August 1, 2023 • 34 mins
A pioneer in Early Learning in Washington State, Ferndale School District Superintendent Kristi Dominguez believes passionately that all children have the capacity to thrive in education, they simply don't all have the same opportunities to do so, and that those years before kindergarten are among our best opportunities to begin addressing those inequities.
"When you teach to the heart of a child, their mind will follow," she says. By working to build a sense of belonging for all her students, staff and families, she hopes to create an equitable, district-wide learning landscape where every child can thrive. In this episode, we talk with Superintendent Dominguez about how she does it and why belonging consistently rises to the top of her priority list as a school leader.
"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.
Eric Price (00:14):
As humans, we have a fundamental need to belong for
students, aka young humans, thatsense of belonging or the lack
of it can make all thedifference between thriving or
failing in school. Well, you'reright where you belong right
here right now for anotherepisode of Outliers in
Education.
AD VO (00:32):
I think we really need to change how we look at what we do
in schools,Everything that we do, as
educators, it just comes back topeople, I love it, even when
it's hard, especially when it'shard. Ultimately, I mean, this
is about what's best for kids.
Eric Price (00:48):
Welcome, everyone, to another episode of Outliers
in Education. I'm Eric pricehere, alongside my co- host,
Eric Bolz, from the Center forEducational Effectiveness. You
know, we'll see when I look backto 2021, when we first started
doing this stuff, I felt like wewere kind of bumbling through
it, Jamie kind of stitched usback together our producer. And
(01:08):
now I feel like we've kind ofstarted to get our legs
underneath this a little bit andkind of know where we're going
and kind of feel like we sort ofbelong in that space. Have you
had a similar process?
Erich Bolz (01:19):
Well, I feel like Jamie is still stitching us
together. But it was clear to meearly on, and to my parents as
well. And my close friends,including our producer, Jamie
hell, that I probably did belongin an institution. It just so
happened I found my way to aninstitution that turned out to
be public education. Sobelonging is a theme that we're
going to explore in depth inthis conversation. In my
(01:40):
experience as a 21 year schooladministrator, we as casualties
of the No Child Left Behindexperience focused on raising
achievement by mucking aroundwith achievement data and not
focusing on who we served, andwhat they needed to critical
components of belonging. We alsolearned in our outlier study,
that ensuring all kids belongedwas one of the 11 common
conditions of high performingschools. So I'm really excited
(02:01):
to have this conversation withthe through line of belonging
today, EP.
Eric Price (02:05):
Yeah, myself as well. Well, today we have with
us a very special guest whowasn't always exactly sure where
she belonged in her educationalcareer. Right up to the moment
when they handed her the keys tothe Ferndale school district
last year. Let's say hello toSuperintendent Kristi Dominguez.
Kristi, welcome to the show.
Kristi Dominguez (02:23):
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.
Eric Price (02:25):
I know that sometimes when we ended up where
we ended up in our educationalcareers, it wasn't really
exactly where we thought when webegan. So when you kind of
started looking at thesuperintendent seat, and that's
not an easy one to sit in,especially post pandemic and
during Is it is it kind of truethat you feel like you didn't
(02:46):
belong there? And if so, whatkind of changed your mind about
that feeling?
Kristi Dominguez (02:50):
Yeah, that's a great question. And actually, I
would say I didn't feel like Ibelonged in administration at
all. So that was not my path.
When I decided to be a teacher,I was going to be a kindergarten
teacher, early learning person.
I never want to leave theclassroom. In fact, when I moved
to Bellingham school districtwhere I was previously, and they
(03:11):
asked me to consider coming tocentral office, literally, in my
interview, I finally justapplied because they kept
asking, and I wanted them toquit asking, but I, in my
interview, I told them, I don'treally want this job. I've kind
of figured out who the othercandidate is. And I think you
should hire them. They hired meanyway. I said, Oh, I'll give
(03:32):
this a year, maybe two. And thatwas about 14 years ago. So if
you would have asked me evergoing to district office? No. If
you asked me if I was ever goingto be an administrator,
absolutely not. Andsuperintendent was definitely
not part of my path. But I, Ican say that this has been the
greatest job I've ever had rightalongside kindergarten teacher.
Eric Price (03:53):
And plus, it sounds like you did a fantastic sales
job to them as well.
Erich Bolz (04:00):
convince them not to hire me. It sounds like you set
the bar appropriately forillustrative career entry. And I
can relate I don't feel like Iever really belonged in the 21
years I was in administration 16of those in the central office
as well. So can you tell us fromyour perspective, why is student
belonging so important?
Kristi Dominguez (04:18):
You know, when I just when I actually came to
Ferndale, one of the pieces thatI asked the board about during
my interview was what were theyhoping for the new
superintendent to accomplish?
And it was a sense of unifyingthe community. And so when I
thought about what they wereasking of this new leader, I
asked to see the belonging datahere in Ferndale and you know,
(04:39):
their COVID was complex. It wascomplex in many ways, and I am a
mother of three so I saw itthrough the lens of my own
children, but just kids notknowing what their place was at
really critical moments in theirlifespan. And so, I asked to see
the belonging data for Ferndalein only about 30 to 33% of our
(05:00):
students were feeling connected.
That that was alarming to me.
Because what I know is I have asaying it's my educational
philosophy. When you teach tothe heart, the mind will follow.
When people feel really seen andvalued, it doesn't matter how
hard the work is, right? Like wecan all think of those, those
educators that we would doanything for in our own lives.
(05:23):
Because we, they meant so muchto us that we wanted to make
them proud. And so I knew thatif we were truly going to get
the achievement outcomes, we hadto first help our students feel
connected, and have a sense ofpurpose of why they were there,
and what they brought to thetable. So we met, I met with my
Executive Director ofCommunications, Selena
(05:45):
Rodriguez, and I just said, thisis alarming data, we have to do
something about it. And we haveto tell kids every single day,
you matter you belong, and hencethat move forward. I think in
Maslow's hierarchy, we oftentalk about educational outcomes.
And we forget those key stepsthat come before. And you know,
part of it is because state dataputs out, you know, the output.
(06:08):
And there's so many factors thatfall into that number, that's
just a snapshot of a moment intime. And it never tells the
whole story of a child and sobut belonging does.
Eric Price (06:21):
And those numbers of feeling like they're belonging
was that during COVID Christi,
Kristi Dominguez (06:26):
it was coming out of COVID. So it was the year
after, you know, that first yearkind of back. But you know, it
wasn't just our students. And Ithink we have to remember that
staff was wondering, What'stheir purpose, and the job has
changed dramatically, how weidentify as educational systems,
you know, we took we took a hardhit in the press, and, you know,
(06:48):
national context. And, you know,not many careers don't get at
least 48 hours to figure out howto redo their job. And we had an
expectation that we were goingto maintain the same level of
performance. And everyone wasgonna learn how to do it on
Zoom, and not every one even hada computer in their homes. So we
learned a lot, and we're goingto be better for it. I think the
(07:10):
thing that I appreciate aboutCOVID It caused us to pause. And
we were doing a lot of things ineducation that weren't making us
better, but we were doing thembecause we had always done them.
And it forced us to stop and sayis this really the right work.
And so that's what we're busydoing in Ferndale and what the
test mark for me was where thestudents going to start talking
(07:30):
about belonging. And they do.
And I love it on Wednesdays wehave you belong Wednesdays and
we had a community couple ofcommunity members who bought a
shirt for every staff member inour district. And so if you work
in Ferndale School District, youhave a you belong shirt, and on
Wednesdays, that you belongWednesdays, and everyone wears
their shirt. And the power inthat is every one shows up and
is reminded about who we are.
(07:53):
And my saying one team one town,we're all in this together. It's
not about what school you workin what job you do. We were an
ecosystem. And so we havecollective ownership over our
students educational outcomes.
