麻豆传媒入口

School turnaround, the effort to foster success in a struggling school, is a complex process requiring a delicate yet radical transformation of nearly all facets of school life鈥攆rom curriculum to instruction to culture. 

It鈥檚 even harder when a leader is new to a school, as is often the case. They must build meaningful and collaborative relationships, respect the expertise of those already in the building, and foster trust with the whole community鈥攚hile avoiding efforts that might appear to be .

To understand what it takes to navigate this work, I spoke with Kevin Sotomayor, recipient of the 2023 K鈥�12 Dive Award for Principal of the Year and current leader of Isaac Middle School in Phoenix, Arizona. Sotomayor has dedicated his career to school transformation, not only leading several turnaround efforts but also starting a school of his own鈥攁s he says, 鈥済round up鈥濃�攂efore joining Isaac. 

Sotomayor told me how he uses data, deep listening, and direct communication to drive change as a leader.

BRITTANY COLLINS: How do you go about facilitating a school turnaround?

KEVIN SOTOMAYOR: It starts with the culture and the leadership. You gotta figure out who you are: What are your nonnegotiables? What is your true north? I recommend Bill George鈥檚 鈥攁 great book from the business world. Be very clear and consistent articulating your true north with your staff. You鈥檙e the compass.

Leading a turnaround also requires a culture of listening, of understanding before we react. The school I鈥檓 at now, we鈥檝e had this incredible transformation, and I hold on to the vision, the understanding. How did I get it? I started with individual meetings with every returning staff member and with students. I need to know who I鈥檓 talking to, who I鈥檓 working with, what their expectations are and aren鈥檛, what they want to do. 

From there, it鈥檚 easy to see how we start to move forward. You will be told exactly what needs to happen and how you need to move forward, especially by the kids.

COLLINS: What advice have you received from students?

SOTOMAYOR: Just be real. At one of the middle schools I was at, this young lady was in danger of getting kicked out. I took her on as a mentee. We started meeting, and she was always so respectful. We had great conversations. One day, I went, 鈥淲hat鈥檚 the problem? Your teachers always send you to me saying you鈥檙e disrespectful. You don鈥檛 listen. You just do what you want to do. But if I ask you to do something, you might question it, but you do it. What鈥檚 the deal?鈥�

She looked me dead in the eye and said, 鈥淏ecause when you ask me how I鈥檓 doing in the morning, you mean it. You really want to know. They don鈥檛 want to know. They鈥檙e just saying it to say it.鈥� 

Kids can smell disingenuousness. 

When I first came to my current school, the kids said, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e gonna leave. We know everyone does.鈥� I had to prove myself to them. I heard what they were telling me鈥攖hey knew abandonment. So I showed up. I listened. I talked to them: 鈥淲hat do you guys want? What do you expect?鈥�

They told me everything I needed to know. And now that the school has really turned around, the kids are like, 鈥淥h, you meant it. You didn鈥檛 leave.鈥� 

COLLINS: Turning back to the idea of a true north or vision for a school, how do you keep your staff focused on that?

SOTOMAYOR: Really taking them through 鈥淗ere鈥檚 where we are, but this is not where we鈥檙e gonna stay, so what do we need to do collaboratively to move forward?鈥� We focused on establishing and then living our core values. They are present in everything we do. We often reflect on our practices, and if they do not reflect one of our core values, then we question why we are doing it. 

Teachers said they didn鈥檛 have enough support when it came to behavior鈥攊t felt like the prior administration wasn鈥檛 visible. So I said to my AP, 鈥淗ere鈥檚 your office, here鈥檚 my office鈥攕ay goodbye to them. We can鈥檛 be in here unless it鈥檚 for a meeting鈥攚e have to be visible.鈥� We literally walked hallways and classrooms, utilizing our phones to keep up with texts and emails. Most of the time, we worked at our desks after our students and staff were gone for the day. 

Once we showed our commitment, the staff bought in; they鈥檙e with us now. 

