July 14, 2025
Episode 36: Leading with Clarity: Casey Watts’ Educational Leadership Journey!
Send us a text What happens when talented, dedicated educators feel stuck despite their best efforts? According to Casey Watts, the answer isn't about working harder—it's about seeing clearer. After two decades in education as a teacher, coach, and district leader, Casey discovered that the persistent gap between administrators and classroom teachers wasn't due to lack of commitment or expertise. The missing element was clarity. When leaders say, "Nobody's getting on board with our initiativ...
What happens when talented, dedicated educators feel stuck despite their best efforts? According to Casey Watts, the answer isn't about working harder—it's about seeing clearer.
After two decades in education as a teacher, coach, and district leader, Casey discovered that the persistent gap between administrators and classroom teachers wasn't due to lack of commitment or expertise. The missing element was clarity. When leaders say, "Nobody's getting on board with our initiative," while teachers simultaneously claim, "We have no idea what's going on," something fundamental is broken in the communication chain.
Casey's journey into education wasn't planned—in fact, she once declared she would "never be a teacher." But after navigating through music and psychology studies, she found herself in a classroom, initially struggling through a challenging first year before discovering her native genius in working with students. This experience shaped her understanding that many educators need support to move from merely surviving to genuinely thriving.
Through her Clarity Cycle Framework, Casey guides educational leaders through a systematic process that bridges communication gaps. The approach starts with identifying an area of focus, analyzing root causes, setting specific goals, and conducting "listening tours" to gain stakeholder insights. Rather than imposing top-down mandates, the framework empowers everyone to contribute to the vision while mapping clear paths forward.
Casey shares a powerful case study of a Los Angeles school where teachers were individually analyzing data but implementing vastly different strategies in isolation. This unintentionally widened achievement gaps as students moved between classrooms with inconsistent approaches. By applying the Clarity Cycle, the school established collective practices that dramatically improved both teacher confidence and student outcomes.
Today, Casey focuses on bringing clarity to three essential areas: organizational direction, leadership identity, and authentic collaboration. She challenges the "faux collaboration" prevalent in many schools and offers practical strategies for building truly cohesive, clarity-driven teams where everyone feels valued and empowered.
Ready to transform your educational leadership? Connect with Casey at catchingupwithcasey.com and discover how clarity can precede capacity in your organization. When everyone understands both the destination and the path to get there, remarkable progress becomes possible.
Connect with Casey on LinkedIn:
Catching up with Casey Podcast:
Email Casey at: catchingupwithcasey@gmail.com
Teach Better Mid Roll Network Ad
Connect with Principal JL Click Here:
Want to be a guest on Educational Leadership with Principal JL?
Send Principal JL a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/1742787866678447e5bdb89c1
00:00 - Casey's Journey into Education
06:25 - From Teaching to Instructional Coaching
15:44 - Moving into District Leadership
23:13 - The Clarity Cycle Framework Explained
33:58 - Case Study: Implementing Clarity in Schools
46:30 - Final Advice: Leading with Clarity
WEBVTT
00:00:01.320 --> 00:00:06.613
Today I'm very excited to bring in my friend, casey Watts, to the show.
00:00:06.613 --> 00:00:22.271
Casey has spent 20 years in education as a teacher, coach and district leader, working alongside with talented educators who, despite their dedication, often felt stuck, overwhelmed or just going through the motions.
00:00:22.271 --> 00:00:26.824
She realized the problem wasn't effort or expertise, it was clarity.
00:00:26.824 --> 00:00:36.472
Through her clarity cycle framework, casey is helping school leaders cut through the noise, align their teams and turn collaboration into real progress.
00:00:36.472 --> 00:00:44.662
Today, casey will share her educational leadership journey insights and what she's learned about leading with purpose.
00:00:44.662 --> 00:00:48.853
Now let's get to the conversation with Casey Watts.
00:00:48.853 --> 00:01:02.810
Welcome back everybody to another episode of the educational leadership.
00:01:02.810 --> 00:01:08.203
Today I'm excited to bring in Casey Watts to the show.
00:01:08.203 --> 00:01:09.084
Casey, welcome.
00:01:09.826 --> 00:01:11.370
Hey, thanks for having me.
00:01:11.370 --> 00:01:17.331
I am pumped to be here, excited to have a conversation all about my journey in education and where I am now.
00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:18.900
Awesome.
00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:22.346
Well, Casey, I'm going to ask you the same question.
00:01:22.346 --> 00:01:27.155
I ask everybody on the show what inspires you to become an educator?
00:01:28.661 --> 00:01:39.805
It is such an interesting question because I grew up saying no, I'm not ever going to do XYZ for a lot of different things, so I will never be.
00:01:39.805 --> 00:01:42.292
I'm not going to marry before I'm 26.
00:01:42.292 --> 00:01:44.968
I'm not going to be a soccer mom.
00:01:44.968 --> 00:01:45.548
I'm not going to have a min'm 26.
00:01:45.548 --> 00:01:46.212
I'm not going to be a soccer mom.
00:01:46.212 --> 00:01:46.915
I'm not going to have a minivan.
00:01:46.915 --> 00:01:49.188
I will never go into education.
00:01:49.188 --> 00:01:50.525
I'm not going to be a teacher.
00:01:50.525 --> 00:01:51.766
I don't even like kids.
00:01:51.766 --> 00:01:58.391
I said never to a lot of things, and all of those things somehow have become true.
00:01:59.061 --> 00:02:06.370
So I got married before I was 26, was the soccer mom, had the minivan, and, lo and behold, I became an educator.
00:02:06.370 --> 00:02:14.300
And so I actually started off my educational journey really thinking about, thinking that I was going to pursue music.