Eric Price (08:07):
Well, Christi, that kind of is moving right into my
next question actually probablyanswered it. But I wonder like
as you move further from theclassroom, and you know, as you
move into central office, in myexperience, you feel further a
little bit more distal fromstudents. And maybe even it
seems like it takes longer tohave an effective change. How do
you foster that belonging senseas a superintendent?
Kristi Dominguez (08:31):
That's a great question, because I never want
to go into administration, I'mstill a teacher, just my my
classroom was the wholedistrict, you're gonna find me
in classrooms all the time, Iwear tennis shoes to work almost
every day, because you neverknow. I might sub I might, you
know, whatever, before December.
So I started in July, and beforeDecember, winter break, I spent
time in every single classroomin our organization. And then I
(08:55):
made an expectation of everyoneat Central Office that two full
days in schools. And so thedistrict office is often empty.
Now, at any given time, we'rereally intentional about when we
meet and why we meet. Andanytime we have a meeting, I
think this was something Ibecause I keep thinking about
(09:15):
what I imagined central officeto be like so I'm kind of using
that mindset of how to breakdown that but I add up anytime
we have a meeting I add up thesalaries of everyone in that
room. And then I asked Did weget that much out of this
meeting? And if we didn't, thenwe need to redo this structure.
So
Eric Price (09:35):
Oh, I wish I would have had you as the leader of
our meetings my entire lifeChristy. Oh, gosh,
Kristi Dominguez (09:40):
we just Yeah, death by meetings a real thing.
So anyway, I just we work inservice of kids. I think the
other piece too is every spaceis a teaching and learning
space. So we talked about thebus is a classroom. So you know,
I spent a lot of time down andtransportation. I'm writing the
busing. How does that classroomwork? How does the classroom of
the cafeteria work has theplayground as a classroom work.
(10:03):
So it's not just the traditionalclassroom, but really thinking
about the organization as awhole. And making sure that
we're spending time in all thosespaces. So
Eric Price (10:11):
anytime that adults are interacting with kids, yeah,
yeah.
Kristi Dominguez (10:15):
And I grew up in an organization like that.
That was how my school was, itwas more of an ecosystem type,
thinking that everyone wascollectively responsible,
including the students, they,you know, as a teacher, I
remember my last classroom, Itaught kindergarten, I had 30
students. And I would always sayto them, there's 31 teachers in
(10:35):
here, and there are 31 learners.
And so making sure that I usethat same mindset. So I don't
think I'm the most traditionalsuperintendent, because I don't
I don't love to be in meetings.
I don't love to sit in and dothat. So I make sure we're out
in schools all the time.
Erich Bolz (10:51):
Well, Christy, you said so many things that
resonated with me. In fact, I'veoften said the same thing.
Sitting in 16 years of centraloffice meetings, I would often
look and estimate salary andbenefits multiplied by time in
the room and wonder what kind ofinvestment was that in the
taxpayers? Were we doing ourlevel best to help folks in the
field so appreciated that
Eric Price (11:10):
because you were so you were so focused on what the
meeting was about bowls, Iimagine I have
Erich Bolz (11:15):
never met a meeting where I was a solid participant.
I want to harken back to thiswhole notion of belonging. And I
know that you've started acouple of initiatives. You know,
you mentioned the shirts in theWednesday in response to the the
baseline data that you looked atwhen when you came on board.
You've done you've doneobviously, some other things.
Tell us a little bit about yoursocial media campaign, how
(11:36):
you've implemented let melanguage in the district and
other initiatives that you seeis, you know, really moving
forward to combat what feelslike that lack of sense of
belonging and students.
Kristi Dominguez (11:46):
Yeah, I would love to take credit for all of
that of all the amazing thingshappening here in Ferndale, but
they were happening the problemwas, we weren't telling our own
story. And so the first order ofbusiness I did as a
superintendent was I elevatedour then director of
communications, I made her anexecutive director and Selena
became my right hand person. Andwe started an entire campaign to
(12:10):
tell our story. Because ifyou're not telling it, somebody
else is. And so we just began tocapture the moments that every
day moments and so wereorganized our communications
team. And so we have aspecialist to him. He, he
manages the social mediaaccount, I believe in social
media, because it's the magic ofthe small moments that tell who
(12:34):
we are as an organization. Andso making sure that people know
about the day in and day out,people always ask, you know,
what are you even doingeducation? Even my own husband
used to say to me when I taughtkindergarten, what do you do all
day. So, you know, people needto understand all the amazing
things happening and so thatthat caught on, and then the you
(12:55):
belong awards, we started that.
And that really was becausestaff belonging was low. It
wasn't just our students of astaff to and they were seeing
awesome things that werehappening of their colleagues.
But sometimes it's justremembering to take the time and
acknowledging it. So the ubelongAwards were just by staff for
staff and and I have the beautyof I got to go out present them.
(13:18):
But a staff member couldnominate another staff member
for the intentional things theysaw them doing to create a sense
of belonging. So that happened,the social media piece, and then
the students started to do it.
You started to see them createopportunities, one amazing
students that we have her nameis Jasmine. She wanted to create
(13:41):
an event at the high school thathonored the belonging of
different cultures in ourschool. So she kicked off and I
think about 303 150 people camewhere she highlighted the
different cultures just in ourhigh school and she took off and
ran and had a multiculturalnight. And that came out of the
(14:02):
belonging campaign you start tosee wall hangings in the schools
that said here at you know Vistawe belong at Central we belong
and students pictures were up,the students started to talk
about it. This summer. We have acampaign that as they travel
around the world, I even justgot a picture about three weeks
ago of somebody standing inParis with their ubelong shirt.
(14:24):
So capturing that around theworld but so it really wasn't
about anything I did it wasreally about just acknowledging
what was happening in and thelemme language has been going
for quite a while but we weren'ttelling anybody about it. So
making sure that people knowabout the amazingness that
Ferndale already was andcontinues to be
Eric Price (14:43):
the Christie way before you became a soup. You
were really vested into theseearly learning pieces. So when
you reflect on that, do youthink that those early learning
pieces do they support thatbelonging and K 12 Education
Kristi Dominguez (15:00):
You know, it's funny that you asked that
someone said, What's this?
What's it like to be asuperintendent? And I said, it's
like being a kindergartenteacher of adults. Yeah, that is
it. It's, you know, it's aboutacknowledging the whole child or
the whole person. And I'vealways said, if we ran
education, like a high qualityearly learning program, we would
(15:22):
be blown away by what can happenfor kids, right? Like,
Eric Price (15:27):
and when you when you contrast that with what
we're doing what what do youmean by that?
Kristi Dominguez (15:31):
Well, when you're in an early learning
classroom, it's play based orinquiry based, children often
get to decide what they'recurious about. And then the
teacher really serves as theguide instead of the instructor.
There's a lot of movements, youhave the arts, you have science,
math, no one stays on any onetopic for very long, it's into
(15:55):
it's integrated. And then youstart to get up and what
happens? Less student voice,less choice. Adults are standing
in front of the room directing,and so yeah, why do we do that?
Yeah, exactly. I'm asking, Whydo I do that? Because we
Eric Price (16:12):
don't have that much fun. Like as adults either.
Like, I mean, that we like to dothose other pieces. And the
further up we get, we just getfurther away from that.
Kristi Dominguez (16:20):
Well, it's funny when I was early learning
specialist, I would travelaround the state and do early
learning audits on districts.
And I would hear from peoplesaying we don't have time for
that play. thing. And I'd say,Well, let's talk about CTE then,
you know, do you have robotics?
Do you have culinary arts? Oh,yeah, we have all those things.
And I'm like, isn't that playbased learning for the
(16:42):
appropriate agent stage. So wedo believe in it. We just we
don't recognize that blocksactually lead to robotics. So
we're getting there though.
