Recent Interview with Woody Howard on the success of the ENVoY program

Q. Hi. Thanks for talking to me. You are…
A. My nameÕs Woody Howard. I am the Associate Principal at Chinook Elementary School in the Vancouver School District.

Q.Washington State.
A. Washington State. We are in the southwest corner of Washington. We are a suburb outside of Portland, Oregon.

Q. And you have been using ENVoY at your school?
A. We have been. The school is about 800 students and we have approximately 36 classrooms. Some of our classrooms have more than one teacher in them, so we have more than 36 teachers and many of our teachers use ENVoY on a regular basis. We have currently 3-5 coaches on staff, so ENVoY is a piece that is absolutely critical for successful classroom management in our building.

Q. When you say Òmany of them have had it,Ó would you say like half of them have had ENVoY or more than that?
A. I donÕt have a number. I do know that right now Michael is running A Healthy Classroom, a different component than ENVoY. But we end up in a situation where a third of the staff, approximately 12-15–I think itÕs under 20, 15 people or so–are involved with that. Of that, almost all of them have had ENVoY and I know there are others out so I am going to guess at approximately 50% of the staff. Well, 50% of the staff has had ENVoY training from Michael specifically. The building expectation is that 100% of the teachers in the building become ENVoY trained.

Q. Really!
A. Absolutely. In fact, the three new teachers in the building, one is a brand new teacher and the other two are experienced teachers who came to the building from other locations, and part of the agreement that they made when they came was that they would become ENVoY-trained.

Q. Know ENVoY, or you donÕt get to work at the school.
A. Well, itÕs become a cultural expectation. When our teachers start working with each other, the language and the dialogue and the feedback become so much more rich, that itÕs the expectation. ItÕs very much like, if youÕre going to be a teacher you need to be able to teach reading. Even if you are a specialist you need to be able to teach reading. If you are going to be a teacher at Chinook, you need to be able to… you are fluent in ENVoY.

Q. Why do you think they… what do they find useful about ENVoY?
A. ItÕs very individualized. For example, a first year teacher is going to get something very different out of ENVoY than an experienced teacher. For example, while they are very specific skills, the first year teacher is searching for the specifics. They donÕt have that big picture. So if they can get the specific little pegs to grab hold of, it gives them something and the training is very valuable. A more veteran teacher has that big picture and now is going to go back and be very specific and intentional with the pieces they pick up to fill in some cracks and to be very exacting in their craft. So ENVoY meets individual teacher needs very much like we want individual studentsÕ needs met in a classroom.

Q. How is it better for the children when their teachers are ENVoY-trained?
A. ÒGo visual.Ó I mean, thatÕs the first thing. Students know the expectation.

Q. Because Ògoing visualÓ is part of the ENVoY.
A. Absolutely. ÒGoing visualÓ is part of the ENVoY. The other thing is there is a level of consistency in the building. When a student is in a first grade classroom and that teacherÕs been ENVoY-trained and then that student moves into a second grade classroom and that teacherÕs been ENVoY-trained, there is a level of consistency that happens for that student and Chinook becomes a place of learning. And the culture is the ENVoY culture. The other piece, why itÕs good for students in the here and now, right now type of a situation, is ENVoY focuses on teacher behaviors and increasing the consistency. Kids feel safe when they have a consistent environment, and ENVoY provides that.

Q. Is it, does it seem to be as much enjoyed or appreciated as a teacher skill, equally among all the different grades? The sixth graders and the first graders…
A. Yes, it is appreciated at different levels for different things. Fifth grade girls, fifth grade boys in the Spring, birds, bees… the skill se t that will be utilized there is going to be different obviously than the first grade skill set in the spring. But nevertheless, you end up relying on different pieces of your ENVoY training. The students end up understanding, knowing what the general expectation is. The other piece, if you end up looking at how a student… The way we structure Chinook, youÕve got the classroom teacher. Then you end up with what we call FAB which is Fitness Arts Block. So you end up with a music and a P.E. and a dance and an art. The behavior expectations and the techniques to help students meet those behavior expectations–ENVoY–are the same as in the classroom. Consequently, we end up in a situation where ÒyouÕre in the classroom, youÕre ENVoY. YouÕre outside the classroom in another learning environment, youÕre ENVoY. Oh-oh, guess what else? It goes over into things like the playground.Ó And we can end staff assistants and Para educators having a skill set that theyÕve picked up unintentionally because everybody else has the ENVoY training. And in fact, we end up in the situation where our para educators come back and then specifically pick those skill sets up from teachers in the building because they have that training.