00:02:14.300 --> 00:02:38.050
So I went to a college that really excelled in their music program, and when I got there and started going through that music program, oh my goodness, they drilled music into you, and so it was so much more theory and you eat, breathe and live music all the time, and it just wasn't for me.
00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:46.835
I needed music to be a hobby instead, and so I was like, ok, well, I'm going to go into psychology, since I don't know what to do, let me just go into psychology.
00:02:46.835 --> 00:03:02.225
So I shifted my major to psychology and then realized that everything the psychology professor was teaching about I felt like was describing me and I was like, ok, no, psychology is not for me because I'm overanalyzing myself.
00:03:02.225 --> 00:03:05.389
And I decided to go into education.
00:03:05.389 --> 00:03:20.585
And you know, I enjoyed my classes, I excelled in my classes, graduated, and it wasn't till after my first year of teaching that I realized like education really is for me and being with students is for me.
00:03:20.664 --> 00:03:31.507
But it took that time of kind of muddling through all of these things that I said I was never going to do for me to realize, you know what, what my path really was going to be.
00:03:31.507 --> 00:03:38.284
And I don't know that there ever was a specific moment where I was like this is it Like this is meant for me?
00:03:38.284 --> 00:03:43.550
Because my first year teaching I taught fourth grade and it was miserable.
00:03:43.550 --> 00:03:54.332
I had moments where it was great and grand, but a lot of it was really hard, so much so that I decided I'm going to try to find a different profession and I couldn't find anything.
00:03:54.454 --> 00:04:07.876
So I ended up moving into a second-grade classroom and it was just that little shift, having one year under my belt that I needed in order to be able to thrive in the classroom.
00:04:07.876 --> 00:04:11.151
And so you know, when people say, is there a moment?
00:04:11.151 --> 00:04:22.843
There wasn't a specific moment, it was just all of these small moments that culminated to me realizing this is what I excel at and I've got some.
00:04:22.843 --> 00:04:29.105
This is where my native genius is is working with students, and that's all there was to it.
00:04:29.105 --> 00:04:33.903
From there, I've been in education ever since, and I've been in education for 20 years now.
00:04:34.805 --> 00:04:35.166
Awesome.
00:04:35.166 --> 00:04:37.572
Well, you kind of hit on a couple of things there.
00:04:37.572 --> 00:04:43.973
I know, like a lot of people that I interview on this show, education may not have been the first thing.
00:04:43.973 --> 00:04:48.086
Some people, yeah, I mean yeah, they knew since they were like fourth grade, right.
00:04:48.086 --> 00:04:51.382
But a lot of us are like I don't want nothing to do with it.
00:04:51.382 --> 00:04:53.230
I wanted to be a physical therapist.
00:04:53.230 --> 00:04:56.540
I wanted to go train professional athletes.
00:04:56.581 --> 00:05:22.822
That was my passion at the time and then I realized I really like coaching and then the coaching and teaching kind of all came together and I kind of realized, through a series of events, kind of like you and I think you also pointed out a couple of things there where that first year of teaching is tough because A you're coming out of you know college a lot of the times and you don't know what you don't know until you're in the role.
00:05:22.822 --> 00:05:26.583
And that's a lot of education, no matter where you're at.
00:05:26.583 --> 00:05:35.302
If it's your first year teaching, your first year in leadership, your first year at the district office, you don't know what you don't know until you have those experiences.
00:05:35.302 --> 00:05:44.970
And so I'm really glad that you stuck with it and you are now here, 20 years later, and it's worked out, because get through that first year.
00:05:44.970 --> 00:05:46.601
I say that first year is going to be tough.
00:05:46.802 --> 00:05:51.723
I had a daughter that just finished her first year of fifth grade and she had her ups and downs.
00:05:51.723 --> 00:05:52.947
I'm like, get through the first year.
00:05:52.947 --> 00:06:04.689
The second year will be different and when you have that year in your belt, you just know, hey, this is what the expectations are and you just know what you need to do, and so I really appreciate you sharing that.
00:06:04.689 --> 00:06:06.934
So let's talk about your teaching a little bit.
00:06:06.934 --> 00:06:15.795
What about teaching helped you, or what are some moments in teaching that help you take the next step in leadership?
00:06:15.795 --> 00:06:21.014
You know, I believe you went from like teaching into coaching and kind of talk about that.
00:06:21.014 --> 00:06:22.699
You know, piece the teaching piece.
00:06:22.699 --> 00:06:23.985
But then how did it?
00:06:23.985 --> 00:06:28.922
How did you transfer into the coaching role?
00:06:29.644 --> 00:06:35.012
Yeah, I have been really, really fortunate in my experience as an educator.
00:06:35.012 --> 00:06:42.523
So I and I've been to several different campuses, several different districts and I have served in many different roles.
00:06:42.523 --> 00:06:48.473
But my teaching experience spans from first grade to fifth grade, both self-contained and departmentalized.
00:06:48.473 --> 00:07:09.081
But one of the schools that I worked at for probably the most of my career was a university charter school Charter School.
00:07:09.081 --> 00:07:24.009
It really truly was one of the best campuses that I've ever worked at, because there was such a high level of expectation and standards for our teaching the only campus that I've ever been at where the entire group of teachers held a very similar pedagogy and philosophy and were grounded in that.
00:07:24.149 --> 00:07:35.947
And you're constantly going into others' classrooms to learn about their craft, perfect your craft and we also had college students coming in to observe and student teachers, things like that.
00:07:36.649 --> 00:08:29.740
So when I started working at that campus and had student teachers coming into my classroom, it sparked a different kind of energy in me, because you're looking out at this sea of I'm talking like six to 12 college students in your classroom and you know they're about to go through the same thing that you have been through and you know there's so much for them to learn that they just don't know about no-transcript.