Eric Price (16:52):
Wow. So many great ideas there. Let's take a short
break and we'll be back in 60seconds. For more with
Superintendent Christy Dominguezright here on outliers and
education.
AD VO (17:10):
School leaders as we enter the in service season, how
great would it be to offer yourteachers differentiated breakout
sessions led by real classroomteachers? That's where peer
driven PD comes in. peer drivenPD find some of the best
teachers in the country filmsthem talking about their tips
and techniques that really workin real classrooms. And they use
this content in online coursesthat your teachers can access
(17:30):
anywhere, anytime. Teachers canlog in at any time and choose
their own adventure. It's likemasterclass, but for teachers
and the thing is, teachers loveit. So if you want to offer PD
that meets the needs of yourdiverse staff, check out peer
driven pd.com
Eric Price (17:46):
Welcome back, everybody. We've been talking
about the importance of a senseof belonging in schools with
Superintendent ChristieDominguez from the Ferndale
School District in WashingtonState.
Erich Bolz (17:56):
Christie, I'd like to stay on the on the Early
Childhood piece and, and moveout of Ferndale a little higher
up to the policy level, you'reprobably maybe singularly
responsible for the wholeTransitional Kindergarten
movement really beinglegitimized in this state. And I
personally believe that earlychildhood is the closest thing
we have to an equalizer, ifthat's within the scope of our
control as as public educators,can you talk a little bit about
(18:18):
that legacy? Your your path toit? And what do you think those
ultimate impacts were not onlyin Bellingham, but beyond?
Kristi Dominguez (18:24):
Yeah, it's interesting to me, when we think
about early childhood, we're asystem of reaction education was
built on a system of reaction,right? Like we are totally fine
paying for students to, if theydon't graduate at 18, we'll pay
for them to go to school tillthey're 21, or a child didn't,
you know, we're worried aboutthem in second grade, so we're
(18:45):
fine. Nobody's reallyquestioning retention. But boy,
when you want to talk aboutpaying for early learning, the
the proactive stance, we, boy,people get up in arms. And the
interesting thing is, if youreally follow brains research,
the impact of a student or thedevelopment of their brain, the
(19:06):
the most malleable their brainis is between prenatal and age
nine around third grade, but yetwe wait till they're five and
not even in Washington State,you do not even legally have to
come to school in Washingtonuntil you're eight. That is
crazy to me. And we wonder whywe're getting the results we're
(19:27):
getting. But right like if youlook at the history of
education, we have continued ona model of funding education in
a way that it was designed fromthe very first school. It was
designed for middle class, upperclass white boys who were going
to go into and we've neverquestioned the the federal model
(19:47):
of funding. And I often wonderwhat if we just started paying
for education. We just startedat prenatal and you just fully
funded it. You'd probably runout about nine For our 10th
grade, maybe, and look at howmany kids are doing Running
Start or different options in11th and 12th grade, it is
(20:08):
fascinating to me that thescience is on the side of
starting early, but the policyis not. And so we we built
education around reactioninstead of proactive
kindergarten is not thebeginning, I call our early
learning system, the greatestequity issue we have, because
every child was born with thecapacity to learn and grow. But
(20:33):
they haven't all been given thesame opportunity. So children
who come to school inkindergarten who have had access
to, you know, field trips, or alot of vocabulary, or books, or
lots of math opportunities.
Those are the kids who come intokindergarten, which I cannot
stand the term k readiness,because there's no such thing,
every child is ready forkindergarten, what we need to
(20:56):
start talking about is SystemReadiness or adult readiness.
And I have a saying it's never achild's job to be ready for
school, it's 100%, the system'sjob to be ready for the child.
And so high quality earlylearning systems do that. And,
and I do laugh a little bit,because Headstart kind of takes
a beating in the press about,you know, Headstart results. You
(21:17):
know, kids who are in full timeHeadstart weren't ready by third
grade, well, that has nothing todo with Headstart, right. Like,
it's not an inoculation. That'snot a one year, you had high
quality preschool, you're readyfor third grade, it's the
system, it has to be highquality, pre K K, high quality
first, second, third. And thenthose are the kids who are
(21:37):
showing the results. But I worrysometimes we look at third grade
test scores or whatever. And wesay, Oh, this is a predictor,
actually, the end ofkindergarten is a predictor for
those third grade scores. Sowe've got to back the train up.
And so I'm super proud oftransitional kindergarten in the
state. And when I'm proud of itsput the conversation of the
(21:58):
importance of early learning atthe legislative level, amen.
That took forever, amen.
Eric Price (22:05):
So if you if you had the magic wand, and you are
going to say there'ssuperintendents, and there's
district administratorslistening to you, and you said,
Look, if you could do thesethings in early education, what
would you tell them that wouldhave the most bang for their
buck or their time?
Kristi Dominguez (22:23):
Yeah, there's a few things. One, you know, we
know that teachers are thenumber one direct variable to
student outcomes, right? Well,who's the first teacher, it's
the parent, but we don't alwaysacknowledge the parent and, and
for parent education, you haveto be able to pay or qualify. So
every family should have accessto parent education starting
(22:44):
right away. And that begins inprenatal being able to have so I
would make sure that a communityis ready for that, I think to
school districts are not theanswer, where one part of the
solution. So there are many, youknow, we need to think about the
mixed delivery system. There area lot of organizations that do
this. Well, and families shouldhave a choice. But school
districts have to be at thetable. And I think sometimes we
(23:07):
think school districts You stayout of it, because we're going
to solve it. And it's no, it'sgoing to take everyone at the
table. So I think that's anotherpiece is what role and then
school districts have tounderstand. Because we are
funded with state and federalfunds. Sometimes we dismiss our
private providers, child careproviders, nurse family
partnership programs. And soschool districts have to be
(23:29):
aware of that. And so I thinkevery district should have an
early learning focus. I thinkthey should be thinking through
their community partners, howthey manage that. When I first
began the work, I actuallyfollowed a researcher Dr.
Christie cowers out of theNational p3 Center. And I've
been so fortunate to learn underher. And she has an incredible
(23:50):
framework. And I think everydistrict should know about that
framework and be following that,because that really is a guide
talks about principaleffectiveness, teacher
effectiveness, that communitypartnership, but yeah, every
district should be at the table.
But they can't do it alone. So Ithink that arrogance that
sometimes we are as K 12education, we have to remember
we're one member of a muchlarger, comprehensive landscape.
Eric Price (24:14):
I keep hearing you talk about adults in this
belonging picture, right? Why dowe miss this with adults?
Because I think we saw that inCOVID. Right? We saw that not
only kids were struggling, butwe saw our adults were
struggling. What do we need todo with our adults in that
belonging piece?
Kristi Dominguez (24:30):
Yeah, what is it about us that we think once
we get the degree we have allthe answers. I think we have to
remember right that we went toeducation because we love
learning. And what if teachersthought about themselves as lead
learners, and they always werethe head of the learner and so
in that we have to remember thatwe have to take care of all our
(24:51):
learners and everyone has,whether you're five years of
age, or you're 45 We all havethe same needs is just me. Being
sure that those needs are beingmet. And so I think sometimes we
hold an expectation thatteachers haven't figured out.
Every year is a new year whenyou meet your new class every
year, you become a new teacher.
Erich Bolz (25:13):
Well, Christy, two short follow ups really
interested in taking this to thepersonal level. So you know, in
your first year assuperintendent, can you share a
couple of impact stories, youknow, where, you know, your
leadership's made a differencein the life of a child or a
staff member?
Kristi Dominguez (25:26):
Yeah, that is, that's a good one. And there are
a lot I get kind of choked up. Ithink one of the students I'm
thinking of today, probablybecause it's, it happened
recently. His name's Tommy, Ilove Tommy and Tommy is going to
be a sophomore at the highschool. And Tommy has been part
of our life skills program forhis career. And his mom made a
(25:50):
post that he's in summer school,and he went on his first field
trip ever. And so when you talkabout how we're remembering to
see our students for who theyare, what they can be and who
they are. So we've been talkinga lot in the last year about
noticing everyone for theirstrengths. Like I said,
(26:11):
Education is a reactive system.