Q. How does the coaching work?
A. Coaching works because it is safe. Coaches are not evaluators. Coaches are respected peers that are offering pieces of advice through observation. ThatÕs probably not a great way to say it because itÕs not really advice. They are offering observation in a common language. The other thing, people step into a coachÕs classroom and you look at the learning environment, and you look at the students and that becomes the model. ThatÕs the ÒI want my room to run that way.Ó And so they are respected instructors. And so either having an individual spend time in the coachÕs class or having the coach spend time in the individualÕs class, it becomes very valuable for the individual. It is also valuable for the coach because they start reflecting on t heir own stuff. But the individuals end up starting to see, ÒI can get there! ItÕs not this mystery magic thing.Ó ItÕs specific, intentional skill set. And when I become aware of it, awareness can lead to intentionality. And ENVoY does that. It brings things to an awareness level. And it allows people to move and focus on things. They become intentional in their instruction. And thatÕs what we are after with teachers.

Q. Does it add a lot of cost to the operation of your school to have coaching?
A. Ooh. ThatÕs a very good question. The answer is no. The answer is no because we donÕt have a budget. [laughing] We have… there are some funding mechanisms for people to gain professional growth in our district and we have had enough people believe in ENVoY and their experiences there, where they then utilize their professional development dollar, their individual professional development dollars, to go out and become coaches. But then you end up in a situation where the building gets to utilize that. And does that become expensive? No! Because people use their FAB time, that Fitness Arts Block planning time, to get their coaching. And youÕll see teachers being very creative in a way. ÒOkay, can I trade you some time? If youÕll come in and coach, IÕll do this for you.Ó Because they want the feedback and the coaches want to practice their coaching skills. So that piece becomes very inexpensive. Interestingly enough, too, the coaches end up establishing reputations in the district and then other principals in the districts ask if the coaches can come to their buildings. And they say theyÕll pick it up with their budget. And so while we are very protective of our coach time because we are about smooth instruction and great strategies, we also realize that teachers get excited when they can share their skill sets. And our coaches go out and share their skill set–it keeps them energized, it keeps them motivated, and it doesnÕt impact the building in a budget way at all.

Q. Not at all…
A. Not when a coach leaves the building because other buildings pick the sub time up.

Q. If we were to walk up and down the hall of Chinook, what would we hear and see?
A. Right now, you would see the building getting painted! [laughing] But from an ENVoY standpoint, what you are going to see— and actually, the painting is an interesting piece. The kids know the expectation. ItÕs part of the everyday deal. We were just over there and I was walking a participant through who is from Australia and he was very impressed by the level of calmness. This is the third day back from our Christmas vacation and students… there is such a level of consistency. You are going to see Visual Instructions, you are going to see students who are independently learning because they can access information in places other than the teacher. You are going to see students who understand the importance and value of being self-motivated learners. You are going to see teachers who respect each other, youÕre going to see teachers who respect kids, and you will see people who are really happy.

Q. Sounds almost too good to be true.
A. ItÕs not Friday yet. You know, it is. IÕve worked in a variety of educational settings. This is a place that itÕs very fortunate. The principal there is very dedicated and believes in the ENVoY techniques and strategies because she has seen them work year in and year out. And she has dedicated resources and she has dedicated time. And she has endorsed and given permission for people to really grow themselves as professionals. Consequently, that belief system has trickled down, sometimes slowly, sometimes very quickly, into the people who work there. And what you will end up seeing is that level of safety. ÒI can go out there and I can try and I can grow. And with growth comes mistakes and thatÕs okay.Ó And with growth comes the rediscovering of yourself. And thatÕs what weÕre about. She really has done a phenomenal job.

Q. So, I guess you are saying that maybe it is important that the principal…
A. You know, the principal is the instructional leader in the building. Instruction is more than curriculum. Instruction includes management, classroom management. Consequently, if the principal can be the instructional leader helping lay that foundation of classroom management solidly in place, you end up with classroom teachers who can spend their time and energy on curriculum and not on management.

Q. Do you have any sense of the impact that having this kind of system in place is having on the amount of curriculum thatÕs covered, on daily attendance, on teacher retention? Any of those things?
A. The teacher attendance piece is a piece that comes to mind where the teacher morale. Teacher morale is extremely high. The building is, because of the level of growth, self-discovery, professional development, and the way that is encouraged and supported, people want to work at Chinook as evidenced by the in-district transfer requests to Chinook.

Q. Oh, really?
A. Absolutely. People want to come to the building and to get to the building they need to have many years of experience. We have a system called the professional interest register and when in-district transfer time comes about people get to choose. And Chinook is a place that people want to come and work.