00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:38.692
But just because you're an adult doesn't mean that you've developed the social awareness and self-awareness skills to be able to manage yourself well in those really sticky situations.
00:08:38.692 --> 00:08:52.910
So that was probably one of the turning points that made me think OK, so many teachers are getting out into the field and they're crashing and burning or they're only surviving for a few years before they decide.
00:08:52.910 --> 00:08:56.682
This is not for me, and I want people to be able to thrive.
00:08:56.682 --> 00:09:20.086
And so that was the turning point that led me to move into instructional coaching and then leadership at the district level, because I feel so strongly that people should feel empowered and confident in their roles, because that's the only way that they're going to thrive instead of survive.
00:09:20.086 --> 00:09:25.288
So that was really probably one of the turning points that shifted my trajectory.
00:09:25.990 --> 00:09:29.139
Yeah, I know, like for me, I've been in a lot of different schools.
00:09:29.139 --> 00:09:30.158
I've been in rural schools.
00:09:30.158 --> 00:09:38.967
I've also been in big metro schools in Omaha and for me, you know, I didn't see an instructional coach until I was in a bigger district.
00:09:38.967 --> 00:09:42.434
Because you don't have them at the rural schools here in Nebraska.
00:09:42.434 --> 00:09:46.663
You have to figure it out, have them at the rural schools here in Nebraska, you have to figure it out.
00:09:46.683 --> 00:09:53.326
A lot of the instructional coaching comes from principals and they have to understand what good teaching is so they can help those teachers and, I think, instructors.
00:09:53.326 --> 00:10:01.051
So people understand instructional coaches at like a school district that's a bigger district that can't afford them, honestly, is kind of where we're at.
00:10:01.051 --> 00:10:08.327
They are kind of like that extension of a principal because they're helping teachers get better at their craft and their strategies.
00:10:08.327 --> 00:10:12.164
They're not there to, like, you know, we're going to play the gotcha game.
00:10:12.164 --> 00:10:13.149
They're not there to do that.
00:10:13.149 --> 00:10:15.203
They're there, hey, I'm trying to help you.
00:10:15.203 --> 00:10:31.961
So when the principal does come in and sees what you're doing, you have strategies, you have things, skills, so you can demonstrate, you know the quality of education that you're giving the kids, and so a lot of people think instructional coach oh my God, they're going to.
00:10:31.961 --> 00:10:38.566
They're going to, they're going to beat me up, but no, actually I would embrace them if I was a teacher, and I actually did.
00:10:38.647 --> 00:10:43.202
I embraced my instructional coach at Ralston, Mr Dan Bosser.
00:10:43.202 --> 00:10:47.490
If you're here listening to that Great guy.
00:10:47.490 --> 00:10:49.500
I learned a lot of different things.
00:10:49.500 --> 00:11:03.653
We did instructional rounds, different things like that, and so I never had that experience until I got into that school district and those things really opened my eyes to seeing a lot of different content areas and how they teach differently.
00:11:03.653 --> 00:11:06.381
But also you know how we do things similarly.
00:11:06.381 --> 00:11:17.966
So I really want to like let people know like instructional coaches are are great to have if you can have them, but also your principal or assistant principal at those small districts are your instructional coaches too.
00:11:17.966 --> 00:11:20.613
So let's talk about your instructional coaching.
00:11:20.613 --> 00:11:22.524
You have some stories about that.
00:11:22.524 --> 00:11:25.511
Um, some aha moments or things that kind of go.
00:11:25.511 --> 00:11:37.629
Yeah, this is what what I meant to do when it comes to leading in the classroom yeah, I will tell you my my very favorite thing is to work with teams of teachers.
00:11:37.708 --> 00:11:50.408
So I do appreciate and love the individual coaching, but it's when I was able to get teams of teachers together that I felt like my gosh.
00:11:50.408 --> 00:12:10.572
If I could do this every day, all day, I absolutely would and growing from each other, and it's incredible to see all of the different expertise being put out on the table up for grabs for other people.
00:12:10.572 --> 00:12:19.278
And so when I think about instructional coaching, those are the moments where I came alive is working with teams of teachers.
00:12:19.278 --> 00:12:25.523
But it was even more incredible to go back to classrooms and see teachers implementing what they had learned from others.
00:12:25.523 --> 00:12:41.804
I'll never forget one time we had a PD where we were thinking about how to encourage student discourse and one of the teachers brought to the PD hexagonal thinking, which, if you're not familiar with it, go to Cult of Pedagogy.
00:12:41.804 --> 00:12:48.206
She's got a whole blog post and episode about hexagonal thinking and there are lots of things out there about this strategy.
00:12:48.206 --> 00:12:54.628
But a teacher had implemented it in her classroom, she brought it to the PD, she shared it with everyone, she led the PD.
00:12:55.019 --> 00:13:12.405
We were only facilitators and then all of these teachers were thinking about ways they were going to implement this in their classroom, and it led to learning walks where we went to observe the different ways that people were implementing this strategy and just the look on their faces when they were seeing.
00:13:12.405 --> 00:13:27.643
You could just see people coming alive, you know, like you could see the light bulbs clicking, and that was one of the most powerful moments, where teachers took on the ownership of learning a new strategy and then were eager to go observe other teachers.
00:13:27.643 --> 00:13:41.668
Because you know, that's not always a comfortable thing and sometimes, as instructional leaders, it's hard to get teachers to a point where they want to go into classrooms or actually where they invite people into their own classrooms.
00:13:41.668 --> 00:13:49.893
So that's probably one of the most powerful moments for me as an instructional coach is seeing that moment come to life.