And so we tend to look at itthrough a deficit mindset. But
what if we saw everyone for whatthey can do or who they can be,
and we become an system of hopeand possibilities and stop
talking about children at risk,but start talking about children
of hope. And so then it beginsto shift the mindset of what can
become instead of what isn't.
(26:36):
And so, that's one of the piecesand then just listening to my,
our students talk about theubelong campaign. I'm getting
all sorts of feedback thissummer, you know, a student went
to camp and they were sharing,oh, in Ferndale, we have a
ubelong campaign and inFerndale, we're striving to
belong. I had another one of mystudent board members who was
(26:59):
just interviewed by was deaf atthe organization for the school
board. And he just said everyday, his goal is to make sure
that another student feels asense of belonging. So that idea
of an ecosystem, it's now not onthe shoulders of myself or the
board or the adults. Buteveryone is starting to own it.
The fact that today our mayorand our city council held an
(27:23):
event where they were servinghot dogs down at City Hall
because they wanted the studentsto know that they're cared about
and even in the summer, thatthey matter and the community
sees them. So it's not even justthe district movement. It's
become a community movement.
And, and the thing was, it wasthere all along. But I go back
to that goal of unification. Andthat's been the most powerful
(27:43):
piece. So I think those are somethings today I'm thinking about
today.
Erich Bolz (27:49):
Well, thank you for sharing those stories. And then
what will your legacy impact asan educator be Christie, you've
done quite a lot.
Kristi Dominguez (27:55):
You know, I went to education because I had
a remarkable there. I hadremarkable teachers. And my own
personal story was not I did notdo well, in school, school was
really hard for me, I had alearning disability, I spent
most of my student careerthinking that, Oh, you're not
smart. I knew how to follow therules of school so I could blend
(28:17):
in. But I knew I remember takingthat state exam when I was a
senior. And just filling in theScantron bubbles I got denied to
every college I applied tobecause my state test scores
were so low. But I stayed witheducation because some teachers
made an impact and my secondgrade teacher probably the most.
And that's where I develop thatidea of when you teach to the
(28:40):
heart, the mind will follow. Itdidn't matter that I could not
spell or read at the end ofsecond grade. But I knew she
that I mattered to her. And soif I can do half of what she did
for me in my educational career,then I had a career well lived.
Eric Price (28:58):
And she was the one that really made you feel like
you belonged and that you had aplace.
Kristi Dominguez (29:02):
Yep, yeah, I actually she had a clawfoot
bathtub in her classroom. And Iremember spending a lot of time
in there, just trying to you nokind of escape, I think. And
every year I ever taught and 18years in the classroom, I had a
clawfoot bathtub in my classroomin honor of her. So
Eric Price (29:21):
that is awesome.
Christy, I think that if wecould take some of these lessons
about a not being reactive, andstarting early and really
looking at relationships withkids and everybody in that, like
you described ecosystem. So inour ecosystem, Bowles is the
alpha summarizer. And so we'regoing to flip it over to you
(29:43):
bosey What do you got for asummarization today?
Erich Bolz (29:46):
Well, like I often say this is just a test by the
rest of the podcast after to seewhether I've been paying
attention i i see through thosemeetings. I see through this.
Yeah, it's a it's a it's a it'sa it's a management strategy.
Christy you If you wouldappreciate that I really
Kristi Dominguez (30:01):
like it, I might implement it.
Erich Bolz (30:05):
Well, great. So I just want to start with the
notion that when you teach tothe heart, the mind will follow.
So consistent with so much thatwe believe our friends chuckling
and Suzanne Gertz and episode 10have a lot to say about that.
The you belonging campaignreally elevating student voice.
You took me back to myretirement your COVID and COVID
really caused us to both pauseand innovate. So there were some
(30:26):
really positive consequences,not only in education, but I
think across a number ofindustries, because we were
forced to make that pause andpivot every space is a teaching
and learning space. The bus is aclassroom. This is a critical
mindset for for us as educatorsand thank you for that reminder.
Dr. plucky, who says says a lotabout school culture and episode
10 would say you control yournarrative and it sounds like
(30:49):
Christie landed in a in a spotthat was a gem. And her biggest
impact maybe is in reallyseizing control that narrative
using these modern tools we havearound social media to really
change that communicationparadigm in Ferndale student led
initiatives. You know, yourinitiatives are making a
difference whether you're ateacher or a coach when students
start to really emulate thatbehavior. And so the idea that
(31:10):
students are are taking picturesof shirts that that you belong T
shirts from Ferndale have goneglobal now they're all the way
out to Paris, as we heard is apretty cool thing that students
are planning multiculturalevenings and really honoring
each other's backgrounds. Youknow, coming from this campaign,
when it's when it's owned at thestudent level, it's truly owned.
Being a superintendent is likebeing a kindergarten teacher of
(31:32):
adults. I never had the courageto be a superintendent. But I
would say being a central officeadministrator is like being a
kindergarten teacher of adultsso resonated for sure what would
happen if we really kept thoseplay based aspects of early
childhood education all the waythrough our K 12 system? How
different would that educationexperience be? I think that was
the biggest takeaway for me. Ifeel like I know a lot about
(31:52):
early childhood. It's been areal life focus. And you know,
when you're on with somebodysmarter than you, you learn
something every time which isanother great benefit of the
wonderful guests that we have onthese podcasts. Christie clearly
no exception. We're a system ofreaction have said it over and
over and over again. And inearly childhood, is that
ultimate ProAction? That policy,leg science how how many
different ways can we say thatin different contexts policy
(32:13):
legs, science, I think that wasa, that was a great notion for
us to think about. The greatestequity issue we have is the what
happens in early childhood. AndI love the way Christy phrased
that all kids have the samecapacity. Not all kids have the
same opportunity. So whatever wecan do across our ecosystem,
school systems, just being onepositive player in that respect,
(32:35):
we can absolutely make a realdifference. If if we're
committed to that homework. Ithink for our podcast consumers,
you know, check out the Christiecowers framework. It might be
something that we could portfrom early childhood all the way
through K 12. Educators are leadlearners. That's the proper
mindset and noticing strengthsand abandoning the deficit
mindset. Christy is leading anorganization really flipping the
(32:58):
narrative to children of hopeand Ferndale is fortunate
indeed,
Eric Price (33:02):
how'd we do Christie? Anything to add to
that one?
Kristi Dominguez (33:04):
Wow, I sounded really smart on that.
Erich Bolz (33:09):
I think it's because you are
Kristi Dominguez (33:12):
just, I care deeply about this work. And
it's, it really is an honor tobe able to sit in the seat. So
Eric Price (33:19):
well, Christy, thank you for the wisdom that you've
shared. And I think that themore that I think particularly
bowls he and I have here fromthis perch, I think we hear this
less of the academic push andmore of this listening
relationship, heart, part ofeducation, that that may have
gotten a bad rap kind of in theopen education version, you
(33:42):
know, in the 70s. But I thinkreally coming back to it's about
people, and I don't care how youslice it. When you look at
systems and schools anddistricts that are successful.
They care about people, there'strust there. And that's exactly
what you're having to say. So,thank you so much for your
wisdom that you shared with usand I and I'm gonna ask you to
be president, you'll probablysay no, thank you. No, I'll
Kristi Dominguez (34:04):
never do that job.
Erich Bolz (34:07):
You've said that before.
Kristi Dominguez (34:08):
I know. I'm being really careful. Now. Thank
you so much for having me. Thiswas a lot of fun.