Q. What about parents sending their children to this public school instead of to private school? Is there a large private school movement or population…?
A. The private school pieces that I am aware of in the area… ThereÕs a religious-driven piece which– IÕm going to move that and put it in its own category. But then as far as public vs. private, itÕs a fairly small piece out here. Fairly small. I am aware of one elementary school, particularly at the elementary level, one elementary school that is fairly close that has a fairly small school population. That particular place, itÕs called The Garden School, and they really focus on students with special needs.

Q. So most children here go to public school?
A. Absolutely.

Q. What are the demographics of this area, or your particular school?
A. The school district, Vancouver School District has about 20,000 students. That number changes. We are an urban school district. Chinook happens to be at the higher socio-economic end. We run about 12 percent free and reduced lunch, which is very small. Our ESL population is maybe 15 percent. So again, very small. Our retention rates are nil. It doesnÕt happen. We donÕtÕ retain students. ItÕs a fairly middle class, homogeneous school.

Q. And teachers, once they begin teaching at Chinook, donÕt leave…?
A. They donÕt leave very often.

Q. About how many a year might leave?
A. Well, there were three openings the last year. No, thereÕs a better way to say it. We have three new teachers this year. One was a growth.

Q. An added position.
A. It was an added position. The other two, one was retirement and the other was a marriage and she moved out of the area. And thatÕs the way it has been for a while. There were about four or five or six new teachers hired two or three years ago. Again it was a retirement and move situation with about four or five of them. We donÕt end up with teachers leaving Chinook and going to other Vancouver schools.

Q. What is the attendance, kids coming to school pretty regularly?
A. Our attendance rate is about 93%.

Q. 93 percent!
A. This last trimester there were six students who received attendance letters of concern and those were mostly tardies. There might have been eight.

Q. Referrals to the office?
A. More than there ever should be. [laughing]

Q. And you get to see them!
A. And I get to see every single one of them. You know it is interesting. 793 students. The vast majority, the vast majority, IÕm going to say above 90%–I hate putting a number out there–the vast majority of referrals to the office come off of the playground. The second place that we see referrals to the office is a playground issue that isnÕt taken care of outside and continues happening in the classroom. The vast majority of our teachers, they donÕt send their behavior issues to the office because they know from ENVoY, from A Healthy Classroom, from other places, that they want to in fact deal with that problem there because they are… that is what protects the relationship that they have with the student.

Q. So ENVoY preserves relationships?
A. ENVoY absolutely focuses on the teacherÕs relationship with the individual student. And how you can get that relationship to be a positive relationship that focuses on student learning.

Q. So they hold the students pretty accountable.
A. Absolutely. The level of accountability that teachers place with students is … it ranges from … itÕs hard to quantify or put a number on it. The accountability level that teachers put on students is that there is a general classroom level but then you also end up seeing teachers that will specify, that will be specific and meet those kids on individual accountability levels. You know, if youÕve got a student who is having difficulty getting homework home, done, back and turned in, thatÕs where that teachers going to focus. And they are going to utilize ENVoY, they are going to utilize Healthy Classroom, they are going to utilize different techniques to go and focus on the relationship, and ÒHereÕs our issue of homework way over here. How can you and I as a team create a system so that you can be successful as a student?Ó So that third point technique, the How Not to Get Shot technique, ends up preserving the relationship so that teachers can move past the behavior problem and get back to teaching curriculum, supporting kids and helping them be successful.

Q. Do you have any sense of achievement in Chinook compared to similar schools that are not ENVoY?
A. There are a number of Washington State achievement measurements that are out there and interestingly enough, we slipped in all of our achievement areas last year. We have the fourth grade WASL, Washington Assessment of Student Learning, and our rates went down. And we are working extremely hard to figure out why and to this point in time, there were no changes made. We were on a steady increase, steady increase, steady increase. A new crop of kids and we fell. We fell 15 percent in the fourth grade, which is not something we are comfortable with or happy about. And we are working extremely hard to figure out why.

Q. This is on a standardized test?
A. It is not a standardized test, it is a benchmarked test. So the previous fourth grade had 15 percent more students meet the standard than the last fourth grade. ItÕs not a state-wide standardized test, itÕs a state-wide benchmarked test.

Q. Is there anything you would like to add? You are going to be a principal someday soon, most likely.
A. You know, my dad told me when I was very little that when the coach says ÒWhat position do you want to play?Ó you just say, ÒWhere ever you need me.Ó And IÕm very fortunate in the fact that I am in Chinook right now and hopefully, the coach will leave me there for a year or two more because I really like it.