00:13:50.600 --> 00:14:06.059
Yeah, I mean you say a lot of things that made me start to reflect on my teaching and going back and doing those instructional rounds or learning walks we called them that too, too.
00:14:06.059 --> 00:14:14.408
But when you get to see other teachers teach and you get to see quality teaching from different areas of and I was at a high school so I saw a lot of different content areas that opens your eyes like hey, that's interesting.
00:14:14.408 --> 00:14:22.421
I never thought of that and I think if you have that open mind or that growth mindset as an educator, you get a lot out of those things.
00:14:22.421 --> 00:14:30.865
I know people with fixed mindsets have a hard time with that because they're like leave me alone, I want to stay in my classroom, I don't want to do all this, I just leave me, let me do my thing.
00:14:31.586 --> 00:14:39.732
But at the same time, you're not growing as an educator and I think part of our job as educational leaders is to help people grow.
00:14:39.732 --> 00:14:56.652
But I think having those relationships and those connections really help you get to know people but hopefully open them up to wanting to try new things, and I always say try something, don't be afraid of failure, because if you're not, you're not going to grow, you're not going to get better.
00:14:56.652 --> 00:15:02.232
So let's talk about from instructional coaching into the district leadership role.
00:15:02.232 --> 00:15:04.607
What was that district leadership role?
00:15:04.607 --> 00:15:05.614
What inspired that district leadership role?
00:15:05.614 --> 00:15:07.602
What inspired that move into that?
00:15:07.602 --> 00:15:12.494
You know what transpired for you for that opportunity.
00:15:13.139 --> 00:15:16.927
Yeah, Well, I'm going to be really honest with you.
00:15:16.927 --> 00:15:22.125
So first of all, the district role was district instructional specialist.
00:15:22.125 --> 00:15:31.629
So my role there was to partner with principals and teachers and really and truly it didn't start off this way, but it's really.
00:15:31.629 --> 00:15:47.083
What led to my book is bridging the gap between the adults on campuses, and so I served really as a coach for teachers, but also as a coach for principals and administrators, department heads, and trying to bridge that gap.
00:15:47.083 --> 00:15:48.807
Because it's so interesting.
00:15:48.807 --> 00:15:57.167
How you know, you hear from my experience, I hear from both narratives.
00:15:57.167 --> 00:16:05.422
So I hear the principal narrative who are they're saying we've got this initiative or we've got this program we're trying to implement, Nobody's getting on board.
00:16:05.422 --> 00:16:08.308
Or we've set the expectation and they're not following it.
00:16:08.308 --> 00:16:14.051
And then, on the other hand, you have the teams of teachers who are saying we have no idea what's going on.
00:16:14.051 --> 00:16:28.628
And I kept hearing that again and again and I was like, oh my gosh, we've got to bridge this gap, because until we bridge the gap between the adults on campus and until we're speaking the same language, then we're not going to see our student gaps decrease.
00:16:28.628 --> 00:16:34.403
And so that was really my role as an instructional specialist at the district level.
00:16:35.083 --> 00:16:50.268
But when I moved into that position I was truly trying to be a ladder climber and that was my goal, from being a teacher to being, you know, like you have all of these ideas of how you're going to climb the ladder.
00:16:50.268 --> 00:16:59.008
But it wasn't until I became like got into that role as a district instructional specialist, I was like, OK, wait, I've got to look at this ladder differently.
00:16:59.008 --> 00:17:10.431
We've got to lay the ladder down and instead of thinking about climbing the ladder, I want to think about how I'm just laterally going across the ladder and growing at each rung of the ladder.
00:17:10.431 --> 00:17:14.161
So how am I growing and developing people as a classroom teacher?
00:17:14.161 --> 00:17:15.544
I've done that.
00:17:15.544 --> 00:17:17.689
Now let's try instructional coaching.
00:17:17.749 --> 00:17:23.231
How am I growing myself and other people as an instructional coach, Now a district instructional specialist.
00:17:23.231 --> 00:17:37.147
And then, of course, you know, I moved from district instructional specialist into speaking and consulting and so I've started to think about my career differently because of those things.
00:17:37.147 --> 00:17:41.541
But so I'm not really thinking about climbing the ladder anymore.
00:17:41.541 --> 00:17:44.807
It's not about that, it's about growing and developing over time.
00:17:44.807 --> 00:17:47.330
And that's not the question you asked at all.
00:17:47.330 --> 00:18:00.416
But really, truly, I mean, that's how it kind of, that's how it transpired from instructional coaching to district instructional specialists is just how am I going to make an impact not just on teachers, but on instructional leaders as well?
00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:01.661
Yeah.
00:18:01.661 --> 00:18:05.390
So, getting into that district role, you started seeing the gap.
00:18:05.390 --> 00:18:09.243
You started seeing, you know, the unclarity.
00:18:09.243 --> 00:18:15.815
Yeah, that kind of inspired you to take that next step right.
00:18:15.815 --> 00:18:22.892
You started seeing some, hey, there's something here that's not quite right, there's miscommunication, people don't know what they're doing.
00:18:22.892 --> 00:18:25.102
And that's really important for people to understand.
00:18:25.102 --> 00:18:34.442
When you're in a leadership role and you're not being clear with your staff, you need to bring clarity so they understand, because it's not like they don't want to do things.
00:18:34.442 --> 00:18:47.644
And I think when you build those relationships and you bring clarity, you are able to deliver things so they understand it to where it's not just hey, we have to do this because the district office is shoving it down our throats.
00:18:47.644 --> 00:18:49.930
That happens, we all know that.
00:18:49.930 --> 00:19:00.201
But at the same time, you know how could you take something and make it to where we can own this initiative or the things we need to do?