Erich Bolz (34:14):
And thanks to all you for joining us today on
outliers in education. You canfind this episode and more
everywhere you listen to yourfavorite podcast, or visit us
online@effectiveness.org. Untilnext time, this has been
outliers in education.
AD VO (34:32):
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
and effectiveness.org betterdata, better decisions, better
schools effectiveness.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.
Eric Price (00:14):
As humans, we have a fundamental need to belong for
students, aka young humans, thatsense of belonging or the lack
of it can make all thedifference between thriving or
failing in school. Well, you'reright where you belong right
here right now for anotherepisode of Outliers in
Education.
AD VO (00:32):
I think we really need to change how we look at what we do
in schools,Everything that we do, as
educators, it just comes back topeople, I love it, even when
it's hard, especially when it'shard. Ultimately, I mean, this
is about what's best for kids.
Eric Price (00:48):
Welcome, everyone, to another episode of Outliers
in Education. I'm Eric pricehere, alongside my co- host,
Eric Bolz, from the Center forEducational Effectiveness. You
know, we'll see when I look backto 2021, when we first started
doing this stuff, I felt like wewere kind of bumbling through
it, Jamie kind of stitched usback together our producer. And
(01:08):
now I feel like we've kind ofstarted to get our legs
underneath this a little bit andkind of know where we're going
and kind of feel like we sort ofbelong in that space. Have you
had a similar process?
Erich Bolz (01:19):
Well, I feel like Jamie is still stitching us
together. But it was clear to meearly on, and to my parents as
well. And my close friends,including our producer, Jamie
hell, that I probably did belongin an institution. It just so
happened I found my way to aninstitution that turned out to
be public education. Sobelonging is a theme that we're
going to explore in depth inthis conversation. In my
(01:40):
experience as a 21 year schooladministrator, we as casualties
of the No Child Left Behindexperience focused on raising
achievement by mucking aroundwith achievement data and not
focusing on who we served, andwhat they needed to critical
components of belonging. We alsolearned in our outlier study,
that ensuring all kids belongedwas one of the 11 common
conditions of high performingschools. So I'm really excited
(02:01):
to have this conversation withthe through line of belonging
today, EP.
Eric Price (02:05):
Yeah, myself as well. Well, today we have with
us a very special guest whowasn't always exactly sure where
she belonged in her educationalcareer. Right up to the moment
when they handed her the keys tothe Ferndale school district
last year. Let's say hello toSuperintendent Kristi Dominguez.
Kristi, welcome to the show.
Kristi Dominguez (02:23):
Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.
Eric Price (02:25):
I know that sometimes when we ended up where
we ended up in our educationalcareers, it wasn't really
exactly where we thought when webegan. So when you kind of
started looking at thesuperintendent seat, and that's
not an easy one to sit in,especially post pandemic and
during Is it is it kind of truethat you feel like you didn't
(02:46):
belong there? And if so, whatkind of changed your mind about
that feeling?
Kristi Dominguez (02:50):
Yeah, that's a great question. And actually, I
would say I didn't feel like Ibelonged in administration at
all. So that was not my path.
When I decided to be a teacher,I was going to be a kindergarten
teacher, early learning person.
I never want to leave theclassroom. In fact, when I moved
to Bellingham school districtwhere I was previously, and they
(03:11):
asked me to consider coming tocentral office, literally, in my
interview, I finally justapplied because they kept
asking, and I wanted them toquit asking, but I, in my
interview, I told them, I don'treally want this job. I've kind
of figured out who the othercandidate is. And I think you
should hire them. They hired meanyway. I said, Oh, I'll give
(03:32):
this a year, maybe two. And thatwas about 14 years ago. So if
you would have asked me evergoing to district office? No. If
you asked me if I was ever goingto be an administrator,
absolutely not. Andsuperintendent was definitely
not part of my path. But I, Ican say that this has been the
greatest job I've ever had rightalongside kindergarten teacher.
Eric Price (03:53):
And plus, it sounds like you did a fantastic sales
job to them as well.
Erich Bolz (04:00):
convince them not to hire me. It sounds like you set
the bar appropriately forillustrative career entry. And I
can relate I don't feel like Iever really belonged in the 21
years I was in administration 16of those in the central office
as well. So can you tell us fromyour perspective, why is student
belonging so important?
Kristi Dominguez (04:18):
You know, when I just when I actually came to
Ferndale, one of the pieces thatI asked the board about during
my interview was what were theyhoping for the new
superintendent to accomplish?
And it was a sense of unifyingthe community. And so when I
thought about what they wereasking of this new leader, I
asked to see the belonging datahere in Ferndale and you know,
(04:39):
their COVID was complex. It wascomplex in many ways, and I am a
mother of three so I saw itthrough the lens of my own
children, but just kids notknowing what their place was at
really critical moments in theirlifespan. And so, I asked to see
the belonging data for Ferndalein only about 30 to 33% of our
(05:00):
students were feeling connected.
That that was alarming to me.
Because what I know is I have asaying it's my educational
philosophy. When you teach tothe heart, the mind will follow.
When people feel really seen andvalued, it doesn't matter how
hard the work is, right? Like wecan all think of those, those
educators that we would doanything for in our own lives.
(05:23):
Because we, they meant so muchto us that we wanted to make
them proud. And so I knew thatif we were truly going to get
the achievement outcomes, we hadto first help our students feel
connected, and have a sense ofpurpose of why they were there,
and what they brought to thetable. So we met, I met with my
Executive Director ofCommunications, Selena
(05:45):
Rodriguez, and I just said, thisis alarming data, we have to do
something about it. And we haveto tell kids every single day,
you matter you belong, and hencethat move forward. I think in
Maslow's hierarchy, we oftentalk about educational outcomes.
And we forget those key stepsthat come before. And you know,
part of it is because state dataputs out, you know, the output.
(06:08):
And there's so many factors thatfall into that number, that's
just a snapshot of a moment intime. And it never tells the
whole story of a child and sobut belonging does.
Eric Price (06:21):
And those numbers of feeling like they're belonging
was that during COVID Christi,
Kristi Dominguez (06:26):
it was coming out of COVID. So it was the year
after, you know, that first yearkind of back. But you know, it
wasn't just our students. And Ithink we have to remember that
staff was wondering, What'stheir purpose, and the job has
changed dramatically, how weidentify as educational systems,
you know, we took we took a hardhit in the press, and, you know,
(06:48):
national context. And, you know,not many careers don't get at
least 48 hours to figure out howto redo their job. And we had an
expectation that we were goingto maintain the same level of
performance. And everyone wasgonna learn how to do it on
Zoom, and not every one even hada computer in their homes. So we
learned a lot, and we're goingto be better for it. I think the
(07:10):
thing that I appreciate aboutCOVID It caused us to pause. And
we were doing a lot of things ineducation that weren't making us
better, but we were doing thembecause we had always done them.
And it forced us to stop and sayis this really the right work.
And so that's what we're busydoing in Ferndale and what the
test mark for me was where thestudents going to start talking
(07:30):
about belonging. And they do.
And I love it on Wednesdays wehave you belong Wednesdays and
we had a community couple ofcommunity members who bought a
shirt for every staff member inour district. And so if you work
in Ferndale School District, youhave a you belong shirt, and on
Wednesdays, that you belongWednesdays, and everyone wears
their shirt. And the power inthat is every one shows up and
is reminded about who we are.
(07:53):
And my saying one team one town,we're all in this together. It's
not about what school you workin what job you do. We were an
ecosystem. And so we havecollective ownership over our
students educational outcomes.
Eric Price (08:07):
Well, Christi, that kind of is moving right into my
next question actually probablyanswered it. But I wonder like
as you move further from theclassroom, and you know, as you
move into central office, in myexperience, you feel further a
little bit more distal fromstudents. And maybe even it
seems like it takes longer tohave an effective change. How do
you foster that belonging senseas a superintendent?