Q. If you were needed to take on a school, what would be your plan with respect to ENVoY? When you are the top decision-maker on your campus.
A. I believe the focus for any instructional leader has to be on student success. And as an instructional leader, you need to sit down and look at where your building is and what your group, what your building, what your students, what your teachers are ready to go to. IÕve been in a number of different buildings. IÕve taught second through eighth grade. A very common theme in all places is student management, classroom behavior.

Q. Really…
A. Absolutely. Second through eighth grade. And I did student teaching in first grade. So itÕs a really common theme. ItÕs also an area that all teachers work at. So if we can get, if I can get a building to understand ENVoY and… I would work extremely hard to get to 100 percent to effect a change about the culture. To affect how the building works together to impact student learning. And ENVoY does it.

Q. Would you say ENVoY is difficult to learn? Or is it… simple, is it common sense, is it surprising? How would you characterize it?
A. IÕm smiling because, you know, two days ago I thought I could say my name and introduce myself. [laughing about the current workshop] But I donÕt know. Is ENVoY simple to learn? The strategies are very fundamental. Are fundamentals easy to employ consistently? When you have answered that question for yourself, I think you have answered the question. ItÕs the fundamentals. ItÕs like anything: if you have the fundamentals down… But getting the fundamentals down can be tricky. This is the best way IÕve ever seen, itÕs the simplest way IÕve ever seen to talk about classroom management.

Q. Thank you so much.
A. I donÕt if that is the answer you were looking for, but…

Q. I just wanted to know your…
A. You know, it is! ItÕs about fundamentals. Are fundamentals easy?

Q. Do you find that, as youÕve been in these other schools, that some young teachers-to-be come out of college and they donÕt know even the most basic fundamentals?
A. Absolutely. I was fortunate. The teacher prep program that I used was a Masters teaching program and so the program had many adult learners that were coming back into education. And the management strategies that were taught wouldnÕt apply in the classroom. And not that the program was a bad program. ItÕs a great program, but the ENVoY specifics, the specificity is so critical when you are so overwhelmed with all the other stuff you have to learn. And having those Seven Gems, they really are, they are Seven Gems. And they are specific and you can pick one and focus on it, and it has an impact. And when that happens, the very difficult, hard job of teaching becomes less difficult and more rewarding.

Q. Thank you very much.
A. You are very welcome.

Q. Does coaching make it easier?
A. When you have that other person out there collecting or observing and sharing the data with you on a skill that YOU chose for yourself, that becomes critical. I had a job last year in the school district called Mentor Teacher and my job was to go in and mentor and coach new teachers to the school district. WE used ENVoY to do it, and we used ENVoY to do it because it gave a clear and precise language to share with people that were new to the area, new to the district, new to the profession, to give them feedback. And itÕs specific feedback. And when a person has specific feedback, they can change behaviors, hopefully improve behaviors, but they can change behaviors. No feedback, no behavior change, no improvement. And ENVoY and the coaching absolutely provides the feedback that allows for change.

Q. So you find the coaching to be an essential element of the …
A. Absolutely. And in fact the school district had last year six teachers that were mentors. And this year we are at five teachers, only because the number of new teachers for the district was lower. But the coaching without the evaluating is absolutely critical. Had those new teachers felt like they were being evaluated, or something going into their permanent personnel file, it would have been a much more difficult job to bring about change in instructional strategy. I got to drop in as a mentor teacher monthly, as many times as I could.

Q. Were you a welcome visitor then?
A. Absolutely. And in fact, it was fun because teachers would say ÒHereÕs the skill I want to work on.Ó I had one specific teacher, second grade, it got to the point where the kids would become coaches. TheyÕd see … She would identify a skill she wanted to work on and thatÕs the skill the whole class would work on for that…

Q. And they would help her?
A. They would help her, they would help themselves! Like break and breathe. ABOVE [pause] whisper. The students became familiar with the language and youÕd see one kid give another kid an elbow, ÒThat was an ABOVE pause whisper. YouÕre supposed to look.Ó And it was absolutely fun. And that teacher, there wasnÕt a feeling of ÒIÕve got to get this right or else.Ó It was like, ÒIÕve got to get this right because I want to get better.Ó It was about improvement and learning. It wasnÕt about evaluation and am I going to have a job.

Q. Are the ambitious teachers in the school looked up to or not? The ones who want to get even better.
A. ThatÕs a very culturally-driven answer. Last year I was fortunate to be in eight different buildings. And I would answer that based on the culture of the building.

Q. I see.
A. Chinook happens to have a number of individuals who are, weÕve got some ENVoY coaches, we have individuals who are known in other areas. So professional development, creating and building reputation, is something that is fairly well shared at Chinook as an in-building culture.

Thank you very much.