00:19:00.201 --> 00:19:08.584
A to satisfy the requirement, because we get things from state and federal government level too that get rammed down our throats.
00:19:08.923 --> 00:19:10.126
I'll talk about this.
00:19:10.126 --> 00:19:18.032
Last year, every senior had to fill out a FAFSA before they got as a part of our graduation requirement.
00:19:18.032 --> 00:19:23.048
And I tell you, not every senior filled one out, but then you had to look at signing a waiver.
00:19:23.048 --> 00:19:32.829
And if they didn't sign a waiver, guess who was signing waivers at the end of the year for seniors that didn't do any of those things Me, the principal, because I had to comply to this thing.
00:19:32.869 --> 00:19:44.094
Now I try to make it easy on my staff, like, okay, we're going to do it this way, we're not going to worry about if they get it in or not, because I have the ultimate veto power to sign away what I need to sign.
00:19:44.094 --> 00:19:44.974
So we did that.
00:19:44.974 --> 00:19:46.666
So there's things that you just have to comply to.
00:19:46.666 --> 00:20:00.810
But I think when you're able to bring something and bring clarity to it and being able to get everybody together on it, even if you disagree with it, at least you're together and moving forward with whatever initiative that is.
00:20:00.810 --> 00:20:02.606
So let's talk about that a little bit.
00:20:02.606 --> 00:20:06.987
You started seeing this gap and so it inspired you to take that next step.
00:20:06.987 --> 00:20:11.967
But you know, is this part of where you have the creation of the Clarity Cycle Framework.
00:20:11.967 --> 00:20:18.311
Talk about that a little bit and kind of how that all evolved in that role as a district instructional leader.
00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:26.193
Yeah, oh, and I'll also talk a little bit about how I shifted into consulting around the Clarity Cycle Framework too.
00:20:26.193 --> 00:20:35.339
But you know, I started consulting probably seven years ago and I really was focused on literacy as a consultant.
00:20:35.339 --> 00:20:42.429
And even then, you know, I think hindsight you can see these things that you didn't see originally.
00:20:42.429 --> 00:21:06.613
But after working in my role as an instructional specialist with the district, I was able to look back on all of these times that I met with teachers to focus on literacy now, seeing that disconnect between the teachers and the administrators.
00:21:06.613 --> 00:21:11.431
And so you know, when you, when that light bulb comes on, it's like you're reflecting on all of the times in the past where these things were probably pretty prevalent.
00:21:11.431 --> 00:21:20.509
But when I started working as an instructional specialist and I was trying to, I was noticing these different narratives.
00:21:20.509 --> 00:21:30.734
The thing that I kept hearing everyone say, myself included, is we've got to get on the same page, but no one was doing anything about it.
00:21:30.734 --> 00:21:45.234
You know, like we're saying let's get on the same page, we've got to be on the same page, but it's really easy to say that and it's even easy to say, ok, our strategy for getting on the same page is we're going to implement the same, everybody's going to use the same curriculum.
00:21:45.234 --> 00:21:53.176
Or, in order to get on the same page, we're going to make sure that everybody has this much planning, like a two-hour planning block every month.
00:21:53.176 --> 00:21:55.188
That's a strategy.
00:21:55.188 --> 00:21:59.857
But until you bring clarity to that strategy, really nothing changes.
00:21:59.857 --> 00:22:07.872
It's kind of like you know, I recall one time a principal wanted her teachers to have more effective PLCs.
00:22:07.872 --> 00:22:20.884
Well, her strategy for improving PLCs was we're going to have everybody create an agenda and they're going to turn that agenda in Great fine D&D.
00:22:20.884 --> 00:22:24.513
But agenda means something different to everybody.
00:22:24.513 --> 00:22:29.715
And just because you have an agenda does not mean that you're going to see effective collaboration.
00:22:29.715 --> 00:22:41.576
And sure enough, we go into classrooms and somebody puts up an agenda and on that agenda it said copies, grades, lesson plans, that's it, that was what was on the agenda.
00:22:41.576 --> 00:22:43.440
That's not an effective PLC.
00:22:44.321 --> 00:23:02.233
And when I started seeing these things again and again the strategy, but disconnected from actually making progress I was like, okay, we've got to zoom out to see the big picture, and then we've got to zoom in and script the critical moves to get to that big picture goal.
00:23:02.233 --> 00:23:04.239
So this is what we're wanting.
00:23:04.239 --> 00:23:05.990
What does that mean?
00:23:05.990 --> 00:23:11.087
Like, how can we leverage the strengths that we have and what are the improvements that need to be made.
00:23:11.087 --> 00:23:16.185
Along the way and I was reading the book Switch by Chip and Dan Heath.
00:23:16.185 --> 00:23:22.028
It's how to change things when change is hard, and they talk a lot about casting vision and scripting critical moves.
00:23:22.028 --> 00:23:29.875
So I started implementing the things that I learned from that book and other books, like from Simon Sinek and Andy Stanley, john Maxwell.
00:23:29.875 --> 00:23:41.997
I put all of those things together and created a map for our campuses, for teachers, to get to an area of focus or goals that the principal had said this is what we want to work on.
00:23:41.997 --> 00:23:50.751
And that too, that in and of itself was kind of a challenge, like I would go into principals offices and tell and say, tell me what your instructional focus is this year.
00:23:50.751 --> 00:23:57.757
And it would be either crickets or them saying, well, I'm not sure like what do you mean by that?
00:23:57.757 --> 00:24:05.769
And so we had to develop an area of focus before we could script the critical moves to get to that, to the goals under that focus.
00:24:06.653 --> 00:24:18.093
And a couple of years after being in this role, I had a kindergarten teacher come up to me and she was pursuing her master's, getting her principal certification, and she said I just how did you do it?
