RALLY CAPS AND COLLECTIVE COMMITMENT

This photograph was taken at a recent San Francisco Giants baseball that I attended with good friend and colleague Michael McDowell. Besides the goofy grin on my face, I want you to notice our ball caps. Baseball aficionados will recognize the adjustments we have made as our attempt at rally caps. The Giants were down four runs to Miami and tradition dictates that fans don their rally caps to bring good luck to the home team as they come from behind. And it worked! I believe we were the reason the Giants came back to tie the game (never mind that they lost in the eleventh, we rallied the team!). The rally from behind, the atmosphere in the stadium (notice in the photo we are not alone in the tradition), and the gains made by the team to tie the game got me wondering about having the same impact in our schools. In other words, what’s our rally cap when a student falls behind?

In the book Starting A Movement, Ken Williams and I talk about establishing a collective commitment that gathers all the adults in the school in service of all the students in a school. We suggest that a collective commitment is established when two conditions are examined, clarified, and adopted as the foundation for the purpose of your school:

1. We believe that all kids can learn at high levels.
2. We make the commitment to ensure learning for every student.

This is our rally cap when a student falls behind! Let’s be clear – this is challenging work. Unlike a simple manipulation or inverting of a piece of clothing, the two conditions identified require deep commitment, a desire to collaborate, and a view that extends to all students not just my students.  They also require a departure from the well-worn, well-rehearsed narrative of naming, shaming, and blaming students or the variables (race, poverty, family concerns, new to the country) that may be temporarily influencing student progress.

Ensuring all students learn is no easy task. Here is when it becomes clear that you and your colleagues have a collective commitment, a clear purpose - when a student falls behind or is not yet proficient in the desired learning outcomes. At that time, schools that are clear on their purpose pull on their imaginary rally caps.  When you are clear on your purpose, challenge causes you to turn to each other. When your purpose is not clear, challenge causes you to turn away from each other.

One other thing about collective commitment; it can’t be forced. That’s compliance, not commitment. Your collective commitment needs to be renewed every year and colleagues new to the school need to be a part of that and provided both the rationale and the opportunity for influence. Attending the game with us was Australian colleague Sophie Murphy and her husband Darren and kids Charlie and Poppy. This was their first baseball game, which was enough of a learning curve and then we introduced rally caps. Once explained however, they joined in the fun and had a slight modification to their caps as well. They owned the challenge to rally the team and were also excited when the score was evened up.

So colleagues, school is about to start back up again very shortly. As the new school year is launched and progresses, what is going to constitute your rally cap? Let me suggest you start with WHY – your collective commitment.