COLLINS: What turnaround programs and policies have been most impactful for you?

SOTOMAYOR: Meeting kids where they are. But that doesn鈥檛 mean we鈥檙e in sixth grade teaching third-grade curriculum鈥攊t means we have to scaffold appropriately. We have focused on student discourse. We wanted student-to-student interaction, so we provided professional development on that. We didn鈥檛 start with kids鈥攊t鈥檚 been all about the adults. We really hit growth mindset first: 鈥淒o you believe that our kids can perform at this level? If you do but don鈥檛 know how to get there, great鈥攈elping with that is our job.鈥� We hired instructional coaches to bring teachers along, help with professional development, go into the classroom, and lead coaching cycles.

A principal at another middle school and I created cross-site PLCs. We rearranged our master schedules and worked with district strategists and our assistant superintendent. All content areas release for prep at the same time across three schools now. We carved out an hour for teams to meet as sixth-grade social studies across districts, eighth-grade math, etc. 

That builds teacher leadership and ownership, so it鈥檚 not us telling teachers something is gonna work, it鈥檚 people in classrooms with them telling them it works. We combine instructional practices and learn from each other. We鈥檙e in our fourth year of that, and we鈥檝e seen great gains. 

COLLINS: How do you measure those gains? I鈥檓 sure it鈥檚 not immediate and not as simple as looking at test scores. What鈥檚 your approach?

SOTOMAYOR: Over the years, it鈥檚 been about a story鈥攁nd data. I joke that I鈥檓 surprised I got hired, because they always ask in interviews, 鈥淗ow do you use data?鈥� I always answer that I don鈥檛 put a lot of weight into what the tests supposedly tell us鈥攖hat this is how smart or not our kids are.

Yes, tests can give us great jumping-off points, because if we realize kids are scoring low in vocabulary, we need to ask why. Is it truly the vocabulary, or their comprehension? Is it a certain grade level? Demographic? 

We use iReady, so we have beginning-of-year, middle-of-year, and end-of-year data. And of course the state assessment. But I would rather lay my money on 鈥淭eacher, tell me how this kid is doing in class. Are they engaged?鈥� Let鈥檚 look at their work consistently. Are they doing really well in class and just tanking on the test? Then we need to help with test-taking strategies.聽

With any turnaround, academics are huge, but so is instruction. I have to look at the staff I鈥檓 inheriting, their evaluations, and as many years of academic data as I can. Educators talk about the whole child鈥攑art of my job is trying to find the whole school. There鈥檚 culture data, demographic data, academic data, instructional data. We start to look at it from all angles to find leverage points where if we hit them right, they鈥檒l domino. 

COLLINS: What misconceptions have you encountered regarding turnarounds?

SOTOMAYOR: 鈥淭hese poor kids! Oh, their background! We can鈥檛 push them that hard.鈥� A lot of our kids are coming in with adverse childhood experiences鈥擨 think some of our kids have almost every single one鈥攂ut they鈥檙e showing up every day.

That鈥檚 one of the biggest misconceptions, that these kids can鈥檛 perform. They absolutely can. Because of their backgrounds, they didn鈥檛 have the preschool everyone else did. It鈥檚 our job to help them overcome that. They are unbelievably smart. We hold them back when we feel like we have to dumb things down. 

We鈥檙e going to teach with the scaffolds that are appropriate to help them access what they need to know. It鈥檚 not the kids鈥攊t鈥檚 always the adults, and 90 percent of the time it鈥檚 not intentional. We gotta hold high expectations, and students will meet us there.

COLLINS: Returning to your idea of nonnegotiables, what are some of yours?

SOTOMAYOR: Number one: We have to believe in our kids. We have to believe that they really can do it. They may not be there yet, but they can get there, and they will. Number two: We have to be learners ourselves. If we think we know it all, we鈥檙e done.

This interview has been edited for brevity, clarity, and flow.