00:24:18.093 --> 00:24:20.967
Like, how did you go about getting everybody on the same page?
00:24:20.967 --> 00:24:32.875
And to me it just felt natural to do these things and so I said, well, I just zoomed out, see like where is everybody, and then just kind of zoomed in again to map it out.
00:24:32.875 --> 00:24:38.394
And she said, okay, but that's not good enough because that doesn't tell me exactly the steps that you took.
00:24:38.394 --> 00:24:41.474
And that's where the Clarity Psychical Framework was born.
00:24:42.005 --> 00:25:03.760
I started thinking about what she was asking for and I said, okay, let me just take a moment to reflect on how we did get everyone on the same page and I'm going to map it out, I'm going to create this framework that displays what that actually looks like, how you go from the strategy to the complexity of clarity paired with that strategy.
00:25:03.760 --> 00:25:05.522
And so there you have it.
00:25:05.522 --> 00:25:20.971
I started working with those campuses where I was with the Clarity Cycle Framework and it ended up branching out into the consulting that I did with campuses across the nation, and every campus has the same problems.
00:25:20.971 --> 00:25:26.249
And because I was seeing the same problems again and again, I was like what is it that we're missing?
00:25:26.249 --> 00:25:29.037
It's clarity that we are missing.
00:25:30.385 --> 00:25:33.919
Awesome, yeah, and that's you know, a lot of you know.
00:25:33.919 --> 00:25:42.270
With clarity, I mean, it's really important I think I've talked about it a few times as we're going through the episode but, understanding, you have to have that clarity.
00:25:42.270 --> 00:25:45.037
So you talk about the clarity cycle framework.
00:25:45.037 --> 00:25:58.030
Could you give an example what that might look like for a school district to where hey, here's the thing we need to bring clarity to, and kind of walk us through what that looks like, just so we can kind of get an idea?
00:25:58.412 --> 00:26:06.353
Yeah, A lot of the time I will, actually I will say most of the time when I work with districts or campuses, they are wanting to.
00:26:06.353 --> 00:26:11.500
They have the issue of overwhelming numbers of students in tiers two and three.
00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:15.190
And when we look at that and they're like how do we fix this?
00:26:15.190 --> 00:26:33.470
We realize it's a tier one problem, right Like we're lacking high quality tier one instruction, Right Like we're lacking high quality tier one instruction, and we make the assumption that that people understand what we mean when we say high quality tier one instruction.
00:26:33.470 --> 00:26:34.490
But that's an assumption that can't be made.
00:26:34.490 --> 00:26:43.721
Just because you are in education, even if you've been in it for many years, doesn't mean we all share the same common definition of high-quality Tier 1 instruction.
00:26:43.721 --> 00:26:47.414
Some people don't even know exactly what Tier 1 means.
00:26:47.414 --> 00:26:50.414
So we have to be sure that we've got a common language there.
00:26:50.786 --> 00:26:56.856
So we start with an area of focus, Like if we like Tier 1 instruction, that's our area of focus.
00:26:56.856 --> 00:27:01.736
It's like a big umbrella and it should fit underneath the campus or district mission and vision.
00:27:01.736 --> 00:27:10.679
When we have that area of focus, we analyze it at great lengths because, as I mentioned earlier, we can see a problem.
00:27:10.679 --> 00:27:13.994
But unless we get to the root of the problem.
00:27:13.994 --> 00:27:22.974
We're just slapping on band-aid fixes again and again, like a PLC agenda or another product or program that we hope is going to fix this Tier 1 instruction.
00:27:22.974 --> 00:27:31.675
So we analyze that area of focus, the problem, and when we analyze it we start to notice these consistencies and patterns.
00:27:31.675 --> 00:27:35.849
Those consistencies and patterns become our goals.
00:27:35.849 --> 00:27:40.218
So it's like we're starting with macro and then we're going to micro.
00:27:40.238 --> 00:27:45.849
We've got these couple of one or two goals that we're really going to focus on to improve Tier 1 instruction.
00:27:46.570 --> 00:27:48.233
Then we don't stop there.
00:27:48.515 --> 00:28:06.229
We're going to go at an even more micro level and in order to script out the critical moves to reach these goals, I have instructional leaders go on listening tours and they're gaining insight from stakeholders about this area of focus and these goals that we've set.
00:28:06.630 --> 00:28:11.038
Because we want them to take ownership of these goals.
00:28:11.038 --> 00:28:18.573
We want to hear from them because we might hear from our stakeholders and realize maybe our goals need to shift a little bit.
00:28:18.573 --> 00:28:27.009
Maybe what we thought were goals aren't really the goals we need to be working toward and we also can see what are strengths we can leverage right now.
00:28:27.009 --> 00:28:32.226
And then, after we've gained insight from stakeholders about this area of focus and goals.
00:28:32.226 --> 00:28:49.924
We then actually start to cast vision, map out the critical moves to get there, and then we start thinking about how we're going to provide feedback regularly and celebrate systematically, solely focused on this area of focusing goals.
00:28:49.924 --> 00:29:02.641
And then, finally, the very last step of the clarity cycle framework is to consider how we're going to calibrate and sustain progress so it doesn't fall flat over time and become just that other thing that's on the plate.
00:29:05.365 --> 00:29:08.171
Yeah, what I love about listening to the clarity cycle is it's a systematic approach.
00:29:08.171 --> 00:29:10.395
It's hey, this is where we're at.
00:29:10.395 --> 00:29:12.788
Here are some things we've identified.
00:29:12.788 --> 00:29:18.246
We're going to take what we identify and this is how we're going to get there.
00:29:18.246 --> 00:29:21.713
But we're not just start, you know, stopping there.
00:29:21.713 --> 00:29:23.458
We're actually going to have follow-ups.