Kristi Dominguez (08:31):
That's a great question, because I never want
to go into administration, I'mstill a teacher, just my my
classroom was the wholedistrict, you're gonna find me
in classrooms all the time, Iwear tennis shoes to work almost
every day, because you neverknow. I might sub I might, you
know, whatever, before December.
So I started in July, and beforeDecember, winter break, I spent
time in every single classroomin our organization. And then I
(08:55):
made an expectation of everyoneat Central Office that two full
days in schools. And so thedistrict office is often empty.
Now, at any given time, we'rereally intentional about when we
meet and why we meet. Andanytime we have a meeting, I
think this was something Ibecause I keep thinking about
(09:15):
what I imagined central officeto be like so I'm kind of using
that mindset of how to breakdown that but I add up anytime
we have a meeting I add up thesalaries of everyone in that
room. And then I asked Did weget that much out of this
meeting? And if we didn't, thenwe need to redo this structure.
So
Eric Price (09:35):
Oh, I wish I would have had you as the leader of
our meetings my entire lifeChristy. Oh, gosh,
Kristi Dominguez (09:40):
we just Yeah, death by meetings a real thing.
So anyway, I just we work inservice of kids. I think the
other piece too is every spaceis a teaching and learning
space. So we talked about thebus is a classroom. So you know,
I spent a lot of time down andtransportation. I'm writing the
busing. How does that classroomwork? How does the classroom of
the cafeteria work has theplayground as a classroom work.
(10:03):
So it's not just the traditionalclassroom, but really thinking
about the organization as awhole. And making sure that
we're spending time in all thosespaces. So
Eric Price (10:11):
anytime that adults are interacting with kids, yeah,
yeah.
Kristi Dominguez (10:15):
And I grew up in an organization like that.
That was how my school was, itwas more of an ecosystem type,
thinking that everyone wascollectively responsible,
including the students, they,you know, as a teacher, I
remember my last classroom, Itaught kindergarten, I had 30
students. And I would always sayto them, there's 31 teachers in
(10:35):
here, and there are 31 learners.
And so making sure that I usethat same mindset. So I don't
think I'm the most traditionalsuperintendent, because I don't
I don't love to be in meetings.
I don't love to sit in and dothat. So I make sure we're out
in schools all the time.
Erich Bolz (10:51):
Well, Christy, you said so many things that
resonated with me. In fact, I'veoften said the same thing.
Sitting in 16 years of centraloffice meetings, I would often
look and estimate salary andbenefits multiplied by time in
the room and wonder what kind ofinvestment was that in the
taxpayers? Were we doing ourlevel best to help folks in the
field so appreciated that
Eric Price (11:10):
because you were so you were so focused on what the
meeting was about bowls, Iimagine I have
Erich Bolz (11:15):
never met a meeting where I was a solid participant.
I want to harken back to thiswhole notion of belonging. And I
know that you've started acouple of initiatives. You know,
you mentioned the shirts in theWednesday in response to the the
baseline data that you looked atwhen when you came on board.
You've done you've doneobviously, some other things.
Tell us a little bit about yoursocial media campaign, how
(11:36):
you've implemented let melanguage in the district and
other initiatives that you seeis, you know, really moving
forward to combat what feelslike that lack of sense of
belonging and students.
Kristi Dominguez (11:46):
Yeah, I would love to take credit for all of
that of all the amazing thingshappening here in Ferndale, but
they were happening the problemwas, we weren't telling our own
story. And so the first order ofbusiness I did as a
superintendent was I elevatedour then director of
communications, I made her anexecutive director and Selena
became my right hand person. Andwe started an entire campaign to
(12:10):
tell our story. Because ifyou're not telling it, somebody
else is. And so we just began tocapture the moments that every
day moments and so wereorganized our communications
team. And so we have aspecialist to him. He, he
manages the social mediaaccount, I believe in social
media, because it's the magic ofthe small moments that tell who
(12:34):
we are as an organization. Andso making sure that people know
about the day in and day out,people always ask, you know,
what are you even doingeducation? Even my own husband
used to say to me when I taughtkindergarten, what do you do all
day. So, you know, people needto understand all the amazing
things happening and so thatthat caught on, and then the you
(12:55):
belong awards, we started that.
And that really was becausestaff belonging was low. It
wasn't just our students of astaff to and they were seeing
awesome things that werehappening of their colleagues.
But sometimes it's justremembering to take the time and
acknowledging it. So the ubelongAwards were just by staff for
staff and and I have the beautyof I got to go out present them.
(13:18):
But a staff member couldnominate another staff member
for the intentional things theysaw them doing to create a sense
of belonging. So that happened,the social media piece, and then
the students started to do it.
You started to see them createopportunities, one amazing
students that we have her nameis Jasmine. She wanted to create
(13:41):
an event at the high school thathonored the belonging of
different cultures in ourschool. So she kicked off and I
think about 303 150 people camewhere she highlighted the
different cultures just in ourhigh school and she took off and
ran and had a multiculturalnight. And that came out of the
(14:02):
belonging campaign you start tosee wall hangings in the schools
that said here at you know Vistawe belong at Central we belong
and students pictures were up,the students started to talk
about it. This summer. We have acampaign that as they travel
around the world, I even justgot a picture about three weeks
ago of somebody standing inParis with their ubelong shirt.
(14:24):
So capturing that around theworld but so it really wasn't
about anything I did it wasreally about just acknowledging
what was happening in and thelemme language has been going
for quite a while but we weren'ttelling anybody about it. So
making sure that people knowabout the amazingness that
Ferndale already was andcontinues to be
Eric Price (14:43):
the Christie way before you became a soup. You
were really vested into theseearly learning pieces. So when
you reflect on that, do youthink that those early learning
pieces do they support thatbelonging and K 12 Education
Kristi Dominguez (15:00):
You know, it's funny that you asked that
someone said, What's this?
What's it like to be asuperintendent? And I said, it's
like being a kindergartenteacher of adults. Yeah, that is
it. It's, you know, it's aboutacknowledging the whole child or
the whole person. And I'vealways said, if we ran
education, like a high qualityearly learning program, we would
(15:22):
be blown away by what can happenfor kids, right? Like,
Eric Price (15:27):
and when you when you contrast that with what
we're doing what what do youmean by that?
Kristi Dominguez (15:31):
Well, when you're in an early learning
classroom, it's play based orinquiry based, children often
get to decide what they'recurious about. And then the
teacher really serves as theguide instead of the instructor.
There's a lot of movements, youhave the arts, you have science,
math, no one stays on any onetopic for very long, it's into
(15:55):
it's integrated. And then youstart to get up and what
happens? Less student voice,less choice. Adults are standing
in front of the room directing,and so yeah, why do we do that?
Yeah, exactly. I'm asking, Whydo I do that? Because we
Eric Price (16:12):
don't have that much fun. Like as adults either.
Like, I mean, that we like to dothose other pieces. And the
further up we get, we just getfurther away from that.
Kristi Dominguez (16:20):
Well, it's funny when I was early learning
specialist, I would travelaround the state and do early
learning audits on districts.
And I would hear from peoplesaying we don't have time for
that play. thing. And I'd say,Well, let's talk about CTE then,
you know, do you have robotics?
Do you have culinary arts? Oh,yeah, we have all those things.
And I'm like, isn't that playbased learning for the
(16:42):
appropriate agent stage. So wedo believe in it. We just we
don't recognize that blocksactually lead to robotics. So
we're getting there though.
Eric Price (16:52):
Wow. So many great ideas there. Let's take a short
break and we'll be back in 60seconds. For more with
Superintendent Christy Dominguezright here on outliers and
education.
