or visit us
online at effective just.org.
Until next time, this has beenoutliers and education.
AD VO (46:33):
If you'd like to find out how to gather the data you need
to help drive positive change inyour school or district. Take a
moment to visit C E The Centerfor Educational
effectiveness@effectiveness.orgBetter data better decisions,
better schools effectiveeffectiveness.org
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.