00:29:23.458 --> 00:29:29.986
We're going to gain more feedback, more information, more data and then utilize that to make shifts if we need to.
00:00:01.320 --> 00:00:06.613
00:00:06.613 --> 00:00:22.271
00:00:22.271 --> 00:00:26.824
00:00:26.824 --> 00:00:36.472
00:00:36.472 --> 00:00:44.662
00:00:44.662 --> 00:00:48.853
00:00:48.853 --> 00:01:02.810
00:01:02.810 --> 00:01:08.203
00:01:08.203 --> 00:01:09.084
00:01:09.826 --> 00:01:11.370
00:01:11.370 --> 00:01:17.331
00:01:18.400 --> 00:01:18.900
00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:22.346
00:01:22.346 --> 00:01:27.155
00:01:28.661 --> 00:01:39.805
00:01:39.805 --> 00:01:42.292
00:01:42.292 --> 00:01:44.968
00:01:44.968 --> 00:01:45.548
00:01:45.548 --> 00:01:46.212
00:01:46.212 --> 00:01:46.915
00:01:46.915 --> 00:01:49.188
00:01:49.188 --> 00:01:50.525
00:01:50.525 --> 00:01:51.766
00:01:51.766 --> 00:01:58.391
00:01:59.061 --> 00:02:06.370
00:02:06.370 --> 00:02:14.300
00:02:14.300 --> 00:02:38.050
00:02:38.050 --> 00:02:46.835
00:02:46.835 --> 00:03:02.225
00:03:02.225 --> 00:03:05.389
00:03:05.389 --> 00:03:20.585
00:03:20.664 --> 00:03:31.507
00:03:31.507 --> 00:03:38.284
00:03:38.284 --> 00:03:43.550
00:03:43.550 --> 00:03:54.332
00:03:54.454 --> 00:04:07.876
00:04:07.876 --> 00:04:11.151
00:04:11.151 --> 00:04:22.843
00:04:22.843 --> 00:04:29.105
00:04:29.105 --> 00:04:33.903
00:04:34.805 --> 00:04:35.166
00:04:35.166 --> 00:04:37.572
00:04:37.572 --> 00:04:43.973
00:04:43.973 --> 00:04:48.086
00:04:48.086 --> 00:04:51.382
00:04:51.382 --> 00:04:53.230
00:04:53.230 --> 00:04:56.540
00:04:56.581 --> 00:05:22.822
00:05:22.822 --> 00:05:26.583
00:05:26.583 --> 00:05:35.302
00:05:35.302 --> 00:05:44.970
00:05:44.970 --> 00:05:46.601
00:05:46.802 --> 00:05:51.723
00:05:51.723 --> 00:05:52.947
00:05:52.947 --> 00:06:04.689
00:06:04.689 --> 00:06:06.934
00:06:06.934 --> 00:06:15.795
00:06:15.795 --> 00:06:21.014
00:06:21.014 --> 00:06:22.699
00:06:22.699 --> 00:06:23.985
00:06:23.985 --> 00:06:28.922
00:06:29.644 --> 00:06:35.012
00:06:35.012 --> 00:06:42.523
00:06:42.523 --> 00:06:48.473
00:06:48.473 --> 00:07:09.081
00:07:09.081 --> 00:07:24.009
00:07:24.149 --> 00:07:35.947
00:07:36.649 --> 00:08:29.740
00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:38.692
00:08:38.692 --> 00:08:52.910
00:08:52.910 --> 00:08:56.682
00:08:56.682 --> 00:09:20.086
00:09:20.086 --> 00:09:25.288
00:09:25.990 --> 00:09:29.139
00:09:29.139 --> 00:09:30.158
00:09:30.158 --> 00:09:38.967
00:09:38.967 --> 00:09:42.434
00:09:42.434 --> 00:09:46.663
00:09:46.683 --> 00:09:53.326
00:09:53.326 --> 00:10:01.051
00:10:01.051 --> 00:10:08.327
00:10:08.327 --> 00:10:12.164
00:10:12.164 --> 00:10:13.149
00:10:13.149 --> 00:10:15.203
00:10:15.203 --> 00:10:31.961
00:10:31.961 --> 00:10:38.566
00:10:38.647 --> 00:10:43.202
00:10:43.202 --> 00:10:47.490
00:10:47.490 --> 00:10:49.500
00:10:49.500 --> 00:11:03.653
00:11:03.653 --> 00:11:06.381
00:11:06.381 --> 00:11:17.966
00:11:17.966 --> 00:11:20.613
00:11:20.613 --> 00:11:22.524
00:11:22.524 --> 00:11:25.511
00:11:25.511 --> 00:11:37.629
00:11:37.708 --> 00:11:50.408
00:11:50.408 --> 00:12:10.572
00:12:10.572 --> 00:12:19.278
00:12:19.278 --> 00:12:25.523
00:12:25.523 --> 00:12:41.804
00:12:41.804 --> 00:12:48.206
00:12:48.206 --> 00:12:54.628
00:12:55.019 --> 00:13:12.405
00:13:12.405 --> 00:13:27.643
00:13:27.643 --> 00:13:41.668
00:13:41.668 --> 00:13:49.893
00:13:50.600 --> 00:14:06.059
00:14:06.059 --> 00:14:14.408
00:14:14.408 --> 00:14:22.421
00:14:22.421 --> 00:14:30.865
00:14:31.586 --> 00:14:39.732
00:14:39.732 --> 00:14:56.652
00:14:56.652 --> 00:15:02.232
00:15:02.232 --> 00:15:04.607
00:15:04.607 --> 00:15:05.614