AD VO (17:10):
School leaders as we enter the in service season, how
great would it be to offer yourteachers differentiated breakout
sessions led by real classroomteachers? That's where peer
driven PD comes in. peer drivenPD find some of the best
teachers in the country filmsthem talking about their tips
and techniques that really workin real classrooms. And they use
this content in online coursesthat your teachers can access
(17:30):
anywhere, anytime. Teachers canlog in at any time and choose
their own adventure. It's likemasterclass, but for teachers
and the thing is, teachers loveit. So if you want to offer PD
that meets the needs of yourdiverse staff, check out peer
driven pd.com
Eric Price (17:46):
Welcome back, everybody. We've been talking
about the importance of a senseof belonging in schools with
Superintendent ChristieDominguez from the Ferndale
School District in WashingtonState.
Erich Bolz (17:56):
Christie, I'd like to stay on the on the Early
Childhood piece and, and moveout of Ferndale a little higher
up to the policy level, you'reprobably maybe singularly
responsible for the wholeTransitional Kindergarten
movement really beinglegitimized in this state. And I
personally believe that earlychildhood is the closest thing
we have to an equalizer, ifthat's within the scope of our
control as as public educators,can you talk a little bit about
(18:18):
that legacy? Your your path toit? And what do you think those
ultimate impacts were not onlyin Bellingham, but beyond?
Kristi Dominguez (18:24):
Yeah, it's interesting to me, when we think
about early childhood, we're asystem of reaction education was
built on a system of reaction,right? Like we are totally fine
paying for students to, if theydon't graduate at 18, we'll pay
for them to go to school tillthey're 21, or a child didn't,
you know, we're worried aboutthem in second grade, so we're
(18:45):
fine. Nobody's reallyquestioning retention. But boy,
when you want to talk aboutpaying for early learning, the
the proactive stance, we, boy,people get up in arms. And the
interesting thing is, if youreally follow brains research,
the impact of a student or thedevelopment of their brain, the
(19:06):
the most malleable their brainis is between prenatal and age
nine around third grade, but yetwe wait till they're five and
not even in Washington State,you do not even legally have to
come to school in Washingtonuntil you're eight. That is
crazy to me. And we wonder whywe're getting the results we're
(19:27):
getting. But right like if youlook at the history of
education, we have continued ona model of funding education in
a way that it was designed fromthe very first school. It was
designed for middle class, upperclass white boys who were going
to go into and we've neverquestioned the the federal model
(19:47):
of funding. And I often wonderwhat if we just started paying
for education. We just startedat prenatal and you just fully
funded it. You'd probably runout about nine For our 10th
grade, maybe, and look at howmany kids are doing Running
Start or different options in11th and 12th grade, it is
(20:08):
fascinating to me that thescience is on the side of
starting early, but the policyis not. And so we we built
education around reactioninstead of proactive
kindergarten is not thebeginning, I call our early
learning system, the greatestequity issue we have, because
every child was born with thecapacity to learn and grow. But
(20:33):
they haven't all been given thesame opportunity. So children
who come to school inkindergarten who have had access
to, you know, field trips, or alot of vocabulary, or books, or
lots of math opportunities.
Those are the kids who come intokindergarten, which I cannot
stand the term k readiness,because there's no such thing,
every child is ready forkindergarten, what we need to
(20:56):
start talking about is SystemReadiness or adult readiness.
And I have a saying it's never achild's job to be ready for
school, it's 100%, the system'sjob to be ready for the child.
And so high quality earlylearning systems do that. And,
and I do laugh a little bit,because Headstart kind of takes
a beating in the press about,you know, Headstart results. You
(21:17):
know, kids who are in full timeHeadstart weren't ready by third
grade, well, that has nothing todo with Headstart, right. Like,
it's not an inoculation. That'snot a one year, you had high
quality preschool, you're readyfor third grade, it's the
system, it has to be highquality, pre K K, high quality
first, second, third. And thenthose are the kids who are
(21:37):
showing the results. But I worrysometimes we look at third grade
test scores or whatever. And wesay, Oh, this is a predictor,
actually, the end ofkindergarten is a predictor for
those third grade scores. Sowe've got to back the train up.
And so I'm super proud oftransitional kindergarten in the
state. And when I'm proud of itsput the conversation of the
(21:58):
importance of early learning atthe legislative level, amen.
That took forever, amen.
Eric Price (22:05):
So if you if you had the magic wand, and you are
going to say there'ssuperintendents, and there's
district administratorslistening to you, and you said,
Look, if you could do thesethings in early education, what
would you tell them that wouldhave the most bang for their
buck or their time?
Kristi Dominguez (22:23):
Yeah, there's a few things. One, you know, we
know that teachers are thenumber one direct variable to
student outcomes, right? Well,who's the first teacher, it's
the parent, but we don't alwaysacknowledge the parent and, and
for parent education, you haveto be able to pay or qualify. So
every family should have accessto parent education starting
(22:44):
right away. And that begins inprenatal being able to have so I
would make sure that a communityis ready for that, I think to
school districts are not theanswer, where one part of the
solution. So there are many, youknow, we need to think about the
mixed delivery system. There area lot of organizations that do
this. Well, and families shouldhave a choice. But school
districts have to be at thetable. And I think sometimes we
(23:07):
think school districts You stayout of it, because we're going
to solve it. And it's no, it'sgoing to take everyone at the
table. So I think that's anotherpiece is what role and then
school districts have tounderstand. Because we are
funded with state and federalfunds. Sometimes we dismiss our
private providers, child careproviders, nurse family
partnership programs. And soschool districts have to be
(23:29):
aware of that. And so I thinkevery district should have an
early learning focus. I thinkthey should be thinking through
their community partners, howthey manage that. When I first
began the work, I actuallyfollowed a researcher Dr.
Christie cowers out of theNational p3 Center. And I've
been so fortunate to learn underher. And she has an incredible
(23:50):
framework. And I think everydistrict should know about that
framework and be following that,because that really is a guide
talks about principaleffectiveness, teacher
effectiveness, that communitypartnership, but yeah, every
district should be at the table.
But they can't do it alone. So Ithink that arrogance that
sometimes we are as K 12education, we have to remember
we're one member of a muchlarger, comprehensive landscape.
Eric Price (24:14):
I keep hearing you talk about adults in this
belonging picture, right? Why dowe miss this with adults?
Because I think we saw that inCOVID. Right? We saw that not
only kids were struggling, butwe saw our adults were
struggling. What do we need todo with our adults in that
belonging piece?
Kristi Dominguez (24:30):
Yeah, what is it about us that we think once
we get the degree we have allthe answers. I think we have to
remember right that we went toeducation because we love
learning. And what if teachersthought about themselves as lead
learners, and they always werethe head of the learner and so
in that we have to remember thatwe have to take care of all our
(24:51):
learners and everyone has,whether you're five years of
age, or you're 45 We all havethe same needs is just me. Being
sure that those needs are beingmet. And so I think sometimes we
hold an expectation thatteachers haven't figured out.
Every year is a new year whenyou meet your new class every
year, you become a new teacher.
Erich Bolz (25:13):
Well, Christy, two short follow ups really
interested in taking this to thepersonal level. So you know, in
your first year assuperintendent, can you share a
couple of impact stories, youknow, where, you know, your
leadership's made a differencein the life of a child or a
staff member?
Kristi Dominguez (25:26):
Yeah, that is, that's a good one. And there are
a lot I get kind of choked up. Ithink one of the students I'm
thinking of today, probablybecause it's, it happened
recently. His name's Tommy, Ilove Tommy and Tommy is going to
be a sophomore at the highschool. And Tommy has been part
of our life skills program forhis career. And his mom made a
(25:50):
post that he's in summer school,and he went on his first field
trip ever. And so when you talkabout how we're remembering to
see our students for who theyare, what they can be and who
they are. So we've been talkinga lot in the last year about
noticing everyone for theirstrengths. Like I said,
(26:11):
Education is a reactive system.
And so we tend to look at itthrough a deficit mindset. But
what if we saw everyone for whatthey can do or who they can be,
and we become an system of hopeand possibilities and stop
talking about children at risk,but start talking about children
of hope. And so then it beginsto shift the mindset of what can
become instead of what isn't.
(26:36):
And so, that's one of the piecesand then just listening to my,
our students talk about theubelong campaign. I'm getting
all sorts of feedback thissummer, you know, a student went
to camp and they were sharing,oh, in Ferndale, we have a
ubelong campaign and inFerndale, we're striving to
belong. I had another one of mystudent board members who was
(26:59):
just interviewed by was deaf atthe organization for the school
board. And he just said everyday, his goal is to make sure
that another student feels asense of belonging. So that idea
of an ecosystem, it's now not onthe shoulders of myself or the
board or the adults. Buteveryone is starting to own it.
The fact that today our mayorand our city council held an
(27:23):
event where they were servinghot dogs down at City Hall
because they wanted the studentsto know that they're cared about
and even in the summer, thatthey matter and the community
sees them. So it's not even justthe district movement. It's
become a community movement.
And, and the thing was, it wasthere all along. But I go back
to that goal of unification. Andthat's been the most powerful
(27:43):
piece. So I think those are somethings today I'm thinking about
today.
Erich Bolz (27:49):
Well, thank you for sharing those stories. And then
what will your legacy impact asan educator be Christie, you've
done quite a lot.
Kristi Dominguez (27:55):
You know, I went to education because I had
a remarkable there. I hadremarkable teachers. And my own
personal story was not I did notdo well, in school, school was
really hard for me, I had alearning disability, I spent
most of my student careerthinking that, Oh, you're not
smart. I knew how to follow therules of school so I could blend
(28:17):
in. But I knew I remember takingthat state exam when I was a
senior. And just filling in theScantron bubbles I got denied to
every college I applied tobecause my state test scores
were so low. But I stayed witheducation because some teachers
made an impact and my secondgrade teacher probably the most.
And that's where I develop thatidea of when you teach to the
(28:40):
heart, the mind will follow. Itdidn't matter that I could not
spell or read at the end ofsecond grade. But I knew she
that I mattered to her. And soif I can do half of what she did
for me in my educational career,then I had a career well lived.
Eric Price (28:58):
And she was the one that really made you feel like
you belonged and that you had aplace.
Kristi Dominguez (29:02):
Yep, yeah, I actually she had a clawfoot
bathtub in her classroom. And Iremember spending a lot of time
in there, just trying to you nokind of escape, I think. And
every year I ever taught and 18years in the classroom, I had a
clawfoot bathtub in my classroomin honor of her. So
Eric Price (29:21):
that is awesome.
Christy, I think that if wecould take some of these lessons
about a not being reactive, andstarting early and really
looking at relationships withkids and everybody in that, like
you described ecosystem. So inour ecosystem, Bowles is the
alpha summarizer. And so we'regoing to flip it over to you
(29:43):
bosey What do you got for asummarization today?
Erich Bolz (29:46):
Well, like I often say this is just a test by the
rest of the podcast after to seewhether I've been paying
attention i i see through thosemeetings. I see through this.
Yeah, it's a it's a it's a it'sa it's a management strategy.
Christy you If you wouldappreciate that I really
Kristi Dominguez (30:01):
like it, I might implement it.
Erich Bolz (30:05):
Well, great. So I just want to start with the
notion that when you teach tothe heart, the mind will follow.
So consistent with so much thatwe believe our friends chuckling
and Suzanne Gertz and episode 10have a lot to say about that.
The you belonging campaignreally elevating student voice.
You took me back to myretirement your COVID and COVID
really caused us to both pauseand innovate. So there were some
(30:26):
really positive consequences,not only in education, but I
think across a number ofindustries, because we were
forced to make that pause andpivot every space is a teaching
and learning space. The bus is aclassroom. This is a critical
mindset for for us as educatorsand thank you for that reminder.
Dr. plucky, who says says a lotabout school culture and episode
10 would say you control yournarrative and it sounds like
(30:49):
Christie landed in a in a spotthat was a gem. And her biggest
impact maybe is in reallyseizing control that narrative
using these modern tools we havearound social media to really
change that communicationparadigm in Ferndale student led
initiatives. You know, yourinitiatives are making a
difference whether you're ateacher or a coach when students
start to really emulate thatbehavior. And so the idea that
(31:10):
students are are taking picturesof shirts that that you belong T
shirts from Ferndale have goneglobal now they're all the way
out to Paris, as we heard is apretty cool thing that students
are planning multiculturalevenings and really honoring
each other's backgrounds. Youknow, coming from this campaign,
when it's when it's owned at thestudent level, it's truly owned.
Being a superintendent is likebeing a kindergarten teacher of
(31:32):
adults. I never had the courageto be a superintendent. But I
would say being a central officeadministrator is like being a
kindergarten teacher of adultsso resonated for sure what would
happen if we really kept thoseplay based aspects of early
childhood education all the waythrough our K 12 system? How
different would that educationexperience be? I think that was
the biggest takeaway for me. Ifeel like I know a lot about
(31:52):
early childhood. It's been areal life focus. And you know,
when you're on with somebodysmarter than you, you learn
something every time which isanother great benefit of the
wonderful guests that we have onthese podcasts. Christie clearly
no exception. We're a system ofreaction have said it over and
over and over again. And inearly childhood, is that
ultimate ProAction? That policy,leg science how how many
different ways can we say thatin different contexts policy
(32:13):
legs, science, I think that wasa, that was a great notion for
us to think about. The greatestequity issue we have is the what
happens in early childhood. AndI love the way Christy phrased
that all kids have the samecapacity. Not all kids have the
same opportunity. So whatever wecan do across our ecosystem,
school systems, just being onepositive player in that respect,
(32:35):
we can absolutely make a realdifference. If if we're
committed to that homework. Ithink for our podcast consumers,
you know, check out the Christiecowers framework. It might be
something that we could portfrom early childhood all the way
through K 12. Educators are leadlearners. That's the proper
mindset and noticing strengthsand abandoning the deficit
mindset. Christy is leading anorganization really flipping the
(32:58):
narrative to children of hopeand Ferndale is fortunate
indeed,
Eric Price (33:02):
how'd we do Christie? Anything to add to
that one?
Kristi Dominguez (33:04):
Wow, I sounded really smart on that.
Erich Bolz (33:09):
I think it's because you are
Kristi Dominguez (33:12):
just, I care deeply about this work. And
it's, it really is an honor tobe able to sit in the seat. So
Eric Price (33:19):
well, Christy, thank you for the wisdom that you've
shared. And I think that themore that I think particularly
bowls he and I have here fromthis perch, I think we hear this
less of the academic push andmore of this listening
relationship, heart, part ofeducation, that that may have
gotten a bad rap kind of in theopen education version, you
(33:42):
know, in the 70s. But I thinkreally coming back to it's about
people, and I don't care how youslice it. When you look at
systems and schools anddistricts that are successful.
They care about people, there'strust there. And that's exactly
what you're having to say. So,thank you so much for your
wisdom that you shared with usand I and I'm gonna ask you to
be president, you'll probablysay no, thank you. No, I'll
Kristi Dominguez (34:04):
never do that job.
Erich Bolz (34:07):
You've said that before.
Kristi Dominguez (34:08):
I know. I'm being really careful. Now. Thank
you so much for having me. Thiswas a lot of fun.
Erich Bolz (34:14):
And thanks to all you for joining us today on
outliers in education. You canfind this episode and more
everywhere you listen to yourfavorite podcast, or visit us
online@effectiveness.org. Untilnext time, this has been
outliers in education.
AD VO (34:32):
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
and effectiveness.org betterdata, better decisions, better
schools effectiveness.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.