00:15:05.614 --> 00:15:07.602
00:15:07.602 --> 00:15:12.494
00:15:13.139 --> 00:15:16.927
00:15:16.927 --> 00:15:22.125
00:15:22.125 --> 00:15:31.629
00:15:31.629 --> 00:15:47.083
00:15:47.083 --> 00:15:48.807
00:15:48.807 --> 00:15:57.167
00:15:57.167 --> 00:16:05.422
00:16:05.422 --> 00:16:08.308
00:16:08.308 --> 00:16:14.051
00:16:14.051 --> 00:16:28.628
00:16:28.628 --> 00:16:34.403
00:16:35.083 --> 00:16:50.268
00:16:50.268 --> 00:16:59.008
00:16:59.008 --> 00:17:10.431
00:17:10.431 --> 00:17:14.161
00:17:14.161 --> 00:17:15.544
00:17:15.544 --> 00:17:17.689
00:17:17.749 --> 00:17:23.231
00:17:23.231 --> 00:17:37.147
00:17:37.147 --> 00:17:41.541
00:17:41.541 --> 00:17:44.807
00:17:44.807 --> 00:17:47.330
00:17:47.330 --> 00:18:00.416
00:18:01.319 --> 00:18:01.661
00:18:01.661 --> 00:18:05.390
00:18:05.390 --> 00:18:09.243
00:18:09.243 --> 00:18:15.815
00:18:15.815 --> 00:18:22.892
00:18:22.892 --> 00:18:25.102
00:18:25.102 --> 00:18:34.442
00:18:34.442 --> 00:18:47.644
00:18:47.644 --> 00:18:49.930
00:18:49.930 --> 00:19:00.201
00:19:00.201 --> 00:19:08.584
00:19:08.923 --> 00:19:10.126
00:19:10.126 --> 00:19:18.032
00:19:18.032 --> 00:19:23.048
00:19:23.048 --> 00:19:32.829
00:19:32.869 --> 00:19:44.094
00:19:44.094 --> 00:19:44.974
00:19:44.974 --> 00:19:46.666
00:19:46.666 --> 00:20:00.810
00:20:00.810 --> 00:20:02.606
00:20:02.606 --> 00:20:06.987
00:20:06.987 --> 00:20:11.967
00:20:11.967 --> 00:20:18.311
00:20:18.960 --> 00:20:26.193
00:20:26.193 --> 00:20:35.339
00:20:35.339 --> 00:20:42.429
00:20:42.429 --> 00:21:06.613
00:21:06.613 --> 00:21:11.431
00:21:11.431 --> 00:21:20.509
00:21:20.509 --> 00:21:30.734
00:21:30.734 --> 00:21:45.234
00:21:45.234 --> 00:21:53.176
00:21:53.176 --> 00:21:55.188
00:21:55.188 --> 00:21:59.857
00:21:59.857 --> 00:22:07.872
00:22:07.872 --> 00:22:20.884
00:22:20.884 --> 00:22:24.513
00:22:24.513 --> 00:22:29.715
00:22:29.715 --> 00:22:41.576
00:22:41.576 --> 00:22:43.440
00:22:44.321 --> 00:23:02.233
00:23:02.233 --> 00:23:04.239
00:23:04.239 --> 00:23:05.990
00:23:05.990 --> 00:23:11.087
00:23:11.087 --> 00:23:16.185
00:23:16.185 --> 00:23:22.028
00:23:22.028 --> 00:23:29.875
00:23:29.875 --> 00:23:41.997
00:23:41.997 --> 00:23:50.751
00:23:50.751 --> 00:23:57.757
00:23:57.757 --> 00:24:05.769
00:24:06.653 --> 00:24:18.093
00:24:18.093 --> 00:24:20.967
00:24:20.967 --> 00:24:32.875
00:24:32.875 --> 00:24:38.394
00:24:38.394 --> 00:24:41.474
00:24:42.005 --> 00:25:03.760
00:25:03.760 --> 00:25:05.522
00:25:05.522 --> 00:25:20.971
00:25:20.971 --> 00:25:26.249
00:25:26.249 --> 00:25:29.037
00:25:30.385 --> 00:25:33.919
00:25:33.919 --> 00:25:42.270
00:25:42.270 --> 00:25:45.037
00:25:45.037 --> 00:25:58.030
00:25:58.412 --> 00:26:06.353
00:26:06.353 --> 00:26:11.500
00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:15.190
00:26:15.190 --> 00:26:33.470
00:26:33.470 --> 00:26:34.490
00:26:34.490 --> 00:26:43.721
00:26:43.721 --> 00:26:47.414
00:26:47.414 --> 00:26:50.414
00:26:50.786 --> 00:26:56.856
00:26:56.856 --> 00:27:01.736
00:27:01.736 --> 00:27:10.679
00:27:10.679 --> 00:27:13.994
00:27:13.994 --> 00:27:22.974
00:27:22.974 --> 00:27:31.675
00:27:31.675 --> 00:27:35.849
00:27:35.849 --> 00:27:40.218
00:27:40.238 --> 00:27:45.849
00:27:46.570 --> 00:27:48.233
00:27:48.515 --> 00:28:06.229
00:28:06.630 --> 00:28:11.038
00:28:11.038 --> 00:28:18.573
00:28:18.573 --> 00:28:27.009
00:28:27.009 --> 00:28:32.226
00:28:32.226 --> 00:28:49.924
00:28:49.924 --> 00:29:02.641
00:29:05.365 --> 00:29:08.171
00:29:08.171 --> 00:29:10.395
00:29:10.395 --> 00:29:12.788
00:29:12.788 --> 00:29:18.246
00:29:18.246 --> 00:29:21.713
00:29:21.713 --> 00:29:23.458
00:29:23.458 --> 00:29:29.986